Sweet Hour Of Prayer 12/1/2019

Good Morning,

One of my dear friends asked me about my habit of reading and drinking coffee while being outside every morning. I love to have my first cup of coffee outside in the fresh air if possible. I have enough flood lamps to light up the yard with one aimed at my reading area. But with technology being what it is I can read the Bible from my phone which has it's own illumination. So many times I sit in the dark and wait for the sunrise. This morning was rainy and very damp so my cup of Door County Creme Coffee was consumed quickly outdoors and now I am writing to you from my desk. My wife will be the first to say that I have some weird habits. All I can say about the strangeness of my habits are that, they are mine and I own them.

Luke 15:10 Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents. 

December 1st has arrived. We are truly now in the Christmas Season. Last night after our Saturday evening church service we held our monthly prayer gathering. Prayer requests are shared and prayed for by the group. If they are personal in nature they are kept confidential. I shared an answer to prayer and a continued request for more. Through circumstances two of my friends and I encountered a little girl while attending a local county fair. We watched the parents of this child being extremely mean to her. There wasn't any physical abuse but the repeated verbal assault was terrible. Since we did not witness anything physical there wasn't much we could do. My two friends kept me from opening a five pound can of whoop butt on this couple. You just knew that this little girls was going to get a physical punishment for doing nothing when she got home.  The crime she had committed was that she tried to snuggle up to her mother because it was cold outside.

This has been bothering me since early September, wishing somehow we had done more to help this kid. I have been praying since September for her. In the news the other day it showed that a couple was arrested for driving while being intoxicated. They had created a quite an incident on the highway. The pictures of the two were shown a couple days later. It was mentioned that their child was in the car at the time. I recognized the two as the culprits who needed some child rearing advice. The news said that the child had been taken and was in safe custody.

My heart rejoiced that this child was in a better place and I began to pray for her to heal and find Jesus to carry her. So last night I asked for prayer for the little girl. Several people were prompted by the Holy Spirit to pray. But what stood out is that one of the ladies after all of us prayed sweet things for the little girl boldly prayed for her parents. She prayed that they would find Jesus and follow Him in their daily lives and that this little girl could know the love of two reformed parents. She was not judgmental in her prayer. She just boldly asked God to help the parents.

I believe this little lady of prayer captured what the essence of prayer and Christmas are all about. She prayed her heart and did not hold back praying for the love of Jesus to reform and help these parents become what they need to for their daughter and themselves. I truly enjoy the prayer gatherings and as Christmas will have many delicious treats in store for us this month. My plate was filled with spiritual goodies last night from above and the prayer of one little lady.

God bless,

Marty