The Prayer of Jabez

“The Prayer of Jabez”

Dr. Norm Mowery

May 18, 2014

Church of the Wayfarer

1 Chronicles 4:9-10

          Recently I have had requests for me to preach on two separate topics before I retire.

          They are Prayer and the Holy Spirit.

          How much time do I have?

          Can I cover both this morning?

          I will start off by teaching how to pray a daring prayer. 

                    It’s brief.

                    It is only one sentence with four parts.

                    It is tucked away in one of the most obscure books of the Old                                      Testament.

          It is the prayer of Jabez.

          There are only two verses in the entire Bible about a man named Jabez.

Two little verses.

That’s all Jabez got. 

That’s hardly even honorable mention.

 

          I first discovered the Prayer of Jabez when I was a teenager as I was reading the Bible from beginning to end. 

          By the way, that’s not something I recommend.

          I had long ago forgotten about the prayer until someone gave me a book written by Bruce Wilkinson entitled, The Prayer of Jabez.  

          I have since learned that it has become a national best seller and he has made a lot of money on it. 

          Now, why didn’t I think of that?

          The book of 1 Chronicles is a strange book.

          Let me show you.

          Turn in your pew bibles to page 360. By the way, you never have to be embarrassed if you have to look in the index of the Bible to find a book.

          Go ahead and turn to it.

          Take a look at chapter 1. What do you notice about it? It’s a list of names. It starts at the very beginning—with Adam!

          Take a look at chapter 2. It is a list of names, too.

          Take a look at chapter 3. It’s a list of names—the descendants of David. It is a family record.

          Now, chapters 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9.

          Do you see why I don’t recommend reading the Bible from beginning to end!

         

          The first nine chapters of 1 Chronicles are taken up with the official family tree of the Hebrew tribes, beginning with Adam and proceeding through thousands of years to Israel’s return from captivity. 

          Talk about boring!

          The long lists of unfamiliar and difficult names—more that five hundred of them—are likely to make even the bravest Bible student turn back.

          Now, turn back to chapter 4. Drop down to verse 9. Forty-four names into the chapter, a story suddenly breaks through:

“Jabez was more honored than his brothers;

and his mother named him Jabez,

saying, ‘Because I bore him in pain.’”

          Can you imagine being named, “Ouch”! 

          I guess that Jabez’s mother wanted him to always remember how much it hurt when he was born.

          In Hebrew, the word Jabez means, “pain”. 

          A literal rendering could read, “He causes pain.”

          Doesn’t sound like the start of a promising life, does it?

All babies arrive with a certain amount of pain, but something about Jabez’s birth went beyond the usual—so much so that his mother chose to memorialize it in her son’s name. 

Why? 

The pregnancy or the delivery may have been traumatic. 

Perhaps the baby was born breech. 

Or perhaps the mother’s pain was emotional—

          maybe the child’s father abandoned her during the pregnancy,                            maybe he had died;

          maybe the family had fallen into such financial straits that the        prospect of another mouth to feed brought only fear and worry. 

          Only God knows for sure what caused the pain of this anguished mother.  Not that it made much difference to young Jabez. 

          He grew up with a name any boy would love to hate. 

          Imagine if you had to go through childhood enduring the teasing of bullies because your name was pain.

          Something about this man Jabez had caused the historian to pause, clear his throat, and switch tactics.  “Wait a minute” he seems to inject.  “You just gotta know something about this guy named Jabez.”

          As you see here in the middle of nine chapters of names Jabez stands out.

          All that we know about Jabez is his one sentence prayer that follows.  This prayer is what made him more honorable. 

          Something about Jabez’s simple, direct request to God changed his life and left a permanent mark on the history books of Israel. Here it is!

                   “Oh, that You would bless me,        

                   And enlarge my border,

                   That Your hand might be with me,

                   And that You would keep me from evil.”

          1. Oh, that you would bless me indeed!

          I love the urgency of his plea. 

          In Hebrew, adding “indeed” to this prayer was like adding five exclamation points to it. 

          Before we can ask for God’s blessing with confidence, we need a clear understanding of what the word ‘bless’ means. 

          It means more than something that we say after someone sneezes!

          Jabez left it entirely up to God to decide what the blessings would be. 

“Ask,” promised Jesus, “and it will be given to you”.

“You do not have because you do not ask,” said James.

          Only we limit God’s bounty. 

