Saturday, October 3, 2009

*~*Prayer Requests for 10/3/09:

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If you find a Bible that's all tattered &
worn, it belongs to a person who isn't.

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"O Lord, be gracious to us; we long for you.
Be our strength every morning, our salvation
in times of distress" (Isaiah 33:2 - NIV).

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Hi friend,

Please keep the following individuals in your prayers:

1) "Please pray for me. I am in a new job for 3 months and it is terrible. I need the job desperatly because we are helping with our grandchildren. I know I am in the job for a reason but it is getting very difficult to handle. Please pray that God will bless me with a new job. Thanks." -Brenda;

2) Pat asks for our prayers. She writes, "Urgent prayer needed please. We have $3 to our name and our rent is due in a few days. If we don't pay, we will be evicted (we have already battled homelessness). We need money for rent and to keep our phone on so that the employment agencies can reach us to get us some immediate work. Pray that God will find a way to get us the money we need. Thank you and God bless you.";

3) "A few weeks ago my family found the perfect house and we really want to get it,but we have been having finantial trouble for the last four years. Will you pray with us that we get the house?" -Amanda;

4) Geno asks for ou prayers. He writes, "Father GOD, Please take away this impossible LOVE of mine for KATHY. She has been gone for decades, and I realized today that I never got over her. Give me a good woman to share LOVE and LIFE with. KATHY has been the catalyst of my insanity. Fill me with LOVE that is REALISTIC. CHANGE my LIFE completely. Burn't OUT! in JESUS' name...Amen.";

5) Please pray for Rebekah ---a 19 year old that has follicular carcinoma of the thyroid.;

6) On Monday evening, I normally visit the Greenville Detention Center (Greenville, SC). Much prayer and testimony are given by myself and numerous inmates. Bibles, gospel tracts, Bible studies and Daily Breads are handed out amongst many. Last Monday evening, my badge was stripped with the explanation of revamping the system and tightening security. Please ask Christ to give these men strength and continue to build up the faith of His own. Please also pray for re-entry to be approved for all religious volunteers.

If you would like to make a donation towards this ministry, please send funds to: Mark Seay, 105 Quincy Drive, Greer, SC 29650.;

7) "Im not in as big of need as some requests you might get but I really need this in my life right now...I left my job in may of this year(due to the fact we were required to work 8hr shifts alone with no breaks or lunches provided and no one to releave you) I was told by a state worker and the labor board that i would get unemployment if i quit due to those curcumstances) I took them to labor board and did win the money for the 3yrs i worked with out breaks and lunches and its a good thing i did because the state unemployment denyed me unemployment but that money has run out and between bad health (cronic kiddney stones)and living in one of the lowest job availibity citys in the U.S. I havent been able to find a job yet. Between me and my husband whom has health problems as well and hasent worked in 2years its been very hard to take care of our 2 kids (ages 4 and 2) I appealled the EDD's denial and had my hearing a few days ago, our faith is in high gear praying to the lord that he will see the truth side and prevail....I would just like some extra help to pray that i get approved and eventually find a job...and for healing health for me and my husband...I would greatly appreciate it! thank you for your time and for listening...your website is wonderful! Bless you all! thank you." -Lindsay;

8) Peggy asks for our prayers. She writes, "Please pray for the healing of my back and elimination of pain. Thank you very much.";

9) "My family is having money problems which is causing a lot of fighting between my mom and dad i'm worried and i'm praying but someime it feels like it not wirking so i'm asking for help please." -NN;

10) Silvia asks to be remembered in our prayers. She writes, "Father , so many that are asking for help are so desperate.Please hear and answer our prayers so we may feel normal again and be able to help ourselves also.Increase our hope and faith and give us a joyful and thankful spirit.Have your angels watch over us please.Amen.";

11) "I need a job and to hear from my baby's father. I havent heard from him in months and I am worried. I have applied for jobs with apartments as a leasing agent and haven't gotten any response I have three children to feed on my own my name is Johnah his name is Chris I really need a job.";

12) "Lord cover my wife with Your Love and blood, dont let her retain any of the words or occultism at the buhhidist temple she is going too, let Your sacrifice draw her to you not her and others human or demonic efforts to be clean and holy, amen." -AN;

13) Stephanie asks for our prayers. She writes, "Pray for me to restore good health in the Name of Jesus and for me to get a job. May God's mercies and Blessings be upon me.";

14) "I could really use your payers money is very tight right now. i don't like to ask the Lord for money but i really need it i'm worried about making it please pray. In Jesus Christ name we pray amen." -John;

