Hope and Comfort

Entrust your days and burdens to God’s most loving hand;

He cares for you while ruling the sky, the sea, the land.

For He who guides the tempests along their thunderous ways

Will find for you a pathway and guide you all your days.

Our hands and feet, Lord, strengthen; with joy our spirits bless

Until we see the ending of all our life’s distress.

And so throughout our lifetime keep us within Your care

And at our end then bring us to heav’n to praise You there. Amen

~Paul Gerhardt, hymnist

 

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade-kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of this salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith–of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire–may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.”

1 Peter 1:3-7

We have comfort and hope in Christ Jesus!

God bless you and keep you in His care!

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White As Snow

“Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord:
though your sins are like scarlet,
    they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red like crimson,
    they shall become like wool.”

Isaiah 1:18

Christ’s work on the cross changes everything for those who believe!  Thank you, O Lord, for your great love and mercy that covers all our sins!  Open our mouths to share this Good News.   In Jesus’ name we pray,  Amen.

A Citizen’s Prayer

 

Photo by Laura Jostes

“Purge us, O God,

of cynical distrust,

of party passion,

of the deafness

of our rebellious bent.

Teach us, O Lord, the meekness

that would rather be deceived

than be encrusted

with perpetual distrust.

Teach the charity

that will interpret

all uncertainties

toward the side of goodness.

Create in our world

an air in which

the truth can freely breathe,

a sea on which

the ships of truth can sail,

an earth on which

the feet of truth can walk unhurt.

Your Son, our Lord,

would not speak ill of Caesar

even when Caesar’s power

nailed Him to the cross.

Give us the Spirit of Your Son.”

For Jesus’ sake we pray, Amen

~Prayer by Martin H. Franzmann, Pray For Joy

“Let love be without hypocrisy.  Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good…  Never pay back evil for evil to anyone.  Respect what is right in the sight of all men.  If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men…Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”  Romans 12:9, 17-18, 21

 

A Prayer

O God, O Lord of heaven and earth, thy living finger never wrote

That life should be an aimless mote, a deathward drift from futile birth.

Thy word meant life triumphant hurled through every cranny of Thy world.

Since light awoke and life began, Thou hast desired Thy life for man.

 

Our fatal will to equal Thee, our rebel will, wrought death and night.

We seized and used in Thy despite Thy wondrous gifts of liberty.

We housed us in this house of doom, where death had royal scope and room,

Until Thy Servant Prince of Peace breached all its walls for our release.

 

Thou camest to our hall of death, O Christ, to breathe our poisoned air,

To drink for us the dark despair that strangles man’s reluctant breath.

How beautiful the feet that trod the road that leads us back to God!

How beautiful the feet that ran to bring the great good news to man!

 

O Spirit, who didst once restore Thy Church, that it might be again

The bringer of good news to men, breathe on Thy cloven church once more,

That in these gray latter days there may be men whose life is praise,

Each life a high doxology to Father, Son and unto Thee.   Amen.

~Hymn by Martin H. Franzmann

 

This prayer-hymn speaks of the ways God works in the world that He created, redeemed, and is restoring unto Himself.  We are created by Him, redeemed through His Son Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit and now sent to share this Good News with others.

Blessings on your day!

LJ

 

 

 

Joy

You put me on the stretch, O God.

You do me the honor of putting me to the test

as You once tested our Father Abraham.

You bid me do the impossible:

not only to endure

the tempering heat of trial

but to rejoice in it–impossible!

 

But Your Son did not find it impossible

when You tried Him with failure.

He rejoiced in the Holy Spirit

and gave thanks to You

when You took from Him

the wise and understanding

and revealed Him only to babes,

to the inconsequential little ones

in whom Your love delights.

 

Your servant Paul found it possible.

Your servant James found it possible.

And You are my Father just as You are theirs.

I thank You for all proofs of Fatherhood.

I thank You for the trials I meet.

Give me the heart to meet them unafraid,

to joy in them as I rejoice in You.  Amen.

Prayer by Martin H. Franzmann, Pray For Joy

 

“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.  And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.”  James 1:2-4

Remembering on this day the trials that began in New York 15 years ago….

