Weekly Prayer Request - Aug 30, 2011

Hi NGL Prayer Partners,

We need prayer for our promotion of the Men's Retreat. We will have our "flyer" and bios of the event going out this Thursday. We need prayer that the flyer will be timed just right to touch men's hearts to partner with us at the Retreat. We will start with the Flyer this week and then have follow up promos going out each week after that.

Keep praying for our Clown suit and wig project. The suits are coming in they really look good. Pray for Betty Braswell and Abby Emling as they coordinate this project and pray for the Lord to continue to call forth people to get material and sew the suits. I bought a suit at a Carnival store, but the ones people are making cost about the same. However, the home made suits are much better.

My cousin, Joan, is hanging in there like a trooper. Roger Lipe keeps a steady diet of Bible verses going her way and she uses the verses to equip her for the daily battles she is facing. Please keep her in your prayers.

September is THE month we use each year to kick off our coming year. Pray for the Lord to bring forth men for the Retreat and speak to each of our hearts preparing us for the coming Mardi Gras.

Keep the people in the North East US in your prayers. As big as the hurricane was, larger than the continent of Europe, the damage was much less that was expected. Pray for the people to look to God for the restoration needed physically and emotionally.

Thanks for your love and prayers,

Love ya's,
Fred
Jeremiah 29:11-13

NGL Prayer Update

Hi NGL Partners,

I know and have experienced in NGL that the Gates of Hell don’t prevail against the church. That is why I am so thankful to have all of you to work with for NGL. Our country, Europe, Libya, Syria, Afghanistan, Sudan and so many other places are in such a downward spiral. It would be so devastating to us if it were not that we can look up and be on the winning team. The old song was almost written for today. “On Christ the solid rock I stand. ALL OTHER GROUND IS SINKING SAND.” For such a time as this, we have had our training. So let’s rise and share the “Good News!”

Thanks for the prayers:

- For our Clown suit and wig project. The funds and people to make the suits are really coming along. Pray for those who made commitments to come through, especially the makers of the suits. So far the wigs we have found are rather skimpy and small. We shall keep looking.

- Pray for Jeff Bealmear in Kenya.

- Pray for Bob Gay in Honduras and Guatemala.

- Betty Braswell is adjusting well in Springfield

- My cousin, Joan, is hanging in there and looking to the Lord

We just had our NGL Board meeting last Friday night at my childhood home church in Sunfield, IL where we hold our “kick-off” for the coming year each August. It was a great meeting. It is always such an honor to have these special men go back with me to the place of my salvation. I never want to get away from my foundation in the Lord. I was fourteen and afraid I was going to hell. I wear a cross continually to remind me to live near the Old Rugged Cross.

Now is the time to get the "ball rolling" for the 2012 Campaign. Matthew 9:3 says, "Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his harvest."

NGL ANNUAL MEN’S RETREAT SEPTEMBER 23-24

First I look to God for the kind of CONTENT we need to move us forward for the coming year.

I was at a church men’s retreat and the messages given by Troy Benitone were life changing for many of the men. It was so good that even though I had to leave for a prior engagement, I just didn’t want to leave. I know those messages and small groups will be revealing and helpful for the first timers as well as for all of us seasoned veterans just like they were at that retreat.

Roger Lipe is the most prolific man I know today and the anointing of God is on him in a special way for men in sport. He suggested for us to get some insight for our lives in the Book of Proverbs which is the Book I have, for years, encouraged all of us to use daily as part of our devotions. His insights will help all of us to “kick it up a notch.”

The NEXT STEP is to get the promotion process started and trust Psalm 133 for the anointing to go out to the area leaders and speak to their hearts in such a way that it will move on to all those they influence for all of us to come together and get refreshed, refilled and set on fire for our Lord.

Thanks so much for all the prayers and support. God is able to do ABOVE ALL WE ASK OR THINK. So join with me in “asking” and “thinking!”

Love ya’s,

Fred

Weekly Prayer Request - Aug 18, 2011

Hi NGL prayer partners,

Thanks for your prayers.

