Praying Psalm 91

First Sunday of Lent

~~~ Deuteronomy 26:4-10 ~~~ Psalm 91 ~~~

~~~ Romans 10:8-13 ~~~ Luke 4:1-13 ~~~

Be with me, Lord, when I am in trouble.

Psalm 91 is often prayed by our military men and women.

Why would the church give us this message at the beginning of Lent?

Jesus was led into the desert to be tempted by the devil.

Jesus found himself in what might be considered

his own personal storm.

The devil executed his strategic plan...

tempt Jesus when he was alone and seemingly most vulnerable.

Jesus did have a support system.

The devil thought he was isolated with no support system.

Jesus had the strongest support...

he had God the Father and the Holy Spirit

by his side.

The devil waited until Jesus was hungry

thinking that was his best opportunity.

The devil was wrong.

The devil is no match for Jesus,

 the Father and the Holy Spirit are one with him.

Some years ago the pine bark beetle took advantage 

of a weakness caused by the serious drought.

The devil is like the pine bark beetle...

he waits patiently until until we are caught off guard.

The devil waits until we are vulnerable...caught

 in our own personal storm.

This is when he chooses to burst into our heart.

Be with me, Lord, when I am in trouble.

He puts crazy thoughts into your head.

He toys with you faith.

He may even try to convince you that God has abandoned you.

He may attempt to make you believe that God

 is the cause of your troubles.

“everyone who calls on the name

 of the Lord will be saved.”

Praying with the words of psalm 91 fortifies our soul,

giving us the strength to stand up against the devil.

Valentine's Day traditionally celebrates love...

Love does not waiver confronted with the devil.

Love is the key...to resisting evil.

Love of God.

Trusting that the love of God will keep

 our eyes and heart fixed on Jesus.

Believe God is with you at all times.

Pray with Psalm 91. It will bring you comfort.

~~~ Peace ~~~

Experience the Marvelous

~~~ Genesis 18:1-15 ~~~ 

~~~ (Psalm) LUKE 1:46-47, 48-49, 50 AND 53, 54-55 ~~~

~~~ Matthew 8:5-17 ~~~

He took away our infirmities 

and bore our diseases.

Three visitors came to the tent of Abraham.

They too confirmed that Sarah would indeed conceive 

and bear a son in spite of her old age.

Sarah laughed as I would as well.

A woman is only able to conceive a child while her body

 is producing the proper hormones. 

Is anything too marvelous for the LORD to do?

These three men reminded Abraham and Sarah

that when God enters into the picture

things may not follow the expected rules.

God's plans are not bound by even the laws of nature.

In our hearts we do believe that God can do anything,

this is our motivation for many of our prayers.

We turn to God when we are presented 

with impossible situations.

Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof;

only say the word and my servant will be healed.

At every Eucharistic celebration we come to the table 

of the Lord with all of our infirmities, shortcomings, and desires.

We humbly acknowledge that we are not worthy 

to receive the Lord into our bodies.

At the same time, in faith, we trust that God 

will enter into our soul with his healing presence. 

We believe that he does marvelous things...

things we could never dream possible.

God will always be God

even when he does not respond to our liking.

It must be our faith that carries us forward into our doubts.

Without faith the centurion would not have asked 

Jesus to heal his servant.

It is this same faith that we pray before 

receiving the Body and Blood of Jesus in the Eucharist.

May our marvelous God

continue to Bless you in all ways.

~~~Peace~~~

The Listening Servant

Okay I have a confession to make....I am addicted to the Internet. I was not able to post yesterday due to our modem ceasing to work.

The scripture for yesterday was the beautiful story of young Samuel. So Hannah was indeed blessed with a son...Samuel. It seems she made sure to keep her promise to God and arranged for Samuel to reside in the temple with Eli. How convenient when you have promised to give your child back to God.

Samuel in his youth is unfamiliar with the voice of the Lord. While he is sleeping he mistakenly thinks that Eli is calling him. He has gotten used to being called by Eli. Eli is his teacher, Eli is his mentor in the ways of God.

God is patient with the young boy and calls him not once, but three times. God is often persistent when he calls us too. Through the wisdom and guidance of Eli Samuel answers the Lord with a most profound response.  "Speak Lord for your servant is listening." Those words are so meaningful to me. Whenever I am faced with discerning a choice in my life this short verse comes to mind.

Part of praying is being able to humbly and sincerely speak those same words to the Lord. Once I have committed to listening to the Lord the whole game changes and I become God's instrument. I accept his invitation to "Come follow me". Sometimes listening to the Lord can be challenging, because sometimes he calls you where you do not want to go. Other times I have been listening and God is silent. When God is silent I sometimes get frustrated and confused about where he wants me. It is hard to wait.

I pray that you may recognize the voice of the Lord in your life and that you will respond appropriately. The Lord used Eli to alert Samuel to the voice of God and God can also use people in your life in the same fashion...to help you discern the voice of the Lord.

When you listen to the Lord you are filled with the brilliance of Love.

This image was captured from a glass candle holder etched with the letters

L O V E.