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This Is The Day


This is the day which the Lord has made; Let us rejoice and be glad in it. (Psalm 118:24 NASB)

          Yes, this is the day, and the year, that the Lord has made. There will be parts of it in which rejoicing may not be our impulse. I tend to rejoice in private of on-line where people can’t really see me rejoicing. The bigger problem is that I only tend to rejoice when I feel like it – when, in my judgment, God has gotten something right. Is it any less a day that God has made if things don’t go the way I want? Does God love me less on the days I don’t get my way? The adult answer to both questions is “no.” Rejoicing isn’t just about how we feel. It’s also an act of the will. So, rejoice in the Lord always, and again, I say, “Rejoice!” 
          I compiled the prayer below for the church service at the park. I hope it will cause you to rejoice:
        Father, like Paul, we bow before you as servants of Christ Jesus (Romans 1:1), called to do the work You prepared in advance for us to do (Ephesians 2:10.) You set us apart for the gospel of God – with the command to love You with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strengths. (Matthew 22:36-40) You know the plans that you have for us, plans for welfare and not for calamity, to give us a future and a hope. (Jeremiah 29:11) Cleanse us and we will be whiter than snow. (Psa 51:7) Teach us to cleans ourselves that we may be useful to You and prepared to do any good work (II Tim 2:21).
         Father, we know that in this world we will have tribulation, but we know also that Your Son has overcome the world (John 16:33.) In His victory, He works all things together for good of those who love you, who have been called according to Your good purpose. We know that in Your hands, our suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.  And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. (Romans 3-5)
         And so, Father, we offer our bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to You, and we commit to conform no longer to the pattern of this world, but bow that you may transform us by the renewing of our minds so that we may be able to test and approve what Your will is, Your good, pleasing and perfect will. (Romans 12:1-2)We ask that Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven (Matthew 6:7) that Your will, not ours, will prevail, (Matthew 26:3-42) in Jesus name, Amen

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