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40 Days of Prayers and Meditations

Presented by the Disciple Bible Study Classes

Lenten Season 2009

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A Word about Disciple Bible Study

The DISCIPLE Bible Study program is designed to develop strong local churches through the in-depth study of Scripture. Through DISCIPLE, persons are strengthened in their faith and guided into service and ministry. Strong, biblically nourished leadership will help your church grow in vitality and Christian discipleship.

BECOMING DISCIPLES THROUGH BIBLE STUDY is the foundation of the DISCIPLE Bible Study program. DISCIPLE assumes that the bible is the key to renewal in the church. It recognizes the human-divine nature of the Bible: The actual texts of Scripture were written by human beings like ourselves in their cultural settings, under the divine inspiration of God. DISCIPLE affirms that the canon was formed as it is in order for God to speak to us. BECOMING DISCIPLES THROUGH BIBLE STUDY gives equal time to both the Old and New Testament, emphasizing the wholeness of the Bible as the revelation of God. DISCIPLE aims at transformation, not just information, and calls on persons to submit themselves to examination by Scripture, to put themselves under the power of God’s Word, and to be changed by God’s Word. DISCIPLE invites persons to bring their experiences and struggles to the Scripture. All persons know something is amiss with their existence and yearn for the Word from God. BECOMING DISCIPLES THROUGH BIBLE STUDY uses biblical language and images and draws upon the work of scholars to aid understanding of the Bible. This study requires reading large portions of Scripture each week and is based on careful study and preparation. During the course of thirty-four weeks, groups will move through the biblical stories of Creation to the New Jerusalem. The titles of the sessions along with theme words; theme verses; and major persons, events, and topics will set the sequence of the biblical story in the minds of the participants. The principal Scripture for each session follows the chronological movement of the biblical story.

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INTO THE WORD INTO THE WORLD encourages persons to open themselves to hearing what God has to say to them through the Bible and to be guided into service in the world by Scripture and their study of it. This thirty-two-week study selects specific portions of Scripture and delves deeper into them. Depth study of Scripture will be the work both of individual members and of the group in its weekly meeting. Equal attention is given to both the Old and New Testament with concentration on four books: Genesis, Exodus, Luke, and Acts (eight lessons on each book). Appropriate connections are made to other parts of Scripture both through reading and study assignments and through commentary in the study manual. Participants will read familiar passages, see them in fresh ways, and anticipate that God will speak through them. INTO THE WORD INTO THE WORLD is prepared for those who have completed DISCIPLE: BECOMING DISCIPLES THROUGH BIBLE STUDY. This study proclaims the transforming power of Scripture while teaching Bible study skills that take participants deeper into the Scripture. The importance of keeping Bible study related to witness is reinforced while participants are encouraged to practice spiritual disciplines arising out of Scripture. The purpose is to change habits and transform lives. The study also emphasizes the rhythm of coming to God and going for God, of being in the Word and in the world individually and corporately. This study understands the growing Christian as under discipline in community and in ministry to the world. INTO THE WORD INTO THE WORLD approaches all experiences of life as opportunities for faithful witness and service.

http://www.cokesbury.com/forms/DynamicContent.aspx?pageid=209&id=17

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Lent: What is it? Why is it?

Originating in the fourth century of the church, the season of Lent spans 40 weekdays beginning on Ash Wednesday and climaxing during Holy Week with Holy Thursday (Maundy Thursday), Good Friday, and concluding Saturday before Easter. Originally, Lent was the time of preparation for those who were to be baptized, a time of concentrated study and prayer before their baptism at the Easter Vigil, the celebration of the Resurrection of the Lord early on Easter Sunday. But since these new members were to be received into a living community of Faith, the entire community was called to preparation. Also, this was the time when those who had been separated from the Church would prepare to rejoin the community.

Today, Lent is marked by a time of prayer and preparation to celebrate Easter. Since Sundays celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, the six Sundays that occur during Lent are not counted as part of the 40 days of Lent, and are referred to as the Sundays in Lent. The number 40 is connected with many biblical events, but especially with the forty days Jesus spent in the wilderness preparing for His ministry by facing the temptations that could lead him to abandon his mission and calling. Christians today use this period of time for introspection, self examination, and repentance. This season of the year is equal only to the Season of Advent in importance in the Christian year, and is part of the second major grouping of Christian festivals and sacred time that includes Holy Week, Easter, and Pentecost.

