V-MAIL TO THE FRONTLINE

PART 41

PRAYER II: THE LORD OF KINGS

I am in the process of digesting a wonderful revelation from God’s Holy Spirit, and very excited to learn about the keys to abundant living and the mysteries that can enable us to walk as overcomers in this world. Alright! Brother, tell us this new strategy for victory that we need so desperately in this last hour! My friends, it is not new – it is prayer. What? I thought you had come up with something that I have never heard of before. I thought you were going to give us a new religious formula that we could memorize and confess that would bring instant success! Well, prayer is not unfamiliar to God or the devil for that matter but sadly it is probably new to many who call themselves Christians. We must ASK for the revelation of love and then proceed to ASK for the desire to pray. Without us pleading for God to do a work in us, we will remain unchanged.

I have been convicted about my anemic prayer life and have been seeking God to give me a stronger burden to pray. And by His mercy I feel Him drawing nearer to me as I reach out to Him. He is ministering to my mind about how disappointed He is with my attitude and how it seems we are not taking Him seriously. I do not want to go through the motions of mediocre Christianity. As I sit here now I am pouring out my heart to Him trying to sense what He is saying. I am trying to connect with Him and receive the revelation of His Word that I may understand more clearly what is really happening in the spirit realm. I know He is speaking to all of us and I am trying to approach His voice with reverential fear and respect. I see the blatant blasphemy all around and I am broken with humility. I am feeling a stronger urgency and a solemn, trembling awe of His holiness and the terror of His Majesty. I talk to God every morning on the way to work as a special time of fellowship and I have been going to bed early to just lie in the quiet darkness and force my mind and body to submit to my spirit as I communicate with Father. I desire the constant awareness of His presence and to develop the habit of praying at all times of the day and night. This garment of His presence is causing me to think like He thinks and to see His Word in a deeper, more personal understanding. Allow me to share what I have recently been trying to comprehend and by the way it is the theme of this prayer series. In Proverbs chapter 21 the first verse, we find a beautiful, sparkling diamond in scripture. “The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: He turns it wherever He wants”. It is very interesting to meditate on this statement. It is short but contains a library of knowledge and wisdom. Last week I was seeing there is a difference between what God desires to do on His own and what He does in association with our prayers of faith. We have known situations where God intervened because someone was praying in faith and likewise we can see things not happen because someone did not pray in faith. The spiritual principal of blessings and curses are based on the “conditions” of obedience, so we can continue to follow this heavenly blueprint when dealing with prayers of faith. Of course we know that all hearts can be convicted by the Holy Spirit and the “kings” heart in this verse represents anyone in authority. Even though it seems the leaders of this default system are not cooperating with God’s divine reality, this verse is saying that God can “motivate” them to do His will. This is an awesome insight and encouragement but let me ask you a question: Why does He not turn every king’s heart to the revelation of Christ? Because He is waiting for His people to pray! Since there are small amounts of prayer, there is very little change in the right direction. Selah.

All of you have ministries, visions and dreams of what you feel God has called you to do and are waiting for doors to open. Let me ask you another question; who stands at the doors of government, finances, the legal system, opportunities, favor, blessings, promotions, distribution, marketing, publishing, producing, employment, respect and success? People in authority! We cannot force others to open doors for us, and most of the time we do not even know where the doors are – but God does! He uses these doorkeepers to build His Kingdom! And if we are ever going to get a miracle – it will come from God moving on their heart! Father has ultimate control over ALL doors but moves through HUMAN agents. He is waiting for His people to receive this revelation so they can obtain the earthly resources they need to build His Kingdom. Many of us approach life with the wrong idea. We whine around and try to push and beg for the doors to open or we are deceived to think that we our personality or intelligence can make a way for us. We murmur, grumble, complain, criticize, judge, protest, become offended, angry, frustrated, bitter, resentful, depressed and wounded when we should invest all of this energy into prayer because all of this carnality is NOT going to open the doors! “These things say’s He that is holy, He that is true, He that has the key of David, He that opens and no man shuts; and shuts and no man opens”. (Revelation 3:7) when we pray and God begins to prepare the way to open or close a door, the doorkeepers also CANNOT PREVENT IT! Everything is done according to the perfection of God’s divine order and many times people in authority do not even realize they are being influenced by The Lord! “Then He answered and spoke unto me saying, this is the Word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, NOT by (human) might, nor by (human influence) power, but by MY SPIRIT, say’s the Lord of Hosts”. (Zechariah 6:4)

