Category Archives: Conversations with God

Artwork created by Ruth Devlin at New Song Church

Heavenly Father, Almighty God, Great Redeemer and Friend we thank You for the gift that is our lives.  Each breath and each moment is a gift from heaven that allows us to live fully in the love of Jehovah Jireh who provides beyond the limitations of this world.  This world is not our home for we have been promised a place in eternity:  A place where we will be forever in the presence of God.  But Lord, open our eyes in this life to know that You are always with us even in the darkness of this world.   Help us to see how we can live as Christ lived when we see our brothers or sisters in need.  Help us to not be so quick to dismiss the needs of Your people because how we treat each other is how we treat the Lord.  Give us wisdom, strength, and patience as we journey this life towards an even deeper relationship with our Creator.  In Your name we pray.  Amen.

Artwork from New Song Church

Lord God, You are the source of every blessing in our lives.  You bless us each time that we breathe and each morning when we wake up.   We ask that You clear away anything that would take us away from You.  Give us the wisdom to stop worshiping things that are just not worth it because those things are not God.   Stop us from performing and give us the courage to just be real: To be real with others as You are with us.   Tune our hearts to the newness of Your love each day so that we can stop focusing on the negative and instead focus on something great: The greatness of Your love, grace and mercy.   Help us to look past the smiles today so that we can see the needs of our brothers and sisters in this very room and in our lives.   Be the God of our hearts and minds because You alone are able to accomplish the impossible.  Worshipping You, Lord, is more than just a song, it’s more than just the right words, and it’s more than just one hour on Sunday.  It is a way of life.   Help us to make time for You so that we can just be still and know that You are everything that You say You are.

New Song Church in Anthem (Henderson, NV)

Lord God, we come hear today hungry for Your Word.  We live in a world that is in such desperate need of the good news of Your love, justice and grace.   And even though we cannot see You, send Your Holy Spirit to wash away the sharp edges of our hearts.  You stand by us in our failures and carry the cross that we could never carry ourselves so that we can move forward into Your future as vehicles of God’s compassion.  Expand our souls to experience and receive Your abundance of love and mercy that comes unconditionally and undyingly to every human being no matter what they’ve done.   Get rid of anything that is toxic or leads us away from Your truth.   Empty us of our ego so that we can trust and depend on Christ alone. When there is nothing, God will always provide.  Lord, help us to make “Thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven” more than just a prayer.   Turn it into the reality that we live so that all people can experience Your presence.

Three crosses in the front of New Song Church in Henderson

Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, No scholar could even grasp a second of understanding Your eternity yet You humbled Yourself and came down to earth so that we could know Love because You refused to exclude anyone from experiencing Your grace.    You are the example of truth and You show us how love works.  You teach us that no one is outside of salvation and that even the worst sinner can be redeemed.  Help us to believe in the reality of Christ so that we can show the world who You are through our lives.  Restore Christ church to what You meant it to be: One body united in the Word of God.   “And when the world throws our mistakes at our face, let us know that wherever Jesus is we shall be also.”  (Martin Luther).  So Lord, stop us from sinning because “sinning is the refusal to grow” (St. Gregory of Nyssa) and instead help us to grow from everything, even our mistakes and failures.  Fix our gaze upon You so that our hearts can change as we walk through the doorway of the gospel and enter into Your presence, sanctified and sustained by the Love of God.  God be with us.  Amen.

Art work from Mosaic Church in Miami Florida

Lord God, we come into this place and ask that You lead us into Your presence so that we can experience all that is You.   Filter away anything that would prevent us from seeing or hearing what You need us to see and hear.  Our first purpose is to worship You, Lord, so let’s go beyond all of the right words and focus on right relationship with God and worshiping God with everything that is within us.  Breathe Your Loving Spirit into our troubled trembling hearts and let the love of God pierce through whatever blocks our vision so that we can see past the strangers that are in this room and instead see our brothers and sisters and treat them in the same way that we should treat you.  Break down the walls of our fear: The fear that we misspent time or the fear of things that have not even happened yet.  We need help beyond what we can do so that we can love others as You love us.  We need to turn away from sin and turn to You because You allow us to be free and You allow us to live Your dream for our lives with our eyes wide open.  So Lord, help us to be a blessing to each other and to You and let’s start by letting go of our crowns before the King of kings and just be lost in the wonder of the mystery that is the Father, the Son and Holy Spirit.

Mural from Mosaic Church in Miami, Florida.