Lent has traditionally been marked by penitential prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Some churches today still observe a rigid schedule of fasting on certain days during Lent, especially the giving up of meat, alcohol, sweets, and other types of food. Other traditions do not place as great an emphasis on fasting, but focus on charitable deeds, especially helping those in physical need with food and clothing, or simply the giving of money to charities. Most Christian churches that observe Lent at all focus on it as a time of prayer, especially penance, repenting for failures and sin as a way to focus on the need for God’s grace. It is really a preparation to celebrate God’s marvelous redemption at Easter, and the resurrected life that we live, and hope for, as Christians.

Lent is a time to examine ourselves carefully. Here are some questions upon which you might pray and meditate during Lent:

• Am I sharing gladly what I have with others, especially the stranger and the poor? • Do I have a gracious and patient attitude with others, especially those who irritate me? • Do I feel the power of connection to God and the church in corporate worship? • How is my devotional and prayer life progressing? Am I listening to God more and complaining less? Is it time for a change or a

growth in my Bible study and prayer life? • What are the lurking sin problems, which still plague me? • Am I as thoughtful and forgiving of family as others, or do I take my frustrations out on them? • Do I speak up for the maligned and oppressed, or do I remain silent in order to remain popular?

The following mediations and prayer are submitted by Disciples Bible Study Classes 1 & II

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Recommending Reading for Lent and Easter

Would like to have a sobering experience, and a profound revelation about Lent and Easter?

I would like to recommend that you read one of the following of books, and expect your life to change forever.

These books were written by Max Lucado and each a study guide in the back of the book. They can be found at any Christian book store this time of the year. I recommend that you get your prayer partner to read with you, because you

will want to share thoughts, questions and revelations as you read..

1. He Choose the Nails 2. Six Hours One Friday 3. And the Angels were Silent 4. No Wonder they Call Him Savior

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Today (February 25, 2009) is Ash Wednesday and it is the day that the season of Lent begins. Lent recalls and celebrates the 40 days that our Savior spent fasting and praying in the wilderness, tempted by Satan, before he began his public ministry. During that time, Jesus demonstrated faithfulness and obedience to God as he denied the Devil's temptations and challenged him with the Word of God. Throughout the centuries, Christians have observed Lent by typically "giving something up". It could be some time at the television or computer, sweets or chocolate or another activity that is rewarding and fun. This sacrifice usually has been understood to be an expression of faith in God and an act of discipline to remember both Christ's temptations in the wilderness and his death on the cross at Easter, which ends the season of Lent.

Lenten Journey of Faith

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Heavenly Father, In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, by the shedding of his blood, I come before you today to Worship and Praise Your Holy name.

Almighty Father, I praise Your Holy name on earth as it is in Heaven. Your tender mercies O’ Lord I seek are ever faithful towards me. You are my beginning and my end. While still on this journey You have blessed me daily with the renewing of my faith, allowing me to come to the alter to partake of Your Body as bread and Your Blood as wine and be transformed into the Body of Christ. I bow before You with my questions, my sinfulness, my hunger, my thirst, my need to grow and my ever longing love for you Father God as I travel on this Lenten Journey of Faith. My God, hear the prayer of your child and her supplications, and cause Your face to shine upon thy creation, for Your name sake. On Christ the Solid Rock I Stand. All blessings and praises due to The Father, for You are the Kingdom, The Power and The Glory. Forever Amen. Winifred Cockrell Blueridge UMC

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LORD, I am so thankful for your gift of salvation that comes through your son, Jesus. To be called one of your children strengthens me. When barriers come into my life that separates me from You, I am reminded of Romans 8: 8 & 39. “For I am convinced neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” It is during this Lenten season that reminds of me of the greatest love of all. The love you have for this world in providing the ultimate sacrifice for our sins. It warms my heart with gratefulness and brings tears of joy to my eyes. I come to you to ask for forgiveness of my sins and for those sins I do not know I have committed, bring them to my remembrance so I can ask for repentance and do better the next time. I love you, LORD. In Jesus’ name I pray. Hallelujah! Amen. Maxine Russell Blueridge UMC

