A FAITHFUL PRIEST
Suggested Reading: 1 Samuel 2
Click scripture link to read online or HERE to listen online (then click the symbol of the audio speaker above the scripture portion).
A statue of a monk reading God's Word with a cross in his hand is on the wall of a Franciscan monastery just outside of the Zion Gate in Jerusalem. Franciscans adhere to the teachings and spiritual disciplines of Saint Francis of Assisi. The new Pope, elected yesterday, chose the name Francis in his honour.
GOOGLE MAPS – To see where the photo was taken, click HERE.
Key Verse: 1 Samuel 2:35
Then I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest who shall do according to what is in My heart and in My mind. I will build him a sure house, and he shall walk before My anointed forever.
PRAYER FOR TODAY:
Thank You Lord for the prophetic prayers of Mary and Hannah. I pray that You would grant me a revelation of Your greatness, and give me words to express to You my heart and mind. Words which are just between You and me, Lord Jesus! ! ! ! Here goes ………………………. Amen!
100 PERSONAL WORDS:
I love the fact that after waiting so long for her first child (Samuel), Hannah had 5 more children. With my Mother, Hazel Pritchard Mainse, it was the opposite. My oldest sister Willa is 8 years older than me, and my second sister, Elaine, is 6 years older than me. After Elaine was born, the wait began, according to my Dad. Our mother had several miscarriages, and then I made my appearance. There were no more children in our family. We don’t have a record of our mother praying a prophetic prayer as Hannah did, but my Dad did write a poem. If I can find it, I’ll add it in a P.S. below. My mother died when I was 12, and my most vivid memory of her is seeing her on her knees, praying for others and particularly for her husband and her children. In order to spend a long time on her knees without tiring, she would either kneel with her back straight, or down on what we called our “hunkers.” She would sit back on her ankles. I’ve tried that but it doesn’t work for me. The straight up posture is my best and most comfortable kneeling position. My back does not tire as it does if I bend at the waist. This is probably more information than needed, but I find that as time goes by, I’m more and more comfortable doing this daily blog! I hope you don’t mind.
Yours, asking the Lord as the disciples did, “Lord teach us to pray.” Amen!
David
P.S. Here is the poem my father wrote about me on March 29, 1944, while on the mission field in Assiut, Egypt (when I was 7). He was unable to return home to us for six years due to the restricted travel during the Second World War…
“Sonny”
Beautiful! David, your dad’s poem, reflecting his desire for your
life, has been fulfilled.
There is a bonding here with you and fellow bloggers as we are
studying and reflecting on God’s word together. I feel so blessed
and thank God for giving us His Son, to be our High Priest and
Prophet…(Heb.9:12) and will be the King of kings and Lord of
lords…Praise His most holy name.
Thank you once again, David, Reynold and Ron…what a blessing
you are to so many.
I pray today for what I hope will be a great Priest in Pope Francis. Although I’m not Catholic myself, I know that power and influence a Godly man can have on the world. I pray that He knows Christ personally and that his first mission is to make Him known to this lost and weary world. May he know the heart of God and may the Holy Spirit guide his path.
David, what a wonderful piece of poetry, you must have been the apple of his eye! What a wonderful thing it was for you to have such a Godly father to give you an example in life’s journey. I bet you have some marvelous memories of him. God Bless and have a great day blog buddies!
Fatherhood is surely a blessing in your family, David. As too, motherhood. Such a thoughtful and strong poetic message written for you by your Dad! It held much meaning for me to read, both as a father and a son. Thank you Reynold for drawing referrence to our new Pope Francis, inspired by St. Francis of Assisi.
Prayer of St. Francis …
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury,pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen
My grandfather would recite this to us many times, a memory which I hold close. Also, thank you for helping us in our prayer today, David. I feel the Holy Spirit and the love of Christ is ministering abundantly to each of us this day!
How wonderful to know that you were a wanted and cherished child and that you had such a Christian heritage. You, of course, had to make your own commitment to the Lord. I prayed with people on a prayer line that the person of God’s choosing would be selected as Pope. I believe he was! (I’m not Catholic). I’m unbelievably thankful for the opportunities I’ve had to know Jesus and I’m still learning! Thanks, guys, for your part in the lessons.
Awesome! The poem is just beautiful.
Dear David, It goes to show the importance of parents speaking blessings in their childrens lives. It was certainly fulfilled in your life, for you have demonstrated over the many years that you are a good and faithful servant, and the Good Lord have used you to be a blessing to others.
May the good Lord continue to sustain and strengthened you, for He is the strength of your life. Thank you for sharing and God bless you always. I will keep praying for you.
Dear David, God’s beloved, thank you so much for your daily blogs, the one today was sorely needed. I heeded your exhortation to pray and the Lord gave me words of comfort.
I am so sorry you missed knowing your father, he sounds a wonderful man of God.
I have been a missionary and separated from loved ones. One day, God will unite us and wipe all the tears away. Sincerely, Anne
David,
Your Dad’s poem brought a tug to my heart and a tear to my eye! Precious!
