Community Prayer

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Comment by Jolene on February 23, 2011 at 4:11am

Job 12:7-13 (The Message)

 ^7-12 "But ask the animals what they think—let them teach you;
   let the birds tell you what's going on.
Put your ear to the earth—learn the basics.
   Listen—the fish in the ocean will tell you their stories.
Isn't it clear that they all know and agree
   that God is sovereign, that he holds all things in his hand—
Every living soul, yes,
   every breathing creature?
Isn't this all just common sense,
   as common as the sense of taste?
Do you think the elderly have a corner on wisdom,
   that you have to grow old before you understand life?

From God We Learn How to Live

 ^13-25 "True wisdom and real power belong to God;
   from him we learn how to live,
   and also what to live for.
If he tears something down, it's down for good;
   if he locks people up, they're locked up for good.
If he holds back the rain, there's a drought;
   if he lets it loose, there's a flood.
Strength and success belong to God;
   both deceived and deceiver must answer to him.
He strips experts of their vaunted credentials,
   exposes judges as witless fools.
He divests kings of their royal garments,
   then ties a rag around their waists.
He strips priests of their robes,
   and fires high officials from their jobs.
He forces trusted sages to keep silence,
   deprives elders of their good sense and wisdom.
He dumps contempt on famous people,
   disarms the strong and mighty.
He shines a spotlight into caves of darkness,
   hauls deepest darkness into the noonday sun.
He makes nations rise and then fall,
   builds up some and abandons others.
He robs world leaders of their reason,
   and sends them off into no-man's-land.
They grope in the dark without a clue,
   lurching and staggering like drunks."

Lord help us all to not be so busy with living we forget we are living for you. Help us to collect your wisdom for the world around us and use our knowledge to help others better understand you Amen.

Comment by Jolene on February 22, 2011 at 4:30am

Isaiah 49:13-18 (The Message)

 

 ¹³Heavens, raise the roof! Earth, wake the dead!
   Mountains, send up cheers!
God has comforted his people.
   He has tenderly nursed his beaten-up, beaten-down people.

 ¹⁴But Zion said, "I don't get it. God has left me.
   My Master has forgotten I even exist."

 ^15-18"Can a mother forget the infant at her breast,
   walk away from the baby she bore?
But even if mothers forget,
   I'd never forget you—never.
Look, I've written your names on the backs of my hands.
   The walls you're rebuilding are never out of my sight.
Your builders are faster than your wreckers.
   The demolition crews are gone for good.
Look up, look around, look well!
   See them all gathering, coming to you?
As sure as I am the living God"—God's Decree—
   "you're going to put them on like so much jewelry,
   you're going to use them to dress up like a bride.

 

Dear Lord helps you promise never to forget don't let our crys go unanswered show us your way Lord Amen

Comment by Jolene on February 21, 2011 at 3:39am

Acts 15:36-41 (The Message)

 

 ³⁶After a few days of this, Paul said to Barnabas, "Let's go back and visit all our friends in each of the towns where we preached the Word of God. Let's see how they're doing."

 ^37-41Barnabas wanted to take John along, the John nicknamed Mark. But Paul wouldn't have him; he wasn't about to take along a quitter who, as soon as the going got tough, had jumped ship on them in Pamphylia. Tempers flared, and they ended up going their separate ways: Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus; Paul chose Silas and, offered up by their friends to the grace of the Master, went to Syria and Cilicia to build up muscle and sinew in those congregations.

 

Lord help us to resolve conficts and stay stong in your love. Amen

Comment by Jolene on February 19, 2011 at 4:49am

Galatians 6:1-10 (The Message)

 

Galatians 6

Nothing but the Cross

 ^1-3 Live creatively, friends. If someone falls into sin, forgivingly restore him, saving your critical comments for yourself. You might be needing forgiveness before the day's out. Stoop down and reach out to those who are oppressed. Share their burdens, and so complete Christ's law. If you think you are too good for that, you are badly deceived.

 ^4-5Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that. Don't be impressed with yourself. Don't compare yourself with others. Each of you must take responsibility for doing the creative best you can with your own life.

 ⁶Be very sure now, you who have been trained to a self-sufficient maturity, that you enter into a generous common life with those who have trained you, sharing all the good things that you have and experience.

 ^7-8Don't be misled: No one makes a fool of God. What a person plants, he will harvest. The person who plants selfishness, ignoring the needs of others—ignoring God!—harvests a crop of weeds. All he'll have to show for his life is weeds! But the one who plants in response to God, letting God's Spirit do the growth work in him, harvests a crop of real life, eternal life.

