Pray for your City

NDP events in our area

May 2nd, 2013. National Day of Prayer events in our area   Pensacola City Hall. The 22nd Annual Downtown Prayer event will be held on the North Lawn of the Pensacola City Hall from 12 noon until 1 PM.  Cokesbury United Methodist "Ashbury Place" Ninth Ave near Airport Blvd 476-5818 FREE LUNCHEON 11:45 am! Call Church for reservations.  Special Worship by Kay & Marty Sasse from First Baptist East Brent Baptist on Davis Hwy. before Brent Lane 477-5812!! Time: 11:00 until 12:00 noon. LUNCHEON OPEN TO ANYONE & OTHER CHURCHES $5.00; They Request people call in advance if coming for meal!!  Music and Prayer! St. Luke's Methodist on 9 Mile Rd. 477-3145 Prayer Service 12:15 to 12:45. Prayer Leaders on 7 topics. CharityChapel 5820 Montgomery Ave. 944-5520   Church Open 8:00am - 6:00pm Olive Baptist Church  N. Davis Hwy 476-1932 Open Chapel 8:00 am until 5:00pm Hillcrest Baptist Church 476-2233 Church Sanctuary open 7:00 am until 6:00pm    Gadsden Street Methodist Church 433-0014 Sanctuary open 7:00 am until 7:00pm Gadsden Street  Entrance side only, due to construction. Bellview Baptist Church 455-4710 There will be a 12 hr. Prayer Vigil every 30 min. Point Baptist Church 492-1545 Innerarity Point: Church open 8:00 am until 6:00 pm Perdido United Methodist Innerarity Point Rd. 492-2135  Open Sanctuary 9:00-1:00pm Liberty Blue Angel Parkway Campus 453-4318  Church Open for Prayer 9AM-4PM    Century, Fla. The AG Bldg. Prayer for Families, Community, & our Nation; time 6:00 to 7:00 pm Refreshments will be served!! Milton. Meet at the Santa Rosa County Courthouse Lawn at 12 noon.    Pensacola Beach. Gulfside Pavilion at 6:30pm for prayer and worship Destin. Destin United Methodist Church at 11:30am for prayer.    Atmore. At Veterans Memorial and City hall complex at 10am For NDP events outside our area visit www.NationalDayofPrayer.org

Today's Mighty Men

In the bible, King David had his mighty men. These were men that were skilled in battle to face the enemy. They fought valiantly against giants and other enemies. Here are some of them:

• Adino the Eznite: he lift up his spear against eight hundred, whom he slew at one time.
• Eleazar the son of Dodo, the Ahohite, one of the three mighty men with David when they defied the Philistines who were gathered there for battle, and the men of Israel had retreated. He arose and attacked the Philistines until his hand was weary, and his hand stuck to the sword. The Lord brought about a great victory that day.
• Shammah the son of Agee the Hararite. The Philistines had gathered together into a troop where there was a piece of ground full of lentils. So the people fled from the Philistines. But he stationed himself in the middle of the field, defended it, and killed the Philistines. 
• Abishai the brother of Joab, the son of Zeruiah. He lifted his spear against three hundred men and killed them.
• Benaiah was the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man from Kabzeel, who had done many deeds. He had killed two lion-like heroes of Moab. He also had gone down and killed a lion in the midst of a pit on a snowy day.
• Asahel the brother of Joab was one of the thirty; also Elhanan the son of Dodo of Bethlehem, Shammah the Harodite, Elika the Harodite...
• 37 might men in total

Today's Mighty Man of Valor does not take a sword out and start hacking up the enemy. He doesn't look like a viking. The Apostle Paul said that now "our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God". Today's mighty man must train, work, and struggle against the same type of giants but the battle is not in the world but in the prayer closet.

