prayer
For His Glory Bible College Class on Intercession
For His Glory Bible College at 17770 W. Cleveland Ave., New Berlin is offering a Spring Intensive Class on Intercession and Spiritual Warfare, taught by Rev. Donna Olson, on Thur. May 6th and, May 20th and, Saturday May 8th and, May 22nd. Thursdays at 6: 30pm and Saturdays at 8:30am. This class can be taken for credit 0r audited. For a registration form; call 262-754-9244 or go to www.fhglory.org.
No Court Can Keep Us From Praying
April 22 UPDATE, 12:40 p.m.— The Justice Department announced today it will appeal last week’s ruling that the National Day of Prayer is unconstitutional. The appeal would go to the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals based in Chicago to review the Wisconsin judge’s ruling
April 16, 2010—When a federal judge in Wisconsin ruled that our National Day of Prayer is unconstitutional, it immediately generated widespread anger, heated debate and new rounds of legal maneuvering. According to Franklin Graham, the honorary chairman of this year’s National Day of Prayer, it also shows just how much our country needs God’s help.
“At a time when our country is waging two wars, approval ratings for Congress are at historic lows, unemployment is at a 70-year high and financial institutions have collapsed around us, I can’t imagine anyone seriously opposing a National Day of Prayer,” said Graham, who is president and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and international Christian relief organization Samaritan’s Purse.
Graham said he was puzzled by the judge’s logic. In her ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Barbara Crabb wrote, “the nature of prayer is so personal and can have such a powerful effect on a community that the government may not use its authority to try to influence an individual’s decision whether and when to pray.”
“It sounds to me like even the judge in this case understands the power of prayer. But it’s voluntary. There’s no requirement that people pray,” said Graham. “To act like a National Day of Prayer is a bad thing or somehow subversive is ridiculous. Surely our country needs prayer now more than ever.”
Graham also points out that God commands us to pray for our leaders. “The Bible is clear on this. 1 Timothy says, ‘I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.’”
Prayer is nothing new to Americans, added Graham. “Our country has a long history of recognizing a national day of prayer. It’s something that dates back to the Continental Congress when it recommended that states set aside a day for prayer and thanksgiving. This is a significant part of our country’s heritage.”
“For me, the bottom line is this,” said Graham. “No judge can stop us from praying for our country and I pray that on May 6, millions of Americans will join me in praying for our President, all of our elected leaders, and even for this unjust judge and all those who rule from the bench—that God would guide them and give them wisdom.”
This year’s National Day of Prayer takes place May 6. For more information, visit NationalDayofPrayer.org.
California mayor urges residents to Christian prayer
LANCASTER CA - The mayor of Lancaster has urged its residents to approve Christian-specific prayers at public meetings in an effort to “grow” the sixth-largest city in Los Angeles County into a “Christian community.”
Lancaster residents were urged by Mayor R. Rex Parris in a state-of-the-city speech to support a city ballot measure that would authorize daily prayers at city council meetings.
“We are growing a Christian community, and don’t let anybody shy away from that,” he said in his speech, according to the Antelope Valley Press.
In a later interview with the Daily News, Parris expressed surprise that some religious leaders object to prayers to Jesus at city meetings, and blamed opposition on activists who “want a fight,” the newspaper reported. “They want their 15 minutes of fame.”
The Lancaster mayor is running for re-election and supports the prayer ordinance, the newspaper reported. The city council has already placed a large “In God We Trust” motto across the wall in the city council chambers.
(Source: NBC)
AG National Prayer Center issues guide, exhorts brethren to pray for Haiti
The Assemblies of God National Prayer Center has created and posted a special prayer guide for individuals and churches to use in this time of great tragedy for the nation of Haiti.
Haiti, which suffered a magnitude 7.0 earthquake Tuesday with thousands believed to be dead and many more injured and homeless, is home to 277 AG churches and more than 66,000 adherents. Port-au-Prince, the nation’s capital, is believed to have suffered extreme damage and loss of life.
“In times of great human loss and destruction, such as experienced in Haiti yesterday, sometimes it’s difficult to even know how to pray,” explains John Maempa, director of the National Prayer Center. “The prayer guide will help by providing specific points that are known prayer needs.”
