What We Pray...

Good afternoon,

Tonight is Wednesday Night Supper! A meal will be served from 5:30-6:15 and then again after service.

Today, don’t under estimate the power of prayer, the necessity of prayer, or your own ability to pray.

You can pray. You are expected to pray. Part of growing as a Christ Follower is developing a prayer life. Our prayer life is an indicator of the quality of our relationship with God. The what, when and often the where tells a lot about how close we really are to God.

Are you close? Do you value your time with Him? Do you value His voice? Do you believe you hear His voice?

Today let’s start with the “what.” What should we pray? What we are praying reveals our walk with God and our communion with the Holy Spirit.

Some really get bogged down when it comes to the subject of what we should pray for. The list could get very lengthy. Now don’t jump to conclusions and judge this right off the bat, but not everyone is supposed to come to God with a list of “prayer requests.”

Everyone is asking for prayer. If you receive email, participate in FaceBook, and have a Twitter...you have access to a lot of prayer requests.

Here is what some of those lists could look like: President and all in authority (that is a lot of people), Aunt Mae’s Bursitis, Uncle Ray’s leg, 85 people who need a job, everyone in the community that needs to be saved...

If we stop right there, you have spent quite a bit of time in prayer and you have not even got to your personal prayer requests.

So here is the deal. What should you pray for?

I believe you should pray for what is on your heart and pray for what you can be effective towards. When you come to the Lord for a time of prayer, pray what is on your heart that day at that time. Most do not have hearts that can carry the needs of the entire world. You cannot be burdened with everyone’s situation. That is why we have the body of Christ.

When it comes to prayer we need each other, not necessarily everyone. Scripture speaks to us in James and says confess faults and pray one for another. We are told where any TWO agree...

Some hear a prayer request and instead of taking it to the Father, they take it to a friend.

I try to call out the names of everyone in our church family everyday to the Father. I sometimes fail at that for various reasons. I sometimes have a list, I sometimes just want to call the names that come to me, I sometimes walk between the pews where people sit thinking of them.

As I go through that process, I do not always pray lengthy prayers over each person or family, but I do pray what is on my heart. If Josh calls me and says pray for Ava we have to take her to the doctor, then that will be on my heart. The Holy Spirit can call and also put things on my heart. He could call and say pray for Robert Neyra today and then give me those specifics. Otherwise, I pray what is on my heart.

I have a prayer time that is Spirit led and spirit led. What does that mean? Both the Holy Spirit and my spirit influence my communication with God, not the circumstances going on around me.

If you have a child being made fun of at school. That may be on your heart and you will pray for that instead of the mayor. You may have a co-worker that has revealed they do not believe in God, and that is on your heart instead of praying that the service at church goes good.

What do we pray for when we pray? Whatever is on our heart! Some may say, what if our heart is selfish and we pray for the wrong things? Be patient. God is big and He is creating a clean heart in you. Like I said yesterday, in times of prayer our heart is revealed. It is one of the few times that we really look at it.

So when you pray today, what will you pray about? Let’s all say it together...WHATEVER IS ON MY HEART!

So if you do not make it to pray for the District 12 judge, the Texas State Comptroller or all 190+ nations in the world that is ok, if that was not on your heart. Maybe today a friend is on your heart, a hurting family, or your spouse. Just know this: James 5:16 - The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

Tonight at BONAFIDE Youth we have a SPECIAL announcement that the peeps do not want to miss plus we are going to be ministering to them on DOWNLOADS FROM HEAVEN. (hearing the voice of God)

Have a blessed day!

- Pastor Randall

Prayer...

Good afternoon everyone.

I want to encourage you this morning in the area of prayer.

I believe we too often take prayer for granted, too often say we will pray when we really don’t, too often pray something vague that we think will just cover everything... "God bless the world and everyone in it, AMEN!"

We won’t get into a long post teaching on prayer today, but I just simply want to ask you to engage in the supernatural act of prayer. I also want you to pray specifically for some things today.

Instead of: “God help my marriage or fix my spouse,” be specific in your prayers. What area of your marriage needs attention.

Maybe it would look more like this: “Father in Jesus name, speak to my spouse and I in the area of communication.” For example if there is a woman reading this today who's hurting because she feels her husband is shutting her out, not being open or honest in communication, she would need to be specific when she prayed.

Praying specifically also opens your heart to hear specifically in your prayer time with God.

Also added to your prayer time. When you pray specifically about an area, target that area by looking up a few scriptures to read before, during and after your prayer. Many times in prayer God does not change the circumstance, but he does change us. That is where the word of God comes in, renews our minds, and transforms us. The Holy Spirit will be able to stir up scriptures that you have deposited in your heart. Those of you who have not spent much time in reading or studying the Word would need to seek out those scriptures. There are many online tools and smartphone apps to help you do this.

If your inner most driving desire today is related to raising your children, you could simply Google something like parenting scriptures, or do a word search on children in crosswalk (and prepare to take time to look at several verses) or allow the Holy Spirit to bring up a scripture relating to your kids like Psalms 127: 3-5 Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.

As you pray over your situations, and read God’s word over them, you may also hear a “word” from the Holy Spirit specifically about your situation.

Last year at this time, my heart was overwhelmed with Kallie graduating High School and my prayers were very specific regarding her. As I read scripture and prayed, the Lord gave me a word to hang on to and it was simply “NO DEPARTURE.” It was a funny word to me and even made me laugh because I could have said “Kallie, God said NO DEPARTURE so do not leave home!” But the no departure was a word that dealt specifically with Kallie as well as my concerns for her life and ministry. The Holy Spirit was simply saying to me that Kallie would have NO DEPARTURE in regards to her walk with Jesus, and the Christian life.

So as talk of college options kept coming up, and various ideas. I kept saying the word that I received in my prayer time...NO DEPARTURE.

