Scripture and Prayer on Friday, February 26, 2021

Pastor David reads Deuteronomy 10:12-22 and 11:18-28, and offers a prayer from Gardner Calvin Taylor:

Our Father and our God, we open now our very souls before you, for something within us craves food which the bread of this world cannot satisfy. We would slake our thirst at the everlasting fountain.

We thank you for all you have done for us, for the way you have shepherded us and provided for us all this journey through, for family and friends and the fulfillment of daily work. Above all, for Jesus your Son, our Lord.

We lift before you our nation, so splendid in possibility, so stricken and uncertain in this moment of its history. Give us again the vision of a nation under God, moving to be what you would have us be and to do what you bid us do. We pray for all political prisoners and, indeed, for all who languish in cells anywhere. Likewise we hold up before you those who have come within sight of the grave. Sustain them. Bless our young people seeking to find the point and purpose of their lives. Bless all who are here and those who worship with us beyond this visible company.

Bless this church and your churches everywhere. Put on your churches’ lips the old Gospel of Bethlehem and Galilee and Calvary’s resurrection morning. Come among us. Set the fires of God burning afresh in our hearts.

Let the words we utter here with our mouths and the thoughts we think with our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord our strength and our Redeemer.

Through Jesus Christ our Lord we make our petition – Amen.

Posted by Mt. Haley Church of God on Friday, February 26, 2021

Scripture and Prayer on Thursday, February 25, 2021

Pastor David reads Deuteronomy 9:23-10:5 and offers a story and prayer from Sojourner Truth:

She avers that, in her darkest hours, she had no fear of any worse hell than the one she then carried in her bosom, though it had ever been pictured to her in its deepest colors, and threatened her as a reward for all her misdemeanors. Her vileness and God’s holiness and all-pervading presence, which filled imensity, and threatened her with instant annihilation, composed the burden of her vision of terror. Her faith in prayer is equal to her faith in the love of Jesus. Her language is, “Let others say what they will of the efficacy of Prayer, *I* believe in it, and *I* shall pray. Thank God! Yes, *I shall always pray*,” she exclaims, putting her hands together with the greatest enthusiasm.

For some time subsequent to the happy change we have spoken of, Isabella’s prayers partook largely of their former character; and while, in deep affliction, she labored for the recovery of her son, she prayed with constancy and fervor; and the following may be taken as a specimen: —

“Oh, God, you know how much I am distressed, for I have told you again and again. Now, God, help me get my son. If you were in trouble, as I am, and I could help you, as you can me, think I wouldn’t do it? Yes, God, you *know* I would do it. Oh, God, you know I have no money, but you can make the people do for me, and you must make the people do for me. I will never give you peace till you do, God. Oh, God, make the people hear me – don’t let them turn me off, without hearing and helping me.”

Posted by Mt. Haley Church of God on Thursday, February 25, 2021

Scripture and Prayer on Wednesday, February 24, 2021

Pastor David reads Deuteronomy 9:13-21 and offers a prayer by Phillis Wheatley, “A Mother’s Prayer for the Child in Her Womb”:

Oh my Gracious Preserver! Hithertoo you have brought me. Be pleased when you bring to the birth to give me strength to bring forth, living and perfect, a being who shall be greatly instrumental in promoting your glory. Though conceived in Sin and brought forth in iniquity, yet your infinite wisdom can bring a clean thing out of an unclean, a vessel of Honor filled for your glory. Grant me to live a life of gratitude to you for the innumerable benefits. O Lord my God! Instruct my ignorance and enlighten my Darkness. You are my King; take the entire possession of all my powers and faculties and let me be no longer under the dominion of sin. Give me a sincere and hearty repentance for all my many offenses, and strengthen by your grace my resolutions on amendment and circumspection for the time to come. Grant me also the spirit of Prayer and Supplication according to your own most gracious Promises.

Posted by Mt. Haley Church of God on Wednesday, February 24, 2021

Scripture and Prayer on Tuesday, February 23, 2021

Pastor David reads Deuteronomy 9:4-12 and offers a prayer from Charles Price Jones:

Lord, rebuke Thy servant not
In Thine anger fierce and hot,
For Thy wrath I cannot bear,
Pity me and hear my prayer.
Leave me not in deep distress,
Look upon my helplessness;
Abba Father, oh, I pray,
Turn Thy heavy wrath away.

