My New Year’s Prayer for My Partners in Ministry

Today, i prayed and sent this prayer to those dear ones who minister most closely with me in ministry. i post it now below asking you to pray with me for them and for us and to receive the prayer as a blessing for your own precious life going forward. 

Dearest Philadelphia Church of the Nazarene DAB Members And District Staff:

As 2021 disappears in the rearview mirror behind us and 2022 arises on the highway of holiness before us, you continue in my deep and tender prayers. 

Lord Jesus, in Your Name, i pray for my partners in leadership, the DAB members and the District Staff of the Philadelphia District. Even now, i lift them and their precious families fervently before the Throne of Your Great Mercy. Remind them that whatever challenges and concerns they have are also Your own compassionate concerns, Dear God. 

O how You love us! Let the favor of Your peace and purity and power and presence rest upon us and within us. Lead us onward together in these unusual days. You can redeem these times that eternal souls may come to know You as their Savior and Lord before it’s too late. 

Enlarge our territory for Your glory. Finally, i claim Your promise in Jeremiah 29:14a CEB: “I will be present for you.” declares the Lord. Amen and Amen. 

Pastor Kerry Willis 

My Prayer for Perspective

LET US PRAY: Lord, i pray today, that we as Your beloved children would begin to realize that in the midst of our human sadness, there is also Your holy joy, in the midst of our temporary fears, there is too, Your forever peace, and in the midst of our ongoing distractions, there is surely the reality of Your deep compassion, not only flowing to us but also flowing through us to others. Amen. -kww

Amen. And Amen. 

Pastor Kerry Willis 

My Personal Prayer Almost Every Morning

i pray this personal prayer almost every morning of my life…

Lord Jesus, i want to be found living this day above and beyond worldly success… yes, being faithful, serving gladly, loving passionately, believing totally, praying always, living holiness, and thinking Christlike. 

Deo Volente — whatever You want, my Lord Jesus. Amen.

Pastor Kerry Willis  

My Sincere Prayer As A New Year Approaches

Almighty Personal God, Loving Abba Father:

You are our past, present, and future foundation. We Adore You.

Your Greatness is unrivaled. Your Holiness is unmatched.

We are grateful to You for the Year that is fading fast and for the Year that is rapidly rising.

Help us in Your New Year, Loving Abba Father, to worry less and to worship more.

We desire to teach our children to laugh by laughing with them; To teach others to love and trust by loving and trusting them.

We know that when You sent Your Love to Bethlehem’s manger, He came so we could really know You.

Yes Your Love came to be with us, to reign in us, to flow through us.

Help us in Your New Year to share Your Son, Your Spirit, and Your Everlasting Love with others.

We desire Loving Abba Father to hear Your love song in every sunrise, in the singing of the birds in our backyards, in the stories of our parents and grandparents, and in the visions of our children.

Help us to stop and to be still long enough and often enough to hear Your love songs, so that we may love You intimately, grow in life together, and light our world in Holy Spirit Unity!

On this day, we “rejoice” in Your Word and in this world You loved into being.

We are grateful to You for another New Year, for new opportunities on the horizon.

We pray for your light in darkness, for Your hope in seemingly hopeless circumstances.

We desire to be Your sent ones. Reign within us so we can effectively BE LIGHT! GO SHINE!

Forgive us where we have lived beneath our inheritance as Your children this past year.

We leave the past in your hands, and step out into the unknown New Year assured that You have already been in our future and will now go there with us, in us, and through us for Your glory.

We accept Your gift of a New Year and we praise Your name in advance for what's ahead.

We depend on You to help us be exactly who you want us to be – Your witnesses to Your world.

Yes, on this day You have made, I say “Rejoice!” And again I say, “REJOICE!”

In the name of the One called Wonderful--Jesus our Savior, our Lord for forever & today. Amen.

Pastor Kerry Willis 

My Christmastime Prayer

Dearest Father God, Your great faithfulness is like a forever fragrance to our faith especially at Christmastime. Your Spirit descended like a dove bringing Your Son from Heaven above to restore our Hope here on earth. Even now Your Presence is with us and within us. Blessed Holy Days are indeed what You’ve given to us for yet another December. We love you more than ever before because You first loved us the very most! Amen. -kww 

Blessed Holy Days to you.

