What does it take to have peace in your soul?  If we look at scripture, we find the following written by Paul:

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.  Phil 4:6-7

I believe to find God’s peace, we need to change our attitude.  Here are a few questions to ask yourself: Do I count my blessings every day?  Do I take my troubles to God - even the small, petty daily irritations?  Do I thank God every morning for all that he gives me?  Am I filled with joy?  Do I read scripture and ask God to show me how I can apply his truth to my life?

In your next prayer time, ask God to help you find peace.  It is not easy to change the way we think but with God’s help it can be done.  Think of what an effect your peace can bring to those around you, especially in these chaotic days!

One of the major concerns I have as a Leader of a Prayer Ministry is that prayer meetings can foster gossip sessions.  Oh, it isn’t done deliberately but we humans have a strong streak of nosiness!  I believe it is a tool used by satan to destroy Prayer Ministries and can cause people to turn away from requesting prayer from other Christians. 

I recently read an article about this topic written by a minister and he pointed out that we do not need to know all the details in order to pray for others.  God already knows everything and all we need to do is lift up the person or the situation.  Why do we think we need specific information in order to be intercessory prayers? 

God desires that we pray for others out of a pure heart and this means we each need to take a look at ourselves and our motives for praying for others.  If needed, ask God to remove any curiosity from your heart and focus on the prayers; he will take care of the rest.

“The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.”  James 5:16b

Don’t be led astray by various kinds of strange teachings.  Hebrews 13:9a

Over the past few months, my prayers have focused on my own world which includes my church, my job and my friends.  God has recently been reminding me that as a Prayer Warrior there is a whole world that needs prayer! 

In our society today, we create heroes out of public figures and become influenced by what they say and believe. For many women, Oprah Winfrey has become a symbol of what each of us can achieve in our lives if we work hard and are good people.  But I, as a Christian woman, have become very concerned about her latest book club choice “A New Earth” by Eckhart Tolle and her new web class about this book.  If you are not familair with it, please take time right now and click on the link below and listen to what Oprah has to say. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JW4LLwkgmqA

It is not my desire in this blog to debate Oprah’s beliefs.  Maybe she is just misguided, but we cannot simply ignore this as just one more fad.  She has the ability to influence millions of viewers.  We must pray for Oprah - that she will turn back to God; and we must pray for all of the women who are being influenced by this false teaching.  I hope you will join me and add Oprah to your daily prayers. 

I am a huge fan of Beth Moore and so I read her blog on a regular basis.  She has a way to taking God’s word and applying to real life.  In a recent blog called A God For Real Life she wrote the following:

As I was dragging a large trash can down the driveway and out to the curb with one hand, I held the other hand up in the air while I prayed some Scriptures out loud over my beloved son-in-law. And I thought to myself, “Isn’t that the way it is?” God’s Word and His ways were meant for real living. If we keep saving sacred practices for sacred life-moments, we will never truly see our theology collide with our reality. We may feel a tad better at church and more spiritually in-tune at Bible study but we’ll never get the fact that Christ meant to infuse Himself into our relentless carpool lines, traffic jams, elevator rides, grocery store check-outs, expense reports, tank fill-ups, and family fights. If we reserve divine moments for divine situations, we are in for long waits and short visits. I don’t know about you but I need Him more than that.

I wonder how much of our prayer time is spent while we are taking out the laundry, doing dishes or cleaning the toilet? Somehow, we always think prayer is a pious practice to be done in a church sanctuary or in our quiet time.  But, if prayer is simply talking to God, isn’t the point really to make God a part of our ordinary moments?

To check out Beth Moore’s blog go to go :http://livingproofministries.blogspot.com/

It is usually a time of crisis that clearly shows our beliefs.  What is your first reaction when the crisis occurs?  Panic?  Denial?  Call a friend?  Pray?  Ask for prayer?

That last item is where a Prayer Ministry comes in.  We are intercessory prayers which means we show our love for others by praying for them to God. 

But in today’s world, even Christians think they are all alone and that no one else cares.  So, when a crisis occurs, they react by moving a little farther away from their brothers & sisters in Christ.  Instead of being strengthened by the love of others, they are discouraged. 

