Prayer for Memorial Day 2024

Heavenly Father, as our nation pauses today to remember those in the military who have given their lives for freedoms we enjoy, we pray you would have us all look to you for strength, comfort and guidance. Be with all who serve in our Armed Forces. Bless them and their families. Grant your loving protection. Let peace prevail among all the nations, O God. Especially let your mercy rest upon our land, even as we acknowledge with thanksgiving your past goodness on this country. If it is your will, preserve the lives of the men and women in uniform as they defend our citizenry. Most of all, we pray that you would turn the hearts of all – military and civilian – to your holy Word where we find the true peace for our sinful souls that surpasses all understanding. Keep us repentant of sin. Move us to know, take hold and treasure your saving grace. In the name of Jesus, our Savior and Your beloved Son, who alone gives this peace and hope for eternity, we pray. Amen. Found here

Living Hope...

 

 Living Hope 

 Laudate Mennonite Ensemble

How great the chasm that lay between us

How high the mountain I could not climb

In desperation, I turned to heaven

And spoke your name into the night

Then through the darkness

Your loving kindness

Tore through the shadows of my soul

The work is finished, the end is written

Jesus Christ, my living hope

Who could imagine so great a mercy?

What heart could fathom such boundless grace?

The God of ages stepped down from glory

To wear my sin and bear my shame

The cross has spoken, I am forgiven

The king of kings calls me His own

Beautiful savior, I'm yours forever

Jesus Christ, my living hope

Hallelujah, praise the one who set me free

Hallelujah, death has lost its grip on me

You have broken every chain

There's salvation in your name

Jesus Christ, my living hope

Then came the morning that sealed the promise

Your buried body began to breathe

Out of the silence, the roaring lion

Declared the grave has no claim on me

Jesus, yours is the victory 

Hallelujah, praise the one who set me free

Hallelujah, death has lost its grip on me

You have broken every chain

There's salvation in your name

Jesus Christ, my living hope

Hallelujah, praise the one who set me free

Hallelujah, death has lost its grip on me

You have broken every chain

There's salvation in your name

Jesus Christ, my living hope

Jesus Christ, my living hope

Oh God, you are my living hope

-Song by Phil Wickham

The Power of Prayer...

by Doug Eaton

Excerpt:

Prayer is a powerful means of grace that God has provided to us. He has good things to give us that we do not have because we have not asked. Some may argue, but God knows what we need even if we do not ask. That is true, but refusing to pray is disobedience, and there are rewards to obedience in prayer that we will not experience any other way. For one, intimacy with our Father will always be lacking in our Christian life if we neglect prayer, and the peace that passes all understanding that flows from it will continue to elude us.

There is power in prayer; it changes things. Ask, seek, and knock, and you will receive. Do you believe this? I am not asking if you mentally agree with this truth. I am asking if your life gives evidence that you believe it to be true. Are you living the way someone who believes Jesus’s teaching on prayer would live? If not, begin today and find out what you are missing. Read it all!

Holy Spirit, Living Breath of God...

 

 Holy Spirit, Living Breath of God 

-Keith and Kristyn Getty

Holy Spirit, living breath of God,

Breathe new life into my willing soul.

Let the presence of the risen Lord,

Come renew my heart and make me whole.

Cause Your Word to come alive in me;

Give me faith for what I cannot see,

Give me passion for Your purity;

Holy Spirit, breathe new life in me.

Holy Spirit, come abide within,

May Your joy be seen in all I do.

Love enough to cover every sin,

In each thought and deed and attitude.

Kindness to the greatest and the least,

Gentleness that sows the path of peace.

Turn my strivings into works of grace;

Breath of God show Christ in all I do.

Holy Spirit, from creation’s birth,

Giving life to all that God has made,

Show Your power once again on earth,

Cause Your church to hunger for your ways.

Let the fragrance of our prayers arise;

Lead us on the road of sacrifice,

That in unity the face of Christ

May be clear for all the world to see.

O God of burning, cleansing flame...

O God of burning, cleansing flame:

Send the fire!

Your blood-bought gift today we claim:

Send the fire today!

Look down and see this waiting host,

And send the promised Holy Ghost;

We need another Pentecost!

Send the fire today!

God of Elijah, hear our cry:

Send the fire!

And make us fit to live or die:

Send the fire today!

To burn up every trace of sin,

To bring the light and glory in,

The revolution now begin!

Send the fire today!

It’s fire we want, for fire we plead:

Send the fire!

The fire will meet our every need:

Send the fire today!

For strength to always do what’s right,

For grace to conquer in the fight,

For power to walk the world in white:

Send the fire today!

To make our weak hearts strong and brave:

Send the fire!

To live, a dying world to save:

Send the fire today!

Oh, see us on Your altar lay,

We give our lives to you today,

So crown the offering now we pray:

Send the fire today!

...William Booth

His Glory and My Good...

