Prayers for the Week – the Open Door Project

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My friends, thank you for stopping by for our weekly Prayers for the week post!  This post means so much to me and so many others, and I thank you for taking time to pray for these requests, and lift up these praises each and every week.  The power of prayer is incredible, as you will read about in a short while with some of our praises!  However, before we get started, I wanted to talk with you about Open Door Project that I am involved in at the church I attend, Edenton Street UMC.

Edenton Street is a growing church, with many members.  At this point, though, they are investigating whether or not it is God’s will to expand their borders beyond their current location and open up a satellite office.  As part of that campaign, which starts in January, I have been asked to help serve in a prayer capacity — to help organize “Houses of Prayer” within homes of our congregation where we will pray for God’s will to lead us in our project.  In my mind and in the mind of many, it is extremely important that we make sure that any action we take happens because we feel the hand of God leading us in a particular direction — or, perhaps, not leading us in a direction we thought we should pursue.  In this day and age, where the Church as an institution is under what seems to be a relentless attack, and where many churches appear to be falling away from preaching the true Word of God, I see this project as a way to increase one congregation’s ability to pray, and to ask God for the things that we need.  God wants our fellowship; He wants our Love; He wants our Faith; and He wants our devotion to Him.

My prayer to all of you, my dear friends, is that you pray for me, for Edenton Street UMC, and for everyone associated with this project, that we would listen to God’s direction for our church, and that we would not only listen, but that we would act in the way He would have us act.  Thank you, my friends, from the bottom of my heart.  I am honored to call you my friends.  Now, please read these incredible praises and prayer requests, and pray over them, because we have had many of both that need your attention.

Praises!

• My friend Stephanie left this comment last week:Mike, thank you so much for not throwing in the towel! Sometimes the people who think they don’t need prayer are the ones we need to pray for the most. To each his own, as they say…I, for one, know for a fact that prayer works. Just this past week, a very dear friend of our family went to the doctor for what she thought was irritable bowel syndrome. What they found out was that she had colon cancer. Our entire community gathered around her with prayer. She went in to have her colon removed as well as lymph nodes around the area. After the biopsy, they discovered that the cancer had not spread and, after removal of the colon, there was no more cancer in her body. The power of prayer…praise God!
• My Dreams of Disney reader Tammy left this comment:What a fantastic site!!! As a fellow Christian and lover of Disney I commend you for leaving up your prayer requests and Christian based posts. Stand tall in the name of Jesus!!!! Blessings
• My friend Brenda had left a prayer request for her son Johnnie and his wife Kay-Cee.  Well, the other day we received a beautiful message!  Here is what I saw:
  What a wonderful message to wake up to this morning, from my dear friend Pixie Brenda! She has a wonderful update on her daughter-in-law, please read and give God the Glory:I want to say a special thank you to all our family and friends who have been praying. A special thank you to all who added our family to your church’s prayer chains and to Mike Ellis at MyDreamsOfDisney.com who has spread the word for prayer to people all over the country with his weekly prayer and praise posts. I cannot thank you all enough. God is SO good. Praise His holy name!!!{Editor’s Note: This part is the message from her daughter-in-law Kay Cee}So I want to start out by saying thank you to everyone for all of the prayers! The power of prayer is amazing! They just discharged me from the hospital! Apparently McKinley and I have been doing perfect. The risk of infection is not as high because she is in her own sack. They are not even putting me on strict bed rest. They said I can go back to work on the 18th and resume semi-normal activity. I do have to take it easy but they strongly believe that we will have a “normal” pregnancy from here on out. Also I can possibly carry her to full term, which is the best thing of all. Thank you all for the prayers and support! I am so happy to be able to go home and be with my wonderful husband and amazing daughter.
• My Dreams of Disney reader Kristan left this comment.  Thanks Kristan!Hi, I came to your site through the contest for the disney gift card and the first thing I see is about Jesus.. Let me tell you it was very refreshing to see that.

