I am grieved over the reality of abortion in our midst. In America alone we have put to death nearly 60 million unborn babies since the Roe v. Wade supreme Court ruling in 1973. It is a little encouraging that the number of abortions each year has decreased significantly. I am sure that is largely because of protests of this insidious evil primarily by Christians. 

However, I think it is important to note that simply making abortion illegal will not, in and of itself, solve the problem. That is because the seeds of abortion are much deeper than law. I believe one of the things that has helped to reduce the number of abortions in these later years has been the efforts made to help women deal with the crises that they face when they discover that they are pregnant. I also think we need to do more to help care for the needs of single mothers and others in difficult situations.

But none of these efforts will deal effectively with the root of the problem. Abortion arose en mass because of attitudes that have swept over us in the sexual revolution. We have lost all sense of the purpose and joy of sexual relations. In and out of marriage we have come to think of sexual relations as recreational activity. However, the primary purpose of sex is procreation. And children are the joy of sex. Of course, the immediate pleasure of sexual activity is a wonderful thing, but it is reduced tremendously as it is severed from its purpose.

We face a number of problems in dealing with this reality. What are our chances of making such a change in the thinking of our whole society? The realization of this overwhelms me. However, there are certainly things that we can do. We must continue to oppose abortion. And we can seek to reason with individuals in a world that may not wish to hear about our values. It may be more important to redouble our efforts to teach a more godly mindset to our children and those who come to Christ in our midst. Compassion calls us to increase our efforts to minister particularly to women and children in crisis. 

And consistent prayer for our society and our world is essential to bring about transformation on a wholesale basis. This problem goes back further than the sexual revolution. Its seeds go back to the sin of man in the Garden of Eden. Its terrible fruit can be seen in every generation from the beginning of the world. Without extraordinary prayer our efforts will be futile in trying to stop the title wave of public opinion. Nothing short of radical revival or a new heaven and a new earth will change what we face.

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Addiction in America is an ever increasing national crisis! Millions of Americans have addictions. "According to data from the DEA, from 2006 through 2014, a total of 100 billion doses of oxycodone and hydrocodone were shipped to pharmacies across the country, and from there into households."

This has resulted in "770,000" opioid deaths, which has killed more Americans than all American wars combined. The rising overdose numbers make the drug epidemic more deadly than gun violence, car crashes or HIV/AIDS!

Not only is substance abuse America’s number one health problem, the devastation of alcoholism and other drug addiction has impacted families and communities worldwide. Substance abuse has been directly linked to violence and sexual immorality and is a major source of income for organized crime and terrorist activities.

If you believe that God is calling you to intercede for the addicted please contact us. To find help for addiction through prayer and Christian ministries log on to our web site: http://justprayno.org. To learn how groups can participate in our annual prayer event, click on “Information on the Annual Worldwide Weekend of Prayer” or email: justprayno@aol.com. 

For a personal interview with “Just Pray NO!” Founder and Author Steven L. Sherman, in the U.S.A. call: (727) 647-6467 or email: justprayno@aol.com.

There has to be a point where any of us begins to pray to a God that we know little about. I often think those are refreshing prayers. We find one of these in the 24th chapter of Genesis. Abraham sends his servant on a mission that would be impossible without the direction of God. After traveling for weeks he stops outside the town where Abraham's family lived, and prays.

“O LORD, God of my master Abraham, please grant me success today and show steadfast love to my master Abraham. Behold, I am standing by the spring of water, and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water. Let the young woman to whom I shall say, ‘Please let down your jar that I may drink’, and who shall say, ‘Drink, and I will water your camels’—let her be the one whom you have appointed for your servant Isaac. By this I shall know that you have shown steadfast love to my master.”

Genesis 24:12-14

I don't believe it is wrong for the servant's approach to God to be tentative. He begins by addressing the LORD as the God of Abraham. I believe it would have been wrong for Abraham to pray such a second-hand prayer. It would have been foolish for this servant to continue to pray like that after God had revealed Himself in these events. But at this point he seems to be reaching out to the LORD for the first time. I think his approach was humble and fearful. And even if it lacked faith, it was a step toward firm belief. 

