Thank You

Thank you to all who come to pray for France.  It is an honor to pray with you for the nation and the people of France.  Praying that each one of you will have a blessed year in 2017.

Joyeux Noel

Passez un Joyeux Noël en famille

A Christmas Blessing

May God of Love fill your hearts with love for Him and one another.

May He bless your with his grace and mercy to share.
May the Christ of Christmas flood your lives with joy unspeakable, and
May He guide you in all truth through out the year to come.
We pray this blessing will bless you this day.

May the Christ child bring the gift of Christmas to your home.
May He give you the reason to celebrate His birth.
May the message of His birth bring peace to your soul, and
May the music the angels sang fill your hearts.
We pray this blessing will bless you this day.

May Christ Jesus bring salvation to you and all of France.
We pray this blessing will bless you this day.
Amen.

Lord God,
we praise you for creating man, and still more for restoring him in Christ. 
Your Son shared our weakness; may we share his glory, for he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.


found at http://www.catholic.org/prayers/prayer.php?p=346

Love divine, 

all loves excelling, 
joy of heaven,
to earth come down; 
fix in us thy humble dwelling; 
all thy faithful mercies crown! 
Jesus thou art all compassion, 
pure,
unbounded love thou art; 
visit us with thy salvation; 
enter every trembling heart. 

by: Charles Wesley


Lord, You sent your divine Love from heaven to earth to dwell among us, Jesus you have show compassion and unbounded love to each one of us, and so we say thank you, but yet we plead visit us with your salvation and enter every trembling heart, here and in France we pray in the Name of Jesus, your divine love.  Amen.  

God's Plan of Redemption

Romans 5: 8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Heavenly Father, Abba, we are overwhelmed by your love for us as sinners.  We know that we have no redeeming qualities as people, for we are blemished and marred and our nature is sin and to be sinners, but yet .....

You choose to love us. 
You choose to have a plan to redeem us all.
So before you created this world, You made a plan, and that plan was for Jesus be be born, so He could die as our sacrifice.  Jesus was born to be the Lamb of God, to save people from their sins.  

Thank You Father for your Love and the act of Love it took to redeem us.  One day we might understand the cost.  Thank you. 
We pray in the name of Jesus.  
Amen

God loves each one of us.

Love came down

Jeremiah 31:3

The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.

On a silent night long ago, His love came down.

Thank you Father 

silent Night

learning to fear not

Every year at Christmas time I have a hard time enjoying the season, and so these past few days I have been asking myself why.  So what is it about Christmas that I do not enjoy, and I have come to realize that I have the fear of not making Christmas perfect for everyone around me.  The fear the presents are not what they would like or the feeling that the food will not turn out right or be fancy enough, or the atmosphere festive enough. I don't like Christmas, because it will not be perfect and it will be my fault.
So I have come to realize that the Grinch of perfection has stolen all the Joy of the season. Instead of enjoyment, I feel dread and fear.

Fear not, I have come to bring you good tidings.

The Good tidings for me this Christmas has been,
Robin, fear not because Christmas is not about how perfect you make the day, but how perfectly Christ came to the world without sin, without spot or blemish.  He is the only perfection, because down here on this earth everything is marred.  No matter how hard I try, the perfect Christmas gift has already been given, and the perfect lamb has already come, and the perfect Christmas day has already happened, so my job is to fear not, be joyful as I remember perfection came as a baby  long ago and so it is not my job to make any day perfect.
Fear not, Enjoy, what God has already done and will continue to do in our lives.

The Joy of Your Presence

Luke 1:39 Now Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste, to a city of Judah, 40 and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth. 41 And it happened, when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, that the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 42 Then she spoke out with a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! 43 But why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 For indeed, as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. 45 Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord.

Thank you for coming to be Emmanuel, We are joyful to be in your presence, yet so humbled at that same time.  We bow be for you with joyful awe. 

JOY in our Hearts

Dear Heavenly Father, we desire to have joy in our hearts this Christmas.  Let us take the time to encourage ourselves in You.  Father, If I sit in the quietness of this place and rest on the promises, Joy will come.  I know that this is the time of year that I get frustrated because I can not make everything perfect.  Lord, you did not call me to make things perfect instead you called me to sit on the ashes and encourage myself in you, that is when joy can come.

