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Mother's Day Panel · Citipointe Church Caboolture

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Hey, welcome to the City Point Church podcast.
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Thanks for joining us. Every day is an opportunity to
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take hold of. So we hope this message inspires
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you and build your faith, but it helps you have more of a God
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perspective for your day. Enjoy.
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To hear from each of you about your life story, testimonies of
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what it means to be a praying woman, what it means to be the
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daughter of an incredible praying woman and through many,
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many seasons. And so I know that I am
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absolutely blessed to hear your answers to each of these
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questions and church. I pray it be a blessing to you
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too, as we get to know these women more, but also get to
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learn a little bit more about how we men as a women, be so
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strengthened in our relationship and our intimacy with our God.
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And so this morning I have a few questions.
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My first one is for all of you. So I'm sure you each have a
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microphone. Fantastic.
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I'm going to let you decide who gets this one first.
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My question is because each of you have different journeys and
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have had different life experiences, I would love if you
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could share with us what prayer looked like in the world where
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you were raised. OK, I'll go first.
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Yes, Justine. So for me, prayer looked very
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different from a Christian life. In fact, it was the complete
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opposite. For those who don't know, my
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family and I were raised in a Muslim background, so prayer in
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the household looked like going to the mosque.
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You'd pray to Allah, you'd have prayer mats, you'd get beat if
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you don't pray, and you'd have to pray five times as a day a
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day. So as a child I didn't really
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understand any of it. But still to this day I remember
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how stroked and mandatory prayer was.
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But after being saved and coming into Christianity, it was
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completely different. Thank you Lord.
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My mother was probably the biggest example of what prayer
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looked like. She would be up at night or
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early in the morning praying so loud so we'd always hear her.
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But growing up, this showed me that Christianity is a
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relationship with the Lord, that it's not strictly limited to a
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certain time of the day, that prayer can be done anywhere and
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everywhere. But I will.
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Say, I do admire the consistency and effort that Muslims put into
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praying. I think that as believers, it's
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something that we should all be going in if we want to build the
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habit of daily prayer. Thank you, Justine.
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Wow. I did not grow up in a Christian
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home, so we had no prayer at all in my home.
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I think if there's one way that it's now shaped how we pray in
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our house now, how I do as a discipline, it's that when I
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growing up, the moment we woke up, things were like always
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super hectic, like there was no peace or calmness in our
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morning. So now the like first fruit of
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my morning goes towards prayer, goes towards humbling myself for
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my day and also before the Lord and setting my day for him so
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that he can direct me in each each way that I go so that I can
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have peace and and some sense of calm in this world throughout
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the day. So that's probably mine.
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Significant. Well I have a very different
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story to the 2 girls. For I was raised in a House of
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faith and so for me there are two things that I saw as a
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rhythm of prayer in my childhood for all good church kids, any
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church kids in the house. Monday night prayer colouring
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under the Rose. It was a normal part of the
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rhythm of our family for all of my years growing up and I,
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unlike these two girls, woke up to the sound of a praying
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parent. And so when I we would wake up,
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it was to the alarm of my father storming heaven and my mother
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lying in her bed with a cup of tea, praying in tongues.
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And because we lived in a 2 bedroom flat, even though we
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were a family of six with some of us children inside their
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bedroom, we got to witness a life of prayer.
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And that was our morning wake up.
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Beautiful. Wow, that is so much like just
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remarkable. Pastor Mel, this question is for
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you. Would you be able to speak to us
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about how you learnt to pray and what that looks like?
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I would say to everybody here in the room who has faith to answer
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your question, Pastor Nicole, it was absolutely learnt behaviour.
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So because I witnessed what it was to pray to the Lord, it was
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easy to step into it myself. Unsurprisingly, that is part of
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the rhythm that I have done for my life is morning prayer
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because it is what I saw as a pattern for many years in my
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years of formation. So I would say that would be the
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number one answer is it is a learnt behaviour.
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But to step into it myself, I received an incredible gift
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every year. Our church used to give us a
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part of the Christmas pageant, which is what they were called
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back then, Christmas pageant. They would give you a Christian
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book and every single child received one and they were very
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individual and at 12 years old I received, for all of those of
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this era church, you know exactly what this is.
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I received Rebecca St. James 40 Days with God and it
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was a prayer journal to walk you through teaching you how to
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pray. And so at 12 years old, I
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received this for Christmas and I took this 40 days, which at
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that time was coupled with fasting, which was significant.
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And, and I have used that rhythm of prayer then for the rest of
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my life. So I would encourage those who
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have young people in the room to set your children up.
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Don't just leave them to their own.
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You know, they'll figure it out for themselves.