The prayer guide offers 12 points to help guide prayers, including praying for rescue workers to quickly reach those trapped under the rubble, for those left homeless, for our missionaries, that God’s redemptive purposes will unfold even in the midst of this crisis, and more.
“Prayer is vital in this crisis,” Maempa states. “Prayer can move the hand of God to accomplish what human effort alone could never do. I encourage each church corporately and every member individually to set aside time to specifically pray for the nation and people of Haiti.”
To access the special prayer guide for Haiti, click here.
Study: The State of religion…
WASHINGTON - Mississippi is the America’s most religious state, according to a Pew Forum study on the levels of devotion in America, which asked respondents whether religion is important in their lives. Eighty-two percent of Mississipians said ‘yes’ compared to 47% of Wisconsinites. The combined populations of New Hampshire/Vermont ranked last in the survey.
“That is not too surprising,” said William F. Lawhead, chairman of the religion and philosophy department at the University of Mississippi. “This is the Bible Belt. We are primarily made up of small towns . . . so most of the people are homegrown.”
The state is overwhelmingly Christian, he added, although an influx of Vietnamese immigrants who are involved in the state’s coastal fishing industry has brought in Buddhist adherents.
Alabama and Arkansas (both at 74 percent), Louisiana (72 percent), Tennessee (71 percent) and South Carolina (70 percent) follow. Noted among the least-religious with New Hampshire and Vermont are Alaska (37 percent) and Massachusetts (40 percent), which confirms other recent surveys that say New England is the “new Northwest” in terms of unchurched multitudes.
The Pacific Northwest used to be the country’s least-churched sector, but Oregon (seventh from the bottom at 46 percent) and Washington (11th from the bottom at 48 percent), have risen in the rankings.
The poll was released Monday (Dec 21, 2009) with data drawn from the Forum’s 2007 U.S. Religious Landscape Survey of 35,556 U.S. residents. It has an error margin of 0.6 percent.
The Survey
Respondents were asked four questions about:
- the importance of religion in their lives
- their frequency of attendance at worship services
- frequency of daily prayer
- and absolute certainty of belief in God.
Mississippi polled highest on all four questions. On the attendance question, 33% of Wisconsinites stated that they attend religious services weekly. Mississippians polled at 60 percent. Heavily Mormon Utah (57 percent) placed second with South Carolina (54 percent) rounding the top three.
Alaska is at the bottom of this list, with only 22 percent of respondents saying they attend weekly. New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine polled next highest at 23 percent.
Ed Vatagliano, research director for the American Family Association in Tupelo, pointed out that Mississippi’s 3 million residents are more likely to have been raised in church. “Part of it is tradition,” he said. “My kids and all their friends are in church on Sunday. That’s the expectation. If you are a politician down here, you’re expected to have a church track record.”
On the question about frequency of daily prayer, Wisconsin ranked 38th with 49% indicating tha they pray at least once daily. Mississippi occupied the top spot at 77 percent, followed by Louisiana at 76 percent and Alabama at 73 percent. Maine, at 40 percent, occupied the lowest rung, followed by Massachusetts and Alaska, each at 41 percent.
The fourth question, measuring percentage of those who believe in God, had Wisconsin at 34 with 68% answering ‘yes’ when asked whether they had absolute certainty in their beliefe in God. Mississipians again ranked at the top at 91 percent, followed by South Carolina and Alabama at 86 percent. States with the lowest belief in God are New Hampshire and Vermont at 54 percent and Connecticut and Rhode Island at 57 percent.
For more details and information on this survey and the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life, visit http://pewforum.org/docs/?DocID=504.
(Soource: Pew Reserach Center)
STUDY: Prayer boosts forgiveness
CANADA - The power of prayer has long been controversial, but a new study in a leading psychological journal finds some of the first scientific evidence that it truly works – at least on the person doing the praying.
While previous studies have looked largely at the people being prayed for, investigators flipped the research model to examine those who personally engage in the religious practice. They found that even a single prayer for a loved one led to increased self-reported willingness to be forgiving of that person.
