Monday 3/11/13 Strength!!

Dear Father in Heaven.  Good Morning, and thanks for waking us another day.  Thanks for being with us throughout the night and again this day.  We give thanks in advance for our blessings that You will lay on us.  Thanks for a beautiful weekend and a beautiful day today.  Thanks, dear Father in Heaven, for our next breath of air.  And Dear Lord, so You know, I love You more than that next breath of air.  Lord, be in Rome as the Catholic religion elects a new earthly leader, and may they always keep that leader below You.  Lord, it is Monday and the day we pray for our leaders in Washington.  Lord, be with our President and his family, and may he come to You, I ray.  I pray for salvation for all of our leaders, for I do not believe they can lead our nation at all if they do not do it through You.  Bless also our veterans, our troops, our police, firefighters, medics, and all those who work to keep us safe and healthy.  We sure would appreciate it, dear Lord.  Thanks for watching over this line, and Lord, bless all those, please, who use it.  In Jesus' Name, I pray.  Amen.

Brothers and sisters, what a beautiful weekend and what a beautiful day yesterday.  I sat in the back yard on my scooter yesterday afternoon where it was 60 degrees.  I was amazed at all the birds.  I saw robins, sparrows, black birds, blue birds, I saw a turkey buzzard and even a bird that just came from the barber shop.  It was a "bald eagle."  (The barber took too much of the top.)  Bad joke, and they just might go downhill from here.  I did not see a Baltimore Oriole (I guess they were at spring training in Florida.)  I told you they were on their way downhill.  I also did not see any Cardinals, but I really did not expect to as they are ... are you ready for this one?  Are you sure?  I did not see any Cardinals as they all went to Rome!!  I think my jokes went to the birds this morning.

Please pray today for our leaders and for all of our military, past and present and future.  And yes, pray for those Cardinals in Rome as they pick a leader and then fly back home.  (They will use a plane.)  Last week one of our flock at the Bridges came to me and said:  "Pastor Dan, you tell us that God gives you your messages."  And I said yes, I pray and ask about a subject or if I have a subject I would like to preach and teach on, I ask God to bless me and anoint me with a message on that subject.  Example, the upcoming Easter messages.  She then said she heard a radio show and they were talking about Isaiah 41:10 and would I ask God to give me a message on the subject.  I came home and looked up the scripture and asked God to bless me with a message and some writing on the subject.  This is a great scripture, one that I could write about for a long, long time.  So why not get started on it?  I am calling the messages "Strength."

Strength 3/11/2013 Day One.

Isaiah 41:10 - So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.  (NIV)

Isaiah 40:29 - He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.  (NIV)

Do you remember as a child, maybe in Vacation Bible School or in Sunday School you learned this little song ... Jesus Loves Me?  I think it went something like this ...

Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.  Little ones to Him belong.  They are weak, but He is STRONG.  Yes, Jesus loves me.  Yes, Jesus loves me.  Yes, Jesus loves me.  The Bible tells me so.

I can remember as a child when driving from York to Harrisburg or Harrisburg to York, you would pass the "York Barbell Company" and on a pole outside they had a statue of a weight lifter with lots of muscles pushing up a big old barbell.  When I was about eight and my only brother Leonard was about twelve, he and a few of  his buddies started to lift weights.  They rented a two-car garage and opened a gym, which they called "Dave's Gym" as one of his buddies was named Dave.  These guys, about four to six of them, got a lot of free weights (I thought that meant someone gave them to them, but it was what they called the free standing weights.)  Some of them, my brother being one, really got into body building.  This was before drugs, and most often you could see the guys drinking either milk or orange juice.  All their free time went into pumping iron.  When Leonard turned sixteen and got his driver's license they would pile into his old Ford and head to York and buy more barbells.  My brother turned out to be the strongest man I ever knew.  Sadly, he took up smoking young and that took his life.  I often wished I had his strength.  At one time I was pretty strong, but I never had much power and surely not like Leonard.  Today, I lost most all of my strength, yet, when I really need to get something done, I talk to God and pull my strength from Him and not often can I not get the job done.  God has taught me how to use pivot points so you never need to lift all of anything.  He also taught me when I can't lift it, to call on a friend to help me.

There have been times that I have been out working on a car or bus and not all that long ago when I just could not get something done ... Then I remembered that I had started the job without asking God to help me.  What a difference that makes, my dear brothers and sisters.  Look at the two scriptures that I have written out so far.

From Isaiah 41:10 - I will strengthen you and help you.

Isaiah 40:29 - He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.  (NIV)

This week, God willing, we will look at scriptures that show us where we can strength from.  Brothers and sisters, please remember that we do not just need strength when we need to lift or move something or even open jars.  There are times we need added strength to get us through hard times, times of  money problems, times when a family member might go astray or even need help or heaven forbid they might get hurt.  We might need added strength when doing things even for the Lord, like right now we are going to reach out for a few people to come help hand out food.  And brothers and sisters, there are many times when we need added strength to fight off evil or to help us get back up when we might walk away from God.  Please pray for me as we write about these messages this week.  Strength, and remember this.  THERE IS STRENGTH IN THE NAME OF THE LORD!!

Dear Father in Heaven, I admit that I am weak, weak in all things and I need Your strength to pull upon.  Thanks, Father, for sending us strength in the name of Jesus, the one strength that will never fail us.  So help us, Lord, as we go forth this day and this week.  Help us to walk it with You and in Your light.  Lift me, Lord, for I am weak.  In the name of Jesus, I ask for strength.  Amen.

Now go forth sharing your blessings, asking God for strength ... I love ya (pass it on.)

Pastor Dan.