Monday, June 19, 2017

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer. – Psalm 19:14

How do we know if our prayers are acceptable to our Lord? Jesus tells us that if we ask in keeping with His nature He will act. Consider what His nature produces in our world. The Bible calls the evidence of Christ at work in us  the "fruit of His Spirit" and lists them in Galatians 5:22-23. So if our prayers reflect love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control we know that they are consistent with the cause of Christ. Those prayers are acceptable and effective.

PRAYER REQUESTS

• Jake asks that we pray fervently for his cousin who’s flying to Seattle with his little boy who has a brain bleed. The child is a twin and greatly cherished (Jake’s cousin and his wife have a history of miscarriage.) They are not professing Christians but they are now pleading for prayer for this child. Please pray that the boy will be miraculously healed and that as God uses this situation to reveal His great love to the family they will understand the free gift of salvation and believe. 

• Pray for James who is critically ill. We’ve been specifically asked to keep him in our daily prayers for at least two weeks. Please make note of this and continue to lift him up asking that God will be very close to Him and that James will learn by the power of the Holy Spirit to "count it all joy."

• Ange Keskey, a long-time servant in our Women’s Ministry, moved with her family to Bonn, Germany more than a year ago. She asks that we pray for her church there as the pastor’s position will be unfilled effective next week. Pray God gives them wisdom as they search for both a new pastor and assistant pastor. Their American Protestant Church is unique in Germany in that services and other business are conducted in English but people from more than 20 nations gather there to worship each week. There’s much melding of traditions and cultures. Ange asks that we pray diligently for the pastoral search.

• Over the weekend a stunt plan crashed in Payette and the pilot did not survive. Pray that his family is comforted during this time of grief. Pray too for the people who witnessed the accident. Ask that God will be glorified in the midst of this tragedy.

• Please pray for the Coburn family members who are going through a hard time. Ask for God’s great love to comfort and heal them.

• Pray for the Women’s Ministry’s Summer of Prayer Bible study fellowship. It begins Tuesday. Pray that women will engage in prayer in a real and meaningful manner,  develop lasting, loving friendships and above all grow in their knowledge of who God is, how much He loves them and how they fit into His plan for the world.