All is Grace

Posts for Tag: prayer

First I Give Thanks.............

(He's the One who conquers giants)

My devotional reading today was on Romans, Chapter 1. A rich piece of scripture but today two things were pointed out.

Verse 8....First,I thank my God.............and Verse 21....For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him,......

 Giving thanks is important, honoring God is important. Our failure to be thankful leads to our failure to honor God and ultimately to our overall failure. Giving thanks and honoring God gives you new eyes to see. Instead of all the wrong you tend to dwell on, you see how abundantly blessed you truly are. Honoring God reminds you of who He is, of what He has promised, of what He expects of you.

So today, we give thanks for His abundant blessings and for His grace and mercy.

Thou Eternal God,

Thine is surpassing greatness, unspeakable
goodness, super-abundant grace;
I can as soon count the sands of ocean’s ‘lip’
as number Thy favors towards me;
I know but a part – but that part exceeds all praise.

I thank Thee for personal mercies,
a measure of health, preservation of body,
comforts of house and home, sufficiency of food
and clothing,
continuance of mental powers,
my family, their mutual help and support,
the delights of domestic harmony and peace,
the seats now filled that might have been vacant,
my country, church, Bible, faith.

But, Oh, how I mourn my sin, ingratitude, vileness,
the days that add to my guilt,
the scenes that witness my offending tongue;
All things in heaven, earth, around, within, without, condemn me –
the sun which sees my misdeeds,
the darkness which is light to Thee,
the cruel accuser who justly charges me,
the good angels who have been provoked to leave me,
Thy countenance which scans my secret sins,
Thy righteous law, Thy holy Word,
my sin-soiled conscience, my private and public life,
my neighbors, myself –
all write dark things against me.

I deny them not, frame no excuse, but confess,
‘Father, I have sinned’;
Yet still I live, and fly repenting to Thy outstretched arms;
Thou wilt not cast me off, for Jesus brings me near,
Thou wilt not condemn me, for He died in my stead,
Thou wilt not mark my mountains of sin,
for He leveled all,
and His beauty covers my deformities.

Oh my God, I bid farewell to sin by clinging
to His cross, hiding in His wounds, and sheltering in His side.

(Taken from ‘The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers)



You are I am!

I've been the one to shake with fear
And wonder if You're even here
I've been the one to doubt Your love
I've told myself You're not enough

I've been the one to try and say
I'll overcome by my own shame
I've been the one to fall apart
And start to question who You are

You're the one who conquers giants
You're the one who calls out kings
You shut the mouths of lions
You tell the dead to breathe
You're the one who walks through fire
You take the orphan's hand
You are the one Messiah
You are I am
You are I am

I've been the one held down in chains
Beneath the weight of all my shame
I've been the one to believe
That where I am You cannot reach

You're the one who conquers giants
You're the one who calls out kings
You shut the mouths of lions
You tell the dead to breathe
You're the one who walks through fire
You take the orphan's hand
You are the one Messiah
You are I am
You are I am

The veil is torn
And now I live with the Spirit inside
The same one, the very same one
Who brought the Son back to life

Hallelujah, He lives in me
Hallelujah, He lives in me
Hallelujah, He lives in me
Hallelujah, He lives in me

You're the one who conquers giants
You're the one who calls out kings
You shut the mouths of lions
You tell the dead to breathe
You're the one who walks through fire
You take the orphan's hand
You are the one Messiah
You are I am
You are I am


(He shuts the mouths of lions)

(He tells the dead to breathe)

(He calls out kings)





Make Me a Channel of Your Peace


Make me a channel of Your peace

Where there is hatred let me bring
Your love
Where there is injury
Your pardon, Lord
And where there's doubt
true faith in You

Make me a channel of Your peace
Where there's despair in life
let me bring hope
Where there is darkness, only light
And where there's sadness, ever joy

Oh, Master grant that I
may never seek
So much to be consoled
as to console
To be understood
as to understand
To be loved as to love
with all my soul

