Prayer Guide for March – 2019
We begin our prayer time in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. + Amen.
Isaiah 1:15-17: “When you spread out your hands in prayer, I hide my eyes from you; even when you offer many prayers, I am not listening. Your hands are full of blood! Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight; stop doing wrong. Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.”
‘Adoration’
Psalm 27:4; “One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple.”
This is the beginning of the rainy season in Haiti and many farmers in the Artibonite, Cayes and Plateau Central give thanks for this time of year when the Heavens open and refill their cisterns and replenish the ground; ain’t God good? Our God is indeed good and while we consider all of His blessings, we need to just place at the top of our list of wonders the fact that He sent Jesus to forgive our sins. In the midst of all the commotion and distractions in this world take time to count your many blessings.
A time of ‘Adoration’ to our Heavenly Father.
Please take time to sit and consider how our Triune God comes to us through His ‘WORD’ every day and how He has impacted your life.
Think about the provisions, protection and love that surround you because of His unfailing love for you.
Give thanks for where God has placed you and the gifts that you were given to use for Him along your journey.
‘Confession’
Psalm 51; “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge. Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb; you taught me wisdom in that secret place. Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice. Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity. Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, so that sinners will turn back to you. Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, you who are God my Savior, and my tongue will sing of your righteousness. Open my lips, Lord, and my mouth will declare your praise. You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise. May it please you to prosper Zion, to build up the walls of Jerusalem. Then you will delight in the sacrifices of the righteous, in burnt offerings offered whole; then bulls will be offered on your altar.”
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 loves you with a love that cannot be measured. He gave to the world when no thanks were 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.
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’
Our brothers and sisters living in Haiti are thankful for the lapli (rain) that comes in March. School children walking to school bring their umbrellas and ponchos to protect them and their homework from the moisture as they walk to school.
1 Corinthians 11:23-25; “The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way after supper, he took the cup saying, “This is the new covenant in my blood; do this whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” Now may this true body and blood of our risen Lord and Savior Jesus Christ strengthen and keep you in the true faith until life everlasting. Amen.”
I read devotion recently about Jesus healing the paralytic and when his friends had removed some of the roof and lowered the man down with ropes to a position where he was directly in front of Jesus who must have been covered with roofing materials and dust, the first words that our Savior spoke we “your sins are forgiven”. That is the most important thing to be giving thanks for this season of Lent; here in the US and in Haiti and everywhere; “your sins are forgiven”.
Heavenly Father, 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 having a Savior who gave His life for our sinfulness; “your sins are forgiven”.
We give thanks our providence; monetary, food, clothing, moisture and shelter. As we give of our first fruits may we also give a portion of our best to His children in Haiti who need the assistance we can provide.
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 who bring the true message of the season of Lent to lives who have never known.
We give You thanks during these turbulent times in Haiti for protecting and sustaining You children.
‘Supplications’
March 6 is Ash Wednesday and for Christians living in the US and for many of us it means there is a soup supper with pie before going to Church. For our brothers and sisters in Haiti, today is a time of terrible unrest, violent filled political demonstrations and prices and availability of commodities out of reach for common people. And to add to these challenges the start of Carnival festivities will also begin in their country as vodou followers start filling the streets and call out evil spirits to do their bidding; this continues through Easter. It is evil, it is loud and it is a distraction to their time of prayers and worship.
Romans 8:26-28; “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God. And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
Heavenly Father, we bring our supplications before You;
Heavenly Father, please continue to lead and bless Trinity/HOPE with Your loving hand; may the number of children increase and may we always strive to accomplish Your will.
Holy Spirit we ask that you will do the unthinkable and bring a calming peace to Haiti and raise up a new God-fearing government filled with a new generation of Christian leaders.
Heavenly Father, protect Christians living in Haiti, give them courage to face and suppress the distractions from the vodou priests.
Heavenly Father, please bless new donors unknown to us but who are out there ready to help to feed Haitian children through the Matthew 25 Project.
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 go before you to guide you; may His arms be beneath you to support you, around you to protect you and above you to bless you. And may the blessings of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit be with you always dear sister and brother in Christ,
In His love, Jay Brinkmeyer