Tory Farina

Make Room For More Prayer...

Today is our 24 hours of prayer. Plan on spending a half an hour at some point from 10am Saturday through Sunday Service at 10am.

Join our Prayer Call in at 9pm today Saterday May 21st

1-213-342-3000

Access Code: 4544580

Five things to Pray For:

• Pray that you will hear from God.
• Pray for your church that we wqill hear from God.
• Pray for your church leadership.
• Pray for those who will be involved in building our facility.
• Pray for those who are yet to come to faith in Jesus Christ.

2 Chronicles 7:14 If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

Pray for our city...

I am standing behind the movie theatre we use as a church and believing in prayer for God to change our city. Homes to be restored, marriages mended, hearts healed, bodies free from sickness, people to come and meet Jesus.

Join me in prayer for our homes, city, neighbors, workplaces. Take some time today and pray for people by name or drive/walk by their home and pray a prayer of faith on their behalf.

Comment with what you are believing God for.

Elizabeth's Good Report...

Tuesday morning, Elizabeth and I met with a neurologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. After three months of dealing with the effects of this traumatic event we were very anxious to say the least. The doctor showed us the before and after pictures from the MRI and explained that both dissections and the pseudo-aneurysm had healed.

 

We had been so full of fear — fear of a stroke, fear of an aneurysm, fear of living in a hospital bed, fear that this might be the end. Reading the Psalms seemed to be the only balm that would sooth the anxiety and curb our fear of the unknown. But just as King David did, we trusted the Lord and cried out to Him for a complete healing.

 

When we got the good report it felt like the feeling that comes when you narrowly escape a car wreck. Joy. Exhaustion. Unbridled emotion. Release. Shock. I kept telling Elizabeth, "It’s over... It’s finally over... The book is done... Let’s move on...It’s over." We called our closest loved ones and texted our good news to the world. What a great feeling. Thank you for partnering with us to pray for her healing. The Lord has been faithful and we are excited for a new season of health to come.

 

My wife is an amazingly strong woman. She is beautiful, feminine and graceful. Throughout all her trials this year (and there were many) she stayed strong. She had sever hyper-emesis, three blood clots, a root canal*, IVC filter both in and out*, a baby*, gestational diabetes, a bleed in her iliopsoas muscle, two arterial dissections and a pseudoannurism (the * means she did it with out narcotic pain medications).

 

She is the strongest woman I know. I am proud of her. I am in love with her. I get the privilege and honor of spending the rest of my life with her. 

Elizabeth's Mayo Clinic Story...

A note from Elizabeth:

Dear Friends,

On June 13, 2010 I went to the Emergency Room with an excruciating headache. I was admitted to Regions Hospital in St. Paul Minnesota and diagnosed with a carotid artery dissection with a pseudoaneurysm. This is basically a tear in the wall of the artery and causes a clot to form in the interior of the artery. The change of blood flow and clot usually leads to a stroke. My dissection was deemed inoperable due to its location inside my head at the base of my brain. I was treated with blood thinners and released from the hospital after two days in the ICU.

On June 23, 2010, I returned to the emergency room and a second arterial dissection was discovered in my vertebral artery. This one was also deemed inoperable due to its location at the base of my neck near my spinal column and is believed to be a result of the change in blood flow and stress from the first dissection.

Having one dissection is uncommon; having two is very rare (2.5 per 100,000).

I spent two nights at Regions Hospital where I underwent a neurological exam every four hours to watch for signs of a stroke. Due to my age, medical history and rareness of this situation I was transferred to Mayo Clinic in Rochester Minnesota on June 26.

After consulting with a team of specialists from various fields, multiple MRA and CT scans, vile after vile of blood tests and two nights at Mayo, I’m home! The doctors have found no underlying condition to date (although I will follow up with a Geneticist on an out patient basis). I will be treated with blood thinners and have a follow up MRA scan in three months. They believe that without further injury the clot will dissolve and the dissection may heal. Once this set of dissections heals completely there is only a 1% chance each year that I will have any follow up dissections.

These next four weeks are very important to my recovery. I have a lot of restrictions to prevent any further tearing in my arteries. Among other things I am not to push, pull or lift anything over 5lbs - which will be hard to do with a two small children!  

We have seen the hand of God throughout this process and believe that the prayers of many have made a difference. I was already on blood thinners at the onset of this event due to my difficult pregnancy, a fact that Dr’s believe likely prevented a stroke. The Doctors actual words were “...you dodged a bullet”. Every nurse that treated me assumed that I had suffered a stroke, because it’s almost unheard of not to with this condition. I do still have a persistent migraine headache triggered by the upset blood flow, but no lasting physical impairment. Praise be to Jesus who shed his blood for me!

