Dear Heavenly Father, help me to see the wounds in my heart that need to be cleaned, those caused by my own sin and the sin of others. Guide me to seek your healing as I move toward a closer relationship with you. Thank you for your Son, Jesus Christ, whose death and resurrection made this relationship possible. In His name, we pray. Amen.

Few of us can relate to the level of sacrifice and commitment Jesus displayed during his forty days in the desert. But, Lent provides us with an opportunity to deepen our own faith by engaging in regular spiritual discipline. Find your devotions online.

The Protestant church has a checkered history with Lent.

Recognizing that every church follows some calendar or set of seasonal rhythms, these Christians take advantage of the late winter to till the soil of their hearts. Like Advent, Lent becomes an opportunity to prepare room for Jesus in the overcrowded quarters of our souls.

When we do, we might just find ourselves erupting with a deeper joy as we join the universal shout: “He is risen!”

“If someone wants to describe adequately the usefulness of pious, earnest prayer, he will, in my opinion, surely find a beginning more easily than a conculsion. Pious prayer offered in faith is familiar conversation with God.” (Johann Gerhard)

These opening words are of Johann Gerhard in answering the question: What is prayer? In the following seven, short devotions, we will be reflecting on the various teachings of Gerhard written roughly 400 years ago on the topic of prayer.

Enjoy!
-Pastor Ricky

This Week in Native American News (2/22/19): The Iditarod, Hoop Dancing, and the Cooling of the Planet

“What a burden to engage in ministry by my own strength, to strive by my own power to instill faith and its fruits in myself and others!” But how liberating to know that God feeds our faith and makes it fruitful by his Holy Spirit through the Word.

“For God so loved the world that he gave His only Son, so that whoever believes in Him should have everlasting life.”

 That’s a message Native people need to hear every day, and it’s the work to which you and I have been called, whether or the front lines or in our communities.

Your gift to Lutheran Indian Ministries provides a message of human love from our ministry staff and, more importantly, supernatural love from the Creator God who made them Native, whose endless and unfaltering love is salvation for people of all colors and cultures.

“What a burden to have to make myself wise with my puny brain and limited vision!” But how liberating to receive heavenly wisdom through the Word.