interface prayer ministry

QUESTION MARK

2008-05-23T07:54:00.000-07:00

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Okay, as many of you know by now, I am only having 1 baby! OUCH!!! I was totally expecting to see twins at my appointment. BUT all I can say is SHEEEEEEEEEEW… (that is supposed to be a BIG sigh of relief).

It was crazy because everything in my dream happened in the doctor’s office! They did a regular belly ultrasound and only saw 1 heartbeat. Then they also did a 2^nd internal ultrasound which would verify for sure if there were multiples. They stick a long thing up you know where… and when they did in the office, the equipment malfunctioned! They could not get the picture to show on the screen. The malfunction was not in my dream. So the doctor said she only 1 heartbeat with the other ultrasound and she was pretty sure there was only one baby!

So now what? I know I was hearing you clearly God. So I have been searching for the answer. This thing with twins HAS to mean something!!!! So what does it mean? I have been extremely busy so I have not even had time to seek Him for the answer. Jesus always spoke in parables. Why can’t God just speak to us in a clear and precise way? Then I guess it would not require time and effort to seek His voice.

I was hoping to post this blog sooner because now I do know what the TWINS thing is about but I cannot reveal it until about 1 month from now. I got revelation of the whole picture while I was driving back from a church in Virginia Beach on Wednesday night. We have been going there with my brother-in-law to try to get him connected to a church home. It just all came to me at once, this big light bulb went off! All I can say is that a major thing has happened during the 14^th week of my pregnancy (which ended Thursday) and will continue during my 17^th week… I promise to post all the details in about one month.

Does God Speak Through Fortune Cookies?

2008-05-05T14:41:00.000-07:00

I posted the picture of the twin fortunes I got along with the receipt showing that it was on Saturday the 26th. The funny think that I did not mention in the last blog is that my fortune stated, "Ideas you may believe as absurd ultimately lead to success!" Okay God! I do think He uses everything to speak to us as long as we pay attention. I stole this title from Shawn, my husband, after he shared with me a fortune cookie incident in which he asked,"Do you think God speaks through fortune cookies?"

I got a call today and my appointment is Tuesday the 13^th @ 10:30AM. I am very anxious about the appointment. I will be 13 weeks and not 14 like in my dream. I was telling God that He better give me my appointment during my 14^th week like in my dream! And He spoke back to me in my spirit, my “inside voice” and said, “It doesn’t matter when I give you your appointment because you know it is true that you are having twins.” Then I remembered the scriptures in John:

10:27 (New International Version):27My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.

10:3-5 (New International Version) 3The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger's voice."

I keep having these doubts and fears like, “What if I missed it God and just put myself out there?” I have to constantly cast all of that aside and remember that I KNOW how the Lord speaks to me and when those verses are brought to my mind, it calms my fears.

On Thursday I saw my old boss and was prompted by the Holy Spirit to tell her how God has been speaking to me about these twins! She is not a believer that I know of. She just sort of looked at me and said, “We’ll see.” After I ran into her I went to BJ’s and I saw a lady pushing a cart in the parking lot with twin boys in it! That same day a friend had a dream about me with my 2 older boys with two smaller babies!

I was thinking about baby names since I thought they were both boys. I was going over all of my favorite boy names that I used to fight Shawn for when deciding our other 2 boy’s names. One name we have agreed on and with the second name, nothing sounded right at all. It was strange because all of my favorite names were just not appealing. Then I figured one must be a girl! YAH! I want a girl so bad. Maybe I am wishful thinking.

Shawn and I decided on the name last Monday: Alexis Brooke. So then, Thursday at the play ground a lady goes to get her daughter and she says, “Come on Brooke!”. Friday I took David to a doctor's appointment and I signed him in under another signed-in child's name “Alexis”. I only could focus on that name and everything else was blurry. Coincidence? Okay God, one is a girl?!?!I was talking to someone about it and she was thinking that one is a girl too!

Hearing His voice takes a lot of practice and when you know it, you know it. Like when you know your child’s cry or you know your husband's voice as soon as you answer the phone. It is all about spending the time with Him and learning how He speaks. I use the same confirmation technique when doing anything with the Prayer Ministry. I never want to do something that is just my idea before moving forward. I want to make sure it is ordained by God so it will flourish. I want to make sure I get confirmation over and over from Him. So I have to tell my self everyday, I know your voice God, I have no fear and I know I will see 2 little beans on the ultrasound next Tuesday, I know You will show up BIG! I would not even post this twin thing or have told anyone seriously in faith about it if it weren’t for Him, His purpose and His idea!

