24 hour prayer.

this week has been incredible!

our speaker was Donna Jordan, an original pioneer YWAMer...she is really good friends with Loren Cunningham and his wife...and she's from Canada...yea.

she spoke on hearing the voice of God. it was SO good. she is an amazing woman of God and she really opened my eyes (spiritually) and gave me a new perspective on prayer, and communication with God...

it's funny how we always seem to give God a "chunk" of our day, almost like booking an appointment with Him. But it's always on our time...IF we make the time.

prayer is communication with our Heavenly Father. communication is the most important part of a relationship. it builds trust. and its so important in order to intimatly know Him.

Donna really made me think about my approach to prayer too...it's a conversation. so often I come to God, i rattle off my requests, and i walk away, expecting that He heard me, and will answer...and i don't give Him any time to speak, or even just enjoy our time. it's crazy. if my best friend "scheduled" me in for time, and then spent the WHOLE time talking TO me, and telling me everything they want FROM me, and didn't care what i had to say, or didn't even really want to hang out, i wouldn't really want to hang out with them very much. Why is it different for God?

He LOVES to spend time with us. He LOVES to talk with us. He just wants to BE with us, and we just brush that off. we ignore His presence half the time...and i'm sure it breaks His heart.

i've been practising awareness. constantly seeking His presence. and i'm finding Jesus in everything i do. its awesome! my days have new perspective...

a lot has happened this week outside of lecture too. on tuesday after Donna spoke on the hinderances of hearing God's voice, we all went down to the beach and had a fire. we brought things that were holding us back in our relationship, or influencing us negatively, and burnt them. some people wrote letters, other burned clothes that had significant meaning. others broke cds, and threw out makeup. it was awesome. we took time to pray about stuff, and really had asked the Holy Spirit to point out areas in our lives that were causing separation. it was full surrender. it was so freeing. we had a worship time on the beach, and then a bunch of people got baptised in the ocean.

after dinner we met at the chapel, and asked the Holy Spirit to come and fill the areas in our hearts that we had just given up. and He DID. we had an awesome time of praying for each other and basking in God's presence...it was a true moment of fullness.

normally our speakers stay the whole week, but donna had to leave on wednesday night, so thursday and friday were off schedule, but completely INCREDIBLE!

we started our first 24 hour prayer session! each of our teams prayed from 7pm thursday night all the way through till 7pm friday night...we worked in shifts and each of us prayed a total of 5 hours...my shifts were 2am, 10am, and 3pm, and we had two hours where we prayed with our teams. we have a prayer room in the basement of a building...and it is SO awesome. there is music, and art supplies, and pillows, and journals. it was so good to just spend time with God, and pray over our outreach locations, and each other. it was so powerful, and refreshing!

we also had a day of solitude, just alone with God. i went down to the beach and read, and prayed, and enjoyed the ocean. it was so refreshing to just get away by myself, and enjoy resting.

i really feel that God is raising up a new people that base their ministry on prayer...true intercessors. and i really believe that something is even starting with our dts specifically. there is something about our group. God has called us for such a time as THIS! there is a specific passion for prayer, and i am so excited to see the effects in our lives, and the lives of people all over the world!

awesomeness...