Pray specifically. Pray with focus. Target your prayers. You will find that when you do, not only will God speak and move in those specific areas, but also the true desires of your heart are revealed.

No matter the area, God has a word for you. Do not be afraid to ask.

Ask Him for your children to respect you, ask Him for your child to have favor with a teacher that may come across as coarse to him/her, ask Him for resolve of the intimacy issues between you and your spouse, ask Him to direct you in financial matters, or ask Him to bring a spiritual revival to your home.

More on this tomorrow...

Tomorrow we will have a Yummy Wednesday night supper! Steak and brown gravy, mashed potatoes, beans, dessert and drinks. Our last Wednesday REGULAR service will be June 6th!

Next Thursday we will be hosting our annual senior breakfast for the graduating seniors here in Caddo Mills. The school asked us to do this several years ago. The students come for breakfast before practicing their graduation ceremony! We are thankful for EACH of our graduating seniors! We will be giving them bibles Sunday, June 3rd, in a special presentation.

God Bless

- Pastor Randall

Kids World Drive-In and Hot Dogs

Join Kids World for Hot Dogs and Smores, and

a Drive-In showing of "Cars"

 

June 8th from 6:30 PM - 9:00 PM

In the Parking Lot of Faith Bible Church

Contact Kelli Yotter for more details!!!

More About THE Church

Good afternoon everyone,

I was able to attend a Pastor Seminar yesterday, and it was a great time in God. I was blessed to be able to take Riley with me, and on the way over I told him how to prepare his heart for an event like this. With it being a pastor meeting, the ministry would be on a different level. I told Riley to be looking for one thing that God wanted to speak to his life. What's going on in his life RIGHT NOW, and one thing that would help him take a STEP INTO HIS DESTINY.

The first speaker that was up said he was going to share on 7 things he had learned from Father God in ministry. His opening statement was how God was going to deal with people on what was going on in their lives RIGHT NOW and about decisions that needed to be made that morning. As he went into his main message, guess what his first lesson was. In order to STEP INTO YOUR DESTINY, you have to step away from your security...Riley just looked at me and smiled!

Hey, this Sunday we continue in our series called "THE Church." Some people do not mind being “saved,” but say they do not want anything to do with church. The Church is the bride of Christ. We often say we should treat church as a business (and in many aspects we do), but we are looking at THE Church as a marriage.

Not understanding what THE Church is really all about can lead to confusion, and eventually hurt. THE Church is unlike any other organization in the world today. We have to get church right, because Jesus wants it right. He is building THE Church and the gates of hell will not prevail against THE Church He builds.

This Sunday night from 4:00-7:30 we are having a special edition of HD Weekend. It is a time of discipleship for the leaders, volunteers, and workers of THE Church. Everyone is invited to come. We will be serving sandwiches that afternoon.

Have a great weekend!

- Pastor Randall

WE DO THE MATH

Good afternoon!!!

Just wanted to give a quick reminder to everyone that the Mission Team will be serving supper tonight at church. The menu includes Chicken Enchilada Casserole, Pinto Beans, Spanish Rice, Cupcakes and ice cream. Meals are served from 5:30-6:15 and then immediately following service.

Just a note that June 6th will be our last regular Wednesday night service until the end of summer. We will be using our Wednesday nights for ministry organization, preparation, and training. Kingdom Culture small group leadership, VBS, missions, Games Day preparation, and summer outreaches will all be things happening from June 13th through August 8th. Check the FBC Calendar for information on dates and times!

This Sunday night we are having a special edition of HD Weekend. We will have sessions from 4:00-7:30 and will serve sandwiches that evening. It will be a great night of ministry.

Those of you with teens attending this summer’s Mission Trip or Adults that will be attending first week, please remember we are having a training session meeting right after service. We will eat lunch together here at the church.

We are very thankful to everyone who participated and helped out with our Bake Sale Bash. We brought in over $8,000 in one day! Not only did we bring in good funds, but we were able to minister to many people as well. Sharing the vision of this mission was itself a strong ministry point for all groups that were out on Saturday. Josh Yotter had one man come to him and make a donation. Josh began to share Jesus and the vision for our mission. The man began to weep and be open to The Word. The man got in his car to leave, pulled back into the parking spot then brought Josh $100 and said the Holy Spirit told him to give it! Some people have asked, "how do you make $8000 in one day on a bake sale?" ...the only answer is Jesus. Where there is vision there will be provision.

I've had people come to me and say, "If I were Mark Cuban I would just write a check for the whole trip so the team would not have to do all of the fundraising." Trust me, if that guy, or Mark Cuban, wrote a check - we would deposit it...but that is not the whole point of our fundraising. We would miss opportunities just like the guy had with Josh, and the opportunity for our group to invest their time and energy. If we had just the one check we might not appreciate the elderly women in our church that give to us who are on a fixed income, because in reality, their check is bigger than the one the rich man could write.

Trust me, our plans for mission outreach to the Navajo people will take all of the resources we can have. But WE DO THE MATH, and EVERYONE COUNTS...especially those who have been counted out.

This Sunday, here at Missionate Headquarters, we are continuing our series on "THE Church" which is session two of our Membership Orientation. This Sunday is going to be a great time of ministry, revelation, and encouragement. The local church is the hope of the world. The world does not need another social club, political party, or religious dogma. The world needs exactly what Jesus is building, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.

Last thing, just a heads up. We will be doing the UGM Homeless Games Day event again this year. The date is June 30th! We will need a lot of hands to participate. It is a HUGE blessing to the people that attend, but even a bigger help to the UGM Ministry. WE DO THE MATH and we want to be a body that can also be COUNTED ON! Mark your calendars for June 30th, you will be blessed!

Have a great afternoon!!!

- Pastor Randall