"Hear my cry, Oh Lord! Attend unto my Prayer" {thoughts from Minister Jackson's sermon today}

Ezekiel 30:19 Thus will I execute judgments in Egypt: and they shall know that I am the LORD. Ezekiel 30:20 And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the first month, in the seventh day of the month, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Ezekiel 30:21 Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and, lo, it shall not be bound up to be healed, to put a roller to bind it, to make it strong to hold the sword. Ezekiel 30:22 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and will break his arms, the strong, and that which was broken; and I will cause the sword to fall out of his hand. Ezekiel 30:23 And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries. Ezekiel 30:24 And I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and put my sword in his hand: but I will break Pharaoh's arms, and he shall groan before him with the groanings of a deadly wounded man.

Thank You Lord for the fruition of your commitment to turn our mourning into dancing. As we learn to love you and to put away our idolatry and live for the glory of God, it is wonderful to see you making these judgments of the Old Testaments an expression of your loving deliverance of our cultures from the sins and curses of our past idolatries. As we throw the vestiges off, you use our cries of brokenness to cries of worship and praise. You inhabit our praises to Your name and give us a glimpse of Your glory and wonder on the earth. Thank you, Lord for your commitment to give us joy in our sorrows and hope in the midst of our sorrowful spirits. We trust You to continue building Your church for Your glory and using it to fight the warfare of the spirit in our generation and sharpening the tools of our warfare for the next generation. Halleluia that you are doing new things in each season. Morning by morning, new mercies I see! Thank you for those mercies! Thank you for the opening of our eyes to the importance of praise and worship in the spiritual and emotional battles of faith. O for faith to trust You more... amen.
Psalm 61

commitment to praying for the next generation!

At 2 years old they throw chairs. God subdue their angry passions. Give them a vision of submission to Christ, in spite of their anger and depravity. It is not for no reason that we care for them. Give grace and repentance to these, children of Yours. for Christ's sake. Amen.

Here we go! the nurses' attitudes always seemed condescending.

They have to harden themselves because they see travail all day and every day. It is rare to have a sympathetic nurse in the delivery room.

Why did you have them, then? If ever that question seemed relevant, it is in the intensity of travail. Why, indeed? My Ethan was the first to have seen me in a drugged and painless state. It was as though I had discovered a great new thing. I am seeing the contraction and there is no pain intensifying. Halleluia and Glory to a God, who would comfort us in such a way.

That was 17 years ago, that my second earthly son was born into this world. Comfort to the body is still no comfort to the soul of the bereaved mother. Are you restored? Can you forget? Does it hurt any less? No. Still, the happiness of the joy of this young man blooming into manhood is a great and enjoyable thing. I know that God's hand is guiding his life and I see him showing his individuality and I am grateful to have gotten to know him. Thank you God for Ethan's birthday.Bless those dear nurses and doctors, Lord and my husband.

It was with eager anticipation that I sat in the sanctuary, awaiting a Word from the Lord!

It is rare, these days, to get into the sanctuary. I had brooded for weeks and complained aloud of my dissatisfaction at our lateness habit.

Yesterday was no different, but we found a way into the sanctuary in spite of it. I was delighted that the holiday had found the sanctuary less full than usual. I settled my soul in my usual seat, which was completely empty. I entered wholeheartedly into the worship service. We extolled Him and praised, as is our habit, but not taken for granted. We requested God to come and He did not disappoint us.

Pastor wasn't there. That was disappointing. Each week, his presence seems to represent an overcoming of obstacles and hindrances to get to the house of prayer. He doesn't keep his reticence from us. That is the essential part of his leadership. Like my hero Horatio, he seemingly walks right into the oncoming cannons of the battle to instruct us in the way. It truly feels like that, each week. He is truly aware of the spiritual centrality of the thing that he does, each week and he guides us through the spiritual minefields with courageous fear and fierceness, as ironic as that sounds. He doesn't miss the fact that he has fallen here and there and his spirit seems to get up from the fallenness and give us instruction over his body on the floor. That is what we, who struggle, love about Pastor Loran. It is not a cultural show or a tradition. It is somewhat an imploring of God to own us and to give us direction for life; it is the fruit of consistent and constant devotion to worship.

Yesterday, was another viewpoint and I was prepared for the doctrinal upheaval that this would cause in our perhaps overly scrutinizing crew. As Pastor Conn laid out his introduction, I was taking notes as to how I would explain his approach to the superpreacher and the antipreacher crowd which was sure to have it out, on the way home. God comforted my heart and gave me grace to listen for myself and not for the pro and cons that I knew I would face.

This one is for you, He seemed to say. This is an unsermon for an unlistener and that is you! Thank you, Lord, I love Him for knowing the me that is truly me. I love His presence and I hate the fact that familiarity breeds contempt for even the most beautiful interplay on the earth, God's speaking to His people. I will continue to listen to God and I will continue to try to grow in my desire for Him, inspite of the self-seekers and the supertraditionalists that hear and receive in a different way than I do.

This was God coming as a Grandpa and putting His hand on your back and telling you to continue to give ear to the word of the Lord from every segment that He will speak. Don't miss Him for the arguments and debates. I do receive that!

And sure enough, the fireworks started, as soon as we got into the car together. Did we get a sermon, today or not? Why? I love those questions. It means I have listeners in my family.