21 Days of Prayer

In the past two+ weeks, almost every night I have been at my parent’s church for a 21 day long prayer session. Yesterday was the conclusion of the 21 days.

We have been praying for open Heavens, healing and blessings and it happened. The church’s application for charitable status, which usually takes one to two years, took 5 weeks. Praise the Lord! People with potentially cancerous growths had their growth fall off or disappear. Someone else whose clogged arteries were leaching away her energy was able to mow her lawn with a push mower without getting tired. Praise the Lord!

For me, I asked to be filled with the Holy Spirit and I spoke in tongues. I asked to be healed and He filled me with joy. I asked for a desire for His word and he fulfilled it. Praise the Lord!

Throughout the session, we were encouraged to fast – I fasted from lunch to dinner everyday. I originally wanted to just do the recommended 3 hour fast, but one day when I was unsuccessfully looking for a piece of paper with phone numbers of people from my former work, I told God that if he helped me find that piece of paper I would fast from lunch to dinner for the remainder of the days. Guess what? A few minutes later, I found the piece of paper I needed. In addition, we were called to fast from things that prevent us from giving all of ourselves to Him and replacing it with things that are more holy. (Remember how the bible says if a demon is cast out and it is not replaced or filled with something else, 7 stronger demons will come and take that place. Luke 11:24-26) In my nerdy self, I enjoy reading fanfiction but I know it’s not the best thing that I could be doing with my time. Instead of giving it up cold turkey, I am trying to replace it with reading the bible. Wish me luck!

Through the course of the 21 days, we read the book of Acts. I hope that over the next few weeks I am able to share some of the meditations and insight gained with you all.

Since yesterday was the concluding day of this 21 day session, the church service was a celebration service. Being me, decided to make carrot cake muffins. I used the same recipe I used before, but I want to note that you either have to drain more of the pineapple off or add more flour and the first round didn’t rise as much as I had originally hoped. The recipe made 12 “normal” muffins and 4 dozen “mini” muffins. I left some of the nicer looking muffins as is and iced the rest with cream cheese icing.

What are your thoughts on fasting? Have you ever fasted before?

Word for Thought

I took today off to finish my technical report for my internship but before I dive into that for the day, I wanted to share some words given to me that are very applicable to where I am:

I am a Child of God

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!

– 1 John 3:1a

Courage

Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the LORD your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you.

– Deuteronomy 31:6

Forgiveness of Self

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace

– Ephesians 1:7

Religion Quiz

When Jenna posted about this quiz, I wanted to take it.

I’m not surprised by the first answer – I have grown up in the Anglican (Episcopalian for you south of the 49th parallel) Church. I didn’t know that I have similar beliefs to Quakers – do you know what they believe in?

What do you believe in?

Faith

I went to my parent’s church today and the sermon was about Faith. (I really like the pastor – I’ve never met a pastor that shouts, speaks Ebu*, and prays and sings throughout his sermon.) Faith is something that I struggle with – as scientists we are taught to question everything, yet faith is believing without questioning.

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

– Hebrews 11:1

It’s the same with prayer – I find it so easy to pray something and wait to see if it comes true (ie. like a scientific experiment) instead of believing that it will happen. An example would be if someone went for prayer for healing and were told that they were healed, yet on the way out they still asked people to pray for them about the same issue.

The pastor talked about the Centurion in Matthew 8: 5-13 and how since he humbled himself before God, submitted to His authority and believed, his servant was healed. In the Centurion’s speech, he says:

For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.

-Matthew 8: 9

From what the Centurion said, we can determine the three tenants of faith: Go, Come and Do. What does that mean?

Go – banishing evil from yourself

Come – asking God’s spirit and all things good to fill you

Do – going out and doing God’s work

The great thing about God is that when we have doubts, we can still repent and believe. Look at Peter – he denied Christ 3 times but realized his folly, repented and became one of the key founders of the church.

How do you define faith?

*Ebu is a language spoken in Nigeria.

Being Made New

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”

2 Corinthians 5:17

The verse above is what I was told to look up after an anointing service at my parent’s church. And guess what verse arrived in my daily devotional email? You guessed correctly, the verse above!

I feel that throughout all the angst I’ve had and been through in the last 4 months, I am being transformed into that new creation. Or as the email put it: ” Jesus didn’t die so that our lives could be improved or upgraded; He died so that we could be transformed — a completely different person.” I don’t know if I am ready to be that different person, but I need to be. I need to get through the fire to be refined and let the impurities be burned away.

Of course, in my nerdy self, this declaration reminds me of one thing: Eowyn from Lord of the Rings.

“I stand in Minas Anor, the Tower of the Sun, and behold! the Shadow has departed! I will be a sheildmaiden no longer, nor vie with the great Riders, nor take joy only in the songs of slaying. I will be a healer, and love all things that grow and are not barren. No longer do I desire to be a queen.”

Eowyn, Return of the King, The Steward and the King

(I drew this while in Germany on the day that Return of the King came out on DVD (almost 5 years ago). I spent my time in class there very wisely- I drew a lot of pictures.)

Eowyn is probably the character that I relate to the most – she was hopeless, depressed and hurt and then she found new life through Faramir. I guess it would be fitting in this analogy is to say that Jesus is my Faramir.

Has your “shadow” departed?