HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!
I am thankful for a wonderful and loving wife who supports my ministry 100%. She is always there to help me set up on Sunday mornings, sings in the praise team, AND runs the Powerpoint at the same time. She is also always ready with suggestions when I hit a road block in whatever I'm working on.
I'm thankful for parents who started me on the path of righteousness (there were, of course, times when they couldn't keep me on it, but God always brought me back). I can still remember sitting at the breakfast table every morning, listening to my Father read the Bible.
I'm thankful for God's grace and mercy in my life. I'm so glad he chose me in Christ long before I was ever born, and then worked his plan so that I received Christ as a child. His grace has been evident in my life ever since.
Thank you, Father, thank you!
What are you thankful for today?
For the President-Elect Obama's and Vice President-Elect Biden's marriages to be protected and preserved throughout their administration
Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.
�Hebrews 13:4
Oh loving Lord God, all praise and thanks to You for creating us with a need for love, intimacy and companionship with one another. Thank You for the beauty of the Garden before the fall, and for providing a glorious image of Your view of life, relationship and marriage.
I pray for our new President and Vice President that their marriages will be safeguarded and preserved through all the days to come. I ask that You will surround each couple with Your great protection, keeping them from arrogance, pride and temptation. Give them joy in their relationship day to day, and strengthen them in the moments of difficulty and pressure, seeking You and Your peace together. In Your loving and holy name, amen.
And just to let you know...I'm actually praying these prayers, not just posting them on my blog.
I open my mouth and pant, because I long for your commandments. Verse 131
2 Corinthians 7:8-13
In Paul's second letter to the Christians at Corinth, he is expressing joy that his first letter jarred the people into turning their lives around. "You let the distress bring you to God, not drive you from him." And here's how he describes a life that has been turned around and brought back to God:
You're more alive, more concerned, more sensitive, more reverent, more human, more passionate, more responsible.
I was "jarred" a couple of days ago during this time. In fact, it was my last entry. I felt as if God had "sucker-punched" me in the stomach. But it turned me around. I repented of my attitude about work and have had two wonderful (albeit extremely busy) nights at work. No, everything didn't go perfectly. Far from it. Yes, there were frustrations. But what was different was how I handled these things. Praise God for jarring me. And I thank him that it had the right result, that being that I turned back towards him and responded correctly.
Father, let me use this holiday season as a springboard for the rest of my life. Let me be "more alive, more concerned, more sensitive, more reverent, more human, more passionate, more responsible." I need improvement in all these things.
Father, I have visions of ministry opportunities at my church. Help me to realize those, rather than just sit on them and have nothing ever happen.
Grace and peace, friends.