Billy Graham Practices Unceasing Prayer

In 1982, the Today show in New York City scheduled an interview with Reverend Billy Graham. When he arrived at the studio, one of the program's producers informed Graham's assistant that a private room had been set aside for the reverend for prayer before the broadcast. The assistant thanked the producer for the thoughtful gesture, but told him that Mr. Graham would not need the room. The producer was a bit shocked that a world-famous Christian leader would not wish to pray before being interviewed on live national television.
Graham's assistant responded, "Mr. Graham started praying when he got up this morning, he prayed while eating breakfast, he prayed on the way over in the car, and he'll probably be praying all the way through the interview."

Harold Myra and Marshall Shelley, The Leadership Secrets of Billy Graham (Zondervan, 2005)

Prayer

Be not forgetful of prayer. Every time you pray, if your prayer is sincere, there will be new feeling and new meaning in it, which will give you fresh courage, and you will understand that prayer is an education. Remember, too, every day and whenever you can, to repeat to yourself, “Lord, have mercy on all who appear before Thee today.” For every hour and every moment thousands of people leave life on this earth, and their souls appear before God...How touching it must be to a soul standing in dread before the Lord to feel at that instant that for him too there is one to pray, that there is a fellow creature left on earth to love him. And God will look on you both more graciously, for if you have had so much pity on him, how much more will He have pity who is infinitely more loving and merciful than you. And He will forgive him for your sake

- Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov

Prayer for our Enemies

As long as we do not pray for our enemies, we continue to see only our own point of view – our own righteousness – and to ignore their perspective. Prayer breaks down the distinctions between us and them. To do violence to others, you must make them enemies. Prayer, on the other hand, makes enemies into friends.
When we have brought our enemies into our hearts in prayer, it becomes difficult to maintain the hostility necessary for violence. In bringing them close to us, prayer even serves to protect our enemies. Thus prayer undermines the propaganda and policies designed to make us hate and fear our enemies. By softening our hearts towards our adversaries, prayer can even become treasonous. Fervent prayer for our enemies is a great obstacle to war and the feelings that lead to war

- Jim Wallis

Max Lucado's Daughter Asks Him to Sell Snow-Cones

When my oldest daughter was about six years old, she and I were having a discussion about my work. It seems she wasn't too happy with my chosen profession. She wanted me to leave the ministry. "I like you as a preacher," she explained, "I just really wish you sold snow cones."
An honest request from a pure heart. It made sense to her that the happiest people in the world were the men who drove the snow-cone trucks. You play music. You sell goodies. You make kids happy. What more could you want? (Come to think of it, she may have had a point. I could get a loan, buy a truck, and … hah, I'd eat too much.)
I heard her request but didn't heed it. Why? Because I knew better. I know what I'm called to do and what I need to do. The fact is, I knew more about life than she did. Same with God.
God hears our requests. But his answer is not always what we'd like it to be. Why? Because God knows more about life than we do.

Max Lucado, Max on Life (Thomas Nelson, 2010), p. 42

Petitions That Honour Our King

Travel back 200 years in Christian history to John Newton, the slave-trader-turned-pastor and hymn writer. He would receive almost unbelievable answers to his prayers because he believed in what he called "large asking." When explaining what he meant, Newton would often cite a legendary story of a man who asked Alexander the Great to give him a huge sum of money in exchange for his daughter's hand in marriage. Alexander agreed, and told the man to request of Alexander's treasurer whatever he wanted. So, the father of the bride went and asked for an enormous amount. The treasurer was startled and said he could not give out that kind of money without a direct order. Going to Alexander, the treasurer argued that even a small fraction of the money requested would more than serve the purpose.
"No," replied Alexander, "let him have it all. I like that fellow. He does me honour. He treats me like a king and proves by what he asks that he believes me to be both rich and generous."
Newton concluded: "In the same way, we should go to the throne of God's grace and present petitions that express honourable views of the love, riches, and bounty of our King."

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The New School Prayer

Now I sit me down in school
Where praying is against the rule
For this great nation under God
Finds mention of Him very odd.
If Scripture now the class recites,
It violates the Bill of Rights
And anytime my head I bow
Becomes a Federal matter now.
Our hair can be purple, orange or green,
That's no offense; it's a freedom scene.
The law is specific, the law is precise.
Prayers spoken aloud are a serious vice.

For praying in a public hall
Might offend someone with no faith at all
In silence alone we must meditate,
God's name is prohibited by the state.

We're allowed to cuss and dress like freaks,
And pierce our noses, tongues and cheeks.
They've outlawed guns, but FIRST the Bible.
To quote the Good Book makes me liable
We can elect a pregnant Senior Queen,
And the 'unwed daddy,' our Senior King.
It's "inappropriate" to teach right from wrong,
We're taught that such "judgments" do not belong.
We can get our condoms and birth controls,
Study witchcraft, vampires and totem poles
But the Ten Commandments are not allowed,
No word of God must reach this crowd.
It's scary here I must confess,
When chaos reigns the school's a mess.
So, Lord, this silent plea I make:
Should I be shot; My soul please take!
Amen !

Daddy's Empty Chair

A man's daughter had asked the local minister to come and pray with her father.
When the minister arrived, he found the man lying in bed with his head propped up on two pillows.
An empty chair sat beside his bed.
The minister assumed that the old fellow had been informed of his visit.
"I guess you were expecting me, he said.
'No, who are you?" said the father.
The minister told him his name and then remarked, "I saw the empty chair and I figured you knew I was going to show up."
"Oh yeah, the chair," said the bedridden man. "Would you mind closing the door?"
Puzzled, the minister shut the door.
"I have never told anyone this, not even my daughter," said the man. "But all of my life I have never known how to pray. At church I used to hear the pastor talk about prayer, but it went right over my head. I abandoned any attempt at prayer," the old man continued, "until one day four years ago, my best friend said to me, "Johnny, prayer is just a simple matter of having a conversation with Jesus. Here is what I suggest."
"Sit down in a chair; place an empty chair in front of you, and in faith see Jesus on the chair. It's not spooky because he promised, 'I will be with you always'. Then just speak to him in the same way you're doing with me right now."
"So, I tried it and I've liked it so much that I do it a couple of hours every day. I'm careful though If my daughter saw me talking to an empty chair, she'd either have a nervous breakdown or send me off to the funny farm."
The minister was deeply moved by the story and encouraged the old man to continue on the journey. Then he prayed with him, anointed him with oil, and returned to the church.
Two nights later the daughter called to tell the minister that her daddy had died that afternoon.
Did he die in peace?" he asked.
“Yes, when I left the house about two o'clock, he called me over to his bedside, told me he loved me and kissed me on the cheek. When I got back from the store an hour later, I found him dead. But there was something strange about his death. Apparently, just before Daddy died, he leaned over and rested his head on the chair beside the bed. What do you make of that?"
The minister wiped a tear from his eye and said, "I wish we could all go like that."

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Coma Patient Miraculously Recovers

Lindsey O'Connor was in the midst of a two-month coma, brought on by complications from childbirth. Her family was told to expect brain damage and believed her death was only a matter of time.
Her husband Tim faced the possibility of a brain-damaged wife, and caring single-handedly for five children, including a newborn. Meanwhile, Lindsey lived in a shadowland of nightmares, awareness and utter frustration. She writes:
I remember Tim holding one of my hands, a neurologist the other, and telling me to squeeze their hands. Unable to do so or to speak, I felt my brain screaming, "Why can't I do this? Maybe I'm dying." Later, my inability to use the call button left me banging a spoon on the bedside table for an hour and a half. No one came. They thought it was the repetitive motor response of a brain-damaged woman.
Two weeks after the initial dance on the edge came a death vigil. As I lay dying, the respirator whirred, pumping air into my lifeless-looking body and then sucking it out. … My limbs were blue and as cold as refrigerated meat. It did not look like I had any upper-level brain function. I was expected to die before morning.
I later learned that 40 or more friends and relatives stood vigil in the waiting room. … Susan, one of my best friends, looked at my gray, barely recognizable body and said, "Death is ugly, isn't it?" … My dad touched my feet and said, "I taught these feet how to walk." He agreed with Tim as he made end-of-life decisions.
Tim anguished over what to do, issuing conditional Do Not Resuscitate orders and rescinding them repeatedly. Then one day, Lindsey woke up. It was weeks before she could speak, but she was going to live.
I went into the hospital on August 30, 2002, and came home just before Christmas, still unable to walk or breathe on my own. In spite of daily physical effects of the trauma, I've learned that radical obedience (in my case, having a baby at 40) is worth any cost, that prayer is inconceivably important, that miracles still happen, and that I have a faith worth dying for. 

Lindsey O'Connor, "While I Was Sleeping," Christianity Today (February 2004), p. 44

Billy Graham's Prayer Changed Flight Patterns

I remember the first time my older son Jim and I worked as counselors with the Billy Graham Crusade. It was at Shea Stadium in New York. The airplanes from La Guardia Airport flew over the stadium, dozens by the hour.
On the opening night of training, the Reverend Billy Graham started talking with us from the podium as the engines roared overhead. He paused, glanced up and quietly said, "We'll have to do something about this noise. This just won't do." He bowed his head and said a simple prayer to the effect: "Lord, we ask you to shift the wind and send these planes in another direction. Thank You. Amen."
Well, we were believers, but this was a tall order. We weren't sure what, if anything, to expect. But God did it—he answered our prayers in a wondrous way! The morning newspaper reported that the winds had changed during the night, and the airplanes over Shea Stadium had to be routed another way. For several days thereafter, thousands of people came to Christ under this anointed leader's preaching. At the conclusion of the crusade, the winds reverted to their normal flow, and the airplanes returned to their normal flight patterns.

