"Prayer Priority" Request for Wednesday, August 31, 2005
SPIRIT OF CHRIST, I confess and we all confess that we seldom present your aroma as we should. Help us to incarnate your presense and make us attractive to both those who are seeking you and those who are not ... to those seeking to please you ... to those searching for you ... to those desperately in need of your love ... and especially to those who hate us and hate you. Be with Dr. Sam as he appeals to the jealous anti-Christian accreditation school board in New Delhi that is harassing the Emmanuel school system in India. Help Dr. Sam and the India team to love them as you would, even as we struggle with them. AMEN

"Prayer Priority" Request for Tuesday, August 30, 2005
SPIRIT OF GRACE, give us the strength we need to cope with disasters and tragedies such as Hurricane Katrina, the Tsunami of 2004, and the famine-epidemic in Malawi through Operation Africa Child. We thank you for the abundance and response systems we have in this country and we pray for their implementation this week and in the days ahead. Use our appeal for Operation Africa Child to help the Malawi orphans. Also use Bill and Ivy as they recruit and train the Tsunami Media Mission team in Atlanta this weekend and throughout the month ahead. Attract new prayer partners and supporters to our team and reactivate those who have been silent through our collective responses to these emergencies. AMEN

"Prayer Priority" Request for Monday, August 29, 2005
FINGER OF GOD, point deeply into the hearts of your people, even to those whom we don't know, as we ask you to provide furniture and personal finances for our household expenses in Georgia and in Virginia. May all our grandchildren have their needs met too in Chicago and California. Provide us with hilarious givers as we face new expenses this fall both inside and outside our budget. AMEN

"Prayer Priority" Request for Sunday, August 28, 2005
SPIRIT OF SUPPLICATION call and woo more Prayer Partners into this ministry and bless them wildly for joining us. Use Bishop M.A. Thomas' prayer letters to stir up more intercession and the work of Becky and Ivy as they build up the new Hope Prayer Circle distribution lists. AMEN

"Prayer Priority" Request for the week of August 28, 2005
SPIRIT OF TRUTH, may YOU be evident in everything we do, broadcast, publish, say and write but particularly in the new Hope Website Ministry that Bill Bray and the Silas Partners Team are writing and coding this week. May everything get done on time and everyone be inspired and driven to create the web base to handle the Million Orphan Vision. AMEN.

"Prayer Priority" Request for Friday, August 26, 2005
EYES OF THE LORD, search the whole earth and send men and women into our Hopegivers outreaches whose hearts beat with the very things that pound in your loving heart, especially for those serving in the boards, the leadership and the staff. AMEN.

"Prayer Priority" Request for Thursday, August 25, 2005
NEW SPIRIT, call each of our children and grandchildren into useful vocations and extend this to all those we disciple, train and mentor in your service. Help us to encourage them and speak words that build them up and which you can use to help them to find callings, careers and vocations that honor You and do your will on this earth as it is done in heaven. May we help them to avoid the sins and mistakes that can lead them off the paths and give us the grace to do so gently and with your anointing. AMEN.

"Prayer Priority" Request for Tuesday, August 23, 2005
HOLY SPIRIT, help us not to be overwhelmed by the task of communicating our hope to a world of despair and terror but help us to create absolutely marvelous messages that are able to both raise funds for the hopeless but which will attract people to YOU who alone is the only source of hope. AMEN.

