Weekly Prayer Gathering Focus Letter -8/20/08

Friends of the King,

To God be the Glory! Your praying makes a difference! May God Bless you and keep you. May His face to shine upon you and give you peace!
Blessings to you all!

Prayer Focus Items:

1. Pray for Grant Fishbook as he prepares and preaches this weekend. He is speaking on Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego (Missions). Please pray for him to have clarity on what is communicated and the open hearts to receive it.
2. Pray for all Pastoral Staff, for their health, marriages and their families.
3. Please continue to pray for Brian and Sjana MacSwan need to sell their house in Salem, OR. Pray for details of the youth ministry to come together! Praise we do have a couple new leaders! Pray for them to be able to get right into things and the learning process to go smoothly and quickly. Continue to pray for the need of more volunteer leaders who love God and are willing to pour their lives into students.
4. Pray for regards to Fellowship One (all new data based system). All materials and co-ordination efforts come together and we can be using F1 soon. Understanding for our team and continuity. Praise children's check in is up and running smoothly!
5. Please pray for Staff and families as we have a get together, please pray we create a bond and unity as a family working for Jesus Christ. Also as a Staff we will be concentrating on these first 10 weeks starting in September at staff meetings making sure our focus is on The Lord Our God. Pray that each of us is touched by God in a profound and personal way.
6. Please pray Women's Ministry is hosting a Kick Off Breakfast on Saturday, September 6th. Please pray that this will be a time of clear vision casting as our ministry team begins to recruit new interest and commitment to the ministry.
7. Please continue to pray for Shirley Storm and the 2008 Africa Team as they continue to minister among the people of Arusha, Tanzania. Pray for God's grace to be shown in a very real way to the people and for many hearts to turn to Him. Praise God that the Chief of the Maasai has accepted Christ! Pray for a huge revival to follow as a result.

Devotional -Highway of Holiness (reprise)

I sense this is a year of "holiness unto the Lord." Holiness is about being set-apart for the King's service! It's about being separate from anything morally impure, not just staying away from things we shouldn't be doing, but also walking in the things that He has called us to do. I believe the key this year to those accelerating into their callings is directly linked to the "highway of holiness." It's kind of like getting in the fast lane on the freeway. The degree of God's anointing depends on the state of our relationship with Him; otherwise we would be crushed under the weight of pressures that come when God releases His power. God is so much more interested in the condition of our hearts than He is in our gifting. Holiness is Him, and the closer we get to Him the more we are transformed by Him. 1 Peter 1:16 (NIV) says, "for it is written: 'be holy because I am holy.' " When holiness goes public, then we have 'glory.' Glory is simply the holiness of God being made manifest! So let's begin to ask God to take us down the "highway of holiness," which is the highway of the Most High God. And then we will begin to see the glory of the Lord cover the earth like the waters cover the sea.

Isaiah 35:8 (NASB) says, "A highway will be there, a roadway, and it will be called the Highway of Holiness. The unclean will not travel on it, but it will be for him who walks that way, and fools will not wander on it."

Isaiah 40:3 (NASB), "A voice is calling, 'Clear the way for the LORD in the wilderness; make smooth in the desert a highway for our God.' "

Isaiah 62:10 (NASB), "Go through, go through the gates, clear the way for the people; build up, build up the highway, remove the stones, lift up a standard over the peoples."

The fervent prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective! As James 5:16-18 (NASB) says, "Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months. Then he prayed again, and the sky poured rain and the earth produced its fruit."

In our fervency, let's pursue purity (HIM). God wants holy hands of prayer in His holy house of prayer so the 'King of Glory' can come in. Amen.

For King and Country,
Jason Hubbard