Christian Reflection and Prayer

“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me:
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.”

― Emma Lazarus

PLEASE DON'T TURN THEM AWAY

But now thus says the LORD, He who created you, O
Jacob, He who formed you, O Israel: "Fear not, for I
have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you
are Mine." - Isaiah 43:1

 

Now most of you know John 3:16 -- the "Gospel in a
nutshell." You remember how it begins: "For God so
loved the world ...." That passage means the Lord
knows and loves everybody, which includes all the
billions of people who have ever or will ever live.

God loves everybody. Scripture is clear on that. But it
is also clear that He loves me, the individual.

 

When Jesus was born, it was to save me. When He
knelt in the Garden of Gethsemane, He received and
carried my sins. When He died, that was for me ...
and so was His resurrection. And now, as Luther said,
"The Holy Ghost has called me by the Gospel and
keeps me in the faith."

 

And that's true for you, too. You see, you are a very
special, a one-of-a-kind person to the Lord.

 

THE PRAYER:

 

Dear Lord, truly You are a great God. You have the
capacity to love and reach out to save an entire world,
but You do so one soul at a time. I pray that while
there is still time, the lost may come to know You,
appreciate You, and love You in return. This I ask in
Jesus' Name. Amen

 

(Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries)

Verse

 

But let justice roll down like waters,
and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
Amos 5:24

 

Voice

 

If we are to have peace on earth, our loyalties
must become ecumenical rather than sectional.
Our loyalties must transcend our race, our tribe,
our class, and our nation; and this means we
must develop a world perspective.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

 

Prayer

 

As we honor the legacy of Dr. King, and the work
of people involved in the Civil Rights Movement,
bless us with the wisdom you bestowed upon them.

 

(Sojourners,   sojo.net)