And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. (1 Corinthians 2:1)
Father, it doesn’t depend on how smart we are or how highly trained we are when we talk with people about Jesus, but on our relationship with Jesus and the working of your Holy Spirit.
For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. (1 Corinthians 2:2)
Jesus, please write your cross on our hearts.
I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. (1 Corinthians 2:3)
Holy Spirit, thank you for enabling Paul to go forward to the Corinthians, even though he was weak and afraid.
And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, (1 Corinthians 2:4)
Holy Spirit, show yourself whenever we speak about Jesus.
that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. (1 Corinthians 2:5)
Father, please help us take this verse to heart and rely on you and your power when we go forth to speak about Jesus.
However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. (1 Corinthians 2:6)
Jesus, through the working of your Holy Spirit please set us free in this diocese from all the politically correct nonsense in our culture.
But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, (1 Corinthians 2:7)
Lord, reveal yourself and your ways to the leaders and teachers of the Episcopal Church.
which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. (1 Corinthians 2:8 )
Lord Jesus, please bring the leaders and teachers of the Episcopal Church to a saving knowledge of you.
But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love him.” (1 Corinthians 2:9)
Father, please help us enter into all that you have prepared for us.
But God has revealed them to us through his Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. (1 Corinthians 2:10)
Holy Spirit, search our hearts and cleanse them of every impurity.
For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. (1 Corinthians 2:11)
Holy Spirit, please move through the Diocesan Convention and teach us of the things of God.
Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. (1 Corinthians 2:12)
Father, please help us receive everything you want to give us.
These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. (1 Corinthians 2:13)
Holy Spirit, help us receive your teaching throughout this diocese.
A word received (5/11/09): I want you to praise me for what I have done, what I AM doing and what I will do.
A word received (5/11/09): Don’t stop worshiping me — Don’t give up when times get hard. Lean on me and I will give you the strength to worship me.
A word received: I AM here among you. Look to me, I know your need. Turn to me for the help only I can give. Look to me with hope and expectation. Look to me for joy in your soul. Look to me and I will give hope. Let me have your despair and hopelessness, I will give you a heart filled with hope. Open your heart to me and I will come in.
The Day of Pentecost: 118; Isaiah 11:1-9; 1 Corinthians 2:1-13; John 14:21-29
Monday: 41, 52; Deuteronomy 11:13-19; 2 Corinthians 5:11–6:2; Luke 17:1-10
Notes from the Front Line
“Tradition may be defined as an extension of the franchise. Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to submit to the small and arrogant oligarchy of those who merely happen to be walking about. All democrats object to men being disqualified by the accident of birth; tradition objects to their being disqualified by the accident of death. Democracy tells us not to neglect a good man’s opinion, even if he is our groom; tradition asks us not to neglect a good man’s opinion, even if he is our father. I, at any rate, cannot separate the two ideas of democracy and tradition; it seems evident to me that they are the same idea. We will have the dead at our councils. The ancient Greeks voted by stones; these shall vote by tombstones. It is all quite regular and official, for most tombstones, like most ballot papers, are marked with a cross.” Orthodoxy by G. K. Chesterton, Doubleday Image Book, page 48 © 1908, 1936 by Dodd, Mead & Company
Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:1-2) Thank you Jesus for surrounding us with that cloud of witnesses who speak to us today. Please help us heed their voice.
***** Pray for the Holy Spirit to blow through the Camp of the Woods and clean out all black flies, mosquitoes, bears, and other wildlife for the Diocesan Convention. Pray for good weather and for travel mercies going and coming.
Albany Intercessor
