An Edited Transcription of the Audio Instructions of ...burden for the lost and an apostolic calling...

An Edited Transcription of the Audio Instructions

of Neville Johnson on Intercession

(Teacher’s Manual)

School of Intercession 24-Hour House of Prayer (24HHP)

Intercession Pastor Neville Johnson has been in full time ministry for over 30 years. During this time he has founded two Bible schools training ministers and missionaries who are now serving the Lord in fifteen nations. He also established a missionary organization sending over thirty missionaries to the mission fields of the world. Through the 1970’s and into the eighties he was Senior Pastor of the largest Church in Australasia and in the late eighties he founded another Church in Perth, Australia. He is Director of Living Word Foundation in the heart of the City of Perth. In 1995 he established a School of Intercession, Spiritual Warfare and Prophetic Ministry and Spiritual Mapping. With great effect he has preached the Gospel and taught the Word of God in over thirty nations and has ministered in countless ministers seminars around the world. He has a burden for the lost and an apostolic calling to the nations.

This manual is part of a course on ‘Spiritual Warfare, Intercession and Prophetic Ministry’. The manual or part thereof must not be copied in any form without express permission from Living Word Foundation Inc. Copyright @ 2000 Living Word Foundation Inc Living Word Foundation Inc PO Box 7433 Cloisters Square Perth Western Australia 6850 Email [email protected] Web www.lwf.org.au

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Intercession This second manual deals with one of the Least understood, yet one of the most vital subjects of our day, that of Intercession. We are beginning to see the emergence of a world-wide prayer movement that is having a phenomenal effect on the way God is moving today. This prayer movement is a key to the coming great outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and the harvest that will inevitably follow. The ministry of intercession has not been widely understood, and has often been relegated to the back cupboard of the church or assigned to the old and infirm. This attitude has cost the Church untold suffering and heartache.

History belongs to the intercessors. We are going to see the ministry of intercession take a quantum leap forward in terms of importance and function. We can boldly declare to the powers of darkness... “Look out, the intercessors are coming!”

Neville Johnson Director - Living Word Foundation Inc

Manual by Ps Neville Johnson Layout & Design Mark Johnson Proofing Hellen Hunter Mark Johnson OCR Ruth Pirouet Fonts Used Body Copy - AGaramond Headings - Century Gothic Software Pagemaker 6.5 Acrobat 4 Photoshop 5.02

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CONTENTS

by Neville Johnson Page

LESSON 1 - WHY PRAYER ........................................................................................................................................................................... 5

LESSON 2 - ALTAR OF INCENSE .......................................................................................................................................................... 10

LESSON 3 - ENOUGH SALT FOR THE CITY ................................................................................................................................... 21

LESSON 4 - THE WATCHMAN MINISTRY ...................................................................................................................................... 28

LESSON 5 - JESUS, THE INTERCESSOR ........................................................................................................................................... 38

LESSON 6 - REPRESENTING JESUS IN THE EARTH TODAY ............................................................................................. 48

LESSON 7 - INTERCESSORY PRAYER (PART 1) ....................................................................................................................... 59



LESSON 10 - MANIFESTATIONS OF INTERCESSION – TRAVAIL .................................................................................. 100

LESSON 11 - MANIFESTATIONS OF INTERCESSION – 7 SENSATIONS & WRESTLING............................... 111

Special Teaching by Stuart Robinson

PRAYING THE PRICE ..................................................................................................................................................... 123

Why Prayer?

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Lesson 1

Why Prayer Foundation We are studying on a main area now, Intercession and we’re going to take some time in going through this because it’s important. Can I suggest that you don’t read to the whole manual after that we finish today? We’ll only read what we’ve gone through, because that helps reinforce it again back into your mind and you can go over through the week again and make your own notes on it, because if you read ahead that can be a little confusing and I kind of go over with you. So it is best if you can read that with discipline.

Prayer, Intercession - we need to understand this that PRAYER IS A RELATIONSHIP, it’s not just something we do.

Prayer is a relationship, and it basically is WORKING TOGETHER WITH GOD. Quite often we’ve reduced prayer to just trying to get what we want from God. It is not

primarily asking, but RELEASING WHAT GOD WANTS OR PURPOSES. There is a very big difference.

And so prayer is a relationship, it comes out with the communion with God, knowing what God is doing and purposing, and out of that relationship and that communion, we begin to work with God in prayer. Someone said, I guess that was Peter Wagner, “Prayer is the most tangible trace of eternity in man’s heart.” It touches into the realm of eternity; it touches into the purposes of God. I. GOD DEVISED THE SYSTEM OF PRAYER We need to ask the question “Why prayer? Why do we pray?” Have you ever wondered why did God devise a system of prayer? An understanding of this is really fundamental to what we are talking about today, to our understanding of prayer. A. Is God Controlling Everything? YES, HE HAS A PLAN FOR THE WORLD. If we believe that God is controlling everything…

Psa. 2:1-4 Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against the LORD and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. But HE THAT SITTETH IN THE HEAVENS SHALL LAUGH: the Lord shall have them in derision. - See, GOD IS IN CONTROL.

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Rom. 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purposes. The Bible tells us about Jesus,

Col. 1:16-17 16For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: 17And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

Of by Him all things continue to exist, continue to go on. And so there are many many other scriptures when we say well, NOTHING HAPPENS

WITHOUT GOD’S PERMISSION. If God is in control, and we believe that He is, nothing happens without God’s permission. God has His hands on the rings. GOD PERMITS EVIL TO FUNCTION Now, well you might ask ‘What about the evil? Does God permit evil?’ Indirectly yes, because He permits evil by the laws that He set, for instance…

Laws of Sowing and Reaping - it’s a law set by God and evil comes out of sowing and reaping and as well as good. But God set down that law;

Laws of Disobedience Laws of Retribution Laws of Free Will, etc

God allows these laws which God had to set and lay out.

The wages of sin is death - that’s a law.

It is evident that God knows the beginning from the end. You’ve just got to read the book of

Revelation, because He knows when it’s all going to end. He knows the beginning from the end. God lives in eternity. And in eternity there is no past, present and future, just present, and it’s all one. Now we need to understand that concept of eternity, and eternity is not past or future, it’s present. You see, from God’s point of view eternity is one.

Now understanding that if God is in control, He is working to a plan which He won’t be late

in accomplishing. B. Then Why Pray?

If God’s hand is in the reigns, then why bother to pray? I mean let’s face it, if God’s doing a

good job, why bother to pray? So we need to kind of look at that question first.

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SOMETIMES SHOCK TREATMENT IS NECESSARY TO BREAK UP WRONG PATTERNS

OF THOUGHT (STRONGHOLDS IN OUR MIND)

We need to have a little bit of shock of treatment now and again to some of our concepts and to break up patterns of thought which sometimes are strongholds in our minds which have reigned for many many years. The purpose of prayer is NOT that of influencing God

The purpose of prayer is NOT that of influencing God. Prayer is not a way of persuading God to do something. He can do quite well on His own. He does not need us to pray. So the purpose of prayer is not that to influence God. God is not influenced by our prayers. Whooohh, that’s a little bit of shock treatment. But it is, HE DOESN’T NEED US TO PRAY. God is Omnipotent, He is almighty and He can do anything. However, God has chosen a system of prayer

However, HE’S CHOSEN A SYSTEM OF PRAYER, He’s chosen this whole concept. GOD HAS CHOSEN TO DELEGATE THE RUNNING OF HIS AFFAIRS, THE AFFAIRS OF

HIS KINGDOM AND BRING TO PASS HIS PURPOSES IN THE EARTH THROUGH YOU, THE CHURCH IN THE EARTH.

Eph. 3:10 To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might he known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, ...

Now understanding this is important. He didn’t need to do that, He can run things just quite

well. How many of you know that before man was ever created there was a vast kingdom which God ruled in and reigned in? He did very well. He didn’t have any problems and whenever there is rebellion in the heavens through Lucifer, He just cast them out. God is in control. And when man comes on the earth, it’s a whole different thing, because we’re made in the image and likeness of God. And so there’s a whole other element introduced in this whole thing. C. God does everything by the Word He Speaks

Now we understand from God’s word that GOD DOES EVERYTHING BY THE WORD THAT HE SPEAKS. When He speaks, that’s the way, it’s a principle that God works in.

Psalm 33:6 By the word of the LORD were the heavens made [He spoke it. When the word went out, His word went forth, the heavens were made.] ; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth [His Spirit].

Gen. 1:3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

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So, this is a fundamental principle of how God works, we call it the ways of God. HE CREATES THROUGH THE SPOKEN WORD, HE SPEAKS AND IT IS DONE. Now this gets to the very heart of prayer because WHEN GOD CHOOSES TO DO SOMETHING, IT IS PASTED ON TO HIS PEOPLE WHO IN TURN SPEAK IT INTO EXISTENCE.

Now if you’re going to be involved in this level, you’ve got to know what God wants. WE

NEED TO KNOW WHAT GOD WANTS. That is why I said in the beginning that it’s a relationship; prayer is a relationship first of all. Because when God is determining to do something, He does it through the church, or He does it through individuals in the church. That’s the very essence of prayer, the very foundations of prayer in this. Prayers that are answered are prayers that have originated in God

And PRAYERS THAT ARE ANSWERED ARE PRAYERS THAT HAVE ORIGINATED IN GOD. If you read Jeremiah 1, we won’t do it today for the sake of time, but you’ll find out God determined to do something in the earth among certain nations. And it says that He put His words into Jeremiah’s mouth for him to speak them. And when Jeremiah spoke them, they came to pass. God, you see, didn’t act alone. He acted through Jeremiah, a human servant to accomplish His word. Understanding this is really, really important.

1 Jn 5: 14 And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask anything according to his will, he

heareth us: So when we’re talking about prayer, we are not talking about persuading God to do

something which He is reluctant to do, that if we pray long enough or hard enough, God will give in. That’s the concept people have - when we pray long enough, hard enough, if we persist long enough, God will give in to us and let us have it. Well, that’s not the scripture, that’s not the basic scripture concept of prayer at all. Prayer is cooperating with God, knowing what God has purposed to do

PRAYER IS COOPERATING WITH GOD, KNOWING WHAT GOD HAS PURPOSED TO DO and He gives you and I the privilege. He says. ‘Look, this is what I’m going to do but I’ll let you speak it into being.’ Prayer is working with God in that.

God is already determined what He is going to do, but He comes and says, ‘Alright I’m going to

let you have a part of this because you are representing Me in the earth and I’m going to let you SPEAK IT INTO EXISTENCE,’ Prayer. Now understanding that is very, very fundamental and it sounds very simple. But most of our prayers doesn’t go in that root, most of our prayers are what we feel what we want. And so we center our prayers around that, our needs. But the Bible, you know, kind of says that if you seek first the Kingdom of God, He looks at your needs anyway, then you don’t even have to pray about them. Have you thought about that? God spoke to me a long, long time ago, said, ‘I don’t want you to pray for your needs anymore. Just do My will and I’ll take care of you.’ And I thought that’s a lot easier in some ways. He promises to take care of you if you seek first, if you do His will, everything you need to do His will it will be provided, and that’s the issue. Since I kind of settled

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on to that track, God has provided far more for me than the other track that I was on. He is generous, He has provided far, far more for me than when I was asking for those things, when I got away from that and just decided to cooperate with God.

So understanding that prayer is working with God, knowing what God wants and then we have the right, the privileges a son, a child of God to speak it into being. PRAYER, BRINGING TO PASS THE PURPOSES OF GOD IN THE EARTH.

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Lesson 2

Altar of Incense Foundation

Now if you have your Bibles, turn with me to Exodus 30:1-9, it talks about the Altar of Incense and I just want us to understand this.

1And thou shalt make an altar to burn incense upon of shittim wood shalt thou make it.: so this is the Altar of Incense, He gives the size of it and so on, and He goes through there, verse 7, 7And Aaron shall burn thereon sweet incense every morning: when he dresseth the lamps, he shall burn incense upon it. – 8And when Aaron lighteth the lamps at even, he shall burn incense upon it, a perpetual [a perpetual continual incense] incense before the LORD throughout your generations. 9Ye shall offer no strange incense thereon, nor burnt sacrifice, nor meat offering; neither shall ye pour drink offering thereon. 10And Aaron shall make an atonement upon the horns of it once in a year with the blood of the sin offering of atonements: once in the year shall he make atonement upon it throughout your generations: it is most holy unto the LORD.

And so we have this picture of what they call the “Altar of Incense,” and incense speaks very

very clearly of prayer and intercession. But it was in the Tabernacle of Moses which they built in the wilderness, later it was in Solomon’s temple and it was incorporated in various temples. A. THE TABERNACLE – PATTERN OF HEAVENLY THINGS

In the Tabernacle of Moses, David said this about it in…

Psalm 77:12-13 I will meditate also of all thy work, and talk of thy doings. Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary [or in the Tabernacle]: who is so great a God as our God?

If you want to understand God’s ways, you’ll find it in the Tabernacle. ‘Your way is in the

sanctuary [or in the Tabernacle]: who is so great a God as our God?’ Now what we have just thrown overhead for those of you who are not familiar with this, I don’t think we will get in on that way.

You’ve got the Tabernacle that was built by Moses. God gave him a pattern, Hebrews tells us

that it was a pattern of heavenly things; it was a pattern of heavenly things. It was a Brazen Altar, there was a fence around the outside of it, a Brazen Altar where they have animal sacrifices on. There was a laver in which they washed in, then they came into the tent proper. Now in the tent proper there was a pole up in the middle of it, there was a candlestick, candlestick here on the left hand side, 7-branch candlestick, the book of the Holy Spirit. Across the other side there was a Table with the Showbread. And so the candlestick cast slide on the table of show bread, the Word

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of God. But right here was the Altar of Incense, and behind it was this thick veil, and pasting through this veil was the Holiest of All which was the Ark of the Covenant.

Now most of you are familiar with that, the idea was to pass from the Outer Court to the Brazen Altar through salvation all the way in and there coming to the Holy Place. Now in the Holy Place there are lots of good things - there’s the candlestick, the anointing, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, there was the Table of Showbread – revelation on the Word of God - and it was a wonderful place in this which we all experience and the church has to pass through into that. But then there is an Altar of Incense, and the Altar of Incense bar the way to the Holy of Holies.

And to enter into the Holy of Holies where was the manifest presence of God, you had to go

with incense. There is no other way that you can get in; we will just leave that for a moment. And so understanding that to get into the Holiest of All, you have to pass the Altar of Incense. THE OUTER COURT

Now the Outer Court of this, which is basically the curtain hung around the outside the curtain of linen, and it measures 300 cubits by 5 high and 300 around which gives us 1500. Now the measurements of this are very, very important – it gave us 1500, and if we kind of translate that into years, we’ll understand something of the dimensions of this in God. There were 1500 years of Moses when he built it right through the Christ –the Outer Court.

The Outer Court 300 x 5 = 1500 years Moses to Christ

THE HOLY PLACE

Now we get into the Holy Place, and the measurements of the Holy Place were 10 cubits by 10 cubits by 20 which is 2000. And so we have another measurement in the Holy Place from the time of Christ to 2000 years to the end of this period in which we are in.

The Holy Place Anointing, Power, Revelation here

10 x 1 0 x 20 = 2000 Now we know that we are living in that 2000 year point because Jesus was born around 4 or 5

B.C, 5, 4, 6, somewhere in there. It’s very hard to accurately get down to that because of the change in the calendar and the lapses there. So it was around 4-5 BC It means that the birth of Jesus 2000 years had elapsed down to this present time. The measurements of the Holy Place were for 2000 years and the church has been kind of stuck in the Holy Place which is a good place, there is nothing wrong with it - FANTASTIC ANOINTING, POWER, REVELATION ON THE WORD OF GOD. THE HOLIEST OF ALL - the place that the church needs to go to

But there is another place that the church needs to go to, and that’s the Holiest of All. And the Holiest of All measures 10x10x10 which is a thousand, and speaks of the Millennium Reign of Christ which is for a thousand years.

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But before we step into the Millennium Reign of Christ, the church has to experience this

spiritually. And what was in the Holiest of All is fantastic – we have the Shekinah Glory, the manifest Presence of God.

The Holiest of All Shekinah Glory, the Manifest Presence of God here 10 x 10 x 10 = 1000

In the Old Testament the priest can only get in, the high priest can only get in once a year, and

he went in on the Day of Atonement, and he took the blood and sprinkled it, he took incense and went through the veil. Anyone who went there without that particular ritual, the Bible says they would die before the Lord. And so traditionally the Jews, they thought of everything, they thought that if this guy has a heart attack in there, how do we get him out? So they tied a rope around his leg and he went in literally with rope around his leg, because nobody else could get in there, and if something happened to him, they could always kind of pull him out. The Jewish people and Jewish tradition say that there is no gateway, it was a solid veil and the high priest just past through it, and that’s Jewish tradition.

But how many of you know that when Jesus was crucified, the Bible tells that in Matt. 27:51

51And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent. And so what happened when Jesus died, it was the unseen hand of God, of angel, whatever, just tore the veil from the top to the bottom. Now it was not some kind of flimsy little veil, it was 6 inches thick, you couldn’t just pull it through. But when they came in the next morning, you know, this is supernatural. It was clearly, prophetically stating that through the death and the resurrection of Jesus, He was opening a way for us.

So we understand that the Holy of Holies has been opened to us from the death of Jesus. And

occasionally now and again someone gets through in ministry or whatever into the Holiest of All. But as a general pattern the church has not experienced that, generally, the church has not gone through that, though it has always been available to us.

Now understanding this is quite interesting - the prophetic significance of these

measurements gives us insight to what God is saying to the church today. The Outer Court Signified Moses (The Law) to Jesus The Holy Place Jesus to the end of this Century, 2000 years The Holiest of All The Millennium Reign of Christ

Now we are living at the end of the Holy Place, prophetically in the time of the Lord. We’re

living at the end of that place. We’ve come through this 2000 years; we’ve come right through from here, we’ve come through the experience of salvation, all those experiences. We’ve come through into the baptism of the Holy Spirit and revelation. We’ve come through, we’re right at the end here, end of this 2000 years point.

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B. WHAT WAS AT THE END OF THE HOLY PLACE? .... THE ALTAR OF INCENSE

As we draw to the End of the Age, God is emphasizing the Altar of Incense which speaks of Prayer. There’s only one thing that stops the church, stops us getting in and that’s the Altar of Incense. It barred the way to the Holiest of All. You could not enter the Holiest of All WITHOUT FIRST PASTING THE ALTAR OF INCENSE AND BURNING INCENSE ON THAT ALTAR and taking it in with you. This is very, very significant, we need to grasp this.

WE ARE NOW LIVING AT THE TIME OF THE END OF THE

HOLY PLACE

Lev. 16:12 And he shall take a censer full of burning coals of fire from off the altar before the LORD, and his hands full of sweet incense beaten small, and bring it within the veil.

C. What Does Incense Speak of? PRAYER, INTERCESSION ... We know that incense speaks of prayer and intercession. There’s another angel in…

Rev. 8:3-4 And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel’s hand.

And the smoke of the incense which came with the prayers of the saints, it ascended out before God out of the angels’ hand.

As we draw to the end of the age, God is emphasizing the ‘ALTAR OF INCENSE’ in order to help facilitate the ingathering of THE HARVEST. INTERCESSION IS REQUIRED for this to happen. That is why God has been mobilizing huge Prayer Movements all over the world, because the church has come to the end of the Holy Place. And at the end of this 2000 years point from the birth of Christ, the church has come to that place and God says, ’Ok, but this generation I’m going to open up the Holiest of All, the power of the Holiest of All to this generation. But you cannot get into it, you cannot break through into this UNLESS YOU BUILD AN ALTAR OF INCENSE IN YOUR LIFE, IN OUR CHURCHES, in our experience.’ And I’m talking figuratively of course. But it’s important to understand that unless we established within our lives an Altar of Incense, see there are myriads of books coming out - warfare and prayer, possessing the gates of the city - they are all saying the same thing. God is emphasizing something because He wants us to come to the Altar of Incense through the veil.

I want to tell the anointing and power that is on the other side of that veil, we have not yet

touched. We get touches of it now and again. But God is about to open up to this generation the

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Holiest of All and this generation needs it. And He’s going to open it up, but it comes through the Altar of Incense which speaks of PRAYER, Intercession, there is no other way through that.

So what God is saying is ‘Okay, if you’re going to be what God wants you to be in this generation, YOU HAVE GOT TO ESTABLISH AN ALTAR OF INCENSE IN YOUR EXPERIENCE. You have to build it in your experience, and it’s got to be an important area.’ And it’s got to be the thing which we talked about last week - present truth - what is present truth? Being established in present truth in the Altar of Incense and it’s not just for intercessors. Intercessors have a spiritual, special calling, but you see the church has to build this Altar of Incense, and if we don’t, we cannot step into the next phase. That was the way through into that next phase. And so it’s interesting. At the end of the Holy Place is the Altar of Incense, it opens this generation to the Holy of Holies thru PRAYER.

C. INGREDIENTS REQUIRED TO MAKE UP THE INCENSE

Let’s just look at certain ingredients that are required to make up the incense and they were given specific instructions on how to make this incense so they could burn it and so on. Nothing is by chance in the Word of God, and so we need to look at what went it, what were the ingredients of this incense? We look at…

Exo. 30: 34-36 - 34And the LORD said unto Moses, Take unto thee sweet spices, STACTE, and ONYCHA, and GALBANUM; these sweet spices with PURE FRANKINCENSE: of each shall there be a like weight: 35And thou shalt make it a perfume, a confection after the art of the apothecary, tempered together, pure and holy: 36And thou shalt beat some of it very small, and put of it before the testimony in the Tabernacle of the congregation, where I will meet with thee: it shall be unto you most holy.

1. STACTE

Incense was made of the following stacte – this was made from a tree, it was a gum which came from a tree and the word means ‘TO DROP OR TO DISTILL.’ And they would cut, the tree was not cut, the gum would just flow. How many of you know here in the bush sometimes, when you see some trees that are not cut, but there is gum flowing down them? But nobody cut them, it was similar to that. It means that the tree wasn’t cut, but the gum flowed out freely.

It was one of the ingredients of incense, of intercession and it is often speaks of FREE-

FLOWING PROPHETIC PRAYING, an anointed flow of words in prophetic praying. It was free-flowing, it wasn’t cut, it just came. It is like an anointing which comes upon us. You see, to pray what God wants us to pray requires an anointing, and part of intercession is an anointing. This word “stacte,” just to drop or to distill it, the Holy Spirit just distills on you, just drops on you. And it wasn’t cut and it flowed freely. And the key thing is that it flowed freely, and it speaks of that prophetic flow in prayer. 2. ONYCHA

The onycha was made from a shellfish which was ground and then cut small, but it’s got its fragrance, because this is a fragrant thing, so it got its fragrance from a plant it fed on, a particular plant which its fragrance came from. And then they would dry it, powder it and it became part of the incense. And this ingredient of intercession derives from what you feed on.

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Intercession is based on what we feed upon, based on the redemptive promises of God

Intercessors take their flavor from the WORD OF GOD, what you feed on. Intercession was always based on the redemptive promises of God’s Word. You have to know the redemptive promises of God’s Word. One of the redemptive promises of God’s Word is in…

2 Peter 3:9 9The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

How many you know that that was a redemptive promise? There are certain doctrines which

would cut across that - doctrines of election or selections - but it is God’s will that everyone you know to be saved. That is a redemptive promise which you can take hold of before God and bring it to pass. And a little later when we look at the redemptive promises for salvation, we are not just individual, they were corporate. There are many, many redemptive promises which included whole tribes, definitely included whole families. Very interesting to look at that one person can stand for the whole family and sometimes we are on a situation where the headman of the tribe received the gospel and that’s it, he receives it for the whole tribe and they become Christians. It’s interesting to kind of understand and it definitely applies in your family, situations in your family tree – definitely applies. God is not willing that any should perish, 1Tim. 2:4 4Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.

Intercession is based on what we feed upon, based on the redemptive promises of God. If you

know the redemptive promises of God’s Word, you can base your intercession in it. This ingredient of incense derived that particular aspect from what it fed upon. You’ve got to feed, you’ve got to know the Word of God, you’ve got to know what God has through Calvary already purchased for us. All prayers is based in that, it’s based in what has already been accomplished in God.

3. GALBANUM

The galbanum – it was made from a gum of a light shrub and the stem of the shrub had to be broken before the gum flowed out. And when the gum flowed out it was it was bitten small, it was dried up, it became part of the ingredients for the incense, very sweet but the stem of the shrub had to be broken.

One of the key things for intercessors is BROKENNESS, the stem has to be broken.

Brokenness in intercession, compastion, deep feelings are necessary – you’ve got to feel what God feels, and that requires brokenness, a deep compastion and a brokenness within our lives. There has to be a kind of sense of brokenness for this generation. If we want to reach this generation, there’s got to be a people who feel for this generation. There has to be brokenness in the heart for this generation for this kind of thing to flow.

Brokenness is very, very important. When we’re talking about brokenness, we’re talking

about the surrender of our lives, the brokenness of our lives, nothing else matters, but that we work with God to reach this generation – there’s a brokenness over. It has deep, deep feelings, it touches the emotions, it touches the heart.

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There is a cost for intercessors to pay in time - COMMITMENT AND AVAILABILITY TO

GOD. That’s going to cause you your life, time, commitment and availability to God. 4. FRANKINCENSE

Quickly moving on frankincense, this was taken deep from within a tree, very, very deep incision was made into the tree and it had to be made in order to extract the frankincense from deep within the tree.

Now frankincense in the Word of God is always a picture or a type of FAITH. The seventh

fruit of the spirit in the Song of Solomon was frankincense. The seventh fruit of the spirit in Galatians 5 is faith. So you’re going to look into the scriptures during the week sometime. And so frankincense of faith is always required. We’ll talk about faith a little later.

But these are some of the things that the ingredients, the incense was then placed in the fire.

As the fires touched it, a cloud would ascend unto heaven and before the throne of God. The fire of God, it’s got to burn in your heart as intercessors. You’ve got to feel what God feels, speak as God speaks, do as God does, but you particularly got to feel as God feels. From the ingredients we see that intercession is close to the heart of one who is immersed in God’s word, who knows the redemptive promises of God’s Word, out of a broken heart for mankind comes a free–flowing prophetic flow of words, touched by deep inner faith and you become workers together with God to accomplish that which is on His heart.

The ingredients are important, faith is important, but the feeling aspect is important. You know, something in our service here on Sunday afternoon, something happened halfway through the service when I went to pray for someone. Suddenly I began to feel something which I’ve never felt before, and it was so powerful I could hardly walk. It was so powerful, it was so strong I just couldn’t handle it. What is this? I couldn’t even begin to describe it and I’ve been praying for people, and I was just stepping back into that platform. Then it just hit – and the Lord said, ‘You’re feeling the soul of a nation or the soul of the city.’ I want to tell you it wasn’t very nice. It’s like the whole anguish of the city and the people of the city and what it represents suddenly hit me, and the feeling was so, so intense – I thought there is absolutely no way that I can preach now unless God lifts this off me. It was so intense, suddenly it was like the soul of a city, the soul of a nation had become one with me. And the anguish of that city, suddenly it was so strong in my heart, in my emotions that I couldn’t handle it, it was so strong. We’ve got to build an Altar of Incense and go through the veil in behalf of this generation

This is the kind of thing we’re talking about - broken heart – that’s when intercession starts. That’s where birthing, that’s where travails starts – for nations, individuals, for cities, circumstances. And I believe that God was just giving us a kind of an insider where He wants us to go and how this thing is going to be done, we become workers together with Him and as we sync as what God feels about the situation, we’re going to feel very, very deeply.

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GOD WANTS TO OPEN THE HOLIEST OF ALL TO THIS HURTING GENERATION God wants us through that kind of intercession to open the way through the Altar of Incense

and open the way into the Holiest of All for this generation. The power of the Holiest of All is far greater than the power in the Holy Place. The power of the Feast of the Tabernacles was far greater than the Feast of the Pentecost. You see, God wants to take us into that place, and we’ve got to build an Altar of Incense and go through the veil in behalf of this generation. If you don’t go through the veil in behalf of this generation, this generation will not be reached. That’s the key element, you see, of Intercession. We’ve got to get through to God through the veil on behalf of this generation. You’ve got to be disciplined enough and available to God if we’re going to build an Altar of Incense

And you have to be DISCIPLINED ENOUGH to establish an Altar of Incense. What we are talking about here is giving quality time, prime time to this. Quality time, it’s not just on a year we should pray, understanding the importance of prayer – you’ve got to have discipline in your life to give quality time to God to build the Altar of Incense. Also on the top of that, you’ve got to be AVAILABLE TO GOD, because outside of that God is going to call you aside, anytime day or night for you to pray. And you’ve got to be willing for that kind, that level of sacrifice to operate in your life, because it doesn’t just come. We don’t come in our convenience, but to come at His convenience. His convenience is different to our convenience. I have always found out that if I’m, quite often I’m going to be doing something and it’s important to me and I find that the Spirit of the Lord comes upon me and I find God is saying, ‘Pull yourself aside.’ And I say like, ‘I need to do this.’ ‘Pull yourself aside.’ Whenever I have done that and made any sacrifice, the rewards have been far greater than anything I sacrificed. You see, it‘s really, really important that God always really rewards sacrifice. When He says, ‘Pull aside and pray,’ it’s very important. And if you don’t He’ll find someone else, but the thing is it was for you. It might be in the middle of the night, might be during the day – and you‘ve got to think God, ‘Okay God, I’ll pull myself aside.’ And when you do that, that kind of availability, that kind of commitment, that kind of consecration to God has to be established in our lives if we’re going to build this altar, because it can come anytime, day and night. It is important.

EXAMPLES OF INTERCESSION

Num 16:44-50 44And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 45Get you up from among this congregation, that I may consume them as in a moment. And they fell upon their faces. 46And Moses said unto Aaron, Take a censer, and put fire therein from off the altar, and put on incense, and go quickly unto the congregation, and make an atonement for them: for there is wrath gone out from the LORD; the plague is begun. 47And Aaron took as Moses commanded, and ran into the midst of the congregation; and, behold, the plague was begun among the people: and he put on incense, and made an atonement for the people. 48And he stood between the dead and the living; and the plague was stayed. 49Now they that died in the plague were fourteen thousand and seven hundred, beside them that died about the matter of Korah. 50And Aaron returned unto Moses unto the door of the Tabernacle of the congregation: and the plague was stayed.

This is a classic example of intercession - the judgment of God had already began, a lot of

people had died, thousands of people were already dead. It was like the plague was coming to the

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whole camp, and as it came to the camp, people just dropped dead as it came through. And Moses said to Aaron, “Aaron, get some incense, get in there, get some towel, get some incense, put in the censer, and get out there and stand between the dead and the living.’ Now how many you know that took courage? It was coming, they were dropping dead as it came across, and he said, ‘You stand there with this incense.’ You have to imagine he was standing there, watching it to come and everybody was dropping dead in front of him. But it comes out to him and it stops, and the people behind, their lives were spared. Thousands were dying, Moses intervened, Aaron took the incense.

Aaron took incense and stood between the living and the dead.

Aaron took incense and came between the judgment of God and the plague. THAT IS

INTERCESSION. He came between the judgment of God, that came between the plague and the people. That is intercession, HE CAME BETWEEN.

IT IS INTERCESSORS THAT WILL STOP THE PLAGUE. Intercessors have to stand

between God and the sinner in order to avert God’s judgment. Moses interceded even for enemies, even prayed, ‘Blot out my name out of the Book of Life.’

Interceding for the Lost

INTERCESSORS ARE THE MAIN HARVEST TOOL.

Prayer force of today have something to do

with the HARVEST, it is of tremendous importance.

THE REDEMPTIVE PURPOSE OF GOD IS

FOR ALL MEN TO BE SAVED, this needs intercession to happen.

How many of you know that if you don’t came in between the people that are dying out there, they will be lost, they will end up in hell. There is a plague out there and it is sweeping across the nations, sweeping across these generations of young people. It is a plague, and unless people get out there with the censer and stand between the dead and the living and stop it, it will not be stopped. This is a classic picture of intercession.

Intercessors have to stand between God and the sinners in order to avert God’s judgment on

them. And if the intercessors do not rise up in this, then Jer. 18:20 will be fulfilled where it says that ‘The harvest have pasted, summer is ended, and we are not saved.’ You read it, harvest has pasted, summer has ended but we are not saved. And it’s really; really important, I want this to get this across to you. It is the intercessors that will stop the plague, it’s the intercessors that stand between the dead and the living, it’s intercessors that stand in front of that plague and say ‘No, these people are going to be saved and come into Your Kingdom. That plague is not coming near them.’

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And God’s purpose is to reach this city and bring multitude into the kingdom of God. But the sin, the plague and the judgment of God is upon everyone that is unsaved out there, and if they die in their sins, it is too late. And that plague is sweeping across and only people who will take in censers, stand between will make the difference.

That’s why there’s a real increase of the concept and the understanding of prayer and THE

PRAYER FORCE TODAY HAS TO DO WITH THE HARVEST. You get enough people standing out there with incense, it will be stopped, and the grace of God will come in, and multitudes will be saved and the plague won’t touch them. Now if we understand that, if we understand the tremendous importance of intercession, you’ve got to stand. You’ve got unsaved kids in the family, you’ve got to stand between them and the judgment of God. You’ve got to stop the judgment of God coming on them. They deserve the judgment of God legally, but the redemptive promise is that they should be saved. That’s God’s will, that’s God’s purpose, that’s the redemptive promise, and you get out there and you stand between the judgment, the wrath of God that is due to be upon them, and you stand in the gap and you stop it happening. You see, the Lord said, ‘I look for a person to stand in the gap and I couldn’t find anyone. Therefore judgment came because no one is standing in the gap.’

Now it’s really, really important that you understand this. It is God’s will for those people

around you to be saved. And you have within your grasp the tools to release them into the Kingdom of God. That is not hard and it is God’s will and as intercessors, you’ve got to stop that plague. You’ve got to stop that judgment. Stopping the judgment of God

You see, in South Africa when the whole situation with the “apartheid” was coming to a head and there was a planned coup, the bloodshed that was planned for South Africa was unbelievable, what the enemy, the Kingdom of darkness had planned was civil war in South Africa. And everything pointed to it could not be averted until the church through the entire nation put everything aside and began to pray. Nothing else mattered - they prayed and they prayed and they prayed and they prayed. And that which the enemy had purposed for South Africa was averted. But it came on Rwanda, the same spirits that were planning for the incredible civil war and bloodshed in South Africa. The people [in South Africa] came in between and stopped it and the spirit moved over to Rwanda. You saw the slaughter in Rwanda? You know what happened to Rwanda? It’s unbelievable – the civil war that happened out there, and the bloodshed was terrible. That was initially planned in the spirit realm for South Africa, but the church stood in the gap to stop the plague and it didn’t come about, and that’s what makes the difference in a nation. Enough people were able to do that and just kind of stand there and stop it from happening. Stand between the judgment of God and the people in whom the judgment is due, you stop the judgment of God coming upon their lives.

