A Summer of Prayer and Praise - Melanie DeKruyter
To God’s holy chosen women living in reach of gracespring Bible Church...
“ Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus..."
And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God,” (Philippians 1).
You may need to reread those words. Familiarity with the passage may tempt us to skim, so feel free to read over, and over again. These words were written by a man to his beloved co- laborers thousands of years ago. Yet somehow they can reflect how we women at Gracespring feel about each other as members of one body, the Church. We are co-laborers with Christ and with each other. No matter the battle, when the LORD moves in us to give Him praise and glory, the battle is being won! Remember—worship is our primary tool against evil, against our enemy. The Lord is surely at work within us, among us. We need to remember the Lord has brought us here and kept us here at gracespring for such a time as this: a time of vigilant striving to do His will with great joy.
Front and center of my prayers for us is to know with hope the good work the LORD has planned for us, and that the fruit be praise to GOD.
“For this is what the LORD says— your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the LORD your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go,” Isaiah 48:17 NIV
Thank you, Lord, for being the Light on our steps and for desiring to partner with us. You are calling us into good work which You will accomplish through us.
Where do we start? Good work is such a broad idea.
First, I believe it is the Lord’s desire that we the family of gracespring Bible Church will mark this summer of 2015 as a time of concerted prayer-led and joy-filled service. Let us commit to lifting up each other’s burdens and lifting up praise where all praise is due. Perhaps stop reading now and do this. Listen, because the LORD will surely fill your prayer time when you seek Him with your whole heart and praise His name.
Our prayers will certainly lead us to remember together that our faith is daily. Our struggle is not with the day after tomorrow or its troubles. The battle and its victory are here and now. Let’s seek the Lord’s best use for our day today and then ask Him to guide and bless us again when tomorrow is today. One of our greatest struggles is to be attentive to the praise and worship moments here and now—we are so capable of seeing and planning ahead that we can miss the opportunities at hand.
I am daily mindful of an example of a woman who lived her faith daily. She was told she must throw her baby to the crocodiles in the Nile River. Every day she prayerfully hid her newborn son and one day, with no idea what the result would be, she wove a basket. Imagine this tired mom sitting in the hidden dark of her house, probably late at night, weaving reeds. Maybe she wondered what good it would do. But it was all she could do that day on behalf of her helpless son. She simply did all she could do that day and God used that little reed vessel to carry His servant baby Moses into the arms of a sympathetic princess, into the palace of Pharaoh and eventually into leadership of His beloved Israel out of slavery. Yochebed did such a small thing! But it was exponentially useful in God’s capable hands.
“He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion” (Philippians 1). Lord help us to focus today on You—the tasks, the concerns, the work are Yours. We may not be able to see past today or we may be drowning in concerns for tomorrow. Whichever the case, fix our gaze on You that we may seek You first and give you praise.
“I will praise you, Lord, among the nations, I will sing of you among the peoples. For great is your love, reaching to the heavens, your faithfulness reaches to the skies.” (Psalm 57:9-10)
Lord may our seeking You bear its inevitable fruit: praise. When we seek You, we find You (Jeremiah 29:13). Where we find You, we cannot help but praise Your great name. May we the family of gracespring be marked by joyous praise for our Savior. This is where our victory lies—by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony (praise!).
Evil prowls. The enemy is stirring fear and hatred all over this globe. The seemingly endless tragedies and nightmares of the innocent abused fill our inboxes and spatter our social media.
“What can I do? What can I do right now?” we ask.
The LORD answered that for me this week.
We can praise. Yes, praise. Pray without ceasing and pray out loud! This sends the clear message that we believe and evil cannot win. Worship with song and study and service! Simply marvel at who GOD is, sometimes out loud, for a broken world to glean some much-needed hope and light.
This is our greatest work, meeting the greatest need of our world today—the worship of the One who was and is and is to come!
May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart please You, Jesus, Amen.
Love in Christ,
Melanie DeKruyter
“ Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus..."
And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God,” (Philippians 1).
You may need to reread those words. Familiarity with the passage may tempt us to skim, so feel free to read over, and over again. These words were written by a man to his beloved co- laborers thousands of years ago. Yet somehow they can reflect how we women at Gracespring feel about each other as members of one body, the Church. We are co-laborers with Christ and with each other. No matter the battle, when the LORD moves in us to give Him praise and glory, the battle is being won! Remember—worship is our primary tool against evil, against our enemy. The Lord is surely at work within us, among us. We need to remember the Lord has brought us here and kept us here at gracespring for such a time as this: a time of vigilant striving to do His will with great joy.
Front and center of my prayers for us is to know with hope the good work the LORD has planned for us, and that the fruit be praise to GOD.
“For this is what the LORD says— your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the LORD your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go,” Isaiah 48:17 NIV
Thank you, Lord, for being the Light on our steps and for desiring to partner with us. You are calling us into good work which You will accomplish through us.
Where do we start? Good work is such a broad idea.
First, I believe it is the Lord’s desire that we the family of gracespring Bible Church will mark this summer of 2015 as a time of concerted prayer-led and joy-filled service. Let us commit to lifting up each other’s burdens and lifting up praise where all praise is due. Perhaps stop reading now and do this. Listen, because the LORD will surely fill your prayer time when you seek Him with your whole heart and praise His name.
Our prayers will certainly lead us to remember together that our faith is daily. Our struggle is not with the day after tomorrow or its troubles. The battle and its victory are here and now. Let’s seek the Lord’s best use for our day today and then ask Him to guide and bless us again when tomorrow is today. One of our greatest struggles is to be attentive to the praise and worship moments here and now—we are so capable of seeing and planning ahead that we can miss the opportunities at hand.
I am daily mindful of an example of a woman who lived her faith daily. She was told she must throw her baby to the crocodiles in the Nile River. Every day she prayerfully hid her newborn son and one day, with no idea what the result would be, she wove a basket. Imagine this tired mom sitting in the hidden dark of her house, probably late at night, weaving reeds. Maybe she wondered what good it would do. But it was all she could do that day on behalf of her helpless son. She simply did all she could do that day and God used that little reed vessel to carry His servant baby Moses into the arms of a sympathetic princess, into the palace of Pharaoh and eventually into leadership of His beloved Israel out of slavery. Yochebed did such a small thing! But it was exponentially useful in God’s capable hands.
“He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion” (Philippians 1). Lord help us to focus today on You—the tasks, the concerns, the work are Yours. We may not be able to see past today or we may be drowning in concerns for tomorrow. Whichever the case, fix our gaze on You that we may seek You first and give you praise.
“I will praise you, Lord, among the nations, I will sing of you among the peoples. For great is your love, reaching to the heavens, your faithfulness reaches to the skies.” (Psalm 57:9-10)
Lord may our seeking You bear its inevitable fruit: praise. When we seek You, we find You (Jeremiah 29:13). Where we find You, we cannot help but praise Your great name. May we the family of gracespring be marked by joyous praise for our Savior. This is where our victory lies—by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony (praise!).
Evil prowls. The enemy is stirring fear and hatred all over this globe. The seemingly endless tragedies and nightmares of the innocent abused fill our inboxes and spatter our social media.
“What can I do? What can I do right now?” we ask.
The LORD answered that for me this week.
We can praise. Yes, praise. Pray without ceasing and pray out loud! This sends the clear message that we believe and evil cannot win. Worship with song and study and service! Simply marvel at who GOD is, sometimes out loud, for a broken world to glean some much-needed hope and light.
This is our greatest work, meeting the greatest need of our world today—the worship of the One who was and is and is to come!
May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart please You, Jesus, Amen.
Love in Christ,
Melanie DeKruyter
0 comments: