(October 7, 2011)
Prayer House News!

RPM was good last night. It’s always good to meet with people for prayer. I trust you are praying for our services on Sunday. We are expecting to meet with God once again.
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Devotional
I Have Prayed For You
Look at Job. Job lost his home, his children, and his ability to make money all in the same day. I would consider that a shaking, wouldn’t you. However, in it all Job does not waver in his faith. He even attempts to set his wife and comforters straight. Job’s trial becomes his testimony. The book of Job is the oldest book in the Bible. How many millions of people have drawn solace from it? How many have been taught about life through this book? How many people have gained a more balanced perspective of life through this book?

Could any of this have been possible if he had not gone through what he did? In that light, was his trial an injustice on God’s part? All we are are created beings with an assignment to bring glory to our God. If we have become bitter about our personal situation then our faith has failed. Jesus does not want that to happen - so He prays for us.

When Jesus prayed for Peter He did not pray that Peter would never face a trial. He prayed that whatever Peter was going to go through, he would go through. He prayed that his faith would not fail in the midst of the trial. Jesus didn’t pray that Peter would never face a trial; Jesus knew that Peter would face many trials and eventually die as a martyr. His prayer for Peter is that Peter would not give up in the midst of the trial.

When its Jesus saying, “I have prayed for you,” how does that strike you?

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Medication: A Merry Heart

Pizza Delivery

I deliver pizza to help cover my college tuition. Once I
called on customers who sent their seven-year-old son to pay
me. As he approached the screen door, I noticed he was
carrying a check in one hand and two dollars in the other,
which I assumed was my tip.

To my dismay, he pocketed the bills before handing me the
check, which was for the exact cost of the pizza.

"Could that have been a tip?" I asked, trying not to sound
accusatory.

"Yep," he replied proudly. "Not bad for just a walk from the
living room and back!"

(October 6, 2011)
Prayer House News!

Tonight the Mighty Men meet at 6:30pm at the church. Come for a time of fellowship, bible study, and coffee. Following Mighty Men will be RPM at 8:00pm.
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Devotional
I Have Prayed For You
Consider Daniel’s life. Daniel had a testimony of being a person that sought God. Because of his favor with God, Daniel was growing in influence. Daniel was one of three commissioners appointed to watch over the 120 satraps. A satrap was in essence a king or governor over slaves who had great authority.

“And over them three commissioners (of whom Daniel was one), that these satraps might be accountable to them, and that the king might not suffer loss.” Daniel 6:2

Daniel’s influence with the king was making the satraps jealous so they determined to snare Daniel by designing an injunction making it illegal to pray to any god. They convinced the King to sign the injunction. Daniel learned of the injunction but it did not keep him from praying. He knew that it would endanger his life to pray to his God, but he continued on.

“Now when Daniel knew that the document was signed, he entered his house (in the roof chamber he had windows open toward Jerusalem); and he continued kneeling on his knees three times a day, praying and giving thanks before God, as he had been doing previously.” Daniel 6:10

Daniel’s perspective of faith was different from that which is common today. He did not see faith as something that would keep him from all harm.

We see in verse 11 that the satraps caught Daniel praying, “Then these men came by agreement and found Daniel making petition and supplication before His God.”

Because of this, the king was forced to put Daniel in the lion’s den. Then the king gave orders, and Daniel was brought in and cast into the lion’s den. The king spoke and said to Daniel, “Your God whom you constantly serve will Himself deliver you.” Daniel 6:16.

Daniel’s God did deliver him! However, isn’t it interesting to think that it was a direct result of Daniel’s prayer life that he came into this trial? His persecution/trial came because of the fact that he sought God. However, it was also a direct result of his prayer life that Daniel was able to walk out of the lion’s den. Daniel’s pursuit of God did not assure him a comfortable life. It actually brought trouble to him. However, neither did Daniel panic over the thought of something not going right.

Our perspective of faith is what is making the church just as neurotic as the world. Faith is being taught as the thing we exercise to keep us from anything negative. All things must be positive, all things must be healthy. When we see faith as the thing we exercise to keep us from any kind of trial or trouble, we will always live with instability, because that’s not real life. The Bible is filled with illustrations of real life. James says, “Count it all joy when you come into trials.”

If, on the other hand, we see faith as the thing that will deliver us from any situation we may get into, we then live with a wonderful freedom that expresses it’s trust in God’s ability to care for us under all circumstances. Daniel’s faith was like that. He said in essence, regardless of what I go through, I know I will go through, and I will come out on the other side still a believer.

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Medication: A Merry Heart

Random Acts of Thinking

I want to become a vegetarian, but I'm not sure I can quit
eating meat cold turkey.

