Morning Prayer Summary for Thursday, August 09, 2018

Mary led group in worship…

Pastor Ray shared…

When Sandy and I first started coming to Living Word around 81 or 82, at North Hennepin when there were only about 80 people. There was only one door in the building. Pastor Mac and Lynne would always be at the door. I wanted to come in “incognito” because I didn’t really want to be there. I wasn’t Spirit filled at the time. I thought “what in the world is going on?” Sandy told Pastor Lynne that I was an artist. It wasn’t that I did just big huge murals. I did art “things” sculptures, whatever. She’d always talk to me about Elisha. She said, “We need a big painting of Elisha.”

There is something I wanted to go over concerning Elisha. In Romans 12, it says be constant in prayer. That’s what we’re doing here. I looked up a different translation. In the Passion translation it says, “Let this hope burst forth within you, releasing a continual joy. Don’t give up in a time of trouble.” Do we ever throw in the towel? No. “But commune with God at all times.” That’s what we’ve been talking about. If you’ve never read the prophecy Pastor Lynne had in 84 (it’s in her book, “The Master Is Calling”) about the presence. If things aren’t working out, spend more time in His presence.

I wanted to look at James 5 about effective prayers. This is also from Passion. “Confess and acknowledge how you’ve offended one another and then pray for one another to be instantly healed. For tremendous power is released through the passionate, heartfelt prayer of a godly believer.” That’s not because it’s a great performance. It’s because it’s heartfelt. That can be a sound. That could be a cry. That could be a laugh. Whatever. We’re moved in our hearts. Then it talks about Elisha. It says he was a man with human frailties, just like us. But he prayed and he received supernatural answers. He actually shut the heavens over the land so there would be no rain for 3 ½ years. Then he prayed about and the sky opened up over the land so that the rain came again and produced the harvest.

So am I saying we’re expected to pray like Elisha? Well, I’m not saying that. That’s what the Bible says. He wasn’t some super spiritual person in a super spiritual stratosphere that he could pray like that. He was a man that had “human frailties.” He was just like us. But he prayed. He’s just a normal person, but he’s to be an inspiration to us. If Elisha could pray like that, we can too! One translation said that “he prayed to pray.” It’s an example of earnest prayer. If ever we needed earnest praying, we need it now. We have to avail ourselves to God so the things He’s planning for us and our country and our families, they shall come to pass. We know prayer changes nations, people, the course of nature.

One translation said about Elisha, he didn’t just say what he said because he thought it sounded good. 1st Kings 17:1, Elisha … said to Ahab, as the Lord the God of Israel lives before whom I stand there shall not be dew or rain these years but according to my word.” How did he do that? How did he get so bold to say it? It wasn’t the king of prayer like, “I kind of think… maybe…” That’s not it! Have you ever prayed for somebody and all of a sudden, the Holy Spirit shows you something and you go, “I think, I sort of…” We have to be bold! We have to be strong! We have to be definite!

The way he prayed was, “I tell you what. This is the way it’s going to be.” He didn’t fiddle around. He said absolutely. Period! He was firm about it. I believe that reveals the reason for his confidence or power in this phrase, “The Lord God of Israel before whom I stand.” That’s the deal right there. In the Amplified, it says, “As the Lord, the God of Israel lives before whom I stand…” That’s what he said first before he declared “no rain.” So he stood on the power of God and the presence of God. If we ever get away from the presence, we’re in trouble. Every time we gather together, it’s critical to welcome that presence and to yield to it. Definitely in prayer. If we are to pray effectively the way He’d have us pray, it’s in His presence. That’s what Elisha had. He stood with God and then he declared.

Erika shared…

Many of you have read the book “Rees Howells, Intercessor.” If you haven’t, I encourage you to do so. I want to read a couple portions about Rees from Bill Johnson’s book, “Defining Moments.” This is about his prayer life.

Corporate Encounter and Visitation:
Fire Fell on Sacrifice (1936–1937)

On March 29, 1936, Howells was stirred to call for intercessors who will lay their lives on the altar to fight the devil, as really as they would have to fight the enemy on the western front. He saw that “prayer had failed in the conflict with Germany and that “only intercession” would take them through. Many of the students and staff went forward and surrendered their lives for the cause that day. The very next day, March 30, the following was recorded in the diary of the college meetings.

Fire fell on sacrifice. Holy Ghost descended on evening meeting. We went on knees and someone started the chorus, “welcome, welcome, welcome. Holy Ghost, we welcome thee.” Liberty and power so great we continued singing this one chorus for a full hour.

