One of the things that God's Word reminds us about over and over again is that we need to make praising God something that we do often. I am currently reading through the Psalms and being reminded daily how awesome our God is and just how worthy He is of our praise.
Psalm 113:1-3- Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord, you his servants; praise the name of the Lord. Let the name of the Lord be praised, both now and forevermore. From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the Lord is to be praised.
Psalm 117:1-2- Praise the Lord, all nations! Extol him, all peoples! For great is his steadfast love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord!
Psalm 150:1-6- Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens! Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness! Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp! Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe! Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals! Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!
I have two praises that have stuck out to me this week:
1. We just celebrated our 12th anniversary of the first Saints Prison Ministry Illinois softball game on July 14th. Our team has gone through some ups and downs but God is to be praised for the way He has allowed our team to continue to serve Him. He has been so faithful to our team over the years.
2. Tomorrow's trip to FCI Pekin wasn't anywhere on our radar until a couple of weeks ago. Praise God for opening up a door for us to go through tomorrow! Sometimes I'm still guilty of taking that for granted but God in His sovereignty provided this for us. I could write another blog post talking about how hard it is to get scheduled in a federal prison but God provided this opportunity for us to go!
Tomorrow, our Saints Prison Ministry Illinois softball team heads to FCI Pekin. This will be our first trip to FCI Pekin since August of 2014.
Please pray for our team as we make a much shorter drive to Pekin, play softball, and share the Gospel!
Our day will only be an afternoon session so in addition to the short drive, we will also get a normal night of sleep!
Robert Cook will be sharing his testimony and I will be sharing the Gospel during the ministry time.
Pray that God draws the men we see tomorrow to Himself! Please pray that the prison has no staffing issues and we are still allowed to go.
I am really looking forward to writing about how the day goes tomorrow and how worthy God is of our praise!
PRAISES
- Our team just visited Taylorville CC
- We won four games, handed out around 200 Gospels of John, and saw 21 men indicate that they made a profession of faith.
- Tomorrow marks the halfway point in our season. We still have four more dates left this summer.
- We have met our needed financial goal for our Illinois team.
- I just wrapped up my physical therapy for my Achilles tendon injury. I will be playing tomorrow with no restrictions.
- The Colorado Crusade next month is coming together. We have a really good team assembled and I am looking forward to ministering with them all!
PRAYER REQUESTS:
- Pray for the 21 men who made decisions to follow the Lord at Taylorville CC.
- Please continue to pray that we are still able to get into each facility despite staffing issues at the prisons.
- Pray for the hearts of the inmates we will see this summer. Pray that God draws their hearts to Himself.
- Pray for the hearts of our own missionary athletes and that we are bold in our prayer lives and bold sharing the Gospel this summer.
- I'm in the process of becoming an elder at my church and the church is voting on this on August 4th. Please pray for wisdom for the congregation and myself as we go through this process.