“God-Incidences”

2008-04-27T20:23:00.000-07:00

The last post I talked about my belief…that there are no coincidences, only “God-Incidences”. So I feel the urge to share about the biggest thing God is doing in my life right now and how He is speaking to me. You may not even believe this is true. I would not even post this if I was not standing in complete faith…

I am expecting for the 3^rd time in 3 and ½ years; a few months sooner than my plan. I was asking God to let this be the last pregnancy and make it permanent because with 2 children I am at my threshold and with 3 I am over my limit. So I am waiting for my 1^st appointment and since the health care I use is at the Veterans Administration Medical Center, and many veterans don’t have babies, they outsource prenatal care and delivery to Eastern Virginia Medical School. This takes ages for paperwork to process so I am still waiting for my first appointment and I am almost 3 months along.

2 weeks ago I had back to back prophetic dreams from God. One dream was about a friend and I woke up and I felt the urge to immediately call her and tell her the dream. I waited until afternoon and she said she has been having that same situation go on in her life! This is generally what the 1^st dream was about:

In my dream I was having a dream about my friend. Then I woke up and I saw her. She asked me a question and then I said, “I just had a dream that you said the same thing!”

Hopefully you are following me. I had a dream that I had a dream. Ha!

Then the next night, I had another dream and this is what it was about:

I was at my 1st appointment getting an ultrasound. The lady printed out the picture and handed it to me and said you are 17 weeks pregnant. I looked at the picture and there were 2 baby faces side by side that looked just like David (my 11 month old). I was obviously having twins. I then went into another room and a different nurse gave me another ultrasound and said, “You are 14 weeks pregnant and look they are twins!” I said, “The other lady told me I was 17 weeks.” The nurse said, “Well this says you are 14 weeks.” So I said, “That is strange.”

Then I woke up. I immediately remembered all of the smallest details not mentioned here. Usually when I do, I ask God, “What are you saying, is this prophetic?” I said/asked, “Oh my God, am I having twins?” I told my husband about my dream and I was like, “I am not sure if it was from God, but how funny would that be?” So he said, “Honey, you remembered all of those details, I think it is from God. Just a few days ago I had a thought cross my mind, 'What if it is twins?' But I did not think twice about it. I have never had those thoughts before with our other boys.”

I then talked to a friend who is spiritually discerning and asked her to see if God tells her anything about the truth of my dream. She then called me the next day. She said, “I haven’t really prayed much about it but I think something that I don’t want to say for sure.” So I proceeded to drag it out of her and I promised not to hold her in contempt if she was off. (ha!) So she told me as she was going to pray for the pregnancy she said to herself, “Let me pray for the babies.” Then she told me that she has never thought in plural about my other pregnancy. An since that slipped out of her mouth she then asked to the God, “Is it true, twins?” and then felt in her heart, “Yes.”

So I try to dismiss the whole thing. I think, “Yeah right, twins does not run in our families and I am just focusing on it too much.” I cannot get this out of my mind though.

So this past week, on Monday or Tuesday night, I had another dream:

I was dreaming that I was having my original dream about the twins. I then woke up and called my aunt who is not a believer and I told her about my dream. I told her that I was going to have twins and had not been to the Dr. yet but God spoke to me through my dream.

I woke up and I said, “Am I supposed to tell my aunt, Lord? to testify about You being living and active and speaking to me?” I did not feel an urgency to do so then and I waited and kept asking for confirmation. She has previously rejected any conversation regarding God, church or prayer.

So now Friday, I was on my way to an appointment in VA Beach. I have not told my mom about the dream or “twins” yet. So she calls me and asks how Malachi is doing since he was sick. I say, “He has an ear infection.” She said, “Oh he is just like his aunt Destinee, she has one too, tell him that she is his twin.” I say to myself, “Ok God very funny.” Then on the way home I passed a public bus stop that I usually glance at and there is a lady standing there with 2 strollers with twin girls! I do not want to believe this is true and my husband starts laughing and saying, “God is going to keep confirming this until you believe it!” So I get home and I let my son watch a cartoon called Dilbert, first time seeing this one. In the cartoon, Dilbert and his mom went to pick up his friends, twin boys Jeremy & Jeffrey.

Yesterday, we go out to eat at Peking before church on Saturday and get 5 fortune cookies. We have 4 in our family. I get two of the exact same fortunes! Twin fortunes! Shawn is now laughing again and saying, “Do you believe it now?”

I kept ruminating on the fact that I would not have a prompting from the Lord to tell my aunt unless it was true and going to bring glory to Him, for her to believe. So today after church, I called her and told her as I did in my dream. I had a strong urge to do so and could not stop thinking about calling her so I knew the Holy Spirit was prompting me to call her right now. By the way, I now had that many more “God-Incidences" to share with her.

