Tag Archives: intercessor

Do You Have A War Room?

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For I certainly need one. 🙂

First, my apologies. I promised to write this after the “tugging” article and yet another article came before this and another one more.

God’s plan – additional relevant info came in along with the recent events which will be discussed at the latter part of this article.

So I thought it better there’d be a “war room”  in churches. If Muslims have a mosque, Catholics have a confessional, I believe born-again Christians should also have a “war room.”  We are all united by one God and we all serve one God. If I am not mistaken, we have been called as “The Prayer Nation” too.

This “war room”  will offer 3 options to believers whichever they are most inclined to do:

1. Pray in the war room alone if a quiet, personal time with God is needed and yet a war room is not available at home, at work or in school during the midweek.
2. Beside a war room there is a prayer box in case they felt the need for more members of the spiritual family to pray for them and yet do not have the courage to meet them personally.
3. Beside the prayer box is an instruction what to do and who to contact when a dire need is there to talk to a spiritual leader regarding a very urgent and pressing concern i.e. life and death, demonic possessions, safety, hopeless cases, etc.

I have envisioned “war rooms” placed in every city which would be similar to the garden that Jesus went to before the crucial moments of His arrest. I thought it better that every church in every city would build what I call a “A Place of Serenity” where it’ll give peace and solitude to those who desperately seek it.

I got this idea from Sagada in the Mountain Province in the northern part of the Philippines wherein it is flocked by visitors who needed to break away from their busy lives and busy environments and I personally call it as “The Prayer Mountains”  based from the experiences of friends who’ve had their “enlightenment”  there.

Unfortunately, it is a 6-hour drive from the metro – something that not everyone have the privilege to do on a regular basis. I thought why not create something like it within the metro but as compared to Jesus’ garden and Sagada, this place of serenity within the metro will be built adjusted accordingly to the demands of the city lifestyle – crowded, busy and noisy.

It could be a small parcel of land, turned into a garden i.e. landscaped and surrounded by trees and at the center will be a building or any structure that holds cubicles built in the same way as recording studios (sound proof) with nothing else inside it but a chair, a table, a pen, a paper and a bible.

Why these 5 things only?

First, God will give His instructions as prompted by the Spirit through the Holy Scripture. Second, a chair and a table are another option if one does not want to kneel while praying, there is a physical disability or an elderly. Lastly, a pen and a paper will be needed for documentation if one needs to write a specific bible verse that the Spirit has prompted or if there is a need to write down his/her prayer requests so more members of the spiritual family can pray over them. This can be dropped in a prayer box which I have mentioned in item 2 above.

This idea of a “war room”  came after watching none other than one of the best Christian films I have watched so far which is War Room: Prayer Is A Powerful Weapon.  It is also because I am in need of one being situated beside a very busy street and neighborhood wherein you hear all sort of sounds and noise any time of the day and night. Our living quarters too come in the form of a small apartment wherein there is use for every nook of the place that does not elicit solitude. So I wondered where would I go if I wanted to seek for serenity within the metro so I could hear God’s instructions clearly.

After our volunteer work at the home for the aged, one of the outreach coordinators asked us who would be willing to volunteer as intercessors to that “special ward”  which I referred in the article. Three of us volunteered and they are my church mates, my sisters in Christ and my former bible study group mates. I just thought I’d totally appreciate finding a place that I can call a “war room”  as being an intercessor would mean I need to have a more quiet and personal time with God so I could present all these prayer requests, be more in tune with the Spirit and discern His instructions – I have so many to pray for in every area of my life and in everything and everyone around me.

In case you haven’t watched the movie War Room: Prayer Is A Powerful Weapon yet, I highly encourage you to watch it for it’s message is just so powerful, it is so real and yet tells so much of the Truth. 🙂

He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.” – Matthew 26:39 (The Prayer in the Garden, Jesus Prays in Gethsemane)

“But when you pray, go into your inner room, shut your door, and pray to your Father, who is unseen. And your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” – Matthew 6:6 (The Lord’s Prayer)

In case you have been called by the Spirit to intercede for someone or something, this article might help in preparing for the work:

http://www1.cbn.com/questions/what-is-intercessory-prayer

“Lord, we need an army of believers. Lord, call us to battle. Raise them up, Lord. Raise them up.”

The Old: Loved But Never Forgotten

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“So when you give to the needy, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be praised by men. Truly I tell you, they already have their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” – Matthew 6:2-4

“God saved you by His grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.” – Ephesians 2:8-9

I have posted these Bible verses first just to highlight where this article will be grounded on. This article is about volunteer work and I’d like to share my experience not to boast but to encourage others to follow suit because we are in dire need of “helpers.” Yup, “workers.” 🙂

Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest.” – Matthew 9:37

I felt like I have never done much with just my presence in the home for the aged that we visited. I know there is still more that we can do to help. I believe this is the reason why God intended I meet and be acquainted to one particular elderly woman. I call her “Nanay Doris.” She is the same age as my Mom and she is an only child with no husband or children of her own. I was surprised to find out during our conversation that we share the same faith.

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Lower right hand corner, me and Nanay Doris.

While listening to her, I can feel that the Spirit is moving in her. She is God’s chosen “worker” inside the elderly community. She shared to me her struggles to defend her faith and to rebuke others, and how she would cry out her pleas to God for the salvation of the people around her. I felt the desperation and the struggle. It even came to a point wherein she prayed that God will take her away soon from that place and be with Him forever.

Yet I encouraged her that this is exactly why she is where she is now and why we, the volunteers, are here. God still has an unfinished business for her to accomplish. I continued that we’ve all been moved by the Spirit to partake in a mission that requires working as a team and as a body of Christ.

It was during this moment when I felt like I haven’t done enough though we gave them a new set of pillows, free food, drinks (all thanks to the sponsors), and having fellowship with them. I believe we can still do more and this is only the beginning of an even bigger mission. This bigger mission will follow after this testimony of sharing the plight of the elderly in the home for the aged that we visited.

According to this verse:

“Honor widows who are truly widows. But if a widow has children or grandchildren, let them first learn to show godliness to their own household and to make some return to their parents, for this is pleasing in the sight of God. She who is truly a widow, left all alone, has set her hope on God and continues in supplications and prayers night and day, but she who is self-indulgent is dead even while she lives. Command these things as well, so that they may be without reproach…” – 1 Timothy 5:3-16

I wanted to cry. BUT I know I can only PRAY.

They deserve better than this.

I also wanted to cry my pleas out to the Lord when I saw how most of them struggled in bad living conditions and some are even worse. Now I understand why some of them would prefer to live in the streets, homeless and begging for food. But, at least, they are not living in captivity. Though I also understand that it is more dangerous outside for people like them to be roaming in the streets day and night, all by themselves, as they will be prone to all kinds of abuse.

But what happened next just pierced through my heart. Now I understand “Nanay Doris” when she urged me to visit a particular ward and even offered to accompany me there because she wanted me to see the living conditions of those who are very sick or mentally ill. Those who are mentally ill were clustered in one room.

Then I saw a teenager, one of the caretakers, padlocked one door. I peeked inside and I saw 5 elderly people who were lying/sitting in monoblock beds without mattresses and nothing else around them. I can’t help but ask why they put padlocks on the doors. He told me that these individuals were hostile to other people inside the facility that is why they have to be in a locked room – a room with nothing else but themselves, beds, and a clean floor but still reeks of litter and pee.

I think I felt my mouth fell wide open there.

Why? Because as a SpEd teacher, we know that handling 5 people with different disabilities that include behavioral disorders in one room requires applying different classroom management practices. And how it could turn out into a total mess when one starts to agitate the other. They’ll end up hurting everyone in that room. There will be an abuser and a victim – the protection is needed there.

So I asked him what do they do when that happens. He told me that there is an assigned caretaker who oversees and checks them every now and then. But I know deep in my heart that that answer will never pacify me. Why? Because each of them needs to be taken care of properly, and they are 406 in that now crowded facility with only very few caretakers.

This is the reason why they need our help. If the government can only do that much for them, then I believe it is our mission to help in any way we can. I know that as a believer, God has commanded we obey the Bible verses above – honoring widows and widowers. Most people who belong in this category are elderly people.

I know that providing material things and comfort will never give them as much joy as compared to the joy that they will experience in life in eternity. Thus, I believe the reason why we were sent there is to be their intercessors – pray for them. Prayers can help instil the peace and hope found in Christ alone.

Unfortunately, I just can’t dismiss the pain I feel every time I see their suffering. While looking at them, I was praying to God what else can I do to alleviate their pain and suffering by means of faith. I don’t have millions in my bank account. I don’t own a car that I can drive back and forth to deliver the supplies. I am not good in planning out and in constructing more facilities that will accommodate all 406 of them and be able to cater to their needs. I don’t know how to maximize manpower that will help in delivering services of care to them. I was at such a loss how to help them completely EXCEPT through faith.

I believe this is why God intended I write this article to call out to the nations for more “workers.” My sisters in Christ and I are planning to visit them every now and then and we would like to invite more volunteers to come with us and pray for them. There is also a dire need to make sure that each elderly in the facility receives the care that is intended for him/her such as satisfying the basic needs – food, clothing, and shelter.

We were informed that 3 years ago, there were only 60 people living in the 5 buildings allotted for the elderly. But now, they were able to gather more elderly from the streets who are homeless and without families reaching up to 406 all in all inside the facility. They need more quarters, more buildings, more medicines, more food, more clothing, more caregivers, more nurses, more doctors, and more intercessors. The struggles that they are going through are in all aspects – emotional, spiritual, physical, and psychological.

If you are reading this article and would like to extend your help in this advocacy, please do send me an email at cgginete@yahoo.com.ph. If you also would like to go ahead and visit them along with friends and co-volunteers, the name of the facility is Luwalhati ng Maynila Home for the Aged. I am truly grateful for any help you can give. 🙏

“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.” – Mark 10:45

“Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.” – 1 Peter 4:10

“God is not unjust; He will not forget your work and the love you have shown Him as you have helped His people and continue to help them.” – Hebrews 6:10

God loves you, He loves them too, and obeying His greatest commandment would mean loving those around us the way that God has loved us. May this article compel you to share this love to our dear sisters and brothers who desperately need it. ❤