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

Scripture and Prayer on Ash Wednesday, February 17, 2021

Pastor David reads Jonah 3-4 and offers a prayer from Maria W. Stewart:

O Lord God, as the heavens are high above the earth, so are thy ways above our ways, and thy thoughts above our thoughts. For wise and holy purposes best known to thyself, thou hast seen fit to deprive me of all earthly relatives; but when my father and mother forsook me, then thou did take me up. I desire to thank thee, that I am this day a living witness to testify that thou art a God that will ever vindicate the cause of the poor and needy, and that thou hast always proved thyself to be a friend and father to me. O, continue thy loving kindness even unto the end; and when health and strength begin to decay, and I, as it were, draw nigh unto the grave, O then afford me thy heart-cheering presence, and enable me to rely entirely upon thee. Never leave me nor forsake me, but have mercy upon me for thy great name’s sake. And not for myself alone do I ask these blessings, but for all the poor and needy, all widows and fatherless children, and for the stranger in distress; and may they call upon thee in such manner as to be convinced that thou art a prayer-hearing and prayer-answering God; and thine shall be the praise, forever. Amen.

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

Scripture and Prayer on Tuesday, February 16, 2021

Pastor David reads Hebrews 2:1-10 and offers a slave woman’s prayer from 1816:

O Lord, bless my master. When he calls upon thee to damn his soul, do not hear him, do not hear him, but hear me – save him – make him know he is wicked, and he will pray to thee.

I am afraid, O Lord, I have wished him bad wishes in my heart – keep me from wishing him bad – though he whips me and beats me sore, tell me of my sins, and make me pray more to thee – make me more glad for what thou hast done for me, a poor Negro.

Posted by Mt. Haley Church of God on Tuesday, February 16, 2021

Scripture and Prayer on Monday, February 15, 2021

Pastor David reads Hebrews 1 and offers a prayer from Daniel Alexander Payne:

Haste thee, haste thee, hour divine,
Joys ecstatic – bliss is thine.
And raptures from the throne above –
Sweeter those, than life to me,
When the world and cares to dlee;
And Jesus speaks, in tones of love,
O, time of prayer! O, hour divine! –
Ecstatic joys and peace are thine!

Fairer thou than sunny rays –
Holiest time of all my days!
O, hour of love and joy, draw nigh –
Spread my faith, these eagle wings –
Speed thee where the angels sing:
Where Jesus pleads my cause on high.
O, time of prayer! O, hour divine! –
Ecstatic joys and peace are thine!

Now is come the hour of prayer –
Lovely, precious Jesus, hear:
Stoop thou from thy throne above –
Bless me, bless me, Son of God!
Thy saving grace, thy dying love.
O, time of prayer! O, hour divine! –
Ecstatic joys and peace are thine!

O, Jesus, thou my portion art: –
Sun of my life – joy of my heart.
O, raptures! bliss – O, God of love!
Exalt my thoughts, my hopes, my soul,
Higher than where the planets roll –
Up to thy dazzling throne of love.
O, time of prayer! O, hour divine! –
Ecstatic joys and peace are thine!

Posted by Mt. Haley Church of God on Monday, February 15, 2021

Scripture and Prayer on Friday, February 12, 2021

Pastor David reads 2 Timothy 4 and offers a prayer from James Alexander Forbes, Jr.:

O Lord, here we stand. We’ve heard the experience of Peter and John and then we’ve heard the experience of that John who was on the Isle of Patmos. We see the handwriting on the wall. Times are going to get tough. Lord, we’ve committed ourselves to the Kingdom. Tonight we want to rededicate. We want to rededicate, and say “Lord, here I am, send me.” Some folks may not like me. I may lose my job. I may be called first one thing and another. But Lord, help me to know how to be wise. Don’t make a fool out of me unless you let me be a fool for Christ’s sake.

Lord, teach us how to bear witness. Teach us how to be sensitive. Teach us where we are to stop. We can’t be everywhere. Take us by the hand, and lead us to the temples that you’d like us to stop by. Let us see the lame men and women that you would want us to help. Then give us the strength to get up on our feet. Enable us to declare with all that is within us that the KIngdoms of this world must become the Kingdoms of Jesus Christ.

Lord, help us. Help us, Lord. Help me, Lord. Help me in my post of duty. I’m a teacher, Lord; help me as a teacher. Lord, I’m a preacher. Sometimes the powers that urge me to compromise are very strong. But help me, Lord, to stand up for the Kingdom.

Lord, there are pastors here who are trying to serve, who are trying to love, who are not about anything radical. But in our day, Lord, just to be a Christian encourages others to view them in a negative light. Lord, be with them. Be with them as they return with a dedication to your cause. While we wait here, Lord, I don’t know how you are going to be with us in these days. Some people have their own notions of how you anoint your people. Some want outward demonstrations. Some want inward demonstrations. But, Lord, it matters not to me how you are going to be with us. I just want you to come and be with us.

Lord, fill us with the inward light. Give us, like you gave many Quakers, the powers of the spirit to bear witness in trying times. Lord, give us a Pentecostal power to somehow clean the carbon in our hearts so that we might run with joy and enthusiasm. Lord, any way you want to bless us, bless us. Bless us in the midst of quietness. Bless us in the midst of noise. Bless us with an inward penetration, or with an outward demonstration, of your presence. But however you do it, Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on each one of us. Lord, break up our kingdom. Melt down the fragments, then mold us, Lord; and then fill us with the Spirit of the living God. Fall afresh upon us while we stand right here in this chapel tonight, do something for us. Do something for us that makes us know that you are still real. Do something for us that lets us know we’re not alone. Do something for us, Lord, that sends us on our way fully confident that the power of GOd is more than a match for the enemy.

Lord, sustain us, lead us, and guide us. And when we get low, lift us; and when we get wrong, correct us. And when we go out on the deep end, give us a life raft to bring us back to the shore. But Lord, be with us and stand by us. And your name which is worthy to be above all other names shall have all the praise. We ask for these blessings in the name of the One whose Kingdom shall have no end. Amen.

Posted by Mt. Haley Church of God on Friday, February 12, 2021