Pray for President Bush

Yes, Lord, it is I. I am the one who betrayed my Master both by doing things that I should not and failing to do things that I should; by not being zealous in standing up for Your righteousness; by not forgiving as You have forgiven me; by being headstrong and wilfull, wanting to do things my way rather than seeking Your will; and in all the other ways that I have fallen short of the mark You set before me.

But You, O Father, knew of our sinfulness and You sent Your Son and made a new covenant, not dependent on our keeping Your commandments but on Your love and mercy. Our finite minds cannot truly grasp how Jesus could give up His body to be broken and His blood to be shed for our transgressions. And yet we know this to be true and we accept this most precious of Gifts and rejoice. We offer our humble gratitude, Lord, and ask You to guide us and lead us down the path that You would have us take that we might serve our fellow man and You, our Creator and our Redeemer.

Father, we lift up to You our President, a man who has dealt with tremendous burdens and responsibilities in these last four years. Yet whatever course of action he chooses in any situation, there are naysayers and critics, hurling accusations at him. We know this must be hurtful to such an earnest and compassionate man who sincerely seeks to do Your will in his life and for our nation. Shield him from these arrows and comfort him. Keep him humble and relying on You for wisdom and guidance. Protect him and his family from all harm for their enemies are legion.

Lord, we remain in distress for Terri Schiavo. As we watch in horror at what is happening with her life, we gain the tiniest inkling of insight into what You must have felt as Your Son went through His passion. We know that You understand our pain and sorrow and we look to You for strength and peace. We are reminded that even though the devil is allowed dominion for a while yet, You are in control. While we see but a few threads, You see the whole tapestry and You can use this tragedy to Your purposes. Father, we plead for Terri's life but we yield our wills to Yours. She is Your child and You love her far more than even her earthly parents. Give them courage and the peace that passes understanding, O Lord. And if it be Your will that Terri's life shall be prolonged, then give them patience and love to care for her and provide her the therapy that she needs.

O Lord, many of the men and women of our military are serving far from home and family at this most Holy season of the year. Place in their hearts an awareness of Your presence with them. Let those who know You witness to those who still walk in darkness and fear. Wrap Your arms of love around their families, easing their burdens in the absence of their heroes. In the Name of Jesus. Amen.

O HELP US LORD, EACH HOUR OF NEED

O help us, Lord, each hour of need
Thy heavenly succor give;
Help us in thought, and word, and deed,
Each hour on earth we live.
O help us, when our spirits bleed
With contrite anguish sore;
And when our hearts are cold and dead,
O help us, Lord, the more.
O help us through the prayer of faith
More firmly to believe;
For still the more the servant hath,
The more shall he receive.
O help us, Jesu, from on high,
We know no help but Thee;
O help us to so to live and die,
As Thine in Heav’n to be.

