• We repent of our reactions to injustice against us. Help us get be honest in getting in touch with our real feelings and the time when they originated in us. Let us hear what we say to ourselves about the injustices we have believed and received. We repent of believing that we deserved poor treatment, that no one would help us, that there was no hope. We give our helplessness to you, Lord and seek your mercy and recompense. Give us your forgiveness for our enemies and enable us to release them so they are free to grow and we are free of bitterness and revenge.
• We repent of injustice that we have caused others. We commit to spend the time this week, listening to your conviction of wrongs that need to be corrected. Give us the strength, Lord to set things straight.
• Lord, we repent for denying injustice exists. We repent of being judgmental as an excuse for not addressing the needs of others and for not sharing what we have. Help us see the perspectives of others. Many of us are shielded from much of this world’s injustice by our education, networks and wealth. Soften our hearts to the plight of those who really do not have the choices, opportunities, insurance and cushioning from disaster that we rely on. Remind us who is the true source of our protection and provision.
• We repent also of injustice that we have tolerated. We have turned away our eyes, closed our hearts and purses. We can’t each solve every need in the world but Lord, convict us of injustices that you invite us to address. Show us what we can do locally and internationally.

WEEK 5: Injustice: Scriptures

Friday 23rd Feb.

Leviticus 19:15 – 18 " 'Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly. " 'Do not go about spreading slander among your people." 'Do not do anything that endangers your neighbor's life. I am the LORD. " 'Do not hate your brother in your heart. Rebuke your neighbor frankly so you will not share in his guilt. " 'Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.

Matthew 12:18 – 21 Here is my servant whom I have chosen, the one I love, in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, and he will proclaim justice to the nations. He will not quarrel or cry out; no one will hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out, till he leads justice to victory. In his name the nations will put their hope."

Saturday 24th Feb.

Hosea 10:1 – 12 Israel was a spreading vine; he brought forth fruit for himself. As his fruit increased, he built more altars; as his land prospered, he adorned his sacred stones. Their heart is deceitful, and now they must bear their guilt. The LORD will demolish their altars and destroy their sacred stones. Then they will say, "We have no king because we did not revere the LORD. But even if we had a king, what could he do for us?" They make many promises, take false oaths and make agreements; therefore lawsuits spring up like poisonous weeds in a plowed field. The people who live in Samaria fear for the calf-idol of Beth Aven. Its people will mourn over it, and so will its idolatrous priests, those who had rejoiced over its splendor, because it is taken from them into exile. It will be carried to Assyria as tribute for the great king. Ephraim will be disgraced; Israel will be ashamed of its wooden idols. Samaria and its king will float away like a twig on the surface of the waters. he high places of wickedness will be destroyed— it is the sin of Israel. Thorns and thistles will grow up and cover their altars. Then they will say to the mountains, "Cover us!" and to the hills, "Fall on us!" "Since the days of Gibeah, you have sinned, O Israel, and there you have remained. Did not war overtake the evildoers in Gibeah? When I please, I will punish them; nations will be gathered against them to put them in bonds for their double sin. Ephraim is a trained heifer that loves to thresh; so I will put a yoke on her fair neck. I will drive Ephraim, Judah must plow, and Jacob must break up the ground. Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the LORD until he comes and showers righteousness on you.

Sunday 25th Feb.

Psalm 146:1 – 10 Praise the LORD. Praise the LORD, O my soul. I will praise the LORD all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live. Do not put your trust in princes, in mortal men, who cannot save. When their spirit departs, they return to the ground; on that very day their plans come to nothing. Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD his God, the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them—the LORD, who remains faithful forever. He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets prisoners free, the LORD gives sight to the blind, the LORD lifts up those who are bowed down, the LORD loves the righteous. The LORD watches over the alien and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked. The LORD reigns forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations. Praise the LORD.

