Michigan Camp Meeting 2022: Knowing the Time

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Michigan Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

Prayer

Gem Castor

01 Prayer

You are about to enjoy a presentation recorded at the 2022 Michigan Conference Camp Meeting held at Cedar Lake, Michigan.

We pray that the Lord will bless you as you listen.

Thank you so much Lord for not giving up on your people.

Lord I ask in a very special way that may you anoint us with the anointing of the Holy Spirit.

And as we share about, I share about your goodness.

Lord I ask that may it will be your words.

You're not being, You hide me behind your cross.

I may not be seen or be heard, but Jesus and Jesus alone be seen, be heard, and lifted up and exalted.

Lord, once more we ask, Please teach us how to pray.

We ask this in the loving and precious name of your son Jesus, all your children say it.

So, friends, you might be wondering, what was my history?

So when people calls me pastor caster I tell them I'm just a caster not a pastor.

Friends I'm born in a Seventh-day Adventist home.

No more you hear whose parents are Adventist.

Great, great, great grandparents are Adventist.

So like fifth generation, fourth generation?

So I'm a third generation Adventist and for me, when it comes to prayer, I did not give so much value in prayer.

All the while I thought that prayer is just for those who are about to retire.

For those who have spent their energy and strength and no more energy to work for the glory of God.

And that was my view on prayer and how the Lord changed all of that.

How the Lord somehow destroyed my misconception of the power of prayer.

And friends, if you have known me, if you have seen me running around, you can see that I'm like an energizer bunny that goes around.

And for me before, prayer is a waste of time.

And it's quite interesting that I'm now in the prayer ministry, isn't it?

But the Lord somehow showed me a beautiful revelation of his power that there's so much more that we can do when we stop and pray.

And there's So many things that are wasted actually.

Our energy is wasted when we do not spend time in prayer.

When we do things without the Lord's leading, it's actually a waste.

And I'll talk more about that in the next session.

But a beautiful testimony that somehow changed my perspective about prayer.

Remember I told you that I was born in the 70s, I don't think so, but at an early age, I was already involved in the youth leadership.

At the age of 13 and 14 I was already part of our of our youth a wife and leading out the small group of people until it became like the district and until the conference so I was leading up the conference a youth revival and the enemy is not happy when he sees young people work for the glory of God and in my passion to do these things when the disappointment happened I was too I was too frightful to accept it.

Make long story short, I want to give up on God.

It got to the point that I wanted to leave this ministry and I was not involved in the prayer ministry yet.

It was the youth ministry and I was about to leave it and I'm thinking Lord is this what we do to people who give themselves for you.

Make long story short, I was angry at God.

And 1 time, while I was focusing on my own misery, on my own pain, A friend of mine, this lady, by the way this is not a love story, this lady told me, Gem, can you join me for a faith camp?

And by the way, faith camp as well, it's coming here in July, July 20 to 24, here in this area.

And brother Gem, if you're listening I'm already promoting it.

Friends it's coming in this area so that that faith camp 1 of the prayer leaders she's not part of faith camp she's just an attendee she's just invited she's been just been promoting prayer and she has been living a life of prayer.

This woman, this precious woman, and she came and said, Jen, join me, lead out prayer.

Lead out prayer with me in the prayer room.

Friends, I tell you, during those moments, I did not even pray for like 5 months.

How can you say no to this very nice woman?

She's just a wonderful, wonderful person.

And to Make long story short, we were there in the conference and she was giving testimony on the pulpit.

She was telling people about how a lot of people were blessed by the prayer room.

And This person shared about 1 girl who was not wanting to go to the prayer room and somehow the Lord convicted her to come and she was just thinking, I'm here to prove that God really doesn't hear prayers.

She was like me, also bitter and this girl in her 15 minutes stay in a prayer room the Lord somehow broke her heart she began crying she began weeping and friend she stayed in the prayer room that day for 3 hours the next day the next day friends she stayed in the prayer room 8 hours before she left the conference she was already calling her church members.

She was already establishing a prayer group.

Another person has experienced the same thing.

While I was listening to the testimony, I was not inspired.

I'm thinking, 8 hours in the prayer room?

I'm thinking, what am I gonna say to the Lord?

Have you experienced that in just like 5 minutes you're all prayed out?

You're looking at your watch you're thinking you have prayed for like 1 hour and you pray only for 5, 6 minutes?

I'm thinking, Lord, how is this gonna happen?

And remember, my heart was not in tune with God.

If we need to go somewhere when we're experiencing all those crazy things, it should be in his presence.

We should not be going somewhere else we should be going in his presence the friends I have my niece with me and my and that friend and We were there in the prayer room, my first session of United Prayer.

And I'm thinking, I was there, I don't even know how to talk to you Lord.

So while we were kneeling down, I was just praying prayer, just to be polite.

And remember the prayer, you pray short prayers.

02 Prayer

Dear Father in heaven, Lord, it is such a joy to be in your presence and to talk about you, to talk about your power.

And Lord, we praise you and we thank you that we have, we have this gift, this privilege of talking to you through prayer and through your word.