I will get an ultrasound on my 1st appointment since EVMS has them in all rooms and they usually use it to check heartbeat at all appointments. I will medically confirm the God confirmations then. I will be sure to post the results here. 14 weeks begins May 16th and I expect my appointment to be during that week. Now it’s time to work on my patience…

Coincidences?

2008-04-26T06:08:00.000-07:00

Yes, I am far behind with posting regular blogs about my prayer life. I must do something different and I have come up with a plan so things should begin to improve. God has been speaking to me about obedience!! I talked to Carrie Pollock, my partner in crime, and guess what?? Obedience. I told my husband about what I have been hearing and guess what? He has been hearing obedience as well.

How have I “heard” this? I started to read a recommended book by Brad Jersak, called “Can you hear me? Tuning in to the God who speaks”. In it, he talks about obedience. He also talks about disobedience. If prompted to say or do something and we fail to obey exactly as ordered, then we do not see the consequences of how that affects so many others, not just us!! Then, Wednesday morning, I happened to look for the weather on TV and I caught Joyce Meyer. I do not regularly watch her but I “just happened” to stay on her channel. She was talking about obedience! She said, “When God tells us to do something that no one else does, don’t look at them, you just be obedient, don’t complain.” I do not think there are any coincidences. As soon as I stopped assuming so, then everywhere I turned, I saw where God was speaking to me. I am not sure if it was always that way, but I feel that since I now look for it, it happen a lot and I see clearly when God speaks to me through others and things, even on TV! So this morning, I let my son watch some cartoons. On TBN they have Christian cartoons and it was the 1^st time I saw this one. There was a little cherub singing and talking about reading your bible every day and letting it sink into your heart and OBEYING what it said! It seems he is currently speaking obedience to Shawn, Carrie & I. And you? What is He speaking to you about? How is He speaking? Please share!!! prayer@freedomlifechurch.com

And what about coincidences? Think twice the next time you start to say, “What a coincidence”. God speaks to me all the time through those “coincidences”. About a year ago I was on campus at ODU (I am a late bloomer will be done with college in December) I was thinking about John Pollock, (Carrie’s son) who is a traditional student. I had something in particular on my mind about him and so I was praying silently as I was walking to class. Then I ran into him! I said, “Hey! I was just in the middle of praying for you about ____. " He was surprised! I never ran into him before at that time of day. I always walked the same route to class from my car at the same time in the morning. Coincidence?

CELEBRATE OUR RISEN LORD

2008-03-15T06:21:00.000-07:00

Sunrise Service
6:30 AM, Sunday, March 23

The Hamptons Golf Course

(320 Butler Farm Road, Hampton, just off of Magruder Blvd. across from Tysinger Motors).

**Breakfast to follow at FLC at 7:30 AM**
Join us until the 9:15-10:30AM service begins!
2nd service 11-12:15PM

24 Hours of Prayer
Will be leading us up to the Sunrise Service Easter morning!
5:30 AM Saturday March 22nd through 5:30AM Sunday March 23rd

Look for the Prayer Wheel at FLC this weekend.
Interface Prayer Ministry will start signing up FLC’ers this weekend for 30 minute slots (that’s 48 people, although we will certainly double-up or triple-up if necessary!!!).
Prayer Focus is relationships, where do you fit in with FLC as we are starting a 3rd service?
Where can you get plugged in when it comes to relationships?
How can we improve our vertical relationship with our God as well as horizontal relationships within FLC?

A time of sharing will take place at the Sunrise service for anyone moved to do so; otherwise just come and worship in the early morning hour as we remember together that Christ rose from the grave and gave us VICTORY!!! That’s reason to be EXCITED!!!

For Questions, please email Tara Fisher or Carrie Pollock at prayer@freedomlifechurch.com

The Word Continued...

2008-03-13T21:09:00.000-07:00

Okay, I have to continue this discussion about the power of THE WORD!!! The power of praying scripture. I just found this tremendous scripture today:

Jer 23:29 "Is not My word like a fire?" says the LORD, "And like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?"

WOW! Okay God! Yes, Your Word is like a hammer, it is like a fire!!! We must not try so hard in our flesh when we pray. I used to do that. I would pray and it was like I was trying to make something happen while I was praying it, but then I meditated on this powerful verse:

Jer 1:12 (MKJV) And the LORD said to me, You have seen well; for I will watch over My word to perform it.

You LORD perform Your Word! We don't perform it! Our only job is to pray the Word then step out in faith to receive what He has promised us already! We pray it and claim it, then our only job is to believe He is performing it! How do we believe it? Just as Paul said:

Acts 27:25 (RSV) So take heart, men, for I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have been told.

