Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Matthew 21:21

Good morning, Father

Some of Your promises are so amazing we are almost afraid to believe them. We’re afraid maybe because we fall so short that your promises just won’t come true. But you didn’t just give us the promises, you backed them up with examples. You gave us the book on making the impossible possible.

You rejoice when we dream of bringing the lost to You. You rejoice when we dream of seeing the sick healed, the lame walking, and the blind receiving sight. You created us to dream and to put our trust and our hope in You. And You used such creativity to give us examples to follow. In our time, eighty year old shepherds don’t stand up to Pharaohs, but God don’t tell that to Moses. He just wouldn’t understand. Neither do teenage shepherds face down giants, but Father, don’t tell that to David. He already proved beyond any doubt that we, just like him, can stand strong in your power and might and defeat the enemy. And don’t tell Peter that our prayers can’t be answered. He caught too many fish and experienced far too much forgiveness to doubt anything You say. We can overcome and the gates of hell, the jaws of death, cannot prevail against us. We can pray, believing, and see our lost brought to You. We can trust You to accomplish those things that we ask.

Today Father, we ask for the lost, our family members, our friends, our co-workers, and those we have yet to meet. We ask You to send workers into the harvest, to help You stop the expansion of hell. We ask for the people on this planet who have yet to hear that You love them. Help us participate in sharing Your love.

Forgive our sins Father and heal our land. Be blessed as we praise, be honored as we worship, and let Your kingdom come and Your will be done in us, just like it is in Heaven.

In the name of Jesus, we pray.

amen

Acts 1:7-8

Good Morning Father

Thank you for the warmth of your love today. Thank you for the wealth of your caring, and thank You for hope You have placed inside us.

Father, we look around at our circumstances. We see layoffs, we see downsizing, we see unemployment, we see pay cuts, we see 30% of children in Multnomah County in need of food and we can be filled with fear at the sights and activities around us. Remind us of your followers at the crucifixion. As Max Lucado says, they ran, scared as cats in a dog pound. But when we fast forward just 40 short days, Peter is preaching in the same area where Jesus was arrested. Your frightened followers defy your enemies through the power of your Holy Spirit.

Through the resurrected Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, your followers were empowered with courage that was forged in the fire of the empty tomb.

You are offering us that same power, that same courage today. You have plan for us to accomplish. Today we surrender to your will, we seek and accept the Holy Spirit and His power and the same courage that you gave to Peter. You may have one for us to reach or 100, but whatever it is, we will go forth in the power of Your Holy Spirit. And for that we give you thanks and praise.

Be blessed as we praise, be honored as we worship and let Your Kingdom Come and Your will be done in this place, just as it is in Heaven. In the name of Jesus we pray.

Amen.