Seek And Find

Early we seek you this morning to pause in your presence; to breath out impurities and breath in whatsoever is kind, good, and lovely, to think on these things before the intrusion of whatsoever is deep, dark and real.

Strengthen us for the journey ahead; equip us to stand before our adversaries as we humble ourselves before you.

Lift us up to live the abundant life you came to give us and help us to lift others, the lonely, least and left out so that they may have a vision beyond what their eyes can see to what is promised in Your word.

In the name recognized in heaven, earth and hell, Amen.
VMM

Adoration and Praise

Gracious God, source of all life, we come today to once again proclaim that we adore you! We adore you for who you are, what you do, not only for us but for all your children. We invoke your presence with joy because we know that before we called upon your name, you turned toward us.

Thank you for not holding back your blessings. Thank you for not being stingy with your favor. Thank you for the forgiveness of our sins. Thank you for healing. Thank you for deliverance. Thank you, that before we asked, the answers were on the way.

Protect us from dangers seen and unseen. Protect our children, families and the extended family of God. Guide our steps today and we promise to walk the way you have already prepare. In Jesus' name, Amen.

VMM

Open Our Eyes

Lord, open our eyes that we may see you working behind the scenes of our lives. Open our hands that we may share generously the gifts you have provided. Open our mouths to speak on behalf of those who cannot speak for themselves. Open our minds to receive new ideas, concepts and innovations. Open our hearts to love our neighbor and ourselves better today than yesterday. Help us to be more open to your Word so that we will be better hearers and doers of your Word.

In your name, Amen
VMM

Infuse My Life Lord

Let us prayer together:

Gracious Lord and lover of my soul,
Let hope so infuse my life that all I am, all I think, all I do is a testimony to your power in my life. Let me face the challenges of the day discerning your guiding hand; Let me face the world's problems with a fresh vision, passion, energy and the perspective of the one who know that you are the hope of the world. For in this hope we are saved.

In Jesus name, Amen
Romans 8: 18-25

VMM

Endless Love

O lord, our God, how excellent is your name in all the earth. Forgive us for coming too often with our petitions for our right now and tomorrow needs without proclaiming your great and mighty acts or thanking you for the joy of our salvation.

We rejoice this morning for your unfathomable amazing grace, unequaled peace and endless love. Help us to make known today all the marvelous things you have done in us and in the lives of those we know and love.

We pray for the victims of earthquakes and tsunamis; gang violence and acts of hate; victims of AIDS and other diseases; and those who live in the gap between what is promised and what is delivered. Giver of every good and perfect gift, help us to share with the hungry and marginalized; help us to bless those who can't bless us back.
In Jesus name, Amen
VMM

Chaos to Calm

Pray this prayer with me:

My soul only waits for the Lord. In silence I sit in anticipation for the one who is my rock and my salvation. Draw me out of the chaos of this world and into the calm of your intimacy. I breathe out chaos and breathe in calm; breathe out the chaotic experiences of living in an uncertain world and breathe in the calm of a peace that surpasses all understanding; breathe out chaotic personalities and breathe in the calm of a changeless Christ; breathe out ignorance and breathe in the calm of your wisdom that instructs me; breathe out my will and breathe in thy will be done.

Calm me just as you have calmed the winds and the waves.
Speak to me just as you spoke to the storm.
Touch me in places I’d rather leave untouched.
See me and know what I thought was hidden from you.
Cross my inner threshold so that we are one.
Here I am Lord your servant is listening

In Jesus Name
Amen
VMM

Encouraging Word

Awesome Lord, thank you for your encouraging presence. Thank you for the new morning mercies. Thank you for unexpected grace. Thank you for your love that dilutes negative attitudes, harsh words and the uncertainty of our times.

Forgive us of falling short of your glory. Thank you for forgiving us of our trespasses as we forgive others.

Help us to be an encouraging presence to someone today. Help us to lift another's spirit with a kind word. Help us to celebrate the success of someone else without jealousy or envy, Help us to do good and to make good use of the time your give us.

In the name of Jesus, Amen.

VMM

Dreams

God of promise and possibilities, help us to drag our dreams out of the closet today and hold them in palms of love and sacrifice. Open our eyes to our gifts buried or suspended by daily challenges or responsibilities. Show us the appropriate risks to take. Guide us with your Word and wisdom.

