Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.  1Th 5:16-18

Pray without ceasing.  How is this possible?

I don’t believe it is if prayer is only letting God know what we want or need.  This seems to be the attitude of prayer that most of us hold.  But prayer is so much more than that.  Prayer is not only asking and thanking God but is also about relating to Him.  Talking with Him, hearing from Him, sharing in this amazing story called creation with Him.

Prayer is vital because God has set this whole system up to rely on it.  Prayer is the oil in the machine called life and it grinds to a halt without it.  There are things that God will not do unless we ask and the bible shows us that we can move God, cause Him to even change His mind, through prayer.  We serve a God who wants a relationship with us.

We can pray without ceasing by understanding that it is not just the talk but is also the walk.  God walked with Adam in the garden and He walks with us even now.  Ready to listen and ready to teach, He is there if we will only realize it.

The Church of God has a forty day program starting January 1, 2009 that is designed to bring us back to the place in our relationship with God where we can recognize and actualize the vitality of prayer.  We must get back to living a life where we pray without ceasing.  Our families, our churches, our nation, our world needs this.

Join us in this and lets change the world.

Love you all

As the children’s Pastor, Barbara Snyder, said, it is something about the children that packs a house; as it should.  We should all support our kids in all that they seek to do that will enrich their lives.  And the gospel of Jesus Christ will decidedly do that.

I just want to report here that they did do an amazing job.  From the smallest to the largest of them, they all seemed to be right on cue and if not, it was not noticeable from where I sat.  The play had them spelling some of the many names for Jesus that are found in the Bible.  Most of them got them right and I have a suspicion that even the ones who got them wrong, only did it to advance the script.

I was touched, moved and very proud of them.  Keep up the good work.