Prayer

Let us unite in prayer as we remember the death of 21-year-old Demartravion “Trey” Reed, whose body was discovered hanging from a tree on Delta State University’s campus earlier this week.

O God we are crying out to You to comfort Trey’s family and communities that are mourning. God, whose Son was crucified on a tree and rose from the grave overcoming death. Help us to rise from this heavy burden and painful memory that revisits us. Quench the fires of hatred and evil. Merciful God rain down justice and righteousness upon our nation. Help us experience Your peace and know Your protection, comfort, strength, and hope is present in the midst of our sorrow. Almighty God, we give thanks for Your blessings and promise to answer our prayers. Amen

(A modified Prayer from Devotion app)

Prayer is never the first word; it is always the second word. God has the first word. ⏤ Eugene Peterson

Let’s Park and Pray at 1;11 pm

Lord, teach us how to pray. We thank You for the blessings and for the gracious privilege of prayer. Gracious God, humbly we bring our desires and wishes to You freely, no matter what they are — sure that You will give them patient consideration. You never despise the prayer of any of Your children. The feeblest and lowest may come with the smallest request — and You will open the door to hear all who pray. We rejoice that we have a loving God.

Teach us how to pray. Give us the confidence. Help us to come boldly to Your throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in our times of need. We are sure of Your willingness to do always for us, the thing that is best. Almighty Lord, give us this day our daily bread. Deliver us from evil. Give us the faith that will trust You with our desires.

Give us patience and endurance with each breath we release our burdens and leave questions to You. Give us confidence in Your Word and how and when the answer shall come. If the thing we ask for is not given, help us to believe that it is in our best interest.

We come with our requests for temporal blessings. We ask You for daily bread, for health, for prosperity in business. We ask You for daily bread, for health, for prosperity

If it be Your will, Father, grant us all these mercies and favors. If any of them are withheld, we are sure it shall be in love, and we will say, “May Your will, not ours, be done.”

We pray also for spiritual blessings, asking You to give us more grace, more love, more of Your Spirit’s influence. Hear these our prayers, and give us an answer of peace. So may we abide in You, and may Your love enter into our hearts. Give as the best things, the things we need the most — not what we ask, unless what we ask is best. We make these prayers in Jesus’ precious name. Amen.

https://www.youdevotion.com/daily-prayer/miller/87/morning

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Please join me in a virtual 🙏🏾 at 1:11 for the Natives ♥️

I wrote this O Christmas Tree song 2015 after I selected my Christmas Tree. No matter what’s going on in our lives, I find the touch and smell of a freshly cut pine tree gives a lasting impression. Will you sing it with me?

Please join us in prayer for Texas and others in the midst of the storm. 

Pray,
“Lord have mercy. 

Calm the wind and the rain. 

Peace be still, O Lord.” 

In Christ’s Name, Amen!

Prayer is powerful. It’s a treasured investment. It’s free, available to everyone and useful. You can freely give it to anyone and freely receive it without conditions. The rewards are greater than we can imagine. When we park and pray at 1:11 pm, we set aside a time and place to intentionally enter into God’s presence.  We knock on God’s door with wonder and expectation. God knows our name, understands our desires, hears our prayers, and fulfills our needs according to God’s will and purposes. We set ourselves up for heartache when we schedule God’s response to our prayer. Our internal alarm clock rings and we expect God to disregard divine time and immediately obey our timed commands. Anxious and discouraged, we let go of our prayers and praying. We experiment with fear and other ways to fill the void.

It’s 1:11 pm, we pause, rest, stop, PARK and PRAY at 1:11 pm.

We pray, “Lord have mercy!” Awesome God, forgive us for worrying about matters that seem to make us more anxious. Thank you for reminding us that “truly you know the plans you have for us, to prosper and to give us a future and a hope.”(Jeremiah 29:11) God, make your presence known to us all. You know what we need for today and tomorrow. Comfort all who are afflicted. Heal all who are wounded and brokenhearted. Satisfy our hunger and thirst for your grace, righteousness, goodness, and mercy.  Bring relief to all who are without shelter and loving support. “Give us this day, our daily bread.” We pray in Thy Holy Name. Amen.

