A Church with a Heart for our Community

December 10th Tuesday

Greetings to you in the wonderful, beautiful, and powerful name of Jesus Christ – THE Risen Saviour!  What a lovely late autumn day in the Kingdom! and it is a very interesting day…there are about fifty shades of gray outside today! However, it is a day that has been prepared for us by the Lord…and He always seems to know what is best for us — so let us simply praise Him and be glad! I trust that you had a good weekend  and that this week is off to a good start.  Today I will be praying for you, asking Father to encourage you with ‘living hope’, to create a hunger and thirst for His presence that brings peace, and to release supernatural ‘joy’ that will overflow from you to others.

Yesterday was our noon hour prayer gathering for our city and the county. It is, or has been, an unpredictable time in that there is no rigid agenda…and even when we come with some sort of expectation of what should happen…God has a way of ‘interfering’ for His glory and purposes. I have a sense that God is ready to ‘pounce’ on the church in our area. There is a holy anticipation and a deepening understanding that repentance needs to happen…personally and corporately.

For me, personally, Monday prayer time is when God shows me or reminds me or reveals to me divine insights to His Word. Yesterday one of the intercessors quoted Ephesians 6 and the direction about spiritual armour. One particular image came to mind – taking the sword of the Spirit. Now, I have learned that this sword is not the sword of offensive attack…large and heavy and dangerous, but it is a much shorter sword It is a sword referred to as ‘machaira’ that is very sharp and easy to manoeuvre. It was used when the enemy got in close and it was more like hand to hand combat. Well, that is about as far as I had ever thought of…until yesterday when God showed me what up-close and personal battle was.

This is the battle that happens when the enemy gets up close and personal, when he uses the people and circumstances that are close to  you, the ones you aren’t expecting, the ones that come out of nowhere, the ones that catch you off-guard, the ones that don’t allow you time and space to get out the big sword. As the passage repeatedly says, our mission is not necessarily to overcome and defeat…it is to “stand” , and to stand with integrity and without retreating.

God very gently and yet forcefully reminded me that in this prayer gathering He was sharpening my sword through the unity of spirit that was in the room. It is no wonder that God promises that when two or thee gather in His name that He would manifest His presence. It is no wonder that when His presence shows up, He empowers. No wonder when His people sense His presence and are empowered that prayers are released that He delights to respond to. 

Something to ponder…have a blessed day!