Prophecy: 'Even This Week, I Will Shake Your Courts!'

President Donald Trump and Judge Neil Gorsuch (Reuters photo)

2/2/2017 BOB ESCHLIMAN

Wednesday, Hank Kunneman, senior pastor of Lord of Hosts Church in Omaha, Nebraska, and founder of One Voice Ministries, offered a summary of past words he's shared from the Lord, as well as a new one that demonstrates how God has been at work in America.

He wrote in an article that was shared with readers of The Elijah List:

Prophetic Word Spoken by Hank Kunneman on Sept. 15, 2016:

"I will be a positive irritant to you, America," says the Lord!

"I have chosen," says the Spirit of God, "to arise upon America at this time, and I have come to be an irritant to those who oppose. I have come to be an irritant to those who have mocked and shook their fists thinking that they can push Me out of this nation."

But the Spirit of God says, "I was an irritant to Pharaoh, and so I shall be an irritant in this season too," says the Lord. "And there was a time when I irritated Pharaoh, I needed bold leadership, I needed those who would speak for Me and not for themselves; I needed those who would not have an agenda of their own, and so I sent signs and wonders and raised up those who would carry out My will and so I have found the same.

"Watch what I do to irritate this nation as they suddenly realize that they cannot stop Me. For you are coming into a season where laws that have been penned by the arrogance of men shall swiftly change and there are those who have stood and have said they will continue to push God out of the schools."

The Lord says,"Watch what I do to irritate them to where they have no chance, no choice, for there will be a sound of the young that shall arise across this land, and they will say, 'We want God! We want Jesus back in our schools!' And I will listen to them," says the Lord.

"So now they discuss the health of the candidates, but what about your nation? It has been sick," but God says, "I have heard the prayers of a righteous rebellion and there is coming another revolution, but this one is My doing.

"Watch how I irritate even the media to where I will shake one, I will shake them so violently," says the Lord, "that they will be sold; and then it will be raised up with a different sound that shall come from the network.

"Watch how I, the Supreme God, shall irritate the Supreme Court. Do not think that it is political success that has caused things to be where it is now? It is My restraint. I will have the last say. America, you have entered into a season of Me being your positive irritant. Watch how suddenly things shall change and nothing will stop My hand.

Prophetic Word Spoken by Hank Kunneman on Jan. 4, 2015:

"I will establish righteousness on your courts," says the Spirit of God!

"Watch Me unfold, watch Me pull back the covers! And even in this nation there are things that have been penned with arrogance: legislation and laws that have been signed into being what they thought was permanent. Did they not know that I am the Lord God of all, that I am the Judge of all things? So I will pull the cord and I will expose the legislation and the laws that were meant to afflict this nation. But a great reform has been planned for this time and this season of America.

"Watch what I am about to do, for they say, 'Your court is supreme.' I will pull back and I will shake the courts and I will deal with two that are upon your courts. They will say this is now our opportunity to once again push our agenda." The Spirit of God says, "I will block it and I will establish righteousness upon your courts."

Prophetic Word Spoken by Hank Kunneman on Oct. 26, 2016:

"I will bring compassion on the Supreme Court as it changes" says the Lord!

"Your Supreme Court will change for I am the Supreme Judge." God says, "Watch, for I will raise up, when there is a vacancy of two and then three," the Spirit of Grace says, "there shall be a woman I shall place there at the high court, and this shall be a compassionate woman," says the Lord, "and it shall be her compassion for the right for the unborn to live that shall overturn and topple the laws that have aborted the innocent. What does a nation look like filled with glory? Can you see it? Can you see it?" says the Lord.

Prophetic Word Spoken by Hank Kunneman on Jan. 29, 2017:

"You are experiencing, right now," says the Spirit of grace, "freedom; for this is My promise to you that I am setting My people free this year." And God says, "This promise is not just to My people, but this promise is to America, and this promise is to Israel.