This is not merely a prayer for success or blessing even for his master, Abraham. This is a prayer to Know the will of God. He is praying for God to show him the young lady that He had appointed for Isaac. He recognizes that just any girl will not do.

And he is praying that he might know God himself. He prays that he might know God's steadfast love to Abraham and Isaac. And of course knowing that would be a good step toward knowing God. I don’t think this was much different that someone today praying as Fancis Schaffer suggested in one of his books.

“God, if you are real, speak to me.”

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​Why Do a "Mini" Prayer Retreat?

Tithe Your Time

Where to Do A Mini Prayer Retreat

One Final Note

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The Scripture I want to look at in this blog actually addresses only men. However, I believe ladies can read over our shoulders and get a firm grasp on some things that we need God to do in our marriages. My experience is that ladies are much better at doing that than men.

The verse is 1 Peter 3:7.

“Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.”

The goal of Peter's admonition points to a great spiritual power afforded to husbands and wives. In Matthew 18:19 Jesus said,

“If two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.”

The depth of unity that can be developed between husbands and wives brings an Earth shaking power in prayer. Need I say that our enemy the devil will do anything he can to hinder our united prayer. Let's look prayerfully at what the Holy Spirit teaches in this verse that will enable us to overcome the barrage of the enemy.

DWELL WITH

Peter begins by telling men, “live with your wives.” There is a mindset related to this. We need to develope an attitude of unity with one another in marriage. It is God's will for the two of you to become one. Thinking together requires time together? We should desire for our unity to be as complete as that of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit bound together in ultimate love. This may be counter productive to say, because such unity is absolutely impossible for us. But I can say, Men, we are to live in union with our wives. We are to bind ourselves to them with the love of Christ.

UNDERSTANDING

Possibly the most crucial thing God tells us here is to live with our wives with understanding. If you think this is easy, you probably haven't tried. You will not think like your spouse. In the 1990s John Grey wrote, Men are from Mars; Women are from Venus. He made a clear point that men and women don't think alike. Although I believe the differences commonly pointed out by social scientists are too uniform and simplistic, we are different. You will not be able to understand your partner by reading a book. You will have to spend time with your wife to begin to understand her. You will have to spend time thinking about what she needs and wants. Most of all you will need to pray about it. If God does not show you how she is thinking, you will remain obtuse. And while this is a life-long endeavor, what God shows you should change your attitudes and behavior. If you are not considerate, you don't understand at all.

HONOR HER

We are to put our wives on a pedestal of the love of God. First, because they are the weaker vessels. I am aware that all women are not physically weaker than men. And there will always be ways in which the wife will actually be stronger than her husband. But there is something precious about her weakness. Treat her like fine china.

Then we are to honor our wives as spiritual equals, “heirs together of the grace of life.” Of course, this is how we begin. But in many, possibly most cases, the wife has matured beyond her husband spiritually. And in every case, God will give each of you strengths and gifts that He has not given the other so you can draw from one another.

The point of all this is that you can pray for one another and pray together. Each person in a marriage ought to have a list of things you consistently ask God to do in your partner. These should include some things you feel like you need from your spouse. They should include things you know your spouse   needs, possibly from you. And you need to pray for the purposes God has revealed for the person with whom you are partnered.

And because our lives are so busy, we need to work at finding time to pray together. Every couple may do this differently. You may need to be patient with your partner in this. But make it a goal. You can even pray for God to help you find time and incentive to pray together. Who knows what God will do in answer?

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Answering questions before a live audience can be tricky business. I wonder if it is easier or sometimes better in print.

Last night I listened to a recording of Eric Metaxis speaking on his book MIRACLES, at Rutgers University. The primary miracles Eric told about in his talk, outside of his own conversion, were on the fine tuning of the universe. Scientists say the chances of all the parameters of the universe coming about by chance approach 0%, and go beyond it. Eric condensed that part of his book into The Wallstreet Journal article, Science Increasingly Makes The Case for God. (https://www.wsj.com/articles/eric-metaxas-science-increasingly-makes-the-case-for-god-1419544568) That article, by the way, had more than 600,000 shares and 10,000 comments on line.