We have experienced the very presence of God, which has sustained us despite the gravity of the situation. When we have been troubled, He has comforted us. When we have had to make difficult decisions, He as granted us wisdom. When we were presented with physical unknowns, He has given us eyes of faith. We are moving forward one day at a time believing for complete healing and days free of fear. I’ve never been more convinced that my life has a purpose and I intend to live every day pursuing my full potential in Jesus Christ.

Thank you to the countless individuals who have prayed for me all over the world; to High Point Church for surrounding me with love; to the many friends who have visited me in the hospital and helped care for our kids; to my family who has dropped everything and made me their priority; to my fantastic husband who has not left my side.

My heart is endeared to you loved ones!

Elizabeth Farina

Songs of Hope in The Hospital...

Elizabeth was admitted into the hospital again on Wednesday night. She has another arterial dissection. I feel like we are on an episode of House. The Dr.'s do not know what it is that is causing these. We keep hearing them say things like, "You are a mystery... Very interesting... HMMM." Please keep praying. We are ready to get out of the Hospital and move on with Life.

As we have been in the Hospital we find ourselves singing simple songs of faith. I figured I would share with you a few of our favorites.

I hope these bring you Hope! Jesus is the giver of HOPE! Although we may be uncertain of what is to come and the Dr.'s are uncertain of what to do next God is not surprised, in doubt or uncertain.

The Holy Spirit is our comfort. Like Paul and Silas in Acts 16 we sing despite the walls around us and Know that The one who is all powerful will hear us and meet us in our affliction.

I've Got Something to say...

I am digging the new Starfield album.

The Saving One - Starfield

Sometimes you here a song that stops you in your tracks. It pulls at the heart strings and redirects your attention. This song did that for me. 

What Do you have to say to the Lord this morning? What things are on your heart, worrying you, causing you anxiety or stress? What keeps you from the Joy the Lord promised us? 

Take time to say whats on your heart and mind to the Lord today. He loves to hear what you have to say.

Questions about Prayer?...

I am prepping for a series in the next few months on prayer. I want to get some feed back as to what would be helpful to you for me to address. Hit me up with your questions about the subject and Ill try and deal with whats on your mind and heart. What do you pray about? What do you struggle with? What do you love/hate about prayer?

"When we pray properly, sorrows disappear like snow before the sun..." -Jon Vianney, Cure of ARS

Breaking Soul Ties...

Last Thursday night we had an amazing time at the High Point Valentine Banquet. Scott and Sandy Bernstein shared about the power of breaking Soul Ties. They told of a prayer that can help to restore you back to that place of innocence that God had planned for us to be when we got married. Let me briefly explain what a Soul tie is and then I'll share the prayer.

What is a Soul Tie?

Matthew 19:5 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh' ?

When a man and a woman come together to have sex they are united as "One Flesh". Many people who have had multiple sexual partners feel like they left a piece with he other person. They feel some how empty or void of apart of themselves. Often we hear of people feeling drawn to another person even if the relationship has long been gone. They will then hold onto things as a memory marker from their time with that person. The best mental picture I can give is sticking your warm moist tongue on a frozen flag pole and then ripping it off after a minute. It leaves residue on the pole. Many people have lost parts of themselves and taken parts of others with them.

Soul Ties can be dangerous. A marriage covenant is designed to be pure and Holy, scripture even calls it "Naked and Unashamed." Soul Ties still drawn to the people you have previously had sex with. It can cause resentment, dissatisfaction, memories while having sex or just inhibit you from truly being free to enjoy all of the other person that God intended.

The Fallowing is a simple prayer designed to surrender your sexual life to God, allow Him to heal your heart and help you to partner with your spouse on a more intimate and close emotional level.

Prayer For Breaking Unholy Soul Ties 

1.  Before you pray take time to make a list of your sexual partners.

2. When you are ready to pray, find a place where you will not be interrupted and can take your time to do this good work. You may want to do this time of prayer with a trusted person that can support you in prayer and affirm God’s forgiveness.

3. The prayer is to be done for each sexual partner you have had that is not presently your spouse.  This includes former partners before marriage, former spouses (living or deceased), former sexual violations through rape or incest.

4. If the name of the person is unknown, can’t be remembered or there are partners whose names you can’t recall, name the ones you know and ask Christ, who knows their names, to break those unholy soul ties.

You may experience some emotions OR you may not.  Regardless of your emotional response, you are inviting God to do a re-creative work in your life.  God is a gracious and restoring God.  Our part is to simply get on the outside what is on the inside.

THE PRAYER

In the Name of Jesus, and by the power of His shed blood, I release __(name)________ soul from me and call back my soul from ___(name)__________.  I ask in the Name of Jesus to help me forgive __(name)_________and heal the memories and circumstances around that bonding.

