Author Archives: odes4hg

Lord, You gave us this life. You gave us Your love, forgiveness and grace. And You gave us this place called New Song. You bless our lives in so many ways by these gifts. Thank You Lord. Help us to bless others as You have blessed us. We thank You for inspiring those that led us into this faith. Their actions have affected our lives today. They have affected us because all of the different roads of our lives have led to this moment and place. Yes, our choices will affect our lives but our choices will also affect the lives of many. Many of whom we will never even know. So, let our choices pave the way for others to find Your truth. Let our choices make a difference beyond our lifetime. Let our grandchildren and great grandchildren know of Your love because of the legacy that we leave for them: the legacy of our faith and commitment to Jesus Christ. We live because You gave us this life. Help us to give back to Your vision for this world.

We are blessed.  Lord, we are blessed by You.  You are in the air that we breathe and You are in each moment that we get in this life.  Our lives are absolutely full of Your glory and Your goodness.  It’s just a revelation of Your truth that is constantly bombarding at us at every moment and from every angle.   Days vanish like smoke.  Seasons may change but You remain.  So let this be written into the story of our lives that a future generation of people not yet created will know of God’s love for them because of the actions that we make in this life.  You gave us life so we could live it.   You bless us so that we can bless others.  You forgive us so that we can forgive.  So let this light in our heart shine.  Let it shine beyond the limitations of this world and beyond the limitations of our lifetime so that all people can be led to You.  So when it’s all said done, and we stand before our Maker, we pray that this life was lived by loving others as much as God loves us.

Who are we God that You care so much for us?  Remind us.  Remind us just who You are.   We need You to write into the story of our lives.  The story of Your love.  The story of Your sacrifice.  The story of redemption, freedom, and the story of Your love.  See we can love because You first loved us.   So when the storms of life come at us with full force and darkness sneaks in, then it is You who will capture each tear that falls and it is You who will hear each cry.   You are here and You have always been here with us this entire time as our friend.  You carry us through the dark valleys, You lift us up, and You set us free to live because we are forever forgiven.  We have been crucified with Christ and resurrected with Him through the power of Your Holy Spirit.  You are for us and we are for You. See not one of us has ever seen You; but if we love one another, then God lives in us and His love is made complete…in us.

Lord, You seek us, You look for us, and You call out to us when we run away from our problems, our mistakes and our regrets. You reach out for us even when our backs are turned away from You because You know us and You love us as Your own special creation in Your image. We may make mistakes but we are not a mistake. We were created just as you intended. From the dawn of creation You said “Let there be.” So let there be light; the light of Christ that shines in our hearts. Let there be mercy and grace in every thing that we do. And let there be life…this one life to love as much as our hearts can bear so that all people can know that there is no shame or guilt before the One who first loved us.  Even before we were created in our mother’s womb You knew us and You loved us, You were there for us and You are here for us now and forever. Thank You Abba, for giving us life. Help us to live a life that’s worth living and to be a story that’s worth telling. In the name of Your Son we pray. Amen.

Lord, there is freedom in this place.  There is freedom in this life because Your life paid the ransom for our mistakes.  Because of Your sacrifice we have been freed from the mistakes of our past.  Because of Your resurrection, death has lost it’s sting.  You bring us new life in Christ so that we could know that this life is not the end.  We are free to love the way that you love us.  Free to give others the same forgiveness and mercy that You have given to us.  We are free to live.  But we need Your help.  Help us to be a reflection of You in all that we do so that others can see You in our actions and know that You are the God that makes all things new. Help us to go beyond the label of Christianity and instead live our lives fully committed to a relationship with Jesus Christ, our Messiah, our Redeemer, and our friend.

Empty us Lord.  Empty us of foolishness, pride, and vanity and then fill us with You.  You are God.  We are not.  When we help others, stop us from seeking the applause from the crowd or wanting to be the one seen at the center of the spotlight.  And when we do well, then remind us that we are in no way above anyone else because we are all equal in the eyes of our Creator.

The hardest part of love is letting go.  Letting go of those we love so that they can live their life and learn from their successes and their mistakes.   Help us to understand that what we want for someone else may not be what they would want for themselves because true love is allowing those that we love to make their own choices.  We try to control this life, our lives, and those around us but here’s the thing.  We are not in control.

You know us, You know what we have done, and You know what we will do…and yet You still love us.  You still forgive us.  You still accept us into Your loving arms of grace and mercy.  Let that be the model for our lives. Father, help us to be more like You.  To love more like You and to forgive like You.  Cleans us from our sinful ways and make us new in Your image.

Humble us Lord, because there are times when we think that we are equal to You.  There are times when we think that we can control the outcomes of this life and those around us.   Sometimes, we are foolish enough to think that things won’t change, that those we love will always be there and so we waste time away from those that we should be sharing our lives with.   Humble us, when we believe that our sins are less sinful than the sins of others.  Sometimes, life seems hopeless and it feels like our lives are just spinning out of control, out of our control.  And it is out of our control.  See, we can try to control our lives and play God but at the end of the day we will all make mistakes and we’re going to need You to take away the heaviness of the guilt of our mistakes.   So if we’re not the one writing the story of this life and we place our lives in the hands of the Creator, the one who made us, the one who has a plan for each and everyone of us…then and only then is when something special happens, it’s when our lives become a story worth sharing.

Your grace and truth sets us free from all that went wrong since the beginning of time.   Your forgiveness take our emotional baggage away.  It carries away the baggage of our regrets and our disappointments.   But when others hurt us, then just how many times are we supposed to forgive them?  You tell us to forgive more than we can count.   But our anger and our pride hits us in the face as the world tells us that it’s okay…that it’s okay to hold a grudge…that it’s okay to be angry, until our last breath, at those who have wronged us.  Whatever we don’t allow here on earth will not be allowed for us in heaven.  So if we don’t forgive those who have hurt us then how can we expect You to forgive us in heaven?  Show us God.  Show us how to love those that are so hard to love.  Teach us how to reach those that we don’t want to reach.   Impossible is not part of Your vocabulary so let it not be a part of ours.  As long as we can breathe then we can still be Your light here on earth that points others to the never ending love and grace of Jesus Christ.  Love can cover a multitude of wrongs.  So let’s love more like the one who first loved us.