In this Issue:

• Ministry News

• Article - God's Plan for Praying in Difficult Times - Part 3

• Things you can do to help

• Special - Prayer Conference on DVD

• Promo Videos

• link to home page

After two years of preparation; the

Prayer Conference DVD Set

is now available!!!

(see details below)

God’s Plan for Praying in Difficult Times (Matthew 18)

In the February newsletter; we began this series from Matthew 18 with an introduction entitled The Great Commission of Prayer. We continued in March with No Purer Motive. This month we’ll consider No Greater Ambition. Future installments will be:

• No Stronger Fellowship - May
• No Higher Power - June

Part Three – No Greater Ambition

Are you ambitious? Are you willing to work hard for the things you want? If so, there’s a good chance this world has rewarded you with some degree of success. The kingdom of God rewards ambition too. That is – if your ambition is directed toward God’s desires.

My question to you is this: Are you willing to do the hard work of prayer?

I was pastor of a rural church in southern Arkansas for many years. Prior to moving there, I’d always thought I’d like to be a deer hunter. It didn't take long to realize that these deer slayers were on a level of expertise I wasn't ready for. It wasn't’t a passing hobby for them; they were passionate about it. They were ambitious to be the best they could be and they worked at it.

While they scouted the woods for months before the season, risked their lives building tree stands, and paid large sums for memberships and equipment; I was their guest during the season, ate their wonderful food, and sat in their best stands. I had a great time and killed a few deer, but was I the hunter? Not really.

I’ve observed through the years that many Christians have an attitude about prayer like I had about deer hunting. Prayer is a passing interest, not a passion. They want the rewards without the work.

When you begin praying about a problem your prayer might go something like this: “Dear Heavenly Father, here’s my problem. Now please make it go away – by this time tomorrow.” That’s not a bad prayer, because sometimes He does it that way. Most of the time, however, He says no because He wants what’s best and a quick fix seldom does that.

There’s another problem that prevents many people from being ambitious about prayer. They have a concept of God that comes more from the fairy godmother in Cinderella than Jehovah in the Bible.

Your life isn't a fairy tale is it? The problems you face are real. The decisions and choices you make are real and have real consequences that don’t just go away. If you’re praying for God to show up with a magic wand – well, that God doesn't’t exist. Your Heavenly Father is the real God who offers real solutions to real problems for those who are willing to do the hard work of prayer.

In Matthew 18:15-17, God makes it clear that He expects you to participate in the solution to your problems. It’s not a one man show with you as the director and God as the actor. Rather; it’s you and God each doing their ‘part’ – a ‘part’nership. Isn't’t that a better understanding of prayer than the simplistic ‘name it and claim it’? God is inviting you to join Him in prayer. How exciting is that?

Let’s see if we can bring together what we’ve discussed in these three articles and apply it to your prayer life? If you have the ‘pure motive’ of wanting what Jesus wants and you accept that the Father may want to use your problem to accomplish something more wonderful than just making the problem go away; you will enter into a prayer partnership in which you listen for and obey His instructions, no matter how long it takes.

That ‘prayer partnership’ is what we’ll talk about next time in No Stronger Fellowship.

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Need to make adjustments to your worship service? Avoid undo conflict by doing it right the first time? Click here to take a look at this unique three step process to evaluate your worship and make productive recommendations to your congregation.

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These prayer times, teaching sessions, and messages will help your church become a Biblical house of prayer.

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From saying a prayer at a little league game or in a hospital room to guiding a prayer time for many or few; this is the book you need.

• E-Book - 5.95
• Unbound - $9.95
• Perfect bound - $12.95
• Spiral bound - $15.95

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Please forward this email to every praying person you know.

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Ministry news:

DVD Set available May 21st!!!