Sometimes you’ll find in the levels of intercession that people are deserving of the judgment of

God for the things they have done. Even for the things that are done against you and you as an intercessor come in between and stop it happening. And that is one of the highest forms of intercession, because it is very easy to stand back and think, ‘Well you know, you did this, and you did this, and you did this to us. You know you are in the hands of God.’ See Israel was guilty when Moses said ‘Get out there.’ And God said ‘I’m going to destroy them,’ and he said ‘If you’ll destroy them, you

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can take my name out of the Book of Life.’ And they were his enemies, they were rising up against him. See the heart of an intercessor? STOPPING THE JUDGMENT OF GOD.

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Lesson 3

Enough Salt for the City

If we understand that - enough salt for the city - it’s exciting. I. GOD DOES NOT NEED A LOT OF PEOPLE GIDEON HAD ONLY 300 MEN.

God does not need a lot of people, but He does need certain kinds of people. Gideon had only 300 men - he started with 32,000 and reduced them to 300 so that no man would get the credit.

ENOCH WALKED WITH GOD 300 YEARS, Gen. 5:22.

300 is an interesting number. When you look at numerology in the Bible, you’ll find that 300 is the number of a faithful godly remnant that will stand in the gap. How many of you know that God is raising up a Gideon’s band today who’ll be a faithful, godly remnant who will stand in the gap just like them, who’ll stand in the gap and make the difference.

IT WILL BE A FAITHFUL GODLY REMNANT THAT WILL GET THE JOB DONE.

There will be a faithful, godly remnant that will get the job done.

JESUS TRAINED ONLY 12 MEN AND LATER SENT OUT ONLY 70.

Jesus trained only 12 men, but later sent out 70. It didn’t take a lot. Gideon didn’t take a lot, just a godly faithful remnant.

You’ll find where there has been the judgment of God that has been spared in any city at any

circumstance, there had been some people who had stood in the gap to stop it. Unseen, nobody might know about them, but they stopped it. They stood in the gap and averted that judgment happening. And it just takes a few faithful and godly remnant. There has to be enough salt.

II. THERE HAS TO BE ENOUGH SALT A. Jesus referred to the function of man as Salt – we are the Salt of the Earth

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Matt. 5:13, 13Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.

Jesus referred to the function of man on the earth as Salt - YOU ARE THE SALT OF THE

EARTH. But what happens if that salt loses its savor? Good for nothing, it’s cast out, what happens? It’s trodden underfoot of ungodly men. When a church is trodden underfoot of godly men, it’s because the salt has lost its savor. We need to think about that.

When the Jews were selling salt, salt was a very precious commodity and they used it for a lot

of things. But when they were selling it, they’d mix it with earth to make it go further. But if they overdid it, it lost its whole savor, and they had to throw it out onto the street and it was trodden underfoot of men. But they had an act of mixing them, just enough, so they could get more money, just make it go a bit further. But quite often they overdid it – they had too much earth in it. And this is what Jesus is referring to and talking about. B. Salt had two purposes in the days of Jesus: 1. FLAVOR 2. AS A PRESERVATIVE

Flavor and a preservative. So we have to look at it from that context because this is what Jesus was talking about.

Job 6:6 Can that which is unsavoury be eaten without salt? Or is there any taste in the white of an egg?

It’s a rhetorical question. The implication is the need for salt for flavor. It makes the difference in food, whether it is pleasant or unpleasant. Without Christians who are salt in the earth, there is nothing that makes the earth acceptable to God - their presence commends the earth to God‘s grace and mercy.

Without Christians who are salt in the earth, There is nothing that makes the earth

acceptable to God

Now the Bible says, Christians, you and I, the church give flavor to the earth. Their presence makes the earth acceptable to God. Their presence commends the earth to God‘s grace and mercy. You are the salt of the earth. He’s talking about a preservative, preserving the earth from the judgment of God. You are the salt of the earth, but if the church loses its savor, it’s too late. Without Christians who are salt in the earth, there is nothing that makes the earth acceptable to God. Their presence commends the earth to God‘s grace and mercy. Because there are true intercessors in the earth, the Lord continues to deal with the earth in grace and mercy. That’s the point of this. When the church is finally taken up in the rapture, only then can the wrath of God be

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poured out because the salt is gone. But as long as there’s the salt in the earth, God continues to deal with the earth in grace and mercy.

IF THERE IS NOT ENOUGH SALT IN THE CITY, THE JUDGMENT OF GOD COMES. This

is really important. Intercessors are the salt, they make the difference. It just requires a few intercessors who are the salt to make the difference in any one given situation, and God sees there is salt. The wrath of God, the judgment of God does not come while there is still salt on the earth. Only when the church is taken out can the wrath of God be poured out. I still believe the church is going to get through the Tribulation. We’re not talking about the tribulation, we’re talking about the wrath of God - two different things. The wrath of God which destroys everything will not come until the church has been taken out. I do firmly believe that the church will go through the tribulation, I believe that is really scriptural, and we’re going to shine in that period of time. Hallelujah, the Sons of God are going to come into their own. But that’s another story, an exciting one.

III. ABRAHAM’S INTERCESSION FOR SODOM & GOMORRAH This principle is brought out in the destruction of Sodom. Read Genesis 18.

Gen. 18:20-24, 20And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; 21I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know. 22And the men turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the LORD. 23And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? 24Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein?

And we know the story, he goes all the way through this, he comes all the way down from 50,

‘If there were 20 people, if there were 10 people, I won’t destroy it.’ But there wasn’t still enough salt in that city.

GOD WORKS ACCORDING TO DIVINE PRINCIPLES. In verse 21, 21I will go down now, and see

whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me. In other words, there was a cry that had come out of Sodom and Gomorrah and ascended unto God. And that cry was evil, and He said, “Yes, I’m going to get down and have a look at the situation.” He said, “I can’t believe this cry coming out from Sodom and Gomorrah, I go down and see whether what they have done is true, because this cry has come up before me.’ There is a principle - when the cry of the intercessors exceeds that of the cry of the wicked coming up before God, change occurs. The two cries are reaching up before God, one can bring judgment. That’s why he said ‘The cries came up from Sodom and Gomorrah. I’m going to judge this place.’

How many of you know that the sins that were committed in Sodom and Gomorrah are

happening in all of our major cities today? And that cry has come up before God, and the only thing that can save them is another cry. This story here is a story of intercession. And Abraham said, ‘You can’t do that God, You can’t do it, You can’t do it.’ Abraham was standing in between, but there was not enough salt to save Sodom and Gomorrah, there was not enough.

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This story is classic on what we are talking about, because we find in Gen. 19:26 26But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a PILLAR OF SALT.’ When judgment came, Lot’s wife was turned into a pillar of salt as a mute testimony to the fact that THERE WAS NOT ENOUGH SALT IN THAT CITY to save it.

Is there enough salt (Intercession) in your family to save it? Is there enough salt in this city to

save it? Is there enough salt in the nation to save it? We’re talking about divine principles that were laid out for us through the Word of God.

Is there enough salt? People are unsaved. Is there enough salt for people in my family? If

they die, they are going to hell? Is there enough salt to save them? Is there enough salt for God to commend His grace towards them? Two cries go up. When the cry of the righteous exceeds the cry of the wicked, then judgment is averted. We need to understand this. You see, God works according to principles and He is just and He knows what He is doing. And the judgment came upon Lot’s wife and she turned into a pillar of salt because its testimony was there was not enough salt for those two cities.

THE INTERCESSORS MAKE THE DIFFERENCE IN THE LIFE OF A PERSON, A FAMILY, A CHURCH, A NATION

The intercessors make the difference - they make the difference in the church, they make the

difference in the city, they make the difference in a pastor’s life and ministry, they make the difference in every area of life.

PROTECTION IS NOT AUTOMATIC - PEOPLE DIE WHEN THERE IS NOT ENOUGH COVER

I want to tell you now, if Peter Wagner had not have certain intercessors with him, he

wouldn’t be alive today. It’s as simple as that. You will not be alive, you will not have survived because the nature of the attack of the enemy can be so great. You say, ‘Well, God will not let that happen.’ People die when there is not enough cover. I know it, I’ve seen it, I’ve buried some of them. They died and they were good people, because there was not enough cover. You say ‘God will not let that happen.’ Oh yes, He does. He works according to principles and we’ve got to understand that PROTECTION IS NOT AUTOMATIC. If we think protection is automatic, we’re in for big trouble. You see, He does nothing in the earth except through his people, the church. Sodom and Gomorrah, there was just not enough to save the day. CONCLUSION:

The PRIME MINISTRY of the church must be PRAYER. The prime function, the prime

ministry of any church should be that of prayer. It will make a difference, according to the prayer life of the church.

THE CHURCH MUST BE A ‘HOUSE OF PRAYER FOR ALL NATIONS,’ Jesus said. ”My house

shall be called a house of prayer.’ And then what did He say? For all nations, House of Prayer for all nations? Why did He say that? Because it’s the church as a House of Prayer that is going to save the nations. As pastors, we’ve got to ask what is the church doing? All of these activities, but

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HOW MUCH PRAYER? That’s what makes the difference. You can’t breathe in once and breathe out twice. There’s not enough prayer to cover what you are doing, what you’re doing is not sufficient in God to meet the need if it isn’t backed by the equivalent in prayer.

And God has been challenging me about this. You know, it’s very very hard to change churches, because if we say ‘Well, we’re going to have prayer, at least 50% of all church activities must be PRAYER,’ whooohh, we’re going to make some changes. BUT IT WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE.

BUILDING AN ALTAR OF INCENSE IN THE CHURCH is of prime importance at this time

to go through the veil to meet the needs of this generation. And if there’s not enough salt, not enough salt...

Neville Johnson almost lost his life, not because he was doing something wrong, but because there was NOT ENOUGH COVER thru prayer. Leaders face hordes of enemies.

I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve almost lost my life because I did not have enough cover. I came that close to losing my life. And it’s not because I was doing something wrong, I was just not covered enough into the kind of territory we were getting into. When we first started in the spiritual warfare in the 70’s, we didn’t know much. But we’re into spiritual warfare, I tell you, I nearly lost my life so many times, sometimes within just seconds, it was so unbelievable. And ‘God, I am backing out on this, it’s just too dangerous.’

It’s important to understand this. You could pray for your pastors or pray for people who are

over you because the forces of darkness that are raging against them are enormous. Quite often pastors become casualties of war not because they were doing anything wrong, but because they were not covered and they were taken out of the race. Sometimes I get to the point, “God, this is just too much.’ And when I can’t cope anymore, I get down before the Lord and say, “ I don’t know who they are or where they are, but round the world get people to pray. They don’t have to know it’s me, but get them to pray,’ and within say 10 hours change comes, every time. And there will be people praying in other nations. They’ll be praying in the spirit not knowing what they’re praying for, but some of it was for me. When I’m desperate I get to that and say “God, I’m not going to make it unless you raise up the intercessors. There’s not enough salt right now to get through.’

It’s really important to understand this because as we go on and begin to take the city, there is

going to be one almighty clash. Don’t you believe that the enemies of God are not going to take it sitting down? They are not, they are already marshalling their forces and a design plan to stop it happening. So we‘ve got to understand, THERE’S GOT TO BE ENOUGH SALT TO COVER.

Ten righteous people should have been enough to stop the judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah, BUT there were no ten - NOT ENOUGH SALT.

And if there’s just ten in Sodom and Gomorrah, the judgment of God would have been

averted, just ten intercessor who stood in between, what God was going to do in that city, the judgment of God, just ten of them would have stopped that. Ain’t that incredible? I mean just ten of them would have stopped it, just ten, that wouldn’t have happened, the cities would not have been destroyed.

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We need trained intercessors who know how to work with God

The church train intercessors who know how to walk with God because they are on the

cutting edge. And it s not what you see up front, it’s what is behind the scenes that decides the day and it always rests with the intercessors. And if they are not there, if they are not in place, it doesn’t go well.

We have come to the end of this 2000 year period and we’re standing at the Altar of Incense,

and God was saying ‘If you build this, I’ll take you through into the Holiest of All. And out of that there is going to come the Shekinah Glory, the manifest presence of God which this generation needs. And as we break into the Holiest of All and experience, we breakthrough into the tangible realm of that experience in the Holiest of All, only there can we find the power and the anointing which will be necessary to meet this generation. God is going to take the church up into a whole different level to reach this generation. THE BATTLE IS HEATING UP! We need to know what is happening in the Spirit Realm - enemy, witches coven are happening

We see there are things happening, things are taking place, things are hotting up in the spirit around the world. It’s like birth pangs are happening, like when a woman is giving birth, right at the beginning the birth pangs are wide, few, far in between. But as it gets closer to the birth, they come more quickly and more intense. How many of you know that right now in the realm of the spirit, its coming more quickly and more intense? The intensity in the Spirit Realm is accelerating. There’s no more years and years between moves of God’s Spirit. It’s coming one on top the other now, all are overlapping. It’s like the intensity is picking up because God wants to birth something in the church. It’s almost there to be birthed for this generation.

And if we understand it and if we can flow with it, take our place, our rightful place in this,

intercessors, work with God in prayer and intercession to bring to pass the purposes of God. And if they are not in place, it will not happen, and THE CHURCH WILL BE WIPED OUT IF THEY’RE NOT IN PLACE. And you look to churches being wiped out? Intercessors were not there.

It’s really really really important because THE BATTLE IS HEATING UP. I tell you, the battle

is heating up. The occult world knows what is happening and you cannot just ignore it, and say, “I’ll just keep my eyes on Jesus.” Well it says ‘Don’t be ignorant of his devices,’ understand what the enemy is up so you can cut him off. If you’re ignorant of his devices, you’re going to be in big trouble in these days. You’ve got to know, you’ve got to have some understanding. We’ve got to have some intelligence of what’s happening out there.

I want to tell you, there are now covens gathering together with specific purposes against

pastors and churches. And they’re not just praying from single covens. Now they’re getting five or six, seven covens and targeting individual pastors. There is a war going on out there. They know it more that the church knows, the danger of what’s happening to the church today. And they’re going to fight, they’re going to use all of their devices against the church.

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But if the intercessors are in place, they will not prevail. They will insist on the redemptive purposes of God and stand. And the church will come through, I believe it with all my heart.

WITH INTERCESSORS, THE ENEMIES WILL NOT PREVAIL,

AND THE CHURCH WILL COME THROUGH!

Let’s pray. Father I pray today in Jesus’ name that we might grasp by the Spirit the importance of this. Lord, this is not just another interesting teaching. But Lord let’s grasp the significance, how strategic it is, how important it is in this hour for our individual lives, for our families, for our churches and for the city.

Lord let there be enough salt to save the city. Lord in Jesus’ name, I pray Lord that you’ll just touch the

hearts of people in such a way that lives would be surrendered, people would take their place as watchmen who take their place and stand in the gap and avert the plague that is coming across the city and in the nations of the world and stand in between those who are already dead and the living and say, “Enough is enough. God, this is your city, these people, Your people are going to be one in your kingdom and the plague is stayed because of a godly remnant who took their place and said ‘We will stand between the people and the judgment of God and the plague coming upon them.’” Father, I pray today in Jesus’ name, in Jesus’ name, by the Spirit of the Lord that you bring us in such a way that it will change our lives, change our lives Lord, change our lives. And we ask it in Jesus’ name, Amen.

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Lesson 4

The Watchman Ministry

INTERCESSORY PRAYER – THE WATCHMAN MINISTRY. The subject of Intercessory

Prayer is one of the most profound and far reaching realities of our day. It opens to us the most effective weapon we have today in our battle against the powers of darkness. If you learn the lessons and principles of these studies and begin to put them into practice you will become a real threat to the enemy.

GOD IS GATHERING A COMPANY OF PEOPLE WHO WILL BE ON THE CUTTING EDGE

AND AT THE FOREFRONT OF WHAT HE IS DOING TODAY. I. WE NEED WATCHMEN

We need to move ahead of the enemy – that is why WE NEED WATCHMEN. Most of you are familiar with Ezek. 3:17,

Ezek. 3: 17 Son of man, I have made thee a Watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me. Ezek. 33:7 So thou, 0 son of man, I have set thee a Watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me.

A Watchman - one of the functions of intercessory ministry is to function as a Watchman. In order to be a Watchman, you got to be ahead of the enemy, too late once the horse has bolted. You’ve got to, as a Watchman, PICK UP IN THE SPIRIT WHAT IS COMING and AVERT IT WITH YOUR INTERCESSION. That’s the Watchman Ministry. Whatever POSITION God has put you in, you hold the GATEWAY to That Position

In the process of that, there is a principle that when you hold any position in God, I’m not talking about self-appointed positions but you have a position in God, say Sunday School teacher, an appointed intercessor for a certain thing, a pastor, whatever position you have in God, YOU HOLD THE GATEWAY TO THAT POSITION. You are responsible for the door.

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Jesus talked about, “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.” John 10:9 He also used the same kind of language about the shepherd of the door. And what used to happen is that the shepherd would take the sheep at night, he would put them into a stone-walled corral which has a high stone wall and he would sleep over the door. The doorway wouldn’t have a door on it, it’s just that they were made right through the fields and at night he would bring them back in. They would sleep across the doorway so that if anything comes to get into the sheep, it has to first get past him.

I have noticed through the years that this is a very very important principle - WHATEVER

POSITION YOU HOLD, YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE DOOR. If it gets past you, it gets to the rest of the flock. That gives us a concept of a Watchman. Intercessors hold that kind of a position as Watchman

Intercessors also hold that kind of position as Watchman and the gates past the intercessors,

you will be in trouble. Intercessors – you are the WATCHMAN - PICK UP IN THE SPIRIT WHAT IS COMING. You will be the first one to be hit before the group you are looking after as a Watchman. Once it gets past the Watchman, it affects the people. And it is really really important. If anything get past the Youth Leader, it will get into the whole Youth Department. And so he sits there at the door, he stays there as a Watchman at that door. And if it gets past him…

Quite often, an intercessor or a Watchman would pick up what is coming, they will FEEL THE

SYMPTOMS OF THAT THING. For instance, let me give you a classic example, if say there is an unclean spirit trying to get into the youth group, who’s going to be the first one that is going to be hit by that? The Youth Leader, he’s going to wonder what’s happening to him. But he’s running into that spirit. If he doesn’t…if it gets past him, it will get into the Young People. So you’ll stand there as a Watchman. Or if a spirit of division or whatever, if it is seeking to get in or come in, it has got to pass you first. If it gets past you, it’s in. And IT’S MUCH HARDER TO GET IT OUT, ONCE IT’S IN.

So what we’re talking about this concept as watchmen, and when intercessors are appointed

to be intercessors for a pastor or whatever thing, we’re looking at there are levels of intercession, but those intercessors have their hands full, because WHAT’S GOING TO COME AGAINST THAT PASTOR IS GOING TO HIT THEM, and they stand as Watchmen. It sounds great, but I’ve been an intercessor and it’s not that glamorous. Believe me, it is hard work and it is dangerous, and we need to understand that, we need to appreciate that. And quite often I’m aware of things which are seeking the end of the church and it hits me. And I think, ‘Ohhh, what’s this?’ I’ve got to make sure and deal with it. If I’m having trouble dealing with it, I’ll call a Warfare Meeting - an Intercessory Praise Warfare Meeting to deal with it. But it mustn’t get past me, because once it gets past me, it starts infecting the people. And this is a basic principle that we need to understand, the Watchmen Ministry. The Watchmen Ministry

‘I have set thee a Watchman unto the house of Israel.’ We are to watch and ‘to watch’ means TO SEE, TO BE AWARE OF WHAT’S HAPPENING. IT MEANS WE HAVE TO BE AWARE AHEAD OF TIME WHAT THE ENEMY IS SEEKING TO DO. The first symptom ahead of time quite often is

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that you begin to feel the emotion of that spirit, the intent of that spirit in your own emotions and feelings. And usually that’s an early warning sign, ‘Ohhh, what is this?’ And so it’s important that we understand how this principle works.

This next study is we’re going to start to understand the basics of intercession. But if you keep

this in the back of your mind, what you’re learning is that you can take your position in God and stay at your post. And if you remain at your post as a Watchman, that’s what God requires of us. And it’s hazardous, it’s dangerous and it takes time and commitment and effort, because once you’ve locked into a conflict with something that is seeking to come against the church or the pastor, you’ve got to see it through. It might take a few weeks to see it through, but you can’t just let it go. And so the Watchman would stand in the walls, surrounding the city and watch for the enemy. And so that is the picture. And so, when we’re dealing with Intercessor Prayer, we’re talking about that whole area. Moving you up into the greater purposes of God and that which He is calling you to

Now the thing is, in God, what we need to understand is GOD IS NO RESPECTER OF PERSON, and secondly, God doesn’t have any favorites, but HE DOES HAVE THOSE WHO FIND FAVOR WITH GOD. God doesn’t have favorites, but He does find people who find favor with God. Now there’s a difference, and you need to always set your sights for something higher in God for yourself, greater in God. Never settle for the way you are. Through this course God might even enlarge in your heart something in God, there must be something imparted by the spirit of God and we want to believe for that to happen so that there’s an impartation of giftings and callings taking you one to another level in God, moving you up into the greater purposes of God and that which He is calling you to.

Earnest pursuit of God and His ways is important. God reveals things to people who are

hungry, determined and one hundred percent involved with God. It’s like there comes seasons in God when things are up for grabs. There comes a time when God is saying, ‘I’m going to release these gifting, these ministries, these things into the church,’ and you have to be able to get hold of it and say ‘Yes God, I’m going to go with that,’ and God takes you higher. And there comes periods of time when God opens it up again. It’s like we remain on a plateau and God says, ‘I’m going to open something greater.’ Those who press into it will move into it. But it takes a pressing into and a determination to say, ‘Hey, I’m not going to be satisfied with where I am, I’m going to be moving into something greater in God.’ And as you do that, then God takes you into something greater. And that is true in every sphere of our Christian life and I trust that you have that heart.

There will be those who will dare to take God at His word and cross the spiritual deserts of

our time, finding their way through to God’s answer for this generation. I TRUST THAT YOU WILL BE ONE OF THEM.

II. JESUS IS THE INTERCESSOR Okay, we’re going to look on Jesus first of all as the Intercessor, because there is the foundation stone, there is one truth that is the foundation stone of all intercession is this - that

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JESUS IS THE INTERCESSOR, we need to understand that. Everything we do is dependent upon and relative to our understanding of this.

THE PRINCIPLE OF INTERCESSION IS RELATED TO MAN’S REDEMPTION. Only as you

understand that can you understand effective intercession. What I want to kind of…without damaging any cherished ideas, you know, quite often people have a picture of Jesus in heaven interceding for them. I’m not so sure that’s a correct aspect, because whatever Jesus does, He does through His people. We’ll look on that in the next lesson.

III. MAN’S ROLE IN THE EARTH Jesus has accomplished an incredible work of intercession on the Cross WHICH WE THEN ENFORCE IN THE EARTH. Now I want us to understand this because first of all man’s role in the earth. You see, most Christians don’t understand the extent of God’s decision to make Himself dependent upon man and the far riches of that. The implications are profound and we need to understand if we don’t understand intercession. I really believe the plans of God are greatly hindered because we have a wrong understanding of the sovereignty of God. And because of our wrong understanding of the sovereignty of God, many, many things do not happen which God purpose to happen. A. God works through Man GOD WORKS THROUGH MAN - WHATEVER GOD DOES, HE DOES THRU HIS PEOPLE, and from the beginning God determined right from Adam and Eve that THE AFFAIRS OF THE EARTH WILL BE GOVERNED BY MAN. How many of you know that after the fall that didn’t change? The affairs of the earth, God determined they will be governed by man. God made man to rule. He was created to be an extension of the family of God in heaven, HE WAS TO BRING AND MAINTAIN THE RULE OF GOD IN THE EARTH, he was to make earth like heaven, and he himself was to reflect God. Man was given dominion over all the earth!

Gen. 1:27-28 26And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. 27So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. 28And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

Man made in the image of God, an extension of God and a family of God. When he came, was

put in the earth, he was given dominion over everything in the earth - everything, all of God’s creation – he was given dominion and he was to rule over it.

In Psalm 8, David asked the question: What is man, that thou art mindful of him? Thou has made him to

have dominion over the works of your hand, the scriptures says. So, understanding that - MADE TO RULE, and that situation hasn’t changed.

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Psalm 115:16 tells us the heaven, even the heavens, are the LORD's: but the earth hath he given to the children of men - THAT THE EARTH WAS GIVEN TO MAN, the earth He has given to the children of men.

1 Cor. 11:7 MADE IN THE IMAGE AND THE GLORY OF GOD. Okay, made in God’s image and glory to rule in the earth, to govern the earth for God.

Man was to be the mediator, the mouthpiece of God in the earth

MAN WAS TO BE THE MEDIATOR, THE MOUTHPIECE OF GOD IN THE EARTH. That has not changed. We are the mouthpiece of God in the earth.

SO COMPLETE WAS MAN’S AUTHORITY IN THE EARTH THAT HE HAD

THE RIGHT TO GIVE IT AWAY (to Satan).

THIS RIGHT WOULD HAVE GRAVE CONSEQUENCES ON MAN’S FUTURE IN THE EARTH,

because he had the right so complete to the extent that the earth was given to Adam, Adam had the right to give to whomsoever he will. That’s how much God, that’s the extent that God’s decision to become dependent upon man and work through him went to that extent. Adam chose – he had the right to give it away. We’re familiar with the story, and we don’t have to go through the theology of all that - we know that Satan obtained authority in the earth because when Adam submitted to Satan, he came under his rule and everything that man ruled was placed under Satan’s rule. So everything that Adam had, he submitted to Lucifer. B. Satan Obtained Authority in the Earth

Luke 4:6 And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it.

Jesus did not contend that because it was true - Satan had the LEGAL RIGHT. He was talking

about the kingdoms of the earth, the kingdoms of the world, he showed to Jesus all the kingdoms of the earth and he said, “I will give you all of this, it’s mine. This was delivered to me.” Who delivered that to him? Adam. It was his.

In John 12:31, 14:30, and 16:11, it says that Satan is what called the prince of this world. In 2 Cor. 4:4 talks about that Satan is the god of this world. We understand that it came to the hands of Satan through Adam who gave it to him. The

authority which Adam had been transferred to Lucifer and that was a legal authority even when he was confronting Jesus, he said, “I have the right to give this to you, it’s mine.” Jesus did not contend that, it was true.

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The plans and purposes of God are greatly hindered by wrong conception of the sovereignty of God

The plans and purposes of God are greatly hindered by wrong conception of the sovereignty of God. God can do all things, we know that, but that does not mean that He does. THE WILL OF GOD IS NOT AUTOMATIC IN THE EARTH NOR IS IT AUTOMATIC IN YOUR LIFE. You’ve got to grasp that. The will of God is not automatic in the earth, in this city or in your life. It is not automatic. It’s really really important.

GOD IS IN CONTROL TO THE DEGREE THAT WE PUT HIM IN CONTROL. Adam,

(Man) gave his authority over the earth away to Satan. Now understanding this is very very important. See, people think, ‘I’ve had prophecy in my life, these have been prophesied over me.’ And people have come to me many times, ‘Ten years ago, this was prophesied over me, and it hasn’t come to pass.’ Was this a false prophecy? Was it not from God or what? You see, just because somebody prophesies something over you and for you, it doesn’t mean to say that it is going to come to pass. It will not come to pass unless you press into God in obedience and take hold of that thing in God and make it happen. If you don’t do that, it will not happen. It’s not automatic. It doesn’t just happen. If somebody prophesies over you, something in God, that thing is going to be contested by the enemy

Not only that, IF SOMEBODY PROPHESIES OVER YOU, SOMETHING IN GOD, THAT THING IS GOING TO BE CONTESTED. Look, people run here and there all over the place for prophesy. When it happens over your life, you are going to go through hell. Everything will be contested until it comes to the end and you think ‘That wasn’t God, it’s not just happening.’

When the prophecy came in the garden of Eden about the seed of the woman striking the head

of the serpent, remember that? That seed of the woman came under attack right through the Old Testament. Though Satan at times lost the direction where that seed was going from, particularly when the children of Israel multiplied, but you see, why did Cain kill Abel? The seed was going through him. Pharaoh killed all the male children, what was behind that, wipe a whole generation, stop the nation from existing? Why stop the seed that was prophesied in the Garden of Eden? The seed is going to come through this nation, and later God kind of let the cat out of the bag by telling them what tribe it was going to come through, that tribe was almost destroyed.

Just because you have prophecy over your life, when you have prophecy over your life it is

going to be contested. You are in for trouble. It always happens. ‘It never came to pass, what happened to me?’ Was it God? Yes, it was God, but the will of God is not automatic. It requires your cooperation with God to bring it to pass, and if you don’t cooperate with Him, it will not come to pass. Just because it’s prophesied, it doesn’t mean to say it will happen. You have to cooperate with God. The will of God is not automatic. What did you do about it when it was prophesied? ‘Well, I just waited for it to happen.’ I said, ‘Well, I’ve got good news for you – you can come wait another 10 years and it will not happen.’ It requires your cooperation and it will, will, will be contested.

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So complete was man’s authority over the earth that he had the right to give it away

So complete was man’s authority over the earth that he had the right to give it away. Adam, (Man) gave his authority over the earth away to Satan. That would have grave consequences over the earth - the far, far reaching consequences in the earth. When Adam did that, when he gave it away, Satan had that legal authority even which the Lord couldn’t touch because it was legal and it was right. He had the legal right, he had the title deeds of this Earth. He became the god of this world, and he said without flinching to Jesus, “This is mine and I can give it to you.” Jesus did not contest him on that, it was true.

When Adam, man gave away his authority of the earth to Satan, in order to get this back, God has to do it through a Man, thus the incarnation. Jesus, God became man.

Rom. 5:14-15 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come. But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many, many will live.

C. Man would forever be linked to authority over the earth

Man would forever be linked to authority over the earth, still is - that’s the reason for prayer because we are linked to this. God is not going to sovereignly move because He has given dominion/authority to Man. He has chosen to work through His family in the earth, and originally He gave this earth to men and said “It is yours, you have the title deeds to this earth, you rule over it. I have given you dominion over everything in this earth.” When he lost it, it set the plan back. But God knows the beginning from the end – 6000 years is but a blink in the eye with God, He set in motion a plan of recovery, the plan of redemption. But man is forever linked to this authority in the earth. EXAMPLES

For example, Elijah stopped the rain. (1 Kings 18, James 5) IT WAS GOD’S IDEA, BUT ELIJAH HAD TO TRAVAIL, he had to intercede, he had to do it, his head between his knees, the travailing position. It was God who determined the nation to do that.

Daniel (in Dan. 9) discovered the prophecies of Jeremiah regarding the seventy years of captivity. Reading this prophesies back in Babylon and he went over them again and thought, “Seventy years, 70 years, it kind of add up and he said, ‘Seventy years is up.’” How many of you know that would have never come to pass unless somebody had interceded? Even though the seventy years were up, Jeremiah said, ‘Seventy years ago, it would be seventy years captivity and he said when the seventy years has accomplished God will bring you back to your own land again.’

BUT IT WASN’T AUTOMATIC. Daniel had to come before the Lord with fasting and prayer.

It’s very interesting to see how this links with the book of Zechariah, the fasting and prayer of Daniel and in the intercession there that took place. The time was up, but he had to co-operate with God in prayer. He had to be consistent and diligent in prayer. Sometimes you see the time is up for what God has spoken to you about and the time passes, the fullness of time comes for that

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thing in your life. But it is still not automatic, it has to be birthed. Every change in God has to be birthed. EVERY CHANGE IN YOUR LIFE HAS TO BE BIRTHED IN PRAYER. Ezekiel in Ezek. 22:30-31, God looked for a man, an intercessor to stop judgment in the land. Because he could not find a human being to intercede, judgment came. Thy Kingdom come! - a COMMAND, not a passive prayer

Matt. 6:10, Jesus is teaching us to pray, “Thy kingdom come.” That word ‘come’ in Greek word is A COMMAND actually. It is not ‘Oh Lord, Your kingdom come.’ It is ‘In the name of Jesus, let your kingdom come in this situation!” It’s a command, not just a passive prayer. It’s a command, ‘Your kingdom come!’

God kingdom comes when we, with authority, command it to come and to be established. IF

WE DON’T, HE WON’T. We need to grasp that. If you don’t in your life, God won’t. We’ve got to cooperate with God, He needs our cooperation. He has designed it that way, didn’t have to design it that way, but He has. ‘All things work together for good’ will not true unless the previous verses 26 and 27 are in place, unless there is intercession, only after PRAYING IT THROUGH

Rom. 8:28 tells us that “all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” Is that true? Well, it’s not true unless the previous verses 26 and 27 are in place, unless there is intercession, only after PRAYING IT THROUGH.

26Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. 27And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

Okay, all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His

purposes. That is not true unless these two verses are in place. All things work together for good if there is intercession. That verse follows these verses, vs. 26-27. Verse 28 then says ‘Then all things work together for good.’ Well you say, ‘We love God, we are called according to His purposes, all things will work together for good in our life.’ NO, THEY WON’T unless there is in place INTERCESSION.

He who searches the heart knoweth the mind of the Spirit because the Spirit makes intercession for us, through us

according to the will of God. The things will not work together for good in your life unless you pray the purposes of God, you intercede and you get through for them to come to pass. They’re not automatic. And you cannot just take that verse and say, ‘Praise the Lord, nothing bad will happen to me. All things will work together for good.’ And you claim those promises and then somewhere down the line, you’re completely knocked out and things go wrong and you say, “Well, I don’t know about this Christian business, it doesn’t always work together for good.” It’s not automatic; likewise the Spirit helps us in our weaknesses, for we don’t know how to pay as we ought but the Spirit itself makes intercession for us with groaning that cannot be uttered.

I had things go wrong in my life which was not in the will of God, and it‘s simply because I

did not cooperate with God and bring them to birth, and that was not God’s intention for those

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things to happen to me. But just because I’m a Christian, just because I love God, it doesn’t imply protection. Those things had to be birthed, and I failed to understand that principle. How many times when things go wrong long enough, you look, particularly hard look, how it should be hand and why is this taking place? Just because things go wrong, it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re out of the will of God

Let me just say another thing - JUST BECAUSE THINGS GO WRONG, IT DOESN’T NECESSARILY MEAN YOU’RE OUT OF THE WILL OF GOD. Job lost his house, he lost his children, he had major problems with his wife. You look what happened to Job. I’ve heard some terrible sermons about Job. I tell you if you have the faith like Job, you’d be doing fantastic. He was the man, the Bible says, without fault, nobody like him in the earth. But things did go wrong in his life. But the issue is just because things go wrong, it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re out of the will of God.