BELIEVE GODS WORD AS IT SAYS!!! Don't doubt! Amen!

Okay, I am probably a little too "exclamationy" but I get so fired up for His promises. Once I started taking hold of them in my life and seeing the fruit of studying the Bible and claiming the promises, I just can't help it. :)

So you may see there are several different versions I have used. Wording is different for different versions. You can go to www.biblegateway.com and look at all the different versions side by side for FREE. Another great resource I just learned about for FREE is www.bibleexplorer.com, then go to "library". You can look at the Greek and Hebrew text and learn in what context a word was used in. Also www.blueletterbible.com was recommended by Lisi last night at women's bible study. These are all free and Power Bible is not.

Please go dig...

I can't sign off without giving an example. God is speaking about His Word(s) again here so please read verses 20-24 to get the context... This is copied and pasted from my notes in Power Bible. In the brackets are the Hebrew words from which the verse came. The Greek/Hebrew words are only given when I click on the King James Version on Power Bible:

Proverbs 4:22 For they are life (chay) unto those that find (matsa')them, and health (marpe)to all their flesh. (basar)

Next I clicked on (marpe') and I pasted below the definition from the Strong's Hebrew Dictionary:

marpe', mar-pay':properly, curative, i.e. literally (concretely) a medicine, or (abstractly) a cure; figuratively (concretely) deliverance, or (abstractly) placidity:--((in-))cure(-able), healing(-lth), remedy, sound, wholesome, yielding. )

So now after studying that one scripture today, instead of just praying, "God, your Word is life to me and health to my flesh" I prayed, "Your Word is health to my flesh, it is medicine to my body, it is my cure, it is deliverance, I am whole! I claim it, your Word is like a Hammer! It is like fire!! In Jesus' name!!!"

So can you read the difference? I do not mean to be writing "to you" as I am sure many of you are versed better than I am in all of this. I hope this little step by step example helps. Please email with any questions, suggestions, comments....prayer@freedomlifechurch.com

Why Pray Scripture?

2008-03-10T05:16:00.000-07:00

What is the benefit? Why read the Word? I try to study and memorize the Word as much as I can. Only because it directly affects my prayer life! If someone asks me for prayer at church, or on the phone, or I am praying in my private prayer time, scriptures will be brought to my mind that I have stored up in my memory. So then I pray those, as they are brought to my mind, over that person or situation. I also like to have my Bible open and reviewing scriptures before and during my time of prayer. Sometimes I get directed to certain places in the Bible. These places may be of scriptures I have forgotten or new ones. I often end up turning to a verse and then I will get a thought of someone in my head; I have learned that is my way of knowing to pray that scripture over that person or situation. I will not tell someone that I was praying for them unless prompted by the Holy Spirit.

2 years ago, I was awake at a very odd hour, like 4 in am, and I was praying scriptures from a brochure over the missions team. I got stuck on this one verse. I could not take my eyes off of it. I just said it out loud and gave it to God. I kept saying it out loud over and over for a good minute, then I got a picture in my head of someone dear to me. I prayed this scripture over them for about the next 4-5 minutes until I felt that I could move on. I made a mental note of the exact time. Later when I saw them, I got a thought in my head to tell them what scripture it was and what happened. They happened to be going through a physical ailment that scared them. They thought they were all alone and could not make it through at that very moment. They were trying to fight fear in prayer and could not believe what I told them!!! If you get woken in the middle of the night, then it may be God! He is looking for people who want to be used in prayer.

The Bible gives us the following powerful versus concerning the Word of God….

Hebrews 4:12 (NIV) For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

Romans 10:17 (NKJV) So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

1 John 5:14-15 (NIV) 14This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.

Okay, I’ll stop there. If we meditate on just those 3 scriptures, who wouldn’t want to pray scripture? I would just like to encourage you, don't think the Word is intimidating, just pick a spot and start there. Biblegateway.org also has a search engine that you can search topics and read all the scriptures pertaining to that topic right there online in the same spot. I have a Power Bible CD that a friend, Carol, recommended and I would highly recommend it if you enjoy studying the Greek and Hebrew, since it gives you the ancient words next to the translation with the definitions all with just a point and click of your mouse.

Please let me know how studying the Word helps you! Send me your testimony! I will be posting several topics and what the Word says regarding them throughout the year.

If a 1 & 1/2 Year Old Can Do It...

