Inspired Word July 18, 2007

INSPIRED WORD

July 18, 2007

SENSE

I don't know whether I am supposed to speak this, but I don't want to go home and regret not having done it, if I was supposed to speak. I have a sense that I am supposed to tell us, remind us, as we have heard before, that God has given us the power. He wants us to praise powerfully; He wants us to pray powerfully, He wants us to display His power which He has given everyone of us in our Baptism and our Confirmation. He wants us to act in that power.

SCRIPTURE

Ephesians 6: 10 – 13: Finally, draw your strength from the Lord and from His mighty power. Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. So put on God's armor now, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to hold your ground.

SCRIPTURE

1 Corinthians 2: 1 – 5: When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come proclaiming the mystery of God to you in lofty words or wisdom. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear and in much trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power.

SCRIPTURE

Psalm 139: 1 – 14: O Lord, You have probed me and You know me; You know when I sit and when I stand; You understand my thoughts from afar. My journeys and my rest You scrutinize, with all my ways You are familiar. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, You know the whole of it. Behind me and before me, you hem me in and rest Your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; too lofty for me to attain. Where can I go from Your Spirit? From Your Presence where can I flee? If I go up to the heavens, You are there; if I sink to the nether world, You are present there. If I take the wings of the dawn, if I settle at the farthest limits of the sea, even there Your hand shall guide me, and Your right hand hold me fast. If I say, “Surely the darkness shall hide me, and the night shall be my light” - for You darkness itself is not dark, and night shines as the day. Truly You have formed my inmost being; you knit me in my mother's womb. I give You thanks that I am fearfully, wonderfully made; wonderful are Your works, O Lord.

PRAYER

Lord, we place all of the needs and concerns of this community into Your hands. We have confidence in Your love for us. We thank You for Your holy Presence here tonight.

SCRIPTURE

Ephesians 3:20 – 21: Now to Him Who, by the power at work within us, is able to accomplish abundantly far more than we can ask or imagine, to Him be glory in the Church, in Christ Jesus, to all generations, for ever and ever. Amen.

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