Power of Prayer

Just want to remind all of you out there that there is :                             


POWER
               
          in                            
                       PRAYER
                   
My Sunday School lesson was on this very subject and it was taken from I Samuel 22-23. Awesome words on how David prayed and God answered!  Period!  Done Deal!  Not always what he wanted to hear; but clear, specific, and no doubts it was from the LORD God.


Yea, yea, Grandmother we know this.   But don't forget to do it!   I knew I was going to have a rough week at work last week, so I rallied a prayer group to pray. I asked my Sunday School class of 8-10 ladies ( all over 65) and my 2 daughters.   

                                                                      Well, sure enough it was as rough as we anticipated; but around Wednesday everybody, even me, said:  "Why is everything going so much smoother than we thought?"  I just grinned :)  


                                                           Because well... I didn't want to speak too soon and embarrass the Lord.  LOL!  Silly me. The Lord can take care of Himself thank you very much.  You guessed it.  The rest of the week was great as well and I eventually told all my co-workers my battle strategy for the week.  


My point:  DON'T FORGET TO PRAY. I know some of you think, yea, I've tried that before and there's a cold silent wall..  Don't quit!!  You might not understand now, but God hears.  Some days it's like it was in I Samuel 22-23.  You ask-- He answers. Many ask: Why pray?? 


Because my sweet sisters it works, He commanded us to and there is :


POWER
              in
                 PRAYER

SEND THE LIGHT

We had a commissioning service tonight at church for several groups, young & old that are going on mission trips this summer.  

The countries are Eucador Japan, China, and Egypt.  

A small church from a small town in Texas sending out that many to spread the gospel!! Wow!! The ages ranged from 16-58.  Some have been on mission before, but for some, it is the first time.  

One person in particular that is the reason for my post is Carla.  I first met Carla when she was in the 7th grade and I was her Sunday School teacher.  She has had some rough roads in her life one of which was that her mother was murdered when Carla was just a teenager. She grew up,married and has grown children now.   She plays the keyboard in our church orchestra and has been very faithful.  Now tonight to see her giving her vacation to go on a mission trip just really inspires me. 

It is also very encouraging that as you get older you do not just quit.  

This is a very brave endeavor for a 50 something.  

The other thing that inspires me is that I have lived long enough to see those children that I have taught and watched grow up continue to give their lives for the eternal.  Now I know that she is not going to Egypt because of anything that I did in her life; but to have the blessing of getting to see this is just more than this  grandmother can believe the Lord would let me do!!   

 How great is our God!! I ask you to pray with me for these and all of those around the world that are giving of themselves to spread the gospel.  

This reminds me of one of my favorite verses : 

Deut.6:7 "You shall teach them(God's Word) diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down and when you rise up." 

That just about covers it. We are to teach the next generation God's ways or guess what?? There will not be a next generation of God followers.  

Let us be busy about that so that there will always be a Godly legacy.. 

Legacy Lines from One Year Bible

Ok, with a blog entitled Lanita'sLegacy I cannot let my readings in the OneYearBible this week pass by without a "legacy" comment.  II Kings 18-22 are so rich in legacy-leaving-lines.  II Kings 18:19-20: "This is what the great king of Assyria says: What are you trusting in that makes you so confident?" This was asked by a pagan king to king Hezekiah.  What are we truly trusting in?  Is it really the Lord our God or--or-- what we can "finagle" (good East Tx word) or orchestrate on our own?? I fear we better get that settled because there are some trying days ahead.  But the verse I really want to hone in on is II Kings 20:6.  Hezekiah has become deathly ill, like just being diagnosed with terminal cancer.  Hezekiah prays for God to heal him & then sends Isaiah to tell him: I heard your prayer & and have  seen your tears." (oh, wow, that right there will preach & that's not even my point)!!! God, through Isaiah says in v.6: (I will add 15 years to your life, and I will rescue you and this city from the king of Assyria. ..)  Now whether you are young, old, or in between; ill or healthy as a horse (another good East Tx term) ; what would you do with a guaranteed extra 15 years to your life??  If you read the "rest of the story" (loved that Paul Harvey)  which is found in II Kings 6:7-21, Hezekiah did not do so well with his allotment.. check out v.19 "Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, "This message you have given me from the LORD is good." But the king was thinking, "At least there will be peace & security during my lifetime."  Here God had told the king through Isaiah about the Jews being carried into exile..but his comment reflects only thoughts about himself.. Are we concerned only that there is peace & security for us & ours??  Oh, how God wants us to be concerned about what we are doing with our years that will make a difference for eternity.  My response to this message to me from the Holy Spirit in my usual Daily Bible Reading is: "Woe is me for I am undone"! (Isaiah 6:3) God help us all.!!  But...take heart!! Today is the day the Lord has made, we still have opportunities to leave a legacy.  Make some memories today that will make a difference forever. 