"So let it be known, as I have declared to you before that I would rise up upon this land as a positive irritant to irritate those who refuse to see My plan, to irritate those upon your Supreme Court, to irritate those in the political seats that they hold, to irritate those upon the media—for this is the work of My finger.

"Do you remember the days when Yeshua stooped down and wrote within the dirt and those who were ready to cast their stones upon a woman caught in adultery? But when the Son of God stooped and wrote in the dirt, the writing caused them to be convicted within their hearts as irritation came to them."

And so once again, God is writing upon the dirt of this land! "I am writing upon those who have set themselves to oppose the plan that is before Me and before this nation. Know that I am breathing, I am breathing, for I am the same God that breathed into the dust of this earth and made man, and I am breathing into the dust, the dirt of this land, when men have stood and demanded that I judge.

"Watch as a gentle wind blows throughout the land. Watch how a violent wind continues to blow into specific places and it will be, 'Why is it gentle here and there is even rain there, and why are there violent winds that seem to be shaking this part of a particular region and city?' Because God says, "My breath is blowing gentle where it's received, violently where it needs to be shaken and put in order.

"Watch even this week, I will shake your courts and I'm going to establish as I said before. I am stepping in upon your courts for I am the Supreme Judge. And what I have planned shall now balance your courts, but very soon there will be vacancies again, and I've said to you and say to you again I am breathing upon your courts.

"Do not get caught up in the political rhetoric, for they will fool you with their speaking, but look at the work of My hands and how I will cause the courts now to bring freedom that you are declaring and saying from your lips.

"For there will be rulings in your land, 7-2, 6-3, when I'm done shaking your courts. And there will be laws that have been upon the books for 45-plus years that will suddenly change, they will change for the good and they will change for life, they will change for prayer in the schools, they will change and no longer will they say, 'God' only, but they will say, 'Jesus' and they will say, 'Yeshua' and this that will change will even go forth and bring an adjustment to those upon the media who refuse to utter it.

"And there will be swift changes that take place upon the media, and My wind will blow, as I've said to you before, upon one network I will violently shake it as they've resisted Me, they've lied and they have mocked My name. They will be sold as My wind blows upon them, and when they are raised up they will speak different and they will speak according to My plan."

Lift up your hands and ask God to breathe in you as we declare the wind, the breath, the life of God to breath in you now. Take a deep breath because I can sense it in the air across this nation that it is almost like, as in the day of Noah—when he came out of the Ark and offered a sacrifice unto the Lord and the Lord smelled the aroma. There is a cleansing that has been taking place over the last few years, whether you understand it or not, and there is something that is in the air that is starting to become very pleasing and attractive to God and it's coming from His people!

It started when we prayed and cried out for God to heal our land and God is doing it. What you're experiencing is the work of the Lord's hand! Don't get caught up in the rhetoric of men!

ENLARGE MY TERRITORY

Jabez’ prayer requesting blessing and increase from the Lord might be described as:

·   A prayer of divine agitation i.e. it breaks the spiritual status quo, passivity and inactivity in our lives

·   A prayer of faith, hope and love in the goodness, power and authority of God

·   A prayer that is a choice for God in overcoming personal circumstances, problems or a past trauma and stepping into the new purposes and plans God has for each one of our lives.

When we pray for God to bless us and “enlarge our territory,” we are praying from the perspective of a lifestyle that has experienced the investment of God with the expectation of a supernatural return that releases fruit that will last for all eternity. The result of us receiving God’s blessing is (a) adoration to the Lord and (b) equipping and empowerment for effective service for God. When we ask God to bless us it releases His limitless power, goodness, love and favour. God’s blessings release His Kingdom!

It’s NOT a selfish prayer because it is a prayer that glorifies God because it is about asking God to enlarge our life so that we can make a greater impact for Him. This type of prayer will cause a paradigm shift in our thinking and appropriation of blessing as we walk with God.  It is a prayer that is released from the heart that believes in the God of miracle working power to bring transformation in the nations.

