Prayers – Western Loudoun Community Church

4 Year old grandson, Christian, calling Grandma on a Video Call

Grandma: Hello?

Christian: Hi Grandma!

Grandma: Hi my Angel! How are you?

Christian (with a smile): I’m good Grandma

Grandma: What’s wrong Christian? You seem sad.

Christian: I have a cold Grandma.

Grandma: I see your nose is running. Can Grandma pray for you right now?

Christian: Yes Grandma.

Grandma: Dear God, I lift up my grandson, Christian, to you for healing. Please touch him with your healing touch.

Then I looked up into the camera and I saw my beautiful baby boy with his hands clenched in prayer, his eyes closed, and a tear running down his cheek. OMG, my heart went out as I saw a little 4 year old being touched by the Holy Spirit!

What a beautiful and life changing moment!

Lord, if only every one of us could pray like my little 4-year-old Grandson!

Credit: Mary and Lyle Dietrich

Our Daily Bread

Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who has sent his angel and rescued his servants!….Daniel 3:28

The comic book hero is as popular as ever. In 2017 alone, six superhero movies accounted for more than $4 billion (US) in box office sales. But why are people so drawn to big action flicks?

Maybe it’s because, in part, such stories resemble God’s Big Story. There’s a hero, a villain, a people in need of rescue, and plenty of riveting action.

In this story, the biggest villain is Satan, the enemy of our souls. But there are lots of “little” villains as well. In the book of Daniel, for example, one is Nebuchadnezzar, the king of much of the known world, who decided to kill anyone who didn’t worship his giant statue (Daniel 3:1-6). When three courageous Jewish officials refused (vv. 12-18), God dramatically rescued them from a blazing furnace (vv. 24-27).

But in a surprising twist, we see this villain’s heart begin to change. In response to this spectacular event, Nebuchadnezzar said, “Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego” (v. 28).

But then he threatened to kill anyone who defied God (v. 29), not yet understanding that God didn’t need his help. Nebuchadnezzar would learn more about God in chapter 4—but that’s another story.

What we see in Nebuchadnezzar isn’t just a villain, but someone on a spiritual journey. In God’s story of redemption, our hero, Jesus, reaches out to everyone needing rescue—including the villains among us.

By Tim Gustafson

REFLECT & PRAY:

Jesus prayed for those who persecuted Him. We can do the same.

Trying to Change Your Spouse

I don’t know of a married person that has not crossed this boundary at some time in their marriage. We fall in love with our future spouse and we think that we are so alike and then in marriage we see all the differences.

I think God’s plan is for us to embrace each other’s differences and therefore to grow as a person, as well as growing our marriage. That is the goal but before many of us get there, we spend a lot of time and energy trying to change our spouse into who we want them to become. Where are you with this today?

Embracing your spouse’s differences or trying to change them? Your One Thing today is to pray for God to help you see your spouse through His eyes and then embrace the differences!

Today’s One Thing:
Pray for God to help you see your spouse through His eyes and then embrace the differences!

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