11 December 2006

To: Prayer Partners

From: Pastor Lucenay

Mary’s song (Luke 1:46-55) begins with an expression of joy. My soul glorifies the Lord (v.46). We can almost see her heart overflowing with excitement. Invite the Holy Spirit to fill your heart with wonder and amazement as you walk through the Advent season in preparation to celebrate the birth of Jesus.

The words my spirit rejoices in God my Savior (v. 47) rose from the page as I reread Mary’s song. I thought about the many things that influence my spirit this time of year. Last week as I was working on the sermon on “peace” it seemed that every time I got my mind in focus there was a distraction. It really helped me when I backed away from my work and thought about the fact that I had more interruptions working on a message on ”peace” than I have at other times.

Certainly, the demands of this season of the year keep everyone very busy. From studying to shopping to sharing time with friends and co-laborers we are stretched in more ways than one. All the stretching seems to affect our spirits. Perhaps that’s why Dr. Seuss’ book on “The Grinch that Stole Christmas” touched a nerve in reader’s hearts.

My spirit rejoices in God my savior. I want my spirit to rejoice in God my savior. Don’t you? When I am weary it seems my spirit rejoices in rest. When my life is cluttered and chaotic my spirit longs for a place to breathe. When the troubled spirits of others trouble my spirit I sometimes find my spirit lost in the wrappings of the season.

My spirit rejoices in God my savior. As we pray this week, let us make time to calm down and let the reality of God becoming man dawn on us. Let us invite God to restore the joy of our salvation (Psalm 51:12). I want to do more than talk about “joy” this season. I want to allow the joy of the Lord (Nehemiah 8:10) to focus on the wonderful gifts our Savior brings into our lives. This week’s prayer time is a great time to ponder the gifts we have received because Jesus is really our Savior.

This is also a good time to remember The Lord who stretches out the heavens, who lays the foundation of the earth, and who forms the spirit of man (Zechariah 12:1) can mold our spirits to conform to the image of Jesus Christ. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus (Philippians 2:5). Let’s ask God to show us where He wants to work on our spirit this week.

Saturday night and Sunday night our choir will present the Christmas Cantata. Angie has invested her heart and soul in giving leadership to this work. A wonderful choir has gathered around her to lift our minds and hearts with the music of Christmas. We have a great opportunity to invite family and friends to share in these special services. Please pray for Angie, the instrumentalists, the choirs, the congregation, and our guests. Pray that God will make Himself known to the people in very clear terms.

This week our deacons meet and our church meets for the last scheduled business meetings of the year. Pray for God’s guidance in these meetings. Also thank God for the people He has placed in leadership. Pray for God’s Spirit to mold their hearts and guide their decisions. Pray for God’s protection on their character and their homes.

Pray for the people who find loneliness their companion this week. Some people are lonely year around. Some are especially lonely this time of year because they experienced loss of a loved one or they are separated by many miles from their loved ones. Some are lonely even though they are surrounded by people. Pray for God’s comfort, God’s peace, and God’s strength. Let’s ask God to help us encourage the lonely people in our lives.

We continue to move toward our World Mission Offering Goal. Living in Hong Kong we are often exposed to wonderful missionaries as they travel through our city. Pray specifically for some of the missionaries God has introduced to you. Pray for people in regions of the world and think through the challenges they face where they are working. Let’s invite God to help each of us participate in some kind of mission activity during the next year. Let’s pray that we will reach our mission goal soon. (I don’t want to leave the prayer time for missions without asking God’s guidance, comfort and strength for those who are working with the people of the Philippines were the typhoons have left great devastation and tragedy.)

This week we are praying for:

*people who don’t know Jesus

*the people who came to Christ this week

*the people who are ill

*families in crisis: couples in marriage seeking to handle difficulties; parents/children working through the challenges of family life; search for jobs; employer/employee difficulties;

*our kindergarten: the search for two additional teacher’s aids; strength for teachers as they face the excitement of the children during the last week of school; guidance in the Christmas programs on Friday

*KIBC: pray for help with our space issues; God’s guiding presence in our worship experiences; God’s provision in our church offering; the search for a publications/computer person (secretary) for the office.

Please pray for the strong movement of God in our Christmas services. Thank you for your prayers. God bless you.