Lord, I have been rebellious, unforgiving, hard-hearted, jealous, angry, envious, covetous and so much more and I am ashamed of them, because my actions continually nail you to the cross. Please forgive me and create in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit within me.

Have you knowingly rejected the person wearing rags on the street, the homeless person keeping warm by the subway gratings; or the child with his belly swollen by malnutrition? If you did, you might have missed your opportunity to meet Jesus, because he is in each person who have been stripped of their dignity. Take a second look.

Lord, give us the spirit of perseverance, so that we press on instead of wanting to give up when we fall. Many times Lord, you allow us to fall, to humble us, then, you help us to stand tall, after we have acknowledge you. Thank you, Lord!

Too often we think of our sickness as if unto death, we focus so much on the problem instead of looking for a solution. My brothers and sisters in Christ, the solution could be found in Jesus, he said, “ Come unto me all ye who are burdened and heavy laden I will refresh you, cast all of your cares on me, I will not leave you comfortless”, but many forget this, they worry and complain at every turn, they  groan all the day long, when they could have instead call upon the Lord, learn to cast their cares on him and let him carry their burden, for he said, “My yoke is easy and my burden is light.” When we give our cares to God he lifts them up and relieves us to carry the burden of others.

“Lord, when you fell under the weight of your cross which bore our sins, you got up and carried on in obedience to our Father. Teach us to fix our sights on you, to persevere when we fall away from your grace again and again. Let us draw from your mercy you show us, the strength to defeat our weaknesses, we ask you to help us and forgive us.”

Dear Lord, in difficult situations where we are called upon to help and we are unable whether out of helplessness or convenience, we turn our heads away from pain and suffering and fail to do what we can, we ask you to help us change and forgive us.

Dear God, we are so thankful for the many times that you have lifted heavy burdens from us, for the many times that you have reached out to help us, by sending someone to our aid, let us be mindful of the need to help someone else, just as you have helped us.

There are so many mothers who face difficult times with their children, some will ask for help while others are too prideful to do to. Lord, show us how and when to reach out to comfort those in need, open our hearts and fill them with compassion for others. Amen!

My brothers and sisters in Christ, no matter how many times we fall Jesus is there to pick us up, and so too, he wants us to stop being selfish and reach out and lift someone up who has fallen, to stop judging others before you know their story, to stop thinking just of yourselves, and be more like him, who knew no selfishness, but showed love to all. Praise the Lord!

Lord, when we lay our burdens aside and help others, you pick up our heavy load and makes us free to be a blessing to others in need. Help us to do so without ever complaining. It’s not for your praise, but for the honor and glory of God. Amen!