Into the following year, there was an ‘increasing consciousness of God’s presence.” In early 1937, these stirrings became visibly manifest when one of the staff members broke down “confessing her sense of need and crying to the Holy Spirit to meet her.” After she did this, He came and there was a visitation for three weeks. A heavy, weighty glory of His presence fell and lingered on the whole campus. Dr. Kingsley C. Priddy, who was the headmaster of the school at the time, recalled,

He did not come like a rushing mighty wind. But gradually the person of the Holy Ghost filled all our thoughts, His presence filled the place, and His light seemed to penetrate all the hidden recesses of our hearts. He was speaking through the Director in every meeting, but it was in the quiet of our own rooms that He revealed Himself to many of us.

We felt the Holy Spirit had been a real Person to us before; as far as we knew we had received Him; and some of us had known much of His operations in and through our lives. But now the revelation of His person was so tremendous that all our previous experiences seemed as nothing. There was no visible apparition, but He made Himself so real to our spiritual eyes that it was a “face to face” experience. And when we saw Him, we knew we had never really seen Him before…

…we were people who had left all to follow the Savior, and had forsaken all we had of this world’s goods to enter a life of faith, and as far as we knew, we had surrendered our lives entirely to the One who died for us. But He showed us, “There is all the difference in the world between your surrendered life in My hands, and Me living My life in your body.” …

One by one, he met us; one by one we broke in tears and contrition before Him… One by one, our wills were broken…

But far greater than anything His visitation could mean to us personally was what it was going to mean to the world…

There was no excitement or enthusiasm of the flesh in those days. When His power had come upon us after March 29, we had been carried away and were singing and shouting our praises. But in these days we were so awed by the holy majesty of His person that we hardly dared raise our voices in the meetings.

Even the grounds outside seemed filled with His presence. Walking around together we would suddenly become conscious we were speaking in whispers. The late hours came, but no one thought of bed, for God was there… 2 and 3 a.m. often seemed just like midday as we communed together, prayed with some who were “coming through,” or waited before God in the quietness of our hearts.

His visitation lasted for some three weeks in this special sense although, praise God, He came to “abide,” and has continued with us ever since. But no one has a monopoly of the Holy Ghost. He is God, and whatever our experience of Him, He is far greater than all we can know of Him. Whatever we know of His gifts, His manifestations and His anointings, He is greater than all those. …

Few people illustrated the prayer life of spiritual warfare more clearly than did Rees Howells. There is reason to believe that he and his team had a huge impact on the course of world history in his day—specifically, on World War II. Hitler’s strategies were revealed to Rees and his group of intercessors ahead of time. They would pray, and Hitler’s armies would be defeated. His stories read much like those of the prophets of the Old Testament who would hear from God about the plans of an enemy king. They would inform the king of Israel, and the evil plans of their enemy would fail.

This remarkable gift to shape the course of world history is available for every believer. To put it simply, it is the ability to hear from God and to pray… without ceasing. Very rarely in modern history can we trace the effect of prayer on an international even more clearly then we can with Rees Howells, partly because of the records he and his team kept concerning their prayer assignments.

In the church today, the emphasis is on what Jesus has already accomplished for us through His death and resurrection. That really is the heart of the Gospel, and I’m thankful for this emphasis. I, too, am frequently grieved over the prayers of many people who seem to be trying to fight for what they already possess in Christ. Yet this emphasis sometimes seems to be made apart from the focus of Scripture, which clearly teaches that we are still engaged in a spiritual battle with the enemy. …

We need wisdom to navigate these apparently conflicting ideas because, although Christ won the victory over the devil two thousand years ago at Calvary, and at the empty tomb, we must still battle the enemy, applying Christ’s victory to our lives and circumstances and to the lives and circumstances of others. Both the Holy Spirit and Jesus continuously intercede for us before the Father. If intercession were no longer needed because of Christ’s victory, then the Spirit and Jesus would no longer pray on our behalf in that way. But they model the ministry of prayer perfectly. Jesus triumphed over all the powers of darkness, once and for all. His victory is forever, and it will never be lessened or diminished, regardless of how we live. He is the absolute Triumphant One over all.

Christ’s victory for us makes victory possible in and through us. Yet the church’s conflict with the enemy will exist until the final day when all the powers of darkness are once and for all sentenced to hell. …

Much spiritual warfare is necessary on our part in order to rescue people, cities, and nations from the influence of the rulers of darkness. … The answer to the challenge of conducting spiritual warfare through prayer is not so much theological in the sense of having the right concept or doctrine to work with. Rather, our prayers must be Presence-centered. To learn to pray God’s way requires an increasing ability to recognize the presence of God, and the heart of God in a matter. That is what Rees Howells did so well. …

Few have modeled the consecrated life as well as this hero of the faith who was possessed by God. His description of the moment of his absolute surrender is one of the most glorious and frightening accounts recorded in church history. I remember the sobering effect it had on me as a young man, and yet I couldn’t get enough of it. I remember the sobering effect if had on me as a young man, and yet I couldn’t get enough of it. It wasn’t a fear of God that drove me from Him. Not hardly. It was a paradoxical fear that endeared me to Him. Joyful fear is one of the greatest mysteries of life, understood only by those who live in it.

