Brown's Daily Word 10-9-12

Praise the Lord for this new day. The Lord blessed us with a full weekend of celebrations, worship, and fellowship. Alice spent the weekend in Philadelphia with Jessica and Tom. Micah, Simeon, and Ada are spending the week in Cape Cod with their parents, who are on vacation. The Lord blessed our gathering last Saturday Evening at the Wesley UMC. The food was plenteous and sumptuous. The fellowship was sweet, and the hymn sing and sharing from the word of God were both beautiful. The Sunday morning breakfast meeting was a great blessing. The Lord also blessed us during our morning worship services.

I attended a reception for our new bishop, Bishop Webb Sunday evening at Chenango Bridge. We are excited about our new bishop. Bishop Webb loves the Lord and loves His church. He is committed to the mission of the church to make disciples for Jesus Christ. Bishop Webb and his wife are married for 21 years and are blessed with two sons. The older son attends Grove City College, from where three of our daughters graduated.

Alice and I drove to Smyrna, NY yesterday to attend the funeral service for our cousin, Peter Maynard. The service was held at the Smyrna Baptist Church, where Alice and I were married in August 23,1975. During the funeral service which was a celebration of Peter's life, several people spoke, both young and old, testifying that Peter was great blessing to them. Peter shared his life selflessly and with great generosity with others.

We are getting ready for our prayer conference that begins this Friday evening. We will be spending much time in praise and prayer. There is a great power in praise and prayer. In the Old Testament and in the New Testament there was much evidence of God's power when His people fervently prayed. God's power is still manifested through the prayers of His people today. There are records in the OT that cause me to lift up God' power and in humility thank Him for letting me see it. One of the great stories is that of Elijah on Mt. Carmel. Elijah was a great prophet. When he saw his people in sin he called upon them to leave their idols and turn to God. He was not afraid to say to the king and his wife, "You are wrong." Ahab and Jezebel did more to erode the spiritual desire for God than anyone before them. They were wicked and Elijah's love for his people and his country called for drastic measures. He prayed to God that God would discipline the land of Israel in order to turn the hearts of the people back to Him. He prayed that it would not rain upon the land.
Imagine the chaos America would be if we as nation went without rain for three and ½ years. Imagine the pain your family would face. At the end of that time Elijah met King Ahab, the prophets of Baal, and the people of Israel gathered on Mt. Carmel and there let God show himself through power as fire came down and consumed all that was on an alter.

In James 5:16-18, it is written, "Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops."
That same power can work in the lives of Christians today because the power never was man's to begin with. It has been and always will be the power of God. Today, we want to hear the call of God for us to become a people of prayer and see the result of righteous people praying in faith.
In the Book of James we are called to turn to prayer in the times of our trouble and sickness and lean upon people of faith to help us come before the throne of grace and find healing in our Lord.

In Christ,

Brown

http://youtu.be/S_OTz-lpDjw

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.