Praising God for ASI Spain

I have just arrived home from ASI Spain where Melissa and I hosted a prayer room. God has been good to us! He blessed us tremendously!!! I have no words to describe how blessed I have been there!

Though I was supposed to team mates come and help me, a couple of weeks before ASI Spain I was told that Irene and Arlaine did not get their visa and Andrew could not come to ASI Spain and GYC France. When I got the news, I remember telling a friend that I will pray and ask God that He will not give peace to someone until they come and help me with the prayer room. And He did.

Wednesday morning, 24 hours before I was to leave for ASI Spain and 48 hours before ASI started, I got a phone call. When I heard: "This is Melissa Miranda" I was shocked! I have never ever talked to Melissa, and I was wondering why she was calling. To make a long story short I will tell you that God has not given her peace, and she felt impressed to call and offer to come and help with these three events (ASI Spain, GYC France and Euro-Africa Division Annual Council). So, 47 hours later Melissa landed in Madrid. It has been a dream of hers to come and help promote united prayer in Europe and God has fulfilled it. Praise God for how He knows to send the right people at the right place and also to fulfill our dreams.

ASI leadership was really supportive of the prayer room, and they did everything they could to help and support us. They have rented a beautiful room for the prayer room. It was the most beautiful room in the building and had clouds on the ceiling! Can you imagine a better place to pray…besides being out under the sky directly?

Also, God gave us many opportunities to share about united prayer. We were able to share about united prayer twice on Friday and three times on Sabbath!

ASI started with around 80 people on Friday morning. After our presentation of the prayer room, almost a third of the attendees came right away to the prayer room. When the afternoon program started there were more than 600 people in the audience and on Sabbath there were over 1000 people.

One of the greatest blessings we had was to be abel to lead the whole congregation in united prayer Sabbath morning, just before Elder Mark Finley preached! It was such an amazing experience to have more than 1000 people unite together in prayer!!! 

We were not supposed to have united prayer but, when I asked if they would be interested in having united prayer with eveybody, the ASI President told me to talk to a pastor who was in charge of the moments of prayer. Melissa and I talked to him and, though he had made plans, he sugested that we take the most important time from the whole convention, the prayer time just before the divine service on Sabbath morning! Praise God again!

On a side note, we were very surprised to hear that the united prayer is going strong with one church in Denmark. One young man from Denmark told us that a girl from Iceland, who is living in Denmark, was at GYC 2010 and came to our prayer room. She was so inspired that she took united prayer back to Denmark! Praise God for His unexpectated ways of working!

Sabbath morning, Melissa and I prayed that God will send us someone who will be willing to share their testimony. Hardly had we finished the prayer when 4 young people from Hungary, Denmark and Germany came in. They had been to the prayer room on Friday so we started asking them about their experience. One of the girls had a wonderful testimony and she agreed to go with us on the stage and share her testimony. And it all happened right before we were to go on the stage. So, praise God again!

Sabbath morning, I led a session of united prayer right before we were to go and lead the whole congregation in united prayer. There were only 5 of us in the prayer room (three girls, my translator and I), but it was a powerful session. We all could feel the presence of the Holy Spirit, and I know that He was working in their hearts because all of them were crying. I had to hurry and go to the main meeting hall because we had to lead united prayer, so I asked them to come back in the afternoon because I want to talk to them. God brought them back to the prayer room right in time for us to ask them to share their testimony about united prayer for our final sharing time. They came during the session that was right before we went on the stage for the last time. We asked them what was their experience in the prayer room and, as tears were streamming down their cheeks, they confessed that they have never experienced something like this. One of the girls has prayed for a long time to be able to feel God's presence and to feel that He was near. And she was finally able to experience His presence in the prayer room. She also said that she has never had such a peace in her heart. Another girl said that she has never had such a joy in her life. I have chatted with her just a few minutes ago and she told me that her day is great, and she is so happy because she finally has God in her heart. We just praise the Lord!

