Greater Glory

But now be strong, O Zerubbabel,' declares the LORD. 'Be strong, O Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land,' declares the LORD, 'and work. For I am with you,' declares the LORD Almighty. 'This is what I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt. And my Spirit remains among you. Do not fear.' "This is what the LORD Almighty says: 'In a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land.  I will shake all nations, and the desired of all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,' says the LORD Almighty. 'The silver is mine and the gold is mine,' declares the LORD Almighty. 'The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house,' says the LORD Almighty. 'And in this place I will grant peace,' declares the LORD Almighty." Haggai 2:4-9

This is one of my favorite passages. Many years ago our Pastor at a former church spoke on this passage; at the time, Dan and I were struggling with so many things in our life: I was on bed rest during my pregnancy with our daughter, Dan had been laid off from work and had been out of work for 5 months, we lost our home and we were financially stressed to say the least. But this passage gave me great hope that the former glory of our home would change to a greater glory because God owned the gold and the silver…He was sovereign and had us and all that we were facing in the palm of His hands. All we needed to do was not fear and remember that God’s Spirit was with us. In the end, God proved to be faithful to us and He did provide for us in amazing ways that we could not fathom or think up on our own.

As we leave 2011 and all its’ glory, successes, and struggles, we can look forward to 2012 with hope that God’s Spirit is with us and what he had planned for us in 2011 doesn’t even compare to what He has planned for us in 2012. With this promise we pray for our future and we trust in His provision. I look forward to His handiwork in our lives and in the ministry of Kids Quest at River Club.

Dear God,

Thank you for your provision, your covenant, and your Spirit. Thank you for being faithful to us in 2011 and for continuing your faithfulness to us in 2012. We start a new year with new hope for greater glory than the past glory we have experienced. We pray specifically for the children of Kids Quest that this year would be marked as the year they grow deeply in YOU and widely in INFLUENCE at school, their neighborhoods, and their family.  Empower the leaders and the volunteers with Your wisdom, with Your vision, with Your heart, with Your character, so that we only implement what YOU desire in the lives of these children. Grow the volunteer team numerically and spiritually so that we are equipped to do Your will and help each child and each family know you intimately through Your word and Your presence. You have promised that if we honor You, You will honor us. Honor our request, Lord. And give us success in Your kingdom work! Shake us Lord, Fill us with Your Glory!

In Jesus Name, Amen.

Fervent Cries and Tears

"During the days of Jesus' life on earth, He offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the One who could save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverent submission." Hebrews 5:7

Jesus, being our gentle, faithful, and persistent Savior, prayed with fervency and reverence. Fervency means to show great warmth and intensity of spirit. Reverence means an attitude of deep respect tinged with awe. With the warmth of great love and with the intensity of His own spirit, Jesus prayed to His Father with such respect, His posture was in awe of Who His Father is.

It takes serious contemplation on our parts to pray in this manner. Life is so busy, often times we can pray on the fly. Without intention, we can neglect the warmth and awe of our prayers. As we approach this Christmas, let us take time to be in awe of our Great God, Who, without hesitance gave us His Son as our perfect High Priest.

Just imagine the awe and the exhilaration the shepherds felt when the angel said to them "Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord." (Luke 2:11). "Today" meant that finally true redemption, eternal salvation has been born and total freedom to enter God's rest through His Son is here! Bask in this concept reflecting on what life would be like "Today" if we did not have Jesus. My heart pangs at the thought! I shudder to know what my life would be like. I'm so grateful to our Savior who loves us with tears of love and the persistence to show this to us on the cross!

Dear God, 

We love you and we honor You today with our stillness. You have given us Jesus, a gift we cannot repay. But we receive Him with great warmth and awe. Lord, our life would not be filled with joy and peace without Your Son, Jesus. Thank you for giving us salvation and gracing us with Your eternal salvation that resides in our souls. We pray with fervency that each person in Fredericksburg would feel the tug for You and be drawn by Your Spirit to come to the Christmas Eve services at River Club; we pray that they receive You as their High Priest and Savior. Never give up on these people who are caught up in the distractions of sin and life; give them reason to pause and reflect on their deep need for You; and give them courage to do something about it. 

In Jesus Name, Amen.

We are One

“My prayer is not for the disciples alone. I pray also for those who will believe in Me through the disciple’s message, that all of the people may be one, Father, just as You are in Me and I am in You. May they (all the believers) also be in Us so that the world may believe that you have sent Me.” ~Jesus said in John 17:20-21

The word “one” in this passage means to be in agreement. Ever go out to dinner and ask the family the question, “Where do you all want to go to dinner?” And you get four different options and no one wants to budge on their opinion? We certainly have experienced that enough times. Sometimes this can cause disunity like any disagreement. And you may not get dinner at all! Just kidding.

