Posted in Sermons
Tagged Christianity, Dillon Montana, Father's Day, Fatherhood, Pastor Mark Worden, Sermons, Theology
A Shepherd’s Musings: Week 26 – God is Witness
Since God knows everything and is everywhere He is a witness to everything we think, say, and do. The Old Testament poetical books point out that God is watching us all with the following testimony:
The eyes of the LORD are toward the righteous and his ears toward their cry (Psalm 34:15),
For a man’s ways are before the eyes of the LORD, and he ponders all his paths (Proverbs 5:21),
The eyes of the LORD are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good (Proverbs 15:3).
We cannot hide what we are, what we do, or what we say from God. He knows! He is witness! So why do we try? Is not our natural response to our own wrongdoing to hide and cover our sin? That is what Adam and Eve did in the garden. That is what David did with his adultery with Bathsheba. And that is what you and I do, until God intervenes like He did with Adam, David, and myriads of other examples throughout history to our present day. When we sin against God, He is witness. We should quickly follow David’s right example in repentance:
For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. (Psalm 32:3 -5; cf. Ps.51)
Can you think of some situations in your life where the thought of God being a witness sobered you into obedience? Let’s be mindful this week of God’s watchfulness and be quick to acknowledge our need for God’s help to do right. Call upon Him for help in your time of temptation, turning from the sin to God.
God is also witness when we do right even though others may misjudge our motives and even malign us with false witness. In such situations the truth that God is a just and true witness can bring much comfort. Various characters in the Old Testament appealed to others for various reasons with a reference to the fact that God is witness: Laban to Jacob to secure that he treat his daughters right (Gen.31:50), the elders of Gilead to Jephthah in a pledge that they would keep their commitment to him (Judges 11:10), Samuel to the children of Israel to emphasis that he had never wronged them (1 Samuel 12:5-6), children of Israel to Jeremiah as a pledge of their future obedience (Jeremiah 42:5), and Micah to the people to stress their accountability to God (Micah 1:2). In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul appealed to the fact that God is witness to attest to the truth of his conduct concerning his prayer life (Romans 1:8-10), his itinerary (2 Corinthians 1:23-24), his relationship with other believers (Philippians 1:8), and his motives in ministry (1 Thessalonians 2:5).
Are there some situations in the past where you should have called someone’s attention to the fact that God is witness? Can you foresee some situation in the future where you may need to point out that God is witness to get someone’s attention and remind them that God knows?
That fact that God is witness can be both convicting and comforting depending on how you are living!
With Prayer, Mark
© June, 2011 Scripture quoted: ESV – Emphasis added
Verses for your meditation: God Is Witness
Genesis 31:50, If you oppress my daughters, or if you take wives besides my daughters, although no one is with us, see, God is witness between you and me.
Judges 11:10, And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “The LORD will be witness between us, if we do not do as you say.”
1 Samuel 12:5-6, And he said to them, “The LORD is witness against you, and his anointed is witness this day, that you have not found anything in my hand.” And they said, “He is witness.” And Samuel said to the people, “The LORD is witness, who appointed Moses and Aaron and brought your fathers up out of the land of Egypt.
1 Samuel 20:12, And Jonathan said to David, “The LORD, the God of Israel, be witness! When I have sounded out my father, about this time tomorrow, or the third day, behold, if he is well disposed toward David, shall I not then send and disclose it to you?
Jeremiah 29:23, because they have done an outrageous thing in Israel, they have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives, and they have spoken in my name lying words that I did not command them. I am the one who knows, and I am witness, declares the LORD.’”
Jeremiah 42:5, Then they said to Jeremiah, “May the LORD be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act according to all the word with which the LORD your God sends you to us.
Micah 1:2, Hear, you peoples, all of you; pay attention, O earth, and all that is in it, and let the Lord GOD be a witness against you, the Lord from his holy temple.
Malachi 2:13-14, And this second thing you do. You cover the LORD’s altar with tears, with weeping and groaning because he no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand. But you say, “Why does he not?” Because the LORD was witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant.
Romans 1:8-10, First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world. For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I mention you always in my prayers, asking that somehow by God’s will I may now at last succeed in coming to you.
2 Corinthians 1:23-24, But I call God to witness against me–it was to spare you that I refrained from coming again to Corinth. Not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, for you stand firm in your faith.
Philippians 1:8, For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.
1 Thessalonians 2:5, For we never came with words of flattery, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed–God is witness.
