We Love God!

God: "I looked for someone to take a stand for me, and stand in the gap" (Ezekiel 22:30)

Gentleness says I will fight God’s wars God’s way. I can trust that His way of graciousness is right without resorting to manipulation or intimidation. It says I can bear up under abuse and not be mad at the world in the process. It says my testimony to Christ is more important than winning at any cost. It says His Spirit is working in me, producing the fruit of gentleness. As a matter of fact, gentleness is so important that Paul says in Philippians 4:5 that it should “be known to all men.”
Randy Smith

Christians seem blind to the hypocrisy of treating homosexual conduct so seriously and adultery and divorce so lightly. Evangelicals cry out that they must defend “traditional marriage” against the danger of “gay marriage.” But the greatest threat to traditional marriage is not from without but from within; from the rampant adultery and divorce that is found in heterosexual marriages. Churches preach against “gay marriage” (and rightly so), but tolerate adultery, divorce, and adulterous remarriage within their own memberships. The divorce rate among Christians is a disgrace. The church is so morally compromised by adultery and sexual sin (e.g., addiction to pornography and fornication) among its heterosexuals that it has lost its power to confront the plague of homosexuality.
William Einwechter

A LITANY FOR THE SICK

O God, the Father, Creator of the world;
Have mercy upon me.

O God, the Son, Redeemer of mankind;
Have mercy upon me.

O God, the Holy Ghost, Sanctifier, Com-
forter, and Perfecter of the saints;
Have mercy upon me.

Holy, blessed, and glorious Trinity;
Have mercy upon me.

O Father of mercies, and God of all con-
solation, who dost comfort us in all our tribu-
lations, and sufferest us not to be afflicted
above that we are able to bear, and who
always grantest to Thine own a happy issue
out of their afflictions, either by a restora-
tion to this life, or a removal to the better
life to come;
Have mercy upon me.

Thou, who chastisest and scourgest those
whom Thou lovest; who judgest and cor-
rectest ua with weakness and sickness, that
we may not be condemned with the world;
Have mercy upon me.

Thou, who didst breathe into man the
breath of life, and delightest not in the
destruction of the living;
Have mercy upon me.

Thou who makest sore and bindest up,
who woundest and makest whole, who bring-
est down to the grave and raisest up, who
deliverest Thy servants in six troubles, and
in seven lettest no evil touch them;
Have mercy upon me.

Thou, who in answer to the prayers of
Thy prophets Elijah and Elisha, didst restore
the dead to life, and heal the leprosy of Naa-
man; who didst deliver Hezekiah from death,
when he wept and cried unto Thee; and
didst restore Job out of all his afflictions;
Have mercy upon me.

O Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living
God, who wast sent to heal the broken in
heart; to preach liberty to the captives, and
comfort to all that mourn; who tookest upon
Thee our infirmities, and barest our sick-
nesses; who wentest about doing good, and
healing all that were sick and oppressed; by
whose power the blind received their sight,
the lame walked, the lepers were cleansed,
and the dead raised;
Have mercy upon me, and deliver me.

Thou, who restoredst the woman who had
been bowed down eighteen years, who curedst
the centurion’s servant, and the daughter of
the woman of Canaan, having respect to her
faith;
Have mercy upon me, and heal me.

Thou, who in Thine agony didst sweat
great drops of blood; who, though praying
that the cup might pass from Thee, didst
still submit to Thy Father’s will; and in
dying didst commend Thy Spirit into His
hands; who, by Thy death, didst destroy
him who had the power of death; and who,
by Thy resurrection, didst give us a lively
hope of rising from the dead;
Have mercy upon me, and help me.

II.

O Lamb of God, that takest away the sin
of the world, have mercy upon me.
O Lord, deliver me.

From the guilt and burden of my sins, and
from the deceits and assaults of the Devil;
O Lord, deliver me.

From all impatience, and murmuring
against Thy will and Providence; from all
weakness of mind; from all distrust and
despair of Thy mercy; from the fear of
death, and too anxious a desire of life;
O Lord, deliver me.

From undue care about things temporal,
and neglect of those which are eternal; and
from such grievous pain and agony as would
draw my mind from Thee;
O Lord, deliver me.

From Thy wrath; from the terrible sen-
tence of the great day; from the gates of
hell, and the power of darkness; and from
the bitter pains of eternal death;
O Lord, deliver me.

By the infinite mercies of God the Father;
by the infinite merits of God the Son; by
the boundless grace and consolation of God
the Holy Ghost;
O Lord, deliver me.

By the pains of death, O blessed Jesus,
which encompassed Thee in the garden; by
Thine agony and bloody sweat; by Thine
anguish on the Cross;
O Lord, deliver me.

By Thy powerful resurrection, and glo-
rious ascension; by Thy gracious and pre-
vailing intercession: in the time of pain and
sorrow, in the hour of death, and in the day
of judgment;

O Lord, deliver me.

III.

I, a poor sinner, beseech Thee to hear me,
O Lord:

That Thou wouldst not enter into judg-
ment with Thy servant; for in Thy sight
can no man living be justified;
I beseech Thee to hear me, O Lord.

That being made whole by Thy grace,
from my disease, I may sin no more, lest a
worse thing come upon me;
I beseech Thee to hear me, O Lord.

That being delivered from my present
affliction; and from the hands of all my
spiritual enemies, I may serve Thee without
sadness or fear, in holiness and righteous-
ness all the days of my life;
I beseech Thee to hear me, O Lord.

That always knowing the uncertainty of
the time of my death, and the certainty of
Thy Judgment, I may set my house in order,
and be ever ready for Thy coming;
I beseech Thee to hear me, O Lord.

That, when and howsoever it may please
Thee to dispose of me, either for life or for
death, I may cheerfully submit myself to
Thy most holy will, so that for me to live
may be Christ, and to die gain;
I beseech Thee to hear me, O Lord.

That, according to the multitude of my
sorrows Thy comforts may delight my soul;
and that as the sufferings of Christ abound
in me, so from Him also may be my conso-
lation;
I beseech Thee to hear me, O Lord.

That these light afflictions, which are but
for a moment, may work out for me a far
more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;
I beseech Thee to hear me, O Lord.

That, whether I live, I may live unto the
Lord, or whether I die, I may die unto the
Lord; that Christ may be glorified in my
body and in my soul; and that neither life
nor death, nor principalities nor powers,
nor things present nor things to come, may
be able to separate me from Christ Jesus my
Lord;

I beseech Thee to hear me, O Lord.

That, the earthly house of this tabernacle
being dissolved, I may have a building of
God, an house not made with hands, eternal
in the heavens; and that walking in the
midst of the shadow of death, I may fear no
evil, because Thou art with me;
I beseech Thee to hear me, O Lord.

O Saviour of the world, who, by Thy
Cross and precious blood, hast redeemed
me, save me, and keep me, now and for
ever. Amen.

Almighty God, who art the joy of all
them that put their trust in Thee, Restorer
of the lost, Comforter of the desolate. Helper
of the helpless. Healer of the sick, into Thy
hands I commend my body and my soul;
let me live to serve Thee, or let me die in
Thy peace; through the comforts of the
Holy Ghost, and the merits and mediation
of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.