Grace and peace on this Saturday. It’s good to finish up the week with you in the Pastor’s Workshop.
As you know this week we are finishing up our series, “Begin with Basics”. Our messages have been based in Genesis 1, the first Creation story of the Scripture. We are finishing up our series with God finishing up Creation. This week we have focused on Day 7, on Sabbath and on being “Blessed by Rest”.
Saturday is a day in the workshop when the writing is done. That part of the creative work is over. And so in one sense, Saturday is a Sabbath day. It is a day of rest.
In another sense Saturday is an active day. On Saturday we “prepare with prayer” for what is about to come tomorrow. We lift our time of worship up to God. We ask our Lord to be at work. We pray that God would use our message to fill hearts with hope, minds with truth and wills with strength.
As you pray for tomorrow, for worship, and for all who will be “tuning in” what are your prayers? Particularly in relation to the Sabbath and being “Blessed by Rest” what blessings are you praying for yourself and for others?
Here are a few of my prayers:
· I pray we would not let our lives be overrun by busy-ness, by work, or by worry.
· I pray we would know God has created Sabbath as a gift of rest for us.
· I pray we would know God has commanded that gift of rest for us because we need it.
· I pray that through Sabbath time, worship time and personal prayer time we would be renewed and replenished in our energy for engaging life.
· I pray that through Sabbath time, worship time and personal prayer time we would be reconnected with our Savior in ways we know the refreshment of Christ’s saving grace.
· I pray that as we enter each new week, with all the challenges ahead, we would do so as those who are fresh, rested and ready, we would do so as those who have experienced the blessing of Sabbath. We have been “Blessed by Rest”.
These are my prayers for tomorrow and our time of worship. What are yours?
I covet your prayers for our time together in worship. I know God hears what you hope and pray for our worship. I believe God answers in ways that bring blessings for you and for all.
In that gift of grace, I invite you to spend time in prayer today.
I look forward to being with you tomorrow in worship in the Master’s Workshop!
Prayer: Gracious God, thank You for the blessing of prayer. Thank You for the gift of Sabbath rest. Thank You for how refresh and renew us in Your creative love. Thank You for how You reconnect with us in Your replenishing mercies. For all the blessings that Sabbath rest brings and for all the ways we enter into Your grace through “Remembering the Sabbath and Keeping it Holy” we give You our thanks and praise in Jesus’ name. Amen