Phillips County

At Holyoke (We loved the name!), we were able to have our worship and prayer at Zion Lutheran Church with Reverend Gary Rahe. The name of the church reminded me of the church I grew up in, also called Zion. This dear man was not only very welcoming, he also was encouraging and very ready to join his prayers with ours for Phillips County and for all of Colorado.

What a precious time we had together sharing the Word, prayer and communion. Gary blessed us with leading us in communion, and let us place our memorials in the ground just outside the door of the church building. As Tony prepared the ground to recieve our offerings, God prepared our hearts. Let me describe our afternoon!

Tony loves to explain the symbols of our prayers that we place in the ground as our offering. As we shared together in placing each one in the ground, we contemplated their meaning and prayed through each one. We ask together that like the small altar we placed in the land, as Elijah called down fire from heaven to consume his offerings, we call down fire from heaven to consume our hearts. We offer our hearts to You today, Lord. Consume us. We are Yours.

Unite us together, Lord. As the link in a chain holds together all the parts, we remember we are one body and need to be united with each other, but always in alignment with Your Word. We need not be divided, but only follow You, Lord. What You say goes. You have the final word because You ARE the word!

You said that faith as small as a mustard seed has the power to move a mountain. We long for our faith to grow and be like that mustard seed. We pray faith will grow among the people in this county and in our nation, and in our own hearts, bigger every day. So we sprinkle mustard seed into our offering, and throw it into the air. Let faith grow and spread across our nation like that mustard seed, Lord, we pray.

We remember to place scripture: Jeremiah 10:6-7, in our offerings, as well as the oil and water to symbolize Who You are. And when all these things are place, we turn to You with communion.

THERE IS NO ONE LIKE YOU AMONG THE GODS, OH LORD,

NOR ARE THERE ANY WORKS LIKE YOURS. PSALM 86:8.

What a privilege to have Gary lead us in this time of consecration. I loved his words and they blessed our hearts. He shared these thoughts: At the Passover, we know that Jesus was ready to offer Himself as a sacrifice for the sins of the nation, and for all of mankind. We remembered together that at the Passover, Jesus took the bread and said that this was His body broken for us and we should take it, eat of it, and remember that He did this for us to remember His sacrifice. Then Jesus took the cup, gave thanks, and said that this cup was the new covenant in His blood shed for us, and that as often as we drink it, we are to remember what He did for us. Gary blessed us with the peace of the Lord, and we took the bread and juice together. We remembered again that the body and blood of our Lord was given so that we could have our sins forgiven and we could have eternal life with Him. In His precious Name we shared communion together, then Tony placed the memorials of communion onto our offering.

We will seal what we have done now, with the precious gift You have given us: praise and worship!

We sang and worshipped together and had a sweet tme with this dear brother. We had a wonderful afternoon sharing Jesus with each other. Gary taught us, prayed over us, and welcomed us. We pray this back over him now:

Lord bless him and keep him, and make Your face to shine upon him. Lift up Your countenance upon him and give him peace. Bless him this day for his kindness to us. Bind us together as One Body, and let us be a great lighthouse to Holyoke and to all of Phillips County!