Pastor Bruce Page - Prayers & Encouragement

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Pastor Bruce Page - Prayers & Encouragement Prayer, Scripture, and encouragement in Christ. Sharing God’s work through global missions.

"Ichabod–the glory has departed". Could these words ever describe a life that once knew the presence of God? Does your t...
10/01/2026

"Ichabod–the glory has departed". Could these words ever describe a life that once knew the presence of God? Does your temple–your life–need a good cleaning?

I was reading this morning about the day the glory of the Lord filled the temple Solomon built, and I found myself thinking, “Wow. I would have loved to witness that.”

1 Kings 8:10–11 says:

“The priests could not continue their service because of the cloud, for the glorious presence of the Lord filled the Temple of the Lord.”

Can you imagine it? The very presence of God filling that place so powerfully that the priests could not even continue their ministry.

And then this thought came to me: Do you remember the day the presence of the Lord filled your temple? The day you put your faith in Jesus. The day the Holy Spirit came to dwell within you.

Maybe your salvation experience was deeply emotional. Maybe you cried, felt overwhelmed, or sensed God’s presence in a powerful way. Or maybe it was quieter. Maybe it was simply a decision of the heart and mind: “I believe. I trust Jesus.”

Either way, something eternal happened.

For me, that was many years ago. I first believed as a child, and I have followed the Lord throughout my life. I wish I could say every one of those years was marked by perfect obedience and an unwavering walk with God, but I can’t.

I have stumbled along the way. I have failed. I have had seasons where I was closer to the Lord than others. I imagine many of you could say the same.

So where am I going with this?

Years after Solomon’s temple was filled with the glory of God, the prophet Ezekiel saw something heartbreaking. He saw the glory of the Lord leave the temple.

Judah had repeatedly turned away from God. Idolatry, injustice, rebellion, and covenant unfaithfulness had become deeply rooted. By Ezekiel’s day, even the temple itself had been corrupted.

Then Ezekiel watches the glory depart, almost step by step.
In Ezekiel 9:3, the glory moves to the threshold of the temple.
In Ezekiel 10:18–19, it moves to the east gate.
And in Ezekiel 11:22–23, the glory leaves the city.

What a tragic picture.

The same temple that had once been so filled with God’s presence that the priests could not stand to minister had now become a place from which His glory departed. That should make every one of us stop and think.

Today, under the new covenant, God does not dwell in a temple made of stone. Scripture says that we are the temple of the Holy Spirit. So the question for me is not simply, “Was there a day when I believed?”

The question is: “What kind of temple am I giving Him today?”
Have I allowed things into my life that do not belong there? Have I grown comfortable with attitudes, habits, bitterness, pride, compromise, or disobedience that once would have troubled me deeply?

Have I become so accustomed to religious activity that I no longer notice whether the presence of God is central in my life?
I am thankful that our relationship with God is built on grace, not on our ability to live perfectly. But grace should never make us careless about His presence.

My prayer is simple:

Lord, keep my heart tender toward You. Search me. Show me anything in my life that does not please You. Help me never become comfortable with anything that pushes me away from Your presence.

I remember the day I first believed. But more than remembering what God did many years ago, I want to walk with Him today.

Still believing.

Gary had done it again.“I told God I would never do that again. Never! And yet—I did. How many times will He forgive me?...
09/23/2026

Gary had done it again.

“I told God I would never do that again. Never! And yet—I did. How many times will He forgive me? There are billions of people in this world. Surely God can find someone stronger than me—someone who doesn't keep failing.

“Maybe I should just give up and walk away.” Ever felt like Gary?
Sometimes the hardest part isn't asking God to forgive us. It's believing He still wants to.

Grace doesn't mean our sin doesn't matter. When we fail, we repent. We make things right when we can. We ask God to help us change.

But we don't run FROM Jesus because we've failed. We run TO Jesus.

“As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.” — Psalm 103:12

Maybe you've stumbled again. Maybe you're ashamed to come back to God one more time. Come back anyway!

You aren't competing with billions of other people for God's attention. God isn't searching for somebody better so He can replace you.

After many years of following Jesus, I've had my own failures and struggles. But through them all, Jesus has been with me, and He has remained faithful even when I haven't.

So I'm still getting up.
Still trusting His grace.
Still following Jesus.

Still Believing.

— Pastor Bruce

David—a man after God’s own heart. Really?I’ve been reading through David’s life again, and I have to admit, there are t...
09/21/2026

David—a man after God’s own heart. Really?

I’ve been reading through David’s life again, and I have to admit, there are times I’ve wondered about that description. As a matter of fact, there are times I don’t like David at all!

David failed—and at times, he failed miserably. Adultery. Murder. A broken family that eventually erupted into rebellion. By 2 Samuel 18, Israel was fighting a civil war and 20,000 men were dead.