Hebews 4:13, And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
1 Peter 3:12, For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”
Posted in Devotional, Pastor's Chat
Tagged Bible, Bible Verses, Christianity, Devotional, Dillon Montana, Pastor Mark Worden, Pastor's Chat, Scripture, Theology, Theology Proper
A Shepherd’s Musings Devotional: Week 25 – God is our Shield
Well, so far this year we have been considering who our Creator God is. This is what we have found thus far: God Is!, God is Light, God Is Beyond Us, God Is Knowable, God Is Near!, God Is Merciful!, God Is Holy, God Is Perfect in Justice, God is Righteous!, God is Judge, God Is The Lawgiver, God Is King, God Is Sovereign!, God is Good!, God is Faithful, God Is True, God is True-2 , God is Wise, God is Powerful!, God is Spirit!, and God Is our Father. I now must add, God is our Shield!
A person who, as Jesus said, “Has eyes to see and ears to hear” can recognize these attributes of God daily. However, there are some days, specific times, and special situations when you might experience or see one or more of these attributes in powerful ways. On Father’s Day, shortly after 10 p.m. on a dark highway in Montana was such a time for me. I was driving around 70 miles an hour and seemingly out of nowhere, a cow moose was directly in front of me. I just had time to recognize her head before impact. Perfect peace come over me as the windshield exploded in my face. No doubt by God’s grace the Jeep was brought to a slow stop on the right-hand shoulder of the road. It was still running and the Keith Green CD was still playing. I was still alive and worshipping God on earth. The steam from the engine began flowing by this time and jarred me into action. I shut the Jeep off and thanked my heavenly Father for His goodness and protection. I got out and eventually took these pictures:
Earlier that night, after I had prayed with Tammie before leaving Helena, and after I had prayed with my Dad on the phone in a parking lot, for some strange reason, the thought of hitting a moose head-on came into my mind. I prayed to God and said, “Lord if that ever happens, I’m ready to be in your presence.” I never do what I did next. I raised the head rest to its highest setting in my seat and then moved the shoulder strap to its lowest setting snug against my shoulder. About 40 minutes later I drove through a moose and by the grace of God I am able to write about it. To God be the glory. He is everything the Bible reveals Him to be. I know by divine revelation and by human experience.
I can certainly enter into praise with David the Psalmist of Israel for God being my shield:
For you are my lamp, O LORD, and my God lightens my darkness. For by you I can run against a troop, and by my God I can leap over a wall. This God–his way is perfect; the word of the LORD proves true; he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him. “For who is God, but the LORD? And who is a rock, except our God? (2 Samuel 22:29-32),
But let all who take refuge in you rejoice; let them ever sing for joy, and spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may exult in you. For you bless the righteous, O LORD; you cover him with favor as with a shield. (Psalm 5:11-12).
Is God your shield? He is my shield. My Father God must have more for me to do on earth for Him!
With Prayer, Mark © June, 2011 Scripture quoted: ESV – Emphasis added
Selected Verses on God as our Shield:
Genesis 15:1, After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.”
Psalm 3:3, But you, O LORD, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head.
Psalm 18:2 & 30, The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold . . . This God–his way is perfect; the word of the LORD proves true; he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.
Psalm 28:7, The LORD is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him.
Psalm 33:20-22, Our soul waits for the LORD; he is our help and our shield. For our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name. Let your steadfast love, O LORD, be upon us, even as we hope in you.
Psalm 84:11, For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly.
Psalm 119:114, You are my hiding place and my shield; I hope in your word.
Proverbs 30:4-6, Who has ascended to heaven and come down? Who has gathered the wind in his fists? Who has wrapped up the waters in a garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and what is his son’s name? Surely you know! Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. Do not add to his words, lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar.
Posted in Devotional, Pastor's Chat
Tagged Christianity, Devotional, Dillon Montana, God IS, Pastor's Chat, Scripture, Theology, Theology Proper
My Life!
It was my goal to Glorify My Heavenly Father on Father’s Day:
It began by preaching at Grace Bible on the The Ultimate Father:
Download: http://gbcdillon.sermon.net/da/2709312
Playback: http://gbcdillon.sermon.net/da/2709312/play
It continued by driving through a moose and being able to testify of God’s protection to those who responded to the scene. I walked away apparently unharmed physically, but changed having been clearly in the hand’s of my heavenly Father.