2008-02-26T16:56:00.001-08:00

....then why is it so hard for us to do the same? We must make it a lifestyle! This clip of my son Malachi was taken on my phone 1 year ago, February 28, 2007. I was thinking, "Yes Malachi, you're making me look good!" Carrie & I showed this clip during a portion of the sermon a few weeks ago when Pastor Chris was preaching the series, "Extreme Makeover, Family Edition". We were asked to share what we did with our children to raise them to have a Christ-centered focus. Of course, (cough, cough) my little 2 1/2 years experience pales in comparison to Carrie's; so I had to let her have the most time of our 15 minutes or so. :) There are so many other parents with many great things they do, have done and are doing with their children. Please email us your pearls of wisdom so we can share here on the blog. One thing I am getting questions about is the book I referenced that my husband, Shawn, bought online: The Memory Bible Narrated by Kirk Cameron and written by Stephen Elkins. Here is what it looks like:

If our little ones can memorize a nursery rhyme, then they can memorize these little memory verse songs. They are all scripture which most Praise & Worship music is. Faith comes by hearing the Word of God; so Malachi gets these little songs stuck in his head and runs around singing them building every one's faith within an earshot! Amazing!

2008-02-25T19:01:00.000-08:00

7 Steps to Answered Prayer

Be Specific and stand on Gods promises: Once you know what you want from God, find the scriptures that definitely promise you these things.

Ask God for what you want: Then believe that you receive them according to the Word.

Be positive in your thinking: Let every thought and desire affirm that you have what you have asked for.

Guard your mind against every evil thought that tries to make you doubt God's Word: Do as Jesus, "it is written" and quote your scripture that promises you complete healing, etc...

Meditate constantly: Speak out loud God's promises upon which you have based your answer to prayer.

Continually thank God for the answer: In your every waking moment, think on the greatness of God and His goodness, and count your blessings. Once you have asked him for it, just stand in faith thanking God for making it happen rather than praying for it all over again!

Make every prayer a statement of faith: It is thinking faith thoughts and speaking faith words that lead the heart out of defeat and into victory.

Interface Prayer Ministry

www.freedomlifechurch.com

Praise, Petition & Persevere!

1440 of them

2008-02-25T18:59:00.001-08:00

I recently read Life Wide Open by David Jeremiah. One quote that really stuck out to me was this: “You have as much of God as you really want. People may say they wish their relationship was better with Him or they wish they had more time to spend with Him; but if a person truly desired this then they would do whatever it took to make it happen.” I did not make time to search the book for the exact verbiage but that is a good paraphrase.

OOOOOUCH! That hurt when I read that!

I began to think about this a lot. I have been one of those people. At any given minute in my life I have a choice; I can do homework, I can catch up on cleaning, I can play with the kids, I can converse with my husband, I can sleep, if the house is quiet and both kids are sleeping I can read my Bible, I can sit silently in God’s presence, I can pray, I can waste time online, etc… there are endless possibilities. So now I often stop myself and think about my priorities and instead of wasting that spare minute doing something that is not Kingdom minded, I decided to turn my countless wasted minutes into productive ones. After all we only have 1440 of them each day.

The Power of Prayer-Our 1st Testimony!!!!!

2008-01-30T17:44:00.000-08:00

The following is a testimony from Charis Blacka! This was so encouraging to me that I asked her if I could post it here. Thanks Charis!! I know there are more out there!!!!

God has been very faithful to us. no matter what we go through with our finances or lack of child support we have a roof over our head and food to eat. i think that makes us a pretty blessed household. i have to share this with you. yesterday my car broke down. joe murphy was kind enough to ride over and take a look at it. while he was looking over the car i called carol to pray with me. just as we said amen, joe changed a fuse and the car cranked right up. coincidence??? i think not. it was totally God's doing for giving joe the wisdom of what to look for. He already new my need and provided the answer. i truly believe chandler and i are highly blessed and favored. even, though i fall so short daily tara, God continues to pour grace and mercy over us. God's girls ministry is blessing me with chandler's christmas. how awesome is that? i had no idea how i would be able to afford getting him anything. it is so tight for us. blessed and favored again that he put it on lesa's heart to help us. i am enjoying my bible study on monday nights at sozo. it has been very eye opening and helped me draw closer to the Lord.

NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS (original title, huh?)

