We have been looking expectantly at our Christmas cactus for its’ first blooms. Each year, at this time, we start to see small buds forming and then one morning when we come down to our living room, there it is a beautiful pink blossom and several more to follow. I find this especially lovely when it has grown cold and frozen outside and the outdoor flowers are finished for another season. Inside, we have daily displays of beauty in the delicate flowers that present themselves. This week, I am reflecting that our wise and loving God in His time gives us gifts of encouragement. In seasons where we see barren ground and long for signs of life and the promise of what God can do, it is there for us to witness. Prayer really is about continuing to surrender to God all that comes to our minds and then waiting to see what God will do. Prayer is our opportunity to trust God. We wait for the signs of beauty that can blossom when God takes our prayers and offers us something fresh and new and encouraging. God is continually at work as we are praying and inviting what He is prepared to bring about. We can find inspiration from Scripture for our prayers, “See I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the desert.” (Isaiah 43:19) Cactus plants naturally grow in desert conditions where we not expect much to display life and hope. Still God is at work and in our prayers this week we will welcome and trust the ways that God is at work to do a new thing and to make a way in the wilderness and streams in the desert. Please pause to join in our WEDNESDAY PRAYER TOGETHER tomorrow November 15th at 1 pm.
Praying for eyes to see and hearts to welcome the fresh expressions of life that God offers us, Pastor Lola
Thank You our loving God that You take time to arrange for new things and signs of life and promise in response to our prayers. Today we thank You for the gift of indoor plants. Thank you for cactus flowers that grow and blossom and bring beauty to our lives. We renew our trust in You to continue to bring the blossoms of new life into our experience. The flowers we have enjoyed outdoors have been a gift for which we are grateful. Now we look to the new things that can spring up in what is often considered a wilderness season of winter. We want to be encouraged to continue to pray and to look for the new things that You have already activated. When we are waiting for the signs of life and hope to appear in answer to our prayers, we pray that You will be near and keep our focus on You. Since You are a God Who can and will do even more than we ask or imagine, we want to hold steadfastly to our faith in You. We are reminded that when we cannot see what You are doing, You persist in Your redemptive action. We long for evidence of the new things You are doing in individuals and in nations. So often we continue to see repeated patterns of sin and destruction of life. Our God we actively pray today that You will make a way in the wilderness and streams in the desert. Where human beings like us have acted in ways that have not held life as sacred, we pray for forgiveness and restoration. In our everyday experiences, we pray to be people Who work alongside what You are doing to initiate a new and hope filled reality. When we do not perceive what You are doing, we pray that You will give us understanding that You can make a way where there seems to be no way. Enable us to be peacemakers. Enable us we pray to see where love is needed and to respond with Your grace and compassion. Every interaction we have with another person has the potential to be an intricate part of the something new that You are initiating. When we focus on what we cannot do or have not done, we grow discouraged. Please bring us the encouragement that comes with releasing to You and trusting You and Your divine initiatives as we pray. It is our delight to know You more fully when we pray. We want to be recognizing all the ways that You reveal Yourself and your encouragement to keep trusting you in prayer and with devotion. God, as the new You are doing springs up and as the streams in the desert cause new life to blossom, please grow new life and deeper faith in us and those whom our lives touch. We pray this prayer committing to be those who look for what You are doing and a desire to join you in Your work! In Jesus’ Name, AMEN.