Evaluation Grandmother Camp 2010

What an awesome God we serve.  I just wish I was smart enough to know how to post our little program on the web.  It was fantastic. When Papa gets his pictures from the camera to the computer I will post some pics.  I think I can do that.  The kids did not disappoint me.  All of them are such "hams". Why should I have worried?  A big thank-you to my awesome daughters and sons for allowing us to influence their children's little lives for a whole week.  It is amazing what you can teach children through song and art. My only worry is how will we top what God did this year??  Oh, yea, He will be here next year too!! I learned or re-learned that you do forget pain.  About Wed. I thought " I just don't know if I can continue to do this". But we made it through and then when they showed off so well what they had learned I knew it had to go on.  I will be putting all of you grandparents out there who are raising their grandchildren for whatever reason on my uppermost prayer list.  (For real- many of you are in my church).  Hats off and praise to these wonderful people. We did something different this year that I hope will become a tradition. Aunt Sharon and Uncle Sammy hosted us for a family picnic and reunion at their farm in Laneville.  It was  absolutely wonderful.  HEH! Aunt Sharon I know what.. you can have your own grandmother camp the same week that we do and then we can come together on Saturday for one big grand finale.. That is what God is doing with us here.  He is training us by growing us in families to live with Him in heaven forever.  Sure, there are sorrows along the way.  We have all had them, but we are not going to waste our sorrows, but instead learn from them . I truly believe that those who have had the most sorrows and learned the most from them are going to be way up there in heaven!! I will be honored to know you.  I learned that I am not suppose to C-O-V-E-T, but I do ask for your prayers as I come down from this heavenly place and back to work at the bank on Monday.  I know that God has had me there for all these years for something and I cannot slack off now.  In this too I must persevere until my days are done there so that I will be well pleasing in His sight whether I'm teaching my grandchildren the Ten Commandments or helping struggling souls with their filthy lucre (Bible-speak for money).  Leave a legacy--make memories everyday..

Grandmother & Papa Camp 2010-Midweek Progress

Well, this post will be brief, but I just wanted to pass along 2 valuable lessons this ole Grandmother has learned or maybe re-learned.  It is amazing what you can teach young clean, uncluttered minds.  That is why Jesus said: "Suffer the little children to come unto me and forbid them not".  It is Wednesday and they know all of the Ten Commandments and most of them in order.  I can yell out Commandment number 3 :: And they can say: "Do not take the Lord's name in vain" or Honor God's name.  The second thing I have seen over and over is that it is the simple things that they learn the most from; unstructured play or as they say "free play"gives such opportunity for sharing and being kind and working out their own problems.  It is hard to just get out of the way and let them, but it really works.  I call them my "city mice" and they do not get much of this kind of time.   I know it is a different world that this generation of mothers and daddies are raising children in, but please for their sake let them think they are doing a few things on their own.  We never leave them unsupervised because you just can't do that today, but we do try to stay back a little and let them grow..  Well, we just fall into bed each night with precious little time to rest up for tomorrow, but we can see the end.  Tomorrow will be our last full day of God's Top Ten.  We must put together our "closing ceremonies" program.  Yes, it's gonna be so cute if they will cooperate and grandmother & papa will truly shine.  Yes, just a little pride oozing out there.  I'm sure God will remind Who is to get the glory.  Yes, it's Him and Him alone who deserves all the praise... Friday is the big day that they have all been waiting for.  Not the Ten Commandments, not staying up late, not eating anything anytime they want, not the zoo, or even swimming at Bro Wayne's & Ms Donna's pool.  But are you ready for the best thing they are going to get to do.  Go to the movies & see Toy Story 3!!!.  Yep, I told you they were city mice.  But praise the Lord how I love them.  Even if they love Woody & Buz Lightyear more than Thou shall not covet!!.  I will give the grand finale a little later next week.  I do have another week of vacation to rest up.

LET THE GAMES BEGIN!!

Grandmother & Papa Camp 2010 doesn't officially begin until Monday June 14th... but we get the first installment of campers tomorrow night and the other 2 Saturday morning.  All of you bloggers out there please pray for traveling safety as we do the grandkid shuffle. Then of course pray for us as we attempt to have one glorious week learning God's Top Ten aka the Ten Commandments.  But most of all pray that we will build memories that age & time will not erase.  Stay tuned!! If time and stamina will allow I will be sharing as the week progresses!!

When Leaders Fail

Today I want to talk to you a little about the lesson I had to teach on Sunday.  It was taken from I Samuel 2-3.  This is the story of  the priest Eli and his 2 wicked sons and the boy Samuel that delivers God's message of judgment on them.  The moral of this story is: Parents correct your children when they are young or God just might have to take you and them out!! Not a pleasant lesson indeed.  We look around today and see many leaders that are failing.  Financial, political, and yes, even religious leaders are failing God and this nation.  But do you realize that you too are leading somebody!!. None of us are exempt from that role.  Moms those children are watching and listening.  Dads those children and wife are watching and listening.  God gave Eli many chances to do the hard thing and discipline his boys, but he turned a blind eye and a deaf ear.  God finally had to raise up a young boy to deliver a message of judgment to this servant of God. The verse that was so convicting to me was I Samuel 2:23: "Why do you do such things"? Now this was a question that Eli asked his boys.  We have all asked our children this question.  You know the answer we always get is :  "I don't know"!  Well, the Holy Spirit asked me this week: Has God ever asked you this question?  He has!! Why do you do some of the things that you know is not on my approval list?  Why do you procrastinate in doing those hard things that you do not want to do?  Why Lanita, do you do such things?  You can fill in the blank for your life.  But just as the case with Eli and his sons, it is not sufficient to just ask the question.  You must determine to DO those things that are pleasing to Him and will make a difference in your family's life.  We must be the leaders that God has called us to be.  The risk is too great and the consequences too severe to not do those things that make a difference now and for all eternity.  We do not want to be leaders that fail.  It was Israel's downfall and I fear America's too.  But it all starts in the home with the family. Next week is : When Religion Fails. Can't wait to see how God is going to direct my thoughts in that area.  Be the leader God wants you to be and your legacy will last.