Fruit of Righteousness

May he judge your people in righteousness, your afflicted ones with justice. May the mountains bring prosperity to the people, the hills the fruit of righteousness. May he defend the afflicted among the people and save the children of the needy; may he crush the oppressor.

Psalm 72: 2-4

Dear Lord, just as the psalmist prayed centuries ago, we pray today that the leaders of our time lead in a manner acceptable to you. We pray today for everyone who is elected or selected to exercise power and authority in such a way that brings glory and honor to your name.

May they be sensitive to the needs of the poor and impoverished; the sick and the insecure; the homeless and the hungry as well as the very young and the very old. May they execute their responsibilities regardless of race and greed; color, class or creed.

Thank you for the opportunity to intercede so that all of us may walk humble, do justice and love mercy. In Jesus name, Amen.

AUGUST 1, 2011: THIRTY-ONE DAYS OF PRAYER AND CONSECRATION

You are invited to join us for our 3rd Annual Praycation Journey beginning this Monday. It is a 31-day break from the ordinary where you are encouraged to step away from the noise of the day, abide in the presence of God in Word, praise and prayer. This is a spiritual discipline vacation that I call a Praycation.

This is an opportunity to increase your prayer time and deepen your spiritual journey by seconds and minutes.

* 31 days with 31 verses of Scripture

* 31 days with 31 sentence prayers

* 31 days of 31 seconds of silence daily

* 31 days of 31 seconds of praise daily

* 31 days 31 minutes of study

What a wonderful way to end the summer! Invite your BFF's, family and "frienimies" to participate. Be still...and know that God can do extraordinary things for us, in us and through us!

There will still be the regular 1st and 3rd Thursday morning Praycation Summer Conference call!

Remember…to send this invitation to someone else today!

Steadfast Unmovable

“ Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;

his love endures forever.”

Psalm 107:1

Loving God, we thank you for your steadfast love that never wavers in the midst of an uncertain world in uncertain times. Your love is an anchor holding us steady whether we are resting in safe harbors or tossed in the crucible of churning seas.

Forgive us for the moments we’ve allowed the anxiety of inhabiting a community that is unresponsive to our needs to overshadow our knowledge of your steadfastness. The care of the world is not in our hands, praise the Lord, but in yours alone. So we look today beyond all of the other hands trying to manipulate the world you have given to us to our sovereign savior who is still in charge and in control. In Jesus name, Amen.

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Heal Us!

“…and all who touched him were healed.”

Mark 6: 56

Healer of the nations, Healer of all, we rise today yearning for a touch from you. Heal our world, which seems to devour the weak and vulnerable. Heal our nation, which refuses to find common ground or common good but seeks to serve selfish interests. Heal our families so that in whatever shape or form family is found they will become incubators for future generations. Heal our economy so that we will be the good men and women the psalmist describes as those who leave an inheritance for their children’s children.

Heal us, Jesus from narrow-minded race-based mistreatment and exploitation. Heal any destructive systems that permit and promote human suffering.

Heal our bodies from the ravages of disease and the consequences of our own behavior. Heal our hearts so that we can love beyond self. Heal our hearts so that we will love out of your love and not our own. Heal us, Lord, so that wherever we find ourselves today our bodies, soul and mind will be a testimony to your healing power.

Hear our prayer, O Lord, as we reach to touch you. Now, touch us back drawing away whatever hinders and hurts. In Jesus name, Amen.

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AUGUST 2011: THIRTY-ONE DAYS OF PRAYER AND CONSECRATION

You are invited to join us for our 3rd Annual Praycation Journey. It is a 31-day break from the ordinary where you are encouraged to step away from noise, abide in the presence of God in Word, praise and prayer. This is a spiritual discipline vacation that I call a Praycation.

This is an opportunity to increase your prayer time and deepen your spiritual journey by seconds and minutes.

* 31 days with 31 verses of Scripture

* 31 days with 31 sentence prayers

* 31 days of 31 seconds of silence daily

* 31 days of 31 seconds of praise daily

* 31 days 31 minutes of study

What a wonderful way to end the summer! Invite your BFF's, family and "frienimies" to participate. Be still...and know that God can do extraordinary things for us, in us and through us!

Remember…to send this invitation to someone else today!

Infuse Us!

Great and Compassionate Savior, you have shown us great love. Your love blossoms in us, surrounds us and overwhelms us. Open our hearts and hands that your love will flow through us to others.

Help us to love those we do not know. Help to love those who are hard to love. Help us to love ourselves. Help us to have enough love leftover at the end of the day to love those who are closest to us.

Forgive us when we have failed to demonstrate your love in what we say and do. Save us from insatiable urges to disregard the world to be indifferent to your command to love one another.

In Jesus name, when the day is done hold us in your arms close to your beating heart and infuse us with your love all night long. In Jesus name, Amen

PRAYCATION SUMMER CONFERENCE CALL

EARLY THIS MORNING, THURSDAY, JULY 21, 2011

Join us for our twice-monthly conference call at 6 AM CDT/ 7 AM EDT for prayer, study and testimony. Just call 1-218-936-2800, access code 812713#. Tweet, Facebbook and email this invitation to others! Write in/on your agenda to participate every first and third Thursday of the month. Come for a refreshing!