My shortcomings I confess,
But Thou art my righteousness,
Without Thee I would not dare
Even attempt to make a prayer.
Lord, if sin lies at the door,
Give me grace to sin no more,
But, O Lord, in pity heed
My heart-groanings as I plead.

Lord, Thy favor now restore,
Bind my wound and heal my sore,
Loose my body from this pain,
Give me health and peace again.
But, O Lord, deep in my soul
Let the floods of glory roll!
Hallelujah! I am free,
Lord, by faith, by faith in Thee.

Posted by Mt. Haley Church of God on Tuesday, February 23, 2021

Scripture and Prayer on Monday, February 22, 2021

Pastor David reads Deuteronomy 8:1-18 and offers a prayer from J. Alfred Smith, Sr.:

Older than the morning stars that twinkled in the blackness of night’s first birth, the rotation of the axis of time, bring us into the freshness of your mercy and the newness of your presence. We come to you today with heartfelt gratitude, not with mixing Judas paint with Judas praise in order to cover our hypocrisy. Some of us come to you with triumph over tragedy. Others of us come with enduring pain suffered from shameful defeat in an inescapable battle of life. Some of us feel like going on and others of us feel like giving up. But to you we come just as we are. Whether we are winners or losers, we know that you love us one and all. Greatest of the Greatest, you know just how much we can bear. We all come to commune with you:

The tireless champion;
The tired loser;
The retired forgotten ones;
We all come to be consistently corrected and comforted by you.
We come counting our lost.
We come confronting our crises.
We come as citizens of cities controlled by crime.
We come chilled by the cold of cowardice.
Great God Almighty:
Commune with us conscience clean.
Caress us with the cradle of compassion.
Consecrate us with courageous convictions.
Control us with Christlike concerns.
Great Physicial Powerful:
Pardon us with the conscience of peace.
Place us in paths of productivity.

Practice the perfection of healing upon those who are physically, emotionally, or spiritually sick.

This is our humble plea, we present in the precious Name of the prince of peace, Jesus Christ, our priceless priest. Amen.

Posted by Mt. Haley Church of God on Monday, February 22, 2021

Scripture and Prayer on Friday, February 19, 2021

Pastor David reads Deuteronomy 7:12-26 and offers a prayer from Jesse Jai McNeil:

Almighty and everlasting God, our heavenly Father, whose mercy and lovingkindness are known to all who trust in Thee: We thank Thee for Thy unfailing promises to us Thy children. Generation after generation seek Thee, and are found of Thee. We cast ourselves upon Thee, and are supported by Thee. We live secure in the sure and certain fulfillment of Thy precious promises. Thou hast promised, O God, that while the earth remains, seed-time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease. We praise Thy Name for these manifestations of Thy unfailing providence.

In the midst of sorrow or joy, sickness or health, adversity or prosperity, grant, we ask Thee, that we may never lose sight of Thee. And when the storms of confusion and uncertainty overtake us, speak peace to our soul, O blessed Lord, and enlighten our mind with Thy Holy Spirit. Lighten our burdens by strengthening our spirit. Keep us strong and give us courage.

And when the ways of our common life would tend to discourage and to embitter us, give us the grace and the patience to maintain a loving and a confident spirit; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Posted by Mt. Haley Church of God on Friday, February 19, 2021

Scripture and Prayer on Thursday, February 18, 2021

Pastor David reads Deuteronomy 7:6-11 and offers a prayer from John Jea:

I hear thy voice, O God of grace,
That loudly calls for me;
That I may rise and feel thy face,
Before the dawning day.

While others still lie in their beds,
And have no thought to pray,
Their sleep doth still keep them secure,
Like death, upon the frame.

But, O my God, ’tis thou that hears
My mourning feeble cries;
I cry for grace, thy Spirit’s aid,
Before the sun do rise.

That like the sun I may fulfill
My business of the day;
To give the life that Jesus did,
To go and preach today.

O like the sun I would fulfill
My duties and obey
Thy Spirit’s voice that speaks within,
And tells me keep the day.

Posted by Mt. Haley Church of God on Thursday, February 18, 2021

Ash Wednesday Observance

Join Pastor David in this observance of Ash Wednesday, which this year is February 17. Ash Wednesday starts the season of Lent, a season of preparation before Easter Sunday (April 4).

You will have the opportunity to pause the video and read Isaiah 58:1-12 during this experience. You may either have a Bible handy or find it online, for instance at this site: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah%2058%3A1-12&version=NIV

Posted by Mt. Haley Church of God on Wednesday, February 17, 2021