Morning Prayer Summary for Thursday, December 06, 2018

Mary led group in worship…

Pastor Ray shared…

I want us to go over a confession. A few weeks ago I had an opportunity to drive my daughter-in-law and grandkids to the airport and back. I sort of forgotten the confession they make every time they all get in the car. I was so blessed to hear them. They’re not little anymore. They are in their teens now. This is what they say every time they get in the car and are on their way to school. I want you to repeat it with me.

Jesus is with me… therefore, I’m a successful person… I have the mind of Christ… my body is healed… my body is whole… by the stripes of Jesus… and I’m never sick… I will never be broke another day in my life…

I like that because being broke isn’t just about money. Never be broken away from the plan of God. Never be moved away from that plan. I remember them as little children saying, “I’ll never be broke another day in my life.” And he’s five! He’s never been broke. They continue on with a prayer.

Dear Heavenly Father, I plead the blood of Jesus… I plead it over my vehicles… plead it over my family… plead it over my home… front to back… side to side… top to bottom… we sling the blood of Jesus all around us… everywhere we go… we draw a line of the blood around our property… anything in it, on it, and of it that should be is protected by the blood of Jesus… we send the angels out now to build a hedge of protection around us… it keeps us safe from any harm… we receive an abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness that You’ve given to us freely… we thank You for your unmerited favor that goes before us… and behind us… in every situation providing the opportunity for the empowerment of the blessing…

By the time you get through that, you’re sailing! You’re moving down the highway, covered in the blood, home is protected, bodies are protected, healthy, whole, prosperous. You cannot lose because it’s based on the Word of God.

We have the Word to stand on. The Word is true. We have the Holy Spirit but there is more. We just have to get to the point where we know we have not received all of it. There is more. If there wasn’t more, it wouldn’t be within us, inside of us to call for more. That’s one of the plans that He has for us to gather like this in once accord, lifting up our voices in accordance with the Word and connect with heaven, and pray out the things He would have us to pray. Today. To pray. To contend. To move the Devil away. To clear out the way for heaven’s plans, for souls to come in.

Erika shared…

Just reflecting on the song we sang at the beginning—Your Glory, Lord, is what our hearts long for. Do we understand what that means? That means God is glorified in every aspect of our lives. We’re not thinking about our own lives for our own sake. We are consumed with the Lord being glorified. Every single area of our lives.

My heart is so big right now for the Church and the glory of God in the Church. There is more transformation that needs to happen. God, right here! Start right here. I need You more today than I did yesterday.

I’m still reading, “For God’s Sake, Grow Up” by David Ravenhill. I like what he said about intercessory prayer. He quotes Richard Foster. “If we truly love people, we will desire for them far more than it is within our power to give them. And this will lead us to prayer. Intercession is a way of loving others.”

Isn’t that good? Sometimes we forget about that. Sometimes the Devil comes to people and says, “All you’re doing is praying. You don’t do anything. All you do is pray.” Prayer is loving people because we’re powerless to so much. But He’s given us a way.

“In the ongoing work of the kingdom, nothing is more important than intercessory prayer. People today desperately need the help that we can give them. Marriages are shattered. Children are being destroyed. Individuals are living lives of quiet desperation without purpose of future and we can make a difference if we will learn to pray on their behalf. As priest appointed and anointed by God, we have the honor of going before the Most High on behalf of others. This is not optional. It is a sacred obligation and a precious privilege of all who take upon the yoke of Christ. Likewise, Jesus our high priest ever lives to make intercession for us. Our prayers are undergirded and reinforced by the prayers of our eternal intercessor. Paul exhorts Timothy that intercessions be made for all men. Not only for our sake that we may lead a quiet and peaceful life, but also because God desires that all men be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. One wonders what the condition of the world would be like today if the church had faithfully maintained those principles. Nations can be born in a day, but only as Zion travails is she able to bring forth. You and I have been challenged to ask God for the nations as our inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth as our possessions. But it is through prayer and praise that we bind kings and nobles with fetters of iron and execute vengeance upon the nations. Prayer makes the most unlikely thing a possibility and the unexpected glorious surprise. Intercession knows no boundaries, no limitations are placed in its path. No wonder then that the enemy labors to blind our understanding concerning prayer. Prayer originates with God. It is the activity of His nature to lay hold of the implications of the cross and administer them. We have been called to sit with Christ in heavenly places far above all rule and authority. To us has been given the key of unlocking the power of God. By His cross, Christ arrested and abolished our impotence and paralysis and by a new and living way created an eternal highway into the omnipresence and the dominion of God. Here in the spheres that the cross has now thrown open to all who will come to it. Here we surmount the problems of distance, space, ignorance, opposition, frustration, and perplexity and any other obstacle one cares to name. All are conquered by Christ through His cross and union with Him, the impossible is our range as well as His. Where He goes, we can go. What He does, we can do. Moreover all God’s promises have to be mediated in Christ through us. Not through angels, but through us, the redeemed. What a Gospel! What a life! What a calling! The Christian life has nothing to do with the possible, but the impossible. It is another sphere, another order, another law. For the one who prays the cross has not only opened up free access to God but has also inspired contact with man. Through Christ there is a blood-stained track for us to the heart of men everywhere. If we act on these truths in faith, we can traverse continents, invade nations, and make history by manifesting the program of God. That is the business of faith. And it functions through prayer. If not, the disciples could have never prayed “thy kingdom come, thy will be done.”