Prayer Requests

• Please pray for one of my good friends — they are facing job cuts at the end of the month. Please pray that they would find work soon, if anyone knows of any bookkeeping/accounting jobs, please let me know and I’ll pass the information along to her! Thanks!
• My Dreams of Disney reader CarolLyn left this message on last week’s post:
  Mike, thank you for this thread. While I adore all things Disney, people do need more sometimes. Please allow me to add my request at this point. My mother was recently diagnosed with metastatic uterine cancer in her lungs. She starts chemo Wednesday. The prognosis is good at this point but I do ask for the chemo to do it’s wonders with out causing her too much distress, especially through this holiday season. Thanks again. 

  Here is my reply to her, please pray along with us:
  CarolLyn, thank you for your kind words, especially when faced with the tribulation that you and your family are going through right now. Please pray with me:Heavenly Father, we give you thanks for all of the blessings that you have given to us, even though we deserve none of them. Your Will will be done in all things, but at this time, we pray that You would provide the Healing that CarolLyn’s mom needs. Her illness is a tough one, and we have seen so many of Your servants, our loved ones, brought home to You this year. Please give CarolLyn and her Mom, and all of their family, too, Your Peace, Your Comfort, and Your Strength so that they will be able to endure in the days, weeks, and months ahead. Please be with the doctors, guide their hands in their treatment, and please allow the medicines to do the trick that they are supposed to do. It is in the name of Your Son Jesus that we pray this day and every day with Thanksgiving. Amen!”

• My good friend Sheila left this message.  Please pray for her as they celebrate her Mom’s passing, but also feel the loss of not having her in their lives:
  Mike,
  So sorry to hear about your loss. Our thoughts and prayers are with you and your cousin and all of your family members. Speaking from experience the Lord only calls the young home when he has a special job for them. My mom passed 11 years ago this coming Saturday 11/9 at the young age of 60. So sorry to hear about your cousins passing.
• Please pray for the person who left that comment that I mentioned in last week’s post.  Here is a comment my friend Sheila left about that, and also about the feeling of Peace they had when her husband was in the ER:
  Mike,
  I can’t believe someone would unsubscribe over religion. I believe the ones who need Faith the most are the one people that have no faith. I have to tell you last week when my husband was in the Emergency Room I could feel all the prayers around us and we knew God had our back. So please do not ever think about removing prayers and praises posts from your site. Speaking from experience I know these prayers help all of us.
• One of our prayer requests last week was from Lisa.  Here is an update from her, please keep her and her family and husband in your prayers:
  Lisa posted an update on her husband (Lisa’s prayer request is listed above). Here is what she wrote on our FB page:
  God is making our path ready for Matt’s upcoming surgery on November 14 to remove his recurring brain tumor (this is 2nd surgery since 2009). Our family knows Christ & we are placing our faith in His sovereign control, Romans 8:28. That doesn’t mean we aren’t concerned or even scared. Matt is eligible for a new clinical trial should his tumor be an advanced stage tumor. We are thankful for modern technology. We have a loving family and a willing church to help us. Our boys are only 12 & 15 and need their daddy. Matt is a huge Disney lover, having gone to WDW over 25 times & Disneyland for the first time this spring. I called MK Confectionery to see if I could purchase a huge Mickey ear shaped Rice Krispie treat (his favorite!) but due to heat, they don’t ship baked goods. So my travel agent makes cakes & she said she could make him one–how fun! Can’t wait to see that later this week. I’ll post pics!
  Thank you for expressing your love for The Lord as well as Disney on this FB site. And thank you SO much for praying for us. God bless you & remember, “There’s a great big beautiful tomorrow, shining at the end of every day…”

My friends, thank you for reading this post and the other posts we’ve had and praying for these people that need our prayers.  In the world in this day and age, the only saving grace we have is in our Lord and Savior, Jesus, and in knowing that He paid the ultimate price for our sin — sin that continues unabated in the world to this day.  Please remember the example that Jesus set for all of us, and work each and every day to have Him lead you on the path that He would have you take.  One day at a time, one person at a time, we can change this world for the good.  If you are reading this and have any need of prayer requests, please please please leave your prayer request or praise in the comments, I would love to pray for you or lift up your praise to God!

May God’s Peace, Comfort, and Strength descend upon you now and forever.  May He watch over you and your family, and have a safe and fulfilling week!