Prayer

New Year – New Horizons

/ pastorpete51 / 1 Comment

After a couple of weeks away with time to enjoy Christmas and New Year with the other half I am officially back to writing for 2020. Thank you to all of you who have followed, read and commented over the past year. It is a real encouragement knowing some of the things God has brought me through have been a help to others. 2020 will be a different in that I will be posting only once a week except for around the holidays. I will also be posting once a week on New Beginnings about Nursing Home outreach. I am thankful that a small group of volunteers is beginning to network with me through our local church to help with the outreach in the North Tampa area. If you or someone you know is interested you can check out the weekly posts over at New Beginnings

None of what has been happening would be possible without the help, prayers and support of many people. Last year my resolution was to pray more honestly. In 2020 my desire is to pray more intensely since the time is growing short and only by God’s power can anything be accomplished of eternal worth. God bless you and may you walk closely with Jesus this week.

 

Always Pray

When our eyes first open and the sun peeks in

We can thank the Lord as our day begins

Or when storms close in and darken the sky

We run to find shelter at our Jesus’ side

P1040882

If the corn is ripe or if the fields are dead

We can still thank God for our daily bread

And when we sin and fall under guilt and shame

He forgives if we ask Him in His holy name

close up photo of three baguettes on brown wooden surface with white powder

Photo by Ivan J. Long on Pexels.com

After we’ve run as far as we can

He renews our strength when we pray to Him

When we stand up strong or when we fall down

If we’ll pray to the end He has promised a crown

It’s not by our wisdom that this battle is won

Nor by our strength that the race must be run

He gives when we ask and when we seek we will find

If we’ll pray and not faint to our life’s finish line!

And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint                   Luke 18:1

Nepal and India 135

2020 Devotional

/ pastorpete51 / Leave a comment

As I buckle up in the passenger seat of any airplane my mind is flooded with questions like: “Who is the pilot?” and “I wonder if this plane is in good repair?” Then as the jet engines start to whine the flight attendant stands up and explains what to do in emergencies. This never gives me comfort since the last thing I want to think about at take-off is the possibility of crashing! Before I know it we begin to hurtle down the runway and then up into the sky above the airport. Part of my worry is because I cannot see where we are going. Secondly, there is someone at the controls whom I have never even met. Last and maybe most troubling is the fact that I have no idea what holds the plane up in the air! Yet despite my fears, I not only accept the risk of air travel, I actually pay good money for my ticket!

That humorous look at my personal outlook on flying may be how some of you feel as you face the unknown journey into a New Year.  For that reason I have called this year’s devotional, “Flying Through 2020 With Jesus” We can buckle up for this flight with confidence because by faith we know who our pilot is even though we cannot see Him. But God also wants to be so much more than just our pilot. He wants to give us wings of faith and then teach us to fly, so that we can follow Him safely all the way home!

You could either follow the link provided below or search in your Kindle Store for Flying Through 2020 With Jesus. It is available in both softcover or E-Book format. Whatever decide; may God bless you as you prepare for His flight plan for the New Year!

Flying Through 2020 With Jesus

P1040654

 

 

 

Praying for Others

/ pastorpete51 / Leave a comment

And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.  He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ Luke 18:1-3 ESV

For the last 23 years in nursing home ministry God has helped me to learn a lot about prayer. Though you may have never set foot in a nursing home you will discover that prayer requests are remarkably the same everywhere. People in nursing homes battle with depression, fatigue and loneliness around the holidays like everyone else. As an outreach worker you often ask yourself; “What is my small faith in the face of such needs?” Jesus gives us some answers in the story that He told about a widow and a judge. P1040884

First, she built a relationship with the judge by going to see him every day. Every day as he sipped his morning cup of tea, he would hear a knock. When he went to open his door there the widow would be again asking; “Give me justice in my dispute with my enemy!”  Maybe he even began to anticipate her visit and prepare for it. In our case we pray, not to some uncaring local magistrate; but to our Father in heaven. He is loving, merciful and kind. Why not begin where the widow began? Why not come every morning with expectant faith; knowing that Jesus is eagerly waiting to hear our knock on His door. Learning to pray for others means persistently building our relationship with God and then trusting Him to meet their needs.