| The Call To Prayer |
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| Written by Judith Gardner | |
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I was awakened in the early morning hours by the Holy Spirit and felt Him calling me to read from the book of Ezekiel. As I opened my bible and began to read, I found myself meditating on the scriptures found in Ezekiel 22:30-31, “I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none. So I will pour out my wrath on them and consume them with my fiery anger, bringing down on their own heads all they have done, declares the Sovereign Lord.” I found this sobering. God was saying because He could find no one to intercede and pray, He destroyed the land. How many disasters could have been averted if we, the body of Christ, had been willing to pray? As I sat meditating on this verse, I prayed, “I will stand in the gap Lord, I will hold your people in my heart.” I was impressed that our weekly prayer gathering was to shift into the place where we prayed strategically for our region and the nations. We were instructed to pray during the week, seeking the Lord’s heart for our region, and come prepared to share with the rest of the group as we gathered corporately for prayer. We were told to get out our journals and start recording what the Lord was speaking to us in our private prayer time. It’s been wonderful to see how our Lord has given us confirmation of His direction for our team. One person would receive a word, another an impression, and another a vision. As the Holy Spirit moves on each one of us, we pray as a unified team. Each person receives something vital to contribute. This is how the Lord would like us as a body to pray together in unity.
Entering Into The Battle Before you enter into strategic prayer and intercession it’s important to ensure that those participating on the prayer team have an understanding of the provision we have received from the Lord for exercising authority over His enemies. Only when we understand our authority as believers, will we be ready to come against the demonic strongholds that hold our cities captive. The Bible teaches us in Ephesians 6 that Satan’s kingdom is a hierarchy of evil spirits, principalities and powers in the heavenly realm; and these spirits seek to control people, cities and nations. Christians have been given authority based on Jesus’ victory on the cross to take dominion over the activities of these evil beings. Matthew 18:18-19, “I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven.” The Lord impressed us to enter into worship and wait in His presence until he showed us what was on His heart. We worship, wait and let Him lead us to what He wants to do. This is the body of Christ operating as the Lord intended it to be. With the Lord at the head, we are His workmanship, and He is pleased. The Lord gave a powerful promise to Abraham and his seed in the book of Genesis 22:27, ”That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the sand upon the seashore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.” In the context of this verse the word “gate” is the word shahar, which means an opening, a door, a port, a gate. Every place where the kingdom of darkness has opened a door we have been given authority to shut it. The body of Christ is called to establish the Lord’s kingdom, bringing His light into every dark place. We are the Lord’s agents on the earth, and have been commissioned to take back any territory held in the grasp of Satan and his ungodly emissaries. We are called to enforce the will of the Lord in the earth. Jesus gave us a command to exercise our authority in His name and set people free from sin and death. Luke 10:19, “Behold, I give you authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.” The word of God, in John 10:27, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them and they follow me.” If you will be faithful to wait on the Lord, listening for His direction, He will lead you and guide you in what He is calling you to do. He is willing and able to communicate His desires to you. He will lead you into His battle with His strategy for victory.
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