Have you ever received an email imploring you, “pass this email on to 10 people and you will have a blessing in 10 minutes?” Many of us have received this or something similar and we generally delete them. The more I study God’s word the more I realize that maybe God does work this way. I will get back to that thought later…

In the busyness of our world I have been reflecting intently on the phrase, “be still and know that I am God.” This phrase gains traction when we reflect on our church’s intentional prayer life. What does it mean to direct our hearts to God in praise and petition? We often forget the “direct hotline” we have to God through prayer. Often our prayers go to God seeking His help or guidance with something in our life or another’s, but have often do we spend time in confession? Confession is a great gift from God. Part of the continuing work of faith in our lives is the act of bringing our brokenness before God. How often do you confess before God? As your pastor I want to ask you to do something for the month of June. I want you to cut out the prayer below and stick it on your refrigerator and pray it each morning or evening or both!!!! Tech savvy people are welcome to take a picture of the prayer on their phone and pray regularly. You may think, “Pastor, why should I pray this particular prayer? It isn’t coming from my heart.” The spiritual discipline it sets up will begin to allow your heart to pour out to God the rebellious nature of your heart. What does that mean? It will allow you to begin identifying those places in your life that separate you from God and the person you were called to be!

Almighty God, I acknowledge and confess that I have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed; I have not loved you with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength; I have not loved my neighbor as myself. Deepen within me a sorrow for the wrong I have done, and the good I have left undone. Lord, you are full of compassion and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in mercy; there is always forgiveness with you! Restore to me the joy of your salvation; bind up that which is broken, give light to my mind, strength to my will, and rest to my soul. Speak to me, and let your word abide with me until it has brought into my life your holy will. Amen

Spend time meditating on these words. I mentioned earlier the idea of God blessing us when we pass on this emails. Now, I do not believe in emails blessing us but when we meditate upon God and His goodness I believe that God does bless us. How? We grow closer on many levels to the one who created us fearfully and wonderfully in His image. If the point of our existence is to be intimately connected to the God of the universe, why wouldn’t we strive for this? It all begins by approaching the throne of grace and our bond with God begins by knowing that He is holy and we are not. Spend some time with God in prayer and I do believe God WILL bless you; He will bless you with Himself.

Pastor Ben

PS Feel free to pass it along to 10 people!