The Universal Prayer

Attributed to Pope Clement XI (1649-1721)


Lord, I believe in you: increase my faith.
I trust in you: strengthen my trust.
I love you: let me love you more and more.
I am sorry for my sins: deepen my sorrow.

I worship you as my first beginning,
I long for you as my last end.
I praise you as my constant helper,
and call on you as my loving protector.

Guide me by your wisdom,
correct me with your justice,
comfort me with your mercy,
protect me with your power.

I offer you, Lord, my thoughts: to be fixed on you;
my words: to have you for their theme;
my actions: to reflect my love for you;
my sufferings: to be endured for your greater glory.

I want to do what you ask of me: in the way you ask,
for as long as you ask, because you ask it.
Lord, enlighten my understanding, strengthen my will,
purify my heart, and make me holy.

Help me to repent of my past sins
and to resist temptation in the future.
Help me to rise above my human weaknesses
and to grow stronger as a Christian.

Let me love you, my Lord and my god,
and see myself as I really am:
a pilgrim in this world,
a Christian
called to respect and love all whose lives I touch,
those in authority over me
or those under my authority,
my friends and my enemies.

Help me to conquer anger with gentleness,
greed by generosity, apathy by fervor.
Help me to forget myself and reach out toward others.

Make me prudent in planning, courageous in taking risks.
Make me patient in suffering, unassuming in prosperity.
Keep me, Lord, attentive in prayer,
temperate in food and drink,
diligent in my work, firm in my good intentions.

Let my conscience be clear, my conduct without fault,
my speech blameless, my life well-ordered.
Put me on guard against my human weaknesses.
Let me cherish your love for me, keep your law,
and come at last to your salvation.

Teach me to realize that this world is passing,
that my true future is the happiness of heaven,
that life on earth is short,
and the life to come eternal.

Help me to prepare for death
with a proper fear of judgment,
but a greater trust in your goodness.
Lead me safely through death to the endless joy of heaven.

Grant this through Christ our Lord

Amen

Lord's Prayer

The Aramaic Prayer To Our Father
"Lord's Prayer"

This wording and pronunciation is the closest that
we know to the form which Jesus spoke.

aboon dabashmaya
Our father who is in heaven,

nethkadash shamak
holy is his name,

tetha malkoothak
your Kingdom is coming,

newe tzevyanak
your will is being done

aykan dabashmaya af bara
on earth as it is in heaven,

hav lan lakma dsoonkanan yamanawashbook lan
give us our bread day by day

kavine aykana daf hanan shabookan
lhayavine oolow talahn lanesyana
as we forgive those who trespass and sin against us

ela fatsan men beesha
deliver us from evil

http://www.barefootsworld.net/lordpray.html 02/22/2004

Digital Rules

Digital Rules
Rich Karlgaard, 02.16.04, 12:00 AM ET

Purpose Driven

Most business books are big fat bores, except for those that are skinny bores--those trite little tomes involving whales and cheese and lessons learned from kindergarten. Unless I know the author personally, I won't read a business book. If I do know the sucker, I like to drop the book on the pavement--in his presence--and back my car over it. I spent too many years reading such piffle, underlining and highlighting "salient" points, taking notes and promptly forgetting everything I'd read within a week. Lessons from business books never stick.

Much better learning tools are novels, history books and biographies. For me, at least, these can really teach. Why? I suppose it's because when your imagination is engaged, when you dig the lessons out yourself and connect them to your own life, the learning goes much deeper.

With that said, I give you the best book on entrepreneurship, business and investment that I've read in some time. It's not new and it's not a business book. It was written in 1995 and comes from the field of religion. It's titled The Purpose-Driven Church and was penned by Rick Warren.

Warren--in 1980 and from scratch--launched Saddleback Church in Orange County, Calif. Under his leadership, the church has become the fastest-growing one in America. (Saddleback is a Southern Baptist evangelical church, by the way.) Weekends bring in an average of 15,000 worshippers. Saddleback has spawned dozens of so-called daughter churches throughout the country. Were it a business, Saddleback would be compared with Dell, Google or Starbucks.

The Purpose-Driven Church has sold more than 1 million copies. Its sequel, The Purpose-Driven Life, has sold 12 million copies. Whatever you think about Warren or his religious beliefs, he has discerned a consumer need out there.

So let's engage our imaginations, substitute the word "business" for "church" and see what Warren has to tell us.

• Don't try to make your business grow. Instead, work to make your business healthy. Because if it's healthy, it will grow.

• Don't be afraid to make it up as you go along. Warren quotes Mark Twain, who once said: "I knew a man who grabbed a cat by the tail and learned 40% more about cats than the man who didn't." A healthy business is one that tries many things that don't work--and has the scratches and scars to prove it.

• Don't trap yourself in costly infrastructure. To accommodate Saddleback's continual growth, Warren used 79 different facilities for functions in the church's first 15 years--schools, bank buildings, recreation centers, theaters, restaurants, large homes, even a 2,300-seat tent. Only in 1995, when the church had grown to 10,000 worshippers per weekend, did Warren erect Saddleback's own building. "The shoe must never tell the foot how big it can grow," he says.