~ Words: Henry H. Milman

AMEN KAYAK AND AMEN ALL! GRACE AND BLESSINGS TO ALL BRETHREN! JOY O Christ, All thy ways of mercy tend to and end in my delight. Thou didst weep, sorrow, suffer that I might rejoice. For my joy thou hast sent the Comforter, multiplied thy promises, shown me my future happiness, given me a living fountain. Thou art preparing joy for me and me for joy; I pray for joy, wait for joy, long for joy; give me more than I can hold, desire, or think of. Measure out to me my times and degrees of joy, at my work, business, duties. If I weep at night, give me joy in the morning. Let me rest in the thought of thy love, pardon for sin, my title to heaven, my future unspotted state. I am an unworthy recipient of thy grace. I often disesteem thy blood and slight thy love, but can in repentance draw water from the wells of thy joyous forgiveness. Let my heart leap towards the eternal sabbath, where the work of redemption, sanctiﬁcation, preservation, gloriﬁcation is ﬁnished and perfected for ever, where thou wilt rejoice over me with joy. There is no joy like the joy of heaven, for in that state are no sad divisions, unchristian quarrels, contentions, evil designs, weariness, hunger, cold, sadness, sin, suffering, persecutions, toils of duty. O healthful place where none are sick! O happy land where all are kings! O holy assembly where all are priests! How free a state where none are servants except to thee! Bring me speedily to the land of joy. A PURITANS PRAYER! "Betrayest thou the Son of Man with a kiss?" - Luke 22:48 "The kisses of an enemy are deceitful." Let me be on my guard when the world puts on a loving face, for it will, if possible, betray me as it did my Master, with a kiss. Whenever a man is about to stab religion, he usually professes very great reverence for it. Let me beware of the sleek-faced hypocrisy which is armour-bearer to heresy and infidelity. Knowing the deceivableness of unrighteousness, let me be wise as a serpent to detect and avoid the designs of the enemy. The young man, void of understanding, was led astray by the kiss of the strange woman: may my soul be so graciously instructed all this day, that "the much fair speech" of the world may have no effect upon me. Holy Spirit, let me not, a poor frail son of man, be betrayed with a kiss! But what if I should be guilty of the same accursed sin as Judas, that son of perdition? I have been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus; I am a member of his visible Church; I sit at the communion table: all these are so many kisses of my lips. Am I sincere in them? If not, I am a base traitor. Do I live in the world as carelessly as others do, and yet make a profession of being a follower of Jesus? Then I must expose religion to ridicule, and lead men to speak evil of the holy name by which I am called. Surely if I act thus inconsistently I am a Judas, and it were better for me that I had never been born. Dare I hope that I am clear in this matter? Then, O Lord, keep me so. O Lord, make me sincere and true. Preserve me from every false way. Never let me betray my Saviour. I do love thee, Jesus, and though I often grieve thee, yet I would desire to abide faithful even unto death. O God, forbid that I should be a high-soaring professor, and then fall at last into the lake of fire, because I betrayed my Master with a kiss. C.H.SPURGEON! SOLI DEO GLORIA!

"Lord, we remain in distress for Terri Schiavo. As we watch in horror at what is happening with her life, we gain the tiniest inkling of insight into what You must have felt as Your Son went through His passion. We know that You understand our pain and sorrow and we look to You for strength and peace. We are reminded that even though the devil is allowed dominion for a while yet, You are in control. While we see but a few threads, You see the whole tapestry and You can use this tragedy to Your purposes. Father, we plead for Terri's life but we yield our wills to Yours. She is Your child and You love her far more than even her earthly parents. Give them courage and the peace that passes understanding, O Lord. And if it be Your will that Terri's life shall be prolonged, then give them patience and love to care for her and provide her the therapy that she needs."

___

Amen. Horror is the right word, at justice perverted and the innoncent victimized while those that love her are forced to look on.

Lord, we call ourselves the land of the free and the home of the brave. But too often we boast in our freedom to sin and our courage in depravity. At this point I don't know what to say, except that if it be Your will You will reverse this atrocity and reform America.

Repeating my prayer from another thread:

Lord, I don't know how you will work good out of this, as it looks hopeless. But I know you will.

We pray that you spare your daughter Terri an unjust death; that you will sustain her until help comes; that you would give her family the peace that passes circumstances; that you will give Jeb Bush the wisdom to know what to do and the courage to do it; that the truth about Terri's actual conditon, which is much better than widely reported, will be made known; that the truth of her "husband's" real motivations would also be known; that America would learn the truth and decide for life; that this would be a seminal event toward our becoming a life-honoring society; that the media's incompetency would be a cause of shame leading to change; that after all this is over you will heal Terri as a sign of divine affirmation.

We know that you can work good even when we lose a battle. Your ways are higher than ours. Win or lose, we have no intentions of giving up, just as we are sure Terri herself would want.

You have given us so much of late, so many victories in the face of imminent defeat. We do not take them for granted; every one is appreciated daily. Make us better stewards of the Gift given us. Keep each one of your children pure.

May you preserve the United States of America for your holy purposes.

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