Our words are like leaves on a Tree. Some leaves need to cling to the branches until they mature. Some leaves need to hold onto to their stem until their pain is fermented. Some leaves like words should not fall from the tree until it is certain it can stand on its own word. Once it is released it can never return back to the tree, its source. It gathers on the ground as a community of words, phrases, messages and metaphors as a blanket of thoughts. It gathers as a heap of expressions blown around. Then, carried away to distant places where it finally settles as dust. It becomes a memory and a seed that offers a new thought, a grand idea and words that cling to us like leaves on a Tree.

Park and Pray at 1:11 pm
Creator God bless the life that is mine to hold and beg for your Grace and Mercy. I pray that I may not wander too far from the tree. “May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable to You, O GOD, my Source, my Strength,” my Love, and my Heart Desire. (Psalms 19:14) In Your Name I pray.

Image (http://bible.com)

Dear Family and Friends,

It’s been more than two years since I have intentionally prayed for you daily at 1:11 pm. While  praying for you, I hoped you were praying with me in spirit at that same moment. I’d like to believe we were praying together. I’m inviting you to sign on and partner with me by enrolling in this blog as a follower. I’d love to hear your comments, testimonies and prayers. Here is the prayer I am inviting you to pray with me at 1:11 pm. daily:

Dear Holy One, 

We come to draw from your Great and Mighty  Fountain and receive your love, comfort and peace. As we “park and pray” today, we thank you for your unconditional love and constant presence.  

We realize that at times we come with a long list of requests without considering your promises or plans for us. We often seek to satisfy our needs instead of considering your desires for us. Lord, we confess our sins and ask for forgiveness.  

Your Holy Word reminds us of your promise to answer our prayers. We are reminded to keep the faith and that you will bless us with the righteous desires of our heart. Loving God, strengthen our faith so our joy may be fulfilled.  

Merciful God, help us master those things in our lives that interfere with our relationship with you and others. Help us to know your presence in tangible ways. Loving God in your presence we find love, peace, comfort, healing, safety, financial security and shelter from the storms in our lives. Almighty
God, bless us abundantly. Bless us while we sleep, while awake, when we talk, walk, live, breathe and have our being. Bless us now, to be still and know that You are God. Bless our going out, our coming in now and always. In Christ’s Name we pray. Amen 

Your name will be added to the Prayer List Page once you sign on as a follower of this blog. Thank you for “parking and praying at 1:11 pm.”
God’s Abundant Blessings,

Pastor Cleo

Feb. 12th, the final show and my second time seeing the MountainTop at Trinity Rep Theatre. I’m still thinking about this extraordinary performance by Joe Wilson, Jr. and Mia Ellis. They are two gifted actors, whose personal journeys are unlike the characters they portrayed.

Imagine it’s 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee and you’re looking through a window of the Lorraine Hotel. You watch the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King and a decoy maid who was really an angel. It’s King’s last hours before he’s assassinated. The maid knows every bit of his story from the beginning to the end.

February 14, 2017, I’m still thinking about the MountainTop images, messages and meanings. I’m convinced there’s a connection with God’s redemptive power and promise of eternal life through Jesus Christ.

I reflect on these words by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
And this I know that I must

Fear not.

Have faith.

Be not alone.

For I am convinced
God is here.

God loves us.

God hates evil.

God forgives

God gives

Eternal life.
Thank God.

Thank you.

Let’s Take a break

and

Park and pray at 1:11 pm

“Lord, we pause and give thanks for this time of grace.

Have mercy on us and on ……In Your Name we pray.  Amen”

REFLECTION

I keep thinking about my post-election dream, vision, warning or revelation. It was three o’clock in the morning when I woke up to relieve my full bladder. I turned on my cellphone and I was shaken by the news that Donald Trump won the election. I leaned into my bathroom sink and prayed, “Lord have mercy! What does this mean?” I felt as if I received a blessed assurance that the answer was found in this passage Acts 9:11-20. Could it be that our next president “this man” is the chosen instrument and one whose scales will fall from his eyes? I thought about this passage for several days and I listened to the many voices throughout our nation. Then I parked and prayed this prayer at 1:11 p.m. for him and our nation as I rested in peace.

Let us Pray the Prayer of Saint Francis (revised)

Lord, make him an instrument of your peace:
where there is hatred, let him sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy. 

O divine Master, grant that he may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive, 
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, 
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen.