Pastor Ken…
Good morning, everyone. Happy Wednesday! Good to see y’all.
We’re in the end of days. I don’t know how many years we have remaining. I can’t say that, but I do know we’re in a particular time and season that Jesus Himself highlighted. And we should be aware of that and looking for His appearing.
We must be a people who trim their lamps…
And I would say in addition to that, be a people, as it says in the Gospel of Matthew, who are endeavoring to trim our lamps with the oil of the Holy Spirit. I like to translate that to the “oil of intimacy with our Heavenly Father.” If you read that there were certain virgins who had filled their oil to fullness and overflowing-ness, and certain virgins who didn’t have time for the oil of intimacy. For the oil that issues forth from His presence… From places of prayer and worship and devotion and quietness and stillness and reflection. And it seems to me that Jesus is saying, at the end of days, devote yourselves to trimming your lamps with the oil of intimacy, with His presence. Don’t be like the other virgins who spent the bulk of their time “doing work” for God.
Our first order of business…
I’m not saying there are things we shouldn’t do. There are. But at the end of the day, our first order of business, our high calling, is to know Him. If Jesus said that, then I think we should pay attention to that. Jesus Himself said this is eternal life that you might know Him. And so everything flows effortlessly and organically and beautifully according to God’s timetable, in fact, with great favor and power and resource flows effortlessly and organically from a place of intimacy, from a place of connection.
He wants to meet with us in this hour…
And even though we’re done with our 24 hours of prayer at the moment… We might do some additional things here coming up, and we’re going to continue morning prayer, 8:30 to 9:30 central standard time here each morning, Monday through Friday. We’ll keep doing that. But even though we’re not doing 24 hours of prayer, I think that the past 10 days hopefully has stirred up in us a hunger for God, an understanding that He wants to meet with us in this hour, an understanding and a reminder that there’s more of God to be had. And that as we go forward, we don’t have to stop.
Take time to be with Him…
In fact, I would just challenge you, encourage you to make altars in your life, so to speak. Make altars or places where you bow down. You take time to be with Him, whether it’s before bed or in the morning or in the middle of your day where you go for a walk. Maybe it’s next to your bed, where you just kneel and lift up holy hands. And just through the simplicity of devotion and worship and gratitude, expressing that to Him with really an aim to get to your heart, to express from your heart what’s going on in here to Him. At times, simply waiting and worshiping, making a joyful noise into Him, singing out in psalms and hymns and spiritual sayings. Just doing that even just for a few moments and then continuing to do that can be hugely powerful. Don’t discount small tweaks in your spiritual journey. They can lead to big peaks, as I often say. I just encourage you to keep going.
Breaking points are birthing points…
I wanted to read something to you that spoke to me. It goes like this: “Many times our breaking points are really birthing points. And yes, it can be messy and inconvenient and uncomfortable and not enjoyable on a certain day. But trust in the Lord in all things. Don’t let go of Him.” Or as I was saying, keep going after Him. “He will bring you through it, and you’ll be surprised at the goodness of God.”
Testimony of healing…
So I just encourage you this morning. You may have been stirred over these past 10 days. God may have done some remarkable and beautiful things in your life. In fact, somebody posted in our prayer movement Facebook group yesterday that… remember we prayed yesterday for hearts. We spoke out over physical hearts and people’s spiritual hearts. Well, somebody posted in there that they had symptoms. They felt like they had some blood clot issues in their bodies in some way. We spoke to clots too, actually, and the symptoms left when we prayed yesterday. And that’s just one. There are many things that God is doing. If God has done something in your life online or in this chapel, please feel free to post that in the Facebook group so we can celebrate with you and rejoice with you.
God is going to bring you to the next place…
So all that to say, God is good and He’s at work and He’s going to bring you from where you are to where He’s taking you next. As I’ve often said, God always has another move or another step beyond what you know. Don’t give up the fight. Don’t relent. Remember, we’re in a war of attrition, meaning the enemy wants to try to wear us down and wear us out and distract us and detour us from our appointed course, our race of faith. And this doesn’t sound maybe exceptionally spiritual or edifying, but stick with me for a moment.
Hell is determined to wage a war against the church…
I’m very fascinated by stories of people who’ve had life-after-death experiences. I’ve heard a number of them over the years, but I heard one recently. It corroborates with others I’ve heard too about people who actually had experiences where they went to hell. In fact, Kenneth Hagin had that experience, and wrote a book about it years ago. But I was listening to this woman share and I was just reminded of how real hell is and how organized and determined hell is to wage a war against the church and against human beings and against Israel. As I’ve often said, it’s because they were cast out. And you’re in. You’ve been adopted into the family of God. You are a resident and citizen of the kingdom of heaven. You’ve been clothed with righteousness and honor. You’ve been made a king and a priest. Can somebody say “amen”?
You’ve been granted the right to the use of the name of Jesus, given the keys of the kingdom by the Son of God, no less. And on and on… Blessed with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ and in Him. You’ve been given the privilege today to live and move and have your being not just as a natural biological entity, but as a supernatural being called in the order of Jesus, crowned with His glory, endowed with His Holy Spirit, with the rivers of heaven itself running through you. Jesus said, out of your belly would flow rivers of living water. And so that’s a beautiful and amazing thing to recall to our minds.
The spirit dimension is real…
But point being is I just was reminded about just how seething hateful the demonic realm is of you and I and the church. And I don’t say that to strike fear at all. But just to stir up your consciousness as to how real the spirit dimension is. The Bible clearly punctuates and states that this realm came from that realm, another realm. So that other realm is more real than this realm actually. This realm is temporal, or temporary; therefore subject to change. And eventually will pass away. That realm is eternal.
And so I just draw your attention to how real the spirit realm is and I think we’re seeing more of the spirit dimension coming in contact with the natural dimension in this hour. We’re seeing more supernatural evil on the rise, for example.
We still must occupy until He comes…
So I don’t know if this will impact you the same way, but for me just recalling that and just being reminded of how real that dimension is and our enemy is, that we are in a war. Yes, we have positionally won and stand on the side of victory, but we still have to occupy till He comes. We still have to stand. And after doing all that we know to do, continue to stand. In victory… in a place of grace and favor and forgiveness, and not give up the fight.
The Bible says to always be praying…
So what I was just kind of reminded of the spirit dimension and the forces of evil that are against the church and against us, against Israel, for me, it just motivates me. That’s why the Bible says to always be praying and not lose heart or give up. That’s why the Bible says grab hold of your shield of faith. Pull out the Word of God out of your sheath and start swinging it. Let your head be capped with a helmet of salvation. Your feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace.
Each and every day, we must as pray-ers, be determined and intent and purposeful to run a race of faith. Yes, we’ve already won. And yes, we’ve received our kingdom citizenship. And yes, we have all those things I just mentioned. But don’t lose sight of the fact that we must occupy. Don’t lose sight of the fact that your prayers are purposeful, powerful, and make a difference. Don’t lose sight of the fact the prayer pushes back the darkness of the enemy and keeps him at bay, not just for you, but for those around you and those in your journey of life and your church.
Prayer makes a way…
It keeps the forces of the enemy at bay. And it also carves out and constructs a way for you and yours and the church to advance. And Jesus thought so much of prayer that in the Gospel of Luke, He said “When I return, I will be looking for faith being actively and consistently released in and through prayer.” And so take up your position on the wall of the outpouring. Take up your position in prayer. Don’t lose sight of who you are, each and every day as a pray-er. Remind yourself who you are and in whom you serve. Remind yourself what you’ve been endowed with, graced with, literally clothed with. Remind yourself that the grace of God is dripping off of you. The favor in the goodness and the rivers of heaven sent to earth to and through you as a portal, as a child of God. That is there and available.
Don’t let off the gas…
As I’ve said for a year and a half now, God is pressing down on His supernatural accelerator of purpose. And while the enemy, in some ways, is doing the same thing because he sees his time is coming to an end… Now, he thinks he can win. In fact, right now in the hidden realms, the enemy is mobilizing and preparing to wage a war in the heavenly realms with God. And they think they can win! That’s how deceived they really are. Do you know that? So he’s playing for keeps. We should too. Amen. To stand and keep our place of intimacy and prayer and connection with our Heavenly Father.
Let that be stirred in you…
So I just encourage you in that. Let that be stirred in you. Be excited about the days that are ahead of you. Don’t let off the gas. Stay with God. Create little altars and places where you connect with Him, even just in moments of your day that are unscheduled. And let the rivers of living water flow to and through you and see what God won’t do. Truly, I prophesy you will see the goodness of God in your life, in your body, in your finances. If we grow not weary in well-doing, if we grow not weary and living by believing… Jesus said we live by believing and not by seeing, by faith and not by sight. So the first way we grow not weary is in believing and following Him. If we’ve grown not weary in well-doing, we shall reap.
The harvest has already been sent…
There’s a bit of a spiritual distance, right? Heaven moves at the speed of light. This realm moves at a far slower rate. So sometimes it takes a little time for the manifestation, the answer to the prayer, the harvest, the restoration, the restitution, the dream in your heart that God painted long ago. It takes a little time for it to show up. But make no mistake about it, a pray-er must be a person who sees with eyes of faith, a pray-er must be a person who peers into the spirit dimension with the help of the Holy Ghost and keeps a firm lock on what God has said, what He’s promised. And He said, “Surely it will be so for you.” Surely it will come to pass if you grow not weary in well-doing, in living by believing instead of by seeing, you will receive. You will see with your very own eyeballs what God cast vision in your heart for, what He promised in His Word about. Whether it’s something as basic as another hundred dollars a month to meet your needs, a spouse for your future, a child, healing for your body, that you would be perfectly whole head to toe physically, that’s in the provision of the New Covenant. Stand for that! Don’t let off the gas. Continue to celebrate.
High form of prayer…
One of the great and high forms of prayer is simply celebrating and worshiping and magnifying and giving God praise in advance of seeing it with your eyeballs. You don’t have to see it with your eyeballs. We can see it in the eye of our heart and through the lens of His Word and with the help of His Holy Spirit. And we can rejoice with joy unspeakable in advance of seeing the promise.
Kenneth Hagin word…
There’s this really great prophecy that kind of goes along a little bit with what I’m saying this morning. It’s from many years ago through brother Kenneth E. Hagin, who is one of my spiritual fathers, and somebody who impacted my life as a young person years ago. When I was in high school, my grandfather gave me my first Kenneth Hagin book. As I began to read it, even as a teenager, I just thought, “This makes sense. This resonates with me and makes sense.” And then months or a year or two later, I heard the Spirit of God say to me “Follow this man, build a foundation from his teachings.” So I did. I respect his truthfulness and longevity and faithfulness in life. And so I think this is a word we can take to heart and trust in.
He said, “I can hear the Spirit of God saying, hear and hear well. For you see, the responsibility is upon your shoulder. Responsibility is upon the followers of Christ to loose those around them from grave clothes to which they are bound. And they’ll never be loosed until you loose them. Enter into the ministry of prayer. ‘Oh, I wish I could do something for the Lord. I wish I was called to preach.’ But yes, says the Lord, the greatest ministry of all is the ministry of prayer. The greatest ministry of all is the ministry of intercession. And even all other ministries will fail unless the intercessors will take their place and will stand against the forces of darkness and the forces of evil, and will intercede and will help to bring forth [or you could say, bring into existence] to bring to birth, the move of the Spirit, the revival, the manifestation of God’s power, and bring to birth the ministries that God desires. Supernatural ministries to be in manifestation in the church. But it will take those ministries and oftentimes the ones who stand to minister, many will look upon him or her and think, ‘Oh, he’s a mighty man or woman of God. And he should get all the benefit.’ But you see, the reward will not go to him or her. He was not the one who gave birth to it.”
Intercession is birthing…
Remember I said earlier that breaking points are often birthing points, intercession points, you could say.
He (or she) is the result of the birth. The birth was caused by those who had travailed until that was brought forth, what God desired to bring forth. God brings churches, new churches. This church was birthed out of prayer. You know that, right? Many years ago, through probably numbers of people, but Phil and Fern Halverson first and foremost, we know, prayed about the Hammonds before they knew who Hammonds were, before this church came to be. So keep that in mind. When you’re praying, it may feel like you’re breaking, you may feel like you’re burdened with something, it may feel like you’re working and fighting hand in hand with the forces of the enemy. But truth be told, those points or moments where it feels like you’re breaking are moments where you’re actually birthing.
God is wanting more than ever to be prolific…
He wants the “prolific-ness” of His Spirit to come into play on a whole other higher order in this hour. Where things from heaven come into earth and come into existence in your life. You need answers? Take up the mantle of prayer. Schedule time and come to an altar and seek the Lord and He will answer and show us what we need to know. Whether it’s an adjustment with your time or your schedule, or how you do in life, or a new direction that you feel like God has for you, the Bible says He’s a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Not necessarily work for Him, but seek Him. That might be waiting on Him, praying in the Holy Ghost, worshiping Him. Just simple devotion to Him allows Him the opportunity to work for us, to birth and to bring to and through us what He wants in this hour.
Excerpt continued…
So he goes on to say, “So in this day, in this hour, there is a work of God that has not yet been accomplished. Oh, yes, He was in the move of healing revival (which was in the fifties). He was in the move and instigated and men and women prayed and brought about the revival that we call the charismatic move. (Late sixties, seventies.) In the denominational church, in the Catholic church. And what a mighty move it was. But you see, now you stand, says the Spirit of God, on the threshold at the very door of another move which is, you could say, already breaking forth of God. Will it be brought forth? Shall I bring it to birth and not bring it forth? O says the Lord of hosts, when Zion travailed (that’s us), she brought forth her children. You see, it is not just the Lord that will bring forth the move, for He moves through men and women. He uses His church to do His work in the earth. It is instigated by the Spirit. But you see, it is Zion that travails. So travail ye!
Another Kenneth E. Hagin word…
Let me read one more to you this morning. Again, Kenneth Hagin gave this a couple decades back. I think it’s apropos to the time we’re living in. He said this under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
“The time is coming and now is when men and women, blood washed, blood bought, will come to realize and know the fullness of the covenant that belongs to them. They will come to know the authority, the rights, and the privileges. There shall rise a company in these last days that many people will call super men and super women. Because they’ll operate in the realm of the supernatural in a way that has not been done up until now. Many have touched the edge, gotten in just to the edge of it occasionally, but the time is coming when men will walk in their covenant, walk in the supernatural.
