This is war....
Topic: Prayer
On our way home from the mall tonight, we were stopped at a freeway exit ramp traffic light. And there he was, our delimma, standing there with a weathered sign, asking for help. He looked younger than us, 30ish, and he was jabbering on to himself or maybe to the cars he was scanning with his eyes....wanting to make that eye contact...that connection....and some cash.

I really am not being cynical. I know that is what he wanted, why he was there and I am seriously conflicted at that point. Charles and I have worked with homeless people quite a bit and money never changes their situation. So we make it a point not to hand them cash. I have handed out food to someone like this man, crackers or something quick that I could reach. And I've bought hamburgers for a homeless, hungry looking soul in Burger King. My husband talks to a lot of people coming to the church, looking for help. So he takes them to buy gas or gives them a bag of groceries. And he talks to them about Jesus while he's doing it.

It really is a delimma these days for Christians. The Bible says to give to all who ask....to be as wise as serpents, as gentle as doves...to give a cup of cold water, clothe the naked, feed the hungry, visit those in prisons. And we definitely should!

But what can you do for a man with a sign at a busy intersection? I knit my brows and thought about it for a moment, then I prayed for him, silently. He didn't know, he was jabbering at cars and concentrating hopefully on windows rolling down. I didn't assume he was on drugs or mentally ill, but I prayed for God to draw this man to Himself....to break his chains and set him free.

Because prayer changes things.

The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
James 5:16

So the next time you see a situation you can't change, pray. I'm still thinking about that man tonight....and it prompts me to pray again for him. I'll never know, until that Day, what may change for that man because of a prayer of spiritual warfare, whispered while waiting on a traffic signal, but I think I can trust God with that. I know something is going on because I keep thinking of it. So I do what I can....and that is the most effective thing we can do....PRAY.

I never want to underestimate what God wants to do....and how He may want to use me to do it.

From Isaiah 59
14 So justice is driven back,
and righteousness stands at a distance;
truth has stumbled in the streets,
honesty cannot enter.

15 Truth is nowhere to be found,
and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey.
The LORD looked and was displeased
that there was no justice.

16 He saw that there was no one,
he was appalled that there was no one to intervene;
so his own arm worked salvation for him,
and his own righteousness sustained him.

17 He put on righteousness as his breastplate,
and the helmet of salvation on his head;
he put on the garments of vengeance
and wrapped himself in zeal as in a cloak.

And Ephesians 6
10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. 12For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

18And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.

God wants us to intervene for the helpless.....so I want to dust off that armor, polish that breastplate, and sharpen that Sword.

And I won't just pray for the homeless men I see with signs at busy intersections. I'll pray for that tired, irritated mother of preschoolers in the grocery store, for the angry young man, covered with tattoos at the movie theater and for those emo kids who skateboard past my house every day.

And I will be keeping watch......God wants to cause change.

And He will.

Praying for Emily
Topic: Prayer


This is a prayer request for the child of a friend of mine. Read the whole story here, please: Emily's Scan Results, to find out the news the family got today on Emily's cancer. Basically, they expected previous treatments to clear it up, but it is still there, in her neck and lung. She is having more radiation treatments this week and possibly surgery.

Thank you. God hears our prayers. Let us send up a great chorus of prayer for Emily today. She is 9, same age as our Maggie.

Please pray for her family as well.

Prayer request
Topic: Prayer
Tomorrow, October 3, I will be going in at 5:30am to have a hysterectomy and some bladder repair work done.

As you can see in the last post, I"m a little stressed out by the thought of it. Once it is overwith and I am recovering, I will not be in this state of mental stress, but just to add to the post below, the hospital just called me. It seems when they called my insurance to make sure everything was covered, the woman at the insurance company told them my coverage ran out on 9/30/06. (!!!!!!!!!!!) Charles called the insurance company and they said, no everything is set and covered, so the hospital is calling them again.

I'm telling you, the 'madness' is just trying to wedge it's way in and destroy any sense of peace I gained over the past 24 hours.

I'll try to update ASAP on how it all went. (well, maybe not all...I'm not into gory details)

Thank you for praying for me!

UPDATE: Insurance problems have been resolved, so no worries there. Although, it did serve to distract me from worrying about the surgery all day!

Pray for Israel
Topic: Prayer
...not that you haven't been, but this is a reminder to keep praying for Israel and the middle east. After our trip there last November, we have a really special place in our hearts for these people.