And Lord, I ask in a very special way that may your hand be upon us, may your spirit, Lord, dwell in our hearts.

And may the words that will be spoken, may the messages that will be shared this morning will not be mine, but will be entirely yours.

Hide me behind the shadow of your cross, O Lord, that I may not be seen nor be heard, but Jesus and Jesus alone be seen, be heard, be lifted up and exalted.

We ask all this in the loving and precious name of your Son, Jesus, all your children say.

Friends, question, who among you here was there in the prayer room this morning?

Yes, and I was so rebuked by the number of chairs that I somehow arranged.

Friends, there's like a hundred people who were there, huh?

And the mom who has that kid was still there.

And for those of you who were not there when I shared what happened to me last night, I'll share it again.

It was quite a tight, what do you call this, schedule because I did not know that Pastor Rob was wanting me to go up on the pulpit to promote the morning prayer and to lead out in congregational prayer.

We need God's people to be in the prayer room.

So I grabbed that opportunity and it was quite close call because I was supposed to speak to the to the young congregation, ages 7 and 8, the primary.

I was supposed to speak at 7.15 in the evening so I asked, I bargained, can you move me a little bit later?

Friends, 7.50, I was still on the pulpit.

And I was praying, oh Lord, please hold the attention of those kids.

When we arrived, most of the kids are lining for the bathroom.

And friends, and I was just like thinking, Lord, please help me share this message to these kids.

Friends, speaking to the 7 and 8 years old, it's a different ball game.

You'll be taken out of your comfort zone.

And praise God, praise God for the moments that takes us out of our comfort zone.

Actually friends, the afternoon, in and out in the afternoon, I've been praying, Lord, please give me the words to share and make long story short, I was about to share and I was still praying, Lord, please be with me.

And the moment I started speaking, Of course, these kids are quite uneasy, but slowly but sure, the Lord was speaking to each and every heart.

And by the way, the topic that was given to me to speak last night was confession.

Speaking confession to these 7 and 8 years old kids.

And I was asking that Lord, please teach me how to share this.

So I talk about Peter and the Lord somehow gave me this picture of Peter being God's, being Jesus' 1 of his best friends.

I asked them, who among you here has the best friend?

Who among you here loves their best friends like they love their brothers and sisters?

Who among you here loves their best friends more than their siblings?

It was such a beautiful time of fellowship with the kids.

And then I told them, just imagine Peter somehow denied Jesus, abandoned Jesus in front of people.

And 1 of the boys in front was almost tearing up.

And I'm thinking, the message is getting through to this, to these young people.

Almost all of them were just listening except for those people on the side and their teachers will just poke them and they give their attention again.

And then at the last part, I asked them to gather together.

And like what we do in United Prayer, but these kids pressed even closer.

And then they, I asked them, I asked them to, I asked them to pray short prayers like, Jesus, I'm sorry for this, for that, because before I asked them to come with me and pray, I asked them, who among you here said sorry?

And most of them raised their hands and said, how does it feel when you say sorry?

So when we came into our time of prayer, when they were saying sorry to Jesus, there's this 1 little boy beside me, somehow did that to my shoulder.

So I put the mic near his mouth and then he began praying.

Friends, honestly speaking, I don't understand what he was praying about.

He was he was just mumbling something, but I could see the sincerity in his voice face.

I finished praying and I went, went at the back.

And then I did not know that his mom was there.

His mom asked me, Jim, what did that boy who's wearing a striped orange shirt said in his prayer?

I said, honestly speaking, I didn't understand.

He had a big fight with his dad yesterday and his dad was so burdened, he asked his fellow pastors to pray with him.

And I know for a fact, it was the Holy Spirit who was speaking to his heart.

Friends, by the way, that kid, he was not supposed to be there in the 7 and 8 years old.

And his mom showed me a photo of the group picture and He was there, his eyes were just fixed.

He was fixed, he was just like looking at the speaker.

And friends, this is 1 thing that just somehow hit my heart.

I'm thinking, wow, Lord, If me as a mere human being, my heart is so moved to see this young children come together and press together before the presence of their Heavenly Father, how much more is God looking down on us?

And how joyful he is when he sees his people come together in prayer.

Dear Father in heaven, Lord we praise you and We thank you for giving us this opportunity to lift up our voices to you.

And Lord, thank you so much that even though we've messed up so many times, it's like Peter.

When Peter looked at your face, there's no condemnation, there's no anger, there's just compassion, there's just love.

And there's just a picture of you talking to Peter.

So Lord I pray, may you fill us with your Spirit, for We ask this in the loving and precious name of your son, Jesus, all your children say, amen.

I'm just compelled to share that with you.

I could not let that experience go by without being recorded.

03 Prayer

I pray that may everything that we discuss will all be led and guided and anointed by the Holy Spirit.

Hide me behind your cross, Lord, that I may not be seen or be heard, but Jesus and Jesus alone be seen, be heard, be lifted up, and exalted.

Thank you so much, Lord, for teaching us your ways.

Lord, I pray that may you give us a teachable heart especially me oh Lord.

Father I pray that may you lead us in the path that you desire for us to walk on.

