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

Youth Need You

 By Jeremiah Smith

       A few days ago on Good Friday, the National House of Prayer had an opportunity to attend the ‘No Other Name’ youth event here in Ottawa hosted by the Metropolitian Bible Church.   Organized by a group of youth pastors in the city, it was attended by over 600 high school youth from across Ottawa.

       We were there not only to take part, but also to promote ‘Camp Fire’–our youth week at NHOP at the end of June — and the Nazarite Call, our internship program.  It was an awesome day of connecting with youth and youth leaders.

As we were about to pack up we dropped in on the evening worship just for a few moments.  As we stood there I couldn’t help but notice the lack of engagement in the worship.   These teens had been energetically exuberant all day, yet when it came to worship there appeared to be a lack of  “entering in”, as some would term it.  Standing there I realized that something was lacking in that room.  It wasn’t the worship team, or lack of the presence of God.  No, what was lacking were people older then the youth in the room.  There were very few older people who could demonstrate what “entering in” looked like.  There was a lack of those leading by example.  Where were the role models?

      Growing up I looked to those older then me.  I looked to their example, perhaps more then they ever would have realized.  Now I am that person that youth look up to.  It doesn’t feel like it, yet I know it’s true.  They watch my every move, word, and action.  I’ve emerged from those years called the “teens’”,  however now is not the time to separate myself from it.   Instead it is the time to reach out to those in the midst of those difficult, all important years.

    The youth of today need those people.  Those people that have been where they have been; guides to lead them through and help them find their way.

Where are those people?

An Update from one of our Interns

by Richard Long,

  Megan MacQuin is one of our interns.  (Currently we also have Jeremiah Smith and Aleah Windsor who are interning with us.)  As a former “Nazarite” Megan, Jeremiah and Aleah went through the intensive training program last Fall, and then felt the Lord call them back to NHOP to be part of our team.

Here’s an excerpt from Megan’s recent blog …

“So, an update…I’ve been here for almost two months now, and it doesn’t feel like 2 months. It feels more like 2 weeks! I’ve been super busy with getting this new life in order, and figuring out this whole dream thing…Honestly, I feel like I’m literally living Psalm 119:105. Revelation comes only when I start walking in faith, and as I continue to walk in faith, my dependence on God is even greater.

Speaking of the dream, I finally feel like the train is moving…I’ll start with this; my friend Jeremiah and I have the same dream of Canada, young adults and the church, and we are working together, learning together, and dreaming together. But we feel untrained, and need mentoring. To accomplish this we are doing word studies, taking all the NHOP teachings and learning how to present them, and creating our own sermons. Our desire is to reach out to the young adults in Canada and teach them about prayer. We feel like we need to start locally, in the Capitol of Canada…Ottawa. We’ve not only been in a place of learning, but have been trying to connect with different churches and pastors in the city. We’ve been getting a very positive response! God has called us to do this because prayer is the foundation to a changed Nation…”

You can read more of her blog here.

Fire in My Bones

Two of our previous Nazarites have returned longer term to work with us this year at NHOP.  (Actually there are 2 others who are here for a week and 2 more that are here for the month of February.)  Jeremiah Smith and Megan MacQuin are the ones who are here long term.

We are encouraging them to blog from time to time.  Megan has already created her own blog which you may want to check out called Fire in My Bones.

Here’s an excerpt from her Friday entry last weekend …

A prayer …by Megan MacQuin,

The other day, as I was setting up my room, I realized that I was starting to question why I am here at the NHOP…I looked up at my white board, and I started to write a answer to my own question. A prayer that is completely lead by the spirit, but here it is…This is a vague understanding of my purpose of what is going to drive me through this next season of being at NHOP.

A generation uniting together under one banner, raising up a standard from the norm. Living a life abandoned to the LORD, knowing pride falls, and humility is the true healer of the land. Help us LORD to find you, in the mist of our brokenness, help us to love you above all, and to remember to love others…Give us eyes to see and mouths to speak…for this generation…

Ya Never Know …

by Megan MacQuin,

Good day people!

Right now I am sitting at the NHOP booth in Vancouver at Missionfest and I am highly enjoying the +6 weather outside, and the warm sunshine!
What God has done in these two day’s at Missionfest is incredible, and the people I’ve met in Vancouver, have made this trip such a great experience; especially learning about the different ministries in Canada and around the world.

