20 quotes on prayer

"Our prayers may be awkward. Our attempts may be feeble. But since the power of prayer is in the one who hears it and not in the one who says it, our prayers do make a difference." - Max Lucado

“To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing.” – Martin Luther

"True prayer is a way of life, not just for use in cases of emergency. Make it a habit, and when the need arises you will be in practice." - Billy Graham

“A day without prayer is a day without blessing, and a life without prayer is a life without power.” – Edwin Harvey

“True prayer is neither a mere mental exercise nor a vocal performance. It is far deeper than that – it is a spiritual transaction with the Creator of Heaven and Earth.” – Charles Spurgeon

“I pray, not wish because I have God, not a genie.”

"She (my mother) became a warrior far superior to any epic hero. She became a giant on her knees. With a sword in one hand she battled the enemies of death and disease, and with her other hand stretched toward heaven she kept beseeching God’s help and His mercy." - Bishop T.D. Jakes 

The value of persistent prayer is not that He will hear us but that we will finally hear Him. — William McGill.

“Prayer makes a godly man, and puts within him the mind of Christ, the mind of humility, of self-surrender, of service, of pity, and of prayer. If we really pray, we will become more like God, or else we will quit praying.” – E.M. Bounds

"Prayer lays hold of God's plan and becomes the link between his will and its accomplishment on earth. Amazing things happen, and we are given the privilege of being the channels of the Holy Spirit's prayer." - Elisabeth Elliot

“It is possible to move men, through God, by prayer alone.” – Hudson Taylor

"Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire?" - Corrie ten Boom

“To desire revival… and at the same time to neglect (personal) prayer and devotion is to wish one way and walk another.” – A.W. Tozer

“Pray hardest when it’s hardest to pray.”

"If your day is hemmed in with prayer, it is less likely to come unraveled." - Cynthia Lewis

“I saw more clearly than ever, that the first great and primary business to which I ought to attend every day was, to have my soul happy in the Lord.” – George Mueller

"We are to pray in times of adversity, lest we become faithless and unbelieving. We are to pray in times of prosperity, lest we become boastful and proud. We are to pray in times of danger, lest we become fearful and doubting. We are to pray in times of security, lest we become self-sufficient." - Billy Graham

“Prayer is the open admission that without Christ we can do nothing. And prayer is the turning away from ourselves to God in the confidence that He will provide the help we need. Prayer humbles us as needy and exalts God as wealthy.” John Piper

“No one has failed who keeps trying and keeps praying.”

“God does nothing but by prayer, and everything with it.” – John Wesley

Stories of Answered Prayer

In a few days our church will begin 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting. Like most churches we believe there is power in submitting to God through prayer. In my life prayer can be hard because I love doing. Prayer seems counterintuitive. Prayer is the refusal to do, move, go and achieve. It’s the quiet surrender of our most valued resource: time.

Augustine said it well: Pray as though everything depended on God; work as though everything depended on you. -

I’d like to encourage you with 3 stories of answered prayer in my own personal life. I’ll keep to brief, but these were huge answers to big problems in my life.

God I am broke, but I trust You

I was 23 years old. My wife and I were newlyweds struggling to make ends meet. I had 3 jobs. Two were blue collar hourly wage jobs and one was my job at the church plant we were helping. My focus and passion was church ministry. However, I had bills to pay. Many nights I would work at one job until 3am, only to head to the next job at 5am. It wasn’t sustainable. I began praying about quitting one of my jobs. I knew that ministry was my calling. Between the other 2 jobs there was a huge difference in pay. The night job (7pm-3am) paid $14/hr but the early morning job (5am-10am) only paid $10/hr. I prayed and prayed and determined to trust God. My goal wasn’t to just quit and be lazy. I’d be committing more time to the new church I was working at. I gave my notice at the night job. I felt sure i was making a huge financial mistake. A few days later I was called into the terminal manager’s office at my morning job. He explained corporate had decided to give everyone in my department a 40% raise. I knew in that moment I could trust God. My pay at the morning job was now the same as the evening job. What’s more I became eligible for some of the best benefits on the planet regardless of how many hours I worked. God is so good. I kept that job for 15 years. I only recently left to spend more time with our son (more on that later).

God we have no options. It’s Your problem now

I was 30 years old. We were in the early stages of planning and launching Restore Church. This was before our public launch, before we had a staff, before we had a building. Restore was an idea at best. At this point Casie and I had gathered a launch team to start the church. A few dozen friends and family had committed to help us start a church from scratch. It’s basically a wild idea now that I’m typing it. Anyway the launch team was forming. We were gathering weekly to pray, plan and prepare for this new church. It was fall and our cookouts were getting chilly. We had run out of room in my home so we met at a few local spots in town. Then we lost those spots. Some closed, others were closed to us. I had a team that needed to meet, but nowhere to meet. I remember walking in my yard and having a nervous break down. I prayed and told God “If You want a church here it’s Your problem to solve. I can’t solve this.” A few hours later a local pastor I’d never met reached out to me on Twitter. He explained he felt moved to offer me the use of his building until we launched the church. As we stared at each other across our coffees I explained our situation. He said “God wants this church to start. He’s got a solution. That’s why I’m here.” The rest is history. We met at Forward Church pre-launch, launched in the Sports Hall and grew, then bought our facility in 2017. Every. Single. Step. Required dependence upon God. He always came through.

Some people don’t get their miracle baby

I was 34 years old. At this point many of our church people knew that Casie and I desired to have children, but the path had been hard. We had seen God move and there were miracle babies in our church on Port Centre Pkwy, but not in our home on Tyler Crescent.