When we enter into the realm of increase and acceleration in our ministries by the grace of God, there are a few basic principles we need to understand:

1.  Resource – where our opportunities overtake our abilities - Our physical, emotional, mental, spiritual and financial resources are all stretched when we shift from the position of where we presently stand into the faith place of where we declare we hope to be. God is faithful to send us His Holy Spirit, angelic assistance, strength by grace and people and resource to enable us to fulfil the God-given assignment or mission before us. The prayer of Jabez for “enlargement” begins with acknowledging our need to decrease so that God might increase in us.

2.   Relationships – where God orchestrates divine opportunities, appointments and sovereignly ordained destiny milestones - It is important to acknowledge that Jabez’ prayer for spiritual enlargement encompasses the need for new and ongoing God-ordained relationships, strategic connections and Kingdom alliances as we interact with others both in the body of Christ and in society. There are certain people in our lives whom God has entrusted with keys to unlock destiny.

3.  Area of Influence - When God increases our “territory” for His glory, it is with the intention that we impact our sphere of influence for the Kingdom.  We will experience increased responsibilities, but we can rest in the knowledge that with the gift of “call” comes the grace to walk in the call and all that it encompasses.

4.   Surrender – surrender teaches us to trust God in a deeper way. God will not lead us where He is not willing to sustain us.  Surrender is a pre-cursor to sustenance = divine provision.

“Enlarge my territory” isn’t a place where our training or past experience can take us although they may serve as a foundation for a new Kingdom building work. It is only out of the abundance of being enlarged by God’s grace that we gain the experience we did not have to fulfil the Kingdom task(s) before us. To ask God to enlarge your territory is another way of asking God, “Lord, use me  - give me more ministry opportunities to bring glory to  You!”

God teaches us how to manage the resource He has maximised in our hands.  Stewardship is the gift of wisdom and compassion in management of God-given resource for the purpose for which God intended it to be used ….. to bless and be a blessing!

In His great grace,
Catherine Brown

Your Pastor Is on the Firing Line—Please Pray!

by J. Lee Grady

This Sunday is Pastor Appreciation Day. Here are six specific ways to pray for your spiritual leaders.

Often when I speak to a group of aspiring ministers, I greet them by saying: “Welcome to the war.” I also remind them that when they signed up to join the front lines of spiritual battle, a bright red target was painted on their backs. Ministry can be wonderfully rewarding, but let’s not kid anybody: Most of the time it’s a thankless job full of headaches, disappointments, conflicts, loneliness, frustration, petty complaints and tight budgets.

And while we might assume all pastors lead megachurches and drive new cars, keep in mind that the average church in this country has 75 members and the average pastor makes less than $34,000 a year—and may work an extra job to feed his or her family. The statistics are alarming: 90 percent of pastors work more than 50 hours a week; 70 percent say they don't have any close friends; and 45 percent say they've had to take a leave of absence from ministry because of depression or burnout.

“It’s normal for leaders to have emotional highs and lows, but when discouragement becomes debilitating it can knock them out for good.”

My friend Eddie Taylor, pastor of Church on the Hill in Dalton, Ga., has faced his share of ministry pressures and has looked burnout square in the face a few times. He dug deep in the story of Elijah (see 1 Kings 17-19) to learn how to survive, and he recently shared with me a message about how to pray for people in leadership. I decided to share his main points since October is Clergy Appreciation Month.

I’m sure your pastor would appreciate a nice card next Sunday, but he or she would be doubly blessed to know that you were praying regularly along these lines:

1. Pray against witchcraft and manipulation. As soon as Elijah stepped into the fray and challenged Israel’s idolatry, Jezebel went into attack mode. We must never be ignorant of Satan’s schemes (see 2 Cor. 2:11). The enemy targets Christian leaders, aiming to pull them into immorality, deception or pride; or he dispatches human messengers to control or discourage them. You can expose these demonic plots through prayer.

