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5 03, 2021

Feeling Threatened?

2021-03-05T08:05:41-06:00March 5th, 2021|All blogs, Inside-Out with Dr. Tom Pace|0 Comments

God of love, I am committed today to being a good steward of the day you have given me. I know that there will be distractions in the hours ahead that seek to draw me away from your agenda for me. There will be flashes of anger that will captivate me for a time, but I will push through them to be your minister of reconciliation. There will be moments of sadness that well up inside me, but I will remember that Jesus wept, and own the sorrow as material for compassion for others. There will be fears and [...]

26 02, 2021

Denial and Redemption!

2021-02-26T09:54:25-06:00February 26th, 2021|All blogs, Inside-Out with Dr. Tom Pace|0 Comments

Dear Jesus, In this Lenten season, I know how much I must count on your grace. Like the apostle Peter after your arrest, I simply “follow from a distance.” Like the apostle Peter in the courtyard, I worry about what people are thinking of me. Like the apostle Peter, despite my claims to follow you to the death, I am not willing even to show up at the cross. I am convicted to know that when your love for me is so unwavering and sacrificial, my love for you is shallow and fickle. Jesus, forgive me. What is most amazing, though, is that [...]

19 02, 2021

What a Week!

2021-02-19T08:13:04-06:00February 19th, 2021|All blogs, Inside-Out with Dr. Tom Pace|0 Comments

A PERSONAL PRAYER God of all times, I am grateful… For power that comes on for a while. For a fireplace. For friends. For water to drink and food to eat. For a warm coat and stocking cap. For plumbers. For friends who help one another and take others in. For text messages that keep us connected. For loved ones that make difficult weeks more bearable. For officials and workers who labor in the cold to fix the problems. For grocery store employees and gas truck drivers and water deliverers and first responders and nurses and doctors and [...]

5 02, 2021

Growing Fruit

2021-02-05T08:11:22-06:00February 5th, 2021|All blogs, Inside-Out with Dr. Tom Pace|0 Comments

A PERSONAL PRAYER Dear God, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, I want to bear fruit for you, but what fruit is that? Is it people led to a relationship with you? People that are comforted? Lives transformed by the renewing of their minds? Is it hungry people that are fed? Prisoners that are visited? “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control.” Galatians 5:22-23 I long for those, God. I can’t manufacture them in my life. These come only from you, so I pray to be closer to you. I pray for you to fill my heart and life with your [...]

29 01, 2021

I Am Done With That!

2021-01-29T08:15:45-06:00January 29th, 2021|All blogs, Inside-Out with Dr. Tom Pace|0 Comments

I am ready, God, to put stuff behind me. There are habits I have that I know hold me back, and I long to be free of them. You know what they are, my own version of Paul's thorn in the flesh, and I can't seem to shake them on my own. I know it is only you that can set me free, as my willpower does not seem to be enough. There are those mistakes I have made that I know you have forgiven, but when I bring them to mind, I am filled with shame. Why can't I let them [...]

22 01, 2021

Strain Forward

2021-01-22T08:18:44-06:00January 22nd, 2021|All blogs, Inside-Out with Dr. Tom Pace|0 Comments

God, How very good and pleasant it is    when kindred live together in unity! It is like the precious oil on the head,    running down upon the beard, on the beard of Aaron,    running down over the collar of his robes. (Psalm 133:1-2) Yes, it is good indeed to live in unity, but it sure isn't easy, God. There is so much work to be done by so many people to work together to solve seemingly unsolvable problems. It is easy to see a vision for a country but harder to make it happen. It is easy to envision a [...]

15 01, 2021

Shaped by Pain

2021-01-15T09:39:16-06:00January 15th, 2021|All blogs, Inside-Out with Dr. Tom Pace|0 Comments

God, Some days are good. Some days are hard. Some whole seasons of life seem to be especially hard. But you know all about suffering, as you are the God who became flesh that you might know our suffering. I look around me and see so many people who are hurting. There are those who have lost loved ones and are full of sorrow. There are those who are ill themselves, or struggling financially or overcome with fear and anxiety. O God, come to each one of them as your transforming Holy Spirit and help them, and show me how to be present [...]

8 01, 2021

Trust the Process

2021-01-08T09:35:03-06:00January 8th, 2021|All blogs, Inside-Out with Dr. Tom Pace|0 Comments

God, It has been a crazy week in our country, and we have been saddened yet again by the violence that appears to be the chosen response of many angry people. And yet, as followers of your son, we choose not the way of violence, but the path of peace. We choose not the way of hate and division but the path of love and reconciliation. We choose not the way of the world, but the way of Christ. God, keep your hand fixed securely upon our hearts so that we will not be drawn in by images on television or rhetoric [...]

1 01, 2021

God has a Dream: New Year’s Day, 2021

2021-01-05T14:03:27-06:00January 1st, 2021|All blogs, Inside-Out with Dr. Tom Pace|0 Comments

God, You tell us in your Scripture that you make all things new. I am anxious to be renewed. I long for renewal physically, emotionally, socially, and most of all spiritually. God, I believe you have a dream for me, for us, for your people in 2021. Help me to be the part of your dream that you intend for me. In the words and spirit of John Wesley, hear this prayer from my heart, said by the people called Methodist at New Year’s for 200 years. I am no longer my own, but thine. Put me to what thou wilt, [...]

25 12, 2020

God with skin on: Christmas Day, 2020

2020-12-29T12:31:38-06:00December 25th, 2020|All blogs, Inside-Out with Dr. Tom Pace|0 Comments

Dear Jesus, You became flesh, the Word made flesh, so you span the distance between us and bind us together in intimate relationship. You chose not to stay afar off, only to be worshipped, but to come close, that you might truly be loved. On this Christmas Day, I pray that all would know the joy of that relationship. O God, where there are those who are hurting, help me know how to represent a God made flesh to them, that they may feel your love in tangible ways. And help us to see in the lost, the hurting, the [...]

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