Corporate Prayer

Matthew 18:19-20

"Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”

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When trouble looms around us the first thing we should do is pray and there is nothing more powerful than corporate prayer, the prayer of agreement, which is when two or more people come together and agree with God's Word that a specific thing will be done. Being together in unity under the bond of the blood of Jesus enables a puissant advocate, Holy Spirit, to move in a mighty way causing miracles that would not happen if we prayed by ourselves.

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A wonderful example from Scripture is 2 Chronicles 20:1-30 when Jehoshaphat found out that a vast army was coming against him from Edom, he inquired of the Lord and called a fast for all of Judah and the people came together to seek after God and support their king in prayer. God answered through a prophet giving him the strategy needed to conquer the army, which, by the way, the Lord dealt with by having them turn against each other in massive confusion and Judah's army triumphed without shooting a single arrow or drawing a sword and without suffering casualty.

Another example from Acts 12:5-18 is when Peter was in prison and the church prayed earnestly together with one like mind for Peter. Peter being set free went to tell the church but the servant girl, Rhoda, was overjoyed that she left Peter outside knocking on the door and as she explained to the others that he was outside they disbelieved her saying it was only his angel. 

How often do we doubt God and the power He gives to us through prayer? How often do we allow the enemy to deceive us through unbelief? These examples should encourage us to gather together on a regular basis to pray earnestly for the many concerns that we see in our lives, the lives of our family, friends and the great needs and concerns of our community and country. God does answer prayer we need only to seek His face, pray, trust and obey. 

Trusting in Him!

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Spiritual Warfare; The Next Generation

Ezekiel 33:1-9 NIV

1The word of the Lord came to me: 2“Son of man, speak to your people and say to them: ‘When I bring the sword against a land, and the people of the land choose one of their men and make him their watchman, 3and he sees the sword coming against the land and blows the trumpet to warn the people, 4then if anyone hears the trumpet but does not heed the warning and the sword comes and takes their life, their blood will be on their own head. 5Since they heard the sound of the trumpet but did not heed the warning, their blood will be on their own head. If they had heeded the warning, they would have saved themselves. 6But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet to warn the people and the sword comes and takes someone’s life, that person’s life will be taken because of their sin, but I will hold the watchman accountable for their blood.’

7“Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the people of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me. 8When I say to the wicked, ‘You wicked person, you will surely die,’ and you do not speak out to dissuade them from their ways, that wicked person will die for their sin, and I will hold you accountable for their blood. 9But if you do warn the wicked person to turn from their ways and they do not do so, they will die for their sin, though you yourself will be saved.

 Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock!

I hear the sound of a clock and it is getting louder and louder every day reminding me that the time is short. I just recently read an article talking about how Lesbian premier orders Ontario’s sex-ed update to teach kids about giving sexual ‘consent’ from ‘the very earliest stages’. My heart just sunk. How can God be pleased with us? Surly our time here on earth as we know it must be running out.

I have read Ezekiel 33:1-9 before and felt an underlying nudge on my heart but it was only a dull probing. Today, as I read this familiar passage, that nudge was pretty intense and I felt if I ignored this probing I would be disobeying Father's leading. Where is He leading me? I am not too sure. I am pretty certain I am not a watchman but I am also certain that as a Christian, I have a duty to share what I know with those who Father brings into my path.

This year I am helping out with our churches after school program and youth/young adults. Many of these kids do not know much about God and I am thrilled that I have a moment in their week to share Jesus with them. What I am noticing is the more I share the more the spiritual warfare increases. Last week while helping serve lunch to these kids the warfare was so intense that after the kids left I felt very drained and just needed to be along with Daddy. What I learned was I was lacking proper prayer cover. I went in, in the flesh and not in the Spirit. There is a war for the next generation and the devil is pushing the limits. The only way to overcome is to humble myself to Holy Spirit and allow Him to lead and direct me. This week I went in to help after having spent a lot of time in prayer for those kids, the workers and drawing a blood line around the church asking Father to hold back the attack of the evil one. What a difference!!! The rebellion was gone and those kids were receptive to the word being shared.

I see God cannot be pleased with us at all. How can He when we have regulations, like the one I shared in the above article, being pressured into our school system. How can He when we have walked away from His rules to follow those which please the flesh? We, as Christians, need to blow the trumpet and spread the Word so we don't have the blood of none believers on our heads. (Here I made a mistake and mixed up two thoughts. See comment from Brenda and my response.) Once we have shared the Word then we have done what we are supposed to do and it is up to those listening to make a choice.

Prayer. 

Intense prayer every step of the way is needed if we want to see these strongholds come down. 

