"Prayer Priority" Request for Sunday, July 31, 2005
THE VINE, you promised that as we abide in you we will bear much fruit so we are abiding today and we therefore thank you for the great fruit that will be borne out of our August "Back to School" appeal as it arrives this weekend. We ask you to provide book bags and uniforms to the orphans in India through this appeal and we ask you to use all our publications and communications to raise up the 10,000 Hopegivers needed to meet our current needs. AMEN and AMEN!

"Prayer Priority" Request for Friday & Saturday, July 29-30, 2005
LAMB OF GOD, SON OF GOD, You counted it all joy to give Yourself to take away the sins of the world. Bless our support team and all other hilarious givers as they joyfully and eagerly pay their tithes and special offerings. Especially bless those who have given and are giving to the matching challenge grant for the President's Development Fund. As you promised Lord, return to all these a 100-fold return on their giddy sacrifices to You. AMEN and AMEN.

"Prayer Priority" Request for Thursday, July 28, 2005
LION OF JUDAH, guide us as we write and issue the invitations to mass communications departments to recruit student journalists to report and photograph the anniversary of the Tsunami in India this December. Help Dr. Bill to write the application, cover letters, itinerary, news release and other items that need to be included in the information kit to professors and student candidates. AMEN.

"Prayer Priority" Request for Wednesday, July 27, 2005
RESURRECTION AND LIFE, by the power of the Holy Spirit we thank you in advance for using the Hopegivers web outreach ministry to create and motivate millions of new hope helpers. By visiting this new site, may they re-create not only child rescue operations but change the world for all kinds of oppressed and suffering people through Emmanuel. In so doing Lord, surprise the Hopegivers themselves with renaissance as they explore its ever-changing links. May this new website be the equivalent of Handel's Messiah in the dotcom universe. AMEN

Today is my daughter Becki's birthday (36!) and she is growing up. I can see how she is growing more mature and more like me as the years go along! As I grow older I long for the simplicity of youth. Not that I feel any nostalgia for the idealism and energy of youth. Thank God I still have that and I pray to God I will still have that brassy boldness to the end-that is a kind of healthy foolishness we all need more of. And I am not depressed about the world's problems or the challenges I face. No, what I miss about youth is not having a list of responsibilities. Now, at this age, I am bound into a network of complicated covenants, contracts, obligations, relationships and rules both written and unwritten-a web of duties that I helped to weave. I feel like a spider trapped in her own web; immobilized in a prison which she created for her own survival but which now holds her captive! I'm not sure if that is biologically possible, but it certainly is spiritually possible. I'm proof of that.

"Prayer Priority" Request for Tuesday, July 26, 2005
BEGINNING AND END, today we pray for all our family members and especially for Becki Bray celebrating her 36th birthday in Martinez, California. Lord bless those who are in distress and give grace to those who are prospering. We are not just your missionary servants and helpers, we are also mothers and fathers, husbands and wives, children and grandchildren, aunts and uncles and cousins so help us to be faithful and obedient to you in each of these roles. AMEN.

Although I got up praying about it ? coded it A-1 on my priority list ? talked about it all day ? by nightfall I had still not written a line of the new website. Lord, let the labor pains begin. I am ready to have this baby. I guess I will have to give up watching "The Closer" on Monday nights. Cancel my appointments. Avoid anything but the most urgent emails. Nothing can be allowed to stop this birth. Bishop Thomas and the staff prayed for me today - but there were still a dozen emergencies and critical interruptions that had to be addressed. Guess I will have to work at home tomorrow to avoid the temptations of the office. And when I come in, I need to start doing standup meetings to avoid the time wasting trivia. Now I know why editors and writers have such nasty temperaments and notoriously bad reputations in board rooms and tea parties.

"Prayer Priority" Request for Monday, July 25, 2005
MY LORD AND MY GOD, we unite our hearts and believe in you to answer our prayers and inspire Dr. Bray with unusual wisdom and creativity and he works with Silas Partners to write compelling editorial copy for the new website. May the revisions attract multiple generations of hilarious Hopegivers, donors, and passionate volunteers to rescue children and the oppressed. At the same time, guide the design and technical staff in Virginia as they complete the electronic code and artwork for this important communications ministry. Help everyone to stay on schedule and complete the work by the August 5 deadline. AMEN

"Prayer Priority" Request for Sunday, July 24, 2005
ALPHA AND OMEGA, we worship you today as the author of creation and the source of all response. Touch many hearts through our August "back to school" appeal, the "Matching Challenge Grant" letters, and our many prayer letters and personal letters that will be arriving this week. Particularly use the "Over a Cup of Tea with Ivy" newsletter to inflame faith and godly imagination among the Bray Family covenant partners. We ask you Lord to shake us out of our summertime lethargy and enable us to give extra to keep the work going through August and beyond. AMEN!

Some call it "writer's block" but I know it for what it really is now ? and I can feel the terror of it as I plan to start to write the copy for the new Hopegivers website. Even though I can name that fear, I still feel it every time I express myself in public. It comes over me when I start to write a new book, begin an important magazine article or preach a sermon. It is stage fright, nothing less.