Heart’s Prayer

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Father God, please bless the heart of the person reading this right now. As the Holy Sprit of your son Christ Jesus crosses the threshold of this heart, please create a warm home for yourself in here. Master, you have the power to lock out every temptation or fear that might threaten this heart’s trust in your safety, your care and your peace. And the presence of your Holy Spirit opens wide windows of mercy shedding bright light of forgiveness and many flowing streams of grace. Gracious Lord, please fill every room in this heart with the joy of devotion to you and the fragrance of obedience to your word. Smile on the faces of all loved ones gathering in this heart along its journey. Savior, please guard, inhabit and find an abiding place in each loved one’s heart as well. Send your Holy Spirit to work the houses of their hearts cleansing all impurities. And at the close of this day’s walk with you, may this heart rest in the sanctuary of your reign upon its throne until awakened to your glory forever more.

With faith-filled love from my heart to yours, Your sister in Christ, Geri Shelton

Trininty East UMC

“By wisdom a house is built, and by understand it is established; and by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches.”

Proverbs 24:3-4 Dear Father in Heaven, Thank you for giving me another day to get it right with you. Thank you for your unfailing grace and mercy that you have bestowed upon us time and time again In this season of Lent ,we have been afforded again another opportunity to recognize the tremendous sacrifice you made that we might be free. I ask for forgiveness, Father. Forgive us our sins and burn within us the fire of thy Holy Spirit. Have mercy on us, Lord. Protect us in our

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struggle against evil. Help us to truly understand the meaning of your son’s death and resurrection. Help us to forgive all who have caused injury to us and forgiveness to all we have injured by our words and /or actions. We know your promises are just, Father and I humbly ask that you open our hearts to the voices of your word and renew a right spirit within us. Help us to do your will Father; today, tomorrow, and always. I ask this in your son Jesus' name, AMEN B.B. Stewart Trinity East UMC

Prayer for Sick and Shut-in Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed beYour Holy and righteous name. I love and adore You and make known to You my love and adoration on this day. I bless Your name, Elohim, the creator of heaven and earth. I thank You that You have created me in Your image and have crowned me with Your glory and honor. I bless Your name, El-Shaddai, the God who supplies all my needs according to Your riches in glory. I bless Your name Jehovah Jireh, the one who see's my needs and continually supplies them. I bless Your name Jehovah Shammah, the one who will never leave or forsake me. I take comfort, am encouraged and can confidently and boldly confess that You are my helper. I know that I have sinned against You and because of this I have offended You. But in spite of my transgression, I will not be seized with alarm. The enemy would have me to be afraid, but You did not give me a spirit of fear. You gave me a spirit of a sound mind. Therefore, I cast away all troubled thoughts and choose from this day forward to not be afraid. Father, I take this time to confess my sins (name them) I have committed towards you. I confess them boldly and with confidence I know you will forgive me. You Lord are my hiding place and I thank you for preserving me. Thank you for surrounding me with songs of deliverance. Instruct me and teach me the way that I should go. You said in your word that many are the sorrows of the wicked but he, who trusts in You, shall be surrounded with loving kindness. Lord, help me to not just say I trust you, but to live my life as if I trust you. I trust you will guide my steps and keep me away from those things that continually lead me astray. Father, I come before You asking that Your will be done in my life. Your will is to pour out Your spirit on me and anoint me for all You have called me to be. Deliver me from any evil plans of the devil to rob me of life, to steal away my uniqueness and giftedness, and to compromise the path You have called me to walk. Help me to complete the visions You have given me for my life. I have set goals for the future and I have a sense of purpose about what You have called me to do. Let me see myself as You do Lord, from my future and not from my past. In Jeremiah 29:11, You said that Your thoughts toward me are thoughts of peace and not evil; to give me a future and a hope. Now Father, I request that You make Your face to shine upon me and enlighten me; that You are gracious to me. You said that I am the head and

