Welcome to Nick Hood Ministries, your home for powerful prayers, meditations, meaningful podcasts, and spiritual videos—all created to share the good new of Jesus Christ!  My prayers, meditations and sermon outlines are written and published daily to this site. 

I am the pastor and senior minister of the Plymouth United Church of Christ in Detroit MI. In addition to my ministry in Detroit, I also am blessed to be involved with mission work stretching from the interior of Liberia and Cote d’Ivoire with refugees of war, Ghana, Ethiopia, Guatemala, and the Philippines.

My mission and desire is to connect with  people across the globe through this  ministry, and I look forward to connecting with you as well.  Do not hesitate to let me know if there are spiritual topics you would like me to share my thoughts.

Pastor Nick Hood

Meditation for this week

Persistence in prayer

Prayer is a mechanism which allows you and me a direct connection with God. There are no special words necessary to obtain the attention of Jesus Christ. Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount that if we “Ask it shall be given to us, when we seek we will find and to those who knock on the door, the door shall be opened.”  (Matthew 5)

A great example of the importance of persistence in prayer is found in Matthew chapter 8 verse one, where a leper approaches Jesus, bows down to the ground before him, and ask Jesus to heal him and take away the sores on his body. The man says to Jesus, if you will, or choose, I will be healed. Jesus replies to him, I will, or in some modern versions, i choose. The man is healed immediately.

The apostle Paul gives a similar teaching in his letter to the philippians chapter 4

  • 4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. 5 Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. 6 Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. [1] (Philippians 4)
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A lesson I take away from this text is the importance of persistence in prayer. The man with the disease of the skin  approached Jesus, was persistent in making sure he recieved the attention of the Lord.  Society forbade him from being around other people, but the man did not care, he approached Jesus and asked for the blessing of healing. Jesus does not back away or shun the man, but rather responds to him immediately.

If you are seeking a blessing from Jesus Christ today, take a page out of the book of the man in Matthew 8, and ask the Lord to choose you. Watch what happens! Thank you for reading, and feel welcome to share with a friend. Blessings, Nick

http://www.nicholashoodiiiministries.com

[1] The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version (Php 4:4–7). (1989). Thomas Nelson Publishers.