Jabez was blessed simply because he refused to let any obstacle, person, or opinion loom larger than God’s nature. 

And God’s nature is to bless.

I am truly amazed and pleased with what happened here yesterday when eight lay persons met together to vision the future of this church including how our ministries will be funded. This is one of the most positive things that have happened during my ministry here.

You will be hearing more from this group but the one thing I know is that the future of the Church of the Wayfarer is in your hands—not just in the hands of the present or future pastor.

          I pray that God will bless this church in the future with—

Wisdom

Vision

Passion

Along with Jabez, let us seek God’s blessing.

2. That You would enlarge my territory

The next part of the Jabez prayer—a plea for more territory—is where you ask God to enlarge your life so you can make a greater impact for God. 

Jabez wanted more influence, more responsibility, and more opportunity to make a mark for the God of Israel.

When Jabez cried out to God, “Enlarge my territory!”  He was looking at his present circumstances and concluding, “Surely I was born for more than this!”

When he prays for his territory to be enlarged he is asking God to expand his opportunities and his impact on such a way that he can touch more lives.

If ever there was a time in the 110-year history of the Church of the Wayfarer to pray for God to enlarge our territory it is now and don’t we say, “Surely the Church of the Wayfarer is here for more than this!”

This pastoral transition is the time to explore new ministries,

          new visions and new dreams. 

          I am praying that during this changing time God will lead this church to a ministry that is outside of us and beyond this property—that God will expand our horizons.

          3. That Your hand would be with me!

          The “hand of the Lord” is a biblical term for God’s power and presence in the lives of His people. 

          A church’s growth needs the availability of the hand of God. 

          It is my prayer that God’s hand will be with us as a church. 

          We need God’s guidance to lead us as never before.

          As we experience a changing world, changing technology, changing cultural norms we can know that God’s hand is with us.

         

          4. That you would keep me from evil!

          When was the last time you asked God to keep you away from temptation? 

          In the same way that God wants you to ask for more blessing, more territory, and more power, God wants us to plead for safekeeping from evil.

          After the attacks on 9/11 I learned a new term. 

          Its SCATANA. 

          SCATANA is a term for a special military operation, meaning Security Control of Air Traffic and navigation Aids.  In a time of national crisis, all civilian airlines go the ground, and military aircraft go into the air, to provide a strong defense. 

          As Christians in a time of crisis we are challenged to practice a kind of spiritual SCATANA:

          To go to the ground of our being.

          To get back to the original mission.

          To go back to the basics.

          When evil confronts us we go to the ground—to the solid ground that is our creation. 

         

          The King James Version of the Bible has an additional phrase that I like. It is, “That it may not grieve me!” That evil might not grieve me.

          Are you hurt when evil is evident? Let us pray with Jabez that God will keep us from evil.

            How do we do that?

                   It is by the power of the Holy Spirit.

          What is the Holy Spirit?

                   Flames of Fire and the dove are both symbols of the spirit.

                   Power and Peace come when the Holy Spirit fills

                             our hearts,

                             our lives,

                             our church.

          The knowledge

                   that the Holy Spirit of God has taken up residence in our lives,                          that He dwells with us forever,

                   and that He will never leave or forsake us is cause for great                                courage and comfort.

          Thank God for the Holy Spirit and His work in our lives!

          Jesus gave us the purpose for being baptized in the Holy Spirit.

"But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you;

and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem,

and all Judea and Samaria,

and to the end of the earth".

         

          The Holy Spirit was part of all things, from the very beginning of scripture to the very end of scripture.

          That is the whole point of the list of names in the first nine chapters of 1Chronicles.

          The spirit of God was with Adam and everyone who followed him—including we who struggle to be the church in today’s world.

          On the day of Pentecost, the believers who were assembled in the Upper Room experienced a new Baptism.

          It is my prayer that that will happen here today.

         

          Yesterday your new pastor, Mark Bollwinkel, and I knelt at this altar and prayed. He prayed for me. I prayed for him.

          We confessed that we fall short.

          We invited God’s Holy, Powerful, peaceful spirit to fill us and this church.

                   

         

          

Jesus, the Stranger, Guest and Host

Jesus, the Stranger, Guest and Host

Luke 24:13—16; 28-32   |   5/11/2014

The Church of the Wayfarer

Norm Mowery, Pastor

          Three pastors met together for mutual nurturing and support. On one occasion they decided to confess their faults to each other.

