"Be still, and know that I am God" Psalm 46:10

Pray for us

Oh Holy Mother

of Jesus Christ

That we will be

worthy of the

promises of God

Will of God

TODAY'S PROMISE

Trust in the LORD with all your heart, on your own intelligence rely not; In all your ways be mindful of him, and he will make straight your paths. Proverbs 3:5-6

TODAY'S THOUGHT

God gives us the freedom to follow many different road and pursue many different activities over the course of our life. If we walk within God's will today and everyday we can be sure that we will be walking within his will thirty years from now. God's will for us is to obey him, serve others, read his Word, and do what is right. Do these things and we will never be out of his will. Then when he calls us to do something specific for him, we will be following him closely enough to hear his voice and to trust him to lead us.

TODAY'S PLAN

Are you considering to follow God's will more closely today?

Pope John Paul II (Pope John Paul the Great) (Qoutation)

"Freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we ought."

"For nothing will be impossible with God."

In Acts 5:38-39 "... So now I tell you, have nothing to do with these men, and let them go. For if this endeavor or this activity is of human origin, it will destroy itself. But if it comes from God, you will not be able to destroy them; you may even find yourselves fighting against God." They were persuaded by him.

 

I invite you to fan into a flame the gift of God you received through the laying of my hands -2 Tim 1:6

No one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and spirit -John 3:5

The Living for Christ Prayer Community has sponsored a two-day spirit-filled seminar -the Spirit Empowerment Seminar held on May 7-8, 2010 at St. Peters Parish located at Bathurst, Toronto. Noted preacher, our very own Bro. Don Quilao, Deacon Bob Rosales, and Father Alarey Abella accepted the invitation to speak on the following topics:

Introduction	Bro Don Quilao
God's Love	Bro Don Quilao
Salvation	Deacon Bob Rosales
New Life	Bro Don Quilao
Receiving God's Gifts	Bro Don Quilao
Baptism	Bro Don Quilao
Growth	Fr Alarey Abella
Transformation	Fr Alarey Abella

 

The Plan

The plan to conduct a Spirit Empowerment Seminar was conceptualized at the beginning of the year. The stewards and the core members met several times beginning late February, to discuss and map the plan and activities for this big event. Brainstorming and planning sessions were held every Tuesday after the intercessory prayer. The group agreed on the date, discussed about prospective speakers, the logistics, the ways to disseminate the information, and the plan of action. Our sincere thanks to the administration of St. Peters for letting us use one of their conference halls for our meetings, and most especially to Alessya for patiently waiting for us until we finished at around 9.

The Preparation

In preparation to this Seminar, the intercessory ministry had been praying over the plan and for the success of this SES (Prov. 16:3 - Submit to the Lord whatever you do and your plans will succeed). First in the list of activities is the information dissemination campaign.The FCCCPC, through Bro. Don Quilao, helped a lot in the information dissemination campaign by announcing the proposed SES in all the charismatic communities in Toronto. Of course, salute to the effort put forth by everyone in the information campaign, calling and sending emails to friends, distributing flyers in different churches in Toronto, braving the rain and the freezing cold. Most of us have set aside our usual weekend activities for a while and focused on this forthcoming big event.

The Enemy Trying to Stop the Event

As the date comes closer and closer, amidst our busyness in carrying out the plan, the enemy was also working double time trying to stop or distract us from doing this work of spreading the Word of God. The enemy created some problems and misunderstanding amongst us. The works of the enemy ensued until the day of the seminar trying to distract and divert our attention to problems. Our able speaker, Bro Don was not spared from the wiles of the enemy. On the second day of the seminar, he shared how the enemy tried to stop him from coming back to the seminar. He said, he received a call from a relative in the Philippines informing him of an emergency situation, and that he had only 2-3 hours sleep. All he wanted was just snuggle in bed and sleep. But then, his strong faith and commitment to serve the Lord prevailed. The enemy also inflicted sicknesses and physical pains to the workers. On day 2, one of the workers complained of severe back pains, two complained of migraine, and one has upset stomach. The enemy's last straw in putting off this holy work for the Lord was when he tried to distract Deacon Bob by using one of the participants. The woman contradicted his explanation of God's salvation. Deacon Bob was able to ward her off by using the Word of God and the enemy ended up running away from the place. The enemy had used every trick to stop us, but he failed because we remained steadfast; we shut our eyes, minds, and hearts to the outside world. We held on to God's Word, in 1 Peter 5:8 - Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

