07/03/2023
The Lord is my Constant Companion
Each week we are featuring a prayer that sets an
example for the answered prayer we are emphasizing. This
week we’ve got a prayer, based on the 23rd Psalm, which is
called: The Lord is my Constant Companion. I invite you to
make this prayer yours as you ask for God to give you peace.
You, O Lord, are my constant companion.
There is no need that You cannot fulfill.
Whether Your path for me points
to the mountaintops of majesty
or to the valleys of suffering,
continue to be by my side.
I hold You to Your promise to be beside me
when I walk the dark streets of danger,
even when I flirt with death itself,
I know You will not leave me.
When the pain is severe, Lord,
Be near with Your comfort.
When the burden is heavy,
Help me to lean upon You
And not try to carry it by myself.
When depression darkens my soul,
touch me with joy.
When I feel empty and alone,
fill my aching heart with Your power.
My security is in Your promise
to be near to me always,
and to remind me, over and over,
that You will never let me go.
Amen.
Archived Posts
The Perfect Church
There is an old joke about the perfect church. We talked just a little about the perfect pastor, but turnabout is fair play. It goes like this:
The Clothes You Wear
Sunday I talked about Joshua the High Priest having his filthy clothing replaced by a cleaned and beautiful garments. I also used the illustration of a boy becomes a dragon—who ‘wears’ dragon scales—and is stripped of those scales in order to be restored to a boy. In fact, I could have done the whole sermon around all the clothing imagery in scripture.
What just missed the cut for Sunday’s Sermon
Naaman’s servants may actually become one of the hidden gems of the sermon. They say, essentially: “If the prophet had told you to do something difficult, you would have done it.”
One of the Longest Benedictions I Ran Out of Time to Share
Maybe you know the story of how Joseph and Mary accidentally left Jesus at the gas station on their way home from Jerusalem. Well, not the gas station bathroom in Jesus’ case. Joe and Mary are far down the road before they realize Jesus isn’t with them...
So many quips and quotes...
So little time to preach
I wonder what Mary and Martha’s phones might look like:
* Martha = the open browser with 27 tabs
* Mary = the single window that matters
* Psalm 46 = God saying, “Close the tabs.”
Quotable Outtakes That Didn’t Make the Sermon This Week
“When you try to control everything, you don’t just exhaust yourself—you quietly replace trust in God with trust in you.” & more
There is a challenge when it comes to preaching the Word of God.
Preachers are called to open up and interpret the word—inspired and written down thousands of years ago—and make it relevant to a very different world. On top of that there’s a degree of persuasion that goes along with the process.