I HAVE COME TO WORSHIP YOU, LORD

Fear of the Lord is mentioned several time in the Bible.   The word 'fear,' here, does not mean that we should be frightened or afraid of God.

It means instead that we need to have a reverence, a respect for God and His Holy Word. It means, rather that the Lord wants His people

to come before Him in a worshipful mode, adoring Him for Who He is.

Psalm 34

verses 1- 10:

I will bless the Lord at all times;

His praise shall continually be in my mouth.

My soul shall make its boast in the Lord;

The humble shall hear of it and be glad.

Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together.

I sought the Lord, and He heard me and delivered me from all my fears.

They looked to Him and were radiant and their faces were not ashamed.

This poor man cried out and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of

all his troubles.  The angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear Him and delivers them.

Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who trusts in Him!  Oh, fear the Lord, you His saints!

There is no want to those who fear Him.  The young lions lack and suffer hunger; but those who seek the Lord

shall not lack any good thing.

verses 19 -22

Many are the afflictions of the righteous but the Lord delivers him out of them all.  He guards all his bones; not one of them is broken.

Evil shall slay the wicked and those who hate the righteous shall be condemned.  The Lord redeems the soul of His servants and none of those who trust in Him shall be condemned.

CALVARY LOVE

(A poem about Christ’s priceless gift of Redemption and our Acceptance of His gift)

Dear Father,

Thank you for the glorious peace of your presence

For the hope of your return

I feel the warm rays of your goodness and mercy

As I come before You, Oh, Christ

Awaiting your touch

Cover me with Calvary Love

Drench me in Golgotha Blood

Spilled unabashedly for me

In Thy Blessed Name,

Amen

carol castagna  ©   10/2012

'BEHOLD, I STAND AT THE DOOR AND KNOCK.'

The Lord’s Invitation 2/23/15

Psalm 120: 1  I call on the Lord in my distress and He answers me.

Psalm     Seek ye the Lord while He may be found.  Call upon Him while He is near.

The Holy Spirit’s infilling in us makes all the difference!  Christ’s Gift, the Comforter, God's Holy Spirit, leads and guides, protects and strengthens us for the day’s journey. He directs our words of devotion and praise and leads us in  our ministry ~ in prayers of healing, salvation and restoration.  He leads us in our writing, in our speaking.  He ordains our words with His anointing, thus blessing those we touch through our testimony.

JESUS SAYS:

Revelations 3: 20  Behold, I stand at the door and knock.  He who hears my voice and opens the door, I will come to him and dine with him and he with me.

The Lord does not pressure us to meet with Him:  he gives us a choice…no stress.  He merely extends His hand…and waits for our answer.

This is what the Bible refers to as ‘the mystery’, that God loved us while we were yet, sinners.

Colassians 1: 26, 27  The mystery that has been hidden from ages and from generations but now has been revealed to His saints.  To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles:  which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Colassians 3: 16  Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

Ephesians 2: 8  For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves:  It is the gift of God.

Ephesians: 13  But now in Christ Jesus you who were far away have been brought near by the blood of Jesus.

1st Peter 2: 9  Declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light.

There is a song, WE ARE SO BLESSED; the lyrics are as follows:

LYRICS

Chorus

When we're empty

You fill us 'til we overflow

When we're hungry

You feed us and cause us to know

We are so blessed

Take what we have to bring

Take it all ev'rything

Lord we love You so much

Verse 1

We are so blessed

By the gifts from Your hand

I just can't understand

Why You've loved us so much

We are so blessed

We just can't find a way

Or the words that can say

Thank You Lord for Your touch

Verse 2

We are so blessed

By the things You have done

The vict'ries we've won

And what You've brought us through

We are so blessed

Take what we have to bring

Take it all ev'rything

Lord we bring it to You

1982 William J. Gaither, Inc. ARR UBP of Gaither Copyright Management

River Oaks Music Company (a div. of EMI Christian Music Publishing

Writers: Gloria Gaither, Greg Nelson, William J. Gaither

I asked- He answered
I asked, He answered
I sought, I found
I knocked and the door
Opened wide for me
I asked, He answered
I sought, I found
His mercy is limitless
His faithfulness ever abounds
©10/2013 Carol Castagna
Lamentations 31:3
…great is thy faithfulness…

When I was a child of 5 years, I learned a song, 'One Door and Only One' - Author unknown
'One door and only one
And yet it's sides are two
I'm on the inside
On which side are you?'

