Mary led group in worship…
♪ Let Your will be done in me… let the fire of Your Spirit burn in my soul… let Your will be done in me… ♪
Pastor Ray shared…
I found this in an older book by Pastor Lynne about the presence of God. There are two things I found in her book. One is a prophecy she gave in 1996. Before it was put into the book, she quoted a portion of a prophecy by brother Hagin from 1973.
“For the unseen realm shall become as real to you as the seen realm. You shall live, operate, and minister in that realm and bring the blessings of heaven into the lives of people.”
This week I was talking to my son, Brian. We were talking about someone who was an awesome man of God. He and his wife had gone here for years. Then at one point, they just disappeared. We were talking about the man specifically, saying, “I wonder what happened. Such an awesome man. True man of God who served for years here.” We just talked about it and that was it. The next day I went to Byerlys and guess who I met? The awesome man of God! I come around the corner with my cart and about ran into him. That reminded me of this: we’re to operate and minister by the spirit and bring help and the blessings of God to the people we come in contact with. I had the opportunity to minister the love of God. I didn’t pin him up against the wall and question him. “How come you left Living Word?” No. I just spoke to him with the love of God, thanked him for all the things that he had done while here. That kind of thing.
But the Holy Spirit will line you up like that. Brian and I didn’t pray together, “Lord, could You arrange it so he and I would meet at Byerlys tomorrow?” No, we just brought it up and the Holy Spirit is listening. Hmmm. He said his wife was gone for a month or so visiting family so he was on his own, shopping for himself.
The prophecy that Pastor Lynne had says, “Surely you are on an ascending scale. You are on a path, on a supernatural path, on a supernatural highway and you are moving into God. You are going higher and higher and higher, and there is preparation in every step, in every height that is gained. In the spirit, there is always the answer.
In the spirit is where you are always successful. In the spirit is where you must dwell. You will be amazed at what will come out of your mouth and what you will tell. For more and more of you will go in the spirit; like a river you will flow. And the new I am beginning to show. Revealings, revelations, unveilings are now before you. For you are ready. You are ready. And some would say, “How can that be? I don’t feel so ready.” But the Lord would say, “It is your heart of hunger and your desperation for Me that makes you ready.”
I love that. It’s not that we have to feel so ready. We just keep our hearts in the right place, keep hungry for more of Him. Actually, be desperate for more of Him. And He makes us ready.
One other thing. In this same minibook, she gave a couple different testimonies. She talked about how there was a group of people praying in our prayer room and a young boy started singing in French over a lady that had requested prayer. Lynne shared how the lady’s needs were met.
I’m going, “Wait a minute. I was there!”
Sandy and I had been were asked by this lady to pray for particular needs she had. We met in the prayer room. This is 1996 and my son, Brian, was a teen at the time. (He was the young boy in the book.) I invited him to come into the prayer room with us when we prayed for her. We used to record prayer sessions with cassette recorders. If we wanted to go back to hear what was prayed, we could listen to the recording.
I asked Brian to go over and lay hands on this lady and sing in other tongues. He did. He laid hands on her and started singing in other tongues. Sandy and I both agreed that his singing sounded like a language, not simply tongues. But a specific language. It sounded French. It was as sweet as sweet could be. It could melt you, just the sound of it. The woman said the Lord by the Spirit took her back through her life and showed her where He was there to meet her need, to bring the change whatever it was that she needed. We took the recorder and give it to a French teacher at Maranatha and she transcribed it. It was exactly what she thought the Holy Spirit was saying. It went right down through. “I did this… I did that…” It was in French which Brian didn’t know.
I’m just saying how the Holy Spirit will do things that are unexpected. But it only happens when you’re in the spirit, letting Him do what He wants to do. What happened with her is that it brought what she needed right then, but the Spirit decided to give him a way to sing in French and then by His Spirit, He moved into her heart and brought the change. Whoa!
When I read that, I forgot all about that. Sometimes we forget about things that He’s done. I like to remember as many as I can because it gives me expectation and He’ll do it again. But it might be different.
We’re changing from one degree of glory to another. As this prophecy said, we’re moving up. But every step along the way is preparation. We can’t just, BOOM, I’m on the next step and then take another in a few minutes. There are things we’re to do on each step before we go to the next one. Right?
Erika shared…
We’re talking about the presence of God. Spurgeon said, “The fire shall ever be burning upon the altar; it shall never go out” (Lev. 6:13).
