3 Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death? 4 For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.
5 Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was. 6 We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. 7 For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin. 8 And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him. 9 We are sure of this because Christ was raised from the dead, and he will never die again. Death no longer has any power over him. 10 When he died, he died once to break the power of sin. But now that he lives, he lives for the glory of God. 11 So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus.
Romans 6:3-11
Dear God, I’m praying this prayer on All Souls Day, November 2. I believe the Catholic Church created this as a day after All Saints Day to pray for the souls still in purgatory. Since I’m not so much a believer in purgatory, I want to use this time to pray for some specific friends who are mourning this year. I have one friend who lost a mother fairly suddenly on Thursday (two days ago). Then I have a friend who died very suddenly yesterday while grocery shopping. He leaves behind family and friends who are grieving. I have a friend who lost his wife this spring after a battle with cancer. And there are others. There are many others. But that is who is on my heart this morning. The souls who are with you now and the holes in hearts their deaths leave behind.
I pray for my friends right now who are mourning. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” (Matthew 5:4) Please raise up people to comfort them. Show me my role in comforting them. Help them to know how to reach out to you during this difficult time. Comfort me in this loss as well. I really loved the man who died yesterday. He was much older than I am, but we were in Rotary together and had lunch one-on-one at least five times. Each one was always so long because we just truly enjoyed each other. I will surely miss him. I do, even now.
Father, I have a day to live today. I have family to love. I’ll be spending a lot of time with one family member in particular. Help me to love them. Help me to be what you need them to have. But let it start with my worship of you. Help me to remember that you are my God. Help me to recognize idols in my life and sink into your presence. Help me to be the man you are ultimately forming me to be.
I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,
Amen
Emails to God 