Saturday, January 16, 2010

Strategic Prayer


As most of you know, Regan was airlifted back to Kaiser LA on Tuesday morning. He had developed an upper respiratory infection which was causing him to cough repeatedly. Due to the severity of the cough, he caused some perforation in his lungs so they needed him to be in the ICU and be prepped for surgery.
We sent out a prayer alert and by the time we got to LA the perforation in his lungs had healed enough so that no surgery was needed, praise the Lord. He had a CAT scan on his lungs and they have found some spots, so they will be doing a procedure in the late morning (Sunday, the 17th). They will be inserting some saline into his lungs, withdrawing it, then running tests on the fluid to see what kind of infection is causing the spots to show up, either a fungus or bacteria. We are praying that nothing is found and the spots are gone in Jesus name!
Now that we are in LA we have meet with the Oncologists everyday. They say we will be there for 4 to 6 weeks, we say no to that!
They say his blood count will not start to go up anytime soon, we say his blood is healed in the name of Jesus.
They say his infection will not go away until his white blood cells start to come up in 4 weeks, we say this infection has to bow to the name of Jesus.
We are confident of the complete healing in Regan's body. That the leukemia will be eradicated from his body and that ALL glory will go to the Lord Jesus.

Every time the doctors give us a report we use that as a target in prayer. We stand on the word which says, "Indeed! Let God be true and every man a liar."

The Lord has directed us to pray Psalm 63 and 91 over Regan continually, as well as speaking his prophetic destiny over him, which is; Regan will go to the nations and preach the gospel with a healing anointing, he will be strategically used to save his generation. We continue to come before the Lord with praise and thanksgiving, knowing we serve a faithful God. Please join us as we go after these specific targets.

I wanted to share this picture of Regan, he is sleeping, but his hand is on his bible.
He is going through his bible and highlighting all the healing scriptures and underlining the word ALL. He is discovering for himself that the word says, He heals ALL our diseases and forgives ALL our iniquities. He is speaking the word over his body and thanking Him for his healing. It is so precious to see his faith growing and how he is having revelation of who God is. His faith inspires me, his strength keeps me strong, and his joy is contagious. What a mighty man of valor he is, I can see how the Lord is going to use him for great and mighty things!

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Only Believe

In our daily reading yesterday, I was struck by the words Jesus used when addressing Jairus. He had come to Jesus begging Him to come to his house because his only daughter was dying. As Jesus began to make His way to Jairus' house a crowd thronged Him and a woman, having a flow of blood for 12 years, who could not be healed by any, came from behind and touched the hem of Jesus' garment and immediately her flow of blood stopped. (Luke 8:44) As he was addressing this woman someone came from Jairus' house saying to him, "Your daughter is dead. Do not trouble the Teacher." But when Jesus heard it, He answered him, saying, "Do not be afraid; only believe, and she will be made well."
Jesus was not at all moved by this bad report, His immediate response to Jairus was, Do Not Be Afraid! He made sure Jairus gave absolutely no room to fear. Instead He encourages him to only believe, in other words, have faith in God! He says your daughter will be made well. Those are faith filled words that shaped what was not seen. He didn't even give Jairus a chance to react or speak. Why? Because He knows how weak we are. He knows how quick we are to react to bad news and focus on the problem not the solution!
This has become such a precious verse to us. As we read it we are reminded to only believe what the Word says and Regan will be made well! We have chosen to give no place to fear instead we choose to exercise our faith and speak faith filled words that continue to shape the unseen. We are not moved by what we see in the natural or hear from the Dr.'s. We stand firmly planted on what the Word says, according to 1 Peter 2:24, "By His stripes we were healed." Regan is already healed. His body just needs to line up with the Word, and we know it will.
We continue to thank and praise the Lord for Regan's healing. We know the Lord inhabits the praises of His people.
We are so thankful to all who have gathered to pray and stand in the gap for Regan. We look forward to the victory celebration when we get to give ALL the glory to God, for He is always faithful to His Word!

Blessings,
Todd and Erin

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Prayer and Fasting

Regan is back in the hospital for his third round of Chemo. He went in the Tuesday after Christmas. Todd and Regan surprised the family by coming home Christmas Eve. What a celebration we had! It was a precious gift from the Lord to be together as a family celebrating the birth of our Savior Jesus.

Todd and I were impressed of the Lord to fast the first 21 days of the new year. The Lord reminded us of Daniel when he prayed and fasted for Jerusalem and an angel of the Lord appeared to him saying, "Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard; and I have come because of your words." But it doesn't end there, the angel goes on to say he was delayed 21 days and needed help from Michael who is a senior angel. Daniel's prayer coupled with fasting brought about change. The angel says to him again in Daniel 10:19 "O man greatly beloved, fear not! Peace be to you; be strong, yes, be strong!"
We know our prayers for Regan have been heard and that healing is coming! We are continuing steadfast in prayer with fasting, knowing that God is faithful to His word. I have included some scriptures that people got for Regan as well as prayer meetings that are happening daily based on Acts 12:5 "but constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church." We know the 'effectual fervent prayer of the righteous man avails much!' We are so thankful for our church family who are standing in faith with us for Regan's healing to manifest.
Constant prayer for Regan:

Word from the Lord:
Psalm 121- I will lift eyes to the hills
John 11:4- This sickness is not unto death
Phil 4:6&7- Be anxious for nothing... With Thanksgiving
Acts 12:5- But constant prayer was offered for him
Matt 17:12- This kind does not go out without prayer
Psalm 91:7- But it shall not come near you
Mal 4:2- W/ healing.. Son of righteousness will rise
Neh 4:9- Set watch against...day and night
Psalm 103:20-21-Angel do "the word" when we speak it
Dan 10:12-From the first day your words were heard
Luke 11:2- Your kingdom come..Your will be done
1 John 5:14- Ask according to his will- He hears- we know we have it

AGREEMENT
1) Regan is completely healed
2) God gets ALL the glory
3) Regan's calling is fulfilled
(Be anxious for nothing...with Thanksgiving; Stance of victory-not caught off guard with test results;
Trust is in the Lord)


PRAYER PLAN

Daily Prayer @ 8:30am (Monday-Saturday)
  • Gregg and Jessica Johnson home (January 1-6 only)
  • Daniel and Julia Davenport home (January 7-until otherwise notified)
Daily Prayer @ 12pm (Monday-Friday)
  • West auditorium
Daily Prayer @ 7:30pm (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday)
  • Robert and Yolie Arevalos home

Please contact individuals for their addresses.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

When Suddenly Happens

I told someone recently that although I continually dream, set goals and plan, the life experiences that have shaped my life for the better are seldom what I would have planned.
This Christmas as our thoughts turn toward the birth of our Savior, I'm struck with the thought of the unexpected and sudden change of plans God had in store for the young engaged couple, Mary and Joseph.
It's likely that even as small children they were pledged to each other by their parents. As in some cultures today, parents pre-arranged their children's marriages. Assuming that was the case, they may have picked a wedding date and quite possibly were planning not only their wedding, but their future life together. Perhaps Joseph dreamed of owning his own carpentry shop. And Mary? She must have dreamed of being wife to Joseph and mother of his children.

Then their "suddenly" happened.

The very last thing young Mary would have ever considered was that she would conceive a child before marriage. Well, not exactly. The very last thing she would have considered was that she would miraculously conceive of the Holy Spirit, become pregnant and give birth to the Son of God, the Savior of the World, Jesus Christ, the Messiah! No wonder she asked, "But how? I've never slept with a man" (Luke 1:34, MSG,).
And imagine Joseph's perplexity. His dreams of owning his own carpentry shop was suddenly interrupted by the idea that Mary was pregnant. How could any man believe that his fiancé had been entirely faithful as she claimed? How could he possibly believe that she carried the Son of God in her womb? Should he cancel the engagement? What about the shame they'd both experience?
Of course Mary did give birth to the Christ-child-her Savior; they did set up housekeeping; and Joseph did launch that carpentry business after all.
But their experience is one of the best examples I've seen of how good people experience God's suddenlies. Todd and I have certainly experienced ours. We never planned to lose two babies in the womb. We never set a goal to be financially challenged every month. We would never have dreamed of our son being diagnosed with Leukemia. Or many of the other suddenlies we've encountered together.

What can we learn from Joseph and Mary's suddenly?

1. God told them they were to have a child. He didn't ask them.
Very few of us are doing today what we dreamed of doing when we were children. There are exceptions. But most of us have moved into areas of life and employment that "unfolded" before us, rather than things we actually "set our sights" on doing. Interestingly, most of us wouldn't want to do today what we dreamed of doing as children. My desires changed as life has changed me.
Then of course, there is God. God created me for a purpose. He didn't inquire as to what I had in mind. He didn't poll me for my preferences. I could either ignore His purpose or choose not to embrace it, but I couldn't change His purpose for me.

2. The suddenly God planned for Joseph and Mary was not an easy thing for them.

Don't think that because it's God's way it's the easy way. Easy things don't develop or strengthen us. Too many people look for "the easy plan" rather than "the God-plan" for their lives. Contrary to the Country Western song, some folks apparently assume that when God saved them he promised them a rose garden. If that were true, there would be no martyrs. Joseph and Mary had no rose garden. Jesus alluded to this distinction when he talked about eternity. He referred to the broad way that leads to eternal death (hell) as a comfortable or convenient way. He implied that the narrow way that leads to eternal life (heaven) was the difficult way. Consider this:

* In God's sovereign timing, Joseph and Mary had to travel to Bethlehem to pay taxes with Mary in her final trimester! What!? God was their travel agent, for goodness sake. Surely He could have timed the trip earlier, or even after the baby was born. The tax dates were set. But the date of Mary's delivery was God's idea! It wasn't an easy trip for those two young people.

* Need I mention that their divine travel agent overlooked their hotel accommodations? Hello! Here they are, righteously traveling to pay their taxes. God was certainly not making this easy for them to obey the law.

* What about their unexpected trip to Egypt to avoid King Herod's attempt to kill their baby! First, Joseph would have to put his carpenter business on hold. And Egypt? There was nothing easy about that trip.

The next time you are tempted to take the easy way, remember: Jesus chose the road to his crucifixion. Paul chose the road to his imprisonment and execution. Both were choosing God's plan for their lives.


3. Difficult or easy, God's way is best.

They were privileged to see Christ, our Savior grow from infancy to maturity. Amazing, huh? "When they finished everything required by God in the Law, they returned to Galilee and their own town, Nazareth. There the child grew strong in body and wise in spirit. And the grace of God was on him" (Luke 2:40, MSG,).

"He said, 'Why were you looking for me? Didn't you know that I had to be here, dealing with the things of my Father?' But they had no idea what he was talking about. So he went back to Nazareth with them, and lived obediently with them. His mother held these things dearly, deep within herself. And Jesus matured, growing up in both body and spirit, blessed by both God and people" (Luke 2:49-52, MSG, italics added).

Not only did they watch him grow, but God chose to let that remain their secret. There is little known about his childhood. Those memories were his parent's to treasure!

I treasure the memories I have of my children, I’m glad I’m their Mother. Mary was blessed to see or know that her son healed the sick, raised the dead, cast out demons, walked on water, and fed the five thousand. She watched him die, rise from the dead and ascend into heaven! No wonder, when the angel announced his birth to her, he told her she would be "most blessed!" Not only so, but her unexpected son one day became her personal Savior.
It's not those things that happen to us that make us who we are. It's how we respond to what happens to us that shapes our lives. Life's down-times will either make us bitter or better. The choice is ours.
I love the story of H.G. Spafford, who sent his wife and daughters to Europe where he planned to meet them later. However, the ship they were on sank when it was hit mid ship by an English ship. His wife sent him the awful two-word telegram, "Saved alone." Each of his daughters had drowned.
On a later crossing of the Atlantic the ship's captain called him to the bridge. "Mr. Spafford, I thought you'd like to know that we're now passing over the site where your wife's ship went down and your daughters were lost.
Mr. Spafford returned to his stateroom where he wrote a song that almost every Christian knows and is one of my personal favorites:

"When peace like a river attendeth my way,
when sorrow like sea billows roll.
Whatever my lot thou has taught me to say,
'It is well, it is well with my soul.'"

Mr. Spafford never planned to lose his children. God didn't consult him about the matter. It was one of life's suddenlies that enabled Mr. and Mrs. Spafford to bless and build the faith of millions of people since.

As we say goodbye to 2009, let’s enter 2010 with a commitment to find God's plan and purpose for our lives, even if it's not the easy plan. Let's agree to settle for nothing less than His perfect will, no matter what the cost, and no matter how difficult our suddenlies. God is always faithful!

