Fasting and Praying for Pastor Saeed!

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Fasting and praying for Pastor Saeed

Monday November 4, Tuesday November 5 and Wednesday November 6 are fasting and prayer days for Pastor Saeed. It seem he has been transferred from Evin Prison in Tehran to Rajai Shahr Prison in Karaj which is known for those people who are on death row. Recently 2 people have been killed right in front of Pastor Saeed. He is in desperate need of our prayers and there has been a request for those who are willing to fast for him as well. Here is the full story. Saeed Transferred to Brutal Iranian Prison If you have a facebook page, please stop by Pray for Pastor Saeed Abedini and let his wife know you are praying for him.

Acts 12:6-11 ESV
Now when Herod was about to bring him out, on that very night, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries before the door were guarding the prison. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood next to him, and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him, saying, “Get up quickly.” And the chains fell off his hands. And the angel said to him, “Dress yourself and put on your sandals.” And he did so. And he said to him, “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.” And he went out and followed him. He did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision. When they had passed the first and the second guard, they came to the iron gate leading into the city. It opened for them of its own accord, and they went out and went along one street, and immediately the angel left him. When Peter came to himself, he said, “Now I am sure that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.”

Let's claim this Scripture passage for Pastor Saeed.

God is good!! 
This is not to hard for Father and if it is His will Pastor Saeed will be freed.

Fasting and praying!
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Rend Your Heart

Joel 2:12-17 NIV

Rend Your Heart

“Even now,” declares the Lord,

“return to me with all your heart,

with fasting and weeping and mourning.”

Rend your heart

and not your garments.

Return to the Lord your God,

for he is gracious and compassionate,

slow to anger and abounding in love,

and he relents from sending calamity.

Who knows? He may turn and relent

and leave behind a blessing—

grain offerings and drink offerings

for the Lord your God.

Blow the trumpet in Zion,

declare a holy fast,

call a sacred assembly.

Gather the people,

consecrate the assembly;

bring together the elders,

gather the children,

those nursing at the breast.

Let the bridegroom leave his room

and the bride her chamber.

Let the priests, who minister before the Lord,

weep between the portico and the altar.

Let them say, “Spare your people, Lord.

Do not make your inheritance an object of scorn,

a byword among the nations.

Why should they say among the peoples,

‘Where is their God?’ ”

Every year as we near Resurrection Sunday, I feel called into fasting. I am not Catholic and do not follow Lent, but the 40 days of Lent come right before Good Friday and it is a perfect reminder to me that it is the time of year to really focus in on just what Jesus did for us on the cross. 

Actually, this is my favourite time of the year. I love everything there is about Jesus and His death and sacrifice on the cross totally humbles me and awakens in my a very deep love for Him. I love Him because He loves me. If it wasn't for His reaching out to me and showing me His love, I would never know Him. It is Jesus who has stirred my soul and my first desire is to honour Him and love Him the next desire is for me to share His love with you and all those I meet.

I am a believer of fasting and over the past few years, as I dive into fasting, I am being led to believe that fasting material goods is not Biblical. I cannot find any references in Scripture to this type of fast. I have found fasting of food, a fasting of marriage relations, there is the reference of when John the Baptist's father had lost his voice for a period of time, and then there is wearing sack cloth. Animals fast, children fast but from my searching I can find no reference to fasting of material goods. 

I am being led to believe that giving up something material is like removing an idol. Something that has taken the place of God and this is not a fast. This is good, please don't misunderstand me, this just isn't a fast. 

A fast is a time to mourn and seek our Father's heart. A time to feed our soul on His Word and to deny our physical body substance so self is weakened and His Spirit becomes stronger in us. I don't see how self can be weakened by giving up say your computer for a time. Your physical body is still very strong therefore holding onto self and not being filled with the Holy Spirit. 

I do believe giving up material goods is beneficial to removing idols in your life and replacing God back into His proper place of being number one. I think this is healthy and valuable to our walk with Father. 

