Tuesday November 4, 2025 - Good Shepherd

 Chapter 23: Good Shepherd Day 3

Praying the Name: 

Matthew 18:12-14 - “What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? 13 And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. 14 In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish.

Luke 19:10 - For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

Lord, 

    I praise You Father for telling us the stories in Your Word that You do to show us Your love for us. It is a great blessing to have each of us standing in the truth of Your love for us when we read the Bible and hear of those that serve You and live for You each day. Of the greatness of You our Lord. 

    I thank You for working tirelessly to make sure that we follow You and for those that do not know You to come to know You. You never give up knowing who will come to You and who will not. I pray that we are reaching those that will come to You and striving to give everyone a chance. 

    Yes, I feel despair over a lost relationship and pray for those people on Thursday. I miss some and do not miss others, but Beth especially I despair because it would have been do different if they had just got me on bipolar medication sooner, and for Reda if they had got me on disability sooner. There is so much pain in my past caused by my bipolar. Things that could have been avoided. 

    I ask that You draw the lost to You and help me to pray for my lost too. I am really wanting Laura and Jared to come to You and others i know need You as well. I pray You work through me please.

    Most of us know what it is like to miss someone so much that it literally hurts to think about their absence. Jack Rhoda comments on the sense of loss but from a different vantage point. 

    In Genesis chapter 3, we find that after Adam and Eve sinned against God they had hid from God and that they were told:

Genesis 3:9 -  But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”

    Most of the time I heard anger in that question, God is calling them on the carpet. but perhaps it projects sadness as well: Where are you? I miss You. The whole Bible and Jesus' coming in particular is the story of God seeking us. Making peace so that He will not have to miss us again.

    Several years ago a close personal friend was going through a rough time, I was fairly certain that she was a closet alcoholic her constant need for alcohol has transformed her from a kind gentle caring person to a self-absorbed emotionally unstable woman. Whose frequent outbursts alienated family and friends. As I prayed for her I felt God easing my worry and directing my prayers towards the parable of the lost sheep. I began to understand that I was not the only one who felt the ache of missing her. Eventually God brought her through her time of difficulty in a very gentle way. I remember feeling so much joy watching the transformation that came with a deeper understanding of God's Love. 

    Perhaps You are missing someone right now, a son, a daughter, a parent a friend, or a spouse, maybe that person is still alive but living in a way that estranges others from God. If that is so you can use your own sense of loss to energize your prayers confident that someone else is also missing them. Someone who came into this world with only one thing in mind, to seek out and save what is lost.