You know, when I lost my daughter four years I go, I thought “Dear God what did I do?” And I

had to go through this period of coming before God, and say God, “How could this happen to me?” I remember the day she was downstairs in this hall and it was Sunday, I preached and put my arms around her to hug her and she went out to airport and never saw her again. That was the end to it. She never came back except in a coffin. And I thought, ‘God, why did You allow this?’

God gave me a very clear understanding, a very clear dream on this - that God could have

awakened me for intercession. He could have very easily laid a burden upon my heart, and I believe I was sensitive enough to pick up a burden from the Lord. He said, ‘Intercessors around you could easily pick this up.’ And then He said, “THIS IS NOT IN YOUR CONTROL, IT’S IN MY CONTROL.” You see, it was not that I was out of the will of God, that I missed it. We need to understand when things go wrong in your life, you don’t necessarily have missed it. Job didn’t miss it. His house was destroyed.

A couple came to me a few years ago, their house was burned to the ground. They said, ‘How

could we miss this? What have we done, what sin is in our lives for this to happen?’ And I went to pray for them, and all I could say was, all I could prophesy was the goodness and grace of God and God is pleased with you. ‘Why did this happen?’ You see, sometimes we don’t know until years down the way, we don’t understand all the insights of God. They’re painful.

But if God has spoken something clearly over you, it will not come to pass unless you birth it

in His will. I have things prophesied over me, all kinds of things. But those things have to be birthed, we have to take hold of God for those things. It will not come to pass and it will not happen. God does not work in the earth apart from redeemed man - you and me

GOD DOES NOT WORK IN THE EARTH APART FROM REDEEMED MAN - YOU AND ME.

HE HAS CHOSEN TO ADMINISTER HIS AFFAIRS IN THE EARTH

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THROUGH THE CHURCH. OUR CO-OPERATION WITH HIM IN THIS IS VITAL

FOR THE WILL OF GOD TO BE DONE. If you will not cooperate with God, the will of God will not be done in your life. You have to

cooperate with God. And if you don’t , it won’t happen. COOPERATION IS NECESSARY.

Pray the purposes of God – in your life, family, nation! Cooperate with God, BRING THEM TO BIRTH.

GOD WORKS THROUGH MAN - through you, through us.

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Lesson 5

Jesus, the Intercessor Man was made to represent God. After the fall, he needed someone to represent him. He was now lost. The consequences, I mean of all the people, I believe Adam is in heaven because God made atonement for him. I have talked to people who have been to heaven and people attest to me and I’ve never met anyone who’s never met Adam in heaven. It’s easy for us to blame Adam, and say, “Adam, look what you did to the entire human race, look what you did.” The thing is with Adam, one, he did not provide a proper covering for his wife, that was step one, he didn’t cover her. She sinned. I believe Adam could have made atonement for her sin. But she sinned, and because she sinned and it was kind of...you know what Adam was afraid of more than anything else? He knew that God said that ‘If you touch, this you’re going to die.’ There were only two human beings on the earth, and there was only one woman in the earth and Adam had her, and rather than lose her, he chose to go with her. You put yourself in Adam’s position, it wasn’t easy. He was in danger of losing her, and rather than do that he went with her. Now we have a lot to understand about the Covering. I really believe that 90% of our doctrine of the Covering is completely wrong. I don’t know where it came from. I’ve been trying to trace over the last two or three years, how it arose. But we get it wrong, we get it wrong and we bring persecution on people who are called of God, and we use the Covering as a weapon to limit them. We have to be really careful about this whole thing. I believe in covering, don’t get me wrong. I want to tell you, it’s got to be readjusted, it’s got to be re-taught because it’s terribly wrong out there. And the counsel which some women are given, it’s so diabolical, they’ll never survive it. We have to understand this whole thing. We can blame Adam, but put yourself into his position. I wonder if we have fared as well as Adam. He was about to lose the only other human being. Adam did not know the on-going purposes of God. They had no children at that point, so what’s he left with? What would you choose? However, the decision was made and Adam fell and man was in a position that someone to represent him now. He represented God in the earth with authority and power, but now he was in a position where he needed someone to represent him to bring him back to God because separation came between him and God. This new need of man required someone to mediate for him. This required INTERCESSION (not Intercessory Prayer, but intercession) on behalf of man.

I. INTERCESSION: THE MEANING A. INTERCEDE - Latin intercedo: “inter” - between, and “cedo” - to pass between. To come

between or pass between; an act of two parties with a view to reconcile those who differ or contend; TO PLEAD IN FAVOR OF ANOTHER; TO MEDIATE OR MAKE INTERCESSION.

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Intercession is “THE ACT OF INTERCEDING OR MEDIATION.” (Websters Dict.)

Now remember when Aaron went out, what did he do? He CAME IN BETWEEN the judgment of God and this people. You can come in between the judgment of God and your children. You can come in between the judgment of God and the people out there in the world. This is what it means. Jesus, we understand, He had to make intercession for us, the man, the human race. It means to intercede, to mediate. B. MEDIATE - Being between two extremes; to interpose between parties as an equal of each. To

negotiate between persons who are at variance with the purpose of reconciling; to mediate a peace.

Mediation - “ENTREAT FOR ANOTHER; INTERCESSION” (Websters Dict .)

You see, what was Abraham doing? When God came on the scene, “I’m going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah,” Abraham stood in between straight away and he began to mediate. He said “God, you can’t do this.” That’s mediation, that’s a part of intercession. You see, he began to negotiate with God for these two cities. He said “God, if only ten righteous people in here You can’t destroy it.” He was negotiating.

And to ‘mediate’ means that, TO NEGOTIATE BETWEEN PERSONS WHO HAVE

VARIANCE WITH EACH OTHER. You see these people in Sodom and Gomorrah were in variance with God and Abraham came in between to intercede, to mediate.

It also means to become an Advocate.

C. ADVOCATE - “CALLED TO ONE’S SIDE TO AID” - It was used in a court of justice to

denote a legal assistant, counsel for defense, an advocate, one who pleads another’s cause, one who pleads the cause of another even though they are wrong and they deserve judgment – an intercessor will plead their course before God. And it is really important that we kind of understand this. And so…

AN INTERCESSOR IS ONE WHO MEDIATES FOR ANOTHER, ONE WHO IS AN ADVOCATE FOR ANOTHER

OR FOR A PARTICULAR SITUATION.

PRAYER CAN BE USED BY THE INTERCESSOR IN THIS FUNCTION OF INTERCESSION.

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II. MAN’S TWO-FOLD NEED 1) MAN NEEDS AN INTERCESSOR/MEDIATOR TO RECONCILE HIM BACK TO GOD

Man needed an intercessor, a mediator, someone who could come in between the anger of God and the human race with sin. There had to be a mediator, and it had to be a legal mediation and had to be a righteous mediation. There had to be a mediator to reconcile man back to God. Who was that intercessor? JESUS. If we understand what He did, we’ll understand how we can intercede, and the requirement of an intercessor.

Job 9:32-33 For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him, and we should come together in judgment. Neither is there any daysman [Intercessor] betwixt us, that might lay his hand upon us both.

The word “daysman” in Hebrew – yakach means MEDIATOR.

Job 16:21 O that one might plead for a man with God, as a man pleadeth for his neighbour. Job is the oldest book in the Bible; it was written historically before Genesis. The first Scriptures to be written show the need of man for an Intercessor (mediator), someone to come between him and the anger of God.

MAN’S NEED WAS FOR A MEDIATOR, AN ADVOCATE OR AN INTERCESSOR,

WHO WOULD STAND BETWEEN HIM AND GOD, BRIDGING THE GAP,

PLEADING HIS CASE AND BRINGING RECONCILIATION.

If we understand the intercession of Jesus in this, we’d understand how from the pattern that He went before, He came in between the judgment of God and the sinful race of the people on the earth and He came in between as an intercessor and reconciled them back to God. Now that was the role of Jesus as the intercessor. So man’s first need was for an intercessor to reconcile him back to God. How many of you know you can reconcile people back to God?

Now I don’t fully understand when Jesus said to Peter ‘Whosoever sin you remit shall be remitted.’ I don’t fully understand that, but there is something in there - you can reconcile a person back to God through your intercession just as Jesus, our Intercessor, did. Man’s need was for an intercessor or a mediator to reconcile man and God. 2) A MEDIATOR / INTERCESSOR TO BREAK SATAN’S RULE OVER HIM

The second need was for an intercessor to break Satan’s rule over him. The second role of the intercessor of Jesus was to break Satan’s rule over him. Man’s need was not just to reconcile him back to God, but he had a need for Satan’s rule to be broken over his life.

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Gen. 3: 15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

The word “head” there is a Hebrew word “Rosh” which means TO BREAK HEADSHIP. This prophetic statement is saying that Jesus would come and break the headship of Satan

over the human race. III. SATAN HAD AUTHORITY OVER MANKIND

Now look, Satan had authority over mankind. You as an intercessor can break the headship of Satan in another person’s life, and when you do that they will come to the Lord. INTERCESSORS WORK AT THE REDEMPTIVE PROMISES OF GOD’S WORD. You have the power to break the headship of Satan over a person’s life. Intercessors can do that over a city, and once that happens, the city begins to come to the Lord.

Now, you need to understand because that headship then that Satan had over the human race

was delegated through fallen angels over a city, over a nation, and then from fallen angels back down to the demonic realm. Intercessors break that headship right through that chain and when they do that, an OPEN HEAVEN comes and THE GRACE OF GOD instead if judgment flows to the people. You have come in between the judgment of God and sinners. And so, this was the ministry of Jesus.

We already know the devil said, Luke 4:6 And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever will give it.

ALL THIS POWER WILL I GIVE THEE: “Power” (Greek) Exousia - AUTHORITY.

You say, ‘I’ve got authority. Now I have been given legal authority over these people and over these kingdoms. And Satan said, “I can give it to whosesoever I will.’ JESUS WILL COME AND BREAK THE HEADSHIP OF SATAN over the nations of the world BUT JESUS BROKE THE AUTHORITY OVER MAN ... Psa. 106, this is a Messianic Psalm, it’s prophetic about Jesus

Psalm 110:6 He shall judge among the heathen, he shall fill the places with dead bodies; he shall wound the heads over many countries.

And the word “Heads” is the Hebrew word Rosh – Headship, and JESUS WILL COME AND BREAK THE HEADSHIP OF SATAN over the nations of the world, and the Psalm is prophetic of that.

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The word “nations” here is the Hebrew word “Erets” which is the Earth. He said, ‘I’ll come and break his authority over the earth.’

So we see that, I want you to grasp this, man had a need for someone to reconcile him back to God and break Satan’s headship over him. THIS REQUIRES THE WORK OF AN INTERCESSOR. The need of our city is for people who will come as intercessors to reconcile the people of this city back to God and break Satan’s rule over the land. That is the work of an intercessor, and it’s exciting. It requires an intercessor. The power and legal authority the intercessors have if they work with God on His redemptive promises

You see, you don’t understand the power and legal authority that intercessors have if they work with God on His redemptive promises, on the benefits of His redemptive work in Calvary. They have tremendous power to turn people back to God just as Jesus, our great intercessor, intervened between us and God and stopped His judgment and reconcile us back to God. That’s the work of an intercessor. That’s what Jesus was doing to reconcile us back to God. Prayer is a part of that. But when you’re praying, that’s what you’re doing, that’s what intercession is all about — TO RECONCILE, TO BREAK THE HEADSHIP OF SATAN.

Now in order for that to happen, Jesus had to come. Jesus was God’s solution.

IV. JESUS GOD’S SOLUTION

We won’t read all of the scriptures that speak of Jesus, but Isaiah 53 is a classic Messianic chapter again dealing with the Lord Jesus Christ, it’s prophetic of Jesus.

Isaiah 53: 12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because He [Jesus] hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made INTERCESSION for the transgressors. (See also : John 14:6, Rom. 8:34, Acts 4:12 1 Tim. 2:5, Heb. 7:25; 9:24, 1 John 2:l)

He made intercession. What was the result of His intercession? Bringing men back to God.

Jesus made intercession. Notice that He poured His soul down to death. How many of you know that if you are going to do this, you’re going to have to pour your soul out to death. It’s going to be a deathly experience for you. What happened to Jesus as an intercessor now happens to His intercessors in the earth. There are many scriptures and we won’t take time to read them. Okay, the intercession of Jesus. The Intercession of Jesus is Not a Petitioning of the Father for us – He has done His work of reconciling and now He waits for us to enforce his work in the earth

Let’s understand this, so we understand intercession. The intercession of Jesus was not a petitioning of the Father for us. But it’s still intercession. He was not petitioning the Father for us.

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John 16:26 At that day ye shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you: ...

He did not say ‘I’m not going to pray the Father for you.’ A little later you’ll find that when He talks about intercession, He said He will make INTERCESSION THROUGH US to the Father. We need to understand that the role of Jesus as an intercessor - He is not so much sitting in heaven praying for us. He, as the INTERCESSOR, Mediator, Reconciler, has done His work on the earth., and he has reconciled us back to God. Now HE WAITS FOR US TO ENFORCE HIS WORK IN THE EARTH. Alright, that’s the error, that’s the error that we need to understand.

Heb. 10:12-13 But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God; From henceforth expecting (Greek, WAITING) till his enemies be made his footstool.

Who is He waiting for? THE CHURCH, TO MAKE HIS ENEMIES HIS FOOTSTOOL.

I am not saying that Jesus is not in heaven praying, I believe that that happens. But THOSE

PRAYERS ARE TRANSFERRED THROUGH INTERCESSORS IN THE EARTH. The Spirit Himself will make intercession for us, but it comes through us.

Alright, and so we have to cooperate, that’s why we started with this cooperation. Jesus has

done His work of intercession. You are now to enforce it in the Earth. As we understand this, it will really give you authority. If you really understand this, you will really get some authority and get faith, and really in your lives. We now operate from a position of victory for what has already been accomplished by Jesus

We now operate as intercessors, people of God. WE OPERATE FROM A POSITION FOR WHAT HAS ALREADY BEEN ACCOMPLISHED - that’s the position you operate from - what has already been accomplished by Jesus. Now you are His representatives in the Earth and you are going to enforce it, and you are going to work with Him in doing that. And you can’t lose when you work with God - it’s going to happen. You work from a position of already accomplished victory through the cross. Whenever you break the hold of the devil over a person’s life, you do it from that angle, you do it from that vantage point, you do it from an already accomplished work that is being done by Jesus. YOU ARE SIMPLY AN ENFORCER.

Now there are people out there who don’t know the Lord, but salvation has been bought for

them. It just need some people to enforce that. There are people who aren’t saved in your family. Salvation has been purchased for them, right? It just needs someone who knows their position in God who will enforce it, and the devil can do nothing about it.

But you will say, ‘WHAT ABOUT THE AREA OF FREE WILL?’ Yes, but the Holy Spirit can

so move upon a person with such force and draw them unto Himself with such conviction that they will choose under that. It’s still free will, but the influence of the Holy Spirit can be so great. It is God’s will for them to be saved, whoever they are in your family, and you are the only one who’s going to bring it to pass. It has to be enforced, you are the reconciler who’s going to reconcile them back to God. You are the mediator between them and God. You’ve got to say “God, you cannot let them go to hell. You purchased a price like Abraham in Sodom and Gomorrah. God, You can’t

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do it!” YOU NEGOTIATE WITH GOD ON THE BASIS OF THE FINISHED WORK OF CALVARY, that’s your ground. You’ll say, “God you can’t. Those people have got to be saved. I will not allow or settle for anything less than that. I’m going to be a mediator between them. I’m going to break the headship of Satan over. They are going to come in the kingdom of God.” Then you stand as an intercessor and reconcile them back to God just like Jesus our intercessor reconciled us back.

And that you see, if we get enough intercessors in the city of Perth who understand this, we’re

going to see HARVEST. It’ll be a corporate thing, and it will break something open in the heavenlies and a breakthrough in the heavenlies where the grace of God will be poured out. And the grace of God is unmerited favor because somebody interceded for that person or for that company of people or for that city.

And so, you become DISTRIBUTORS, NOT MANUFACTURERS. It’s already been done –

manufactured so it will be there for us. You are just distributors of all that Jesus has already accomplished through the cross and it’s exciting if you grasp it. Everything we distribute through our intercessory prayers has already been manufactured or produced through the work of intercession of Jesus—our great intercessor on the cross. As an Intercessor, you are a Mediator, Reconciler, Negotiator between God and Man. Like the loaves and fishes, all the disciples had to do was distribute; the miracle power was not their responsibility. People will die in their sins unless you intervene

You see, you have to grasp to this, you’ve got to grasp it. People will die unless you intervene. PEOPLE WILL DIE IN THEIR SINS UNLESS YOU INTERVENE. People in your family will die and go to hell unless you intervene. You are an intercessor. You are there to reconcile them back to God. You are there to negotiate with God for them. You are there to say, ‘This cannot happen in the basis of Calvary, provision has been made, it is legal. I’m going to stand in between them and the judgment of God and I’m going to stop that plague in their lives and I’m going to reconcile them back to God. I’m going to break Satan’s headship over them and the grace of God will be poured out upon their lives.’ This is, if we understand, Jesus our intercessor and how we work now from what He has accomplished as our intercessor.

ALL TRUE INTERCESSION STARTS HERE. YOU DRAW FROM AND DISTRIBUTE REDEMPTIVE REALITIES

FROM THE BANK OF HEAVEN THAT WERE DEPOSITED THROUGH

THE REDEMPTIVE INTERCESSION OF CHRIST.

You understand that? I’m saying that in the short time here, you really need to meditate on this. You really need to go through the scriptures because you can hear it but it’s got to fire up on the inside. It’s got to become faith and out of that authority is established because you know what authority you have and what it’s based on. You know, it’s incredible. When I went to Pakistan couple of years back, I had this thing in my heart of claiming so many people out of that Moslem enclave for the Lord. I had in my mind 500 people, and I thought that is a stretch of my faith because it is an Islamic country and it’s a Moslem country and it’s virtually impossible to preach

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the gospel. But in my mind, I kept bringing this before the Lord, “God, you who have paid the price, I’m going to come in between you God and your churchmen upon this people and I’m going to insist that what you’ve purposed for them be released unto them. And I’m going to stand here and insist that you’re grace is poured out upon them.” And over a thousand Moslem men came to the Lord, over a thousand in an Islamic country. I tell you when a Moslem man makes a decision for the Lord, that is it! It’s very hard, difficult thing for him to live in that country anymore.

You see, what happens is those people have an inheritance. But it takes an intercessor to

reconcile them back to God and legally claim what is rightfully theirs and avert the judgment of God and bring the grace of God. So what happened when I preached every night, the grace of God was just there. The grace of God just flowed and if that grace had not been there, they would not get saved. But the grace of God just flowed upon them. SO WE STAND IN THE GAP.

JESUS REPRESENTS YOU IN HEAVEN BUT YOU REPRESENT HIM ON THIS EARTH and

IF YOU DON’T, HE WON’T. And you represent Him, you’ve got to stand in that gap representing Jesus on the earth. CONCLUSION

I don’t want to get into this today because this is another whole area but HE SITS IN THE HEAVENS AND HE AWAITS FOR YOU TO ENFORCE HIS WILL IN THE EARTH. And whenever you cross the path of something which is not in accordance with God’s will and His provision, you have the right to deal with it. That’s what LOOSING and BINDING is all about. Whenever you come across a situation that is not in accordance with His redemptive work and power and the will of God, you have the right to loose it in the kingdom of God, and we work with God in this. We are going to see how we can work with God in this and how the Holy Spirit will come upon us in a very powerful way that cause this to happen.

When the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you understand this, you’ll find out that the Holy

Spirit will come upon you more and more and more to achieve this. And you’ll find out that your levels of authority will begin to soar in God and that you’ll find that there is a faith level which you didn’t have before and you’ll speak with authority out of that faith level because you understand your position in God and who you are as an intercessor and what you can achieve as an intercessor and what God has placed you here for. And when you believe that, begins to really dawn upon you and gets into your spirit, you can say ‘NO’ to a situation. And you can intercede for that situation and stop it from happening. You can say ‘NO’ to a person going to a lost eternity. You can intercede, if you know how to do it and you cooperate with the Holy Spirit, you’ll find out that person get saved. The Holy Spirit will so be released over his life, upon a person’s life and bring them into the kingdom of God.

If we understand this and understand how it works, we understand Jesus our intercessor has

done His intercession, now you and I have to enforce it on the earth not by our power, it’s legal. We have the right to do it now. It’s legal in the heavens and we have the right to enforce it - all that He has accomplished through His intercession of reconciling us, as our advocate, bringing us back to God and taking the judgment on our part that we might be released. And it is out of that spoken word of intercessors that things changed in the realm of the spirit and in the earth.

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And I believe that God is going to raise up an army of intercessors with such understanding of what their work is all about, and their place and their authority in God, that nothing will stand before them and they will pave the way for what God wants to do. You would never really fully in some degrees understood the role of an intercessor, you think, “Well they prayed and God moved.” THEY ENFORCE ON A LEGAL BASIS WHAT HAS ALREADY BEEN ACCOMPLISHED AND THEY DO IT WITH AUTHORITY, THEY DO IT WITH PRAYER, THEY DO IT WITH INSISTENCE AND THEY STOP THE PLAGUE. When you come in between as an intercessor, there will be a violent confrontation with enemies

And when you do that, when you begin to get into that and begin to step in their place, it’s almost the judgment of God falls upon you instead of them. It’s almost like you know your soul’s going to wrung out as you step in between the judgment of God, that city and that person. And there is an INTENSE FEELING that happens, kind of intense things that come to pass and TRAVAIL BEGINS to set in. You see, one act, and we’ll look into that later, one act of intercession is to bear for another. You see, that’s what Jesus did - He bore for another. That doesn’t take away from the redemptive qualities of Jesus and the Incarnation or redemption. I’ll explain that later.

But you see, He came in between and when you come in between, a little later we’re going to

see that if you come in between say a bear and his cubs, THERE IS GOING TO BE A VIOLENT CONFRONTATION. When you come in between the devil and his children, there is going to be a violent confrontation.

But I want tell you, you need to know your ground and say “Okay, we’re going to see this

through.” And when this violent confrontation has finished, things would have changed. Know and stand your ground, see it through and things will change. Know your legal grounds, God’s redemptive purposes and promises because of what the Lord Jesus has done. KEEP INSISTING until it happens. That is INTERCESSION. Yes, we are intercessors. We have been appointed to come in between and stop that happen. And it’s very, very interesting if we can grasp this.

Jesus represents you in heaven. Once you lay claim to this, Jesus goes before the Father and

says “Lord, Father this is legal. This people know what they’re talking about, they’re insisting upon it, it is legal and You have to give it to them.” And He represents you in heaven, He’s our heavenly intercessor. He now represents you in that way in the heavenlies. When you insist on legal grounds, Jesus goes before the Father and says “You got to release it. They know what they’re saying, they know what they are talking about and it’s legal and they’re insisting on it.’ And YOU KEEP ON INSISTING UNTIL IT HAPPENS - THAT IS INTERCESSION, THAT IS COMING IN BETWEEN. But you’ve got to understand the legal background to this whole thing, so that you’ll know what your authority is and who you are in the Lord.

Next week, we are going to look at how we represent Jesus in the earth, where did Jesus get His authority from. Try not to read it, go back over the others because it’ll short-circuit a bit. Go back over what we talk about today, let it get into your spirit, let it get into your spirit.

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History belongs and is curved by intercessors

HISTORY BELONGS AND IS CURVED BY INTERCESSORS. Changes through history in a positive way came about by the intercessors.

When we link it with spiritual warfare, there’s going to be some clashes but the end result will

always be the same - WE ARE MORE THAN CONQUERORS THROUGH CHRIST JESUS. We have been given full authority in Christ. Let us pray from a position of VICTORY over all the works of the enemies in the lives of the people and our nation. God is with us, He will fight with us and for us!

Let’s just pray, shall we? Halleluiah! Father we just thank You for Your word. Lord as we come to terms and begin to grasp the enormity of what you have done and what our place is in this and what our responsibility is in this and how much Lord you rely upon us. Now stand in the gap and to be a watchman and to come in between and through our intercession we enforce your intercession which you have done through your intercession which is legal now. We enforce it in the earth with authority, with courage and with faith and we come in between those in the kingdom of darkness and their father the devil and we say ‘No, we’re going to transfer them into another kingdom because it has been legally accomplished,’ and that transference takes place through the act of intercession—coming in between, interceding, breaking the headship of Satan over them, releasing the grace of God to them so that they may be saved. Father I pray Lord that it will come home to us in such a way that it will come home as revelation, deep understanding that will increase our faith levels and our authority in you, for we ask this in the name of Jesus, Amen.

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Lesson 6

Representing Jesus in the Earth Today REVIEW OF PREVIOUS LESSON: We’ve been talking about GOD DOES NOT WORK IN THE EARTH APART FROM REDEEMED MAN. In other words, God does not normally sovereignly work in His people. And He has chosen Man, His people, to administer His affairs in the earth. And so COOPERATION WITH GOD in that is absolutely vital. If we don’t cooperate, it does not get done. Intercessors have to learn how to cooperate with God, otherwise, it does not get done. So understanding that is important - man was made to represent God in the earth. After the fall, he needed someone to represent him, that was the reason Jesus came.

And we looked at the word Intercession which means ‘to come in between,’ for another, an ‘advocate, called to your side.’

So Jesus came as an Intercessor. He has finished his work of intercession on the redemptive

side of things, now He says, ‘YOU ENFORCE IT ON THE EARTH.’ It is really important we grasp this. We are in the POSITION now, if we cooperate with God, to enforce it in the earth, make sure that the will of God is done in the earth. INTERCESSION IS TO ENFORCE THE WILL OF GOD IN YOUR LIFE, YOUR FAMILY, YOUR CHURCH AND NATION, AND THE WORLD. And that’s what the Watchman Ministry is all about. They watch to make sure God’s will is done, that God’s purposes come to pass. REPRESENTING JESUS IN THE EARTH - A KEY TRUTH Jesus is our Pattern in how He represented the Father. What was the Lord Jesus doing while He was here on earth? He was REPRESENTING THE FATHER, and He is our pattern in His Kingdom purposes and the salvation of men. The pattern of our representing Jesus in the earth is exactly the same. We relate to Jesus in exactly the same way that Jesus related to the Father. Now it’s really important to understand that because in that we’ll understand a lot of things. How Jesus related to the Father we relate to Jesus now. He came as the PATTERN SON.

Understanding of that is really vital to Intercession. It really is the secret of all successful New Testament ministry. We understand how Jesus represented the Father in the earth. Now we are here to represent Jesus in the earth.

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THIS IS THE SECRET, THE REAL KEY TO ALL SUCCESSFUL NEW TESTAMENT MINISTRY.

I. THE EXAMPLE OF JESUS – JESUS, OUR PATTERN

“I can of mine own self do nothing” (John 5:30)

Now if Jesus said that in His representation of the Father, how much more we.

“The Father that dwells in me, He doeth the works” (John 14:l0) JESUS IS OUR PATTERN IN HOW HE REPRESENTED THE FATHER IN THE EARTH. An understanding of this is vital to our intercession; it is but an extension of the life and ministry of Jesus, as His was of the Father. II. THE LORD JESUS MOVED IN GREAT POWER AND AUTHORITY. WHERE DID

HE GET HIS AUTHORITY FROM? Jesus moved in great authority, in great power, where did He get His authority from? It’s important to know where your authority comes from, your standing in God.

AUTHORITY - the right to command or act, to take dominion, control, THE RIGHT TO RULE. It’s important to know where you get that RIGHT from.

In a little while, we’ll know where Jesus got His authority, right from. Let me just say

something: Authority is not necessarily that someone gives you a position in the church. How many of you know that a lot of people have positions in the church and are not appointed by God? They have natural authority which becomes a CONTROLLING SPIRIT. Now we need to understand that, it’s really important because the church is riddled with it all over the place. People in positions – men has put them in positions which have not been sanctioned by God. Then they begin to exercise authority , but because it is not God-given, it becomes a spirit of control. And that’s a real problem.

So when we‘re talking about Authority, we’re talking about how REAL AUTHORITY comes

to us, and firstly it depends on the person who sent you. 1. JESUS WAS SENT BY THE FATHER REAL AUTHORITY COMES FROM THE ONE WHO SENT YOU. It is not your own, it is not because of the position you have. Jesus’ authority came from the One who sent Him, God Himself. His authority came from the One who sent Him. He was an AMBASSADOR of Someone who had sent Him, sent to represent the heart, rule, laws, plans and purposes of God.

John 3:17 For God SENT not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

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John 4:34 Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that SENT ME, and to finish his work. John 5:23 That all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He that honours not the Son honours not the Father which hath SENT HIM.

So understand that, we’re going to come back to it.

You’ve got to know that YOU ARE SENT. Who sent you to do what? You’ve got to know that you are being called of God and sent, and you have a SPECIFIC ROLE and a PURPOSE TO DO. Jesus knew that He was being sent to the earth by the Father. We need to know that we are being sent by Jesus. THAT’S WHERE OUR AUTHORITY BEGINS TO COME FROM. 2. JESUS DID THE WILL OF THE FATHER His authority came out of doing the will of the Father, representing Him in all His work on the earth. He was committed ONLY to the will of God, not His own will. John 4:34, John 5:30, John 6:38, 1 Cor. 11:3

There is no authority over our life if we are doing something outside the will of God. You see, authority is based on our representing Him. Now it’s important that you really grasp this – that we’re not here to do our own will. WE ARE HERE TO DO THE WILL OF JESUS in the earth.

Now in order for that to happen, we have TO DIE to our own will, our own desires, our own

directions in life - WE HAVE TO GIVE UP OUR LIFE TO DO THE WILL OF GOD. And so there has to come a time in our life when we die and it’s no longer us, and we give up our will. We’ll come back to that a little later.

So authority comes out of one doing the will of the Father. You have no authority if you’re

outside the will of the Father or the will of God. 3. JESUS DID THE WORKS OF THE FATHER

John 5:36 But I have greater witness than that of John: for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me.

‘The works that I do’ – it’s not in good ideas. Remember when Jesus came to the pool of

Bethesda where the angel came down and troubled the waters and one person got healed each time – the person who got in first got healed. And Jesus came and there were a lot of sick people there, but Her healed only one person. Have you thought about that? All of those sick people and He healed only one person. Now if we had great power and great authority, how many of you know that we will get stuck in to all of them?

But His authority came because HE DID ONLY THE FATHER’S WILL. ‘He did only the things

He saw the Father doing.’ Now this is really important because that’s where His authority rested. If the Lord has gotten OUTSIDE of that, things would not have happened. So His authority rested in doing the Father’s will. Jesus did only the works that the Father told Him to do - NOT HIS OWN IDEAS, DESIRES, WORKS OR STRATEGIES.

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4. JESUS REVEALED THE FATHER He came to show the world what God was like. He said, ‘If you’ve seen Me, you’ve seen the Father.’

John 1:18 No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.

John 14:9, John 17:6, John 17:26, 2 Cor. 4:4, Heb. 1:3 5. THE FATHER WAS IN CHRIST RECONCILING THE WORLD God was in Christ, 2 Cor. 5:8-21, reconciling the world unto Himself. And so God the Father intervened in the world by sending Jesus. And in everything Christ did in the earth, He was representing the Father, WAS AN EXTENSION OF HIS LOVE, HIS WILL, HIS WORKS. In this was found THE KEY TO HIS AUTHORITY. Okay, His authority. Where did Jesus get His Power from?

We're familiar with this, we'll run through this very quickly. 1. Jesus was FILLED with the Holy Spirit. Luke 4:l 2. Jesus was LED by the Holy Spirit. Luke 4:1 3. Jesus was EMPOWERED by the Holy Spirit Luke 4:14, Acts 10:38 4. Jesus was ANOINTED by the Holy Spirit. Luke 4:18, Acts 10:38

How many of you know you can be baptized (internal anointing) in the Holy Spirit, but not anointed (external anointing) for service. You understand this - YOU HAVE AN ANOINTING. When you're born again, you come into the kingdom of God which abides within you, right? And the Bible says you do not need any man to teach you, you have a witness of the Spirit of things which are right and wrong. That's an INTERNAL ANOINTING, we all have that.

But Jesus also moved in an EXTERNAL ANOINTING that came upon Him externally, ‘how God anointed Him with the Holy Ghost and power,’ and He went around doing good. And that was an external anointing. You can be baptized in the Holy Spirit, love God, but the anointing, the external anointing for service, is not internal, it is external. And as we begin to understand that He was anointed, He moved in great power of the Holy Spirit. And we need to understand that realm of the anointing of God. It's something that we...there are so many different anointings that God wants to bring on us. And anointing is the ABILITY OF GOD. Jesus was anointed, you see? The LEVEL OF ANOINTING is determined by the amount of time you spend in the Presence of God

Now, understanding that the anointing, the level of the anointing is determined by the time that you spend in the presence of God, it's as simple as that - SPENDING TIME IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD, SOMETIMES WITH PRAYER AND FASTING. But your exposure to the

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presence of God will determine the manifest glory or presence that is upon you and to the level of the glory that determines the level of the anointing. The level of the presence determines the level of anointing. The level of the presence of God that you carry with you determines the level of the anointing that is resting upon you. The more time you spend in the presence of God, just exposed into the presence of God, the greater His presence you will carry and the greater anointing you will have. You know that's the real secret to the anointing of God, and the amount of time spent in His presence determines the level of glory or the presence you carry. The amount of glory or level of presence you carry determines the level of anointing that you move in. There is a COST to the anointing – DYING TO SELF, GIVING YOUR LIFE

So the anointing – there's a cost for the anointing. There's not a cost for the baptism of the Holy Spirit, it's a free gift. But you've got to pay a price for the anointing. There is a cost for that. The cost is DYING TO SELF, GIVING UP OUR OWN RIGHTS, and the time – the level of time, the amount of time that you spend in the presence of God will determine that level of anointing upon you.

So Jesus was anointed by the Holy Spirit. And it's interesting to know this, that He was anointed when He came out of His wilderness testing. He's been 40 days in the wilderness and the Bible says He went out – He came in with the Spirit, but He went out in the power of the Spirit, the Bible says. He came out anointed. And that was the time that He spent in the presence of the Lord. After His testing in the wilderness, Jesus relied upon the power and the anointing of the Holy Spirit.