O God, you who gave us Jesus, help us in those moments when our unbelief overshadows our potential and your promise - there is nothing impossible with you!

In Jesus name, grant us the vision to be faithful witnesses of your enabling power.
Amen and Amen

VMM

Morning and Evening

Thank you Lord for being all beginnings and all endings. In the morning you cradle the world and in the evening you heal our wounds so we can fight another day; You are the morning dew and the evening mist; You are the early morning sun kissing the potential of a new day and you are the twilight whispering promises yet to come.

We sing of sorrows and laugh at mistakes; we dance in the rain and laugh at the wind; we dream of things yet to come and believe the things we hope for, the evidence of thing unseen.

When our faith falters and our hopes crash upon the craggy rocks of ambition, renew our strength; let us be caught into your loving arms when we faint and lifted up as we struggle to rise above circumstances that seek our demise. You are a great and mighty God who helps us to live above our circumstances.

It is in the name of Gratitude we pray, Amen.

VMM

PRAYING THE WORD

"O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of this your servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight in revering your name. Give your servant success today by granting him favor in the presence of this man."

Nehemiah 1: 11

A New Week

Gracious God,

We praise you for a new week and a new beginning. We praise you for the grace that calls us to fresh starts, even in the midst of unpromising circumstances.

Renew in us a fresh resolve to bring down obstructions to justice, straighten out the crooked paths, and level the road roads we must travel to obtain the necessities of life. Lift us from valley places so that we may go from strength to strength and glory to glory.

You have the power to bring community our of chaos and we join you in rebuilding our lives, our communitites, our churches and our country.

In Jesus name,
Amen

VMM

There's Hope!

O God, our hope and source of all life. We acknowledge today with joy the gift of life. Forgive us when we have taken for granted this precious gift or failed to redeem the time.

Lift our thoughts from self to You, from the me-soever to the whosoever; from the littleness of our deeds to the majesty and wonder of your mighty acts.

Grant us grace for another day. Send joy in the midst of sadness and forgiveness in the face of transgressions. Help us to find the strength to stand in the face of slander.

Our hope is in you, O God, to put all things right which are wrong. Open our eyes so we can see through faith that you are at work even when present circumstances deny it. In Your name, Amen

VMM

I Dare You!

Who will we become if we dare to believe that we can do all things through you? Where will we go if we dare to believe that you order the steps of the righteous? What will we do if we dare to believe that nothing is impossible with you? How can we make it if we dare to believe that all things work together for good?

Lord, help us to dare to believe today. Lord, help our unbelief. Empower us to help another to dare to be and to do according to your Word.

In the matchless name of Jesus, Amen

Refresh Us Again!

God of this brand new day, we welcome you with our many morning moods. Some of us barely made it though the night while others couldn’t wait for a fresh start and a new beginning. Some of us dread the crises we must face today while others view the challenges as opportunities to be conduits of your power.

Whatever the circumstance, refresh us with your spirit. Help us not to repeat the mistakes of the past and keep us from new evils that seek to disrupt. Provide the resources for our rescue and redemption today and always…in Christ’s name. Amen.

VMM

Minds Fixed

O Lord our God, how excellent is your name in all the earth. Grant us this day the reality of your presence. We earnestly seek you. We desire you. We fix our minds on you. We commit ourselves to you again - and again. In all our ways we want to acknowledge you so that you will direct our paths.

You have given us so much, not because you love us more than others, but because you trust us with your treasure in these earthen vessels of ours. Help us to do to live wisely, love sincerely, serve wholeheartedly, act justly and show mercy today and forevermore.

In the name of Jesus, Amen

Running Low

Gracious God, I confess that I have often run ahead of you. I have run in so many different directions that I've become road-weary. I've rushed by others trying to find my own way. I've failed to stop long enough to build relationships with you and others. I find myself alone in the corner of life unable to speak or act having lost all hope. I've allowed the running to drain my inner spiritual landscape. I'm running on empty.

Fill me and forgive me again! Order my steps so that life will no longer be a blur of too much to do in too little time. Restore unto me the joy of my salvation. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and help me today to rediscover the joy of your love. Help me to shed aimless thinking, speaking and doing. Help me to walk the path you have set for me. In the name of Christ I pray, Amen.

