Joy, Pray, Faith

Hello, everyone!
I have been struggling for the past two hours on starting this post. I feel as though no matter what I write or how I phrase things, nothing I can say would do any justice to what God has been doing here. All I can do is do my best and hope it gives you some sort of idea because this week was absolutely wonderful...

I REALLY HAVE TO SHARE THIS WITH YOU.

I now have a favorite spot in Harrisburg. Well, not really. I have not actually been at this place. I really only love it because I think the name is freaking legit. So actually I found the place in Harrisburg that has the absolute most awesome name I think could ever be given to such an establishment in all the world...

I feel like its slogan should be something like, "For the broken and hurting..." or something. Plus, that would totally work because its a hospital. 

*I just Googled the history of this hospital, and believe it or not, this hospital was founded in 1963. I'm not gonna lie, I'm trippin' out a little. That is pretty darn cool. (Prayer was removed from the education system in 1963 by Madalyn Murray O'Haire.)

I shall share more later.

This week was a week of joy.

Monday was our first Family Ministry Night that was just students and staff. Most of our staff was actually missing. So we had 2 staff on guitar and 1 on a djembe and we just gathered in the living room and worshiped for a really long time. The joy of the Holy Spirit broke out and everyone was laughing so hard many of us couldn't stand up and the room was so far beyond happy that joyful is the only word that can describe the atmosphere. 

Speaking of joy, Monday night might have had something to do with the fact we had Charles Stock, the senior pastor of Life Center, as our teacher this week. Life Center is the local church we attend here that reminds me of Bethel. It was such a HUGE honor to have him with us for four consecutive days! This man is, like, equivalent to having Bill Johnson. Actually, he mentioned that he is good friends with Bill Johnson.... There might be some connection to why it felt Bethel-ish is a good way. 

Well, Charles carries such an extravagant amount of the Lord's joy. It is quite lovely to just be in a room with him. I believe his smile has been permanently stuck on his face and at the most random times he would burst out with a little chuckle that left him kneeling over and needing a moment to recover before going back to teaching.

This is our DTS and School Leader with Charles Stock on his last day with us!

He has been such a father to the Fire and Fragrance family here, as well as the answer to many prayers by Andy Byrd and Sean Feucht (F&F founders) and it was just such a blessing to have Charles this week. He prayed over each one of us and Holy Spirit began to release joy bombs in the room. Many of us began to laugh uncontrollably in silent fits of laughter as the joy bombs exploded. Once people began to recover they would look at others who were beginning to be affected and then we all started laughing again. It was fun.

You can never laugh too much.

Laughter is the second best medicine. Jesus is the first. :-)

"And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength."               Nehemiah 8:10

The prayer room continues to be one of my most favorite parts of the day. We spend 2 hours in the prayer room after lunch Tuesdays-Thursday and yesterday was a particularly powerful prayer room sesh.

We began with 1 hour of straight adoration, no intercession, and just in the first hour the atmosphere felt different than it had been that last few weeks. Holy Spirit broke out in more joy. Everyone was laughing and shouting and dancing around fully engaged in the church theatre we use. As we transitioned into intercession, we were trying something new today. Instead of being scattered throughout the room, we would stand in a circle and pass the mic around the circle. As we transitioned, I felt such a drastic shift in the room.

Our topic for the day would be the Education System of America. 

My heart began to break.

The mic was being passed around the circle (think a clock...I was at 4 o'clock) and as I heard each student pray, my mind began to be flooded with everything I have spent the last 2 years of my life on. My mind was filled with images of Madalyn Murray O'Hair, the statistics, the photographs...and my heart was sad. I recalled the two other court cases, one of which Madalyn's was consolidated with, and how an entire generation of Christians let this woman remove God from our schools. I began to cry. Why hadn't anyone stood up? The mic came to me and I prayed forgiveness on behalf of those who stood silently by in the 60's.   Then I passed the mic off and continued to cry and as more students prayed my mind continued to be filled with words from the Lord I had spent hours contending over the last 2 years. 

If one atheist woman could remove the Almighty God from all the schools of America, how much more could 1 intercessor do with the Almighty God on his side?

I remembered watching an interview with Madalyn Murray O'Hair and she said, "It does not matter whether I win or lose, but that I tried..." 

O, that a generation would arise with the same cry and the knowledge that they are conquerors over all things because they have Him who conquered the grave!!  

I flashed back to countless nights at City Fire when everyone in the theatre would be on their face contending in prayer. My mind raced with so much more I should have prayed. I could have prayed it by myself, but I knew I needed the room to be in agreement. I wondered if the prayer leader would let me pray on the mic again...