Though the research leaves open the possibility of divine intervention, investigators don’t claim any “miraculous event.” They instead focus on scientifically quantifiable factors, such as prayer’s ability to prime a more selfless state of mind. “This is not an attempt to proselytize; our position is one of absolute neutrality,” says study co-author Frank Fincham, a world expert on relationship science. “What seems to be operative here is that people experience a selfless love when they pray; they appear to be connecting more with humanity and feeling more positively toward humanity as a whole. That’s what leads them to be more willing to forgive.”
The new study, published in the journal Psychological Science, draws data from 119 people over two experiments.
In the first, participants assigned to say a single prayer for their romantic partner reported a greater willingness to be forgiving of that person than did participants who were asked to describe their partner to a recording device “as if they were (talking) to a parent.”
The second study was more revealing, with participants – all of whom were comfortable with prayer – split into three groups: those asked to pray for a friend, those asked to pray about any topic, and those asked to think positive thoughts about a friend every day for four weeks.
People in the first group were much more likely to be forgiving of that friend than those in either of the latter two groups, which notably showed no significant differences between them. The first group also expressed more “selfless concern” during the testing period.
Fincham, director of the Family Institute at Florida State University, says the findings suggest focused prayer can act as insulation, protecting both platonic and romantic relationships from drawn-out conflict by helping regulate emotion.
While Fincham says religious communities are “overjoyed” at the findings, critics such as Richard P. Sloan – author of Blind Faith: The Unholy Alliance of Religion and Medicine – are skeptical that prayer can, or even should, be subjected to scientific scrutiny.
“There’s been this tendency to try to justify religious ritual and spiritual practices based on their effectiveness … It’s a ridiculous trivialization,” says Sloan, a professor of behavioural medicine in psychiatry at Columbia University Medical Center. “They’re making prayer into some sort of spiritual vending machine, where you deposit something in it and you get a desired outcome.”
(Sources: FSU, Canwest News Service)
Oral Roberts passes at 91 in California
TULSA - Many in the world are mourning the passing of pastor, healer, innovator and religious icon Oral Roberts, who died Tuesday (December 15, 2009) in Newport Beach, California at the age of 91 from complications of pneumonia a day after he was hospitalized following a fall at his home in California.
“Oral Roberts was the greatest man of God I’ve ever known,” said Oral’s son, Richard Roberts. “A modern-day apostle of the healing ministry, an author, educator, evangelist, prophet, and innovator, he was the only man of his generation to build a worldwide ministry, an accredited university, and a medical school.”
Evangelist Billy Graham issued a statement stating, “Oral Roberts was a man of God, and a great friend in ministry. I loved him as a brother. We had many quiet conversations over the years. I invited Oral to speak at one of our early international conferences on evangelism held in Berlin in the 1960’s. Oral was preceded in death by his wonderful wife Evelyn, who I also knew and loved. She was a woman of God, and a powerful prayer warrior. Just three weeks ago, I was privileged to talk to Oral over the telephone. During the short conversation, he said to me that he was near the end of his life’s journey. I look forward to the day that I will see Oral and Evelyn Roberts again in Heaven–our eternal home.”
Roberts established Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association (OREA), a Pentecostal ministry, which in turn founded Oral Roberts University in 1963 which Roberts served as the school’s president until 1993 and trustee until his death. GuideStar reports OREA “produces 52 weekly television and radio programs, and 260 daily television programs to help spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the United States and throughout the world. These programs reach an estimated 800,000 people per week.”
In May 2009, the Oklahoma Legislature honored Roberts with a resolution honoring his life. He spoke to lawmakers of his mission and his legacy. “I’ll soon be going home to my heavenly father,” Roberts said on this occasion. “I look forward to that with great peace and joy. Leaving behind my legacy to bless people.”
Born on January 24, 1918, the fifth and youngest child of Reverend Ellis Melvin Roberts and Claudia Priscilla Irwin, Roberts grew up in southern Oklahoma. After finishing high school, Roberts studied for two years each at Oklahoma Baptist University and Phillips University. In 1938 he married a preacher’s daughter, Evelyn Lutman Fahnestock. Leaving college before completing his degree, Roberts became an itinerant preacher, taking over his father’s ministry and expanding it to millions of people in tent revivals, healing the sick and saving troubled lives. Eventually, the tents gave way to airwaves — broadcasting on radio and television.
