Logos Hope Passenger Ship Safety Certificate

On 3rd December the surveyor will arrive to begin the process of providing the Passenger Ship Safety Certificate for Logos Hope. The process will take up to six days. I would certainly appreciate it if you could spend time on each of these days praying for the team who will be working with the surveyor on Logos Hope and for the right outcome from it all. As we pray we must certainly also be giving thanks to God for His incredible goodness to the ship ministry in recent months. I must say that at the beginning of 2012 I just wondered where we would be in this ministry by the end of the year. God has provided in so many ways, giving people who have tirelessly labored especially through this dry-dock period, giving finances the like of which we could not have imagined at the beginning of the year. There have, of course, been tremendous struggles and stresses over the past year, but God’s faithfulness has been evident to all. If, therefore, between 3rd and 9th December we could spend some time each day in thanksgiving and intercession for the ministry, I would deeply appreciate it. Peter Maiden

In The Midst of Great Hardship

A man from a Christian relief team recently delivered food to a Syrian widow living in a rural Muslim village near the border. When the anxious widow opened her door to him, the Christian explained he had come out of love for God. She told him about her encounter the previous day. While she was sleeping during the night she responded to a knock on the door, but no one was there. After a while she heard the same knocking and went to sit next to the door where she eventually fell asleep. While she was sleeping someone put His hand on her shoulder. He said, 'You don't know Me. You have passed through a great pain. I experienced a great pain, also. But I will not leave you alone. Tomorrow, I will send you someone who will tell you about Me. Listen to him." The widow then began to weep and begged her Christian visitor to "tell me about this Person that I saw in my dream."

Barrenness is a requirement

“God’s first requirement in ministry is barrenness. God looks for people who are incapable of producing life on their own, those who have come to the end of their own striving and honestly admit their true condition. Most of us, not wanting to bear this reproach, go around feigning ‘life.’ Our activities become the substitute for the anointing. Programs replace productivity and prayer. Life seems to abound everywhere, until one looks below the surface and realizes it’s only a veneer - a form of godliness that lacks power. Why does God insist on barrenness as a prerequisite for blessing? Simply because no flesh can glory in it… God has to strip us first so that He alone is glorified.” David Ravenhill

Keeping Prayer Vital, Fresh and Enjoyable. Part 3 Desperate

3. Desperate Having been arrested by the authorities in a Mid East country for witnessing and passing out some scriptures, I learned early on in my missionary life about desperate prayer. Being threatened with expulsion from the country, I cried out in desperation in the men’s bathroom (“toilet” to non-Americans!) for God to give me wisdom in getting out of this situation. And as clear as anything God gave me the words to use and I was able to stay and fulfill my commitment in the country. The Bible shows us that David had instances of desperate prayer, as well as Hannah when praying for a son. Joy Dawson asks the question, “Why Desperate Prayer?” and answers it: • Because the world’s unreached multitudes are in desperate need. • Because hell is desperately real. Hell is desperate people, eternally trapped, with no hope of relief. • Our desperate cries to God on their behalf powerfully influence the lost to make the right choices. Heaven is then more populated and Hell less. • Desperate people pray with intensity and are not self-conscious. As we pray for the issues on our campuses, in our cities and nations, ask God to give a burden so that as we pray we are not just uttering words but our heart’s cry, and we feel the pain and see the lostness and hopelessless of those without Christ. And it rises up in a desperate cry for God to act. Rhonda Hughey writes, “The key of holy desperation for the presence and ministry of Jesus is required in order for us to move out of our complacent, satisfied existence. Desperation is the underlying fuel that ignites our hearts for unity, prayer, worship, and repentance. If we aren’t longing for Jesus, our ministry activities will be routine and hollow. There is certainly no shortage of ideas, plans, methods, books, teachings, programs, and activities in the church; what we are suffering from is a drought of desperation for God!”

Keeping Prayer Vital, Fresh and Enjoyable! Part 2 Passionate

2. Passionate “Fan into flame a passion for your name,” sings Tim Hughes, a worship leader from England. This is a prayer I pray many times: “Lord, fill my heart with passion for You and Your presence.” The villagers that night were passionate in their prayers and relationship with the Lord. It was not just a matter of duty but a passionate desire for Him. Just how passionate do we want to be? It is you and I who make that decision, not God. We set the limits, not God. We can go as far as we want, but so often we put barriers up and allow other things to captivate and fascinate our hearts. We are content with so little of God when there is so much more. He is the God of all pleasure. “In your presence there is fullness of joy, and at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” Psalm 16:11) As we meditate on this God of all pleasure and beauty, our hearts cannot fail to grow in our passion and love for Him. It’s what we do in our own time that prepares us for the group times of prayer. We cannot be worshipping idols of entertainment and then expect to be full of passion for God in the prayer room. As our hearts are moved in His presence, everything else pales in comparison. One of the best ways I have found to deepen my passion and love is regular fasting. While fasting is voluntary weakness, it reveals so much the true intents of our hearts. It also makes a statement that I am serious about this relationship and want to grow deeper into the things of God.