Such a simple,  message ~ such profound implications!
.......................................
The Lord desires to bless you.  He cannot bless if the door to your heart remains locked.
Only you can unlock the door and welcome Him in.  He waits at the door of your heart.

© 2/23/15 Carol Castagna

PRAYERS part i 2/6/15

Isaiah 49: 16 And I have written your name on the palms of my hands.

Isaiah 4 0: 11  He will gather the lambs with His arms and carry them close to His heart.

Psalm 42: 1  As the dear panteth for the water, so my soul searcheth after Thee, oh, Lord.   My soul thirsts

for the living God.

Psalm 116: 2 Because He has inclined His ear to me, therefore I will call upon Him as

long as I live.

PRAYER FOR GOD'S PRESENCE IN OUR LIVES: 

We come to you with open hearts waiting, to receive Your abundant blessing.   Fill us with Your awesome presence...let us know that You have come to us, where we are, in our brokenness, in our loneliness.   Let us feel You near. Make us whole and joyful in Your presence.  Inhabit Your people.  Truly, Dear Lord, we are Your people and we love You for loving us, for welcoming us as Your sons and daughters, for knowing us intimately, the very number of hairs on our heads, for forming us in our mother’s womb, for preparing a place for us in heaven with You.  Thank You for the blessed assurance of Your sweet presence by the whisper of Your name.   Thank You for giving us Your Holy Spirit to comfort us in times of despair.  Be our voice when we are without words...Be our Everything for we are lost without You.   Thank You that You are but a prayer away.  We praise You for Your love and grace and faithfulness.

In Jesus's holy name, we pray, Amen.

Romans 8: 4

…the Spirit also helps our infirmities:  for we know not what we should pray for as we ought:  but the Spirit itself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

PRAYER IN THANKS FOR GOD'S SACRIFICE OF HIS SON, JESUS CHRIST:

You, Lord, are omniscient, omnipresent, all-knowing and all-powerful.  You are majestic in all your ways.  You formed the world- the sea and earth and minute forms of life.  You formed our bodies, soul and spirit.  You, dear Father, know our hearts, our thoughts.  You are always near.  Who is like You, Lord?  No one is like You…and so, we stand in awe of You, our Creator and Redeemer, the Beginning and the End!  We love You for loving us enough to send Your only begotten Son to save this lost world from sin and death – on the cross, dying and from the tomb, resurrected!  We cannot comprehend such love, Lord but we praise You for Your gift to us!  Thank You for Your greatness, Your faithfulness and compassion toward us in these, the last days of this world as we know it.  Thank You for Your gracious love to me and all those who open their hearts to You. We wait for Your glorious return.   In Jesus’ name, Amen.

PRAYER FOR GOD'S PROTECTION:

Again, we come before You, Lord, in our humble way, realizing that You are mighty to protect us and to shield us from harm.  We praise You for Your love and mercy toward us, for the peace You give, that passes all understanding ~ and all You ask is for us to step forward into Your presence, to come before You in prayer, to say, 'Yes, Lord, You are great  and I am Your child:  thank You for drawing me to Yourself.'  We love You, Lord and we thank You for Your great power and for Your loving-kindness.      In Jesus' name, Amen.  DEAR FATHER, THANK YOU FOR YOUR BEAUTIFUL PROMISE OF PROTECTION AND NEARNESS.  YOU ARE ALWAYS WITH US AND WE THANK YOU FOR THE REALITY OF YOUR PRESENCE.  WE PRAY THAT YOU WILL CONTINUE TO ENABLE US TO SENSE YOUR PRESENCE DAILY IN WHATEVER CIRCUMSTANCES WE MAY FIND OURSELVES, FOR 'IN YOUR PRESENCE IN FULLNESS OF JOY.'  SHOWER US WITH THE BLESSED ASSURANCE OF YOUR SWEET PRESENCE ON A DAILY BASIS AND THANK YOU FOR THIS BLESSING.  In Jesus' name, Amen.

