More Thoughts on Prayer

"Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. He said: "In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, 'Grant me justice against my adversary.'

"For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, 'Even though I don't fear God or care about men, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won't eventually wear me out with her coming!' "

And the Lord said, "Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?" Luke 18:1-8

I just finished jotting down some notes on peace. In doing so, it became more and more apparent how our peace relates to our faith. When we are operating in His peace, our faith increases to believe for greater and mightier things. Our faith increases as we pray. As we cry out day and night, He will see that we get justice quickly against the adversary! As we gain victory, we can believe for greater things. We must continue to press in - not for the removing of our circumstances, but the moving through our circumstances to see the salvation of the Lord! It is there that His glory is revealed and we are made overcomers. It is also in this place where the Lord will find faith on the earth.

We must press in, not only for ourselves and our present situations, but also stand in the gap for our communities and cities. As I was studying peace, I noticed Jesus speaking about individuals in Luke 10:5-7, but then he followed up in verses 8-15 with this:

"When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is set before you. Heal the sick who are there and tell them, 'The kingdom of God is near you.' But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, 'Even the dust of your town that sticks to our feet we wipe off against you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God is near.' I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town. "

"Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to the skies? No, you will go down to the depths."

He was referring to whole towns/cities, and how cities would receive us as we came in to pray, minister, etc. He followed by acknowledging whole cities and how He viewed them and referred to them. As our faith increases in and through prayer, we can come before the righteous judge and ask for judgement to come against the adversary that stands against our cities, and judgement will come quickly to those who pray day and night.

"Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him." Luke 2:25

When Simeon prayed and stood in the gap for Israel, the messiah came! The prayers of a righteous man avails much. Whether Jesus came because of Simeon's prayer isn't clear, but Ezekiel 22:30 says, "I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it..."

Let us, too, stand in the gap and pray for the salvation of the Lord to come to our cities and state!

Entering His Rest

With our recent financial woes unfolding in this nation, it is becoming increasingly harder to maintain our peace. I know for myself, I wanted to be in a much better financial position when these storms came. The Lord has pressed upon me the importance of "making ready" for years, but I felt like I had failed. I felt like I should have been more prepared for this time. But I felt the Lord saying that if we had acheived my goals of being debt free, off the grid, more self-sufficient with food, etc., I would miss the Glory of Him. It will be more glorious, and require more faith, to see Him provide in lean times than in times of plenty. The events that are taking place now are so He can reveal His glory to His people. I use this example to the point of exhaustion, but when the Hebrews left Egypt, they had nothing. When they came to the Red Sea, they waited on the provision of the Lord and He parted the seas and they walked on dry land. I'm tired of trying to find row boats, or jumping in to swim, struggling to fight in my own strength instead of waiting on the Lord. But in order to wait on Him, we must enter His rest. His peace "surpasses all understanding. (Phillipians 4:7)" He has given us authority to speak to the storms and calm them - we are overcomers in Him! (see Luke 8:22-25). Christ died at the place called Gilgatha - "the place of the skull". He came to crucify our minds so that we may live by the spirit - as Paul said, we are to live by the renewing of our minds. I don't want to get distracted here; my point is we need to keep our eyes on Him and walk by the spirit in the midst of trials and tribulations in the natural.

In talking about the coming Kingdom, Jesus said, "Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all." Then, when the flood subsided, Noah released a dove to go out to see if it could find safety on dry land. The dove returned when it could not find a place of rest, but when it found safety, it went out and left. Just as in those days, today we need to say "'Peace to this house.' If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; if not, it will return to you...Heal the sick who are there and tell them, 'The kingdom of God is near you.' But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, 'Even the dust of your town that sticks to our feet we wipe off against you.' Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God is near. (Luke 10:5-6, 9-10)" We must enter His rest and walk in His peace to navigate these times. When we walk in His peace and rest in Him, the Kingdom is near - the Kingdom is at hand! Jesus was so aware of the peace within Him and who He was in the Father, that when He was touched by the sick woman in the crowds in Luke 8:45, 46, He felt the something leave Him. We, too, must be this in tune with the Father. It is also interesting to note, in verse 43 it says "she had spent all she had on doctors" - Jesus did what man could not do. The peace we have in Him will draw the world to us, and ultimately to Him. He is preparing His people with the present circumstance to turn our eyes and our hearts toward heaven. Wait and see the salvation and glory of the Lord!

The Coming Kingdom

God is raising up an army. There is a shift begining within the body of those who are wanting more from Church, life, family, and God. Jesus said to pray "on earth as it is in heaven" - establish the Kingdom! Peter said a shaking would come, first to the household of faith. I believe we are seeing that today. As a result, a people will be and are being prepared to bring in the Kingdom of God on earth. The coming kingdom is actually already at hand, but we aren't walking out in it:

"Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.”
Then He said to the disciples, “The days will come when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. And they will say to you, ‘Look here!’ or ‘Look there!’ Do not go after them or follow them. For as the lightning that flashes out of one part under heaven shines to the other part under heaven, so also the Son of Man will be in His day. But first He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed.

Some things to point out here - Are we not living in the days of Noah? It seems as though we live in a lost and dying world with no regard to God. People are eating and drinking and being marry - even within the church! It is time to press in to the things of God - to gather around Jesus, not just talk about Him. Church should be a way of life, not an event. It is something we are to participate in, not just spectate on Sunday mornings. And as we move into these things, Jesus says above, "Do not go running after them!" We could debate what He is referring to here, but besides the occult, I think there is another meaning here. The kingdom of God is within us. When we hear of good reports in far off places - praise God! But it doesn't mean we need to hop on a plane or drive off to see the Lord. Obviously if He tells us to, we must go, but the King of kings lives within us. If we yield to Him and are willing to be purified and sanctified by Jesus, and to allow Him to work through us, the Kingdom will manifest. Jesus said He came to "give us the fullness of life." Normal Christianity should be the blind see, the deaf here, the lame walk and the sick are made well.

A friend and brother in the Lord said to me, "It is all about gathering around Jesus. I just want to gather around Jesus." I've been pondering that point for some time now - I want to talk less about the things of the Lord, and start seeing it manifest in myself, my family, and my community!

Strategy for Battle for Our Cities

There seems to be a stirring in the body of Christ. We are begining to thirst for more of the Lord and desiring to be in His presence more and more. As part of that, we are begining to press in more to heavenly places to discover what is keeping us from that open line of communication with the Father.

2 Chronicles 20:1-20 shows us a battle that was about to ensue against Judah. "It happened after this that the people of Moab with the people of Ammon, and others with them besides the Ammonites, came to battle against Jehoshaphat." The people of Mount Seir made their homes by chiseling away at the rock in the mountain sides, and then the people of Moab would make their homes their. The Ammonites and the Moabites represent sin and perversion. They originated from Lot's daughters who conceived their children with their father while he was drunk. The same thing is happening today - there are so many things that try to chip away at our rock of salvation, and then tempt us or distract us. Once we are distracted, sin sets in. We live in a day where many things chip away at our rock - TV, magazines, work, entertainment, activities, even church. It is coming at us from all sides it seems, but I believe the Lord is allowing this to give us spiritual eyes to see the battle at hand, and to teach us to fight. We see in verse 2 that "some came and told Jehoshaphat, saying, 'A great multitude is coming against you from beyond the sea, from Syria and they are in Hazazon Tamar' (which is En Gedi)." They were keeping watch and saw the enemy coming. The watchman were on the walls and awake to see the vast army coming. We, too, need to watch, but also heed to others as they watch and share what they are seeing in the spirit. Jesus said,

"Watch therefore, for you do not know what day or hour your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect." Matthew 24:42-44 NKJV

We must be watching for the Lord and ultimately keep our eyes on Him, but we must also know the battle that lies before us.

