Unlocking the Power of Prayer and Fasting | Mona Hanna

Well, as I was praying on what to preach tonight, the Holy Spirit led me straight to my testimony.

And because the aim of our prayer and fasting season is to encourage you towards your own personal walk with God, and to create a space for deep personal devotion, I really felt the Holy Spirit impress on my heart to share with you a bit about my journey and how I came to a deep and personal relationship with God.

And I believe that God's going to use that to touch the lives of many people here tonight, um, and their personal journey with God.

Is that okay, church? Yes.

Amazing.

Well, little bit about me.

I was born in Egypt.

I moved to Australia with my family at the age of four years old.

I grew up in Melbourne and, um, and I grew up in a traditional Orthodox church.

And my parents are deep into the Orthodox faith, and their life revolves basically around the church.

And so if my dad is not at work, he's at church.

If my mom is not at work, she is at church.

And so my dad leads a few different areas in the church.

Kids ministry, he's one of the key leaders in the church.

He organizes, uh, things around events, and so on.

And my mom also does a lot of that with him, 'cause she's with him all the time, but she also serves in the kitchen, 'cause she's a good cook.

Oh, yeah.

And, um, she serves with the women in women's ministry.

Um, so you can imagine where I was.

If I wasn't at school or at uni, I was at church.

And so I grew up in an environment where I was doing a lot for God.

Wow.

Whenever there was a church fast, um, I was fasting.

Actually, did you know that the Orthodox Church has set fasting times throughout the year, and they fast for more than 210 days of the 365 days of the year? So I'm a pro at fasting, guys.

[laughs] No, I'm just kidding.