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I was. I felt like I was set up as a
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child both through a learned experience I got to witness it,
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but also given some tools to help me discover and study and
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understand what it was to talk to God and have Him talk back to
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me. Thank you, Pastor Mel, I've seen
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many of the how to pray for tweens and for children and for
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teenagers and for adults at Quran with a sneaky plug.
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Pastor Soraya, would you be able to speak on what what it was or
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what happened in your life that made prayer personal to you?
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Could you bring us through that journey?
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Yeah, I think prayer isn't something that I, in my personal
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opinion, that becomes personal for a person.
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Prayer is actually just personal.
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And so I think we sometimes can feel distant from it.
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So I think at the beginning of my prayer life and understanding
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what prayer was, I felt very distant from it because it was
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something foreign to me that I didn't understand properly or I
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still don't. I'm still learning, but I think
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in the journey that we take in understanding the personal God
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that we serve, like the fact that we have a God who is not
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separate from us and who is like we're here and he's far away and
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we have to do all of these different things to try and get
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into his presence and know him is not the reality of who we
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actually serve. Not only do we have Jesus Christ
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who came down on onto earth as fully man, fully God, and dwelt
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amongst his people so that now we have a high priest that knows
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every single part about our struggle and our life.
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Not only that, but when he was, he ascended back to heaven.
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We were then given the Holy Spirit to dwell with us always
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so that we wouldn't be separate from God.
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That was no longer a separation. So I think it's so personal in
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the whole makeup of what we believe as Jesus believing Holy
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Spirit filled people. It is a personal thing that we
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do. And so prayer isn't is not
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separate from that. And so I believe that I know
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that when I started to learn about prayer and learn what
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prayer actually looked like for me, one thing that helped click
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into my head what it looked like because I'm very visual was in
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Psalms and Revelation. It talks about the prayer of the
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Saints being like gold bowls of incense in the throne room.
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And that to me just clicked something in my head.
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And I remember thinking, I, I grew up in a house where my mom
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constantly burnt incense. And I hated it because anybody
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who's been in a room full of incense, it's like a full
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sensory experience, right? It's thick so you can see it,
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you smell it, you can feel it because it's so thick.
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You can hear it burning, like you can even taste it.
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Incense is this is that thick. And this is what sits in the
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throne room of heaven and that is how our prayers are received
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for our Holy Father and Jesus Christ who sits at the right
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hand side. And it is a sweet and pleasing
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aroma to Him like that to me is if there's anything that made it
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feel personal, it was that. Because what do you mean that I
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serve a God who not only made a way for my salvation so that I
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was no longer held and bound to sin and shame and death, but now
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he sits in the throne room, the holiest of holies, and my
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prayers are able to be there in a gold bowl?
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What? Like that, that was super crazy
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to me. So I think the more you begin to
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learn about who it is that you serve, who it is that you've
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given your life to, who you have handed everything over to, you
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see that he is personal. So he has given us this personal
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thing of prayer to be able to speak to him.
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Like just like Justine was speaking about before with what
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people who who are Muslim have to do to pray, like they have to
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face a certain way. I don't know the whole Muslim
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thing, sorry if I get it wrong. You can come talk to me
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afterwards. But like, they got to face a
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certain way and they got to do these things.
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No, I can shut my eyes right now.
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I can shut my eyes right now and be like, Holy Lord my Father in
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heaven, oh Holy Spirit, you are with me and you dwell with me in
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every place. I am able to come into the
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throne room boldly because of Jesus Christ and what he has
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done for me. Like this is the God that we
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serve. He is personal and prayer is
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another just personal key for us to be able to speak with him,
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have his ear. Like I could be in my car and
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just be like, Lord, I'm having a, I'm having a day, please, I
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just need you right now. And he hears it.
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It's still in a gold bowl of incense in the throne room.
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So yes. Amen.
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Thank you Pastor Saraya, I love that you touched on just the
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praying in the car bit as well. Just a reminder to everybody
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that you can pray with your eyes open.
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He still hears You Beautiful. I would love, we already are
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getting really honest, to be honest with you, but I would
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love if we could hear from each of you.
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As women, we know that there are very, very busy seasons in our
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lives. So from I mean, I know I'm not
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even a mom yet, but moms, how do you do it?
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There's so much, you know that women do and are responsible for
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in the ministry of their homes, in their workplaces, wherever
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they find themselves. Would you be able to speak on?
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I'll start with you, Pastor Mel, how you prioritize prayer in a
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full season. Well-being really honest, I
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would love to know this season's thing and when seasons finish
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and when seasons start because I don't know if anybody else is
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feeling this in our age, in our times that busy seasons don't
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seem to stop. Does anybody else feel that?
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And I do think it is the God of our age.
