Pray over the faith goals presented on Vision Sunday. A vision document will be emailed in the week following Sunday the 13th of September.

Use Habakkuk's prayer to pray for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit in our time.

Pray that the glory and name of Jesus would be made known.

Pray for the strength and power of God to enable us to tread on the heights.

Lord, I have heard of your fame;
    I stand in awe of your deeds, Lord.
Repeat them in our day,
    in our time make them known;
    in wrath remember mercy. (Hab 3:2)

The Sovereign Lord is my strength;
    he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
    he enables me to tread on the heights. (Hab 3:19)

MEN OF FAITH, LOVE AND PRAYER

Make this your common practice: Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you can live together whole and healed. The prayer of a person living right with God is something powerful to be reckoned with. Elijah, for instance, human just like us, prayed hard that it wouldn’t rain, and it didn’t—not a drop for three and a half years. Then he prayed that it would rain, and it did. The showers came and everything started growing again.

19-20 My dear friends, if you know people who have wandered off from God’s truth, don’t write them off. Go after them. Get them back and you will have rescued precious lives from destruction and prevented an epidemic of wandering away from God. (James 5:16-20 MSG)

• Praise God for our Heavenly Father’s great love for us, and for our Fathers and the men who have led us back towards Jesus. 
• Pray God would continue to raise up men of faith, love and prayer at The Grove. May we see mighty answers to prayer from righteous men calling on the Lord. 
• Pray for fathers to know God’s wisdom and strength as they lead their families. And pray for spiritual fathers to model and teach younger men to follow Jesus and fight the good fight of the faith.
• Pray that men would confess sin to one another and find forgiveness and healing through confession and humility. May God move in new ways among our men.
• Pray for fresh vision for future Men's ministry at The Grove in the new building. Pray the Holy Spirit would show us how to encourage faith, deepen relationships and lead men to salvation. 
• Pray for men in their workplaces to be salt and light – pray for a bold witness.
• Pray that men would encourage each other and build each other up in Christ.
• Pray that men would discover their gifts and use them to serve Christ and fulfil their purpose. 
• Pray for those men who are struggling with either health, relationships in family or work to experience God’s healing and receive a new vision for the future.
• Pray that many more men would join us and find Christ. Pray for our men to go after men wandering away and draw them back to God.
• Pray for David Brown as a dad and missionary to know God’s strength and wisdom.

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:12-14)

PRAISE AND THANKS

• Give thanks for what we have recieved because of what Christ has taken hold for us - life, salvation, heaven, the Holy Spirit, purpose, healing, life goals...whatever else comes to mind.  
• Spend some time thinking about heaven and praising God 

PRAYING ABOUT FORGETTING

• Commit to the Lord those things in our past that we hold onto in an unhealthy way, whether good or bad. 
• Ask the Holy Spirit to give us the courage to let go like a trapeze artist, and surrender to God knowing he will catch us
• Pray for those with painful memories, that they would find healing from a new grace memory to cover over them. 
• Pray for The Grove to always remember God's powerful deeds, but to let go of anything in the past that could hold us back. May we be totally open to knew things, new people, new strategies from the Lord.
• Pray for those holding onto unforgiveness, to release in thier hearts those who have wronged them. May they find healing and freedom in forgiveness. 

PRAYING ABOUT PRESSING ON

• Pray that God would make the goals of our faith very clear to us. To see whats before us and run towards it. 
• Pray we would not be lured by earthly goals, and find oursleves giving up on heavenly goals. Pray especially for those who started the race, but seem to have stopped running.
• Ask God to fan faith in The Grove for the next 4 months as we see the finish line of moving into the building. May we press on with great passion, giving it all we have got to take hold of the prize.
• Pray for those who have lost sight of eternity, that the amazing hope of heaven and mind blowing future, would become increasingly bright in these dark times. 
• Pray for those who don't know Jesus and despair daily without purpose, to explore Christian faith through the upcoming Alpha course. Pray many would tune in next Wednesday night, and that we would send out invitations to many.
• Pray for missionaries around the world to press on and be encouraged. Remember Ian Stoodley in his work with Wycliffe Bible Translators, praying for daily encouragemnt and provision, and that the word of God would imapact widely. 

GATHERED SUNDAY SERVICES TO CONTINUE 

Today the Queensland Premier announced a number of new COVID cases in Queensland and stricter gathering restrictions effective immediately.

These restrictions do not apply to facilities under COVID industry safe plans of which we are under as a place of worship. The Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk advised within this mornings press conference that she was confident in the commercial and community organisations that hold COVIDSafe Plans. 

As we operate under the Places of Worship Industry Plan we can assure all our Grove family that our 8.00am and 9.30am services will go ahead this Sunday following our COVIDSafe guidelines.

If you have been to any of the government advised hot spot locations we are asking you not to attend services for the safety of others. This list can be found here.