D. Carr

Blind Spots

" O Lord, how do I let go when I'm so unsure of things? I'm unsure of your will, and I'm unsure of myself.... That really isn't a problem at all, is it? The truth of the matter is I hate the very idea of letting go. I really want to be in control. No, I need to be in control. That's it, isn't it? I'm afraid to give up control, afraid of what might happen. Heal my fear, Lord.
How good of you to reveal my blind spots even in the midst of my stumbling attempts to pray. Thank you!
But now what do I do? How do I give up control? Jesus, please, teach me your way of relinquishment. -Amen."

Richard J. Foster
Prayer
Finding The Heart's True Home

Open Our Eyes

O Give Thanks

"O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good; for his loving-kindness endures forever." Psalm 118:29

Open our eyes today to see all that we should be thankful for even if at the present moment our problems, pain or need might lead us to believe that we have no thanksgiving. Open our eyes to your unfailing goodness. Help us to see that you are working behind the scenes of our lives to usher us into a season of restoration and reconciliation... and for this, we are thankful. Enter our hearts and clear away anything that prevents an attitude of gratitude. In Jesus Name, Amen.

Oughts and Shoulds

Grant to me, O Lord, to know what I ought to know, to love what I ought to love, to praise what delights thee most, to value what is precious in thy sight, to hate what is offensive to Thee. Do not suffer me to judge according to the sight of my eyes, nor to pass sentence according to the hearing of the ears of ignorant men; but to discern with true judgment between things visible and spiritual, and above all things to inquire what is the good pleasure of thy will.

Prayer of Thomas a Kempis

Lord Help!

Lord, help us to receive the answers we have been awaiting with joy and gladness. Help us to run with Your promises fulfilled.
Help us to tell the testimony of how You did the impossible, fixed what was broken, solved what was problematic, straightened what was disfigured, and restored what had been taken away. In Jesus name, Amen.

VMM

Anxious Anticipation

Gracious God, We await the coming of Christ with anxious anticipation during this advent season. We thank you Lord that for over two thousand years Jesus comes and that through Jesus coming we remember that you love us so much that you sent Jesus so that through our belief and our faith we will never perish. We thank you Lord for this time of waiting and Hope. We know Lord that in the midst of all that happens around us, sickness, job loss, indiscretions, fear and depression we can put our hope in Christ that through Christ coming, again, our living will not be in vain.

Dear God we ask for blessings for our nation and for our world. As 30,000 troops are being prepared to go off to war, we ask that you give their families the hope that comes from knowing you in the full pardon of our circumstances. We ask you Lord that we learn to be just people. Teach us to be just people who operate in your justice, in your equitable distribution of resources, in your love and in your guidance. We put all our hope in You, because you are our God.

We praise your Holy, your Righteous and your Loving Name as we prepare our hearts and our minds and our souls for the coming of Christ.
Amen

Toni Belin Ingram

Reset

Today, I'm ready to push the reset button of my life. Lead me to do those things that help my heart and mind to be receptive to a fresh start.

Lord, today, I will begin by discarding thoughts, attitudes, and habits that are not compatible with an abundant, beautiful and excellent life. I turn away from negative people, places and things and turn towards that which is positive and uplifting.

I let go of whatever caused past discouragement, disappointment, or disagreement. I reach for those things that encourage, support and nourish my body, mind and spirit. So, I stand boldly on your Word.. behold you shall do a new thing in me. I am open and receptive to new ideas, activities and relationships. In Jesus name, Amen

VMM

What Can I Say?

I said to the Lord this morning,
O God, yet another phone call about tragedy, loss, poor prognosis, emergency surgery, tumors, pain and suffering. What can I say?

There is yet another sound bite of misfortune and misspent opportunities. What can I say?

There are yet too many crises in too many places with too many people we care about and a multitude of people we do not know. What can I say?

God said to me, Daughter, it’s not what you say it is what you pray.

So, I prayed, God of grace and glory, hear the cries of your people. In the name of Jesus where healing is needed, dispense it now, where help is needed, give it now, where shelter is needed, provide now, where there is a need for sustenance, supply it now, where love is needed, give it and peace is needed, let it abide. Amen

VMM