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I believe that when the enemy can't make us bad, he makes us
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busy. And so we are distracted from
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the important stuff or the priority stuff because our lives
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are so full. So being really truthful, I have
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felt like I've experienced a season that's gone for the last
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15 years, and most seasons are really, really busy.
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And so I would answer your question, Nick, that our rhythms
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then have to prioritize, regard our circumstances.
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I, I have through the grace of God learnt like Pastor Surrey
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was saying that each moment of our day requires prayer.
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And this does not mean by, you know, time or in a calendar, but
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in the rhythms of our routines. We require stopping and talking
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to the Lord regularly because we do a lot.
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As a part of this rhythm. I have found I can't do
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back-to-back meetings anymore. I require at least a 20 minute
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break between. A lot of my life is is meetings,
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is meeting with people, and so I require 20 minute intervals
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between to stop and do what the Bible says, to cast my cares
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upon the Lord and to reset and go.
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You have anointed me and you have graced me for what I'm
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about to walk into, regardless of what it is, whether it's, you
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know, walking people through trials or finance or walking
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back into homes where toddlers are like they want you on,
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right? That you've graced me to do this
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and you've anointed me. He has anointed you and graced
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you for what he's called you to do today, each and everyone of
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you. And so when we remind ourselves
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of that and we go, God speak to me about what I'm about to go
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into, we find we are less reactionary and more purposeful
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in operating in what he says about whatever situation we're
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going into. It doesn't matter whether it
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carries great joy or whether it carries great pain.
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And so I don't think it is a prioritizing a specific moment,
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but rather lots and lots of rhythms around what your life
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looks like. The truth is, as many moments
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before a phone call to your next client could just have that God,
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before I speak to them, let me be light.
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Let me be love so that I don't come from me and I don't bring
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what I last was carrying into this moment.
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Yeah. Beautiful Justine, similar to
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what Pastor Mel said, I just feel like I've learnt throughout
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my life that there's no excuse to not pray when you understand
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that it's a relationship with the Lord, you realize that he's
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not there sitting counting the minutes you spend in prayer.
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He's simply delighted that we've showed up and so that's helped
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me to realize that I can talk to God wherever I am.
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So if there's days where I've slept in or I've got an early
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shift where I just don't feel like praying, I can still talk
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with God and even in my mind because we all talk to ourselves
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in our heads. So I just thought why not direct
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that towards God instead? So yeah, it's just great to be
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able to know that I can talk to the Lord anytime, wherever I am.
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And I've changed my schedule to prioritize my time with him.
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So I've noticed that when I didn't have uni or early
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mornings it felt easier to spend time with God, but when it meant
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waking up an extra hour early. But was staying up later it
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actually began to cost me something.
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And so I've noticed the shift in power and that when I work my
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schedule around God first. That's right.
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That's the Surya. I, I do agree a lot with what
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both personal and Justina said about the rhythms of your life
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and seasons change. Like last year I was in full
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time Bible college and this year I'm not.
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So it's a completely different way of how like last year I had
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on the way home a commute that was nearly an hour and 40
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minutes. And during that time, I would
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just shut off, wouldn't answer my phone, and I would just pray.
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And that was my time at the Lord.
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But my discipline in prayer, because I do believe that it's
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important to have a discipline of prayer.
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Mine is my first fruits of the morning.
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I wake up in the morning, whether it is I am still in bed
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and I have 1/2 hour or whether I've gotten up when I was
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supposed to and I've got 2 hours to give to the Lord.
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The first fruits of my day will go to him, and I will be in His
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presence in the morning before my children wake, before my
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husband wakes, because my relationship with God, Jesus,
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and the Holy Spirit is so much more important than anything
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else I do in my day. And I want him to know that.
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I want him to know that I love him, and I want to see him in
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the morning. And also like what Pastor Mel
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said, just taking that time out so that you're able to respond
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to things in a way because we all go throughout our day and
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things happen and they're not great.
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You know, all that kind of stuff.
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Well, you know, life throws you a curveball.
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But when you've set your day out and you've said, Lord, here I
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am, use me today and whichever way you want and however that
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looks according to your will, He's like, OK, cool, I'm allowed
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in today. I'm allowed to be here today.
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The Holy Spirit is allowed to work through through me today.
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So I do keep that discipline. The other things might change in
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my day, but my discipline is my morning for the Lord.
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It's before my children. You can even ask Malachi or
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Zion. If they wake up and I have my
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Bible and I'm sitting there, it's more Zion than Malachi.
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I'll say that it's more Zion. But if Zion like they come out
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and they see me sitting with my Bible because we live in a
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really small house, I'll just kindly remind them, especially
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Zion and say, do you do you see what I'm doing here?