Yesterday on Twitter I took part of a chat that was focused on Lent and fasting. It was then that Father really spoke to my heart and made me to say that a material fast is not an acceptable fast in Father's eyes. My sharing of this brought in some opposition but it seems that more people agreed with me than those who did not. 

What are your thoughts? I'd love to hear them and if you have some Biblical reference to a material fast please share!!

Blessings and Happy Valentine's Day!

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I'm linking this post up with Barbie for the The Weekend Brew. 

Ava Rose & Ezra 8:23

Ava Rose

Isn't she adorable?! 

This is Ava Rose and she is suffering from EB, Epidermolysis Bullosa. Ava has been having a really rough time over the past while so her aunt came up with the idea of weekly cover of fasting and prayer for Ava. There is a Facebook page called Ezra 8:23 that you can join if you are interested in fasting and praying one day of the week for Ava. If you have medical reasons for not fasting food that's fine as a material fast is totally acceptable.

Please, I urge you, to take this to our Father and ask Him what He wishes for you to do. I find it very comfortating that God's hand is all over this one as this page has the same name as my blog.

Ezra 8:23 NIV

So we fasted and petitioned our God about this, and he answered our prayer. 

This is what this blog is all about, fasting and praying and seeing our mighty God answer prayer and He is answering!! Just look at the prayer page and see the miracles He is performing. God, He is always good!!

Isaiah 55:6 NIV

Seek the Lord while he may be found; 

    call on him while he is near.

Thank you for considering this!

Resting in Him,
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Birthing Spirit

John 3:5-6 NIV
Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit."

Deny the flesh. Fast and pray growing the Spirit of God in you.

I'm linking up with Barbie, Fresh Brewed Sunday

Resting in His promises,

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Fasting; Should We Do This? Part 1

Health Warning:
You should not fast food if you are diabetic, have health issues or are prone to anorexia. Always consult your doctor before you go on an extended fast and you should always make sure you are taking in enough fluids and salt.
James 5:16 NIV

Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. 

Prayer is coming to God in weakness and asking Him, in His righteousness, to intervene for us. When a righteous person prays passionately, God will release His power. The problem is life and the world can get in the way and we tend to focus on self, instead of God. Prayer, combined with fasting, helps us to deny self and forces us to focus on God.

Matthew 17:20 NIV

He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

When should we fast? 

When we feel separated from God. Christians cannot be separated from God because of Jesus' sacrifice on the cross but when we focus on self and we feel our heart growing cold towards God, fasting and prayer will restore our passion towards our relationship with God by revealing our love for God in a new light. Food can bog us down and we can feel sleepy and content. Hunger, on the other hand, allows our spirit and our mind to be awake and we are more in tune to God's voice and our conscience is easily aroused by the Holy Spirit's promptings.

Romans 6:23 NIV

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

Fasting signifies humility:

By denying our body food and or water, we are humbling our self in front of God and asking Him to provide for us. Saul, after being blinded, fasted 3 days and nights with out food or water.

Acts 9:9 NIV

For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything. 

Demonstrates repentance:

Joel 2:12-13 NIV

“Even now,” declares the LORD,
   “return to me with all your heart,
   with fasting and weeping and mourning.”

 Rend your heart
   and not your garments.
Return to the LORD your God,
   for he is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger and abounding in love,
   and he relents from sending calamity. 

James 4:8-10 NIV

Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. 

Appeals to God for forgiveness and pardon:

1 Kings 16:30 NIV

Ahab son of Omri did more evil in the eyes of the LORD than any of those before him.

1 Kings 21:27 NIV

When Ahab heard these words, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and fasted. He lay in sackcloth and went around meekly. 

v28-29 NIV
Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite: “Have you noticed how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself, I will not bring this disaster in his day, but I will bring it on his house in the days of his son.”

2 Chronicles 7:14 NIV

"if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land." 

