Prayer Box Outreach

One way we can reach out to those in our
communities is to provide prayer boxes. 

Watch The Video at the end of this post

A few months ago I got an idea to make Prayer Boxes and place them in our apartment complex laundry rooms. We have around 4 laundry rooms on our 500 acres apartment complex. We have around 2,000 apartments here. Its like a city within a city. Times 2,000 by at least 2 people living in each apartment and that’s 4,000 people right here where we live. But I know that’s not an accurate number because some apartments have 3, 4, 5 people living in them … so just imagine how many people are here.

I started out with ONE prayer box and I placed it in ONE laundry room. After a week I had 15 prayer requests. It may not sound like “many” … I know Americans are so caught up in numbers, especially in the Church, BUT that is 15 people that were willing to trust strangers with the things that are going on in their lives. Most of them gave their names. That is 15 people that we can LIFT UP to our Lord who are hurting … and many are hurting as per their prayer requests.

BUT it didn’t stop there …. I placed out 2 more boxes. In 2 weeks time, we had around 40 prayer requests. Praise God! That’s 40 more on top of the 15 we had 2 weeks before that. So that was 55 people that are looking for answers to the hurts and situations that they are going through. many are hurting, and many are looking for answer’s. And praying for them could be the beginning of God revealing Himself to these hurting people.

Now I have something to share with you. After about another week and a half, I went to go check on my prayer boxes. I went to one laundry room and the prayer box was MISSING! So I went to the other locations and all the others were missing also. I checked the garbage, I looked around and they were gone! I even asked security that drives around if there is a policy about me leaving prayer boxes in the laundry rooms and he said NO. The only thing I could guess is that we have God haters in our complex who threw the boxes out. BUT that isn’t gonna stop me …. I just made some new boxes and I am on my way to start putting out new Prayer Boxes. And if they throw those out ….. I am gonna make some more and if they throw those out …. I’m gonna make some more I won’t stop because I know that there are people out there who are hurting and we NEED to LIFT then UP in Prayer. And its gonna be a great way to open up some doors to meet them face to face and be able to share Christ!!

So join me in starting your own PRAYER BOX OUTREACH today. Its a great simple way to reach out and meet the needs and BUILD UP those in YOUR community.

These boxes are NOT hard to make. Watch this Video:

Do you plan on doing a Prayer Box Outreach?
Share with us if your gonna be doing this.
Share with us your Finished Prayer Boxes and the stories of how you started a Prayer Box Outreach 

Prayer Walkin

Prayer Walkin …. This is something that I love to do. I have been doing this for many many years. Since I always loved walking, it was obvious that when I became a follower of Christ, I would be walking and praying at the same time.

I find that praying (talking) to our Lord while I walk sets the mode as if I was actually walking with a friend (which we are friends of God) and talking with them. And this is exactly what I do when I prayer walk. I am actually walking with Christ as I talk with Him about my day, my week, whats been happening, whats been on my mind, my hurts, my concerns AND I talk with our Lord about others & Pastors who are in need of prayer (I put out prayers boxes in our apartment complex laundry room).

We have a great trail in our apartment complex that I love to spend time on. Its not to long but its a place where I can be alone with the Lord and be in His presence. We also have many lakes that I walk around. We have awesome nature also …. I love to hear the birds sing praises to our Lord as I am walking. Being in nature and outside brings me to such a closeness to our Lord, I feel so much closer to Him outside rather then inside.

Another benefit other then spiritual health …. is also physical health. Getting into a pattern of DAILY Prayer Walking (along with Daily Bible Study) will help you to get rid of stress and those extra pounds. Faith & Health go hand in hand and we should take care of both our spiritual & physical health.

So get out there and spend time with the Lord DAILY so you can build up your relationship with the Lord  &  your physical Health. Pray without ceasing & take care of the Lords temple which is your body.

I’m leaving right now to get my “Prayer Walkin” On!

Add value to this post by adding your comment.

Do you Prayer Walk?
Where do you go?
How has it benefited you? 

Bouncing Back

In the past 7 months, from October 2009 to April 2010 was another extremely hard time for me and now my wife Carmin.

We had made some wrong choices in putting ourselves in the hands of some people we shouldn’t have. Under their counsel for marriage.

I won’t go into detail because I don’t want to bad mouth anyone. (The Lord knows who they are and what they did) But this choice put us in a place where we were torn down by words and the way we were treated.

As your brother in Christ, I want to be transparent and real with you. I am having a hard time letting go with what was done to Carmin and I. And I am still struggling with it. I am working on letting go each day. The things that was said plays over and over in my head and I find myself feeling bitter towards the people who tore us down and controlled us. But every day that passes, I am able to forgive a little more each day and let go and let God, and I know I will be delivered from this hurt that I feel.