"How can anyone enter a strong man's house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can rob his house." Matthew 12: 29 NKLV

We must keep watch and pray in order to identify and bind the strong man. We see in 2 Chronicles 20:3, this is what Jehoshaphat did - he inquired of the Lord and proclaimed a fast. Through this, "the people came together from every town to seek him" (verse 4). There was a coming together of the body - they recognized the reality of the onslaught of the enemy, and realized the only victory over this vast army was through God giving the enemy over to them. These were overcomers - Jesus said we are more than conquorers in Him, and we are overcomers through Him. After they prayed (verses 6-12), it says all stood before the Lord - children included. I don't want to veer too much here, but children were included in this as well - our children have the same Holy Spirit as we do - they need to be included in prayer, worship, and the like. In verse 15, a Levite (worship leader) stood before the group and prophesied not to be afraid or discouraged, but that the vast army would be defeated at the hand of the Lord! He said to stand firm and to take up their positions, but that the battle was the Lord's, and the Lord would deliver them. Even in the midst of the battle, we must be steadfast in our faith. It is by our faith that we overcome. As they set out for the battle the next day, they stood and worshipped the Lord with Thanksgiving as if the battle was already won! For many reasons, I see too many intercessors downtrodded and beaten up. I, too, was feeling like I was in a bunker for many months, even years - never advancing; feeling like everything around me was falling apart or blowing up. We must never lose focus on Him - many times we focus on the battle, or our wounds, or our circumstance or any number of things that distract our focus from Him. After they gave thanks and praised the Lord, the Lord sent confusion into the enemies' camp (v22) and they destroyed one another. "When the men of Judah came to the place that overlooks the desert and looked toward the vast army, they saw only dead bodies lying on the ground; no one had escaped. So Jehoshaphat and his men went to carry off their plunder, and they found among them a great amount of equipment and clothing and also articles of value—more than they could take away. There was so much plunder that it took three days to collect it." This is amazing! We will see and are begining to see this plunder. Obviously today we aren't doing this by natural means, but rather in the heavenlies through our prayer, intercession, and worship. As we begin to win these battles, we too are going to see a plunder. Paul said we are to "wrestle principalities", but as we gain victory, needed resources will be released into the church for the good of His people. It also says that "the fear of God was on all the kingdoms of those countries when they heard that the LORD had fought against the enemies of Israel." People will see the Lord in us and see our peace in the midst of trials, and see the fear of God as we fight. It goes on to say, "Then the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet, for his God gave him rest all around." I could go on and on about the "rest of the Lord", but I'll just say this - we are coming to an age where we will have to battle to find rest - we will no longer be able to continue to avoid battles to find a counterfeit peace - the peace will elude us unless we take the yoke of the Lord and overcome. It is through the overcoming life that we will move from victory to victory, and rest in Him.

In summary, we see here a picture of what the church should look like in these last days. As the vast spiritual army comes on all sides, the Lord will reveal strategies to overcome. He will reveal Himself through however He chooses - we must be in tune with the Father to see what he is saying and doing. Jesus said He only did what He saw His Father in heaven doing. As we do that, we will see the enemy brought down as the "God of peace will soon crush satan under our feet." Not only do we need to be in tune with the Father, but we need one another in the body of Christ. As we see in this story, the Lord used many people to reveal what He was doing for His people. Likewise, in these last days, we will be laboring together, building upon one another's work rather than doing seperate works or our own thing or treading over the same ground over and over again. This collaboration will be necessary in order to forcefully advance the kingdom of God. Keep soldiering on!

Thoughts on Prayer

The Lord has been pressing upon my heart the importance of prayer. Paul admonished us to "pray without ceasing" (1 Thessalonians 5:17), but what does that mean? The challenge, I believe, is taking prayer as the "window dressing" of a church or self to a place of a lifestyle.
When Jesus was teaching His disciples on how to pray, in Luke 11 has the "Lord's prayer", but what I was intrigued with was the passage that follows:

Then he said to them, "Suppose one of you has a friend, and he goes to him at midnight and says, 'Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have nothing to set before him.' Then the one inside answers, 'Don't bother me. The door is already locked, and my children are with me in bed. I can't get up and give you anything.' I tell you, though he will not get up and give him the bread because he is his friend, yet because of the man's persistence he will get up and give him as much as he needs. " Luke 11:5-8 NKJV

Jesus, in teaching His disciples how to pray, teaches them to "stand in the gap" for the "friend" mentioned, and because of the man's persistence, his request is honored. The text that follows is goes as follows:

So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. Luke 11:9-10 NKJV

We have not because we ask not. I wonder how many of my struggles are a result of not asking. Prayer is the key which unlocks the doors of heaven. When we come into agreement with God in prayer, things begin to change and move.

"Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them." Matthew 18:18-20

"...the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” Matthew 16:18-19

I'm still pondering these scriptures. I am coming to a place of truly understanding more clearly how prayer brings us into a place of agreement with Him...not the other way around. As the scripture says, "If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face...[I will] heal their land." Power is in prayer - that is why Paul said to pray without ceasing - it gets us in tune with the heart of the Father.

Importance of the Watch

I was studying in the Word about "Watching" and found something interesting that is worth sharing. I want to look at the account of Peter's denial, but first let me start by laying some foundations. Looking at the account of creation, we see God's establishment of the first day and how the day was comprised:

"Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. 4 And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day." Genesis 1:3-5 NKJV

We see in this passage that the day started in the evening. This is how the Hebrews and the Jews recognized the day. This is a different mindset and approach to the day. The first watch, in the evening, lays the groundwork for the upcoming day, before bedtime. We are all to watch over ourselves, our families, and our "gardens" - our sphere of influence where we labor for and in the kingdom.

Next, looking at the account of the fall (Gen 3), one could say that by Adam not watching, he was deceived and fell. "Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field..." (Gen 3:1) - our enemy comes to deceive us and lead us into sin - to distract us from tending to our "garden" or place of dominion. 1 Peter 4:8 exhorts us to be self controlled and alert (watchful) because the adversary is like a roaring lion looking for something to devour. Peter then urges us after being alert (watchful), to resist him. We see here in Genesis that Adam did not resist, rather entertained the serpent's proposition and ultimately fell. He essentially fell asleep spiritually on the watch.

Now we zoom forward to the second Adam - Jesus - as he watched in another garden:

Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to the disciples, “Sit here while I go and pray over there.” And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. Then He said to them, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me.”
He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.”
Then He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “What! Could you not watch with Me one hour? Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
Again, a second time, He went away and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done.” And He came and found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy.
So He left them, went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words. Then He came to His disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going. See, My betrayer is at hand.”Matthew 26:36-50 NKJV

Jesus was watching over his calling and ultimate purpose (His garden/dominion). It is interesting to note that as He watched, he checked on the disciples, only to find them sleeping 3 times. Now remember this number 3 - it is important in what comes next. Jesus was victorious here in what was to come - He understood the need to "watch and pray" and stayed awake, and ultimately prevailed in the greatest victory. But Peter did not stay awake and watch, we see Jesus found him sleeping three times.

As we see in the following passage, the denial by Peter accounts him denying Christ 3 times:

Now Peter sat outside in the courtyard. And a servant girl came to him, saying, “You also were with Jesus of Galilee.” But he denied it before them all, saying, “I do not know what you are saying.” And when he had gone out to the gateway, another girl saw him and said to those who were there, “This fellow also was with Jesus of Nazareth.” But again he denied with an oath, “I do not know the Man!” And a little later those who stood by came up and said to Peter, “Surely you also are one of them, for your speech betrays you.” Then he began to curse and swear, saying, “I do not know the Man!” Immediately a rooster crowed. 75 And Peter remembered the word of Jesus who had said to him, “Before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.” So he went out and wept bitterly. (Matt 26:69-75 NKJV)

Peter denied Christ the same number of times that he fell asleep on the watch with Jesus. Would Peter have denied Jesus those 3 times had he not fallen asleep on the watch? I think we can learn from Peter's denial, and learn from what Peter said in 1 Peter 4 and watch over ourselves, our calling, the Lord, and the wiles of the enemy.