Kristina Lunde, Author at Kristina Lunde

October 29, 2024 by Kristina Lunde Leave a Comment

Labor on Through Christ in Me

“I labor on in weakness and rejoicing.”

Those lyrics from the song “Yet Not I but Through Christ in Me” by Jonny Robinson, Rich Thompson, and Michael Farren gripped me when we sang it during church last Sunday.

The labor reference brought to mind work, toil, and suffering. I didn’t think of that kind of labor, although pregnancy-induced labor can simultaneously end in weakness and rejoicing. But then I remembered how God intervened decades ago during my emergency delivery. His miracle came after I labored through low heart rate episodes and other signs of my baby’s distress. God provided an expert obstetrical surgery team and brought me through my weakness to rejoicing at our healthy baby’s birth.

I need to remember those past miracles and trust God in my present circumstances. Thankfully, I am not enduring crushing labor pains, horrendous setbacks, or debilitating health crises. In contrast, those on my prayer list face serious problems: a critically-ill hospitalized baby, three friends coping with their spouse’s sudden death, and two people facing final battles after years of cancer treatments. Yet I feel weak and weary at my everyday frustrations with people, schedules, and things that break.

The song “Yet Not I but Through Christ in Me” portrays how I can trust in Christ through my current challenges. In his blogpost, Cru speaker and author Dan Flynn praises the biblical nature of these lyrics. He lists over twenty attributes of Jesus mentioned in this song. Many are evident in the second verse and refrain:

The night is dark but I am not forsaken
For by my side, the Savior He will stay
I labor on in weakness and rejoicing
For in my need, His power is displayed.

To this I hold, my Shepherd will defend me
Through the deepest valley He will lead
Oh the night has been won, and I shall overcome
Yet not I, but through Christ in me.

That same phrase, “labor on in weakness and rejoicing,” has struck me before. The combo of weakness and rejoicing sounds like an oxymoron until viewed through a biblical lens. God’s power fills my inadequacy, as the song proclaims, “for in my need, His power is displayed.” I don’t have the strength to push myself past my own weaknesses. I need God to strengthen me for my tasks, a relationship Paul describes so well:

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 2 Corinthians 12:9

Only Jesus Christ can empower me to get through my stuff, whether serious or inconsequential. When I take my eyes off Him and try to pursue my own ideas in vain independence, I disobey God’s will and purposes for me. My prayers come from my vantage point in the front row where I see friends and family dealing with so much. Although tired of interceding for God’s relief of their suffering, I know that when I get derailed into my own pity party, I become self-focused and my prayer life declines.

Lord God, convict me of my
focus on self-sufficiency instead of trusting in you,
blindness to my need for your power,
and pursuit of my personal comfort instead of helping others.
Teach me to rely only on You as “I labor on in weakness and rejoicing.” In Jesus’ name. Amen.

September 30, 2024 by Kristina Lunde Leave a Comment

A Prayer for Israel

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: “May those who love you be secure. May there be peace within your walls and security within your citadels.” Psalm 122:6-7 NIV

Lord God,
I pray for the peace of Jerusalem and the protection of Israel. My heart is heavy for a people I don’t know and a place I have never visited. But you know, Lord. These are your people, dear God, who you called through Abraham. You promised to make them into a great nation, bless them, and bless all nations on earth through them. (Genesis 12:2-3).

Lord, next week marks one year after the October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel by Hamas militant groups. The militants killed over a thousand people and took hundreds hostage. Although a shock to Israel and the rest of the world, these events are no surprise to you, Lord. Since that horrific day, tens of thousands of people have been killed, many of them civilians. The humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip is catastrophic. Lord God, please reach these devastated people on both sides of the conflict with your love, truth, and provision.

God, you are sovereign and I pray for your will to be done, even when I don’t understand these tragic events.

But I trust in you, LORD; I say, “You are my God.” My times are in your hands; deliver me from the hands of my enemies, from those who pursue me. Psalm 31:14-15

King David prayed these words during battle, and I pray them for your people in their current conflict. Lord, let the people of Israel look to you as their God. Teach them to trust that these times are in your hands. Deliver them from their enemies, from those who attack and pursue them. Unify your people in Israel, unify them in love and zeal for you. As you prophesied through Zechariah (Zechariah 12:10), please send a spirit of grace and supplication on your people. Let them look to you, dear Lord.

