Psalm 37:1-6

Do not fret because of evildoers, nor be envious of the workers of iniquity. (Psalm 37:1)
      Lord Jesus, set our hearts and minds free from fretting about the evil that is being done at General Convention. You are Lord and you are in charge of our lives and this diocese.

For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb. (Psalm 37:2)
      Lord, even now rescue from sin and death those who espouse evil at General Convention.

Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land, and feed on his faithfulness. (Psalm 37:3)
      Holy Spirit, please help us trust in what Jesus is doing in the Episcopal Church.

Delight yourself also in the Lord, and he shall give you the desires of your heart. (Psalm 37:4)
      Father, thank you for the joy your love for us gives us. Thank you for turning our hearts into your ways. Help us daily delight ourselves in you.

Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in him, and he shall bring it to pass. (Psalm 37:5)
      Jesus, we commit our way to you and trust in you. We do not yet see the way forward, but you are the way, the truth, and the life and you will provide for this diocese and all your faithful people.

He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday. (Psalm 37:6)
      Holy Trinity, one God, please help us rest in you and wait patiently for you; set us free from fretting because of those who prosper in their wickedness. Let us cease from anger and forsake wrath — it only causes harm when we fret. Thank you. (From Psalm 37:7-8 )

      A word received: Pray for my people in the Episcopal Church — they have been deluded with lies. Pray for the truth and the power of the gospel to penetrate the Episcopal Church.

Thursday: 37:1-18; 1 Samuel 20:24-42; Acts 13:1-12; Mark 2:23-3:6
Friday: 31; 1 Samuel 21:1-15; Acts 13:13-25; Mark 3:7-19a

      Notes from the Front Line

      AnglicanTV has posted a video from General Convention 2009 of a special press conference with Bishop Beckwith and Bishop Love at http://anglicantv.org/node/352.

Albany Intercessor

Mark 2:13-17

Then he went out again by the sea; and all the multitude came to him, and he taught them. (Mark 2:13)
      Jesus, please draw the multitudes in the Episcopal Church to yourself and teach them. Thank you.

As he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office. And he said to him, “Follow me.” So he arose and followed him. (Mark 2:14)
      Holy Spirit, please help all that Jesus calls to respond to him. Guide the vestries, the Commission on Ministry, and the Standing Committee; give them discernment as to which people are called to ordained ministry and which are not.

Now it happened, as he was dining in Levi’s house, that many tax collectors and sinners also sat together with Jesus and his disciples; for there were many, and they followed him. (Mark 2:15)
      Father, please help us welcome to your table all who follow Jesus; help us welcome into our homes those who follow Jesus.

And when the scribes and Pharisees saw him eating with the tax collectors and sinners, they said to his disciples, “How is it that he eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?” (Mark 2:16)
      Holy Spirit, help us follow Jesus’ lead in joining with those who have answered his call.

When Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” (Mark 2:17)
      Jesus, please help all whom you are calling to repentance to answer your call. Thank you.

A word received: Look to me; I AM able to save you.
      Look to me and I will walk with you.
      Look to me and I will give you peace in the storm.
      Look to me and I will shepherd you.
      Look to me, for I AM the Good Shepherd.

Wednesday: 38; 1 Samuel 20:1-23; Acts 12:18-25; Mark 2:13-22
Thursday: 37:1-18; 1 Samuel 20:24-42; Acts 13:1-12; Mark 2:23-3:6

Albany Intercessor

Jerusalem

Psalm 122:6-9 (New Living Translation)

Pray for peace in Jerusalem.
May all who love this city prosper.
O Prince of Peace, come.
O Jerusalem, may there be peace within your walls
and prosperity in your palaces.
O Prince of Peace, come.
For the sake of my family and friends, I will say,
“May you have peace.”
O Prince of Peace, come.
For the sake of the house of the Lord our God,
I will seek what is best for you, O Jerusalem.
O Prince of Peace, come.

How long?

How long, Lord? How long? How long will we be indebted to spiritual forces of darkness? How long will we be under bondage to false mindsets? We have mortgaged our children and our children’s children and assured their slavery.
Is there no year of jubilee? Is there no annulment of the bonds of enslavement? No forgiveness of debt? No liberty for Your children? We cry out for Your children. Your kingdom come and Your will be done for them. We declare jubilee through our Redeemer. We declare forgiveness through His blood. We declare liberty in His name–Jesus.
Leviticus 25

Great perspective on General Convention: Reality vs. Truth

South Carolina blogger the Rev. John Burwell has some fantastic perspective about General Convention yesterday. He compares what is happening in Anaheim to REALITY, and there is lots of Scripture and encouragement.

Do go read it.

It was particularly striking to me because here in Africa, the sermon I heard preached this past weekend contrasted the daily reality of our lives with God’s reality and TRUTH. Don’t let the reality of our daily lives cloud the TRUTH (in French: verité) of who God is.