So, this is my question to you today - where do you go when you need strengthening?  I hope if you are part of a community of faith you will go to your Pastor and to your Prayer Ministry.  If you don’t have a church home, I encourage you to find one.  If you need someone to pray for you, please go to my church website www.ttumc.net and select the link for the Prayer Ministry.  There is another link to submit a prayer request which will be forwarded to all of us in the Prayer Ministry at TTUMC. 

In Matthew 18:19-20 Jesus tells us

“If two of you agree down here on earth concerning anything you ask ,my Father in heaven will do it for you.  For where two ot three gather together because they are mine, I am there among them.”

Among the many blessings at my church, Temple Terrace United Methodist, is our church library.  D.J. Price has been breathing new life into the library by undating the selection of books, bringing them into our coffee connection area on Sunday morning and now, just like Borders or Barnes & Noble, offering CD’s, water & sodas.  So, this morning I stopped by and perused the selection on the topice of prayer.  Here are just a few of the titles I found:

Partners in Prayer by John Maxwell;Talking with God by Mack Stokes; When God Prays by Skip Heitzig; Struggle to Pray by Rex Chapman; and Prayer by Richard Foster.

So, if you want to learn more about prayer but don’t have the money to run out and buy more books, I hope you will stop by next Sunday and take a look at the selection available at either the coffee connection area (be sure and have some of the great coffee & fruit too!) or the church Library itself.

It is so awesome to see the power of prayer.  I wish everyone could be part of the Prayer Ministry I am blessed to be leading.  Of course, it isn’t me who is the leader but God.  Here is an example:

At our monthly Prayer Gathering, I handed out assignments to everyone present.  Each person got a piece of paper with a scripture (2 Chronicles 7:14) and two specific prayer requests.  One was for our pastor and the other was for one of our church ministries.  At the time I typed up the requests, I tried to include every ministry in the church as well as various prayer needs of our pastor.  No one knew what they would be getting.  As each person looked at their slip of paper, there were several comments on how that ministry  was one close to their hearts.  And my slip of paper - it was for the Prayer Ministry! 

We have also had a couple of urgent prayer requests recently that were life and death situations.  One has already been answered (Praise God) and the other is ongoing - but we can see God working through the doctors, the family members and our church congregation who has reached out in love during this time.

So, don’t ever doubt that God is listening to your prayers.  And if you want to see a group of people on fire for God and trusting in answered prayer, join us next month on Aug.11 at 9am  at our monthly Prayer Gathering at Temple Terrace United Methodist Church.

I went to see ‘Evan Almighty’ this afternoon which I thought was quite good.  Evan, who obviously has not spent much time praying, asks God to help him change the world.  Next thing he knows, wood is delivered to his house and God orders him to start building an Ark!  In the end, he does indeed change the world (at least his part of it) but in an entirely different way than he ever imagined.  In addition, he gets to see and talk to God who is played wonderfully by Morgan Freeman. 

Unfortunately, in real life prayer does not usually get answered that quickly and dramatically by God.  Sometimes, it takes awhile to get our answer and the answer is not always the one we want - God does say no or not yet too.   One similarity to the movie that I have noticed in my life is that God often responds to my prayers in ways I never imagined. 

I hope you will take some time to think over your past prayer requests, maybe even write a few of them down along with the answers you have received.  What effect did those answered prayers have on your faith?  Your life?  I think we get so caught up in our current needs that we forget about all those past needs that He has taken care of for us.  Remember, God loves you and wants to hear from you.  Why not talk to him now?

 When I first heard the question, what is the purpose of the Prayer Ministry, the response seemed a no brainer - the Prayer Ministry prays!  Duh.  But, on second thought, I suspect there is a variety of ideas concerning how we should be praying, who should be doing the praying, where we should pray and who we should be praying for.

So, I’d like to hear some ideas from you - what do you think the Prayer Ministry should be doing?  Whether you belong to TTUMC or you just happened upon this blog, your opinion is important.  Let me know what you think and in my next blog I will give you my thoughts.

Listen to this quote by George Barna

It is not enough for the pastor to pray fervently, nor is it sufficient for a leadership team to pray ardently on behalf of the congregation.  Until the church owns prayer as a world-class weapon in the battle against evil and cherishes prayer as a means of initimate and constant communication with God, the turn-around efforts of a body are severaly limited, if not altogether doomed, to failure.

Are you ready to fight for the future of your church?  Start praying today - for increased faith, changed hearts and unity of the entire Body of Christ.  Remember, Christ is counting on you!