Worship song…
We thank You for the blood, we thank You for the blood of Jesus Christ, we thank You for the blood. There’s power in the blood, there’s power in the blood of Jesus Christ, there’s power in the blood. There’s healing in the blood… Deliverance is in the blood… So we thank You for Your blood…
Pastor Ray prayed…
Thank You so much for that blood, Lord. There is such strength and peace in that precious holy blood when we reverence it, when we think on it, when we yield to it, and when we apply it. We apply the blood of Jesus this morning by faith over our lives, the calls You put in place within each one of us, and the calls corporately that You’ve given ministries and churches. Thank You. We apply the blood of Jesus over our leaders, positions of authority in the body. We cover them with the blood today. Because of the blood, we can declare no weapon formed against them will prosper but what You plan what Your will is, it shall come to pass. We see the blood. We cover ourselves with the blood. We thank You so much for the power of that blood, for the cleansing power of Your precious blood. Thank You for it, Lord. You are leading us into all truth, revealing to us steps to take and steps not to take, for the changes and the rearranging because of that precious holy blood of Jesus.
Pastor Ray shared…
This morning when I got to work, I opened up my phone at my desk and it had a text from my grandson. He’s ten and it was just four little words: God is not dead. I was like, “What?” He hardly ever texts me. All the little kids are always texting… usually it’s games. But I was so “Whoa! Amen.” Thank you for that. God is not dead. He’s alive. The blood is not dead. It’s alive and it is actively working. In it we can hide. There’s protection in it.
I read this by E.M. Bounds, taken from his book, The Possibilities of Prayer. This quote from his book was in The Herald of His Coming.
Mighty is the power of prayer. Wonderful are its fruits. Remarkable things are brought to pass by men of prayer. Many are the wonders of prayer wrought by an Almighty hand. The evidences of prayer’s accomplishments almost stagger us. They challenge our faith. They encourage our expectations when we pray. The possibilities of prayer are immeasurably large. The necessity of prayer is urgent. God commits Himself into the hands of those who truly pray. Great are the wonders of prayer because great is the God who hears and answers prayer. Great are these wonders because great are the rich promises made by a great God to those who pray. The church more than ever needs profound convictions of the vast importance of prayer in carrying out the work committed to it. More praying must be done and better praying if the church shall be able to perform the difficult, delicate, and responsible task given to it by her Lord and Master. Defeat awaits a non-praying church. Success is sure to follow a church given to much prayer. The supernatural element in the church, without which it must fail, comes only through praying. More time in this busy, bustling age must be given to prayer by a God-called church. More thought must be given to prayer in this thoughtless age of superficial religion. More heart and soul must be in the praying that is done if the church would go forth in the strength of her Lord and perform the wonders which is her heritage by divine promise. “O Spirit of the Living God, in all Thy plentitude of grace, where’er the foot of man hath trod, descend on our apostate race. Give tongues of fire and hearts of love, to preach the reconciling Word, give power and unction from above, where’er the joyful sound is heard.” Prayer brings the Holy Spirit upon men today in answer to importunate, continued prayer just as it did before Pentecost. The wonders of prayer have not ceased. Every great movement of God can be traced to a kneeling figure. [end of quote]
Pastor Ray shared…
Romans 6:8–14 says, “Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9 Because we know that Christ (the Anointed One), being once raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has power over Him. 10 For by the death He died, He died to sin [ending His relation to it] once for all; and the life that He lives, He is living to God [in unbroken fellowship with Him]. 11 Even so consider yourselves also dead to sin and your relation to it broken, but alive to God [living in unbroken fellowship with Him] in Christ Jesus. 12 Let not sin therefore rule as king in your mortal (short-lived, perishable) bodies, to make you yield to its cravings and be subject to its lusts and evil passions. 13 Do not continue offering or yielding your bodily members [and faculties] to sin as instruments (tools) of wickedness. But offer and yield yourselves to God as though you have been raised from the dead to [perpetual] life, and your bodily members [and faculties] to God, presenting them as implements of righteousness. 14 For sin shall not [any longer] exert dominion over you, since now you are not under Law [as slaves], but under grace [as subjects of God’s favor and mercy].” (Amp.)
Sin shall not any longer exert dominion. Cannot rule us. Will not rule us. We’re not slaves to it. We’re not under the law as slaves but under grace as subjects of God’s favor and mercy.
Prayed…
Thank You for Your favor. That favor we declare is going right before each one of us. And we declare that favor. It’s creating opportunities today for Your blessings to operate and come forth in our lives individually and corporately as companies when we join ourselves in the places we’ve been called to. It’s not us, it’s You. It’s not our strength, it’s Yours. We don’t have to muster it up but we just yield ourselves to You. Your mercies are new every day. We receive by faith Your strength and a greater anointing to walk our race. We will continually walk in Your will and plan.
The Master’s plan
To continually contend and pray
Rolling off every care and anxiety and see ourselves free
Ready and able to do what You’re calling us to do
We’ll not get behind but will be up, over, and above
There’s room for more and increase
Clear, clear, we declare clarity
Calling it forth and to be revealed in the right way
Every lie we hold the blood against
We shall not be ruled by lies but we shall be ruled by the truth
We serve a great God
No! Those cares will not have their way
For the sake of the Gospel, we move, we contend, we go forth
We know You’re leading and guiding us
We’ll stay in the river, in the flow and continue to go
You can’t operate there or over there, for the Church is coming through
The Church is contending
Having dominion and increase there
Cheer up, little flock, it’s your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom
It’s the Father’s good pleasure to give you the keys of the kingdom
The Church is increasing in the influence of Christ
Great, great, great are the works of God and the body of Christ
Great in our generation
We are overcoming and walking in our destiny
The Church is triumphant and not weak
The Church is strong
The glory of the Lord has risen upon His body
The world will say, “We have never seen it like this”
We need to take our place in the body of Christ too
What a glorious Church
Returning to its first love
Pastor Paul shared…
I’m seeing the palm of the hand. This has been in my heart for quite a while. The palm on the hand has five fingers. The strength of the fingers come from the palm of the hands. The thumb being the finger that can touch all other fingers represents the apostle. The index finger that points in one direction or another is the prophet. He challenges the Church. The prophet is always pointing in the direction of light and God. The finger that reaches farther than any other finger is the evangelist. He reaches further than the rest of the church. He’s able to go out by the showcase of the Lord, with signs and wonders and he goes into a territory and displays the power of God, the kingdom of God. Next is the ring finger and it represents the pastor who is married to the church, so to speak. He takes care of the sheep. As the pastor comforts the sheep, the prophet challenges the sheep. So the last finger is the teacher. The teacher is closely associated with the pastor. Sometimes you have a pastor who walks in the function of both the teacher and pastor. That’s the five-fold ministry. But it’s the palm of the hand that gives the fingers the supply—that’s the body of Christ, the ministry of helps, prayer ministry, etc.. All the five fingers have to be united together, rooted in, and built up in prayer. In the past, the body of Christ has functioned sometimes one here, one there operating. But in these last days, the glory of the Lord is returning to the body of Christ so everyone will be working in unison, out of the palm, the hand of the Lord. And all the functions of the body of Christ, the five-fold ministry, are going to be working in unison. The apostle touching everyone, knowing where the supply is necessary, going as a missionary, blazing the trail and calling the rest of the units of the body to come and give their supply so the Church of God will be established in that territory. In these last days, the body of Christ will function superbly as a unit.
Continued praying…
We pray over the body of Christ, every part, every supply, all the fingers, every detail that everything would be healthy and restored. That’s part of the restoration for these days that the body would function in its right way.