Prayer Conference Report 2
Topic: Prayer
The second day of the prayer conference, we got to hear Cheryl Sacks speak. She has written a few books, one of which is called, The Prayer Saturated Church. She spoke about what happened when Jesus visited the church in Matthew 21, otherwise known as the triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Some people in their ignorance saw His coming as a political revolution, church leaders with wrong motives saw His coming as a threat to the way they did things, and some were simply following Him and His leading. She said the pattern that happens when Jesus visits the Church is:

*Cleansing (a return to holiness)
*Prayer (seeking God’s presence)
*Power (God visits and draws people to Himself)
*Praise (true worship and service)

Some questions to ask to identify the barriers to the presence of God in our churches:

1. What are our sins of omission? What has He already asked us to do that we have not done? (these include specific things for your church as well as things all churches are supposed to be doing…..evangelism, prayer, caring for the weak, etc…)

2. What are the sins of church leadership? These could be patterns of weakness or sin in former pastors or in the leadership of the church, because Satan will attack where you’re already weak.

3. What are the sins of our denomination that are affecting our church?

4. What are the historic sins of our church, community, families? (generational sins, deep root issues)

5. What are the top 3 barriers that keep our church from being a praying church? Are the people apathetic, sinful, prideful, have wrong motives in the church?

6. What areas of our church are under attack for what we’re doing right?

Lastly, she talked about incorporating prayer into every area of church, not having it offered only as a separate activity on Wednesday nights. (although Wed. night prayer meetings can be a powerful part of how the church functions) Have your prayer team go into the youth, children, stewardship and music departments or committees and teach them the importance of seeking God for those they serve as well as guidance in how they serve.

*Motivate people to pray. Use prayer testimonies in church, teach on it.
*Teach people how to pray. Have seminars and classes on it…equip them.
*Provide opportunities to pray for every level of believers. (Those who are passionate intercessors, interested seekers, and for those not yet ‘awakened’ but who attend.)



These, I thought, were some really practical ways we can become a more effective organization for the Lord as a church. Very good ideas and evaluations for us to take very seriously and start incorporating into our own lives, as well as the church.

As I was searching for a good image for this post, I came across this website by the Church of England…..it looks like a useful, practical tool for enriching our prayer life.

Prayer Conference Report 1
Topic: Prayer
I promised someone that I would give a report on the prayer conference my husband and I went to, but I didn’t realize how hard it would be to do. How do you capture 3 days of studying prayer….of being in God’s presence in worship and under teaching that seemed to be appointed by Him for this very time? The conference was a week ago, and I’ve been mulling it over and wondering how to condense and overview. A lot of what we learned I will just touch on. Here goes:

Last Wednesday night, my friend Joy picked me up to drive together across town for a prayer conference. (My husband couldn’t come on Wednesday because he had a prayer meeting to lead at our church.) We were not quite sure what to expect, but wanted to get the most out of what was touted as a very great conference.

The worship was so well done. The worship leader had a special gift for drawing you into really worshipping and not thinking about him or his band, but about God’s holiness and goodness.

This first night, the speaker was from Uganda, Jackson Senyonga. He spoke of Uganda and how God has gotten a hold on his country. It has become mostly Christian now and people who still live secular lifestyles do not feel at home there. The president quotes from the Bible when addressing the country and AIDS has become contained and dwindling in the past few years there. He said on an average day, walking on the city streets, he regularly hears people discussing the Bible and praying.

And it all started with faithful prayer for their country.

It wasn’t a program or plan, it was due to people practicing God’s presence in their daily lives and when God is present in a person’s life, people take notice and He draws them to Himself. Acts 17:26-28

Then after telling us how wonderful it is in his country during this time of awakening….he told us that he believes God is calling the United States for the next awakening. It begins with His people returning to prayer, to repentance and to holiness. “Changed people change people.” “God wants to fumigate nations with His presence.”

Can you imagine that in the United States? Deuteronomy 4:4-7

His points: (these are from notes taken from Jackson Senyonga’s sermon 6/14/06)

1. It takes God…His presence, not programs or making churches more comfortable or fun….it just takes God.

2. It takes power. No prayer, no power….little prayer, little power…..much prayer, much power. It takes humility to pray much….prayerlessness is a sign of pride.

3. We need to take away the limits and restrictions that we put on God in prayer. He wants to do great things and here we are celebrating the little things.