Pastor Kerry Willis 

Before The Morning

A dear friend sent me this song after we prayed together over a desperate situation happening in real time. The Lord heard our prayers and in moments the tide turned. The words in this song are for someone. Yes, for my friend, for me, and maybe for you, as well. 

https://youtu.be/6Hcwd5Y6B00

Just trust Jesus. 

Pastor Kerry Willis 

Hymn: “O Sacred Head, Now Wounded” — 1656

The concluding words of the old Hymn: "O Sacred Head, Now Wounded" -- written down first in 1656 -- are my personal words of prayer, today: 

"O make me Thine forever, And should i fainting be. Lord, let me never, never, outlive my Love to Thee."

Here’s the hymn being sacredly sung:

https://youtu.be/JRjJ9nufa2c

Deo Volente. 

Pastor Kerry Willis 

Christmas is… Heaven is… [An Advent Thought]

On the fourth Sunday of Advent this thought came beautifully into my mind. The reason likely is that i preached on “Heaven” at a funeral service on Saturday and preached about Christmas on Sunday. 

This thought has my heart so inspired:

”CHRISTMAS IS GOD WITH US! HEAVEN IS US WITH GOD!” -kww

Yes, Immanuel now, inheritance later. 

All Joy to Your World! 

Pastor Kerry Willis 

Is Drinking Alcohol Ever Wise?

Some have asked me: "Is drinking alcohol always wrong?" 

i answer that question lovingly, yet sincerely with another question: "Is drinking alcohol ever wise?" 

And, another question comes to mind: "Isn’t causing someone to stumble, wrong?"

i once preached a weeklong campmeeting in North Carolina. One night at the altar time, a little girl, maybe 8-years-old, came alone and stood directly in front of me. When i leaned over and whispered, "What is your need," with tender tears she replied instantly. "My Daddy’s Drinking." 

Matthew 18:6 is very tender on my heart, even now, as i remember the home that little girl had to exist in. i hope our weeping prayer together that night healed her Dad’s lifestyle and changed her future. 

These thoughts about "Daddy" bring me to another wise reason for me to abstain from alcohol: "i want to honor my Daddy and my ancestors, who as far as i can remember, lived lives to the full without drinking alcohol -- back in the days -- when boundaries really mattered. i don’t want to ever move those "ancient boundaries." Lord have mercy. 

Finally, what if "our" drinking alcohol isn’t mainly about whether "we" can or cannot drink, but it’s about being hope to others who are desperate because of alcohol, and in the midst of their pain they just need one genuine example of someone Jesus is empowering to live life to the full totally apart from alcohol?

Just thinking and praying.

And, i have been called radical before, and i am good with that. So, blame it on my Loving God and Loving My Family and Loving My Neighbors [That includes anyone reading these words.]

P.S. And, it’s not about legalism. Surrender that.  It really is about Love. -kww 

* "As for whoever causes these little ones who believe in me to trip and fall into sin, it would be better for them to have a huge stone hung around their necks and be drowned in the bottom of the lake." Matthew‬ ‭18:6‬ ‭CEB‬‬

"Mary’s Boy Child" -- Boney M.

It wouldn’t be Christmastime if i, an island boy, didn’t share one of my favorite songs of the season with a delightful island beat -- "Mary’s Boy Child" by Boney M. 

[My favorite lyric is toward the end "O My Lord, You Gave Your Son to Save Us, That Sin Might Not Enslave Us!"]

https://youtu.be/8amHW-xdbzE

Blessed Christmastime!

Pastor Kerry Willis 

Of Christmas Present and Christmas Presents Past

TODAY, CHRISTMAS PRESENT REMINDED ME OF CHRISTMAS PRESENTS PAST  

 One thing I miss most about "Christmases Past" is drawing names in our Middle School boys' Sunday School class and then trading the gifts with one another on the Sunday before Christmas.

I remember one year in particular. My friend, Mike, had not been present the Sunday we had drawn names with one another for the gift-exchange, but he did want to join our family for church on Christmas Sunday. Mike was all concerned about coming without a purchased and wrapped gift. You see, Mike's dad raised him and his other three siblings, because their mother up and left the family of six when Mike was in grade school. But, we were dear friends, and so I helped him figure out how to come to church and to save face with the other boys in our class on Christmas Sunday.

