Day 19 Saturday 10-16-10
Mark 14:3-6
And being in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, as He sat at the table, a woman came having an alabaster flask of very costly oil of spiknard. Then she broke the flask and poured it on His hea.
But there were some who said, "Why was this fragrant oil wasted?
For it might have been sold for more than 300 denarii and given to the poor."
But Jesus said, "Let her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a good work for Me.
"Like oil on Your feet
Like wine for You to drink
Like water from my heart
I'll pour my love on You
If love is like perfume
I'll lavish mine on You
Till every drop is gone
I'll pour my love on You"
First of all, I love thses lyrics and I feel like they totally explain this passage from Mark. But I want to say one more thing about it. Notice how in verse 6, Jesus defends the woman. That really showed me another aspect of Jesus. He is our great defender. Women, especially, long for a defender. God loves us so much, that He defends us. I think He would be the best person to have on our side, don't you think? Jesus defends a woman in Luke 7 and John 8 as well. :)
Day 20 Monday 10-18-10
Numbers 16:47-48
Then Aaron took it as Moses commanded, and ran into the midst of the assembly; and already the plague had begun among the people. So he put in the incense and made the atonement for the people. And he stood between the dead and the living; so the plague was stopped.
Today I really want to talk about intercession, but first I gotta share what happened in the prayer room yesterday. Usually, what I do in the prayer room, is pace. You know, pacing as in walking back and forth. The prayer room is set up so there is a front section (which is mostly what you see on the webstream) and a back section. Many people will pace in the back (they ask you not to pace in front because you would be in and out of the camera's focus) while they pray and worship. So I pace a lot.I mean, at least 3 out of the 6 hours I'm in the prayer room, just not all at once. I only sit (at a table) to journal and to study. And I pace while I pray and worship. I just can't sit for a very long time. I get tired and antsy. Also, the leaders have asked us interns to move to the front section from 4-6am because a lot of times, the worship leaders etc are more tired those two hours, so the more people we have up front, the more energy there is. I would never do it though (it's not mandatory that we do) because I knew I was going to pace half the time anyway so there was no point. On Sundays though, we are only in the prayer room from 4-6 so I do usually sit up front, just so I don't use up a table (there aren't very many tables) when I'm not going to be at it. But yesterday (Sunday) I was up front praying and worshiping with my friends when I felt like I had hit a wall. I felt like I couldn't go any deeper in God; I was stuck. So I asked, "God what can I do?" And for the third time this week (which is rare for me) I heard Him so clearly.
"Don't pace for a week."
"Uh, ok. But, I can't sit for that long! Can I still sit at a table?!"
"Well, if you need to stand, then stand! You can still sit at a table, but no pacing for a week. I also want you up in front from the 4-6 set, so you can worship and pray completely focused on Me."
Wow. So, this is my new plan this week. I'm so excited what He will show, and tell me this week!
Ok, now onto the scripture. In these verses Moses is in the desert with all the people and his brother Aaron. The people have become sick with a plague. This is where it gets cool. When it says "made atonement for the people" basically it means he interceded for them. Simply put, intercession is prayer. But it's more directed toward specific people or issues, not just praying for yourself. So Aaron prayed for these people and the plague stopped. That is how powerful prayer is! Aaron wasn't anyone especially special, just your average Joe. When we pray, things happen. Weather you can feel it or not things do change. We can touch, and move God's heart when we pray. He loves it when we pray! He does hear our voice! We are children of God, therefore we can stand before His throne and cry out for His heart to be made known. I find this absolutely incredible.
Day 21 Tuesday 10-19-10
Song of Solomon 5:12a
His eyes are like doves.
Short and sweet today. Why doves eyes? Because doves, they can't look side to side like humans. They can only look straight ahead. Also, doves will only mate once. If their mate dies, they will never mate again. I really beieve God created them like that to be an example of Him.
