Tag: Sustainer

AN ALL-INCLUSIVE PRAYER FOR 2021

Almighty and wonder-full God, we are thankful for your all-encompassing, all-pervading and eternal Presence.

Our thanks and praise belong to you alone, O God of all, because you are the One Source of all being and goodness. In you we live, move and have our being, and by your sovereign grace we receive salvation, wholeness and renewal.

We thank you for the birth, life, teachings, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ our Lord. We thank you for the redemptive suffering of Jesus, endured by him from the Garden of Gethsemane to the Cross of Golgotha (a suffering which exposed the total depravity of our sinful human condition every step of the way), and we thank you for Jesus’ sacrificial offering of himself for our everlasting atonement and reconciliation. Moreover, we thank and praise you for the empty tomb and ascension of Jesus which declare your Final Word of life, light and love eternal.

Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer — Father, Son and Holy Spirit — you are in charge and you lead the way. You never leave us nor forsake us, and your steadfast love endures forever. Whether we live or die, we are yours. In this life and the next, we are secure in your hands.

By your sovereign grace and divine will, you call us, claim us and draw us to yourself. You lead us on paths we do not yet know. There is a tomorrow we cannot see, and there are bends in the road we cannot know. But we know you will faithfully lead us according to your plan and purpose, because you are the Faithful One.

By your amazing grace, we travel the journey of this life. By your grace, we keep our minds focused on you. By your grace, we live God-conscious lives, a daily relationship of moment-by-moment dialogue with you. By your grace, we trust in you, no matter what happens or doesn’t happen. And by your grace, we follow you and abide in you.

By your grace, what joy and peace you give to us!!!

And in response to your infinite grace and absolute love, we live lives of worship, prayer, Holy Scripture study, tenderheartedness, lovingkindness, faithfulness, justice, hospitality and charity.

O Lord God, we pray for the world, this diverse arena you have created to work out your infinite grace and purposes for us and all things. We know that destruction and rebirth are a part of your creative will for the natural world. We know that you are in all creation and all creation is in you. Help us to use times of crisis as opportunities for serving those in need and sharing your truth.

O God, we know that you establish, disestablish and reestablish your earthly community throughout the ages. Beginnings, endings and new beginnings all flow from your creative and redemptive activity. We pray that in times of adversity you will draw us closer to you all the more.

Help us to see your Unity in the diversity of our world, O God, and help us to see that we are all united in you through your Holy Spirit. Help us to see we are of One Love and One Heart in you.

O God, for your universal glory and for our eternal benefit, help us to see and understand all of this according to the faith, hope and love of your Living Word, Jesus Christ our Lord.

You are Love… You are Sovereign… You are True…

Wonder-full God, the great “I Am” of the Scriptures, we pray all these things in the saving name of Jesus Christ and by the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The grace and peace of Christ be with you all in 2021! Pastor Tim

GOD’S WORKMANSHIP MADE FOR A PURPOSE

I’ve watched a lot of craftsmanship videos on YouTube over the past several weeks, and I find glasswork to be especially interesting. And in a lot of ways, the glasswork craft reminds me of the creative and redeeming work of Almighty God in our lives.

Like glass in the hand of the glass smith (or glass blower), God shapes, molds and fashions us all — including the entire cosmos as well. So in God’s divine work of creation and re-creation, we often undergo a process of shattering, melting and reforming according to the mysterious grand design of the great Master Craftsman of the Universe.

God has an aim and desire for each of his beautiful works of art, and we are here for an appointed time and place, here for a divine purpose that only God fully understands, and then we return to God who is the Source and Foundation of all life. In other words, it’s as the fictional character Hugo says in Hugo the movie:

“I’d imagine the whole world was one big machine. Machines never come with any extra parts, you know. They always come with the exact amount they need. So I figured, if the entire world was one big machine, I couldn’t be an extra part. I had to be here for some reason. And that means you have to be here for some reason, too.”

The amazing truth is that God creates, establishes, destroys, dissolves, renews, re-creates and re-establishes all that is, both seen and unseen. God is the Creator, the Re-Creator and the Sustainer. God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit (our Source, Savior and Sanctifier).

In life, in death, and in life beyond death, God is the constant Eternal Truth. And this gives us such a great inner peace, hope, and joy, because we are all in the ever-faithful hands of our wonderful, steadfast Lord God Almighty. In sickness or in health, in pleasure or in pain, in plenty or in scarcity, in life or in death, in this world or in the world to come, we are all God’s masterwork. We are God’s beautiful creatures and beloved children under the ultimate care of God’s supreme, everlasting grace — in good times and in bad times, from here to eternity.

So we place our trust in The One who is most trustworthy, and we take to heart the solid, unshakable promises of God’s Word in the Holy Scriptures. For thus says the Lord:

“We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus…”

EPHESIANS 2:10a

“Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me.”

REVELATION 3:20

God is always knocking at the doorway of our heart. So let us listen to his biblical Word, and let us prayerfully open up the door to him. The Lord is knocking, so let us open the door and feast together on his grace and truth every single day of our life.

Wonderful God, we pray that you would guide us to listen for you and empower us to open our hearts to you all of our days. Help us to grow to trust you more fully. And in this beautifully diverse world that you have placed us for a reason and purpose, make us to see you more clearly, love you more dearly, and walk with you more nearly through lives of praise, thanksgiving, charity and service. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, we pray. Amen.

Grace & Peace! Pastor Tim