Cross at Community Lutheran Church, Las Vegas NV
Lord, we come into Your presence today with all of the joys and sorrows that come with this life. Open our hearts so that we can talk with You about the intimate feelings of our heart. Let the prayers and questions that need to be said rise up to You like incense. Silence the whispers of ego and self-righteousness. Help us to forgive what needs to be forgiven and to let go of whatever holds us back from receiving and reflecting Your love. Give us the faith to know that You will “restore what is broken and change it into something amazing” (Joel 2:25)
“Faith is not believing in (our) own unshakable belief. Faith is believing in an unshakable God when everything in (us) trembles and quakes” (Beth Moore). There are no easy answers in this life but there is a God who will not forsake us. There is the Word of God that will not return void. And there is the love of God that knows no end. So Lord, give us the wisdom to be able to preach the gospel with our life and not our lips.
Tags: Beth Moore, bible, Christian, Church, ELCA, Jesus Christ, Joel 2:25, lutheran, Prayer, Son of God
Poster at VerveLV
“Because You turn Your ear to us, we will call on You for as long as we live.” (Psalms 116:2) You alone can see into the window of our minds and understand the snapshots of our life. You see the joys and the fears, along with all of the victories and the losses. “Though our feelings come and go. God’s love for us does not.” (CS Lewis) So when everything we know falls down to the ground, let us remember the hand that will pull us back into the possibilities that God has planned for all of us.
In a world gridlocked with fear and confusion “we need to be brave with our stories so that other people can be brave with theirs.” (Katherine Center) Reveal to us just how much of an impact our lives are to others. Because “now is the chance to choose the right side. (For You, Lord,) give us that chance…(but) we must take it.” (C.S. Lewis)
Tags: bible, C.S. Lewis, Christ, Christian, Church, ELCA, Jesus, Katherine Center, lutheran, Prayer, Psalms, Son of God
My friend’s car decal
“Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations,” (Psalm 90:1) show us how to break the habit of the typical because it’s easy for us to hide from the things that we can make a difference in. It’s hard to trust what we don’t understand. It’s easy to run from obstacles than to face them. And it’s challenging to stand up for our faith in a world that doesn’t believe.
But “we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us” (Phillipians 4:13) because “our mission isn’t to compete, but to complete” (Tony Gaskin) the purpose that God has destined for us. So let us not do what we think we should do, but let us do what we have to do in order to truly love our neighbor as ourselves. “Let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth” (1 John 3:18) for “if we continue in God’s word, we are truly God’s disciples; and we will know the truth, and the truth will make us free.” (John 8: 31-32)
Tags: 1 John 3:18, bible, Christian, Church, ELCA, Jesus Christ, John 8: 31-32, lutheran, Phillipians 4:13, Prayer, Psalm 90:1, Son of God, Tony Gaskin
St. James Lutheran Church in Crystal Minnesota
Lord, every good gift comes from You. “Direct our footsteps according to Your word, and let no sin rule over us.” (Psalm 119: 133) Push us out into the world of the living and push life back into us. Let our faith be bigger than our fears, so that we can represent You and glorify You in all that we do, because we only get this one life to make a difference.
Because of You, we are strong enough to carry each other through the long twisted turns of life. So take our faith to another level. A level of doing, and not just empty words, because what we allow is what will continue but “where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom” (2 Corinthians 3:17) to do all that God has planned for us.
“In the blink of an eye everything can change…Life is short” (Zig Ziglar) so let us truly live it. Because “when we leave this earth, we can take with us nothing that we have received (and) only (carry) what we have given: (so let us continue to give) a heart enriched by honest service, love, sacrifice and courage.” (St. Francis of Assisi)
Tags: 2 Corinthians 3:17, bible, Christian, ELCA, God, Jesus Christ, lutheran, Prayer, Psalm 119: 133, St. Francis of Assisi, Zig Ziglar
Church hallway that I did in charcoal
Jehovah Jireh, our provider, let the walls around our hearts come tumbling down so that we won’t be afraid to love as radically and inclusively as You do. Remove the things that don’t deserve time and space in our lives for “life is too short to argue and fight with the past.” (Steve Aitchison).
Send a message to us and to the world that “love is not what we say; love is what we do” (John Hagee) and how we treat others is how we treat the Lord. So let us be united in one voice and one body for “it is in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for.” (Ephesians 1:11)
“You alone know the plans that You have for us” (Jeremiah 29:11) so write your truth into our lives and remove anything that would darken the light within us. We only get this one life to be kind, compassionate and merciful. Let’s not waste it.