In fact, I feel it when I sit down to punch in a blog entry like this one. Why is it so hard? I guess it's because I know that I am going to have to bare my soul-to walk naked into the arena of the mind-and expose myself to friend and foe alike. Even if nobody ever reads this entry but me, the possibility of exposure is real.

And like a visit to the doctor's office when I was a child, I will do anything to avoid it. In fact, that is the reason most people never create the masterpiece of expression that lies buried in their souls-that poem or song. That's why most people don't dare to publish or write a blog like this.

But when you're a prophet, when you're called to speak out by God, then it is a sin to procrastinate ? even to write an urgent letter, answer the phone, do the dishes, go to the gym! Anything no matter how good it is can be bad if keeps you from doing the assignment.

"Prayer Priority" Request for Saturday, July 23, 2005
LORD, purge us from our sins, guide us, chastise us quickly and give us grace to respond instantly in repentance when we stray from Your will. Help us to learn from our mistakes, guiding us into a life of loving harmony with our friends, family, co-workers and with others inside and outside the Body of Christ. Thank you for stretching our faith through financial and other challenges and help us to take on the whole armor of God to fight this battle on our knees in constant prayer. AMEN

"Prayer Priority" Request for Friday, July 22, 2005
GOOD SHEPHERD, bless our attorneys and especially Chip Watkins as he works with the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability to see that our rules of governance are in order and to satisfy even the most critical observers that we are transparent and accountable in our handling of the finances. May we be able to display their seal of approval soon. AMEN

"Prayer Priority" Request for Thursday, July 21, 2005
LIGHT OF THE WORLD, we thank you for all the churches, organizations and ministries that have joined us as formal and informal program partners in Asia and around the world. Bless and protect each of them today in their various trials and tribulations. Meet their every need, especially during these summer months. Help Dr. Bray as he writes a standard Memorandum of Understanding outline that will be used to formalize and define our relationships with ministry partners. We pray for those former partners who have gone their own way for whatever reason and we specifically ask you to bless them as well. We thank you that you prepare a table before us in the presence of our enemies and that no weapon formed against us will prosper. AMEN and AMEN!

"Prayer Priority" Request for Wednesday, July 20, 2005
SON OF MAN, help Dr. Sam and the Hopegivers USA team to locate and recruit Your choice for a godly and wise business manger to administrate and direct the American operations. Amen.

"Prayer Priority" Request for Tuesday, July 19, 2005
THE DOOR, open wide our doors for the Hopegivers December Tsunami Media Team and August Barnabas Publicity Team as they do reporting missions to India. May the right members be selected for each team, may all the support and sponsors be found, may the best logistics be arranged and may every detail miraculously fall into place for your greater glory and the rescue of many lives. Use these missions to open the eyes of millions to your passion for India's suffering children and needy widows. AMEN and AMEN!

"Prayer Priority" Request for Monday, July 18, 2005
MASTER, flow through Ivy and give her wisdom and grace as she organizes the Donor Relations Service Center in Columbus and the new receipting department. Provide for all the needs in equipment, furniture, staff, training and technical support. Help the staff to work in harmony as they establish standard operating procedures and set up systems to handle the growth and volume of the work ahead. AMEN.

"Prayer Priority" Request for Saturday & Sunday, July 16-17, 2005
SEED OF DAVID and our MASTER, we ask you to bless Barnabas' follow up of their CBA Convention-efforts to find a crossover publisher for Dr. Sam's new book on the Tsunami survivors. Bless all those involved from the actual writing and production to the final readers. Bless negotiations for a co-author. May all this be used to speed us toward the goal of raising up Hopegivers in Europe and the USA. AMEN and AMEN!

"Prayer Priority" Request for Friday, July 15, 2005
LIVING BREAD show your mighty power through us. Amaze and confound critics and friends alike by supplying over and abundantly all our needs both personally and for the ministry here in Columbus. May visitors to this city feel the awesome presence of God here. May Hopegivers Columbus become one of the great engines of your mercy and charity. Attract genius and talent to us and to our team. Bring people here who are willing and able to work hard day and night for the oppressed and poor. May visitors to the Brays new living quarters in Hidden Hills sense the Spirit of the Living God here. May they praise you as they see us paying all our bills on time this month and every month. Supply the furniture and every other need this month and every month. May we not just prosper but prosper others. May we not just do good but be good, and I ask all this for your glory. Show your mighty arm, Lord Jesus, AMEN.

"Prayer Priority" Request for Thursday, July 14, 2005
BREAD OF LIFE, guide President Samuel Thomas and the Hopegivers International Board of Directors as they meet today in a special mid-year meeting to approve bylaw changes required by the Evangelical Council on Financial Accountability and to vote on other important governance issues. Be with Dr. Bill as he works at home to better concentrate on completing editorial for the next Hopegivers Journal; may he have the focus he needs to create. Be with Ivy as she trains the receipting staff and supervises the donor relations efforts today -- and finally provide alternate medical and dental insurance for our family, helping us not to worry about our daily needs but to trust you more and more as we grow in Christ. AMEN.