2. Pray for courage. Elijah had guts. He not only got in Ahab’s face, but he also organized a public showdown to challenge Jezebel’s false prophets. Yet right after the fire fell from heaven in response to Elijah’s prayer, Jezebel threatened him—and the Bible says “he was afraid and arose and ran for his life” (1 Kings 19:3, NASB). Leaders are called to confront, but they can’t do it without supernatural boldness from God. Ask the Lord to make your pastor brave.

3. Pray against depression. After Elijah fled to the wilderness, he started acting like a burned-out pastor. He prayed: “It is enough; now, O Lord, take my life” (19:4). It’s normal for leaders to have emotional highs and lows, but when discouragement becomes debilitating it can knock them out for good. Pray that your pastor will draw fresh joy from the wells of salvation daily.

4. Pray for rest. After the intensity of Mount Carmel, Elijah went a day’s journey from Beersheeba and slept under a juniper tree. Sometimes what pastors need most is a day off—yet many feel driven to perform, either because of people’s expectations or self-imposed demands. What makes matters worse is that many pastors have not empowered others to help with the workload. Pray that your pastor not only gets enough sleep, but that he or she gets times of refreshing away from phone calls, e-mails and constant “emergencies” that can surely wait.

5. Pray for the touch of God. Elijah found supernatural strength after his wearying experience on the mountaintop—not just because he ate and slept but because the angel of the Lord touched him twice (see 19:6-7). Pray that your pastor receives a double portion of the Lord’s presence. It is only the Lord’s supernatural anointing that enables us to minister in the power of the Holy Spirit.

6. Pray for disciples. Even after Elijah heard God’s voice on Mount Horeb, he was tempted to think he was the only true prophet left. But the Lord told him there were 7,000 prophets who had not bowed their knees to Baal, and He instructed Elijah to anoint Elisha as his successor (see 19:15-18). God does not want leaders to do their work alone. We are called to a long-distance race that involves multiple generations! Pray that your pastor will arrange his priorities correctly so he can invest his life in younger leaders.

P.S.—Don’t hand this list to your pastor next Sunday and tell him or her that you are praying these things. (As in, “Pastor, I’m praying you will have the courage to confront the gossips in this church—especially Mrs. Clack!”) No one wants to feel manipulated by prayer requests. Instead, pray in secret—and ask the Lord to uphold your pastor with the same grace He gave Elijah.

J. Lee Grady is the former editor of Charisma. You can follow him on Twitter at leegrady. He’d like to hear why you love your pastor, or how your pastor has blessed you or your family. You can post tributes to your pastor in the comment section below.

Revival: Not Just Intensity of Prayer

by A W Tozer

He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And  he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and  manifest Myself to him.  - John 14:21

Intensity of prayer is no criterion of its effectiveness. A man may  throw himself on his face and sob out his troubles to the Lord and  yet have no intention to obey the commandments of Christ. Strong  emotion and tears may be no more than the outcropping of a vexed  spirit, evidence of stubborn resistance to God's known will....

No matter what I write here, thousands of pastors will continue to  call their people to prayer in the forlorn hope that God will  finally relent and send revival if only His people wear themselves  out in intercession. To such people God must indeed appear to be a  hard taskmaster, for the years pass and the young get old and the  aged die and still no help comes. The prayer meeting room becomes a  wailing wall and the lights burn long, and still the rains tarry.

Has God forgotten to be gracious? Let any reader begin to obey and  he will have the answer. "Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he  is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father,  and I too will love him and show myself to him" (John 14:21).
Isn't that what we want after all?  The Size of the Soul, 20-21.

"Lord, help me to obey Your commandments. My spirit is willing, but  my flesh is weak! I long to live in that obedience, in order that I  may know the Father's love and manifestation to me. Amen." 

Today's "Insight for Leaders" is taken by permission from the book, Tozer on Christian Leadership, published by WingSpread Publishers

A Judge's Dilemma

"In a small town, a person decided to open up a brothel, which was right opposite to a church. The church and its congregation started a compaign to block the brothel from opening with petitions and prayed daily against his business. Work progressed. However, when it was almost complete and was about to open a few days later, a strong lightning struck the brothel and it was burnt to the ground. The church folks were rather smug in the outlook after that, till the brothel owner sued the church authorities on the grounds that the church through its congregation and prayers was ultimately responsible for the destruction of his brothel, either through direct or indirect actions or means. In its reply to the court, the church vehemently denied all responsibility or any connection that their prayers were reasons for the act of God.