 

 

 

 

One

In Adam we have all been one,

One huge rebellious man;

We all have fled that Evening Voice

That sought us as we ran.

 

We fled Thee and in losing Thee

We lost our brother too;

Each singly claimed and sought his own;

Each one his brother slew.

 

But Thy Strong love, it sought us still

And sent us Thine only Son

That we might hear His Shepherd’s voice

And, hearing Him, be one.

 

O Thou who, when we loved Thee not,

Didst love and save us all,

Thou great Good Shepherd of mankind,

O hear us when we call.

 

Send us Thy Spirit, teach us truth;

Thou Son, O set us free

From fancied wisdom, self-sought ways,

To make us one in Thee.

 

Then shall our song united rise

To Thine eternal throne,

Where with the Father evermore

And Spirit Thou art One.

Amen.

Hymn text by Martin H. Franzmann

 

What the world needs now is…to know the great love of God who sent His only Son to redeem sinful man and restore us to Himself and to one another.  Let that be our prayer today!

God bless your day!

LJ

Rid us, O Lord

Rid us, O Lord,

of the arrogant delusion

that our age is

harder to live in,

harder to live through

and be decent in

than any age

that ever was,

that we are being tried

as our fathers never were,

that we have more excuse

for our neurotic screaming,

our pitiful muddling,

our sentimental slobbering,

our pinching terror

at the shadows of the future

cast upon our way

than any men who ever walked

beneath Your heaven

and on Your earth.

Teach us, O Lord,

by Your sane and steadying Word

that we stand before You

as we always stood,

living of Your grace

and moving toward Your judgment,

that the Bomb

and the terrible technological trifles

of our time

have not altered

the great,

plain,

steady fact

that You are Lord

and have not changed

the blessed time

of Your coming

as a thief in the night.

Prayer by Martin H. Franzmann from Pray for Joy

 

“Fret not yourself because of evildoers; be not envious of wrongdoers!  For they will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb.  Trust in the Lord, and do good.  Dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.  Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”  Psalm 37:1-4

Steady

Psalm 40:1-5

 I waited patiently for God to help me; then he listened and heard my cry.

He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out from the bog and the mire, and set my feet on a hard, firm path, and steadied me as I walked along.

He has given me a new song to sing, of praises to our God. Now many will hear of the glorious things he did for me, and stand in awe before the Lord, and put their trust in him.

 Many blessings are given to those who trust the Lord and have no confidence in those who are proud or who trust in idols.

 O Lord my God, many and many a time you have done great miracles for us, and we are ever in your thoughts. Who else can do such glorious things? No one else can be compared with you. There isn’t time to tell of all your wonderful deeds.

Lord God, many are the cries for help that are rising to you this day.  Cries from Italy.  Cries from Louisiana.  Cries from hospitals.  Cries from the lonely in their homes.  Lord, have mercy.  Hear our prayers for Jesus’ sake and come to our aid that we might in turn tell of the wondrous ways that you have delivered us.  We give you praise for saving us from the deep pit of sin through your Son Jesus Christ who gave His life for us.  You have set our feet firm on the Rock of our salvation through faith.  Steady us as we go through this day.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

God’s Face

“‘“The Lord bless you
    and keep you;
   the Lord make his face shine on you
    and be gracious to you;
 the Lord turn his face toward you
    and give you peace.”’

Numbers 6: 24-26

Lord God, thank You for turning Your face towards us through Your Son Jesus Christ who always kept His face turned on You.  Even on the Cross when You turned away from Him because He was covered with the filth of all our sins He turned to You and asked You to forgive us.  And You did.  We don’t deserve anything good from Your Hand, but because of Jesus You lavish upon us Your never ending goodness and mercy and love.  How great is Your love for us!  May we share Your peace with those we meet this day.  For Jesus’ sake we pray, Amen.

Friendship

 

“Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.  And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.  Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.  Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”  Ephesians 4: 29-32.

Lord God, thank you for friends.  May we cherish them, seek the best for them, and speak well of them always.  Thank you for being our friend.  For loving us when we were unloveable, forgiving us when we did not deserve it, for saving us from sin and death.  By your Holy Spirit help us this day to be a friend to the friendless and to love them even as we have been loved by you.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.