Posts Tagged day and night prayer
Covenant God
Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010
This past week, I have been learning a lot about covenants and what God thinks of them. I realized that God doesn’t just admire covenants; He is the one who invented them and has bound Himself them out of love.
The definition of a covenant is the following. “…the strongest most solemn agreement that can be made between two parties. It cannot be changed by time, space, government, circumstances, or men. It is unbreakable, and enduring to following generations.”
In the west, we don’t hear the word “covenant” at all. We are familiar with agreements, testaments, legal documents or certificates but never a covenant. We are used to “changing our minds”, “waiting till we’ve fulfilled the requirements” or “seeing if it will work out”. It seems too pre-historic or binding to use a covenant and we have totally lost the meaning. A covenant originated with God when He made the very first covenant with Noah after the flood. No one had ever made a covenant before. Gen. 9:13 “I set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between be and the earth.” After that first covenant, a knowledge of covenant then spread to all the generations following.
It is interesting to note that God does not take a covenant lightly. When someone makes a covenant, He sees it as real. In Joshua chapter nine, we see Joshua had fought against Jericho and Ai and had crushed them. The Gibeonites heard it and decided to deceive the men of Israel and dress up as foreign envoys to pursuade them to make a peace covenant. So Joshua made peace with them and made a covenant to let them live. Three days later, Joshua found out that he had been tricked.
Nevertheless, Joshua and the men of Israel had sworn to them and made peace so they did not kill even one of them. Now, a King named Adoni-zedek found out that Israel had made a peace covenant with Gibeon and that Gibeon was a “great city” and “all its men were mighty”. He got afraid, so he called four other kings to go up and attack Gibeon. So they did, and the Gibeonites called Israel for help. (One of the characteristics of a covenant is “my enemies are your enemies and your enemies are mine”.) Israel came and fought against this enemy. The Lord told them that He had given the enemies over to Israel and not one of them would live. Israel had a great victory, and it says that the Lord helped them by throwing “large hailstones from heaven on them….and they died”. Wow, if God stands with someone who made a covenant out of deceit, He must really, really see a covenant as very important!
God wants us to see how serious he is when He says things. He doesn’t have to make a covenant because His very word should be enough for us. However, God wants us to be sure, for we are doubtful most of the time. He gave us many examples of what a covenant is and how He backs them up. He wants us to know Him as a “covenant God”. He is not a far away, apathetic, unfeeling God. He is real, intense, and full of passion and emotion.
Gracey Guetterman
Without Vision we will Perish!
Monday, February 22nd, 2010
I was sitting in the prayer room this past week and the Lord began to break in upon me concerning His heart for Revival and another great awakening in our nation and in the nations of the earth. I realize that most of us who name the name of Jesus as our Lord and Savior in some capacity desire to see this be a reality in our generation. What I was confronted with is that my burden for REVIVAL/AWAKENING is far short of the vision that God has in His heart.
The Lord spoke through the prophet Joel that in the LAST DAYS the Lord would pour out His SPIRIT on all flesh… (Joel 2:28-29)
What we sometimes tend to think in our Christian Renewal culture is that REVIVAL means extend meetings and possibly falling on the floor under the power of God’s presence. We tend to think of the “MORE LORD” mentality… which is great! God loves to touch His people. These things are all wonderful if they are from our Father, He only gives good gifts. Inner healings and physical healings breaking out among the people of God are beautiful expressions of God’s love and the power of the age to come where there is no sickness and disease, no more sin! Who honestly wouldn’t rejoice to see these manifestations among a company of believers, more so all over the nation and nations. Yet I am moved that there is more we have not yet seen!
I am convinced there is more power coming to the church to declare and demonstrate the glorious gospel of our Lord (Acts 1:8; Rom. 15:18-19), unto a great awakening among the Lost to prepare a BRIDE for the soon to return King of Glory. The end result of REVIVAL/AWAKENING isn’t just people getting touched for a moment, but TRANSFORMATION of individuals who collectively make up a society. It is about RIGHTEOUSNESS and JUSTICE breaking out from the presence of the Lord. It is about SALVATION coming to many. It is about darkness being destroyed by the Light of our Lord Christ Jesus. It is about the Kingdom of God advancing in the earth, the will of God being done until the King returns to establish His physical reign from His throne in Jerusalem.
With all this said, I realized that my vision was very near sighted often times. I think about what I am doing and what God is doing in my life and around me, which is good. Yet, I believe the Lord wants us to set our eyes on things to come and live like a people contending for another age when Jesus is King of the Nations! Beloved this doesn’t happen until the great OUTPOURING of His Spirit on all flesh! We must contend for this HISTORIC REVIVAL/AWAKENING because this is how God has chosen to prepare the Bride and the nations for His Son. If we ever want to see Jesus split the sky… we first must CRY! We must contend for the promise of the Father for all flesh unto the provoking of Israel and her salvation! (Rom. 11:25-26)
I pray we all give ourselves to this reality of the wisdom of God in this hour. We must give ourselves to solemn assemblies and cry out for God to come. Everything isn’t ok in a land where we have murdered over 50 million babies in the past 40 yrs. It’s not ok that there are gangs destroying communities all across this nation. It’s not ok that darkness of immorality is destroying the institution of the family. It’s not ok that hundreds of thousdands die daily and go to a REAL place called HELL where they are in torment for all eternity never to know the joy of the Lord and His great salvation.
Beloved, WE NEED REVIVAL, WE NEED AN AWAKENING!!! Let a cry arise from the sons and daughters of GOD! All creation waits eagerly, creation is groaning, it is time for us to GROAN! We need God, God wants to come. All heaven is waiting to be released at the prayers of the saints! Father, pour out your Spirit… we need a HOLY VISITATION! Make us ready Holy Spirit!
New Prayer Room Location
Tuesday, January 26th, 2010
For the last four years, IHOP-AC has been blessed by Life Fellowship Church to use their facilities freely. With the event of their new church merge and relocation, we have been given the opportunity to set up the prayer room at New Directions International. Since being in this new prayer room, we have felt a new sense of unity and comradery in our times of corporate intercession. We are excited to see what the Lord is going to do here! Pray with us as we continue to labor for God to raise up day and night prayer & revival in the region!
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