As the case was its way into the court, the judge looked over the paperwork at the hearing and commented: "I don't how I'm going to decide this case, but it appears from the paperwork, we have a brothel onwer who believe in the power of prayer and we have an entire church that doesn't".

Consciousness of Priesthood in this nation

by Susan Tang (The Station of Life)

We have decided to turn SOL, a 3-week school into just a 14-day school to train WATCHMEN AND INTERCESSORS for the nations. We have heard God’s mandate to raise up watchmen and intercessors and to bring the church back into the consciousness of priesthood – which is, in fact our first calling.

“... let yourselves be built, as living stones, into a spiritual temple; become a holy priesthood.” 1 Peter 2:5

Priesthood (waiting, watching in God’s presence with prayers and intercessions) is indeed one of the most lamentable lack in modern day Christianity – this is why the powers of darkness have prevailed and gone unchallenged as they destroyed nations after nations and cities after cities. Indeed, mankind languish for the lack of priests – for today, we can hardly find them in our churches, families, societies and our nations. Today, there seems to be a concentrated conspiracy in contemporary Christianity to drive the consciousness of priesthood far from the church

We cannot patrol our nation or bring God’s presence to where we are by our fleshly church programs, carnal activities of multimedia displays, sensual concerts, sound and noise – we have to discipline ourselves into priesthood. We must learn to pray and touch God. Many are aware that the economy have collapsed but many do not know that the economy is only one of the 6 devastating elements that make up this coming devastating global storm. Look at the six deadly components now.

• Collapsing economy
• Wide spread wars
• Violent politics
• Sudden geophysical attacks
• Dark religion (deception)
• Rise of incurable sicknesses and diseases

The worse on this list is dark religion which actually means deception or polluted Christianity.( fables, doctrines of devils, heresies, unsound doctrines of men) Our Lord warned His disciples that deception is the first sign of the end times and that they should beware of it.. (Matt. 24) These words have fallen onto deaf ears – this is why heresies, fables, unsound doctrines and the spirit of harlotry have entered into our churches today, causing the precious ‘gold to become dim’ and turning God’s precious stones of the temple ‘to be poured out onto the streets’ as cheap and common stones with no value.

Yes, the mark of distinction in the church today is indeed dim. She had indeed been cheapen and is no longer uncommon or distinct as God wanted her to be because she had lost her valuable royal priesthood. When we cease to exist as priests before God, we ceased in value, in meaning, in fulfillment – in everything.

Under such dark circumstances of wide spread wars, violent politics, collapsing economy, rise of geophysical attacks and sicknesses, we know many people will want to seek God. Hardened hearts may soften a little. But when they do walk into our churches will they truly find God? Or will they find dark religion or the polluted gospel of prosperity and merchandising? Will there be true worship or just pagan music, fanciful programs and fleshly activities led by semi-clad worshippers? Will they find the preaching of God’s word in our churches or will they find some hollow-out, motivational and feel-good messages? Will they find man of God, true priests behind the pulpit or just charlatan-preachers with body piercing, tattoos and gaudy printed tee shirts with skulls and dragons?

In America, David Wilkerson had just unleashed a powerful prophetic word that there will be an earth shattering calamity soon. It is so horrible that even the godliest of men would tremble. What is it? The work of terrorists. Yes, God is going to use the bombs and fires of terrorists ‘as a rod ‘to deal with His church, just like He used the Babylonians to deal with the nation of Israel when they lost their distinction and broke all the landmarks He had set for them. Wilkerson prophesied that this will start in America but it will spread into other part of the world. Who can have peace and safety in days like these? Those who pray and those who had not forsaken their God-appointed priesthood.

