(January 4, 2011)
Prayer House News!
Our ladies will be praying today. I will be praying for everyone on the "Fasting List" today (and everyday).
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Devotional!
The Love of the Father
. I imagine all of you know that for 20 years I traveled with a great burden to see the church develop a deeper prayer life. When Lou Ann and I moved to Kenosha in May of 1980 (twenty four years ago), we moved here so that I could do some graduate work at Trinity Divinity Seminary in Deerfield, IL. We decided to live in Kenosha because of the cheap rent.
I worked a job that summer and then in the Fall of 1980 I registered for Seminary and began to take classes. It just so happened that on the very first day of registration First Assembly of God was hosting a prayer conference taught by Dick Eastman, called the “Change the World School of Prayer.” I remember being quite excited about it. I hurried so much to get from school to the opening session of the conference that I found myself having a nice talk with the policeman as to why my car was going as fast as it was. He let me go – with a stern warning to never let my son drive that fast.
That conference was on a Friday night and then all day Saturday. I found myself just soaking everything in. It really impacted my life and set me on a path that would lead to a life of prayer. I began to give myself to prayer everyday. I determined to pray at least one hour a day. This was not a simple thing. At the time I was going to work at midnight and working until six in the morning. Then I would go to seminary until about 1:00pm. I would get home around 2:00pm and then have 10 hours to do all of my sleeping, studying, and being a husband. It was in the midst of that schedule that I determined to give God a minimum of one hour a day in prayer. That hour a day graduated to an hour and a half and then two hours each day. There was a time in my life where I never missed a day of at least 1 ½ hours a day in prayer for a number of years.
I came to realize that I was getting a little legalistic about the whole issue because of how one time I skipped praying for a couple of days and I honestly felt as though I had backslidden to the point of actually thinking I was lost. I repented over and over for missing two days of prayer. However, it was during those times that God put something in my heart about loving Him that has never, and I believe, will never leave me. God was calling me to a ministry of prayer.
I remember going up in the attic of Lou’s parents house to pray (we lived on the second floor), and I would be so burdened for the church. I watched many times how great preachers would come and do their thing, and many of them were quite good at what they did, but then they would leave and a week later nothing had changed. Everybody was exactly the way they were before he came. I got so burden about offering something to the people of God that would change their lives that, that is primarily what I prayed about. Little did I realize that my prayer would be answered through traveling around the country, and eventually the world, teaching people how to pray. I slowly began to realize that the greatest need in the church was to teach people how to seek God.
During this time I would go to seminary, skip my classes, lock myself in one of their private prayer rooms and spend my mornings in prayer. Finally, when the summer break was coming up, someone suggested that I put together a teaching on prayer and take it to churches. I thought that sounded good so I took some of the teaching I received from Dick Eastman and started calling churches to see if they wanted to have a prayer conference. I ended up booking myself in a different church every week for five months ahead, before I even held my first conference. The need was obvious and pastors were responding. I never did go back to seminary. I went full time into Pray-Tell Ministries.
=========================================================
Medication: A Merry Heart
The Camel Joke
A guy is walking along a road to town with his camel. Along
the way, a driver stops and asks if he needs a ride to town.
The guy says, "Yeah," and hops in.
The driver asks, "What about your camel?"
The guy replies, "Oh, he's okay -- he knows his way to
town."
So the driver starts driving, gets up to about 45 mph, looks
in his rear view mirror, and sees the camel right behind
him. He says to the guy, "Hey buddy, ya know your camel is
behind us?"
The guy replies, "Yeah, it's okay -- he knows his way to
town. Speed up a little."
The driver speeds up to about 55 mph. He's driving along and
looks behind him and again sees the camel. He says to the
guy, "Your camel is still there."
The guy replies, "Really, it's okay -- he knows his way to
town. Speed up a little."
So the driver speeds up to 65 mph. He drives for a bit,
looks behind him, then looks at the guy and says, "Hey
buddy, your camel is looking pretty rough."
The guy replies, "Oh yeah? What's he doing?"
The driver says, "Well, his ears are folded back and his
tongue is hanging out."
The guy replies, "His tongue is hanging out? Which side?"
The driver says, "The left side."
The guy replies, "You'd better hold your course -- he's
fixin' to pass ya!"