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I'm spending time with my father and he will go OK mom and leaves
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until my Bibles closed and I'm up and walking around again.
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So yeah, that's what I believe. Thank you.
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Beautiful influence on your boys there as well.
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Pastor Mel, Pastor Shreya mentioned you know when when
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times are getting hard, if someone is feeling not as
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particularly spiritual to get up and to pray.
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What does prayer look like in those moments as well for you?
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It's a great question. I think that the enemy loves to
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trap us in using our default behaviours to counteract or to
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fight against challenging times. Regardless of what the
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challenging times are. Humanity does one of two things.
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We love to find somewhere to blame, right?
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We love to find who's at fault. Because it couldn't possibly be
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me, right? And #2 then we need to tell
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somebody about it. Come on, let's be real and
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honest this morning, all right? I have found that when I react
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like this default behaviors that I am never praying according to
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His Word. I am a pray.
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I am praying, still praying according to my flesh, according
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to my emotions. And I actually think that this
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the enemy loves us to have these fruitless prayers, but not
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effective prayers, right? Might be fervent, but not
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effective. And so as a part of the rhythm
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for my life, I have decided that I wanted to pray the Word of
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God. And so regardless of where I am
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in the Word of God, I pray because God speaks through every
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part of it. None of His word is made
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redundant. It is alive and it is living.
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He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
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So there is no challenge. There is no situation that there
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isn't an answer for here, but I don't even need to go searching
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for it. I can simply open it and pray
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it. And so for quite a long period
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of time in my life, maybe the last 17 years, I've actually
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used my Bibles as prayer journals.
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So the margins, you have to buy Bibles that are margins to do
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this, but the margins are the chapter title and then the
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prayer, praying through exactly what the chapter says.
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This then helps me align my life to His will.
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I think so many of us feel at odds or even at a loss of
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direction for our lives. And yet if we open our word,
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direction is found instead of being LED emotionally or led by
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being really honest. Others.
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I, I read my word and I see that Job's friends, godly friends,
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had nothing good to say. Nothing.
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They were godly friends. And there isn't an account in
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that word that is according to God's will.
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And so Job just had to go back to the source and the source
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alone. And I love this in the start of
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Psalms when I've gone through really challenging times, not
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just what I'm reading at the time.
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At the moment I'm in Isaiah, which is really quite full on.
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I'm sure many of us feel about the Bible in All in all,
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wherever you are at like this. But I will revert back and I
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will start to read the Psalms again because I'm reminded that
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in hard times he is very, very, the psalmist is very, very
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honest with the Lord. And right from the very
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beginning it says comments like this made by the psalmist at the
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very beginning of the Champ chapters, chapter 4 says, answer
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me when I call to you. That's, that's the psalmist
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talking to the Lord. Does anybody else talk to the
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Lord like that? Answer me when I talk to you
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right. Oh God who declares me innocent,
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free me from my troubles, have mercy on me and hear my prayer.
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Hear my prayer chapter 5 Lord, hear me as I pray.
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Pay attention to my groaning. Listen to my cry for help, my
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King and my God. For I pray to no one but you.
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And this is what I have highlighted.
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I haven't written in the front of my Bible, for I pray to no
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one but you. I think church we can commonly
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pray to ourself. This is how my feelings are.
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This is what my friends have said.
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And so I'm going to pray about that.
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But his word says, for I pray to no one but you, I'm going to
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hear from you where my direction and my help comes from.
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Thank you, Parsima. I was so hoping that you would
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bring about how you've been journaling in your Bible.
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You spoke about this. I don't.
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Yeah, a while ago. And it's a habit that I have
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been able to do as well. And I I hope that that blesses
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many, many people here today because this our Bibles are life
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manuals and they are prayer manuals as well.
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They're amazing. I'm in Isaiah at the moment, and
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if you're worried about anything that's going on in the world,
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pray through Isaiah. It's all there says don't put
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your hope in governments don't put your hope in wealth, don't
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put your hope in. Don't put your hope in.
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Don't put your hope in. You can't build trust with
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anything else except God. God and God alone.
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That's what it's telling you when it's saying rivers and
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Cedars and let it have been on and all of the above, right?
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Amen. Thank you, Pastor Saraya.
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There might be women here today who we don't quite know how to
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pray yet. Can you speak to those women in
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the room? Yeah, awesome.
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I would, I would say to anybody in the room who's feeling as
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though they can't pray before we just before when I answered
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about personal prayer and I talked about incense, what it
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says in Scripture about incense burning in the throne room of
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God. Incense needs fire to get
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started. And we have been given the most
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incredible helper, the most incredible in power in the
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world. The same Spirit that rose Jesus
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Christ from the dead now lives within us, and He is the holy
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fire that we need at any single moment, that we can call upon in
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any single moment when we don't know what to say.
