Nazarite Call

Within a group of 14 individuals living together, one does not have to look far to find different personalities, passions and desires; yet despite all these differences we are all cemented together through our passion for God.

 One way this passion is expressed is through our amazing worship and prayer times together as a group. Last night was one of those nights….  joined by many others across the nation in their homes and churches, we celebrated Rosh Hashanah, by seeking God and His heart for Canada. At one point, we felt that God was giving us new identities to wear as we entered into a new year with thanksgiving and praise on our hearts as a nation.  

I am very excited to see where God takes us as a team and what He shows us for our nation!

Leena M.

Hello…My name is Megan MacQuin and I am a Nazarite intern at the National House of Prayer. I have set aside three months of my life to focus on prayer for this Country, for knowledge, for community, and for intimacy with the Father. This is my first blog of many…

So far, everything I’ve wanted to understand about prayer and the Bible, and how the government works has been an answered prayer. My spiritual eyes are opening up, and I’m realizing that learning isn’t as terrible as I thought it was…I have great teachers! I also love the history of Ottawa, and the architecture that this city holds…it’s beautiful!
But I can honestly say one of the greatest things about living here is the community I am a part of…they bless me every day, and I am a blessed woman!
There is so much more to say, but I’ll end with this story that happened to me just recently…

So yesterday night a group of us went to a worship service at a church called Life Center. We wanted to go early for the pre service prayer, but we were a bit late, so we quietly tip toed to the back of the room carefully, because we didn’t want to disturb the 50 silent meditating people. I sat down, and started to pray silently. Then about 5 minutes of sitting, I suddenly hear a loud ring come from my purse and if you know me, I always put my phone on silent, but this is the first time I forgot. I start to panic because it is dead silent in this room, and the worst thing you want to do in front of 50 strangers is bring attention to yourself. So, I grab my purse, and run…not only run, but I’m dashing to the closest door to me. I thought, “Yes, I’m home free”. But as I push this door wide open, I realized that I opened the wrong door…the door that went outside, and I almost fell out because there was no step from the door to the ground, but a drop of 3 or maybe 4 feet. To make things worse, I yell, “that’s a door!”  I don’t exactly know why I yelled those words, but that was just the first thing that came to my thoughts. So, I’m even more embarrassed, and even redder in the face. I shut the door with absolutely no grace, and I run as if I am in a marathon to the correct door, but the last thing I see before I leave the room is the people in the back row, my team laughing at me, and they are tear eyed, red in the face, and trying their best to keep themselves composed…I would have done the same if I was in their position.

 I don’t do many embarrassing things in my life, but I can honestly say that was probably one of the most embarrassing things I’ve ever done, but it was well done.

Six months ago I would have never guessed that I would be here, doing what I am doing; having a national mandate to pray. A year ago, if you were to have told me that this is where I’d be I’m sure that I would have told you that you were crazy. I was timid and afraid of the call that i knew I had on my life, but I felt compelled to pursue it, to trust the Lord with it. After a year long journey of inner healing,  learning to walk in the gifts of the spirit and growing in intimacy with the Lord I found myself with a call to be stretched further, to grow deeper and to live a life of sacrifice unto the Lord.

I was at The Cry Edmonton when the Lord started to move on my heart concerning the National House of Prayer. I am girl full of creative, but crazy ideas that i know I will never fulfill. This idea soon proved to not be one of those, and i began to walk in faith towards it. I had no money and NO idea of what i was getting myself into, but the biggest problem was what my parents were going to think, and if they’d try to stop me. Lol, my parents are pastors, and it wasn’t very likely that were going to stop me from doing the will of the Lord, so that was a pretty needless concern. Anyway, a few months later I found myself on a plane with every cent of what i needed provided for and all I had to do was be obedient.

The Lord definitely taught me something about his Sovereignty through the whole process, he can use WHOEVER He wants, you don’t need to be some hard core, already have it all together person in order for Him to count you as useful. He takes the least and exalts him to the highest because He is  a sovereign God.

Ever since I was a child I’ve had this sense of what I’m called to be, and I’ve always known that I am not to be some one who is over looked and not of use to Him (not that any of us are called to be that, but I knew that i wasn’t to live in that mindset). It’s just so exciting to see Him bringing out that call within me and expanding me further and wider and deeper.

I really feel that in the past 2 weeks the lord has been teaching me to know what Ephesians 3:18-19 is talking about: “18may (you) be able to comprehend with ^(AS)all the saints what is ^(AT)the breadth and length and height and depth, 19and to know ^(AU)the love of Christ which ^(AV)surpasses knowledge, that you may be ^(AW)filled up to all the ^(AX)fullness of God.” I’m excited to have the full understanding on what this means, and I know that the Lord is faithful to show me.

Be blessed!

Celesta Snyder

“I am issuing a call for young adults to be an offering unto God for Canada and who will allow the fire of intercession to consume them for our nation…”  These words rang through my spirit when I first read them.  I had heard about this program, but when I heard the heartbeat behind the call – I felt compelled to respond.

I believe the Lord had been preparing me for this journey a few months prior to applying.  I felt Him tell me that He was going to “mark” me – and I felt like it was linked to being consecrated unto Him.

I am so excited to have this opportunity to be here at NHOP as an intern.  I believe that for the 14 of us there is going to be a foundation set in place in our hearts, something that we will be able to continue to build upon for the rest of our lives.  The teaching and imparting of wisdom from the staff here at NHOP is remarkable!

I believe that the Lord is already imparting a new level of passion & zeal into us, to hunger for His kingdom and purposes to be established in this land.  I am taking this call seriously, and I am prepared to take this time to stand for “my watch”.

My hope is to take what is deposited into me and run with it when I return home.  I pray that everything we learn about (prayer, praying for government, authority in prayer, corporate intercession, etc.) will be so abosorbed into us that will have a rich deposit & understanding to take back with us.

“I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land…”  Ezekiel 22:30

SARAH LAXDAL

I feel that I am to tell you how I came to be here at NHOP:

It started when I came to NHOP for the first time. Once I got home I knew that I would return one day. Unsure when, how, or under what circumstances I would go back. Coming was a big stretch for a sixteen year old. Setting aside a week where I would miss school, my friends, volleyball (my coach wasn’t so impressed). But deep down I always knew that I would end up on a journey back to Ottawa.

Last year I started post-secondary education. Unknown to anyone I talked with God about coming to NHOP the next fall. He put it in me to believe that I would be coming to the NHOP again, but for six months. Shortly after that I forgot anything about it – I got caught up in school.

Early in the spring the Lord reminded me of the things that were promised to me. So I began to look at the NHOP website, searching for something that would be happening for six months in the fall. To my disappointment the only thing that was happening was the Nazarite program in the spring. I was discouraged because I would still be in school and was not able to go.

Once again I forgot about it, put it completely out of my mind. God had other plans, and he reminded me again a month later. I once again looked at the website and found to my surprise that the Nazarite program had been postponed until the fall and was set to go for three to six months. Exactly what God had told me (later it was changed to a three month program). After that I applied and was accepted to come to NHOP again.

I think it is amazing to hear how God has called each Nazarite in a unique way. We were all led to come here in different ways, through different circumstances. We are all here for reasons specific to the things that God has gifted us in. This is so cool! I am here because God has drawn me here to do specific things to bring glory to his name.

Today was very cool for me. I was a greeter to many of the pastors that came for the pastors prayer breakfast at NHOP. It is awesome to see pastors lay aside petty arguments and focus on big things that draw them together rather than push them apart. To see them fellowship with each, then praise and pray together. We were introduced to the pastors that came, and they got around us (Nazarites) and prayed blessings over us.

Another thing that made this day out of the ordinary was that we went to the National Gallery of Canada (art museum). This was refreshing as we went as a group and gave us a little bit of a break from the constant stream of information that has been coming our way.

The thing that I am most excited to be learning about is corporate prayer. Learning to pray as a team, and not a group of individuals brought together to pray individually. Then as we learn to pray as a team learning to let the God come in and take over the lead of the meeting.

Neil Friesen

In preparation for coming to Ottawa it was full of flurry and excitement. Throughout the whole summer I was able to anticipate the journey, even though I had absolutely no idea what I was getting myself into.

Never having been away from my parents for more than a week at a time, and knowing that I still have quite a few weeks to be here is turning into an easier transition. Though being away from home does have its benefits. I’ve been able to explore different aspects of life that I never thought had existed until last week. Also, my sense of self and my confidence in who I am in Christ has really begun to grow.

Apart from learning on how to live without my family around, I’m having to learn a lot of patience. The classes we are taking are so great! Yet they are so very long. High school was seriously a joke. Being used to taking on four sessions of an hour is nothing like we are doing here. I’m doing my best to get used to sitting for three to four hours in the morning or afternoon and it is getting easier as the days go on.

Fasting is another area that the Lord has been stretching me. Because of my health, the Lord has laid on my heart to not only give up food for a few hours a days, but to also give up my cell phone (except for emergencies) and my computer (except for writing this at the moment lol)

There are a lot of different areas that God is stretching me in, and I’m sure that He will continue to stretch me in the duration of these three months. Even though, I am so thankful that we serve such an amazing God who knows what is best for us, and doesn’t give us more than we can handle, even though that when He takes us through a season of stretching, it hurts!

God bless you all as you partake in being stretched and continue to grow deeper in the things of the Lord .

~Heidi~

by Richard Long,

  Welcome to the blogging site for The Nazarite Call.  Nazarites are the name we give to our interns at the National House of Prayer in Ottawa, Canada.  They are young adults between the ages of 18-35 who have devoted 3 months of their life to praying for our nation.

 Here’s a pic of the 14 young adults who have come to live in our “Urban Monastery” this September.

Nazarties Fall 2008

 (Back Row L-R: Jordan Mallard, Jeremiah Smith, Neil Friesen, Lori Folkerson, Celesta Snyder, – Middle Row L-R: Dwayne Flamand, Claire Iffla, Heidi Franson, Sarah Laxdal, Aleah Windsor, Chelsea Graham, – Front Row L-R: Megan MacQuin, Leena MacLeod, Pam Veitch)

They will be doing most of the blogging here. 

Check us out daily and make us one of your bookmarks if you would like to stay in touch.