Prayer House News!
Our ladies will be praying today. I will be praying for everyone on the "Fasting List" today (and everyday).
==================================================
Devotional!
The Love of the Father
. I imagine all of you know that for 20 years I traveled with a great burden to see the church develop a deeper prayer life. When Lou Ann and I moved to Kenosha in May of 1980 (twenty four years ago), we moved here so that I could do some graduate work at Trinity Divinity Seminary in Deerfield, IL. We decided to live in Kenosha because of the cheap rent.
I worked a job that summer and then in the Fall of 1980 I registered for Seminary and began to take classes. It just so happened that on the very first day of registration First Assembly of God was hosting a prayer conference taught by Dick Eastman, called the “Change the World School of Prayer.” I remember being quite excited about it. I hurried so much to get from school to the opening session of the conference that I found myself having a nice talk with the policeman as to why my car was going as fast as it was. He let me go – with a stern warning to never let my son drive that fast.
That conference was on a Friday night and then all day Saturday. I found myself just soaking everything in. It really impacted my life and set me on a path that would lead to a life of prayer. I began to give myself to prayer everyday. I determined to pray at least one hour a day. This was not a simple thing. At the time I was going to work at midnight and working until six in the morning. Then I would go to seminary until about 1:00pm. I would get home around 2:00pm and then have 10 hours to do all of my sleeping, studying, and being a husband. It was in the midst of that schedule that I determined to give God a minimum of one hour a day in prayer. That hour a day graduated to an hour and a half and then two hours each day. There was a time in my life where I never missed a day of at least 1 ½ hours a day in prayer for a number of years.
I came to realize that I was getting a little legalistic about the whole issue because of how one time I skipped praying for a couple of days and I honestly felt as though I had backslidden to the point of actually thinking I was lost. I repented over and over for missing two days of prayer. However, it was during those times that God put something in my heart about loving Him that has never, and I believe, will never leave me. God was calling me to a ministry of prayer.
I remember going up in the attic of Lou’s parents house to pray (we lived on the second floor), and I would be so burdened for the church. I watched many times how great preachers would come and do their thing, and many of them were quite good at what they did, but then they would leave and a week later nothing had changed. Everybody was exactly the way they were before he came. I got so burden about offering something to the people of God that would change their lives that, that is primarily what I prayed about. Little did I realize that my prayer would be answered through traveling around the country, and eventually the world, teaching people how to pray. I slowly began to realize that the greatest need in the church was to teach people how to seek God.
During this time I would go to seminary, skip my classes, lock myself in one of their private prayer rooms and spend my mornings in prayer. Finally, when the summer break was coming up, someone suggested that I put together a teaching on prayer and take it to churches. I thought that sounded good so I took some of the teaching I received from Dick Eastman and started calling churches to see if they wanted to have a prayer conference. I ended up booking myself in a different church every week for five months ahead, before I even held my first conference. The need was obvious and pastors were responding. I never did go back to seminary. I went full time into Pray-Tell Ministries.
=========================================================
Medication: A Merry Heart
The Camel Joke
A guy is walking along a road to town with his camel. Along
the way, a driver stops and asks if he needs a ride to town.
The guy says, "Yeah," and hops in.
The driver asks, "What about your camel?"
The guy replies, "Oh, he's okay -- he knows his way to
town."
So the driver starts driving, gets up to about 45 mph, looks
in his rear view mirror, and sees the camel right behind
him. He says to the guy, "Hey buddy, ya know your camel is
behind us?"
The guy replies, "Yeah, it's okay -- he knows his way to
town. Speed up a little."
The driver speeds up to about 55 mph. He's driving along and
looks behind him and again sees the camel. He says to the
guy, "Your camel is still there."
The guy replies, "Really, it's okay -- he knows his way to
town. Speed up a little."
So the driver speeds up to 65 mph. He drives for a bit,
looks behind him, then looks at the guy and says, "Hey
buddy, your camel is looking pretty rough."
The guy replies, "Oh yeah? What's he doing?"
The driver says, "Well, his ears are folded back and his
tongue is hanging out."
The guy replies, "His tongue is hanging out? Which side?"
The driver says, "The left side."
The guy replies, "You'd better hold your course -- he's
fixin' to pass ya!"
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