Amen

Pray for Stand Firm & Titusonenine

Greg Griffith and all the Stand Firm bloggers, as well as Kendall Harmon and his elves need our prayers. The huge traffic surge crashed Stand Firm and Greg is trying to move the blog(s) to a new server.

In the meantime, both SF & T19 have backup sites running

http://standfirmlive.blogspot.com/

http://t19backup.blogspot.com/

Father, please grant your mercy and peace to all those blogging from General Convention, especially Greg and the SF Team, that they could still record and publish a truthful and timely record of events in Anaheim. Give Greg wisdom and success in overcoming the technical challenges that have disrupted the blogging at such a critical time. In Jesus name, Amen.

Mark 2:1-12

And again he entered Capernaum after some days, and it was heard that he was in the house. (Mark 2:1)
      Jesus, please come and dwell in our community.

Immediately many gathered together, so that there was no longer room to receive them, not even near the door. And he preached the word to them. (Mark 2:2)
      Jesus, preach the word to us. Give us hearts to respond to your words.

Then they came to him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men. (Mark 2:3)
      Jesus, I bring ______ to you for healing.

And when they could not come near him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where he was. So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying. (Mark 2:4)
      Holy Spirit, please help us have the same perseverance in prayer that these four men had in bringing their friend to Jesus. As they broke through the ceiling to get to Jesus, help us make a breakthrough in our prayer lives.

When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.” (Mark 2:5)
      Father, help us hear those same words of forgiveness from the mouth of Jesus.

And some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, (Mark 2:6)
      Holy Spirit, please move in the hearts of the leaders and teachers of the Episcopal Church.

“Why does this man speak blasphemies like this? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” (Mark 2:7)
      Holy Spirit, please help the leaders and teachers of the Episcopal Church to know where true forgiveness of sins comes from.

But immediately, when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they reasoned thus within themselves, he said to them, “Why do you reason about these things in your hearts? (Mark 2:8 )
      O Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up; you understand my thought afar off. You comprehend my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word on my tongue, but behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. You have hedged me behind and before, and laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain it. (Psalm 139:1-6)

Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise, take up your bed and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins”–he said to the paralytic, “I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.” (Mark 2:9-11)
      Holy Spirit, teach the Presiding Bishop and the leaders and teachers of the Episcopal Church your power to forgive sins and that each one of us coming to Jesus can find salvation. ["The Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church, Katharine Jefferts Schori derided individual salvation calling it 'the great Western heresy: that we can be saved as individuals, that any of us alone can be in right relationship with God.' In her opening address to the church's General Conference in California, Jefferts Schori said it was a 'heresy' to believe that an individual can be saved through personal faith and trust in Jesus Christ acknowledged in a prayer of repentance. She said that view is 'caricatured in some quarters by insisting that salvation depends on reciting a specific verbal formula about Jesus.' According to Schori, it is heresy to believe that an individual's prayer can achieve a saving relationship with God. 'That individualist focus is a form of idolatry, for it puts me and my words in the place that only God can occupy.'" (As reported by David Virtue, 7/9/2009)]

Immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went out in the presence of them all, so that all were amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!” (Mark 2:12)
      Jesus, manifest your power to heal and to save at the General Convention so that all will give praise and glory to you and your father. Thank you.

      A word received: Look to me; keep your eyes on me. Don’t be swayed by circumstances. They are real, but so am I. Look to me in the storm.

Tuesday: 26, 28; 1 Samuel 19:1-18; Acts 12:1-17; Mark 2:1-12
Wednesday: 38; 1 Samuel 20:1-23; Acts 12:18-25; Mark 2:13-22

Albany Intercessor

Stir their hearts

O Lord,
We exalt Your holy name. You are mighty, the Lord of hosts. We beseech You to stir a spirit of praise in the hearts of the Christians in Anaheim, especially at the convention center. You inhabit the praises of Your people. May Your praise be on their lips and the atmosphere surrounding the convention center be filled with Your presence. May Your people have one mind and one heart, in the name of Jesus and through the Holy Spirit, for one God. That is our desire. Amen.
1 Chronicles 12:33, Psalm 22:3

A sacrificial offering

God instructed Gideon to pull down the altar of Baal with his father’s bullock and then to sacrifice a second bullock as a burnt offering. Perhaps the first bullock had been dedicated to Baal.