Isaiah 1:21 – 27 See how the faithful city has become a harlot! She once was full of justice; righteousness used to dwell in her—but now murderers! Your silver has become dross, your choice wine is diluted with water. Your rulers are rebels, companions of thieves; they all love bribes and chase after gifts. They do not defend the cause of the fatherless; the widow's case does not come before them. Therefore the Lord, the LORD Almighty, the Mighty One of Israel, declares: "Ah, I will get relief from my foes and avenge myself on my enemies. I will turn my hand against you; I will thoroughly purge away your dross and remove all your impurities. I will restore your judges as in days of old, your counselors as at the beginning. Afterward you will be called the City of Righteousness, the Faithful City." Zion will be redeemed with justice, her penitent ones with righteousness.

Monday 26th Feb.

Luke 18:1 – 8 Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. He said: "In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, 'Grant me justice against my adversary.' "For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, 'Even though I don't fear God or care about men, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won't eventually wear me out with her coming!' " And the Lord said, "Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?"

Zechariah 7:8 – 14  And the word of the LORD came again to Zechariah: "This is what the LORD Almighty says: 'Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. In your hearts do not think evil of each other.' "But they refused to pay attention; stubbornly they turned their backs and stopped up their ears. They made their hearts as hard as flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the LORD Almighty had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. So the LORD Almighty was very angry. " 'When I called, they did not listen; so when they called, I would not listen,' says the LORD Almighty. 'I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations, where they were strangers. The land was left so desolate behind them that no one could come or go. This is how they made the pleasant land desolate.' "

Jeremiah 9:23 – 24 This is what the LORD says: "Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight," declares the LORD.

Tuesday 27th Feb.

Isaiah 58:1 – 14 "Shout it aloud, do not hold back. Raise your voice like a trumpet. Declare to my people their rebellion and to the house of Jacob their sins. For day after day they seek me out; they seem eager to know my ways as if they were a nation that does what is right and has not forsaken the commands of its God. They ask me for just decisions and seem eager for God to come near them. 'Why have we fasted,' they say, 'and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?' and exploit all your workers. Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high. Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for a man to humble himself? Is it only for bowing one's head like a reed and for lying on sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD? "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I. "If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings. "If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the LORD's holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words, then you will find your joy in the LORD, and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob." The mouth of the LORD has spoken.

Wednesday 28th Feb.

Malachi 3:1 – 6 "See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come," says the LORD Almighty. But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner's fire or a launderer's soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the LORD will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the LORD, as in days gone by, as in former years. "So I will come near to you for judgment. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive aliens of justice, but do not fear me," says the LORD Almighty. "I the LORD do not change. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.

Malachi 3: 13 – 18 "You have said harsh things against me," says the LORD. "Yet you ask, 'What have we said against you?' "You have said, 'It is futile to serve God. What did we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about like mourners before the LORD Almighty? But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly the evildoers prosper, and even those who challenge God escape.' " Then those who feared the LORD talked with each other, and the LORD listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the LORD and honored his name. "They will be mine," says the LORD Almighty, "in the day when I make up my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as in compassion a man spares his son who serves him. And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.

Malachi 4:1-6   "Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and that day that is coming will set them on fire," says the LORD Almighty. "Not a root or a branch will be left to them. But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall. Then you will trample down the wicked; they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I do these things," says the LORD Almighty "Remember the law of my servant Moses, the decrees and laws I gave him at Horeb for all Israel. "See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse."

.

Supporting article: UNITY by John Alley

(You may wonder at the relevance of this article to the church’s repentance for shedding innocent blood. The article proposes a fresh warning concerning 1 Corinthians 11:27-31 that highlights the critical importance of unity in the Body of Christ. "Whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord.")

Years ago in a prayer meeting I saw a vision. All of a sudden I could see straight through the brick wall from the prayer meeting into the main auditorium of the church building. It was midweek, and there was nobody in the auditorium at the time, of course, but what I was seeing in the vision was a normal Sunday morning meeting, with all the people worshiping.

And they were really worshiping, standing and singing, arms uplifted, many of them, and banners waving. And our worship was joyful, passionate and heartfelt. And these were good people. I knew them and loved them, they were devoted to the church, were leading good lives, and were people of faith and good works. They were as choice as Christian people anywhere.

But as I watched them in vision, the Lord spoke, and said: "The reason most believers struggle to obtain healing, and many find it difficult to get answers to prayer, is because they do not pray for the unity of the body of Christ."

