Heavenly Father I praise You for my wife, of 32 years. She has faithfully walked by my side through many hard times as well as some very good times. I praise You for allowing us to grow and to do many things over the years to grow Your kingdom. I praise You for blessing me with a family and with a heritage that looks to You. Heavenly Father I praise You for the markers we place in life to help us remember: how far we have traveled, the cost of that travel, Your mercy bestowed on us, the presence of the Holy Spirit giving wisdom and comfort, and for the direction we are now headed. Just as the children of Israel left markers at each major event in claiming the promise land to remind those who came later of their journey, anniversaries remind us where we came from on our way to the promise of heaven.
Holy Spirit I ask for a hedge of protection around my family today keeping all of us from evil and harm. Help us to learn to walk in Your wisdom with a faith that continues to grow. Help us to find comfort from You as we have many people to grieve over the past three years. Help us to learn to work together and to play together so that life is more enjoyable.
Holy Spirit I pray for all the people who get my emails or visit my website and often pray alongside me. I pray for all the pastors, assistant pastors, worship leaders, office personal and Superintendent’s office of the East Michigan Free Methodist Church that You will bless them, encourage them, give them a clear vision and empower them to be true kingdom builders.
Holy Spirit I continue to pray for wisdom and discernment for Millington Church of God as they look for a new Pastor. I also pray for strength for the current Pastor who is waiting to retire and go take care of family. I pray You will continue to help the church to grow, especially in wisdom, understanding and knowledge but also in compassion, outreach and love. Let this church in this small community make a huge impact that is felt beyond the Millington Community.
Holy Spirit help us to pray along with the prayer of our Savior Jesus Christ: Now I’m returning to you. I’m saying these things in the world’s hearing so my people can experience My joy completed in them. I gave them Your word; the godless world hated them because of it, because they didn’t join the world’s ways. Just as I didn’t join the world’s ways. I’m not asking that you take them out of the world but that you guard them from the Evil One. They are no more defined by the world than I am defined by the world. Make them holy—consecrated—with the truth; Your word is consecrating truth. In the same way that you gave me a mission in the world, I give them a mission in the world. I’m consecrating myself for their sakes so they’ll be truth-consecrated in their mission. I’m praying not only for them but also for those who will believe in me because of them and their witness about me. The goal is for all of them to become one heart and mind—Just as you, Father, are in me and I in you, So they might be one heart and mind with us. Then the world might believe that you, in fact, sent me. The same glory you gave me, I gave them, so they’ll be as unified and together as we are—I in them and you in me. Then they’ll be mature in this oneness, and give the godless world evidence that you’ve sent me and loved them in the same way you’ve loved me. Father, I want those you gave me to be with me, right where I am, so they can see my glory, the splendor you gave me, having loved me long before there ever was a world. Righteous Father, the world has never known you. But I have known you, and these disciples know that you sent me on this mission. I have made your very being known to them—who you are and what you do—and continue to make it known, so that your love for me might be in them exactly as I am in them. (Amen) John 17:13-26, the Message