We aren’t really talking about dinner, but we are talking about agreement. To be in agreement in the sense that Jesus was praying is to have the mind of Christ, make His decisions, and be selfless, just like He is. When we allow God’s Spirit to rule our hearts, our emotions, our decisions, our plans and our thoughts, we implement His will: “…that the world may believe that God has sent Jesus.” And this continues to be God’s will until Jesus returns.

Dear Jesus, You are an awesome Savior and our example to live our lives by. We pray Lord that You will teach us and the children in Kids Quest to implement Your will by being in agreement with You and with each other. May we submit our will to Your will and bring the good news of Your redemption to the Fredericksburg area one child at a time. We pray specifically for the Thurman Brisben Children and their families that they will see Your love and will desire to know You with all their heart! We are one as we ask this in Your Name. Amen.

Shake Us With Your Boldness, Lord!

Acts 4:31-34

"After they (the believers) prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.  All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. There were no needy persons among them."

The word “prayed” in the Greek means “desired.” I beleive that it was because of the their deep desire for God’s grace and His power that God literally shook their environment. He not only shook their environment, He shook their very own heart and mind, so much so that God placed each in perfect unison as ONE. In that Oneness, God was able to move their longings for belongings to a place of offering! In one accord they spoke with power, they gave with compassion, they received God’s grace to finish out their commitment and there was not one needy person among them! Everyone was totally full of God’s benevolence.

At River Club we desire to be and remain in this state of ONENESS! Pray with me for our church:

God, You are all we desire. Make our hearts like yours, filled with benevolence, compassion, power, and offering. Help us Lord when we pull back, to instead press forward. Thank you for the freedom to give and the privilege to see our giving change lives! Lord, bless River Club with Your resources, for what You have in mind for this church far outweighs what we can imagine. Make us bold as the believers of Acts so that our very hearts and minds are shaken and placed together in Your Oneness. It is only in Your Spirit that we are able to have flawless love. Move our environment, shake us with Your boldness, and draw every heart this Sunday to Yours. We give ourselves to You with complete abandon! In Jesus Holy Name, Amen.

A Prayer for Kids Quest Families

The following prayer is a prayer prayed by Paul for the Ephesian Church. I am taking his prayer and adapting it as a prayer for our Kids Quest families and each volunteer that serves in this ministry. If you choose, kneel when you pray Ephesians 3:14-21. Imagine the picture God sees when He looks down and sees us kneeling when we pray this together today!


"...I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of God's glorious riches He may strengthen the families of Kids Quest and each volunteer with power through His Spirit in their inner being, so that Christ may dwell in their hearts through faith. And I pray that each member of all families and  each volunteer that serves in Kids Quest, whom are rooted and established in love, will have power, together with all the Lord's holy people; that each will grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ for each of them, and they will know this love that surpasses knowledge and be filled to the measure of ALL the fullness of God.


To You God, who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine in this ministry for children, in You is all power that works mightily through each volunteer and each family at River Club, to You we give praise and glory from this church, a slice of Fredericksburg, yet a powerful one at that, all because of Your great faithfulness to us and through us. We wait in great expectation for Your answer to this prayer in the coming days, weeks, months and year. In Jesus name, Amen."

Honor Him With Praise

There are times it is very important to just simply praise our Father in heaven for all His greatness and His wonders. As you take time to pray 1 Chronicles 29:10-13, pause and praise God for how He has blessed you specifically in 2011 at River Club, in your family, through your resources, within the ministry, and your experiences as His follower.

When we praise Our God, we honor Him and when we honor Him, He will honor us. When we honor Him, we surrender to His grace, realizing He is the the One who makes us stand firm in His will; we cannot do this on our own. When He honors us, He equips us even more so that we are successful in His Kingdom. It is a win-win situation! I love God so much, because He bestows grace upon grace, love upon love, and joy upon joy. In Christ, Heaven abounds!

Praise be to You, Lord

The God of our father Israel,

from everlasting to everlasting.

Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power

And the glory and the majesty and the splendor;

For everything in heaven and earth is Yours.

Yours, Lord, is the kingdom;

You are exalted as head over all. Wealth and honor come

From You; You are the ruler of all things. In Your hands

Are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all.

Now, our God, we give you thanks, and praise Your

glorious name.

Give Us Love, Knowledge, & Insight

“And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ – the glory and praise of God.” Philippians 1:9

We pray Lord, Jesus, for the same in our Kids Quest ministry. We praise you that you have allowed us to partner together in sharing the gospel to children of all ages. In this partnership,  give us the love, the knowledge, and the deep insight of Your will so that when we teach, care, nurture, and lead the children we do it in harmony with each other; work through us in choosing  the best decisions, steer us away from distractions that hinder Your mission, and de-clutter our life from anything that keeps us blameless. This Sunday, we pray that Your Holy Spirit will permeate each heart of each child with the same love, knowledge, and insight of Your Salvation. In Jesus Name, Amen.

