After reading Understanding the Old Deacons’ Prayer I’m reminded how the Lord our God loves immensely! It truly is a wonderful feeling to know that we have been promised continuous compassion and contentment. Moreover, He wants us to continuously speak out about the holiness and contentment in prayer. As we all know, prayer moves God, and it is through prayer that God’s promises are manifested and His Will accomplished. Metaphorically, just as the liver is essential to life, so is the action of prayer. Prayer is needed for us to weather the storms of life, and its essential to “ready, refine, and release” our spirits to create an eagerness to live for God. It’s my hope you can agree, we first should “ready” ourselves by creating a praying habit. The Apostle Paul spoke of this in 1 Thessalonians 5:17, “Pray continually.” Next we should “refine” ourselves with a conscious act of detachment from sinful habits, guilt, and worldly contamination. God’s promise of refinement was shared with us in Zechariah 13:9, “. . . I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on my name and I will answer them; I will say ‘They are my people,’ and they will say, ‘The Lord is our God.” Finally we should “release” our hearts from oppression and receive an appetite for prayer so the “Lord can prop us up,” and use us to help heal the brokenhearted and proclaim freedom for the captives making this a year of the Lord’s favor. The Word of God shares this with us in Isaiah 61:1, “. . . He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners.” I’m prayerful that the challenges of 2007 have put you on fire to receive God’s blessings and promises of 2008 and, most importantly, encourage you to share the GOODNESS of God throughout the coming year. STAND in FAITH and don’t be moved by carnal thinking or negative influences. As you know, it is the carnal mind that gets in the way of spiritual growth and God’s promises. However, we PRAISE God for the action of prayer and the way He uses it to encourage us back to a point of renewal. As we have heard, “Troubles don’t last always” when you trust in our Heavenly Father, Jehovah Jireh – HALLELUJAH, Saints. Be blessed and keep your heart open to receive God’s Will.