March 18 Prayer
The Truth, we all want it but not sure how to find it in our day. Jesus spoke so clearly in his own way to those who would listen. Seek His face , his glory will shine on you and light will come, truth will rise up from the dark. We are required to trust, not in men or their understanding and proclaiming . But in God, who is steadfast. His works show his truth in His name that is love. Jesus points us there. How we must choose to live in His glory and not that of our own making or understanding but living in His truth is the light we will follow. Sometimes, almost always we have to trust in the darkness that there will be light in the next present moment for us to follow. One step at a time The light will reveal the way. Spend some time today just basking in the light of the sun upon your face. If there is no sun shining seek him there and soon your face will glow in the warmth of his glorious love shining upon you. Pray, Lord, we turn our faces toward you. We arise and let your light shine on us today. We pray for those that are stuck in a dark place that light will come upon them to bring them hope, courage and strength. May we all arise this day in the present light that we have and the works of Jesus in and through us. That your glory will be seen to follow the blessed way of your truth. In Jesus' beautiful name we pray. Amen DB John 5:31-47,Is.60:1, 1Pet.5:10 March 17 Prayer
St.Patrick prayed, ‘Christ be with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ all around me….’ ...Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, ‘Now I have put my words in your mouth.’ Jer.1:4-9 How did two historical fearful and weak men, Jeremiah and Patrick become known as fearless and courageous prophets and messengers of God? Both suffered injustice, both were stripped down and separated from their familiar lives. They were left to die, yet somehow God reached out to touch them, and gave them a call with a message to speak. Wherever you find yourself today there is a word to be spoken over you. A word to be given through you. God sees you and knew you even before you were formed in the womb. Allow some space to be still and let God speak his words over you. Allow him to touch your own mouth with confidence and courage to release His words through you. ‘Christ be with me, Christ in the mouth of those who speak of me, Christ in the heart of those who think of me, Christ be in my listening , Christ be in my speaking, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Chris all around me. We know Lord that you are ‘faithful in all your words and holy in all your works.’ May our suffering of injustice be met with Christ in us. May we meet you, Christ in your passion, for you have suffered the greatest injustice of all, to be forsaken in a way we will never be, And all for love, for us . We give you now all our disappointments, loneliness, and defeats to draw us more deeply into communion with you. May your hope be born anew in us out of these depths and may we never be afraid again. Let us pray along with the German theologian Juergen Moltmann, ‘Lord, I am a prisoner - a prisoner of hope!’ May we go out with confidence knowing Christ is in us! Amen DB Jer.1:4-9, Is.49:8,Ps.27:13-14 March 16 Prayer
At the pool of Bethesda Healed by a word A simple question is asked, Do you want to be well? Alone, in resigned acceptance waiting for someone to help, someone to heal. There He is by your side Asking you the question. Rise up and go down to the pool Look into the waters of reflection What do you see there? Jesus is there looking with you and he sees your reflection in his face of love and understanding Healing takes time When we are ready it will arrive at our door Sometimes whenever we least expect it Healing takes getting up when a word is spoken To walk through and walk on It takes quieting our souls Looking deeper into the waters Asking the hard questions With Jesus by our side. He knows how long you have been waiting, how long this pain has kept you paralyzed Unable to help yourself and others. He sees you and the waters have already been stirred. Pause to be still enough to see your face with his To pray; ‘Lord, we want to be well, in body , soul and spirit. We desire your truth in our inner being Yes, we went to be healed Yes, we want your kingdom to come, Your will be done in our lives and in every dark, broken place in our world. We give our lives to you, and trust in you to make them whole. To let your glory shine through our reflections as we stand up. Amen- John 5:1-16, Ps.25:1-2 DB March 15 Prayer