This was an astounding statement, and like most unusual things when you first hear them, you are taken aback and are not quite sure whether what you have heard is really true. But as I pondered what I heard, I came to see clearly; this was a profound and indelible truth. A truth that should not be avoided by any of us.

There are several issues here. To start with, most Christians only think of the church as the group with which they meet. They might often pray for unity in that group, and they are always concerned about the people they know and see around them, and the degree to which they are in the faith and walking with Christ. But generally, most Christians feel no real concern about the degree to which believers in other congregations in the same town are in unity, submission and love, or truly walking with the Lord. The truth is, they don't usually spare it a thought. So generally there is no concern at all by most people about the health of the body of Christ as it occurs in other people's congregations.

But the real truth is, all the believers of all congregations in any given city are members of one body. In any given locality there is only one church! The believers may meet in varying congregations, and follow somewhat varying practices, yet if they are Christ's, then there is only one fellowship, one body, one baptism and only one table of the Lord in that city.

If we are not praying for the believers of other congregations, we are largely not praying for the church as a whole. If we are not praying for the health of the whole Church of the whole city, we are really not offering prayer for the body of Christ, as such.

Then there is the issue of the health of that body relative to our own. Every member of the body of Christ is spiritually connected to the health and well-being of the whole body of Christ.

In the body of Christ, we are members one of another. Whether we understand this or not, we are connected, jointed with, every other member of the body of Christ. This of course is not to every person who claims to be a Christian, or every person who goes to church, but those who have been genuinely redeemed by the blood of the Lord Jesus. This may in fact be less than half of all people who go to church or claim to be Christian. Nevertheless these believers are scattered throughout congregations and fellowships in the city, and we are spiritually joined to everyone of them. They and we together are in Christ, and form just one body. This means that the health of the body of Christ as a whole is affected by each of us, and each of us is affected by the spiritual state of others and the body as a whole. Therefore this really does need our prayers, and all believers need our love.

It would seem from what the Lord has said that if we carry his burden for His house and His body, that opens the way for us to receive miracle working grace concerning our own body and our own house. It makes sense to say that if we do not care about the body of believers, our carelessness and negligence affects our own health, our own well-being, or that of our families, and of our ability even to believe and understand and see clearly, and thereby obtain answers to prayer.

This raises of course the interesting statements found in first Corinthians chapter 11. There Paul gives the boldest and plainest teaching imaginable. He says "Whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without recognising the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment" (1 Cor 11:27-31 NIV).

Often it is assumed that when the Scripture says a man ought to examine himself, before eating and drinking the sacrament as a means of grace, it is referring to him examining himself for any and every sin. But this passage is referring to one specific sin in particular. That is the sin of failing to ‘recognise’ the body of the Lord. This phrase might mean different things to different people. To some, it might be thought to refer to the presence of Christ in the meal itself. But I think the far more important and critical meaning is that it refers to the body of Christ as the church. It is therefore referring to sins against our fellow believers and the body of Christ as a whole.

We fail to discern the body of Christ when we think only of those few believers around us, and fail to recognise with proper love, honour, and heartfelt desire for unity with, all of the believers in our locality. When we are baptised we are baptised into this body of believers, which is Christ. We are jointed to him and to these believers. And to not love them, to not feel for them at all, and more often than not to think little of them, and think of them as being less than ourselves — this is not only spiritual ignorance, but sin that draws judgement.

Everywhere we go in the body of Christ we find the same problem. The church has been divided into many camps, separated by leaders, by doctrine, by attitudes, by practices, by traditions. And most Christians in any given locality have nothing to do with most other Christians. This would be bad enough, but the carnal nature still at work in most of us sees to it that this is not just division, but also envy, competition and even enmity. Not only division, but despising one another. Not just some hapless separation, it is also wilful sin.

We often hold all kinds of vile sinning attitudes toward others, yet all the while think we are better Christians than they. It is normal in churches everywhere for people to think of themselves as being right and others less right, and to therefore see oneself as superior, and ones congregation as superior, to others. These are vile sins of the flesh. We could take a lot of space here to describe these sins more fully, but you get the idea.

These sins, like every other, are sins for which Christ died, but concerning which most believers do not live in repentance. And it creates a very specific problem.