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And that's the beauty of our spirit language.
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That's a beauty. Beauty of speaking in tongues is
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that we don't even know what to say, but the Spirit makes groans
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through us that are in line and in thought with the Father's
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will for our life. And so that's the first point I
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would say. We here in City Point are
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Pentecostal, Holy Spirit, believing, fire, holding people.
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And so then if you are in a moment and you feel as though
27:12
you can't pray, you don't know what to say, call upon the Holy
27:16
Spirit. He is present everywhere, every
27:18
moment. He is never not near you.
27:20
So you don't call upon Him, and He takes a while to get to you.
27:24
He is there always and as soon as you call upon Him, He will
27:27
bring to you words that you are able to speak, words that don't
27:32
have to be fancy. Prayer isn't fancy and all that
27:35
kind of stuff. But the Holy Spirit is your best
27:38
friend when it comes to prayer. He is the one who intercedes on
27:42
your behalf and He also even gives you the empowering and the
27:47
knowledge to even know what to pray about.
27:49
So the Holy Spirit first and foremost, speaking in tongues,
27:54
your spirit language, if you don't know where to start, start
27:57
there. If you haven't been baptized in
27:59
the Spirit, come and see one of us and we will lay hands and
28:04
fire will fall upon you in the name of Jesus by the Holy
28:08
Spirit. The second part I would say is
28:12
just like what Pastor Mel said is Scripture is your go to.
28:16
Scripture is where we find the makeup and the not rules, but
28:21
the blueprint for how to pray. Anytime I've had anyone come to
28:26
me and say how do I pray? I want to learn how to pray.
28:29
I say Scripture's the best place.
28:31
Psalms is an incredible place to start to pray.
28:34
If you want fancy language like I do, I love fancy words, I go
28:38
to Psalms. Psalms gives me all the fancy
28:39
words, but in Matthew 6, Jesus tells us he gives us the
28:44
blueprint on how to pray. And it says even starting in
28:48
seven. And when you pray, do not heap
28:50
up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they
28:54
will be heard for their many words.
28:56
Do not pray like them, for your Father knows what you need
28:59
before you ask him. This is how Jesus is leading
29:02
this. And then he says prayer like
29:04
this. I'm getting a little bit fired
29:05
up right now, but it says pray like this.
29:08
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your Kingdom come,
29:12
your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
29:16
Give us this day Our Daily Bread, and forgive us our debts
29:20
as we forgive those who have debts against us.
29:23
Oh come on, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from
29:27
evil, for yours is the Kingdom and the power and glory forever
29:32
and ever. Amen.
29:34
So if you don't know what to pray, I just prayed Scripture
29:37
right then. And the fire of what comes from
29:40
what we have been been given is readily available to you to
29:44
speak in every moment. And you might think, oh, this
29:46
situation doesn't doesn't make sense that I would be praying
29:50
the Father's prayer. This prayer is the prayer you
29:52
can pray anywhere every time. And the Holy Spirit comes, you
29:58
are submitting yourself to the Father's will for your for your
30:01
prayer and what you are speaking in that moment.
30:04
So yeah, Scripture, Holy Spirit and Scripture, two of the key
30:10
ingredients that we need to be able to pray and pray
30:13
effectively. So.
30:14
Yeah, Pastor Saray, you are on fire, the Holy Spirit.
30:18
So I'm going to shoot back to you.
30:20
Are you ready? I am sure there are many, many,
30:23
many, many many moments and accounts, but I would love for
30:27
us to hear one where prayer has changed something in you or
30:32
around you. This.
30:34
Yeah. Awesome everyday it is.
30:37
But if I can think of one specific moment was I, my
30:42
husband and I, we were supporting a close friend of
30:47
ours of my husband's through a court journey he was going
30:51
through. He was in jail and he was having
30:55
his court date to see whether he would be let out on a suspended
30:59
sentence or whether he would have to serve that time.
31:03
And so we went all the way to Brisbane to the Supreme Court,
31:07
you know, the big dog one. And we were in there and I just
31:12
remember sitting in the courtroom and it's so like, Oh
31:15
my gosh, it's so like they come in and you go to Bow and I don't
31:19
know if you've ever been to court, but it was like super
31:21
hectic. And I was sitting in our seats.
31:26
And then they brought our friend in and he came and sat on the
31:30
right hand side of where the judge was sitting.
31:34
He sat on the right hand side. And sorry, it's left because
31:38
when you're looking this way, but if you're looking from the
31:40
judge, it's right anyway. And he was being defended by his
31:48
lawyer and his lawyer would go to him and our friend, if, if
31:53
you knew him, he's he, he's doesn't have any fancy words.
