 The following is an E-Mail Ministry message.
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THEN WHY DON'T WE PRAY?
The highest privilege ever afforded to man is the power of prayer.
...then why don't we pray?
The right to talk to the highest potentate in all the universe...
...then why don't we pray?
The most powerful force accessible to man is the potential of prayer...
...then why don't we pray?
The greatest longing in the heart of God is to talk to His children...
...then why don't we pray?
Nothing is impossible to those who pray...
...then why don't we pray?
No man ever fainted or faltered who gave himself to prayer...
...then why don't we pray?
Every sin is forgiven, every stain is washed clean, all guilt
diminished to the man who prays...
...then why don't we pray?
Hell moves farther away, satan flees from the man who prays...
...then why don't we pray?
Anointing will come, mountains will be moved, valleys made smooth,
rivers made crossable, the inaccessible made accessible, the
impossible made possible, dreams come through to the man who prays...
...then why don't we pray?
Jesus said that men ought always to pray...
...then why don't we pray?
Paul encouraged prayer without ceasing...
...then why don't we pray?
The riches of heaven are open to those who pray in His name...
...then why don't we pray?
Everyone can pray, the young, the old, the rich, the poor, the
strong, the weak, the child, the aged, the sinner, the prisoner, in
any nation, in any language, all can pray...
...then why don't we pray?
-- Author Unknown
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 photo of a bridge in Ontario Canada courtesy of PhotosToGo.com
Dear friends,
Title: Prayer for Autumn Days
Autumn often gets us into the mood of prayer. If so, this is a prayer I hope reflects your inner wish, which many of us desire but cannot
articulate.
View Flash Movie at
http://www.inspiringthots.net/movie/prayer4autumn.php
Blessings,
Sing Cher Kwek
Prayer for Autumn Days
God of the seasons,
there is a time for everything;
there is a time for dying and a time for rising.
We need courage to enter into
the transformation process.
God of autumn,
the trees are saying goodbye to their green,
letting go of what has been.
We, too, have our moments of surrender,
with all their insecurity and risk.
Help us to let go when we need to do so.
God of fallen leaves
lying in colored patterns on the ground,
our lives have their own patterns.
As we see the patterns of our own growth,
may we learn from them.
God of misty days and harvest moon nights,
there is always the dimension of mystery
and wonder in our lives.
We always need to recognize your power-filled presence.
May we gain strength from this.
God of harvest wagons and fields of ripened grain,
many gifts of growth lie within the season of our surrender.
We must wait for harvest in faith and hope.
Grant us patience when we do not see the blessings.
God of geese going south
for another season, your wisdom enables us
to know what needs to be left behind
and what needs to be carried into the future.
We yearn for insight and vision.
God of flowers
touched with frost and windows wearing white designs,
may your love keep our hearts
from growing cold in the empty seasons.
God of life,
you believe in us, you enrich us,
you entrust us with the freedom to choose life.
For all this, we are grateful.
Amen
Autumn is a time for Prayer
Author Unknown
View Flash Movie at
http://www.inspiringthots.net/movie/prayer4autumn.php
 By Seamus Heaney
And some time make the time to drive out west
Into County Clare, along the Flaggy Shore,
In September or October, when the wind,
And the light are working off each other
So that the ocean on one side is wild
Wth foam and glitter, and inland among stones
The surface of a slate grey lake is lit
By the earthed lightning of a flock of swans,
Their feathers rough and ruffling, white on white,
Their fully grown headstrong-looking heads
Tucked or cresting or busy underwater.
Useless to think you’ll park and capture it
More thoroughly, You are either here nor there,
A hurry through which known and strange things pass
As big soft buffetings come at the car sideways
And catch the heart off guard and blow it open.
So how do you view God? Americans and the God question | csmonitor.com
Summary: Most Americans (85 to 90 percent) believe in God. A large majority prays and almost half attend church or other services at least monthly. But how do they view God, and does it affect social and political attitudes?
A new survey from Baylor University in Waco, Texas, called "American Piety in the 21st Century" probes this subject. Conducted by Gallup pollsters, the survey is receiving deserved praise for its depth of questioning.
The most innovative aspect of the Baylor study is how its questions turned up four ways in which people conceive of deity. The survey offered 16 words to characterize God, such as motherly, wrathful, and severe. It supplied 10 descriptions relating to God's involvement in the world, including "a cosmic force in the universe," "removed from world affairs," and "concerned with my personal well-being."
-- Type "A" is authoritarian, metes out punishment, and is highly involved in world and personal affairs (the view of about 31 percent).
-- Type "B" is benevolent, also active in the world and individual lives, but more forgiving (23 percent).
-- Type "C" is critical, not engaged but still passing judgment - which individuals will discover in a later life (16 percent).
-- Type "D" is distant, neither active nor judging - but a force which set the laws of nature in motion (about 24 percent).
The study found that even people within the same denomination hold different concepts of God - which may explain schisms over dogma. Evangelicals and black Protestants, however, hold the most uniform views (a majority sees God as authoritarian).
It also found that the "four Gods" track more closely with political and social attitudes than do traditional indicators such as church attendance. The study found, for instance, that the closer one moves toward the authoritarian model, the more likely one finds abortion and gay marriage are "always wrong."
Baylor plans more such surveys, and there's still much to plumb.
Some religion experts, for instance, suspect a certain superficiality in Americans' religiosity.
How might they weigh in on the import of the Sermon on the Mount or the Ten Commandments?
And then there's the growth in nontraditional and nonJudeo-Christian faiths, especially among young people.
Americans know theirs is a religious country. This, and future studies, can help act as a mirror to help them better appreciate common bonds as well as differences in what they worship.
The more people know how God is reflected in individual lives, the more understanding they will have toward others.
Summarized by Copernic Summarizer
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