Ezekiel 9 thrusts us into a scene in heaven where God ordered five death angels to slaughter everyone in the city of Jerusalem. Even babies were not spared. (Had the tsunamis, earthquakes, diseases etc. spared babies?) Before unleashing this horrific judgment, the merciless slaughter of young and old, God ordered the marking or the sealing of all the faithful watchmen, intercessors or priests in the land – those who had ‘sigh and cry’ over the sins of the land. These men or women with ‘marked foreheads’ were spared the blow from the death angels.

Five death angels were send out to destroy lives and only one were send out to mark the foreheads of those worthy to be spared. The death angels took a long time to do their work while the angel of life did a quick work – meaning there were many heads to kill but not very many heads to mark for protection.

We want to do God’s mandate – to help our churches return to the consciousness of priesthood in this nation. We want to patrol our nation – we can only do this as we serve as watchmen and intercessors and minister to God. If you too, have this desire, then come and pray, watch and wait along with us in this 8 days. Be brave enough to change the system of busyness, of noise, sound, of being driven, of running, hyping, performing. Instead come away from it for awhile, settle into God’s love and let your deep cry be as the Shulamite bride in the Song of Songs, “Draw me away! We will run after You! (not after success) We will be glad and rejoice in You.”

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I Will Not Fear, For the Lord is With Me

by James MacDonald
     Walk in the Word

It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed. -Deuteronomy 31:8

Fear is a universal problem. It hits us like a wave, threatening a menacing undertow. Scripture identifies the overwhelming emotion of fear almost 1000 times with words like fear (441 times), afraid (167 times), tremble (101 times), terror or terrified (121 times), as well as, dread, frighten, and faint. God's Word provides solutions for healing and hope from the deluge; the most common exhortations from God Himself are: Fear not, (33 times), Do not fear (37 times) and Do not be afraid (33 times).

Here's the problem: God is seldom further from you then when your heart is filled with fear. Ask yourself, Do I struggle with fear? Is that the reason I sometimes feel so far from God when I need Him most?

The antidote for fear is the promise of God's presence. I cling to the resolution that I will not fear because God is with me always. The harder the days get, the more He moves towards you. Sometimes it feels like God is backing away from you when you're going through a hard time but that's not true. Is your heart breaking? He is rushing toward you. He stands there with you in the fire.

Here's the truth: If you could hear the Lord praying for you, you would not fear a thousand enemies. Right where you are this moment, think of the Lord Jesus as in the next room, on His knees in front of the couch or a chair. His nail-pierced hands are held out and He's lifting you and your need to His Father. He knows your exact situation and He's asking His Father to "Give her strength, Lord." "Give him wisdom, God." "Give them patience. They're going to wreck it on their own, Lord. Give them faith that will overcome their fear!" It's an incredible assertion in Scripture that Jesus Christ is not only with you He's actually interceding before the Father on your behalf. And don't you know that God listens when His Son is praying?!

Hear the words Jesus prayed for you in John 17:13-19,
But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.

Lord Jesus, thank You for praying for me. Amen.

• Get on your knees, alone, in prayer. Pour out your heart to the Lord, acknowledging as true everything you read today. Imagine Jesus kneeling in prayer beside you.

• Make it an ordinary habit to talk to the Lord throughout the day in natural conversation.

Keep On Praying - a Breakthrough Is Near

by J. Lee Grady

 

Don’t lose hope. God has promised to answer when we persevere.

So you pray for something for years and then you wake up one day, breathe a big sigh and say to yourself: This is crazy. Nothing is happening. God must not be listening.

Congratulations. If this has been your experience you are not alone. You’ve been enrolled in the School of Persevering Prayer, and it’s not a one-semester class. It’s a lifelong journey designed to stretch your faith, develop your character, purify your motives, test your patience and increase your capacity to know and experience God’s amazing love.

“Have you ever been around a woman in her ninth month of pregnancy? She is often in a state of agitation—ready to give birth but weary of the strain. I know many Christians today who are in this same uncomfortable stage of spiritual travail.”