I was also impressed by a lady. Sabbath afternoon Melissa was leading a session of united prayer while I was at the door trying to see if there are more people who want to come in. While I was there, a lady asked me if there is any water in the prayer room. Apparently someone has told her that there are bottles with water in the prayer room. I told her I did not know if there was any water left, and she asked me if I can go and check for her. I told her, "Why don't you look and see!"  Five minutes later, when I entered the prayer room, the same lady was praying and crying before the Lord!

Another Romanian lady in her 50s was really moved and she told Melissa that she has never prayed for 45 minutes in her entire life!

We have seen many people in tears. Many took the decision to recommit their lives to God. Many were determined to take united prayer back to their homes. The Youth Director from the Union came three times to the prayer room, and he is determined to take this to the young people for all of Spain. The Pathfinder director from the Union and his wife joined us too, and he is determined to promote united prayer amoung the pathfinders. We had a girl from Hungary who said that they are going to have a Youth Convention in Hungary next weekend, and she wants to take united prayer there. The wife of the Pathfinder Director offered to translate the united prayer handbook into Spanish. I believe that we need to have it translated into many languages, and I praise God for those that are inspired to do the translation.

So, what else can I say except, praise God!!! He has been more than faithful! It is an honor to be able to see Him changing lives through united prayer.

Let's keep moving forward on our knees!

True Greatness

There has been one name that everybody has been talking about for the past days. One name mentioned in a lot of newspapers, webpages, blogs, tweets and facebook posts: Steve Jobs. A lot of my friends from facebook have been quoting his words, posting articles about him and also the inspirational speech he had at Standford University. People are talking about him as someone who had a great impact upon the world and has changed it, a visionary and genious, a great man. And though I have many things I could object about related to his vision, lifestyle, values, etc. this is not what I want to talk about. His death and people's comments made me think about greatness.

A great man... What makes someone a great person? How do I define greatness?

I remember sitting in my office and translating a program in which C.D. Brooks was interviewed. And as I was listening to him speaking, my eyes got moist. He talked with so much power!!! Every morning, as I am going to work with the earphones pluged in ears, I am listening to God's word preached by different people. And many times my eyes become moist because the Holy Spirit is at work. For me, they are great people.

I know a lot of people who have left the comfort of their houses, left their families behind and chose to go in the middle of the nowhere, in the jungle or desert, to far away lands, to live a life of self-denial and hardships in order to take the Gospel to people who have never heard about Jesus. People who have given their all to God, people who live by faith and depend on God alone. For me, they are great people.

I am more and more fascinated by biographies of people who lived a life of prayer, people like John Hyde, known as Praying Hyde, Rees Howels, Charles Finney, Geroge Muller, E.M. Bounds, Martin Luther, David Livingstone. People who learned what prevailing prayer means, who learned not to let go of God unless He blessed them, who felt a burden for souls and who interceeded for others. People who went forward in faith and stepped into the Jordan believeing that the waters will be parted. And I am also fascinante by people who are alive and do the same things. For me, they are great people.

I admire people who, even though they might not be called to the foreign mission fields, they do whatever they can to glorify God where they are. People who are humble and who do not depend on their own wisdom. They choose to do the work that lies nearest to them. They choose to be faithful in the little things and they are living testimonies wherever God placed them. For me, they are great people.

I also admire people who understand that, in order to serve God, you must first be willing to forsake your reputation and work for the glory of God and the betterment of others. People who are available to be broken, to die to self, and to be put back together by God. For me, they are great people.

So, for me, a great person is someone ...

... who is humble.

... who is meek.

... who seeking for God with all His heart.

... who depends on God and makes sure that he does not do what he wants, but what God wants him to do.

... who does not try to please people, but God. 

... who is willing to answer God's call.

... who does not make plans of His own and is

... who lives to bless others.

... who has a ferent prayer life.

... who is ready to give up his dreams to live God's dreams for his life.

... who lives a simple life.

... who glorifies God through His words and behaviour.

... who is not ashamed of Jesus.