The problem is as follows: whenever we share in Holy Communion, and take the bread and, having given thanks for it we eat, we are making a proclamation into the spirit realm. We are declaring before God and angels and devils and men a very specific proclamation; we proclaim that "I am one with the body of Christ". This is what eating the bread means.

Christ's body was broken that we might be one, that we might be whole, that we might be one loaf. When you eat the bread you are making this claim before heaven and earth and hell. But if you fail to discern the body of Christ, i.e. if you do not recognise Christ in your brothers and sisters, you do not honour other congregations, other believers, and other leaders of the body of Christ, but rather despise them, and fail to hold them in high regard and love, and fail to pray for them, then you are committing this sin — the failure to recognise the body of the Lord Jesus Christ.

In so doing you have eaten judgment upon yourself. Paul tells us what these judgments are. He says "That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep". The weakness refers to spiritual weakness, the sickness refers to physical sickness, the falling asleep refers to premature death. This was the state of the Corinthian church, and it is the state of many congregations in the body of Christ today.

I have a very high view of the table of the Lord. And every week as I receive the bread and the cup, I pray certain specific prayers. I always ask the Lord to forgive me if I have committed any sin against the body; and I always ask the Lord to make me one with the body of Christ.

My advice to believers in general is to not do that foolish thing that some have done, and abstain from participating in the table of the Lord because they are not right with God. I think that is a foolish sin. Instead, we ought to come to him with a humble heart, and confess our sins, and partake in the table of the Lord. There is no excuse for abstaining, because this just leaves a professing believer in their sins. Instead we need to yield ourselves completely.

Could I ask you to take up the challenge of offering far more heartfelt prayer for the unity of the body of Christ? Let us believe together for the spiritual awakening of our nation, and many nations, in these last days, because the church will be revived in its love, in answer to your prayers.

With love, John Alley.

International Peace Ministry

John Alley Weblog: The Essential Unity of the Body of Christ

http://www.peace.org.au/modules.php?name=News&file=categories&op=newindex&catid=5prophecy – rain

.

WEEK 4: Shedding of Innocent Blood: Daily Readings (in full)

Friday 16th Feb. Matthew 27 v 1 – 10  1 Early in the morning, all the chief priests and the elders of the people came to the decision to put Jesus to death. 2They bound him, led him away and handed him over to Pilate, the governor.  3When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty silver coins to the chief priests and the elders. 4"I have sinned," he said, "for I have betrayed innocent blood."  "What is that to us?" they replied. "That's your responsibility." 5So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself. 6The chief priests picked up the coins and said, "It is against the law to put this into the treasury, since it is blood money." 7So they decided to use the money to buy the potter's field as a burial place for foreigners. 8That is why it has been called the Field of Blood to this day. 9Then what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: "They took the thirty silver coins, the price set on him by the people of Israel, 10and they used them to buy the potter's field, as the Lord commanded me."

Saturday 17th Feb. Isaiah 1 v 2 – 20 A Rebellious Nation  2 Hear, O heavens! Listen, O earth! For the LORD has spoken: "I reared children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against me. 3 The ox knows his master, the donkey his owner's manger, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand." 4 Ah, sinful nation, a people loaded with guilt, a brood of evildoers, children given to corruption! They have forsaken the LORD; they have spurned the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on him. 5 Why should you be beaten anymore? Why do you persist in rebellion? Your whole head is injured, your whole heart afflicted. 6 From the sole of your foot to the top of your head there is no soundness—only wounds and welts and open soresnot cleansed or bandaged or soothed with oil. 7 Your country is desolate, your cities burned with fire; your fields are being stripped by foreigners right before you, laid waste as when overthrown by strangers. 8 The Daughter of Zion is left like a shelter in a vineyard, like a hut in a field of melons, like a city under siege. 9 Unless the LORD Almighty had left us some survivors, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah. 10 Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom; listen to the law of our God, our people of Gomorrah! 11 "The multitude of your sacrifices—what are they to me?" says the LORD."I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals; I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats. 12 When you come to appear before me, who has asked this of you, this trampling of my courts? 13 Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations—I cannot bear your evil assemblies. 14 Your New Moon festivals and your appointed feasts my soul hates. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. 15 When you spread out your hands in prayer I will hide my eyes from you; if you offer many prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood; 16 wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight! Stop doing wrong, 17 learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow. 18 "Come now, let us reason together," says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. 19 If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best from the land; 20 but if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword." For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