Here is what a modern Mighty Man looks like:

1. Is on call at all hours to pray against sickness, disease, and accidents. 
2. Prays for his family, church and city everyday. He takes this call seriously. 
3. Doesn't just sit on a couch eating chips but fasts food on a regular basis, as Isaiah 58 says, to set the captives free. Free from addictions, sickness, craziness, strongholds.
4. Makes every prayer meeting possible. Prayer is the new warfare. 
5. Prepares to battle by studying the bible. 
6. Takes his call seriously and spends time learning about spiritual warfare. 
7. Gets involved in ministry to the church and city. 
8. Turns off the television and leads his family in devotionals.
9. Teaches his children about integrity, character and other biblical basics.
10. Knows more about God than sports, stocks and cars. 

 What the church needs today are men who take their call seriously and recognize that God has called them to be warriors. Working out at the gym has temporary value but working out your salvation with fear and trembling in the prayer closet has eternal value. My prayer today is that God grabs the hearts of more men and they see what He has designed them to be!

Train yourself to be godly. “Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come.” This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it. This is why we work hard and continue to struggle, for our hope is in the living God. I Timothy 4:7

Google Calendar

Even though the "40 days" is over we continue to pray for our city and county. We have published a 365 day calendar that can be found on our website link to calendar. Tomorrow we will be praying for Loaves and Fishes soup kitchen. I hope you print the calendar out, put it on your refrigerator or mirror and then pray over our prayer targest every day. The 365 calendar is not finished so there is still room for you to send me your thoughts and ideas. Send to joe.miller@prayforpensacola.com 

I recently had the opportunity to blog at Brake 5 and also at Commit 2 Pray I wrote about the importance of putting targets on our prayers. This calendar is a great example of what that means. We take our collective prayers and focus on a very specific target. We then must expect God to work. He tells us to ask Him for a reason. (read the blog for more info) I was in Publix Grocery the other day and a person I know told me that the spirit of Pensacola has changed in the past few years and they believed that our "40 days" had a lot to do with that. I can assure you the conversation was very uplifting. As intercessors, we need to continue to pray over each and every area of our city. 

Breaking News! "Florida for Life Act"

Today I found out that Sen. Greg Evers introduced the "Florida for Life Act" as SB 1056. This is a remarkable event. In order to get a bill made into law both the house and senate have to pass a bill, agree to synchronize them into one law and then get the Governor to sign. There is a Representative named Charles Van Zant that has been bringing this bill to the house for the past few year but never able to find a Senator willing to bring it on the Senate side. So accordingly, I am very happy that the Senator has decided to make this happen. During our recent "40 days to pray and fast for Pensacola", the Senator and his wife signed up to fast and pray for our city. I am thankful for political leaders that put God first. Link to Senate Bill On the house side our local guys Clay Ingram, Doug Broxson, and Don Gaetz all have signed onto the HB 395 Link to House Bill I find this all to be very exciting and answer to prayer. It is now up to the various committees and the House and Senate leadership to decide if these bills will proceed. We must keep praying.

To change our state we must pray on three fronts. 1. Legislative 2. cultural 3. spiritual

1. Legislative. Laws must be conducive to righteousness and God's word. Legalized killing of babies, legalized drugs, legalized promiscuity are all areas that are in conflict right now. Creating laws that promote righteousness will not keep people from pursuing sin but it is the first step in protecting our nation. 
2. Cultural. We live in a culture that loves unrighteousness. We pursue sex, drugs and rock and roll. We must pray that pop culture and the objects of our affection will not be this crazy world but God and His kingdom. Getting more families saved into church will do more to end abortion than any other action. We must pray that our culture moves away from glamorizing crazy behavior to placing value on integrity, character and common sense. 
3. Spiritual Warfare. Thankfully the amount of abortions in Pensacola has dropped 38% in the past six years. This is a direct result of praying against the spirit of murder and abortion. We must remember that "we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against ... spiritual forces of evil." Ephesians 6:12 Abortion, at the root, is a spiritual problem. It is the killing of a human life. 

Here is the litmus test:  Jesus is the "way, truth and life" (John 14:6) yet the devil came to "steal, kill and destroy"  (John 10:10) 

"40 days" has ended.

