Mood:  a-ok

Believe it or not, we have been the directors of Good News Mission for over 10 years now. It just seems like yesterday that we volunteered to help out - never knowing that it would lead to this.

Sarah and my prayer has always been for the low income folks that we minister to would grow strong in the Lord and that they would lean on Him to help them in the situations that they are in. Sarah especially has been working with the women - she calls them "my ladies" - for these many years and has seen much growth.

I have been convicted for the last few months to take the folks of the mission to a new level in their walk with the Lord. A couple of weeks ago the Lord put a thought in my mind that really worked out in a neat way. I have always been interested in the way the Lord uses numbers in the Bible. The numbers 7 and 12 are used a lot but when God put that thought in my mind, it came with the number 40. Forty is also used many times - it rained for 40 days and 40 nights during the great flood, the Israelites were punished to wander 40 years in the wilderness, Jesus spent 40 days in the desert praying and fasting, there are 40 days between Easter and Pentecost. Forty seems to be very important, and listen to this!

God impressed upon me that I should challenge the folks 40 days of Prayer and I should present it the following Sunday. Here is where it gets really neat. I looked at the calendar to see when the 40 days would start and end. The next Sunday was November the 21st. There were 9 days left in November and there are 31 days in December which means that there were exactly 40 days left in the year!

So, Good News Mission is praying out the year! I challenged the adults to pray by themselves, with their spouses and with their families. I challenged them to let their kids see them pray and hear them pray. I challenged them to pray on their knees if they could. I urged them to encourage one another by calling or texting each other and reminding them to pray. They were to pray for each other, the mission, the projects, the town and then on up to our nation and world. They were to pray for specifics, not just these "Now I lay me down to sleep" type things. And, they were not to forget to praise God.

We have taught on prayer before, but this is really the first time we have presented this type of challenge. The next Tuesday at Bible Club, I passed out these reminder cards to hang on their refrigerators:

Now I am asking you. Please pray for Good News Mission and the people we serve. For some of the folks that attend, this is a big step for them but they really need this challenge. Living in a low income housing area is not easy. There are drugs. There is alcohol. There is sexual promiscuity. There are financial woes - some of their own making and some not. We have to deal with these things regularly as the directors of the mission. Please pray that this 40 day challenge will make an impact. Pray also for Sarah and I and our family as we minister to these folks. We really appreciate all of the support that you have given us over the years. Some of the readers of this blog know us personally, some have just stumbled upon my humble writings and visit every once in a while, but many of you pray for us regularly. Please don't stop. We really covet your prayers. Thank you for them.

Tim

Subscribe to Families Again