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Tag Archives: Prayer

Because He Lives (Cover by Jason Manlapaz, Easter 2020)

12 Apr

 

The world needs hope right now and the words of this song are just so powerful!  Please join in with all of God’s children and sing out loud about the love of God!  #HappyEaster #Heisrisen #BecauseHelives

“Because He Lives” by Matt Maher

I believe in the Son
I believe in the risen One
I believe I overcome
By the power of His blood

Amen, Amen
I’m alive, I’m alive
Because He lives
Amen, Amen

Let my song join the one that never ends
Because He lives
I was dead in the grave

I was covered in sin and shame
I heard mercy call my name
He rolled the stone away

Amen, Amen
I’m alive, I’m alive
Because He lives
Amen, Amen

Because He lives
I can face tomorrow
Because He lives
Every fear is gone
I know He holds my life my future in His hands

Amen, Amen
I’m alive, I’m alive
Because He lives
Amen, Amen

 
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Posted by on April 12, 2020 in Conversations with God, Worship Leader

 

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Were You There (Good Friday 2020)

10 Apr

Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?

Were you there when they nail Him to the tree?
Were you there when they nail Him to the tree?
Were you there when they nail Him to the tree?
Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble
Were you there when they nail Him to the tree?

Were you there when they pierced Him in the side?
Were you there when they pierced Him in the side?
Were you there when they pierced Him in the side?
Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble
Were you there when they pierced Him in the side?

Were you there when the sun refused to shine?
Were you there when the sun refused to shine?
Were you there when the sun refused to shine?
Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble
Were you there when the sun refused to shine?

Were You there when they laid Him in the tomb?
Were You there when they laid Him in the tomb?
Were You there when they laid Him in the tomb?
Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble
Were You there when they laid Him in the tomb?

 
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Posted by on April 10, 2020 in Conversations with God, Worship Leader

 

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Shackles

18 Dec

“Take the shackles off my feet so I can dance!
I just want to praise You!  I just want to praise You!
You broke the chains now I can lift my hands!
I just want to praise You! I just want to praise You!”

This song by Mary Mary has been one of my all time favorite praise songs since I was in high school!  As the years go by, the words have taken an even deeper meaning for me as I had to journey through life’s challenges and valleys.

“Everything that could go wrong
all went wrong at one time
so much pressure fell on me
thought I was gonna lose my mind
but Lord I know You wanna see
if I will hold on through these trials
but I need you to lift this load
cause I can’t take it no more”

We’ve all been there right?  When everything thing that could possibly go wrong does.  But you know what?  Even then, in our darkest hour, God is is with us.  Even when we feel alone and abandoned, the Lord is right there beside us.

“Been through the fire and the rain
bound in every kind of way
but God has broken every chain
so let me go right now”

Revelations 2:10 (NIV) Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you life as your victor’s crown.

James 1:2-3 (NIV) Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds,3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.

In these past 6 months, I had to leave all that I have ever known because I was not safe there.  And the Lord has provided for me and my family beyond what I could ever have imagined.  I did not step out in faith.  I leapt.  I jumped because I had to and the Lord caught me and has kept me safe.  This is what it means to trust in the Lord and not rely on your own understanding or knowledge.

Isaiah 55:11 (MSG) “I don’t think the way you think. The way you work isn’t the way I work.” God’s Decree. “For as the sky soars high above earth, so the way I work surpasses the way you work, and the way I think is beyond the way you think. Just as rain and snow descend from the skies and don’t go back until they’ve watered the earth, Doing their work of making things grow and blossom, producing seed for farmers and food for the hungry, So will the words that come out of my mouth not come back empty-handed. They’ll do the work I sent them to do, they’ll complete the assignment I gave them.

So, whoever you are and wherever you are in this life, all that I can say to you, from one child of God to another, is that God is there for you now and forever.  Amen.

 

 

 

 
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Posted by on December 18, 2017 in Conversations with God, Uncategorized, Worship Leader

 

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Be the Church

02 Nov

I am a Las Vegas local, and as of today it has been one month since the horrific mass shooting during the Route 91 Harvest festival that killed 59 people and injured more than 500 hundred others.   In our current informational age, it is so easy to become numb to tragedy because these events appear to be so far away. This time it happened in my own city. This happened to people I know.

And yesterday, there was yet another senseless act of violence in New York that killed 8 people and 11 others injured.

My mind and heart just cannot comprehend why. I don’t know want to know why. I want violence to end. I search for answers but my human mind is confronted with it’s own limitations. Emotions rage violently within me. They crash and hurl feelings of uselessness. I am drowning in my own thoughts.   What can I do?

“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” (Psalm 34:18)

“In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:37-39)

We have become desensitized to the world around us. This must stop. Any violent act anywhere in the world is too many. Bring down the walls that divide cities and countries. We are all citizens of the world. What stops us from uniting in peace? What prevents us from doing something for those who are in need?

Yes, we must let go of things we cannot change but we should not let go of things that we can change. We don’t have to be numb. We don’t have to be unkind. We don’t have to be distant. We don’t have to be our differences. We can be kind. We can be the support that others need. We can listen and we can hear each other because we are united in the simple fact that we share the same humanity.