Blessings,
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Journey in Obedience

1 John 2:15 ESV

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

I am noticing that the more I obey Father the more separated from the world I become. In all honesty it is a little bitter sweet because some of those whom I love and care for are not on the same journey and I find that I cannot relate to them in the same way as before. My cares are for my Father and His Word and to spread His Gospel. He is breaking my heart for His mission and I hunger to please Him.

I knew about standing alone for Jesus but the reality of that meaning is honing in to also include standing alone for Jesus amongst my brothers and sisters. That was something I wasn’t really prepared for. I guess deep inside I was hoping they would get on board and journey closer into Father’s heart with me. This stripping away of self is so painful and the reality of what is inside of me is so shameful in the light of Father. This wanting to be loved and included in with others; accepted by my friends, verses my hunger and thirst for Jesus and my desire to worship and please Him is tearing me inside. Yet I continue to walk on in obedience to Father because my heart aches to be in His presence and please Him more than I desire the acceptance of my friends.

With a lot of prayer cover and encouragement from family I was able to pray in front of the congregation for one of our Sunday services. Up until the moment I was so nervous, but as soon as I took that first step towards the front of the church I was carried by Father! It was wonderful!!! The nerves left, I was able to pray without chocking, stuttering or sweating! He calmed me and I felt His approval. When I was done and I left then the shakes came in and my tummy made flips but it didn’t last long and a peace overcame me and I knew I pleased my Dad. Thank you for your prayers, I felt them and they carried me.

This journey is hard. I am seeing a lot of ugly things in me rising to the surface; things I didn’t even realize existed in me. I am a loner and never have really cared what others thought of me until just now I see that yes I do care and it hurts in a deep way. But I also see that Father is doing a deep work in me, purging me of the filth of this human nature called self. With the purging I am seeing Him with a clearer vision and understanding the pain and suffering Jesus went through in a deeper way than I did before. I can relate better to this Man of Sorrow that He was known as. He is molding me and changing me and I don’t ever want Him to stop, because what I am seeing rise out of me I like because it is reflecting Him more.

Isaiah 53:10 ESV

Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

Worthy is Jesus to be honoured and glorified and praised!!

Blessings,

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A Puddle of Tears

Philippians 4:13 ESV

I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

I tell you, when you ask Father to give you a push He surly does!

Thank you to those of you who are praying for me in this area of obedience. I truly feel your prayers! Let me explain a bit.

Since I have been asked to run this House of Prayer and our churches prayer chain Father has really laid a load on me, something I am not use to at all. I love to pray and am very honoured to pray for anyone anytime and all of the time. What I am not comfortable with is a large group of people interactions. I am an one on one person and even then that can be really stretching me. I get emotionally and spiritually exhausted and need time alone in order to recuperate. If I can pull away from the group and just hover on the outside I usually do well but if I am the center of attention I get totally woozy and icky feeling. This was definitely a woozy and icky feeling! 

This past Friday I held a meeting for those on the prayer chain and from those who were there, they said I did a good job and we were able to get a bit of organization done. What I didn’t expect was the spiritual attack on me. After everyone left I felt so very drained. I turned up the worship music and fell in a heap on the floor and just wept. I needed to be in my Father’s presence and I needed Him to love me and fill me up. Soon, my husband came into where I was, rubbed my back gave me a gentle kiss on the head and prayed for me.

I am being stretched and it hurts!

I am so thankful for your prayers; if I wasn’t covered I would never have been able to hold that meeting. My insides were full of springs and my stomach was in a tumble yet when I prayed and spoke the words came out clearly and coherently. Even now, as I type, I am just weeping at the faithfulness of Father. Never in my wildest dreams did I believe I could do what I just did. I do admit, though, I needed the whole weekend to gain back strength and even yesterday after church when we meet with the youth and young adults, I had to sneak away to a spot by myself and just soak in Father’s presence.

Obedience is hard yet when we take that step of faith He is there to meet us.

I encourage you to take that step of obedience, whatever that may be, and trust Father will meet you and uphold you. 

He is Faithful!

Revelation 2:10 ESV

Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.

Blessings,

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Update on Lisa & Sam

Psalm 119:116 ESV
Uphold me according to your promise, that I may live, and let me not be put to shame in my hope!

We have a praise report on Lisa from Never Forsaken.

We met with the oncologist today. He said my cancer is not a bad case at all, in fact the chemo regimen I will be on is milder than many breast cancer regimens...no radiation or hormone therapy is needed...and no cancer spread!

I will need 6 treatments of chemo...one every 3 weeks for 18 weeks (4.5 months) and one year of an immune therapy drug (Herceptin).

This is less than the standard of 6 months of chemo!

Doc said that my chance for this cancer coming back is less than 5%...If I did no chemo it would be 20-30%.

