Lenten Prayer

Dear God, this Lenten journey is forty days of me returning to You.

May this be my reminder of just how much I need You in my life, and how much my life needs You.

In these next forty days may I not ask You to overcome my weakness, but instead I ask You to use all my weakness to show Your strength.

In these next forty days may I discover that You love me just as I am, But that You love me too much to let me stay that way.

Draw me to Your lighted path, lead me and guide me, and help me find my way back to You.

And Lord, we know that all our strength is in the power of Your spirit upon us.

All praise be to you, Lord Jesus our savior the living Christ.   Amen

                                 Written by Pastor Faith Lewis and Lay Leader Bob Watson

Prayer for February

photo by Justin Lowery  

God described as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—helping us

Ephesians 3:14-19 

Much of what we are is hidden. For years it is hidden from ourselves. In time, we discover our hidden gifts, and then it remains hidden only from others who fail to call upon us in a spirit of charity. Once the Spirit of God lives in us, we are able to serve God effectively by reaching out to our neighbor. The letter to the Ephesians gives us this Trinitarian meditation. For this reason I bow to my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name. I pray that, according to the riches of His glory, He may grant that you may be strengthened in your innermost being with power through His Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in His love. I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses all knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Amen

My prayer for January

My prayer for January

FAITH

Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-10

Faith is our response to the revelation of God. How well the Jews sensed their closeness to God: how appreciative they were of their faith.

      Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen now was made from things that were not visible.

      By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; and he set out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he stayed for a time in the land he had been promised, as in a foreign land, living in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he looked forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

Amen

I Have A New Best Friend

You’ve got to let me tell you about this new friend I met, just a few short years ago.

I’ve known about him most of my life, but I finally got the opportunity to meet him one day when I was just emotionally drained and really in need of a friend.

Since we’ve met, it seems, He is always there for me day and night, and completely at my beckon call, every moment.

I bring to Him, all my troubles and woes, my shattered life when I’m feeling so lost, and all my unfulfilled hopes and dreams.

I bring to Him all my fears, and all my many uncertainties, and insecurities.

But I also bring to Him all the good things in my life, all my cares, all my happy moments and all my joyful life experiences.

He smiles at me, and with His hand on my shoulder, He reminds me that the gift of life is just one of the many gifts He has given me.

He calmly reassures me with His words of encouragement, and He

reminds me that through it all, He is still with me, He will always be my friend, and He will never leave me.

He died a cruel and agonizing death for my sins, and He paid that ultimate price, so that I would not have to.

 He arose from the tomb, and ascended on that glorious morning of the third day.

Humbly, I offer Him all my thankfulness, and praise, and because I believe in Him and His word.

I can joyfully await His promise to be fulfilled, and then I can go, and live, and be with my new best friend for all eternity.   Bob Watson  1/6/13

Amen

Oh What A Difference a Year Makes

Oh what a difference a year makes

      It was on January 8^th 2012 that I gave my testimony to the congregation here at Olivet. Just about one year ago. I testified as to just what God has done for me in my life. It took me a little over two months to write it. I’d edit and rewrite and rewrite and tweak and fine tune until I had it where I thought it would be fine. Then as I’m giving my testimony I’m thinking  oh how I wish I had done this differently or I should have said that in a different way, but it is, what it is, and I’m so proud to have gotten up there and told everyone just what God has done for me, and I’ll never regret doing that. This was about a year into my new spiritual journey. Now I have always been the quiet one, never speaking out, never venturing to far outside the box, and always staying in my comfort zone, but all that changed after I had my talk with Pastor Faith. She helped me open a door that had been shut for almost 40 years. That door has now been opened, and it is like being born all over again. It was time for me to speak, to say what was on my mind. It was time for me to come out of that shell I had been in for all those years. It was time for me to be the man God wanted me to be. I prayed a lot about all this for months after.