15) Patty asks to be remembered in our prayers. She writes: "I need pray for my brother ed he has cancer its taking over his life.god please touch him n heal him.let him be with us a little longer.thank you god.";

16) "I have health promblems and need a pray." -Frances;

17) JR writes, "I pray that my friend, Jennifer's 5 year old son, recovers from his bronchitis. He has been in ICU for 3 days; his name is Myron. God bless u in jesus name.";

18) Please pray for the children and families devastated by the catastrophic typhoon that swept through Manila and surrounding provinces in the Philippines before hitting Central Vietnam. Thousands of homes in these areas are damaged or destroyed.;

19) "Wanted to thank you for your prayer on behalf of my father in laws surgery. It was very successful. My mother-in-law called it 'amazing'. Thanks again." -Farrell;

20) Vinay asks for our prayers. She writes, "Lord, Please heal my Dad's eyes and vision after his cataract surgery. Thank you in advance.";

21) "Lord, I humble myself in prayer in Jesus name, I love and I thank you and I ask forgiveness, I forgive others. Lord, please help me I give in to whatever it is you want in Jesus name, help me with everything in my life. Especially right now give me the knowledge I need to pass this AgBus Math class. Lord I love and I thank you in Jesus name. Amen." -C; and lastly ...

22) AN asks to be remembered in our prayers. She writes, "I would like to pray for my friend, Brian. He has been married for about 4 or 5 years and his wife walked out on him and he say that he still loves her. Lord I pray that they find it in their heart to forgive each other and bring their family back together. I want to pray for my oldest son that he is not gay and that God change the rage in him. I want to pray for my husband that he comes back home a renewed man. That he put away his cheating ways and that I can forgive him without bring up the past up in anyway. I want to find a good paying job and something that I like to do and enjoy doing. I want to pray that my cousin Calvin will mind his own business for now on."


**God bless you for caring enough to pray!!!**

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A real friend is always and under all circumstances a friend (Proverbs 17:17a).

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*~*Spotlight Site*~*

http://WayOfTheMaster.com

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"I cry out to God Most High, to God, who fulfills
{his purpose} for me" (Psalms 57:2 - NIV).

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8 Warning Signs of Toxic Faith
By J. Lee Grady
LighthousePrayerLine.org


Legalistic religion is dangerous. Here's how you can detect and avoid the poison of a religious spirit.

After Elisha watched Elijah ascend into heaven, the prophet went to the city of Jericho and performed his first miracle. The men of that city faced an environmental crisis: Their water was toxic, most likely because of the sulphur and other chemicals that had rained down upon nearby Sodom and Gomorrah years earlier. This poison had made the land barren (see 2 Kings 2:19-22) and it was probably affecting people and animals as well as plant life.

So Elisha performed a bold, prophetic act. He threw salt in the water and proclaimed: "Thus says the Lord, ‘I have purified these waters; there shall not be from there death or unfruitfulness any longer'" (v. 21, NASB). His proclamation brought immediate cleansing.

" Jesus Himself referred to these toxins as 'the leaven of the Pharisees'” (Luke 12:1, NASB). He told us that the Pharisees’ brand of religion, which looked good on the outside, was deadly—and contagious."

This obscure story in the Old Testament offers us a picture of the gospel's power. The message of Jesus Christ heals us. The Holy Spirit brings life where death has reigned. He neutralizes the poisons that cause spiritual barrenness. He balances the pH level so that spiritual growth and vitality is possible.

All of us would like to enjoy a healthy spiritual life. But the sad truth is that many of us are barren because of hazardous additives. We have believed a different gospel—one laced with legalism, performance-based religion and salvation by works—when Christ alone is our only source of life.

Jesus Himself referred to these toxins as "the leaven of the Pharisees" (Luke 12:1, NASB). He told us that the Pharisees' brand of religion, which looked good on the outside, was deadly—and contagious.

Have you been infected? You can take your own pH test by examining these eight characteristics of a religious spirit.

1. A religious spirit views God as a cold, harsh, distant taskmaster rather than an approachable, loving Father. When we base our relationship with God on our ability to perform spiritual duties, we deny the power of grace. God does not love us because we pray, read our Bibles, attend church or witness, yet millions of Christians think God is mad if they don't perform these and other duties perfectly. As a result they struggle to find true intimacy with Jesus.

2. A religious spirit places emphasis on doing outward things to show others that God accepts him. We deceive ourselves into believing that we can win God's approval through a religious dress code, certain spiritual disciplines, particular music styles or even doctrinal positions.

3. A religious spirit develops traditions and formulas to accomplish spiritual goals. We trust in our liturgies, denominational policies or man-made programs to obtain results that only God alone can give.

