Prayer

Indispensable!

/ pastorpete51 / 6 Comments 
On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable. 1 Corinthians 12:22-24 ESV

Indispensable! How I love the sound of that word! Society and sadly even some of our families, certainly do not think of us, who live in retirement or those in nursing homes as indispensable. We who once were the primary caregivers for our children are not really needed for much. Some in long-term care cannot even shower, cook or do the dishes without help. Dispensing with our help is something they have learned to do a long time ago. But the good news is that God delights in calling us indispensable. “In what way can I be indispensable?” you may ask. Here are three.

Prayer: Young people use the phrase, “over the hill” to describe getting older, but in some ways our years put us at a hilltop, from where we can see what our children and grandchildren cannot down in the valleys of life. So, instead of using that perspective to cluck about “That younger generation” God wants us to take time to pray. Because we know first-hand about consequences, and the bumps, bruises and scars of our own missteps and sins, God has taught us to pray, and He will hear and answer the prayers when we cry out to Him.

Connections: Grandad or Nana may not be the first call our kids make when the water heater leaks, the car breaks down or when their kids get in trouble at school, but sometimes we are asked for help. Then we can share the connections we have developed over the years. We know somebody, who knows somebody, or we have “been there and done that,” in that exact situation. Uncle “Google” pretends to know all the answers, but in the midst of a divorce, a disabling accident or a friend’s betrayal, real people with even average intelligence, beat the artificial kind every time!

Counsel: This is tricky, because if we are always offering counsel, we will be ignored (especially if we are right!). We must be patient, so that when they do call to ask our opinion he or she will want to listen. Let’s be sure when that time comes, that we are honest about our own struggles, and then point them to how we have found help in our faith and in God’s promises. We who have lived longer must tell them how we have failed, but with God’s help have gotten back up and gone on. Because we have been weak, He has become our greatest strength. Now our job is to pass it on to them!

Down to Sleep

/ pastorpete51 / 1 Comment

I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the Lord sustains me. Psalm 3:5 NIV

Now I lay me down to sleep
I pray Thee Lord my soul to keep
If I should die before I wake
I pray Thee Lord my soul to take
Amen

When I was small, I remember my mom coming in almost every night and praying these words with me. I never really thought about their meaning, or wondered where they came from. It was just sort of the finish line for my day, where I crossed over from busyness to dreamland. About forty years later, when I was reading through Psalm Three, I suddenly realized to my astonishment, that the source of my mother’s prayer was in this prayer of King David. Here he is fleeing from an army, led by, not a foreign enemy, but by none other than his own son Absalom. Imagine David’s feelings. He must have been both sorrowful and discouraged as he realizes that after years of trying to figure out how to be a good father, he has utterly failed, and Absalom has completely missed the boat in his relationship both with David and with God. Then added to this, David must face the very real possibility that with Absalom’s army right on his heels that if things don’t go well, he and all his men might be killed in the morning. Whether we are facing situations far less dire than David’s, or if matters of life and death are on our doorstep, today’s verse offers us both encouragement and comfort. We can be encouraged because, if we belong to Jesus, we are His, both on earth and as well as in Heaven, and can pray in faith, “Now I lay me down to sleep” But we also can lie down in peace, even if things go terribly wrong, because whatever happens, God will sustain us. God has promised to be our strength, our friend and our deliverer in whatever lies ahead. I wrote a little poem yesterday, which though meant for children, could be every one of ours tonight, and I pray that God keep you safely in the palm of His nail pierced hand. He loves and cares for you and is calling you to come to Him!


Christ My All in All

Before I sleep I ask the Lord
My soul to safely keep
I tell Him that the road seems long
And the hills rise up so steep

Then He tells me He has promised
To lead the way ahead
And tonight stay by my side
While I lie in my bed

Then in the morning when the light
Comes shining on my wall
I trust Him that whatever comes
Christ will be my all in all

Christ My All in All
by Peter Caligiuri
Copyright © 2024 all rights reserved

Photo by Vika Glitter on Pexels.com




Sufficient Grace

/ pastorpete51 / 6 Comments

Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”  2 Corinthians 12:8-9a ESV

Ironically, while I was feeling terrific, heading into Easter weekend I wrote a post about God’s Selah and rest. That all sounded great to my ears when I clicked on publish, and we hurried on with our plans to celebrate Easter. It is amazing what a difference just a few days have made! On Monday evening Nancy and I both starting feeling poorly, but we shrugged it off as being just another virus. Though we didn’t have much of a fever we became incredibly weak, and Nancy almost took a tumble in the living room. (Fortunately, she only ended up sitting down suddenly on the couch!) So, by this morning we had the sneaking suspicion it might be Covid, and sure enough our test kits confirmed it (Not a yippee moment!) For those wondering about it, I of course immediately called our doctor. Our unrelenting weakness has driven us to ask for healing and strength, every time we pray, but so far it feels more like we are stuck in the La Brea Tar Pits than camping on a mountaintop with Jesus. This has given me new appreciation for Paul’s insistent triple prayer for his thorn to be removed. Yet in spite of Paul’s faithfulness, God not only did not remove the thorn, He also didn’t even give Paul an answer till HIs third prayer. The passage tells us that God did this to keep Paul humble, but I believe He also did it for the rest of us in our weaknesses. We learn here that Paul was not just some special Saint, with a halo hovering over his head, but he was also a perfect example of God’s grace in weakness and an encouragement to those of us who are walking the same path.