... who is not afraid to admit his mistakes.

... who does not trust his own wisdom, but trust in God's wisdom.

... who inspire those around him to love God more.

... who is willing to be broken and to be put together back by God.

... who is in love with God.

... for whom God is everything and enough.

And the list can go on...

They might not be the brightest people. They might not have revolutionized the world with their inventions. They might not be known world-wide. They may not have been given awards. And they many not have the peope's recognition. But they have changed lives for eternity. They have drawn people closer to God. They have shown others God's love. And they surely have the heaven's recognition and a crown waiting for them. No, they are not perfect people. They have their own struggles but they have learned to depend on God, they have seen their need of Him, they have asked Him to take full control of them and this is what makes the difference.

If you think that such people do not exist anymore, let me tell you that they do. I praise God for surrounding me with such people lately. It is one of the greatest blessings He has ever given me. And it is one of the greatest honors I have received from Him.

So, I thank God for the great people that have lived in all the ages, for those who are living today and for the ones He brought in my life. Only eternity will fully reveal their greatness. 

Hitting the Road One More Time

Yes, it is time to hit the road one more time. No, that does not mean that I will not be working for Hope Channel. I am still a Hope Channel employee.

A month ago a friend suggested that I join them and go to the AMiCUS International Congress organized by the EUD to present there the prayer room. They are going to have some time dedicated to projects. How can I do that if we do not have a prayer room there? I asked myself. We simply can't. So, I decided to send a proposal to the organizers. And, praise God, they have accepted it. Two more days and I will be on my way to Paris, France to host an all day prayer room for the AMiCUS International Congress. God provided wonderfully the means and also someone to help me with that. It will be so exciting to meet Irene from Indonesia, whom I have never met.

And this is not all....

A couple of weeks ago Irene asked me if I know anything about the Congress that is going to be held in France at the end of October. I imediately realized that it should be GYC France. I checked it out on the internet and my suspicions were confirmed. Why not to send them a proposal for an all-day prayer room? I asked myself again. So I sent them the proposal. Not only were they happy to have us come there, but they also said that we are the answer to their prayers. They have been looking for someone to have a workshop on prayer and did not know anybody to do that. So, God sent my proposal at the right time.

Walking in His Steps

I remember telling my good friend Melody that I need help with the prayer room. I was afraid that nobody will be able to come because ARME has a Bible Camp in Hawaii the very next weekend. I knew that God will provide, but I wanted to know who will come so that I can tell the organizing team of GYC France. The very same morning (in fact, an hour later!) I sent Melody an email telling her that I really need to know who is coming, I received a text message from Irene who told me that she has exciting news for me. What could it be? I simply could not figure it out. Not long after that, she sent me an email and I understood her excitement. She told me that she could make it to GYC France and that the Lord impressed her to ask somebody else to come with her and the person said that he is willing to come. Wow.. I could not believe it that the Lord provided sooooo fast...

And still, this is not all...

A few days later, Irene told me something about GYC Indonesia that is going to take place the very next weekend after GYC France. I remember thinking: I wish I can go there! But than I thought: I cannot go. Why? First of all, God has not called me there; I have nothing to do there and I don't want to go just to attend. It will be a waste of money. Secondly, I have no money. And thirdly, I cannot dare to ask my boss for a 2 week leave. I was not sure he will allow me to go for one week since he already agreed to allow me to go to Paris for a week in September.

To make a long story short, Irene told me that she needs help with the prayer room. Hmmm... one obstacle down. Than, I went to talk to my boss and he was happy to let me go. When I told him that I can take an unpaid leave he said: "No, you do not need to do that. We are working for the same cause." Second obstacle down. Not long after that, the money issue was solved and I had no more obstacles in my way... So, in five and a half weeks I will be on my way to GYC France and from there to GYC Indonesia. I am more than excited!!!