31:57
He doesn't know, doesn't know any law terms.
31:59
So the lawyer would be going to him and be saying, and then
32:03
she'd come and she'd say something incredible.
32:05
And I'd be like, he didn't say that, not my friend.
32:08
He didn't say that. But I had this revelation
32:12
sitting in that courtroom and I just felt the Holy Spirit
32:15
descend upon that place and show me the throne room of God and
32:21
how when I enter the throne room of God, Jesus Christ, my Lord
32:27
and Savior, your Lord and Savior is sitting at the right hand of
32:30
the Father. And when I go into the throne
32:34
room, I probably come with words that don't make sense.
32:37
And I'd be like there. But then Jesus comes and he
32:41
goes, What was that? Okay, cool.
32:43
Comes before the Father intercedes and speaks on my
32:47
behalf. What?
32:49
That's just crazy. This all happened in that moment
32:52
of sitting in that courtroom, seeing how our Father in heaven
32:57
has set up prayer for us and what Jesus Christ, what the
33:01
price he paid on the cross now means for us more so than just
33:06
the salvation, which is an adjust.
33:08
It's incredible what he did there, but the tools and the
33:11
keys that he has given us now to live life as Jesus, believing
33:16
Holy Spirit filled, praying fervently people is just
33:20
immense. He goes before us on our behalf
33:23
half in every kind of way. So now when I pray and I enter
33:27
the throne room, it is a seed of humility that I always take
33:30
because it's not me I want defending myself or it's not me
33:33
that I want speaking on my own behalf.
33:35
It's Jesus Christ. And He knows what I'm going to
33:38
pray before I even get there. And then when I get there, he's
33:41
praying on my behalf with words that are more incredible and
33:44
more in line with the Father's will and that speak a better
33:48
word than I could ever, ever say.
33:51
And so that's something that I've forgotten the question
33:54
anyway. But this, this is how I pray now
33:59
and this is the breakthrough that I had in prayer was that I
34:04
have been given the keys to be able to enter the throne room as
34:09
the righteousness of Christ. Like this just blows my mind
34:13
continuously, which is why my face looks like that is that I
34:17
cannot make sense of the fact that not only did I receive
34:21
salvation from Jesus Christ so that I would no longer be bound
34:25
to sin, death and shame in my life, but that then he also gave
34:29
me life and life abundantly that I can go into these heavenly
34:32
places, these high places and be able to speak with my Father in
34:38
in in conjunction with Jesus Christ.
34:41
And then when I here, the Holy Spirit prompts me every every
34:44
second of the day, gives me the words to say and intercedes for
34:48
me. And it just it's insane to me
34:52
that we live this life and this is what we're we are readily
34:55
given when we accept Jesus Christ into my life.
34:58
So I hope that answered the question.
34:59
It does. Absolutely powerful.
35:02
Pastor Surrey. What?
35:03
Yeah, but what? Pastor Surrey you've just
35:05
shared? Not just what a moment where
35:08
prayer changed something in you, but truly for me and I'm sure
35:11
many people here just hearing that revelation alone,
35:15
visualizing it and now knowing it on our hearts, I I'm sure it
35:19
is going to change for each of us as well.
35:22
That was that was mammoth. Thank you, Possumel.
35:25
A few weeks ago you were chatting to me about a beautiful
35:30
story of a woman named Susanna Wesley.
35:34
And you were talking about how she was this busy mother, lots
35:39
of kids and and she would do something quite remarkable.
35:43
I was touched by this. And so I'd love if you could
35:46
speak on it to the to our beautiful church.
35:49
Sure. Who in the building knows who
35:52
Susanna Wesley is? A couple.
35:54
OK, great. So one of our incredible fathers
35:58
of the faith. This was his mother, all right?
36:01
And I just love this because we hear of some of the significant
36:05
things that John Wesley has done for the body of faith.
36:10
There are incredible resources out there.
36:12
If you've never heard about the impact that this man's life had
36:16
on churches across the world, it's significant.
36:18
But this is actually the story of his mom who raised not one
36:24
son but many children. And he learnt, he spoke about
36:29
the story. This is how it came out about
36:31
the significance on and the impact on his life because he
36:35
witnessed, which is even why we have Justine sitting on this
36:39
panel today. She is sitting here as witness
36:42
and as testimony of an interceding mother, a woman who
36:47
intercedes with her life. There are many in this church
36:50
who've been impacted by the intercession of this mother.
36:54
Well, this particular mother, Susanna Wesley, was exactly the
36:57
same. And John was so marked by it
36:59
that he spoke about it many times.
