One of the most significant things being restored in God’s full grown sons and daughters is the “power to prevail in prayer.” In the church system at the end of the age, we have lost the ability to release on Earth that which is heaven though many try.
The present prayer movement at the end of the age is to “declare and decree.” You will decree a thing and it will be established for you and light will shine on your ways” (Job 22:28 NASB) This word is a truth, but taught alone without the experience of true intercession and prayer, they are just words.
In the 2nd day church system age, Donna and I were birthed into Christ at the time of the Word of Faith movement. The emphasis taught to us through the word of faith movement was that we could “name it and claim it." The principle behind the teaching is that God will perform His word when it is spoken by us and by us "forcing God to do it" because He said so in His word and now we say so!
We were to confess there is no rock fallen on our head when one hit us. We were not to make negative confessions by speaking a "rock is on our head" when it was. We were to say, "there is no rock on my head in Jesus name." If we said it long enough and just believed there would be no rock on our head, it would go away!
Sounds silly now, but we believed it and tried to do that with our lives. It didn't work then. Yet, there are real spiritual truths in the Word of Faith teaching." But using the word of God for our own self gratification was not the intent of the truth of God's word.
I don’t believe that the Father’s of the movement meant that to happen, but many others took that teaching to the extreme that it became the heart of the prosperity gospel we hear today. In the 80’s and 90’s you can just name what you wanted God to do it on the authority of the scripture and then you could expect it to happen cause you said so.
There is some truth in the principle of speaking the word of God and God performing His word. His word tell us that God “watches over His word” to perform it. (Jeremiah 1:1) This is a truth, but in reality God will do “only what He says when he says it” no matter what scriptures I speak and declare and decree.
If the Holy Spirit is not breathing on those words, if they are not a “word in season” spoken by God at the moment they won’t come to pass. No matter how you plead and no matter what authority “you feel you can take” in God’s name it will not happen.
“Henry never teach people to “take” authority, but when I give authority walk in it:
Beloveds, In the Word of God amongst the Jews there were the seven sons of Sceva who tried to walk in the “authority of God” using God’s word in their “own authority" and look what happens:
Acts:19:13 “Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, “In the name of the Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.” 14 Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. 15 One day the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?” 16 Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding.”
That is what happens to us spiritually when we “try to take authority” with God. The Lord told me specifically that I was “never to take authority” that it was “stealing in His eyes, but I was to “WALK IN THE AUTHORITY HE HAS GIVEN ME.’ He said, “Henry, I give authority to those who prove themselves faithful to know and walk in my ways. When you don’t walk in the authority I give you the devil takes it“
Beloved, Why don’t we see change? On National prayer day, we are standing at the White House, the Halls of Congress, State Houses, Churches and Cities “declaring and decreeing” things in our own power, our own authority, quoting the scriptures expecting God to do what we say. Yet, it will not work, and worse we are making things worse in our nation by our arrogance for doing so. What if God is telling us, “there is sin in the camp.”
Much of the prayer movement coming out of the 2nd day church system, “can’t see the sin in the house," they only see the sin in the lost and in politicians. It is like a spiritual blind spot to them. Yet, in the heart of those coming out of that 2nd day system 2 Chronicles 7:14 becomes a “heartbeat” of the Lord of what He really desires for us to do, before we storm the White House, State Capitals with prayers. “If My people called by my name, would humble themselves, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven, forgive their sins and heal their land.”
Juxtaposed to that, the present prayer movement will continue to walk in the “wisdom of men” and to continue to “declare and decree” things over our nations, and cities, that God has not said. We will declare them because the Bible says so, but not the Spirit of God breathing upon those words and Him speaking them at this moment in time.
That is why instead of seeing the real change this nations needs by the church coming to grips with the “sin that is in the house", “we focus on the sins of others” and declare we are sinless and we can do and say everything the Bibles says and God has to do it.
That is not “oneness with Christ” as a Bride with her Bridegroom, this is usurping authority. It is like the wife who wants to wear the pants in the family instead of the husband. If we truly want to see change in our nation, the House of God, and in our lives and families we must “align ourselves correctly with Jesus as our High Priest who is everliving to make intercession for us.”
What is on His heart? What does He see? How does God view our present situation? Any thing short of hearing those answers is not true intercession.
Intercession is not just praying.
Intercession is asking until you receive. It is seeking until you find. It is knocking until the door is opened for you.
Intercession is not telling God what to do.
