Author Archives: odes4hg

Relationships are what life is about so help us to start relating to You and with each other and to relate to what Your Son did for us.  Look, it doesn’t matter where we are in this life because we’ve all messed up in someway or the other. We all have regrets, doubts, shame and broken hearts and faded dreams. We need to let these things go and release them to You. The past is not our legacy or our destiny. Yesterday does not define who we are or who we are going to be. Because we are all 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 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. We will see our Heavenly Father face to face because of His Son’s sacrifice on that cross. Death has no hold on us. The battle is won, God is with us. To Christ be all the glory and honor. Amen.

Help us to see the big picture. Beyond ourselves. To not just follow the crowds of cheers and adorations or the jeers and the taunting….but to follow the One who showed us the endless love of God the Father. Help us to praise You beyond the good times and through the bad times. It is so easy to give in to the ways of this world. Open up our eyes and hearts so that we can know that You will never forsake us in our time of need. Your heart rejoices in our happiness and Your heart breaks in our sorrows. We are not alone…God is always with us and on our side and His love knows no bounds. So help us to not forget the love that You share with us and with others. In Christ name we pray. Amen.

You said “It is finished.” Is it really finished? Were we really worth the life of Your Son? Were we really worth the pain and the agony? The answer is yes. So take away the doubt. There is no doubt that we are loved by God, the Father because we were worth dying for. You were pierced for our transgressions and our iniquities. By Your wounds we are healed. By Your death and resurrection we are set free from the lies of this world. By Your words we know that this life is not the end. So instead of running, running away from our problems, running away from this life help us to run to You and to our future with You letting go of the past. Letting go of the mistakes. Because You already have. Forgiveness and healing starts with the one who first loved us. So help us to cling onto your forgiveness and to cling onto Your love and never letting go so that we can forgive ourselves and others. Help us to be more like You.

Lord, guide us so that we don’t hurt people with our words. Stop us from lying and bearing false witness. Because in doing so we miss the opportunity to spread Your word. We admit that we are sometimes less than honest to our neighbor. We don’t like confrontation or a disagreement. We want to be liked. And so we might stretch the truth beyond the breaking point. Forgive us, Lord, when we testify falsely in our lives. Help us to be someone who speaks and lives truthfully. We want to reflect Your character in all that we do and say by being truthful. Help us to spread Your truth and shine Your light of grace with our words and actions. All praise be to You, God of truth! Amen.

Lord, we’re not perfect. On the outside we may appear to be but on the inside there are so many things. There are a lot of burdens in this room. We bring those burdens to You. The burdens of mistakes, regrets, hurt, hate and the heaviness of a broken heart. Help us to let go of these things of the past so that we can move forward to our future with You. Help us to bear and share each others’ burdens and fulfill Your word that “whatever we have learned or received or heard from Christ, or seen in Christ – put it into practice.“ We need to be more like You. We need to love unconditionally. We need to forgive endlessly. And we need to share the love of God to all people regardless of our differences. It is so easy to divide but You remind us that we are all united as children of God and we need to live as such. Use us Lord, use us this week to share Your love and good news. Until we meet again.

“Death, where is Your sting? And Hell where is Your Victory?” Because we have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer we who live, but Christ who lives in us; and the life, which we now live in… we live by faith in the Son of God, who loved us first and gave Himself for us so that we could be saved. This is the victory that has overcome the world— our faith. It is through our faith in Christ, that we know that we are not alone. It is through our faith that even in the darkest hours of this life, we have a God that will not let us go. It is through our faith that we have hope. So thank You for the Victory that You share with us. Thank You for the love that You give to us. And thank You for this gift of life. May we live this life knowing that God is always on our side and that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.

Yes, we did not see Your miracles during Your time on earth, we did not see the nails pierce through Your body, we did not see You crucified on that Cross, we did not see the empty tomb or see Your Spirit ascend to Heaven. But over two thousand years have passed and look at what Your life, death and resurrection have done to this world. You have changed generations and nations through the power of the Gospel. The debt has been paid and we are freed from our bondage to sin and death. Yet we rely too much on what we can see. We see this world and all that is wrong…we see the problems. Help us to not fall into the trap of dragging through life with no joy, no enthusiasm, thinking nothing good is happening. We need to believe that right now God is working in our lives, that right now God is arranging things in our favor, that right now God is fighting our battles. We need to know that even in the darkest times of this life, that we are always blessed by the One who first loved us. Just because we don’t always see You with our eyes doesn’t mean that You aren’t working in our lives. Help us to trust in You and to grow our faith in Christ.