After his talk, Eric took questions. And I want to respond to one of the questions raised. The questioner asked about slim chance of the fine tuning of the cosmos. "If you had a dart board and you divided it into a trillion squares, and you threw a dart that hit one of the one in a trillion squares, it doesn't show skill or intention, if you didn't call it in advance. How is that different from the fine tuning of the universe?"

Okay, I would like to to try to answer this question. Let's propose the trial of the millenia. Let me change the details a little. Suppose investigators come into a room and find a mouse with a dart pinning it to the floor. The question arises, "Who threw the dart?" You and I are called to be on the jury. During the trial Attorney #1 claims someone with incredible skill threw the dart. Attorney #2 says this could have happened without anyone throwing the dart. He brings a witness who says the mouse may have always been there with a dart in it. 

Attorney #1 brings a witness who shows by the blood on the floor, the mouse was alive when hit by the dart. 

Attorney # 2 says the mouse did not have to be a moving target.

Attorney #1 brings a witness who says the odds are exceedingly great that the mouse was moving when the dart hit him. And he goes on to ask how a dart came to be in the room. 

Attorney # 2 says it is possible that a million years ago there could have been a meteor shower. One of the meteorites could have had a metal shard in it. And as it fell it struck a tree. Eons passed, and all of the tree but the small part with the metal embedded in it was worn away by the weather and elements. 

Attorney # 1 claims the dart could not have moved with such precision without being thrown.

The other says a freak wind could have swept through the house picking up the dart and flinging it into the mouse.

At some point you might want to say, I wonder if there is not some reason other than the arguments presented that make the sides pose what they are presenting.

And if we want to believe arguments for or against the reality or intervention of God in the universe, what is our motivation? The man seemed to assume that God did not say in advance what the parameters of cosmology would be. How would he have known that? He could not have been there to hear. You could not have heard either. But we might ask God to speak to us now. Wouldn't that settle the issue for you?

Now, whether you think this is a good answer or not, I would like to present it to people who struggle with the issue. And writing seems to be a good forum for this. When I heard this question, I could not think of a good answer. I thought the question oversimplified the issue of the fine tuning of the universe. And I knew at Rutgers, like many universities, there would be great cultural pressure not to believe in God. But in writing I had time to formulate a situational apologetic.

But I don't have readers who would raise the question. I write in a symbolic echo chamber. I primarily read and write with those who basically agree with me. I do not have a good solution for this. I wonder if some of you have experience, or even theories about how to do this, I would appreciate your responses.

http://watchinginprayer.blogspot.com/

http://thinkinginthespirit.blogspot.com/

http://writingprayerfully.blogspot.com/

http://theanchorofthesoul.blogspot.com/ 

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http://daveswatch.com/

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If anyone prayed for our first prayer service on Sunday, Thank You!  God met us and gave us a great time of community prayer.

About 15 people participated, including several leaders.  We provided some instructions at the beginning and then we went into our prayer time.  We had selected 6 topics beforehand, and had identified a facilitator for each topic.  We took each topic in turn, with the facilitator sharing for 3-5 minutes on a couple of things they were thankful for in their area and then a couple of key prayer requests as we enter 2020.  We broke up into three small groups to pray for the topic, then went on to the next topic.  Sticking to one topic at a time (rather than having all the prayer requests presented at the beginning) helped the group to agree together in prayer.  And alternating between prayer times and sharing times kept the group focused and engaged (where a prolonged time of sharing followed by a prolonged, skipping-around prayer time tends to be disengaging).

Several people commented afterward that they were blessed by the prayer time, and each group had a lot of participation.  Breaking into groups ensured that everyone got a chance to pray.  We did find that a group size of about 4 was the most effective; we had one group of 6 people, and feedback from that group indicated that people didn't have as much of a chance to pray.  When people think they're only going to get one turn at a given topic, they're tempted to pray longer, which exacerbates the problem, causing people to disengage a bit and making harder to agree in prayer (how do you follow the person who just prayed for everything?!).

The three of us who planned the meeting debriefed this morning and agreed that we want to continue to keep this simple and focused on prayer.  We didn't have time to put together childcare for this meeting, but we agreed that that was a need going forward.

We'll be holding our next prayer service on March 29, sticking to our pattern of meeting quarterly on the 5th Sunday of the month that has 5 Sundays.  (This is also the pattern for our "outside the box" serving; every month that has 5 Sundays, we use the 5th Sunday as a time of community service rather than our normal worship meeting).  We're planning to meet quarterly for the first half of the year, and then to consider increasing the frequency to monthly.