4. A religious spirit becomes joyless, cynical and hypercritical. This can turn a home or a church completely sour. Then, whenever genuine joy and love are expressed, this becomes a threat to those who have lost the simplicity of true faith.

5. A religious spirit becomes prideful and isolated, thinking that his righteousness is special and that he cannot associate with other believers who have different standards. Churches that allow these attitudes become elitist and dangerously vulnerable to deception or cult-like practices.

6. A religious spirit develops a harsh, judgmental attitude toward sinners, yet those who ingest this poison typically struggle with sinful habits that they cannot admit to anyone else. Religious people rarely interact with nonbelievers because they don't want their own superior morals to be tainted by them.

7. A religious spirit rejects progressive revelation and refuses to embrace change. This is why many churches become irrelevant to society. They become so focused on what God did 50 years ago that they become stuck in a time warp and cannot move forward when the Holy Spirit begins to open new understanding. When religious groups refuse to shift with God's new directives, they become "old wineskins" and God must find more flexible vessels that are willing to implement change.

8. A religious spirit persecutes those who disagree with his self-righteous views and becomes angry whenever the message of grace threatens to undermine his religiosity. An angry religious person will use gossip and slander to assassinate other peoples' character and may even use violence to prove his point. Jesus, in fact, warned His disciples: "There will even come a time when anyone who kills you will think he's doing God a favor" (John 16:2, The Message).

If the poison of religion has contaminated your walk with God, ask Him to pour a fresh understanding of His grace into your barren spirit—and then expect His new life to flow through you.

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"How to Make Money With a Blog
That has No Traffic ... and has a Google
Page Rank of 0."

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"They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us" (1 John 2:19).

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Now, THAT's a Community Church!
By Ministry News
LighthousePrayerLine.org


If you're frustrated with leading your congregation and need a reminder of why you love the body of Christ, you'll want to hear the inspiring story of what's happening at Rolling Hills Baptist Church in Fayetteville, Ga.

Last year the congregation of no more than 100 people was a mere $150,000 away from paying off their $1.4 million property. Their pastor, Frank Mercer, had come from a megachurch in Charlotte, N.C., and envisioned replicating the numerical growth he'd seen there. Naturally, everyone thought that after fully paying off their buildings and 20-acre plot, they'd pat themselves on the back and move on to "bigger and better" ministry.

They have … only in a way few churches are willing to do. On October 5, 2008, with a reeling economy hitting their community hard, the congregation voted overwhelmingly to sell the church property and invest all proceeds into what they believe really matters: people.

“Our motive should not be to fill these seats, but to empty these seats,” Mercer has often stated to a profoundly unified and supportive congregation. But he admits it has taken a transformational journey to embrace a mindset that would rather see local families with roofs over their heads and food on the table rather than the church having a better sound system.

“We had long been considering how to best maximize ministry and missions resources by reducing operating costs," Mercer says. "But the idea of leveraging the value of our buildings and property so that we could begin to invest more deeply in people rather than property still seemed far-fetched.”

After a season in which God prompted the pastor to research more on the idea of a "church without walls," Mercer visited a small congregation in New York making a difference in their community by serving the homeless, hungry, sick and lost. When asked about future plans to purchase property, the church's pastor, Tom Richter, responded with a statement Mercer couldn't shake: "If we become a church of brick and mortar, we may cease to be a church of flesh and blood.”

Mercer returned to Georgia and gradually shared with others what he believed was God's new vision for the church. Within only a few months, 95 percent of the congregation agreed: It didn't make sense for them to spend more than 50 percent of the church budget on a building that sat unoccupied for 90 percent of the time. Rolling Hills members have since become regulars in serving a local homeless shelter, children's home and various other community projects. Once the building is sold, they are considering either renting or building a warehouse-like structure where they could meet for services while also storing clothes and food for distribution.

“At our church we’ve tried to keep up with the Joneses for too long," Mercer admits now. "Churches buy property and build buildings to expand the club and improve the clubhouse. We suffer from steeple envy. We work to attract guests. And the church that has the most people who give the most money wins. We’re tired of playing that game. We no longer want to be like everybody else. And that is not to say that everybody should be like us either. This model is not for everybody." [ajc.com, 7/28/09; christianindex.org, 12/4/08]

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Add the Power of Follow-up Emails to your Site:

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Alienation and Restoration
By J.M. Njoroge
LighthousePrayerLine.org


Vincenzo Ricardo. If that name does not mean much to you, you are not alone. It does not seem to have meant much to anyone else except, perhaps, him who bore it. In fact it was not even his name. His real name was Vincenzo Riccardi, and nobody seemed to get it right after the sensational discovery of his mummified body in Southampton, New York. He had been dead for 13 months, but his television was still on, and his body was propped up in a chair in front of it.(1) The television was his only companion, and though it had much to tell him, it did not care whether he lived or died.

