Written by Paul J Bucknell on August, 26, 2022
Prayer Letter #372

Pray BFF #372 BFF’s Purpose!

Dear Prayer Partners,

Our last BFF prayer letter was about creating and distributing BFF resources. For this letter, I want to highlight BFF’s key outcome: FRUIT. The purpose of planting a garden is to get fruit. A zucchini plant is useless if there are only blossoms. Jesus acknowledged this when He cursed the fig tree that bore no fruit (Mark 11:21).

“For as the earth brings forth its sprouts,

And as a garden causes the things sown in it to spring up,

So the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise

To spring up before all the nations.” (Isaiah 61:11).

Check out how God uses BFF as a garden to grow His righteousness and praise! isaiah 61:11

What is the fruit God wants to bear through BFF resources? Righteousness and praise. God has given BFF many resources and wide distribution worldwide—something almost unimaginable 25 years ago. Please, urgently pray for the Holy Spirit to fulfill our goal that righteous lives would grow from BFF books, articles, audios, and videos. We seek God to sanctify His people.

I wrote the first web series in early 2001, named The Big Race; those are very old webpages (now updated a bit!) My point is to not only educate but also to edify. May God’s Spirit powerfully use the resources to free people from their lusts, fears, and sins to serve their Holy God.

As Isaiah 61:11 above says, when we see the whole process in operation, it brings righteousness and praise to His Name. Like a garden: the seeds, plants, growth, and fruit are all from Him. Let me share a recent example of how God freed a brother from a misinterpretation.

“I wanted to thank you for your article on John 15:2, it brought me so much comfort. I have been agonizing to the point of being sick about being one that God was going to take me away or cut me off because of my lack of fruit.” –Kevin (used with permission)

God seeks to free many people from all sorts of troubles, fleshly lusts, ignorance of God’s Word, disobedience, ignorance about temptation, and confusion on doctrines, to name a few.

Praise

I’ve had incredible focus. Thank you for your prayers.
Thank the Lord for progress with the series: “Quality Time with God,” I began books 2 and 3.
We’re thankful Isaac will be moving here to resettle.
Two families have offered Kathryn a temporary room while she searches for a new place.
Several months ago, Paul discovered how his 5G data was ruining his sleep and peace of mind (and learned to shut it off!).
Paul discovered another yet uncompleted book, Abiding in Christ, Walking with Jesus. It is key in helping people get excited about meditating on God’s Word. It’s now complete and in the editing process.

Pray

Keep praying for good focus and wisdom!
Pray for fruit: RIGHTEOUSNESS and PRAISE to God.
Kathryn still has no affordable apartment in the North Hills area. Paul is driving to Pittsburgh early next week to help Isaac resettle in the south with us for a time.
Kathryn and Isaac are transferring within their company, but Isaac plans to get back into software development.
Linda’s knees have been giving her many problems.