Author Archives: odes4hg

Lord God, thank You for another day. Thank You for the air we breathe. Thank You for the gift of life and for knowing each and everyone of us by name. You know our joys and You know our sorrows. You know us beyond any of our mistakes and You see us as a new creation in Your image. So many times, we are lost and don’t have a clue where we are going but You are always there walking right beside us and guiding us through the challenges of life. When we stray, You go out of your way to find us and lead us back to You. When our hearts break, You are there to mend the broken pieces with the hope of restoration and redemption. Steer us from anything that would keep us away from You. And even though we must walk through some very dark valleys, You are always with us so we don’t need to be scared. We don’t need to be scared because God is real. God is good. And God is there for us beyond the limits of time. He watches over all of us, throughout every moment, every laugh and every tear. Glory to God forever and ever. Amen.

Thank You for the power of Your Holy Spirit that united so many people this weak in the midst of tragedy.  Lord, we don’t know why bad things happen but we do know that You will never forsake us and that the power of God will guide and strengthen us through whatever life throws at us.  Let the choices that we make in this life be an inspired reflection of the cause of Jesus Christ.  Helping those who cannot help themselves, giving without wanting anything in return, forgiving the unforgiveable and loving the unlovable.   And as we worship, may we truly worship You God, not for the accolades of praise, not so that others can hear or see how much we give, but instead as a means of saying thank You for loving us so much that You don’t see us for the mistakes and failures of the past but instead You see us as a new creation that has be redeemed through the intercession of Christ Jesus and His love.

We pray for blessings, peace and comfort. It is You, Lord, who came to save the hearts and souls of each everyone of us. So in the good times, when the sun is shining and all is well, then we can praise You for blessing us. But when the world turns its back on us, when friends betray us, when pain reminds us of our humanness give us the strength to still praise You because it is You, Lord, who knows each and every one of our weaknesses and it is You who are the source of our strength and the strength of our life. Let us praise You, Lord, by living this life. Living this life in the Joy that only comes from knowing Jesus Christ. Knowing that because He lives we too can live fully in the knowledge that sin and death have no hold on us. That we are all redeemed children of our Heavenly Creator, the One who loved us even before we were born. Lead us, Oh Lord, far away from temptation and wash away the mistakes that we made in the past so that we can be Your sanctuary in this world. So Lord, prepare Your sanctuary in our hearts and let our lives be the proof of God’s love for all people.

Thank You for the gift of another day. Thank You for the moments that we share as one body united in Christ. Thank you for the miracle of Your resurrection that melted away the chains of sin and death. Resurrect our love. Resurrect our faith in You. And resurrect the hope of the gospel in our lives. Surround us with Your healing and redeem us with Your Grace. Remind us that what we do to others we do to God. Let the Word of God speak to us today as it has to those who have gone before us so that the body of Christ here on earth will live on generations after we have taken our last breath. Guide us to help those whom we will never meet. Guide us to help those that we do not know. Guide us to help those that we do not like. Guide us to forgive others as we have been forgiven. So Lord, be the light unto our path and let us go out into this world and preach Your gospel of grace, mercy and forgiveness and only use words if necessary.

Help us to see the big picture. Beyond ourselves. To not just follow the crowds but to follow the One who showed us the endless love of God. Help us to praise You beyond the good times and through the bad times. You will never forsake us in our time of need. You rejoice in our happiness and Your heart breaks in our sorrows. We are not alone…You, Lord, are always with us and Your love knows no bounds. Look, it doesn’t matter where we are in this life because we’ve all messed up in someway or the other. We need to let these regrets go and give them to God. The past is not our legacy. Yesterday does not define who we are or who we are going to be. Because we are all redeemed children of God, we are all accepted, we are all loved, we are all forgiven for whatever we did or think we did. And just as this season changes from winter to spring You, Jesus, bring us new life and a new start. The promise that this life is not the end. In Christ there are no good byes, in Christ there is no end. Because of the sacrifice on that cross death has no hold on us. The battle is won, God is with us. Christ is risen, Christ is risen indeed. Hallelujah!!!

Thank You for the ability to live this life.  Thank You for each breath that we take.  Thank You for Your love, forgiveness and grace.   We welcome You as our King and Savior.  We also walk in the shadow of Your cross.   Lord God, strengthen our faith in You to go beyond the cheers of the crowd looking for an instant miracle.  For the crowd can be demanding and unpredictable. And the crowd is temporary and fleeting.  To build on the crowd is to build on a sinking foundation that cannot not support or sustain us.   Instead, let us build on the solid rock of Christ by living out our faith and not on empty words.  When the Hosanna’s fade and turn into words of hate, let us not be moved but instead let us hold on to the truth.  The truth that You, Lord Jesus, humbled Yourself to be like us, that You lived among us, that You loved us and that You died for us so that there would be no emptiness between us and the love of God. Lead us to the cross Lord, where Your love is and will always be…one scarred hand to the other.

Lord, who do we say You are?  You are our friend.  We ask that You would mend the brokenness of the world and of our hearts today by casting out the darkness with the light of Your never ending hope.   Who are we Lord?  We are the saints and sinners who live day by day in this life.  We are the ones who proclaim Your glory.  We are also the ones who choose convenience over the Ten Commandments.   We are the ones who need forgiveness, grace and mercy.  We are also the ones who judge and condemn each other.   Regardless of where we are today, we all need a Savior to lead us away from temptation.  We need You, Messiah, to deliver us from evil.  We need the hope that only the truth of the Gospel can bring us.  That no matter what we are all loved, cherished, forgiven and made new by the God of infinite chances.  The God who doesn’t see our mistakes in the past but who sees us made new and clean in His image.  Let Your presence be known in our lives Lord.  Let Your love be known.  Let Your grace and mercy be known here on earth as it is in heaven.   For the Kingdom, the power and the glory are Yours forever and ever.  Amen. 

Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.  Lord,  Thank You for Your grace that envelops all of us.  But grace isn’t about us.  It’s about You, Jesus, and what You did for us.   We have all found grace because of Your sacrifice but we have trouble showing it to others.  The truth is that none of us can escape Your grace because it is a gift that You continue to give us.  It has changed our lives because the burdens of sin and death have lost their hold on us so enlighten us so that we don’t bring others down for their mistakes.   Stop us from believing that our sins are not as bad as the sins of others.   Stop us from focusing on the rules of religion rather than an intimate relationship with God.   Stop us from pointing fingers at others for their mistakes according to our standards.   For everyone who exalts themselves will be humbled, but those who humble themselves will be exalted.  You were betrayed, persecuted and punished for all the wrong of this world.   So who do we betray when we persecute others?  What do we gain when we punish others for retribution?   Are our blinders so thick that we only see where people fail and we forget that we are all sinners?   Lord, illuminate this world with the light of Your truth so that we can give grace, mercy and forgiveness to all people just as You have given to us.