Praying for the Lost

With famine, disease, wars, natural disasters, and chaos stalking the earth, the world is in desperate need! However, the world's greatest need is spiritual. The world needs to hear the Gospel because the power is in the Gospel of Christ. (I Cor. 15:1-ff). The point is that the solution to the world's need is in the prayers and outreach to the lost by Christians. The Lord has promised that if we ask, seek, and knock he will send the answer.

Here are a few prayer starters for your encouragement:

1. Pray a prayer of Thanksgiving…
a. "In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you" (I Thessalonians 5:18).

b. "… my God shall supply all your needs according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:19).

2. Praise God for…
a. His faithfulness—“…his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.” (Psalms 91:4b)

b. His mercy--"Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens; and thy faithfulness reaches unto the clouds" (Psalm 36:5).

c. His excellence--"Touching the Almighty, we cannot find him out: he is excellent in power, and in judgment, and in plenty of justice: he will not afflict" (Job 37:23). (Also see Psalm 36:7)

d. His love—“Praise the LORD, all you nations, extol him, all you peoples. For great is his love toward us, and the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever. (Psalm 117)

e. His longsuffering--"But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth" (Psalm 86:15).

f. His name--"O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!" (Psalm 8:9).

3. Pray for workers:
Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth laborers into his harvest" (Luke 10:2). Pray for unity among brethren in order to when others to Christ. "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!" (Psalm 133:1).

4. Pray for God to lead us to people to share the gospel; for people to come to us in search of the Lord Jesus.

a. “Call unto Me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things that you do not know”. (Jeremiah 33:3)

5. Pray for people to have open hearts for the Gospel.

“We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers. We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you…” (1Thessalonians 1:2-ff)

Pray for Children

FEET of Children…

July 3 – 6, 2008, Paul, Schell and Noah came to West Monroe for a few days. They stayed with us; it was so great to have them back home.

While they were here, I was holding Noah, and I looked down at his precious little feet (he is about 2 months old) and I prayed “Lord, please guide these feet – where Noah should go and what he should do for You oh LORD GOD of heaven and earth.

Then, I said “Schell, please take a picture of Noah’s precious little feet…isn’t that adorable?" So she did. Today, as I’m praying for my children and grandchildren, I began to think about the “feet” spoken about in the Bible; how do I pray for Hugh and I; for my children and grandchildren in regards to their feet? Sounds silly huh? But think about it for a moment…

“Feet” is mentioned in the Bible 262 times. Some of those times refer to the 'measurement' but often it is speaking of human feet. Many references are to “washing feet” but I began to read about how God took care of His people’s feet and discovered that when God’s people were wandering in the desert for 40 years not only did their sandals not wear out but their feet did not even swell. God took complete care of them…every detail. While we're here on earth...it is our "wandering in the wilderness" but we have nothing to fear because of the great God we serve...

{4 Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. Deuteronomy 8:4 (NIV)}

PRAYER:Today, July 7, 2008, I pray Holy God…
You LORD are worthy to be praised, You alone are worthy! Thank YOU that You created little Noah (2 months old) and (6 year old) Madelyn and brought them to earth to be raised by Paul and Schell (Noah); Luke and Melissa (Madelyn). Thank you that you’ve allowed Hugh and I to be their Grandparents, please give us wisdom as we love them day to day.

Please give their parents Paul & Schell and Luke & Melissa a special measure of wisdom as they raise their children. Lord God I pray you’d protect all of them from the evil one; thank you that you surround each one of them with your protection and angels that are assigned to each of them. I pray that all Hugh and I tried to do to raise Paul and Luke for you would forever be in their hearts…that YOU LORD GOD would ever draw them to you so that they will lead their families close to You. I pray that one day we’ll all be in heaven together.

As I thank you Holy Father for their precious feet…My prayer is that you will guide those feet. May they never follow after evil but always after YOU LORD GOD, to Your glory and honor. You tell us in your word….
33 It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect.
34 He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he enables me to stand on the heights. 2 Samuel 22:33-35 (NIV)

So I claim that promise in Your Word for Noah and Madelyn; their parents and grandparents! Thank You LORD GOD ALMIGHTY for all that You do for each of us. In Christ Holy Name I Pray AMEN

We wait in great expectation as the one and only true and living God answers our prayers for our children, grandchildren and all the children on earth. So that when this life is over our children and grandchildren will be able to say that Pop and GG’s feet followed God closely…like what we read in Job 23:10-12 (NIV)…
10 But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold.
11 My feet have closely followed his steps; I have kept to his way without turning aside.
12 I have not departed from the commands of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread.