Keep the altar of private prayer burning. This is the very life of all piety. Burn here the fat of your sacrifices. Let your private devotions be, if possible, regular, frequent, and undisturbed. Effectual prayer availeth much. Have you nothing to pray for? Let us suggest the Church, the ministry, your neighbors, your country, and the cause of God and truth throughout the world. Let us examine ourselves on this important matter. Do we engage in private devotion with lukewarmness? Is the fire of devotion burning dimly in our hearts? If so, be alarmed at this sign of decay. Let us ask for the Spirit of grace and of supplication. Let us set apart special periods of extraordinary prayer. For if this fire should be smothered beneath the ashes of a worldly conformity, it will dim the fire on the family altar and lesson our influence both in the Church and in the world. The text will also apply to the altar of the heart. This is a golden altar indeed. God loves to see the hearts of His people glowing toward Himself. Let us give God our hearts, blazing with love and seeking His grace, that the fire may never be quenched. It will not burn if the Lord does not keep it burning. Many adversaries will attempt to extinguish it. Let us use Scriptures as fuel for our heart’s fire; they are live coals. Let us attend sermons, but above all let us be much alone with Jesus.
Isn’t that the bottom line for a pray-er?
Then during some of the other prayer times here recently talking about the fire of God and what that looks like and means. One of the scriptures that I came across in my devotional time is in Ezekiel 22:30, “So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one.”
In my study Bible, the “Word of Wealth” gives the Hebrew word which is “Pehrets.” The word gap means “a break, gap, or breach; especially a gap in a wall. It comes from the verb “parats,” “To break forth, break open, or break down.” It occurs 25 times. Two verses show that gaps or breaches need to be repaired; the former verse refers to the physical and spiritual ruins of Zion and the latter to the tabernacle of David. In the present reference, standing in the gap is a metaphor for committed intercession. There is a gap between God and man that an intercessor tries to repair.
God’s Quest, Intercession.
The heart of God is searching for those who will answer the need for someone to “stand in the gap.” The picture is clear: without someone in place, invasion of the darkness occurs, and eventual destruction of people takes place. Answer the Holy Spirit’s call. Don’t allow the price that needs to be paid make intercession a passive issue. It will cost time, energy, sleep, purity of motive, and greater faith than most other things we do. Immediate results are seldom seen; sometimes we may wait for many years to witness God’s answer, or it may occur beyond our own lifetime. Let us be the opposite of the neglect referenced in Isaiah. God has made it clear from Genesis to Revelation that prayer is the match that lights the fuse to release the explosive power of the Holy Spirit in the affairs of men. Let us give it priority time.
Prayed…
Father, that is our desire… we’re so privileged to be co-laborers with You… You said to come boldly before Your throne to obtain mercy and grace and help in time of need… we see the need of this nation and the world… we join our shields of faith and come by the blood and we ask for mercy and grace and help for this nation… we refuse to let this nation fall… we say “yes” to the call to stand in the gap for people who are hungry and desperate… You’ve given the Church a place to enter into the spirit to make a difference… Father, we stand before You and plead the blood of Jesus over our President, over his family, staff, advisers, cabinet members… we declare in Jesus’ name, no weapon formed against them shall prosper… no lies, no deception, no deceiving spirits, no catastrophes, no calamities, no plot, no conspiracy of the enemy shall prosper… we pray that You would cause their eyes to see and ears to hear, understanding and light to flood their hearts… let them know Your hope and call… the power of God that is available… Lord, of the harvest, thrust forth laborers into their paths to minister words of eternal life and love and help and hope… strengthen them by Your Spirit… in their inner man to continue to resist evil… let them turn from evil ways… let them cling to You and Your Word cling to them… let President Trump hearken back to his spiritual heritage, O God… let him recall by the spirit the seeds of God that were sown into his heart through his mother and family… we loose ministering spirits to go and help and assist and work on our behalf… on behalf of this nation… by Your Spirit, we get out way ahead of what is going to transpire… You are raising up a mighty army… that will stand in the gap and take her place… we thank You that we are shining lights, burning bright for all to see so that You would be seen and glorified… You’ve given us everything we need in this life to be more than conquerors… we put our hands to the plow and not look back at those things but move forward by Your mercy… to continue to advance and walk more and more in the spirit… You’re causing us to be bold… through signs and wonders and miracles… divinely spoken words that build up and taken down and rearrange… standing in that place… there is a shaking coming this way… shaking up things that would hinder and limit… so that we could run unhindered… reveal and unveil… disclose… for the glory of God… each day progress made along the way…
That will end but the other will start… it’ll continually move… it’ll move by the Spirit… it’ll manifest and change and go forth… the Church will be lifted up… it’s a mandate from heaven… a command… more and more and more…
Call the fire down… fire in the hands…
Pastor Ray shared…
I heard something in my spirit so I want to do this. Mary when you started to speak in other tongues, I heard you say real clear: “Sometimes it’s better to sing than just have a conversation.” In other words, better to sing and not just say. Mary, start singing in other tongues. The other thing I heard was, “we allow the Holy Spirit in our singing, just like He did 20 years ago with Brian, took a tongue and moved on the person that the song was being sung to.” I want us to sing in other tongues over the President.
Mary led group singing in the spirit…