 

End your time of prayer by thanking Jesus, the creator and perfector of your soul, for what He has done.

Withdrawal...

Through the month of January you are not going to hear much from me. I am taking a season of withdrawal in my life. Last November, I felt that I needed to hone in the focus of my heart and mind for God to do something big in me. Last year He called me to lose 55 lbs., and I am so glad I followed through. The Lord fulfilled promises and answered prayers for both me and the church through my act of obedience. This year I feel like I need to clear out as many voices as I can that might be distracting me from clearly hearing the voice of God.

 

Jesus did this often. I always wonder why Jesus — fully God and fully man — even needed to pray, rest, and recharge. But if He did, then so do I. This has been a stressful season for me and mine. Elizabeth's pregnancy, Rapid church growth and Seven years of full time ministry has its cost. I feel like we are getting ready for something larger and greater than we have yet to experience. Jesus withdrew to rest, get stronger, hear from God, and have a fresh word for the people he was sent to lead. Moses went to the mountain top and came back luminous. Daniel prayed and fasted to break through impossible circumstances. I need more from God to live the life I am called to live and I want to withdraw to gather strength for greater things Yet to come!

 

Here is my plan...

 

• Read — I started a reading plan to go through the Gospels in 30 days. (You can do the same at www.youversion.com.) My goal is to study Jesus and His withdrawal moments — how and why He prayed.
• I am also reading “Leading On Empty” by Wayne Cordeiro- I feel like he is personally walking me through how to defragment my life. I am taking each chapter and walking through each chapter with Elizabeth and the Lord. What an AWSOME experience.
• Fast (check more out here)
• Food — This looks different for everyone some fast food totally, partially or fast a particular type of food. For me I am doing a combination of things.
• Media

-  I am cutting out as many secular non-worshipful voices as I can. Music, movies, magazines and books that do not point me to Jesus will be cut from my appetite this month. Television has been reduced to only News sources.

-  No blogs, no Facebook and NO Twitter — I am having withdrawals. This is almost painful, and I have had to break this a couple times because of Elizabeth's health crisis on Saturday, my need to get a couple numbers off of some profiles on my phone, and this blog post letting you know what’s up. It is also funny how my e-mail sends me Facebook updates and Facebook e-mails, so it’s like it will not leave me alone. I guess that means it is staying around a while.)

-  I also shut off the Push feature to my phone’s e-mail. I am now my e-mail’s master. I think that may stay longer than January.

• Schedule — I am taking certain days off over the next month, during which I will be alone and without normal distractions so I can focus on the Lord and hear his voice with clarity.
• Journal — I am keeping a daily journal of thoughts, prayers, observations, revelations, and dreams.

(This is a goal and has already had to change a little. Let me first tell you that I live by the Spirit of the Law and not the Letter, meaning that even though I may say I am not going to do this or that, I may do it if I feel I need to for a good reason. I also am taking Sundays as a celebration day, meaning I am free to enjoy with my family whatever seems beneficial. This season is about reducing noise in my life and resetting my out of balance rhythm. It is not about a list of does or don’ts.)

 

I am expecting God to break through my life in tremendous ways. I am expecting Him to change me. I was not expecting how hard these first few days have been. Nor was I expecting how the enemy would try and distract me. I shouldn't have been surprised. He met Jesus in the wilderness before his ministry began.

 

My prayer is that I hear his voice like Adam and Eve did in the cool of the day in the Garden of Eden, or like Samuel did when God came to him in the night as a youth, or like the disciples did in the the Upper Room when the Holy Spirit came upon them with fresh power and boldness. My prayer is that I would have new strength and insight to lead the next five+ years with a freshness and sensitivity to the Lord.

 

What is the Lord drawing you to do? What’s your next step in your faith walk? It may not look much like mine, but that's OK. Start with where you are and go one more step.

 

I look forward to letting you know how it goes in a few weeks.

 

Live Your Potential!

 

Pastor Tory

Who are you praying for?...

We are called to bear one another's burden. To intercede for others.

Who are you praying for today? Is the Lord speaking to you about someone? Is it someone you haven't thought about for a while? I have had someone on my heart for the better part of a month. I just sent a tweet to a person the Lord is laying on my heart this morning. Who is on your heart?

You never know what they are going through and what you could be accomplishing behind the scenes of their life. In the book of Daniel an Angel was delayed in coming because of a battle in the heavenly's I wonder sometimes if the prayers I pray change the battle lines in the things unseen.

Pray for the person who pops into your mind right now. You never know what God is doing in their behalf right now. Send them a text, call, or note and build their faith. If you feel the Lord giving you a picture or phrase for them... Share it with them. It might just be the Holy Spirit speaking through you.

Who are you praying for today?