Praise be to be
Jesus our Lord for the gift of this new day. We will gather for our mid-week
study and fellowship with a very special meal this evening at 6 PM. We will meet
for study and sharing at 6:30 PM.
We are getting
ready for the prayer conference that starts this Friday Evening. Those of you
live in the area please join us. It will be great time for worship, fellowship,
and prayer. Satan trembles when the people of the Lord pray fervently and
earnestly. We have some received prayer requests. You can send your prayer needs
and we will be praying for these needs during the prayer conference.
Rick Warren
notes that three things happen when we spend time in prayer with the Lord. First
of all, prayer changes us. Something happens when we open ourselves up and
invite the Risen Lord to make us into the persons He wants us to be. When we are
open to God working in our lives, and are truly able to pray such a prayer of
invitation, we find ourselves doing things differently. We will find ourselves
becoming different people from who we were in our past.
Secondly, prayer impacts people and events. Rick Warren notes a study conducted in the 80’s when a group of heart patients were prayed for by others.
Warren notes that Dr. Randolph Byrd, cardiologist and faculty member of the University of California Medical School, did a study of 400 heart-attack patients. They were divided into two groups. Both groups were given state-of-the-art medical treatment, but one group was prayed for and the other was not. No one - nurses, doctors, or patients - knew which group was being prayed for. At the end of the study, the patients who were prayed for showed marked improvement in several areas. They were less likely to develop congestive heart failure or to require antibiotics or breathing tubes. Fewer developed pneumonia or experienced cardiac arrest than in the group that was not prayed for.
It is true that God listens when we pray. We may not always get the answer we are looking for, and I believe because of our fast paced society it seems that God sometimes takes a long time to respond to our prayers, but God does listen. Our Lord explained it this way:
LUKE 11:11-13 "Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish? Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion?
If you then, as bad as you are, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"
The third thing Rick Warren says happens when we pray is that prayer helps us to remain spiritually strong in times of difficulty - to do battle, Warren says, against spiritual enemies.
Ronald Stanley talks about prayer in his life this way: "For many years the praying I did was out of obedience. I prayed because I was told I was supposed to pray. I remember as a child, for example, when I was going off to bed, my father would tell me: 'Don’t forget to say your prayers.' It was as if there were a commandment that said: 'Thou shalt pray'. My teenage years were the exception. I was struggling to cope with my parents’ divorce and, then, with a very difficult stepfather. My praying became more frequent and more fervent. I needed to pray to hold my life together. But, as an adult, my praying reverted back to the routine. I prayed because I was supposed to. There was little of me in my prayers. I was generally content to mouth other people’s words.
"My forties were again, like my teenage years, a turbulent time for me. I came face to face, like never before, with my own brokenness, neediness. Not unlike my adolescent years, I was faced with a choice—to wallow in self-pity, or to dig deeper and find a strength greater than my own. It was then that I had to rediscover prayer, or die. I learned to pray again, because I needed to pray."
Our invitation is to grow in our prayer life, to grow in our communion with the Living Lord.
Secondly, prayer impacts people and events. Rick Warren notes a study conducted in the 80’s when a group of heart patients were prayed for by others.
Warren notes that Dr. Randolph Byrd, cardiologist and faculty member of the University of California Medical School, did a study of 400 heart-attack patients. They were divided into two groups. Both groups were given state-of-the-art medical treatment, but one group was prayed for and the other was not. No one - nurses, doctors, or patients - knew which group was being prayed for. At the end of the study, the patients who were prayed for showed marked improvement in several areas. They were less likely to develop congestive heart failure or to require antibiotics or breathing tubes. Fewer developed pneumonia or experienced cardiac arrest than in the group that was not prayed for.
It is true that God listens when we pray. We may not always get the answer we are looking for, and I believe because of our fast paced society it seems that God sometimes takes a long time to respond to our prayers, but God does listen. Our Lord explained it this way:
LUKE 11:11-13 "Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish? Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion?
If you then, as bad as you are, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"
The third thing Rick Warren says happens when we pray is that prayer helps us to remain spiritually strong in times of difficulty - to do battle, Warren says, against spiritual enemies.
Ronald Stanley talks about prayer in his life this way: "For many years the praying I did was out of obedience. I prayed because I was told I was supposed to pray. I remember as a child, for example, when I was going off to bed, my father would tell me: 'Don’t forget to say your prayers.' It was as if there were a commandment that said: 'Thou shalt pray'. My teenage years were the exception. I was struggling to cope with my parents’ divorce and, then, with a very difficult stepfather. My praying became more frequent and more fervent. I needed to pray to hold my life together. But, as an adult, my praying reverted back to the routine. I prayed because I was supposed to. There was little of me in my prayers. I was generally content to mouth other people’s words.
"My forties were again, like my teenage years, a turbulent time for me. I came face to face, like never before, with my own brokenness, neediness. Not unlike my adolescent years, I was faced with a choice—to wallow in self-pity, or to dig deeper and find a strength greater than my own. It was then that I had to rediscover prayer, or die. I learned to pray again, because I needed to pray."
Our invitation is to grow in our prayer life, to grow in our communion with the Living Lord.
In Christ,Brown
Annual Praise and Prayer Conference
Friday- Sunday October 12-14,
2012
- Opening worship: Friday 7 PM at Union Center United Methodist Church, 128 Maple Drive, Endicott
- Saturday 10 am - 1 PM We will gather in the sanctuary of the Union Center United Methodist Church for a concert of prayer.
- Prayer teams will be available to pray. We will anointing with oil and will pray for emotional, physical, and spiritual healing. We will be praying for deliverance and restoration.
- 6 PM First United Methodist Church, 53 McKinley Ave., Endicott. We will gather for a NEW YORK PIZZA Party
- 6:30 PM praise and worship. There will be time for prayer. There will be anointing with oil. We will be praying for miracles of healing, deliverance, salvation, restoration. We will also be serving Communion at the Altar.
- Sunday, October 14, 2012, Morning worship will be at 9:30 AM at Wesley United Methodist Church, 1000 Day Hollow Road
- 8:30 and 11:00 Worship services will be held at the Union Center United Methodist Church; 9:50 - Sunday School Hour
- 12:30 PM Prayer Banquet with international foods
Leaders for the prayer conference
are:
Kelly Johnson from Memphis, TN,
Andy and Sunita Groth, Rob
Krech, Meredith Watson, and Amanda (all from Washington,
DC).
The leaders and members of the
Binghamton House of prayer will be joining for this conference Event. Laureen
Naik will be leading in worship music. Come expecting a miracle.
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