• Don't compete for market share. Instead, compete with nonconsumption. "The church [business] must offer people something they cannot get anywhere else," Warren says.

• Sell big! "I've discovered that challenging people to a serious commitment actually attracts people rather than repels them," says Warren. "The greater commitment we ask for, the greater response we get."

• Faith and dedication won't overcome lack of skill and technology. Funny words from a preacher, but how true. "One of my favorite verses," Warren says, "is Ecclesiastes 10:10: ‘If the ax is dull and its edge unsharpened, more strength is needed, but skill will bring success.'"

• Borrow from others' successes. "Anytime I see a program working in another church [business], I try to extract the principle behind it and apply it in our church. I'm very grateful for the models that have helped me. I learned a long time ago that I don't have to originate everything for it to work."

• Never enter a new business without first picking someone to lead it. "If no leader emerged, we would wait on God's timing before beginning a ministry," says Warren.

• Purpose not only defines what your business should do, it defines what it shouldn't do. "The secret to effectiveness is to know what really counts. Then do what really counts."

• Nothing should precede the purpose of your business. "Plans, programs and personalities don't last," says Warren. Only purpose lasts. It can heal your business, too. "Nothing will revive a discouraged church [business] faster than rediscovering its purpose."

The Lesson of Dell

A couple of weeks ago I interviewed Michael Dell at an investment banking conference. As terrific as Dell Inc.'s success has been, some think the company's announced goal of $60 billion in sales (now $40 billion) by 2006 is, well, too audacious. To hit its mark, Dell must succeed across a range of new businesses--plasma TVs, printers, MP3 players, high-end servers, even consulting services. Many battles on many fronts--thus the skepticism.

But when I look at Michael Dell, I see a guy who told me in 1992--at age 26--that he was going to become the IBM of the 21st century. (Talk about inviting skepticism!) In Dell I see a company that, despite its size, retains its clear purpose. Carly Fiorina of Hewlett-Packard, a top-class CEO herself, inadvertently got Michael Dell to reveal his purpose when she accused Dell Inc. of being a one-trick pony. "No," Dell shot back. "We're a two-trick pony. We satisfy customers and we make a profit."

Such clarity will propel Dell Inc. to $60 billion by 2006.



Visit Rich Karlgaard's home page at www.forbes.com/karlgaard or email him at publisher@forbes.com.

Romans VII

Romans VII
(written by Keith Green)

There are things I hate I end up doing
Things I want to do I just don't do
Lord, it seems so sad; why am I so bad?
When in my heart I only want to be like You

The very ones I love I end up hurting
Ones I want to help I pass right by
Now I want to be finally set free
The grace You've shown; the love I've known
Please let it shine through me

I want to love them
The way You do
I want to serve them
By serving You

Lord, how I know Your tender heart must be broken
By all those unkept promises I've made
The questions still prevail; please take away the veil
About how You forgive and still You live
Inside of me when I fail

I want to love them
The way You do
I want to serve them
By serving You

I want to be like You
Jesus I do

I want to love them
The way You do
I want to serve them
By serving You

I want to be like You
Jesus I do

My Eyes Are Dry

My Eyes Are Dry
By Keith Green

My eyes are dry, my faith is old,
My heart is hard, my prayers are cold,
And I know how I ought to be,
Alive to you, and dead to me.

Oh what can be done, for an old heart like mine,
Softer it up, with oil and wine.
The oil is You, Your Spirit of love,
Please wash me anew, in the wine of Your blood.

My eyes are dry, my faith is old,
My heart is hard, my prayers are cold,
And I know how I ought to be,
Alive to you, and dead to me.

Make My Life A Prayer To You

Make My Life A Prayer To You
By Keith Green

Make my life a prayer to You,
I want to do what you want me to,
No empty words and no white lies,
No token prayers, no compromise,
I want to shine the light you gave,
Through Your Son, you sent to save us,
From ourselves and our despair,
It comforts me to know you're really there.

Oh, I want to thank you now, for being patient with me,
Oh, it's so hard to see, when my eyes are on me,
I guess I'll have to trust and just believe what you say,
Oh, you're coming again, coming to take me away,

I want to die, and let you give,
Your life to me, so I might live,
And share the hope you gave to me,
The love that set me free,
I want to tell the world out there,
You're not some fable or fairy tail,
That I made up inside my head,
You're God, The Son, you've risen from the dead.

Oh, I want to thank you now,
For being patient with me,
Oh, it's so hard to see,
When my eyes are on me,
I guess I'll have to trust,
and just believe what you say,
Oh, you're coming again,
Coming to take me away.

I want to die, and let you give,
Your life to me, so I might give,
And share the hope you gave to me,
I want to share the love that set me free.

Chasing Mirages, Filling Garages

Jeff’s sermon today was entitled “Chasing Mirages, Filling Garages”. The reference Scripture was Matthew 6:25-33.

Key points: Worldly power can degenerate into envy and pride. We need to focus on the call of God, not on the call of power. King Solomon first started out with the intent on helping people. We have two choices: answer God’s call on out life, or the pursuit of power. Pursue the God of the blessing – do not pursue the blessing.