Global Day of Prayer

by Richard Long,

  We will be participating in the local Global Day of Prayer event here in Ottawa this evening.  Prayer and Pentecost naturally go together.  It was on the 10th day of a prayer meeting that the Holy Spirit was poured out on the earth 2000 years ago. 

  This year’s GDoP will include every country and territory on the planet.  My wife Terry is very aware of this.  A couple of weeks ago the word went out that only the tiny islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon, the French territories out in the Atlantic off of Newfoundland, were without a GDoP ceremony.  Terry felt the tug of the Holy Spirit to volunteer to stand in the gap.

  After some scrambling and some divine orchestrations, she found that our good friend, Gail Whyte was also feeling the need to go, and the both of them made plans.  Along the way another new intercessory friend, Nadine Matthews from St. John’s, decided to obey the call and so today the 3 of them are holding a prayer service with a local believer in St. Pierre and Miquelon.  I think this is what the Father intended when He asked us to extend His kingdom to every corner of the earth.

Some thots from a Nazarite

From time to time our interns, whom we call “Nazarites”, make entries in their own blog.  Here’s an excerpt from Chelsea Taschuk’s latest submission…

In John 15 Jesus says,  ’I am the true vine and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit He trims clean so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.’

For some reason I was unable to move on from this passage after reading it the other morning with my roomate. I felt like the Lord wanted to take me deeper in my understanding of what it means for Jesus to be the vine and we, the branches.  I prayed into it, read it a couple more times and then decided to just let it sit with me. It was a day later at the National Student Forum (which was incredible and a whole other story!) while listening to a speaker share his testimony that God shared with me a little bit of His heart on the matter!

Read the rest at the Nazarite Call blog

Hip 2 B Holy

by Richard Long,

   Many of you watched or heard the reports about the one hour documentary that was aired on Monday this week by the Global Television Network.  Titled “Hip 2 B Holy” it was an exploration of the new young evangelical movement in Canada. 

  What surprised many of us, was how even-handed the presentation portrayed Evangelicals.  They set it up by following a couple of younger evangelical leaders through about a 4 month period.  Also thrown in was a great overview of the Alpha Course, especially commented on by an older evangelical, Jimmy Pattison of billboard fame.  I particularily liked the insertion of comments from Andrew Grenville the pollster who works with Ipsos Reid and his assertion that a group that makes from 10-15% of the population has a right to have a voice in our nation.

   I met Nate Gerber this week here in Ottawa and had several conversations with him.  He’s the youth pastor who does the Hip Hop outreaches that was followed in the documentary.  He’s quite a humble guy and quite overwhelmed by the instant fame.  He asked for prayer as he seeks to discerns the many opportunities that have opened up to him, that he would truly follow only what the Father wants for him in the days ahead.

I told him we would be praying for him.  I hope you will join me.

You can now watch the video at the Alpha Canada website.  Also if you google the documentary you can watch a couple of interviews with the producers done by 100 Huntley St. and Listen Up which give a very interesting background to why they did the documentary and how they approached it.

National Prayer Breakfast

by Richard Long,

  We’ve just come back from the annual Parliamentary Prayer Breakfast.  Once again this year the banquet room was packed with 800 plus people who were inspired by the amazing talk by Dr. Ravi Zacharias and the music of country singer Paul Brandt.  Many M.P. s attended and scripture was read by Michael Ignatieff, Jack Layton, Stockwell Day and Robert Bouchard.  Prayers were said by others and all around it was just a quality event.  Several people I talked to said you could feel the signifigance of the moment, as leaders from all across Canada, from Politics, to Church to Business united in the Spirit of Christ and gathered to pray in His name.

Let’s pray for a lasting impact from the truth and the love that flowed in that room today.

National Student Forum

by Richard Long,

   Our Nazarites (including some of our last group from the Fall of 2008) have the exciting opportunity to participate in the National Student Forum over the next 3 days.  It is built around the National Prayer Breakfast that happens this coming Thursday morning.  Students will have the opportunity to interact with politicians and staffers and other ministry leaders who work on the Hill.  They will hear the real life stories of the men and women who strive to be authentic Christians as well as excellent leaders in their field.

You can learn all about the forum here.  We are grateful to Joycelin Ng from the BC Student Forum for her leadership in putting this on every year.

Our National Anthem

 

 

by Terry Long

      Believe it or not, our anthem is played in several places other than just at hockey or football games.  And there have even been discussions about not continuing on that tradition because of all the booing and cat calls when the opposing teams anthems are played or sung.  Shocking.  National anthems were designed to instil a sense of pride and unity in bringing people together to rally under the same national banner.   I am partial to O Canada.  I learned it as a child in public school and sang it faithfully every morning.  Then it got changed to just an instrumental song where we all stood while it was played.  And then it just got phased out altogether.  Sadly we  generally only hear it an national functions along with God Save The Queen.   I love our anthem.  It is a prayer with amazing lyrics. 