From Trials to Triumph

I cannot expressed how blessed I am to be able to work with ARME Ministries. It is by far the greatest blessing I have ever received. I have seen God working in and through my life before, but it seems to me that I have never seen it clearer than now. I know that this is the result of getting closer and closer to Him. And I know that I have said this before and that I will also say it in the future because, the deeper He takes me in my relationship with Him, the more I can see Him at work!

What is next after Indonesia? Only He knows. But I am sure that it will be even more exciting! I am still looking forward to going back to the mission field, but I believe that the Lord wants to keep me here for a little longer. So, stay tuned for more exciting news!

Every Breath a Prayer

I have always been a daydreamer. Dreams were my fortress every time my family moved to a new place. Every time I had nobody to understand me, I would go to the daydream land. Most of the times I would dream about Prince Charming, sweeping me off my feet, understanding all my challenges and being there for me. I went to bed creating a whole new world and new friendly reality in my mind. And when I woke up, I wanted to stay in my bed and go on dreaming... I walked to school and dreamed. I rode the car and dreamed. I loved being all by myself and dreaming. I remember feeling so empty when I had to face the reality... I realized that the daydreaming is making me incapable of enjoying life... the real life... the life that I was living.

I have tried so many times to break this habbit. But I only found myself going back to my wonderland whenever the reality was hostile. I failed every time no matter how hard I tried. This went on until I found out and experienced the blessings of unceasing prayer. I am still a dreamer, but now I dream about Him. And at the end of the day, instead of dreaming myself to sleep, I am praying myself to sleep. When I wake up, I do not feel empty, I do not feel like I do not want to wake up! Instead, I am ready to face another day... with Him in my thoughts.

I like so much the following quotation. It reflects so well the challenge we are all facing and it gives us the solution:

"The reason why so many are left to themselves in places of temptation is that they do not set the Lord always before them. When we permit our communion with God to be broken, our defense is departed from us. Not all your good purposes and good intentions will enable you to withstand evil. You must be men and women of prayer. Your petitions must not be faint, occasional, and fitful, but earnest, persevering, and constant. It is not always necessary to bow upon your knees in order to pray. Cultivate the habit of talking with the Saviour when you are alone, when you are walking, and when you are busy with your daily labor. Let the heart be continually uplifted in silent petition for help, for light, for strength, for knowledge. Let every breath be a prayer."—(E. G. White, The Ministry of Healing, 510, 511.)

How can you do this? How can you make your every breath a prayer?

1. Some of you might not even want to spend time in prayer. I know it! I have been there! First of all, you need to ask Him to make you willing to spend time with Him in prayer. Make a habit of surrending, asking God to take full control of you and make you willing to pray first thing in the morning, before you get out of bed. You might not feel like you want to pray, you might not have the power to say no to the temptations, but God has promised in Philippians 2,13: for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. He promised to make us willing if we are willing to be made willing.

He promised to make us willing... this is so freeing... Here is what Ellen White says about surrender:

Many are inquiring, “How am I to make the surrender of myself to God?” You desire to give yourself to Him, but you are weak in moral power, in slavery to doubt, and controlled by the habits of your life of sin. Your promises and resolutions are like ropes of sand. You cannot control your thoughts, your impulses, your affections. The knowledge of your broken promises and forfeited pledges weakens your confidence in your own sincerity, and causes you to feel that God cannot accept you; but you need not despair. What you need to understand is the true force of the will. This is the governing power in the nature of man, the power of decision, or of choice. Everything depends on the right action of the will. The power of choice God has given to men; it is theirs to exercise. You cannot change your heart, you cannot of yourself give to God its affections; but you can choose to serve Him. You can give Him your will;He will then work in you to will and to do according to His good pleasure. Thus your whole nature will be brought under the control of the Spirit of Christ; your affections will be centered upon Him, your thoughts will be in harmony with Him. (E. G. White, Steps to Christ, 47)

2. Than, I recommend that we ask the Lord to send you someone to pray with. Someone who seeks Him with all his heart and who wants to spend time praying with you. It helps so much to know that there is someone you can pray with. Ecclesiastis 4:9 says that Two are better than one...  And the Lord also promised that where there are two or three gathered in His name, He will be there.