Meantime, we're beginning plans for an "equipping class" to train congregation members in prayer.  More to come on that.

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Answering questions before a live audience can be tricky business. I wonder if it is easier or sometimes better in print.

Last night I listened to a recording of Eric Metaxis speaking on his book MIRACLES, at Rutgers University. The primary miracles Eric told about in his talk, outside of his own conversion, were on the fine tuning of the universe. Scientists say the chances of all the parameters of the universe coming about by chance approach 0%, and go beyond it. Eric condensed that part of his book into The Wallstreet Journal article, Science Increasingly Makes The Case for God. (https://www.wsj.com/articles/eric-metaxas-science-increasingly-makes-the-case-for-god-1419544568) That article, by the way, had more than 600,000 shares and 10,000 comments on line.

After his talk, Eric took questions. And I want to respond to one of the questions raised. The questioner asked about slim chance of the fine tuning of the cosmos. "If you had a dart board and you divided it into a trillion squares, and you threw a dart that hit one of the one in a trillion squares, it doesn't show skill or intention, if you didn't call it in advance. How is that different from the fine tuning of the universe?"

Okay, I would like to to try to answer this question. Let's propose the trial of the millenia. Let me change the details a little. Suppose investigators come into a room and find a mouse with a dart pinning it to the floor. The question arises, "Who threw the dart?" You and I are called to be on the jury. During the trial Attorney #1 claims someone with incredible skill threw the dart. Attorney #2 says this could have happened without anyone throwing the dart. He brings a witness who says the mouse may have always been there with a dart in it. 

Attorney #1 brings a witness who shows by the blood on the floor, the mouse was alive when hit by the dart. 

Attorney # 2 says the mouse did not have to be a moving target.

Attorney #1 brings a witness who says the odds are exceedingly great that the mouse was moving when the dart hit him. And he goes on to ask how a dart came to be in the room. 

Attorney # 2 says it is possible that a million years ago there could have been a meteor shower. One of the meteorites could have had a metal shard in it. And as it fell it struck a tree. Eons passed, and all of the tree but the small part with the metal embedded in it was worn away by the weather and elements. 

Attorney # 1 claims the dart could not have moved with such precision without being thrown.

The other says a freak wind could have swept through the house picking up the dart and flinging it into the mouse.

At some point you might want to say, I wonder if there is not some reason other than the arguments presented that make the sides pose what they are presenting.

And if we want to believe arguments for or against the reality or intervention of God in the universe, what is our motivation? The man seemed to assume that God did not say in advance what the parameters of cosmology would be. How would he have known that? He could not have been there to hear. You could not have heard either. But we might ask God to speak to us now. Wouldn't that settle the issue for you?

Now, whether you think this is a good answer or not, I would like to present it to people who struggle with the issue. And writing seems to be a good forum for this. When I heard this question, I could not think of a good answer. I thought the question oversimplified the issue of the fine tuning of the universe. And I knew at Rutgers, like many universities, there would be great cultural pressure not to believe in God. But in writing I had time to formulate a situational apologetic.

But I don't have readers who would raise the question. I write in a symbolic echo chamber. I primarily read and write with those who basically agree with me. I do not have a good solution for this. I wonder if some of you have experience, or even theories about how to do this, I would appreciate your responses.

http://watchinginprayer.blogspot.com/

http://thinkinginthespirit.blogspot.com/

http://writingprayerfully.blogspot.com/

http://theanchorofthesoul.blogspot.com/ 

Website

http://daveswatch.com/

YouTube

https://goo.gl/PyzU

Significantly spiritual dreams and visions are not uncommon for Muslims to have during Ramadan. Pray that the Father would pour Himself out to our friends through the supernatural as they participate in Ramadan. Pray for believers in the Arabian Gulf to be open to the Spirit's leading as they interact and engage with locals. 

At sunset, there is a meal called Iftar that signifies the breaking of the fast.  After sunset prayers, another meal called Suhoor occurs.  During Ramadan, these meals are significant and are often a time for big gatherings of family/friends.  Pray that believers would have opportunities to attend Iftar or Suhoor meals with local friends and that they would be able to connect with, and build relationship with, their families.  Pray for walls to come down between locals and expats.

