grandchildren

Final Lessons on Prayer

/ pastorpete51 / Leave a comment

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. Matthew 6:13 KJV

The voices of our parents calling us in on a summer’s night rang out across our neighborhood. “Louie! Wally! Peter!” It didn’t really even matter if your mom or dad was too busy watching the latest episode of Bonanza to remember to call you in. Once two or three kids left to go in, whatever game  we were playing was essentially over.    P1030934

In that same way these final words of the prayer Jesus teaches us sat that it is time to come home to God’s house. We started the morning remembering God is our Father and that His name must be kept holy in our life. We went out into our day ready to find our part in the work of His kingdom. Then as we went along the path God leads us we asked for bread to keep us strong and forgiveness when we stumbled. Now as we are praying through our day we ask Him to keep us safe from temptation on the inside and the enemy named Satan without.

Jesus teaches us that we need to pray this way every day because only He knows where our journey leads and at what hour He will call us home!

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ABC’s for Wyatt

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I enjoy writing letters to our grandchildren, maybe in part because I am sad to see that almost no one writes anymore. Some of my most treasured momentos are hand written letters from from my Dad. So when our youngest grandson Wyatt began home school this year I wanted to commemorate this event by writing my first letter to him. In the letter I included this ABC poem that I wrote for him. To any other grandparents out there let me know if you think letter writing isn’t a tradition worth the effort to keep alive. Blessings:

Wyatt’s ABC’s

A lways be sure of God’s loving care

B ecome part of His family give your heart to Him

C ome to Him each day in prayer

D on’t stop praying He is listening

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E ach time you fall God will pick you up

F ollow Him He knows the way

G od is good even when things get rough

H ope will help us through the day

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I magine what He has in store

J esus has big plans

K eep all of your promises for

L oving others is what He commands

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M ake time to read your Bible

N ever doubt what God can do

O ffer Him each day your best

P ut Him first He’ll see you through

 

Q uestions are a normal thing

R emember God can answer them

S o in your heart make Him the King

T rust and worship Him!

 

U nder His care you find He is

V ery strong to carry you

W hen we’re lost He’ll show us

eX actly what to do!

 

Y ou are always in our prayers

Z o please pray for us too!

Z o please pray for us too!

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A Childlike Faith

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And said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 18:3 ESV

Having childlike faith right after conversion is no trick at all, but holding on to it after decades is nothing short of a miracle. Believing God can do anything seems simple and then we discover our Christian friends getting divorced, falling into substance abuse or walking away from their faith. So what can we do to keep a childlike faith? We have hope because of three words: when, where and who.

When?  “How precious did that grace appear, the hour I first believed” go the lines from Amazing Grace. So ask yourself, “When did faith bring God’s grace to me? Was when I was looking for Him? Was it on a day I was doing good things? Or was it in an hour when of my worst failures and sin?” Our hope is a grace that began before the dawn of time!

Where?  When I discover I am lying flat on my face, I remember the second word: where. If I can have a childlike faith like the thief right next to Jesus on the cross, then I have hope. That thief looked like he was at the worst place on earth; but of all the people in the Bible only he received the guarantee of heaven directly from the lips of Jesus. The cross where Jesus was dying became the source of all hope for us all.

Who? But greatest of all is not when I found faith, or where I found faith, but in the God who chose to give it to me. My childlike faith is not because I have been a good child; but because my Father has come to my rescue and claimed me as His own!

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