I received a prayer by Tom Victor for the Gulf Coast region.  If you are compelled pray this for our coastal communities.

Call to Urgent, United Prayer for Gustav:

Please join with us in faith as we unite our hearts in prayer. For those in the Gulf Area, you are encouraged to point your hands towards Gustav and pray the following:

The Prayer:

Father, we acknowledge you as Lord over the United States.

You reign above all gods. All power belongs to You.

We thank You for your continual protection and provision.

Using the authority given to us in the Name of Jesus, we speak to Hurricane Gustav and we command the winds and the storm to dissipate.

We ask for the peace of God to still Hurricane Gustav, and we declare that Gustav will not bring harm or destruction to New Orleans, Houston or the surrounding coastal areas.

We also speak to Hanna and the storms lining up following Gustav. We declare peace to these storms and we command them to dissipate and to do no harm.

Lord, we ask You to touch the heart of every believer in this area to pray against this hurricane. Raise up a Spirit of prayer and empower your people to pray effectively.

Father, please forgive our many sins. Please forgive our disobedience, rebellion, unbelief, and any forms of idolatry. Lord, help us to be a nation that is kind and forgiving to others.

Have mercy upon us. Lord, help us to overcome our temptations as a nation, and please deliver us from this impending destruction. We ask You to destroy every satanic assignment against our nation during this season.

Father, in Your great love and compassion we also ask you to protect the peoples of the islands in the path of Gustav, Hanna and these weather system.

Now to the King Eternal, Immortal, Invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. We ask this in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Thanks for praying,

Tom Victor

 

Everyone on the coast is nervously waiting.  Our trip to Houston wasn’t bad at all.  We took the less used route and there was little traffic.  County authorities have called a mandatory evacuation for tomorrow morning so there will be no services tomorrow.  As most of our people have already dispersed, we anxiously wait.  There is nothing like being hundreds of miles from home and watching the potential of a category 4 hitting your city.  There is a grip of fear in many hearts as we just wait and see.  The predictions show it hitting east of us, but it can waver.  There is nothing sure in this hurricane watching game.  We pray for protection on all communities that are still in the path of Gustav.  We should also be praying for Haiti, Jamaica and Cuba who have suffered immense devastation from this storm.  Tomorrow is Sunday, there is a sense of loneliness knowing that all of our friends from church are in different parts of the Southern US.  God be with us all!

Again, if you need links to vital hurricane information, click here.

It looks like we will be evacuating.  Sonya and I are leaving for Houston in a few minutes.  For those of you who have a cell phone, I will be checking on you in the next couple of days.  Our prayers are that this storm dissolves and that it misses any more land. 

Here are  couple of links for you to check on the weather and area news:

Ira’s Beaumont Weather Page:  Great info

National Hurricane Center

Jefferson County Info: Press Releases

The Weather Channel

Channel Six KFDM

Channel 12 KBMT  

Channel 4   

We love all of you and hopefully we will see you Wednesday night.

Hurricane predictions can unsettle your nerves weeks before it even hits.   Every weather report is different and they often give you the worse case scenario to make you scared enough to evacuate.  In a nutshell, TS Gustav is head somewhere to the Gulf Coast.  I have been watching the Hurricane Center reports every three hours to make sure we are out of its path.  I have been noticing that its path is inching its way west.  The predictions keep moving closer and closer to the Golden Triangle.  It is par for the course.  Any time I have vacation scheduled, we are waiting for a storm.  I need to start taking vacations in January, but then we would probably have an unprecedented blizzard in Southeast Texas:)  We will keep watching this.  If we must evacuate, we will not be having services Sunday to allow you to make your way out of town.  If you will miss my preaching, take a sermon cd to listen to while you drive:) (Just kidding!)

On another note: it has been a great conference here in Katy.  Larry Stockstill is calling for a remnant of pastors to stand firm and be men and women of God.  Yesterday dealt mostly with the baggage we have as pastors.  He also spent time talking about returning integrity to ministry.  In America, pastors should be examples of holiness not conforming to the world.  There was also a great session by Gary McIntosh about Resolving Unforgiveness in your life.  I took notes that I will share them at some later time.  It was powerful!

This morning, we will be talking about multiplication.  About building a biblical church.  It should be good.

I am leaving in just a few minutes to head to Houston for a Pastor’s Conferencewith Larry Stockstill.  Larry Stockstill is the senior pastor of Bethany World Prayer Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.  I am looking forward to a time of refreshing and training.  It is always good for pastors to get away and glean from others who are doing great things for the kingdom of God.

On another note: we are watching Hurricane Gustav.  We are not sure yet where it is going but it could come here.  We are praying that it would weaken and dissolve before it makes landfall.  If it is headed this way we will have to evacuate by Saturday.  Hurricane Season is always exciting!  There is another storm in the tropics that will be named after our daughter, Hannah.  It seems fitting.  Hannah is sometimes like a little hurricane or should I say whirlwind:)  Please pray for those affected already by Hurricane Gustav and pray for the storm to weaken and go away.

At the Cheney household we have been working to get into better shape.  There is something about having a two year old later in life that let’s you know that you need to whip into shape.

We have been walking and jogging faithfully now for about a month. So we decided to dust off the bikes and start biking too.  My bike needed a new tube, so I replaced it and we went for a ride.  The next day we went out and the other tire was flat so I replaced that tube.  I was feeling good thinking it was like a brand new bike until Josh and Sonya went on a bike ride.  Josh comes home looking whipped because he had to walk the bike home.  He ran over something and the tire is flat again.  I just changed the tube and now it is flat again.

Life is often like that.  One minute we are pumped up and the next minute we are flat again.  The Christian life sometimes has it’s ups and downs.  We go through life and there are things that trip us up or deflate us.  In times like that, we have to learn to trust the Lord.  We have to lean on Him.  Disappointments come.  Sickness…financial hardships…marriage problems…wayward children.  All these things can cause us to get down.  We must stand strong and keep the faith, no matter what.  The Apostle Paul said, “Having done all to stand, stand therefore.”  Keep standing!

Hannah came by the office today and showed her secretary skills.  She was busy on the phone, talking away, although we do not know what she said.  I have a great secretary now, but perhaps in the future, Hannah will work for me:)

 

 

 

 

 

 

We should, however, beware of conceiving of worship as being confined solely to the realm of thought, for in Scripture it is linked with service.  “You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only,” were our Lord’s words to Satan (Matthew 4:10). We should not separate what God has joined.  Worship is no substitute for service, nor is service substitute for worship.  But true worship must always be expressed in loving service.
-J. Oswald Sanders,Enjoying Intimacy With God