I wear glasses. Doesn't that mean that *everything* I see is
an optical illusion?

I paid my psychiatrist with a reality check.

Do fishermen live in the reel world?

You want to know a really, really hugely annoyingly bad
habit? Over-exaggeration.

I may not be a great artist, but I am really good at drawing
a blank.

My wife and I love each other. I rub her back and she
massages my ego.

You can't stop progress, but you can unplug a good

chunk of it.

A chrysanthemum by any other name ... would be easier

to spell.

Some days the best thing about my job is that

the chair spins.

My life no longer needs an extreme makeover. Now it just
needs a complete do over.

A friend of mine has a nose ring. She keeps the volume
pretty low, though, and sets it to "vibrate" at the movies.

Yesterday I pushed my luck. It was clearly too weak to move
by itself.

(October 5, 2011)
Prayer House News!

Since this is Family Week at our church there are no mid-week services. I have heard of some of our church families inviting their neighbors over for a meal. Praise God – that is what family week is all about.
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Devotional
I Have Prayed For You

Rev. 4:11, “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being."

This verse brings out the fact that we were created to bring glory and honor to our God. This is why anything that does not glorify Him is basically sinful. Who are we to think we can live however we want when we are nothing more than created beings - created to glorify Him. So when God says, “I have need of you,” the only proper response is, “Here am I Lord, use me.”

This is a part of why Paul talked about being torn between two things.

Philippians 1:23-24; I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; (24) but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body.

We all really should have this same attitude. We should have a longing to be with

Him, and yet at the same time, we should desire to be used by Him. If He still has a need for us, we should rejoice. Sometimes we don’t understand why certain people seem to live with no apparent purpose (like someone in a nursing home). It’s very possible He has need of them still.

As I continued my conversation with this man who had been healed he said, “Jesus is not in the healing business, He is in the saving business.” I could not agree more with him. Even though I believe it is perfectly correct to pray for a person’s healing, that is not what we should ultimately be obsessed with. We need to be obsessed with the salvation of souls. Instead we have become neurotics about healing. We have developed an entire industry within Christianity that deals solely with healing. If somebody gets sick we get them reading every book there is about healing, we get them listening to everything they can about healing to the point that they believe God owes them a healing.

Listen to this, God does not owe you a healing any more than He owed you your salvation. He saved you because, first of all he loves you, and secondly, because he has need of you. If we are going to obsess over something it should be the saving of souls. Let the Holy Spirit and those whom God has gifted in this area, concern themselves with healing your body. We must give ourselves over to His work.

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Medication: A Merry Heart

TOP TEN THINGS ONLY WOMEN UNDERSTAND
10. Cats' facial expressions.
9. The need for the same style of shoes in different colors.
8. Why bean sprouts aren't just weeds.
7. Fat clothes.
6. Taking a car trip without trying to beat your best time.
5. The difference between beige, ecru, cream, off-white, and eggshell.
4. Cutting your hair to make it grow.
3. Eyelash curlers.
2. The inaccuracy of every bathroom scale ever made.

AND, the Number One thing only women understand:

1. OTHER WOMEN

(October 4, 2011)
Prayer House News!
Tuesday is prayer day! Morning prayer is going on right now – soon the pastors will meet to pray together and the our ladies PUSH & praise prayer meeting will be going strong.
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Tomorrow night is the True Freedom prayer meeting at Second Baptist church at 7:00pm. Feel free to join us there.
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The week is Family Week at our church.
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Devotional
I Have Prayed For You

Consider how Jesus prayed for Simon.

“Simon, Simon, behold Satan has demanded (permission) to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” But he said to Him, “Lord, with You I am ready to go both to prison and to death.”
Luke 22:31-33

In this setting Jesus is about to go to the cross. Peter says that he is ready to even die for Christ. Interestingly enough, even though Jesus prayed for Peter, Peter still denied Christ. He was not ready to die for Christ. Christ’s prayer was not that Peter would never face a trial, but that he would never, ultimately, lose his faith. Jesus knew Peter was going to betray him. He even predicted it by saying, “When once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” Jesus knew that Peter would face many trials.

Neurotic

It seems that believers in America have become quite neurotic about their well-being. I’ve been worried to death about this very issue. If something negative happens to us we don’t know how to handle it. We purchase books addressing the issue. We read everything we can. We talk to everybody we can about the issue. We are in a complete panic. We attempt to use faith in a way that will keep us from anything that even remotely resembles a trial. I believe we have developed a false notion concerning God’s desire for us. We have come to believe that God is more concerned about our personal comfort than He is our personal testimony.

