by Richard Long,
What do our Nazarites do on Friday nights? Pray? Read the Word? or …
You can find out by checking out this video on Facebook.
http://www.new.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=40878366350&oid=28195053575
We are having a lot of fun in the halls of NHOP. It’s fun to pray, fun to read the word and fun to surf giant size exercise balls.
by Richard Long,
When I was a kid I loved to climb trees. Might have had something to do with the fact that we had a pet baboon where we lived in Malawi, and my older brother and I would try to follow it around. (He got a broken arm out of that effort.)
There is something about being up high and getting a totally new perspective. It can also be scary, especially when you get older and get heavier. Going out on a limb really does seem more risky.
All our Nazarites have gone out on a limb, stepping out in faith, as they have traveled here to Ottawa to attend our program. Please pray that they will see God greatly reward them for their confidence in Him.
You can read some of their personal journeys of faith on the blog that they are writing daily.
Check out http://nazaritecall.wordpress.com.
by Richard Long,
Quite often over the next weeks we will link you to a special blogging site that we have now set up for our NHOP Nazarites to do some daily blogging. You will get to meet each one of them in this way.
To read the first one, which was written by Jeremiah Smith please go to http://nazaritecall.wordpress.com.
by Richard Long,
One of the great things about being located in Ottawa is that quite often something special happens. This weekend there were all kinds of special conferences and speakers in town at various churches and hotels. We learned that Peter J. Daniels was at The Life Centre and was doing extra sessions today.
So after a quick consultation last night we arranged for a change of plans and took our 14 Nazarites over to the meeting this morning. It was probably a once in a lifetime opportunity, as Mr. Daniels at 76 years of age stated that he doesn’t expect to be back in Canada in his lifetime.
You can read more about Peter J. Daniels here, but suffice it to say, he is a real character. His unique approach to life obviously has brought him incredible success. He has a lot to say and a very engaging way of saying it. I personally thought he really showed his quality of wisdom when he took the questions and answers section. His perspective on business, international economics, finances, family and faith all got mixed together.
It gave us lots to talk about for the rest of the week!
by Richard Long,
When we teach our NHOP School of Prayer, the topic of spiritual warfare naturally comes up. We deal with it under the larger teaching on “Praying with Authority”. At NHOP we believe that anything on the terrestriel sphere is fair game because we have been given authority on this level. When anything demonic tries to manifest on this battleground, we can learn how to deal with it.
However we don’t believe that the so-called 2nd Heaven is a sphere we should be trying to battle in. We like the book written by John Paul Jackson, titled, “Needless Casulaties of War” because of its extensive treatment of this topic. Specifically JPJ takes a good look at the clear teaching of both Jude and Peter when they warn believers not to attack celestial beings like Satan. He also cites numerous situations were people suffered consequences for stepping out beyond their sphere of authority.
We had a great discussion about this with our new Nazarites this week. Some of them were quite relieved that they were not going to be asked to take on territorial spirits while they were with us. This doesn’t mean that we are ignoring this level of spiritual activity. It just means that we believe that the Bible gives a specific strategy for undermining their power. More about that later.
by Wendy Turpin (We are glad to have this guest submission from one of our former Prayer Missionaries. Wendy has some really great suggestions about how to participate in the current election in this article below. – Richard)
If you haven’t noticed, it’s election time in Canada! Unfortunately, the campaign period is so short in comparison to our American friends that some of us may miss the whole event entirely! Hard to believe, but we all seem to be living such active lives these days, it does happen.
So, how do we as Christians approach our federal election? Natuarally, prayer is important, but how about putting some feet to those prayers? To begin with, make sure that we are registered to vote and then show up at the polling booth on October 14th this year. If we are leaving the country, as I am (I’m off to Israel on October 13th), there are advance polls.
Even before that. however, we need to decide who to vote for. Most of us who want election information will rely on the media, and it is a great starting place, but don’t fall into the trap of allowing yourself to be persuaded by the pundits. The press is ususally strongly biased in one direction or another. Form your own opinion by going to the different party websites and clicking on their policy/plan links to find out what each party’s platform is. What are they saying the real issues are and how do they plan to implement them? What is their track record? Have they accomplished what they said they would do in times past? Personally, I am strongly attracted to those politicians who support life and justice issues, but you will have your own views. Then, when you find the party that best represents those views for you, get involved! Find your campaign office and volunteer. That’s actually the best way to really find out what’s going on because you will be right in the thick of it—and it’s great fun too!
In this information age, there are a lot of resources available to learn how to pray effectively for the elction and choose the right candidate to vote for and I’ve only given you some starting points. Be creative and allow God to lead you in your research. You’ll likely learn something and may even have a little fun, not to mention that when you do go to vote, you can be satisifed that you are making a truly informed decision in the best interest of this nation. Good on you!
(Back Row L-R: Jordan Mallard, Jeremiah Smith, Neil Friesen, Lori Folkerson, Celesta Snyder, – Middle Row L-R: Dwayne Flamand, Claire Iffla, Heidi Franson, Sarah Laxdal, Aleah Windsor, Chelsea Graham, – Front Row L-R: Megan MacQuin, Leena MacLeod, Pam Veitch)
We would be glad to have your extra prayers for these wonderful young adults!
by Richard Long,
Yesterday I mentioned that we have set up a new office for Rob. See the pic to the left.
We also have a major project going on in our basement. The much-awaited apartment that is now under construction. We have a tight time line, so please pray for each workman as we seek to accomodate
people’s schedules. Several people have committed to take time off work to fly in to do various phases of this project.
We get to meet some of them this weekend. Here’s a pic of some of the work in its early stages.
by Richard Long,
We were all very happy today to welcome Rob and Fran Parker back after their 2nd honeymoon trip to Scotland and Ireland. They had a wonderful time for 3 weeks over there, including some great golfing for Rob at St. Andrews! Apparently Fran did some shopping too. She came back bearing gifts.
One of the surprises for Rob was to find his new office outfitted with a new desk, bookshelf, and carpet.
Today was a great start for the formal part of our Nazarite training. It was Rob and Fran’s first chance to meet them and begin to minister to them. We had an awesome day!
by Richard Long,
A big part of getting off on the right foot is the effort to get our Nazarites all on the same page. So… starting Friday night we began the process of helping them to get to know us at NHOP and also each other.
These are 14 amazing young adults that the Lord has sent our way for the Fall. As we heard their stories we were touched by the sacrifice many of them have made to be with us. Several quit good positions in their hometowns to come on this adventure. Others took time off of schooling and career paths.
We have developed a handbook for living in our NHOP community. One of the things we do during orientation weekend, is talk through and answer any questions they have about living in an Urban Monastery. Today we will also work through our expectations of the volunteer duties in fine detail. Nazarites like other interns before them will help with kitchen, laundry and other maintenance issues. This morning we all headed to a couple of different churches to take in the local flavour of worship.
Yesterday they got their first walking tour of the downtown, including a visit to the Peace Tower and then some shopping in Byward Market. It’s been fun to see how they are quickly becoming a unified team.
Also yesterday they recieved their first prayer assignment. We divided up all 308 ridings, so that each of them now has 22 ridings to research and pray for as we head into 4 more weeks of election preperation.
