Generations (Psalms and Prayers)

Oh, merciful Father, almighty God!

I come before You with awe.

Oh merciful Father, almighty God.  Help me my Lord.  Help me to understand that I am an heir to Your kingdom, to fully grasp that I have obtained an eternal inheritance through the precious blood of Jesus Christ, to comprehend that the covenant that You made with Abraham applies to me.       

Untold generations have come before me - an endless sea of saintly souls made so through the redeeming blood of Jesus.  And while they did not know me by name, they prayed for me.  They prayed Your blessings and protection upon me.  And you heard their prayers.  You honored their requests.  You remembered Your covenant.  You built a fortress around my soul.  Thank You my God.  Thank you for each of them.  

And as those who came before me prayed for me, I now pray for the countless generations that will come after me.  My brothers and sisters in Christ.   Bless them, my Lord.  Hold them secure in Your mighty hand.  Keep their hearts and minds pure and acceptable to You.  Cover them in the precious blood of Jesus according to Your will.  Thank you for each of them.  

For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.

Amen.

Galations 3:29      “And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.”

Romans 4:11        “… that he might be the father of all those who believe,...”

   

Genesis 17:7         “And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you.”     

Mom and Dad (God Moments)

That sure sounds strange – Mom and Dad.  Somewhere before that age when a boy becomes a man, they became Esther and Chester to me.  The circumstances of that transition are entirely unknown to me now.  But one day, I began calling them by their given names and that habit pretty much defined our relationship for the next 40 plus years.

Now, I have never fathered a child.  The Good Lord saw the wisdom of terminating my blood line with me.   So, I admit to a bias of ignorance with what I’m about to say.  But I find it bemusing when a newborn enters the room, and someone (usually female – not that anyone’s counting) inevitably gushes, “Oh, what a blessing!”  Maybe so.  But to my way of thinking, that is just plain backwards.  It is the parents who provide the blessing and you never hear anyone fawn poetic on their behalf.

In my heart I know that Mom and Dad weren’t perfect in any respect, much less parenting.  Maybe I know that all too well.  Because in my weaker moments, blame for my failures is slyly transferred to their ledger.  But that says so much more about me than them.

Nonetheless, not only did I love them as parents, I liked them as people.  I wish I had known them when they were young and vibrant.

When the toll booth that we call life hadn’t yet fully taxed them physically.  Something tells me that if our ages could somehow meet in the middle, we’d hang out together.  But that was never part of God’s design.  Instead, my mind is limited to memories of them in their later years. 

A little bit bent-over.  A little bit shaky.  But always supporting each other both physically and spiritually even until death do them part – and beyond.  Perhaps that is the best reflection of all.    

What a joy it would be sit down with Mom and Dad today, right now, and talk about…..life.  To try and see the world through their prism – images that were and remain to be important to them.  But lost upon me in that day because life simply got in the way.  So many questions remain unanswered.  But yet those questions will morph once again in the light of a new day.

I simply must trust that their wisdom imparted upon me the important stuff that God would have me to know.  And so it was.  Because not only did they conceive me physically but it was their love and sacrifice, their very lives, that first witnessed to me the love of God and planted the seeds of faith in my soul.  Their continual prayers fortified me against the world.

Yes, Mom and Dad are the blessing.         

               

Esther and Chester are still with me – profoundly.  And it makes me smile.  But for unknown reasons that I strain to understand, when they died, they reverted to Mom and Dad.  

Link to:  Generations (Psalms and Prayers)

Rebellion (Psalms and Prayers)

Oh my Lord ,

Please have mercy on me.  My sins are many.  My sins are deep.  Yet, not the size of the sin, but the condition of the heart.

Oh, that by the power of The Holy Spirit I might see my sins as you see them.  Help me to feel the hurt that my sin creates in Your heart.  Help me to become aware that all my sin is ultimately against you and you alone.  Help me to “see through” the deception that all sin represents – rebellion against the Almighty God.  Oh please help me...

Not that my understanding will give me the power to overcome my sinful nature.  But that I might resolve to deny my wayward desires and with the help of the Holy Spirit, defeat the sin that resides in this physical body.

So, please forgive my sins.  Wash me in the precious blood of Christ.  Thank you.  What an amazing gift!

And from this moment forward, help put away all sin and to walk according to Your will.  So that You might find delight in all that I think and do.  And that I might know the full joy of the indwelling Spirit in my present body, here and now.

In the all-powerful name of Jesus I pray,

Amen.

Psalm 51:4           “Against You, You only, have I sinned…..”

Romans 7:19        “For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice.”

   

Romans 8:12-14            “…..but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body…..”