 ^9-10So let's not allow ourselves to get fatigued doing good. At the right time we will harvest a good crop if we don't give up, or quit. Right now, therefore, every time we get the chance, let us work for the benefit of all, starting with the people closest to us in the community of faith.

 

Again Lord I pray your hand on my mouth to restore my soul Amen

Comment by Jolene on February 18, 2011 at 4:43am

Philippians 1:1-11 (The Message)

 

Philippians 1

 ^1-2Paul and Timothy, both of us committed servants of Christ Jesus, write this letter to all the followers of Jesus in Philippi, pastors and ministers included. We greet you with the grace and peace that comes from God our Father and our Master, Jesus Christ.

A Love That Will Grow

 ^3-6Every time you cross my mind, I break out in exclamations of thanks to God. Each exclamation is a trigger to prayer. I find myself praying for you with a glad heart. I am so pleased that you have continued on in this with us, believing and proclaiming God's Message, from the day you heard it right up to the present. There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears.

 ^7-8It's not at all fanciful for me to think this way about you. My prayers and hopes have deep roots in reality. You have, after all, stuck with me all the way from the time I was thrown in jail, put on trial, and came out of it in one piece. All along you have experienced with me the most generous help from God. He knows how much I love and miss you these days. Sometimes I think I feel as strongly about you as Christ does!

 ^9-11So this is my prayer: that your love will flourish and that you will not only love much but well. Learn to love appropriately. You need to use your head and test your feelings so that your love is sincere and intelligent, not sentimental gush. Live a lover's life, circumspect and exemplary, a life Jesus will be proud of: bountiful in fruits from the soul, making Jesus Christ attractive to all, getting everyone involved in the glory and praise of God.

 

Comment by Jolene on February 17, 2011 at 2:54am

 

Matthew 3

Thunder in the Desert!

 ^1-2 While Jesus was living in the Galilean hills, John, called "the Baptizer," was preaching in the desert country of Judea. His message was simple and austere, like his desert surroundings: "Change your life. God's kingdom is here."

 ³John and his message were authorized by Isaiah's prophecy:

   Thunder in the desert!
   Prepare for God's arrival!
   Make the road smooth and straight!

 ^4-6John dressed in a camel-hair habit tied at the waist by a leather strap. He lived on a diet of locusts and wild field honey. People poured out of Jerusalem, Judea, and the Jordanian countryside to hear and see him in action. There at the Jordan River those who came to confess their sins were baptized into a changed life.

 ^7-10When John realized that a lot of Pharisees and Sadducees were showing up for a baptismal experience because it was becoming the popular thing to do, he exploded: "Brood of snakes! What do you think you're doing slithering down here to the river? Do you think a little water on your snakeskins is going to make any difference? It's your life that must change, not your skin! And don't think you can pull rank by claiming Abraham as father. Being a descendant of Abraham is neither here nor there. Descendants of Abraham are a dime a dozen. What counts is your life. Is it green and blossoming? Because if it's deadwood, it goes on the fire.

 ^11-12"I'm baptizing you here in the river, turning your old life in for a kingdom life. The real action comes next: The main character in this drama—compared to him I'm a mere stagehand—will ignite the kingdom life within you, a fire within you, the Holy Spirit within you, changing you from the inside out. He's going to clean house—make a clean sweep of your lives. He'll place everything true in its proper place before God; everything false he'll put out with the trash to be burned."

 

Dear Lord let your Holy Spirit reign in us. Let his light shine through us and save us from being surface believers. Amen

Comment by Jolene on February 16, 2011 at 3:45am

Leviticus 19:9-15 (The Message)

 

 ^9-10 "When you harvest your land, don't harvest right up to the edges of your field or gather the gleanings from the harvest. Don't strip your vineyard bare or go back and pick up the fallen grapes. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am God, your God.

 ¹¹ "Don't steal.

   "Don't lie.

   "Don't deceive anyone.

 ¹² "Don't swear falsely using my name, violating the name of your God. I am God.

 ¹³ "Don't exploit your friend or rob him.

   "Don't hold back the wages of a hired hand overnight.

 ¹⁴ "Don't curse the deaf; don't put a stumbling block in front of the blind; fear your God. I am God.

 ¹⁵ "Don't pervert justice. Don't show favoritism to either the poor or the great. Judge on the basis of what is right.

