Morning Prayers

I am a morning person, a topic I address in a humorous fashion here. (I am one of those who refer to the practice of changing time in the spring as DST—Daylight Stealing Time—because the night people steal daylight from the morning people. But tonight we get to claim our morning hour of daylight back!) As such, my best time to try to connect with God is the morning. These three songs are from morning prayers.

Speak to Me

Speak to Me

© Edd Russell

Fresno 8/2006

 

 

CHORUS

C                        Em

In the morning, Lord

Dm                     G

When my heart is tender;

C                     Em

As the dawn awakes,

Dm                     G

When my mind is fresh,

 

 

VERSE 1

Dm          G

Speak to me, Lord.

Dm        G

Let me hear Your voice.

Dm          G

Speak to me, Lord.

Dm         G

Let me know Your truth.

 

 

VERSE 2

Come to me, Lord

Fill me with Your Spirit.

Come to me, Lord,

Fill me with Your pow’r.

Take Away

Take Away

© Edd Russell

Bakersfield 2001

AM7                      DM7

    Lord, I want to follow You today,

AM7                                 DM7

    You’re the One Who knows the only way;

AM7                          DM7

    And I know I can trust and follow You,

AM7                                 DM7

    So take my will, I surrender it to You.

 

Bm7        C#m

    Take away

Bm7        C#m

    Take away

                               Bm7

    The things that take

                              C#m

    Me away from You

                       Bm7

   Away from You. 

Take This Day

Take This Day

© Edd Russell

Fresno 8/2006

 

 

G     D              C2

   In this, Your day, Lord

G        D             C2

   We give You praise.

G       D         C2

   We wish  to live, Lord

G        D               C2

   For You all our days.

 

 

Em7   D       C2

   For You alone

Em7      D         C2

   Know all our needs,

Em7   D              C2

   We cry out to You

Em7   D             C2

         Oh, Lord, please

 

G   D/F#        Em7   C2

     Take this day

G          D/F#      Em7      C2

     You made for us that we might

G   D/F#     Em7   C2

     Go Your way

 

Vamp: C2      D

 

End: Fade on  G D C2

 

Memorial Day: Remembering the Warriors

In a few days Memorial Day will be celebrated in the USA.  It is a day to remember those who have fought and died for the country.

I was thinking it would be an appropriate time to remember those who truly fought for us:  for those who have labored for hours on their knees interceding for their friends, families, neighbors, their nation and even their enemies; and for those who have faithfully taught and obeyed the word of God.

I don’t remember Jesus anywhere telling us to take up weapons against others.  There was that time before they went to the garden of Gethsemane when Jesus told a quote about buying a sword and the disciples commenting that they had two (Luke 22:36-38).  But in the end Jesus told his disciples not to use the sword but to put it back in its place.

That same night the sword was used, also in the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus labored in prayer and He exhorted His disciples to do the same.  The business of the disciples was prayer, not sword fighting.

How often could the words of Jesus to His disciples that night be applied to me:

^40… Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. "Could you men not keep watch with me for one hour?" he asked Peter. "Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak." (Matthew 26:40-41 (NIV))

The Apostle Paul wrote about another weapon that is used by the followers of Jesus—the Word of God.  Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. (Ephesians 6:17 (NIV))

We wield our sword when we study the Word of God, live by its teaching and teach others from it.  (In contrast to fighting with the sword, commands to be obeyed from the Old Testament are summarized in Matthew 22:37-39 as loving God and loving others.)

There are many people who have given up their lives because they fought for God’s kingdom and chose not to use the weapons of this world.  Instead the chose the weapons of prayer and the Word of God. To them, the battle for the Kingdom of God was worth the cost.

One of my favorite passages in the Bible is Hebrews 11--a chapter sometimes known as the faith chapter because it begins with a definition of faith and then talks about some of the then famous heroes of the faith: people like Noah, Abraham, Moses and Rahab.

But it is the latter part of the chapter that intrigues the most--ever since I heard Elisabeth Elliot speak on this chapter at the Urbana 79 missions convention.  Verses 32-38 (NIV) read (emphasis mine):


³² And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets, ³³ who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions,³⁴ quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. ³⁵ Women received back their dead, raised to life again. Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. ³⁶ Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. ³⁷ They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated--³⁸ the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.

This memorial day, while we remember those who have fought for our country and given their lives for that cause, let us also remember those for whom this world was not worthy--those who have fought for God’s kingdom and have given their lives for an even better cause.  A good way for us to remember them would be to follow their example in prayer and studying, obeying and teaching others from the word of God.  Let us choose to be good soldiers, never yielding in our allegiance to the King of Kings and laboring hard with the weapons we have—the word of God and prayer.