The joy of the evening was sharing with the driver of the wrecker and two of his young children John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
later I thought of these verses in worship of my FATHER God:
1 John 3:1-3, ” See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.
Posted in Bible Verse, Prayer, Sermons
Tagged Christianity, Devotional, Dillon Montana, Father's Day, Pastor Mark Worden, Scripture, Sermons
Last year I preached upon God being our Father from the Lord’s Prayer:
Text: Luke 11:2-13
Title: God, Our Father
Download: http://pastormarkworden.sermon.net/da/2436981
Playback: http://pastormarkworden.sermon.net/da/2436981/play
This year I will be preaching about our Heavenly Father from John’s Gospel:
Title: The Ultimate Father
Download: http://gbcdillon.sermon.net/da/2709312
Playback: http://gbcdillon.sermon.net/da/2709312/play
At the close of the message I showed a YouTube video of Derek Redmond and his Dad finishing the race in real RELATIONSHIP!
Play http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nifq3Ke2Q30
Blessings to you in Christ, mark
Just in time for Father’s Day! Blessings!
Shepherd’s Musings Devotional: Week 23 & 24
Have you ever heard someone say something to this effect, “I have a hard time accepting God as my Father because I never really had a dad who was a father”? Perhaps statements like that lead to pastors saying things like, “If you haven’t had a good father it’s difficult to see God as your heavenly Father.” I made and agreed with such statements until I read J. I. Packer’s book Knowing God where he frankly claimed that such notions were “silly.” He backed up his assessment with this argument:
. . . it is just not true to suggest that in the realm of personal relations positive concepts cannot be formed by contrast . . . the thought of our Maker becoming our perfect parent—faithful in love and care, generous and thoughtful, interested in all we do, respecting our individuality, skillful in training us, wise in guidance, always available, helping us to find ourselves in maturity, integrity and uprightness—is a thought which can have meaning for everybody, whether we come to it by saying, “I had a wonderful father, and I see that God is like that, only more so,” or by saying, “My father disappointed me here, and here, and here, but God, praise his name, will be very different,” or by saying, “I have never known what it is to have a father on earth, but thank God I now have one in heaven.” The truth is that all of us have a positive ideal of fatherhood by which we judge our own and others’ fathers, and it can safely be said that the person for whom the thought of God’s perfect fatherhood is meaningless or repellent does not exist (Knowing God, pg.203-204).
Scripture supports this because God is the Father of the fatherless as Psalm 68 reveals, “Sing to God, sing praises to his name; lift up a song to him who rides through the deserts; his name is the LORD; exult before him! Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation (vs.4-5). Furthermore, David looked to God when his father and mother abandoned him, “Hear, O LORD, when I cry aloud; be gracious to me and answer me! You have said, ‘Seek my face.’ My heart says to you, ‘Your face, LORD, do I seek.’ Hide not your face from me. Turn not your servant away in anger, O you who have been my help. Cast me not off; forsake me not, O God of my salvation! For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the LORD will take me in. (Psalm 27:7-10)
Have you been taken in by the LORD? Have you become His child? Do you call Him, “Father”?
The truth is that we do not enter this world as God’s children but Satan’s. Jesus said this to the religious leaders of His day, “You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” (John 8:44). Ever since Satan’s attack and the fall of mankind into sin in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3) each child is born into Satan’s domain. Every person must desire, by the grace of God, to turn to Him and be adopted into His family. The Gospel of John explains how a person is born into God’s family by the work of God:
[Jesus Christ] was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God ( John 1:10-13).
Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” . . . “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God” (John 3:3, 16-18).
After being “born again” and coming into God’s family by receiving Jesus Christ with believing trust, Galatians 4:6-7 reveals that God’s children will call Him Father, “And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’ So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.” No wonder the Apostle John says with awe, “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure” (John 3:1-3).
Certainly as God’s children we have a bright future as we await our eternal inheritance as joint heirs in Christ. However, the last phrase in John 3:3, “And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure”, clearly reveals we have a real relationship with our Father God in the present that should see growth in purity or sanctification. Coming under the Fatherhood of God will result in at least four areas of spiritual growth (these 4 points were suggested from Knowing God, pg.205):
1. Submission to God’s fatherly authority:
Just as Jesus the Son submitted or yielded to God the Father’s will, so should we as sons! Jesus said, “For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me” (John 6:38). God’s will for us is revealed in His written Word. He tells us what is pleasing and not pleasing to Him. Our Father God desires to protect us through His instructions and commands. The Father speaks to us through the father of Proverbs 3:1-4, “My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments, for length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you. Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you; bind them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart. So you will find favor and good success in the sight of God and man.” And Proverbs 6:20-23, “My son, keep your father’s commandment . . . Bind them on your heart always; tie them around your neck. When you walk, they will lead you; when you lie down, they will watch over you; and when you awake, they will talk with you. For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching a light, and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life.”