Sorry I'm so late with the April Newsletter. Getting the DVD presentation of the prayer conference ready has consumed most of our time. It will start shipping on May 21st. We've been working toward this for two years off and on, but in earnest since the first of this year. We didn't have a specific date in mind, but I hoped to make it available by summer. A few weeks ago, a supporter (who didn't know of our plans for the DVD) said to me, "My wife and I want to do something very specific for you. We want to buy a half page ad in the Arkansas Baptist News Magazine to promote your ministry in our state."

Wow. Is God amazing or what? When I called the advertising folks at the ABN, they suggested the May 21st issue because it's one of the most read issues of the year. That's when they publish the schedule for the Southern Baptist Convention. Perfect timing. Our Lord sure knows how to bring things together. I would never have had the vision to do that myself.

I want to express special thanks to the TV Ministries of Tri City Baptist Church in Conover, NC and First Baptist Church of Ferguson, St. Louis, MO. This project simply could not have been done without the sacrificial ministry of these wonderful folks. A special thanks to Steve Davis, media services director at Ferguson who did most of the editing.

Topical Prayer technique used in a unique way to teach children to pray

The non-fiction book I'm most often asked to write is a book on guiding children in prayer. It's on my to-do list, but there are two others ahead of it. However, in the near future I am going to write a help page for the web site on this subject. Anyway, a young mother told me of a unique use of the techniques recently that I wanted to share with you.

She said that she and her husband had made a commitment to daily family devotions, but their five year old son just didn't like the prayer time. It was a struggle to get him to participate. He didn't want to pray and would even slip away while the others had their eyes closed. Then one day it occurred to her to use the prayer guide techniques.

Many of you are probably already doing that, but this young couple is using them in a unique way I'd not thought of. Instead of praying with their eyes closed; she said they have a prayer time with their eyes open. After reading scripture, she guides the prayer time like this, "We can pray with our eyes open so lets each say something to God that we're thankful for today." Then they each do that out loud with eyes open. She says they go through all the steps of prayer including confession and the five year old just loves it and looks forward to it each night. Isn't that great? The child is learning to pray in a way that he can understand and is not afraid of.

Things you can do to help us:

1. Pray for God's blessing on the release of the Conference DVD Set.
2. Buy the DVD Set at the pre-delivery price below and put it in your church library.
3. Forward this newsletter to every servant of Christ you know.
4. Click here and give us your up-to-date email address.
5. Put us in your address book and notify us when you add/change your email addresses.
6. Bookmark our web site in your Browser. www.leadingprayer.com

Newsletter Special!

Be the first to receive the Journey Into the Presence of God conference of prayer on DVD!

Prayer Conference DVD-Set

pre-release price - only $97.95!!! ($149 retail)

with Free S&H

We'll begin shipping May 21, 2009

This boxed set includes: 5 DVDs, a comprehensive viewing guide, Promo DVD, bonus materials CD, and unbound Prayer Guide book.

• Each DVD has an easy to navigate menu, introduction, prayer time, sermon or session, and in some cases an invitation.
• The 16 page Viewing Guide contains: Conference overview, preparation instructions; viewing guide for each DVD; discussion questions for each session; and suggestions for using the Prayer Guide book, Promo DVD, and Bonus Materials CD.
• The bonus materials CD contains: a Prayer Guide E-Book, PowerPoint files, session outlines, Planning Kit, and promotional materials like posters and brochures.

This free shipping offer is not valid outside the USA, will only last a short time, and is only available through the newsletter! There is no limit on quantity.

Arkansas residents will be charged 7.25% sales tax.

Please forward this email to every praying person you know.

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Prayer Conference Promotional Videos

The Journey Into the Presence of God conference of prayer is so unique that many struggle to understand what it is. If you're considering hosting the conference or purchasing the DVD Set; the following videos should help.

1. Click here to view the one minute publicity video suitable for promotions during a worship service
2. Click here to view the seven minute preview of the conference that's great for showing to church leadership.
3. Click here to view the seven minute explanation of the conference by Lowell Snow.

These are the videos from the Promo DVD which is available at the web site and comes with the DVD Set.