Now that some churches have chosen to meet together, instead of individuals watching the services from home online, people tend to give some more thought to their appearance. What might have been worn at home and the way that hair looked was not of concern. Now a bit more thought and care is likely to be given. This week, as we come again to approach God in prayer, I want us to realize that we really can “come as we are”. Jesus maintains in John 6:37, “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me, I will never drive away.” God gives each of us this amazing gift of welcome and acceptance. He wants us to come to Him, ‘just as we are”. We do not have to try to explain how we feel to God, he already knows. We do not have to pretend that things do not bother us when they do, God understands. If we think of having a conversation with a trusted friend, we can be comfortable with that person and take our time to express what we want to say. We won’t be anxious because our relationship has been built on mutual love. In a similar way, as we come to God in prayer, we can come with confidence and each of us can know that we can come as we are. God loves us and wants us to share everything with Him. His intention is not to turn us away. God extends wide open arms and says, “I was waiting for You and am so glad you are here.” We can expect God to call us by name and to lean close to listen carefully to what we have to say and then to answer our prayers in the ways He knows are best. I look forward, as always, to the time we will set aside to pray together in each of our homes, today, Wednesday, July, 22 at 1 pm.
Love & Prayers, Pastor Lola
Here is a prayer we can pray together:
Our God, that thought echoes in our minds, that we can come to You, “just as we are.” Thank You that this is true. Thank You that You are familiar with all that has happened to us in the past. You know our joys and our struggles. You know our desire to be faithful to You and to have our lives count for You. We do want to serve You in extending Your love to everyone we meet. Our capacity to love is limited, but Yours is not. We are hearing a lot these days about people losing patience and getting really frustrated with each other. We pray that we will be different. We want to approach You, “just as we are” and to find acceptance. We pray that we also will accept people, just as they are. Forgive us for allowing things to divide us instead of to bring us together. In this time, we find the world around us in such turmoil. We pray that we can be the means of people knowing and believing that they can come to You “just as they are.” In these moments, we come to You in thankfulness that we are moving ahead in restoring some activities and seeing some businesses able to be open again. We know that for this progress to continue, we will need to care beyond ourselves. We are asking that You will remind us to take the precautions necessary to prevent this virus from spreading. We ask for Your divine assistance in developing an effective vaccine quickly. Lord, instead of repeating the messages we hear of the mess of our world being cause for despair, we pray that we will step forward to be available to serve You in life changing ways. And God, knowing that we can come to You “just as we are” is not an excuse for refusing to change. In each of our lives and circumstances, please reveal to us how You want to reshape us. We come to You as we are, but we pray that none of us will remain exactly as we are. In our awareness of Your love, we can trust You to build more of Your love and grace in us. We pray for churches trying to determine what decisions to make about being Your church and witnesses for You in this context. We pray for families where there is a high level of stress and tension. We pray for a whole range of important decisions being made toward the future. We pray that we will be willing to let go of what was in order to take hold of what will be. Please show us Your plans a step at a time, so that we can serve You well wherever we find ourselves. We come then to You as we are and know You will not turn us away. Praise You Jesus, the Son of the Living God, AMEN.