Till next time, {GG} Carolyn 'Jo' Gower

HEDGE OF THORNS PRAYER (marriage repair)

By Hugh and Carolyn ‘Jo’ Gower

Some time ago, Hugh and I had a small Bible Study Group on Monday night’s meeting in our home. We met to pray and have a Bible Study with the intent of inviting neighbors and friends to the small group.

God did several great things during that time…one testimony from that time is about a young man that wanted to get back with his wife. As I tell this real-life story I will not use his real name because of privacy issues. Therefore, I’ll call him “Sam”.
On Monday nights, Sam began coming, he had been through a divorce. They had two children, elementary age. Sam's wife was going to the Bars and having relationships with other men. As weeks went on in our prayer and study group Sam began to tell us that he really wanted his wife back.

Hugh explained to him the Hedge of Thorns Prayer. Hugh also asked him “Are you sure you can forgive her? Because if you can’t truly forgive her when she comes back it will not work.” Sam said yes, I forgive her and want her back.

After that, each week, Sam, Hugh and I would pray this prayer around his wife. Then Sam would pray it himself throughout the week. Week after week we’d pray…she would come by our house to drop the children off to Sam or to pick them up from Sam. She looked like a dancehall girl…and was off to the Bars or wild parties after she’d leave the children with Sam.

Several prayers came out of our times of praying the “Hedge Prayer”. We prayed that God would put a hedge about her and bring her to her senses. We prayed she’d lose a desire for the Bars and other men. And that people that were having a bad influence over her would lose a desire to be with her. We prayed that she’d have the desire for her husband and to be the wife and mother God intended her to be. Every Monday night for about a year we prayed a hedge about Sam and his family.
Then one week-end when we were out of town, Hugh was preaching somewhere, Sam called Hugh and said “We’re getting married again, will you do the ceremony?”
Since we were not in town, Sam had to get someone else to do it, but the next week-end they {children too} came to our home to eat supper. It was an awesome experience…she did not even look the same. She looked peaceful; dressed as a mom and a wife would dress. She was no longer dressed like a dancehall girl.
As we sat around the table eating together I asked her…”What happened to you? How did you come back?” She said “One night I was in a Bar; on the dance floor with some guy and boom, like a ton of bricks it hit me ‘this is not what I want’… ‘I want to be with Sam and our children! So I left and went back home to see if my ex-husband would take me back!’

God gave Sam an awesome blessing and answer to prayer! Now that you know we have seen great answers to the Hedge Prayer, here is an outline of that prayer for you to develop your own personal “Hedge Prayer”. It can be adapted to fit many circumstances. So there you go…

· Marriage Repair:

Heavenly Father, I ask you, LORD, to rebuke and bind Satan in the name and through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. (Jude 9)

I ask you to build a “hedge of thorns” around my husband / wife, so that anyone with wrong influence will lose interest in him / her and leave. (Hosea 2:5-7) (Job 1-3)

I base this prayer on the command of Your Word which states, “Therefore, don’t let anyone separate what God has joined together”. (Matthew 19:6)

Father God, Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. ( I John 5:15) (John 14:13-14) Amen

· Above prayer is based on the following scriptures:

Read Job, the first few chapters where we are told that God had a hedge around Job; how Satan approached God about this. When God took the hedge down Satan could attack. It is important to pray the Hedge of Thorns Prayer around your marriage and your husband or wife.

(1) Job 1 - 3
(2) Mark 3:27; Jude 9
(3) John 14:13-14
(4) Hosea 2:5-7
(5) I John 5:14
(6) Matthew 19:6
(7) I John 5:15

Head to Toe Praying...

HEAD TO TOE PRAYING…
An easy way to pray for the children around you is to pray for them from head to toe. Simple to use…when you think of their “head” begin praying for their mind and so on. This works for children of all ages and no matter what their circumstance is in their life.

See the scriptures below to use in praying completely for a person...

Take one of these prayers that are made from a scripture and pray it consistently for a week or longer; you’ll know how long is best in your situation. Repeating it for a least a week will begin to store the scripture in your heart. You can even put the verse on several index cards and posting them around the house and in the car. The 3”x 5” is easy to carry in your purse or in the shirt pocket for the men.