37:02
And so he said he was taught the importance of talking to God
37:07
first, say first. We have a habit in this day and
37:13
age of talking to everything else first.
37:17
But Susanna found it such a priority to talk to her God
37:21
first that it mocked her children and it set them up for
37:25
ministries that went across the planet.
37:28
She had this unusual practice that she actually used to get
37:32
either her kitchen apron or a tea towel, and she would put it
37:36
up over her head. And when the tea towel or the
37:41
apron was placed over her head, it was a mark to her children.
37:46
Like Pastor Saraya was saying, when the Bible is open, Zion
37:50
knows she's spending time with her father.
37:53
For Susanna, the children knew that she was talking to her
37:58
father and that she was not to be interrupted.
38:03
For this mother, she actually John has actually unpacks that
38:07
she used to put this over her head for two hours every day.
38:11
Somewhere in the day, the apron or the tea towel would be
38:16
covering her face and she would say it would cover my face so
38:21
that I have time to come face to face with my Heavenly Father and
38:26
give him one-on-one attention and hear from Him.
38:30
And so this story absolutely marked me because in the seasons
38:34
that we have for so many here, there will be many of you in the
38:38
young family season. It gives us an incredible idea
38:44
of how we can prioritize this. For the girls who were at SWB
38:48
last week, you may have heard Pastor Lee say she locked her
38:52
children in a bedroom and would lie on the floor outside the
38:56
bedroom door. Did anybody else hear that riot?
39:01
Sometimes it takes extreme measures.
39:05
Do you know? It doesn't matter what your
39:06
strategy is. I have a place that I get to go
39:11
without them. And so it's a sacred place
39:13
without little ones where I get to talk to the Lord.
39:16
And often in those times, it's where you're weeping, but you
39:20
are also rejoicing. It's where the Lord meets you so
39:23
intimately. Do you know, I think one of
39:25
these great strategies that I've actually used and all of my
39:29
children will attest to this, doesn't matter whether they are
39:31
4 or 21 of these has been in the car.
39:35
Is anybody else find that children just become chaotic in
39:40
the car? It's like they know that your
39:42
hands are on the wheel and you're not allowed to do
39:44
anything else. And so you've done these ones
39:48
long enough and it's not working.
39:51
And it definitely doesn't work to go.
39:52
Would you be quiet? It's almost like it elevates the
39:56
volume, right? I don't know where I got this
39:59
from. I'd probably say if I asked my
40:02
mother, I probably got it from her because it's it's, it's one
40:05
of these wild strategies, but it's not uncommon in our car.
40:09
That when the children go chaotic, I will just start and
40:18
the car falls silent. Some of you are looking for
40:23
silence with the Lord. You might just need to speak in
40:26
tongues. Because the truth is, is I think
40:31
even when we've received really hard news, sometimes I've been
40:34
able to do nothing else but that is to pray in a heavenly
40:37
language or sing in a heavenly language and it is silenced the
40:43
noise. And some of us need to hear that
40:46
this morning. The noise will always be there.
40:49
But that what God has given us strategies to silence the noise.
40:52
So say some of you might need to exercise today, some speaking in
40:55
tongues on the way home from church with tired children.
40:59
Shiki Araba Cosi Carrera. Thank you, Pastor Mel for
41:03
teachers in the room. It works in the classroom too.
41:06
I'm just going to finish off with some rapid fire questions,
41:09
so Mike's ready. We'd like to hear from all of
41:12
you. One quick, quick answer as quick
41:14
as you can. So are you a morning prayer or
41:16
late night prayer or both? Morning, morning.
41:20
Both worship music or silence when you pray.
41:24
Silence. Worship music.
41:27
OK, love. It journaling prayer or walking
41:30
prayer? Journaling.
41:32
Walking. Journaling.
41:35
Journaling as well, yeah. One word women need to hear
41:40
today. Pray first, talk last.
41:48
Is it just one word or you can say it?
41:50
Could be a phrase. Phrase is fine.
41:53
You are the daughter of the Most High, Yeah.
41:56
I'd say authenticity. Yeah, say it.
42:01
What steals prayer most easily? Dizziness.
42:05
As Pastor Mel said before, I'd say pride.
42:10
Yeah, I'm with Pastor Surya. And lastly, do you have your
42:16
best prayer tip in one sentence? Just have a yarn.
42:26
Great. Just he just wants to talk to
42:30
you and that's what prayer is. It's super relational.
42:33
Just speak with your Father in heaven.
42:36
He'll receive you however you come.
42:39
Just as you talk with your friends, you talk with the
42:41
people you love. You receive them as they are
42:44
when they speak to you. Your Father in heaven does so
42:46
much more in that aspect. Just talk to him.