          During the session the first pastor confessed that at times he drinks too much wine…….on occasion he has even finished off the communion wine!

          The second one confessed that he has the problem of flirting with women.

          It was the third pastor’s turn.

          He looked at the other two and said, “I have a terrible problem. I’m not sure that I should confess it.”

          After hesitating he said, “My problem is gossiping!”

          Today we pause to thank God for our Mothers. One thing that we all have in common is the fact that we have a mother who gave birth to us.

          We are thankful for those persons who have nurtured and cared for us throughout our growing up years.

          Throughout the Gospels we get glimpses of the nurturing side of Jesus.

          The account of the journey to Emmaus is one of those.

          It is as unique as it is ironic.

          Appearing only in the gospel of Luke, this story details the appearance of the risen Jesus on the road to Emmaus.

          This is a delightful post-resurrection account.

          Here we have Jesus as a Stranger, Guest and Host.

          All three roles are played by Jesus himself on the road to Emmaus.

          I heard of one church that welcomes strangers as guests instead of as visitors.

          The term 'visitor' implies that they're not here to stay.

          The term 'guest' implies that this is someone for whom you do everything you can to make them feel comfortable.

          The goal in that church is that each guest will receive a total of three greetings before sitting down in worship. These first impressions are critical. Our guests in worship are deciding whether or not to come back long before I speak.

          Stranger
          When two disciples are traveling to the village of Emmaus on Easter afternoon, the risen Jesus comes near and walks with them.

          But they don’t recognize him.

          Jesus asks about the events they're discussing, and one of them says, "Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?"

          Jesus is initially depicted as a stranger.

          The disciples practice philoxenia, which literally means "love of the stranger."

          Philoxenia is one of the Greek words used in the New Testament for hospitality. This approach stands in stark contrast to the attitude so prevalent in society today—xenophobia, "fear of the stranger."

          What would it mean for us to practice philoxenia in our church?

          We do it every time we speak to strangers in the fellowship hour instead of chatting only with our friends.

          We do it every time we make an effort to get to know a person who is different from us.
          This is philoxenia—love of the stranger. When we practice it, we discover that strangers really aren't so strange.

          Guest

          Fortunately, the two disciples rise to the challenge.      

          As they come near the village, Jesus walks ahead as if he is going on. But the disciples urge him strongly, saying, "Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over".

          So Jesus goes in to stay with them and he becomes their guest. They welcome and include him in their lives, and invite him to stay with them.

          Jesus wants us to take good care of the guests who come to us.

          He challenges us to feed the hungry and welcome outcasts. Since we are the body of Christ in the world we are his hands and continue his work.

          We show his presence in the world every time we practice hospitality whether we're feeding the hungry through I-help, going to Salinas to tutor or welcoming a guest in a service of worship.

          Guests are important to Jesus, which is why he played that role on the road to Emmaus. He wanted to challenge his followers to see him as a guest and take good care of him.

          Jesus says,

"I was hungry and you gave me food,

I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink,

                                  I was a stranger and you welcomed me.

          Jesus comes to us as a guest, even today.

          Host
          But notice what happens next.

          Jesus, the stranger, becomes a guest of the disciples when he accepts their invitation to stay.

          But then he quickly changes roles.

          When he's sitting at the table with them, he becomes their host—he takes bread, blesses it, breaks it and gives it to them.

          Then their eyes are opened

                   and they recognize him

                   and he vanishes from their sight.

          The disciples discover that, when they welcome a stranger, they welcome the Lord.

          The role of Jesus changes from stranger to guest to host when he sits at the table and breaks the bread.

          Sometimes, it's easier for us to help others than to receive help. We would rather be a host than let someone else be a host.

          At the Lord's Supper we permit Jesus to be our host.

          Open yourself to what he wants to give you.

          Like the disciples on the road to Emmaus, your eyes will be opened and you'll recognize him.

          The passage ends with the two disciples racing back to Jerusalem to share the news of their experience with the other disciples. They tell them what happened on the road, and how Jesus "had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread".

          Emmaus is where Jesus came to his disciples as a stranger, guest and host.

          Emmaus is where we learn how to welcome one another around a table, and then go out into the world with a proclamation.

          Emmaus is where we come together and strengthen our bonds with Jesus and with each other.

          When we practice radical hospitality, we become part of a mighty spiritual movement—one that can overcome divisions in a terribly polarized world.