Not only will the prayer benefit your child but you will be blessed because if you pray the verse whenever you think of your child, in a matter of days, you'll have learned the verse by heart. So you are not only praying but memorizing God's word.

Just fill in the blanks with the person's name and you're off and praying!

1. Mind: Proverbs 9:9-10 "Instruct a wise man and he will be wiser still; teach a righteous man and he will add to his learning. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding."

Prayer: Father, please make ______ wise. Make ______ heart open to instruction that he/she might gain more wisdom. Teach him/her what it means to fear the Lord, for that is the beginning of wisdom. Grant him/her knowledge of the Holy One.

2. Eyes: Proverbs 3:7 "Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil."

Prayer: God, please guard ______ from being wise in his own eyes. May he fear you and find wisdom, strength, and understanding in you alone, not in his own capabilities. May he understand your holiness and resist evil.

3. Ears: Proverbs 2:2 "…turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding."

Prayer: Father, please make _______'s ears attentive to wisdom. Deafen his ears to the call of sin; teach him to recognize your still, small voice. Incline his heart to understanding.

4. Mouth: Ephesians 4:29 "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen."

Prayer: I pray that ______ would speak only wholesome words beneficial to others. May his speech be appropriate and respectful. May it encourage those who are disheartened and bring faith to those who have none.

5. Tongue: Proverbs 10:19-20 "When words are many, sin is not absent, but he who holds his tongue is wise. The tongue of the righteous is choice silver, but the heart of the wicked is of little value."

Prayer: I ask that _______ will learn wisdom and as a result, be able to hold his tongue. Keep him from wicked words. Make his tongue like choice silver.

6. Neck: Proverbs 3:3-4 "Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man."

Prayer: I pray that love and faithfulness will not leave _____. May he bind them around his neck and write them on the tablet of his heart. Open his eyes to others' needs, making him quick to extend kindness. Bless him with favor and a good reputation in the sight of God and man.

7. Heart: Proverbs 4:23 "Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life."
Prayer: I pray that ______ will watch over his heart with all diligence. Keep him heart pure. Keep him from being embittered by trials. May his heart be steadfastly set on loving you more than anything or anyone else.

8. Hands: Psalm 24:3-5 "Who may ascend the hill of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear by what is false. He will receive blessing from the Lord and vindication from God his Savior."
Prayer: I pray that ______ would have clean hands and a pure heart. May he love you with all his heart, turning away from all that is false. Keep his speech and motives pure. Thank you for promising a blessing and being faithful to fulfill it.

9. Knees: Psalm 95:6 "Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker."
Prayer: I pray that _______ will worship and bow down before you. May he love and fear you, honoring you as the King of his life. May he acknowledge you as his Maker and recognize that your love will never fail.

10. Feet: Psalm 119:35 "Direct me in the path of your commands, for there I find delight."
Prayer: Father, please help _______ walk in your path. Cause him to delight in your commandments and follow you all his days.

Daily Putting on God's Armor

Through Prayer….Daily Putting on God’s Armor:

Heavenly Father, Your Warrior prepares for Battle.
Today I claim victory over Satan by putting on the whole armor of God!
Lord, I give you my will; submit today to your will; I give you my body, mind and soul. Oh Lord you are in control of me today. I give up myself; my selfishness to you oh God in heaven. I pray for protection around my mind; may I take every thought captive for Christ. Christ does not give me a spirit of fear but a spirit of peace and a sound mind that I am thinking clearly about my walk with You – Oh God YOU are my shelter and provider… YOU are my friend in a dark world - --YOU shed the light of peace upon me…no matter what I go through today You and I together can face it together because you live in me. The very Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead lives in me and because of that I know where my strength comes from. Thank you Jesus!
I put on the breastplate of righteousness! May it guard my heart from evil so I will remain pure and Holy, protected under the blood of Jesus Christ.
Thank You, Christ Jesus for what you did for me on the cross; taking my sins; sufferings and diseases to the cross. May I be a welcoming environment for Your leading in my life today. Thank you for the victory you’ve provided over Satan.
By Faith I bind up myself in Your Truth; may my life today be motivated by truth; my heart love truth. May I be motivated by what is righteous (right) and refuse that which is evil. Thank you for the imputed righteousness of Christ. May I stand firm in the truth of your word so I will not become a victim of Satan’s lies.
By Faith I put on the shoes of peace. May I stand firm in the Good News of the Gospel so Your peace will shine through me and be a light to all I encounter. Today may I be a peace maker not a trouble maker.
By Faith I take up the shield of Faith; may I trust your word today and not add any fuel to Satan’s darts. Thank you that I can go into this day without fear. Make me ready for Satan’s fiery darts of doubt, denial and deceit so I will not be vulnerable to spiritual defeat.
By Faith I put on the Helmet of Salvation; may I have my mind focused on You so Satan will not have a stronghold on my thoughts; may I remember today that Jesus is coming again; help me to live in the future tense.
By Faith I take up the Sword of the Spirit! May the two-edged sword of Your Word be ready in my hands so I can expose the tempting words of Satan. Protect my mind from discouragement and despair. Fill my mind with your swords (Rhema –personal word from God through His Word and the Holy Spirit through prayer).
By Faith I have put on the armor of God today; may this be a day of victory!
In Jesus Name AMEN