Make me a channel of Your peace
It is in pardoning that we are
pardoned
In giving to all men that we receive
And in dying that we're born to
eternal life

Oh, Master grant that I
may never seek
So much to be consoled as to console
To be understood as to understand
To be loved as to love with all my soul

Make me a channel of Your peace
Where there's despair in life
let me bring hope
Where there is darkness, only light
And where there's sadness, ever joy


      A beautiful prayer, a beautiful song, a beautiful voice. The voice of Franciscan monk Friar Alessandro brings alive this ancient prayer, often attributed to Saint Francis of Assisi.



      It is a beautiful way to start the day and it is the prayer of my heart. A heart that without Christ, has no hope of living out this prayer for any length of time.

Our natural tendency is to hate, hating is easy, when someone hurts us, or hurts the ones we love, hate springs to the heart fueled by anger, fueled by a sense of injustice......hate is easy, but to love the one who has hurt you? To love the one who has hurt the one you love? This my friends is difficult, of our own strength we simply cannot do it.
 
   Our natural tendency to injury is to strike back, to repay, blow for blow, eye for eye and tooth for tooth, in truth that law was given by God to prevent our true tendency, which was to take life for eye, to take arms and legs for tooth. We tend to desire to take far more than was taken. But pardon? That is totally unnatural to us. Pardon the one who took from me? In my own strength I simply cannot achieve this.
 
  Our natural heart seeks to be consoled, to be understood, to be loved, we seek these things often above all others, but to cast these things aside and seek only to console, to understand and to love is once again beyond out own strength.

  To bring hope to those in despair, to bring light to those in darkness, to bring joy to those overwhelmed by sadness is a worthy way to spend ones life. Were I to be able to do this always, to pour out my life in this manner, and never have anything else, to die in my bed, destitute, alone without any creature comfort, it would be well worth it, and a life well lived.

 It is ever a work in progress, for each act of kindness there are ten that were not so kind. It is very possible that on my way to work this morning, this song on my lips and in my heart, that I will commit murder in my heart against some poor soul who simply is not driving in the manner that I think they should. For each act of compassion done this day at my work, it is probable that I will tilt the scales in the other direction by ten things I miss, ten opportunities to display compassion ignored, and ten more where I deem the person unworthy of compassion.
 
 It is easy to love the lovable, and to love the unlovable when they are family and dear to you, but to love strangers, unlovable strangers, this, this is the true task of living out this prayer.  This is the true struggle and one that I am more often than not a failure at.

 So today, this Monday, this 4th of November, I arise, this prayer on my lips, this song in my heart, and I ask the Lord most high, to open my eyes to the things going on around me, to open my hear that His love and mercy might pour forth upon all that I encounter, that each judgement I make will be His and not mine, that each life I come in contact with might be the better for having seen Him in me, than the worse for having seen me in me.

 Bless this day Lord, this coming week, this month, this year, this very life of mine, take it Lord and make it that which You would have it be, kill all that is within me that is not of You. Remind me always of my failures, never allow me to justify them, do not cease Lord, from the work that You began, do not cease Lord, for apart from You I am nothing.


The wisdom of Francis of Assisi

“All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle.”

“Preach the Gospel at all times, and when necessary, use words.”

“The deeds you do may be the only sermon some persons will hear today”

“Remember that when you leave this earth, you can take with you nothing that have received--only what you have given.”

“No one is to be called an enemy, all are your benefactors, and no one does you harm. You have no enemy except yourselves.”

“If you have men who will exclude any of God's creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who will deal likewise with their fellow men.”

“Nor did demons crucify Him; it is you who have crucified Him and crucify Him still, when you delight in your vices and sins. ”

Read more on the life of Saint Francis of Assisi

http://www.biography.com/people/st-francis-of-assisi-21152679?page=1

More quotes from Saint Francis:

https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/149151.St_Francis_of_Assisi