Loving and merciful God, we bring You thanks and praise for blessing us with this day because it is just so good to be in the house of the Lord one more time.   So as we take our seats today in Your house, we pray that we take the time to really know You, Your Word and to really know our sisters and brothers starting right here and right now.   Make us aware of the needs of those around us by clothing us in a holy way of life full of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.  Wake us up with Your wisdom so that we can break down the conventions of this world and build up our relationship with You and with each other.  You freed your people Israel from Pharaoh and you can/will do it again and again.  You set us free with Your amazing grace and Your never ending love so that we don’t ever have to carry the weight of the world with just our two hands because You have taken on our burdens with Your sacrifice on the cross.  Get in here Jesus.  Get in our minds, hearts and lives so that everyone will know that God is always with them and that we can go to the altar, to the table of love and affirmation: A place where we can leave all of our baggage and receive the promise of everlasting life.    And even though we fail and stumble, time and time again, it is God’s Grace alone that always catches us.  To God be all the glory.  Amen.

Artwork from Mosaic Church in Miami, Florida

Lord, change the atmosphere of our lives because we focus on too much of what we need from You that we forget to listen to Your word and hear what You ask of us.  Wake us up from the stagnant rigidity of complacency so that we can wrap our minds around Your truth and begin a transformation in our lives.  Dim down the lies of the empty voices of the world and turn up the volume of God’s truth for all because we forget what we can do for our neighbors.  We forget that there are people right next to us, in this very room, who can benefit from our praise and worship to God.  We forget that others can benefit from a smile, a prayer, or a helping hand.   Help us to bring church outside of these walls, outside of this one-day of the week, and outside of this one hour.  Don’t let us sleep through Your presence.  Don’t let us be too busy for You because this neighborhood should be better because we are here.  People struggling with addiction should find courage and strength because we are here.  The sick and the dying should find comfort because we are here.  The broken hearted should find hope because we are here for them.  We are here because we serve a Living God who looks beyond our imperfections and sees us in His possibility, living in His miracle, and receiving His salvation. Lord, give us the wisdom to grasp the reality that when we leave this life “we will finally meet our brothers and sisters, not in our agreements or disagreements, but at the foot of the cross where God is faithful, where Jesus is present with us and where, with the power of the Holy Spirit, we are One in Christ.”  (Bishop Hanson, 2009)

Eternal God, we thank you for this day and we bless You, Lord, for being exactly who You are.  We bless You for being our Savior, Redeemer and Friend because You give us what we need and not necessarily what we want.  And what we need is You, we need You to simplify the complexity of this world into the beautiful simplicity of Your truth.  The truth that says all people are loved and redeemed by God.   So change the atmosphere around us with Your Holy Spirit and bring joy back into our lives.  Bring joy back into our relationships and our jobs…bring joy back into our words and actions so that we can experience You as never before.  See, no one can take away what we have experienced.  So let us experience the Deliverer, the Provider, and the Comforter.  Let us experience Grace and the God who is the friend of sinners.   Let us experience Your dream for us to live a life full and rich in the love of Christ so that we break the cycle of doing bad things.  Be our vision so that we can stop being just spectators of other peoples battles and instead we can be advocates for the human family of God. So what can we give to Eternity?  We can give a life lived in Your Holy Word.  We can love as we are loved.  We can seek justice for those who the world hates.  We can forgive as we have been forgiven.   And when the world tells us to quit, that we’ve done enough, remind us that it is always to soon to quit.  The message of God’s love needs to be heard and heard and heard again.  And we need to tell it to as many people so that no one misses the opportunity to hear the good news that they are loved.

Holy One, we come here today with all of our flaws, embarrassments and hang ups.  We come disconnected from a world obsessed with consumption and anonymity.   Let Your love break through the empty void of our lives so that You can reside in our hearts.  Heaven hear us now and lead us back to life.  Center our minds so that we can step into the story of scripture: the story of You, our Heavenly Father, and the unfathomable richness of Your love for us.  Speak to us beyond the sacred page so that we can apply Your truth in our lives: the truth that we are all loved so that we can love and the truth that we are all forgiven so that we can also forgive.  And even when we are buried under the mountains of our mistakes and regrets: Grace happens. Grace happened in a baby born in Bethlehem and grace happens in the kindness from one child of God to another. Lord, stir us away from temptation so that we can love as we are loved and let the love of Christ be the rich soil where our lives take root. So Lord, when the world abandons us help us to remember that we do not live on bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.  (Deuteronomy 8:3).