      The inspiration for this testimony came from a prayer that I had written and sent to the office in mid- November to be placed in a Christmas ball, and to be placed on the Christmas tree in the sanctuary for the 2011 season. I believe mine was the very first one they received. I know it was my first, because I had never done anything like this before.  In the prayer that I wrote, I told God that I wanted to walk in his light the rest of my days. Writing that prayer really made me feel good, and it really opened my eyes. I talked to God about this, and He spoke quietly and softly to my heart. He revealed to me that He was placing His son Jesus directly on my path and I was instructed to walk in His light. He revealed to me that Jesus would light my path forever, and lead me and guide me, and never turn away from me. I now have this new relationship with Christ that only gets better each day. It seems the closer I get to Him, the stronger is this love that we share, and even then, we are able to get a little closer each day. I don’t totally understand it all yet, but the revelations are coming in bits and pieces. It’s probably best this way because it keeps me guessing, it keeps me wondering, and it keeps me thinking.

       Things were really going good now, and on May 8^th I went to bed about 8:00 as I usually do, and in my prayer that night I asked God to teach me how to pray. This notion of God teaching me how to pray stayed with me most of that night, and I almost got up around 10:00 to go to my computer and write it all down. The next morning I got up about 5:30, made coffee and was at my keyboard by 6:00 and by noon I had written a four verse poem and I called it, guess what, “Teach me how to pray.” I tried to have it made into a song. The music company did okay I guess. I was thinking one thing and they were thinking something else, so that didn’t work out to well.  So anyhow, I’ve got this really nice poem I’ll share with you sometime.

         I’ve learned I just can’t spontaneously pray about things. If I try to pray off the top of my head, a lot of strange things happen, I will start babbling and the next thing I know I’ve babbled myself right into a corner, that I can’t seem to babble myself out of, and I have to stop and start all over. Fact is the words just don’t come to me that easy. Not that easily, but I’ve learned that if I sit quietly and wait, the words and the thoughts and ideas will come. It’s like the spirit calms me down, brings me peace, and brings me the words and the thoughts, and I’ve but to sit there write them all down. Since last January I’ve been doing a lot of writing. Writings about spiritual things, about my journey, about my new relationship with Christ. I’ve also written more than 80 short prayers. Some are my own thoughts and words, but most are from books that I have. I will copy the prayer into a program called “WORD,” then I will edit it, line by line until it says what I am thinking, just what’s on my mind, just what I’m feeling. Sometimes I end up rewriting it completely.    My new job here at Olivet is lay leader, and as lay leader, I will be leading prayer on a lot of occasions, so I’m preparing myself by writing all these prayers.  So that prayer on that night in May is being answered, God is teaching me how to pray. He knows just what I’m capable of doing, and He’s letting me do it my way, and I can’t ask for anything more.

        I did go on my walk to Emmaus in November and it was an awesome weekend. I will never forget it. The spirit was with me then, and He still is, all these months later.     

So 2012 has been a wonderful year for me, although there has been a downside. Eva’s health has been failing, and we pray constantly for her recovery. At the same time we try to be positive about it and thank God for all that we do have, There has been at least two occasions this past year where God has touched my soul, and brought me healing. Once in February when I went to Johns Hopkins for my annual eye exam. After three cornea transplants over the last six years the Doctors said the vision in my right eye was now 20/20 and in my left eye, the vision was now 20/40. My vision hasn’t been this good in more than 20 years. God totally turned it around. I had surrendered and prayed for understanding and resignation of my fate, while the people of Olivet were praying for healing. He listened to them, and not so much to me. This to me was my first miracle.   I’ve been a diabetic for about 25 years. I’ve been using insulin for the last 12 years, and about 2 weeks after I got home from my walk to Emmaus, let me say that again, about 2 weeks after I got home from my walk to Emmaus, I noticed my sugar levels were extremely low. I stopped using insulin, because of the danger of driving the sugar level even lower. After not using insulin for almost 3 weeks I went to the doctor and showed him my charts. He took me off insulin immediately. What a surprise. To think after all those years, no more insulin, no more morning shots. It seems God has blessed me once again. I’m convinced this was my second Miracle of 2012.                                                                        BOB WATSON     DEC.21, 2012