 

Lord so many treasures you hid in the pages of the Bible. Thank you and help us to be kind to all Amen

Comment by Jolene on February 15, 2011 at 4:56am

Isaiah 43:1-13 (The Message)

 

Isaiah 43

When You're Between a Rock and a Hard Place

 ^1-4 But now, God's Message, the God who made you in the first place, Jacob,
   the One who got you started, Israel:
"Don't be afraid, I've redeemed you.
   I've called your name. You're mine.
When you're in over your head, I'll be there with you.
   When you're in rough waters, you will not go down.
When you're between a rock and a hard place,
   it won't be a dead end—
Because I am God, your personal God,
   The Holy of Israel, your Savior.
I paid a huge price for you:
   all of Egypt, with rich Cush and Seba thrown in!
That's how much you mean to me!
   That's how much I love you!
I'd sell off the whole world to get you back,
   trade the creation just for you.

 ^5-7"So don't be afraid: I'm with you.
   I'll round up all your scattered children,
   pull them in from east and west.
I'll send orders north and south:
   'Send them back.
Return my sons from distant lands,
   my daughters from faraway places.
I want them back, every last one who bears my name,
   every man, woman, and child
Whom I created for my glory,
   yes, personally formed and made each one.'"

 ^8-13Get the blind and deaf out here and ready—
   the blind (though there's nothing wrong with their eyes)
   and the deaf (though there's nothing wrong with their ears).
Then get the other nations out here and ready.
   Let's see what they have to say about this,
   how they account for what's happened.
Let them present their expert witnesses
   and make their case;
   let them try to convince us what they say is true.
"But you are my witnesses." God's Decree.
   "You're my handpicked servant
So that you'll come to know and trust me,
   understand both that I am and who I am.
Previous to me there was no such thing as a god,
   nor will there be after me.
I, yes I, am God.
   I'm the only Savior there is.
I spoke, I saved, I told you what existed
   long before these upstart gods appeared on the scene.
And you know it, you're my witnesses,
   you're the evidence." God's Decree.
"Yes, I am God.
   I've always been God
   and I always will be God.
No one can take anything from me.
   I make; who can unmake it?"

 

All that comes to mind when I read your words God, is My God is a awesome God! You are awesome you control every part of our universe. We see your handiwork everywhere and in every face. Amen

Comment by Jolene on February 14, 2011 at 3:24am

John 15:9-17 (The Message)

 

 ^9-10"I've loved you the way my Father has loved me. Make yourselves at home in my love. If you keep my commands, you'll remain intimately at home in my love. That's what I've done—kept my Father's commands and made myself at home in his love.

 ^11-15"I've told you these things for a purpose: that my joy might be your joy, and your joy wholly mature. This is my command: Love one another the way I loved you. This is the very best way to love. Put your life on the line for your friends. You are my friends when you do the things I command you. I'm no longer calling you servants because servants don't understand what their master is thinking and planning. No, I've named you friends because I've let you in on everything I've heard from the Father.

 ¹⁶"You didn't choose me, remember; I chose you, and put you in the world to bear fruit, fruit that won't spoil. As fruit bearers, whatever you ask the Father in relation to me, he gives you.

 ¹⁷"But remember the root command: Love one another.

 

Take the burdens of those that suffer Lord, our friends lift them up and heal them. Give them strength for the times they need. Lay your loving hands on them and keep them safe and pain free Amen.

Comment by Jolene on February 13, 2011 at 4:52am

Psalm 46

A Song of the Sons of Korah

 ^1-3 God is a safe place to hide, ready to help when we need him.
   We stand fearless at the cliff-edge of doom,
      courageous in seastorm and earthquake,
   Before the rush and roar of oceans,
      the tremors that shift mountains.

   Jacob-wrestling God fights for us,
      God-of-Angel-Armies protects us.

 ^4-6 River fountains splash joy, cooling God's city,
      this sacred haunt of the Most High.
   God lives here, the streets are safe,
      God at your service from crack of dawn.
   Godless nations rant and rave, kings and kingdoms threaten,
      but Earth does anything he says.

 ⁷ Jacob-wrestling God fights for us,
      God-of-Angel-Armies protects us.

 ^8-10 Attention, all! See the marvels of God!
      He plants flowers and trees all over the earth,
   Bans war from pole to pole,
      breaks all the weapons across his knee.
   "Step out of the traffic! Take a long,
      loving look at me, your High God,
      above politics, above everything."

 ¹¹ Jacob-wrestling God fights for us,
      God-of-Angel-Armies protects us.

 

 

Thank you Lord for all you do and all you are and all you made us to be. Amen

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