4. It takes obedience. Obedience requires sacrifice….something must die. And that would be our ‘self’. Surrender your way to what He is telling you to do.

We need to take prayer to a deeper level. People who will be able to experience a deeper level of prayer will do 3 things.

1. They experience private victories before any public victories can happen. Our inner lives must change. We must conquer the sins that hold us back from really experiencing God’s power in our lives.

2. They will arise from slumber. We are lulled into apathy by our own love of comfort. We need to set aside our comforts that distract us and focus on God’s work in our world…in our country, city, neighborhoods and homes. He talked about how in Uganda, the country was oppressed through hunger and lack of daily needs. In America, we are oppressed by our abundance of things….our daily needs are met without thought and our wants multiply. We need to lay down materialism.

3. They will start to pray out of desperation. God wets our spiritual appetites and we think that was the main course. God wants to do wonderful things, change countries, not just serve appetizers.


Psalm 2:8-9 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession. You will rule them with an iron scepter ;you will dash them to pieces like pottery."

Jeremiah 33:3 'Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.'

Amen

This was just one sermon. I have notes scribbled in my notebook and on handouts from the sessions I went to. Maybe I will do more another day. There was so much to take in, it seemed like we weren’t going to retain anything from information overload. But as I go back through these notes, it is coming back to me. So as I review the notes, I will try to type out some reports. Okay, Cathee? =)

Global Day of Prayer, 2006
Topic: Prayer
Today is the Global Day of Prayer.(Here is their Purpose and statement of faith.) It is Pentecost, the feast of first fruits….and now a celebration of the day that God sent His Holy Spirit to indwell every believer.

Our church had a very special service. We read parts of the following prayer, which was put together by the organizers of this day of prayer. In between the readings and responses, we sang prayers, we celebrated the baptism of several new believers (hearing the testimony of one of our youth who was being baptized), we had a chorus of 8 different languages spoken in our congregation saying the Lord’s Prayer in their language all together (a picture of what happened on the first Christian Pentecost), we shared communion and we prayed for each other.

*Almighty God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit
As a united worldwide body of believers, we are gathered today
To honor and glorify Your Name.
We bow before Your throne of grace
And acknowledge that You are the Creator of heaven and earth.
You have existed through all eternity and in You all things hold together.
There is no one like You, holy and righteous in all Your ways.
We submit to Your authority and sovereignty as the King of the universe
And pray with one voice to enthrone You in our hearts
And to honor You before the world.

Congregation: Lord God, You alone are worthy Of our praise and adoration. We worship You.

*Our Father in heaven,
Thank You for loving the world so greatly
That You gave Your only Son, Jesus Christ,
To die on the cross for our sins,
so that we could be reconciled to You.
Thank You for giving us the right to call You Father,
Because of our faith in Jesus Christ as our Savior.
Nothing, not even principalities and powers,
Is able to separate us from Your love which you demonstrated in Your Son, Jesus Christ.

Congregation:Thank You Father, for adopting us into Your family. We now cry, Abba Father!

*Lord Jesus Christ, You alone are worthy to open the scrolls of history,
For You were slain and have redeemed us to the Father by Your blood.
Thank You for interceding for us as our High Priest.
As we stand before You from many tribes and nations,
we confess that You are Head of the Church
and Lord of every created thing in heaven and on earth.
Come and draw followers to serve Your from every tribe and language.
May these become Your inheritance in all the earth.
Let Your kingdom be established in every nation of the world,
So that governments will rule with righteousness and justice.
May Your gospel be made known to every person on earth.
May Your blessing bring transformation among every people.
And may Your Name be great, from the rising of the sun to its setting.

Congregation: Jesus Christ, You are the Savior of the world and the Lord of all.

*Father of mercy and grace
We acknowledge that we have sinned and that our world is gripped by the power of sin.
Our hearts are grieved by injustice, hatred, anger and violence.
We are shamed by the oppression, racism and bloodshed in our land.
We weep because of the loss of innocent life in war and terrorism, abortion, persecution and senseless murders.
Our hearts are broken by every rejection of Christ as Lord and Savior.
As we stand before You, we know that Your gaze beholds all things.
Our homes are broken by selfishness and immortality.
Our lives are polluted by greed, idolatry and sexual sin.
Our churches are divided by rebellious pride.
All the sins that we may find in our world, You have found among Your people.
We have grieved Your heart and brought shame to Your Name.
We approach Your throne of grace in this hour of need.
We ask for Your mercy and Your help to repent sincerely.

