05/09/2021
Do we rise each morning with thanksgiving and praise on our lips, and continue lifting these offerings towards God until at last we seal our morning prayer by offering it in the name of Jesus Christ? This should be how we begin our every day, and enter into our day of unceasing prayer... each day’s devotion being offered in, and through, the glorious name of Jesus.
“And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
Colossians 3:17 ESV
Today we celebrate Mother’s Day, and as our prayers are being offered we honor, and remember them for all the amazing times that they have spoken to God, and cried for us in their morning prayers through the years. They have prayed incessantly. They have reached out to God through prayers that they would be blessed with a child, then prayers of love and thankfulness when that prayer for conception was answered. They pray tears of love as they cradle their children to their breast for the very first time. Mothers pray for our health and wellbeing, for our safety and protection, they pray tears when we have suffered or been harmed in any way. They pray for our strength as we walk through life, and sometimes, pray in mourning as they weep over our premature death. Yet their most fervent of all prayers joins their morning devotion as an unrelenting intercession for our faithfulness to God, and Jesus Christ, asking that the Holy Spirit guide us in all we do. This is a prayer offered up in near desperation as they ask that we be called to believe, and come to know Jesus as our savior. We read of Hannah praying in this way for Samuel...
“For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted me my petition that I made to him. Therefore I have lent him to the Lord. As long as he lives, he is lent to the Lord.” And he worshiped the Lord there.”
1 Samuel 1:27-28 ESV
“Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward.”
Psalm 127:3 ESV
So mothers are blessed as the chosen vessels of God’s amazing miracle that brings forth new life. Our mothers carry us in their wombs as we toss, turn, and grow ready for birth, and their bodies prepare us for the mouth of God to breathe life into us...
“The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.”
Job 33:4 ESV
and they teach us of faith as we prepare for our first step into the light of Jesus Christ His Son, who passes God’s light through himself into us, and through us into our own children, and further... into the world.
“Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.””
John 8:12 ESV
Fathers love their wives, and then women become mothers. God’s mouth from which his Holy Word is spoken breaths life, and Jesus Christ who is the light of the world, lights the lives of these new souls, all uniting to make us who we are. But, mothers are indeed special, and filled with a flowing bounty of God’s love... this He did in preparation for that moment when the fullness of time would come, and He would choose a mother for His own Child, Emanuel, Jesus; a mother to carry Him within herself, nourish Him physically and spiritually, and then to watch over Him as He obediently fulfilled God’s Will.
“And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.”
Luke 1:30-31 ESV
Today we celebrate our mothers for the role they have played in God’s creation. For their love and nurturing that began the moment Eve first conceived, continued on to the instant of Mary’s Immaculate Conception and the birth of Jesus. Today we honor our own mothers for their love, long suffering in prayer, and the lives we lead.
“Hear, my son, your father’s instruction, and forsake not your mother’s teaching, for they are a graceful garland for your head and pendants for your neck.”
Proverbs 1:8-9 ESV
Prayer:
Father, thank you for motherhood, and for the mothers from whom all your children have been birthed, loved, and raised in their lives, and faith; knowing your ways, and following after your Son Jesus. Thank you for the abundance of love you have placed in their hearts to insure our good and healthy lives in heaven, and on earth... these lives being born in love, and nourished by your Word. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God who gave Adam a workmate, a wife, and all your children a mother. Praised be your name for loving us as you do, and placing a portion of your love in each of us to keep us, and to touch our hearts with care for one another, but praise you in song for the overflowing love of a mother for her child. Great are you our Lord and greatly to be praised for every blessing, and for life itself. Merciful are you to have replaced our hardness of heart with the soft and humble love exemplified in Jesus our Savior. Wash us clean Holy Father with the blood of Jesus, your Son, the fruit of Mary’s womb, and our Redeemer. Find us worthy on our day of judgement Father, worthy in our belief, and worthy in our faith in Jesus Christ. For this we thank you for your grace that has been poured over us through Jesus, and for our reward of life eternal... all this made possible by your love, our being conceived by man, born and comforted of woman, and made pure by the blood of Christ.
“For thus says the Lord: “Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream; and you shall nurse, you shall be carried upon her hip, and bounced upon her knees. As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you; you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.”
Isaiah 66:12-13 ESV
Blessings to the Mothers
Rich Forbes