Author Archives: odes4hg

Heavenly Father, You sent Your only Son to this World, not to condemn this world or to condemn people for their mistakes…You sent Your son to save them. Let this place be as Your kingdom is in heaven. No matter how old or young we are, as long as each of us still has breath in our lungs, then we still have much work to do for the Kingdom of God. If we can still speak words, then we can still minister His love to all people. If we can still move, then we can reflect His grace in every step that we take in this life. If we still sin and ask for His forgiveness and mercy, then we can surely forgive others and be merciful. Because we are loved by the Almighty Creator as a creation in His image then we too can love all people as He loves us. Yes, we are different in many ways from one another but Christ died for all of us so that we can see just what real love is. See, we can argue about doctrine but we cannot refute the commonality of God’s people and His relationship with us. So to God be all the glory in our actions, words, and thoughts. Amen.

Lord God Almighty, You are, You Were and You will always be Yahweh, Jehovah…the One who gives and takes away. Thank You for the gift of this life, and this thing called time. Father, we want the problems in our lives to fade away, some of us are just burnt out with the pressures of life, and it’s so easy to look away from seeing You in our lives. Yet, even when we feel that there is no one there to hold us through the fears and pains. You are, You Were and You will always be there for us through every doubt, every fear, and every road that we take. You see our tears. You hear our cries. We’re sorry for our doubts in You and in ourselves. Help us to see each other as You see us. A perfect creation in Your image, a child of God, someone worth dying for. You live, You love and You are always with us through the good and especially the bad times. Help us see that…

Time is nothing in Your eyes, and a single day is like a thousand years. The children in our lives today will be parents and grandparents tomorrow and the time that we spend with them today is everything for our future. Children don’t go to wars, children don’t condemn, and children don’t hate. They learn that from us. What is the example that we leave for the next generation? Do we condemn or do we encourage? Do we judge or do we forgive? Do we love or do we look away? In the evening of this life, we shall come before You with empty hands, for we don’t ask You, Lord, to count our works but instead we ask that You work through and in our lives so that everyone can know that You are God, You are love and that You are truth.  Help us to always remember what You gave us. You gave us Your love, Your forgiveness and Your Grace.

Father, beyond the smiles and polite conversations that we see each day there are those who need healing. Healing of the mind. Healing of a broken heart. Healing from fear and doubt. Healing from loss. Healing from disease. Father, heal us today. Some of us feel that the problems in our lives weigh us down or that our mistakes and shame stop us from experiencing grace, forgiveness and love. And some of us have put our fear above God. We need to stop doubting just what our God is capable of. Bring us back to when we first believed and heal our faith in You, the one who sacrificed His only Son so that we could have a way to know the love of God. The love of God that proves that we are all more than just flesh and bone. We are more than wondering souls. We are all someone worth dying for on that cross at Calvary.

Open up our minds to receive Your word and purpose for our lives. Lord, the devil and the ways of this world throw temptation at us and remind us of our failures. They try to convince us that we are not worthy of success, happiness or love. But here’s the thing, yes we are not worthy…but God’s grace, love and forgiveness are simply given to us as a gift. A gift that was paid for by one man’s life so that everyone could know just how much they mean to the Heavenly Father. See we are worth dying for. Our lives have a purpose. That purpose is to break down the walls of hate and injustice and to give witness to the never ending love of God, who does not see us for our mistakes, does not condemn us for the past, does not judge us for our failures. He lifts us up onto new possibilities that surpass anything the world has to offer. Whatever our situation, whether we know it or not, God is always there. So let’s not give up hope. Let’s give thanks to God the Father for His amazing love and His amazing Grace.

You let go of the mistakes that we’ve made. You make all things new in Christ Jesus. Help us to forgive like You. Forgive us when we think that our sins are cleaner or less sinful than others. Sin is sin, and we all need forgiveness and we all need to forgive. We cannot follow Jesus Christ if we are holding on to our mistakes or the mistakes of others. Help us follow You by following the example of Your life here on earth. The word made flesh, sent to earth not to condemn the world but to save it. So let us not condemn anyone but instead let us help lead all people towards the salvation that only Christ can bring.

Okay, we can easily just come to church and say the right words and be out in an hour. But why are we here? What do we do when we are outside of these walls? Do our lives truly reflect the love and forgiveness of God? See, there must be more to faith that saying the right words. Looking like we care about our faith is not as important as living our faith each day, each moment… Our actions can either bring people closer to God or it can push them away. So Lord, let us see beyond ourselves so that we can be Your instruments. Your instruments of love, forgiveness and mercy just as Jesus was the one to show us just how much and how deeply You love us. We cannot take our faith lightly. Help us to live a life that glorifies the awesome love of God in all that we do.

Lord, I don’t know why it’s so easy to forget that we are continuously blessed by God. We forget that time is a gift in itself and we don’t always use it wisely. We complain, we want for more than what we have, we see situations within the confines of “human” time rather than God’s time. Outsiders see only what we’re against and not what we’re for.  Each moment in our lives is just another chance to reflect the love of Jesus…to reflect His forgiveness, His mercy, and His grace. You came to this earth not to be served but to serve. So let’s serve You and Your people with a humble heart, an open heart, and a grateful heart.  Lord, open up our minds so that we  can be better followers of You.