"Prayer Priority" Request for Monday, August 22, 2005
SPIRIT OF THE SOVEREIGN, give grace and success to the African and Indian photographers and reporters as they take photos and write editorial for the fall and winter issues of Hopegivers Journal and all our other publications. Especially use Rob Blumberg as he interns under Bill Bray this fall to edit, write and gather this material for the Lindners, Silas Partners and the Barnabas Team. Use Alice and Dr. Sam in India as they interpret the editorial needs to the field staff. AMEN

"Prayer Priority" Request for Sunday, August 21, 2005
HIS SPIRIT, help us stretch the family budget and increase our income to supply the tuitions and school fees and living expenses for Billy and Jon to go to college this fall and bless them with good jobs and high incomes. Lord, don't let any of the children of the rightous beg bread but supply their every need and help Bill and Ivy and our whole family to trust you for these things. You are the great God who supplies all our needs. AMEN

"Prayer Priority" Request for Saturday, August 20, 2005
STREAMS IN THE DESSERT, we ask you to carry forth the new magazines swiftly and safely to the homes of our supporters this week including not only the "Hopegivers Journal" and "Word for You Today" but also the September "Call to Prayer" and "Operation Africa Child" emergency appeal for the starving orphans in Malawi. AMEN.

"Prayer Priority" Request for Friday, August 19, 2005
MIND OF THE LORD, give us solutions to our computer data base and accounting challenges through our vendors and consultants. Lord, give us an effective database, accounting and reporting systems that meet our citical, emergency needs now and will grow with us to fulfill the million orphan vision. AMEN

"Prayer Priority" Request for Thursday, August 18, 2005
MIND OF THE LORD, we thank and pray for all the communications people who are enlisting in helping us communicate the message of Hopegivers--for the Barnabas team as they return from India today, for the Tsunami Media Team now assembling for December, for the Silas Team and the web ministry, to the Lindners and the Hopegivers Journal volunteers and for Dr. Bray as he meets with a young man today who is looking for a staff position. Lord, help us to choose the right talent, work with them, and meet their support needs. In Jesus' name we pray, AMEN.

"Prayer Priority" Request for Wednesday, August 17, 2005
SPIRIT OF JUSTICE, you are always fair and right in all Your ways so help us as your servants to always do your will as we record covenants and Memos of Understanding with our Program Partners, staff, vendors and volunteers. And Lord, protect us from authorities, governments and all earthly powers that seek to exploit us or dare to touch your anointed ones. AMEN and AMEN!

"Prayer Priority" Request for Tuesday, August 16, 2005
SPIRIT OF FEAR, keep us in awe of you as we pray and fast for the spiritual war in the heavenlies that is being waged over so many parts of this world today. We pray for political leaders and human powers that seem to thwart the Word of God and hinder the spread of Your truth. Open their eyes and cause them to repent. Empower us with faith to trust and obey you, especially for the saints in Kota and all across India, throughout the Muslim world and even here in the USA such as San Francisco and Boston where the powers of darkness and light are locked in struggle. Anoint Bill and Ivy as they coordinate the publishing of Your Word through Hopegivers in so many ways and protect them as they speak out for You. AMEN.

"Prayer Priority" Request for Monday, August 15, 2005
SPIRIT OF KNOWLEDGE, help Kelly Mott as she coordinates the writing of the first Hopegivers Staff Handbook this week and Ivy as she works on the "Frequently Asked Questions" booklet and her personal letter to the Bray Family Support Team. AMEN

"Prayer Priority" Request for Sunday, August 14, 2005
SPIRIT OF POWER, make us aggressive in our work for you, overcoming the forces of evil and all those who in ignorance and pride oppose the Lord and Your work in the world. Prepare a table before us in the presence of our adversaries and enemies. AMEN.

"Prayer Priority" Request for Saturday, August 13, 2005
SPIRIT OF COUNSEL, help Dr. Bill to discern and accept guidance and give good counsel as he leads in his many roles as advisor, editor, executive, father, husband, prophet and teacher. May he speak as the oracles of God. AMEN.

"Prayer Priority" Request for Friday, August 12, 2005
SPRIT OF UNDERSTANDING, especially open the eyes of those who get the Summer issue of "Hopegivers Journal" and September issue of "The Word for You Today" in their homes during the next few days. May these magazines edify and minister truth, creating powerful new motivation for supporting the Hopegivers outreach. AMEN.