A consecration experience such as Howells had cannot be sold to someone as though they were buying a car. Nor is it something one can buy into or use one’s self will to enter into and sustain. It is possible only to a person who has had a defining moment. It is the product of the Presence who has fallen upon a person. I don’t think it is possible for someone to reasonably come to a place of consecrated surrender through a theological posture alone. There must be an “I was overcome in His presence” type of experience that becomes known as the “face to face” moment, as happened with Rees Howells. …

Rees Howells consecration was the result of his encounter with Jesus, who told him things beyond his imagination. His experience seems so similar to the experience of Saul, who became the apostle Paul and heard “inexpressible words” in God’s presence. Paul’s greatness in consecration to Christ, his accomplishments for the honor of His name and his sufferings for the cause of the gospel were the fruit of his defining moment. They were clearly the outcome of Paul’s encounter with Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus.

After reading a book about someone’s lifestyle of devotion to Christ, it is unintentional cruelty to preach it as an example to others as though they could have that lifestyle without first experiencing a defining moment. All that accomplishes is frustrating people, and piling on more guilt and shame about what they have not attained spiritually. Instead, we should be preaching about the encounter. Our message should be about seeking God’s face, about being willing to pay any price for the “more” that God has promised to all who seek Him. Then, His presence must become more and more manifest in our corporate gatherings. The work of the gospel is so much easier when the King of Glory is manifested.

Erika continued…

I thought that articulated very clearly the intertwining of the presence of God and our prayer and the prayer assignments that we’re called to—individually and collectively as a church here and as the body of Christ. We’re going to pray about this in the body of Christ, the face to face experience with Him. So that whatever comes out of Him, is a leading from Him. It’s inspired by Him and flows from us with Him to whatever situation we need.

Mary led group singing in the spirit…

Prayed…

Showing forth… higher, higher, higher… a deliberate move into that… all the way in… with great purpose… positioned… all the way… constant, constant… pass it over… over there… that’s the way… that’s the combination… all the parts… into, into… it’s so amazing…

Step in, step in… a greater cooperation… more and more and more… it’s gaining ground… gaining altitude… restoring it… be restored… clear it out…

So we watch and wait and expect… all of it… every detail… these are parts that have been called together… hearts that are to be so joined to never be separated again… great cooperation…

Group entered into worship…

♪ We see Your glory… we see Your glory coming down… ♪

Pastor Ray shared…

It keeps coming up inside me concerning the past. Not the bad things. But the great things. I was reminded that we’re blessed by the good things but we can’t go back to those times. The Spirit reminded me that every good thing that’s taken place in the church in us individually in this local church, they were all stepping stones for the days that we’re living in right now. If we were enabled to go back to yesteryear, we’d go back and start over again. But we’ve been called to contend for the day and the hour that we’re living in now! Now is the time. These are the days that God has called us unto. And those things that have taken place years past, blessed things, holy things, the things we’ve heard about today. Blessed. Holy. But they are preparation plans… they made a pathway for us in these days. Not to go back, but to go ahead… to continually contend and declare by faith under the power of the Holy Spirit not what we think but the way it will be. There are new things and new days and new changes on the horizon. We welcome Your changes, Lord. Do it! We say today, have free reign to do what You need to do. Change us. Rearrange us. Whatever is needed and necessary to keep us moving in the right way.

Erika shared/prayed…

So there is about to be a change in the operational system in the church. There’s a platform change. Changed by Your presence… by Your glory… a new shape of things to come… a new shape and a new definition by the Spirit of the living God… defined by His Word and Spirit and His presence… we receive that to ourselves today. That change to the body… the body parts… the body members… to the very operational systems in the body, the church, which is Your body… it’s higher, it’s broader, it’s greater, it’s further… from a position above, operating from that position and place… it’s a change for the last leg of the race… there’s a clearing now… there is clarity there… thank You for that, Father… we clearly hear, see, perceive and walk out in that clarity… functioning as You’ve ordained us to function… operating as sons… more and more conformed… I know there will be tweaks along the way… here and there… it’s an update so to speak… thank You, Father…

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