          It all begins when Jesus breaks the bread, our eyes are opened and we recognize him.

          Viktor E. Frankl recounts that when he was in a Nazi concentration camp he was at the end of his rope from starvation. At this point he had lost every possession and was at the bottom of life. Then,

          “a guard secretly gave me a piece of bread which I knew he must have     saved from his breakfast ration. It was far more than the small piece of bread        which moved me to tears at the time. It was the human 'something' this man also gave to me—the word and the look which accompanied the gift."

          Keep on the lookout for that 'human something' the next time you break bread with another person. Their look may open the eyes of your heart.

          Do you know where the phrase 'getting the cold shoulder' comes from?

          In olden days, the lord of the castle would order his servants to serve cold lamb for dinner whenever visitors had overstayed their welcome.

          It was their sign to pack up and leave. We don’t do that!

          Benjamin Franklin's said: "Fish and visitors smell in three days."  I think that we should give them a few more days than that.

          We can see Jesus in strangers and guests.

          We are faced with two questions,

                    'Did we see Christ in them?

                     Did they see Christ in us?'

          Last week at the retirement seminar Donna Bailey read the following. (‘They're Playing Your Song’ By Alan Cohen)

          When a woman in a certain African tribe knows she is pregnant, she goes out into the wilderness with a few friends and together they meditate until they hear the song of the child. 

          They recognize that every soul has its own vibration that expresses its unique flavor and purpose.

          When the women attune to the song, they sing it out loud.

          Then they return to the tribe and teach it to everyone else.

          When the child is born, the community gathers and sings the child's song to him or her.

          Later, when the child enters education, the village gathers and chants the child's song. 

          When the child passes through the initiation to adulthood, the people again come together and sing.

          At the time of marriage, the person hears his or her song. 

          Finally, when the soul is about to pass from this world, the family and friends gather at the person's bed, just as they did at their birth, and they sing the person to the next life.

          There is something inside each of us that knows we have a song, and we wish those we love would recognize it and support us to sing it. 

           

          In the African tribe there is one other occasion upon which the villagers sing to the child.

          If at any time during his or her life, the person commits a crime or aberrant social act, the individual is called to the center of the village and the people in the community form a circle around them.

          Then they sing their song to them.

          The tribe recognizes that the correction for antisocial behavior is not punishment; it is love and the remembrance of identity.

          When you recognize your own song, you have no desire or need to do anything that would hurt another.

          A friend is someone who knows your song and sings it to you when you have forgotten it.

          Those who love you are not fooled by mistakes you have made or dark images you hold about yourself.

          They remember your beauty when you feel ugly;

                    your wholeness when you are broken;

                    your innocence when you feel guilty;

                    and your purpose when you are confused.

          You may not have grown up in an African tribe that sings your song to you but life is always reminding you when you are in tune with yourself and when you are not.

          When you feel good, what you are doing matches your song, and when you feel awful, it doesn't.

          In the end, we shall all recognize our song and sing it well.

          Just keep singing and you'll find your way home.

          On this Mother’s Day we pray that we will be bound together with love.

          As we sing, ‘Bind Us Together’toss the ball of yarn to your neighbor and let’s bind us all together.

We Are Able

We Are Able

The Church of the Wayfarer

Norm Mowery, Pastor

May 4, 2014 Scholarship Sunday

Mark 10:35-45

                I remember a news report about a14-year-old girl who was being interviewed just before the election of Pope John Paul II.

          A CBS reporter roamed up and down the streets of Vatican City posing this question to people in the crowd: "What would you like to do if you were the Pope?"

          When the reporter came to the 14-year-old girl, she replied: "I'd cover the communion wafers with chocolate."

          That is precisely our problem in the church today.

          We already have.

          In this sermon I will tell you about how we have sugar coated Jesus’s message and I will ask you the question that Jesus asked James and John, “Are you able?”

          Here’s the story.

          Jesus had just told his disciples that following him means thinking of themselves as people who:
          • deny self for the sake of the gospel;
          • are focused on Jesus and his words above all others;
          • remain humbly dependent on God’s power to do God’s work;
          • do not play the games of competitiveness, but choose the role of least of all              and slave to all;
          • relinquish control for who does what and how they do it in the kingdom;
          • keep children at the center of their work, even when it appears distracting      
          • do not become overburdened by possessions.

          Pretty strong language!