Grace Us With Your Presence

Sometimes we may forget that our prayers are a two-way communication: between God and us. As we read the prayer of Moses in Exodus 33:12-17, take time to listen to God's desire for you as you communicate with Him your requests. For the Kids Quest ministry, I am praying specifically; in my prayer below, you will notice moments for pause; in these moments of pause listen and write down what you hear God share with you. I'd love to know what God is telling you!  

Moses said to the LORD, "You have been telling me, 'Lead these people,' but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, 'I know you by name and you have found favor with me.' If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people." The LORD replied, "My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest (settle your heart)." Then Moses said to him, "If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?" And the LORD said to Moses, "I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name."

Take time to pray the following with me or pray your own prayer modeling Moses' prayer:

Lord, You are Sovereign and You are our Wisdom. But often times we can retreat into our own control and forget that You are the One Who knows all and is all. And we wonder why we are feeling defeated? Show us where we have left Your presence and replaced it with our own. (pause)

We repent of this and desire to refocus our attention on You. You have called each of us to lead in a part of Kids Quest. You have given us your vision to reach the children with the love of Christ. Grant us Your constant presence and keep us always mindful that without You, we and our best efforts will come to nothing. If we are making any plans or working in any presence other than Yours, show us where that is; stop us until we determine our hearts to lean on You, only, and show us when to move forward; for nothing of significance is without Your presence. (pause)

I pray specifically for the following, Lord: with Your will, provide Coordinators that will lead the Kids Quest ministry with me, so that we can grow and successfully reach hearts of children and parents with Your love and Your salvation. You know that I cannot do this alone.  (pause)

Lord, specifically fill the nursery and K-3^rd grade volunteer needs with the people You desire to be there; if Your will is to have a 9:30 am service for our elementary children, I pray that you will provide the right team of volunteers to make this happen or instruct us to wait. (pause) 

We desire to be Your feet, Your hands, and Your heart; grace us with Your presence so we can be all that You desire. May You receive all the glory, In Jesus name, Amen.

Song of Salvation

This week’s prayer is actually a song of praise. I don’t think we realize that our worship is also a form of prayer to God; we are indeed proclaiming to Him that we remember His promises, His deeds; we are telling Him of our repentance, our love, and our commitment. The following Song of Praise which is themed “salvation,” is found in the book of Isaiah whose name means “Jehovah  is salvation.”  

Isaiah 12

In that day you will say: "I will praise You, O LORD. Although You were angry with me, Your anger has turned away and You have comforted me. Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The LORD, the LORD, is my strength and my song; He has become my salvation." With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. In that day you will say: "Give thanks to the LORD, call on His name; make known among the nations what He has done, and proclaim that His name is exalted. Sing to the LORD, for He has done glorious things; let this be known to all the world. Shout aloud and sing for joy, people of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel among you."

The encouragement we receive and proclaim back to God from this song is that no matter how terrible or difficult the days may be or no matter what our failures may have been, salvation in Jesus is possible and we can hope in the Holy One of Israel who is NOW among us, in us, working through us. 

Dear God, our Savior through Jesus, we sing this song of praise to You, remembering where we came from and the hope we have found in Your salvation. Thank You for meeting us where we are and for giving us hope, strength, deliverance; thank You for the fresh water we drink from the eternal well of salvation. We are reminded that if we call on You for help, You will save us. We pray that the children of Kids Quest will know this promise in their hearts; Lord, please never stop wooing each child to Your bosom of love; protect each one from the evil one. Each Sunday, penetrate their hearts with Your promise of salvation and give them the courage to receive it. Give each of us (the leaders) the courage to proclaim Jesus to them. Let each child’s need for You be our ever present burden that is only lifted because each child has accepted You as their Savior. In Jesus name, Amen.  

Two Things I Ask, Lord

If we could ask the Lord for two things in the Kids Quest Ministry, what would they be? What would we consider the most valuable to us, to our children? Proverbs 30:7-9 gives us a great example of a prayer to pray for ourselves and our children in Kids Quest:

