Derwin Okinaka [00:00:00]:
And aloha all, and thank you for joining us on this 2nd day of our 21 days of prayer. We hope you're all having a blessed week. Before we get started, just a reminder to text in your prayer report to 8 o to your your praise request prayer request to 808-793-5655. Again, can we please stand as we, pray in reverence to our Lord? Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for gathering us here today in our 21 days of prayer. I ask that you speak your words through me and touch the hearts of the listeners. And this also holds true for the amazing men and women of New Hope Kapolei who will be speaking in the following days. I pray that this 21 days will be a journey for all of us as we spend time surrendering our cares to you. In Jesus' mighty name, we all say, amen.

Derwin Okinaka [00:00:54]:
Hey. Thank you. Thank you, guys. You folks may be seated. So I'd like to share a story, leading up to how I received the honors and opportunities to speak with you tonight. It involves fellowship, encouragement, inspiration, and conviction. So these events took place last week in a course of 3 days. So last Sunday, Karen and I had fellowship with Hale and Gail Accamini, and we're discussing our sleep habits and if we got a good night's sleep.

Derwin Okinaka [00:01:29]:
And I shared that at one time I really didn't sleep very well. I would get up that night, toss and turn, and it was, it was very tiring, until I and then so Doctor. Hill, the sleep doctor asked, well, how did you remedy your sleep habits? And I said, well, I pray on Philippians 4:6, the one that Jeff went over last night, don't worry about anything, instead pray about everything. And if you missed last night's one, Jeff did a scripture and his speech, well, not speech, but his message last night regarding pray about everything. So when I started using this verse, it helped me greatly until the other night. I got up the other night and I had a difficult time falling back to sleep. But hold on, let's go back about 16 hours the day before. And it was Tuesday morning of last week, and my good friend Neil, who we talk frequently throughout the week, asked me how things are going and how church was going.

Derwin Okinaka [00:02:42]:
And I told him that I was dancing around the 21 days of prayer and a topic to speak on. Neil, a godly man, encouraged me to and said to search my heart and he'll pray on it. About an hour later, I see Christie who's always has a kind serving heart and one of the directors here at New Hope Kapolei, and was talking story and then the 21 days of prayer comes up again. And I dance around the subject and then I excuse myself from the conversation. Then about a couple hours later, I receive a call from Chad Mahoy. And now you know Chad, he's a professional counselor, so he knows all the right words to use when he speaks and he's just encouraging me to, you know, a 21 days of prayer is coming up, and we got 2 slots left, and it's for next week, Tuesday Wednesday. And I'm like the the one that wants to speak like on 20th or, you know, 19th or, you know, 18th day. Anyway, he had also encouraged me.

Derwin Okinaka [00:03:56]:
And I danced around his question and, and we ended the conversation. Well, soon after that conversation, the Lord spoke to my heart and and said, hey, what, you know, you should speak on the 21 days of prayer. And I danced around it and went to sleep later that night. So now back to when I was trying to go back to sleep, something told me that I should check my email, and I rarely ever check my email at night. So I tossed and turned and kept saying, check your email, check your email, so I did. And there it was, an email from Chad Mahoy on the schedule for the 21 days of prayer. And the only day opening was Tuesday tonight. You know, the Holy Spirit opened my heart, and I realized that God's voice was speaking through Neil, Christy, and Chad, inspiring me on the 21 days of prayer.

Derwin Okinaka [00:04:55]:
How selfish I was to dance around my friends and especially God. I confessed my sins to God and I asked for forgiveness. Amazingly, in a moment, I felt refreshed and energized and it was about 2 in the morning. I got on my computer and I started jotting down some notes. The Holy Spirit led me to share my thoughts with you on how I danced around things because of my foolishness and my perfectionism. Hi. My name is Derwin, and I have a confession to make. I've been struggling with this issue for pretty much my adult life.

Derwin Okinaka [00:05:36]:
I belong to a support group and I am a recovering perfectionist. And this may be sound sound funny, but you know, being a perfectionist is totally impossible. You know, God calls us to strive for excellence, but not to be perfect. Being a perfectionist for me was driven by anxiety and a desire to earn acceptance and approval through flawless performance. Yes, no one is perfect, only God is perfect. The self help books I read taught me to set high goals, never give up, follow my dreams. Whatever makes you happy, just do it. Although most of these things hold true, I wanted everything to be perfect by doing it my own way.

Derwin Okinaka [00:06:23]:
So in the first scripture, in Proverbs 357, we read, trust in the Lord. Trust in the Lord with all our heart and do not depend on our own understanding. Seek His will in all that you do and He will show you which path to take. And don't be impressed with your own wisdom, instead fear the Lord and turn away from evil. So even now I struggle with this. I would do things on my own way. Countless times I would mess up and fail, then I'll realize how careless I was not to seek the Lord first. And I'll pray for guidance and wisdom.