The story of Nehemiah is a very awesome example of how Father has designed prayer to open doors and change circumstances to accomplish His will. Nehemiah was a cup bearer for the king and was a man who loved God. He had a very unique position of service as he was allowed to serve the king in his private chambers which was a privilege of favor. Nehemiah received tragic news that Jerusalem was in shambles and as he was a Jew he felt a strong burden to go home and help rebuild the city. “And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept and mourned certain days and fasted and prayed before God of heaven”. (Nehemiah 1:4) He prayed for four months that God would open a door for him and I want us to notice that he came into the king’s presence EVERYDAY – but did not mention his need. It is true that he was not allowed to talk freely or even enter into the king’s presence with a depressing countenance but he WAITED for GOD”S TIMING. Nehemiah had to appear happy and remain humble in order to be a successful personal assistant, but one day he could not hide his burden and the king noticed his low countenance and asked him why he seemed down. We must remember that God had been softening the king’s heart the entire time Nehemiah was praying. Nehemiah was very afraid because He knew he was not supposed to bring in a negative emotion or attitude, but God used this to open the atmosphere for the divine appointment. If Nehemiah had been walking in the flesh he would have automatically made excuses out of fear, but he was in the spirit and came right to the point and poured out his heart about how his hometown needed to be repaired and that he wanted to go home and lead the construction. Since God was controlling the heart of the king, it went very smooth as nothing short of an amazing miracle! “Then the king said unto me, for what are you requesting? So I prayed to the God of heaven”. (Chapter 2 verse 4) Not only did the king listen and give him permission to leave but Nehemiah asked the king for signed letters that gave him legal proof and a right to conduct this business with the king’s approval. There is more; he also asked for building materials! He wanted signed letters that to give to the loggers and lumber yard owners for trees to be made into beams for the walls and houses. And on top of all these blessings, the king sent captains of the army and horsemen along with Nehemiah to protect him until he reached his destination. Praise God! “Jesus beheld them and said unto them; with men (human power) this is impossible; but with God ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE”! (Mathew 19:26)

When we were infants in Christ we thanked God for our food and told Him good-night at bedtime and bowed our head in respect as we listened to those pray at church. But now that we have grown more knowledgeable about His divine reality we realize that He is demanding for us to lay down our toys and pick up our armor. “When I was a child, I spoke as a child; I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things”. (I Corinthians 13:11) There are so many people that need our love and prayers but we will not have the burden for them until we ask Father to give it to us. There is so much to do in God’s Kingdom that is depending on God’s people to stop the negative talk and start interceding. Praying demands intense concentration from our spirit man and a submission from our mind and conscience. We cannot wait for the environment to be perfect because many times we will need to engage in prayer in the heat of battle. Christ is trying to get the attention of His church concerning the seriousness of why we are praying and the reverential respect to acknowledge God as the Father Almighty. The state of our being does not function efficiently when our emotional moods are in control of our spiritual obligations. He has given us His key that will unlock the doors we need to accomplish our mission – now we have the responsibility to use it! “And what is the exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power. And has put ALL things under His feet and gave Him to be head over all things to the church which is His body, the FULLNESS of Him that fills all in all”. (Ephesians 1:19, 22, 23) In Jesus Name, please help us to overcome our old nature and breathe into us your passion, fire, energy and anointing. Give us the burden to know and love you deeper. Break our hearts, soften us and open the eyes of our conscience. Master, give us love and teach us to pray. Amen.