Artwork in front of North Central University in Minnesota
Lord of all hopefulness and joy, You are the One with the strength that we need. You are the One that brings us hope from this broken world. We need Your strength to keep journeying on in this life in the only direction that we can…the direction that leads us back to You.
Your word changes everything that it touches. It brings us into the experience that is the Gospel. It connects us with the Living God because not even one word of God will fall short of it’s eternal truth. So let Your glory break down the mountains that we face by healing Your church. Remind us that we are not defined by our circumstances but we are redefined by our salvation in Christ as a child of God.
Lord reveal Your truth to us each moment of our lives so that when all the odds are stacked against us, then we can have the faith to accomplish things that we never thought we could. Let us move these mountains together, let us soar on wings like eagles and let us live this life by not letting it pass us by.
Lord, remove whatever keeps us from You. Calm our thoughts and focus all of our attention on You. Remind us that the hand that guides the planets also guides us.
You have wisdom that we don’t have, so guide us through the rocky terrain of life by illuminating the path that we need to take. And when uncertainty and doubt creep into our minds, reveal the strength of Your love in the truth of Jesus Christ, who is the point of impact when heaven collided with earth because God chose to meet us.
Don’t let us forget who You are. Don’t let us forget that because of Jesus Christ there is no dream that is impossible with God and that no prayer ever goes unheard. Don’t let us forget that there is always hope. There is always love. There is always the truth that sets us free from anything in this world. The truth that God love us all.
Lord God, make Your presence known to us. Calm the storms around us and anchor us in Your word so that we can experience You, respond to You, and grow our faith in Your truth.
Sometimes, when we look at the mirror, we forget that we were created by love to be loved. So turn our gaze off of ourselves and fix our sights on the truth that a perfect God would wrap Himself in our own imperfect skin and become the visible image of an invisible God. It is through Christ, that God leads us away from despair and carries away our burdens of disappointment.
“Because You, Lord, are our help. We sing in the shadow of Your wings. Our soul clings to You; You lift us up” Psalm 63.7
Lord, help us to keep on learning about You everyday. Show us glimpses of what love is so that we can love others with the same abandon as You love us. Thank You for life. Thank You for love. Thank You for being everything that You are.
You are the voice of the truth that we need to listen to. You have always been speaking to us but we so often fail to hear. Lord, focus our minds away from the chaos that surrounds us by giving us peace and the strength to stand firm upon Your Word.
Print Your truth onto our hearts. Call something out of us that wasn’t there before by engaging our imaginations, beyond the limitations of this world, so that we can believe in miracles again…so that we can dream again…so that we can just fully experience the presence of Living God.
Awaken us now, so that we can collide with grace, mercy and love. Speak to us so we can speak. Teach us so we can teach that heaven is real because God’s love is real and alive in all of us. For “there is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male or female, for we are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:28 NIV) Amen.
Lord of all creation, space and time, we thank You for the gift of each breath that we take. We pray that You will usher us into Your presence today by taking our gaze off of ourselves and fixing all of our focus on to the living Word of God.
Grab hold of us and let Your truth pour out into our hearts so that we can receive everything that You have to give. And even when taking one step forward seems too far away, we pray that You would just give us the strength to just get through the awkwardness of trusting You, so that we can believe in the miracles of grace, healing, love and forgiveness.
Give us the strength to face our fears knowing that God is in our side and that God’s love has already won the battle. Reveal to us that despair is not our destination because we never ever have to face these mountains alone.
Through Your Son, Jesus, we can face the cross and experience the presence of the Living God now, today and forever. For as long as there are people who need healing of the heart, mind, body and spirit, then we can all serve the Lord. We can serve the Lord by serving all of God’s children with the same love that served us on the cross.
Original Oil Painting commissioned by New Song Church
Eternal One, we are here because we need You. We need Your strength and we need Your wisdom to rush into our lives right now. Don’t hold back, because we need You to reignite our faith so that we can get out of our head and get back into living in the here and now.