        I would like to give you a link to my particular favorite video rendition of O Canada.  This gives me chills when I watch it and hear it.  The footage and music is amazing and inspires thankful prayers to the Lord for allowing us to live in the glorious and free nation of Canada.   Why not consider using this link and playing this video to help you and your church celebrate the following upcoming events?   The Global Day of Prayer – Sunday May 31;  Government Prayer Sunday – Sunday June 28th;  Canada Day – July 1; “ From the River” Documentary National Debut – Sept. 18 ( more about this later).   Or why not just save the link and play it whenever you want to thank the Lord?   Enjoy and click here.

Collingwood, Ont – NHOP School of Prayer

by Richard Long,

  This weekend we have a team leading a School of Prayer in Collingwood, Ont.  It’s a beautiful town on the southern shores of Georgian Bay. (Lake Huron)  Rob Parker is there with his son Robb, and one of our interns – Jeremiah Smith.  They are also speaking at the interdenominational town-wide service tomorrow, so it will be a great weekend of impact.

Hamilton, Ont. The prayer is growing.

by Richard Long

  Today Terry and I visited our good friends in Hamilton.  We went to the monthly leaders’ lunch where the city-wide pastors and intercessors gather, and they were gracious to welcome us back and ask us to share about NHOP.  This is the city-church group that we were a part of up until about 4 years ago, and who prayed for us and launched us out to Ottawa. 

  We were encouraged to see how the prayer effort was growing in Hamilton.  There is an extra prayer meeting beyond the lunch meeting, that happens on Friday this week, and the Nehemiah Prayer Network hosts a monthly city-wide prayer meeting at First Place chapel next week.  We also heard how some of the local neighbourhood gatherings are growing in their prayer life.

  Hamiltonians have also been regulars at the National House of Prayer.  Some of the leaders in the meeting today had been with us already a couple of times, some even more.  We had a prayer team from Paramount Dr. Alliance Church with us a few weeks ago and it looks like we have at least 2 other teams considering coming this Fall.  We can’t wait.

Go Hamilton!  (Maybe you will even get an NHL team sometime soon, though I heard that NHL Commissioner Bettman says that Toronto has to get a team first.)

Nuclear Arms Heat Up Near Israel

 

by Terry Long

   Yesterday it was announced that Iran tested and successfully launched a rocket missle that is capable of reaching Israel.   Previously, it had been reported that Iran was still years away from attaining that distance capability.  Yesterday’s announcement erased those doubts.   The announcement goes on to say that the missles can actually reach American bases in the Middle East as well as areas in Southern Europe.   Further reports speculate that Iran’s nuclear warhead capability is following close behind and  can be  operational in as little as a year.  

       While this may surprise some,  Israel was not surprised.   The State of Israel has been on alert ever since the Leader of Iran declared that Israel should be wiped off the map when he came to power several years back.  While Iran maintains that,” its missile program is merely for defense and its space program is for scientific and surveillance purposes”, they also boast that this new missle will be able to bomb and disarm all of Israel’s nuclear capability.  Talk about mixed messages, then again, this leader is not known for his diplomacy.

      All this to say let us keep praying for Israel and for Prime Minister Netanyahu who will need much wisdom.  I am proud that a Canada and our leader is an official friend of Israel.    Let’s pray for more nations and brave leaders to rise up and call Israel a friend, especially when the enemies are being so vocal and aggressive. 

 Read the article in it’s entirety, click here.

“There is a Redeemer” on Parliament Hill

by Terry Long

     That’s right…you heard me.  Last Friday at 12.00 noon, the well-known song “There is a Redeemer”, by Keith Green was sung in the rotunda on Parliament Hill.  And not just that song.  Everyone was treated to hear five incredible Christian songs sung by a Christian highschool choir.  You can imagine my surprise coming out of Question Period in the House of Commons that day.   It was a typical day in Question Period with lots of accusations, yelling and shouting.  But then the extraordinary happened.  We all came out into the hallway and everyone stopped in their tracks.   Glorious acapella adorations  to Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour was heard throughout the halls. 

       Everyone was riveted while lush, rich harmonies and songs of praise resounded from the Centre Block rotunda.   The extraordinary acoustics seemed to lend wings to the sacred words and carried them up throughout the halls.  For ten minutes, nothing was heard except praise to our Lord.  For once, the Members of Parliament were quiet and speechless.    I was moved to tears.

       Although Keith Green tragically was killed along with his son in a plane crash over twenty five years ago at the height of his musical career, he was one of the main influencers of Christian music for my generation.  What stands out was his incredible heart for genuine worship that is reflected in his timeless lyrics.  He  probably never thought that his songs would one day be sung at the highest seat of Canadian government in Parliament Hill.  Last Friday was a special day.

    Not familiar with the song?  Check out the lyrics below and if you want to hear Keith sing it , click here. 

There is a redeemer,  Jesus, God’s own Son,
Precious Lamb of God, Messiah, Holy One,
Jesus my redeemer, Name above all names,
 Precious Lamb of God, Messiah,Oh, for sinners slain.

Thank you oh my father, For giving us Your Son,
And leaving Your Spirit, Til the work on Earth is done.

When I stand in Glory, I will see His face,
And there I’ll serve my King forever,  In that Holy Place.