"Prayer Priority" Request for Wednesday, July 13, 2005
CHRIST OUR PROPHET, anoint Bill Bray and the whole Silas Partners team as they go into the copywriting stage for the new Hopegivers Web Ministry just as soon as the magazine editorial is completed this week. Give the designers, editors, photographers and writers fantastic skills and make the Web Ministry an experience in compassion and grace-giving every time they visit it. Make it dynamic, engaging, prophetic and so winsome that unbelievers will be attracted to Christ and be converted just by exposing themselves to the presence of the Living God in the website. AMEN!

"Prayer Priority" Request for Tuesday, July 12, 2005
LIVING WATER, flow through Dr. Bill and the team today as he speaks at the Lions Club in Columbus. Give us ever-increasing favor, not only with the Lions, but with similar service clubs and associations throughout the USA and Europe as well as in Africa and India. Connect us with people of goodwill whoever they are and with all those who desire to help children and family conform to your will. In Jesus' Name we pray, AMEN.

"Prayer Priority" Request for Monday, July 11, 2005
MESSIAH, bless the new staff being interviewed, hired and trained today for the Hopegivers Donor Services Center in Columbus and for other assignments around the world. Lord, the harvest is so great and so we ask you to send out more laborers to help us bring in the sheaves. May your Holy Spirit and Angels assist us to make the call even clearer and more unmistakable to them. AMEN.

"Prayer Priority" Request for Saturday & Sunday, July 9-10, 2005
CHRIST THE TEACHER, we pray that you will use the spiritual gifts of prophet-teacher that you have bestowed upon Brother Bill to reach the hearts of people through the written and spoken word. Use him to communicate your message to his generation and generations to come through books, the internet, the pulpit, magazines and the news media. Help him to not be afraid to speak out your word even when the message is unpopular. Open many church doors to him both in friendly and unfriendly denominations and again help him never to be afraid to go where you send him. Shod his feet with the Gospel of peace. In your holy name we pray, AMEN.

"Prayer Priority" Request for Friday, July 8, 2005
RABBI, call the right people to our house blessing and open houses in Columbus next week and give us favor with all our new friends and staff in Georgia, India and Africa. Continue to grant us traveling mercies and blessings as the Bray Family goes back to Chicago, Charlottesville and Columbus this weekend. You are our teacher Lord, may we always be humble learners and teach our feet to go into the world in obedience to your commands! Lord we put on our walking shoes today; the gospel of peace. AMEN.

"Prayer Priority" Request for Thursday, July 7, 2005
KING OF ISRAEL, we thank you for skilled art directors and designers like John Lindner, Jr. who work on our new websites and publications. We also thank you for the photographers who are on the scene capturing the drama of missions for our supporters. Bless John and all those who are helping him now to design our next Hopegivers Journal magazine and Annual Report. In Christ's Jesus' Name, AMEN.

"Prayer Priority" Request for Wednesday, July 6, 2005
SON OF GOD we long and yearn for your Church because you love her and died for her. Preserve her where she is strong and heal her where she is in schism and weakness or disobedience. Use Brother Mike Randall and others in the power of the Holy Spirit to help open more doors for the Brays, for Dr. Sam and for all the representatives of our mission. Open doors to churches large or small who will generously vote to make us line items in their missions budgets and faithfully support our work year after year. AMEN.

"Prayer Priority" Request for Tuesday, July 5, 2005
ONLY BEGOTTEN OF THE FATHER, you want to comfort your bride and encourage her to fulfill the desires of your heart for India and the world so we pray that you will help John Lindner and Bill Bray this week to wrap up the editorial content for the next issue of Hopegivers Journal. May it be an encouragement to the faithful who pray and give as they see what wonderful things the Lord has done through their tears and sacrifice. AMEN.

"Prayer Priority" Request for Sunday & Monday, July 3-4, 2005
JESUS CHRIST THE WAY, bless all families including the Bray Family and our nation on this Independence Day and during these days of family reunion. Keep us free from disease, iniquity, oppression, poverty and sin. Bless us in our families and in our nation and continue to make your sun shine on us all. Have special mercy on those who have lost their way or in rebellion today. Help us to wait patiently upon you and reveal your callings and will to each of us. God bless us and make us your faithful, holy ones. Bless especially our president, our fathers and all those in authority. AMEN

"Prayer Priority" Request for Saturday, July 2, 2005
LAMB OF GOD, protect and speak to all the Brays as they travel this day to Williamsburg for our annual family reunion and a holiday weekend celebrating our many cultures, heritages and values. Particularly be with John Bray as he flies from Chicago to meet Bill & Ivy in Richmond today. AMEN

"Prayer Priority" Request for Friday, July 1, 2005
LIGHT OF THE WORLD, shine your Gospel glory through Dr. Samuel Thomas on this his birthday, and all year long. We agree with him that you will answer his prayers for greater faith and knowledge of Your Word, and to be filled with all grace, guidance, humility and wisdom. Particularly grant him the ability to handle all the requests for which he has prayed during the last 40 days of fasting, and all this we pray for your glory. AMEN and AMEN.