Teach us Lord how to follow the example of Jesus for he asked all this in the loving and precious name of your son Jesus in the anointing power of your Holy Spirit all your children say Amen.

So this morning I'd like to share something that it's been a blessing to learn from the greatest example of all and that is Jesus.

And if there's someone whom you want to learn from when it comes to prayer, it should be Jesus.

And friends, wonderful thing, while I was reading this story, I did not even imagine that this will be somehow an explanation for me why do I need to spend time in his presence.

I'm talking about the Mount of Transfiguration.

Oh friends, I don't know about you, but every time I read Desire of Ages, no matter how many times I read it, there's still something new that comes out.

And in that story, I'm talking about spending time in the presence of God.

Not just 5 minutes, but quite a long time.

Who among you here has experienced all night of prayer?

And friends, for those of you who have not experienced an all night prayer, you might be thinking, Jim, that's quite scary.

Actually, to be honest, I got scared when I heard that I'll be leading out in an all night prayer.

And I'm thinking, how am I gonna function the next day?

And friends, for me, when I sleep past like 2 AM, the next day, I'm a doormat.

But when I first experienced an all night prayer, Friends, it was awesome, it was amazing, and I did not know where my strength comes from.

Now I know where, it's from spending time in His presence.

But as it goes on, like year by year, I was asked in this conference, in this ministry that I was involved before, that I was about to lead out in the all-night prayer.

Friends, I got more and more anxious because you know my lifestyle, I've been traveling constantly.

So spending the all-night prayer needs to have a heart preparation and physical preparation would you agree?

Because even spending time with the Lord in the morning you have to be intentional of making your day or night right with God everything should be arranged a day before that you will go to bed earlier than you usually go.

If you want to wake up at 4 a.m., what do they say, wide-eyed and bushy-tailed?

If you want to wake up in that condition, then you must be prepared to sleep early.

In order for you to sleep early, then you have to make sure that you could finish everything that you need to finish before 9 o'clock or before 8 o'clock.

And I believe God rewards our intentionality.

So friends, in this season of prayer, I was blessed by it, but there's something that's quite missing that I could not point my finger on.

It's nice to come to the Lord with your brothers and sisters lifting up the burden of each 1.

When you know that your burdens are lifted up, And there's even 1 time that we're asking people to come at the center and pray over them.

When you know that your burdens are being prayed for by other people in the room.

And then it became like, there's like lines of people wanted to be prayed over.

I'm thinking, Oh Lord, I don't know what time I'll be able to sleep.

And then I begin to see that what attracts us of spending time in the presence of God is the burden that we carry, isn't it?

Is the burdens that we carry because it's a blessing to have a church that prays.

It's a blessing to have friends that praise.

And I begin to realize that that is just my motivation of coming to the Lord in prayer.

That's 1 motivation, but that should not be the main focus.

Here I begin to realize when I read this amazing story of the Mount of Transfiguration, of what we get by spending time in the presence of God.

Because there's just more than just lifting up of the burden that the Lord, someone wants to do in us.

This story, friends, is found in the desire of ages.

By the way, for those of you who gave me your emails, I will give you the entire thing when all of these things are done.

So little background before going to the mountain of transfiguration.

Remember Jesus chose Peter, James and John to go with him.

And friends, this is the description of before the climb, the Savior and his disciples have spent the day in traveling and teaching and the mountain climb adds to their weariness.

So it was not just a hill, it was a mountain And they were climbing after they were done with the ministry.

Friends, who among you here are mountain climbers?

I'm not surrounded by mountains back home I love the beach I love the sound of the beach and when people tells me Jan let's climb a mountain I said no no said why I'm an Israelite why do you mean What do you mean you're an Israelite?

The first time I climbed a major mountain, it's like almost a 2 day climb.

Being alone in the presence of God it's just worth all the tiredness that you have spent the whole day climbing the mountain away from the sound of traffic away from the sound of your neighbors friends Philippines you could not get away from the sound of your neighbors.

Friends, Philippines, you could not get away from the sound of your neighbors.

So friends, so Jesus was climbing together with his disciples.

And friends, this is another, look at this.

Christ has lifted up, lifted burdens from mind, body, and many sufferers.

He has sent the thrill of life through their enfeebled frames, but he is also compassed with humanity and with his disciples he is wearied with the ascent.

Friends, come to think of it, the disciples does not preach, the disciples does not do the healing.

And friends, while he was climbing, he is weary too.

And the description, the gloom of their surroundings seems in harmony with their sorrowful lives.

Around where the clouds are gathering and thickening.

While they're climbing, while they're being burdened by the whole activity, the tiredness, and then the sun is about to set.

All this adds up to what they're experiencing.

Friends, when the sun is out, it's just like the happiness is going away as well.

That's why there's a lot of depression when it's winter.

04 Prayer

Our great God, our dear, loving Heavenly Father, Lord, we praise and we thank you for giving us this chance to talk about you, to talk about this beautiful gift, this beautiful privilege that you have given us to have this open communication between you and us.

So Lord I pray that as my sister said that we might not take it lightly of how you desire Lord to spend time with your people and to talk to your people.

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