Through His relationship with the Father, He knew the will of the Father. Then, using the

authority that came from the Father, He demonstrated and enforced the will of God in the earth. THAT WAS INTERCESSION. III. JESUS THROUGH THE BELIEVER

Now just as Jesus operated with the Father, and got His authority from the things we've been talking about, so it is with the believer. 1. WE ARE SENT BY JESUS

KNOW THAT YOU ARE SENT BY GOD. You are sent. We need to know, you see, that the believer is sent.

John 17:18 As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. He is talking about people. John 20:21 Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.

Matthew 28:18-19, Mark 16:15-20

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Even if nobody recognizes your ministry, know that God is IN CONTROL of that, not man. God will be the One to open doors, make a way for you and the ministry He has ordained upon your life. Know God’s Call for your Life

WE NEED AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE CALL OF GOD UPON OUR LIVES. We need to be awakened in the DESTINY that God has for us. He said ‘I'm gonna send you.’ To do what? What are you called to do? (the audience: The work of God) Yeah, but what specifically?

How many of you agree that God has a plan for your life? A real plan, a plan and a purpose for your life? You know 2 Tim 1:9 tells us that He saved us, then He's called us with a holy calling, not according to our works but according to His own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. And how many of you know that BEFORE YOU WERE BORN INTO THIS LIFE, THERE WAS A CALL OF GOD ON YOU? You see, that's what Paul was talking to Timothy about here in 2 Tim 1:9 – which was given you in Christ before the world began. There is a reason for you being here. If you find that reason, you'll be anointed. If you understand that reason, and what are you called to, what has God called you to?

HOW DOES GOD CALL YOU? You know He said to the disciples, they were just fishing and suddenly He just got a hold of them, He said, “Follow Me.” It''s an incredible thing. They put down their fishing nets, everything, left everything, and just followed Him. How many of you would say ‘Yes’ if Jesus came on the road and you were working and He said “Follow me”? You think, “Yeah, yeah, yeah.” They left all, the Scriptures says, they left all and followed Him. There comes a time in your life when you know the hand of God has come upon you, and you know, the call of God. THE CALL OF MOSES

It's interesting to look in the Scriptures on how God called people. For one instance, if you look at Moses in Exo, 2:11. It says, “It came to pass that day when Moses was grown that he went out unto his brethren and looked upon their burdens. And he spied an Egyptian smiting a Hebrew, one of his brethren.” And it says, “And he saw their afflictions.”

What happened to Moses was one, there was a destiny in his heart but it was not awakened.

How many of you know that you've got a destiny in your heart, but it has to be awakened? What are you here for? It’s got to be awakened in God? Now when Moses came out one day and he looked, it says he heard the groanings of his people. That started to awaken something in him. He saw their afflictions, compassion came into him for them. He was aware of the covenant that God had made, there was a desire to do something about it. How many of you know that all of these things were forming a call in his life? Sometimes you know there's just an awakening - we hear the groanings of the people. There is an awakening, and it's the call of God. He saw their affliction and He was moved and had AN EMOTIONAL RESPONSE to that. When you get an emotional response to something, you know that something is happening. Where your heart is stirred, there's a pull. You say, “Hey! Why does that happen to you?” You need to think what are the kinds of things that move you most of all? You could be reading a book, and suddenly something moves you. What is that? The other things in the book didn't move you but suddenly you came across

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the passage you were reading and oh, it just got hold of you. Why is that? You see, because you have a destiny, and suddenly you're reading something which links with your destiny and there's a call. Understanding the call of God, what moves you, what makes you cry, what really touches your heart? That's some indication of a call, the call of God upon your life, and this is what happened to Moses. A STRONG DESIRE THEN BEGAN TO FORM TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. The Call vs. The Commissioning

THERE IS A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE CALL AND THE COMMISSIONING. There is a PROVING in between, a period of preparation, sanctification (separating yourself for the purposes of God), streamlining, processing, learning the ways of God, the Word of God, willingness to give your whole life to God.

You know that Moses made the classic mistake. He confused the call with commission, got

him into a lot of trouble and we'll look at that in just a minute. But the Bible says MANY ARE CALLED, BUT FEW PROVE THEMSELVES TO BE THE CHOSEN ONES because between the call of God and a commissioning of God, THERE IS A PERIOD OF PROVING. Okay, you know the call of God, the commission of God is important.

In the call of Isaiah, Isaiah was in the presence of God and he just heard the Lord saying, “Who

will go?” And he volunteered. There's a call, there was a call of God but it came a different way to him. And he heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” Then said I, “Here am I, send me.” He volunteered. Now be very careful what you volunteer for, because God took him up on it. He said, “Okay, I'm gonna take you.” But there was something you see forming in his life.

The call of David was very interesting, it was more sovereign, the call of David. And

sometimes in people's lives the call of God is more sovereign. Samuel came to anoint the king and he went through all of Jesse's family, his sons and it wasn’t there, the pull of God just wasn't on any of them. Samuel said, “You've got any more?” “Yeah,” he said, “there's a little kid out there.” And he said, “Bring him in.” As soon as he came in, whoosh, the anointing fell. Samuel anointed him, and it was almost like God sovereignly chose David, He took the initiative. David was not looking for it. In Psalm 89:20 it says, “I have found David my servant, and with my holy oil have I anointed him.” There is a timing for God’s Commissioning - a period where you sanctify yourself

You know when David was called, God anointed him, he went back in the wilderness, back to his old job. Sometimes that happens in our lives. You're in a meeting and the situation is there, and you know the call of God is there. And you're all ready to do it the next day. It doesn't work out that way. THERE IS A TIME, and you know, he (David) was called but he wasn't commissioned. Moses was called and blew it, he wasn't ready. BUT BETWEEN THE CALLING AND THE COMMISSIONING, THERE IS A PERIOD WHERE YOU SANCTIFY YOURSELF, SET YOURSELF APART FOR THAT CALL AND START TO LEARN THE WAYS OF GOD, get to know the word of God, preparation in your life.

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Finally, Moses came to a burning bush, and this was forty years later. God commissioned him. He said, “I'm sending you now.” He was called in Egypt, he was really called in Egypt. He looked at them and something pulled on his heart, ‘This is my destiny,’ and he left everything. He killed the Egyptian and you know, he killed the Egyptian because of his emotion and his feeling for his people and their suffering. But he wasn't ready for the commission God had for him, and he wasn't anointed. You see, HE DID NOT GET THAT ROD OF ANOINTING UNTIL HE WAS COMMISSIONED. When God then sent him, that's when the anointing came upon his life.

But between the call of God and the commissioning of God there is a time where we have to prepare, study, learn, practice, sanctify ourselves to the call. Sanctify means to set yourself apart, to streamline your life to that call.

I remember about the age of ten I was in a Billy Graham meeting. And I was only ten years old and in a Billy Graham meeting in England and sitting there with my mother and Father, and he was just preaching away. And I had determined to become a professional soccer player and you know how kids are, that was my goal in life, that was what I was going to do. And I was sitting in that Billy Graham meeting and I was watching all these people go forward and a clear voice said to me, “Neville, I am calling you to preach the Gospel.” I turned around at my mother and said, “What?” and she looked at me and you know. That day something happened in my heart. There was a call and God wouldn't let me get away from it, just would not let me get away from it, through my teen-age years and finally I said, “Okay, but never to be a pastor! I want to be a missionary. Don't make me a pastor!” That's the last thing I wanted. I wanted a little bit of adventure in my life and you know pastoring was kind of dull and boring. “Don't make me a pastor! I want to be a missionary!” You know how often God has a way of – unusual way of dealing with us.

I did go to the mission field and that was gone, and God blessed us and I've been there a short time and God sovereignly said to me, “I want you to give up your call.” And I told you that story, and I said ‘I rebuke that, I never heard of such a thing as giving up your call.’ It's got to be the devil. But God was persistent, and He said, “I want you to go back home.” I said, “God, what do I tell the people? Why am I doing this? I mean they have invested, how many thousands of dollars just to put me in the mission field for a five-year course and I've been out here for just a very short while and You're saying go home?” And He said, “Yes.” Here, that was a death...that was a death to my pride, a death to my call, a death to everything, and I came home. And it was very kind of, unusual circumstances and it was... I got involved, there was a military coup, it was bad news. I was able to get my wife and family out on the plane but I was there for another week. And people around me were being killed all over the place and I said, “God, I want to go home!” I was standing in a shop door trying to get across town and there were three of us in the doorway and an armored personnel carrier just swept by in the corner just spraying machine gun fire all over the place. Both of the men on either side of me were killed, and I stood. The guy on my right was shot through the neck and the guy on the left through the chest, and they died, and I'm still alive. You know there's a sense of the call and the destiny and the purpose of God. And I came home and ended up, you guess what? Pastoring. You know it's kind of heel marks all the way, just dragged me into it. And the call of God is an interesting thing.

But we've got to set ourselves apart. See, THERE'S A PREPARATION TIME. Moses spent 40

years in the desert, David many years hunted by a sword. And let me just say something... David learned to kill a lion and a bear before God trusted him with Goliath. And God will set up things in your life for experience because the big one's coming along. That how He works it! That's how

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He works it... we've got to follow God, He knows what He is doing. And Paul was 14 years in Arabia.

How many of you know that all that God has done in your life since you were born again up

to this time is preparation for the next few years? YOU'VE COME TO THE KINGDOM FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS, everything you've learned, because God's going to release an army of people who know the ways of God. And Joseph was called by God to save a nation, and you look at the time he was called. When that dream came to him, that was God calling him. But you see, there was a real process in his life before he was commissioned into that role and into that purpose. He was sold as a slave and UNTIL HIS TIME CAME, THE WORD OF THE LORD TRIED HIM. Now he was commissioned in God. It's really, really important to understand this because all of you who have moved in the Spirit in the realms of God to some degree, that is training. The big things are yet ahead. Make your calling in God sure, sanctifying yourself to the call

Okay now, understand that because there's going to come a time and commissioning can be on different levels. But God wants to finally be able to commission you and anoint you for that. When that happens, in 2 Pet. 1:10 it says, “Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling sure.” How do you make your calling in God sure, to come to pass? It said, “If you do these things, you will never fall. “ And 2 Pet. 1:5 says, “And besides this, give all diligence, add to your faith virtue.”

VIRTUE, KNOWLEDGE, DILIGENCE. Streamline, apply yourself. Now how many of you

know that people want to preach but they don't want to lead a Sunday School class? And I've talked with people and they would be in their late teens or something and say, “God has called me to preach.” And I say, “Okay, take this Sunday School class and learn the ways of God.” “God has not called me to, God has called me to the nations.” I say, “Take this Sunday School class.”

Diligence, give diligence – prove yourself on the small thing. That's where the big things come

from - diligence. VIRTUE, that's more of PURITY. The knowledge and understanding of the Word of God. Temperance – self-control, patience. Patience is the ability to wait. That's a very hard one. Godliness, a God-like character, brotherly kindness. It says that if these things be in you and abound, they make that you shall not be barren nor unfaithful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

How do you make your calling and election sure? See, God wants to work these things into

our lives.

Finally, A WILLINGNESS TO LAY DOWN YOUR LIFE. And so, sanctifying yourself to the call. LARGENESS OF CALL determines the DEGREE OF PREPARATION.

You know, the largeness of the call determines the degree of preparation and the degree of hardship and pressure you'll go through to get into it. The largeness of the call determines the level of conflict over it and preparation that is required. Moses' preparation was hard, but his call was to lead two million people out of Egypt to the Promised Land. And so his preparation was hard. And you think, “Well, things are hard for me. Preparation is hard.”

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And I’d had people come and say, “God, nobody recognizes my ministry.” How many of you

know that GOD IS IN CONTROL OF THAT, NOT MAN? God would make a...God has way of opening doors for you when you're ready. And I believe that ministry should be sensitive to people and their callings in ministry, I believe that with all of my heart. But in the final analysis, it is God who makes a way for you. Nobody can stop the purposes of God in your life if your heart is right in it. And so, FAITHFULNESS IN THE LITTLE THINGS, and the largeness of that call, the largeness of it would determine the preparation that's required. And God gives us little things to experiment with, He gives us people to minister to and we learn. And we learn this, and we learn that, and we learn something else. We have an understanding of this, we have this experience with God. And it all adds to what God is doing. He's gonna commission you into this generation. No ROD OF ANOINTING until the Commissioning!

You see God is going to raise up a prophetic people in the end times that are going to do the

work of God. And the main emphasis is going to be the prophetic anointing that's going to cover all the other ministries. And God wants an army, prophetic army raised up in these last days and God is preparing you for that. God is giving you understanding.

The call of God, you see, we are sent. You've got to know that you are sent. Jesus was sent by

the Father. You've got to know that you've been sent by Jesus. There comes a time when God apprehends you, and it will come with strong feelings, strong pull...what moves you in your life? That call of God, it came. And so just as Jesus was sent by the Father, that's where His authority comes from. Your authority will come from knowing that you are sent by Jesus. And so just as Jesus was sent by the Father, that's where His authority comes from, your authority will come from knowing that you are sent by Jesus. 2. THE BELIEVER DOES THE WILL OF JESUS The believer then, just like Jesus does the will of God, JESUS IS OUR HEAD; WE OBEY HIM.

Eph. 1:22 And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things to the church, ... 2 Tim. 1:9 PRAYER is cooperating with the Will of God. KNOW WHAT JESUS WANTS YOU TO DO IN A SITUATION, A PERSON. Then you will have the Authority and Anointing to do it. 3. THE BELIEVER DOES THE WORKS OF JESUS

John 14:12 Verily, verily I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.

Gal. 2:20

But they're not our own works. We have to understand that.

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4. THE BELIEVER REVEALS JESUS

Acts 5:42 And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ. Acts 8:5,35, 2 Cor. 3:18

The believer is here to reveal Jesus. How many of you know Jesus came to show what God was like? Your role is to show the world what Jesus is like, in character and ability. You will show people what Jesus is like in His ability, that's the power side, and His character, that's the fruit side. Now YOU COULD BE JESUS TO THIS WORLD. You know God said to said to Moses when he was confronting the Egyptians, He said “I'll make you a god unto Pharaoh.” That's the exact words that He used. He will make you Jesus to this world. Understand that your role, understand your call - the believer is to reveal Jesus. 5. JESUS IN THE BELIEVER RECONCILING THE WORLD UNTO HIMSELF

2 Cor. 5:18 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation.

God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself. Jesus is in you, reconciling the

unsaved unto Him. THAT'S THE ESSENTIAL ROLE OF INTERCESSION - RECONCILIATION. Jesus is in you, Jesus represented the Father when He was on the earth.

So we represent Jesus in the earth. Okay now, understanding that is important because

understanding where your authority comes from is really important. You are here to represent Jesus in His ability through the anointing and His character, His person through the fruit of the Spirit. And so you become Jesus to everyone that you meet. You are sent into this world to reveal Jesus. When you confront someone, you meet someone, you are there to reveal Jesus. You are Jesus to them. And if you know at that point of time what Jesus wants to do, you have tremendous authority and power to do it. Isn't that simple? He is in you and you need to know what Jesus wants to do with that person, with that circumstance. If you know that and you act on that, you have authority and there is power to back it up.

And so understanding that background of the call of God upon your life. And you can't get

away from the call of God, it stays there. You might not ever activate it but it will be there, and every time you touch something that is related to that call, you’ll have an emotional response. But eventually you'll have to yield to it, and say, “God, I know what touches my heart. And I know it, that thing you gave me before I was born, every now and then gets triggered off.’ There's a call that's implanted in you and when it's triggered you think, “Ahh, there it is again! That's what I'm here for, that's what God called me to.’ What triggers you emotionally? Where is the call in your life? What moves you? You'll be watching all of these secular TV programs and whoa, something moves you. And it gets, and you're just moved by something, something is just an incident. Why does that happen? Triggered, just touched the chord that is connected to the call of God in your life. Now, understanding your call - we are all called, you have a role to play.

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Lesson 7

Intercessory Prayer (Part 1) We have now established a strong enough foundation for our study of Intercessory Prayer. The work of Christ reuniting God and man is intercession in its fullest sense. There is no other mediator intercessor between God and man but Jesus. ALL of our intercession must be an extension of HIS. Now we represent Him in the earth and enforce the work of His intercession. This makes our Intercessory Prayer powerful as it enforces that which He has already achieved for the human race. We are now going to study how these foundation truths manifest themselves in actual acts of Intercessory Prayer. How does it work in our lives? I. ‘PAGA’ - CREATING A MEETING The Hebrew word for Intercession is ... “PAGA,“ a very important word when it comes to intercession. The Hebrew language is very graphic and employs many shades of meaning. This word “Paga” has many applications, all related yet uniquely different. By studying the way this word is used, we gain some profound insight into Intercessory Prayer. We will look at the first aspect of this word which is ‘TO CREATE A MEETING,’ to get the ears of the King on behalf of someone else. That’s a meeting. Now, A MEETING CAN BE PLEASANT OR IT CAN BE VIOLENT. It can be a violent confrontation of opposing forces. The intercessor is either going to meet God for the purpose of reconciling the world to the Father with all of the benefits made through calvary, or you’re going to meet the devil on behalf of someone else. You’re going to meet with God either for that person’s needs or you’re going to clash with the devil for that person’s needs for the purpose of enforcing victory. Either way, there’s going to be a meeting that will take place. An intercessor creates a MEETING – prevails with God on behalf of a situation or overcomes the enemy. THE PRAYERS OF AN UNDERSTANDING INTERCESSOR WILL CREATE A MEETING. And when that meeting comes to a close, something will have changed in that person’s life or in those circumstances. That is Intercession.

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A. INTERCESSION IS A MEETING WITH GOD FOR RECONCILIATION 1. IN THE LIFE OF JESUS

Psalm 85:10 (a Messianic Psalm) Mercy and truth are met [‘Paga’] together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other. John 1:17 For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.

Mercy and Truth have met - ‘Paga.’ God is RIGHTEOUS and cannot overlook sin. But

God is also LOVE, so HE PRODUCED A MEETING: A PAGA.

The wrath of God was poured out on Jesus Loving-kindness and Truth met It produced Reconciliation

A MEETING took place of all these forces.

2. IN THE LIFE OF THE BELIEVER

2 Cor. 5:18 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation.

In the life of a believer, GOD HAS GIVEN YOU THE MINISTRY OF RECONCILIATION. Now if you’re going to do that, you’re going to create a meeting with God. AS INTERCESSORS, YOU CAN CREATE A MEETING WITH GOD FOR THE CITY, FOR YOUR HOME AND FINALLY TOUCH GOD. Remember Abraham, he said, ‘God, You cannot do this.’ He had a meeting with God. And you create a meeting between God and man, the one you are interceding for, or the circumstances you are interceding for – maybe for healing purposes, for deliverance, for direction, for salvation, maybe a backslidden son, for an unsaved husband/wife. You see, you create a meeting with God for them. As you begin to intercede for them, you will either break through into God on their behalf and release something for them, and then that person will meet with God in some way. You bring reconciliation, you bring them together. When that happens, an unsaved husband will have a meeting with God in some way. Things change. ‘Paga,’ you create a meeting. On the other hand, you may encounter another meeting – you may meet the demonic forces that are operating over that person or in the circumstances or in that city. You begin to intercede and your intercession creates a meeting, face to face meeting.

The prayers of an UNDERSTANDING INTERCESSOR create a meeting. When that

meeting comes to a close, something will have changed.

And so, you create a meeting with God, confronting evil.

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B. CONFRONTING EVIL ... BREAKING

- for a person, city, nation, situation. One of the aspects of intercession is BREAKING THE RULE OF SATAN OVER A PERSON’S LIFE.

Prov. 17:12 Let a bear robbed of her whelps meet a man rather than a fool in his folly. 2 Sam. 17:8 For, said Hushai, thou knowest thy father and his men, that they be mighty men, and they be chafed in their minds, as a bear robbed of her whelps in the field: and thy father is a man of war, and will not lodge with the people.

You never get between a bear or a lion and its cubs, because if you do, you’re fixing to arrange a meeting. This is ‘Paga.’ You get between the devil and his captives, unsaved people in the city. If you do, there is going to be a meeting, a violent confrontation. And this is where an intercessor gets involved in Spiritual Warfare. This is where a clash is going to come. You see, Calvary was a violent confrontation, created a meeting. You start praying for someone, you either break through to God and release something from God, or you clash with the evil powers behind that situation. Either way, you MEET and it’s going to be violent. You get between the devil and his kids and you’re fixing to have a meeting.

That’s why intercession for a city and spiritual warfare go together in order to release people, to get them saved into the Kingdom of God. See, INTERCESSION IN SPIRITUAL WARFARE is a key element in evangelism which the church has missed for so long. You create a meeting, and if you’re going to release those people, then you’ve got to be victorious in that conflict. You’ve got to break the power over them. And this can lock the intercessor into intercession in spiritual warfare for weeks on end. But eventually when that meeting is finished, something will have changed. That intercessor has brought change and the will of God into that situation. That will cost you time. How many of you know spiritual warfare is not necessarily pleasant and sometimes we think we need a break for a while, you know. But because of what we are involved in, we keep getting between the devil and the situation. And that creates this kind of meeting. 1) JESUS

JESUS WAS MANIFESTED TO DESTROY THE WORKS OF THE DEVIL.

1 John 3:8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.

We too are manifested to destroy the works of the devil.

Acts 10:38 How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.

Jesus destroyed the works of the Devil.

See also John 14:30, 12:31.

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2) THE BELIEVER

Wherever Paul went, he always created a ‘meeting,’ – CLASHES WITH THE ENEMY! He went to Ephesus, and it was Diana, the goddess of the Ephesians. The whole city was in an uproar. He goes to another city, there’s a sorcerer trying to take the rule of the area away from the things of God. It’s very interesting in…

Acts 16:16 And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met with us (there was a ‘Paga’), which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying:

Well you say, ‘How can a little girl affect the whole city?’ The ruling spirit over that whole area operated through that girl, and the Bible says she had great power over that area and people from high and low consulted her. That was a ruling territorial spirit over the whole area. And Paul went in and there was a ‘Paga.’ He met head on. VIOLENT CONFRONTATIONS

And it was very very deceptive because she kept saying, ‘These men are the men of God, preaching, showing us the way of salvation.’ What was that? CAMOUFLAGE. She was saying the truth, but something stirred in his spirit. And one day, he just turned around and he started to deal with that spirit of divination. See, there was a CLASH in the Spirit Realm, VIOLENT CONFRONTATIONS. There’s going to be clashes, there’s going to be confrontations. You start praying as an intercessor, you’re going to have clashes and sometimes you’ll wonder, ‘What on earth is going on?’ There will be a clash.

We see it over and over and over again, in Acts 13:11,

‘And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season. And immediately there fell on him a mist and a darkness; and he went about seeking some to lead him by the hand. ‘

This was an interesting situation. It says in vs. 6, ‘And when they had gone through the isle unto

Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Barjesus: which was with the deputy of the country…’

How many of you know that close to all the deputies of our country, people in authority, there

are witches, warlocks and people in the occult, and they’re close to them, they always get them, feeding them with direction and information? How many know that should be the role of the church? And this is exactly what it was.

And ‘whose name was Barjesus: which was with the deputy of the country, Sergius Paulus, a prudent man; who

called for Barnabas and Saul, and desired to hear the word of God.’ As soon as there comes a hearing of the Word of God, ‘(Act 13:8) But Elymas the sorcerer (for so is his name by interpretation) withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith.’ He wasn’t meeting a man, he met the spirit that was controlling that whole region through the deputy of the country.

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There was a ‘Paga,’ there was a clash, there was a violent confrontation. And in the end Paul was so stirred up, he was so moved in the spirit, he said, ‘You’re going to be blind for a season.’ And the man became blind.

In the 70’s I had this guy who kept standing up in our services. I’ll be in the middle of my

preaching and he will stand up and he’ll contradict me. This went on for weeks, and I was kind of gracious. And one Sunday he stood up right in the middle of my preaching again and started contradicting me, and something came over me. I was kind of indignant, and I felt anger and I also felt an anointing, you know, ‘Roarrrrr.’ All I said was, ‘The hand of the Lord is upon you,’ and he fell down. And from then on he was in asylum for 4 years, and when he came out he did come back to the Lord and reconciliation was effected. How many of you know that wasn’t me? I’m glad I didn’t say anything except ‘The hand of the Lord is upon you.’

Another time, I was in a situation where I was preaching and this guy came into the service

with a rifle. He was going to kill me. This was exciting, this guy was really out to get me. He pointed the rifle at me, and all I said was again, ‘The hand of the Lord be upon you.’ And it was like suddenly he was just shot and he went ‘booommm.’ He went out of that meeting, went back to where he was and shot himself. It wasn’t fatal, but you see, these are VIOLENT CONFRONTATIONS.

How many of you know in the coming days, you’re going to have violent confrontations?

There’s going to be whole mobs coming against the church. THAT IS WHY YOU NEED TO KNOW YOUR AUTHORITY, POSITION IN CHRIST TO DEAL WITH ALL THESE VIOLENT CONFRONTATIONS. That’s how you need to MOVE IN THE SPIRIT, move with God in this to deal with a situation like that.

Intercessors moving in God, there’s going to be clashes against spirits over people. You’re

going to create a meeting. That word ‘Paga’ is TO CREATE A MEETING. ‘Paga’ is the most common word in the Old

Testament for intercession, and the first aspect of it is to create a meeting. Matt. 11:12 - The VIOLENT TAKE IT BY FORCE.

The LION ANOINTING is beginning to be Manifest in these Days THE LION ANOINTING IS BEGINNING TO BE MANIFEST IN THESE DAYS. How many of you know that? In the Toronto blessing, there had been people sounding like lions, all kinds of things. Now what is that? It sounds weird. I was in a meeting in a traditional church and the minister of the church fell on the floor and started roaring like a lion. What is that? It’s like God is saying, you know, God has His way of signing prophetic things. And God is really saying to the church He’s going to arrive as a Lion of the Tribe Of Judah, and the lion is going to start to roar in the church again. These are prophetic things, don’t dismiss them for God is saying something to us and we need to get to understand them.

WE ARE AT WAR, and it’s going to go on till the end of the Age. We will meet opposition; there will be violent confrontation in this business of getting people into the Kingdom of God and

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setting the captives free. We must be ready to deal aggressively with these forces from a POSITION OF VICTORY, knowing that the victory has already been won, and we are there TO ENFORCE IT.

IN DEALING WITH THE ENEMY, YOU DON’T HAVE TO FEAR HIM. You’ve got to be

wise, but you don’t have to fear him. He has only three weapons, three areas of power over you: through Sin in your life, through Deception and Division. Those are the only 3 weapons he’s got against you. If he can deceive you into believing that he is more powerful than you and you can’t do it, then you are defeated. That’s deception. The Bible says the contrary. If there’s sin in your life, it will keep the door open to the enemy. But there are only 3 areas. Get those 3 areas right and you can confront the enemy in God or with the anointing of the Holy Spirit. II. THE SECOND USE OF THE WORD “PAGA” -- “TO LIGHT UPON” The word carries with it the meaning:

“TO LIGHT UPON BY CHANCE” (comes from the Holy Spirit)

“TO INTERCEPT” (what’s really happening in people’s, nation’s lives, situations) A. We need the help of the Holy Spirit, He monitors everything – individuals’ lives,

your children, politician’s lives, businessmen’s lives, etc.

First let’s see how the Holy Spirit helps us in this. Now the thing in intercession is because we don’t know always what’s going on out there, and what’s happening in people’s lives, we need the help of the Holy Spirit. How many of you know that the Holy Spirit monitors everything that’s happening in the world? The Bible says there’s not a sparrow that falls to the ground that’s not picked up by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has an incredible capacity to monitor everything that’s happening in the world at the same time. And that is relayed back into heaven by the Holy Spirit. How many of you know that because He knows that, He’s monitoring everything that takes place, it registers in heaven because the Holy Spirit is monitoring it. He knows everything. He is omnipresent, He’s everywhere, and no matter what happens, that signal is picked up by the Holy Spirit. He knows that.

HE KNOWS WHAT’S ABOUT TO HAPPEN IN YOUR LIFE. He knows what the enemy is

planning for you up ahead of time. He knows what’s going on with your children in school when you don’t know about it. He knows what’s going on with your teen-agers when they’re out on a date and you don’t know much about it, all those parents’ worries, all that kind of stuff. Perilous times for teen-agers, for parents anyway. The Holy Spirit, WE NEED THE HELP OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. The Holy Spirit is there to help us.

John 4:17-18 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I WILL NOT LEAVE YOU COMFORTLESS: I WILL COME TO YOU. The Holy Spirit is going to come to you. Intercessory

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John 14:26 But the COMFORTER, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, HE SHALL TEACH YOU ALL THINGS, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.

The words “another Comforter” come from two Greek words ‘allos’ and ‘parakletos’.

1. “ALLOS” meaning “THE SAME AS”

The same as what‘? It will be the same with you as it was with Jesus. Jesus said, ‘I’m going away but the Holy Spirit will come.’ It’s the same. People all get kind of confused by the Holy Spirit and Jesus. The Holy Spirit says, ‘I’ve come to represent Jesus, make Jesus real in your life.’

‘Allos’ meaning ‘the same as,’ the SAME POWER SOURCE that Jesus had,

The Same Ministry

The Same Works

The Same Helper

The Holy Spirit is with you.

2. “PARAKLETOS” meaning:

Comforter

Helper

Advocate

Standby

Counsellor

Intercessor

Strengthener WE HAVE THE SAME HELPER THAT JESUS HAD.

B. The word ‘PAGA’ – means two things: 1. TO LIGHT UPON BY CHANCE THE HOLY SPIRIT HELPS US WITH OUR DIRECTION AND ACCURACY IN INTERCESSION.

Rom. 8:26-27 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our INFIRMITIES: for we know not what we should pray for AS WE OUGHT: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

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Two words to note here ... “Infirmities” and “Ought”.

a. The word “Infirmities” is the Greek word “astheneia” which means:

LACK OF STRENGTH AND ABILITY; THE INABILITY TO PRODUCE RESULTS.

The Spirit knows our inability to produce results. He knows our lack of strength.

b. The word “Ought” is the Greek word “dei” which means:

THAT WHICH IS RIGHT, AND MORE SO THAT WHICH IS NECESSARY.

We don’t know how to pray, what is in a way is ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY,

because of our weaknesses, our inability to produce results. The Holy Spirit is going to come and help us.

THE HOLY SPIRIT HELPS US IN THIS BY LIGHTING UPON US BY CHANCE, not actually by chance, but BEING GUIDED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT. EXAMPLE OF JACOB

Gen. 28:10-11 And Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran. And he lighted [Paga] upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep.

Jacob was running for his life, but he was also being directed by God. It says, ‘He lighted by chance upon a place.’ How many know that quite often what we think is by chance is not by chance. It’s by the Holy Spirit. Now he lighted by chance, ‘paga,’ upon a certain place and he was being directed unknowingly by God to this place, Bethel which is called “the House of God,” the first mention of the ‘House of God’ in the scriptures.

THIS PRODUCED A “MEETING WITH GOD.” This ‘paga,’ lighted upon by chance, produced a meeting with God. Remember he slept, and there was a ladder up to heaven, and the heavens were opened above him. This is where we pick up in the O.T. ‘lighted upon by chance.’

THE HOLY SPIRIT WILL LIGHT (HELP) UPON YOU BY CHANCE TO PRAY. You don’t

know why, where, what, but you have a HELPER. The Holy Spirit causes your prayers to light upon the RIGHT place, and when that happens and you pray, destinies are shaped and things change, and people come to Bethel, the House of God like Jacob. To light upon by chance.

Now, we’ll develop this in a moment because it’s an important aspect of intercession, a fairly

common one and it’s important.

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2. TO LIGHT UPON BY CHANCE means ‘TO INTERCEPT’

THE HOLY SPIRIT HAS A WAY OF INTERCEPTING YOUR OWN THOUGHTS WITH HIS THOUGHTS (not you, but the Holy Spirit with His word of knowledge, prophetic word), bringing someone (or city or nation) before you with the thought or feeling to pray for them. This is a PAGA encounter. It is the Holy Spirit calling you to intercession.

How many times you’ve been driving down the road, minding your own business and

suddenly somebody comes before you. What is that? That’s a ‘paga,’ that’s an INTERCEPT, cutting, lighting upon you by chance, intercepting your own thought. Suddenly you had someone in your mind, the face of someone comes before you, and you’re thinking about them, ‘shroooo.’

You see, the role of the Intercessor must be really QUICK TO PICK THAT UP, because one of

your roles is a WATCHMAN. And sometimes the Holy Spirit will light upon you by chance, cut across, intercept your own thoughts in what you’re doing because someone is either in trouble or in the next few days is going to be IN TROUBLE. And you as an Intercessor and as a Watchman over them now is going to prevent that from happening. This is very very important for you as an Intercessor to understand. It’s really very important to understand this with your children. For no reason, one of your children come to mind. Wooooww, what is that? An INTERCEPT, lighting upon you by chance. IT’S REALLY IMPORTANT THAT YOU LEARN TO RESPOND AT THAT TIME. These ‘paga’ encounters are really really really important.

We should explore this a little further as to the kind of feel of that in HOW IT OPERATES. Sometimes the gifts of the Spirit operate this way. How many of you go to pray for someone and there’s a ‘paga’, an interception with the word of knowledge, cuts across your own thoughts? It’s the same operation of the Holy Spirit. Or you go to pray with someone and ‘whhoosshh,’ something comes in. It might be a prophetic word. How many times that you went to speak with someone, and you just wanted to speak to them with either counseling or something, and instead of speaking you start to prophesy?

That’s a ‘paga,’ to light upon by chance. That is very POWERFUL because it is LIFE. It is no

longer you. It is now the Holy Spirit in operation. And when He does something, He does it properly and gets results. We don’t know how to pray as we ought, but the Holy Spirit can light upon us by chance. Moving from praying for people to praying for cities and nations through FAITHFULNESS

If you are faithful in this, if you are faithful in this, God will move you from people to NATIONS, cities and nations. Like everything, Intercessors have to learn that as they remain faithful in what God gives them, they get GREATER LEVELS OF RESPONSIBILITY. It depends on their faithfulness.

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When God begins to drop people in your heart, crossing your mind, interception by chance, that ‘paga’ dropping upon you, and you begin to pray, you begin to intercede, you begin to see that thing through, God looks at you and says, ‘Ah, that person is faithful in that, We’ll give him some more of that.’ And so God comes in and interception again takes place, and you respond to that and you learn how to move in that. And once you become proficient in that, in responding to that, God says, ‘Ok, this person is doing quite well, I can use them on a greater level.’ And then God might begin to intercept over you for your city or for your whole church. It’s a greater, ANOTHER LEVEL OF INTERCEPTION, you see. ‘Paga,’ by chance.