The response from God to fasting and praying will assure pardon and restoration from our sinful lifestyle. Even though Christians have the Holy Spirit intercessing for us, if we harbor sin in our lifestyle then what happens is we drift away from Jesus and even though He is still beside us we cannot hear His voice and our prayers, being tinted by the sin in our lives, does not reach God. The Christian walk way is very narrow and few stay on it because it means living separate from the worldly way. In these last days with the media pounding our mind with sexual pleasures, profanities and immoral lifestyles, it is hard to keep to the path of God because our conscience becomes numb. If Christians continue to walk away from God we do risk losing our salvation because Jesus will say, I do not know you...

Matthew 7:21-23 NIV
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’"

We need to have an active relationship with Him and the only way this can happen is by spending time with Him and the best way to accomplish this is by prayer, fasting and humble submission to Him.

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To be continued with more reasons for fasting.

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Keegan and Lisa

UPDATE:

Keegan has lost the movement in his legs and lower extremities.  He is receiving large doses of prednisone to reduce swelling in hopes of his legs being able to move again. Continue to pray that this cancer is gone. Please pray for Beth as she is very stressed out and worried. 

Beth from Karing for Keegan has found out the cancer in Keegan has grown and the 3f8 trial study drug cannot be used on him and surgery is out of the option. Please hold this family in your prayers and ask God to intervene for a miracle.

This sweet family has been through so much, please head over to her blog and let her know you will be praying for Keegan. I just cannot imagine what feeling are going through her right now.

Please also remember to pray for Lisa. She is going to have her surgery this Friday July 29th. She sent me an email and I told her I would be praying. I am heading into a fast this week, if you feel led please join me in intercessing for our sweet sister Lisa and our beautiful baby brother Keegan.



James 5:14-16 NIV

Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. 

Dear Holy God,
I stand before You a sinner who has been covered in the Blood of Your Son Jesus Christ. I come before You on bended knees and preparing to lie face down before You and Your Holy Throne to request Your mercy on Keegan, Lisa, Summer and all the other people You have given me to pray for. Father, You alone know the out come for Keegan. You alone can heal this precious child. You alone can heal my sisters and Your daughters Lisa and Summer. You alone can heal everyone, but I know You have bigger plans than I can see. You have a better work ahead and laid out so I beseech You, line me up with Your good and perfect will. Show me how to pray for the sick. Father, a miracle is needed and only You can provide this. In the name of Jesus Christ, I ask You LORD, please have mercy and heal them.
In the mighty name of Jesus Christ, my LORD I pray. Amen and amen.

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Faith and Nehemiah

I love the story of Nehemiah the eunuch who served the king as a cup bearer. The love and passion he had for his country Israel just makes me think of Jesus and His love and passion for us. Nehemiah was so distraught about the condition of the walls and gates of Israel that he wanted to approach the king, but knew if he went before the king without an invitation the chances of surviving were slim. So he wept and mourned for days fasting and praying to our God. Here is his prayer....
Nehemiah 1:5-11 NASB                                           Google Image

 ⁵I said, "I beseech You, O LORD God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who preserves the covenant and loving kindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments,⁶let Your ear now be attentive and Your eyes open to hear the prayer of Your servant which I am praying before You now, day and night, on behalf of the sons of Israel Your servants, confessing the sins of the sons of Israel which we have sinned against You; I and my father's house have sinned.⁷"We have acted very corruptly against You and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the ordinances which You commanded Your servant Moses.⁸"Remember the word which You commanded Your servant Moses, saying, 'If you are unfaithful I will scatter you among the peoples; ⁹but if you return to Me and keep My commandments and do them, though those of you who have been scattered were in the most remote part of the heavens, I will gather them from there and will bring them to the place where I have chosen to cause My name to dwell.' ¹⁰"They are Your servants and Your people whom You redeemed by Your great power and by Your strong hand ¹¹"O Lord, I beseech You, may Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant and the prayer of Your servants who delight to revere Your name, and make Your servant successful today and grant him compassion before this man " Now I was the cupbearer to the king. 