2008-01-24T13:15:00.000-08:00

It was truly our intention to keep this blog updated as frequently as possible. I just posted a separate Prayer Challenge, (see below). In my honest and wholehearted attempt to express what a life of trying to live prayerfully with God 24/7 is like for me, I also face that fear of rejection and fear of man. I struggle with it. But God desires obedience more than sacrifice so I have no choice but to put my experiences out there. I haven’t been doing a great job lately of focusing on God and focusing on my victory that I already have in Jesus. The Word says in Philippians 4:8. “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” God just reminded me that I am not casting down every thought that does not line itself with the word. 2 Corinthians 10:5, “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”

I have had a horrible attitude lately and I have not been spending my time with God that I should be. Both the attitude and lack of focused time are products of each other. I used to have a daily focused time of intercession where I would just let the Holy Spirit lead me in prayer and bring things to my mind. I would think of scriptures then turn to them and then God would bring someone to mind and I would throw down in spiritual warfare prayer!!! It felt great! Since the birth of my son David and now having 2 little ones running around….I have had a very hard time getting back into the swing of things. I do have periodic times of intercessory prayer where I am sensitive to let God use me throughout the day while I am driving, walking, shopping, cleaning, etc… but when I feel best is when I have this focused one on one time with God only for intercession.

This time of intercession is separate from study time in Word and separate from my relationship with God where I try to talk and listen to Him 24/7 throughout my day. Those could also use a lot of work though too but I don’t want to blur the line of what I am referring to.

SO I was driving on Harpersville Rd. this morning and I drove by a house that had 2 snowmen in the front yard. All snow has melted from last weekend except for about ½ of each snowman. I had an encouraging thought from God, (I know this is from God because I have never really been an original thinker) just as the snowmen have survived, we are not to do it alone. Each snowflake sticks to the other and they form a large ball. I thought, “look at all that snow that is still packed together when all other snow has melted?" So He said through another thought, “Share your burdens, don't do it alone or you will melt away. It’s okay that you can’t get it together right now. Your life right now may not look the same, you are still doing your job, but it needs a little more work with the help of others.”

Then I thought of 1 Cor 9:24-27 which I have been mediating on for the past 2 days:

“24Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 25Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 26Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. 27No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize."

Okay God so I get it, I need to discipline myself. I need a trainer. I need others to help out, to encourage me, to kick me in the butt. All great athletes have others helping them. So that is my only New Year’s resolution: to get help to keep up with this blog thing. Everyone should get a blog; it definitely helps to keep me accountable.

THIS WEEK'S PRAYER CHALLENGE

2008-01-24T12:57:00.000-08:00

I will make it my personal goal to pray with my family _____ times per week for the next two weeks.

During the Extreme Makeover, Family Edition sermon this past weekend, Pastor Chris detailed our family roles in a Christ centered home. A family that prays together, stays together! Let's try it. Pastor Freddy worked with us to come up with an excellent challenge. Let us know how it's working for you!

'soak' in His presence

2007-10-11T18:49:00.000-07:00

‘soak’ on September 27th was amazing!! God's presence was felt strongly! It was a time of corporate prayer focusing on salvation of the lost in our community among other things. FLC is getting ready for an outreach event in November, so we are trying to pave the way in prayer! Prayer time was led by Pastor Freddy where the Holy Spirit guided along with Pastor Chris playing the guitar for us throughout the night. Thanks Pastors & a special thank you to Ricky Pollock, Maggie Bain the Mynatt girls (and if I forgot some others I apologize) for taking care of our kiddies in the back! The one thing that people were led to pray over & over was boldness! That was a common theme throughout the entire night...for us to be bold in our faith and sharing Christ with all we come into contact with!!! God is also raising up the men in FLC, there were more men than women at a time of corporate prayer like this for the 1^st time! Praise you God for that because we have been praying for the men to become the prayer leaders in FLC! You're awesome FRONTLINE!

I once read somewhere that you can tell how popular a Pastor is by who attends a church picnic but you can tell how popular Jesus is by who attends a prayer meeting. Jesus is pretty popular at FLC! God does answer prayers! If you have any prayer questions, or are not sure how to tackle a prayer issue, then please email prayer@freedomlifechurch.com so we can post the Q & A’s here on the blog! (we will be sure not to include your name if you wish to keep it confidential)

Praise, Petition & Persevere!

Blogging is SCARY!!!!

2007-09-19T10:43:00.000-07:00

My husband Shawn actually was the one who brought this to my attention, He said, “That is so great that now you are blogging! Everyone gets to see you spiritually naked as they read about your prayer life.” “AAAAAHHHHHHHH!” No other words can describe how I felt. A friend was sharing with me that she read the blog so far and it was what people needed, something tangible and honest about prayer, something specific. I told her that it was so embarrassing that she read the blog. I shared how I am scared everyday of this prayer ministry thing. I shared that I have this very real fear of man. I am always thinking, “What will others think of me if I say or do this? I am not as spiritual or as qualified as they are. I need to learn from them, who am I? I’m no one. Please make me invisible God, don’t tell me I have to get on stage and speak about what is going on with prayer AGAIN!!” But I also have this very real fear of God that is greater than the fear of man so I force myself to be obedient. I know 1^st hand of what it feels like to put yourself out there, of how nonspiritual you really are in your walk with God. Like when my relationship is slipping with God and needs to be more, that I need to make more time for intimacy with Him, I need to include Him in everything, that I left Him out and was of in the midst of ungodliness… then He reminds me that He is still there and He wants to be included in everything.