I have found myself many many times in ministry in really dangerous situations, particularly

overseas, and I know that somewhere someone back home had a ‘paga,’ and went ahead of time and dealt with that. And I came through unscathed. How very important intercession is. And it can even be for the UNSAVED. God lights upon you by chance and you start to pray for someone, and you know they’re not saved. It might be a neighbor or someone you know. They’re not in the kingdom of God, and you begin to pray and pray until that burden is discharged and you will find that you have created a meeting of your unsaved neighbor and God. And they might have a dream or whatever, but God will interact with them in some way. God will intercept in their lives because you responded to a ‘Paga’ encounter. And what triggered that? You have represented them with God on the earth through intercession, bringing it into pass. It’s exciting.

There’s a whole realm which can be explored in this whole area. Like Jacob, it wasn’t by

chance. It was BY DESIGN. With him, it was by chance, but with God it was by design, and he met with God that night, created a meeting. ‘This is the house of God, this is the gate of heaven.’

IT’S REALLY IMPORTANT. YOU CAN BE SO EMPOWERED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT IN

THIS. He is your Helper, and He knows what’s going on in every part of the world. Sometimes, it’s really important, you wake up in the night with a nation on your heart, awakened early in the morning. It’s like interception by chance. You didn’t tick this of, you didn’t start this. Why will you be thinking this way? Why will you be thinking about that nation? Why will that be upon your heart? Because it’s a critical situation in the realm of the spirit over that nation taking place, and you need to pray.

YOU SAY, ‘WELL, I’M ONLY ONE PERSON.’ Let me tell you, if you start responding to these

levels, God will use you as a Watchman over nations. And if you don’t respond, he’ll drop you off to the other level. There are LEVELS OF INTERCESSION which God wants to take you to. There are LEVELS OF AUTHORITY with those changing realms which God wants to take you into. And things can happen over nations because someone somewhere was moved upon by the Holy Spirit and responded, at the right time, the right place, and ‘booomm,’ it happened.

And as you become faithful in this, you know, everything in the realm of the spirit, WE

GROW IN THE THINGS OF THE SPIRIT AND IN AUTHORITY LEVELS, we grow in it by BEING FAITHFUL to what God has given us NOW. And if we are faithful to that, it changes to another level. There will be a period when God will watch to see if you are faithful. And if you are faithful through that, God says, ‘Ok, I can trust you, you’ve proven yourself. ‘Now I’m going to move you into a new dimension of intercession. I’m going to lift you into another level. It might be NATIONAL. I’m going to make you a Watchman over this city. You’ve proven yourself in this level. I’m going to make you a Watchman over this city.’ And so He lifts you to another dimension of intercession, and with that

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comes another level of ANOINTING, and another level of AUTHORITY, and you can actually change things in that city, because you’re workers TOGETHER WITH GOD.

It’s not you, it’s not your initiatives, IT’S HIS, and ONE PERSON can make the difference. See,

God looks for just ONE MAN, an intercessor, JUST ONE. To stop judgment coming upon the land, ‘I could not find 1.’ If he’d found one, it could have been very different, just 1. Intercession for Pastors is very very important

Intercession for pastors is very very very important, particularly in the next session that goes ahead of time, BECAUSE THE ENEMY PLANS LOTS AND LOTS OF THINGS. And your pastor, as the head of that congregation is out there right up front. He’s the doorkeeper for that place. And I want to tell you, sometimes because pastors are very very busy, they can miss it because they’ve got their hands into so many balls at the same time. They can miss it.

And if he misses, the church can be in trouble IF AN INTERCESSOR DOESN’T CATCH IT.

It’s really really important to understand that, because the pastor cannot do everything that’s going on in the church. And the intercessor can either go to the pastor, ’Hey, listen, we were praying in this area, and this is what is happening.’ And if that intercessor has a good relationship with the pastor and there’s a trust there, he’ll say, ‘Yeah, okay, okay. I take your point.’

PASTORS HAVE TO BEGIN TO TRUST SOME OF THEIR INTERCESSORS WHO ARE

EXPERIENCED, because the pastor does not always pick it. He’s got too many things to handle. Many times they will pick it. But sometimes they can miss it. They can miss something which is crucial. If it gets past him, it gets into the church, and then to all the congregation, and you’ve got a problem. It’s really really an important thing. And there are certain intercessors which I trust, and if they say, “Hey Neville, hear this,’ I listen. You better believe, I listen when this person who’s got a good track record, I am not going to just let this past. Because if I do, I can be in big trouble. There is a level of PROPHETIC INTERCESSION

Now God can lift you to different levels of intercession, relationship in intercession with the pastor, and so on. He’s looking, you see. In the end as you are faithful in this, there is a level of PROPHETIC INTERCESSION which has dynamic power to change things. I mean JUST ONE WORD can change your situation, just one word in a situation can change it because God lifts that person to another level of prophetic intercession. And what they speak is no longer them because it is the Word of God, word of the Lord, and the word of the Lord does not return void. When God speaks, it will happen.

WHEN THE INTERCESSOR GETS INTO THAT DIMENSION OF PROPHETIC

INTERCESSION, CHANGE BEGINS TO HAPPEN. And sometimes like a domino effect. They will knock off one thing and it just triggers all the way through. See the power of this? Your prayers will have the ability to bring change into situations.

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Intercessors will begin to feel the thing that they are dealing with

BUT YOU’VE GOT TO RECOGNIZE THAT GOD WILL CREATE A MEETING. It can be violent, confrontation with the powers of darkness in that situation, and you’ll be in the thick of it. When you create that kind of meeting and you get between what the devil wants to do and what is the will of God, then there’s going to be a clash and the clash will be over your life as an intercessor. Sometimes you can fight all your life until you break that thing through. Or you create a meeting with God for that situation or that person. Either way you create a meeting. You’ve got to understand that CLASHES will be there, they will occur in your life because you’re an intercessor.

BECAUSE THEY’RE INTERCESSORS, INTERCESSORS WILL BEGIN TO FEEL THE

SYMPTOMS OF THE THINGS THEY ARE DEALING WITH. Now if you’re dealing with a problem like an unclean problem in the church or whatever, you’re going to feel the symptoms and think you need help. What you’ve done is you’ve entered that realm. There’s a violent confrontation going on, and that thing is all over you. But you never give up at that point. You BREAK THROUGH IT, okay?

And it can be an area, this particular area which I’m sure you recognize it, this whole area is

full of unclean spirits because of the night clubs and all kinds of things. Quite often I’m getting into a service and it’s everywhere, and sometimes praise and worship will cut through it. And sometimes it won’t. It creates a dullness when you break through that thing because it’s a geographical thing in the area. I mean this wall here. The other side of this wall is a Night Club, and it’s not a very good, nice night club, just the other side. There was a murder that took place just a week ago in the night club here. I mean we’re living here.

And you need to understand this: there’s going to be clashes in the realm of the spirit, and

you’re going to feel the circumstances and situation in which you’re clashing with. And you might think, ‘Oh, I need deliverance. Why am I thinking this?’ ALL YOU’VE DONE IS ENTER INTO THE BATTLE. You’re sensitive to what is happening around you, and you begin to feel the whole area. When Lot was in Sodom and Gomorrah, it vexed his soul, vexed his soul. He could feel the rottenness of the whole place was flowing through him. He could feel it. And that’s the kind of thing that can really vex us. You’ve got to press through that.

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Lesson 8

Intercessory Prayer (Part 2) - TIMING IN INTERCESSION I. ENTERING INTO REST One of the things that God wants us to come into is REST. For His Anointing to flow to come into that place where God wants us to flow in, we’ve got to come into rest. When Paul was writing to the church in Hebrews, he’s writing to Spirit-filled Christians. Heb. 4:9, ‘There remains a rest for the people of God.’ He was talking about the early church Christians, and he was desribing a place in God called REST. Then he said in vs. 11, ‘Let us LABOR to enter into this rest.’ The word ‘labor’ there means TO BE EARNEST, TO MAKE IT A GOAL.

In the Old Testament, it’s pictured in a different way. It’s pictured as the Sabbath. They were

not allowed to do any work. In Ezek. 44, the priest is not allowed to sweat. In Deut. 12 that rest was called their Promised Land. For Israel, entering into rest was their major objective. It’s interesting to understand that. When God talked to them about possessing the land in Josh. 1:11, He said, ‘Past through the host, and command the people, saying, Prepare you victuals; for within three days ye shall past over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land, which the LORD your God giveth you to possess it.’ In vs. 13, he said, ‘Remember the word which Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, saying, The LORD your God hath given you rest, and hath given you this land.’ There is a land which you need to enter into which brings rest, that’s AT THE LEVEL THE ANOINTING BEGINS TO FLOW.

And then Deut. 12:9 says, ‘For ye are not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance, which the LORD

your God giveth you. But when ye go over Jordan, and dwell in the land which the LORD your God giveth you to inherit, and when he giveth you rest from all your enemies round about, so that ye dwell in safety;’ We know that most of them didn’t enter into it in the Old Testament, Paul was saying here that when they came to the brink of the Promise Land which was their rest, and they didn’t enter in. Only two, Joshua and Caleb, got across, and most of them died in the wilderness and didn’t enter into rest.

How many of you know THERE IS NO REST IN THE WILDERNESS? I mean they had the

provision of God. They had healing and blessing and water flowed, but there was no rest. We’re not talking about inactivity, we’re talking about an Inner Condition.

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A. TWO ASPECTS TO REST 1. Winning the Battle Inside Your Life First

And the two aspects to rest which are really important as intercessors you have to come into, and one is firstly YOU HAVE TO WIN THE BATTLE ON THE INSIDE. You have to win the battles on the inside of your life if you’re going to come into rest.

Battles of fear, battles of jealousy, battles of anger, battles of competition, battles of pride – see, all

these things eat into our lives and stop us in being in that condition in the land of rest in God. How many of you know if you have a problem of JEALOUSY with other Christians you can’t

enter into rest? Jealousy is a real torment; fear is a torment, and lots of people have no rest because of jealousy. It eats them away and produces a whole array of negative actions in controlling situations. Song of Solomon 8:6 says, ‘Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath A MOST VEHEMENT FLAME.’ That person has no rest. It’s very important that you come to terms with jealousy. You know, when God is moving with someone else in a real way, we are prone to jealousy. It’s so easy because if that takes hold of your life, jealousy of other people’s spirituality on what God is doing with them, it’s going to bring you into a situation where there’s no rest and you’re not moving in the spirit. We need to honor people instead.

COMPETITION is another problem, wanting to be better than the other person. You don’t

have any rest. PRIDE is a time bomb just waiting to go off. It eventually will. BITTERNESS, SELF-PITY (have not come to terms with our Identity and Destiny in Christ, resulting in insecurity).

There’s a battle on the inside. You know what I’m talking about. The battles on the inside

have to be won first. If you don’t battle the battles on the inside, you’re going to have problems. GOD CANNOT CHANGE YOUR CIRCUMSTANCES UNTIL HE’S BEEN ABLE TO

CHANGE YOU. You know, people say, ‘If only my circumstances would change, I will be okay.’ You’re wrong, because the battle on the inside would not change. It will be the same. You know, God changes your circumstances when they hinder the purposes of God for your life. But first you have to win the battle on the inside. B. TWO MAJOR SPIRITS THAT HINDER YOU COMING INTO REST - FEAR AND

UNBELIEF Two, there are two major spirits that hinder you coming into rest: FEAR and UNBELIEF. It says in Heb.3 that they didn’t enter in at that time because of unbelief, unbelief. That unbelief was rooted in fear. Fear is the opposite of faith.

They were in the brink of entering in to the purposes of God, but unbelief and fear rose up like a giant and bound them, giants of fear. It simply meant they didn’t believe God to take care of their lives. If they believed that, they would have gone into the Promise Land. If they really

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believed that God could take care of them, they wouldn’t be afraid of getting into the next phase, Winning the battle.

C. HOW DO WE WIN THE BATTLE INSIDE?

It’s summed up in one word - D I E !!! One simple word, you have to die. You’ll never have

rest until you die. Jesus said, ‘Verily I say unto you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and die, it abideth alone.’ You can’t even bring forth fruit until you die. Paul said, ‘I am CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST. Nevertheless I live. It is no longer I that live, but Christ that lives in me.’ You’ve got to die. We live this life by FAITH.

You see, jealousy is rooted in three major spirits: pride, unbelief and fear. Jealousy says, ‘God, I

don’t trust you with my life. I don’t trust you to bring to pass what You’ve got for me.’ It’s rooted in pride, it says, ‘God, I don’t want what You’ve got for me. I want what that other person has got.’ Jealousy is rooted in that, you know.

To win the battles on the inside, you’ve got to give up your own life, surrender your own will.

You have to die to what you want. There’s got to be a real death to self – death to all my own will, desires, ways, death to ambitions, death to what we want, what pleases us. Jealousy can’t reign when we only want what God has got for us. One of the things that’s not preached anymore is death to self, CRUCIFIED LIFE, really really important.

The other day, I was associated with the Whack Mission, and some of the missionaries really

understood this. They really understood what it meant to give up their lives in the realm of the Spirit. It’s something which is not really preached anymore. We have to die to what we want – our plans, our purposes in order to come alive unto God. It’s impossible to have RESURRECTION LIFE unless you first died. You cannot have His Life until you’ve given up our life, until we only want what God wants. So the battle on the inside has got to come to an end.

You know, once you start honoring people for what God has given them, you put yourself in

the position for God to begin to honor you. Let me say that again. Once you start honoring people for what God has given them, you put yourself in the position for God to begin to honor you. It’s really really important because to get into real Spiritual Warfare, we’ve got to win the battles on the inside.

You know, often there’s jealousy between husbands and wives. Quite often, because the wife

is more spiritual than the husband or the wife is more sensitive than the husband, and so there’s a kind of jealousy. What happens is the husband begins to bring restrictions, control over the wife because of jealousy. It’s really really important, they’re a team. D. YOU’VE GOT TO TRUST YOUR LIFE WITH THE LORD

When you die, you’re in the hands of God. He really loves you and He has a plan for your life. He can bring it to pass, all that He’s got for you. You can enter into that rest, and all that striving, all that kind of inner conflict comes to an end, and you surrender unto the Lord. The battle on the inside has to come to an end. You’ve got to trust your life with the Lord. The Bible says, ‘If you

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live after the flesh, you’ll die.’ It’s simple. Rom. 8:13, you’ll die spiritually if you live after the flesh. But if through the Spirit you mortify the deeds of the flesh, you’ll live.

We don’t have any rights. We have to give up all of our rights. The right to normal things we

have to give up – the right to normal leisure time. If God demands your time, you’ve got to surrender. We’ve got to give up every right in our lives. You know, if you are a pastor or a pastor’s wife, you have to give up some things which are normal for other people.

You know, I’ve always found that you cannot outgive God. God gives back superabundant.

But there has to be a death. It says if we have been planted in the likeness of His death, Rom. 6:5, we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection. Rom. 6:8, ‘If we be dead with Christ, we believe we shall live with Him.’

It’s really important that we understand this. SACRIFICE is involved. You’re not going to get

anywhere without sacrifice. You’re going to have to sacrifice. Death to self is involved. You will have to give up some of your time, give up some of the things which we might say are rightfully yours in order to come into that place of rest where you become available to God at anytime, day or night, in any situation, circumstances. It’s important that you understand this and work on it.

There’s a time when God will bring you to a place where you die. There was a time in my

ministry, I didn’t have a holiday for 8 years because of the situations we were in. And in the end, instead of complaining, I had to say, ‘God, I give up. It’s all yours – all my leisure time.’ Two years later, God really drastically changed things for me. But I had to be willing to give up what was my right and putting God first.

II. TIMING IN INTERCESSION

There are two Greek words used for time: ‘Chronos’ ... Time in general. Intercessory ‘Kairos’ ... A strategic, opportune time. A specific, important time. The “NOW” time. The RIGHT time. A SPECIAL time. 1. KAIROS TIMES

It is a time for our life which God sets up OR the enemy sets up. THIS WILL PAST IF WE MISS IT. That is why we need ‘to seek Him while He may be found.’

God has opened up a Kairos Time for the church to press in for NEW ANOINTINGS in God. It will close, we need to press in during these times, with strong emotions.

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The enemy does not attack you at random: his attacks upon you are carefully timed, very carefully timed

How many of you know the enemy doesn’t attack you at random? THE ENEMY DOES NOT ATTACK US AT RANDOM: HIS ATTACKS UPON YOU ARE CAREFULLY TIMED, VERY CAREFULLY TIMED. He’s a master at this.

Lk. 8:13 says, ‘They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in TIME of temptation fall away.’

Now the word ‘time’ there is ‘kairos.’ It’s not just any particular time. It’s an opportune time, the enemy came and they fell; it’s a specific time in temptation, a ‘kairos’ time.

WE NEED TO INTERCEDE FOR NEW BELIEVERS because they are still weak in the faith. They will be attacked, tempted by the enemy. This happens a lot with new converts and Intercessors have to watch over them. They come into the kingdom of God, there’s not much root in themselves, and there comes a KAIROS ATTACK upon their life, in a weak time in their life and takes them out. That’s why intercessors have to watch over new converts. You have to watch over them. It’s kairos.

Temptation is carefully timed, the enemy sets you up

You see, temptation is carefully, carefully timed, at an opportune time, the enemy came and

they fell. They can be times of tiredness, times of discouragement, times of low spirituality. The enemy knows how to put pressure on you, create problems in the family, here, there and everywhere. And right when he has set it up, he’ll attack you. See, this is a KAIROS ATTACK. It’s not just at any odd time. He sets you up to attack you at a specific time. This is really really important.

You will encounter Kairos Attacks, a well-timed attack, when you are vulnerable. All of us at

times are vulnerable for various reasons. THE ENEMY’S ATTACKS COME DURING TIMES OF:

Tiredness Discouragement Low spirituality, etc.

The enemy will create problems in the family, church, nation, here and there.

Luke 4:13 And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a SEASON.

‘Season,’ kairos, the devil departed to await another Kairos time of attack. So understand that. He just doesn’t come along and says, ‘Oh I’m going to persecute you today,

I’m going to attack you today.’ HE WAITS, HE WATCHES VERY VERY CAREFULLY. He watches to see when you’re tired. He watches to see when you’ve had an argument with your husband or your wife or the children are playing up and you’re down, and the devil says, ‘Right, you’re just about ready, that maybe I can just topple you over the edge.’ KAIROS TIME, HE COMES IN.

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New converts fall out through Kairos Attack. This is what the scriptures say. In a time of

temptation, they fall away. It’s really important, Intercessors have to watch over new converts because the enemy will plan, put pressure upon them. They have no root in themselves yet. They haven’t been taught the things of God. They don’t have disciplines in their life, the Word of God, and they’re vulnerable. Intercessors must get them out of that stage to where they can stand. They’re going to watch over them. We lose too many people who come into the kingdom of God, we lose too many, and it comes through Kairos Attack, a strategic, well-planned, well-timed attack upon them.

There is Kairos Persecution.

2. KAIROS PERSECUTION

Acts 12:1 Now about that “time” (Kairos) Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church.

It wasn’t just any odd time. This persecution came at a specific, strategic, well-timed plan and timing.

Acts 19:23 And the same time (Kairos) there arose no small stir about that way. These persecutions were planned with strategic timing. 3. KAIROS PRAYER Kairos Prayer is very, very important, it is a vital aspect of the Watchmen Ministry. It is an ALERT during those strategic times when we should be praying to head off the enemy’s plans against us, people, the ministry and the nation/s.

Eph. 6:18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;

That word “always” here is a very very bad translation, it is actually ‘Kairos,’ ‘Praying in the

kairos time with all prayer…and watching,’ WE ARE WATCHMEN. It does not mean that you have to be praying all the time. It means a Kairos Time - it means you have to be alert to those strategic times when you should be praying. That’s what it means – BE ALERT DURING STRATEGIC TIMES WHEN YOU SHOULD BE PRAYING.

If you miss them, you can lose something or lose something in a person’s life. When you pray, intercede in a Kairos Strategic time, YOU HEAD OFF THE ENEMY’S PLANS

FOR A PERSON, OR A CAREFULLY PLANNED FUTURE ATTACK OF THE ENEMY. When you get a mosquito on you, you can swat it off pretty quick. If you don’t, it gets in and

the poison gets in and it takes a long time to get that out of your system. It’s a bit like that when

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the enemy. You’ve got to get him before that happens, in the lives of your children, the church, circumstances, people’s lives. There’s KAIROS PRAYING, the strategic time you knock it off.

With Peter,

Luke 22:31-32 And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.

Jesus prayed in advance, ahead of time, when something was going to hit Peter, to head off an attack on Peter.

We need the Holy Spirit because we don’t know ahead of time what’s going to take place

See, ‘lighting upon by chance,’ WE NEED THE HOLY SPIRIT because we don’t know ahead of time what’s going to take place, and we need the help of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit alerts you to this in many many ways, but you have to be real sensitive to that, particularly with your children. You’ve got to be sensitive to this. WE NEED TO BE SENSITIVE TO THE HOLY SPIRIT.

Our Divine Helper, the HOLY SPIRIT, is standing by, ready to help us in our intercession.

He will move us from the natural to the supernatural, Taking hold of situations with us, shaking the kingdom of Darkness

and accomplishing the will of God.

His timing is precise, His aim is sure, His understanding is limitless. We need the Kairos Time of Prayer - it’s a vital aspect of the Watchmen Ministry

WE NEED THE KAIROS TIME OF PRAYER. Kairos Prayer is very very important, it’s a vital aspect of the Watchmen Ministry. We need to be vigilant and alert, ‘watching thereunto with all perseverance.’

WHAT DOES A WATCHMAN WATCH? This is one of the things he watches for: you watch

the realm of the Spirit, you hold before God for a Kairos Time. You can wake up in the middle of the night and it’s urgent. You pray. You know, there’s a sense of it, a Kairos Time for something. If you don’t get in and get it, it might past and situations change, a Kairos Time, really really important, a Kairos Prayer.

Heb. 4:16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in TIME of need.

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‘Time’ here is not chronos. It’s a special time of need, it’s kairos, a kairos time of need. DURING THESE KAIROS TIMES WE HAVE TO BE BOLD. We can’t let it past. There are

times when things are CRITICAL, we can’t miss it. Kairos Prayers in Kairos Times. Otherwise a person can fall away or a problem can develop for something which was planned ahead of time for a person. He’s going to be attacked in a Kairos Time. Kairos Prayer cuts that off ahead of time. There will be Kairos Times in your life which God sets up OR the enemy sets up

There will be Kairos Times in your life which God sets up OR the enemy sets up. THIS WILL PAST IF WE MISS IT. That is why we need ‘to seek Him, call upon Him while He may be found, while He is near.’ It’s a Kairos Time, that sometimes He is not near.

THERE ARE SPECIAL TIMES WHEN THINGS ARE OPEN TO US BY THE SPIRIT. And if

we press into them in that Kairos Times, they are available to us. But that time will past. So the gate can be open for a while and it closes. ‘Call ye upon Him when He is near.’

I believe that right now in the realm of the Spirit, God has opened to the church a Kairos Time

of being able to press in for NEW ANOINTINGS in God. It is a Kairos Time. There is a time which is being opened up by God in the Spirit now. It’s being opened up for a while. It will close, but the special time that we have, there are New Anointings, there are great anointing which will now become available to the church, different anointing.

If we respond to that, it’s like God is going to begin to move in people’s hearts and begin to

move them inside. And when you are moved by God, you need to press in. It’s like God is coming on the scene and He’s stirring people. And there’s a real kind of EMOTIONAL FEELINGS about it, emotional responses to God on certain things. As you respond in those times, you can get into it. DESIRE or whatever God has for you has to be couples with STRONG EMOTION. Now for so long the church has been taught emotion is not important, keep your emotion down, your emotion is not your spirit, etc. One thing, you will not get into anything that God has got for you without strong feelings about it. There’s got to be some inner heart response, strong emotion. You’ve got to feel strongly about it. And God is coming on the scene and He’s stirring hearts of people like never before. There are inner movements of hearts, deep feelings of God in people. And that is God.

It’s a Kairos Time to respond to Him when that is happening. And if you press in to God and

wait on God, begin to pursue God, you’ll find that you’ll reach into a NEW LEVEL, new anointing, new levels of the operation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit in your life. He’ll take you to another plane. And there’s a stirring in your heart, a hunger which presses you into that, in a kairos Time when He can be found. That will close out and there’s time when God proves His people and so on, then they go on.

What is happening in your life right now? What’s moving you? KAIROS, special time in God.

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III. Third Aspect Of “PAGA” -- TO FALL UPON, TO STRIKE DOWN THE ENEMY

This is an unusual aspect. Intercessory Prayer can be VIOLENT... swords flashing... demons scattering... buildings being pulled down... people free. A. THE WARFARE ASPECT OF “PAGA”

1 Sam. 22:17-18 And the king said unto the footmen that stood about him, Turn, and slay the priests of the LORD; because their hand also is with David, and because they knew when he fled, and did not shew it to me. But the servants of the king would not put forth their hand to FALL UPON [Paga] the priests of the Lord. And the king said to Doeg, Turn thou, and fall upon the priests. And Doeg the Edomite turned, and he fell upon the priests, and slew on that day fourscore and five persons that did wear a linen ephod.

Both of these acts are violent acts and the word to describe these violent acts is the word “PAGA.” It means TO FALL DOWN AND STRIKE DOWN. INTERCESSION IS THE READINESS OF A SOLDIER TO FALL UPON THE ENEMY VIOLENTLY, TO ATTACK THE ENEMY, BRUISING THE HEAD OF SATAN. A. BRUISING THE HEAD OF SATAN

The prophecy was… Gen. 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head [bruising the head of Satan], and thou shalt bruise his heel.

The word ‘BRUISE; here is the Hebrew word ... “shuwph.” It means: TO BREAK, CRUSH, SMITE INTO PIECES. It’s a very strong word, ‘to bruise.’ It’s not talking about the little bruise. It’s a Hebrew word which means TO STRIKE DOWN AND DESTROY, very very strong word. It’s a prophetic statement which indicates A VIOLENT CRUSHING ENCOUNTER with accompanying feelings of anger, intense indignation, a prophetic anointing that is violent, something like Psalm 68:1 Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered: let them also that hate him flee before him. This is a Messianic Psalm speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now this aspect of Paga is really important. There are times when God moves upon you in intercession, and it’s almost a violent feeling about it. Do you know what I’m talking about? It’s almost violent. There are accompanying feelings of anger. You know the Bible says it’s alright to be angry. It says, “Be angry, but don’t sin.’ God gets angry over certain things. It’s accompanied by an anger, an intense feeling of anger, an indignation. And with that there rises up a prophetic anointing that is VIOLENT. Violent, it deals with the enemy with such a strength and such a power. You’re even fighting yourself with it. Do not quench it, it’s a WARRIOR ANOINTING. Go on with it like when the Lord Jesus turned the tables in the temple. Now when that happens, this is an aspect of intercession, an aspect of Paga, it’s really important that you don’t quench it, it’s really important that you go through with it and you be angry and you deal with the situation in the spirit. Do not quench it, it’s a WARRIOR ANOINTING. Go on with it like when the Lord Jesus turned the tables of the moneychangers in

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the temple. He got angry, I mean He got really angry. It’s alright to get angry with the right things, okay? YOU MIGHT EVEN SEE WHAT YOU ARE FIGHTING AGAINST. It might come with a visionary aspect in Spiritual Warfare where God will lock you into actually seeing what you’re fighting against. And you will take up a sword of the Spirit and that is a violent encounter. It is angry, it is violent, and you cut it, fall upon it and cut it to the ground. You go after that thing with all the strength that you have. It is a WARFARE, VIOLENT ENCOUNTER.

GO AFTER THE ENEMIES TO THE END, and when it is finished, something is changed. And you might come out of it a little bruised, but you’ve won. You’ve won that encounter. At one period I was having real troubles in my home with spirits because we were just getting into deliverance and learning how to move in spiritual warfare in the 70’s. All kinds of weird things were happening in my home. We were just thrown in a deep end and people needing deliverance ringing us day and night and it’s all kinds of things happening and we were praying for people in our home for deliverance [I try to avoid that now. It’s not always possible.] You know, the whole atmosphere became so ‘Pruttttt.’ I just put my head down and go to sleep and all the lights in the house would come on, and I get up. And I think ‘Oh boy,’ put all the lights off and I would just be dozing off and all the lights would come on. After a week of this, I was SO ANGRY, I got up one night and I was violent. I mean, if the neighbors would see me, they’d think I’ve really lost it. I went through that house with such force, and with such anger and I fell upon those spirits that were doing that. How many of know it never happened again. After about an hour, it was all over.

But it wasn’t just me. there was something on the inside that came up on me by the Spirit of God. There was an anger, there was a confrontation, this was my home and you don’t do this in my home, and there was a battle. I took a sword of the Spirit and got into those spirits which were all over the place. It was an incredible time when we were under so much oppression because of what we were doing. I had some unusual things happen, but I conquered them through violence. FALLING UPON the enemy

FELL UPON, you see, you fall upon them, drop them down, a VIOLENT ACTION of breaking, to crush, smite in pieces. I fell upon them, Paga, an aspect of warfare – to fall upon, to strike down. Sometimes that is necessary. Jesus wasn’t always be meek and mild, and Jesus IN YOU will not always be meek and mild. HE IS THE LION, HE ROARS. There will be this aspect of intercession. It’s not there all the time, but it will be there, and it arises in indignation and anger. Those two things will be there. And there’ll be that attitude, ‘This has got to come to an end. I’m not going to allow this anymore.’ And when that is born of the Spirit, it’s extremely powerful, I mean, extremely powerful.

And I HAVE SEEN THINGS CHANGE IN CHURCHES BY THIS HAPPENING. Things have

been going in churches, and suddenly there’s an anger in the person who’s leading, or whatever, and takes authority over that, and the congregation picks it up and break that thing in the church. They might have been there for a long long time, but there’s an anger that rises up.

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I’ve seen it happening in situations like in a city. You know, I built a Bible School in Africa and we were preaching in there in the first course of ministers, and everyone would fall asleep while I’m lecturing. It was incredible. I mean they were Africans and I look and most of them were asleep. I had this bell and I’d ring this bell, and I thought, ‘This is hopeless.’ And I talked to them and said, ‘Do you often fall asleep in anything else?’ And they said, ‘No, no, no. We never fall asleep.’ My preaching wasn’t that bad for sure. Anyway, this went on for a week and I said, ‘God, I’m not going to teach these people anymore. They’re not interested,’ and God said to me, ‘It is not them.’ And I said, ‘Oh, what is it then? What is happening?’ And God said, ‘You go outside.’ And so I was teaching in the class and I said to them, ‘Just read your Bible for a while, I’m going outside.’

And I walked outside and walked about 50 meters out and there was A WITCH DOCTOR

going through all these things outside. You see? I mean African witch doctor, had all these stuff there, dressed up, had a monkey’s head under his arm, the whole thing. And I looked at this guy and I thought, ‘It’s fixing to be a MEETING,’ and there was such an anger. Such an anger came up on the inside, such an indignation. I mean, he would ruin our Bible School. And so I started to walk towards him. He got nervous and I got nervous, but I kept going. When I got to about 3 or 4 meters towards him, I literally pulled the sword out, and in the Name of Jesus, I started to come against him. He got such a fright, and then he started to cast spells back at me. I enjoy a good fight. If anybody had been watching, they’d think we were crazy because none of us were touching each other, but we were going through the motions. And this went on for about 20 minutes, and I was so angry. In the end I remember saying, ‘Your god is not more powerful than my God. I strike you down in the Name of Jesus,’ and he went to the ground, ‘Pukkk.’ That was the end of that and after that, everybody in the class was wide awake. They no more problem falling asleep.

You see, sometimes that kind of drowsiness is a SPELL, a curse or a spell that’s put over

people from the occult realm. It was an interesting kind of a situation, and we never had any more trouble in that Bible School again. These were Spirit-filled people and pastors we were training for the ministry.

You know, TO FALL UPON, STRIKE DOWN, an aspect of anger. Sometimes, things go to a

place where you say, ‘ENOUGH IS ENOUGH,’ and an indignation rises on the inside. When that happens and that ‘Enough is enough’ is there, look out because the Lion of the Tribe of Judah is about to come forth and there’s going to be a violent confrontation.

But you see, you have AN ANOINTING. That anger is actually an anointing. That

indignation is actually an anointing. It’s a WARRIOR ANOINTING, it’s a WARFARE ANOINTING. It’s not a negative thing, it’s a positive thing. Now we can angry and it’s a negative, wrong thing. We understand that. But there’s an anger which is an ANOINTED ANGER against the enemy, and when that happens, you must release it. You must go for it. You know, you must go at times. The enemy is harassing your children with sickness. There comes a time when you say ‘Enough is enough,’ and this anger arises within you and you cannot do it pastively. You’ve got to get into it. There’s a violent confrontation and you deal with it. I’ve come to love those times. I really now enjoy them and I feel good going after them. A lot of Christianity don’t understand these things and think this is strange. But we’re not dealing with the natural realm. We’re dealing with the spirit, and out there in that spirit realm, there’s a warfare that has been declared upon us and unless we fight, it’s not going to happen. TO FALL UPON, paga, to fall upon.

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I was in another town in New Chaledonia and I was walking through a marketplace, which was like walking in the Stone Age, and this guy would always be standing on this corner. Every time I would past, he would curse me. I didn’t know him and he would curse me in French. I knew enough French then. And I would look at this guy, and think, ‘What did I do?’ you know. The next time I come to town, he’s always there and string of curses come out. I thought, ‘That’s not right, I’m going to get you next time.’ The effect upon me was I became lethargic, I became…not unbelief but faith levels were dropping, and that wasn’t like me. And I thought next time I come to town…and I deliberately came to town. He did the same thing, but there was nothing there within me and I thought, ‘Come on Lord,’ and I just said, kind of feebly, ‘I rebuke you.’ He actually laughed at me.

Next time I came to town, he did this to me and something changed. It was an ANOINTING

and I was so angry and an anointing of the Holy Spirit came over me. I turned on him like you don’t know what and he got a shock in his life. And I tell you, he fell backwards and fell to the ground. And I said, ‘You will never do that again to me or anyone else again.’ Very interestingly, that man died after 3 weeks. Those words were not mine, ‘You will never do this again.’ They were not my words, you see. It’s a prophetic thing. There was a violent confrontation. B. TREADING UNDERFOOT

Joshua 10:24-25 And it came to pass, when they brought out those kings unto Joshua, that Joshua called for all the men of Israel, and said unto the captains of the men of war which went with him, Come near, PUT YOUR FEET UPON THE NECKS OF THESE KINGS. And they came near, and put their feet upon the necks of them. And Joshua said unto them, Fear not, nor be dismayed, be strong and of good courage: for thus shall the LORD do to all your enemies against whom ye fight.

