Author Archives: odes4hg

Write into the story of our lives as you wrote in the sand. The story of how much God loves His children that He gave us the gift of His Son, Jesus Christ, so that all would know just how important we are to the Creator. To give a gift is to give of something that we would want for ourselves. We all want to be loved so we should love others as You love us. We all want to be forgiven for our mistakes so we should forgive others as You have forgiven us. We each want mercy not judgment so remind us of the mercy that you give us everyday when we judge others. When we judge…why do we judge? We are all wonderfully and fearfully made in Your image yet we boast in casting words of stones on others who we say are unclean but have  You not washed away all of our sins and made us all clean?  Humble us Lord, when we think our authority is higher than Yours. Our commitment to the Word of God is revealed in what comes from our hands and not from our lips. How we treat others is only a reflection of how we view our relationship with You, Lord. So build our relationship with You and with each other clothed in the love of Jesus Christ. The One who put us above all things, including His own life, so that we could always have a second chance with God.

Lord, You put us above all things. Above all of the other infinite possibilities worthy of the Living God… You chose to take on all of our mistakes so that we could be free from any burden that would keep us from You. Love is defined in the person that is Jesus Christ. The One who the world rejected has brought the world it’s salvation. Lord, build Your kingdom here in this city and in our hearts with You as our foundation. Shield us from temptation, doubt or anything that would keep us away from You. Help us to stop closing our eyes to the needs of others. Teach us to love as You love us and strengthen us to forgive others as You have forgiven us. It all starts with You, Jesus, so lead the way through and beyond the brokenness of this world towards Your hope and Your grace. Wash away our sins and make us new. Hope built on the world will crumble as the world crumbles into dust but hope built on faith in Christ Jesus is unyielding and will endure beyond the limitations of time. That’s the cornerstone of our faith built on nothing else but our belief in the One who has and will always believe in us.

Lord, we come here today with good intentions.  We want to be better people, we want to know You more and we want to share Your love with those around us.  But there are things that get in the way.  Money, fame, people, success… are false idols and false friends.  Shatter these illusions and anything that we place higher than You.   These things cannot love us unconditionally, they cannot forgive us endlessly, and they cannot bring the hope of salvation that only comes from the sacrificial love of the one true God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob.  Even our mistakes, regrets, fears and short comings are not equal to You so put away the doubts that we have in Your possibilities for our lives and instead renew our faith in the One that we cannot see but who is always there… in and around us.  Restore the vision of Your people, O God, so that Your light and love shine bright.  You walk with us, Lord, You walk with us through the storms and valleys of this life whether we see You there or not.  Be our strength, our guide, and most of all our friend.

Words can be empty, so fill our words with Your Holy Spirit and call us to action. It’s so easy to turn the other way and hope that someone else will do the right thing. Well, we can do the right thing. We can love our neighbors as ourselves. We can stop believing that our sins are somehow less sinful than the sins of others. We can help those that cannot help themselves. We can make a difference. Heaven on earth is possible. Help us to work as one united body for the cause of Jesus Christ so that all people can willingly let go of the guilt, shame, and regrets of the past and instead cling onto the truth of grace, mercy and salvation in Jesus Christ. Let us be Your hands and feet in this world. Let us shine Your light of possibilities in this place that so easily forgets just how much God so loves this world and it’s people

Here we are Lord.  Here we are to worship and give thanks for all of the blessings that You share with us.  Sometimes people leave us and other times the world turns it’s back on us.  But You, God, are always there.   Protect our minds so that we can focus on our relationship with You.   Shield our hearts from the wicked and help us to trust in Your truth.   And lastly, anoint Your Word in our lives so that Your Holy Spirit can work through us and our lives can be a living testimony to others about what God can do in our lives.   Stop us from letting our will be done here on earth instead of Yours.  Give us the strength to live this life fully for the glory of the Lord. Remove the greed, selfishness and hate and restore us with Your love, compassion and forgiveness so that even when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death we will fear no evil because You walk with us now and forever.  Amen.

Almighty Creator, thank You for being the constant source of our strength and hope in good times and in the bad.  Some of us are scared.  We’re scared to talk to You and sometimes we allow our fears to overshadow our faith in You.  Calm our fears Lord.  We fear, we doubt and we question what you are capable of but helps us instead to trust in You.  To trust in Your possibilities and not our own.  Your victory walks with us even in the face of death and despair.  We are never alone.   So as we walk through the many dark valleys of this life, be our light, be our vision and be our friend. Help us to see things as You do because nothing is impossible with You God.

We thank You for the miracle of each breath that we take.  We thank You for being able to wake up this morning.  We thank You for Your grace and love that extend far beyond our understanding.  Thank for Your Truth and Your Word.  There are sometimes in life when we fall down and we feel like we don’t have the strength to get back up.  And we wonder what’s the point of trying.   Shelter us from the storms of this life.  Sometimes You calm the storms and other times You hold our hand and walk with us through the storms…either way You are always with us.  We need hope to keep on going.  Give us the strength to love living this life…to smile.  Nothing is impossible with You Lord, and we need Your possibilities in our lives.  The possibility to be a better person.  The possibility to love others as much as You love us.  The possibility to experience a miracle.  If we ever needed grace, it’s now.  We need Your grace to heal us from doubting what the Lord is capable of.  We need healing of the mind, body and spirit.  Healing from addiction to things that lead us away from You.  We need to trust in You.  Build our faith.  Because Your word declares that if God says something that it will not return void.  We call on Your salvation, favor and Your portion.  We call on You.   We call on Your faithfulness to Your people because we believe in the awesome power of God.

Creator God, hear our shouts of praises to You.  We thank You Lord for the gift of waking up this morning.  Waking up to this life.  Help us to truly live this life as You intended it Lord.  So many times we put life on hold and we miss so many moments and opportunities to experience and appreciate Your gift of time here on earth.   Instead we build up walls to hide our pain, our shame, and ourselves.   Tear down the walls of our fear.  Tear down the walls of our doubt.  Tear down the walls of our complacency.  Mend our broken hearts and build our faith in You so that we can pray by trusting in the One who first loved us. You, Lord, make all things possible.  Inspire us so that we can inspire others and this world to walk for the cause of Christ.

Almighty God, creator of time itself, we thank You for this past year and thank you for always being there for us in good times and bad times.   There were so many memories this year and so many things to be thankful for.  Thank You for the gift of time.  That is really all that we have here on earth and we squander it.  Help us in this coming year to live a life that is full of love and mercy to others.  Help us to slow down to enjoy the tender moments of this life.  Guide us so that we will be quick to listen and slow to speak so that our relationships with each other will be similar to the relationship that You have with us.  One that is full of never ending forgiveness, grace and love.  The same love that set us free from bondage to sin and death in the form of one small child that changed to world forever. To you alone be all the glory in each and everyone of our lives.  In the name of Your Son, Jesus Christ, we pray.  Amen.

Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior of the world surround us with Your grace. Bring peace to our hearts, bring peace to our minds, and bring peace to this world. Jesus, there is a void in this world that only You can fix. This world needs hope and rejuvenation. We need to be woken up from our complacency so that we can be driven to live a life committed to the cause of Christ. Help us to not get so caught up in materialism and the ways of this world that we forget just how blessed we are. We are all blessed because 2000 years ago You humbled Yourself to come down to this world as a fragile baby that would show the generations of the world just how much God loved each and every one them. We can celebrate Your birth, life, and resurrection every day of our life because You have triumphed over all. Sin and death have no hold on us because of You. That is the good news that we share with the world each and every day.