I love this full hearted prayer and it seems so does God. Nehemiah was chosen to seve King Artaxerxes some wine and while he was serving the king, the king noticed that Nehemiah's face was sad and asked him what his trouble was. Now this made Nehemiah scared because the king could have him killed on the spot if he so choose, but God was with Nehemiah so he told the king his problem of how he was worried for the Israelites living without walls and gates. The king seemed pretty concerned of this, maybe it had something to do with his queen sitting beside him and he was showing off to her, (isn't it neat how God orchestrates things), so he asked Nehemiah how much time he would need and what he needed to complete this job. The king released Nehemiah from his job, giving him letters of passage, officers of the army and horsemen. The story goes on to tell us how Nehemiah went around coaxing the Israelites to build the wall and fix the gates.

This took really big faith on Nehemiah's part as he could have easily lost his life being in the king's presence with a sad demeanor and then going on to tell the king, why he was gloomy. We need to have this kind of faith that God is with us, especially after we have prayed to Him concerning a matter. 

Just yesterday my husband, kids and I were having a dinner for my husband's secretaries and their families and I went on to tell them why we don't have a Christmas tree, because the cat's pull them down. Truth, but not the real reason. We don't have a Christmas tree because it follows the tradition of honouring false god's. A few years ago I decided to find out why we put up trees during the Christmas season only to find out, to my horror, that this tradition started way back during the reign of Nimrod to honour the sex god's which really is Satan in disguise. I never knew this, so after talking to the kids and the hubby we decided that our family would never again put up a tree, instead we put up a manger and a cross. Well, yesterday I had the perfect opportunity to explain to a family, that really doesn't know much about God, our reason why we don't put up a tree and I blew it! I was embarrassed and my daughter gave me a very disappointed look. Not only did I fail God, I failed my family.  


Oh to have the faith that Nehemiah had, to risk life for the sake of God's heart! It is so easy to slip into how the world does things especially when we are around people who are not believers but this is not what our God wants. He wants us to stick out like sore thumbs. :) Take the step to be different than the world and He promises us that He will be right there with us supporting us. Our God is great and His work is easy if only we have faith.


Please pray for us this week as my family and I are heading out to the east cost to spend some time with my side of the family. This is a hard time for us as this time last year my father passed away and I really want to share my faith with my brother and sister but they are not very interested in my belief. 


God Bless,
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If You Feel Led....

Hello blogger friends will you pray?

I am being led into a short fast for Lisa and Summer from Tuesday to Friday. Both of these sweet girls have some very important doctor's appointments and tests this week. The diseases that are afflicting them are rolling out of control and they need prayer.                               Google Image

I believe God wants to heal these two ladies.

Will you join me on your knees interceding for healing and if you feel God's leading, will you take up a fast as well? It can be whatever you feel led into; give up a favorite food, meal or even something material like tv, facebook or such. But even if you don't feel led into fasting that is fine just remember them in your prayers this week.

Please encourage them by stopping by their blogs and letting them know you will be lifing them up in prayer this week.

Thanks so much!

In Him,
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Ezra 8:23 So we fasted and petitioned our God about this, and He answered our prayer.

Stepping out in obedience

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Faith! God calls us to be obedient to Him and sometimes that means doing things that we normally wouldn't do; kind of like this blog for me. :) I am not a writer, nor do I have much of a creative writing hand but over the past few months I have felt God calling me to start a public blog. I do have a private one, for my family, but I have never even dreamed of going public until recently. You see God has really been placing on my heart a few people that I have met in the blog world. He has put them on my heart and has given me His heart for them and I am compelled to pray and pray in an urgent way.

I do not know where this blog will lead me but I am excited to make this journey and hope and pray that God will touch those who drop by. The theme of my little corner is going to be Prayer; fasting, praying and obeying God's voice.

If you have a prayer for me or wish for me to pray for someone please leave me a comment and I will commit.

In Him,
Child of God
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