42:49
Just talk to him. I would say come boldly.
42:54
Beautiful. Just like pride steals prayer
42:58
lives. I think it's why we're prompted
43:01
to come boldly into the throne room.
43:04
We do not need to be covered. Or I would say, leave the cloak
43:08
of shame at the door, drop it off and walk in.
43:12
If there's anybody who can redeem, restore, renew, it's
43:15
Him. So come boldly, so.
43:18
Good. It's like God is our Father, so
43:21
you'd come to him as children when we pray and that it's a
43:25
conversation with the Lord. So to not have all these big
43:28
standards or expectations, but it's just communion conversation
43:32
with him. Amazing.
43:34
Hey, can we thank these beautiful women for sharing with
43:38
us? Thank you so much, Justine.
43:41
Pastor Saraya, Pastor Mel Touch. I'm going to leave you with
43:45
Pastamel as I know she's got something incredible to end this
43:49
morning. Yeah, we're going to do
43:50
something just a little bit different.
43:52
Girls, you received a gift this morning.
43:54
I'm going to ask you in this moment, would you unwrap it?
43:59
It'll make sense when you do. We've spoken today about Susanna
44:10
Wesley, and when I think about this extraordinary woman, she
44:17
didn't wait for perfect silence. She didn't wait for ideal
44:22
conditions. She made sacred space in
44:28
ordinary life. Today you thought you just came
44:32
to church, ordinary life, but each of you received a gift.
44:40
I want you to do something really bold.
44:43
I want you to put over your head, pray our photographer is
44:48
roaming right now, aren't you? Put over your face, put over
45:00
your head so you can't see. It's a simple symbol.
45:08
It's a reminder to you that you can make space with God in every
45:14
single season, in any moment of any day.
45:22
Now, for those of you who are sat in our auditorium around a
45:27
woman with a tea towel covering her head, I'm going to ask if
45:32
you would go and lay hands on this woman.
45:35
We as a church are going to pray for our mothers, our wives, our
45:42
daughters, our grandmothers, our sisters, or any special woman
45:47
that you are sat beside this morning.
45:50
And we're going to place our hands on her shoulders and begin
45:55
to pray a blessing over her. But I want to pray something
46:00
else as well. Pastor Soraya unpacked in this
46:05
beautiful moment on the panel that for those of you who desire
46:13
or so desire to have a an incredible relationship with
46:19
their Saviour, with their God through the dialogue of prayer,
46:25
that this is cultivated through the Holy Spirit and through
46:28
fire. And so I wonder right now, I'm
46:33
not going to do it. You're going to do it.
46:36
I'm going to ask that those around lay hands on and they
46:39
pray for fresh fire. Fresh fire, Come on right now,
46:44
somewhere you're going to stand and you're going to impart
46:46
something right now. Stand and impart something.
46:49
Pray and intercede. Prayer, blessing, pray fresh
46:53
fire. Pray right now that this woman
46:56
begins to hear the voice of God clearly because she hungers and
47:00
she yearns for it. Hoora basika rabba kushika rabba
47:07
rabba, fill them a fresh gone. Fill them a fresh, fill them a
47:13
fresh law gone. The hunger and the yearning can
47:16
be satisfied by you. And so, Lord God, this morning
47:19
we pray for fresh fire in each woman.
47:23
Would you stir that flame? Would you move it from a kindle
47:27
to a burning fire that cannot be quenched, but to spend time with
47:32
you? Lord God, I pray now for each
47:34
and every woman that they would receive clarity when they speak
47:38
from you, that they would receive direction, that they
47:41
would receive peace, that they would receive an understanding
47:44
of things that they do not understand.
47:47
Revelation from your word as they pray, God, I pray God right
47:51
now that women sitting here this morning who might even even feel
47:55
strange sitting with their faces covered would come face to face
48:00
with their Savior. Face to face with their Father,
48:04
face to face with the one who loves them dearly, face to face
48:08
with your glory. Lord God, that they would be
48:11
marked by you God, they would be marked.
48:14
We pray for a fresh impartation on your women.
48:18
Would we call them this morning? And we prophesied this morning
48:22
that they would be a praying generation of women who will
48:28
bear witness to not only a move of God in this nation, but their
48:32
children will rise up and call them blessed and know how to
48:37
speak with their God because they've witnessed these women
48:41
walk it out diligently day by day, cultivating relationship
48:47
with you. God bless their households,
48:51
bless their motherhood, bless their families, restore what is
48:56
broken, restore what is broken, and let them live out the
49:03
promises that you have for each and every one of them in Jesus
49:09
mighty name, Amen, Amen. Amen.
49:12
Amen.