PRAYER of THANKSGIVING FOR GOD'S LOVE TOWARD US:

We thank you for another day, Lord…for watching over us through the night.  Thank you that your mercies are from everlasting to everlasting.  Thank you for waiting for us to realize that your love is timeless.   Bring us to a point where we worship before you, confessing our shortcomings and asking for your mercy and compassion that is so freely given, for the asking.  Bring us to that place where we can speak with you freely and eagerly wait for your response.  How comforting to know You are with us and will always be with us… In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Hebrews 4: 15 “For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses but was in all point tempted as we are without sin.  Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace in the time of need.”

PRAYER  IN THANKS FOR ALL THINGS:  

Thank You for creating the heavens and earth.  Thank You for creating us in Your image.   The wisdom of Your ways is perfect, dear Father and we thank You for leading us in Your path of righteousness.  We praise You for thinking of us and caring for us and loving us.  Thank you for Your mercy, kindness and grace.  You are all we need!  You are our Awesome God!   In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Hosea 6:2   'As surely as the sun rises, He will appear.'  He will come to us.'

Bible verses from the NKJ version

© September, 2014 Carol Castagna

PRAYERS part ii ~ 2/6/15

When we are faced with the unthinkable and feel that our current situation is impossible to bear, that the Lord has allowed far more than we can tolerate, let us remember  the countless times He has brought us out of the mire of life.  He did it before He will do it again...call on His name , and rest in Him.  He was able to lead us then.  He will lead us again –into His light.  Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.

The more we bow in prayer before Him, the more like Him we become.  The reason?  His Holy Spirit reaches out to our spirit.  It is in our communion with our God that He surrounds us with His holy presence, His Holy Spirit.  What a hope He gives!  What a promise is ours!  He offers to share His holiness with us. The moment we kneel toward His presence, the moment we close our eyes to worship Him, He comes closer to us.  He is always here with us…He wants to come closer. He made us for Himself.  And when we move toward His presence in prayer, with hearts opened and eyes closed, even if we cannot kneel, He sees our heart’s desire.  He is there with us and we are not alone.  We are created in His image.  He welcomes us into His presence, into His holiness, into His rest from our cares.

Psalm 17:15  As for me, I will see Your face in righteousness.  I shall be satisfied when I awake in Your likeness.

A Word About the Elements of Prayer:

There are two elements of prayer:
...where we speak to God
...where God speaks to us
We may feel that the most important aspect of prayer is letting God know what we need (the 'speaking part' of prayer).  He already knows.  He still wants us to ask:  asking demonstrates to Him that we love and trust Him to direct our way.  Listening for the still, small voice of God is exquisitely important.  It is the 'listening part' of prayer that offers the soul nourishment:  it is where God's Holy Spirit hovers over us and fills us with God's presence and peace.  It is there, in those quiet moments with the Lord that He draws us nearer to Himself and His embrace

HOW SWEET IS THE SONG OF HIS NAME! 

How sweet is the song of His name!  The name of Jesus is our song.  The person and Spirit of Jesus comes to us as a song on a rainy, gray day as His melody flows to our soul and lifts us up, refreshes and renews.  He is our great God!

I feel that wherever I stand is a sanctuary, a holy place where I can sing to the Lord.

Psalm 6 : I will sing to the Lord for He has dealt bountifully with me.

Psalm 104: 33, 34:  I will sing to the Lord as long as I live.  I will sing praise to my God while I have my being.  May my meditation be sweet to Him.  

PSALMS 37: 7

‘Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him.’    Psalm: 37: 7

ISAIAH 40: 11

He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to His heart.