Tags: bible, Christ, Church, Ephesians 1:11, Jehovah Jireh, Jeremiah 29:11, Jesus, John Hagee, Prayer, Steve Aitchison, the story
All Saints Episcopal, Las Vegas, NV
Lord of all, calm our hearts and minds. Don’t let us doubt You, and don’t let fear rule or feed our thoughts. Interrupt our lives, when we forget the miracle of each breath that You give us, so that we can face these obstacles and not cower or retreat back into the false security of what once was.
Let us let go of our egos and move forward, by faith, into the promise of God so that we can feed the hungry, heal the sick, and be as one body united by the unwavering love of our Creator.
Because of You, our story has been rewritten. So let us dare to know You, to be more like You, to be quick to forgive and slow to anger. Don’t let our own insecurities inhibit ourselves from ministering God’s grace and doing what is right in the eyes of God. We may not “understand the mystery of grace…but grace meets us where we are and does not leave us where it found us.” (Anne Lamott).
Tags: Anne Lamott, bible, Christ, Christian, Church, ELCA, forgiveness, God, grace, Jesus, Prayer
Thank You for awakening us in to a new day that we have never seen. Surrounded by chaos, we enter into Your presence with praise as You enter our circumstances with the power of hope. Remind us, that no matter what pit we have dug ourselves into or that others have left us in, that the love of God is deeper still and envelops us throughout the good days and the bad. For “the will of God will not take us where the grace of God cannot sustain us. “ (Billy Graham) And not matter where we are, “we can never go where God is not.” (Toby Mac)
Through our faith we have a purpose, and because of Jesus Christ we have been appointed to stand by others as God stands by us. So let our words and actions not harm each other. Let our prayers and thoughts uplift one another to build God’s kingdom here on earth, as it is in heaven, so that every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, friend and advocate for all of us.
Tags: as it is in heaven, bible, billy graham, Christian, Church, ELCA, Gospel, Jesus Christ, kingdom of god, Prayer, toby mac
Bridge in Minnesota
Loving God, we come into Your presence seeking a revelation of something greater than ourselves. Give us the wisdom to read, hear and receive Your Word so that we can see our part in Your story: the story of a people that cannot make it on their own and the story of the indestructible love of God.
And “when we feel like we are not good enough to be loved by God, we should remember that God’s love is greater than our doubts. So silence the sounds of condemnation so that we can hear the voice of God, the voice of Grace and the voice of truth. (1 John 3 – The Voice Bible )
Open our eyes to the blessings that we didn’t see before. Help us to recognize the lessons that need to be learned. Illuminate the light of Christ, in all of us, so that we can see that we are all sinners in need of the same forgiveness, grace and love given to all of us at the foot of the cross and the empty tomb.
Tags: 1 John 3, bible, Christ, Christian, Church, ELCA, forgiveness, grace, Jesus, lutheran, Prayer, Revelation, The Voice Bible, voice of truth
Bridge in Minneapolis, MN
Almighty Creator, breathe new life onto us. Wash away the ugliness of sin and make a message out of our messes. Let the glory of the Lord walk through us, minister to us and speak to us now by breaking down the walls that cause us to be strangers to each other.
Give us the courage to reach across the room, the street, or whatever stands before us, so that we won’t miss an opportunity to bring people closer to the gospel by letting Your light shine brighter than anything else in our life. Let people see You in us.
Prepare us for the mountains and valleys. Nurture us as we grow in faith. And remind us that no matter where we go that God goes with us always.
Tags: bible, Christian, Church, courage, ELCA, God, Gospel, grace, message, Prayer, Religious, Spiritual
Jehovah Jireh, You are the God that provides. The One who sees what we can’t see. You see our heart and who we really are. Although Your footprints are no longer on this earth, the imprint of everything that You stand for lives on in all of us.
Talk to us Lord. Speak to us now and reset our minds so that we can see glimpses of heaven and know the eternal truth of grace: that even as time slips away we will always be in the presence of our Creator. We will always be in the presence of love. We will always be in the presence of mercy and grace.
Lord, don’t let us miss this life and don’t let us work against You. Restore our faith so that we can see that there can be miracles, the miracles of friendship, love, kindness and compassion, which are all just reflections of the love and sacrifice shown to us on the cross.
Tags: bible, Christ, Christian, Church, Gospel, grace, heaven, jehovah nissi, Jesus, miracles, Prayer, Spiritual
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