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NETWORKING
by Henri J.M. Nouwen
(from Returning: God’s Love Call Us
Home )
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I
urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions and thanksgiving
be offered for all .
(1 Timothy 2:1)
During
a recent period I discovered the power of the intercessory
prayer of others. It was a time when many crucial decisions
needed to be made, many classes taught, many promises kept.
Yet I felt so tired, so heavy of heart and so melancholic that
I wondered how I would survive! I couldn’t pray. When
I found the time to pray, my prayers seemed cold and lifeless.
Finally,
I decided to write to twelve friends. I asked them to pray
for me each day for the next month. I explained to them my
spiritual dryness and my inner fears. I soon experienced something
new. Though my prayers remained painfully barren, I gradually
felt surrounded by a network of prayerful support. I knew I
belonged to a spiritual family who lifted me up to God, and
I sensed I was part of an active community of prayer.
A task
that seemed impossible proved possible, people whom I feared
proved to be friends, and deep temptations which seemed insurmountable
proved to be temporary distractions. During that month I kept
feeling the real presence of my praying friends. For a moment,
I claimed for myself what was pure gift. But when one of my
praying friends wrote me about how seriously she had taken
my request, I realized how God responded to the prayers and
I felt humble and very grateful.
Do I pray
for my relatives and friends? Do I encourage them to pray for
me? When was the last time I felt the support that comes from
the prayer of others?
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HEALING
AND KEEPING PRAYER
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Heavenly
Father, I thank you for loving me. I thank you for sending your
Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, to the world to save and to set me
free. I trust in your power and grace that sustain and restore
me.
Loving Father,
touch me now with your healing hands. For I believe that your
will is for me to be well in mind, body, soul and spirit. Cover
me with the most precious blood of your Son, our Lord Jesus
Christ from the top of my head to the soles of my feet. Cast
out anything that should not be in me. Root out any unhealthy
and abnormal cells and multiply my healthy cells. Open any
blocked arteries or veins and rebuild and replenish any damaged
areas. Remove all inflammation and cleanse any infection by
the power of Jesus' precious blood. Let the fire of your healing
love pass through my entire body to heal and to make new any
diseased areas so that my body will function the way you created
it to function. Thouch also my mind and my emotion, even the
deepest recesses of my heart. Saturate my entire being with
your presence, love, joy and peace and draw me ever closer
to you every moment of my life.
And Father,
fill me with your Holy Spirit and empower me to do your works
so that my life will bring glory and honor to your holy name.
I ask this
in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
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PRAYER
REQUESTS
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To all
Prayer Groups and Prayer Communities in the Alliance :
Please include
the following petitions in your intercessory prayers. Our 15-member
Intercessory Ministry headed by Bob and Liza Jablonski will
be praying along with you.
- For
safety and peace for daughter Stefanie who left home and
is now exposed to constant danger and for a reconciliation
with her Christian ex-fiance. Requested by LS, mother, via
our website.
- For
Sean Davidson, first year seminarian in Maynooth Seminary
in the Republic of Ireland . Sean requests for prayers for
his class of 25 to help them contend with “the daily
challenges and temptations”of seminary life. Requested
via our website. Sean adds: “I know this may be a strange
request but I read your website and thought it was very inspiring.
Please help if you can.”
- For
Pat Schirtzinger in Columbus , OH . Pat is recovering from
cardiac by-pass surgery. Please pray for her continued recuperation.
- For
Sister Purita Vazquez and the various Ministries for the
Alliance 2005 National Convention. Our Intercessory Ministry
is praying for them but we need the prayers of the rest of
the Alliance also.
- For
our new webmaster, Carolyn Stemen, and for Prime Abiado ,
our outgoing webmaster who helped us tremendously in getting
the website project off the ground. Let us pray for their
families and their careers and their expertise, a portion
of which they are sharing or have shared with us.
- The
new set of Alliance officers, from Bob Canton down to regional
coordinators, whether newly elected, re-elected, newly appointed
or re-appointed, as they begin their four-year service to
the Alliance in 2005.
- For
our Las Vegas community now planning and preparing for our
National Leaders’Meeting in February.
- For
our Mid-Atlantic community now planning and preparing for
our National Leaders’Meeting and Retreat in September.
- For
all Alliance prayer communities that their members be enabled
to attend the 2005 National Convention. Please include in
your prayers the youth and the children that they be given
the opportunity to be inspired, built up, transformed by
their attendance in the Convention.
- For
President Bush and his Cabinet as they begin a new 4-year
term. In these difficult times, divine guidance is needed
more than ever.
- Let
us not forget our service men and women in Iraq and Afghanistan
. One of them is our very own –Brother Morris Carrillo,
regional coordinator, Alaska . They are constantly in harm’s
way and constantly suffer the deprivations of being away
from home and family. We should not only pray but write them
too. If any of you happen to access this website, the Alliance
of Filipino Catholic Charismatic Prayer Communities would
like to let you know that we are praying every day for you
and that we love you and appreciate what you are doing for
us.
- For Courtney –for
wisdom and guidance and for her safety and well-being. Requested
via our website.
- For
Phyllis in Malaysia –for healing of cervical disk prolapse
and pain of neck and shoulder. Requested via our website.
- For
Brother Bob Canton –for anointment in his participation
in the May 13-15 Cenacle of Prayer to be held in Miami under
the auspices of the National Service Committee, the Hispanic
Charismatic Renewal Movement of the Archdiocese of Miami,
and the International Catholic Charismatic Renewal Services
(ICCRS). In what is anticipated to be a large gathering,
Brother Bob will represent the Alliance of Filipino Catholic
Charismatic Prayer Communities.
- Flor
Sikat, sister of Sister Melba Barrameda, and Angela
Abuan, niece of Sister Lisa Jablonski, that their souls rest
in peace with the Lord.
- For
all the heads of the different Ministries preparing for our
National Convention: Nenett, Max & Fler, Oscar, Weng,
Lulu, Bob & Lisa, Terry & Andrea, Sidney and Butch,
Melba, Linda, Flor, Gonette, Tina Mario & Purita, Father
Bill Halbing. May all be strengthened, and guided, and directed
by the Holy Spirit as they give of themselves in the service
of the Lord.
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ANSWERED
PRAYERS
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- Success
of the North Pacific Regional Conference
- Success
of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference
- Success
of the Baltimore National Leaders’Meeting, Elections,
and Retreat
- Completion
of the February issue of The Trumpet
- Financial
stability for the Alliance
- Successful
Alliance Leaders Meeting in Las Vegas
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