The God of Brainerd/Baxter

We are seeking God to bring lasting transformational revival to the Brainerd Lakes Area.

Will You not revive us again, that Your people may rejoice in You? Show us Your unfailing love, O LORD, and grant us Your salvation. I will listen to what God the LORD will say; He promises peace to His people, His saints - but let them not return to folly. Surely His salvation is near those who fear him, that His glory may dwell in our land. PSALM 85:5-6

We pray that the LORD of our salvation will bring a tender but powerful conviction of sin, exposing sin in the hope that we will be set free from its power.

Rick Warren's Inaugural Prayer

Almighty God, our Father:

Everything we see, and everything we can’t see, exists because of you alone.

It all comes from you, it all belongs to you, it all exists for your glory.

History is your story.

The Scripture tells us, "Hear, O Israel, the LORD is our God, the LORD is one." And you are the compassionate and merciful one. And you are loving to everyone you have made.

Now today we rejoice not only in America’s peaceful transfer of power for the 43rd time, we celebrate a hinge point of history with the inauguration of our first African American president of the United States. We are so grateful to live in this land, a land of unequaled possibility, where a a son of an African immigrant can rise to the highest level of our leadership. And we know today that Dr. King and a great cloud of witnesses are shouting in heaven.

Give to our new president, Barack Obama,

the wisdom to lead us with humility,

the courage to lead us with integrity,

the compassion to lead us with generosity.

Bless and protect him, his family, Vice President Biden, the Cabinet, and every one of our freely elected leaders.

Help us, O God, to remember that we are Americans--united not by race or religion or by blood, but to our commitment to freedom and justice for all.

When we focus on ourselves, when we fight each other, when we forget you--forgive us.

When we presume that our greatness and our prosperity is ours alone--forgive us.

When we fail to treat our fellow human beings and all the earth with the respect that they deserve--forgive us.

And as we face these difficult days ahead, may we have a new birth of clarity in our aims, responsibility in our actions, humility in our approaches, and civility in our attitudes—even when we differ.

Help us to share, to serve, and to seek the common good of all.

May all people of good will today join together to work for a more just, a more healthy, and a more prosperous nation and a peaceful planet.

And may we never forget that one day, all nations--all people--will stand accountable before you.

We now commit our new president and his wife Michelle and his daughters, Malia and Sasha, into your loving care.

I humbly ask this in the name of the one who changed my life—Yeshua, Esa, Jesus, Jesus—who taught us to pray:

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be they name.

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil,

for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.

Amen.

Who Does God Save?

"What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us...Worship is pure or base as the worshiper entertains high or low thought of God...For this reason the gravest question before the Church is always God Himself, and the most portentous fact about any man is not what he at a given time may say or do, but what he in hi deep heart conceives God to be like."

~A.W. Tozer

Colossians 1:9-14

And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you,

asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will

in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,

 

so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord,

fully pleasing to him,

bearing fruit in every good work

and increasing in the knowledge of God.

 

May you be strengthened with all power,

according to his glorious might,

for all endurance and patience with joy,

giving thanks to the Father,

who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.

 

He has delivered us from the domain of darkness

and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,

in whom we have redemption,

the forgiveness of sins.

Morning Prayer

LORD,

Fill me with a burning desire for your manifest presence the proclaims Your mighty power and fame.

Stir in me a heart that cries out for your revival and transformation in the Brainerd Lakes Area.

O that Pointway Church  would experience an awakening to your holiness and a desperate desire for Jesus Christ.

Soli Deo Gloria

Insanity

Family Time

New Year Self-Examination

Donald Whitney recently posted a list of questions to ask yourself heading into the new year. I am asking the LORD to reveal the answers to these questions in my own life and I encourage you to do the same.

Here is the question for today:

What is one thing you can do this year to increase your enjoyment of God?

I pray that Jesus Christ would reveal to you at least one thing. 

Soli Deo Gloria

May 2009 be a year of great advancement of the gospel!

Prayer for Transformation

 Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down,
 that the mountains might quake at your presence—as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil—
to make your name known to your adversaries,
 and that the nations might tremble at your presence!

When you did awesome things that we did not look for,
 you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence.

From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear,
 no eye has seen a God besides you,
 who acts for those who wait for him.

~Isaiah 64:1-4

"Isaiah expressed a longing for God to manifest  Himself once again to a people who needed to be reminded of the awesomeness of their God."

- Pray that God will stir in you a heart that cries out for Jesus to bring revival and transformation.

- Pray that Pointway Church will experience an awakening to the holiness of God and a deserate desire for Jesus.