In the early 60s, he broke even more ground, building Oral Roberts University in South Tulsa and later built the City of Faith Medical and Research Cente, intended to merge prayer and medicine in the healing process.
Two Roberts children are still living — son Richard, a well-known evangelist and former president of Oral Roberts University (ORU), and daughter Roberta Potts, an attorney. Oral Roberts was preceded in death by his wife of 66 years, Evelyn, on May 4, 2005, ,and two of his children, Rebecca in 1977 and Ronald in 1982.
Memorial Service will be held at the ORU Mabee Center, in Tulsa Oklahoma on Monday, December 21, 2009 at 2:00PM.
(Sources: Oral Roberts Evangelistic Assn, Oral Roberts University, Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, Oral Roberts Minstries, Oklahoma news outlets, Wikipedia)
David’s Star Women’s Retreat – THIS WEEKEND! Nov 14
David’s Star is sponsoring a Women’s Retreat with the theme “Thanking God with Prayer and Praise” on Saturday, November 14 from 8:30AM-3PM.
Speakers include Kathie Wendland , Sheila Krause and Naomi Schmidt.
The retreat will take place at David’s Star Ev. Luthern School located near the intersection of Division and Sherman roads at 2750 David’s Star Drive in Jackson.
For more information please visit their website DavidsStar.org/WR or call 262.677.2412
AG National Prayer Center posts prayer guides on-line
SPRINGFIELD, MO –As millions of young people head back to their classrooms, the AG National Prayer Center has posted a list of downloadable prayer guides for praying for students and schools.
These four free guides include: Prayer for the Assemblies of God Alliance for Higher Education, Prayer for the Assemblies of God Institutions of Higher Education, Prayer for Students on Secular College Campuses and Prayer for Students in Secular High Schools.
The National Prayer Center (NPC) believes keeping students and schools covered in prayer is vital.
“In the case of high school students,” explains NPC Assistant Director James Meredith, “many are entering challenging times – they’re going to face greater temptation, peer pressure and challenges to their beliefs. Those students going on to college oftentimes have the same struggles, but they are leaving the spiritual support system they’ve developed over the years among their family, church and friends – while at the same time trying to discern God’s will for their lives.”
Each guide offers a week’s worth of subjects to prayer over, or each topic can be prayed for each day.
“When it comes to students heading off to school, whether it be grade school or graduate school, there are plenty of reasons to pray,” Meredith says.
To download the free NPC school prayers guides or to learn more about NPC, see its Web site.
Michelle Winkler cleared of contempt charge in prayer case
SANTA ROSA COUNTY, FL — After a 7½ hour hearing in federal court, federal District Judge Casey Rodgers told Michelle Winkler that she would not be held in civil contempt over her husband’s prayer at an awards banquet. Ms. Winkler, who is a clerical assistant for the Santa Rosa County School District, is represented by Liberty Counsel. Senior Litigation Counsel Horatio Mihet and David Corry defended Winkler against the ACLU last Friday. On September 17, Liberty Counsel will be back in court defending Principal Frank Lay and Athletic Director Robert Freeman on charges of criminal contempt over a blessing of the meal at a separate luncheon to honor private contributors to the athletic program.
Last year the ACLU filed a lawsuit against the Santa Rosa County School District. Judge Rodgers entered a broadly worded injunction in January 2009 regarding prayer and religious activities of school employees. Winkler attended a privately funded event off campus at a nearby Naval base, held after school hours to honor noninstructional employees of the school district. She invited her husband, who is not employed by the school, to read a beautiful prayer blessing she wrote for the honorees. The ACLU ran to court, claiming that Winkler should be held in civil contempt of the court order. The ACLU claimed they had a “rock-solid case” against Winkler, but after 7 ½ hours, the ACLU had no case. Judge Rodgers ruled against the ACLU, concluding that Michelle Winkler’s husband’s prayer at a voluntary gathering outside of school did not violate the court’s order.
(Source: Christian Newswire)
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