A prayer for the day

Almighty God, You who call me to prayer, and who offer Yourself to all who seek Your face, pour out Your Holy Spirit up me today and deliver me from coldness of heart, a wandering mind, and wrongful desires.  By the power of Your Spirit place within me steadfast love and devotion, so that today I may worship and serve You with all my life; through Jesus Christ my Lord.  Amen.

Anonymous

Watch What You Say

Have you heard the story about the elderly gentleman who had suffered from a serious hearing problem for a number of years? He went to the doctor and was fitted with a set of hearing aids that gave back his hearing completely - 100%

The gentleman went back to the doctor a month later.  The doctor ran some tests and declared, "Your hearing is perfect.  Your family must be really pleased that you can hear again."

The gentleman replied, "Oh, I haven't told my family yet.  I just sit around and listen to their conversations.  I've changed my will three times!"

Hope - You Can't Live Without It

Hope - you can't live without it.  It's the thing that keeps us going during the darkest night of the soul, the power that keeps us moving when we're ready to give up.  It moved Job, who was tested and tried, to confidently write, "I know that my Redeemer lives."  Even as he faced death, it led the apostle Paul to pen, "Yet I am not ashamed because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him for that day,"  That's hope - pure and simple.

Hebrews 6:19a reads: We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.

Author and pastor, Richard Lauersdorf had this to say about the above verse. "Few things were more important to the sailor in a storm than a good anchor and a good ground for it.  Believers in Christ have both.  They have an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.  Like some anchors whose strong flukes cannot be twisted out of shape, so we have in Christ an absolute strong and reliable hope."

In Christ Jesus, we have a safe harbor.  The storms of life, while threatening to us, cannot destroy us.  We flee to Christ.  Anchored in the solid ground of His Holy Word, we can stand firm against the temptations of the old evil foe.  The devil can't take our soul.  Christ's comeback victory on the third day ensures us of new life now and eternal life in heaven.  As author Jane Fryer writes, "Flee for refuge to Him! Take hold of the hope He offers you.  Live in great courage.  You are His now and forever!"

God's mercy is immeasurable

As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.  Psalm 103:12

My pastor and mentor, Rev. David Schultz, was quite fond of the above verse.  He wanted His flock to know of the compassionate grace of the Good Shepherd and he believed that this verse delivered that grace in great abundance.

Martin Luther believed this too.  In a Christmas sermon Luther preached: We, too, know well enough that we are poor sinners.  But here is the thing to do is not to look at what we are and do what at what Christ is and has done, and is still doing for us.  We are not speaking about our nature now but about the grace of God, which is as far above us as "the heaven is high above the earth" and as far as "the east is from the west."  If you consider it a great matter to be a child of God, do not think it a small matter that the Son of God, born of a woman and made under the Law, came that you might become such a child.

The Psalmist David points us to a very definite truth - God's mercy and forgiveness is immeasurable.  Does Home Depot have anything on their shelves that can measure east from west?  Of course not! God is not like the guy I used to work for who used to say, "I can forgive but I can never forget."  When God removes sin, it is gone.  When God forgives sin, He does not bring it up again.  Rejoice in this good news - God has forgiven you.  Say "good-bye" to guilt and shame today!

Top Ten Book Titles That Should Not Be Found in the Pastor's Library

10) "Grow Your Church In Only 432 Steps"

9) "Guilt Trips to Try on Delinquent Members"

8) "Preach Like Whoopie Goldberg"

7) "Church Doctrine for Dummies"

6) "Pastors - How To Spend All Day on Facebook (and never get a thing done)

5) "Children's Messages - So Much Better Than A Regular Sermon"

4) "Professor Robingson's 12 Volume Commentary on Philemon"

3) "How To Be the Perfect Pastor - And Other Impossible Ideas" 

2) "Timing Home Visits - Never Miss Breakfast, Lunch or Dinner!"

1) "The Stress-free Ministry"

Top Ten Signs Your Pastor Is Thinking Too Much About Retirement

10) Has filled up the church track rack with brochures of places he wishes to travel to

9) Has emptied out his office - and he doesn't retire for another six months!

8) Preaches each Sunday wearing a Tommy Bahama shirt, shorts and sandles

7) Adopts as his new motto, "It's 5 o'clock somewhere."

6) Calls retirement "the never ending sabbatical"

5) Says he looks forward to the day when he can't tell what day it is

4) Uses sermon prep time to get fitted for a new set of golf clubs

3) Heard screaming from his office, "Get behind me, Day Planner!"

2) Postlude for final Sunday of worship is the Beatles, "Hello Goodbye!"

1) Leaves forwarding address, "123 Anywhere Lane, Nowhere USA"

Don't be anxious!

My mother was an anxious person.  She grew up during the Depression when times were tough for so many people.  While at a young age, she suffered when several family members passed away.  Her first husband died, leaving her with a young son.  She knew pain and disappointment and uncertainty and so she worried about everything.

I guess I inherited my sense of anxiety from my Mom.  I, too, at times, can become too anxious about people, responsibilities and situations I face.  I dislike very much what worry does to me.  I feel like a fishing boat lost in a perfect storm, being tossed to and fro by thoughts and feelings of doubt and fear.

That's why Paul's words to the Philippians mean so much to me and probably to you as well:

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  (4:6)

Here Paul offers the perfect antidote for worry - prayer! When feeling anxious or overwhelmed, this verse reminds me to call "time-out."  When the dark shadows of worry begin to pass over and cover me, Paul says, "present your requests to God."  The message is clear - pray!

Are you, like me, given to let anxiety rule your day? Why not commit this verse from Philippians to memory.  Let it remind you again and again of what to do when you are about to be overcome by worry and fear.  Take these feelings to your loving Heavenly Father.  God will exchange your anxiety for His peace.  You can't find a better offer!