Intercession is “identification with God’s heartbeat.” What does He want? Where does He want it? What does He want us to pray and how should we pray it.
Intercession is one of the deepest forms of intimacy with God. It is the Holy Spirit’ work to reveal to us what Jesus is praying and asking the Father for and then it is His work to manifest it on Earth as it is in Heaven.
Intercession is our connection and identification with our Lord Jesus High Priestly Ministry.
Jesus High Priestly Ministry works on Earth through His ROYAL PRIESTHOOD! This is the only place the Keys to the Kingdom of God work to release on the Earth as it is Heaven. 1st Peter 2:9 But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God's OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light."
Through our High Priest intercession is made and the Holy Spirit breathes those prayers through Jesus ROYAL PRIESTHOOD! They are SEATED WITH HIM IN HEAVENLY PLACES IN REALITY! (Ephesians 2:6)
This is where Jesus gives us the authority to use the Keys to the Kingdom to release on Earth as it is Heaven. This is the present 3rd day ministry He so desires to share with us so we can rule and reign with him as Kings and Priest upon the Earth in this present day and time.
It is in the spiritual place we can release on Earth that which is heaven, because it won’t be us doing it, speaking it, declaring it, or decreeing it. It will be God in us, through us, and with us doing the speaking and working and IT SHALL COME TO PASS! It is in this spiritual place we are truly “seated in Heavenly places” with Him releasing on Earth as it is in heaven.
This is where we begin to truly understand how to rule and reign with him. It is in this place we are being formed into a KINGDOM. A Kingdom of what? Priest and Kings. Rev 5:9 says, “You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth."
What makes so appealing to just declare and decree things apart from the Holy Spirit’s work of lifting us into that heavenly place with the Lord in His power, is that it is EASY AND DOESN'T REQUIRE MUCH WORK!
It is rooted in the American microwave oven theology. It is a short cut to want to see things happen on Earth without taking the time to truly seek God, to truly Hear His voice, and allow the Holy Spirit to speak, lead, guide, and release what the Father wills through our High Priest Jesus. This mindset is a counterfeit because it removes His function in heaven through us by us DOING IT OURSELVES on our own authority, CAUSE WE ARE ONE WITH HIM and we can do what he does because the Bible says so, so just believe it.
A truth the Lord taught me is this, "I am not going to do it for you, and I am not going to do it without you, I am going to do it WITH YOU! Emanuel: GOD WITH US! It is interesting there is such a clamor today that declares we can do things in His name, just because He is in us. It is true, Jesus Christ in us, the Hope of Glory! Christ in us, the Hope of Glory! Yet, Jesus taught us in John 15 something very important:
1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes[a] so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. Notice the words "remain in me, no branch can bear fruit by itself, neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me."
The key to the Kingdom don't operate in a vacuum. They don't operate just on the revelation of Christ in us. They work on the revelation of US IN CHRIST FIRST and CHRIST IN US SECOND! Declaring and Decreeing comes forth in the present moment from a HALF TRUTH! Christ in us! It remove the US IN CHRIST! Why is that important?
Because of Ephesians 2: 5 -6, 5 Even when we were dead (slain) by [our own] shortcomings and trespasses, He made us alive together in fellowship and
in union with Christ; [He gave us the very life of Christ Himself, the
same new life with which He quickened Him, for] it is by grace (His
favor and mercy which you did not deserve) that you are saved ([a]delivered from judgment and made partakers of Christ’s salvation).
6 And He raised us up together with Him and made us sit down together [giving us [b]joint seating with Him] in the heavenly sphere [by virtue of our being] in Christ Jesus (the Messiah, the Anointed One).
Beloved, It is through our divine connection WITH Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit we can we truly see what the Father’s will, plans, heartbeat, and desires really are. We are to be His hands and feet and mouthpiece on the Earth.
It must be done all from the realm of being seated with Him in Heavenly places in reality as a Royal Priesthood to God. It is here God will work with us, in us, and through us, to bring His will to come to pass on the Earth as it is in Heaven.
WE MUST COME UP UNTIL HEAVENS PRAYERS ARE BURNING IN US:
Listen to what the Lord says about Elijah James 5:17-18 “Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months. 18 Then he prayed again, and the sky poured rain and the earth produced its fruit.”