Ramadan is a month where cousins tend to have increased focus and discipline towards the Koran and to their prayers. There are often reports of locals feeling a nearness to God because of the good things they are doing during this month.  Pray that there would be a lingering dissatisfaction and an overall feeling of being unfulfilled with the relationship they have with God during Ramadan. Pray that their increased time in the Koran would breed questions and critical thinking.

Check out PTAP's Facebook page for more prayer info during Ramadan:

https://facebook.com/PRAYTAP

Click below to download PTAP's 30 Day Ramadan 2019 prayer guide.  This is a guide to help you pray for the Arabian Peninsula in particular.  So let's unite our hearts in prayer during the 30 days of Ramadan for God to build his church in the AP!

http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001o-5oXt_8F1-zV7uytv2nsbWAQ8TvudWkc_oenNjwtsbjoaDUOZKcG2Qs2TDLdRcj9ROEe3ejLN11j4vXwUBdzRPO9MZUAIY_417QF1M1pad06yPZOGz2Pg9vTO5BQguLVoY0znQ_IlFYa8iMLN35vI4X9JdV_bzinw_j1CHtZA1xxdZqfP2wQYQMWzMtug6toIJ1KEWUYZ5SJ6C4zlL0qC5UFYNcMQCH9iV9CvucNcAPIMrIAhmkRACOZ0z4QLDP&c=GBlWO3VkRfKJ2q8gJ34V1FBq0L8WxgFA16Io1VAfc6-qjdmNJh8KJA==&ch=Fyt82L6SINUlfDKThi1OxAm1xGNrTZcTWRs5r-2scD5y8-7ZBW6-kg==

As I sat down to write and pray this morning, the Spirit of God impressed upon my heart to turn the pages of Paul’s letter to the Colossians into a prayer. With several translations of Colossians in front of me, I began meditating on the powerful words about Christ’s preeminence, transforming them, paragraph by paragraph, into personal prayers. I realized then just how rich God’s Word is when we pray it as promises over ourselves!
 
Never are we closer to praying the will of God than when we are praying the Word of God! The Spirit and the Word work together as we pray, making our divine inheritance manifest as we speak God’s Word back into His heart.
 
To pray the Word of God is to agree with what God has already said He will do, setting in motion spiritual blessings that have been seen throughout history and can be activated once again by faith.
 
Space limits me to sharing just the first section of my prayers from Colossians with you today. If you would like to order the complete booklet of "Pray Colossians!" please click below to purchase in our store. 

May this heartfelt “prayer paraphrase” of Paul's first-century letter to the Colossians reveal more to you about your inheritance in Christ and build your confidence to begin praying the will of God over your life!  

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© Deborah Perkins / www.HisInscriptions.com

Do you use profanity in your writing? Frankly, I have been alarmed lately at the amount of profanity I have found in books and motion pictures. I won't argue with you, at least at this point, if you tell me that I should not be reading those books or watching those movies. For now I just want to deal with the phenomenon. First, while all of these words represent bitterness and rebellion, there are actually at least four separate categories of profanity.

First, there is language that is just nasty. This includes bathroom talk and other course words. These begin with course humor, but tend to normalize the coarsest thinking.

The intent behind these words often leads to sexual language. Such words are usually titillating. But they include the most violent of curse words that degrade sexual relations and abuse women.

I would also include racial slurs as profane. Profanity abuses that which is sacred. A person's race is God-given. Also, racial slurs usually lie outrageously. I don't believe Hitler invented racial jokes, but demeaning whole people groups was certainly pushed forward by the Nazis. This is one area of profanity that is usually avoided by writers.

Finally, there is blasphemous language. This includes language that treats hell or other truths lightly. And it extends to taking the name of God in vain.

Note that I did not include a fifth category of words of hate, violence, and abuse. I am aware that you may be able to think of hateful words that don't fit into these four categories. But words from all four of these categories can be used to abuse.