Why do I have this fear of God? That is a whole separate blog that I feel I need to share of how God spoke to me through a live vision in the middle of the night….but another day…

That is why it is so important for you who are reading this and doing these prayer challenges to share your testimony so we can learn from How God spoke to you and used you. I am only 1 person, Carrie is only 1 person, but it takes everyone working together for the advancement of His Kingdom to make a difference.

It makes me sick to my stomach to step out and “take off my fig leaf” (another Shawnism) while writing this blog entry, but why do I do it? I am scared every step of the way. If it was up to me I would not even do this blog at all, it is way out of my comfort zone. My friend said that people need to hear about the insecurities of prayer and how we let God lead us…

I’ve heard God speak many things to me many different ways. God 1^st started speaking to me about this blog through our Elder and Webmaster Paul McKrickard. I did not even realize it was God. I was putting things together for the Prayer Ministry for Paul to add to the FLC Website and I asked him a long time ago to add a web page for testimonies. I thought that we all need to hear testimonies; that it is through testimonies that inspire me so I am sure it will be of great value to others. Paul suggested we get a blog going for this. Then we could update it at our leisure and add testimonies as often as we wanted as I was also concerned about the extra work it would add to his busy schedule. This was probably about 1 year ago. I added the blog suggestion to a list of ideas of things to do in the future for the prayer ministry but never gave it much more thought.

Recently this blog thought kept coming back. It was getting to be like the only thought that kept coming to my brain. It was hounding me day and night and when I would try to think about something else, the thought would turn back to this blog. SO I said okay God, I know this is you telling me this is what I need to focus on next and at our last meeting we really discussed it. I was also thinking about a way of equipping others through some sort of ongoing school of prayer where we allowed opportunity for people to take immediate action to get results in prayer. (I am a very take action/get results oriented person). I was also thinking that we both need to share personal experiences (very real) of specifically how our prayer lives take form. I am probably not a great example but I thought to myself that if we put it out there, others will not be afraid to put their testimonies out there. We must lead by example.

These ideas were rolling around in my head for some time. Carrie & I meet on a monthly basis and hash out written goals for the prayer ministry and what we will focus on each month. So at our last meeting Carrie & I were discussing the blog, we put the 2 together and thought, "Wow!" We got super excited and were coming up with other ideas about the blog and how it can really be a great tool to use for prayer!!! I thanked Paul for suggesting the blog and told him that God used him and how excited we were about it as I asked him to link it to FLC web page after 1st sharing the vision getting the okay from Pastor Freddy.

“Don’t be scared, just give us your testimony” How is God speaking to you? prayer@freedomlifechurch.com

Prayer Challenge #1 Hearing God’s Voice…

2007-09-08T01:00:00.000-07:00

It’s funny how God is moving FLC. The women are talking about Hearing Gods Voice, we are posting this Hearing God’s Voice Prayer Challenge based on the #1 thing people wanted to know the answer to when it comes to prayer (see entire results below), AND another lady I spoke to has been dealing with Hearing God’s voice in her household! How amazing, so listen up FLC, God is speaking to us that He wants to speak to us!!!

You may do the following as often or little as you like over the next few weeks: (and if you are seasoned pro at this, then please send in some of your testimonies of how God spoke to you or regularly speaks to you, we can all learn from others real experiences)

1-Ask God about something that you have desired to know the answer to. Then take time with a journal or paper and pen and be still in His presence. Ask Him to speak to you; then be quiet. Write down thoughts as they come to you.

2-You can play what Pastor Freddy calls “Bible Roulette” and ask God to speak to you, then just open your bible and the first part that sticks out to you, hang on to it, you may also have to read a few passages down and then something sticks out to you. I have done this but learned from my husband to do it 3 times in one sitting and WOW…all 3 are usually about the same theme.

3-Take notice of your surroundings, what jumps out at you as you read magazines, newspapers, billboards, etc… and always listen carefully for what God is telling you through others who may not even know they are being used by God to speak into your life.

Please let us know the outcome & submit testimonies to prayer@freedomlifechurch.com so others can be encouraged by you! We will post them here and the Interface Bulletin Board.