Father we pray that the people of France will find a quite place and rest on your promises and encourage themselves in you.  Let Your Joy Come today in France. We pray in the name of Jesus Amen.

Joyful, Joyful

1. Joyful, joyful, we adore Thee,
   
   
   God of glory, Lord of love;
   Hearts unfold like flow’rs before Thee,
   Op’ning to the sun above.
   Melt the clouds of sin and sadness;
   Drive the dark of doubt away;
   Giver of immortal gladness,
   Fill us with the light of day!
2. All Thy works with joy surround Thee,
   Earth and heav’n reflect Thy rays,
   Stars and angels sing around Thee,
   Center of unbroken praise.
   Field and forest, vale and mountain,
   Flow’ry meadow, flashing sea,
   Singing bird and flowing fountain
   Call us to rejoice in Thee.
3. By Henry J van Dyke

Heavenly Father, melt the clouds of sin and sadness in the lives and hearts of those in France.  Lord, we pray that as the beauty of the winter unfolds in the Mountains of France that people will see you as God, the giver of immortal gladness, and rejoice in thee.   We pray for the salvation of France, so that You might be glorified. We pray in the precious name of Jesus.  Amen. 

He Brings Joy

Matthew 2:9-11
When they heard the king, they departed; and behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was. 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. 11 And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

Heavenly Father,
Thank you for the Joy that You bring to our lives each and every day.  
Thank you for sending Your Son, Jesus to be the Savior and take away our sins. Thank you for sending Emmanuel, so that You are with us each moment of the day.
Thank you for sending Jesus Christ the anointed one, who fulfilled the law and the prophets. 
Thank you for sending the King of kings and Lord of lords who desires to be the Lord of our hearts and lives. 
Thank You for all the joy that came one night in a manger. 
We praise You 
Amen

Blessed is the King

Luke 19:37-40

Then, as He was now drawing near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen, 38 saying:

“ ‘Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!’[d]
Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

39 And some of the Pharisees called to Him from the crowd, “Teacher, rebuke Your disciples.”

40 But He answered and said to them, “I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out.”

Let us not be silent this Christmas season, let us proclaim loud and clear that Jesus is our King. Blessed be the name of the Lord.  Peace in heaven and glory in the the highest.  Let us shout it from the mountain top.  Merry Christmas to every one for Christ is King!

Christmas Bells

By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 

I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along
The unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Till ringing, singing on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime,
A chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Then from each black, accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound
The carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearth-stones of a continent,
And made forlorn
The households born
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And in despair I bowed my head;
"There is no peace on earth," I said;
For hate is strong,
And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!"

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
"God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The Wrong shall fail,
The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men."

Source: http://www.familyfriendpoems.com/poem/christmas-bells-by-henry-wadsworth-longfellow

On earth peace,

Glory in the Highest

8 Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And behold,[b] an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. 10 Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. 11 For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.”

13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:

14 “Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”      

Heavenly Father, 

We look out over this earth today and peace is very hard to find, country against country, people hating people, race against race, hurt, anger, pain and suffering are common in our lives.  Father we need the peace on earth the angels proclaimed.   Holy Father, let us find good will toward one another.  Show us how to live in peace and carry out goodwill toward all men. For there is born to you, Christ the Lord.  Come into our hearts Lord Jesus, come in to stay.  Let us be your

instruments of your peace and good will to this earth.

We pray in the name of Jesus.  Amen

O Little Town of Bethlehem

For Christ is born of Mary,
And, gathered all above
While mortals sleep, the angels keep
Their watch of wondering love.
O morning stars, together
Proclaim the holy birth.
And praises sing to God the King.
And peace to men on earth.

Fill Us Lord

Romans 15: 13 

Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.  

Father, God of hope, 

We desire for your filling, 
Fill us with all joy and peace; 
That we will over flow with hope 
                              Use the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives

Let us be your light to this dark world.  
Amen