Christian Living on Mothers

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Mother's Day Prayers for Worship: For Celebration and for Those Who Grieve

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Keywords

Break out the carnations! Mother's Day is coming. Mother's Day is a little tricky for pastors, though. It's a spring morning, things are finally warming up (in Northern climes, anyway), an...

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A Mother Holds On

Author

Andy Cook

Keywords

Davon Huss tells the story of a boy who came home one hot afternoon, anxious to take a cool swim in the pond behind his home. He lived in south Florida, so taking a quick dip was a common way to cool ...

liturgy

Father-God, our burden bearer; Jesus,

Author

Richard Herman

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 5:14-16, Isaiah 9:6, 1 Timothy 2:1-2, Revelation 21:4, Jeremiah 30:17

Father-God, our burden bearer; Jesus, God the Son and lover of our souls; Spirit of God–giver of life and power: Thank You! Thank You for those we love and those who love us. Thank You for mothers and...

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Rejection and Acceptance

Author

Scott Bowerman

Keywords

Scripture

Jeremiah 3:13, 1 Peter 5:7, Romans 8:38-39, Matthew 11:28, Isaiah 66:13, Psalm 27:10, Isaiah 49:15-16

In his book The Logic of the Spirit, James Loder talks about a woman with whom he had been in a therapeutic relationship for years. This woman’s underlying issue seemed to be a complete sense of rejec...

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Mother's Day Intercessory Prayer

Author

Richard Herman

Keywords

Scripture

Luke 7:11-15, John 19:25-27, 1 Samuel 1:1-28, John 14:27, Jeremiah 30:17, Isaiah 66:13, Psalm 34:18

Thank You, Lord, for the gifts of life, of love and of care that come from You, wrapped in our moms and step-moms, in our grand-moms, great-grandmas, daughters, sisters, and aunts. We’re grateful for...

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God’s Gifts to Immature People

Author

R. Paul Stevens

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 127:3, Ephesians 6:4, Colossians 3:21

Children are God’s gifts to immature people to help them grow up. They are also God’s gifts to help parents go deep with God. . . . Parenting is not for anything. It is not a contract with God in whic...

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Slinging Chow and Fruitless Trees

Author

Hannah C. Hall

Keywords

An empty-nester friend of mine was recently reflecting on the long days at home with a growing family. “You just gotta keep slinging chow,” she said with a laugh. I laughed too . . . but not quite as ...

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Slowing Down with Ten Kids

Author

Jerry Orf

Keywords

Susanne Wesley, wife of Pastor Samuel Wesley, lived in the late 1600’s and early 1700’s She gave birth to nineteen children, ten survived. Everyday she would take her Bible to her favorite chair and...

liturgy

Call to Worship for Mother’s Day

Author

Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia

Keywords

Come children God is calling us Gathering us Covering us with hope-filled wings Come children Rest against our Beloved’s breast Nurtured and nourished On the milk of love and kindness

Quote

Author

A. W. Tozer

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We need never shout across the spaces to an absent God. He is nearer than our own soul, closer than our most secret thoughts”

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The Magnificat, Luke 1:46b-55

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Scripture

Luke 1:46-55

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my Savior; for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant. From this day all generations will call me blessed: the Almighty ha...

Quote

Author

C. S. Lewis

Scripture

1 Corinthians 13:, Matthew 5:44, Luke 6:32, John 15:9, Romans 5:8, 1 John 4:19, Hosea 2:

Love may forgive all infirmities and love still in spite of them: but Love cannot cease to will their removal.

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The Healing Power of Christ's Love

Author

Scott Bowerman

Keywords

Scripture

Jeremiah 31:3, 1 Peter 5:7, Romans 8:38-39, Matthew 11:28, Isaiah 66:13, Psalm 27:10

James Loder, in his book The Logic of the Spirit, talks about a woman with whom he had been in a therapeutic relationship for years. This woman’s underlying issue seemed to be a complete sense of reje...

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Struggling to Feel Chosen

Author

M. Robert Mulholland Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

Ephesians 1:3-6

Commenting on Ephesians 1:3-6, M. Robert Mulholland describes just how powerful it can be personally, when we recognize that we were chosen by God, especially for children who are the result of an unp...

