We begin our prayer time in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. + Amen.
Psalm 66:20; “Praise be to God, who has not rejected my prayer or withheld his love from me.”
Keith Logan asked if I would take over writing and sending out a monthly prayer list for Trinity/HOPE Prayer Partners who lift up our feeding programs, the Haitian children, cooks, Feeding Program Directors, Pastors, teachers and principals in prayers on the first Monday of each month, and after a moment of thought I said that I would. I have written ‘Prayer’ guides for a number of congregations in the past decades and will follow that type of guide with you.
In the Lutheran Catechism, we are instructed that prayer is an act of worship, through which we bring our petitions before God with our hearts and lips and offer up thanksgiving and praise to Him. Our Heavenly Father welcomes, encourages and urges us to come to Him in prayer. He is always there…ready to listen...and answer. My prayer life and this guide follow the ACTS (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication) method of prayer that was taught to me so many decades ago.
Psalm 19:14; “May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.”
‘Adoration’
Psalm 99:1-5; “The Lord reigns, let the nations tremble; he sits enthroned between the cherubim, let the earth shake. Great is the Lord in Zion; he is exalted over all the nations. Let them praise your great and awesome name; he is holy. The King is mighty, he loves justice, you have established equity; in Jacob you have done what is just and right. Exalt the Lord our God and worship at his footstool; he is holy.”
Lord God Almighty; creator of heaven and earth and of everything visible and invisible; we stand in awe of Your visible creation and how You sustain it daily. As You have blessed our ancestors and You have also used each of us here today to be a blessing for others who have no Hope. You have given each of us an appointed measure of time, talents and treasures to accomplish Your will.
We consider how You used John Hall on that one hot day in Tarrasse, Haiti to ask Pastor Revenel Benoit after seeing the school children suffering; “how can we help?” You caused John to have compassion for those 42 school children and begin that initial feeding program and through You there are now thousands receiving food while they are being drawn closer to You. We stand in utter awe as we consider how You brought so many people here to help so many in Haiti; You have had Trinity/HOPE in the works for centuries and the Holy Spirit put those words into John’s mouth “how can we help?”
A time of ‘Adoration’ to our Heavenly Father.
- Please take time to sit and consider how our Triune God has impacted your life, as a child, teen, adult and perhaps a parent or grandparent. Consider with sincere amazement all the ways He has created, molded and brought you to this very point in your life’s journey.
- Consider those workers in Haiti who walk closely with You and were ready to serve with their time, talents and treasures when the time was ready for their service.
- Consider the Haitian children who this summer eagerly are waiting for school to restart so they can learn more about You, seek Your directions for their future and give Witness of their Risen Savior to the souls still caught up in the lies of vodou.
‘Confession’
We were born, sinful and unclean, through no fault of our own, but because of the sins of our parents, grandparents…Adam and Eve.
God sent His only Son to die for our sins. Jesus did everything right while he was here on this earth. He loved you with a love that cannot be measured. He gave to the world when there were no thanks returned to Him. He healed when there was no hope, and He died without complaint. Jesus did nothing wrong and everything right; all this for you. He lived for you and died for you. Our sins nailed Him to the cross on Calvary and kept Him there until His life on earth had ended.
Psalm 32:1-7; “Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the LORD does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit. When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer. Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD" and you forgave the guilt of my sin. Therefore let everyone who is godly pray to you while you may be found; surely when the mighty waters rise, they will not reach him. You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance.”
- A time of personal confession.
Our sins are placed at the base of the cross...His cross, and we give thanks that the times we have fallen short in the eyes of our Heavenly Father have been washed clean and we have been forgiven through the Blood of our Risen Savior Jesus Christ.
‘Thanksgiving’
Where do we begin to give thanks? So great are the blessings that our Heavenly Father has poured into our lives and continues to daily shower upon us.
Romans 8:31-32; “What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all; how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?”
When we stop to give thanks we too often think of the things we possess in this world to be thankful for; our physical blessings, family, talents, treasures, freedoms and neglect the true treasure that our Savior gave to us on His journey to Calvary.