 

CityAlight - His Glory and My Good

V1

I have seen my Father’s glory

Revealed in Jesus Christ

And the more that I behold Him

The more He satisfies

When I gaze upon His beauty 

When I see Him as I should

Then my eyes are lifted upward      

For His glory and my good

V2

There is hope in every trial 

For I can trust the Lord 

He will turn my heart towards Him 

And help me bear the thorn

So in faith I follow Jesus

On the road not understood

For I know that He is working 

For His glory and my good

CHORUS

To our God be the glory

To our God be praise

He alone, the name above all names

I will boast ever only in the Lord my God

For I know His glory is my good

V3

See the open arms of Jesus

Upon the cross that day

What they understood as weakness

Deserves my every praise 

For the charge that was against me

It was nailed into the wood 

Yes I know that He has saved me

For His glory and my good

CHORUS

To our God be the glory

To our God be praise

He alone, the name above all names

I will boast ever only in the Lord my God

For I know His glory is my good

V4

Would I gladly be made nothing

That Christ would be made more

Would I seek the only kingdom 

That far outweighs them all 

I will stand before my Father 

Where the faithful saints have stood 

And with joy my heart shall praise Him

For His glory and my good

To our God be the glory

To our God be praise

He alone, the name above all names

I will boast ever only in the Lord my God

For I know His glory is my good

The Matchless Name of Jesus...

The Matchless Name of Jesus

Matt Boswell and Matt Papa

Praise to the matchless name of Jesus

Sing of His grace forevermore

Raise now an endless hallelujah

To the matchless name of Jesus Christ the Lord

We sing the name, the matchless name of Jesus

We hymn the name the angels long adore

From age to age, one chorus rings forevermore

To the matchless name of Jesus Christ the Lord

Come to the fountain of forgiveness

Run to the light of His great love

Join in the joy of this salvation

Now that echoes through the endless realms above

We sing the name, the matchless name of Jesus

We hymn the name the angels long adore

From age to age, one chorus rings forevermore

To the matchless name of Jesus Christ the Lord

Go to the corners of creation

Christ be the name that we proclaim

Go til His glory fills the nations

And the heavens with His everlasting praise

We sing the name, the matchless name of Jesus

We hymn the name the angels long adore

From age to age, one chorus rings forevermore

To the matchless name of Jesus Christ the Lord

All blessing and honor

And praise be to the Lamb

All glory forever more

Amen Amen Amen

Ascension of Christ...

And it came to pass, while He blessed them, He was parted from them, and carried up into heaven." -Luke 24:51

We have no corresponding experience to the events in Our Lord's life after the Transfiguration. From then onwards Our Lord's life' was altogether vicarious. Up to the time of the Transfiguration He had exhibited the normal perfect life of a man; from the Transfiguration onwards - Gethsemane, the Cross, the Resurrection - everything is unfamiliar to us. His Cross is the door by which every member of the human race can enter into the life of God; by His Resurrection He has the right to give eternal life to any man, and by His Ascension Our Lord enters heaven and keeps the door open for humanity.

On the Mount of Ascension the Transfiguration is completed. If Jesus had gone to heaven from the Mount of Transfiguration, He would have gone alone; He would have been nothing more to us than a glorious Figure. But He turned His back on the glory, and came down from the Mount to identify Himself with fallen humanity.

The Ascension is the consummation of the Transfiguration. Our Lord does now go back into His primal glory; but He does not go back simply as Son of God; He goes back to God as Son of Man as well as Son of God. There is now freedom of access for anyone straight to the very throne of God by the Ascension of the Son of Man. As Son of Man Jesus Christ deliberately limited omnipotence, omnipresence and omniscience in Himself. Now they are His in absolute full power. As Son of Man Jesus Christ has all power at the throne of God. He is King of kings and Lord of lords from the day of His Ascension until now. ...Oswald Chambers Image

Completely Known, Completely Loved...

 

Completely Known, Completely Loved-Matt Boswell, Matt Papa 

Completely known, completely loved

My heart is seen by God above

Should I now run? Dare hide my face?

When in His eyes there is only grace

Completely free, the shame is gone

The highest Judge took all my wrongs

And set them on His only Son

He bore my sin, I bear His love

Completely known, completely loved

I’m covered by my Savior’s blood

I’m robed in white and God is pleased

To see His Son, when He looks on me

Completely His, how can it be?

That God would set His heart on me

Loved not for works that I have done

But long before time had begun

Completely known, completely loved

I’m covered by my Savior’s blood

I’m robed in white and God is pleased

To see His Son, when He looks on me

Completely saved, the work is done

The curse, the grave, is overcome

For with that dawn there rose a King!

Now heaven’s smile shines over me

Completely known, completely loved

I’m covered by my Savior’s blood

I’m robed in white and God is pleased

To see His Son, when He looks on me

By Faith...

 

By Faith - Keith and Kristyn Getty

1. By faith we see the hand of God 

In the light of creation's grand design 

In the lives of those who prove His faithfulness 

Who walk by faith and not by sight 

2. By faith our fathers roamed the earth 

With the power of His promise in their hearts 

Of a holy city built by God's own hand 

A place where peace and justice reign 

We will stand as children of the promise 

We will fix our eyes on Him our soul's reward 

Till the race is finished and the work is done 

We'll walk by faith and not by sight 

3. By faith the prophets saw a day 

When the longed-for Messiah would appear 

With the power to break the chains of sin and death 

And rise triumphant from the grave 

4. By faith the church was called to go 

In the power of the Spirit to the lost 

To deliver captives and to preach good news 

In every corner of the earth 

We will stand as children of the promise 

We will fix our eyes on Him our soul's reward 

Till the race is finished and the work is done 

We'll walk by faith and not by sight 

5. By faith this mountain shall be moved 

And the power of the gospel shall prevail 

For we know in Christ all things are possible 

For all who call upon His name 

We will stand as children of the promise 

We will fix our eyes on Him our soul's reward 

Till the race is finished and the work is done 

We'll walk by faith and not by sight