I. Prayer Concerns:

1. Betty Braswell, is doing better physically after being taken by ambulance from Carbondale to Springfield. She has moved from Carbondale to Springfield and adjusting very well. I was talking with her by phone yesterday and she interrupted me and said that she had to go because her friends were there to go to lunch with her. Ya gotta love it!

2. Ron Kuhnert, our chief cook and coordinator's wife, who is also a favorite cousin of mine, is on hospice, but her attitude is good. Her sister, Peg, and her husband have come from Seattle to be a help and encouragement. Roger Lipe is being the biggest help with is daily Scriptures of wisdom and encouragement.

3. Our secretary/office manager, Abby, is having health problems and needs your prayers. This is the time of year when everything kicks into gear toward the Men's Retreat and Mardi Gras.

II. Needs

1. Pray for Bill and Sue McDonald as they are in the States but will be going back to Viet Nam soon.

2. Pray for Jeff Bealmear on a mission trip to Africa

3. Pray for Bob Gay on a mission trip to Honduras and Guatemala

4. Pray for our Board meeting this Friday night.

A. Roger Lipe will lead us through the "Small Group" questions we will be using at Mardi Gras. This gives us a chance to "fine tune" the questions.

B. We will be meeting at the Sunfield UMC where I was saved as a boy. We meet there each year in August to take us all the way back to where it all began for me. I still go there often to pray and enjoy the Lord. They gave me a key to the church. So I stop in and pray each week when I go down to work at the office. I always feel God's presence there is such a warm, gentle and assuring way. I first turn on the light behind the stained glass window of the three crosses and a sun in the background. I start out on the back row and gradually move forward worshiping until I end up at the altar, the third "clover leaf" from the left representing where I gave my life to the Lord at the age of 14. I feel His presence just writing about it to you.

C. We will look at the t-shirt design that Jeff Bealmear has designed for the coming year to get feedback on it.

D. Pray for these 20 plus men on the Board. Their faithfulness never ceases to amaze and inspire me. They are the greatest! Some of them have been with me for 40 years. Shucks, I went "eek" when I just got through counting up the years. There is nothing more precious than lasting friendships. Tom McDaniel and Rudy Rice have been with me the longest. Carl Johnson was the first man I worked with back in San Antonio back in 1974 when the ministry was getting ready to start.

Thanks so much for your love, prayers and support. It is such a blessing and honor to have you people as my friends and to see how the Lord through your prayers turns the devil's onslaughts on their ears. I have never see it fail. I owe all of you so much.

Love ya's,
Fred

Proverbs 17:17 (AMP), "A friend loves at all times, and is born, as is a brother, for adversity."

Nugget of Preparation

Hi prayer partners,

As most of you know, I have missed very few days in the last 35 years without reading Oswald Chambers and I still do. However, sometimes something comes across the “waves” that stirs and confirms what I believe. I am sure things happen for all of you that way as well. A friend of mine and the ministry has been used of the Lord in mighty ways. However, he has been going through some tough times and had a very important meeting, encounter with someone and needed guidance. It never ceases to amaze me how the Lord prepares us for such meetings. He went to a national conference that he normally has a part in the leadership. However, this year, he had no responsibilities at the conference. So he was able to go to the sessions like all the other people. The Lord had prepared this conference especially for him. Below is the “process” he learned and applied and used in his “confrontation” meeting last night.

Love ya’s and can’t imagine what it would be like without you and don’t even want to try!

Fred



Heart Preparation Before the Lord

1. Quiet yourself down. Be comfortable. “Be still and know….” Psalm 46:10 Ask for the Holy Spirit. “I will go to my guidepost” Emmanuel “God is with us”.

a. We must be child-like. Keep it simple. Picture yourself as an 8 year old child

b. Listen, listen, listen….”I will keep watch to see what He will speak to me” Habakuk 2:1-2

2. Fix your eyes on Jesus. Use vision as part of your prayer and use the “eyes of your heart” to see. A picture is worth a thousand words. Genesis 15:5-6. Do not picture fear, guilt, lust, sin, etc. Place your whole self into the vision/scene. Participate in the scene. Ask the Holy Spirit to bring the scene alive! Ephesians 1:17-11 When the scene comes alive it becomes a vision. We can step from a Godly imagination into a vision.

a. Focus on Jesus… the Author and Finisher of our faith.

b. Imagine the WORD.

c. Enter into HIS rest.