Response to God's Call

The response to the call was overwhelming. Honestly, at first we worry a little bit that not many people will come to the seminar, especially when only few came at day one. One of our stewards, Sis Norma, uplifted our spirits and removed our fears by assuring us that the Lord will work wonders. She added that the plan was submitted to Him, we prayed for direction, we did our very best, so for sure the Lord will do the rest to make this event a successful one. (Prov. 16:3). True enough, the number doubled at day two of the seminar, 42 of them in total. God really works mysteriously, touching the hearts of 42 lambs who answered yes to His invitation to establish a deeper personal relationship with Him. To the 42, praise God for you made the right decision!

The Spirit in Action

It felt good to see the participants looking very interested with the topics. Everybody was all eyes and ears listening intently to the speakers as they stood in front to give their talks. They laughed at every joke and they responded to every question. During the baptism, which is the highlight of the seminar, we can really feel the presence of the Holy Spirit and it was very visible among the participants. They started crying when Bro Don started talking about their relationship with their loved ones. The music ministry enhanced the experience by their rendition of heart-warming songs. Almost everyone cried, not only the participants, the workers as well. As the facilitators laid hands and prayed over them for the release of the Holy Spirit, very strong emotions were seen and felt from the participants. The manifestation of the Spirit, though, was different and unique to each participant. Some meditative and in deep prayer, others praising in tongue. Some cried with raised hands as a sign of complete surrender to the Spirit. One sang and danced with joy. During the sharing time, we found out that the woman who sang and danced had been suffering from body pains but after the baptism, all the pains were gone. The other sharer said that she has this strange feeling that she is already saved. The experience was really indescribable.

Our Strong Commitment to Serve

Everybody moved and worked their way out for the success of the SES. Sis Minda and Sis Amy managed the registration. Sis Ning made her debut as Moderator to the seminar and did her job with flying colors. Good job Sis. Ning. I am pretty sure this would not be the first. Continuous intercessory prayer invoking the presence of the Holy Spirit, since day one of the seminar, coordinated by Sis Cathy, played an important part in the success of the seminar. Everybody took turns in praying for intercession in front of an improvised altar in one corner of the hall (Romans 8:26 - In the same way, the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself interceded for us with groans that words cannot express.)

Sis Gina, in coordination with Sis Cynthia, decided on the songs appropriate for each topic. Bro Robert, Bro Odelle, and Bro AJ provided accompaniments to the singers. Sis Helen, as usual, handled the PowerPoint presentation of the songs. Bro Tony took pictures and video for TLF memorabilia. As our invited speakers provided food for our soul and spirit, our able kitchen aides headed by Sis Norma, on the other hand, provided sumptuous food for our body. Some members brought some snacks cookies, donuts, sandwiches, and drinks. The rest worked as facilitators during the baptism. Even after, the seminar, cleaning up the hall, piling up the chairs, and keeping everything in the storage were done really swiftly as everybody helped.

The Aftermath

We have been talking about the success of the Seminar for almost one week. And we want to praise and thank the Lord for guiding us and directing us all. We owe it all to the Lord for without Him we can do nothing (John 15:5). It was really a weekend filled with prayer, listening, and learning, of forgiving, acceptance and surrender to the Lord. We were really in high spirit and pleased on how we worked and supported each other to make this event a seamlessly successful one. We would still continue to pray for the graduates, that they may continue their own personal journey towards holiness, and that the empowered Spirit within them may continue to guide them and direct them to the right path. We are praying that we may be able to conduct more Spirit Empowerment Seminars in the future.

ALLELUIA AND PRAISE GOD!!!!!

Sis Evelyn Abutan