Bobbye Byerly, Miracles Happen When Women Pray (Regal, 2002, p. 20)

Priest Experiences the Connection of Prayer

Jean Bosco Gakirage was not there when everyone he knew was murdered. It was 1994, and the Rwandan priest was returning to his home church for ordination when he received the terrible news: "Do not come home. Your parents and the whole congregation have been murdered in the sanctuary."
Jean refused to stay away. Reaching Musha, his small village, he found that only seven children remained alive. With the bodies of his parents and friends still inside the church, Jean told the children, "We are the Resurrection." But he felt that he died that day.
The story did not go untold or unnoticed. A continent away, Marie Michelle saw a picture of the tall Rwandan in a mission magazine. Marie is a nun, living in seclusion and near-silence in a Missouri convent. Her heart went out to the newly ordained priest who lost his parents and six siblings to genocide. She asked for permission to write Jean a letter.
When the letter arrived, Jean could hardly believe it was for him. There was no one left to write to him since the death of his family and friends. He placed the envelope on the table while he stared at it—"to let it rest," he said, "because it had come far."
Finally, Jean opened the envelope and read these words:
I will pray for you every day. From now on you can think of me as your sister, and I will call you not "Father Jean" but "my brother."
Jean responded to the letter with thanks and a promise to pray for Marie as well. He also included words from Psalm 141, "The evildoers appall me … but my eyes are fixed on thee, O Lord God; thou art my refuge."
The daily prayers continued for ten years. Jean corresponded regularly. Marie was limited to two letters per year, but other nuns in the order wrote seasonally. Then, on July 8, 2004, Jean was given the opportunity to visit the convent. The nuns usually communicate with outsiders only through notes, but on this day Jean would be able to speak to Marie through a metal grate. After the midday prayers and services were over, the curtain over the grate parted. Standing with her nine Passionist sisters, Marie peered through the bars at Jean.
"My brother," she said. "I thought I'd have to wait for heaven to see him."
After what will likely be their only meeting in this life, both agreed on their greatest connection.
Marie said, "The union in prayer is the deepest thing, better than letters and pictures."

source unknown

Prayer in Trouble

I asked God for strength, that I might achieve.
I was made weak, that I might learn humbly to obey.
I asked for health, that I might do greater things.
I was given infirmity, that I might do better things.
I asked for riches, that I might be happy.
I was given poverty, that I might be wise.
I asked for power that I might have the praise of men.
I was given weakness, that I might feel the need of God.
I asked for all things, that I might enjoy life.
I was given life, that I might enjoy all things.
I got nothing that I asked for -
but everything I had hoped for.
Almost despite myself, my unspoken prayers were answered.
I am, among all people, most richly blessed.

- an Unknown Confederate Soldier

Trust

According to the Glen Eyrie News, in a story dated August 19, 1992, a poor widow of Sao Paolo, Brazil, had four children to feed but only five cruzadoes in her purse (about 20 cents). The decision she had to make was to buy either milk, which meant her children would go without food, or to buy bread, in which case they would go without drink. She prayed for two hours, and He told her to buy all the groceries she needed for three months at a huge supermarket and go through checkout stand seven (there are 124 check stands).
She went to the supermarket and dutifully filled up three carts to overflowing and went to checkout stand number seven. But the employee was leaving for lunch and motioned her to go through another stand. The woman replied, “But my Father told me to go through number seven." The checker left for lunch, but this widow, who heard God's voice, trusted and stayed at checkout stand seven for one hour with 20 cents to her name.
The checker returned, astonished and puzzled to see the same lady waiting all that time. As her groceries were added up, an announcement came over the loud speaker, “Good afternoon, shoppers! Today is the seventh anniversary of our opening, and the person in checkout stand seven gets all her groceries today free!"
God is still capable of doing miracles like that and I'm sure that many of you have some interesting stories to tell. But God doesn't always do those sorts of miracles. Rather, His plan seems to be very similar to the way it was in the Old Testament times. Just as their obedience to the laws about harvesting made provision for the fatherless, that responsibility falls on the rest of God's people.

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ASAP....Please send this on ASAP!!!

Ever wonder about the abbreviation A.S.A.P.? Generally we think of it in terms of even more hurry and stress in our lives.. Maybe if we think of this abbreviation in a different manner, we will begin to find a new way to deal with those rough days along the way.

There's work to do, deadlines to meet;
You've got no time to spare,
But as you hurry and scurry-
ASAP - ALWAYS SAY A PRAYER

In the midst of family chaos,
"Quality time" is rare..
Do your best; let God do the rest-
ASAP - ALWAYS SAY A PRAYER.

It may seem like your worries
Are more than you can bear.
Slow down and take a breather-
ASAP - ALWAYS SAY A PRAYER

God knows how stressful life is;
He wants to ease our cares,
And He'll respond to all your needs
A.S.A.P. - ALWAYS SAY A PRAYER.

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A Prayer

Dear God
I want to thank You for what you have already done.
I am not going to wait until I see results or receive rewards.
I am not going to wait until I feel better or things look better.
I'm not going to wait until people say they are sorry or until they stop talking about me.
I am not going to wait until the pain in my body disappears.
I am not going to wait until my financial situation improves.
I am not going to wait until the children are asleep and the house is quiet.
I am not going to wait until I get promoted at work or until I get the job.
I am not going to wait until I understand every experience in my life that has caused me pain or grief.
I am not going to wait until the journey gets easier or the challenges are removed.
I am thanking you right now. I am thanking you because I am alive. I am thanking you because I made it through the days of difficulties. I am thanking you because I have walked around the obstacles.
I am thanking you because I have the ability and the opportunity to do more and do better.
I'm thanking you because FATHER, YOU haven't given up on me.

source unknown

A Way Of Living

Lent is the season in the Christian year that comes just before Easter. Lent is basically a time for recentering our lives. Lent is the time in the church year where we take stock of our lives, and where we choose to live in a new way. And, just like Jesus' temptation in the wilderness, Lent is a forty-day period. It's a time to recommit ourselves to a new way of living...or, perhaps just to an old way of living that we've forgotten about.

- Eric Folkerth

St Theresa's Prayer

May today there be peace within.
May you trust your highest power that you are exactly where you are meant to be..
May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith.
May you use those gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you....
May you be content knowing you are a child of God....
Let this presence settle into our bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love. It is there for each and every one of you...

The Burden-Bearer

I asked the Lord, "Please help me to be a Burden-Bearer - to help others bear their loads". Then I realised what a poor job I was doing bearing my own burdens. If I could not bear my own burdens alone, how could I ever hope to bear the burdens of others?
Then, I changed my prayer to, "Lord, help me to point others to the Great Burden-Bearer". [Jesus] said "Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden" (bearing burdens) "and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light". (Mat 11:28-30)
Isaiah had prophesied of Him, "Surely, He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted." (Isa 53:4) In other words, in spite of the fact that He had borne the griefs and sorrows (burdens) of the whole world, His work would be ignored by most. They would go on trying to bear their own burdens, in total disregard of the fact that He had borne them for them. How needless!...
While I can give assistance in bearing physical burdens, give moral support, and speak words of comfort and encouragement to those who are carrying them, I can never actually bear their real burdens for them. I can only point them to the One who has, and can.
The words of the chorus I had heard so many years ago ring true, "The world's Burden-Bearer is Jesus. Your Jesus. My Jesus." But we must personally cast our own burdens upon Him. He is as close as the mention of His name. I point you to Him today.

- Handy F. Nevers

Empowered to Pray

Prayer is the gift of the Spirit. Often we wonder how to pray, when to pray, and what to pray. We can become very concerned about methods and techniques of prayer. But finally it is not we who pray but the Spirit who prays in us.
Paul says: "The Spirit ... comes to help us in our weakness, for, when we do not know how to pray properly, then the Spirit personally makes our petitions for us in groans that cannot be put into words; and he who can see into all hearts knows what the Spirit means because the prayers that the Spirit makes for God's holy people are always in accordance with the mind of God" (Romans 8:26-27). These words explain why the Spirit is called "the Consoler."

- Henri Nouwen

The Healer, Not The Enabler

Many times I have treated God the Father like the prodigal did. I have cried out for the quick fix. I have demanded that God bail me out, fix me up, and move with power on my behalf.
"Lord, just solve this problem; I don't want to wait. I need help now!"
In the parable, the father did not go drag the son out of the pigpen. And God will not do that for us, either. Because He loves us so deeply, He will give us the dignity of choice. God's purpose in our lives is to heal us, not enable us.

- Ted Roberts in "Pure Desire"

The Promise of Prayer

In prayer we gain the confidence that, in the midst of all that is happening, God is at work bringing about a good that we can never anticipate (Romans 8:28). If we feel God-forsaken (and there will be such times), prayer will drive away that despair. In prayer we experience the indescribable assurance of the Holy Spirit that all will be well. I love the verse that reads, "For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but we have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God" (Romans 8:15-16). But the best news of all comes from the same eighth chapter of Romans - the promise and confidence that all things will work together for an incomprehensible good. It's a promise that we know will be realised, because the Holy Spirit - that crucial third member of the Trinity - prays to the heavenly Father on our behalf, thus overcoming our own limitations in prayer.
"Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." (Romans 8:26-28)

- Tony Campolo, "Following Jesus Without Embarrassing God"