WE were barely airborne today when a great spiritual oppression lifted from our shoulders. Ivy and I both commented on how liberated we felt to be away from Boston and the New England states. When we landed in Atlanta and started driving home through the Georgia countryside I was so blessed to be back in a land where men are men, women are women and the Spirit of the Lord has liberty. I've made my last southern "Bible-belt" joke. I thank God that I live in Georgia where Christian values and virtue while threatened, are still respected. The preaching of the Word is still welcome here and prevails. This remains a mostly healthy society where children can be raised with the rod of righteousness, holy women are loved, and godly men are respected.

I'm not saying that southerners and southern values are perfect. Folks down here are sinners but at least they know and confess it. And many are ignorant sinners to boot. In New England, I'm afraid that a very selfish and ungodly pride has paved the way for satanic influences to capture and bind up many in sin and perversion. They are more educated, richer, and more sophisticated but miserable and unhappy prisoners still. It is the fool who says in his heart that there is no God - or pays lip service to God but lives outside of submission to His will.

"Prayer Priority" Request for Thursday, August 11, 2005
SPIRIT OF WISDOM, You have all knowledge. Help us to always make right decisions, especially in those times when we don't have all the facts. AMEN

NO wonder the Roman Catholic Diocese of Boston is racked by sex scandals and homosexual, pedophile priests. No wonder that the backslidden Episcopalian Church here has consecrated a homosexual Bishop living in open sin with his male partner. This region of the country is reaping the fruit of the seed sown by the apostate churches and humanistic universities here which have turned their backs on God and His word. The drive for what is falsely called diversity and tolerance has been perverted into a license for personal immortality. Ironically, in a bid to throw off their puritan heritage, they have killed virtue. As a result the region is increasingly bound up in legalism and abuse of all kinds. Women and other minorities are less free than ever - exactly the opposite of what was promised when we so foolishly embraced this sexual revolution back in the sixties.

"Prayer Priority" Request for Wednesday, August 10, 2005
JUDGMENT AND FIRE, help us to quickly approve and finalize the content of the September Hopegivers newsletter for Operation Africa Child orphans in Malawi and bless Dr. Michael Christenson and the team as they deliver more Hopegivers medicines there this month. AMEN

"Prayer Priority" Request for Saturday, August 6, 2005
GOOD SPIRIT, use Mary Edwards as she drafts the "Operation Africa Child" September Newsletter this week and Dan Reber of Mail America and Dr. Joseph Lam and Ruth Kendrick of World Children's Fund as they work on test mailings for our national recruitment campaigns for Hopegivers this fall in the USA. AMEN and AMEN and AMEN!

"Prayer Priority" Request for Friday, August 5, 2005
HAND OF GOD, carry the Brays safely to Bethel, Maine today for a marvelous week of spiritual renewal and anniversary celebration. Provide times of solitude and clarity that will inspire Dr. Bill with your message. Teach him how to capture in print and media what it means to be so filled with You that we too can be hope givers. AMEN

"Prayer Priority" Request for Thursday, August 4, 2005
DOUBLE PORTION, we thank you for word that Dr. Sam's re-entry visa for the USA has been approved but pray that you will grant a full release of the documents in time for his Barnabas Team mission to India this month. We especially pray that nothing will prevent any of the team members from going on this mission. AMEN

NEVER have I been clearer about my creative strengths and weaknesses. I have struggled in birth pains these past two weeks to create the new Hopegivers Web Ministry and complete the summer issue of Hopegivers Journal at the same time - and handle administrative duties on top of it. Not only have I seen clearly that I cannot be the managing editor of a communications department and sustain creativity on a big "plot-based" project simultaneously, but I have also seen that I cannot successfully fill-in for Nehemiah when I am called to be Ezra.

The prophet cannot be the king or even a builder like Nehemiah. Nor should prophets try to a successful pastor or apostle. I thank God that I've been able to serve under great Nehemiah's through the years like Dr. Samuel Thomas and I am also thankful for the lessons learned when I have stepped outside of my basic gifting, or been paired with the wrong gift by others.