I once was able to spend some time with a man who has brain cancer. I’m not going to go into all the details of what happened to him. He believes God has touched him, the doctors feel they did it. In the midst of our conversation he shared with me something that I thought was quite profound. We were talking about why God heals some and not others. First of all let me say that the bottom line to healing is that nobody has it really figured out. Who can really answer why God touches some and not others.

As he was seeking the Lord and praying about what had happened to him God spoke to him about when Jesus made the triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Jesus needed a donkey to ride on to make his entry. He tells his disciples where to find the donkey. Then he tells them that if the owner asks you what you are doing with the donkey, just tell them, “The Lord has need of it.” As he read that God spoke to him and said, “I have need of you.” He then realized why he has not yet died. He believes his healing came because God still has need of him. It’s not because he was more worthy than others, it’s not even because he is more special to the Lord that others, it’s simply that God still has need of Him and his trial will become a part of how God will use him.

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Medication: A Merry Heart

"ESTROGEN ISSUES"
10 WAYS TO KNOW IF YOU HAVE "ESTROGEN ISSUES"

1. Everyone around you has an attitude problem.
2. You're adding chocolate chips to your cheese omelet..
3. The dryer has shrunk every last pair of your jeans.
4. Your husband is suddenly agreeing to everything you say.
5. You 're using your cell phone to dial up every bumper sticker that says: "How's my driving".
6. Everyone's head looks like an invitation to batting practice.
7. Everyone seems to have just landed here from "outer space."
9. You're sure that everyone is scheming to drive you crazy.
10. The ibuprofen bottle is empty and you bought it yesterday.

(October 3, 2011)
Prayer House News!
We had a powerful move of God yesterday! What a great time we had as the Spirit of God rushed upon us and pushed us to the next level. My message is attached.
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The week is Family Week at our church.
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Devotional
I Have Prayed For You
There are many things the Bible tells us that we can expect as a result of prayer. Many of the testimonies we hear have to do with the Lord blessing us materially. However, there is another aspect of prayer that we must consider also and that is what prayer prevents. We rarely look into what prayer prevents. We primarily look into what prayer causes, rather than looking into what prayer has done to prevent even more serious consequences from happening.

I believe prayer prevents much more than it causes. The problem with this aspect of prayer is that it is not as visible as answered prayer is. Subsequently, we don’t focus on it very much. We can measure answered prayers. Some people carry a prayer journal where they list all of their requests and then in a column beside the request, they list the answers as they come. A person can look back at that weeks, months or even years later and see the answers to their prayers. Those answers provide them with something tangible. However, that which prayer prevents cannot be listed this way. We have no way of knowing how the prayers of our parents kept us from disaster when we were young. There is no way of knowing how the prayers of a mate have kept their spouse from temptation.

In Hebrews 7:25 we read; “Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.”

Jesus ever lives to intercede for us. Our Savior prays for us. How many times have we avoided tragedy because of the prayers of our Savior?

I want us to consider an interesting perspective on tragedy. Often we relate tragedy to the loss of health or material things. Those things could certainly qualify as tragedy to the non-believer. If their house burns down or they lose their job they have nothing left because they do not put their trust in the Lord. Material things are their whole world. However, the believer is to live by different standards than the world. If a believers house burns down or he loses his job, he is to consider those things as major adjustments in his life, but he should not consider the loss of those things as the end of his world. When Jesus prays for us, he prays that our faith will not fail. He doesn’t pray that trials will never come into our lives but that we will continue to have faith in the midst of it. Spiritually speaking, tragedy is the inability to believe Jesus.

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Medication: A Merry Heart
Medical Info Women Should Know

PREGNANCY Q & A

Q: Should I have a baby after 35?
A: No, 35 children is enough.

Q : I'm two months pregnant now. When will my baby move?
A: With any luck, right after he finishes college.

Q : What is the most reliable method to determine a baby's sex?
A: Childbirth.

Q: My wife is five months pregnant and so moody that sometimes she's borderline irrational.

A: So what's your question?

Q: My childbirth instructor says it's not pain I'll feel during labor, but pressure. Is she right?
A: Yes, in the same way that a tornado might be called an air current.?

Q: When is the best time to get an epidural?
A: Right after you find out you're pregnant.

Q: Is there any reason I have to be in the delivery room while my wife is in labor?
A: Not unless the word "alimony" means anything to you.

Q: Is there anything I should avoid while recovering from childbirth?
A: Yes, pregnancy.

Q: Do I have to have a baby shower?
A: Not if you change the baby's diaper very quickly.

Q: Our baby was born last week. When will my wife begin to feel and act normal again?
A: When the kids are in college.