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Jesus, Lord—because you took on flesh,

Author

Richard Herman

Scripture

Isaiah 53:4-5, 2 Corinthians 1:3-4, Romans 12:15, 1 Peter 5:7, Psalm 34:18, Hebrews 4:15-16

Jesus, Lord—because you took on flesh, You know what it’s like to be us. You know what keeps us awake at night, or yanks us out of sleep in the early morning. You know what it’s like to have good days...

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God’s Story or Our Story?

Author

Gregory Koukl

Keywords

Our Story starts with a person for another reason…God is the very first piece of the Christian Story because the Story is all about him. God is the central character. The Story does not start with us ...

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He Breathed on Them

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Scripture

John 20:19-23, Genesis 2:7, 1 Kings 17:17-24, Ezekiel 37:9- 10

[A] vivid scene from the Gospel of John [John 20:19-23]. It’s intimate from the start-a stunningly private scene that occurs behind locked doors among dear friends. The scene begins with a friendly gr...

liturgy

Heavenly father, we confess to you that

Author

Jacob Traeger

Keywords

Heavenly father, we confess to you that we do not always think or act as the children which you made us to be. You tell us to honour our fathers and mothers, not to murder, commit adultery, steal or c...

liturgy

Adapted from Psalm 22

Author

Hughes Oliphant Old

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 22:null

Have you really forsaken us? Why are you so far away from where we need you? Why do you not pay attention to what seems to us So alarming? Why are you so otherworldly? Day and night we have cried...

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Adapted from Psalm 139 (NIV)

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 139:null

You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my w...

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O give thanks to the Lord, for he is

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O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, and his mercy and truth endure forever. Thank the God of heaven, because his goodness endures forever. Let Israel now say that his mercy endures forever. ...

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The Importance of Listening to God

Author

Alan Fadling

Keywords

Scripture

Ecclesiastes 5:1-2, John 10:4

Over the years, I have led hundreds of retreats that have at their center a few hours to be alone and quiet in listening prayer. At one such retreat, one participant shared a conversation she had wit...

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The Joyful Announcement of the Gospel of God

Author

Darrell W. Johnson

Keywords

Sermon on the Mount

Pastor and Professor Darrell W. Johnson sets the scene for the Sermon on the Mount with great description. This could serve as a model for the beginning of a sermon on the S.O.M. They were sitting i...

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Simplicity vs. Frugality

Author

Kyle David Bennett

Keywords

Sometimes we confuse simplicity with frugality. Frugality is another term associated with owning. A frugal person is someone who makes wise decisions with money and food. “He is frugal in his spending...

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A Dream of Immanuel

Author

James Bryan Smith

Keywords

Scripture

Isaiah 7:14, Matthew 1:23, John 1:14, Philippians 2:6-8, Hebrews 2:14, John 3:16

When he was a young boy, twelfth-century church leader Bernard of Clairvaux fell asleep outside a church while waiting to go in for a Christmas Eve service. In his sleep he had a dream, a kind of visi...

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Look at These

Author

Andy Cook

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 121:7-8, Romans 8:38-39, John 10:28-29, Psalm 91:14-15, Isaiah 41:10

Davon Huss tells the story of a boy who came home one hot afternoon, anxious to take a cool swim in the pond behind his home. He lived in south Florida, so taking a quick dip was a common way to cool ...

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Loving Your Enemies & Costly Love

Author

Brett McCracken

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 5:44

One of the costliest requirements of Christlike love is Jesus’s call to “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matt. 5: 44). What does this look like for Christians in today’s world...

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Tara Storch Experiences a Heart Transplant

Author

Max Lucado

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In the spring of 2010 a skiing accident took the life of her (Tara Storch) thirteen-year-old daughter, Taylor. What followed for Tara and her husband, Todd, was every parent’s worst nightmare: a funer...

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The Christmas Gift

Author

Andy Cook

Keywords

Scripture

Isaiah 61:3, John 11:32-35, Romans 8:28, Genesis 37:50, James 1:17, Romans 6:23 , 1 Corinthians 12:28

A preaching professor at Harvard University tells the story of the year his 5-year-old son was working on an art project in his kindergarten class. It was made of plaster, resembled nothing in particu...

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Dysfunctional Greeting Cards

Author

Wayne Stiles

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 5:8, Ephesians 2:4-5, Matthew 6:6-8, Matthew 6:6-8, Galatians 50:20

I’m convinced some company today could make a killing if it had the guts to market dysfunctional greeting cards. Most birthday or holiday cards gush with flowery sentiments such as, “To the greatest f...

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