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not the tail; that I am above and shall never be beneath. I thank You for watching over Your word so that it goes out and does exactly what You intended for it to do. I thank You for favor and allowing me to be a blessing to You in spite of my sinful nature. Thank You that goodness and mercy follows me everyday. Father, You gave me knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom. I ask you for more knowledge and wisdom according to the greatness of Your compassion. While my sin is ever before me, give me favor. Now Father, Your word says that if we ask You for forgiveness, it will be granted. I come to You now asking You to forgive me for those I have wronged. Forgive me for holding on to bad feelings towards anyone for any reason. Forgive me for the times I have had feelings of resentment, envy, strife, anger, jealousy and bitterness. Forgive me for any disobedience of your word. Forgive me for any unresolved issues with my family. Forgive me for any disobedience towards any authoritative figures in my life. Now I know Your word says in order for me to be forgiven, that I, too, must forgive others. Help me to search my heart and release anyone who I have held hostage by my attitude of unforgiveness. Help me to forgive myself for not realizing and accepting Your unconditional love for me. Lead me not into temptation, but keep me from all evil. Your Word has revived me and given me life. Let my prayer be set forth as incense before You, the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice. I will worship towards Your holy temple and praise Your name; for Your truth and faithfulness; for You have exalted above all else Your name and Your Word, and You have magnified Your Word above all Your name. Yours is truly the Kingdom and the Power and all Glory. Forever and ever.....In Jesus' name I pray, Amen! Karen Stewart O’ Heavenly Father, our protector and our guide, Thou art the greatest Friend and joy we can have! For Thou careth for us. To be able to come to you in prayer is the most beautiful part of our lives! Dear Lord, Thou know what we are facing and Thou continue to protect us from all of our enemies and from evil. Forgive us of our sins dear Lord and put love for one another in our hearts and above all put love in our hearts for Thee. Psalms 19:2 “I will say to the Lord, He is my refuge and fortress: and my God, in him will I trust” Thanks you God for your amazing grace. In Spite of all my sins, you have touched us with your loving kindness and grace. Deliver us form our rebellious spirit, restore in us your gentleness and hope, that our lives, our character and conversation will be centered on the cross of Jesus, while we get to know you better and better. We magnify you and praise your Holy name. In the precious name of Jesus we pray. Amen

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Marcia Loggins

Oh, My Heavenly Father, we enter the season of Lent in the spirit of your joyous moments of giving of ourselves to spiritual strife, cleansing our soul and body, and controlling our passions, as we limit things unnecessarily and live on the virtues of the Holy Spirit. I pray that we persevere in our longing for Christ and maintain an attitude of thankfulness for your Son as we rejoice with spiritual joy. Amen. Debra Carter Trinity East UMC

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And the ransomed of the LORD shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. Isaiah 51:11

As we enter into Lenten season, let us be reminded of God’s mercy and grace that guides our path. We should be grateful for all things God has provided for us. May the season of repentance bring us the blessing of your forgiveness and the gift of your light. Grant this through Christ our Lord. Ginita Phelps Trinity East UMC

“As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world." John 9:5

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However, it is often easy to focus on what we do during Lent whenever we "give something up" instead of what God can do in our lives in this holy time of the year. Let me explain. In order to fill a glass with water, it must be empty. If it is full or nearly filled, it cannot receive as much as when it is empty. By our actions of devotion during this time of 40 Days of Community, God will touch our lives and fill our hearts with his compassion, grace and presence. Maybe God would be pleased more by your intentional and deliberate acts of love toward one another within the Body of Christ, the church, and toward those outside the community of faith. Perhaps that is what we should offer God this season of Lent. Perhaps that is what we should give God. As we love in community- the church, our groups in the church and the world around us- God will fill our fellowship, our hearts and our ministry with his love. May your journey be a blessing, FASTING

"Total abstinence is easier than perfect moderation." -- St. Augustine

"A man becomes a beast by loving what beasts love." -- St. Bernard of Clairvaux

"Continual moderation is better than fits of abstinence interspersed with occasional excesses." -- St. Francis de Sales