Derwin Okinaka [00:07:09]:
I was trying to pray, I try to pray soon after I make a mistake, or I know that I should have prayed because I messed up, and and that made me feel good. I don't know about you folks, but I have a difficult time trying to pray throughout the day. You know, all of us, you know, we just have busy schedules and I just get caught up in my own way and my own wisdom and I just try to do things on my own, and that's what messes me up. And I know that praying throughout the day is such an essential thing for my Christian walk, and I just try to remember throughout the day to pray. But it's my huge ego that always gets in the way of the Lord and I would end up stubborn and doing it my way. Our wisdom comes from God, so we should pray for wisdom. He would guide you down the path if you just surrender to Him. On the next slide, in Psalms 18:30, God's way is perfect.

Derwin Okinaka [00:08:18]:
All Lord promised all the Lord's promise proved to be true. He is our shield to all who trust in Him. The Bible tells us that perfection is unattainable, and I will fall short. God expects me to fail. That's why I have Jesus. Jesus paid the price for anything I could ever do in my life. And God's faithfulness and His ways are perfect, and His word encourages me to trust Him and to take protection in His promise. I was always trying to go I was always trying to go beyond my personal and professional goals.

Derwin Okinaka [00:09:03]:
Whenever someone says that it couldn't be done, it gave me motivation to accomplish it. I was motivated by my own opinions, desire, and yes, my ego. And this caused me disappointed anxiety, worry, and stress just because I wanted to be perfect and do it my way. You know, God calls us to strive for excellence but not to be perfect. Being a perfectionist for me was driven by anxiety and the desire to earn acceptance and approval through flawless performance. Flawless performance, what, how silly is that? You know, the Bible teaches us that our worth and identity comes from being children of God, not from our ability to achieve perfection. Even as a Christian, I grapple with perfection. At times, I try to impress our God, to serve him by doing things to please him.

Derwin Okinaka [00:10:00]:
Yet, again, these are good things, but I was doing it for the wrong reasons. I was trying to earn my way to salvation. And our God our God just wants our heart through the word and prayer. He wants our love for him and for others. He doesn't want a performance ministry from me. In Matthew 11 28, it says, come to me all who are worry and burdened and I will give you rest. So in closing, I'm improving, but it's a long life journey. The life group I belong to is my support group.

Derwin Okinaka [00:10:42]:
My brothers and sisters, my brothers there are blessings for me and we meet weekly. We share our concerns and we pray together. In addition, it's encouraging that my Christian brothers and sisters are also important to me and part of my support group. We all serve our Lord together. We celebrate our victories and we pray for each others when we are weak. We are reminded in the book of 2 Corinthians 129 that God's power is made perfect in our weakness. Therefore, it's okay to acknowledge our imperfections and weakness as they provide opportunities for God to display His strength through us. Let us pray.

Derwin Okinaka [00:11:31]:
Dear heavenly father, thank you for your word that inspires us to find our self and worth in seeking you rather than seeking our ability to be flawless. Thank you that you see thank you that you use other people to speak your voice to us. We are called to you to do our best and strive for excellence, but also to embrace our imperfection knowing that your power is made perfect in our weakness. Let us seek you throughout the day, and let us remember to pray to you for guidance and wisdom. We love you and we give you all the praise and glory. In Jesus' mighty name we say, amen. So there's some reflection questions that, I like to for you to ponder about. The first point would be reflect on the way God might be using you, in weakness to display His strength.

Derwin Okinaka [00:12:34]:
And the next is, in what way has prayer helped you throughout the day? And the third point would be, how has prayer relieved you of worry, anxiety, and stress? And again, don't be like me and dance around God when he's calling you for you'll lose sleep doing that. Thank you. And, again, if you have any prayer requests, please, text us to 808-793-5655. We're gonna break for a little bit. Please, have your time praying, personally to God or you can pair up and, pray with each other. We we encourage you to do so and we find that this time, this is not a time for just to talk story, but to, we encourage you to just, pray and and, and be with the Lord. So thanks again and may God bless.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:45:24]:
Thanks everybody for, joining us. Thanks, Darwin, for that great message. We gotta always remember to pray and, man, you know, sometimes we talk about things, and and we we say, I don't wanna talk about this and that. It's kinda personal stuff. But when we're in the church, we we realize, one of the things we realize, we're all sort of the same. At the cross, it's equal ground. It's level ground, and we're all struggling with the some of the same things. Right? Some of them may be different for, others, but some may be similar.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:45:57]:
So, lord god, we just wanna lift you up, lord god. We wanna thank you for the message from Darwin and, ask for wisdom. Just like he said, it's good to ask for your wisdom, lord god, not our wisdom, lord. You said, trust in the lord with all your heart. Lean not on our own understanding. Right? So we wanna ask you for wisdom, lord god, to see things like you see things, lord god. We wanna see with your eyes, lord god. We just praise you, Jesus, for, all you've done in our lives.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:46:26]:
Thank you for that message And, for the messages to come in this 21 days of prayer, we wanna press into you and ask for wisdom. And we do confess, lord god, all of us, for our pride to be, down more of you and less of us, lord. Let us get out of the way. Let our ego not rise up, lord god. Hallelujah. Let us walk in humility. You said it's good to for us to walk, humbly and and, to know you, lord god. So we wanna we wanna do that.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:46:58]:
And, just, you know, everybody needs, have the need to be accepted. And, like, Dora and I were talking about it, in due time, everything in its own balance. So we sometimes we need the boldness to speak up. Sometimes we need the boldness to not say anything, and sometimes it's hard. But, just give us the wisdom to know how to use both, lord god. Amen. We do, wanna, see past the natural lord. Thank you for conversations today when we were just today, we're having a conversations about seeing, you know, the worst sometimes of humanity when, the flesh gets the best of some other some people, and they just act so crazy.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:47:45]:
And, you know, so it's tempting to just throw the baby out with the bathwater like we say. It's like, what's up with this guy? He's he's so crazy. Makes me, you know, furious that something's not right with their mind. Well, you know what? Sometimes stuff is not right with people's mind, and that's why they act crazy. So, Lord Jesus, just like when we have the a broken arm or broken leg, we go to the hospital, the doctor. Lord, we pray, you know, and we've we've been able to decipher and see that this person is not not okay, and that's why they're acting this way. And so let us see past, lord god. Like you you said, man looks at the outward appearance, but god looks at the heart.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:48:26]:
So this is why we need to see things with your eyes and look past the outward appearance, past the the attitudes and the the the rage and the anger and the whatever may may be in front soul. There's a there's a, you know, young boy inside of this this man that that's crying for help and that's crying, reaching out, need needs help, but they don't know it. So they are just acting. So, Lord, give us that wisdom, the eyes to see that kind of thing. Hallelujah. Thank you, God. Let us look past outward appearance. And, God, we thank you for and we praise you, God, for, for just let letting us come and just be real and and talk with you and and share with you.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:49:12]:
And we will lift you up high, Lord God, because we wanna, it's it's all about you. It's not about us, Lord. We wanna make you known, Lord God. We wanna, be people of of prayer, Lord God. We wanna make this a house of prayer. So we just thank you for this community of faith, lord god, that extends around the world really, lord. So all our brothers and sisters who are watching, via, the stream. We just pray for all of you folks wherever you are in the world.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:49:41]:
We pray God's hand upon you, his covering upon you, make his face shine upon you, and give you peace, and, allow you to continue to walk in his ways and do do his will, lord. Thank you, Jesus, for everybody who's watching around the world. Amen. And we come with gratefulness, lord god, in our hearts. And we do, lift up our church body, lord god, those who sent in requests. We thank you, lord, for for them. We just pray physical healing, Lord God. Those who need their physical, bodies healed, mental, healing, Lord God, spiritual healing, whatever it is, whatever the case may be.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:50:24]:
And, just, you know, just specifically a friend's mom who's who's been battling with cancer, Lord. We thank you that our friend gets to be there with the family and be around mom and and speak life and give bring care to her. But during this, season that she has to walk through this, let her faith be strengthened, lord god. Let mom's faith be strengthened, by her daughter and her, son-in-law and the whole family. Let her remain strong, and, they ask that, god, you watch over them. So we just I'd stand with them as they ask, god, that you watch over them. Put your hand of, comfort and healing, lord god, upon them. Even, touch that, area of cancer, lord god, in that liver, lord god.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:51:07]:
Just shrink that cancer up and and get it out. Let it shrivel up and and die in Jesus' name. Let it be strong. Let her be strong, lord god, that cancer be removed, lord god. And, even for dad who, who, the main thing is we we want him to know you, lord God, but we know he's in and out of the hospital. So we pray for stabilized health for her dad, our friends, our, our friend's dad, lord god. So be with your mom and dad. We know that stage of life, lord, where we are caregivers, lord.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:51:37]:
Bless their heart and give them strength to endure, lord god, strength beyond what they have, but then allow them to have their times of rest and recovery and, just give them strength, lord, to walk this road, lord god, this hard road that they have to walk. And, we thank you for, just friends who stand in the gap, lord, who who, who will see the need and and pray and and know that they need, to pray to you, ask for intervention. So we ask you to intervene for our friend's neighbor, who got evicted, sounds like. Lord god, need a home. So bring your provision. God, you're the god, our provider, Jehovah Jireh. You're you can provide for our friend a home and be able to take custody of of his kids. So you we know you know the beginning to the end of this situation, Lord, and everything in between.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:52:31]:
So we just pray that you, you you make the wheels turn in this situation. Bring a peace to the children, lord, and in this time of instability. Calm their hearts and spirits, Lord God. Touch them with peace. Touch the the dad with peace and, the mom and everybody involved, even our our dear friend who's standing in the gap, for them and interceding for them, lord. Give him strength as he prays and stands with his neighbor, lord. In Jesus' name, we lift that to you. And, little baby Celia, get better soon.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:53:02]:
We pray we pray god can just touch her, digestive issues, lord god, and, just bring peace to the family as they walk through that, lord god. And, just, give wisdom to the doctors and the nurses and the whole team that's taking care of little baby cilia. And we just pray in Jesus' name that you bring all things together and work it all for good, lord god, and healing in Jesus' name. Same for our friend's dad, fighting, against bone cancer. We know you're bigger than bone cancer. You're stronger than that. So we just pray that you heal that up, lord god. Remove that cancer in Jesus' name.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:53:41]:
Let it be out of his, system, lord god, and allow him to walk, normally and be be healed, lord god, one more time again, lord in Jesus name. And, give strength to the family as they walk through this season. Give them the words to speak and the spirit and the, the right spirit, lord, to adjust to the situation and to just speak life, Lord. Be the life givers to dad, Lord God. We pray for, peace in our our friend's home, Lord God. Peace, harmony, and, hearts back to Jesus, Lord. Sometimes we can get, a little jaded if we see Jesus and hear Jesus all the time. I sure remember those times.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:54:20]:
It's like, man, you know, when you we think we've heard it all and we think we've seen it all. And, Jesus wants to say, oh, I'm sorry. You haven't seen anything yet because I'm still here and I'm still working big miracles and I have big plans. But, we just pray that the hearts turn back to Jesus and know the goodness because the they've tasted and seen that the lord is good, and walking this road is the the winning road, lord god, the being on the winning team. So let us not get jaded, lord god. Let but let us continue to be in awe and wonder just like little children, lord. Like the song says, let us still feel small when we stand beside the ocean and, see the stars and just realize how big you are, how great and mighty you are, lord god, in Jesus name. We pray for that family, Lord.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:55:11]:
Bring peace and love, Lord God. Also, we know, you're, the provider for cars, for houses. You're the giver of, problem solving and creative thinking and times that people need clarity and direction for the house, lord god. So we just pray that you bring all of these things, lord. Those who need provision, father, open the doors, make make the wheels start spinning even now, lord god, for, automobiles and and for our cars to be open, available, lord god. Cars and houses. And, allow people to think, you know, with that 10,000 foot view, lord god. Let us all see from that big perspective, lord, that you want us to have, how you you're so much bigger than small problems, and you can work things out, lord, step by step, lord god, as we as we track along with you, as we're faithful to you, as we're obedient to you, lord god.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:56:05]:
You wanna work all things out for the good, lord. So we just trust you for that provision. We ask for boldness to take the next steps, lord god. Those who are called to serve in ministry, let them serve. Let them step forward, lord god, and, and be a part of the teams, lord god. Be see see the, what is that is great to be a part of the team because we're all on the winning team. Hallelujah. We pray for our church gatherings, Lord, that happen on the weekends.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:56:33]:
All of the little, things that have to get done, logistics, Lord, from the, from a to z, lord god. The whole thing that happens has to happen even starting on Saturday nights, but we do it for for love. We do it for you, lord god. For the, love of, you and your people is why we we create, sanctuary, lord. We turn a we turn a cafeteria into a sanctuary on a Sunday morning where we can come and encounter you and hear your word and and sing praises to you, gather in fellowship, Lord God. So do we just pray that you bless that time in Jesus' name. In Jesus' name. And, God and be with our friend who, was hungry for ice cream today in front of 7:11.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:57:16]:
Lord God, we run across, these folks and we just pray blessings upon them. We see past the fact that that they may be homeless and in various mental states, but we just pray for those who are homeless, looking for homes, lord god. We pray that, you wake up their spirit, lord god, that you get them to the right places and allow them to make the right decisions and choose choose life, lord god. Choose life. Choose a different direction and, just speak to us, lord, that whoever you wanna call to reach out and to, give a word or a cup of cold water just like you say in your word, lord god. When we give it unto unto them, we do it unto you, lord god. And this is our prayer for this evening, and we just pray, lord god, that we can press into you 20 more days, 20 19 more days, whatever it is. And we wanna do a 365 days of prayer.

Pastor Jeff Pagay [00:58:09]:
Woo. How's that? Not only 21 days, 365 days. We wanna pray, pray, pray every day and because we love you, Lord. In Jesus' name, amen.