While we are mindful and thankful for all that we have please take a moment to think about the thousands of school children in Haiti with their clean hands folded, and sitting with their bowl of beans and rice before them; giving thanks.
Psalm 95:1-7; “O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms. For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods. In his hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is his also. The sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land. O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker. For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.”
We come to You now with hearts, minds and words filled with ‘Thanksgiving’.
- We give thanks for our Creator, Redeemer and Holy Spirit.
- We give thanks for the countless people here in the U.S. who joyfully give of their time, talents & treasures to the work of Trinity/HOPE.
- We give You thanks for the Haitian children who are not only the prime purpose of Trinity/HOPE but also Your missionaries for the future generations in Haiti.
- We give You thanks for the countless hours that Keith and Denise have expended working on the new website and putting together the Haitian Night event and the Board of Directors meeting.
- We give You thanks for the work that is being accomplished by the Haitian parents, school principals and Feeding Program Directors who are gathering the expected attendance numbers for the coming year.
‘Supplications’
At times we ‘ask’ for things without really considering how they will impact our calling and our journey; to serve Him as He desires us to serve Him by bringing others into the Kingdom.
2 Corinthians 5:15; “And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.”
Too often I have seen and heard mission groups desire to bring all of the ‘good stuff’ that we have in North America into their lives in Haiti. The real and best ‘thing’ that there is for them and us is Jesus. We have been blessed with so many material blessings and the Haitian children with so little. When considering supplications, it is a good idea to truthfully ask myself “Do I have too much? Do you have so much that you no longer depend upon our Triune God for your day-to-day providence? That my friend is the chasm of difference between their life in Haiti and ours here. They totally depend upon God and sadly, too often, we turn to ourselves. Our Heavenly Father gave His only Son to die on the cross for us so that we would be granted everlasting life in Heaven.
Heavenly Father, we bring our supplications before You;
- Heavenly Father, please place your healing hand upon Frank Cherry and may Your will continue to bless his life as he faces health challenges.
- Lord, please protect those who travel to Nashville for the Board meeting; bless their journey.
- Heavenly Father, please comfort and dwell among our Board members as we meet for the first time without John being seated at the table with us. Be with Carol, Karen and Christy as they continue to venture into a new time of serving You in the direction that John began; because of Your hand and direction. Be with the rest of us as we seek to draw on what John has shared with each of us and may we continue to follow Your lead and bring manna to Your children in Haiti.
- Lord, please be with Keith, Chad and Steve as they travel to Haiti for the Trinity/HOPE workshop following the Board Meeting and also protect the workers in Haiti who travel the challenging roads to attend the workshop.
- Heavenly Father, please bless new donors unknown to us but out there ready to help to feed Haitian children through the Matthew 25 Project. May they be blessed as they share their treasures through You to bless the lives of Your future missionaries in Haiti.
- Heavenly Father, bind satan from throwing challenges in the workings of our feeding programs in Haiti and in our activities here at home. May we always strive to serve You in ways that are helpful and not harmful to Your children.
Before closing, I want to invite you to just spend a few moments to closely look at your hands and recall their journey. Have they been His hands to the blind, deaf, lame, dumb, hungry and lost in this world? Give thanks that they were created for such work and always know that the Holy Spirit is in your hands, eyes, ears and voice to do the work of the Son of God who hung upon the cross at Calvary.
Lord God, bless Your Word wherever it is proclaimed. Make it a Word of power and peace to convert those not yet Your own and to confirm those who have come to saving faith. May Your Word pass from the ear to the heart, from the heart to the lip and from the lip to the life that, as You have promised, Your Word may achieve the purpose for which You sent it; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
2 Corinthians 13:11-14; “Finally, brothers, good-by. Aim for perfection, listen to my appeal, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you. Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the saints send their greetings. May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”
May God be with you dear sister and brother in Christ,
In His love
Jay Brinkmeyer