If you ask fiction writers why their characters use filthy language, they will tell you that they are trying to accurately reflect life. I do not know if I am extremely sheltered or not. But to be honest, I never hear people talk as bad as I read in books or have seen on television or in movies. Nevertheless, I think there is some truth to this. We have descended to the place in our society where even our highest political officials regularly use foul language and attack other people mercilessly. The corruption of our society is a great part of my concern. Jesus said that the mouth speaks out of the overflow of the heart. Ungodly speech reflects wicked hearts. And when we use bad language in our writing, we also make our society more blasphemous and violent.

This is a more complex problem then I have shown it to be so far. While I would like to influence writers to guard our language, I would like this to be more than a rant against society. I would like to make this a matter of prayer. After all, I am primarily writing to Christian writers in this blog.

In the 6th chapter of Isaiah the prophet says, “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” Isaiah was convicted of their unclean hearts and lips because he had experienced the presence of God. And I believe the solution to the problem is to expose people by our writing to the reality and presence of the living God.

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I have recently been made more aware of serious problems in our nation, and of spiritual attack in the lives of people that I love. These things are frustrating. And one of the most frustrating factors in my seeing these things is that I cannot see anything I can do to have any appreciable effect. But while I cannot help in the physical realm, I know I can have great effect in the spiritual realm where the real battle will be fought. Paul wrote about this in 2 Corinthians 10. Verse 3 says as much.

“For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh.”

I am not exactly sure how to apply this truth. Paul is warning people who have not repented of sins against the church that he is coming with spiritual authority. But how he applies this seems to fit a much larger set of circumstances, including those that I am dealing with right now. Look at the following verses. Verse 4 reads,

“For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds.”

Paul says the weapons of spiritual warfare are not fleshly efforts. They do not come by screaming at people, although God can speak thunderously.  On a broader scale, they are not political, although they can affect governments. When Paul says they demolish strongholds, he is talking about the strongholds of demonic forces in the world and in the lives of people, sometimes even believers. This certainly describes things I have seen in the lives of people who cannot seem to let go of attitudes that are destroying them and others. It also applies to some who are being attacked by jealousy, intrigue, and infighting among colleagues. And I can see this in the culture of my own country, and around the world.

We see something of how this works in verse 5.

“We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.”

How do we confound ungodly arguments? Let me point out three crucial factors. The first is love. God's love for people will often overcome opposition. When we speak of spirituality, we have to include all the fruit of the the Spirit listed in Galatians 5. But possibly the most powerful of them is agape, the infinite, ultimate love of God in our lives. Next is spiritual knowledge. This must begin with the gospel by which lives are transformed. Sometimes this means simply speaking the truth even when it is opposed. When he was tempted by Satan in the wilderness, Jesus just quoted Scripture. He did not convince Satan, but Jesus was not swayed by the temptation.

Finally, and many ways most important is prayer. In Ephesians 6:10-17 Paul gives us what are mostly defensive weapons. But in verse 18 he concludes with the power of prayer.

“Praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints.”

We break the power of the enemy by prayer. We extend the Kingdom of God by praying. And we can trust the power of God as we become more and more intimate with Him. You may not see revival as you pray. But you can know God is at work. And you never see revival without extraordinary prayer. You may not avoid evil in this world. Abraham interceded for Sodom. But it was still destroyed. Jesus could have avoided the cross. But I am so thankful that He did not. You will not be able to to keep the Antichrist from rising in the last days. But you will be able to endure all that comes upon the Earth. And you can build a shelter of prayer around those you pray for. And again and again you will turn the hearts of those for whom you pray back to the God of the Bible.

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http://thinkinginthespirit.blogspot.com/

http://writingprayerfully.blogspot.com/

http://theanchorofthesoul.blogspot.com/

Website

http://daveswatch.com/

YouTube

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There are some Bible stories that are so powerful, they have the ability to change your entire perception of who God is and how He feels about you. For me, one such story is found in Luke 24.

In the midst of great grief, turmoil, and confusion, two disciples encountered the Wonderful Counselor and were forever changed. In places of pain and confusion myself, I reread this story and see such beauty in it. Take a walk with me along the Emmaus Road to see how brokenness is turned to beauty. 

Read More Here

In 2 Timothy Paul gives us a marvelous example of integral hope in his life. Paul's life even at that difficult end was still buoyed by a higher purpose. 2 Timothy 4:1,2 reads,

“I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.”

