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When Sunday comes…

When Sunday comes…
Our pastors will be standing in church sanctuaries that are completely empty. Speaking to a room of chairs. Carrying the weight of their congregations on their shoulders. Wondering how everyone is doing. Wondering what this is going to look like on the other side. Wondering how the finances are going to fare in light of all this. Wondering how to shepherd their flock.

When Sunday comes…
Jump on your church’s livestream. Don’t watch later cause you’ve got all day. Be on time! Participate in it as it’s happening. Engage with what is taking place. Pray when prayer is happening. Worship alongside the worship leader. Be present and be engaged. Please comment, share, love, encourage, and pray. Yes, it’s different and uncomfortable and maybe even a little weird for you, just like it is for many pastors all around the country and across the globe.

When Sunday comes…
Please, be faithful to your church. I know your newsfeed will be flooded with live-streams from countless churches, but I am asking you to be faithful to your church. You can watch other livestreams later.

When Sunday comes…
Please be sure and give! Your church still has an important ministry in your community and our world. Yes, the budget needs to be met and bills still need to be paid. Give online or mail in your check or send it with a carrier pigeon if you have to (just kidding, right?). Whatever ways are available to you to give, please do so. Pastors carry the weight of your church’s finances, community engagement, and your missionary support on their shoulders. It is a heavy load in good times but now it is immense. Please don’t slack off on your faithful giving and living generously.

When Sunday comes…
‘Remember your leaders who spoke the word of God to you’ (Hebrews 13:7) so please practice L.E.P.S. — Love, Encourage, Pray-for, and Support your pastor and your church.

When some other day comes…
We will look back on all of this. When we do may it be a time when you discovered God in fresh new ways. When your prayer life deepened. When your love for God and others became practical, feasible, fiscal, and felt.

/by
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A New Approach to Praying with a Prayer Partner

A New Approach to Praying with a Prayer Partner

When I came to Christ on my 14th birthday my first pastor told me, “Steve, you’ll never make it on your own. You have to read 5 chapters of your bible every day. You have to kneel beside your bed and pray out loud every day. You have to attend church every time the doors are open. And you have to lean into our youth group. Do you hear me, Steve? You’ll never make it on your own.”

Those were (and still are) sage words of wisdom. I took them to heart. And, my pastor was right. I would not have made it on my own.

Today, some 40+ years later, I still cannot make it on my own. After bible college and seminary — following years of youth ministry, overseas missionary work in rural East Africa, and leading a large multi-service & church-planting congregation — now more than ever…

I cannot make it on my own.

To my surprise God is bringing some “new” prayer partners into my life. At a time when I needed it most I stumbled onto a prayer thought to have been written (or inspired by) Saint Patrick of Ireland.

Pat’s life is an amazing odyssey (kidnapped, human trafficked, converted to Christ, escaped, called back to his captors with the Gospel) which is worthy of your time to read. However, his heart-felt prayer has helped me even more than his life story!

Today, Pat has become one of my

Prayer Partners!

His prayer helps me to pray in the awareness of the living presence of Jesus. I hope he and his prayer might help you, too.

Here is my own “adaptation” of what is popularly known as
“The Breastplate Prayer” of St. Patrick of Ireland.

“I Arise Today” … an adaptation of “The Breastplate Prayer” by Saint Patrick

I arise today through the …

Strength of heaven,

Light of sun,

Splendor of fire,

Speed of lightning,

Swiftness of wind,

Depth of sea,

Stability of earth,

Firmness of rock.

I arise today through … 

God’s strength to pilot me;

God’s might to uphold me,

God’s wisdom to guide me,

God’s eye to look before me,

God’s ear to hear me,

God’s word to speak for me,

God’s hand to guard me,

God’s way to lie before me,

God’s shield to protect me,

God’s hosts to save me.

Afar and anear,

Alone or in a multitude,

Christ shield me today.

Christ with me, 

Christ before me, 

Christ behind me,

Christ in me, 

Christ beneath me, 

Christ above me,

Christ on my right, 

Christ on my left,

Christ when I lie down, 

Christ when I get up,

Christ in the heart of all who think of me,

Christ in the mouth of all who speak of me,

Christ in the eye of all who see me,

Christ in the ear of all who hear me.

I arise today … through … 

the mighty strength of Christ.

May you also arise today through and in the mighty strength of Christ!

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