Here's how my plan came down. I suddenly remembered that Mike had a model car in his bedroom that he had never opened. I told him to stick the model car in a paper sack and to immediately put the paper sack in the classroom closet upon arrival. When it came time to exchange gifts, I quickly gave my gift to the boy whose name I had drawn, received my gift form the boy who had drawn my name, and then quietly gave that gift to Mike. I then made a beeline for the closet to get Mike's paper sack. I pulled Mike's model car out of the sack so fast, the other boys didn't have time to realize it had never been gift-wrapped. 

Mike smiled at me with a look of gratitude that is simply and profoundly unforgettable. My friend's dignity had been preserved and my heart was wondrously warmed in the process.

During "Christmas Present", I remember the Christmas presents the boys in our Sunday School Class exchanged on that very special Sunday of my "Christmases Past", and my heart is still wonderfully warmed because of the memory.

P.S. And, we know the Greatest Present of All is Heaven’s Boy born in Bethlehem to give us Joy! 

“Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!”

2 Corinthians 9:15 NIV 

All Joy to Your World!

Pastor Kerry Willis 

 

Praying Mostly in My Head Nonstop These Days

It seems I am praying mostly in my head nonstop these days. 

And this song continues to be a part of my praying.

https://youtu.be/dBxSJWjB8vM

Pray with me and for me, dear friends. Grateful. 

Pastor Kerry Willis 

My Favorite Christmas Verse is “Beyond Words”

“Praise God for his astonishing gift, which is far too great for words!” ‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭9:15‬ ‭TPT‬‬

“Thank God for this gift too wonderful for words!” 2 Corinthians‬ ‭9:15‬ ‭NLT‬‬

“I thank God for his gift that words cannot describe.” ‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭9:15‬ ‭GW‬‬

“Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!” ‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭9:15‬ ‭TLV‬‬

Jesus, You are Father God’s indescribable Gift! Amen. 

Pastor Kerry Willis 

The Incarnation and Human Suffering [My Advent 2021 YouTube Message[

Here is my Advent YouTube message for this third week of Advent 2021 — “The Incarnation and Human Suffering.” [It’s 15 minutes and 26 seconds in length.]

Note: Corrected Scriptures referred to: 1 Tim. 3:16, Philippians 2:5-8, James 5:7-8 [In video i said “2 Timothy” and forgot to say chapter 2 when referring to Philippians.]

https://youtu.be/TusRjLtavoo

All Joy to Your World! 

Pastor Kerry Willis 

Treasuring Christmases Past

Hope these simple words i turned into a true Christmas story from my own life will somehow warm your heart as the Season of Advent advances. 

https://docs.google.com/document/u/0/d/1g2ZT1jjcc_hL8pcXUwpjEF_D7SZbow3LhBzCfTABjW8/mobilebasic

All Joy to Your World!

Pastor Kerry Willis 

Christmases Past: "Writing" and Riding Down Memory Lane

Join me as today, i am "writing" down memory lane of Christmases Past. 

Something i really miss about Christmases Past is getting new pedal cars and bicycles.

i remember my first pedal car. It was a red fire truck, complete with a bell and a mesmerizing battery-operated, red-flashing light on the hood. It was one of the most wonderful and fun forms of transportation a boy could ever hope for. 

And when it comes to bicycles, i only remember owning two -- a green Schwinn cruiser and a gold English Racer with ten gears.

There's nothing quite like getting a new bike for Christmas. A bike was a thing of freedom especially when i was young. Riding the roads of the island i called home was in itself pure joy. In many ways my journey around the world started with pedals and spokes.

Yes, funny how my "writing" down memory lane, reminded me of riding down memory lane. The fire truck pedal car helped me go from walking to riding around the home place. The bicycle got me off the Willis property and onto the roads that would lead to the rest of my life.

As much as i love riding down memory lane, I am so glad that because of The Christ Child born in Bethlehem, today i am promised that the rest of my journey will be the best of my journey. 

All Joy to Your World!

Pastor Kerry Willis 

Note: Rewrite of my Nov. 30, 2013 blogpost. 

Still Praying this Song…

Pray with me… 

https://youtu.be/2pLGNQkQgAE

GOD YOU ARE GOOD!!!

Pastor Kerry Willis