3. Every time the temptation comes, pray to Him for delieverance! Every time you are tempted to daydream, or think negative thougts or... you know better what, ask Him to help you do what's right. Instead of listening to the radio or to music, listen to the Bible in audio format or to sermons. It will help you cultivate the habit of thinking about Him and talking to Him.

What a blessing it is to be able to go to sleep with Him in my mind and to wake up with Him in my thoughts. What a blessing it is to be able to talk to Him and surrender everything to Him and do this first thing in the morning, before doing anything else. Here is one of my favourite quotes from Ellen White:

"When you rise in the morning, kneel at your bedside, and ask God to give you strength to fulfil the duties of the day, and to meet its temptations. Ask Him to help you to bring into your work Christ’s sweetness of character. Ask Him to help you to speak words that will inspire those around you with hope and courage, and draw you nearer to the Saviour."—(E. G. White, Sons and Daughters of God, 199.)

My dreams have never been sweeter... and they are getting sweeter every day as I make my every breath a prayer!

Some of My Favourite Quotes on Prayer

Walking with God down the avenue of prayer we acquire something of His likeness, and unconsciously we become witnesses to others of His beauty and His grace. -- E. M. Bounds

Prayer should not be regarded as a duty which must be performed, but rather as a privilege to be enjoyed, a rare delight that is always revealing some new beauty. - E.M. Bounds

Prayer succeeds when all else fails. - E.M. Bounds

All that true prayer seeks is God Himself, for with Him we get all we need. - The Kneeling Christian

Our prayer must not be self-centered. It must arise not only because we feel our own need as a burden we must lay upon God, but also because we are so bound up in love for our fellow men that we feel their need as acutely as our own. To make intercession for men is the most powerful and practical way in which we can express our love for them. - John Calvin

We have to pray with our eyes on God, not on the difficulties. - Oswald Chambers

Satan laughs at our toiling, mocks at our wisdom, but trembles when we pray. - The Kneeling Christian

He who knows how to overcome with God in prayer, has heaven and earth at his disposal. - C. S. Spurgeon

Pray alone. Let prayer be the key of the morning and the bolt at night. The best way to fight against sin is to fight it on our knees. - Philip Henry

The secret of all failure is our failure in secret prayer. - The Kneeling Christian

People may spurn our appeals, reject our messages, oppose our arguments, despise our persons; but they are helpless against our prayers. - Thomas Lindberg

The prayer of the saints is never self-important, but always God-important. - Oswald Chambers

Unless the heart is right the prayer must be wrong. - The Kneeling Christian

There is no greater test to spirituality than prayer. The man who tries to pray quickly discovers just where he stands in God's sight. - The Kneeling Christian

 ...a man who kneels before God will stand before men. - Leonard Ravenhill

... he that is never on his knees on earth, shall never stand upon his feet in heaven. - C. H. Spurgeon

The purpose of prayer is to reveal the presence of God equally present all the time in every condition. - Oswald Chambers

Every work of God can be traced to some kneeling form. - Dwight L. Moody

We have to pray with our eyes on God, not on the difficulties. - Oswald Chambers

We think of prayer as a preparation for work, or a calm after having done work, whereas prayer is the essential work. It is the supreme activity of everything that is noblest in our personality. - Oswald Chambers

Prayer is not getting things from God, that is the most initial stage; prayer is getting into perfect communion with God; I tell Him what I know He knows in order that I may get to know it as He does. - Oswald Chambers

It will be a wonderful moment for some of us when we stand before God and find that the prayers we clamoured for in early days and imagined were never answered, have been answered in the most amazing way, and that God's silence has been the sign of the answer. If we always want to be able to point to something and say, "This is the way God answered my prayer," God cannot trust us yet with His silence. - Oswald Chambers

Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men! Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal to your tasks. - Phillips Brooks