Then at the 8 o'clock mark one of the school leaders got the mic and prayed a prayer that wrecked me in itself. He said, "God, I thank you for the [insert friend's name] and Cheryls who brought the Kingdom of Heaven to earth on their campus." That hit my heart. I had never before truly stopped and realized the gravity of what I had spent the last two years of high school on. Everyone acknowledges that you are impacting the Kingdom of God and changing the world, but

  have you ever stopped to really meditate on what that means? 

I joined in agreement with the rest of his prayer. I would go back to what his prayer meant later.

I chimed in with others in agreements and as I did I began to remember everything we had really done on my campus. I remembered the House of Prayer we began every Friday night for 2 hours with 15 kids, which turned into 3 hours with 30 people, which turned into 5 hours with 100 people. I remembered doing the "Everything" drama and one to Casting Crowns "Set Them Free." I remembered the theatre filling every week as hundreds students packed in to hear about Jesus during both lunches on Wednesday afternoons. I remembered gathering in groups around sections of lockers 3 times a week to prayer that the Lord would encounter those students.

My heart stirred with so much faith.

"For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." Revelation 19:10

"God, I have seen you do it! You did it on my campus. You can do it across the nation!"

My testimony prophesied to the nation. The testimony to what I have seen God do in the high schools of Elk Grove was a prophecy over the schools of this nation! I quickly grasped this as the mic went back to the prayer leader at 12 o'clock. Many students were on their knees; I could see they were getting the burden.

"We are going to stay on this topic of the Education Systems," she announced. "We are going to keep passing this mic around---." I raised my hand. She said I could pray first and instructed everyone to get in a line behind me. I asked if I could say something. With her permission, I began.

"I don't know if any of you know this, but in 1963 one woman, Madalyn Murray O'Hair, fought and won to have prayer and Bible readings taken out of school. One woman, an atheist, fought an won to remove God from our public school system."

I shared more on Madalyn, on the 22 word prayer that was removed from schools. I shared the statistics. How for the next 15 years everything considered "Biblically immoral" shot up anywhere from 200-900% immediately starting the year prayer was removed from the schools. I shared on abortion. How exactly 10 years after prayer was removed, abortion was legalized. Since then over 54 million lives have been lost. It is the government-approved Holocaust. I shared about Lou Engle. How the 22 word prayer for the LIFE bands was modeled after prayer removed from schools and there is a connection between the schools and LIFE. 2013 would be the 50th anniversary prayer was removed; the 40th for abortion's legalization. I shared words we on the West Coast had received from the Lord and were believing for. Then I prayed. I prayed like I hadn't prayed in a long time. I prayed with absolutely everything that was inside of me. And you know what? God heard. He heard us all. And He was listening. He took our prayers and He sent angels out at our words.

He added our prayers to the bowls that are filling. 

"And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints." 

Revelation 5:8 

The day continued to get better. I went to Target after work duties to get my groceries and literally everything I needed was on sale  and/or had a special deal. So I have enough food for the next 2-3 weekends (maybe even a 4th) all for $20.40. All I need to buy is almond milk.

Jesus has my back. :-)

The day still got better. Even after all of that glory. 

Remember that car accident I wrote about in my first post? If not go here.
At 9:21p my mother called me last night. Our conversation went like this:

"Hello?"
"Hi! Did you get my text?"
"No."
"Oh, okay. Well, I decided to call you because I had to tell you the news!"
"What news?"
"The court ruled you NOT GUILTY for the car accident!"

Oh my goodness, did I cry! I definitely did NOT see that coming! I am going to be honest. God said a lot about this car accident, including that I would have the victory over this in the natural realm as well as the spiritual. I believed Him, but I am not gonna lie. It was HARD. You can ask anyone who went to church with me. It was a rough time. I believed that God was gonna come through, I just didn't know when. Because I didn't know the "when", I did the practical, trusted Him with the prophetic, and never let go of what He said even when everything else told me otherwise, including people. Even now, His promise is only half fulfilled. The rest is coming as is more rejoicing. I am still on crazy-freak-out-surprise from last night.  God is sooooo faithful. So so so so so so so so so so faithful! He's wanting to show me that. :-)

Well, my loved ones, I had hoped to post this before midnight, but it is now 12:27a. I guess this post took me a few hours to write...and then technology started weirding out on me.
I love you all! Sleep well tonight!

Xoxo,
Cheryl

P.S.
I found this on our cabinet earlier this week...I love living in this house. I wanted to share it with you too, because it applies to you as well <3

Jesus, we pray you would end rebellion and restore prayer back into the campuses of this nation.

Jesus, I plead Your blood over my sin and the sins of my nation. God, end abortion and send revival to America.

Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence upon Thee and beg Thy blessings upon us, our teachers, our Country.

Amen.