-Tara

Hearing God's Voice

2007-09-01T12:28:00.000-07:00

Someone once told me that God gives us children to parallel our relationship with Him and I believe it now; especially regarding our prayer life. God speaks to us and we ignore Him. He tells us in the Word that He requires us to grow (1 Peter 2:2) and to desire the milk of His Word. How can we pray effectively if we do not know His promises; if we do not read His Word?

My 24 month old son has a one track mind sometimes. I want him to listen to me but he wants to run around and pick up items that could be dangerous or climbs the outside of the banister about half-way up my staircase. I catch him and tell him that it is dangerous and say, let’s play with these blocks instead but he thinks he is having so much fun and this thing he is doing for the moment brings him so much happiness, then I take him down. He starts a tantrum screaming kicking and rolling on the floor and I am trying to calm him down to explain that hanging off the banister can cause him much harm, but he keeps screaming and throwing a fit. He does not want to listen to me. I keep trying to explain but the only things he can hear are his own screams. Then I let myself get angry at him, because he jumps up and tries to keep climbing up the banister, so I pull him down and yell back to him, “You know better, you’re old enough to know the rules, so you’re going to get a spanking & time out if you do it again!” So he proceeds to get a spanking. I am furious now and put him in time out. Then he cries and calms down and cries for me to come get him and forgive him, give him a big hug and love him. Now he wants to listen.

Listening is a huge part of prayer, [2 ears 1 mouth :)] and I am embarrassed to admit that the listening part of my life was nonexistent in the beginning because I did not even crack open my Bible for about the 1^st year of being a believer.

This must be how God feels about us! He is screaming at us, telling us to get down from the banister (stop worrying, you are old enough now that you should have read that in your bible by now Phil 4:4-9 & Matthew 6:25) and play with those blocks instead (read His Word so you do not have to worry). He is trying to talk to us; and people make the strangest comments to us out of nowhere that we do not even notice God is screaming at us through them because we are not paying attention to Him or reading His Word to know that is Him, or ignoring Him! We continue doing that one thing that is causing us to not listen to God or grow in our relationship with him, we won’t make time for him or include Him in our day in our worries and fears, He is dying to give us the answer and then He must get angry and at us and would love to be able to grab us and throw us in time out. Instead I can imagine He is saying, “You’ve been a believer for this long now…You are old enough now, it’s time to grow up and know where to find the answer, it’s in the Word, stop worrying, it’s in the word about no worrying, how about walk by faith not by sight?” Then we mess it up and we look back and think, “Ohhhhh, that was you trying to guide me, I should have listened to you God”. Realize that we did not listen, and now we just want to do the right thing and search for His voice for His will.

Like when Malachi has calmed down he says “I ‘torry’ mommy”. I always feel this love and forgiveness toward him like I wish I did not have to punish him.

God is always even more merciful to us when we decide to grow up…when are we going to start listening? How do we hear God’s voice? I just heard God’s voice with this whole analogy while taking a shower, I was thinking about how mad I was, then it came to me and it was like I could hear God in my spirit, (not audibly) speaking this whole post to me.

On September 8th, I will post a prayer Challenge on Hearing God's Voice. About 2 years ago during the summer, Interface Prayer Ministry took a prayer survey and one of the questions we asked was:

What would you like to learn about when it comes to Prayer?

I have posted the results here (of about 50 participants) to show that the #1 thing people want to know more about when it comes to prayer is....


How to listen to God's voice/listening/responses	8
Types of prayer	2
All there is	2
How prayer works	2
Sermons	2
In general	1
Why people don't do it more	1
Use of scripture	1
Praying in the offense	1
How to pray	1
Building my faith	1
Not begging/repeating	1
How to practice types of prayer	1
Understand the answers to prayers	1
Different ways to pray and involve others	1
Interceding	1
To be Humble and to listen	1
Patience, open heart and mind	1
To pray without ceasing	1

What Are Your Intentions With Our Daughter?

2007-07-28T10:44:00.000-07:00

The intention of this blog is to inspire others to grow in their relationship with God through prayer by posting prayer testimonies from others as well as ourselves. I do not have a clue of how a proper prayer ministry is to be run. I do not know what is normal, I did not grow up in church. So if some things seem a little out of the norm, take it up with the Big Man not me. :) Carrie & I will both post to the blog and will also be posting prayer challenges to allow others opportunities to grow & give their testimonies (which will be posted) from participating in the challenges. Some challenges may be going along with the sermons that are being preached and Pastor Freddy will be working with us to create challenges as well! Stay Tuned! You never know what God has in store for you! (and us too) It's scary sometimes but it's exciting to be a believer & develop your relationship with God when we let God lead, listen to Him, then get out of the way and obey by taking action and not thinking "I wonder what would have happened if..."!