Yet this was still the David who loved God, wrote beautiful Psalms, and demonstrated incredible faith.

There’s a lesson here: never put people on a pedestal.

I’ve heard people point to terrible things done by those who called themselves Christians and say, “If that’s Christianity, I want nothing to do with it.”

But don’t judge Jesus by the failures of fallen people.

Christians will fail. Pastors will fail. Churches will fail. I will fail.

Our faith was never meant to rest on imperfect people in an imperfect church. It rests on Christ.

Have you rejected Jesus because of something people have done in His name?

Don’t look at them. Look at Jesus.

There you will find truth, holiness, compassion, mercy—and no moral failure.

People will fail you.

Jesus is perfect. Always.

Still Believing… because of Jesus.

I’ve been thinking this morning about what it really means to believe in Jesus.Belief has to be more than an emotion. Ou...
09/18/2026

I’ve been thinking this morning about what it really means to believe in Jesus.

Belief has to be more than an emotion. Our emotions change. Some days our faith feels strong; other days questions and doubts creep in.

In Mark 9:24, a desperate father said to Jesus, “Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.”

What an honest prayer. Maybe faith doesn’t mean that I have conquered every doubt or answered every question. Faith means that in the midst of my questions, I make a choice of the will:

“Jesus, I believe You. I trust You. I choose to follow You.”

That doesn’t mean we create faith through sheer willpower. God draws us. His Word speaks to us. The Holy Spirit convicts us. Grace reaches toward us. But we must respond.

Repentance says, “I am turning from my old way.”

Faith says, “I am turning toward Jesus and entrusting myself to Him.”

There may still be questions. There may even be moments when we pray, “Help my unbelief.” But faith keeps turning toward Jesus rather than away from Him.

I’m thankful that salvation does not depend upon how strongly I feel my faith today. It depends upon the One in whom I have placed my faith.

So perhaps the question isn’t simply, “Do I ever have doubts?”

Perhaps the better question is:

“Who am I choosing to trust?”

Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief. I choose to follow You.

“Though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials…” — 1 Peter 1:6Following Jesus do...
08/27/2026

“Though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials…” — 1 Peter 1:6

Following Jesus does not exempt us from suffering.

Christians experience grief. We face sickness, disappointment, loss, financial struggles, broken relationships, unanswered prayers, and seasons when we simply do not understand what God is doing.

Peter calls them “all kinds of trials.”

But trials do something in us: they reveal what our faith is really made of.

It is easy to say, “I trust God,” when everything is going well. But what happens when life falls apart? What happens when the prayer isn’t answered the way we hoped? What happens when God seems silent?

That is when faith becomes more than something we say we believe. It becomes something we live.

Peter goes on to compare our faith to gold being refined by fire. The fire doesn’t create the gold—it reveals and purifies what is already there.

Maybe you are walking through the fire today. Don’t assume that means God has abandoned you. Your trial may be revealing a faith that is stronger and more genuine than you ever knew.

Faith isn’t proven by never going through the fire.

Faith is proven by still trusting God while you’re in it.

“Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him.” — Job 13:15

Still trusting. Still believing. Still following.

One question has the power to determine your eternal destiny. Jesus asked it nearly 2,000 years ago—and He’s still askin...
07/28/2026

One question has the power to determine your eternal destiny. Jesus asked it nearly 2,000 years ago—and He’s still asking it today.

In Mark 8:27-30, Jesus turned to His disciples and asked, “Who do you say I am?”

The crowds had plenty of opinions. Some believed He was John the Baptist. Others thought He was Elijah or one of the prophets. Everyone seemed to have an answer.

But Jesus wasn’t interested in public opinion. He made the question personal. “Who do you say I am?” That question still echoes today.

It doesn’t matter what your parents believe, what your church believes, or what society says about Jesus. At some point, every one of us must answer that question for ourselves.

Peter boldly declared, “You are the Messiah.” It was a confession that would forever change the course of his life.

Now the question comes to each of us. Is Jesus merely a good teacher? A historical figure? A moral example?
Or is He truly the Messiah, the Son of God, who came to save us from our sins?

Your answer to that question will shape not only how you live today, but where you will spend eternity.

So let me ask you the same question Jesus asked Peter: Who do you say Jesus is?

“But what about you?” He asked. “Who do you say I am?” — Mark 8:29

“Rather, cling tightly to the Lord your God, as you have done until now.” — Joshua 23:8 (NLT)The older I get, the more t...
07/07/2026

“Rather, cling tightly to the Lord your God, as you have done until now.” — Joshua 23:8 (NLT)

The older I get, the more this verse speaks to my heart.

When I look back, I see God’s faithfulness everywhere. He has carried me through seasons of joy and seasons of sorrow. He has seen me through victories, disappointments, failures, and more challenges than I ever imagined. Time and again, He has proven Himself faithful.

