Words for Reflection

Give me the kind of love you possess.  I do not have it within myself.  I need You to give it to me, God.  I know this is  prayer that will please You.  Answer me in Your love.

I want to give love freely, without counting the cost, but this is not natural.  I do not have it within myself.  I need You to give it to me, God.  I know this is a prayer that will please You.  Answer me in Your love.

I want to bless, with joy, and self-sacrifice, not considering my own wants, but I do not have it within myself.  I need You to give it to me, Lord.  I know this is prayer that will please You.  Answer me in Your love.

Give me this love in abundance.  Please, God, grant my request, and make me a shining beacon, radiant with the generosity of Jesus. 

Kari Kristina Reeves

 

Order of Worship, May 26 2013

Grace Presbyterian Church 



Words for reflection

Prayer is language used in personal relation to God.  It gives us utterance to what we sense or want or respond to before God.  God speaks to us; our answers are our prayers.  The answers are not always articulate: silence, sighs, groanings - these all constitute responses   The answers are not always positive: anger, skepticism,  curses - these are also responses   But always God is involved, whether in darkness or light, whether in faith or despair.  This is hard to get used to.  Our habit is to talk about God, not to Him.  We love discussing God.  The Psalms resist these discussions.  They are not provided to teach us about God but to train us in responding to Him.  We don't learn the Psalms until we are praying them.

Eugene Peterson, Answering God: The Psalms as Tools for Prayer

Order of Worship, January 27 2013

Grace Presbyterian Church