Through the years we’d tried everything. First it was drugs and treatments. Then surgery. Finally we were attempting multiple rounds of IVF. If you don’t know what IVF is it’s a very expensive option of last resort for couples who can’t conceive. I cried the first time it failed. I was numb by the 2nd round of IVF. When the 3rd round failed our doctors told us it was time to accept that we could never have children. I wish I prayed, but at that point I was too angry to talk to God. I just mourned and moved on. My wife and our friends kept praying.

One day Kevin told me he’d been praying. I was tired of hearing people feel sorry for us. I explained that we weren’t the only couple without kids. I even mentioned a couple that to this day can conceive. I said “I’m ok. People just need to accept that not everyone gets their miracle baby.” Poor Kevin. How can you respond to that. He wasn’t alone though. My wife, our parents and many others kept praying.

In 2020 when the world came to a screeching halt my wife went to her doctor for an exam. They noticed some abnormalities and ask if she would take a pregnancy test. Casie laughed and shared why we couldn’t have kids. The doctor acknowledged, but said it would just help them rule out bigger tests if they could have her take a pregnancy test. They made her take 2. They said it was because the first didn't read. The real reason was they didn’t want her to get excited for a false positive. The nurse showed her both positive tests and said bloodwork confirmed the good news. Seven months later our son was born happy and healthy. He is a miracle that we can’t explain. Our fertility doctors can’t explain it either. God is good.

What’s your story? Do you have answered prayer you’d be willing to share? Let us know in the comments.

Have a prayer request? Let us know here

Trusting God in an evil world

Our series through the book of Habakkuk walks us through a familiar scenario. The people of God are not only surrounded by wickedness, they’re embracing wicked behavior (sacrificing babies to false gods). We find a prophet calling out to God and asking if He cares or sees. Habakkuk can’t believe God would watch this without judgment.

Habakkuk asks God:

Where are You?

Do You see all this wickedness?

How long will we wait for justice?

God responds:

I am doing more than you would believe.

I’m raising up Babylon to judge Judah.

In our week one message, Pastor Marc wrestles with this tension. Watch below.

Hearing this Habakkuk is angered and perplexed. He begins to question God. Isn’t it encouraging to see that we aren’t alone in our struggle to understand God. Habakkuk moves from “God do something!” to “God don’t do it that way!” How quick we are to tell God how and what we think He should do.

Habakkuk says to God:

We are bad, but Babylon is worse.

How could you use them to judge us?

How long will you allow them to judge us and harm others?

In week 2 Pastor Marc focuses on 3 common responses to God’s judgment. Watch below:

HOW TO HONOR OUR PARENTS

On Mother’s Day Pastor Marc delivered a message on honoring our parents. You can watch the message here.

Below is an overview of his main ideas:

Western Society is weird. We honor youth and beauty, but not age and wisdom. African, Middle-Eastern and Asian cultures value and honor age and wisdom. The elderly are not just respected, they’re honored. The church should be full of honor for parents and grandparents.

Before we begin I love this statement from a christian blogger relating to honor:

The word “honor” does not mean that we tolerate abuse and obey our parents like mindless robots. It does not mean we have to love parents who chose to abandon, reject, or harm us. The original Hebrew word kābēd used for the word for honor has many meanings according to the New Interpreter’s Bible, including to "be heavy.” This definition can be interpreted as “giving weight to” or seriously considering a relationship. It does not suggest being subordinate or obedient to parents who harm us.

Honoring our parents is a bliblcal command.

Exodus 20:12 commands it. Deuteronomy 5:16 Reiterates it. In Ephesians 6:1-4 Paul reminds us it’s a command with a promise “that your life may be long.”

Another reason God expects us to honor parents is because God identifies as a parent to the orphan, caretaker for the widow and provider for the refugee in passages like Deuteronomy 10:18, Psalm 68:5 and Psalm 146:9.

God also gives us specific instruction how to honor our parents. In Proverbs 23:22-25 we see that we are to listen (even if we don’t agree), spend time with them and be diligent to observe the teaching and truth they offered. Allow them to rejoice. Enjoy when they take pride in your accomplishments (however small your accomplishments may seem to you).

Then Jesus Himself illustrates perfect honor when He cares for Mary at His death. In John 19:25-30 we find Jesus speaking on the cross. He made 7 famous statements as He died. When HE spoke He fulfilled prophecy, offered mercy to His persecutors and cried out to God. But in the middle He tells John to care for His mother Mary. She’s likely a widow by now (Joseph was older than Mary). John is a wealthy follower of Jesus and a close friend. Jesus is paying for the sins of the world, but He’s not too busy to make sure His mom is cared for. From that day on John took Mary home and cared for her as his own mother.

In 1 Timothy 5:1-8 Paul instructs the church that caring for aging parents is a familial responsibility. He says anyone who won’t provide for their family is worse than an unbeliever. His instructions concerning widows make clear the church will step up, but only if there’s no family to provide care and relief.

Practically speaking:

We honor people with our words

We honor people with our actions

We honor people with our time

Spiritually speaking:

We honor our parents by praying for them

We honor our parents by providing for them

We honor our parents by facing and dealing with pain they cause (don’t ignore it and repeat it).

We honor our parents by forgiving them.

Restore Toddler

Good Morning!!!

Let’s sing and praise the Lord together!

What an exciting day it is! Jesus lives!

  1. Hey kiddos who went to the tomb?

  2. What was missing?

  3. Is it true our sins can be forgiven?

    Make sure you pay attention to the video to get the answers! 

Memory Verse:

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Review and Discussion

Have a beautiful Easter with your family! Don’t forget to take pics of your family worshiping together and upload to the FaceBook Group or on the FaceBook livestream.

Blessings,

Toddler Team