Last night was our final prayer meeting for the "40days" of prayer and fasting for Pensacola. I would like to thank everyone that participated by either praying our calendar or by fasting. I know that God will continue to protect our city and continue to bless our city. The word that keeps coming to mind as we have been praying for the city is "intimacy". I feel very strongly that God will become more intimate with our city and more intimate with us as his people. Do not be surprised if you begin to hear His voice in a new way. Do not be surprised if God wakes you up early or even in the middle of the night to spend time with Him. 2013 will be a good year.

Aaron Brewer praying over the leaders in attendance.

Praying against child Illiteracy today

Today our prayer target is child illiteracy. This is a post from last year. We continue to pray that these stats change. This is a key to breaking the cycle of poverty in our county. It must be taken seriously. Here are some facts

• 85 percent of all juveniles who interface with the juvenile court system are functionally illiterate.

• More than 60 percent of all prison inmates are functionally illiterate.

• Literacy is learned. Illiteracy is passed along by parents who cannot read or write.

• One child in four grows up not knowing how to read.

• 43% of adults at Level 1 literacy skills live in poverty compared to only 4% of those at Level 5

• 3 out of 4 food stamp recipients perform in the lowest 2 literacy levels

• 90% of welfare recipients are high school dropouts

• 16 to 19 year old girls at the poverty level and below, with below average skills, are 6 times more likely to have out-of-wedlock children than their reading counterparts.

When we talk about breaking strongholds that hold our city back this is a fundamental stronghold in our community. Malcolm Thomas, our school superintendent has specifically stated to us that it is a problem when 1st and 2nd graders in our community are not reading at grade level. Once a child is behind in reading they suffer every year. They never catch up. Functional illiteracy is when you don't read at your proper grade level. If kids continue to struggle up to high school they will eventually drop out. Did you know that the graduation rate in Escambia county is about 74%? That means 1 in 4 kids in Escambia County will not graduate traditional high school. This is appalling and a huge reason that our community struggles with poverty. It takes a village to raise a child.

38% decline in abortions in Pensacola

The following is a re-post from 40daysforlifepensacola.com We continue to see the demand for abortions decrease in Pensacola. Our prayers and our times of fasting will continue to stand in the gap for the unborn. One day Pensacola will be an abortion-free city. It will happen as we continue to pray for the moms and dads. 

...Today, we begin our 10th 40 Days for Life campaign in Pensacola.  Yesterday, I received the latest abortion numbers for Escambia County. The number of abortions continue to decline. For 2012, 1645 abortions were performed. This is down from the 2659 abortions in 2006, the year before the start of our first 40 Days for Life campaign in Pensacola. Through your faithful witness, prayer, fasting, and the grace of God, we have observed a 38% drop in the number of abortions in Pensacola since the start of 40 Days for Life. Praise be to God!

Please go to our vigil calendar today to sign up to pray. We need you to pray from 6 AM until 6 PM the next 40 Days (February 13 – March 24). link to schedule

A dad's top ten list

As we pray for families today I was thinking about my role as a father and put together this short list of things I consider important for a father to do. This is not a theological statement just a idea of how I see my role and what I would say to a new father if I was asked for advice. But I do believe we need to be praying for the younger families and younger fathers. 