Paul challenges Timothy, and us, to preach the word. And faithful endurance in his painful situation was crucial to that encouragement. He saw his approaching death as part of his challenge and a crucial part of his worship. He encourages us in versus 6-8 by comparing his life to a drink offering.

“For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.”

A drink offering was a powerful expression of devotion in the desert middle east where water is life. The first drink offering mentioned in Scripture was made by Jacob as he met God at Bethel in Genesis 35. As he emptied his canteen onto the ground, he was trusting his life to the Lord who had appeared to him. Later when drink offerings were included in worship in the Tabernacle the vessels for it were to be of gold, befitting costly devotion.

Paul sees his final circumstance as the ultimate worship and witness for God. And he could endure it however long it would last for two reasons. First, as he wrote earlier to the Philippian Church, (Philippians 1:22-24) God might still allow him to continue his purpose on this Earth. And, he knew the reward waiting for him in the presence of God was worth whatever he had to endure.

I have terminal cancer, and I don’t know how long I will live. I believe God has called me to write. It is an extension of my call to preach. And I want to write everything He leads me to write. But I also need to see what I may not be able to complete as a drink offering. If it is God's will for me not to live long enough to finish books that I am writing, I pour them out to Him in worship.

There are other things that I put in this category. I no longer have the strength or energy to Pastor a church. And I offer that loss in worship to God. I have also had a vision of prayer in the church like we have never prayed. Well, even the small platform that I had has diminished. And I don't see God allowing me to promote this. I had an idea for a prayer retreat center with prayer rooms devoted to prayer for every people group on Earth. Everyone coming to the center would be encouraged to spend at least an hour a day in one of the prayer rooms. Of course I do not know if this is the will of God at all, although the Scripture calls us to radical prayer. But even if this is God's will it does not look like I will get to be part of bringing it about. And I pour this out as a drink offering before God.

So whether I eat or drink(1 Cor. 10:31) or write or pray, I want to pour these things out as a drink offering to God.

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HAJJ PRAYER 2018

Dear Friend of the Arabian Peninsula,

On 19-21 August 2018, PTAP (Praying Through the Arabian Peninsula) is asking for 100,000 people from around the world to join us in Prayer & Fasting for the two million Muslims going on the Hajj, the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca.

The Hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam. These are required acts of service for all Muslims (conditions apply to those that are impoverished or in poor health). The city of Mecca is the center of the entire Muslim world.  It is the place where the Hajj is performed and the place where all Muslims direct their 5x daily prayers.  As a consequence of the heightened religious activity, there are significant barriers that prevent the gospel from spreading to these people at this time. 

However, our God knows no barriers!  There are testimonies of Muslims performing the Hajj in Mecca and encountering God – through receiving a digital version of the Bible, through Dreams & Visions, through encounters with Christians during their journey. And so, we desire to gather together a dedicated body of Christians to stand in the gap and to fast and pray for this monumental event - for God to do something truly miraculous, something only He can do.

Would you join us in this effort as well as spread the word about this prayer and fasting event?

We have created three core resources for you:

A Hajj prayer promo video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaLq9B14wBM) - This is designed to introduce this event and invite others to join us for these three days of prayer and fasting.

Hajj Prayer guides and a Hajj prayer video (https://prayforap.com/hajj.html) - We created a helpful 4-page prayer guide that has been translated into several languages (including Korean, Arabic, Spanish, Chinese, German, and Portugese).  There is also a corresponding video to watch. 

Please forward the above resources through your spheres of influence and also feel free to edit as you feel led.  And similarly, when it comes to the fasting element, feel free to fast you feel led - one meal, one day, all three days, individually, as a group, etc.

Our one request is that you let us know an estimate of how many people in your spheres of influence prayed and also the country where they prayed during these three days. Please send your estimates and any spiritual insights you have gleaned from this time of prayer and fasting to <pray4ptap@gmail.com>.

See Act 13:1-3 for a wonderful illustration of how fasting became instrumental in the laying hold of God for the shaping of world-changing ministry. We long to see many of the 2 million Muslims performing the Hajj in Mecca, Saudi Arabia in August 2018 to encounter Jesus. Many Blessings,