"They alone can truly feast, who have first fasted." -- John Henry Cardinal Newman

"Temperance is simply a disposition of the mind that sets bounds to the passions." -- St. Thomas Aquinas

"The necessity of eating and drinking is sweet to me, and against this sweetness must I fight, so that I might no be made captive by it...This much you have taught me: that I must look upon food as medicine." -- Augustine of Hippo

"It is impossible to engage in spiritual conflict unless the appetite has been first subdued." -- Pope Gregory the Great

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Prayer "If He who was without sin prayed, how much more ought sinners to pray?" -- St. Cyprian

"Do nothing at all unless you begin with prayer." -- St. Ephraem

"When we are linked by the power of prayer, we, as it were, hold each other’s hand as we walk side by side along a slippery path; and thus by the bounteous disposition of charity, it comes about that the harder each one leans on the other, the more firmly we are riveted together by brotherly love." -- Pope Gregory the Great

"He causes his prayers to be more avail to himself, who offers them also for others." -- Pope Gregory the Great

"He prays best who does not know that he is praying." -- St. Anthony

"I would never want any prayer that would not make the virtues grow within me." St. Teresa of Avila

"The more you pray, the more you want to pray." -- St. John Vianney

"I tell God what I want simply, without splendid turns of phrase, and somehow He always manages to understand me." -- St. Therese of Lisieux

"It is true that God’s power triumphs over everything, but humble and suffering prayer prevails over God Himself." -- Padre Pio

"You go to pray: to become a bonfire, a living flame, giving heat and light." -- Jose Maria Escriva

May God hear your prayers during this Lenten Season. Forgive your sins; grant you his mercy, and everlasting peace. Amen

Paula Boone Trinity East UMC

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Giving Something Up For Lent In Lent, it's traditional to give up something(s) that we do a lot of and that we find pleasure in. This 'giving up' is done :

• as a discipline for learning self-control, to free our minds from the chase after material things, • to identify with Christ's sufferings, and remember what the true pleasures are for followers of Christ, • as an act of sorrow over our wrongdoings.

It may at times be about forensic guilt (as in TV's CSI or Law and Order, the 'I did it' kind of guilt), but it's not about the psychological kind of guilt (where God is pictured like a mother, saying just the right word to make you feel sorry for yourself). In fact, it prepares you for Easter, in which a risen Christ leaves you no cause (or even room) for psychological guilt.

Sometimes we don't notice how certain things we do have gained power over us and dictate our actions. In Lent, we discover these things and give them up so that God can be in charge. Franciscans use the term 'detachment' : the less that 'stuff' preoccupies your life, the more room there is for God, as well as for yourself and for other people.

The most common thing is to fast for Lent. If giving up food isn't much of a task for you, choose something else that you have to make an effort to give up. For many people, that means 40 days without :

• television • gambling • impulse shopping • catalog shopping • leaving flaming comments on blogs and forums • dance clubbing

--- anything that most relates to a sin that's especially sticky for you as well as the activities that provide you the opportunity to do them. Whatever that is, it is where your Lenten discipline must be centered. For instance, this year my detachment discipline will be about trying to cram too much into a day. I will aim not to feel like I have to do everything right now. I will give space for silence, rest, people, and surprises, and I will more often treat the unexpected as a friend instead of an intruder.

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Many people use Lent for taking the complexity out of parts of their lives. They pare down their schedules, and concentrate on activities that matter most. If you work overtime, what are you working overtime for? For a real human need, or in order to buy more stuff? Others look for one area of their life in which they use power or authority over others, and then try to find ways to use less power to do it. A fast is a reflection of your awareness of sin, and your sorrow over it. It's best to choose

one thing at a time. Then as that takes hold, give up another different thing, as the Spirit leads you. Or, maybe, give of your time and money to charitable activities that help those who suffer. (Need funds? Use the money that you would have spent on the food or activities you're giving up.)