This is so amazing! I am so thankful to Father, this, at first, sounded so bad and now it looks like this treatment will be so much easier for Lisa. Let's continue to pray for her, that she will walk through this treatment with no ill side effects from the chemo treatment and for 100% health with 100% healing. 

Here is the latest update on Sam from Sam's Fans/Facebook

Ok. So. DON'T freak out when you read these next few words. This is not a bad update. That said.. It was malignant. Renal cell carcinoma. Possibly caused by his neuroblastoma treatment, but they're sending it off for some specific testing to try confirm that, which can take a couple of weeks to get back. Either way, Dr. Foley got it all with clear margins, but they may need one more scan that he hasn't had in a while just to check that is hadn't spread to other areas of the body, which his oncologist said is unlikely. (But still... Scary.) If the spot they removed was the only one and it hasn't spread, we're looking at further treatment, just monitoring with scans and labs like we've been doing all along. Not quite what anyone wanted to hear, but we're glad it's out. And we're praying and very hopeful that this little bump in the road is just that, a small bump, and we'll be over it soon.
Sam is feeling okay today. He's sore of course, but he's awake more and watching a ton of Batman. We even got some smiles out of him during our bazillionth game of candy land. Pray that he's ready to start getting out of bed tomorrow without us having to strong arm him and that he will take oral pain medicine so we can work toward busting out of here.

Considering Sam has never been NED but always been stable this is a good report. The doctors have always been watching this spot and now it is removed from his little body. Please keep praying for Sam that this spot was contained and has not spread and that the treatments he needs to have are easy on him and his parents.

Thank you for praying for these dear people who need our intercession for these days are dark and diseases are manifesting, it seems, out of thin air. 

Praying and praying,

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Pray For Sam

Do you guys remember Sam? Well, Sam had neuroblastoma as a baby and has been stable for the past 2 years. He is now somewhere around 4 years old and in his recent scans they noticed the stable spot has grown. He is scheduled for surgery tomorrow morning with a recovery of 2-3 days. Please pray the surgery goes smoothly and what they remove is NOT cancerous.

Here is what Casie his mom put up on their Facebook page Sams' Fans...

Sam is having surgery tomorrow to remove the spot on his kidney. Surgery is scheduled for 9:30 and he will be admitted for 2-3 days after. Please pray for a smooth and uneventful surgery and recovery, and that the biopsy will come back totally, unequivocally, definitively clean.

1 Samuel 12:16 ESV
Now therefore stand still and see this great thing that the Lord will do before your eyes.

Thank you for your prayers!
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Obedience

John 14:31 ESV

,“but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here.”

Worship

Prayer

Intercession

Spiritual Warfare

Obedience

I didn’t think I would have a word focus for 2014 as it seems Father is continuing to lead me deeper into spiritual warfare. He is truly expanding this ministry of intercession in marvelous ways and I had no idea the path I would be taking when I began this journey.

I started off in worship which led to prayer and then intercession. Last year He told me spiritual warfare and with that He gave me the honour of running a House of Prayer out of my home church. This fall I have been asked to run my church's prayer chain and with this new task formed the House of Prayer into a ministry all of its own with so many opportunities for worship services and hopefully more prayer services. Father is just blowing the doors open here with an ad in the regional church paper with an open invitation for all of the churches to come together to corporately pray, and in the near future plans a sign out front of the church inviting my home town to come on it and pray.

I asked Father if He had a word focus for me this year and He told me ‘obedience’ and my heart shriveled, because I know what He wants and I am very scared to do it, yet I am trusting in Him to provide the courage I will need when I face this fear.

Isaiah 41:10 ESV

Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

I am snared by the fear of man.

Proverbs 29:25 ESV

The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe.

You see, with the House of Prayer being a ministry all of its own under the covering of my church, opportunities for expansion are already surfacing. One of these opportunities is for the House of Prayer to take over the prayer time during the church service and that means a big ol microphone and me. Ahhhhh, just typing that out made my tummy turn to jello. :( Folks, I am a behind the scenes type of person, the one who lays on her face in the dark praying for others in the lime light. Yet Father is calling me to do this and I know without a doubt that He will meet me when the occasion arises but it is that first step that is hard. I envision myself running to the edge of the cliff and just jumping off and in most situations I do this flying leap very well but in this one I see myself coming to an abrupt halt bound by fear and feeling myself shrink into the ground.

If you remember please pray I have courage to take a running leap when I am asked to do what I fear. God is faithful and I do trust Him therefore I know I am safe in Him. 

Thanks!

Do you have a word for this new year?  I would love for you to share it in the comments below or write a post on it. 

Blessings,

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