Tag Archives: God’s Sovereignty

Prayers based on Matthew 22.15-22

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week 6

Prayers Based on Matthew 22:15-22
The Question About Paying Taxes

Prayer: No Partiality
Lord of the Nations
Salvation of saint and sinner
faithful and hypocrite

Deliver me of scheming
testing
entraping
either/or motivations and motives

Heal me with your wisdom
Your truth
Change my heart and ways
to match yours
no partiality
only the common good
Amen

Prayer: A Prayer for Those Who Govern
ONE:
King of Kings, Lord of All
Pour out your Holy Spirit on those who govern our land,
Leaders of our nation, our state, and our community
and all who are running for office.

Grant them a love of justice.
Open their minds with wisdom and compassion,
so all people may be treated fairly and with dignity.

Open their ears to the cries of the desperate and powerless
so cycles of poverty, disease, and abuse may be broken.

Open their eyes to see how best to respond
and open their hearts with courage to do the right thing,
even when pressured to do otherwise.

Dawn a new day of integrity and servant leadership upon our land.
Shower down your Spirit of collaboration for the common good
that there may be lasting peace and plenty for all.

Lift up your own prayers for our nation

ONE:
We ask this in the name of Jesus, our Leader and Savior forever, Amen.

______________

For the next few months, I’ll be posting prayers to accompany Bishop Ken Carter’s Bible Study on Facebook. Each week, Bishop Carter will bring in a guest to speak about the passage. We’ll be walking through the last chapters of the Gospel of Matthew. 

You’re most welcome to read along and to join this Facebook discussion group. You don’t need to be a Methodist or attend a Methodist church. All are welcome and all means all.

May the grace of God’s word, the challenge, and the call, inspire us to great faith and great good works in Jesus’ name. – Lisa <

No Partiality © 2020 Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia
A Prayer for Those Who Govern © 2012 Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia
You are welcome to use this work in a worship setting with proper attribution.
Please leave a comment for information and permission to publish this work in any form.

Rejoice Greatly- A Devotion for the Fourth Week of Advent and Christmas based on Handel’s Messiah

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Rejoice Greatly
Readings and Reflection for the fourth week of Advent and Christmas Eve and Day

SONGS FROM HANDEL’S MESSIAH:
There Were Shepherds Abiding in the Field and Glory to God
Rejoice Greatly, O Daughter of Zion
Hallelujah Chorus

SCRIPTURES to read this week:
Luke 2:1-14
Zechariah 9:9-17
Revelation 19:1-8

REFLECTION QUESTIONS for this week:

  • Belly laugh with someone. Look for laughter and multiply it this week.
  • What do you need to do or not do in order to rejoice with all your soul this Christmas?

PRAYER:
Receive and Rejoice!
Rejoice with an indescribable joy. Inexpressible. Unspeakable.
A joy greater than words
A great and glorious joy. Loose. Liberated. Boundless.

Receive and Rejoice!
A joy worthy of new birth, of a living hope
A joy anchored in The Imperishable, The Eternal.
Undefiled and Unfading

Receive and Rejoice!
This joy was chosen for you. Destined for you.
Sanctified, sprinkled, and saved for you.
By the Merciful One. The One Who is With You.
Receive and Rejoice!
~ Receive and Rejoice, by Lisa Degrenia

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Rejoice Greatly
A Devotion for the Fourth Week of Advent
based on Handel’s Messiah © 2019 Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia
You are welcome to use this work in a worship setting with proper attribution.
Leave a comment for information and permission to publish this work in any form.

Our God Is… a prayer of adoration and praise

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This prayer was inspired by the song Our God by Chris Tomlin. 

How would you finish this sentence? Our God is…

Our God is Compassion and Love
Our God is Unending Grace and Mercy
Our God is Hope, Eternal and True
Our God is Mighty to Save
Our God is Holy
Our God is Everlasting to Everlasting
King of kings, Lord of lords,
Creator of Heaven and Earth
Our God is making all things new

Nothing can stand against our God
Nothing
No sin, no death
No evil, no injustice, no oppression
No doubt, no confusion, no need
Nothing can stand against our God
Nothing

So, God, we call on your Mighty Name
And we claim your promises
That we may stand and withstand and stand firm

Help us
Help us to stand in your truth and your grace
Help us to stand in what you name us, not what the world names us
Help us to stand in community, breaking down dividing walls
Help us to stand and withstand and stand firm

Great are You
Holy are You
Worthy are You
We love you and we honor you and we need you

Come
Come and open our ears and open our eyes and open our hearts
To your presence, your grace
Open us that we may be yours

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Our God is © 2019 Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia
Leave a comment for information and permission to publish this work in any form.

Reign and Rain Down, a prayer based on Isaiah 45.8

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Shower, O heavens, from above, and let the skies rain down righteousness; let the earth open, that salvation may spring up, and let it cause righteousness to sprout up also; I the LORD have created it. – Isaiah 45:8

Reign and Rain down, Glorious One
You alone are God
There is no other

Reign and Rain down, Glorious One
Let all the earth open to your gifts
New life and right relationship springing up
Budding and blooming in our wasteland

Life comes to our mortality
to our frail clay
to our dust
You hold us and wash us and form us
You flood us and fill us
That we may carry this great grace as it carries us

O, the glory of your grace
Grace extending more and more
More and more to us and more and more through us to others

O, bring the reign of redemption and reconciling
Salvation and solidarity
The fullness of your unfailing love

Reign and Rain down, Glorious One
Creating power flows from you
For you alone are God
There is no other

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Reign and Rain Down © 2018 Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia
Leave a comment for information and permission to publish this work in any form.

Fully Me, Fully Us (Ephesians 3)

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cup overflowingGod keeps bringing Ephesians 3:14-21 before me- in my devotions, in the writing of others. Repetition means pay attention, so it continues to drive my prayers. – Lisa <><

Steadfast and Faithful One,
Your Holy Spirit is at work in all things, even me
Thank you for your persistent, pursuing grace

This is my desire- to trust you more than I trust myself
what I know and what I know how to do
This is my desire- to be full of you
no longer this shallow shadow of me
but me, really me, fully me, in the light of Christ

The power to be fully me is from you alone
What I am when I am at home with myself in the home of your love

Dwell in my heart of hearts
Dwell in my every desiring
Dwell in the depth of my soul
that I may grasp the depth of your love
Infinite
Extending in every direction
Surrounding every person and need
A flood of grace

Flood our being
That we may know that we know that we know
We are completely known by you and loved by you

Your love surpasses every plan
Every logic
Every statistic
Every theory and theorem
Every fix and solution and discovery
It is above all we can ask or imagine or know

Your love covers all and conquers all
It makes us us
It makes us your people, your body, your church

Fill us with this love
This power
Fill us with you
Amen

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This prayer was inspired by the Ephesians Reading Challenge. Click Here for more information on the challenge to read and reflect on the entire book of Ephesians 3 times in 3 weeks. 

The Ephesians Reading Challenge accompanied a sermon series entitled Sit Walk Stand which was inspired by Watchman Nee‘s book Sit Walk Stand, a study of Ephesians. You will find recordings and notes from this series on the blog as well.

Fully Me, Fully Us © 2014 Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia
You are welcome to use this work in a worship setting with proper attribution.
Please contact Lisa for information and permission to publish this work in any form.