Riccardi’s story raises many unsettling questions. How can a human being vanish for over a year and not be missed by anyone? Where was his family? What about his relatives? Why was the power still on in his house? Whatever the answers are to these and other questions, one thing is clear: Riccardi was a lonely individual whose life can be summed up in one word, alienation. You see, Riccardi was blind, so he never really watched television; he needed this virtual reality to feed his need for real companionship. Moreover, his frequent “outbursts and paranoid behavior” may have played a role in driving people away from him.(2)

This is indeed a tragic and extreme tale, but it makes a powerful statement about how cold and lonely life can be for millions across the globe. Even those who seem to have all of their ducks in a row are not immune to the pangs of loneliness and alienation. Alienation affects us at three different levels. We are alienated from ourselves, from others, and most significantly, we are alienated from God. That is the reality in which we exist. The restoration process involves all three dimensions, but it begins with a proper relationship with God. We cannot get along with ourselves or with others until we are properly related to God. The good news of the gospel is that full restoration is available to all who want it.

This process is well illustrated in an encounter Jesus had with another deeply wounded man who lived in a cemetery. Relatives, and perhaps friends, had tried unsuccessfully to bind him with iron chains to keep him home. He preferred to live among the tombs (alienation from others), cutting himself with stones, his identity concealed in his new name—“Legion” (alienation from self). His mind and body were hopelessly enslaved by Satan’s agents, and his life was no longer his own (alienation from God). It took an encounter with Jesus for the man to be fully restored, “dressed and in his right mind” (Mark 5:15). Only then could he follow Jesus’s command to go back to his family and tell them what God had done for him.

The restoration process remains the same today. Until we are properly related to God, our true identity and potential will always elude us. No virtual reality or gadget can even begin to address the problem, for they only give back to us what we have put into them. They are like the message in a bottle which a castaway on a remote island excitedly received, only to realize that it was a cry for help that he himself had sent out months before. As Augustine prayed, “You have made us for Yourself, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in You.” We are finite creatures, created for a relationship with an Infinite Being, and no finite substitute can ever meet our deepest needs. Trying to meet our real needs without God is like trying to satisfy our thirst with salty water: the more we drink, the thirstier we become. This is a sure path to various sorts of addictions.

But when we are properly related to the True Shepherd who calls his sheep by name, loneliness is infused with great hope as we, with Abraham, look “forward to the city with foundations whose architect and builder is God” (Hebrews 11:10). We become members of God’s extended family. Day by day, we learn to trust God as we travel with others along a heavily trodden path that never disappoints. Friends and relatives may desert us, but we are never alone. We may grieve, but never like those without hope. We have peace and joy within, and even in our own hour of need, others can still find their way to God through us. The alternative is a crippling sense of isolation and alienation within a worldly system whose offerings, however sophisticated and well-intentioned, can never arouse us from spiritual death.

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Our vision is to inspire in every Christian a God-glorifying
passion to fulfill The Great Commission:

http://LivingWaters.com

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"Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares
about you" (1 Peter 5:7 – NLT).

Be sure to send in your prayer request for the next
mailing.

You are in my thoughts and prayers! May the Lord
continue to bless you with knowledge of Himself.

Thanks be to God whom all blessings flow,


Mark Seay
Lighthouse Prayer Line
105 Quincy Drive
Greer, SC 29650
LighthousePrayerLine.org

"Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have
taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting
what is behind and straining toward what is
ahead," (Philippians 3:13 - NIV).

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A preacher's little boy inquired, "Daddy, I notice every Sunday morning when you first come out to preach, you sit up on the platform and bow your head. What are you doing?"

The father explained, "I'm asking the Lord to give me a good sermon."

The little boy said, "Why don't he?"

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We hope you have found today's newsletter encouraging to your
walk with Jesus Christ. Please send all prayer requests and
praise reports to us by using the "comments" hyperlink, which
can be found at the end of each blog/article. God is Good!!!

A Candle Loses Nothing by Lighting Another Candle. Please Keep This
Candle Going!

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2 comments:

  1. the power of prayer is an amazing thing to watch.. and to be in fellowship with our Savior - it can't be any better

    Love to you.
    Kelly

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks so much for your sweet comment. It's glad to see another blogger with a love for Christ :).

    Have a great day!

    ReplyDelete