James 5:16b says, “The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.” Jesus said, “"From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and violent men take it by force.” Matthew 11:12
Notice the “work” it takes to “win” and be able to release on Earth which is Heaven. There is a counterfeit voice today that want to declare we are finished and we are “just like God now” so we can “do exactly what He does” because we are one with him. Yet unseen within that voice is a declaration that WE ARE HIM! That is a line by God’s grace we must NEVER CROSS.”
We will always be the “created thing.” Yes God can fill us with His all in all. God can marry us as His Bride, but WE WILL NEVER BE HIM. The voice that says we “can be him” is wrong. We can be “like Him.” We can do the works He does being like Him, but we can never, ever be Him.” No where does it say we will be Him. This scripture says we can be "like him."
1 John 3:2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
When we declare and decree apart from the Holy Spirit’s breath and leading we are acting as “if we are him.” That is why those spirits were able to jump on the Seven Sons of Sceva: because they said Jesus we know, and Paul we know, but who are you.”
They had “NO SPIRITUAL AUTHORITY OVER THE ENEMY OR DEMONS IN THEIR OWN POWER OR WORDS EVEN IN THE NAME OF JESUS AND PAUL These seven sons were convinced they had the SAME POWER AND AUTHORITY OF JESUS AND PAUL!
Beloved, they felt they had the same "spiritual place" so they declared and decreed and acted as if they were. They did what the Word of God said they could do, they “declared and decreed such a thing." What did they say, "In Jesus name and in Paul's name, come out of that man unclean spirits.”
Beloveds, did the demons obey them cause they used the Lord's name as authority? NO! The demons did not come out, but actually jumped on them that they left the house naked. The demons spoke ot them and said, "JESUS WE KNOW, PAUL WE KNOW, BUT WHO ARE YOU, WE DON'T KNOW YOU”
That is so prophetic, because that is what happens to us when we “assume” God says we can do something or decree something that he has not breathed on or spoken to our hearts. When we do this we often leave naked and defeated in our prayer time.
Ask yourself some questions. Why isn’t abortion overturned in our nation after all the prayer? Why do we still get ungodly leaders in our government when we are praying for Godly ones? Is God hearing us? Is our declaring such a thing bringing forth what we declare? No it is is not!
Beloved, What does the Father want to say to us? What is His heart? What does He see? This is the invitation that the Lord is offering us. John receives that invitation on the Island of Pathmos in Rev 4:1, “After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.”
This must be a reality in our prayer life. We must be “lifted up to that seated place with Christ Jesus in that heavenly place where Jesus as our High Priest through the power of the Holy Spirit prays through us, speaking through us, what God the Father will is to be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.
Jesus said, “upon this rock, I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." (Mathew 16: 18) He goes on further in Matthew 16:19 as well, “ I give you the Keys to the kingdom that whatsoever you bind on Earth must FIRST BE BOUND IN HEAVEN, and whatsoever you loose on Earth, MUST BE LOOSED IN HEAVEN.
Heaven is where Jesus is. Heaven is where our High Priest is on the right hand of the Father, ever making Intercession for us. Hebrews 7:25. Heaven is His throne and Earth is His footstool, where is the House you will build for me, and where will my resting place be. (Isaiah 66:1)
The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much:
The word fervent means : felt very strongly : having or showing very strong feelings, very hot : glowing 2: exhibiting or marked by great intensity of feeling : Is this the type of praying we are doing in the House of God?
To win and prevail in prayer on the Earth as it in Heaven it take the “intensity of the Holy Spirit praying through you, with His strong feelings of God’s will. So strong are His feelings that it would be like RED HOT and GLOWING PRAYERS WITH IN YOU from HEAVEN in that intensity!
This type of fervent prayer is God’s power at work in you and not man’s intellect. It is God’s wisdom in heaven filling your thoughts and mind. It is God’s will being done on Earth as it is heaven through those who will come up to the mountain of the Lord, so God can send down through you what His will is in Heaven.
Isaiah 40:31 speaks of this upward call and mounting up into this spiritual place of intercession with the Lord in the heavenly places: 31 But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
Notice the fruit that comes forth from this passage of scripture. As we wait upon the Lord, He changes us, renews our strength! How? He lifts up out of the natural realm or earthly realm into the spiritual heavenly realm positioned to hear, listen, and be guided by the Holy Spirit to what to pray or say.
When this happens we are changed (Renewed in strength) out of the earthly realm and it's mindset to the heavenly realm with it's mindset., This is what it means for us to “mount up on the wings of Eagles."