We came to Florida feeling excited and ready to be discipled. We had that zeal for the Lord. I even had that zeal when I was homeless in NY. But when we came to Florida and put ourselves in a place where we should of never been, our faith was stripped from us leaving us feel dry in our walk with the Lord. We were torn down instead of built up. This even caused Carmin to break off our marriage engagement.

But, with much prayer, listening and waiting, Carmin and I have been reconciled and are now happily married. We were married on May 15th, 2010. With prayer and listening, we also both heard from the Lord that its time to leave the ministry we had belonged to down here. And we are excited about whats ahead for us.

We both realize that its now time to Bounce Back and get on track with the Lord and get revived and get our zeal back that was taken away from us. I know many of you may be feeling that your dry in your walk, or your off the path in one way or another. But that’s OK, you just need to focus on how much the Lord loves you, forgive those who hurt you and get excited about serving the Lord again.

We all deep down inside know that scripture that says the the Lord will NEVER leave you nor forsake you – Deut 31-8 (NIV). There are MANY scriptures telling us of the Lords Love towards us. We need to concentrate on those scriptures and not respond or react on what “man” has done. I am working on this DAILY!

I know there are so many followers of Christ that have been hurt by man and even yes, the Church. I know I have, many times! But who do we serve, man or Jesus? I serve JESUS!! And I know that you serve Jesus also. We need to focus our eyes and our hearts on Jesus and what HE has called every one of His followers to do and keep moving forward. We all have an assignment that He has given us. If you don’t know what that is yet, don’ fret, HE WILL SHOW YOU!

I know that Bouncing Back is not so easy and it takes much effort to pick our heads up and look up towards the Lord. We tend to look down at the ground and carry that pain, that hurt, that sadness. But if we don’t make that effort to lift our heads up and encourage ourselves in the Lord, the enemy will ruin us, he will have a foothold, a doorway to tare us apart. The enemy loves to attack when we are down and have the chains on that keep you from doing God’s will in your life. He will kick us more when we are down, he will take advantage of us while we are down. But Don’t let him attack you, GET UP QUICKLY – Acts 12:7 – And behold, an angel of the Lord stood next to him, and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him, saying, “Get up quickly.” And the chains fell off his hands. (ESV)

When you stay in bitterness, worrying, sadness, fear, etc, the people that would be blessed by what you have to offer will be robbed of that blessing that was for them through YOU. – Proverbs 14:10 -The heart knows its own bitterness and no stranger shares its joy. (ESV) You won’t be able to go forth and do Gods work that He has for you. And that’s what the enemy wants.

Carmin and I are being attacked everyday as we are lifting our heads up and moving forward to the call that HE has called us to do. The more we move forward the more he attacks. The enemy hates when we don’t fall for his schemes, when we carry on and fight the good fight -1 Timothy 6:12 – Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.(ESV)

In your time of circumstances, go to HIM/Jesus and just Praise Him. Don’t ask Him for anything. Just tell Him how much you Love Him, Adore Him, how Thankful you are, how Grateful you are, etc. Do this everyday without asking for anything, and see how things change, see how your head will be lifted up, see how your zeal will come back, see how the Lord Loves the Praises of His people and see how much JOY it brings the Lord. And in return He will bless you for your Praises.  Psalms 106:1 – Praise the Lord! Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. (NKJV)

Don’t let the enemy steal the spring in your step that you once had. Go to the Lord with Praise, Keep your head up, make that effort to move forward and continue to do His will, and He will help you with the process of Bouncing Back! - Phillipians 4:13 – I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

• When I write, I’m not writing at you, I’m writing to you from what the Lord has giving me and what He is dealing with me and teaching me. I write with the hope and prayer that what I write BUILDS YOU UP!

Written By,
Joey Basta
*A Modern Day Knight
*A Servant to the King

Encourage Yourselves In The Lord Our God

Greetings in the Holy name of the Lord Jesus Christ!

I was led by the Lord to write about encouragement.  I was immediately reminded of King David.

The psalms of David have  been and are a great source of encouragement to almost every child of God. Almost anyone can draw a parallel from the life of David to one’s own problems. This great praise leader for God went through so many persecutions in his personal life, from the early days as a shepherd boy to the time when he was crowned as King of Israel.  He was distressed and perplexed and on many occasions literally had to run for his life. He went through a lot of ignonimity in order to save himself, he even had to pose as a mad man before an enemy king.  Yes, he was like one of us and even had more problems than many of us.

We read in the Bible (KJV) 1 Samuel 30:6 “… but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God.”  David, his family and all his followers were living with the Philistines pretending to be hostile at the Israelites under Saul to receive patronage of Achish, the Philistine king. That was tremendously humbling for David. Greater tragedy came later in the form of Amalekites who invaded Ziklag, they smote and burnt the city and took captives, which were the wives and children of David and his men. It is stated that he wept till they had no strength to weep. Also it is written: “And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters…”( 1 Sam.30:6 – KJV)

What would have we done under similar drastic situations? Would we have quarreled with the men (who were the only people who supported/followed) or we may even engage in activities of self-destruction, unable to bear all this ignominy and deserting by friends. In all likeliness many of us may react impulsively, giving place to feelings. That, my brethren will help only to escalate the problem further. But let’s see what the Psalmist David did. He encouraged HIMSELF in the Lord his God.