Jesus is not looking for self-torture, self-hatred, woe-is-me thinking, 40-day starvation and oceans of tears. (Many great saints and plain fools have thought that's what He wanted.) Lent is for soberly looking into yourself and getting down to what's real. Self-hatred is not being real. How could it be right to so despise someone whom God loves and treasures? The Sundays aren't counted in the 40 days of Lent, because every Sunday carries with it a part of the glow of Easter Sunday. So it's not all gloom and doom. But even on the Sundays, the theme of repentance (turning from our ungodly ways) holds true. When you repent, you please God whether you fast or not, and that is what most counts for Lent.

Lent's strictness and sternness doesn't mean you can't cozy up to the one you love, or discover new love. It doesn't mean you can't dance a St. Patrick's Day jig, or enjoy a good basketball game, or get a belly laugh from a funny moment, or have a flash of ecstasy during worship or prayer. Rather, in Lent we put a stop to our fevered pursuit of pleasure, especially pleasure from the entertainment field's realm of fantasy, and instead let joy seek us in the real world. Then, when the moments of joy come, they're recognized as a gift from a loving God. Just as life itself is.

Adding Something For Lent

Lent is not all about giving things up. It's also about adding good things to our lives or to others' lives -- the kind of good things that follow on what Jesus asks of us, especially that which relates to what we're giving up.

Try to find a new way every day to bring to mind Jesus' death on the cross, and why it happened.

This year, my Lent add-in will be to re-involve myself with hands-on, face-to-face ministry work. I've gotten away from that the past few years, through supporting others when they do it, and for doing face-to-face work that can only be seen as 'sharing the good news' or 'serving others for Christ' in a very vague way (which for me, as for most, shoves Jesus to the far back corner, a place He never belongs). Maybe you need to do this, too?

http://www.spirithome.com/suffering.htmlhttp://www.spirithome.com/joy.html

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A Prayer of the Lenten Season

Almighty and Gracious God,

We humbly come to you with praise and thanksgiving in our hearts, for your unconditional love and mercy in which you

Continuously bestow upon us. You are a great and awesome God, and we love you.

As we enter into this holy season, we think of the perfect sacrifice You have given to us to pay for our sins so that we may have eternal life, and we are truly grateful. We ask dear God for your strength and your patience at this time, as we attempt to develop a deeper relationship with Thee. Give us the mind and heart to commit to a daily walk in prayer and devotion. Help us to exercise your love and your compassion to others each day, and give us a forgiving spirit to mend and resolve those things that keep us separated from Thee.. Guide us in a direction that will help us to sacrifice ourselves so that man may be able to see you, hear from you and feel you in his hour of need.

We ask these blessings in the name of your son, Jesus Christ, our Lord and our Savior.

Amen

Kassandra Balque

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Our Father which art in heaven. Here it is once again that I come before you in the most humble way that I know how, thanking you for your goodness and your mercy. Thanking you for keeping us. Asking that you would forgive us for our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Master asking that you would look on the sick and shut-in. Look on those that are on the bed of affliction. God for you made them and know all about them. God I ask that you will keep them in perfect peace. You said those whose mind is stead on you. God asking that you will heal and deliver them in the name of Jesus. Ouch right now. Your word said that with your strips we are healed in the name of Jesus, so Master we are calling it done right now in the name of Jesus. God do what you do best, have your own way. God we love you, we thank you that all is well in Jesus name. Amen.

Gloria Simpson Brigham

“ But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace and with his stripes we are healed.” Isaiah 53:5

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Father, thank you for waking me up this day, to love and glorify you one more time.

In Jesus Name, I pray. Amen

We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, "The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me." For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 7Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God. Romans 15:1-7

Joyce M. Hobbs

Wesley AME Chapel

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The most important events in Christianity are the death and later resurrection of Jesus Christ, who Christians believe is the Son of God, and whose life and teachings are the foundation of Christianity.

Good Friday is the Friday before Easter. It commemorates the execution of Jesus by crucifixion.

Good Friday is a day of mourning in church. During special Good Friday services Christians meditate on Jesus' suffering and death on the cross, and what this means for their faith.

In some countries, there are special Good Friday processions, or re-enactments of the Crucifixion.