_ Come Lord Jesus - Transformation Prayer Guide, by Steve Loopstra

IN DRASTIC DAYS - PRAY GREAT THINGS!

Advent 2

ADVENT 2 – December 7, 2008

Advent means coming.

We are preparing for the full coming of God’s kingdom:

Jesus said, “I am the light of the world;

the one who follows me will not walk in darkness but have the light of life.”

We light these candles as a sign of the coming light of Christ. (light two candles)

 

The people who walked in darkness


have seen a great light;


those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,


on them has light shined.

—Isaiah 9:2,

 

 And I will lead the blind


in a way that they do not know,


in paths that they have not known


I will guide them.


I will turn the darkness before them into light,

the rough places into level ground.


These are the things I do,


and I do not forsake them.

—Isaiah 42:16,

 

Come, Lord Jesus, our light and our salvation.

Let us walk in the light of the Lord.

Praying for Revival

Prayer Focus Day 4:
Pray that each person in Christian homes (particularly husbands and wives) will be humble in spirit, in order that their prayers may be answered (1 Pet. 3:8-15).

What Do Outsiders Think of the Church

Courtesy of ChristianClips.com

I Have the Best Family Ever!

The only thing I treasure more is JESUS CHRIST

Praying for Revival for 31 days

Prayer Focus Day 2:
Pray that those who have a personal relationship with the Lord will walk in the spirit of humility, as Jesus walked, and live with a daily recognition that pride leads to destruction and that humility precedes honor (Micah 6:8; Proverbs 18:12).

Praying for Revival for 31 days

Join me in praying for Revival for the next 31 days and lets see how God answers our prayer.

Prayer Focus Day 1:
Pray that we as Christians will bow our knees before the Lord at the beginning of each day, so that we may receive His grace daily to live as we should (Jas. 4:6-10).

Eschatology and Mission

"Eschatology is central to any understanding of mission...The gospel is an eschatological message. In evangelism we declare that Jesus is King and that Jesus will be King."

~ Tim Chester

Veteran's Day and My Family

My mother posted this on her blog yesterday:

Today we celebrate Veteran’s Day. There were speeches and parades and plaudits from politicians. For me, this is holiday is personified by my grandfather, my father, my father-in-law and my brother. Men in my family have served in every war and conflict from the Revolution forward. It is somewhat bittersweet when I think of friends who served and did not return from Vietnam. My reflections today are shared by families all across the country and my memories are theirs.

I have my grandfather’s letters written during his service in WW1. He wrote regularly, first from boot camp and later from Europe. It was strange to see those letters, marked “somewhere in England”. Somehow I always thought that was a bit of fiction until I saw the actual letters. He served honorably and returned home. He never talked much about his service, seeing it as just what an Indiana man would do in that situation.

My father volunteered for the Army following Pearl Harbor and was sent to England after basic training, and then to Europe with the invading forces. He rose through the ranks to Tech Sergeant (Sergeant 1st Class in today’s army) and served in a mechanized battalion, commanding a half-track. (An armored jeep with tracks instead of rear wheels capable of carrying supplies, weaponry, personnel). He took part in the Battle of the Bulge and pushed into Germany with Patton. His platoon was trapped behind enemy lines and considered MIA for a time. He was seriously wounded just before the end of the war and was evacuated to England and then home. He was awarded two Purple Hearts, a Bronze Star and numerous citations such as a sharpshooter award. He was always proud to have served his country and was seriously irritated when the Army told him he wasn’t fit to serve in Korea.

My father-in-law served in the SeaBees of the US Navy, their construction division. After the devastation of the Pearl Harbor attack, rebuilding the port facilities was a high priority. Men with peacetime jobs in the construction industry formed construction battalions to rebuild Pearl Harbor and then to build bases, airfields and support the advance through the Pacific. Their motto was “We Build, We Fight”. Dad served in Hawaii and was later assigned as part of the Iwo Jima attack force. The SeaBees arrived on the island hard on the heels of the Marines and immediately began working to repair an airfield. The field began receiving flights just a few days later. Japan surrendered on August 15, 1945 and Dad’s SeaBee battalion was decommissioned and returned to the US just thirty days later. He mustered out in California and returned to St. Paul, MN to his family, his wife and the son who was born after he shipped out.

My brother served in the “peacetime” army in Germany and at Fort Campbell, KY. He considered making the army his career, but decided against it as he had a young son at home and he wanted to be a hands-on father. Various cousins and nephews have also served.

These men all considered it an honor to serve in defense of their country. I grew up hearing the history of the military men in our family, but these I knew well. I honor them every day, and especially today as we celebrate all the veterans who have served with honor. My prayer today and every day is that the men and women currently serving will be protected and come home with honor to their families.