. . . every preacher who does not make prayer a mighty factor in his own life and ministry is weak as a factor in God's work and is powerless to project God's cause in this world. - E. M. Bounds

When the devil sees a man or woman who really believes in prayer, who knows how to pray, and who really does pray, and, above all, when he sees a whole church on its face before God in prayer, "he trembles" as much as he ever did, for he knows that his day in that church or community is at an end. - R.A. Torrey

Enthusiasm is more active than faith, though enthusiasm cannot remove mountains nor call into action any of the omnipotent forces which faith can command. Activity is often at the expense of more solid, useful elements, and generally to the total neglect of prayer. To be too busy with God's work to commune with God, to be busy with doing church work without taking time to talk to God about His work, is the highway to backsliding, and many people have walked therein to the hurt of their immortal souls. - E. M. Bounds

No man can do a great and enduring work for God who is not a man of prayer, and no man can be a man of prayer who does not give much time to praying. - E. M. Bounds

Prayer makes a godly man, and puts within him "the mind of Christ," the mind of humility, of self-surrender, of service, of pity, and of prayer. If we really pray, we will become more like God, or else we will quit praying. - E. M. Bounds

A holy life does not live in the closet, but it cannot live without the closet. - E. M. Bounds

No man - I don't care how colossal his intellect - No man is greater than his prayer life. - Leonard Ravenhill

Fall on your knees and grow there. There is no burden of the spirit but is lighter by kneeling under it. Prayer means not always talking to Him, but waiting before Him till the dust settles and the stream runs clear. - F. B. Meyer

A loving spirit is a condition of believing prayer. We cannot be wrong with man and right with God. The spirit of prayer is essentially the spirit of love. Intercession is simply love at prayer. - The Kneeling Christian

He who is too busy to pray will be too busy to live a holy life. Satan had rather we let the grass grow on the path to our prayer chamber than anything else. - E.M.Bounds

H.M.S. Richards on Ellen White and Her Prayers

I had to post these quotes written by H.M.S.Richards about Ellen White. An Elder shared them with me last Friday, after I preached for vespers about prayer. I found the quotes really powerful and inspiring. 

"You can give me a lot of proof of the Spirit of Prophecy, and I accept and believe it. But if I didn't have one of those proofs, I would believe in her [Ellen White] because I heard her pray. That, to me, was the greatest proof of her prophetic office. Within thirty seconds after she began to pray, we were all in the presence of God. I was afraid to look up, lest I should see God standing there by her side. She was talking with Him, and she was completely oblivious of others around her. Within a minute you could hear sobs all over the building. That great congregation was in tears. There was one mind, one conviction of the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of the Holy Fire, the Spirit of God, as she prayed.

I'll tell you, my friends, it made many changes in lives. People were surprised by the power and presence of God. They have never expected that. They came to see a prophet, something strange - but God took hold of them. They were weeping and crying out. Talk about psychology if you want, there wasn't any of that there. She was quiet until she started to pray, and then, just like that, it was there - a tongue of fire. She had it when she prayed. I was there, and I know. When she got up, she was just a dear old lady again." H.M.S. Richards, Feed My Sheep, 407 *

I want to have that power! And I know that God can give it to us, if we ask for it! Let's all press forward and ask the Lord to give us that tongue of fire. Because it is then that we will be able to finish the work! We need the Holy Spirit more than ever! And God is ready to give it to us if we ask Him to.

 "There is nothing that Satan fears so much as that the people of God shall clear the way by removing every hindrance, so that the Lord can pour His Spirit upon a languishing church and an impenitent congregation." Messengers to young people, p.133

May we all seek Him with all our hearts and may our lives be a testimony of the transforming power of the Almighty One!

*For those who want to read the book, you can find it here: Feed My Sheep.

Generation of Youth for Christ and the Blessings of the Prayer Room

It's been almost a month since I came back from GYC (the Romainan version of GYC, of course) and I wanted to take the time and write about the things that the Lord has done there, but I had to catch up on my work and had no time for it. So, here I am, to testify again that we serve an amzing God! 

