Hello to all of you at St. Paul,I hope this email finds you well. Each week I would like to take the opportunity to send all of you a midweek message just as Pastor Bill did. The message is attached and I encourage you to take a quick read as you sort through your emails this week. I am going off of a new and updated email list so, if you would rather not receive these midweek message please let me know at revaaronroyle@gmail.com
Look forward to getting to know all of you more!
Blessings,
A Midweek Message
From Pastor Aaron Baghman
At St Paul Lutheran in Columbus Ohio
Rejoice in the Lord
10.07.2020
Philippians 4:1-9
4Rejoice in the Lord always;again I will say, Rejoice.
5Let your
gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near.
6Do not
worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and
supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made
known to God.
7And the peace of God, which surpasses all
understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in
Christ Jesus.
8Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable,
whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing,
whatever is commendable, if there isany excellenceand if there
is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
9Keep
on doing the things that you have learned and received and
heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.
In this passage from Philippians, Paul writes,
“Rejoice in the
Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice! … Do not worry about
anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with
thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”
Paul called on the people of Philippi to not worry but instead
go to God in prayer and supplication and if you do that then you
will rejoice in the Lord always.
So the question is, how often do you let your requests be
known to God through supplication and prayer?
Ask me this question as a youth and the answer was easy, each
night before I went to bed, but today that question is a little harder
for me to answer. It seems like most nights after the kids go to bed I
am cleaning dishes, tidying up the house, and falling asleep before I
have time to even think of prayer.
I remember being frustrated about this as a new father. I
missed having the time I once had in quiet prayer with God. I
expressed my frustration in a synod meeting once and one of the
pastor’
s turned to me and said, “But taking care of children is the
greatest form of prayer there is.”
We all have a lot going on right now. Maybe not quite like we
once did, but being home more means more house chores. So maybe
it’s not kids that leave you yearning for that time you once had with
God, but whatever it is, know that as long as what you are doing is as
Paul says,
‘honorable, just, pure, commendable, and true, then what
you are doing might be a prayer in itself.
So don’t worry about how you pray, instead rejoice in the fact
that God hears your requests no matter how you make them
known.
In the peace of Christ,
Rev Aaron Baughman