Congregation: God of mercy, pour out Your grace. Forgive our sins. Heal our land.

*Spirit of the living God, we confess that we can do nothing apart from You.
Living God, on this Pentecost, pour out Your Spirit upon all flesh.
Empower the Church to be transformed into the image of Jesus Christ.
Release Your power to bring healing to the sick, freedom to the possessed, comfort to those who mourn and release for those who are oppressed.
Come and melt the hearts of people to love again.
Answer the call of the homeless, the hungry, the helpless and the dying.
Enfold orphans, widows and the elderly in Your arms.
Display Your mercy and provide for our needs.
Give us wisdom and insight in every sphere of life so that we will find solutions to the complex problems of the world.
Help us to use the resources of the earth for the well-being of all.
Pour Your love into our hearts and fill us with compassion and let the power of the Holy Spirit characterize our lives.

Congregation: Holy Spirit, we need Your comfort and guidance. Come and transform our hearts.

*Lord Jesus Christ, because You were dead, but are now risen; and because the Father has given You a Name above all names, You will defeat all powers of evil.
You have declared that the gates of hell will not prevail against Your Church. We pray for deliverance from demonic oppression.
We pray for the tearing down of the strongholds and ideologies that hinder and resist the spreading of the knowledge of God.
We resist the plan of the enemy to keep nations in darkness and pray that Your will remove the veil that covers the peoples.
We ask for open doors so that the gospel can enter every nation.
Restrain the evil that promotes violence and death.
Break the hold of slavery, tyranny and disease.
Fill us with courage to preach Your word fearlessly and faithfully.
Give us a spirit of intercession to cry out on behalf of the lost.

Congregation: Almighty God, deliver us from evil and the evil one.

*King of Glory, come to the nations of the world.
You have promised long ago that You would come to restore all things.
We welcome You to finish Your work in our cities, our peoples and our nations.
We now lift our voices in unison with believers from across the face of the earth – from Africa, from the Middle East, from North and South America, from Asia, from Europe, from Australia, and from the Pacific Islands – together we cry:

Congregation: Lift up your heads, O you gates! Be lifted up ancient doors so that the King of glory may come in!

As Your deeds increase throughout the earth, and as Your blessings abound to all the nations, they will seek You, asking, “Who is this King of Glory?”
Together we will answer:

Congregation: He is the Lord Almighty!
Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!

Come fill the earth with Your glory as the waters cover the sea.
The Spirit and the Bride say:

Congregation: Amen! Come Lord Jesus!

Now is the season of blessing….reaching out and watching God bless our communities and nations through us as we’ve prepared to be His instruments.

Read about how the Dallas area is preparing for The 90 days of blessing. And I encourage you to look for the ways that God wants you to be a blessing to your neighborhood, community, city and nation. Think of one thing….and do it for God’s glory, because He loves your community….and you are His hands and feet…..

Constant prayer, day 10
Topic: Prayer

Today's emphasis for the Ten Days of Constant Prayer is God's blessing.

For the promised blessing of Christ among all people.

For His Church:
*For Christians to live with expectancy for the ancient promise of blessing to be fulfilled, seeing transformation of their communities and countries.
*For churches to work together in unity, co-working with God to change lives, cities and nations.

For our world:
*For the righteousness and justice of God to transform the ways of commerce and politics, cleansing whole societies from the curse of corruption.
*For the peace of Christ's kingdon to change the way cities and nations are governed.
*For the joy of Christ's life to flourish throughout every people group on earth!

***I am particularly interested in this way of praying for God's blessing, as I went to a mini conference on it back in April. In 2 weeks, Charles and I are going to a prayer conference where this same speaker will be teaching again. I will report on it after we go.

Today is the last day of the Ten Days of Constant Prayer. Our church is doing a 24 hour prayer 'marathon' with people praying around the clock from sundown on Friday evening til sundown on Saturday evening. Tomorrow is Pentecost, originally a Jewish holy day designed to give to God the first 'fruits' of the first harvest of produce. Today, as Chrisitans, we can see how God also produced on that first Pentecost after Jesus died and rose again, the first harvest of Christians worldwide. He sent the Holy Spirit to indwell all who give their lives to Him. The Holy Spirit prompted the disciples to preach the good news of Jesus to those who were gathered in Jerusalem for Pentecost, bringing their first fruits. Each of these people groups heard the message in their own language and God reaped a powerful harvest of believers from all over the known world, who then went back to further spread the gospel.