Who would have thought what the consequences would be when, less than 4 months ago (to be exact on  May, 10), I offered to fast and pray with a girl I barely knew and who grew to be on of my best friends since then? Who would have thought that the difficult times that she was facing would bring such a blessing upon each of us and upon God's work from Romania? Who would have thought that God could change those difficult times in one of the greatest blessings we have ever received? 

In order words, if I am a new person, if I have finally found what I have missed all along, if God has taken be deeper and deeper in my walk with Him and has drawn me closer and closer to Him, if He has impacted other lives since then, it is because he allowed trials in the life of a girl whom I did not really know, because she chose to take them to Him in prayer, and because I was inspired to tell her that I want to fast and pray with her for 10 days (I ended up fasting only 5 days because of a headache that was hindering me from being able to work). We "met" (online, of course, since we were separated by the ocean) and prayed for an hour, an hour and a half for 10 days... And we did not stop there... From time to time, whenever she is not traveling, we like to get together and pray again! What a blessing this is to both of us! Thank you, Melody! You are more than a prayer partener, you are one of my best friends and I am sure that only eternity will fully reveal the impact that your friendship and faithfulness to God had on me and, through me, on other people. 

GYC has been an amazing experience for all of us who have been there. God worked more than I expected Him to. There were two things I asked Him for. The first one was that I could feel His presence and see Him at work and the second one was that He will give me a burden for these people even though I did not know them, that He would keep me on my knees to interceed for them. And He was more than faithful in granting me what I have asked for. If for the first two days I could not really feel that He is present, on the third day I was simply aware of His presence. And so were other people I talked to.

The GYC leadership was really supportive of the prayer room, even more than I expected.  In fact, they confessed that we were an answer to their prayers. Since I went there earlier to help them finish the preparations for the camp, we had time to get together as a team and pray! What a blessing this was for all of us! One time, we got together to pray for an hour and we ended up praying for an hour and a half. I simply could not stop them. Whenever I wanted to make the transition to another section, there were people starting to pray. The prayer room was also a blessing! I had someone share with us that the Holy Spirit kept sending him to the prayer room but he resisted the voice of the Holy Spirit. Finally, he gave in, and obeyed. What a blessing the prayer room was for him! He said that God showed him who he really is and how deceitful his heart is. We had some other people who came over and over again to the prayer room, people who confessed that they could feel God's presence there and who where so happy to be in His presence. 

We had two prayer rooms opened for 5 hours on Thursday (one in Hungarian language that was hosted by Rita and one in Romanian language which I led) while everybody was doing outreach. I have to admit that I did not believe that God will bring too many people to the prayer room because most of the people wanted to go for the outreach. But God was good and not only He sent around 16 people to each prayer room but people also could feel His power and presence while doing outreach. I had several people come to me and tell me that they could feel God's presence working on their behalf, that they have never experienced something like that before and they knew that it was because of our intercessory prayers. Praise God that He is poweful and more than faithful!!!

I cannot help but be amazed more and more at the power of united prayer! And I know that this is only the begining... God has already started to open doors here in Romania and Europe for united prayer! And remember how it all started??? With God allowing difficult times in the live of someone who trusted Him and wanted to take her problems to Him in prayer. And though I am so happy to see united prayer spreading in Romania and Europe, I am scared at the dimensions of the work! But I am glad that I am scared because this will keep my on my knees and will make me depend only on Him.

I once thought that the 5 years spent in the mission field were the best years ever and that nothing would ever change me more than these years did. Now, after experiencing the power of united prayer for the last few months I believe that experiencing united prayer is the best life-changing experience ever. Sometimes I wonder how would my mission service have looked like, had I known and experienced the power of united prayer while I was there. But, I guess that God is taking me deeper and deeper and this is what brings tremendous joy to my heart.

So I praise God for faithful friends, for being so faithful and for doing wonderful things in my life, many more and more beautiful than I have ever dreamed.