1. Love Mom everyday and allow the kids to see affection. Children will find security from the love of the parents. Fighting parents will create insecurity. Divorce is the greatest tool to destroy a child’s destiny. (divorced and single fathers must still exhibit love to parents, friends, pastors, and community)
2. Pray every day for the children. A father must lay hands on his children Every night. A father must pray for them and seek protection from crazy people, safety from injuries and accidents. A father must seek health from disease and cancer. Pray for God’s angels to stand around the house and keep them safe. Pray 365.  
3. Seek God’s purpose on behalf of your children. A father must contend for the fulfillment of purpose and the direction for a child’s life, especially in the early years of a child’s life.
4. Fast weekly for the children. If you have never fasted for your children then you really have no flesh in the game! It takes great personal sacrifice to push back the works of the enemy.
5. Quality time must be spent with the kids. Each of them must know that they are the most special.
6. Take the children to church and be involved. Let the kids be a part of your involvement. Don’t come late and don’t leave early. Kids must learn that church is home.
7. Dads need to stay in the presence of God. They need to be able to cry and be overwhelmed in God’s presence. Furthermore, Dads must keep their children in the presence. Take them to weekly prayer meetings. Take them to special church meetings and all night Holy Ghost meetings. Not enough can be said for allowing children to be saturated with the presence of God. 
8. Get a job. Make enough money to pay the bills, buy the food, support God's kingdom and take vacations.
9. Be balanced. All areas of your life must be balanced. If you spend too much time at work your family will be affected. If you don’t spend enough time at work your family will be affected. Find God’s balance for your life.
10. Remember that God loves your kids more than you do. Find peace in the knowledge that He wants the best for them. 

Praying for Strong Families

Statistics are great measuring tools to help us understand family problems. Unfortunately no one has the answer to fix these problems except God. A government program will not fix family and father issues. We must learn love from the Father. So today we pray that families would be strong in Pensacola. We pray that fathers and mothers would fall in love more and more every day. We pray that the following statistics would not be applicable to our city. We pray that God turns the hearts of the fathers to their children.

The following is taken from the National Fatherhood Initiative website:

1. 24 million children (34 percent) live absent their biological father.
   
2. Nearly 20 million children (27 percent) live in single-parent homes.
3. 1.35 million births (33 percent of all births) in 2000 occurred out of wedlock.
4. 43 percent of first marriages dissolve within fifteen years; about 60 percent of divorcing couples have children; and approximately one million children each year experience the divorce of their parents.
5. Over 3.3 million children live with an unmarried parent and the parent's cohabiting partner. The number of cohabiting couples with children has nearly doubled since 1990, from 891,000 to 1.7 million today.
6. Fathers who live with their children are more likely to have a close, enduring relationship with their children than those who do not. The best predictor of father presence is marital status. Compared to children born within marriage, children born to cohabiting parents are three times as likely to experience father absence, and children born to unmarried, non-cohabiting parents are four times as likely to live in a father-absent home.
7. About 40 percent of children in father-absent homes have not seen their father at all during the past year; 26 percent of absent fathers live in a different state than their children; and 50 percent of children living absent their father have never set foot in their father's home.
8. Children who live absent their biological fathers are, on average, at least two to three times more likely to be poor, to use drugs, to experience educational, health, emotional and behavioral problems, to be victims of child abuse, and to engage in criminal behavior than their peers who live with their married, biological (or adoptive) parents.
9. From 1960 to 1995, the proportion of children living in single-parent homes tripled, from 9 percent to 27 percent, and the proportion of children living with married parents declined. However, from 1995 to 2000, the proportion of children living in single-parent homes slightly declined, while the proportion of children living with two married parents remained stable.
10. Children with involved, loving fathers are significantly more likely to do well in school, have healthy self-esteem, exhibit empathy and pro-social behavior, and avoid high-risk behaviors such as drug use, truancy, and criminal activity compared to children who have uninvolved fathers.

Breaking Violence

Today we are praying to break the stronghold of violence in our city. Per capita, we have a higher murder rate than New York City. That is an unacceptable statistic. Please pray for God to protect our city. A special shout-out to Dr. Janice Crenshaw and Bishop Crenshaw from New Life Christian Fellowship. They have taken it upon themselves to rally the Christians from Pensacola to pray in thier neighborhoods twice a month. The purpose of thier gatherings is to combat the spirit of violence. If you are interested in joining them just message me. I believe they meet the 1st and 3rd Saturday of every month at 7am. The picture below is from the last meeting they had just last Saturday. They meet in different parts of the city every time. 

For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. Eph 6:12