I pray for the peace of Jerusalem and the protection of Israel. Your will be done, Lord God. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

August 30, 2024 by Kristina Lunde Leave a Comment

Acrostic Prayer for My Prodigal

Please, Lord God,
Redeem my prodigal.
Open his heart.
Draw him to you.
I pray that he would
Get back to you,
Ask for forgiveness, and
Love you again.

In Jesus’ name. Amen.

July 29, 2024 by Kristina Lunde Leave a Comment

Vacation Bible School: A Volunteer’s Prayer

Dear Lord God,

I pray that you develop the fruit of the Spirit in the lives of all the children and volunteers during our Vacation Bible School (VBS) this summer. Bring the content, logistics, volunteers, and children together to fulfill Your purposes for this ministry.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23 ESV

Lord, let Your love fill and direct us as we teach these precious children.

Please inspire everyone involved in VBS to find and express joy in you, dear Jesus.

Let your peace fill our church and the grounds while the children play, craft, and learn the VBS lesson themes.

Give the volunteers patience to meet the needs of these children.

Provide opportunities for us to show kindness and goodness in all interactions with children.

Develop faithfulness in us as we teach and love these children in Your name, dear Jesus.

Guide us in gentleness toward the children, especially when they need to be admonished or redirected.

Work in us self-control, as we teach the children to develop the same in their interactions with others.

Lord God, please grow the fruit of your Spirit in everyone involved in this VBS program. Let all that we do in this ministry bring you honor and glory. We ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

June 29, 2024 by Kristina Lunde Leave a Comment

My Mother-in-Law’s Legacy: Strength Expressed in Abiding Faith

My mother-in-law Lois fell sleep on the afternoon before her ninety-third birthday, quietly passing from this earth into the presence of Jesus Christ her Savior. Lois died as she had lived, leaving a legacy of strength and peace grounded by her faith in God.

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 5:1 NIV

The adjustments came quietly as Lois’s life slowed down and her abilities declined. She did not object when others drove, cooked, and did household chores for her. No agitation, hallucinations, or delirium affected the years of dementia. Decreased verbal expression accompanied the cognitive changes. The stories Lois used to tell decreased to mere sentences. Then a few words replaced the sentences. In her last months, single words expressed entire thoughts. Physical decline progressed slowly until Lois’s final year of life when she fell and required more help. But Lois always maintained a calm, peaceful presence.

The pastor, who had visited Lois over the past year, gave a short message at her memorial service. He focused on Lois’s strength, emphasizing that it was not worldly strength, but strength expressed in love, humility, and faith in God. Those of us who knew my mother-in-law knew that she was not a weight-lifting, aerobic-training, endurance-proving athlete. Instead, Lois exhibited inner strength, a quiet trust in God that continued throughout the challenges of her life.

One of Lois’s caregivers presented another eulogy. She spoke lovingly about Lois, sharing how the caregivers had helped Lois adjust from cane to walker to wheelchair and, finally, into a hospital bed.

Grandchildren, neighbors, caregivers, and church friends had only known Lois as an elderly woman. As a ninety-two-year-old woman, parts of Lois’s story sounded far removed from the current century. But Lois’s daughter spoke of Lois’s adventures, starting when she left her small Wisconsin town for nursing school in Chicago. Lois pulled two friends into her career plans, leading them across the country for nursing jobs, first to California and then into the Air Force Nurse Corps. Lois met her husband Bob while they were assigned to Ellington Air Force Base in Texas. After completing her next Air Force assignment to Sembach Air Base in Germany, Lois and Bob left the Air Force, married, and returned to Chicago. Following a similar path as Lois and her friends, Bob and Lois later moved from Chicago to southern California. The uplifting eulogy brought surprise and smiles into the sorrow of the memorial.

This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says: “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it.” Isaiah 30:15

With these words, God chastised the Israelites through the prophet Isaiah. The Israelites refused the repentance and rest God offered, but Lois never did. Instead she lived it out, embodying a lifestyle of faith, peace, and rest. Lois left a legacy of spiritual strength, exemplified by her abiding faith in God.