PRAISES & REQUESTS

1) Rose: She is doing well! I have decided to do a study called "Journey Into the Gospel" available for FREE download here with her when we meet on Tuesday nights. (The book we are currently studying with our kids, "The One True God" is also available for free download on that same page, along with several others...) "Journey Into the Gospel" is taking us on an in-depth look, through Scripture, of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Please continue to pray for her strength to fight her temptations to drink, a job for her, and the fact that I feel I need to talk to her about a difficult issue this coming Tuesday.

2) Our friends, Aaron & Jamie. Aaron left for deployment to Iraq this past Tuesday. He will be gone 400 days. Jamie is home with their two boys and is expecting their third the end of August. Separation is obviously the most difficult part of this all. Pray for safety for them all, but also that God will use this time for His glory, and that He will be their constant companion and encouragement during this time.

3) Bible study was amazing this past Thursday!! I so love it when the room is full of attentive people, and distractions are kept to a minimum. We had several new people (both from the street and not), and had some great opportunities for prayer ministry at the end. Please pray for us to have wisdom and discernment as we pray for the people coming in and their needs. We are facing some things that are very difficult, and we want to be sure to deal with it appropriately. Praise God that the battles are not ours, but His!! All glory to Him!

PRAYER

Prayer. Prayer. Prayer. I always know when God is speaking because things bombard me with wave after wave when He is trying to get a point across.

Karen sent this link for us to watch this week. It was very powerful, even at 10:30 at night when I watched it. The focus on God's sovereignty when we pray is what hit me strongest, also the phrase "Pray Big and Pray Bold" stood out to me. I desire to watch it again when I'm not so exhuasted because I know I missed a lot of really good things in there!

In church we are finishing up the book of Ephesians, and so we are in chapter 6 concluding the passage on the armor of God. What does Paul wrap that whole book up with, but a focus on prayer. Pastor Wayne's sermon this morning spoke volumes to me. Here are just a couple of the outside thoughts that weren't even a part of his major outline, so this doesn't even scratch the surface of what he spoke about:

* Prayer is an expression of our dependance upon the Lord. God is bringing us to that place of dependance.
* Our knowledge of and relationship to God is measured by our prayer life.
* We need to pray for spiritual protection, strength and healing.
* In the passage, Paul gives one purpose for praying (there are many elsewhere): Supplication for the Saints.
* Pray for boldness and pray without ceasing.
* Our primary focus in prayer should be spiritual matters.

God spoke volumes to my own heart. I need to pray. I need to pray more. I need to pray differently. I need to pray! As soon as it's on-line, I will try to remember to post the link to this message. Seriously, it is one that I think every believer should listen to and maybe more than once!

I have been thinking about posting prayer requests on here on a somewhat regular basis. God is doing some great things here in our very small rural Montana town, and I want to share the answers to prayer, along with various things we would really appreciate prayer for as we try to reach out to people here proclaiming the Gospel. If God leads your heart, please join with us in lifting these things to Him. On the same token, I want to do just as Paul asks, and pray for the Saints. If you have any prayer requests, please feel free to leave them in the comment section for me to pray with you for, or send me an e-mail: evanorder@msn.com. It is my desire to do this for you as well.

PRAISES & REQUESTS!

1) Rose from the shelter. She is back in Hardin and has a home, but after 10 years of living on the streets, she is learning how to live again. I believe the Lord has done a work in her heart, however, and I'm very excited to be some female fellowship for her and show her more of Jesus through His Word. I will begin to meet with her on Tuesday nights with Barb, another lady from our study. Please pray that God will guide us in our discussions, and that He will lead us to what He wants us to study from Scripture with her. I want to focus on spiritual matters, because then, I believe, the rest will fall into place.

2) God is answering some personal prayers in my own heart. I have been asking Him to show me the sin in my life that I don't even see and to cut it out of me so that I may reflect Jesus more clearly. Ps. 51:10 "Create in me a clean heart, Oh God, and renew a steadfast Spirit within me." I want to bring Him glory in all things, but I will say, this has been a very painful process for me, of which I am still very much in the middle of it. Cutting hurts. Without going into any more details, please also pray for JOY to return to me. I believe God will bring me to a new height of joy following this season (which I'm sure will be followed by many others like it -- sanctification, right?), but currently, life has been difficult and I long for that joy to return.

3) New people coming to support the Bible study. This has been a burden of mine for months now. With our good friend Aaron leaving for Iraq (another prayer request), we are losing a lot of support there. But, I just heard this morning of 3 more people possibly wanting to drive the 45 minutes to come join the study! Praise God! (but I'm still praying for more!)

4) Last, but certainly not least, the Thursday night study. Pray that the Spirit of God would change stoney hearts into hearts of flesh that will respond to Him (Ez. 36). That God will reach in and call each of these people to Him. That He would set people free from their addictions. That He would change mine and Evan's heart just as much each and every time the Word is open. That Evan would be a vessel used to clearly speak the Word of God. That our family would be protected from the attacks the enemy tries to destroy us with, but most of all, that God would receive glory and honor in all things!

This post is getting pretty long, so I'm going to leave you with these for now. Again, please allow me the privilege to pray for you as well!