AUGUST 2011: THIRTY-ONE DAYS OF PRAYER AND CONSECRATION

You are invited to join us for our 3rd Annual Praycation Journey. It is a 31-day break from the ordinary where you are encouraged to step away from noise, abide in the presence of God in Word, praise and prayer. This is an opportunity to increase your prayer time and deepen your spiritual journey by seconds and minutes.

* 31 days with 31 verses of Scripture

* 31 days with 31 sentence prayers

* 31 days of 31 seconds of silence daily

* 31 days of 31 seconds of praise daily

* 31 days 31 minutes of study

What a wonderful way to end the summer! Invite your BFF's, family and "frienimies" to participate. Be still...and know that God can do extraordinary things for us, in us and through us!

Another Day of Living

Author and Giver of Life, we rejoice in the dawn of another day of living. Breathe on us, O breathe of God. Fill us again with life, abundant life anew. You have given us this life as a gift. Help us now to treat it and ourselves with patience.

Help us today not to be held hostage by our own preconceived notions. Lift our vision beyond the minutia that eats away at our faith. Guide us past our mistakes and misgivings…and into the broad landscape of grace and brand new mercies that will help us face the moments yet to come. In Jesus name, Amen.

PRAYCATION SUMMER CONFERENCE CALL

TOMORROW, THURSDAY, JULY 21, 2011

Join us for our twice-monthly conference call at 6 AM CDT/ 7 AM EDT for prayer, study and testimony. Just call 1-218-936-2800, access code 812713#. Tweet, Facebbook and email this invitation to others! Write in/on your agenda to participate every first and third Thursday of the month. Come for a refreshing!

Access Granted

Enter our hearts O God, and clear away whatever might hinder your Word, will and way. You have an all access pass into our hearts and minds. Search us! Know us! Love us!

Forgive us when we have failed to lay aside every sin that seeks us. As we confess today, we thank you for being faithful to forgive.

Be the voice whispering in our ears telling us which way to go. Speak to us so that we may follow the clear path you have set before us. Grant us courage to face whatever issues that may rise to challenge our sanity, safety and sanctity.

Compassionate Christ use our hands and hearts to serve and to be a source of healing to each other. Help us to show mercy even when mercy is not earned or deserved. Help us to see others as you see them and love them as much as you do. In Jesus name, Amen.

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The Sound of Silence

Hear my prayer, O Lord; let my cry come to you! Do not hide your face from me in the day of my distress! Incline your ear to me; answer me speedily in the day when I call!

Psalm 102:1-2

Lord, thank you for the call to silence, to be still for a moment to hear what cannot be heard over the noise of daily living. Clear away any debris that hinders or block You from our heart. Forgive our disobedience, our falling away, falling in love with the things temporal more than things eternal.

Let’s begin again! Lord, awaken our spirit in the presence of the Holy Spirit to a new moment in our spiritual landscape. Guide our thoughts, feelings, imagination, memory, words and actions today. Help us to no longer desire to go our own way conformed to this world but we desire to be transformed by the renewing of our minds and in the refreshing silence of your presence. In Jesus name, Amen.

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In God's Presence

Let us pray this personal petition together:

O God, I rejoice today that I can spend time just being with you. No matter how much I love those you placed in my life, I love being alone in your presence for this moment. Let me fall into your arms, again. Let me taste and see that you are good, again. Let me drink deeply from your refreshing pools of living water, again. Feed me, O bread of heaven until I want no more.

Keeping company with you, the source of all wisdom, knowledge and power, leads to a greater revelation beyond human achievement.

Tutor my spirit, when I need to be challenged;

Assure my heart when fear seeks to overtake my faith; and

Satisfy our hunger for certainty and control.

Just being with you helps us to entrust our lives to you more and more each day realizing that you are closer to us than we are to ourselves.

In Jesus name,

Amen

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Freedom, O Freedom

"Everything is permissible"—but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible"—but not everything is constructive."


1 Corinthians 10:23 (NIV)

God of all people, all nations we celebrate today those who fought and died for freedom and justice. Help us to appreciate their legacy and live to be sure that our acts and actions do not enslave others. Help us to close the gap between the inalienable rights and ideals we profess and the policies we put into place.

Now Lord, continue to deliver us from being too free for our own good. Everything may be permissible but everything is not beneficial. Help us to use our freedoms appropriately. In the name of Jesus, we cherish being set free from sin but never from whatsoever is true, pure, honorable and just. Amen.

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PRAYCATION SUMMER CONFERENCE CALL ON THURSDAY! Remember on the first and third Thursday of the month is our praycation conference call at 6 AM CDT/ 7 AM EDT. Just call 1-218-936-2800, access code 812713 for prayer, study and testimony.

Hopeful Return

Dear God we ask for blessings for our nation and for our world. There are thousands of brave men and women serving in harm’s way and others 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, again.

Amen

Toni Belin Ingram

PRAYCATION SUMMER CONFERENCE CALL ON THURSDAY! Remember on the first and third Thursday of the month is our praycation conference call at 6 AM CDT/ 7 AM EDT. Just call 1-218-936-2800, access code 812713 for prayer, study and testimony.