The Bible quotes seven last sentences that Jesus spoke from the Cross:

1. Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing. Luke 23:34 2. Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in

paradise. Luke 23:43

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3. Woman, here is your son... Here is your mother John 19:26 4. Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani? (My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?)Mark 15:34 5. I am thirsty John 19:28 6. It is finished John 19:30 7. Father, into your hands I commend my spirit Luke 23:46

God, our Father….God, our Savior…….God, our Holy Spirit

With humble thanksgiving and gratitude we come to offer you all our praise, worship, and love ~ You, who chose us,

You, who redeemed and save us, You, who guides and comforts us. We raise our hallelujahs to You, oh, Lion of Judah.

We thank You for Your saving grace, for we have not been obedient to Your Way. Because of Your forgiveness, we

know that, as Hebrews 4:16, we can approach the throne of grace with confidence so that we may receive mercy and

find grace to help us in our time of need. We can cry out to You and You will answer our prayer. Thank you.

We come before You declaring that sicknesses and diseases of the mind, body, or spirit have no place in our lives. We

thank You for Your healing through your supernatural powers and through the doctors and the medicines you have

provided.

We ask that You, Heavenly Father, bind the Spirit of Infirmity along with any works or links associated with it and, in

accordance with Your Word in Romans 8:2, and loose the Spirit of Life and, through Your anointing, the Spirit of

Healing as stated in Matthew 4:23.

In the mighty name of Jesus the Christ of Nazareth AMEN, ASHE, AMEN

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Edith Selgary Trinity East UMC

Lenten Prayer

Heavenly Father, thank you for your son, the innocent Lamb, who’s blood, cleanses me from all unrighteousness. God, I thank you for this time, this season, this preparation period that leads to celebrating the resurrection of my

Savior, Jesus Christ As I journey through this season, I pray that I draw nearer to you and closer to the blood. Lord I pray that during this Lenten season you will help me to honestly and completely examine myself against your ways. Help me to ponder my thoughts, to interrogate my words, and to scrutinize my actions so that I become acutely aware of my sins, transgressions and iniquities. Place them before me and remind me daily that it is against you and you alone that I have sinned. May their memory remind me of how unworthy I am of your Love and deepen my appreciation of the ultimate sacrifice on Calvary. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.

by E. Faye York Brown Chapel AME

“The next day John saw Jesus coming unto him, and said, Behold the Lamb of God, which take away the sin of the world”. John 1:29

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Heavenly Father, holy is your name for your name is worthy to be praised. Thanks you for the many blessings that you have granted to us. We ask that you give us a clean heart, a righteous spirit, and bless us according to our needs. Give us wisdom, understanding, and courage so that we may be able to do your will Father God. We ask that you bless our family, friends, and our enemies. Heavenly Father we pray that you take away the sins committed by though, deeds, and works. Forgive us for the sins that we may commit in the future. Grant in us Heavenly Father your strength and continue guiding us in the path of righteousness, as we seek carry out your plans. We thank you Heavenly Father for keeping us safe, protecting us, walking and talking with us. Thank you Father for carrying us through the storms in which the world placed upon us. For we know that without you we never would have made it through. Father we ask that you continue to keep us safe for we know only you Father to remove our stumbling block. You Father are the judge of all men, maker of all things and we thank you and worship you Heavenly Father.

Now, Father in this prayer we ask these things in your son Jesus Christ name for John 14:14 says: “If ye shall ask anything in my name I will do it.” Amen, Amen.

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Dear Father God, You made the ultimate sacrificial investment in me by sending Your son, Jesus, to die on the cross to give me a chance and opportunity to enjoy an abundant life. I give You the sacrifice of praise, and I offer myself as a living sacrifice; my mouth, thoughts, words, attitude, body, hands and feet in service to You to continue your ministry. Please forgive me for my sins and change me into the person You want me to be. I thank you, Lord. Brenda Baines Brown Chapel AME I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. Romans 12:1

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You are welcome to join us

For details Rev. Vickie C. Keys, Instructor Trinity East United Methodist Church

Revvickie@trinityeastumc.net 713-669-9302 or 713840-0468

Disciple

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Lent: What is it? Why is it?Giving Something Up For LentAdding Something For Lent