You understand that OUR BATTLE IS NOT WITH FLESH AND BLOOD, IT IS WITH SPIRITS in the spirit world.

Now the custom was when the battle was won, to the kings he defeated, the kings will be brought before him and the king of the nation who defeated them will put his feet upon their necks. It was a symbolic act that they were now UNDER HIS RULE AND UNDER HIS AUTHORITY. Sometimes they kill them after that; sometimes they didn’t.

However, Joshua at this point of time changed the custom. It’s very interesting because the

Hebrew word ‘Joshua’ is the Gk. Word ‘Jesus,’ okay? This time, he didn’t do that. He called his soldiers over, he broke the custom and said to the soldiers, ‘You put your feet on their necks.’ He called the soldiers over to put their feet on the necks of the enemy.

It’s a brilliant kind of understanding. It was a prophetic statement of our Joshua (Jesus). It is

saying, ‘YOU NOW HAVE THE RIGHT TO PUT OUR FEET ON THE NECKS OF THE ENEMY WHICH HE, OUR KING JESUS, HAS DEFEATED.’ That is the prophetic implication of this pastage of scripture. Joshua, our Jesus, the King has defeated the enemy, and now He says, ‘You come and put your feet on their necks.’ He waits for us to do it. He waits till our enemies become His footstool. They’re a prophetic statement. WE HAVE THE RIGHT TO DO THIS.

1 Cor. 15:27 For he hath put all things under His feet [That’s Jesus.]. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him.

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Eph. 1:22 And hath put all things under His feet [That’s Jesus.], and gave him to be head over all things to the church. Psalm 110:1 The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool. Joshua 1:3 Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses.

This is not some quiet prayer walk: IT IS VIOLENT ACTION. Now, when God gives you

permission or instruction to do something, particularly if it’s walking around a neighborhood – PRAYER WALKS are becoming quite popular and it’s good, it’s necessary – it’s not on the inside [I mean there might be people around]. It is not some quiet Prayer Walk on the inside. It is a VIOLENT, TREADING DOWN OF THE ENEMY in that geographical area. It has to be something of force. TREADING UNDERFOOT, it means a violent (Paga) FALLING UPON. Treading underfoot the enemy, and it is a violent action. You know, I have seen times in churches when people get into worship and they get into praise and I’ve seen on more than one occasion the whole congregation start to march, and it was not planned. What is that? What is happening when that takes place? It’s SHIFTED INTO A WARFARE MODE. When that happens in a service, you’ve got to let it go because now the Holy Spirit is intervening and He is dealing with something. Let the people march, let them walk, let them stump their feet. We’re not here for nice little services, it’s not what it is about. It’s TREADING UNDERFOOT the enemy. This is a violent confrontation, putting your feet on the enemy.

I have seen sometimes in a service, we’re getting into worship and 2 or 3 people will begin to dance, but it wasn’t at all an ordinary dance. I remember in one country, I think Argentina, it was in a service and it was hard going. One of the national pastors began to dance next to me. But it wasn’t any ordinary dance. Have you seen those North American Indians, war dances? Well, this guy took off like that. You’d think it’s demonic. But for 20 minutes on the platform in the middle of my service, this guy is going round and round. When he was thru, the whole atmosphere was clear, and God began to move. I didn’t get to preach, God began to move. What happened? HE BROKE SOMETHING in the realm of the spirit, just broke through, and it was a WAR DANCE. It was a violent kind of a situation. And if they do it in the natural, it has its part in the spiritual because they copy, counterfeit the real thing. Remember in New Zealand, the Maui Haka? You know, the old black to do that. What is that? That’s a spiritual chant that involves curses over the other team. It’s a spiritual dance, the Maui Haka, it’s a warfare dance which calls up the spirits of their ancestors to fight with them, or in their case to play rugby with them. It’s a spiritual thing, areal dance.

WE’RE GOING TO SEE SOME UNUSUAL THINGS HAPPENING, CHURCH. It won’t put people off. They’ll be intrigued, but we’ve got to be freeing up and people have got to be…This thing is an anger, a violent thing and you’ve got to give room for it to happen. And WHEN IT HAPPENS, THINGS CHANGE. It’s lighting upon by chance, bringing an anointing of warfare.

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Matt. 11:12 And from the days of John the Baptist until now THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN UFFERETH VIOLENCE, AND THE VIOLENT TAKE IT BY FORCE.

C. DEMOLISHING STRONGHOLDS

2 Cor. 4:4-5 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, hut mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds; Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;...

TEARING DOWN STRONGHOLDS. Basically, stronghold is A HOUSE OF THOUGHT. 1. A STRONGHOLD - A HOUSE OF THOUGHTS

Actually Francis Frangipane is very very good on this. You can get his book on The Three Battlegrounds.

A STRONGHOLD - A HOUSE OF THOUGHTS. Paul is here describing these strongholds as

THOUGHTS, MINDSETS, a PATTERN OF THINKING which is not in harmony with God’s thoughts. Where there is a wrong pattern of thought, Satan is able to build a stronghold in that person’s mind, and it actually becomes a stronghold. We are not talking about random thoughts, but WELL-ESTABLISHED PATTERNS OF THOUGHT that are in harmony with Satanic thoughts or lies. Jesus said that evil spirits seek rest, Matt. 12:43-44. That’s an unusual thing – rest. WHAT KIND OF REST DO THEY SEEK? The sense of rest they seek is from BEING IN HARMONY WITH THEIR ENVIRONMENT, THEIR THINKING. If they have a mind that thinks the way they think, they’re in harmony with that environment, and they build a stronghold. They induce the thought and if the person accepts them, they build a stronghold.

EXAMPLES: STRONG THOUGHTS of:

Fear False Doctrine Failure Sexual Fantasy / Lust [very strong stronghold, cuts them off from faith and all kinds

of stuff] Unbelief [very strong, big stronghold] Suspicion Rejection Pride Negative Pattern of Thoughts not in harmony with God’s truths (Thoughts like ‘It is

difficult,’ ‘It is impossible,’ ‘I am no good,’ ‘I am a failure,’ ‘I am the best, only me knows the

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best thing to do,’ ‘Happiness is based on what I possess, what giftings and abilities I have,’ ‘It is really fearful thing to do,’ etc.

These strongholds can be built in the minds of Christians or brought over from the old life, and they have to be pulled down. We need to understand these patterns of thinking. They could be false doctrine. Any kind, pattern of thinking that is not in harmony with God, the enemy is able to build a stronghold into. ONCE THAT STRONGHOLD IS ESTABLISHED, IT BEGINS TO CONTROL THE PERSON. And it’s in the area of the MIND. It can be unbelief. I remember a number of years ago, I was preaching in a church across east and this pastor was trying to bring change in this church. It was dead and stuffy and he was having a real difficult time. He had some elders who didn’t want to change, particularly one elder who has very very strong control over the church. He had this attitude that ‘Pastors come and go, but I am the elder here for life.’ We had this kind of situation there and I was preaching there and it was very very difficult. Well, I thought I felt in God to take this thing on because it was ruining the church and the pastor could not get any way in this. I thought, ‘Shall I do this and…?’ The whole attitude of the church was ‘We’ve always done it this way. We can’t go into anything new.’ The Charismatic Move was being on the way and God was opening up things and they kept saying, ‘No, I can’t believe God has something new for us. I think we should stay the way that we are.’ And I was confronting this spirit all over this elder when the pastor wanted to go on.

It came to a climax one night and I started to pray against this spirit from the pulpit towards the end of the service. I began to pray and pray and pray against this spirit, and how many of you know I had a violent encounter? This elder stood up at the back and he said, ‘We’ve always been this way. We’ve always thought this way. We’re always going to be this way.’ And I said, ‘I’m sorry, but I’m not talking to you anymore,’ and I got straight against that spirit. And that guy began to manifest, came down the aisle, confronted me, began to manifest. You know what he actually said to me? He said, ‘I WAS ONE OF THE SPIRITS DURING JOSHUA’S TIME THAT STOPPED THEM GOING TO THE PROMISED LAND.’ He was a full manifestation, and I said, ‘Whooohh, we’re in for a battle tonight.’ Everything came alive and it was exciting. These were many many spirits operating. There was 2 million people in the days of Joshua. There were a lot of spirits. The eyes of the congregation went ‘Ttsuuung.’ I thought there is going to be a MEETING, and after that one of us would have changed. And I got into that spirit, took about 20 minutes. Finally that guy went down, and I cast that spirit out of him and the whole situation changed in the church. The church began to prosper, new converts started to come in. They went on into a new plane in God.

See, STRONGHOLDS IN THE MIND, strongholds, houses built in the MIND. In that church,

there was such a stronghold, a pattern of, somebody had to confront that stronghold and pull it down. Now, you can’t do this UNLESS you’re doing it in God and has an anointing for it. You understand that? But it was a time, a KAIROS TIME for that church. The whole church dynamically changed, and still going on today for God, great Pentecostal church and moving in God. That was about 15 years ago.

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2. These Strongholds have to be PULLED DOWN

2 Cor. 4:4 In wham the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

The word “blinded” here is the Greek word “tuphloo.” It means to MAKE BLIND OR DULL, ‘TO INFLATE WITH SELF; TO BE LIFTED UP WITH PRIDE”.

This is very revealing. If you put these two words together, you get a very clear understanding of the word “blinded” as it is used in this pastage of Scripture - BLINDED ... TO MAKE BLIND AND DULL THROUGH SELF-CONCEIT AND PRIDE. If you understand this, you’ve got unsaved people around you, unsaved husband, children, friends, what is the strong man that stops people coming to the Lord? What is the strong man that keeps unsaved people out of the kingdom of God? PRIDE

What is the strong man that keeps people out of the kingdom of God? PRIDE is the strong man. You get that strong man out, they’re going to be saved. It’s really important to understand this. Their minds are blinded through pride. PRIDE is the strong man.

What was Satan’s original sin? Pride. The god of this world has a ROOT OF PRIDE, a Strong

Man that has dulled and blinded the minds of the unbeliever. OUR WEAPONS ARE MIGHTY THROUGH GOD TO PULL DOWN THESE

STRONGHOLDS AND SET THEM FREE. It’s very very important that you take that stronghold down. WE CAN AND WE MUST get that STRONG MAN OF PRIDE.

How do we pray for our unsaved loved ones and friends, someone in the government, your local councilor to be saved? Get that strong man of pride. They can’t see, they can’t come because something is over them which has blinded their minds to the Gospel. They will not bow down their knees to the Lordship of the Lord Jesus until you get the strong man of pride and break it. And it’s in every unsaved person. It is the KEY to breaking them open to salvation. It is the strong man in their lives. If you get that strong man, the scales fall down from their eyes and they’ll see and they’ll come to the Lord. You’ve got to do it because…

Mark 3:27 No man can enter into a strong man’s house, and spoil his goods, except he will first bind the strong man; and then he will spoil his house.

You’ve got to get that strong man of pride. Paul is linking the unsaved to the god of this world who has blinded them. How has he done that? He’s put a veil on their minds, BLINDED them, lifted up with pride, to make blind through self-inflation, PRIDE. It’s the only thing that God resists, pride. Pride, it’s a time bomb ready to go off.

If you’re praying for an area, praying for a group of people to be saved or individuals, this is the strong man you have to take on.

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Intercession is to reconcile

Now this is really important in spiritual warfare and intercession, to know what you are up against when you are praying for the salvation of people. You’ve got to break that strong man of pride. And once you crack that, break that open, you RECONCILE them to God. Christ is in you reconciling them back to God. He’s in you, He’s a Reconciler. Intercession is to reconcile and you have to understand that. DEALING WITH SPIRITS OVER GEOGRAPHICAL AREAS Now, spirits over geographical areas can be different. But the spirit in individual lives that stop people from coming to the Lord is the spirit of pride, the strong man of pride. Remember Cindy Jacobs was in Moscow handing out tracts and they wouldn’t take them? They prayed, and something fell off their eyes. That’s how it is, how simple it is. Same in the revival in Argentina in the 50’s, they broke through in the realm of the spirit and they couldn’t stop people from getting saved. Over a million people with a stronghold of Catholicism, and witchcraft was so ripe, came to know the Lord over a 6 week period in the late 50’s, incredible move of God. It was so powerful. They broke through and they broke because suddenly there was a Paga experience. There was a group of Bible School students, just taking their normal studies, until there was a Paga. It descended upon the whole school. And they had angelic visitations every day, they had experience with God, and suddenly the lectures had to come to an end because they couldn’t stop the students praying. And that’s unusual for Bible School students. They couldn’t stop them praying. They had to suspend all classes, and for 6 weeks, all day, sometimes through the night, they were locked into intercession. It was a Kairos Time, it was a Paga which suddenly intercepted their normal thing. You know, when things intercept us, either through a service or whatever you are doing, you’ve got to let God have His way. You’ve got to give way to God, even if it’s unusual. They couldn’t stop the students from praying. They had a powerful prophecy that the Lion of the tribe of Judah had prevailed. That day there was a military coup, government changed hands. What was happening in the spiritual had a direct ramification in the natural. Suddenly the heavens were opened.

Very interesting, you know, because back in the United States at the same time, God was speaking to an evangelist called Tommy Hicks, speaking for him to go down to Argentina. He said, ‘No no, I’ve got too many meetings in America.’ And suddenly there was an interception over his life and he suddenly had a burden for Argentina and he began to fast. He fasted for 40 days, and God said, ‘I want you to fast again.’ This was supernatural this time because he went for 40 days without food and water the second time. Don’t ever try it, ever. It’s got to be totally supernatural. When that man came down to Argentina, they hired the largest football stadium they could find which could seat close to a 100,000 people. And they began to preach the gospel. On the 5th or 6th day, it was full. And this guy preached the same message every night, prayed for the sick, miracles began to break out all over the place. A million people came to the Lord over 6 weeks.

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Why the sudden change in the country? Why did that happen? There was a Paga, an interception. First of all, they responded to that interception, travailed, spiritual warfare, intercession for a long period of time. They broke something in the realm of the spirit. The heavens cleared and the whole nation became aware that they needed the Lord. What happened? The blindness fell off their eyes, you see. The covering had been broken. I preached in some of those churches that were formed out of that move, and the guys would say, ‘We’d have a Communion Service trying to keep for non-Christians and there would be people at the altar wanting to get saved. They’d ruin our communion service because they wanted to get saved. They didn’t give the appeal and these people would come in droves and droves and droves. How many of you know that that’s going to happen in city after city after city right across this planet? And I say when, not if, when God breaks that thing over this city, we will have our hands full.

Paga, DIVINE INTERCEPTION, RESPONDING TO IT, LOCKING INTO IT. There’s going to

be a meeting with God either for the city or meeting with the powers over the city. Either way, there’s going to be a meeting. When that meeting is over, things will not be the same again. That is INTERCESSION, that’s what God has called us to. That is the power of evangelism. That’s how this generation is going to be reached with the gospel. Hallelujah!

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Lesson 9

Intercessory Prayer (Part 3) IV. THE FOURTH ASPECT OF ‘PAGA’ - IDENTIFICATION

Another use of the word “Paga” is found in…

Isa. 53:12, ‘Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bore [Paga] the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.’

Understanding this word Paga in IDENTIFICATION, it means “TO BE LAID UPON.” Intercession reached its highest and most profound expression when our sins were “LAID UPON” Jesus. Jesus was able to fully identify with us when the totality of our condition was laid upon Him. Then as the scapegoat, He carried it far away. There is an aspect of this form of intercession which we, His body, can enter into. It isn’t exactly the same as His was, of course, in that His was redemptive in nature. There is nevertheless an aspect of intercession of “sharing the sufferings and the burdens of other people, on behalf of His body, which is the church, and carry it for them, in filling up that which is lacking in Christ’s afflictions.

Col. 1:24 Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you [Paul was suffering for the people.], and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church: ...

It’s a little clearer from the Living Bible which says, ‘But part of my work is to suffer for you; und I am glad, for I am helping to finish up the remainder of Christ‘s sufferings for His body, the church.’ A. JESUS IDENTIFIES WITH US (INTERCESSION)

Isa. 53:12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he BORE the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

In that bearing the sin of many, He made intercession TO BEAR. It’s a form of intercession. OUR SIN WAS ‘LAID UPON’ HIM - ‘Paga’

Isa. 53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way; and the Lord hath LAID ON [Paga] Him the iniquity of us all.

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2 Cor. 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

So that word LAID ON Him is the Hebrew word Paga. There’s going to be times when people cannot cope anymore, and because you as an intercessor, there will be a TRANSFERENCE and you will carry it for them. That is a very very real aspect of intercession which a lot of people kind of don’t understand, but it is a valid aspect of intercession.

Jesus “BORE AWAY” our sin - Hebrew “Nasa,” TO BEAR AWAY, REMOVE.

Isa. 54:4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

Isa. 53:11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. Ps. 103:12 As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.

So Jesus BORE THEM (our sins) and He REMOVED them.

B. THE INTERCESSOR CAN ALSO CARRY AND BEAR FOR OTHERS

Rom. 15:1 We that are strong ought to BEAR the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. How do you BEAR the infirmities of the weak? Rom. 15:2-3 Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edification. For even Christ pleased not himself; but as it is written, the reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me. Gal. 6:2 BEAR ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.

The word ‘BEAR’ here is the Greek word “bastazo” which means:

TO LIFT UP, CARRY AWAY CARRY OFF, REMOVE CARRY FOR or INTERCESSION

Now this is really an important aspect of intercession. Sometimes it can be in the form of

physical pain, sometimes it can be in the form of anguish, sometimes it can be in the form where a person is just not coping or a person is so sick or a person is down or is afflicted. The intercessor begins to pray for that person and the intercessor enters into intercession, and the Lord allows a TRANSFERENCE on to that intercessor to carry it for them for a period of time, and it is very valid. ‘…the reproaches of them that reproached thee fell upon me,’ TO BEAR, TO BEAR AWAY. ‘FORBEARING’

Col. 3:13 FORBEARING [means TO TAKE UPON ONESELF] one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. Eph. 4:2 With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, FORBEARING one another in love;...

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‘FORBEAR’ … does not mean ‘to put up with that person,’ but ‘TO CARRY FOR THEM, TO TAKE UPON ONESELF.’ So, the INTERCESSORS CAN BEAR FOR OTHERS:

Pain, Grief, Sorrow, Heartache, Loneliness, Fear, etc.

They can carry and bear burdens of people for them in intercession. There is a

TRANSFERENCE OF BURDENS. It is a form of IDENTIFICATION with the sufferings of others. You feel what the person being prayed for feels. It can be physical, it can be emotional, it can be a deep inner thing, but it’s part of the work of an intercessor.

As you grow on intercession and as you kind of become more skilled in intercession, in that

area of ministry in your life, you will find that more and more you begin TO CARRY for others, and you can kind of wonder what has happened to you, why you’re feeling this way. And quite often you’d think it’s the enemy and some oppression. You have to discern the difference there because quite often you are CARRYING for another person.

This is a very very important area of ministry. I’ve told you before about that missionary in Africa where he woke up one night in tremendous pain, tremendous emotional anguish, he was covered in fear. He began to pray in the spirit and he noticed that as he was praying in tongues, he was saying one word over and over again. But he didn’t understand because he felt incredible pain, he felt incredible fear coming upon him. This lasted all night and he wondered what was going on with him. He wasn’t a person given to fear, and finally when the burden lifted off, it wasn’t there anymore. And then he found out on the news, a village about 50 miles north of him, the communists had come in and it was a Christian village and they massacred all the Christians in that village. And the name he was crying out in the spirit when he was praying in tongues was the name of that village and he wasn’t aware of that. But he kept on CARRYING some of their pains, anguish, fears.

It’s a form of intercession, you see, very very important aspect which we need to learn to carry.

And we can, not by adding to what Christ has done, but because of what He has done, we can carry the weaknesses of others placed upon us for intercession. And we carry them to the cross, appropriating the work of Calvary for them. Sometimes people cannot go on anymore. And so there is an aspect of intercession where it’s placed upon you and you take it to the Lord and you take it to the cross and deal with it for them, and it’s called IDENTIFICATION. Now there are all kinds of weird things that happened in the 70’s with deliverance in ‘Identification.’ We’re not talking about these weird things. We’re talking about a genuine things in God where you CARRY and BEAR for others. ‘Bear you one another’s burdens,’ ‘The reproaches fell upon Me,’ Jesus took the reproaches.

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You know sometimes, this is a whole area where we could spend a lot of time on it. The cost of our peace He paid, the Bible says in Isaiah. Sometimes it’s in the realm of physical aspects. I remember a number of years ago, a pastor came to me and he said, ‘My 15-year old son is just going away from the Lord. I just don’t know what to do for him. I just don’t know what I can do and we prayed and prayed and there really as no change.’ I was praying for him one day and I thought the Holy Spirit say to me, ‘Ask him if he is willing to carry it for his son.’ I didn’t really know much about this, so I asked him. He said ‘Yes, I’m willing to carry this for him.’ And there was real sense of the presence of the Lord. He walked out of my office, FELL DOWN THE STAIRS AND BROKE HIS LEG in three places. It was ridiculous, for 6 months, he couldn’t walk. But I want to tell you, that day his son came back to the Lord, began to walk with the Lord again. For 6 months, he CARRIED the pain, he BORE that reproach. The legs are about ‘walk.’ We need to understand this. There is a truth in there. Now that is an extreme example, but he CARRIED for his son.

You’re going to find in this End-times that intercessors more and more are going TO CARRY.

They’re going to carry some of the anguish of their pastor. They’re going to carry some of the pressure that’s upon them. They’re going to carry for them because people come to a level where they can’t carry anymore. There’s a limit to physical endurance. There’s a limit to spiritual pressure upon a person. And intercessors have to learn TO PICK THAT UP IN GOD and bear it for them. Sometimes it can be real emotional anguish. We need to discern between this ‘bearing’ and the attack of the enemy

And so you have to become skilled at DISCERNING what is oppression of the enemy and what are you carrying for others. Even if you are carrying it for others, it’s still a form of oppression and you have to deal with that as oppression with the Lord. But it’s LAID UPON you to deal with because they cannot cope with it.

Sometimes this is very much so of NEW CONVERTS when the enemy is about to pick them

up. Things are going on and there’s too much pressure on them, too much confusion. Sometimes an intercessor will pick that up, and it will just fall off them. You’ve taken the whole load off them and put them upon your own back and you carry it.

Now YOU’VE GOT TO BE SENSITIVE TO THIS LEVEL OF INTERCESSION. It’s not

something you come into overnight. But if you’re aware of it, aware of the possibilities of that, aware that this does happen, you’ll find at odd times that God is going to trust you with that.

Sometimes it can be for a missionary. It can be for any situation, any person who’s under real

pressure. The reproaches, you see, ‘bear ye one another’s burdens,’ FORBEAR, TO CARRY, TO LIFT UP AND CARRY AWAY. Take it to the cross and deal with it. He has borne our griefs. Jesus - the PERFECT SUBSTITUTE, the PERFECT INTERCESSOR

See, Jesus when He was on the cross, He suffered every pain, every sickness known to men. He actually CARRIED them. He also carried every curse that has ever been devised in human history. He carried it ALL upon Himself. Now we cannot fully understand the sufferings that the Lord Jesus went through because it wasn’t just a physical crucifixion. Many people have been crucified. It’s much much more than that. He was carrying every pain, every anguish, every curse

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known to men. It was such an affliction that was upon Him that, Isaiah tells us, He wasn’t anymore recognizable as a man, as a person. He was so disfigured, so distorted by what He was carrying. See, the PERFECT SUBSTITUTE, the PERFECT INTERCESSOR carrying it all. And that’s a perfect picture of what we are talking about here.

But Paul said, even though Jesus has done that, there are times when pressure comes upon

people and he said, ‘Part of my work is TO SUFFER FOR YOU, and I am glad for I am happy to finish the remainder of Christ’s suffering for His body, the Church.’ Col. 1:24 When the Lord appeared to Paul on the road to Damascus, He said, ‘I’m going to show you HOW MUCH YOU WILL SUFFER FOR ME.’ He was stoned, shipwrecked, left for dead in one place, possibly did die and was raised from the dead, day and night, that’s 36 hours floating in the ocean, etc. We have this funny doctrine today that Christians shouldn’t suffer. If Christians don’t suffer, they wouldn’t be refined. It’s part of the dealings of God in our life. That does not detract from the faith, from healing. I believe all that it is the will of God for us to be healed. There is another aspect to that and that is TO CARRY sometimes for others which they are not able to bear, which they through lack of faith or whatever reason cannot appropriate for themselves. So quite often it is LAID UPON an intercessor to carry it for them.

I went through a period of time where virtually every Sunday, we’re in the middle of a real

move of God, God was pouring out His Spirit in an incredible way. With every service I would have a headache. It was so bad that I could hardly see. And I would preach and maybe 40, 50 or 60 people in every service would get saved. Sometimes I would go off from the pulpit right in the back area and vomit and come back and give the invitation. This went on for months and months and months and I say the pressure was so great, yet God was moving in an incredible way. God was healing people in incredible ways, but ‘What about me? This pressure on me, what’s going on?’

Eventually I said, ‘God, give it to somebody else. I’ve had enough of this. I can’t do what You’ve

called me to do with it.’ And there were three intercessors in my church who picked it up. They didn’t know what I prayed. And I would watch these 3 ladies towards the end of the service all get up and go out and after 10 minutes they’d all come back. I had enough courage to ask them, ‘Have you been sick?’ And they said, ‘We can’t understand it Pastor. At the end of every service, we’d have this incredible headache, we vomit, and come back.’ And I said, ‘Just carry on, trust the Lord,’ and I began to learn some things. YOU CAN CARRY FOR OTHERS.

We were in the process of spiritually mapping a particular city and we were under enormous

enormous pressure because of what we were doing. We eventually got the city mapped and we had a real move of God. That kind of pressure, you see. Intercessors can pick that up. Now people get carried away with it and become weird, every little pain they’re carrying, you know. It’s not an everyday thing, but there are times when this will happen to you and you have to discern that, CARRYING FOR SOMEONE. And there had been times when I began to carry for some people and it’s as very very real thing, CARRY and BEAR FOR OTHERS. We that are strong ought to BEAR the infirmities of the weak. It’s a form of Identification. Just as Jesus as our Intercessor bore for us, we, Paul says, ‘Part of my calling is TO SUFFER FOR YOU and CARRY IT FOR YOU.’

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WE CAN, NOT BY ADDING TO WHAT CHRIST HAS DONE,

BUT BECAUSE OF WHAT HE HAS DONE, CARRY THE WEAKNESSES AND PAIN OF OTHERS,

PLACED UPON US FOR INTERCESSION.

WE CARRY THEM TO THE CROSS, ALLOWING THE HOLY SPIRIT TO APPROPRIATE TO THEM

THE BENEFITS OF CALVARY, ONCE AGAIN MAKING

THE GRACE AND BLOOD OF JESUS SUFFICIENT.

IN THESE END-TIMES, INTERCESSORS WILL CARRY MORE AND MORE. God showed things, how much Paul will suffer for the gospel. V. THE FINAL ASPECT OF ‘PAGA’ -- “REACHES TO” SETTING BOUNDARIES This last use of the word “Paga” describes A PLACE OF SECURITY AVAILABLE TO US IN THE LORD. However, this place of security is NOT AUTOMATIC. Those who just take for granted that the Lord will protect us, are in danger of being wiped out by the enemy. That’s not a negative statement, it’s a fact of reality. INTERCESSION IS REQUIRED IN ORDER TO SECURE THAT PLACE OF SAFETY. A. SETTING BOUNDARIES - SAYING, “NO FURTHER” TO THE ENEMY

Joshua 19:11 And their border went up toward the sea, and Maralah, and reached [Paga] to Dabbasheth, and reached to the river that is before Jokneam;

The word “reach” here is “Paga.” It is also used in verses 22, 26, 27, 34. Here the word “paga” is used 5 times. It is an act of intercession that sets boundaries, ‘SO FAR, BUT NO FURTHER,’ a very important aspect of intercession. It is used for ‘SETTING BOUNDARIES,’ ‘KEEP OFF,’ saying, “NO FURTHER” to the enemy.

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B. IN ADVANCE This kind of intercession heads off enemy attack “IN ADVANCE.” It puts a sign up saying, “NO TRESPASTING.” It builds up walls of protection. God can give us WARNINGS thru dreams which are a major way God speaks to us. You might dream that you are under attack. It might not be spiritual attack, it might just be natural like your house is burglared or you might dream something. That’s a warning from the Lord, that’s a warning. If you don’t heed that, that’s going to happen in the spirit. And there are many many times when God speaks to us in dreams and we think it is just a natural thing, ‘Why did I dream that?’ But it’s AN INDICATION of what is planned for you in the spirit realm. And if you don’t do something about it, it will happen. And God does not warn us for fun. We’ve got to take notice of what we dream, because of the aspects of the outpouring of the Spirit is DREAMS and VISIONS, the major way in which God communicates with us. I remember having a dream. One night my house was under a severe attack. I was surrounded by this platoon of soldiers. I was under attacked and mortified, I was hitting the roof and so on and the rain was coming through, ‘Oh boy!’ In order to survive this… in the dream I thought, ‘I’m just not going to survive this.’ And I woke up and I felt the Lord say to me, ‘You will not survive unless YOU PRAY and you get some intercessors to pray.’ And I didn’t realize but I tell you 3 or 4 weeks after, we came under enormous attack, I mean from every angle. We SET BOUNDARIES, we set up boundaries in God and say, ‘You can go so far but you cannot enter this house. You’re not going to enter this house. We set up boundaries. You can reach only to this point.’ Paga, it’s an aspect of intercession. C. THE SNARE OR TRAPS OF THE TRAPPER Psalm 91:3 Surely he shall deliver thee from the SNARE of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.

The SNARE, that’s a TRAP. THE ENEMY SETS TRAPS FOR US, AHEAD OF US, WHICH CAN AT TIMES BE NEAR FATAL, if we don’t realize. But we can be one step ahead of the enemy.

Matt. 6:13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil [or deliver us from the evil one]: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.

Lit: Deliver us from the Evil One. This is in advance, delivering us from the evil one. This aspect of intercession posts the sign “NO TRESPASTING.” IT IS POSTED BY PRAYER.

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Protection is not automatic It is critical that we realize that PROTECTION IS NOT AUTOMATIC. Just because you’re a Spirit-filled Christian, it is not automatic. I have dealt with so many Christians who have been wiped out, believed in the blood, pleaded the blood. It’s not automatic, we have to do some things.

And it is not just by faith, or by covering with the blood of Jesus. It requires INTERCESSION, ‘Paga’ that sets boundaries.

Rom. 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose.

Not so unless VERSE 27 IS IN PLACE, otherwise VERSE 28 DOES NOT WORK.

‘(Rom 8:27) And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh INTERCESSION for the saints according to the will of God.’

THERE ARE THINGS WE MUST DO, IN ORDER TO SECURE OURSELVES AND FAMILY, AND THOSE WE ARE PRAYING FOR. You can post BOUNDARIES. You can set up boundaries in people’s lives, people you are praying for. You have to do it with your own house, your own family, your own life. But as an intercessor, you can post signs ‘NO TRESPASTING’ in there. It’s something that’s done through intercession. It’s an aspect of Paga.

D. ABIDING IN THE THE SECRET PLACE OF THE MOST HIGH

Psalm 91:1 He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow (PROTECTION, Hebrew - “A PROTECTIVE COVERING.”) of the Almighty.

Where or what is THE SECRET PLACE? Jesus talked about this in…

Matt. 6:6 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

Psalm 91:2 I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.

‘I will say’ ... that’s PRAYER, in your closet. We must exercise faith and prayer

Eph. 6:16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.

YOU MUST MAKE YOUR DECLARATIONS IN FAITH - ‘No Trespasting, No Further.’

This must become a way of life. Consistency in this is the order of the day. You must be consistent in this.

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You must dwell in this. It’s to “HE THAT DWELLETH IN THE SECRET PLACE”, this

is not just an average visit, it is TO STAY IN. ‘ABIDE’ ... Hebrew - TO STAY OVERNIGHT.

Abiding, Praying must be A DAILY THING YOU DON’T COVER THE NEXT MONTH IN PRAYER IN ONE PRAYER TIME. It’s a place you abide in; there must be consistency, it’s a daily thing. You must abide in this kind of situation. Then, and only then, do you abide under the shadow and covering of the Almighty. We have to CONSTANTLY WATCH AND PRAY to avoid entering into temptation, traps of the enemy. This is really really really important.

You’ve got people who are missionaries, who are friends, you should pray for them every day. If God has given you responsibility to pray for that person, it’s should be daily. You POST SIGNS DAILY. It’s not you pray and that’s alright for this month. You have to ABIDE in that place, it’s a DAILY THING in order to secure yourself and others in that place. Your home is only secured as you daily abide in this. You can be a Christian, but if you don’t abide in this, your home will be invaded, as simple as that. And you post signs, ‘YOU CANNOT COME IN HERE,’ and you post this on a daily basis. And it’s posted through INTERCESSION.

This whole aspect of Paga means TO SET UP BOUNDARIES, ‘You can only reach to this point,

this far and no further.’ It has to be a daily thing. Otherwise, you’re going to find yourself in all kinds of problems in your home or family. You’re going to have all kinds of oppression in your home or family. Believe me, I learned this the hard way. You’ve got to understand this. It’s a DAILY THING which you do. You kind of deal with this every day. You get up in the morning and you POST A BOUNDARY. You post a sign which says, ‘NO TRESPASTING.’

Psalm 91:1 He that dwelleth [CONSTANTLY DWELLS] in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow [PROTECTION] of the Almighty.

‘SHADOW’: Hebrew - “A PROTECTIVE COVERING.” ‘YOU CANNOT COME IN HERE,’ is posted thru Intercession. This aspect of Paga is very very important. Protection is not automatic. People come to me and say, ‘Why did God allow this to happen to me?’ And quite often, well, YOU DIDN’T TAKE YOUR PLACE and post a sign there of ‘NO TRESPASTING.’ You didn’t LIMIT the boundaries. You did not say, ‘You can only come this far, no further.’ You didn’t say, ‘This is OFF LIMITS to you,’ and the only way you can do that is through INTERCESSION, Prayer, and it’s a DAILY THING.