If you feel unwell or have booked into a service but would now feel more comfortable watching from home, join us at 9.30am for our online service.

For more specific information regarding the recent cluster please visit the Queensland Health Update Website.

In these constantly changing times, we pray whether you join us at the Mitchelton QB centre, or enjoy church at home, that God would bless and encourage you deeply. May we continue to pray for our leaders and frontline workers in this challenging season.

Blessings, Pastor Marty Luke

David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands... (1 Samuel 17:45-46a)

READ THE DEVOTIONAL BELOW AND PRAY THE 5 STONES FOR YOU, THE GROVE AND OUR WORLD

Join us for a ZOOM prayer meeting: 8am Sunday, and 7am Tuesday or Wednesday.

ZOOM links here https://www.grove.org.au/copy-of-prayer 

Take Goliath Down 
by Max Lucado

Goliaths still roam our world. Debt. Disaster. Dialysis. Danger. Deceit. Disease. Depression. Super-size challenges still swagger and strut, still pilfer sleep and embezzle peace and liposuction joy. But they can't dominate you. You know how to deal with them. You face giants by facing God first.

Focus on giants—you stumble.

Focus on God—your giants tumble.

You know what David knew, and you do what David did. You pick up five stones, and you make five decisions. Ever wonder why David took five stones into battle? Why not two or twenty? Rereading his story reveals five answers. Use your five fingers to remind you of the five stones you need to face down your Goliath. Let your thumb remind you of …

1. THE STONE OF THE PAST
Goliath jogged David's memory. Elah was a déjà vu. While everyone else quivered, David remembered. God had given him strength to wrestle a lion and strong-arm a bear. Wouldn't he do the same with the giant? A good memory makes heroes.

"Remember His marvelous works which He has done" (1 Chronicles 16:12). Catalog God's successes. Keep a list of his world records. Has he not walked you through high waters? Proven to be faithful? Have you not known his provision? How many nights have you gone to bed hungry? Mornings awakened in the cold? He has made roadkill out of your enemies. Write today's worries in sand. Chisel yesterday's victories in stone. Pick up the stone of the past. Then select …

2. THE STONE OF PRAYER
Note the valley between your thumb and finger. To pass from one to the next you must go through it. Let it remind you of David's descent. Before going high, David went low; before ascending to fight, David descended to prepare. Don't face your giant without first doing the same. Dedicate time to prayer. Paul, the apostle, wrote, "Prayer is essential in this ongoing warfare. Pray hard and long" (Eph. 6:18 MSG).

Prayer spawned David's successes. His Brook Besor wisdom grew out of the moment he "strengthened himself in the Lord his God" (1 Sam. 30:6). When Saul's soldiers tried to capture him, David turned toward God: "You have been my defense and refuge in the day of my trouble" (Ps. 59:16).

Invite God's help. Pick up the stone of prayer. And don't neglect …

3. THE STONE OF PRIORITY
Let your tallest finger remind you of your highest priority: God's reputation. David jealously guarded it. No one was going to defame his Lord. David fought so that "all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. Then all this assembly shall know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord's" (1 Sam. 17:46-47).

David saw Goliath as a chance for God to show off! Did David know he would exit the battle alive? No. But he was willing to give his life for the reputation of God.

What if you saw your giant in the same manner? Rather than begrudge him, welcome him. Your cancer is God's chance to flex his healing muscles. Your sin is God's opportunity to showcase grace. Your struggling marriage can billboard God's power. See your struggle as God's canvas. On it he will paint his multicolored supremacy. Announce God's name and then reach for …

4. THE STONE OF PASSION 
David ran, not away from, but toward his giant. On one side of the battlefield, Saul and his cowardly army gulped. On the other, Goliath and his skull-splitters scoffed. In the middle, the shepherd boy ran on his spindly legs. Who bet on David? Who put money on the kid from Bethlehem? Not the Philistines. Not the Hebrews. Not David's siblings or David's king. But God did.

And since God did, and since David knew God did, the skinny runt became a blur of pumping knees and a swirling sling. He ran toward his giant.

Do the same!

Let your ring finger remind you to take up the stone of passion.

One more stone, and finger, remains:

5. THE STONE OF PERSISTENCE
David didn't think one rock would do. He knew Goliath had four behemoth relatives. For all David knew, they'd come running over the hill to defend their kin. David was ready to empty the chamber if that's what it took.

Imitate him. Never give up. One prayer might not be enough. One apology might not do it. One day or month of resolve might not suffice. You may get knocked down a time or two … but don't quit. Keep loading the rocks. Keep swinging the sling.

David took five stones. He made five decisions. Do likewise. Past. Prayer. Priority. Passion. And persistence.

Next time Goliath wakes you up, reach for a stone. Odds are, he'll be out of the room before you can load your sling.

From Facing Your Giants
Copyright (Thomas Nelson, 2005) Max Lucado