Isaiah 40: 11

PRAYER FOR HEALING:

Dear Father, we come to you in Jesus' name, believing that you hear our prayer.  We thank you for all the answered prayer that we recall and we trust that you are the God of all power. We pray that you will heal our land, heal our bodies, heal our minds from all that comes against us.  We pray that you will take our weakness and give us strength; take our confusion and give us resolve; take our anxiety and give us peace.   In Jesus' name, Amen.

PRAYER FOR COMFORT:  

We ask, Dear Father, for your comfort in times of uneasiness.  Calm our hearts and minds.  Ground us in your strength and power.  Let us know that you You walk each of our stepsbefore before we venture out.  Surround us with Your holy presence.  Take the pressures of this world and restore us to Your way  of clarity.  Comfort us in time of loss and want.  Be our guide for tomorrow.   In Jesus' name, we pray, Amen.

PRAYER FOR  QUIETNESS and PEACE:  Quiet our hearts, Lord.   Romans 5:1, 2   'Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ and rejoice in hope'   Isaiah 30: 15  'In quietness and confidence shall be your strength.'

PRAYER FOR THE JOY OF THE LORD:  The joy of the Lord is our strength...!  

Return to me, oh, Lord, the joy of thy salvation!  Life, itself, gets in the way of  experiencing Your joy, Dear Lord!  Remove the interference...and thank You for this intervention on our behalf.  In whatever circumstance we find ourselves, preserve our joy in You, Lord...not that we will joy in surrounding sadness but that our joy in Who You are to us and Whose we are in You -will remain solid and immovable at all times.  We pray, believing, in Jesus' name, Amen.

PRAYER FOR UNRESOLVED SITUATIONS:  Dear Father, You know each one of us.  You know each sadness; You know each road taken; You know who we are and where we are in this journey called life.  We pray for each unresolved situation, for each unsettled heart.  Please, answer in Your time.  Please give us patience to wait...because we know that Your way is best.  Thank you for the calm assurance that You are in control of all that surrounds us, today.

 PRAYER FOR SALVATION:   We love You for loving us enough to send Your only begotten Son to save this lost world from sin and death – on the cross, dying and from the tomb, resurrected!  We cannot comprehend such love, Lord but we praise You for Your loving gift to us!   We ask you to forgive us for our sins, no matter what that sin is.   Make us spotless in Your eyes.   Cleanse  us with the blood of Jesus that takes away the sin of the world.  Thank You that our sins are as far from You as the east is from the west, as You say in Your Word.  Help us to turn away from the 'sin that does  so easily beset us,' Lord and we thank You for Your mighty power to fulfill our request.  Thank You for the power in the blood of the Lamb of God, to forgive us from sin...Thank you for Your love that brought you to the cross.  Thank you that You live and reign in heaven above.   We thank You for clear minds and forgiven hearts.  We praise You, in Jesus' name,  Amen.

PRAYER FOR THE HOLY SPIRIT:

Dear Father, we come to you in Jesus' name, believing that you hear our prayer.  We pray that Your Holy Spirit will live in us, comfort us, speak through us.  We pray that this Comforter that You promised us will work through us to accomplish that which You have designed to be accomplished.  We magnify Your name, Lord for gifting us as You have!   In Jesus' name, Amen.

                             

PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING FOR ALL YOU ARE TO US, HEAVENLY FATHER:

Thank You for creating the heavens and earth.  Thank You for creating us in Your image.   The wisdom of Your ways is perfect, dear Father and we thank You for leading us in Your path of righteousness.  We praise You for thinking of us and caring for us and loving us.  Thank you for Your mercy, kindness and grace.  You are all we need!  You are our Awesome God!   In Jesus’ name, Amen.

2 Samuel 2, 3, 4

'The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; the God of my strength, in whom I will trust;

My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold and my refuge; my Savior...I will call upon the

Lord who is worthy to be praised...'

Bible verses from NKJ version

© September, 2014 Carol Castaga  Word content