Prayer
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Seven Days of Prayer – Day 2
Prayer Focus: Open my heart and mind that what is important to You is important to me. Scripture: Ephesians 1:17-19 Reflection: The tough thing here is to listen to God and not just reinforce our own priorities. This is why the whole first day was dedicated to a “spiritual cleansing.” From God’s perspective, what are…
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Seven Days of Prayer – Day 1
Prayer Focus: Cleanse my heart and mind that I might hear You Scripture: Psalm 51 Reflection: Periodically, we need to clean up. Our bathtubs accumulate soap scum. Our teeth get a build-up of plaque. When we speak of “health,” we know that maintaining physical, mental and spiritual health is part of our overall health. Today,…
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Seven Days of Prayer – Introduction
Original post: October 12, 2014 Revised: August 6, 2018 Beginning this Monday, August 6, Pastor Jeff will begin a week of prayer and discernment following the pattern outlined in a guide he developed for this purpose (available for download from our website – dates are from 2014). People who subscribe to the blog or have signed up to…
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Devotion: Mediocrity, Excellence and Jesus’ Teaching on Humility
Humility isn’t really a prized cultural value, is it? That’s what makes the reading from Luke’s gospel so difficult. Take a moment and read through the gospel. You may also want to listen to this week’s sermon to get a feel for the breadth of the gospel reading. When we speak of humility, doesn’t it…
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Devotion: Persistent in Prayer
Prayer … Have you ever felt like the man in this picture when you’ve prayed? There are times when we are desperate, when we feel that we have no options … so, we pray. These are the times that St. John of the Cross said are the “dark nights of the soul”. As people of…
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Praying, Standing & Acting for Oklahomans
None of us begins our day knowing or expecting that some tragedy will befall us. So, we go about the living of our lives making all sorts of things seem terribly important. Then, from out of nowhere, something horrific happens. In an instant, our priorities are realigned. People have many ways of understanding tragedy in light…
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Devotion: Will Jesus’ Prayer Be Answered?
In worship on Sunday, we read a portion of John 17. This entire chapter is known as Jesus’ “high priestly prayer.” In it, He prays specifically for His disciples, but, by extension, for all of us …. that we would be one as Jesus and the Father are one. The language can get a little…
Epicurious Lutheran 