‘Be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating, a people as a delight.’ I dreamed of a lily tree full or surreal colors of a rainbow. It was so bright and I thought that I had never seen anything quite like that before. ‘A new thing, freshly created A new hope, letting go of the old and former thoughts Not even letting hopelessness come to mind. Look to see what is being created new in you, And all around you. Let us build and plant what will last forever Choose life, choose joy and delight. Jesus is here and will do wonders with us if we only believe. Let us pray with the words of Mother Theresa this day; ‘Dear Jesus, help me to spread your fragrance everywhere I go. Flood my soul with your spirit and life. Penetrate and possess my whole being so utterly that my life may only be a radiance of yours. Shine through me and be so in me that every soul I come in contact with may feel your presence in my soul. Let them look up and see no longer me, but only Jesus’ Amen Is.65:17-21, Deut.30:19-20 DB March 13 Prayer
Saturday Slow down Snuggle in Deep under the comforter Let the soft feathers surround Allow yourself to just be held Supported, safely tucked away for the moment In his presence And breathe Breathe in the goodness He has called you into being Breathe in the knowing For He has led you into the unknown Breathe in His peace Curl up next to Him And rest In the middle of the storm It will soon be stilled Calm, once again But you, dear one, need the rest Find that place where your soul delights And do what brings your soul to life Breathe in Blessing there In the slow down~ DB March 12 Prayer
“Love is the only force that can make things one without destroying them.” ~Teilhard de Chardin “Take words with you, and return to the Lord,’ Hosea 14:2-10 Returning is a motion and a heartfelt emotion. When we return to the Lord, He is not angry with us. When we have turned away from him, from what is good and true in us, we clutch too tightly to that which we can do for ourselves, to provide security and feel safe. When we return to the Lord, “Say to him, Take away all guilt, accept that which is good..” ‘It is Your work of grace in us that is good Our God no longer is the work of our hands.’ Pause to consider where you rely upon your own self will. Here is how our God responds when you return; He loves you freely, heals your disloyalty, Without any anger he removes all your guilt, He tells us we will become fruitful, waters and nourishes our roots so they will spread shoots to give birth to new growth, to become flourishing vines, gardens lined with lush sage green olives trees. Vines of sweet wine will become our fame with a fragrance that travels throughout. These are but a few descriptions of Love When we return to the Lord we return to love “He is the One and there is no other, Love him with all your heart, May it be a passionate heart, Love him with all of your understanding, May it come from the depths of your soul, Love him with all of your strength, May it be with your every thought, word and deed. Love another in the same way as you love yourself. Mk.12:30 Pray, ‘Oh Lord, we return to you with all of our hearts today We rely upon your grace to love ourselves as you freely do. Help us to see this love in the most hurting, difficult places and people we meet. May we have this kind of love that sees beyond the immediate surface and goes deeply into the ground of our being to spread out throughout the earth. May we enter into your circle of love, that gives and receives and never ends. Amen DB March 11 Prayer
“Listen to my voice, and follow my ways and it will go well with you.’ Walk in my ways, Let me be your God, listen and pay attention.-Jer.7:23-28 My ways are higher than yours, my thoughts higher than yours.” Is.55:8-9 Their story is so much like our story, ‘they walked in their own counsels, looking backwards rather than forwards.. turned their backs and not their faces to God. Truth had perished, hearts had hardened backs turned away minds resistant to truth ears shut from hearing- Here is Our God, patient, ready to speak waiting to see our faces look to Him It is our own shame that keeps us away Take a moment to recognize where you have been listening to voices that have dragged you away from God. What has kept your face from turning towards him? Pray; O Lord, You alone have the words of truth that bring me life, your ways are the ones I want to follow, but I find myself slipping into old ways of thinking that lead my heart to drift from you. I bend low before you so that you may lift me higher I empty myself of the condemning voices and lies that are not of you.. Fill me with your truth Open my ears once again to listen and obey your voice. May we your church seek your face once again and turn our faces to you. May we learn from the past but look forwards with eyes wide open. May we see in your eyes the grace and compassion we need to receive and give out to the world of hopelessness all around us. May we be the hope and voice of your truth of love today. May our hearts be hearts of prayer, for the helpless and hurting, the lost and bound, to bring freedom that comes only from you. Amen. Ps.67:1,Ps.25:1-7,Deut.28:1-2 March 10 Prayer
