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).
Tags: bible, Body of Christ, Christ, Christian Today, Church, ELCA, Jesus, love, lutheran, Prayer, Psalm, Romans, Teresa of Avila
Beautiful and loving God, we cast our gaze towards You as we bring our own sacrifice and praise into the house of the Lord. Once lost, now we are found for “Where can we go from Your spirit? Or where can we flee from Your presence? If we take the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea, even there Your hand shall lead us, and Your right hand shall hold us fast” (Psalm 139: 7, 9-10 NRSV). Teach us all things about You. Unfold Your revelations and bind us to Your word so that we can be a blessing to all who know us and to those who don’t.
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9:10) but it is not the end, because the completion of love is the end of fear. Yes, it is a scary world but because of God’s love we will not fear, we will not falter, and we will not accept the darkness of the world. We will move forward in light and truth because God is never anywhere other than with us. “And even though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death” (Psalm 23:4), God is always with us.
Tags: bible, Christian, ELCA, Jesus, lutheran, Prayer, Proverbs, Psalm
Lord God, “You are near to all who call on You” (Psalm 145:18). And we will sing of Your love from one generation to the next. (Psalm 89:1). So many memories flood our minds as another year closes and a new one begins. We pray that You would continue to bless us beyond imagination.
Don’t let us stare too long at doors that have been closed, but instead prepare us for the doors that will be opened to us because “we will not find peace by rearranging the circumstances of our lives…” (Eckhart Tolle) We have peace because Love found us right where we are, and God was born as one of us.
Faith tells us that no matter what lies ahead, God is already there. “Love has a name; Jesus. Love has a place; our hearts. Love has a story and it’s not finished yet.” (DAYSTAR)
Tags: Christian, Church, Eckhart Tolle, ELCA, Jesus, Prayer, Psalm
Lord God, thank You for the gift of life and the people that you have put in our path. Thank You for those who have gone before us. Guide us as we pave the way for those yet to come. “Search us, oh Lord, and know our heart. Test us and know our anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in us and lead us in the way everlasting” (Psalm 139: 23-24).
By faith we can see Your works all around us. And it is by faith that we are called to go into the lives of those we know and those who we don’t know and share the good news that tears down the mountains of doubt and fear. Center our hearts and minds in You so that we can be a sanctuary for the broken souls of this world.
When the world turns cold and dark remind us that You are forever with us and that we never face these mountains alone. “Scripture, Christ, Grace, Faith and the Glory of God alone” (Martin Luther) gives us the strength to face anything that comes our way.
Tags: Christ, Christian, Church, ELCA, Jesus, Martin Luther, Psalm
Stained Glass from St. James Lutheran Church in Mounds, MN
Eternal One, because “Your love is better than life, we glorify You” (Psalm 63:3) and lean on Your compassion. Guide us so that we may “move from illusion to truth, from darkness to light, (and) from ignorance to wisdom…” (Varun Soni). Lead us and we will follow.
For wherever we go, wherever we are…it is You who goes with us. It is You who provides rest. It is You who soothes our fears. You make us complete again by restoring us through Your grace, mercy and love. Our faith in You, Lord, doesn’t just change our reality. It reveals it.
You enthrone the truth of our lives in the person of Jesus Christ. The truth that You compare us to no one else and that our mistakes have been paid for in the life of the Son of God. “Despite all (our) flaws, (it is God who) continues to write (our) story. (And) it’s beautiful (Rochelle Griffin).
Tags: Christian, Church, ELCA, Jesus Christ, lutheran, Prayer, Psalm, Rochelle Griffin, Son of God, Varun Soni
License Plate
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.
Tags: bible, Christ, Christian, ELCA, Jesus, lutheran, Prayer, Psalm, visible image of an invisible God
odes4hg 