This will be our last WEDNESDAY PRAYER TOGETHER sent out, as I will conclude ministry with Springford Baptist Church on this coming Sunday December 31st. I am so grateful to God for all the ways that He has answered our prayers in these past 16 ½ years that I have been Pastor in Springford! It was during the pandemic that I began this WEDNESDAY PRAYER TOGETHER as a way of seeking God and trusting God in prayer when we could not be together in person. We have continued to share in this weekly opportunity to pray together, although apart. It is really helpful when we pray to remember what God has done and to give Him thanks. This inspires us to keep on trusting God and to expect that He will continue to move, sometimes in mysterious ways, to answer our prayers. This thanking God and trusting God in prayer is a pattern that builds a deeper relationship with our God, as we intentionally rely on Him. We have just celebrated again the miracle of the birth of God’s own Son Jesus. We read in Scripture of the reaction of the shepherds after they have gone to see Jesus in Bethlehem, “The shepherds returned glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen which were just as they had been told.” (Luke 2:20) We have experienced Jesus among us in these last several years and we, like the shepherds, have reason to glorify and praise God for all the things we have heard and seen. Our thanks to God for what He has done has a wide scope. There is also clear opportunity for us to continue to bring to God in prayer all the concerns and needs that arise and to trust Him for what He is yet to do. Thank You for joining with me in prayer and for your faithful prayers for me. I encourage that our prayers continue as we trust God for the future that is in His hands. Please pause to pray this prayer provided tomorrow Wednesday December 27th at 1 pm or whenever you are able.
Thanking our God for His answers to our prayers and trusting Him going forward, Pastor Lola
Our loving God Who continues to give us reason to thank You and to trust You, we come to you now in prayer and recognize that we are loved by You with an everlasting and unchanging love. Your love for us causes us to respond with deep and sincere thanks. We do glorify and praise You for all that we have seen and heard of Who You are. Faith in You and evidence of You hearing us and answering our prayers causes us to turn to You with thankful hearts. Our God, You have taught us to pray for Your will, so even when the answers have not come as we would prefer, we give our thanks to You. When our faith has been challenged, we thank you that You have shown us that it is still possible to believe and to surrender the details of our lives to You. The most difficult circumstances of our lives have compelled us ever closer to You and we thank You for our view of You when literally You have been all that we have had to hold. You our God have allowed us to experience how much we need You and to find that Your grace is available. When we could not imagine how we could take another step, You have made that possible. Our God, You have lifted from our shoulders the burdens that have been too heavy for us to carry and You have carried them for us. In the darkest of times, You have shone the eternal light of Your holy Presence. For all the times that You have given us patience when we have been restless and frustrated, we thank You. For all the times that You have revealed a way when we could not see a way, we thank You. For all the times that You have protected us and those we love, we thank You. For Your great compassion for every care that we bring to You, we thank You. The fact that You keep on guiding us and giving us strength to face each new day is another motivation to thank You. Knowing what we have seen and heard that has confirmed Your loving grace in our lives and in our world, we want to trust You for the days ahead. We believe that we will enter this new year before us with an ongoing assurance that You will never leave us or abandon us. We trust that our lives have purpose and that You will consistently reveal Your purpose as we maintain our trust in You. Thank You for what You have done and thank you for what You are yet to do in Springford and in all our communities. We do not pretend that we understand all the mysteries of Who You are. Still we choose to thank You and to trust You and to expect You to accompany us throughout our whole journey from here to our home in heaven. We pray that others will choose to trust You because they have seen what You have done in answer to our constant prayers. Until we see You face to face, may our lives always reflect Your grace. In the Name of Jesus Who entered our world to demonstrate that there is reason for faith in You and that You long for all of us to discover You and to be redeemed. AMEN.