Welcome home!
J.R.
David, we are blessed every day by The Word of The Lord you bring us and your personal touches draw us closer. Thank you for sharing your poem, which I am sure means so much to you. I shouted my prayer to THE LORD today and it felt good!! Just between JESUS and me!!
Have a wonderful day fellow bloggers.
Some of the words from your Father’s poem spoke to me this morning, particular the following:
To trust in God, and ever do,
that which is good, and better still,
follow the leading of His will.
Thank you so much for sharing!
Continue to pray for health needs as well.
Blessings to my fellow bloggers, God be with you!
Hi David, I think the personal details of your posture in prayer are very helpful. I just recently discovered that myself.
How blessed you are to have such a rich godly heritage. I pray that all of us would leave such a heritage for our descendants. Amen.
Hi David, Thank you so very much for sharing that wonderful intimate poem your father blessed you with. lf only we could turn the clock back and write a beautiful poem for our children. Words can build up, lift up and strengthen, or tear down and shatter and weaken young lives.l guess it’s not too late to do that even now. Our children will always be children to us,in our hearts,no matter what age they are. l loved both Mary and Hannah’s prayer and adoration to our heavenly Father. We can also write loving and beautiful words to our earthly parents if they are still with us on Thinking of You cards for instance. Thanks David#2 for bringing us St Francis of Assis’s wonderful prayer. May the new Pope love the Lord our God with all his heart,with all his mind and with all his strength, know Jesus intimately and follow the leading of our precious Holy Spirit.
Wonderful blog and poem, David. You have fulfilled the desires of your father’s heart and done the Father’s will and are still doing along with your family. I remember walking up to the church in Assisi at sunrise years ago and feeling the Lord’s presense in the quietness. Have a good day in His Presence everyone.
I agree with Ger ____as well that was a beautiful poem David
I hope you are enjoying the day it is getting a little bit more sunny
and warm in Charlottetown. Time to wear a spring coat.
Lianne Hogg
That’s a beautiful poem David. Thanks for sharing that family memory. You can hear the love and promise for his child.
I look forward to your blog every day and enjoy your personal insights and wonderful pictures that bring back memories of my trip to Israel years ago…..our computer needed some intervention for the last few days so I really missed getting to your blog ….I certainly would miss not being able to keep up daily so I’m so glad things are working again!!…
You are so appreciated and “Thank-you” so much for your labor of love for HIM…..:)
Dear David…still with you for your Daily Blog…and what a wonderful precious poem your father wrote for you. Especially to know that he was far from you and the family at the time. You and all of your family as well as the Crossroads family inspire me every day…since I first “met” you via 100 Huntley Street in the beginning days.
I was so blessed with the opportunity to interview you on CKER Radio in Edmonton a couple of times during your cross country tours to support Traditional marriage. (and then you interviewed me on the “old” set and I sang a couple of the songs from my CD for a 100 Huntley St. episode which aired on Thanksgiving Day 2002) I also had the chance to interview Moira Brown, Nazaar and Lorna Dueck over the years I worked with that station. It was during the years my husband continued to outlive a cancer diagnosis of “two years to live” in 1998…by 7 more years than any doctor thought possible. (He passed in 2007) On my website there is a photo of my husband, Gerry and me standing with you in the Atrium at the Crossroads Centre…taken just after our interview.
I pray for the Lord’s healing touch for you David…and that he will keep you here to serve Him by His Grace…blessing His children.
P.S. I am a night owl who really appreciates your Amazing Grace series with all the archived interviews! Always a reminder of the Miracles God does!
God Bless you…
God Blessed you with a loving earth father too!!
God keep Blessing you!! May His healing prescence be with you!!
Nancy
Gog Bless you David , you shurly are a man of prayer . Any little postures or advice you can pass on to the rest of us .is so aprisiated. I do look forward to conecting with you in ,time with God and others.” God I ask for you to keep David strong.” ( on one brodcast yesterday— I heard that our Pope Francis The 1st. was riding around Roam on his bicycle befor the election ) did any one else catch that? Father God , please help us all ,to be strong and afective in our prayers. Show us Your will for each of us. We all need to be close to You and each other in thees trying times. God Bless Always David.
Dear David, I so appreciate your labour of love in providing the daily devotional and have been so blessed by it. I just love your Dad’s poem today…it reminded me of Jacob blessing his sons in Gen 49, like this was your Dad’s blessing over you – his prayer for God’s providence and guidance in your life even while he was far away at the time. Many of the things your Dad ‘spoke’ over you have surely come to pass. What an awesome blessing! I am sure you do the same for your son. May our God bless and strengthen you daily! Sue G
I haven’t read your blog for a while, since I was led to concentrate on my Celebrate Recovery. I suppose I was led here today (Friday) after praying for my body to have better circulation and for my feet not to fall asleep when I get on my Knees. I so appreciate the Poem from today (Friday) as well, thank you again for the time and effort that you put into this blog.
Yes, this is so precious it did tug my heart, what a blessed Heritage,
Thank you for sharing your heart with us