Joshua’s final words to Israel weren’t about how to start well—they were about how to finish well.

“Cling tightly to the Lord your God.”

After all the miles we’ve walked with Christ, after all the prayers He’s answered and all the storms He’s brought us through, don’t drift now. Don’t become careless now. Don’t lose at the end.

To be honest, I don’t fear the world nearly as much as I fear my own weakness and frailty. I know my own heart. My prayer is, “Lord, keep me from myself. Guard my heart from pride, complacency, compromise, and self-reliance. Help me cling to You with the same dependence I had when I first believed.”

The finish line is closer now than the starting line. By God’s grace, may we finish with our faith intact, our eyes fixed on Jesus, and our hands still clinging tightly to the One who has never let go of us.

Most people spend their later years slowing down. At 85, Caleb was asking God for a mountain to climb. Getting older, th...
06/22/2026

Most people spend their later years slowing down. At 85, Caleb was asking God for a mountain to climb. Getting older, there is good news! God still has a purpose for your life!

“Give me this mountain.” — Joshua 14:12

At 85 years old, Caleb stood before Joshua and made an amazing request: “Give me this mountain.”

He wasn’t asking for an easy assignment. He wasn’t looking for a comfortable place to settle down. He wasn’t ready to sit on the sidelines. Caleb wanted the very area where giants still lived. He believed that the God who had been faithful throughout his life would continue to be faithful in the years he had left.

As I have gotten older, this passage has become deeply personal to me.

For the last few years, one of my prayers has been:

“Lord, make the ending greater than the beginning.”

I have served the Lord for many years, but my heartfelt prayer is still:

“Use me, Lord!”

I don’t want to spend my remaining years simply talking about what God did yesterday. I want to be part of what He is doing today. I still want to see lives changed, people come to Christ, believers encouraged, and God’s kingdom advance.

Our world often treats aging as a season of decline, but God’s Word reminds us that usefulness is not determined by age. As long as God gives us breath, He still has purpose for our lives.

Maybe your mountain today is different than it was years ago. Maybe it is faithfully praying for your family, encouraging younger believers, serving in your church, sharing your faith, or simply remaining steadfast through a difficult season.

Whatever your mountain may be, don’t let age convince you that your best days of serving God are behind you.

Caleb’s story reminds us that a person who follows the Lord wholeheartedly can still live with faith, purpose, and expectancy right to the finish line.

So today my prayer remains:

“Lord, make the ending greater than the beginning. Use me, Lord.”

I just wrote to a young girl in India who needs our prayers. To protect her privacy, I am not sharing her name.Please pr...
06/11/2026

I just wrote to a young girl in India who needs our prayers. To protect her privacy, I am not sharing her name.
Please pray with me for her. She wrote:

"Hello dear people of god , I need a help , please pray for me for i cannot concentrate on my studies as well as my life, I'm unable to sleep at night , lost my appetite, and feeling so hopeless, I don't have energy to do somthing, Even the things that makes me happy, they're not important to me at all now , I'm feeling so low and i feel like dying , I have so much to say but i don't know how to say .I don't even know wat i wanna say I feel so lost, please help me"

Please join me in praying that God would surround this young woman with His love, peace, and hope. Pray that she would find strength for each day, that the darkness she is experiencing would lift, and that she would know she is not alone.

Pray also that the Lord would place caring people in her life who can walk alongside her and help her through this difficult season.
Thank you for taking a moment to pray for her today. ( I withheld her name for privacy)

06/10/2026

What if the greatest promise God gives us isn’t a solution to our problems, but His presence in the middle of them?

There have been times in my life when the road ahead seemed uncertain and overwhelming. Times when I didn’t know what the future held, how things would work out, or even what the next step should be. In those moments, I wanted answers, solutions, and a clear plan.

But what God gave me was a “special” nearness of His presence. He walked beside me.

As I was reading Joshua 1 this morning, I was struck by God’s words to Joshua. Moses was gone. An entire nation was looking to him for leadership. The Promised Land lay ahead, along with obstacles, battles, and uncertainty.

God’s answer was not a detailed strategy. Instead, He gave Joshua a promise:

“Be strong and courageous… for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:9)

While this promise was given specifically to Joshua, it reminds us of a truth that carries throughout Scripture: God does not abandon His people.

The same God who walked with Joshua walks with us today.

When you don’t know what tomorrow holds, be strong and courageous. When the path ahead seems unclear, be strong and courageous. When life feels heavy and overwhelming, remember that you do not walk alone.

One of the greatest comforts in the Christian life is knowing that God’s presence goes with us through every season, every challenge, and every uncertainty.

“I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.” (Hebrews 13:5)

Whatever you are facing today, take courage. The God who was with Joshua is still faithful today.

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