3. Tune to Flow… God’s voice can sounds like spontaneous thoughts that light upon your mind (flowing). The anointing flow takes over!

a. Tune to flow….become an extension of Jesus in flow… God’s voice sounds like spontaneous thoughts that light upon your mind (flowing). The anointing flow takes over!

b. John 7:37-39 “rivers of living water” begin to flow

c. His voice sounds like flowing thoughts, emotions, words and visions.

d. Speaking the oracles of God

e. Yield to the flow… the river of God within us.

f. Examples exercise to meditate on…
i. Lord, do You love me?
ii. Lord, how do you see me?
iii. Lord, what do you want to say to me?

4. Write out the flow of thoughts and pictures. Journal your these thoughts and visions. Share your written flow with fellow Christians. Especially if you are unsure.

Weekly Prayer Request, Aug 9, 2011

Hi NGL Prayer Partners,

This is the month to get direction for the coming year. I always have our Board meet this month at my old Country church where I was saved as a boy. It helps me remember and make sure I am still staying true to the Jesus I met there when I was fourteen. As Oswald Chambers would say, “We never get through the “cross” we just get more into it.”

1. Roger Lipe is doing the “Small Group” questions from the book of Proverbs. I am excited about that as that is the basic book we have always stressed to use in our Daily devotions. Roger has some good insights that will be helpful for all of us. Keep Roger in prayer as he works on this project.

2. Pray for Pastor Jeff Bealmear as he designs our NGL T-shirts for the coming year. The Scripture for the coming year will be: Romans 1:16, "For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes—the Jew first and also the Gentile."

3. Pray for our upcoming Men’s Retreat September 23-24th. Pray for the Lord to bring forth men to prepare our hearts for the coming year.

4. Thanks for your prayers for:

A. Betty Braswell. She came through her fall and is now living up in Springfield. God is good and HE ANSWERS PRAYER!

B. My cousin, Joan Kuhnert, she is doing better and is at home. God is good and HE ANSWERS PRAYER!

C. For Bill Alexander, our Board member-----He got two stints and is home and doing well. God is good and HE ANSWERS PRAYER!

Have a good day and be blessed,

Love ya’s,
Fred

Weekly Prayer Requests, August 2, 2011

Hi NGL prayer partners,

Thanks for your prayers this past week. I am much better this week. God is good!

1. Pray a blessing on those who are giving and the ones putting the clown suits together. This is such a much needed project for the Mardi Gras ministry. Please remember to pray for Abby and Betty Braswell as they oversee this project.

2. Pray for our upcoming NGL Retreat September 23-24th. Pray for the Lord to call forth His "troops" for this important "kick-off" for the coming year!!!!!

A. It is like a "training camp" for football teams.
B. Pray for Roger Lipe as he is putting together our Small Group Questions for Mardi Gras. He is working on Leadership principles from the book of Proverbs. We will try them out at our next Board meeting this month.
C. We are turning our attention now toward the Men's Retreat!!!!!!

3. Sick:

A. Betty Braswell took a hard fall in her bathtub, but it doing much better and she has moved to Springfield, Illinois.
B. Bill Alexander, a member of our NGL Board, had two stints put in and is doing much better.
C. Ron Kuhnert is our main cook. His wife, Joan, is my cousin and she is in the hospital in Carbondale with a viral infection and needs our prayers.

Thanks for your prayers and support,
Love ya's,

Fred

Ephesians 1:6-8 New Living Translation (NLT)
"So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son. He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins. He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding."