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Thursday, May 29, 2008

#21 – Bible Verse Prayers

Many sentences of the Bible easily stand alone. Read or recall one of them and let its theme or topic guide your prayer.
Here’s an example.
First, think of someone (your cousin, the mayor, a yak herdsman in Tibet, or just anyone).
Second, either a) recall a Bible sentence from memory, or b) open the Bible and read a sentence or two.
Third, pray.
If the Bible sentence you are reading is about healing, pray for your cousin’s health. If it is about God’s glory, pray that the mayor will experience that glory. If it is about sin, pray for the yak herdsman’s forgiveness. Etc.
Bible verse prayers are full of insight, surprise and awesome power. Enjoy!

Monday, May 19, 2008

#17 to #20 – The ACTS Prayer

This week we draw 4 elements of prayer into an all-embracing model prayer.

The A C T S Prayer

A doration, C onfession, T hanksgiving, S upplication.

Lots of times we pray from the heart out of compassion or need. But in creating us, God gave us thought as well as feeling. No surprise then that our thoughts can enrich our prayers. One great tool for organizing our feelings into a well rounded prayer is The A C T S prayer.

A- stands for Adoration. Do you adore God and God’s creation? Tell God so.
C- stands for Confession. Can you acknowledge that God is God and you are not? Do so.
T- stands for Thanksgiving. All that is, all you have, is gift from God. Thank God.
S- stands for Supplication (asking, pleading). Are you needing God today? Ask and God will answer.

If you will take the time and give some thought you'll soon be praying like a preacher. Begin with Adoration. Do a thorough job on that part. Paint a huge and wonderful picture of God with your brush of Praise, and all the rest will flow quite naturally and wonderfully.

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

# 16 - Earth Prayers

Pray for the Earth. Pray for the health and beauty of the land. Pray that the Earth bring forth life in abundance, survive the pollution of this present age, and, as in Psalm 8, lift the poet to inspire our hearts.
Try singing an Earth Prayer.
All things bright and beautiful, all creatures great and small,
all things wise and wonderful, the Lord God made them all.
Flower and bird, mountain and brook, sunset and morning, rain and summer sun.
God gave us eyes to see them, and lips that we might tell
how great is God Almighty who made all things well.

Monday, May 5, 2008

John Wesley - All You Can

“All You Can” is one of the great themes from the life and ministry of John Wesley. It has been great fun for me, a Presbyterian, to be training the youth to join the Methodist church. I am coming to appreciate a theology that I never knew much about, the theology of John Wesley. One of his famous quotes is:

“Do all the good you can,
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
At all the times you can,
To all the people you can,
As long as ever you can.”


I also read Wesley's Sermon 50 on The Use of Money in which he encourages everyone to:

Earn all you can,
Save all you can, and
Give all you can.


Let me add that when he says “save all you can” he does not mean that one should accumulate wealth. What he means by “saving” is that one should be extremely prudent in one’s spending, “saving pennies, cutting corners wherever possible.”

Wesley believed that each one was capable of doing so much more for the Lord if only s/he would. In Christ, he believed, we can do more. Anyone can.

Redeem the world?
Yes, in Christ, we can.
Can we fix it?
As Bob the Builder would say, “Yes we can.”

Try it for the summer, living an “All You Can” life. If Wesley is right, you will receive blessings beyond measure.