And if you don’t do it, you’ll find that INVASION happens all over the place. And it’s really kind of hard to shut the door after the horse has bolted, you know. Once the spirits are all over you and they’re oppressing your home or family, it’s harder to get them out. It’s a lot easier to keep them out ON A DAILY BASIS. It’s important that you do this.

WE ARE TO CONSTANTLY “WATCH AND PRAY” TO AVOID ENTERING INTO TEMPTATION (the traps of the enemy).

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D. WARDING OFF KAIROS ATTACKS

Eph. 6:18 Praying always (KAIROS) with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints:

‘Always’: “KAIROS” - At the right, or critical, definite, fixed time. ‘Watching’: Greek - TO BE INTENTLY WATCHFUL.

THE PROTECTION OF THE LORD IS NOT AUTOMATIC BECAUSE WE ARE SAVED.

IT REQUIRES VIGILANCE AND OBEDIENCE.

THE INTERCESSOR KNOWS THIS AND LEAVES NOTHING TO CHANCE,

POSTING SIGNS FOR ALL THE FORCES OF HELL TO SEE. THIS IS A DAILY THING.

THE INTERCESSOR REMAINS UNDER THE

SHADOW OF THE MOST HIGH THROUGH ABIDING IN PRAYER AND ALERTNESS TO THE ENEMY’S PLANS.

You get involved in intercession at any level, you’re going to come under attack

Now let me just say this to you: YOU GET INVOLVED IN INTERCESSION AT ANY LEVEL, YOU’RE GOING TO COME UNDER ATTACK. And if you do not put this into practice, your life is going to be hell. It will be one level of oppression.

YOU MUST PUT THIS INTO PRACTICE, otherwise you’re going to have major, major

problems. Believe me, I know what I’m talking about. It must be a daily thing. You get up in the morning and through Intercession you POST BOUNDARIES.

And IT’S A DAILY THING. You don’t do it once a week. It’s every day. You must say, ‘Here today, this is my declaration. No trespassing to the enemies.’ And you post that through Intercession. It can take only 20 minutes every day, but it will cover the areas and the people you’re praying for and your home (and nation). It doesn’t take a long time, but it pays dividends. If it means you get up half an hour earlier, it will change your whole life. It will change the kinds of pressures you feel, the oppression you feel.

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You must do it, the ‘Paga,’ SETTING BOUNDARIES. It’s a very very important aspect. If you don’t put this in place, you’re going to be in trouble as you go through Intercession. This is very very important.

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Lesson 10

Manifestations of Intercession – Travail

I. TRAVAIL: RELEASING THE CREATIVE ENERGY OF GOD I believe that travail will become more and more an aspect of intercession, will become more and more common. TRAVAILING INTERCESSION is one of the most powerful manifestations of intercession. I’m talking about the real thing, real travail. Our ignorance of this dynamic truth has resulted in untold opportunities in God lost and a spiritual impotency far greater than most are aware of.

Isai.37:3 “And they said unto him, Thus saith Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy: for the children are come to birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.

HOW MANY THINGS HAVE BEEN ABORTED IN THE SPIRIT BECAUSE THERE WAS NO TRAVAIL? How many things has God purposed for you and the church in which you’re in and they were aborted because there was no travail to bring them to birth? Things come to birth in the natural through travail or childbirth. So it is in the spiritual. You cannot change the order. Ministries in people’s lives are brought to birth through travail. You want to go further in God? That will require some travail. And it’s not on your part, it’s on someone else’s part for you. Everything that is birthed in our life comes through travail. It’s a spiritual principle.

Jesus said it this way ...

Matt. 9:37 Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers [WHO WILL TRAVAIL] are few;...

One of the major aspects of the laborers are those who are going to labor and BRING IT TO BIRTH in the realm of the spirit. Definition of Travail Definition: TRAVAIL – STRONG LABOR; TO GIVE BIRTH. It is, if you like, SUPERNATURAL CHILD BIRTH. Now again, in teaching a subject like this, you’re going to get people out there who are going to do ‘weird things.’ But because people do weird things with this, it doesn’t mean to say that there’s a real thing and we teach it and you’ve got to learn how to flow in it. So we disregard the weird things that happen out there in travail. I have seen some very weird things and people put things on, we understand that. I’m talking about the real thing. As

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intercessors, there are going to be times when God is going to take hold of you in travail. You either cut it off or go through with it.

It’s supernatural childbirth. It is the Holy Spirit hovering over you wanting for you TO GIVE BIRTH.

Rom. 8:22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. Rom. 8:26-28 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: hut the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose.

A. THE CONTEXT: TRAVAIL

Creation groans and travails.

We groan and travail.

The Holy Spirit groans and travails through us. GROANING ... Greek ‘stenagmos,” meaning ‘HOVERING OVER YOU’; TO GROAN OR SIGH as one who is distressed. Ex. Ezekiel ‘sighed for the people.’

“which cannot be uttered” - KJV “which are inexpressible in words” - W.E. Vine “not to be expressed in words” - Bullinger “too deep for words” - NAS “groans that words cannot express” - NIV

Sometimes, this will start with A SIGH. How many times you’ve gone through the day, and there’s nothing wrong with you, there’s nothing emotionally wrong with you, you’re not overtired, BUT you find yourself SIGHING? And after a few hours gone by, you’re still doing it. That’s THE HOLY SPIRIT SEEKING TO PICK YOU UP FOR TRAVAIL. And so many intercessors miss this. ‘What am I sighing for, for goodness sake?’ Have you noticed Ezekiel, God saying to him over and over again, ‘SIGH FOR THE PEOPLE.’ That’s used a lot in the Book of Ezekiel, sigh, sigh, sigh. Now when you begin to pick that up, it’s just a SIGH. Why are you doing that? If you will RESPOND to that…because quite often this is not forced upon you. It’s an indication that the Holy Spirit is hovering over you, and you picking it up in the sense that it comes forth in the form of a SIGH. Now if you will respond to that, you’ll find that IT WILL DEVELOP, DEEPEN very very quickly as an intercessor. And then SOMETHING IS GOING TO BE BORN.

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This TRAVAIL comes at the END of a period of intercession, ABOUT TO GIVE BIRTH Normally, this level, this aspect, this TRAVAIL comes at the END of a period of intercession,

ABOUT TO GIVE BIRTH. Someone over here has interceded, someone over there has interceded, someone over has prayed and finally it’s right at the end and it requires the FINAL STAGE TO BRING IT TO PASS. Now people might have interceded for months, sometimes years in intercession. Then suddenly when it’s ready to be birthed, it will come through travail. IT’S THE END OF THE PROCESS OF INTERCESSION. And you pick it up, you pick up the end of the situation. And it’s picked up in this aspect. B. PHYSICAL MANIFESTATIONS Travail sometimes comes with physical manifestations, similar to that of literal child birth. However, travail does not always come that way, but DEEP EMOTION will always accompany that kind of intercession.

Gal. 4:19 My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you, ... What was he doing? See, the travail. Paul is here speaking about travailing in birth until Christ is formed within his spiritual children. The word travail here is “odino” meaning “TO EXPERIENCE THE PANGS, PAINS OF CHILDBIRTH.” Paul says, ‘I experienced the pains of childbirth.’ It’s an aspect of intercession. It comes over a person and the pain and stronger situations literally feel like the pains in giving birth, childbirth. It’s a spiritual counterpart of the natural thing. WHEN TRAVAIL HAPPENS, SOMETHING WILL BE BORN. That’s the exciting part of it. When it happens, something will be born. WEEPING: This too is a manifestation that sometimes comes with travail. Again this is a strong emotion that can be part of the identification process that sometimes accompanies travail. C. THE BIRTHING POWER OF GOD Manifestations THE HOLY SPIRIT GIVES BIRTH TO THE WILL OF GOD. In Creation

Gen. 1:1-3 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. [It was good and it was perfect] [Then something happened] And the earth was [Heb. Word is BECAME] without form, and void [And we’ll look at that when we do Spiritual Warfare, what was happening here]; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.’

The earth was without form and void. “Without form” Hebrew ‘tohuw,” means a desolate

wasteland.

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God began to move. He moved upon, the earth was without form and in darkness, the Spirit of God moved. That word ‘MOVED UPON’ is the Hebrew word ‘rachaph’ which means ‘TO BROOD OVER.’ ‘Brood’ comes from the root word ‘TO BREED, TO BRING FORTH OFFSPRING or PROGENY, that which is bred; TO BRING FORTH YOUNG.’

The Hebrew language is a picture language. The word “brood” in Hebrew is a picture for a husband hovering over his bride. So what was happening was…

At creation the Holy Spirit brooded over the desolate Earth, releasing His creative power WITH THE WORDS OF JESUS,

and gave birth to what He spoke.

The Scriptures elsewhere call this TRAVAIL. What was happening? It was TRAVAIL. The Holy Spirit was travailing, brooding, travailing over the desolate earth in order to bring forth. Travail is necessary. Jesus is the Savior, but the HOLY SPIRIT IS THE BIRTHING AGENT. TRAVAIL IS NECESSARY TO GET PEOPLE SAVED, really important. Birthing people into the kingdom of God requires travail. And if intercessors pick that up particularly in evangelistic meetings, you’d see a lot of people saved. If intercessors pick up travail, then they will birth one after another into the kingdom of God. An evangelist would just speak and they will come to the kingdom of God. TRAVAIL BRINGS TO BIRTH. D. TO BRING FORTH 1. In Creation

Psalm 90:2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hast formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting thou art God.

Before the mountains were ‘brought forth, ’yalad’ the Hebrew word which means TRAVAIL. Before the mountains were brought forth by TRAVAIL. We have a picture in Gen. 1, the Holy Spirit brooding, TRAVAIL, over the earth, BRINGS FORTH. Before the earth was ‘formed,’ ‘chuwl ‘ which means TO TWIST, WRITHE IN PAIN. So we see from this scripture the world was birthed through travail.

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2. A Nation We see this again in a nation. How did Israel come into being? Moses recounts this in the book of Deuteronomy.

Deut. 32:10-11 He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye. As an eagle stirreth up her nest, FLUTTERETH OVER HER YOUNG, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings:...

The context of this is the bringing into existence of the nation of Israel. NOTE: ‘As an eagle fluttereth,’ Hebrew - “rachaph” which means TO BROOD, TO BRING FORTH. 3. The Conception of Jesus

Luke 1:35 And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall OVERSHADOW thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall he horn of thee shall be called the Son of God.

“OVERSHADOW” - Greek ‘episkiazo’ which means TO CAST A COVERING OR SHADE UPON; or more so TO ENVELOPE IN A HAZE OF BRILLIANCE. (W.E. Vine) Haze of Brilliance Now I have seen this. Sometimes in a Prayer Meeting or in a situation, and it’s usually women, not always, but somebody goes into real travail and if your eyes are open in the Spirit and it’s real travail, you’ll see them covered with a haze of brilliance. It is so bright, sometimes extends about a meter around them, very very powerful thing. And they’re just in travail, they’re just praying through. What is happening is the Holy Spirit is brooding over them, coming through them to bring something to birth. When it is birthed, it is in existence. They’re just covered in that haze of brilliance just like Mary here, the Highest shall OVERSHADOW thee, TO ENVELOPE IN A HAZE OF BRILLIANCE. The Holy Spirit hovered over Mary as He did over the earth, over creation, same thing, same word in the Greek now. He enveloped her in a “haze of brilliance,” (His Glory) releasing His creative power, and forming or conceiving Christ in her. Oh, this is so powerful, this is so exciting. It is such an important thing. The Purposes of God for Your Life, Your Church, Your Nation You see, the purposes of God for your life, the purposes of God for a church, the vision for any specific church, what God wants for them, what your inheritance is has TO BE BIRTHED BY INTERCESSION. And it comes to pass through TRAVAIL. If travail doesn’t come through, it doesn’t come to pass, no matter how much prayer and believing the pastor has, it will not come to pass UNLESS IT IS BIRTHED. And it is birthed through travail, the plans, the purposes of God. You see, quite often churches do not come in to what God has for them because it is not birthed. It’s not that the pastor got it wrong. It’s because it wasn’t birthed. There was NO TRAVAIL. This is one of the highest forms of intercession and it’s one of the most powerful.

And there are things, we just say this, in the lives of YOUR CHILDREN, the destiny and purposes of your children have to be brought into existence through TRAVAIL usually of the

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mother. It’s through travail that you birth them. You birthed them in the natural, now you have to be birth them in the spiritual. Their destiny has to be taken hold of and brought into reality by travail. I want you to grasp this. It’s really very very important in every area of your life.

Matt. 17:5 While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him. Acts 5: 15 Insomuch that they brought forth the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and couches, that at the least the shadow of Peter pasting by might overshadow some of them.

THIS AREA OF TRAVAIL IS LIMITLESS. It is one of the greatest things in scripture. This

way, the Lord brought the earth into existence. This enveloping of the glory of God is God’s creative power manifest. WE NEED TO TRAVAIL, GIVE BIRTH TO THE PURPOSES, VISION OF GOD FOR OUR LIFE, CHURCH, CITY AND NATION. 4. Christ’s Resurrection We also see travail in Christ’s resurrection.

Rom. 8:11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also QUICKEN your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.

‘QUICKEN’ - Greek ‘zoopoieo” TO GIVE LIFE; MAKE ALIVE, TO BRING TO BIRTH Even though Jesus is the resurrection and the life, it was the Holy Spirit who quickened His body, giving birth to new life.

THE LIMITLESS ABILITY AND THE LIFE-BIRTHING POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT MUST BE RELEASED.

They are released by intercessors who respond to the promptings of the Holy Spirit in intercession.

TRAVAIL is a form of intercession that gives birth. It releases God’s creative power into a situation

TO PRODUCE AND GIVE BIRTH.

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E. Travailing in the Ministry of Jesus LAZARUS We also see travail in the life of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead.

John 11:34-35 And said, Where have ye laid him? They said unto him, Lord, come and see. Jesus wept. John 11:38 Jesus therefore again groaning in himself cometh to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it.

verse .33 Jesus was MOVED DEEPLY in the Spirit and was troubled. verse .35 Jesus wept. Greek - dakruo - TO BURST INTO TEARS. verse .38 GROANING within Himself.

Jesus travailed and released the life giving power of the Holy Spirit before he ever gave the command, “Lazarus, come forth.” GETHSEMANE

Without question, Christ’s intercessory redemption of man began with His travail in the Garden, sweat great drops of blood. He was in TRAVAIL. The New Creation was birthed there in the garden before He went to the cross. Isaiah prophesied of this.

Isa. 53:11 He shall see of the TRAVAIL of his soul, and shall he satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.

Jesus said this ...

Matt. 26:38 Then said he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me.

It was here, in the Garden, THAT REDEMPTION WAS BIRTHED THROUGH TRAVAIL. It was here that the “New Creation” was birthed.

Heb. 5:7 Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with STRONG CRYING and TEARS [TRAVAIL] unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared; ...

IT WAS HERE THAT REDEMPTION BEGAN.

IT WAS HERE THAT THE VICTORY WAS WON.

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F. The Intercessors Travail We see travail in Creation. We see travail in the life and ministry of Jesus. What about your

life? As in Creation: So for the New Creation [The Harvest is not going to come in

without people learning to give birth.] As with Israel: So for spiritual Israel [the Church] As with Mary: So for God Forming Christ in His people through intercession and

birthing] As with Lazarus: Birthing new life for others As at Gethsemane: Birthing redemption for others

So, TRAVAIL IS REALLY IMPORTANT. 1. Salvation

Isa. 66:8 Who hath heard such a thing ? Who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? Or shall a nation be born at once? FOR AS SOON AS ZION TRAVAILED, SHE BROUGHT FORTH HER CHILDREN. [You want children? The price is TRAVAIL.] Psalm 126:5-6 They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.

THERE WILL BE NO HARVEST WITHOUT TRAVAIL.

I think we’re going to see an increase of this. When God is doing something new, you will always have extremes like in the Toronto blessing, etc. There are always people who are kind of extremes. But you don’t throw the baby out with the bath water. You stay with the main thing. There’s going to be an increase of travail in the church, and we have to make room for it and not kind of be afraid of it. It’s going to bring to birth.

You see, there are many many things which God has promised. There are many many things

which are part of the plans and purposes of God and it is NOW that God wants to birth them, after all of these years. And so in order for that to happen, there has to be a move of the Holy Spirit in TRAVAIL in order now to bring them to pass. Whichever church you go to, there is a destiny or purpose for that church. Now I want to tell you, THOSE THINGS WILL NOT COME TO PASS WITHOUT TRAVAIL. I really want to get this across to you. It will not just happen.

What happens is that there is a vision which is in God, the vision is shared and so on. And

these are the purposes, destiny that God is saying to us, and you come to the point and go round the mountain again. Three years later you come back to that point again, ‘This is our vision, this is our purpose.’ Eventually somebody has to take it in travail and birth it. And if you don’t, it just keeps going around back to that point. It’s like a test. You never fail a testing of God, you just keep sitting in the exam all over again, maybe a hundred times. No failure, you just need to take the test again. Everything comes around again. But somewhere down the line, intercessors who understand this have got to take hold of it and say, ‘I’m going to tell the pastor this time, ‘We’re going to birth it.’’ It’s exciting.

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As soon as Zion travails, she brought forth her children. The scripture we used in the beginning

has come to the point of birth, but there’s nobody to travail, so pasted on it again. It’s really important because, you know, we’re not dealing just with the sovereignty of God. We’re dealing with OUR COOPERATION WITH HIM. Most intercessors would say, ‘I’ve never experienced travail.’ I bet you’ve experienced that SIGHING. And if you respond to that, the Holy Spirit will take you in. Put yourself aside and let it develop, stronger and stronger, and you’ll go into travail with its various manifestations. They can be different for different people. But as you do that and as you learn to respond to that, you’ll find that it will begin to happen in your life.

You know, this is one of the most important aspects, most important aspects of intercession.

It’s the CLIMAX OF INTERCESSION. We know very little about this. There’s very very little teaching on it, but EVERYTHING COMES TO BIRTH THROUGH TRAVAIL. And travail is the END of the process of intercession. It can be all kinds of prayer, but eventually it has to be travail. It’s the last element in the process. There can be people praying all over the place, but eventually someone has to pick the end portion of travail and bring it to pass. WHEN TRAVAIL COMES, GOD IS SAYING, ‘IT IS TIME. NOW I’M GOING TO BIRTH IT.’

You can have travail off and on for days and because you’ve got duties like housekeeping,

looking after your children, you can shake it off, shut it down and do what you like. God understands this. But next time you’re quiet again and you come before the Lord, pick it up again and you’re enveloped in it again. You can go for days, days, sometimes weeks on that until it’s finished, until it’s over with. 2. Maturing the Believer There is going to be an INCREASE IN TRAVAIL in the church. This is a MOVE of the Holy Spirit.

Gal. 4:19 My little children, of whom I TRAVAIL IN BIRTH again until Christ be formed in you, 1 Thess. 3:10 NIGHT AND DAY PRAYING EXCEEDINGLY that we might see your face, and might perfect that which is lacking in your faith? Col. 4:12 Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always LABOURING fervently for you in prayers [BIRTHING SOMETHING IN THAT PERSON’S LIFE], that ye may stand complete in all the will of God.

3. General Provision

James 5:17-18 Elias was a man subject to like pastions as we are, and he prayed EARNESTLY that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the earth gave rain, and THE EARTH BROUGHT FORTH HER FRUIT.

You’ll notice in the Old Testament, when he prayed, he had his head between his knees. What position is that? CHILDBIRTH, position of GIVING BIRTH to something, TRAVAIL. He was giving birth to something. What was he giving birth to? You see, the whole of Israel was in

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apostasy, she was in idol worship. They were worshipping demons, the land was under the control of Jezebel. Where was that battle won? On their knees, TRAVAIL is very important.

The power that created the universe is available to you as you co-operate with God.

Untold millions await their birth into the Kingdom of God.

If it is ever going to happen, THE CHURCH IS GOING TO HAVE TO ARISE

and find her Gethsemane, take up her position and press –

BIRTHING THE HARVEST WHILE IT IS YET DAY. We’re going to find more and more that this is going to come upon the church, and it’s going to create fear, confusion, some pastors will wonder what’s happening with some of their people, we will create embarrassment. Once it starts to happen, it’s best to have meetings just for that. 4. Practical Considerations

Don’t try to work it up. [You can’t work it up.] Make sure any physical manifestations, such as groaning or loud cries, etc. are of the Spirit,

and not of the flesh. When you don’t understand something, or aren’t sure of what is happening, seek wise

counsel. Be sensitive when with people who don’t understand. Public places, meetings etc. – you can control it to a degree. [People do strange things, believe

you me.] Be sensitive to the Holy Spirit. Once it starts, you must finish it. Finish your intercession, bring it to birth. It might take a

few days, it might take a few weeks, but finish it. In the natural it’s dangerous if it’s not finished.

BRINGING TO BIRTH, BRINGING TO BIRTH.

If you grasp this and it begins to happen in your life, you will really become POWERFUL IN

GOD. EVERY MINISTRY OF WORTH IS BROUGHT THROUGH TRAVAIL! Either someone else has been travailing for you and you don’t know about it, or you’ve been travailing, but things, ministries do not birth without travail. It’s a spiritual principle, and if God has spoken things to you, about things he wants to do, there has to be brought to pass through TRAVAIL. There has to be BIRTHING.

And most things in the Body of Christ today are ABORTED because they’re not birthed, and

they do not come to pass and they go around in circles again. There came the time for birth, but there’s no one to give birth, and you have to spend time to give birth. Whatever is happening in

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your life, in your children, the destinies of your children hang on this. Like you gave birth to them in the natural, you’ve got to birth them in the spirit. You’re responsible, and as you do that, you’ll find that their lives will change and they’ll begin to come up to what God has purposed for them.

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Lesson 11

Manifestations of Intercession – 7 Sensations & Wrestling

II. SEVEN MANIFESTATIONS / SENSATIONS OF THE SPIRIT MAN The seven sensations or 7 manifestations of the Spirit Man, just to give you a little bit more background of what we are talking about: 1. TO SIGH

In Mk. 7:31-35, ‘looking up to heaven, He SIGHED.’ This was not a sigh of frustration or

indifference. The Gk. Word is ‘stenazo’ which is translated a SIGH. It has to do with a PRAYER BURDEN. It’s a sensation on your spirit by the Holy Spirit. It’s a burden to pray.

When you have that particular manifestation of the Spirit, it is easy to pray. Sometimes you

wake up in the night with that ‘sigh,’ it’s a ‘stenazo.’ When it’s easy to pray, you have it in your spirit.

‘Stenazo’ is not the prayer, it’s the URGE to pray. It’s the driving force behind it. The same

word comes up in Rom. 8:23, ‘And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan [That word ‘groan’ there is bad translation. It’s ‘SIGH,’ ‘stenazo.’] within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.’ It comes up again in 2 Cor. 5:4, ‘For we that are in this Tabernacle do groan [It’s ‘SIGH,’ ‘stenazo.’ It’s a spirit, it’s an urge.], being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.’ Responding to the ‘Sigh’ leads you into TRAVAIL

It’s really very important when you have that manifestation that you respond to it, because it will quite often drop you into TRAVAIL if you respond to it. Just pray in the Spirit, pray, pray, pray, pray, pray in the Spirit until it develops. And it’s an important manifestation, TO SIGH. Ezek. 21:6, ‘Sigh therefore, thou son of man, with the breaking of thy loins; and with bitterness sigh before their eyes.’

You must learn to sense this manifestation of the Spirit. Sometimes initially it can be very so

gentle, it’s hard to miss. It’s just a very slight thing measured. Otherwise at times it can be strong. It’s very very slight, and if you go with it, it will develop.

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And it’s very important, because often it is connected to KAIROS TIME OF PRAYER. It just comes upon you, and there is a sigh that begins to rise and it’s really important that you respond to that.

It’s a particular manifestation of the Spirit. It’s not a natural manifestation.

2. TO GROAN

Jn. 11:33, ‘When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled.’ Now this is not natural groaning, it’s groan in the Spirit, it says, and He was troubled. Jesus was coming to the grave of Lazarus, and He groaned in His spirit and he was troubled. And again in vs. 38, ‘Jesus therefore again groaning in himself cometh to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it.’

Now this is a very interesting Greek word, ‘groaning’ here. It’s a bad translation. The Gk.

word means AN INFUSION OF AUTHORITY WITH A SENSE OF INDIGNATION. Remember we talked about that last week? An infusion of authority with a sense of indignation or anger. Jesus actually was getting angry. It’s a mix of anger and authority, but it’s a particular inward feeling. Notice it produced an INCREDIBLE MIRACLE, raising up of Lazarus from the dead. It’s a very POWERFUL manifestation, a very powerful Spirit sensation - Lazarus raised from the dead as Jesus responded to this.

When you get this, it’s A MIX OF ANGER AND AUTHORITY (That is the best way I can

describe it. There’s no English word to translate it into.), it is POWERFUL. If you get that sensation and you go with it, something will change.

You do not get this everyday though. But occasionally you’re going to get his, and if you

respond to it, ‘whoaahh,’ it creates a difference, a real difference. Jesus was getting angry the second time He ‘groaned.’ And He came to the grave and a stone laid upon it, produced an incredible miracle there of raising the dead. He knew God had heard Him, vs. 41 says. Interesting, that’s a very strong thing. 3. TO BE TROUBLED IN SPIRIT

Jn. 13:21, ‘When Jesus had thus said, he was troubled in spirit, and testified, and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me.’

The Greek word for ‘troubled in spirit’ is ‘terrazo’ which means TO STIR or AGITATE, have

you ever had that in a situation where you just are agitated for no reason? This is ‘troubled in spirit’. You know, if you’ve got a problem, you can be agitated about a lot of things. But we’re not talking about that. We’re talking about something which is spiritual. You walk into a situation and ‘whoohh,’ there’s an agitation. It’s a ‘terrazo,’ and it’s A SENSE THAT SOMETHING IS WRONG. It can spill over your body if it’s really strong so that you can actually begin to feel sick in the pit of your stomach. It can be that strong. It may not be that strong, but it can be that strong.

It’s an in-built EARLY WARNING SYSTEM, operates ahead of time, but operates when

something is wrong. It’s a very important sensation and it can save you a lot of trouble. Sometime

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back I was buying a car, and I thought, ‘Just the car I want,’ but I thought, I felt agitated. And I thought, ‘This is the car I want, don’t do this to me.’ But I tell you, you’ve got to listen to that. There was absolutely no reason for me to be agitated, and I wanted that car. You’ve got to respond to that. You ladies, do you get this when you’re shopping? I didn’t buy the car.

It works in many many areas of life. I was talking to a guy, a friend of mine before the Stock

Exchange crashed. He had a lot of money invested there. He was saying to me, ‘For days, days I just felt agitated, just agitated. Oh God, get this thing off me, I feel fine.’ Agitation, agitation. He went to the Lord and asked, and all he could see was a picture of the Stock Exchange. So he rang his broker up and told him to sell everything you’ve got.’ The broker said, ‘You mustn’t do this.’ He said, ‘Sell everything.’ He sold of his stocks and two days later the whole stock market crashed. That’s a ‘terrazo.’ That’s how it works. It’s an early warning system that the Holy Spirit works upon us. It’s too late to close the stable door after the horse has bolted. So WATCH FOR THAT spirit manifestation. 4. TO BE PROVOKED IN SPIRIT

It means TO BE REALLY STIRRED. It has to do with ZEAL TO ACT, TO DO SOMETHING.

Bad word ‘provoked,’ but the Gk. Word is ‘paraxeumo.’ In Acts 17:16, ‘Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city

wholly given to idolatry.’ His spirit was stirred. That’s a sensation, a SPIRIT SENSATION, not a natural sensation. You might think you feel it as a natural thing but it’s emotional, it’s INNER, it’s stirring, it has a sense of seal, you’re being provoked in your spirit by the Holy Spirit. It’s a zeal to act and do something. We need to minister with this. We need to prophesy this. We need to be stirred.

AND WHEN YOU HAVE THAT, YOU NEED TO FOLLOW IT THROUGH and do something

about it. Zeal to act, it’s a zeal to do something. You’re provoked in spirit, stirred, there’s a zeal behind it. I can’t explain it, it’s so subjective. Learn to recognize this sensation. 5. TO BE PRESSED IN SPIRIT

This is a very very powerful manifestation. The Gk. Word is ‘seneko’ and it means TO BE

PRESSED TOGETHER, TAKEN OVER, TO BECOME ONE WITH (the Holy Spirit). It doesn’t happen all the time.

2 Cor. 5:14, ‘For the love of Christ constraineth [PRESSED IN SPIRIT, seneko] us; because we thus judge,

that if one died for all, then were all dead:’ The love of Christ ‘senekoed’ him. When this happens to you, you become one with the Holy Spirit. It’s like the two are pressed

together. Not only do we have the Holy Spirit, but this is different manifestation. It means suddenly you are taken over, become one with, PRESSED. There’s a pressing of the Holy Spirit into you.

IT OVERCOMES EVERY SENSE OF FEAR, FAILURE and you become INVINCIBLE. It’s an

incredible feeling, an incredible manifestation of the Spirit. In Acts 20:22 Paul says, ‘And now, behold,

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I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there: Save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me.’ BOUND IN SPIRIT, the word is ‘seneko.’ How many of you know Paul wasn’t bound spiritually? That’s not what he’s talking about here at all. He was not bound spiritually. Something came over him. He knew where he was going was extremely dangerous, that he was running into major trouble, saved that the Holy Spirit had witnessed to him that bonds and afflictions await him. He said ‘He was bound,’ and Paul had NO FEAR. He was LIFTED IN SPIRIT TO ANOTHER REALM, taken over by the Holy Spirit and NOTHING MOVED HIM, bound to the Holy Spirit, tremendous boldness, so powerful you can face any situation, even martyrdom.

I’ve been in certain parts of the world which are extremely dangerous. Things were

happening around me when this came upon me, to be pressed in spirit. It’s a feeling I can’t describe, but you feel invincible. All fear just evaporates like that. It’s an incredible sensation.

MARTYRS HAVE TESTIFIED TO THIS MANIFESTATION OF THE SPIRIT. It’s an incredible

manifestation. Those early Christians, they went in their thousands to the arena and they would walk into the arena singing hymns and worshipping God, children as well as adults. How many of you know that is not natural? I don’t care how good a Christian you are, how much faith you’ve got. That is not natural at all. They were ‘senekoed,’ that’s what happened. A spirit sensation took them over. They were fused, pressed in the Holy Spirit, nothing moved them. It’s a total take-over of the Holy Spirit. There’s a special feel and sensation. It may last just for a little while, it might last for days, but it produces TREMENDOUS BOLDNESS. There’s no fear when that takes hold of you. There were times in my life when that has happened to me and it’s a sensation which I cannot describe. It is so powerful. It’s like you are totally invincible.

We need to be aware of that because the days that lie ahead that are going to be troubled. Last

year 25,000 people were martyred around the world. 25,000 Christians were martyred last year. We kind of think we live in a world that’s nice. Well, it’s not. 25,000 is a lot of people, and that’s a conservative figure given by the Sentinel Group - many in China, a lot in Africa, in Latin America, in other places. So many martyrdoms going in North Africa, it’s unbelievable. Whole villages of Christians are being crucified. You don’t hear about that in the news. But whatever is ahead of us in the church, whichever areas of the world you might in the future end up in, we have boldness to face it. There is an ANOINTING to face anything in God. You can be ‘senekoed’ and face any situation, pressed into one in the Holy Spirit. 6. JOY

There’s another manifestation of the Holy Spirit which is important, which we don’t understand a lot, and that is JOY.

The Toronto Blessing is a fantastic thing, it’s good and it’s of God, but it is touching the area of

the soul rather than the spirit. That’s okay, the soul needs it, believe me, because there are a lot of hurts in the soul. The souls of Christians need renovating, really need God to work on the soul. But it’s not what we are talking about here.

JOY, ‘For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but in righteousness, peace and JOY in the Holy

Ghost.’ The Gk. word there is ‘kara’ which means CALM DELIGHT, not laughter, that’s in the soul.

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It’s not dependent on emotions. It’s an inner thing, it’s a calm delight. It’s a Spirit Sensation deeper than the emotions. And it’s not dependent upon circumstances, it’s deeper than that. Happiness is in the area of the soul, joy is in the area of the spirit. It’s very difficult to describe this.

It can be in the midst of adverse circumstances and disappointments, yet there’s an inner

sensation of incredible joy. It’s a calm, inner sensation of great joy. And it brings GREAT STRENGTH. Nehe. 8:10, ‘The joy of the Lord is my strength.’ Great strength

comes with this joy. It’s an inner spirit thing, you see. And to be honest, it’s not very common. It really isn’t very common, and if you get this, the strength that’s infused from it is enormous because enormous strength comes out of it. You can face anything with that, enormous strength, ‘The joy of the Lord is your strength.’ It’s in the realm of spirit, ‘kara,’ calm delight. 7. WITNESS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

We touched on this briefly earlier on. Rom. 8:16, ‘The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:’ That’s a spirit sensation, the Spirit bears witness with our spirit. It operates as an AFFIRMATION or a CHECK, a red light or a green light or a CAUTION. The Spirit itself bears witness. It means to corroborate or to bear witness. The Gk. word is ‘somaturio.’ It’s a feeling, a sensation on the inside. You must learn the various sensations

Now if you’re going to develop a walk with the Lord, you must learn the various sensations

and feelings of your Spirit Man connected to the Holy Spirit. You must learn how to respond in various ways. You must learn to understand what they mean. These are spirit sensations of the Spirit Man when the Holy Spirit is effecting us, touches your spirit not your soul, touches your spirit to SIGH (it’s a prayer burden), to GROAN, an infusion of God’s authority with indignation (it’s a strong thing, mix of anger and authority), to be TROUBLED IN SPIRIT, to be PROVOKED IN SPIRIT (zeal, a stirring to do something, that’s a strong feeling and you must follow it through), to be PRESSED IN SPIRIT (to be taken over or ‘senekoed’), JOY and the WITNESS OF THE SPIRIT.

II. WRESTLING ... ENFORCING THE VICTORY This is another manifestation of the Spirit. It is not enough to simply ask the Father to do something. It is often necessary to accompany this with Spiritual Warfare or “wrestling”, enforcing the victory of Calvary. What does ‘wrestling’ mean?

Eph. 6: 12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

WRESTLE - KJV

STRUGGLE - NAM FIGHT - Philips CONTEND - AMP

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These are hard things to explain. WE ARE AT WAR, BUT THE FOE IS DEFEATED. We have to ENFORCE that defeat.