O Lord,
So many of our seminaries are dedicated to a false gospel. So many of our clergy have been blinded, and our governing authorities misled. What shall we offer as a sacrifice to You?
Take pity. Create in us a clean heart and renew a right spirit within us. We acknowledge our transgression. Cleanse us from our sin.
We have no second bullock, but You do not desire sacrifices of burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise. Amen.
Judges 6:26, Psalm 51

Gideon

Judges 6:34-35 (New International Version)
Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Gideon, and he blew a trumpet, summoning the Abiezrites to follow him. He sent messengers throughout Manasseh, calling them to arms, and also into Asher, Zebulun and Naphtali, so that they too went up to meet them.
Holy Spirit, come upon a Gideon in the House of Bishops.
Judges 7:13 (New International Version)
Gideon arrived just as a man was telling a friend his dream. “I had a dream,” he was saying. “A round loaf of barley bread came tumbling into the Midianite camp. It struck the tent with such force that the tent overturned and collapsed.”
Jesus, You are the Bread of Life. Strike the tents of Your enemies in the House of Bishops and overturn them.
Judges 7:22 (New International Version)
When the three hundred trumpets sounded, the LORD caused the men throughout the camp to turn on each other with their swords. The army fled to Beth Shittah toward Zererah as far as the border of Abel Meholah near Tabbath.
Father, release the sound that is needed to cause Your enemies in the House of Bishops to turn on each other.

Mark 1:29-31

Now as soon as they had come out of the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. (Mark 1:29)
      Jesus, please enter our homes with your disciples.

But Simon’s wife’s mother lay sick with a fever, and they told him about her at once. (Mark 1:30)
      Jesus, we cry out to you for the sick and infirm in our families.

So he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and immediately the fever left her. And she served them. (Mark 1:31)
      Lord Jesus, come and lift up and heal _____.

A word received: Pray for more intercessors to be raised up in my church. My people long to hear good news. Pray for intercessors. Pray for intercessors to be encouraged. Pray for new life and hope for my people.

Monday: 25; 1 Samuel 18:5-16,27b-30; Acts 11:19-30; Mark 1:29-45
Tuesday: 26, 28; 1 Samuel 19:1-18; Acts 12:1-17; Mark 2:1-12

Albany Intercessor

Petition to Jesus

O Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, set on the right hand of the Majesty in the heavens, peace be unto You. Peace be unto Your helpers. We give thanks for Your eternal ministry. You live forever and have a permanent priesthood. You are able to save completely those who come to God through You because You live to intercede for them. Intercede for Your children at Anaheim, we pray. Amen.
1 Chronicles 12:16-18, Hebrews 7:24-25, 8:1

I will be with you

“But Lord , ” Gideon asked, “how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.”
The LORD answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites together.” Judges 6:15-16

O Lord, be with Your children at Anaheim, we pray. Amen.

Our hearts are parched

I am grieving the passage of A095 in the House of Bishops without discussion or dissent. The resolution dealt with adding names for commemoration to our liturgical calendar. The names included a lesbian Socialist who supported a political regime that murdered an estimated 60 million persons, a missionary to the Seminoles who did not work for their religious conversion, and a Freemason. They all did many good deeds, but I question the wisdom of holding them up as exemplars of the faith.–JW
A Lenten prayer:

God, all-loving and all-caring,
We come before you with hesitant steps and uncertain motives
Our hearts are parched from wandering in a desert of sin.

We want to sweep out the corners where sin has accumulated
And uncover the places where we have strayed from your truth
Our hearts are parched from wandering in a desert of sin.

We ask for courage to open our eyes and unstop our ears
That we may be aware of all that distracts us from a whole-hearted commitment to Christ
Our hearts are parched from wandering in a desert of sin.

We want to see ourselves as you do and live our lives as you intended
Expose in us the empty and barren places where we have not allowed you to enter
Our hearts are parched from wandering in a desert of sin.

Reveal to us our half-hearted struggles,
Where we have been indifferent to the pain and suffering of others
Our hearts are parched from wandering in a desert of sin.

Create in us a clean heart, O God, and put a right Spirit within us
Nurture the faint stirrings of new life where your spirit has taken root and begun to grow
Our hearts are parched from wandering in a desert of sin.

We long for your healing light to transform us into the image of your Son,
For you alone can bring new life and make us whole
In your mercy, shine upon us, O God, and make our path clear before us.

[Pause to remind yourself of your own brokenness and need for repentance.]

God of mercy, come
Into the hidden places of our hearts.
Christ of compassion, come
Into the broken places of our world.
Spirit of life, come
Into the polluted places of our lives.
Forgive us, heal us, redeem us,
Lead us from death to eternal life.

Call2Fall

Pray for Global Spiritual Awakening and Evangelistic Harvest –

Sovereign God, we ask You to rend the heavens and send forth Your awesome “manifest presence.” We ask You to so move that over thirty million Americans will be saved in a single year. Cause Your glory to sweep the whole earth bringing unprecedented millions to Christ. We humbly ask You to move even greater than You did in any previous awakening. Blessed God, we pray for one last great harvest before the glorious return of Your Son. Purify Your Bride O Christ, and then come Lord Jesus, come quickly!
(Isaiah 64:1; Ephesians 5:26-27; Revelation 22:17, 20)