Tomorrow, you can check out all that is happening with the Global Day of Prayer U.S. and all of the world.

Constant prayer, day 9
Topic: Prayer


Our church is studying/using the guide for the Ten Days of Constant Prayer in preparation for Pentecost Sunday, which is in 2 days!

Today's prayer emphasis:

For Christ to bring substantial healing.

In His Church:
*That God would move amoung the sick around the world to bring physical healing. Acts 5:14-16
*That Christians would act withpersistet compassion to work for the eradication of diseases.
*For Christians to be engaged in providing basic health care where needs are great.

In the world:
*For the END of HIV/AIDS in OUR generation. (wouldn't that be awesome? Our God IS an awesome God...please pray about this horrific epidemic) At this time 250,000 young people are infected every month.
*For basic health care for the most needy of our world. Over 30,000 children worldwide die daily from preventable diseases!

I am praying specifically today for some people I know in our church and community with serious illnesses...and for my father, who is suffering greatly with dementia. I think the ultimate healing for him would be to go to be with the Lord....and I would never say that lightly.

Constant Prayer, Day 8
Topic: Prayer
Today in the prayer guide for the 10 Days of Constant Prayer before Pentecost Sunday, we are encouraged to pray for the glory of Jesus.

For Christ's glory to be revealed in the courage of His people.


For His Church:
*For those who come up against oppostion because of the name of Jesus....that they would display the gentle, bold character of Jesus. (Acts 4:13)
*For Christians who suffer for Christ's name to be strong in joy and faith.
*That God will be glorified by His great deeds in those places where He has been opposed. (Acts 4:21)

For Our World:
*For our leaders and governments to be blessed.
*That some government leaders who are opposing Christ would be blessed with wisdom and be found "not fighting against God." (Acts 5:39)

Constant Prayer, Day 7
Topic: Prayer
Today is day seven of the 10 Days of Constant Prayer for our communities. Today the emphasis is praying for the nations to hear the voice of God.

This includes:
*The gospel preached in every language.
*The Bible translated into more languages. Currently there are 3,000 known people groups without Scripture in their own language.
*Churches to be planted around the world, in every culture/language group.
*That many (Acts 2:39) would call on the name of the Lord and be saved. (Acts 2:21)

I forgot to copy down yesterday's prayer emphasis, but you can still pray for this very important one:

Day 6 The Coming Generation:

*For marriages and homes to be strengthened in Christ.
*For children and youth to become devoted to following Christ early in life and to serve Him with extreme devotion!
*That young leaders will be recognized and released to lead the church to grow in multiplying ways. (Acts 6:3-7)

Let's pray today!

Global prayer
Topic: Prayer
I meant to write about this over a week ago. But my mind went into neutral with the busyness that surrounded my week last week and the thought that my dad would be placed in a nursing care facility, I thought by today. As of this morning, that is not a possibility...problems with the insurance approval and beds available. I have to snap out of this fog, I've decided. So I 'm just going to start putting some things out on here that I've been pushing aside, as to not to have to think.

We are in the middle of the 10 days of constant prayer. Read about it to find out more. Very simply, this is patterned after what happened at that first Christian Pentecost in the book of Acts. Jesus ascended into Heaven, leaving them with a promise of the Holy Spirit. For 10 days they were together, praying continually, until the day of Pentecost when they received the Holy Spirit. Then for 90 days they reached out to their community and thousands understood their message, were saved and the church grew and spread. So for 10 days, currently we are on day 6, we are encouraged to pray in groups, alone, fast and they have a prayer guide on their sight to guide you. Then this Sunday is the Global DAY of prayer, all believers who are participating, praying in one accord for God to work in their communities. Then for 90 days, churches are to reach out to the community, to be a blessing to them and watch God work.

I think it is a wonderfully organized effort. I have not heard much of it except through our church. I hope they continue to grow and do this each year so that more churches can participate and a more concerted effort will be in place. I can't wait to see what God will do through these that are praying. I have slacked this week through my own numbness due to my little life struggles. But I am committing right now to start in....day 6 though it may be....and join the effort. I will hopefully be able to post some more resources for this prayer effort later today. Right now I am being urgently summoned to get my 16 year old daughter to work!

Keep praying.....