2 Cor. 10:4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds; ...

What is it? If it’s a spiritual thing, what is it? The weapons of our warfare are not natural, they are spiritual. We are WRESTLING. Why is it necessary to wrestle? A. WHY IS IT NECESSARY TO “WRESTLE”? Why didn’t God past final judgment on Satan, put him in the pit, eliminating him from the earth? Have you thought of that? If I were God, I would have gotten rid of him, because of all these troubles. I don’t know all the answers to that, but there are legal reasons. If Satan is defeated, and we are delivered from his power (Col. 1:13), why is wrestling or warfare necessary? GOD NEEDS A HOSTILE ENVIRONMENT IN WHICH TO TRAIN US. WE’RE IN TRAINING

One thing we’ve got to understand is…Christians have a limited concept of what’s it all about. We thing we’re on this earth for 70 years, we’ve got to learn a few things, then finally we get to heaven and it will all be over, ‘Praise God.’ NO! When you get to heaven, IT’S JUST BEGINNING. You’ve just graduated. You know, you haven’t begun your career until you quit university and graduate and you go out there. Your career hasn’t begun. We look at this life and think it’s everything. NO! It’s not, it’s just the TRAINING PART. And in our training, we do some good things and we accomplish some things in God, but the HIGHER PURPOSES OF GOD are still in the future.

You say, ‘Well if God has gotten rid of the devil, life in this planet would have been easy.’ Well, I’m

not too sure. It was easy in Paradise and they mess it up, you know. And in the Millenium, they mess it up at the end of the Millenium again. What we’ve got to understand is…now look, WE’RE IN TRAINING, God is brewing our spirit. It’s like we’re in a laboratory of PREPARATION. And there are a number of things:

When the Millenium reign of Christ dawns on the earth, and it’s close than most of us think,

there’s going to be a thousand years of the reign of Christ on this earth, who is going to be running the show? The OVERCOMERS. Let me just say something - not all Christians will be in the Millenium, only the Overcomers and the Martyrs. The Bible is very clear on that.

But you see, He’s TRAINING A PEOPLE. There’s going to be a thousand years which will be

another course, getting experience in administrating the affairs of a planet. THE NEVER-ENDING PURPOSES OF GOD

But what’s beyond then? What goes on beyond there [Millenium] again? How many of you know that THE PURPOSES OF GOD NEVER COME TO AN END? His kingdom is from everlasting to everlasting. Why are all those planets out there, the stars out there? Just to give us a

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nice show at night? No, the earth was the first planet to extend the kingdom of God to. It was just the FIRST. God said to Adam, ‘Bring heaven to earth. Planet earth is YOUR FIRST MAJOR TASK.’ They could have accomplished that very very quickly, but it took a little while. Oh well, you say we’re going into extra-Biblical things. Yes, we are.

But there’s got to be a purpose for this universe. It’s not by chance, it’s got to go on. Why is

God training you? You see, it’s just the beginning, this life. This is just a short period of training in the on-going purposes of God. GOD IS GOING TO EXTEND HIS FRONTIERS RIGHT OUT THROUGH THIS UNIVERSE, bringing heaven into earth.

So, He needs Satan. We need to learn warfare.

B. God Has Given Us Dominion... But we have to exercise it. WE NEED TO LEARN WARFARE. We need to have that kind of conflict, what God has given is necessary. If Satan is defeated and we are delivered from his power, why is wrestling necessary? People say we shouldn’t concentrate on the powers of darkness, that we should not concentrate on the devil. ‘Just concentrate on Jesus and everything will be fine.’ No, it won’t. Why did He say we are wrestling against principalities and powers if everything is fine? If he’s defeated and we are delivered from his power…well it comes back to the age-old thing that God has given us dominion, but you have to exercise it. How many of you know you cannot exercise dominion unless there’s an enemy? There has to be some kind of opposition to exercise dominion. We have to retake this planet back and establish God’s kingdom here again. It is a LABORATORY of PREPARATION FOR ETERNITY.

Heb. 10:12-13 But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool (through the Church).

Jesus now waits for the Church to rise up and possess the land.

Satan will resist and fight us; there will be conflict.

Jesus broke the headship of Satan or his authority over mankind. Satan still has power.

He simply has no legal right over mankind. (And that is the big difference)

WE HAVE TO ENFORCE THAT. C. With Whom Do We Wrestle? Not with God, we do not wrestle with God. I’ve heard so many messages of Jacob wrestling with the angel of God and we have to wrestle with God. No, you don’t have to wrestle with God, you have TO CO-OPERATE WITH HIM and wrestle with the enemy, big difference. People say,

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‘I’d been wrestling with God all day.’ What for? You’ll never win. Not with God, we cooperate with Him; not with flesh and blood. Eph. 6: 12 WE WRESTLE WITH ENEMIES (We will deal more with these in the Module on Spiritual Warfare.):

PRINCIPALITIES Greek - “arch” - beginning, the first place POWERS Greek - “exosia” - authorities RULERS OF DARKNESS OF THIS WORLD Greek - “kosmokrator” - “lords of the world” SPIRITUAL WICKEDNESS IN HIGH PLACES Greek - “poneros” - wickedness; evil in nature

1 John 5:19 And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness. 2 Cor. 4:4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. Jn. 14:30 Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me. Jn. 12:31 Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world he cast out.

So we are up against spiritual powers, principalities and powers. I’m not going to the order of

these things, it’s not our study here. But it’s spiritual wickedness in high places. THERE ARE PRINCIPALITIES AND POWERS OVER CITIES, NATIONS There are principalities and powers over cities, nations. And under them there’s demonic power. We’ve got to make a very clear distinction between angels and demons. They’re not remotely the same and you can’t deal with them the same. Fallen angels are not demons. They’re angels. The demons are a different order altogether. But we’ll deal with that on Spiritual Warfare. But our battle is in that realm. And THERE’S A WRESTLING THAT BEGINS TO GO ON, TO TAKE PLACE. That wrestling…when you’re up against principalities, just as in the natural you wrestle, there’s a wrestling that takes place in the spiritual. There is a draining of your strength quite often, there’s a battle going back and forth, sometimes there is pain involved, sometimes there’s emotional distress, there can be extreme tiredness. It’s like you’re taking hold of something and it is a wrestle. And if you give up before you’re through, you lose the battle. Once you’re into it, you must see it through, because if you don’t see it through, you’ve lost it.

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A PHYSICAL TOLL TAKES PLACE IN SPIRITUAL WARFARE WHILE YOU’RE IN IT. It is a wrestle with spiritual power. People say, ‘Well, if you’re anointed, you shouldn’t get tired.’ Jesus got tired, He was so tired He had to sit by the well, remember? You’re going to get tired and at times you’re going to come out of battles extremely weary. And sometimes you’ll come out physically aching from head to toe after a conflict. It’s like you’ve been through a boxing match or a wrestling match in the natural. So you come out when it’s all over and you’re aching. All of these are physical manifestations of an inner spiritual battle that is going on. Sometimes you can be extremely tired in your mind. Have you gotten to the point where you can’t think straight? You can’t think and you can’t even remember names. Some people just have a bad memory, but other times you’re under spiritual attack. There’s a mental tiredness because of conflict with the powers of darkness. It’s draining, and Jesus, He would just go away and pray, be alone with His Father and with the Spirit and just recuperate from the spiritual battles. You can’t stay in spiritual battles all the time because it has a draining effect. It is a wrestling. We’re not wrestling with God, but we’re wrestling with principalities and powers. Spiritual Attacks from the enemy over cities You see, how many of you in the last two weeks or so have had some problems with sleeping? Over half. Something have been released over Perth the last two weeks and it’s affecting Christians everywhere, and I’m not sure what it is. I’m not sure what triggered it, but something occultic, I’m not sure yet. But something has been released over Perth, and suddenly you’ll find Christians with their backs to the walls. Why does that happen? Is it they’re dying in faith? NO! They’re up against something spiritual that’s happened over the city, you see. And migraine headaches, pressure and can’t sleep and sometimes people feel extremely discouraged, feel like giving up.

What happens is they’re UNDER ATTACK, but it’s not just one on one. It’s right over the entire city. Now something has been released over the last 15 days or so over the entire city and I have a feeling it’s been a combination of occult rituals against what God wants to do in the city.

But you see, suddenly Christians heat up. There’s this extreme tiredness, can’t sleep properly, they feel drained. And all these physical symptoms, you think, ‘What is happening?’ THE BATTLE IS SPIRITUAL, you see. Something has been released, and at times like this, it’s really really important that you don’t give the battle away. Just STAND and get through it

All you have to do sometimes is just STAND and get through it. It will past, but don’t let it take you down. Be careful with DISCOURAGEMENT and be very careful with UNBELIEF because of the things that will spread across is unbelief. You think, ‘Ah, it’s not worth it,’ just unbelief. And you get doubts sometimes about what you are being taught and that whole thing comes over you. You think, ‘Hahhhh!,’ and well-meaning Christians put you off. You’ve just go TO STAND. You don’t have to necessarily argue, but just stand. Let it past, stand, PRAY IN THE SPIRIT a lot so that you’ll keep your spirit strong and just come through it, and just stand. ‘Having done all, stand.’ Guard your faith, you stand.

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You WATCH YOUIR EMOTIONS. When you’re under spiritual attack, it nearly always affects your emotions, and you get down, you get discouraged in your emotion and it affects you that way. And you begin to wonder about yourself, and wonder if you’re wrong and the condemnation will come in. You’ve got to watch times like that, because there’s something, there’s a Kairos Attack at the present time over the entire city. The enemy is stirred up, I guess, for a number of reasons.

So LEARN TO WORSHIP THE LORD. Worship is an incredible power. Just WORSHIP,

WORSHIP, WORSHIP. When you are at home, put Worship Tapes on. Play them, play them, play them. Fill your house with it. Keep singing, DISINFECT THE ATMOSPHERE with worship. Worship in Spiritual Warfare is incredible, powerful, worship, praise. You need to do in times like this because God inhabits the praises of His people. He comes in there.

WE ARE WRESTLING, THERE’S A BATTLE GOING ON. Sometimes the battle is HARD,

sometimes it is LIGHT. It ebbs away back and forth, you have a break for a while and then it’s on again. This is part of it. Let me tell you now – IT’S NEVER GOING TO GO AWAY UNTIL WE GET TO THE MILLENIUM. We will always be in warfare until the Millenium. And so if you settle it in your mind, you’re not going to get thrown. It’s part of life now, but you can be VICTORIOUS.

Just talking about what has been released over Perth, you can feel the whole thing. Wrestling

can drain your strength with emotional distress, tiredness (tired in mind). We must SEE IT THROUGH. Solution: GO TO THE PRESENCE OF GOD for strength after a warfare.

Paul was hindered by Satan

So wherever Paul went, he said that Satan actually hindered him, the apostle Paul himself.

1. PAUL’S MINISTRY WAS HINDERED BY THESE POWERS.

1Thess. 2:18, ‘Wherefore we would have come unto you, even I Paul, once and again; but Satan hindered us.’

The apostle Paul himself, don’t get thrown if you get hindered, part of the battle. Back and

forth the battle goes. He said, ‘We would have come to you, but Satan hindered us.’ That’s the apostle Paul talking.

Rom. 15:22, ‘For which cause also I have been much hindered from coming to you.’

He said, ‘I’ve strived to preach the gospel where Christ was not named, but fir this cause I have been much

hindered from coming to you.’ THERE IS A BATTLE. You’re not out of the will of God if you get hindered. You’re not of the

will of God if you’re in a battle. That’s a good sign that YOU’RE ACTUALLY IN THE WILL OF GOD. KEEP ON GOING! Do not be intimidated. Paul was in the will of God, and he did not win every battle. That’s an issue to realize. He didn’t win every battle. In the final outcome, he always won through. But on the way through, he did not win every battle. You just don’t give up because

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you don’t win every battle. And you don’t give up because you make mistakes. You don’t give up because you fail.

The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, even though he falls, he’s not cast down.

You’re not going to get it right all the time. You’re going to make mistakes, you’re going to make bad mistakes. But the thing is you get up again in faith and keep walking towards God. That’s the way you learn. Psychologists tells us that WE LEARN MORE FROM OUR MISTAKES than in any other way. I think it’s true in the spiritual realm, we learn more from our mistakes. That’s part of the learning process. These powers, principalities, that’s where our battle is.

2. FALSE TEACHINGS COME FROM THESE POWERS

False teachings come from these powers. 1 Tim. 4:l, ‘Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;’ Also James 3:15. 3. PRAYERS HINDERED BY THESE POWERS

Remember Daniel praying? Dan. 10:12-13. It’s not so much that his prayers were hindered, he

got through. It’s interesting. This way, there’s no problem so much. From the first day he prayed, it was heard in heaven. ‘But your problem is,’ God was saying, ‘Look, I dispatched an angel to come through with the answer.’ But it took him 21 days to break through. That angel ran into these spirits in the mid-heavens – principalities and powers. He ran into the prince of Persia. Actually that angel could not get through and God was watching the battle and God finally said, ‘Look Michael, go give him a hand.’ And so now Michael comes on the scene and there’s a huge cosmic battle going on up there. Once Michael comes on the scene, this angel Gabriel swoops through to Daniel with profound revelation, responding to his prayer.

Imagine what would have happened if Daniel prayed for 21 days and nothing has happened

and gave up? You imagine the frustration of that angel. Here he was, he’s already on the way with the answer, is heart beating up in the heavenlies, a great battle going on and Daniel gave up. Right when he was about to get through, he gave up. All he could do was go back to heaven. I wonder how many angels have been dispatched and never made it through because WE DON’T PERSIST IN PRAYER. We don’t keep going, we get under pressure and we give it away. We stop praying, we stop holding on to faith. The battle is in that realm, wrestle against principalities and powers. I just wonder how many times we frustrated the angels when we give up before the answer comes. WHEN YOU GIVE UP, THEIR POWER IS GONE. They go back to heaven.

Persist in prayer, don’t stop! When you pray, GOD WORKS. When you stop, GOD STOPS WORKING. If you don’t, He won’t. Really important that we understand this.

In many situations much time is wasted dealing with symptoms, conditions, individuals, problems, etc, when the cause is spiritual or demonic. So often in people’s lives and situations, we are cleaning up COBWEBS, but we never kill the spider. We just keep sweeping away the cobweb], and we come back for counseling and six weeks later we get rid of those cobwebs again through a bit of praying, counseling. Then come back later, we get rid of those cobwebs again. God is saying, ‘GET RID OF THE SPIDER.’ The thing is spiritual, get to the cause of the problem. That’s where our battle is.

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PRAYER IS NOT OVERCOMING GOD’S RELUCTANCE. WE STORM THE GATES OF HELL, not the gates of heaven. We wrestle with principalities and powers, we don’t wrestle with God. We cooperate with Him. Isa. 28:6; Matt. 16:18

INTERCESSORS ARE GOING TO BE INVOLVED IN SPIRITUAL WARFARE. You cannot escape it. We will face battles with the enemies, we cannot escape it. What happens is when you begin to press into God, the enemy makes it hard enough for you to give it away. And to some degree, God will allow that to happen. You press in and you press there, ‘Okay, we want to get involved in intercession. I want to go higher in this. I want to prime myself in this,’ and ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE. Why does that happen? Why is that conflict there? And it’s like, ‘Yes, we’re learning something new. We want to move with God, we want to take hold of this, we want to go on in God. I see where You want to take us,’ and suddenly all hell breaks loose against you. Why does that happen? BECAUSE HE WANTS YOU TO GIVE UP, and if you don’t get through that and say, ‘No, I’m going to stand anyway, no matter how bad I feel, I’m going to stand. I’m going to come through this. I’m not going to turn back on what God is saying to me. I’m going to be involved in it and I’m going to do it, be committed to it. ’ Commitment involves some consistency and follow through, no matter how difficult or how hard it is. The enemy will make it hard for you and try to get you to give up. Be consistent, keep standing, PREVAIL, BE AN OVERCOMER! If you come through that, you have strength and authority over that. But you don’t have it until you break through.

And so, I HAVE TO WARN YOU, WHEN WE ARE DEALING WITH INTERCESSION, WE

ARE DEALING WITH THIS WHOLE THING IN SPIRITUAL WARFARE. You’re going to enter into some conflict to stop you entering into it. You cannot avoid it. If I didn’t tell you otherwise, I would be misleading . There will be a conflict. And the conflict is to bring you to the point where you say, ‘Ah, I’ll past on this. This is not worth it. Too much trouble. Past, give it away.’ That’s what he’s after. What happens is he gets you back to Square One again. When you’re ready to move on and take hold of God and do these things and to be a part of it, the enemy’s pressure comes in to get you to give it up. The thing is those who make it are people who don’t give up. Having done all, just keep standing and see themselves through it.

By now you will be learning to increase your skills in intercession.

As you develop skills in Spiritual Warfare,

you are becoming a very real threat to the enemy and YOU WILL BEGIN TO TAKE YOUR STAND

AT THE FOREFRONT OF WHAT GOD IS DOING TODAY.

God will be with us in all these to give us victory. WE ARE MORE THAN CONQUERORS THROUGH CHRIST JESUS.

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Lesson 12

Praying the Price By Stuart Robinson The Rev Dr. Stuart Robinson is the Senior Pastor at the Blackburn Baptist Church in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.. Introduction In 1952 Albert Einstein was asked by a Princeton doctoral student what was left in the world for original dissertation research? Einstein replied, ‘Find out about prayer.’ English preacher Sidlow Baxter, when he was eighty five years of age, said, ‘I have pastored only three churches in my more than sixty years of ministry. We had revival in every one. And not one of them came as a result of my preaching. They came as a result of the membership entering into a covenant to pray until revival came. And it did come, every time’ (Willhite 1988:111). Chaplain of the United States Senate, Richard Halverson, advised that we really don’t have any alternative to prayer. He says, ‘You can organize until you are exhausted. You can plan, program and subsidise all your plans. But if you fail to pray, it is a waste of time. Prayer is not optional. It is mandatory. Not to pray is to disobey God’ (Bryant 1984:39). Roy Pointer, after extensive research in Baptist churches in the United Kingdom, arrived at the conclusion that wherever there was positive growth, there was one recurring factor: they were all praying churches. In the United States of America, at Larry Lea’s Church on the Rock in Rockwall, Texas, numerical rowth was from 13 people in 1980 to 11,000 people by 1988. When he was asked about such amazing growth, he said, ‘I didn’t start a church I started a prayer meeting.’ When David Shibley, the minister responsible for prayer in that church was asked the secret of the church, he said, ‘The evangelistic program of our church is the daily prayer meeting. Every morning, Monday through Friday, we meet at 5:00 am to pray. If we see the harvest of conversions fall off for more than a week, we see that as a spiritual red alert and seek the Lord’ (Shibley 1985:7). In Korea, where the church has grown from almost zero to a projected 50% of the entire population in this century alone, Pastor Paul Yonggi Cho attributes his church’s conversion rate of 12,000 people per month as primarily due to ceaseless prayer.

Luke 11:1 Lord teach us to pray.

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In Korea it is normal for church members to go to bed early so they can arise at 4:00 am to participate in united prayer. It is normal for them to pray all through Friday nights. It is normal to go out to prayer retreats. Cho says that any church might see this sort of phenomenal growth if they are prepared to ‘pray the price, to ‘pray and obey.’ Cho was once asked by a local pastor why was it that Cho’s church membership was 750,000 and his was only 3,000 when he was better educated, preached better sermons and even had a foreign ife? Cho inquired, ‘How much do you pray?’ The pastor said, ‘Thirty minutes a day.’ To which Cho replied, ‘There is your answer. I pray from three to five hours per day.’ In America one survey has shown that pastors on average pray 22 minutes per day. In mainline churches, it is less than that. In Japan they pray 44 minutes a day, Korea 90 minutes a day, and China 120 minutes a day. It’s not surprising that the growth rate of churches in those countries is directly proportional to the amount of time pastors are spending in prayer. Growth a Supernatural Process The church is a living organism. It is God’s creation with Jesus Christ as its head (Colossians 1:18). From Him life flows (John 14:6). We have a responsibility to cooperate with God (1 Corinthians 3:6). We know that unless the Lord builds the house we labour in vain (Psalm 127:1). The transfer of a soul from the kingdom of darkness to that light is a spiritual, supernatural process (Colossians 1:14). It is the Father who draws (John 6:44). It is the Holy Spirit who convicts (John 16:8). He causes confession to be made (1 Corinthians 12:3). He completes conversion (Titus 3:5). It is the Holy Spirit who also strengthens and powers (Ephesians 3:16). He guides into truth (John 16:16). He gives spiritual gifts which promote unity (1 Corinthians 12:25), building up the church (1 Corinthians 14:12), thus avoiding disunity and strife which stunt growth. This is fundamental spiritual truth accepted and believed by all Christians. However, the degree to which we are convinced that all real growth is ultimately a supernatural process and are prepared to act upon that belief, will be directly reflected in the priority that we give to corporate and personal prayer in the life of the church. It is only when we begin to see that nothing that matters will occur except in answer to prayer that prayer will become more than an optional program for the faithful few, and instead it will become the driving force of our churches. Obviously God wants our pastors, other leaders and His people to recognize that only He can do extraordinary things. When we accept that simple premise, we may begin to pray. In the Bible

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The battle which Joshua won, as recorder in Exodus 17:9, was not so dependent upon what he and his troops were doing down on the plain. It was directly dependent upon Moses’ prayerful intercession from on top of a nearby hill, with the support of Aaron and Hur. In the Old Testament, not counting the Psalms, there are 77 explicit references to prayer. The pace quickens in the New Testament. There are 94 references alone which relate directly to Jesus and prayer. The apostles picked up this theme and practice. So Paul says, ‘Pray continually, for this is God’s will for you’ (1 Thessalonians 5:16). Peter urges believers to be ‘clear minded and self controlled’ so that they can pray (1 Peter 4:7). James declares that prayer is ‘powerful and effective’ (James 5:16). John assures us that ‘God hears and answers’ (1 John 5:15). In the book of Acts there are 36 references to the church growing. Fifty eight percent (i.e 21 of those instances) are within the context of prayer. We would all love to see growth in every church in the world like it was at Pentecost and immediately thereafter. The key to what happened there is found in Acts 1:14 when it says: ‘They were all joined together constantly in prayer.’ They were all joined together one mind, one purpose, one accord. That is the prerequisite for effectiveness. Then, they were all joined together constantly in prayer. The word used there means to be ‘busily engaged in, to be devoted to, to persist in adhering to a thing, to intently attend to it.’ And it is in the form of a present participle. It means that the practice was continued ceaselessly. The same word and part of speech is used in Acts 2:42. ‘They devoted themselves …to prayer.’ Over in Colossians 4:2, Paul uses the same word again in the imperative form. ‘Devote yourselves to prayer.’ Most significant expansion movements of the church through its history took up that imperative. In history When we read the biographies of William Carey, Adoniram Judson, David Livingstone, Hudson Taylor, or whomever, the initiating thrust of the work of their lives began in prayer encounters. About a century ago, John R. Mott led an extraordinary movement which became known as the Student Christian Movement. It was based amongst college and university students. It supplied 20,000 career missionaries in the space of thirty years. John Mott said that the source of this amazing awakening lay in united intercessory prayer. It wasn’t just that these missionaries were recruited and sent out in prayer; their work was also sustained through prayer.

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Hudson Taylor told a story of a missionary couple who were in charge of ten stations. They wrote to their home secretary confessing their absolute lack of progress, and they urged the secretary to find intercessors for each station. After a while, in seven of those stations, opposition melted, spiritual revival broke out and the churches grew strongly. But in three there was no change. When they returned home on their next furlough, the secretary cleared up the mystery. He had succeeded in getting intercessors for only seven of the ten stations. S. D. Gordon (1983:40) concludes, ‘The greatest thing anyone can do for God and man is to pray.’ Luther, Calvin, Knox, Latimer, Finney, Moody, all the ‘greats of God’ practiced prayer and fasting to enhance ministry effectiveness. John Wesley was so impressed by such precedents that he would not even ordain a person to ministry unless he agreed to fast at least until 4:00 pm each Wednesday and Friday. Yonggi Cho (1984:103) says, ‘Normally I teach new believers to fast for three days. Once they have become accustomed to three day fasts, they will be able to fast for a period of seven days. Then they will move to ten days fasts. Some have even gone for forty days.’ These people seem to have latched onto something which we here in Australia hardly know anything about. We are so busy, so active. We try so hard to get something good up and running. But it doesn’t seem to grow much, or permanently change many lives. Why? Is it that the ground in Australia is too hard? Compared with other times and places, this could hardly be so. For example, back in the 18th century things didn’t look good. Eighteenth century France was working through its blood revolution, as terroristic as any of our modern era. America had declared its Rights of Man in 1776. Voltaire was preaching that the church was only a system on oppression for the human spirit. Karl Marx would later agree. A new morality had arisen. Amongst both sexes in all ranks of society, Christianity was held in almost universal contempt. Demonic forces seemed to have been unleashed to drive the church out of existence. In many places it was almost down and out. Preachers and people would be pelted with stones and coal in places in England if they dared to testify to Jesus Christ in public. But even before those satanic forces collaborated to confound and confuse, it appears that the Holy Spirit had prepared His defence, like a plot out of some Peretti novel. In the 1740s, John Erskine of Edinburgh published a pamphlet encouraging people to pray for Scotland and elsewhere. Over in America, the challenge was picked up by Jonathan Edwards, who wrote a treatise called, ‘A Humble Attempt to Promote Explicit Agreement and Visible Union of God’s People in Extraordinary Prayer for the Revival of Religion and the Advancement of Christ’s Kingdom.’

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For forty years, John Erskine orchestrated what became a Concert of Prayer through voluminous correspondence around the world. In the face of apparent social, political and moral deterioration, he persisted. And then the Lord of the universe stepped in and took over. On Christmas day 1781, at St. Just Church in Cornwall, at 3:00 am, intercessors met to sing and pray. The heavens opened at last and they knew it. They prayed through until 9:00 am and regathered on Christmas evening. Throughout January and February, the movement continued. By March 1782 they were praying until midnight. No significant preachers were involved just people praying and the Holy Spirit responding. Two years later in 1784, when 83 year old John Wesley visited that area, he wrote, ‘This country is all on fire and the flame is spreading from village to village.’ And spread it did. The chapel which George Whitefield had built decades previously in Tottenham Court Road had to be enlarged to seat 5,000 people the largest in the world at that time. Baptist churches in North Hampton, Leicester, and the Midlands, set aside regular nights devoted to the drumbeat of prayer for revival. Methodists and Anglicans joined in. Matthew Henry wrote, ‘When God intends great mercy for His people, He first sets them praying.’ Across the country prayer meetings were networking for revival. A passion for evangelism arose.. Converts were being won not through the regular services of the churches, but at the prayer meetings! Some were held at 5:00 am, some at midnight. Some preChristians were drawn by dreams and visions. Some came to scoff but were thrown to the ground under the power of the Holy Spirit. Sometimes there was noise and confusion; sometimes stillness and solemnity. But always there was that ceaseless outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Whole denominations doubled, tripled and quadrupled in the next few years. It swept out from England to Wales, Scotland, United States, Canada and to some Third World countries. Social impact The social impact of reformed lives was incredible. William Wilberforce, William Pitt, Edmund Bourke, and Charles Fox, all touched by this movement, worked ceaselessly, for the abolition of the slave trade in 1807. William Buxton worked on for the emancipation of all slaves in the British Empire and saw it happen in 1834. John Howard and Elizabeth Fry gave their lives to radically reform the prison system. Florence Nightingale founded modern nursing.

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Ashley Cooper, the seventh Earl of Shaftesbury, came to the rescue of the working poor to end their sixteenhour, sevendayaweek work grind. He worked to stop exploitation of women and children in coal mines, the suffocation of boys as sweeps in chimneys. He established public parks and gymnasia, gardens, public libraries, night schools and choral societies. The Christian Socialist Movement, which became the British Trade Union movement, was birthed. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was formed to protect animals. There was amazing growth in churches, and an astounding change in society came about because for forty years a man prayed and worked, seeing the establishment of thousands of similar prayer meetings, all united in calling on God for revival. Missionary societies were established. William Carey was one who got swept up in that movement. We speak of him as the ‘father of modern missions.’ The environment of his situation was that he was a member of a ministers’ revival prayer group which had been meeting for two years in Northampton in 1786. It was in 1786 he shared his vision of God’s desire to see the heathen won for the Lord. He went on to establish what later became known as the Baptist Missionary Society. In 1795 the London Missionary Society was formed. In 1796 the Scottish Missionary Society was established, and later still the Church Missionary Society of the Anglicans was commenced. Nineteenth century The prayer movement had a tremendous impact, but waned until the middle of the 19th century. Then God started something up in Canada, and the necessary to pray was picked up in New York. A quiet man called Jeremiah Lanphier had been appointed by the Dutch Reformed Church as a missionary to the central business district. Because the church was in decline and the life of the city was somewhat similar, he didn’t know what to do. He was a layman. He called a prayer meeting in the city to be held at noon each Wednesday. Its first meeting was on the 23rd September 1857. Eventually, five other men turned up. Two weeks later, they decided to move to a daily schedule for prayer. Within six months, 10,000 men were gathering to pray and that movement spread across America. Surprise, surprise! Within two years there were one million new believers added to the church. The movement swept out to touch England, Scotland, Wales and Ulster. Ireland was as tough a nut to crack as any. But when news reached Ireland of what was happening in America, James McQuilkan gathered three young men to meet for prayer in the Kells schoolhouse on March 14, 1859. They prayed and prayed for revival. Within a couple of months a similar prayer meeting was launched in Belfast . By September 21, 20,000 people assembled to pray for the whole of Ireland.

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It was later estimated that 100,000 converts resulted directly from these prayer movements in Ireland. It has also been estimated that in the years 1859-60, some 1,150,000 people were added to the church, wherever concerts of prayer were in operation. Twentieth century Many would be aware of the Welsh Revival this century. It commenced in October 1904. It was spontaneous and was characterized by simultaneous, lengthy prayer meetings. In the first two months, 70,000 people came to the Lord. In 1905 in London alone, the Wesleyan Methodists increased from their base membership of 54,785 by an additional 50,021 people. Coming closer in time and nearer to Australia, in the Enga churches in Papua New Guinea there was a desperate spiritual state 20 years ago. To redress the situation, people there committed themselves to pray. Prayer meetings began amongst pastors, missionaries and Bible College students. It spread out to the villages. In some villages, groups of people agreed to pray together every day until God sent new life to the church. On 15 September 1973, without any prior indication, simultaneously, in village after village, as pastors stood to deliver their normal Sunday morning messages, the Holy Spirit descended bringing conviction, confession, repentance and revival. Normal work stopped as people in their thousands hurried to special meetings. Prayer groups met daily, morning and evening. Thousands of Christians were restored and thousands of pagans were converted. Whole villages became Christian, and the church grew not only in size but in maturity. In the Philippines in the 1980s, as a result of some people attending an international prayer onference in Korea, 200 missionaries of the Philippine Missionary Fellowship each organized prayer groups meetings daily at 7:00 pm to pray for the growth of the church. They report that within a couple of years this directly resulted in the formation of 310 new churches. Spectacular growth is occurring in Argentina. Jose Luis Vasquez saw his church explode from 600 to 4,500 with a constituency of 10,000 members in five years following a visit from Carlos Annacondia. Hector Gimenez started his church from zero in 1983. His congregation now numbers 70,000. Omar Cabrera started his church in 1972 with 15 members. There is now a combined membership of 90,000 members. Peter Wagner, who is intensely investigating what lies behind such effective ministry, has arrived at the conclusion that powerful intercessory prayer is the chief weapon. Much of it is happening in a Pentecostal, charismatic environment. But the structure or doctrine is not the essential thing. Walter Hollenweger, a prolific researcher into Pentecostalism said that for them, from the earliest Pentecostals onwards, it was more important to pray than to organize (1972:29).

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Wherever that principle is invoked, amazing things happen. In 1982 Christians in East Germany started to form small groups of ten to twelve persons, committed to meet to pray for peace. By October 1989, 50,000 people were involved in Monday night prayer meetings. In 1990, when those praying people moved quietly into the streets, their numbers quickly swelled to 300,000 and ‘the wall came tumbling down.’ In Cuba in 1990, an Assemblies of God pastor whose congregation never exceeded 100 people meeting once a week suddenly found himself conducting 12 services per day for 7,000 people. They started queuing at 2:00 am and even broke down the doors just to get into the prayer meetings. Asked to explain these phenomena, Cuban Christians say ‘it has come because we have paid the price. We have suffered for the Gospel and we have prayed for many, many years’ (O’ Connor 1990:79). When a group known as the Overseas Missionary Society saw that after 25 years of work in India all they could report was 2,000 believers in 25 churches, they adopted a new strategy. In their homelands they recruited 1,000 people committed to pray for the work in India for just 15 minutes per day. Within a few years the church exploded to 73,000 members in 550 churches. Will we ‘pray the price’? Today there is great pressure from many directions in our society to work harder, to become smarter, to produce results, or to be moved aside. The church in many western countries is in danger of absorbing this mentality into its own attitudes and practices, forgetting that in the divine human endeavor, success comes not by might nor by power but by a gracious release of God’s Holy Spirit (Zechariah 4:6). Years ago, R. A Torrey (1974:190) said, ‘We live in a day characterized by the multiplication of man’s machinery and the diminution of God’s power. The great cry of our day is work, work, work! Organize, organize, organize! Give us some new society! Tell us some new methods! Devise some new machinery! But the great need of our day is prayer, more prayer and better prayer. Friends, in the church in the west we now have the most up to date, state of the art technology available to communicate the Gospel. Yet comparatively little seems to be happening in so many countries. In terms of the growth and mission of our churches, could it be that whilst the world has learned to communicate with robots on Mars, in sections of the church we have forgotten to communicate with the Lord of the earth?

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If that is so, then our best course of action is to stand again with the company of the first disciples and, like them, return to the Head of the church Jesus Christ and say ‘Lord, teach us to pray’ (Luke 11:1). References David Bryant (1984) Concerts of Prayer. Ventura, California: Ventura. Paul Y Cho (1984) Prayer: Key to Revival. Waco, Texas: Word S D Gordon (1983) ‘Prayer, the greatest thing,’ Australia’s New Day, April, 40. Walter J Hollenwager (1972) The Pentecostals. Minneapolis, Minnesota: Augsburg Greg O’Connor (1990) ‘Miracles in Cuba, ‘New Day, May David Shibley (1985) Let’s Pray in the Harvest Rockwall, Texas: Church on the Rock. R A Torrey (1974) The Power of Prayer. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan.

Bob J Whillhite (1988) Why Pray? Altamonte Springs, Florida: Creation House

An Edited Transcription of the Audio Instructions of ...burden for the lost and an apostolic calling...

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Transcript of An Edited Transcription of the Audio Instructions of ...burden for the lost and an apostolic calling...