In this passage, the girl in Song of Solomon (or the Church) is describing her love (or Jesus). I have always heard, "God, give me dove's eyes for You!". But this verse is saying that Jesus has dove's eyes for us too! But nothing can distract Him! :D
Day 22 Wednesday 10-20-10
Psalm 146:1-2
Praise the Lord, O my soul!
While I live I will praise the Lord; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being
"You inclined Your ear to me
You heard my cry
It is not in vain"
Ok, so I have cool testimonies today. So on Sunday (technically your Monday morning, the day God told me not to pace for a week) one of the prayer focuses in the prayer oom during te 4am-6am set was Juarez, Mexico; one of the top murder cities in the world. About 5am the presence of God fell in the prayer room and about 95% of the people there were on their feet contending for Juarez. It was so powerful. If you were to read the newspaper Monday morning, you would have seen that there had been a huge $340 million dollar drug bust between 5 and 6am in none other than, Juarez Mexico. Talk about incredible! And I do not believe it was just coincidence. It's just like I was saying before about intercession. Our prayers do count! God loves it when we pray! Our prayers movethings!
Not pacing on Monday was fine, because I had a lot to write about etc. but last night was hard. By 230am I was sitting at my table kind of bored. I really wanted to pace...but I didn't. I was really frustrated though; I didn't feel any different. My mind was still going to the same distractions it had before. When I asked God why, the only thing He brought to mind was "obedience" over and over again. So, that's the only thing He wanted from this? But I wanted to go deeper! Then at 4am I moved up to the front section and the worship really helped, but by 515 I was even more bored and wanted to pace so bad! But God said, "No. See, you get to this point, then you pace to ignore the fact that you have more to work on in order to go deeper with Me. Just keep pushing through." Ugh. Ok, fine.
For the past few months, I've built walls around a certain issue of pain, and I haven't been able to let go of it, or cry about it. But when we can back to the apartment, I ended up crying about something else that was dumb, then I was talking with my roomie Grace about what God had shown me about this particular painful issue and I started to weep; for 30 minutes! I started to feel this pain I had been suppressing. I have no doubt that this breakthrough was the result of my obedience to God, sitting in His presence and letting Him touch my heart!
Praise the Lord!
Philipians 1:9-10
And this I pray, that your lve may abound still more and more i knowledge and all discernment, that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may besincere and without offense till the day of Christ.
Sincere. What do you think of when you hear that word? I don't really know what I think, but probably something along the lines of truth. Like, "I sincerely care" aka "I truly care". But if you take this word back to it's Greek roots, it literally means "without wax". What? Wax?! Huh?!?
This came from when a person went to the market thousands of years ago to buy a piece pottery, like a vase.They would be able to hold it up to the light see if there was a wax-filled crack in the piece, because sometimes the potter would fill a crack with wax and paint over it. But if the vase didn't have a wax-filled cracks, then it would be complete. So, now replace sincere with complete...
"That you may be complete and without offense till the day of Christ."
Isaiah 64:8 says
We are the clay, and You our potter; And we are the work of You hand.
None of us are sincere. We all have cracks, compared to the Light (Jesus) we can see just how many cracks we have. But God is the potter. He doesn't just want us to fill us with wax and paint over us, He wants us to be complete. But in order for us to be complete, we need to be broken so we can by molded by His hand all over again. He breaks us out of love.
My assistant leader, Alisha, wrote me a note today. This is what it said:
"Song of Solomon 8:6-7 (Set me as a seal upon your heart as a seal upon your arm; for love is as strong as death, jealousy as cruel as the grave; it's flames are flames of fire...many waters cannot quench this love.) The Lord is setting this seal of love on you. I got a picture of you being consumed by the fire of this love. You had a smile on your face. There will be joy in this process though it will be difficult. You will experience true joy, peace, strength and love!"
Yay God! :D
Day 25 Saturday 10-23-10
So, today is my last night of no pacing. I think what God has shown and told me is assurance that He is pleases with my obedience, a bit more hunger for the Word, and a lessened desire to pace with a heightened desire to sit in His presence. Not to mention a few walls that have been cracked, if not torn down all the way.
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