We Made Promises and Prayed Prayers for a Day Like This

As you can see in the picture above, our church family at Sonrise went to the wall of the sanctuary in our building when it was under construction and wrote on the wall. Whenever we worship now, those writings are, although out of sight, still embossed on that wall. We made promises and prayed prayers standing at that wall for a day like this. Let me explain.

Our Past Week

Over the past few days, we have dealt with a number of issues that come up among God’s people. Some in the course of daily living are going to undergo suffering. We seek to serve those who suffer well. At times, even though we hate it, God’s children sin as well. Again, we seek to deal with those sins among God’s children in a number of ways according to the Scriptures. Instead of being ignored, we walk together in Christ seeking to follow faithfully and apply faithfully the Scriptures as we go.

Thus, our past week. Issues of suffering and issues of sinning.

God allows us in His providence to go through these times. As we do, our response matters to God as we seek to love Him supremely and to each other as we seek to love our neighbors sincerely.

Promises Made – Promises Kept

As we signed those walls, we made promises to God and each other as to how we would work together for the glory of God together as a church family. We wrote prayers that expressed our will related to how we would learn the Scriptures, seek to carefully understand the Scriptures, and then apply those same Scriptures to our practice of life together in Christ. We also prayed that day that God would help us stay consistent in our desires and practice as we moved forward for His glory.

Our desires simply put –

Honor God

Exalt Christ

Walk in the Spirit

Live according to the Scriptures

Love God supremely

and Love our Neighbors Sincerely

Are we perfect at all of these things? No, of course not. The church is made up of people.

Are we striving to do our best? Absolutely.

We made promises to God and prayed prayers to God.

Today and this last week, we kept those promises. It is not easy dealing with suffering and sin; although, we do it because of God’s faithfulness to us in Christ. The love of God in Christ motivates us to serve each other carefully and forgive each other liberally. Jesus modeled these things for us perfectly.

As Mrs. Marilyn Drury below, promises made – promises kept.

May God give us the wisdom and courage to always be willing to live enabled and empowered by grace in the Spirit consistent with our promises. And, may God answer those prayers all along that wall.

For today, praise God to see those things in action. What a great joy to live in unity with the body of Christ in a vibrant, loving, Scripture-honoring church!