‘Bless those that await a good word.’ A good word, planted will grow strong Words create images Words Give thoughts and decrees to follow Truths to bury deep in your heart Words are living and carry far when cast to the wind We like Christ are living words and we have seeds to plant that are imperishable from a pure heart. 1Pet.22-25 The living abiding word of God remains forever It comes to you when you pray When you seek his face not to get a word But to be with the Word. Then our hearts will be changed and transformed. ...of You my Heart has spoken, “Seek the face of God.” Ps.27:7-10 To be with Jesus is to become like him, we begin to know his thoughts, his ways, his love and mercy become more of an essence of being then a monologue of requests from our mouths. We seek Jesus, the likeness of God the Father, God the Mother of all creation. The living Word and Spirit planted in us. John 1:1-5 Be intentional as you speak today. Be full of care with your words and sow generously the seeds of blessings in the ground around you. In those you think of, Pray for them with words of faith, hope and love. Be free with your words of grace and gratitude. Seek His face in the one before you. Hold back the seeds of judgment and criticisms, and plant seeds from a pure heart that is with God. ‘It is your face, O Lord that we seek. Show us your face and hear us as we pray. ‘Bless the ones that are hungry for a good word today. May we be your word of life to bring Show us the ones that we are to reach out to. The ones you have placed in our care. May we write with your word the story of faith, hope and love. Bring healing to those in hurt and need. Encouragement to the hopeless and the worn down. May our words become light as feathers .. ‘being blown with the breath of God breathing upon us.’ St. Hildegard of bingen Amen DB March 9 Prayer
We begin the day with an openness in the heart To bless the Lord with all of our beings. “It is His love alone that gives worth to all things.” Theresa of Avila It is his mercy that sets us free. Peter, the bold and brash follower of Jesus asks him one day; ‘How many times must I forgive another fellow believer who keeps on offending me? Surely seven times in one day is enough.’ The Number of perfection, of God’s created order. But, No that is not enough… It’s a number of time that never ends. Because love never ends and mercy always extends forgiveness. This is beyond us of course and that is why we need to forgive Again and again, Ourselves, our half heartedness Our hiding from the truth. What our part is in the matter…. ‘ Love does not stay idle.’ writes St. Catherine of Sienna This is the time for us to ask, where am I standing still? Where am I withholding my whole heart from God and from another? If we take a moment to ask this question now someone will appear that is waiting for you to forgive them, again. It is hard when the offense is from a brother or sister who is a follower of Christ. We expect more from each other, from the church we love. So that is why we must start here and let God’s spirit stir us with mercy. So go ahead and forgive the offense against you. Let mercy flood your heart to soften it’s broken edges and warm it into flesh, alive with blood to every part that is idle. Let His love that knows no end begin again in you It starts today when we enter each moment with another human being. In thought or deed we are asked to forgive and we will be free. ‘ We bless the Lord with our whole beings. Jesus we humble ourselves and ask for you to forgive us for holding back our love. Show us who we have held hostage in our unforgiveness and judgments. We offer to you both parts of our hearts so that you will make us whole. Again we come to forgive so we are forgiven. By your grace and mercy we move with humility a little closer to your glory. May we bless you in all things today and show your worth by how we love one another. ‘For You are gracious and merciful and full of compassion!’ In Jesus holy and sacred name we pray, Amen Matt.18:21-35, Ez.36:26, Joel 2:12-13 DB March 8 Prayer
Receive these words over you; “But Take heart, for I have over come the world.” Words from Jesus, the man God who was sent from heaven before the foundations of the world began, He was there, Here with us, desiring us, longing for us to be in relationship with love. Love of the Father, love of the Son, love of the Holy Spirit . Yes in this world we will have trouble, that is why he gave us his peace and asks us to take his heart. Hear his words over you today; “Rise up, O fair one Take my heart now And let me fill your cup My peace I give to you.” Pause here to receive and respond to His voice; ‘Awak my soul, make my heart ready, My heart cries out to the living God Make me confident in Your love. Make my heart ready, Ready to give thanks, Ready to receive the washing of your word, The peace you give to me. Ready to stand up and walk upon the high road To be governed by your grace In the union of the Holy Spirit. My heart is ready, for my heart is your heart Love through me today, Make me an instrument of your peace~ Amen John 16:33, Ps.57:7-11 DB |