Two things I ask of you, Lord; do not refuse me before I die: Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, "Who is the Lord?" or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God.   There is much we can pray for our children but for this week let's take this passage and pray the following specifically:    Dear Lord, thank You for not refusing us or our children. This week we come before You and ask of You two things for our children in Kids Quest. Each child is Your precious creation. Unfortunately, each was also born with a sinful nature as we have been also. We lift up our children and we lift up ourselves to You, O Lord. Keep them and keep us from speaking lies and being deceitful, may our lips be filled with only Your truth and may they be like cold water to weary souls. Season our hearts and our words with Your good news. We are coming upon the holidays, a time to remember You, Lord, Your faithfulness, and the gift of Your Son. However, we become tempted to seek riches instead of seeking You. Help us and help our children to never have so much or so little that they (nor we) disown You or dishonor You. Make us always aware of our Great Need for You. Thank you, Lord, for Your provisions for us each day. Please provide for the poor their needs and help us this season to be sensitive to the poverty and brokenness around us, for Your Word is quite clear, "Whoever shuts their ears to the cry of the poor will also cry out and not be answered." May we never shut our ears to the poor! Help us and help our children to always be sensitive to Your people and their needs above our own. And when we fail, Jesus, and we will, forgive us and guide us back on the right track. In Your Holy Name, Amen. 

Comfort and Enlarge Us

A very familiar prayer in the Bible, yet one that we must not forget to pray in our own lives is the Prayer of Jabez.  Found in 1 Chronicles 4:9-10, Jabez was a man who was greatly respected, even more than anyone in his family. His name is a bit puzzling, as it means "affliction." How often is affliction the mark of our lives? How often do we see affliction torment the children and families of today? The good news is that there is hope for them; hope that can be found in our prayers for them.

Jabez prayed the following to the God of Israel, "Oh that Thou wouldst bless me indeed, and enlarge my border, and that Thy hand might be with me, and that Thou wouldst keep me from harm, that it may not pain me!"

Notice the "it" in the prayer. He is praying that God would enlarge his territory, but he prayed that this blessing would not pain him. I do not know Jabez's story or his affliction, but I do know that God answers prayers and is indeed in the midst of our pain and is able to comfort us, bless us, and help us prosper in this land where so much turmoil and hurt abide. Sometimes that blessing can come at first in the form of pain. But pain often times is the entrance to His Light in our life. Without pain, we often times cannot change for growth brings change and change can be painful. But we can pray that God makes this transition to His blessing quick with glimpses of His assurance that eases the pain.

God granted Jabez's prayer and He can and will grant us our prayers. We must beleive that God is Who He says He is and that He can do what He says He can do. Pray with me the following for our Kids Quest Families and Ministry:

God You are the granter and giver of good things. You know and understand our deep afflictions. Many families today in our church and in our communities are hurting for all sorts of reasons. We pray and ask you, Lord, to meet each family where they hurt, where they suffer, and help them find strength in Your Spirit and Hope in Your plans for their life. Give them a glimpse of Your faithfulness in the godly people that love them, and in the classrooms we offer to their children each Sunday. And God, we pray that You will enlarge our ministry to children, families and volunteers. We also pray that you will enlarge our ministry to more territory like the building next to ours. We pray that You will mightily move us to ownership of this building so that our Children's Ministry can grow physically and spiritually! We trust You in this prayer that You will answer like you did for Jabez. In Jesus Name, Amen.

Praying Wholeheartedly

A king named Hezekiah was a good and faithful king under God. Hezekiah became quite ill, so ill that he was at the brink if death. He turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, "Remember, Lord, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes." Hezekiah wept bitterly.

Why do you suppose  Hezekiah wept bitterly as he prayed? Do you think he feared death? Or did he value life? Was he concerned for himself? Or for the people of God? I would imagine that a death of a great king could cause chaos for a kingdom. This would create a surplus of opportunity for Judah to be distracted and even possibly ambushed by their enemy: Assyria. I beleive that Hezekiah was concerned about the people of Judah. I beleive that he valued the life God gave him, because he valued the mission to rule God's people with a righteous heart. It was tears for God's people and leaving the mission unfinished that gave Hezekiah great concern.

Word came from the Lord to Hezekiah, "I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will heal you. On the third day from now you will go up to the temple of the Lord. I will add fifteen years to your life. And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of Assyria. I will defend this city for my sake and for the sake of  my servant David."  (2 Kings 20:1-8)

Like Hezekiah, let us value the life of each child in our care and the mission to serve them Sunday mornings. Not only does each child have a purpose in God's Kingdom, we do, too. We do not want to ever take lightly the life of this ministry to children or our life's purpose in it.  Pray with me the following prayer for the Kids Quest Ministry at River Club:

Lord God in heaven. You alone are the God of our children and You love them even more than we. Please turn your face toward us and empower us as your servants to serve the children with your love, grace, mercy, and wisdom.  Make ready the heart of every child to be tender to your word, your gospel, and your presence.  Make us like King Hezekiah, wholehearted, faithful and devoted to Your mission and your ways. Grant us Your heart, God; allow us to see and experience life change in each child at River Club.  In Jesus Holy Name, Amen.