During the reign of Saul, the Philistines cunningly destroyed all the blacksmiths of Israel. Why? Because a weaponless army is a powerless army. Without being aware of it, Israel was gradually becoming defenseless. For the blacksmiths were responsible for forging the weapons of war. It was their task to supply the nation with swords, spears, and shields. When the day of battle eventually came, a powerless Israel was defeated. The enemy’s strategy remains the same today. He knows that the prayer meeting is the blacksmith’s shop of the Church. Aware of the fact that by prayer the sword of the Spirit can be wielded and battles won. The enemy ever works to destroy prayer both individually and corporately from the Church. Normally, the process begins long before the day of battle. Most of us caught by surprise are defenseless at the time of our greatest need. Spiritual warfare is always associated with prayer. One of the major needs of the church today is effective warriors of war. Those prepared to tackle the spiritual forces arrayed against the advancement of the Gospel. Jesus stated that unless we first bind the strongman, we can’t spoil his goods. By strongmen we mean the spiritual leader in charge of resisting the cause of God. Whether it’s an individual, a group, a city, or nation, this becomes more evident as we trace it through the scriptures. When Jesus addressed the spirit within the Gadara demoniac by asking his name, the response came, “My name, singular, is Legion. For we, plural, are many.” Here we are told of a strongman with numerous other spirits of lesser rank under him. Understanding the principle of first binding the strongman, Jesus commanded the Legion to go and soon they all left.

He goes on to talk about how we need to recognize that and not engage in battles where we are drawn off by things that seem to be more important but that we don’t get to the very root cause of what we’re going after. I think, for me, this is a very good reminder of keeping your focus, just even as David and Goliath, David didn’t say, “I’m going to hit his shield bearer. He didn’t go out and say, I’m going to get him.” He went out after Goliath who is representative of the opposing force that would be against the church.

We need to be more conscious of that. I believe that demonic powers are real. We don’t talk about it a lot and we don’t want to give more attention to them than we should. But we need to be keenly aware that we fight not against flesh and blood but against principalities, powers, and rulers of darkness. And we need to address those issues because it is evident and manifest that we’re contending with a lot of things. And we have the power and authority, the tools and weapons to deal with them.

He goes on to say, “I believe the key to everything lay in destroying Goliath and binding the strongman. David saw Goliath merely as an uncircumcised Philistine.” And I think something needs to rise up in the church again that says “Who is that uncircumcised Philistine who would defy the armies of God.” Something on the inside, a righteous holy indignation that rises up and says it ought not to be in the church. It’s the mercy of God that He gave us everything we have in Him, to use for His glory, to take authority over devils and demons and things that would harass and limit the propagation of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

It is important that we see ourselves for who we really are. Linked to the Almighty. Part of God’s army. Too many Christians see themselves as weak, helpless, struggling children of God. But the Word exhorts us to be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. It’s not what we are but what we can become through Christ who strengthens us. That is what we are to focus upon, not our own weakness.

He goes on to tell the story about how David went in and Saul said to use his armor and David was like, “That’s not going to work.” We have to use what He’s given us.

I’ll finish with this.

The prayer warrior has the most significant job in the universe. He can marshal the host of God wherever they are needed. He can penetrate the secret sessions of Satan’s schemers, confound their plans, and claim the death sentence of the cross upon all godless governments. If you have never started to move behind the Iron Curtains of government and satanic conspiracy, do it. If you have never embraced hemispheres and nations in prayer, do it. If you have never invaded the heart of the enemy’s camp, do it. Say, “Lord, I want to be a faithful priest. Standing between God and man, interceding and offering up spiritual sacrifices.”

Prayed…

I want to be a worker with You in Your universe. Help us to grasp the eternal and embrace the exploits of Your kingdom. Help us, Father… that we would grasp it… take hold, Father… that Your presence and power and glory would be evident and manifest in and through Your hands and Your feet… that You by Your mercy and grace would continue to sustain us and strengthen us… continue to lift us and change us from one degree of glory to another to be more effective and effectual… not only in the work of prayer but in our everyday lives… carriers of You with distinguishing marks all abounding in the Church … Father, that’s Your desire… to be glorified through Your sons and Your daughters… we trust You for it…the deep in us calls for more… we put ourselves into Your all-sufficient hands… teach us, lead us, guide us, mold us, transform us, Father… for Your glory… for there is a world that needs You desperately… we must so love that we give… thank You for transformation…

Mary led group in worship…

Pastor Ray and Erika laid hands on the DIs…

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