Prayer for Today, Tuesday, September 6

God of the Past, Present and Future,

We go through our lives seeking guidance. We look to family, friends, teachers and mentors. We pray, O Lord, that those we seek to lead us are wise, skillful and compassionate. Help us to realize, however, that the Holy Spirit is with us as well, to encourage, comfort and direct. We thank You, O Lord, for our talents and abilities. Help us to understand that Your will for our lives can best be understood as we examine and us those gifts. We celebrate the past, embrace the present and lean toward the future. Creator God, we give You thanks for those positive and encouraging influences along the way. In Jesus’ name we pray. AMEN.
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Please pray for the family of James Watkins. His funeral is today in our sanctuary at 2:00 p.m. Suzy Floyd and volunteers from the church and the Emmaus community will provide a meal for the family at Noon.

Please pray for Ila Crain. She is having a pacemaker procedure this afternoon.

The scripture for today is Ephesians 4:25 – 5:2:
So then, putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbors, for we are members of one another. Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not make room for the devil. Thieves must give up stealing; rather let them labor and work honestly with their own hands, so as to have something to share with the needy. Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption. Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.
Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
Grace and peace,

John McLemore