In fact, even Dr. Sam needs to have a Nehemiah here in the USA office to supervise the business of building the Million Orphan Vision in this country. Dr. Sam is our international president, but we need a national director here. He can't be in two places at once and shouldn't have to be tied down here in the States.

Although I am constantly being tempted to take on administrative roles here, often by other staff and friends of good will who are "sure Bill can do it" - the fact is I usually fail unless there is some special grace given to me or divine intervention that helps me to get the job done. Praise the Lord He does intervene and help us again and again, but most of our problems are our own fault.

We need to accept the fact that God has given each of us certain gifts and we are fools when we either covet other roles or get tricked into taking on something that is not our business. Easier said than done though. Pray for me!

"Prayer Priority" Request for Wednesday, August 3, 2005
SPIRIT OF GOD, aid Scott Pleasants as he shoots and records Dr. Sam casting the vision for Hopegivers International today and prepares an introductory video. May the video be used to prepare audiences to hear about the Million Orphan Dream. AMEN

FOR decades I have viewed the "shield of faith" in Ephesians 6 as a defensive part of my spiritual armor like the "bullet proof vest" of righteousness or the "flack jacket belt" of truth. You know, something you hide behind when your opponent fires on you.

But not so! Faith is applied imagination. It is what gives you the vision to keep going and rush against that spiritual enemy in your "boots" of obedience going through the minefields of this life. Living here in an infantry base town during wartime, and working out in the gym with soldiers each day, has made me think a lot about this colorful allegory of the Christian struggle.

If faith is just something that helps us "hang on" and hide from the enemy, then we deserve the failure that will surely come upon us!

The shield is used on the attack. Pounding it against the enemy with one hand and thrusting out with our sword in the other is more like! Using the shield of faith we are able to move against the enemy of our souls picturing in our minds eye how different our lives will be when we rid ourselves of certain sins or problems and conditions that are outside the will of God. Remember faith equals imagination. Faith is a positive force. Let's use it to beat the enemy back and the "sword" of God's word to cut demons down. Faith, mighty faith, the victory sees.

"Prayer Priority" Request for Tuesday, August 2, 2005
SERVANT, that you would even choose to describe Yourself by that vocation amazes us! We thank you as our creator servant for your love and ask you to enable the John Lindners father and son magazine team to get the Hopegivers Journal completed today and sent to the printers. Also, give them creative insights on the upcoming fall Annual Report and winter issues which they must now start! AMEN

FOR 30 million people, writing a blog like this one has become a way of life. Why do they do it? Why do I do it? I have heard someone say that we bloggers can't stand the idea that no one is witnessing the saga of our lives - our struggles. Everyone needs to be important to someone. We want our existence to count and be recorded somewhere and so we blog even if no one reads it but ourselves.

I don't doubt that is partially true, but as a believer I have other more noble and godly motivations. Besides, I know that my life story is important to God (every detail of it) and that He is watching over me. I don't need a blog to feel important. So why blog?

Well, first of all, this is the rough draft of my biography - at least the ending portion of it! This diary will help me recall the lessons learned in these, my last years in this world. Lessons like the meaning of "orthopraxy" (see July 22 entry). Orthopraxy is the cure for the great heresy of my generation and the church of this age!

If my re-discovery of this word fails to make it into my blog, it may also fail to make it into my biography and perhaps one of the lessons of my life will be lost on the next generation - or at least on my children and the few dear souls who will read about it in these pages.

Ultimately this blog is a way for me to share the lessons of my life and prophecy. If it helps anyone at all, it is a good use of my calling and skills.

"Prayer Priority" Request for Monday, August 1, 2005
BREATH OF LIFE, use Dr. Bill to complete the web ministry introductory copy by the Friday freeze date and inspire him by Your power to create this new web ministry so that it will be the most effective tool we have to recruit millions of supporters and Hopegivers. AMEN