Pray 4 Dothan

Dr. Helen Roseveare, missionary to Zaire, told the following story. "A mother at our mission station died after giving birth to a premature baby. We tried to improvise an incubator to keep the infant alive, but the only hot water bottle we had was beyond repair. So we asked the children to pray for the baby and for her sister. One of the girls responded. 'Dear God, please send a hot water bottle today. Tomorrow will be too late because by then the baby will be dead. And dear Lord, send a doll for the sister so she won't feel so lonely.' That afternoon a large package arrived from England. The children watched eagerly as we opened it. Much to their surprise, under some clothing was a hot water bottle! Immediately the girl who had prayed so earnestly started to dig deeper, exclaiming, 'If God sent that, I'm sure He also sent a doll!' And she was right! The heavenly Father knew in advance of that child's sincere requests, and 5 months earlier He had led a ladies' group to include both of those specific articles."

While very ill, John Knox, the founder of the Presbyterian Church in Scotland, called to his wife and said, "Read me that Scripture where I first cast my anchor." After he listened to the beautiful prayer of Jesus recorded in John 17, he seemed to forget his weakness. He began to pray, interceding earnestly for his fellowmen. He prayed for the ungodly who had thus far rejected the gospel. He pleaded in behalf of people who had been recently converted. And he requested protection for the Lord's servants, many of whom were facing persecution. As Knox prayed, his spirit went Home to be with the Lord. The man of whom Queen Mary had said, "I fear his prayers more than I do the armies of my enemies," ministered through prayer until the moment of his death.

I share these stories with you for two reasons. First that you might be reminded of the power and importance of prayer. And second to inspire you to pray. This week we have a specific and focused prayer assignment. It is to pray for our city of Dothan. I want to invite you to join churches and believers from all over our area who will be praying for God to move in our city.

To assist you with this emphasis, our worship center will be open each day, Monday through Wednesday from 11:30-1:00 PM for you to drop by, use the altar and pray. The format is self-lead, “come and go”. We have prayer guides available to assist you in what to pray. You can pick one up in our Welcome Center. But even if you can’t stop by our Worship Center to pray, please pick up a guide and use it to pray for our city sometime during those 3 days. Why do we do this? Because as Alfred Lord Tennyson said, “More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of.”

Monday Night - Awesome August #3… Our 3rd Monday evening of worship starts at 6:30 with our guest, Dr. Willy Rice. Like those who have been with us already, you will again be blessed. In my opinion, he is one of the very best preachers in our Southern Baptist Convention. He’s been with us before, and it is a joy to have him back. I look forward to seeing you here.

God’s work for us at Ridgecrest continues to be blessed, if you are not part of our family, why not join us today on God’s wonderful never-ending journey.

And remember, God is always trying to take you someplace new. I love being your Pastor!

For God’s Glory Alone,

Pastor Ray


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