Eagles are the highest flying birds God has made, and so they have the highest vantage viewing point of sight from the “air” what is being done on the Earth. This spiritual position of "mounted up on Eagles wings" is so important in prayer, and it is such a powerful work in us that it will cause us to RUN AND NOT GROW WEARY AND WALK AND NOT FAINT!
Have you noticed how quickly we give up in prayer? Have you noticed how long we pray? Have you noticed how long our prayer time is? Why do we do it so quickly or not spend enough time in prayer? Because we get bored, prayed out, run out of things to say.
So we declare it is done, we are finished! We asked God according to his word and now it has to be done. We make that assumption because we are tired, or we prayed enough, or how many times do we have to ask God for him to answer?
The truth is this is not prevailing effectual prayer. At best they are prayers of petition, at worse this is prayer we call true intercession when it is not. The average Pastor in America prays 18 minutes a day according to Charisma Magazine.
The average weekly prayer time for a church is an hour or two a week. Beloved we wonder why we don’t see the results need to change a nation or a people or get the breakthrough we need now. So we are “weary, tired, warn out" after an hour?
Why cause we never “went up” in prayer to the place of being seated with Jesus in Heavenly places. John saw as a door where we “would see the things that must come after, the answer prayers we need.”
Most of our prayer and our "declaring and decreeing such a thing" is not rooted in the “power of God” but in the “elegance of men speaking as if they were God.” This is much of the root of the present “2nd day church system” prayer movement in our country.
Most of the prayer we are doing is coming from man’s intellect, man’s intelligence, man’s wisdom and ideas. The prayers are based on praying by our “emotional and earthly human understanding of what is going on around us and by what we think we need.” We are praying according to what we see on Earth, instead of what God sees in Heaven. We are praying by sight and not by faith.
Beloved, if we are walk by faith and not by sight? Why would we ever want to pray by sight and not by faith?
The Effectual fervent prayer we need to win is reduced to a ‘declaration and decree” apart from the breath and life of God. We are declaring and decreeing from the earthly realm instead of God taking us up into the heavenly realm and speaking those words through us and in us that would change things of Earth.
The kingdom of God suffers violence. The violence that we are to suffer is the red hot, burning, glowing, determination of intensity to pray that is given to us by the Holy spirit to lay hold of God so He can release on Earth what He desires from heaven. It takes intensity to reach up through the spiritual darkness over us (to breakthrough) into the Holy of Holies where God is.
It takes time waiting upon the Lord to lift us up out of the natural realm and what we see to the place the Holy spirit can pray in us and through us what the Father sees! Then our Faithful High Priest can lead us into battle to truly manifest the Kingdom of God on Earth as it is heaven through His Royal Priesthood, you and I.
There are times the Holy Spirit will just come and do it in us and through us without praying and coming up in a lengthy manner, but it is still the same process of heaven breathed prayer from heaven in us by God just for that quickened moment of need.
Beloved, We are warriors, and warriors fight until they win. We can’t cut short the process of prevailing prayer by saying it is done when it is not done. We can’t say it is finished cause we are done praying cause were tired or think we prayed long enough.
We have to stay in that place of prayer until the Spirit of God releases the victory in us and through us. Then we get an assurance from God that it is finished. We don’t quit until whatever we prayed for, whatever was needed is now released from God to the Earth. We know in our knower it is done in truth because the Spirit of God in us bears witness with us it is done. Then what the Lord prayed through us WILL MANIFEST ON EARTH AS IT IS HEAVEN!
Jesus tell us in Mathew 21:22 ASK AND KEEP ON ASKING, SEEK AND KEEP ON SEEKING AND KNOCK AND KEEP ON KNOCKING. FOR EVERYONE THAT ASKS, RECEIVES, AND EVERYONE THAT SEEKS, FIND AND EVERYONE THAT KNOCKS THE DOOR WILL BE OPENED FOR THEM. In my next post we will by the grace of God expound on this directive in prayer as well.
This is a law of the kingdom of God reality. You stay with the Lord until it is done in prayer. You stay until you are released and you know in your knower that the DOOR HAS BEEN OPENED FOR YOU and THE VICTORY WON! This is the what it takes to prevail in prayer and win. I will write more upon this later.
Blessings of the Lord upon you.
2 comments:
Thank you Pastor Henry for this teaching.
Thank you Pastor Henry for this teaching.
Post a Comment