Dear Guatemala Missions Team...

I am so encouraged by each of you and your willingness to hear the call of Jesus to spread a passion for the Glory of God in places that are under-funded and under-loved. When I see a team like this go out, I feel that what we are doing as the Living Stones Community is really making an impact on lives. The measure of our ministry will never be how many butts are in the seats but rather how many obey the call of Jesus to “Come and Die”. I pray that your being there now will fuel your being here later. May your mission in Guatemala strengthen your mission in Reno; wherever we go it is the same mission. May the Lamb of God receive the reward of His suffering!

Here is my prayer for you…

Mighty God, who creates and commands trillions of stars to shine:
You have command that billions hear your Gospel preached and see your gospel lived out to the poor. I ask that by your sovereign goodness, you would reveal the urgency of the mission worldwide to this team. Reveal the glorious love of Jesus that heals even the deepest wounds. I ask that your Spirit would pinpoint areas of bitterness and sin and encourage each Living Stones Missionary with the abundant ways you are working all around them. Make their work swift and accurate, and make their hearts humble and teachable. I pray that you would guard your children from the evil one and his works and effects. Let them know that they stand on the edge of eternity, pushing back the works of the evil one and that one day they will be in your glorious company.
Amen.

A Prayer For Our Tongue

O Lord we repent! Make our tongues yours! With them we bless you and sing to you and teach your word. And with them we curse those made in your image. With them we lie, complain, gossip and damage others. O God, if it were not for your grace—given through Jesus’ Cross—our sins of the tongue (done in this week alone) would be enough to condemn us to the deep parts of hell.

O, but on the cross we see your Son in our place for our tongues! Even if that were the only load he carried, he would still cry out “forsaken” under its darkness and despair. But, O my God, he bears the load of a billion tongue defilers! Unless it had been divine blood, there could be no atonement for such a load of tongue sins as ours. But because of His infinite worth, our defiled tongue was no match for His unlimited grace.

Hallelujah! He has rescued us! There is hope for the broken!

O God, we pray this in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.