          But, after all that James and John, the sons of thunder, best friends of Jesus, part of the inner circle and two very powerful leaders ask a stupid question.

         

          Jesus, “Will you do anything we ask you to do?”  

          How would you respond to that if you were Jesus?

          Together they ask, “Can we have a special place in your kingdom?” Could one of us to sit to your right and the other on your left in heaven?”

          Jesus said, “Duh!”  “You don’t know what you’re asking!”

          I am indebted to Sara Cho for today’s message. I was particularly impressed with her faith statement.

          When I read your statement, Sara, I said to myself, “there is a sermon here someplace.”

          Sara referenced this account as recorded in the Gospel of Matthew. Today it was read from the Gospel of Mark. I like Mark’s version better because in Matthew it is James and John’s mother who asks the question. 

          You see the Gospel of Matthew was put in writing somewhat later than the Gospel of Mark. I wonder if a later scribe thought that it was too juvenile for two disciples to ask such a question so he had their mother do the dirty work.

                   

          It’s too bad that James and John didn’t drink some humble tea that day. It’s difficult to imagine what was going on in their minds that led them to come to Jesus with that ridiculous request.

         

          It was ridiculous because Jesus had just told the disciples, for the third time, that he was going to be arrested and killed and then would rise again.
          So where were their heads?

          Weren’t they listening?

          Didn’t they get it?

          James and John ask for places of special recognition! Sheesh!

          (At this time I would like to have five or six people to come up front and help.  

          Would you all join hands and form a circle.

          Is this the only kind of circle you can make?

          Now try making a different circle.

          Try forming an outward-facing circle. The kind of a circle where you are facing completely away from each other, full-face to those outside the circle.)
         
          From the time we are little children we are taught that circles face in.

          Our inability to even conceive of a different kind of circle should help us to commiserate with the disciple's denseness as Jesus tries to communicate a new concept of missionary discipleship to his followers.

          We may find James' and John's questions about heavenly seating arrangements naive and ignorant, but these disciples were actually just caught up in making the same old circle.

          A great and powerful messiah surrounded by his great, distinguished disciples was the vision James and John had nurtured all their lives. It was the expected way they had been taught.

          Jesus' message of servant hood, suffering,

                   even slavery and death for the sake of others

          was a very different "circle" for the disciples.

          Jesus preached that it was only through saving others,

                   focusing on the powerless and the hopeless,

           that a disciple could be called "great."

          No wonder the disciples only wanted to form circles that just faced inward. Facing outward put them face-to-face with the frightening possibilities of rejection, abuse, failure, even death.

          But facing out was the discipleship Jesus preached.

          Jesus taught that to give up your life is to save it;

                   that the first shall be last and the last first.

          Those are very different circles.

          Jesus did not teach upward mobility. Jesus taught outward mobility.

          In fact, Jesus warned about the downward slope of upward mobility.

          Jesus counseled that those who seek to save their lives will lose them.

          We need to look outside the familiar circle of our own problems and find  wholeness in giving ourselves in service to others.

          As Jesus moves inevitably towards Jerusalem, he reveals more of the commitment he is asking for from them as the disciples seemingly comprehend less and less.

          "Whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant," and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all" Jesus says.

          The path to true greatness is not special seating in the kingdom; it's a willingness to be "slave of all" in the rough-and-tumble everyday world.

          Let me illustrate.

          Nearly a decade after leaving professional basketball, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar decided to return to the sport he loved by accepting a coaching position with a high-school team at White Mountain Native American High School. These were students of the Apache tribe.

          As an African-American among Native Americans, Abdul-Jabbar had to learn a great deal about his athletes and the tribe. He discovered surprising cultural traditions that made it difficult to coach the team.

          By working with the students and coaching them, Abdul-Jabbar moved from a historical appreciation for the Apaches as a people to a new understanding of them as individuals.
          Did he lord it over them as an NBA superstar?

          Not at all. He served them.

          He was among them as their coach, their teacher and their servant.

          Everybody can be great because anybody can serve.
                   True for James.

                   True for John.

                   True for any one of us.

          What is it about airport waiting areas that bring out the worst in people?

          On one particular day, bad weather had caused cancellations throughout the system. One of the passengers was desperate to get on a plane. He kept crowding the counter trying to get his name higher up the standby list.

          The agent had just put down the microphone, having said to the crowd for the fourth time: "Those of you who are on standby, please sit down and we will call your name when we have a seat for you."

