For a safe, delightful and celebrative Inauguration Day in which God is honored and glorified at every turn
There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:�a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance...
�Ecclesiastes 3:1, 4
Mighty God of all time and space, I praise You for setting up moments of mourning and sadness as well as times of rejoicing, laughter and dancing. In Your great wisdom, You know our need for seasons of stability and seasons of change. You are great and good, O Lord; glorify Yourself in all the moments of our lives, I pray.
As we look to the change which will take place on January 20, I ask You to protect and safeguard every part of the inaugural festivities, from the sun�s first light to the worship and prayer services to the parade and the balls that will last into the night. Prepare great joys and delights for President Elect and Mrs. Obama and their daughters, Vice President Elect and Mrs. Biden and their loved ones, and all who come to Washington, D.C. to celebrate, and let there be genuine rejoicing in You. In Your holy name, amen.
Majesty
Majesty
Your grace has found me just as I am
Empty-handed, but alive in Your hands!!
Praise the LORD!
Praise the LORD, O my soul!
I will praise the LORD as long as I live;
I will sing praises to my God while I have my being. Verses 1-2
2 Thessalonians 1:3-4
Once again, Paul stops in the midst of his writing to shout out praise and thanksgiving for the people to whom he is writing.
What an example to those of us who would eventually be reading this. Ponder this: Paul surely never thought that his writings would be collected and added to a book that would be known as Holy Scripture, and subsequently read all over the world for centuries to come. He just though he was writing a letter that would be read to the home churches in Thessalonica. Pretty amazing.
We would do well to give thanks for those in our lives who are an inspiration to us. I'm thankful for my friend, Phillipp, who shows me what it is like to truly listen to God on a daily basis. I'm thankful for the influence that he has at our workplace, where several people come to him with prayer requests. (Almost makes me jealous, but if I would exhibit the kind of spiritual peace that he does, I might be in the same position, right?)
I'm thankful for the believers that we meet with on Sunday mornings. They are real people with real problems and a real Savior. They praise and worship with intensity. The verbally give praises and requests to God during our prayer time. I've never seen a group of people that live out Philippians 4:6-7 like this group.
I'm thankful for people who write other books that inspire me and teach me. People like John Piper, R.C. Sproul, Frank Viola.
I'm thankful for people who listen to God and write worship music that moves my spirit to praise and worship our Father. People like Dennis Jernigan, Chris Tomlin, Stuart Townend, Martin Smith, Matt Redman.
I'm thankful that I have a boss at work who loves God, even though he has lost some of the vision of serving him, as he has become lost in his work.
I'm thankful that I have a wife who loves God and inspires me to keep on when I'm losing the passion for worship.
My Jesus, I love Thee,
I know Thou art mine!!
I thank you, Father, that I have a daughter who shares the task of leading with me on guitar and with her voice. I praise you that she still has a desire in her heart to lift you up and praise you. I pray that she never loses that vision. I pray that her fiance may one day share that vision, as well.
I thank you that I have another daughter who loves music that praises you. She spends hours sitting at the computer listening to praise and worship music. I thank you that there are people who are sensitive to her illness. There are some sweet people in your Body, Lord.
May you continue to add to your Body, and may you help us to worship you in the right way. I pray for a whole-hearted return to the church of the New Testament, as we learn more about how "church" is supposed to be done.
I also thank you for and pray for everyone who reads/will read this journal. I don't pretend to share great words of wisdom, but we are a community here, and there seems to be a small group of believers who have bonded together. May you enrich all of their lives and help us strengthen each other as we can. Each of us has something that another of us needs.
Finally, I pray for myself, Lord, that I might have the same committment to listening to you as Phillipp and as the people whom I admire that write worship music. I know there are songs just waiting to spring out of me, if I would only listen.
Your name is to be praised forever, Lord!!
Grace and peace, friends!