I’ve been in this class for a long time, and I don’t always make the grade. This past week, in fact, I was whining about God’s delays. For many months I’ve been bringing the same request to the Lord, yet the answer seems impossibly distant. My faith wavers from calm assurance to frustrated doubt. In my weakest moments I panic and say stupid things to my wife (such as, “Honey, I’m giving up and getting a job parking cars at Disney World!”)

Yet when I bring my complaint to the Lord He always reassures me. This week He took me to Isaiah 62:6-7 (NASB): “On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have appointed watchmen; all day and all night they will never keep silent. You who remind the Lord, take no rest for yourselves; and give Him no rest until He establishes and makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth.”

There’s no way around the fact that prayer requires persistence. Jesus told a parable about an unrighteous judge who granted a poor widow’s petition because she badgered him night and day (see Luke 18:1-8). Jesus asked: “Will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry to Him day and night?” (v. 7). Whatever request you have brought to the Lord, and regardless of how many times you have reminded Him of it, keep these points in mind as you trust Him for an answer:

1. The work of God takes time. Most people in the Bible who asked God for big things waited a long time to receive their answers. Abraham turned gray waiting for his promised heir—and he is called the father of our faith. Joshua and his remnant company wandered in the wilderness 40 years before they possessed Canaan. Hannah endured taunts from Peninnah and insults from Eli while she prayed for years for a son.

Prayer is not magic. Our job is to ask, not to dictate or control. Let God be God. Let patience have its perfect work. We will eventually reap if we don’t grow weary.

2. Authentic prayer involves a holy process. Prayer is often compared to birth. When God gives you a promise, you essentially become pregnant with it. If you plan to carry this promise to full-term, you must travail.

Surely this is what the apostle Paul experienced when he told the Galatians he would be “in labor” until Christ was formed in them (Gal. 4:19). We often think of the prayer of faith as triggering instant answers, but this was not the case with Paul. While God can certainly answer immediately, even with fire from heaven, frequently He calls us to carry a promise until we are mature enough to handle the answer.

3. You have a Helper who is praying for you. You are not in this process alone. The Holy Spirit intercedes for us, Paul wrote, “with groanings too deep for words” (Rom. 8:26). He is praying the perfect will of God, and we are invited to agree with Him. This kind of gut-wrenching prayer is messy; it is not formal or sophisticated; when we truly pray in the Holy Ghost we surrender our agendas and let Him pray through us. And this takes us deeper with God.

Have you ever been around a woman in her ninth month of pregnancy? She is often in a state of agitation—so ready to give birth but weary of the strain. I know many Christians today who are in this same uncomfortable stage of spiritual travail. They’ve held onto promises for a long time. Some are in despair because the gestation period has been so long.

Jesus said: “For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened” (Matt. 7:8). The verbs used are Greek present imperatives, meaning constant asking, seeking and knocking. Prevailing prayer requires persistence, but when we feel too weak to press forward in faith the Spirit provides the extra push.

You may be asking for the salvation of a wayward child, the funding of a ministry, the reconciliation of a relationship, the recovery of a business, the reviving of a stagnant church or the healing of a sick loved one. Keep on knocking. Don’t give up. You’re closer than ever to a breakthrough.

"Christians Gather At Times Square To Repent and Pray"

Christians from many churches gathered for the third year in a row to repent and pray for the great city of New York and for the nation. In 1857 New York was the scene of one of the greatest awakenings in American history - The Third Great Awakening. This awakening was marked by massive prayer meetings all over the city. It spread all over the nation and the world. 2 Chronicles 7:14 states, "If My people, who are called by My Name, will humble themselves and pray, seek My Face, and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from Heaven and heal their land." This event should be duplicated in every city in America! May God wake up the church and call her to prayer!

UNCTION: Heaven's Knighthood by E M Bounds

Unction comes to the preacher, not in the study, but in the closet. It is heaven's distillation in answer to prayer. It is the sweetest exhalation of the Holy Spirit. It impregnates softens, cuts and soothes. It carries the Word like dynamite, like salt, like sugar; makes the hearer a culprit or a saint, makes him weep like a child and live like a giant; opens his heart and his purse as gently, yet as strongly as the spring opens the leaves.