          But this man kept pestering the agent, explaining how important it was that he gets on the next flight.

           Finally, in exasperation, he asked her, "Do you know who I am?"

          The agent had had enough.

          Picking up the microphone, she announced: "Ladies and gentlemen, we have a man here who does not know who he is. Would someone please come and tell him who he is?"

          The standard of greatness in the kingdom is the standard of the cross.

          Jesus asked James and John, “Are you able to drink the cup that I drink?”

          Are you able to go to the cross?

          Are you able to go the whole way?

          James and John said, “YES! We are able!”

          Jesus asks us this morning? Are you able?

         

          In our world we strive to be important—to be number one. We want a favored spot in High School, in College, in the business world, in politics even in the church.

          We strive for importance.

          No one is exempt. Even pastors strive for power and prestige.

          One pastor, however, Dr. Paul Wouldenberg, who was the senior pastor of this church in 1978, chose to serve the community by providing scholarships for High School Students.

          To date $610,100.00 has been awarded to students.

          The value of the scholarship endowment is $567,440.00.

         

           Persons chose to serve by giving sacrificially for this scholarship ministry. Here are some of the names: Alabaster, Anker, Baker, Dean, Dixon, Freet, Hoeffel, LaKamp, Lewis, Lindgren, Maroun, Meadows, Ostermeyer, Pike, Shafer, Truscott, Ullestad, Woudenberg, Pearson, Hamann, Wood, McEwen, Mayfield.

          These are not just names—they are persons of faith.

          George Dean was the first Chairman of the Church of the Wayfarer Foundation and put it together with the State of California.

          Leslie Dixon, a lawyer, was on the first Foundation board.  

          Mildred Hoeffel was Dr. Wouldenberg’s aunt. She died at the age of 99.

          Doug Baker, son of Rev. Dale and Jean Baker was a creative person with musical talents.

          Barbara Anker was a pastor’s wife and worked extensively as a volunteer in the church.

          Pearl Pike was our church secretary.

          Amy Meadows was Lucy Fillmore’s daughter who died too young.

          Joyce  Lindgren was the very active wife of Jim.

          Barbara and Woody Wood are some of our longest members and are still giving and serving.

          Major General Autry Maroun was the chairman of the 75th anniversary celebration. He sat on the front row every Sunday and was a devout lay person.

          Elizabeth Truscott entered Stevenson in 1987. She was a bright and funny young girl eager for the things Stevenson had to offer.

          She became a Varsity cheerleader and was present at every football game to cheer on her team.

          She was a member of the basketball team and her friends remember her as an outgoing participant.

          She spent her year in excitement and impatience, working hard to maintain a high grade point average, achieving Honor recognition.

          She left the school in June of 1988 with friends and memories, breathless for her sophomore year, excited about the time she was going to spend in Venezuela with her uncle.

          Indeed, after an exhilarating summer abroad the world was her oyster.

          She was packing to return home to Pebble Beach in the last days of August when she suddenly fell ill.

          At six o’clock in the evening of August 30, 1988, Elizabeth Truscott died of an irreversible brain aneurysm.

          She passed away with the love of her family and friends.

          She was a bright light in a cycle of days that would seem long and dark.

          I thank God for these persons who said, “Yes, we are able!”

          Jesus asks us this morning, “Are you able?”

          Are you able to run the race?

          Are you able to go the distance?

          James and John answered, “Yes! We are able!”

          What is your answer?

          At this time I would like to ask Sara Cho to come forward and give her personal testimony of faith.

Prayer

          O God, we want honor, we want credit for our hard work, but that isn’t what the kingdom of God needs.

          We know that, but it goes against everything that is within us.

          Even if we can manage to be humble, we want people to acknowledge it!           Lord, take from us our pride.

          Help us humble ourselves and become a servant to the least.
          We come before you, O God, as people with our own agendas—people who want life to be good and easy.

          People who, if we see a need that someone has, quickly turn away.

          We want the seats of honor and all the respect that comes with them, but we don’t want the cup of responsibility.

          Lord, you have children every day who go to bed hungry, alone, afraid, sick and hopeless.

          Lord, we have heard the cry of the needy and turned away.

          We not only pray for ourselves but also for all your children, wherever they are.

          We pray that we could hear your call to be a servant to the least and the lost.

          For we pray in the name of Jesus who teaches his disciples of all ages to pray saying………