I don’t have the answers but I can see a potential first step of being the church. We can be the living embodiment of what is good and what is kind here on this earth. It starts with you and it starts with me. We choose. No one else chooses this for us. It’s time. #Bethechurch #VegasStrong #NewYorkStrong #HumanityStrong

 

 

 

 
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Posted by on November 2, 2017 in Conversations with God

 

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Step out in faith

02 Apr

Step out in faith

Gracious and Almighty God, we’re here because, “relying on God has to begin all over again every day as if nothing had yet been done” (C.S. Lewis) and we “receive (our) nourishment by serving the will of the One who sent (us)”(John 4:34). Speak to us. Say something that compels us to hear truth that forces us to stop looking down on others and start looking above ourselves. We’re all sinners. And that’s ok because Grace covers all. So call us out from death and shame and encourage us to step out in faith onto the solid ground of the Living Word of God.

It’s time to release our fears and to be the church; “a community of healing not hiding, embracing not excluding, of life and not death” (Rev. Mike Kinman). “And do this, understanding the present time: The hour has already come for (us) to wake up from (our) slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed” (Romans 13:11). We do all of this, in the name of the Living God, Amen.

 
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Posted by on April 2, 2017 in Conversations with God

 

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Be our vision

26 Mar

 

IMG_A66292F14424-1“Consider and answer (us), O LORD (our) God; Enlighten (our) eyes, or (we) will sleep the sleep of death” (Psalm 13: 3). You, O God, see the good in us. Forgive us when we just can’t see or hear You. We don’t want to have a heavy mind holding on to thoughts that pull us away from You. So provoke us, and call on us to continue on this search for truth. Give us a willingness to look beyond our own perspective and to look humanity in the eye so that we can unlearn intolerance and fear. Teach us to learn what being human is, and what your vision is so that we can help each other experience the possibilities of God.

“When there is a mighty movement of God, nobody can stop it” (Pastor James Phillips). We pray, Almighty One, that you would give us the strength and the tenacity to stand up, take a breath, and speak the truth that God is love and that Love is for all. For “nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39).

 
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Posted by on March 26, 2017 in Conversations with God

 

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We need to know the Risen Lord

19 Mar

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Lord God, You are “our light and our salvation” (Psalm 27:1).   Strengthen us by “reviving whatever peace and love has died within us” (Christian Today) so that we can see as you see. Open our eyes to see a world that needs so much more than us. Show us a world that needs You. Shift our minds to experience how love works and how love never fails. See, we don’t know You but we want to know you…because You know us, and “to be known is to be loved and to be loved is to be known” (Chris Kinsley & Drew Francis). Help us to know You, Lord. We need to know You.

“Christ has no hands or feet on earth but ours” (Teresa of Avila). So let us be His body and feed those who are hungry. Not with bread alone but with the Love of God. Break down the walls of fear and hatred with the realness of looking at one another, straight in the eye, and seeing a child of God; someone who is in need of as much grace and forgiveness as we are. In the end, “Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law” (Romans 13:10).

 

 
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Posted by on March 19, 2017 in Conversations with God

 

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Love is the fulfillment of the law

13 Nov

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We come here today to receive not what we want, but what we need. We need the love of God.   We give You, oh Lord, our time and our hearts because You so loved us, that You gave Your only Son so that we would never be separated from the love of God.

The most important work that we will do is to break down the walls of our hearts, and just love others as God loves us. It is the Word made flesh that heals us of the ugliness of this world, and brings us forward into our function as beloved children of God.

“Christ has no body but ours, no hands, no feet on earth but ours. Our eyes are those with which He looks compassion on this world, Our feet are those with which He walks to do good, Our hands, are those with which He blesses all the world” (Teresa of Avila) with love. And “love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law” (Romans 13:10).

 

 

 
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Posted by on November 13, 2016 in Conversations with God

 

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Love beyond our limitations

06 Nov

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Architect of life, shift the universe and align us with Your message to love beyond our limitations.   Mend and resolve what is broken in our lives so that we can experience the fullness of these moments that You gift us.

Thank You for being faithful, consistent, constant and always with us. Impact our attitudes as we remember the saints that have gone before us, so that we can trust in the resurrecting power of Almighty God; that in Christ there is no good bye and there is no end.   There is only oneness with the love of the One who created us.

We pray for many things. But the prayer that is answered into our being, is that God is always with us, goes with us, and stands alongside us as we face the many obstacles and mazes of this life. We are never without God. Ever.

 

 

 
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Posted by on November 6, 2016 in Conversations with God

 

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God is LOVE

02 Oct

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Search us, O God, and fan the flame of Your love in all of us. May our eyes be open to the beautiful things that are happening because of the love of God. Wrap our heads and hearts around the complexity of this love. May we remember and learn from what love is, and let go of what love is not. Love doesn’t boast. Love doesn’t destroy. Love doesn’t lie or gossip. Love builds up. Love protects. And love unites because God is LOVE. And anything that is not of Love is not of God.

“May we let Love lead us. May we stand for what Christ stood for or rather stand with those whom Christ stands with. May we be the blessing and not the curse” (Pastor Melissa Greene, Gracepointe Church, Tenessee).

 
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Posted by on October 2, 2016 in Conversations with God

 

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