This unction is not the gift of genius. It is not found in the halls of learning. No eloquence can woo it. No industry can win it. No clergies hands can impart it. It is the gift of God -the signet set to His own messengers. It is Heaven's knighthood given to the chosen true and brave ones who have sought this anointed honor through many an hour of tearful, wrestling prayer.

Earnestness is good and impressive. Genius is gifted and great. Thought kindles and inspires, but it takes a diviner endowment, a more powerful energy then earnestness or genius or thought - to BREAK the chains of sin, to WIN estranged and depraved hearts to God to repair the breaches, and restore the Church to her old ways of purity and POWER! Nothing but this holy unction can do this. Unction is the anointing of the Holy Ghost, separating unto God's work and qualifying for it. Without this unction there are no true spiritual results accomplished.

Unction may be simulated. There are many things that look like it, there are many results that resemble its effects; but they are foreign to its results and to its nature. The fervor or softness excited by a pathetic or emotional sermon may look like the movements of the divine unction, but they have no pungent, penetrating, heartbreaking force. No heart-healing balm is there in these surface, sympathetic, emotional movements. They are not radical, neither sin-searching nor sin-curing.

This divine unction is the one distinguishing feature that separates true gospel preaching from all other methods of presenting truth. It backs and interpenetrates the revealed truth with all the force of God. It illumines the Word, and broadens and enriches the intellect, and empowers it to grasp and apprehend the Word. It qualifies the preacher's heart, and brings it to that condition of tenderness, of purity, of force and light that are necessary to secure the highest results. This unction gives to the preacher liberty and enlargement of thought and soul - freedom, fullness, and directness of utterance that can be secured by no other process.

Without unction on the preacher the gospel has no more power to propagate itself than any other system of truth. This is the seal of its divinity. Unction in the preacher puts God in the gospel. Without the unction, God is absent, and the gospel is left to the low forces that the ingenuity, interest, or talents of men can devise to enforce and project its doctrines.

It is in this element the pulpit often fails than in any other element. Unction is the consecration force, and its presence the continuous test of consecration. It is this divine anointing on the preacher that secures his consecration. It is this divine anointing on the preacher that secures his consecration to God and his work. Other forces and motives may call him to the work, but this only is consecration. A separation to God's work by the power of the Holy Spirit is the only consecration recognized by God as legitimate.

The divine unction, this heavenly anointing is what the pulpit needs and must have. This divine and heavenly oil put on it by the imposition of God's hand must soften and lubricate the whole man - heart, head, spirit - until it separates him with a mighty separation from all earthly, secular, worldly, selfish motives and aims, separating him to everything that is pure and Godlike. It is the presence of this unction on the preacher that creates the stir and friction in many a congregation. The same truths have been told in the strictness of the letter, but no ruffle has been seen, no pain or pulsation felt. All is quiet as a graveyard.

Another preacher comes, and this mysterious influence is on him; the letter of the Word has been fired by the Spirit, the throes of a mighty movement are felt. It is this unction that pervades and stirs the conscience and breaks the heart. Unctionless preaching makes everything hard, dry, and, dead. This unction is not a memory or an era of the past only; it is a present, realized, conscious fact. It belongs to the experience of the man as well as to his preaching. It is that which transforms him into the image of his divine Master, as well as that by which he declares the truth of Christ with power. It is so much the power in the ministry as to make all else seem feeble and vain without it, - and by its presence to atone for the absence of all other feebler forces.

This unction is not an inalienable gift. It is a conditional gift, and its presence is perpetuated and increased by the same process by which it was at first secured; by unceasing prayer to God, by impassioned desires after God, by estimating it, by seeking it with tireless ardor, by deeming all else loss and failure without it.

EXCERPTED FROM, POWER THROUGH PRAYER BY E M BOUNDS