My friends,
This morning I was reading Genesis 12-15 – seeing the faith of Abram.
I prayed for the Lord to grow me in faith; Abram believed and you credited to him as righteousness. I have trusted in the Lord to save me and I know He has credited it to me as righteousness because He says so in His Word, but it still feels wild to me. Unbelievable. Grant me Abram’s faith to believe in what He could not see.
I prayed for God to provide the $142,000 on December 30th, but I doubted. And yet God provided more than 142K. He provided more than enough to cover our ministry plan for this year so far. God is great. Praise His name.
I am praying for the Father to enable me to communicate what He has laid on my heart tomorrow night.
“Help me to hear you. Help me to rest in you. Speak through me Lord. Help my unbelief. I do not want to lead us in wrong directions. What joy and what freedom to rest in Your direction and call people to seek You — to give pointers but not decisions. I feel solid here. Then Lord confirm, caution, redirect, shape and color what You want to do.”
Join me in fervent prayer for Sunday night – if possible come early to pray in the worship center.
Then I read the first part of Jesus’ amazing Sermon on the Mount. I love this text — someday I will preach Christ’s sermon and try to make it come alive fresh for this day.
I prayed:
“I want the blessings you give in the Beatitudes but they are challenging, paradoxical — grant me purity of heart for I so much want to see You Lord. O God, I want to see You, to see your face. To know You. Draw me close to You Lord. Show me Your glory; grant me the purity of heart to be able to see you. Wash away poor motives, selfishness, wrong motives, impurities in my heart.
King of glory, Lord of all, I want to be your light and your salt — to spice and preserve, to work; to shine on a hill, not be covered. Grant me greater boldness everywhere I am to shine my light – to be a proclaimer, an evangelist, a missionary — the time is short; hell is so real and so painful, so horrible to imagine. Lord God move in Johnny’s heart and Cinnamon and Piper. Move in the hearts of my friends at LA Fitness, move them to trust in you Lord; show me how to reach them. Open their eyes Lord.
Lord, you are moving - I feel it deep inside, moving me, moving our body, moving our elders. Father, show what You want to do — move in ways that only You can Lord — move people as you wish — move in souls, move in conversations; open eyes to the truth. Help people see how you are moving and what you are doing. Show the ways forward Lord.”
Then I reviewed a few memory verses – this one grabbed me.
Memory verses: Isaiah 41:10 “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”
“Thank You Lord for this promise — I cling to You. I will not fear. I will not be dismayed because you are my God. You will strengthen and help me. You are with me. You will uphold me. And so I am filled with courage.”
May you too be filled with divine courage because you know Is. 41:10.
Bruce
McKinney Fellowship Bible Church
www.mckinneyfellowship.org
Posted by bloggerbruce