2. Security in and reception of God’s fatherly affection:
Our Father God loves us so much that He will correct and discipline us. “For the LORD reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights” (Proverbs 3:12). The writer of the letter to the Hebrews expands upon God’s loving discipline as our Father:
And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it (Hebrews 12:5-11).
3. Communion in God’s fatherly fellowship:
Jesus said while anticipating His crucifixion, “Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me” (John 16:32). Our Father God will also be with us in trials. He will bring comfort as Paul testified, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4). The blessed reality is that we can go to our heavenly Father in prayer and be at peace as Philippians 4:6-7 admonishes, “do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
4. Participation in God’s fatherly honor:
The Father’s will is to lift up, exalt, or glorify the Son. This is seen clearly in Jesus’ prayer in John 17:1-5, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.” Then later in verse 22-24 we learn that we are to see and share in this glory, “The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.” The Father’s honor of His children is not just in the future but begins as we are sanctified by His truth as we behold our Father God. 2 Corinthians 3:18 says, “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” So when someone compliments you for the work of God they see in your life, say, “Thank you” and give the glory to God the Father!
If you are God’s child through the gift of adoption, respond to His fatherhood over you by receiving the protection of his loving authority, by appreciating the affection of His discipline, by basking in the comfort of His fellowship, and by rejoicing in the glory of His honor. Spend quality time with your Heavenly Father through the Word of God and prayer. Get to know your heavenly Father. Grow in your faith in God. Discover who HE IS! “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him” (Hebrews 11:6 KJV).
If you are not God’s child, what hinders you from becoming His child? Hebrews 11:6 can become a reality in your life, if in faith you believe that HE IS and begin to take steps to seek Him—even baby steps count!
“Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen (Galatians 1:3-5).
With Prayer, Mark
© June, 2011 Scripture quoted: ESV – Emphasis added
Selected Verses on God as our Father
Isaiah 9:6, For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Isaiah 63:16, For you are our Father, though Abraham does not know us, and Israel does not acknowledge us; you, O LORD, are our Father, our Redeemer from of old is your name.
Malachi 1:6, “A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is my fear? says the LORD of hosts to you, O priests, who despise my name. But you say, ‘How have we despised your name?’
Romans 1:7, To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 8:6, yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.
Galatians 1:3-5, Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
Ephesians 4:4-6, There is one body and one Spirit–just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call- one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
Ephesians 6:23, Peace be to the brothers, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Colossians 3:17, And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
2 Thessalonians 2:16-17, Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.
1 Peter 1:3-5, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
1 John 5:1-3, Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.
2 John 1:3-4, Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father’s Son, in truth and love. I rejoiced greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as we were commanded by the Father.
Psalm 103:13, “Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him.”
Proverbs 3:12, “For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.
1 Thessalonians 2:11, “As ye know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you, as a father doth his children.”
Ephesians 6:4, “And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.”
For a complete Bible study on parenting click here!
Father’s Day Message in 2010:
Title: What God Requires in Men!
Text: Micah 6:1-8
Download: http://pastormarkworden.sermon.net/da/250057
Playback: http://pastormarkworden.sermon.net/da/250057/play
Posted in Selected Sriptures
Tagged Being a Dad, Father's Day, Father's Day Verses, Fatherhood
i want to be ready.
i don’t want to be a picky eater
when i sit down at a banquet of truth,
even though i may,
like the bereans,
check the scriptures to make sure
that i’m really taking in truth.
i don’t want to be grading
the performance of the preacher,
as if he were my student
in a public speaking class.
i want to be a hearer of the word
and a doer of the same,
receiving with meekness
the engrafted word.
i want to learn,
asking questions
to the appropriate person
in the appropriate time and place–
not challenging the authority
or veracity
of the God-ordained leader,
not dragging out a personal issue
for public discussion,
but in humility
increasing understanding.
i want to begin
with a heart prepared to obey,
to live at unity with God’s people,
a desire to encourage others
to love and good works.
Father, please fill my heart
with a song of joy,
with generosity,
with reverence,
with humility.
Lord, have mercy on me.
Posted in Uncategorized