Wow! and how was that possible?  This was not the first occasion that David ‘encouraged himself in the Lord his God. Even as a young boy tending his sheep in the forest on two occasions he had to face most ferocious wild animals, once a bear and another time a Lion. He did not run away! Instead he was brave and fought and won over them. Again when he was summoned to carry food to his brothers serving the military, this sheperd boy who used to be singing songs and playing liar as the sheep graze, confronted the giant Goliath, the strong-man of the Philistines.  He brought down the 9 foot Goliath in a whimper and beheaded him with the sword taken from Goliath himself.  In all these situations, there was no one to encourage David to do such brave deeds, David encouraged himself. The faith he had on the Lord his God made him such a courageous person and enabled him to face even the worst situation & the toughest problem. That is how he could encourage himself in any circumstance to overcome and remain an encouragement to the body of Christ.

Are you like the Psalmist King David? Or do you find yourself looking around for people to lean upon and hide behind in times of trials? The root cause of David’s courage was his unwavering faith on the Lord God. He said: “I have set the LORD
always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved (Ps.16:8 – KJV).

Is your Faith reinforced upon the Rock of Salvation, Jesus Christ our Lord? If so, you will also be unshaken by turbulence in your life. You won’t fret, whine and complain that there is none to fall back upon, since Jesus will be beside you, always. So let us ask the Father God, to reinforce our Faith, to enhance the limits of our Faith and consecrete us upon that Faith. He is ever willing to grant, if only we ask (John 14:14 – KJV). Let us lift our Faith to great heights, Lord will enable us to do great deeds. Be Encouraged in the Lord, be blessed & be a blessing. Amen.

- Pastor John Paneerselvam

The Care Basket

Have you heard the saying “Don’t cast all your cares in one basket.” Well I don’t agree wit this saying.

In my years as a growing follower of Jesus Christ I have learned to cast ALL my cares upon Jesus.

It wasn’t always like that. In the very beginning when I first repented and was forgiven (Saved) I used to freak out, panic, go into deep depressions, worry, have fear, and so on about many things in my life.

When your in the beginning stages of  learning about something, you don’t have much knowledge of how to fully apply because you don’t fully know.

As the years have gone on, I’ve learned more and more through others sharing their knowledge but most of all through trials and what what the Word of God says on how to cast all my cares (or anxiety) upon Jesus.

At first I when I was young in the Lord, I would pray and give Him my cares and the next day snatch them back from Him. And of course when I snatched them back, those cares would become heavy on ME again. Then I would have the nerve to complain and say ..”why do I still feel worried, depressed….” I thought the Lord would help me. Well helloooo, He can’t work on something in your life if you haven’t left it with Him to work out.

These days I have grown (but still have a long way) and learned that our Faithful Lord takes pleasure in handling our cares.

These scriptures remind us of the Lords care for us:

• Psalm 52:22 – Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall.
• Nahum 1:7 – The LORD is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him.
• 1 Peter 5:7 – Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you

These are just a few of many scriptures that prove our Lords Love and care towards us.

I want to share with you my Brother, my Sister in the Lord about how I have learned to give our Lord my worries, fears, sadness, anxieties, depression, even my visions, goals, hopes and dreams.

When I am praying, I envision a Basket, a spiritual prayer basket (something  like the picture at the beginning of this blog). Then I start to pray the needs, the worries, my visions, etc and place them into the basket. When I am done I close the top and pick it up and walk it over to the foot of the Cross or sometimes to the Lords throne at His feet humbly and place it there. Then I walk back from it and say …….

“Lord I leave these things at your feet so that you may go through them one at a time and do Your Will with them, I  fully and truly trust that you will care for these requests, worries, visions in your time, in the way you feel best.”

Then I start to PRAISE the LORD for WHO HE IS, NOT for what he can give me, do for me, fix for me, heal for me or take away from me. Our Lord is NOT a genie in a bottle where we rub and make wishes.

We need to praise Him and Love Him no matter what our situation. And if we do that, He takes Joy in our praises and I believe He gives us favor for our “Grateful No Matter What Attitude.” It may come right away, or it may take a long time, but remember, EVERYTHING is in His hands and in His timing when we truly leave our cares with Him to sort out as He feels fit.

Put your prayers and cares in your very own spiritual prayer basket and fill it with your concerns, worries, vision, etc. and leave it at His feet and Trust that He knows what to do from there. And you will experience the peace & joy that surpasses ALL understanding. Amen?

- This blog was written by Joey Basta, just an ordinary man following an extraordinary God!

Please leave your comments. I would love to hear what you have to add or say about this blog. Thank you for reading Building Others Up Network!