¹In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. ²The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. ³And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. ⁴And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. ⁵God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day. ⁶And God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” ⁷And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so. ⁸And God called the expanse Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day. ⁹And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. ¹⁰God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good. ¹¹And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so. ¹²The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. ¹³And there was evening and there was morning, the third day. ¹⁴And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, ¹⁵and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so. ¹⁶And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. ¹⁷And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, ¹⁸to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. ¹⁹And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day. ²⁰And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.” ²¹So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. ²²And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” ²³And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day. ²⁴And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so. ²⁵And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. ²⁶Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” ²⁷ So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. ²⁸And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” ²⁹And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. ³⁰And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. ³¹And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. ~ Genesis 1 (ESV)

Brothers and Sisters, welcome to this week’s Prayers for the Week post.  Yesterday, my wife Cindy and I spent the day in Old Salem, which is a historic Moravian village located in Winston-Salem, NC.  If you are ever in the area, I highly recommend that you spend some time there.  Yesterday was an absolutely incredible day to visit.  Hardly a cloud in the sky, low humidity, low crowds, and light, gentle breezes.  Yesterday was definitely the day the Lord had made, and Cindy and I rejoiced in it.

As we approached the cemetery known as God’s Acre, and wandered through it’s picturesque views of row upon row of tombstones, it kind of dawned on me once again that if you sit down and think about it, all of the world — all of God’s Creation is truly God’s Acre.  That is why I felt led to remind us all of the opening words to our Bible as found in Genesis chapter 1.

There are those in our world that do not believe that God exists, and will argue that point until they are blue in the face.  To them I say, how can God not exist with such beauty in His Creation?  Others claim that God has forsaken us, that He has turned His back on us.  What I say to you is that I do not believe that God turns His back to us — He is waiting for us to turn to Him once again.

Fortunately, from where I stand, it seems like more Americans are turning to God these days.  It used to be you only heard about the negative things — and that is certainly still true.  But now we are also hearing more about Christians being persecuted, and it seems like more people are willing to share their faith than before.  What do you think?  Is this the case?  Please let me know in the comments below, but please also continue reading and praying for our prayer requests and praises.

Prayer Requests & Praises

• Linda starts us off with her prayer request: On Tuesday, my extremely healthy (never sick a day in her life) younger sister was admitted to the CCU with a racing heart, dizziness, and really high blood pressure. (Her pressure has always been almost abnormally LOW).
  They’ve done all sorts of tests, cardiac caths, MRI, etc. and can’t find a cause. She’s still having episodes, although not as bad as when she was originally admitted. Because they needed the room, they moved her last night from CCU to a telemetry bed where at least she is still being monitored.
  Prayers would be so appreciated that the doctors might be able to find a cause they can either treat … or that whatever is going on might pass.
  My mother, who is still dealing with the death of my father, has been so worried as well. So if you could also pray for peace and comfort for her, that too would be appreciated.
  Thank you.
• My cousin Deb has a prayer request: Please pray for the chaos in our family to stop or for God’s grace to cover us and allow our test to be a testimony.
• My cousin Barb (Deb’s sister) also has a prayer request: Please say a prayer for my husband, we get the results from his latest CT tomorrow to see if the chemo is still doing its job.
  • Please keep praying for Barb’s husband, the chemo is not working anymore and they are looking at other options now.
• Leslie has a prayer request: Please pray for a friend of mine. Her husband is goimg through a rough patch dealing with his PTSD.
• Lastly, huge praise for my cousin Beth on the birth of her baby!  Congratulations Beth!

Now, please pray with us the prayer that Jesus taught us to pray:

Our Father, who art in Heaven,
Hallowed be Thy Name.

Thy Kingdom Come, Thy Will be done
On Earth as it is in Heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread
And forgive us our trespasses,
As we forgive those that trespass against us.

Lead us not into temptation
But deliver us from evil.

For Thine is the Kingdom, and Power, and Glory
Forever and ever. Amen.

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