There is way too much to explain in full the complete detail of what has happened, who I’ve talked to, prayed for, and have been involved with. So I will serenade you with 0ne amazing story that happened to me, starting yesterday…As I was being dilligent and cutting the Nazarite call bookmarks to hand out to young adults, a woman approached me and asked me if I was part of the house of prayer. I explained to her that I was a 2008 intern, and am returning to Ottawa to be in leadership at NHOP. She then asked me if I would consider speaking at a seninar the next day about how God answererd prayer that I’ve prayed. So long story short, I said yes to this complete stranger that I would share my story at a short seminar.

 
I spoke about the financial provision God has recently given me, and reviving the promise about my dreams for the future…It went very well and it was such an honour to be able to share my story to about 100 people! The most exciting part was that a woman came up to me after and started to share her life story with me and I had the opportunity to pray with her…She ended up telling me that God had orchestrated me coming here so that she would hear what I had to speak. It was so encouraging to hear that not only was I blessed to be able to speak about my life to these people, but that I was able to help someone because of my obedience to Him….What an honour!

Well, I can say that I love Vancouver weather and that fact that I am between mountain and ocean, but I truly miss Ottawa and cannot wait to return!

Thanks for reading! Be blessed!

Welcoming our New Cooks

by Richard Long,

   Last night we had a special welcoming dinner (cooked by Nicole one of our new prayer missionaries) for our new cooks who arrived minutes earlier from Saskatchewan.   Lee & Helen Schablitzkie, had been directing the Strasborg Bible Camp out there for the last few years, but recently heard God’s call to come and serve with us starting in 2009.

   I personally had the chance to meet them about 12 years ago in Toronto when they were heading up the “Shepherd’s Guide” in the GTA, and saw the quality of their commitment to the whole Body of Christ.

   We are excited to have them on board!  After dinner last night we held a prayer meeting with our staff and board members and also made a point of welcoming them in the Spirit to the team.

Please pray for them as they settle into a new city and a new ministry.

Another Good-bye.

by Richard Long,

  We said good-bye to our final 3 Nazarites this morning, so the nest is empty again.  Today we took our cook out for lunch to say thanks for all his labours of love and seemingly unlimited patience and flexibility.

  Jay Blackburn was God’s gift to us when we needed to find a cook for the Fall in very short order.  He was only travelling through on his way back to the UK after working in a camp in Alberta, but agreed to stay and help when we asked him to pray about a 3 month detour.

  Jay has been trained for pastoral ministry and believes that the Lord wants him serving somewhere in Canada.  We are praying for the right fit for him.

If you know of a situation that could use a very flexible, relational man who loves the Word and loves evangelism, please send us a note.  We can send you his resume.  Jay is heading back home to north-western England for the Christmas break, but then looking for the next chapter in his life.

Please pray for him!

Graduation Day

by Richard Long,

  Today is the big day.  We have spent the entire day praying and prophesying over each of our Nazarites as we get ready to launch them back out into God’s purposes for their lives.  We had a special visit from Bob from the Capital City Mission who came by to personally thank them for their service in providing meals over these last weeks.

Tonight we will have a special dinner and presentations as they graduate from the program.  Each of them have done amazingly well with all that got thrown their way.  They have become a very tight community and it is hard to see this 3 month chapter come so quickly to an end.

Our commitment to them is to keep them in our prayers and support them in whatever way we can now that they are alumni of our ministry.

Tonight we are also saying good bye to Robin, who has been with us for a month, Stephany who has been doing a work internship in graphic design and helping us with French translation, and Jay Blackburn who has served us with great labour and love in the kitchen this Fall.

Here in Spruce Grove, Alberta

by Richard Long,

   Terry and I are having a wonderful time with our friends Marc and Wendy Brisebois of Watchman on the Wall ministries who have invited us to their annual “Glory of the Father’s House” conference.  They lead the team here at Spruce Grove Community Church which is an amazing fellowship who are taking worship to a whole new place.

  There are a number of guest speakers, including Roberto Morales from Guatamala and David Salazar from Costa Rica, Kim and Lynn Weiler from Festiva Ministries and Michael Danforth from Yakima, Washington.  The first 4 mentioned above spend a couple of days with us at NHOP back in April 2008.  So it is good to reconnect and get caught up on what the Lord has been doing with them.

  We have already had some wonderful conversations with pastors whose churches support NHOP and have even sent people on prayer teams.  Hopefully we are stirring up some more future NHOPPERS as we are out here near Edmonton.

They’re back …

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!