Etch Your truth into our hearts today so that we can boldly speak the Word of God and not miss out on this life. Give us patience, Lord. Give us the patience to wait for You because “those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall soar on wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and never faint.” (Isaiah 40:31 TVB)
The gospel truth is that Jesus, the cross, and the resurrection all liberate us from a decaying world. And even though we can’t see or hear You, Lord, our faith tells us that You are here. You have always been right here. And even when our own hearts abandon us, You take away our burdens so that we can just lean on You and depend on You. So we wait…we wait through our joys and our sorrows. We wait through the darkness for the sun to rise. We wait and we pray for Your miracles to move the mountains and obstacles in our way. We wait for You.
Several years ago my best friends mom made these origami for me. She is no longer with us and I can now return these gifts to my best friend for her wedding.
Loving Creator, You gave each of us a mother that gave us life. No matter what, we must honor our parents by loving them as You, our Heavenly Father, love us. We can lift them up instead of bringing them down. We can be thankful for their contribution to our lives instead of forgetting them. We can also forgive them as we have been forgiven. Each of us has the opportunity to reflect God’s love to all people. So let’s love those that gave us life and give thanks to those who have nurtured, cared for, and taught us even if we were not their children. Let’s watch over every mother who is currently with child. And let us help strengthen their faith and the faith of those around them in the truth of Jesus Christ. And for the child that yearns for a mother that is not there, we pray that the church will rise up for those that cannot help themselves. And for those who grieve for a mother that has left this world, we ask that You keep the memories of love, family and honor ever etched into the memories of their children so that the love of God, that dwells in all of us, will always connect us and bind us together from generation to generation until the end of time. Thank You, Lord, for the gift of life and for the gift of those who raised us. As we honor them, we honor You. To God be the glory.
This was my twist on the popular love song “Bless the Broken Road” by Rascal Flatts that I did at church for Valentines Day weekend as a way to say thank you to Jesus for always being my side through all of the ups and downs of my life.
I believe that everything that we experience, good and bad, simply leads us to His truth for our lives which includes all of the ups and downs and everything else in between. And as I get older, I can see that all of those times, places and people that maybe were not the most pleasant to experience, were merely preparing me to help find my way back to Him. And because of Him, I can forgive others as I have been forgiven because that burden is finally freed from my shoulder, so that I can really live this life in the way that He would want me to live. A life filled with grace that is sufficient for every possibility and circumstance that we will encounter on the road called life..
Yes, the road is broken but the journey always leads us back to confront the reality of the cross and the open arms of Jesus Christ. “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him (John 3:17).” So if we do not have condemnation from a God that could/should condemn us for our mistakes, then how could we condemn others? Can we forgive those who trespass against us as we have been forgiven by Almighty God? Yes, I believe that we can.
We can only share or gift something that we have an abundance of. We have an abundance of amazing grace, love and forgiveness, so let’s share that gift that was given to us on this broken road called life. We can’t run to Him by holding on to the baggage of yesterday, so let’s just let go and let God by following His truth and message; that all people are children of God, who are loved as His unique creation, and need to be treated with dignity, compassion and respect. Amen.
Lord God, we come into this place today so that we can quiet down the world and turn up the volume of Your Word for our lives. We come here today with so many questions and concerns that weigh heavy on our hearts, but there is one question that You have already answered loud and clear: Are we loved? You say yes, we are so loved by God that He sent His only Son to free us from all of the wrong choices and decisions of this world. And it is from that same love that we can have the strength to let go of what once was and be made new and alive in Christ. For there is no ceiling that can limit God’s love and there is no wall or door that can shut us out from His grace and mercy. Even as we break Your heart with our sins that tore a chasm between us Lord. It is Your Son, Jesus, who is the bridge between anything that would separate us from God. It is Jesus who is the source of our strength and the strength of our life. It is Jesus who allows us to live and dwell in the presence of the Lord. So we stand here, in the midst of our joys and sorrows, and claim Your Son as our Savior, Redeemer and Friend. Amen.
Lord Jesus, thank You for another day and another moment to be in Your presence. Ever since you touched our hearts, You gave us more than just dreams because You showed us what God can do and gave us all a reason to live. Lord, some of us are trying to deal with the weight of the world on our own. Remind us that even though we must walk through the dark valleys in this life we are never alone. So take away any of the doubts that we have and fill them with the truth of everything that You are. You are the hope, the way and light. Lord, You are everything that You that You say You are. Give us the wisdom to trust in You for all things and give us the strength to glorify You in all that we do. In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
odes4hg 