Jesus is Getting into Your Boat
This Sunday our whole church applauded as we greeted Jeff, a dear member of our flock, back to church. A couple of days before he had come to thank me personally for praying for him. His story, for me, is a parable of the season of challenge that we are going through.
Jeff, a man in in his early 50's, with a believing wife and wonderful children, had a severe heart attack, lost consciousness, and for two days the doctors gave him little hope of survival. He told me when I phoned him near the end of the second day, the bubble of God’s glory seemed to envelope the whole ICU room where machinery was helping him breathe. Where things looked impossible, there was a turnaround.
Where the doctors expected only the negative, in a few days, they released Jeff to go home. As I gave Jeff a big hug, I felt in my heart the Lord say, “Nothing is impossible with Me.” As we seek God’s face for forty days for His Presence, let us go in with strong faith that He’s a God of the turnaround.
When Jeff came to thank us for praying, he said, “Pastor, I have a word for the people that God told me to share: As He revived my heart, He’s going to revive us personally, He’s going to revive the Church, and He’s going to revive the nation.”
On the same Sunday that we were praying for Jeff’s restoration, a little girl brought her parakeet to church and asked me to pray for its broken leg. The bird had been unable to move or fly for a couple of days, and the veterinarian said they would have to take their
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| Healed! Essie with her parakeet. |
bird to a specialist for treatment. This is the first time I remember anointing a little parakeet with oil, but I prayed for him and the next day her bird was flying because our awesome God had healed his broken leg.
From Jeff’s healing to the parakeet's healing, the Lord was speaking in my heart that He is concerned not only about the big things, but about the little things. He is concerned not only about the nations, but He looks down on each of us and wants to continue to shower us with His grace.
Open Doors
In Nehemiah chapters 1 and 2, Nehemiah heard his homeland was in ruins, including his beloved Jerusalem. Nehemiah’s heart was broken by the conditions reported to him: The wall of Jerusalem was broken down and its gates burned with fire. What has his response? “So it was, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned for many days; I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven” (Neh. 1:4). And as he fasted, he prayed,
Lord, the God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments, let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night for your servants, the people of Israel. I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father’s family, have committed against you…Remember the instruction you gave your servant Moses, saying, …If you return to me and obey my commands, then even if your exiled people are at the farthest horizon, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for my Name. They are your servants and your people, whom you redeemed by your great strength and your mighty hand. Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of this your servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight in revering your name. Give your servant success today by granting him favor in the presence of this man. I was cupbearer to the king (Neh. 1:5-6…9-11, NIV).
Like Nehemiah, we are humbling ourselves in fasting and asking the Lord for success and favor for our families, for our finances, for our church, for our nation.
We want to take note that when Nehemiah got the bad news about his homeland and turned to God in prayer and fasting it was the month of Kislev (December), but it was four months later, in Nisan (April) that the door opened for him to approach the king. Nehemiah had learned to pray, fast and wait. Again, we go into a season of prayer and fasting until the time comes that God Himself comes and opens the door of favor. God did the impossible for Nehemiah. We see this same thing in the book of Ezra as he was about to embark on a dangerous journey:
There, by the Ahava Canal, I proclaimed a fast, so that we might humble ourselves before our God and ask him for a safe journey for us and our children, with all our possessions. I was ashamed to ask the king for soldiers and horsemen to protect us from enemies on the road, because we had told the king, “The gracious hand of our God is on everyone who looks to him, but his great anger is against all who forsake him.” So we fasted and petitioned our God about this, and he answered our prayer. (Ezra 8:21-23).
And again when Haman’s decree threatened to annihilate all the Jews of Persia, Esther sought favor with God and her King through prayer and fasting:
Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my attendants will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish (Esther 8:16).
God not only spared Esther’s life, but reversed the evil decree and gave great favor and blessing to all the Jews through her intercession on her people’s behalf.
Crossing the Threshold
This season of great challenge is also a season for doors of opportunity to open for us individually and as God’s corporate people. As we fast and pray, we will cross the threshold to the next level of grace, anointing, breakthrough, and prosperity.
We are joining with you to agree with you in prayer for the next level of grace and power. May we be strong to serve the Lord, serve His Kingdom, serve the Church, serve our places of employment. First and foremost, we seek the Kingdom. It is God’s presence that we long for. Like Hannah when she sought the face of God in a time of desperate need, let us keep our priorities on God. In her prayer to heal her barrenness, she kept God’s purposes central, dedicating the child that would come to serve the God of Israel before she saw the promise come to pass (see 1 Sam. 1:11). It is essential that in all our prayer and fasting that we keep the Lord and His Kingdom central in reference to every other request.
Eph. 5:15-16 instructs us to walk wisely and sensibly. Let us have a fresh revelation in this season of the awesome name of Jesus. Let us regain and possess the glory in His name. The Bible says, “At the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil 2:10-11). In this season as we make Jesus central, we want to go from being a people who are reacting to the circumstances around us to being a people of faith, proactive in all that we do.
You’re Going to the Next Level
As we are seeking the Lord for this season of prayer and fasting, I had a prophetic picture of Jesus getting into our boat (see Luke 8:22). We want to go to the next level, we want to go to the other side. I feel like that prophetic vision of His getting into our boat is indicative that His presence is coming to His Church, and His presence will carry us forward supernaturally.
When Jeff was under attack with a severe heart attack, the Lord gave me Is. 59:19, “When the enemy comes, like a flood the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him.” Unless the Lord directs us to find why the enemy attacks, it is wiser for us to just realize that this is an attack and then bind back the enemy and welcome the Presence. His Holy Spirit, I believe, is coming to us in a fresh way. So let us say, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.”
You may be going through a storm in this season. The devil may be trying to capsize your boat—attacking your finances, health or marriage— but we are claiming this vision for you. Jesus is getting into your boat. The doctor’s report may be very negative, but we will declare, “I shall not die, but live and declare the works of the Lord.” We will declare, “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.” And in the battle, know there is a doorway opening for you to go to the next level.
God is prophetically assuring us that He has not forgotten us. He has not gone to sleep. His eyes are on us. Whatever the storm, as we seek His face, God is going to help us come to the other side.
Time for Turnaround
Those of you who so desire, please send us your prayer requests. You can sign up to take part of the corporate fast along with hundreds of other believers who are joining with us and agreeing with us in prayer.
As we are seeking God’s face for a major turnaround for our nation, we are also seeking God’s face that His presence would cover the forthcoming national elections in November 2012. Let us agree that God may give us leaders such that He may be able to once again bless our nation and bless our economy. Pray that He may restore and bring a great turnaround in our economy and that for every person in our nation seeking a job, there would be three jobs looking to hire him.
Let us get our eyes off the storm and get our eyes on Jesus. Let us praise His name right now before the turnaround has happened. Praise Him already that your son or daughter is saved, delivered and healed. Praise him for His visitation and glorify His name.
Praise the LORD!
Praise God in His sanctuary;
Praise Him in His mighty firmament!
Praise Him for His mighty acts;
Praise Him according to His excellent greatness!
Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet;
Praise Him with the lute and harp!
Praise Him with the timbrel and dance;
Praise Him with stringed instruments and flutes!
Praise Him with loud cymbals;
Praise Him with clashing cymbals!
Let everything that has breath praise the LORD.
Praise the LORD!
Psalm 150
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