As the second coming of Jesus
approaches, Holy Spirit will raise up a powerful prayer movement in the Body of
Christ. How do I know this? Jesus taught on it in Luke 18:1-8 saying,
“…will not God
bring about justice for His elect who cry to Him day and night...? I tell you
that He will bring about justice for them quickly. However, when the Son of Man
comes, will He find faith on the earth?”
Isaiah
prophesies that the Son of Man will indeed find faith on the earth because He
will have established it, writing in Isaiah 62:6-7:
“On your walls, O
Jerusalem, I have appointed watchmen; all day and all night they will never
keep silent. You who remind the LORD, take no rest for yourselves; and give Him
no rest until He establishes and makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth.”
Isaiah
teaches that 24/7 prayer ministries will rise up and continue until Jesus
returns to restore Jerusalem as a praise in the earth. Likewise, in John’s
account in the book of Revelation, a golden bowl full of incense represents the
prayers of the saints (Revelation 5:8), and this incense will go up before God
and release the seven trumpets at the end of the age (Revelation 8:1-5).
Prayer
all of a sudden got serious, right? Actually, the prayers of the saints have
always been this serious. In Exodus 32:11-14, we see Moses interceding on
behalf of Israel. Moses asks God to remember His covenant and relent. What a
large portion of the Church may find radical about this passage is verse 14: “So
the LORD changed His mind about the harm which He said He would do to His
people.” Because of this passage and the Holy Spirit at work within me, I
believe that the Church can accomplish far more if we wait on God and intercede
for the needs around us in the place of prayer before we act in the place of justice. The Body of Christ must act in the place of justice (Isaiah
58); however, if we do not first live in the place of prayer, our attempts are
simply humanitarian attempts and are not fueled by our love for God (Isaiah
30:15; Matthew 7:21-23; 1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
When
Mary sat at Jesus’ feet listening to His word and Martha became offended with
Mary, Jesus said, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many
things; but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part,
which shall not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:38-42). Jesus reveals to us
that gazing upon Him moves His heart to action. In this same way, the Seraphim
burn before the throne of God with the primary task of gazing upon Him and
declaring His glory (Isaiah 6:1-7; Ezekiel 1; Revelation 4:5-11).
The
apostles saw great need in devoting themselves to prayer. So much so, that the
position of Deacon came about just so that the apostles could more diligently serve
(Acts 6:1-4).
“It is not
desirable for us to neglect the word of God in order to serve tables.
Therefore, brethren, select from among you seven men of good reputation, full
of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may put in charge of this task. But we
will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” –Acts 6:3b-4
After
Jesus commissioned them to wait for the Holy Spirit in Jerusalem, the apostles
continually devoted themselves to prayer in the upper room (Acts 1:4-5, 12-14).
Still gathered together in one accord, the apostles witnessed the power of
waiting upon the Lord through prayer and fasting when the Holy Spirit fell on
them at Pentecost (Acts 2:1-47). We can see that they understood the power that
prayer has over a region in Acts 4 when Peter and John were arrested for
teaching and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. When
released, “they went to their own companions and reported all that the chief
priests and the elders had said to them” (Acts 4:23). The Word then says that “they
lifted up their voices to God with one accord…And when they had prayed, the
place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled
with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness” (Acts
4:24, 31).
This
passage reveals how God desires for us to partner with Him. We wait for His
guidance and power and intercede for His influence and breakthrough in the
place of prayer, and then we operate
in the place of justice and proclamation of the Gospel, “filled with the Holy
Spirit” and speaking “the word of God with boldness.”
It is
in this place of prayer and intercession that I believe God has commissioned
me. Let me make myself clear, not everyone is called as an intercessory
missionary. The best ministry that any individual can do is the ministry that
God has called that person to. We must embrace God’s individual calling on our
lives and not despise our own ministry by imitating that of another.
God
has called me to establish a culture of prayer within the Southeast Texas
region, starting with the Golden Triangle area. The vision is to raise up “Prayer
Rooms” within individual congregations. After one Prayer Room establishes the
culture within that congregation, I will follow the Spirit to establish the
culture within the next congregation. At God’s appointed time, the Prayer Rooms
will come together to form a House of Prayer for the Golden Triangle area.
While 24/7 is the goal, it is not the vision. The vision simply comes from a
desire in God’s heart for prayer and intercession to rise up from this region.
Behold,
Jesus has said to us, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few;
therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest”
(Matthew 9:36-38; Luke 10:1-23). Will you join with me in asking the Lord of
the harvest to send out laborers as we prepare the way for the coming of the
LORD? If you are interested in partnering with me financially or feel called to
take part in this vision in any way, please send me a message on Facebook or at
timothyturner1595@gmail.com.
Peace
be with you,
Tim
Turner
Intercessory
Missionary/Forerunner
No comments:
Post a Comment