God is good and he's good all the time!

This morning before going to work at World Radio I wanted to let you know one more time what a great God we serve! He provides what we need when we need it! Yesterday, I left work early, around noon, to go to the church at Calhoun. My purpose was to serve and encourage Cindy and her family at Brad's Memorial service. My heart is so touched by these precious children that are left behind after Brad's death Sunday morning. One of them is in my Bible class on Sunday morning and he is so very precious! All of Cindy's children touch my heart...I prayed for Cindy and her children this morning and of course I've prayed for Mark - the brother to Brad that is recovering from multiple broken bones from the car accident.

Another family there at the Calhoun church has children about the same age as Cindy and Brad's...of course they are friends and I guess what rings true is how God has used this tragedy that was meant for evil in to something good. Of course there are many bad things that come from the loss of a dear husband, father and friend but...how God moves and works among us in difficult times gives all of us hope.

What I mean by that is yesterday when we all met together to take care of Cindy and family at the memorial service you could see that God's love was evident! Many of our church family showed up to serve, we had plenty of food and everyone worked together beautifully! Everyone there considered others more important than themselves...there was unity and peace with all of us making every effort to serve Cindy, her family and friends that had come to give respect to Brad and comfort to his family that is left behind.

So out of tragedy comes the visible peace and love of God... we don't mourn as those in the world without hope, we mourn with assurance that we'll see Bradley again...he'll meet us at the gate of heaven when we all get there. Praise God for his mercy and grace! God is good and he is good all the time! Have a blessed day, love, Jo Gower

One Another...don't go it alone...

Over the last few days I’ve been rudely reminded of just how quickly life can come to a halt! We lost a dear friend through a car wreck recently. He leaves behind a sweet wife with three young children. And to add to that, the very next day we got word that one of our distant relatives was killed at gunpoint through a violent crime. So two days in a row we’ve dealt with death in our local church.

How do people that do not have Christ in the center of their life live through such tragedy? Just as I was rudely reminded of the shortest of life, I was compassionately reminded that we are not alone! When we share struggles together, our common love brings some healing to our soul.

We thank the Father in heaven that he gave us “one another” through Jesus His Son. Jesus gave us a new command in John 13:34-35:
34"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." (John 13:34-35)

Sometimes, we refer to that “one another” concept as our “forever family”. This is vivid in my heart and mind because I had a friend that use to say “If I don’t see you again on this side of heaven then meet me in the back right hand corner of heaven”; when he died at a young age we all cherished his words and thought yeah! Charlie…we’ll meet you there!

Our togetherness does not stop here at the local church but reaches to where you are; that could be many miles from us here in West Monroe. You have your own story of sorrow or tragedy in your life. The great thing about being in God’s forever family is that the physical miles are only that – “physical” but in our hearts there are no miles between us. Hugh and I may have been to your church to conduct a prayer seminar or prayer retreat; therefore, you and I have our “one another” relationship; we are your brothers and sisters in Christ.

We’re here to pray with you; to mourn with you in hard times and yet to rejoice with you in your happy times. You are not only an important part of the prayer ministry team, but a friend in the fellowship of Christ and we thank you! Please tell me your story! You can reach me at jogopray@gmail.com or write me at PO Box 22, Monroe, La. 71210. Our website address is below.

Thanks again, Carolyn “Jo” Gower, Prayer Coordinator

www.ourchurch.com/member/j/jogopray/

jogopray@gmail.com

http://www.calhounchurch.org/