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Let
Us Pray
A Prayer
from Bishop Richard Snyder
Bishops' Column in Light and Life Magazine - Sept./Oct. 2001
Our Father in the Heavens, thank You for being holy and calling
us to live holy lives. Thank You for visionary God fearing leaders
like John Wesley and B. T. Roberts who were called by You to spearhead
the Methodist and Free Methodist movements.
As I think about our Zion, the Free Methodist Church, I praise You
for Your incredible faithfulness. It's true Lord, Your steadfast
love never fails! Thank You.
When we decided nearly 100 years ago to consolidate our gains, we
surely grieved Your Spirit, because we put a damper on the mission
You had given us, to spread scriptural holiness across these lands
and to reform society. Yet You remained faithful. While our efforts
to organize caused us to flounder, You continued to call people
into missionary service, pastoral ministry and lay leadership. Thank
You.
When we began adding rules and regulations so that better controls
could be employed to protect our membership, You remained faithful.
While we tended to become more and more legalistic, forgetting in
many places the burning flame of our early love, You did not abandon
us, and all we can do is lift our hands and voices to You and shout
"Praise be to God!"
We suffered during those years, Lord. A lot of my generation simply
left, knowing that there was a more joyous and fulfilling way to
"do church" but You did not leave. Thank You, Lord!
When the sixties arrived and a lot of us allowed the world to squeeze
us into its mold, we entered a long and hard struggle that is still
hard to overcome. We began to regard pastors and superintendents
and bishops with suspicion. We began to despise institutions. We
lost respect for Your Body, the Church, and began to criticize and
undermine, even to the point of slander and gossip. Oh, Lord, how
far we strayed; how deep in sin we went. But You…You, Oh Jesus,
kept praying and did not give up on us. Thank You!
Then came our great prosperity. Money flowed into our pockets as
wages and stock markets began to boom. You offered us a phenomenal
opportunity to give so that Your great gospel could go to all people
everywhere. But, alas, we decided to hoard it for our own pleasure
and comfort. Where once we led all denominations in percentage giving,
we simply joined those denominations in the now 28 consecutive year
decline in percentage giving to Your work.
Dear Jesus, I read today that only 1/8 of born again American Christians
return the tithe to You. We are robbers Lord, and cry to You for
mercy. And, Lord, we repent, ready now to change our ways. It seems
to me, Father, that by now You would have abandoned us. But You
have not. You remain faithful. Glory be to God!
While many of us have wandered in the wilderness of selfish pursuits,
You have been faithful to build Your church. You've allowed us to
enter 33 new countries in these last 15 years. Over the same period
You expanded our membership more than three times to over 600,000
people. We prayed for more general conferences and You've taken
us from four to ten in just a dozen years. You alone are worthy
of praise.
I wonder, heavenly Father, what it would be like if we were totally
sold out to You?
We've tried a lot of things Lord. Consolidating and getting better
organized; control; legalism; complaining; hoarding. None of it
brought fulfillment or satisfied the hunger in our hearts for more
of God and for the expansion of Your Kingdom.
Heavenly Father, I want to declare Your faithfulness. And, I want
to surrender all to You. Take me, Lord. Take the Free Methodist
Church. Do in us and through us all You desire. Restore to us the
years the locusts have eaten. Oh Jesus, help us to forget that which
is behind and press forward to the mark of our high calling in Christ.
Take us to our knees again. We humble ourselves before You and pray
and seek Your face and turn from our wicked ways, knowing that You
will forgive us and heal us and heal our land; knowing that You
will become attentive to the cry of our hearts. For You are faithful.
Thank You! Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ
and to His Holy Spirit now and forever! Amen!
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