It is well with my soul,

Erin

Monday, December 14, 2009

Keep Your Focus


I love this picture of Regan and Ty playing the Wii. They are so focused on the game and the intensity of the moment, winning being the goal. You can reach a place in your spiritual walk where you are so focused on God's word that no circumstance can disturb your joy, and no trial can shake your peace. How do you walk joyfully in the midst of tribulation? By spending time in the Word. You meditate on the things of God. You learn to depend on the Word for God's answers to your situation. You don't look at the problem, when you do that your problems become your focus, and the joy of the Lord is no longer your strength. Focusing on the problem is a strength zapper and joy killer. Yikes, when you put it that way you want to make sure you stay focused on the Word of God. Then you can walk in peace and confidence through any trial or circumstance. I focus my thoughts and words on what the Word says, and not what things look like at the moment.

Speaking of the moment, Regan is doing great, his numbers are starting to trend up. We are believing we will be home some time this week. He had a reaction to the platelets this Sunday, so the blood bank is running tests to see why this is happening. It is weird, most of the time he has absolutely no reaction, but every once in a while he has an allergic reaction to them and they have to stop the treatment and give him meds to help his breathing and swelling. It keeps the precious nurses on their toes, that's for sure. He has such a great disposition, he is really doing well emotionally, all things considered. He is very focused on getting home, he misses his brothers terribly. Having Hayden come to the hospital has been such a blessing and really cheers him up. It is interesting how important family relationships become in situations like this. They boys are realizing the value of one another and how blessed we are to have each other. (this will come in handy when they start to bicker at home)

Prayer Focus:
For numbers to continue to go up.
His immune system to get stronger.
To come home and stay home for the holidays!
Ultimately for the healing to manifest in his body according to the Word, by His stripes Regan is healed.

Monday, December 7, 2009

8 Days

We are almost done with our eight days of chemo. Tuesday morning is our last dose, and I have to tell you, he has had very minimal side effects. The first dose made him nauseous, so we decided to pray the word every time he got a dose of any kind of medicine. We called this God's medicine, and administered it as needed. After we started this he did fantastic, with only a few times of no appetite and sleepiness, side effects I can handle. As he slept I would make declarations over his body like; your immune system grows stronger every day as does your appetite, the Lord gives His beloved rest and his sleep is sweet, and no weapon formed against you will prosper. After I would do this his appetite would come back, he was rested and the low grade fever that came sporadically would disappear. God's word is so powerful, we have become increasingly aware of this over the past 2 months. Regan had been experiencing blurry vision since this started in October. This was causing some concern with our oncologist who ordered his eyes to be tested by a pediatric ophthalmologist. Her concern was that the leukemia had gotten into the fluid around the brain or had settled in his eyes, which would change his treatment plan to include radiation and lumbar punctures bi-weekly. We started declaring Deuteronomy 34:7 over him, As God was with Moses, so he is with you Regan. Your eyes are not dim, blessed are your eyes for they see and your natural vigor is not diminished. When the ophthalmologist checked his eyes he found no evidence of the leukemia at all, but said the blood vessels near the retina had hemorrhaged due to his blood being so messed up prior to the diagnoses and that it is easily treatable. Hallelujah, the power of God's word prevailed as always! Our all time favorite verse has been Romans 3:4 "Indeed, let God be true but every man a liar."
We declare that every time a bad report comes from the doctor or lab results, we refused to be moved by what we hear from man, and choose instead to stand on the word of God, which is the ultimate truth. "Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken and will He not make it good?" Numbers 23

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Thanksgiving





We made it home for Thanksgiving! What a great time we had together as a family. There really is no place like home. We were home for 2 wonderful weeks, we got to see lots of good friends and family. On our first day home some of Regan's friends came to the house with buzzer in hand and asked Todd to shave their heads in honor of Regan and to show their love and support. We all cried and laughed as we shaved off their hair!! Thanksgiving day was wonderful, we went to our friends house to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving day parade. When we got to their house they had moved all their living room and dinning room furniture to the backyard including the TV so we could all sit together with Regan! We had a terrific time stuffing ourselves with Marissa's delicious sticky buns concoction, heavenly!!! Then we spent the rest of the day with Mimi and Papa and Auntie, what a way to end a great day. We have so much to be thankful for, great friends, great family and a God who is always, always faithful. Regan was so happy to be with his brothers and friends and to sleep uninterrupted in his own bed. He went back into the hospital the Sunday after Thanksgiving, this time in Anaheim, so much closer to home! He started his next round of chemo which lasts for 8 days. Please pray with us for no side effects and for his immune system to grow stronger every day, and for his healing to be made manifest in his blood. Thank you for all your love and support during this time.