Sunday 18th Feb. Jeremiah 7 v 1 – 15 and 30 – 34  1 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD : 2 "Stand at the gate of the LORD's house and there proclaim this message: " 'Hear the word of the LORD, all you people of Judah who come through these gates to worship the LORD. 3 This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Reform your ways and your actions, and I will let you live in this place. 4 Do not trust in deceptive words and say, "This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD!" 5 If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, 6 if you do not oppress the alien, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm, 7 then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your forefathers for ever and ever. 8 But look, you are trusting in deceptive words that are worthless.  9 " 'Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal and follow other gods you have not known, 10 and then come and stand before me in this house, which bears my Name, and say, "We are safe"-safe to do all these detestable things? 11 Has this house, which bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you? But I have been watching! declares the LORD. 12 " 'Go now to the place in Shiloh where I first made a dwelling for my Name, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of my people Israel. 13 While you were doing all these things, declares the LORD, I spoke to you again and again, but you did not listen; I called you, but you did not answer. 14 Therefore, what I did to Shiloh I will now do to the house that bears my Name, the temple you trust in, the place I gave to you and your fathers. 15 I will thrust you from my presence, just as I did all your brothers, the people of Ephraim.'

Monday 19th Feb. Joel 3 v 12 – 21 12 "Let the nations be roused; let them advance into the Valley of Jehoshaphat, for there I will sit to judge all the nations on every side. 13 Swing the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, trample the grapes, for the winepress is full and the vats overflow—so great is their wickedness!" 14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision. 15 The sun and moon will be darkened, and the stars no longer shine. 16 The LORD will roar from Zion and thunder from Jerusalem; the earth and the sky will tremble. But the LORD will be a refuge for his people, a stronghold for the people of Israel. Blessings for God's People 17 "Then you will know that I, the LORD your God, dwell in Zion, my holy hill. Jerusalem will be holy; again will foreigners invade her. 18 "In that day the mountains will drip new wine, and the hills will flow with milk; all the ravines of Judah will run with water. A fountain will flow out of the LORD's house and will water the valley of acacias. 19 But Egypt will be desolate, Edom a desert waste, because of violence done to the people of Judah, in whose land they shed innocent blood. 20 Judah will be inhabited forever and Jerusalem through all generations. 21 Their bloodguilt, which I have not pardoned, will pardon." The LORD dwells in Zion!

Tuesday 20th Feb. Habakkuk 2 v 2 – 14 Then the LORD replied: "Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets that a herald may run with it. 3 For the revelation awaits an appointed time; t speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay. 4 "See, he is puffed up; his desires are not upright—but the righteous will live by his faith – indeed, wine betrays him; he is arrogant and never at rest. Because he is as greedy as the grave and like death is never satisfied, he gathers to himself all the nations and takes captive all the peoples. 6 "Will not all of them taunt him with ridicule and scorn, saying, " 'Woe to him who piles up stolen goods and makes himself wealthy by extortion! How long must this go on?' 7 Will not your debtors suddenly arise? Will they not wake up and make you tremble? Then you will become their victim. 8 Because you have plundered many nations, the peoples who are left will plunder you. For you have shed man's blood; you have destroyed lands and cities and everyone in them. 9 "Woe to him who builds his realm by unjust gain o set his nest on high to escape the clutches of ruin! 10 You have plotted the ruin of many peoples, shaming your own house and forfeiting your life. 11 The stones of the wall will cry out, and the beams of the woodwork will echo it. 12 "Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed and establishes a town by crime! 13 Has not the LORD Almighty determined that the people's labor is only fuel for the fire, that the nations exhaust themselves for nothing? 14 For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.

Wednesday 21st Feb. Deuteronomy 18 v 9 – 13  9 When you enter the land the LORD your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. 10 Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, 11 or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. 12 Anyone who does these things is detestable to the LORD, and because of these detestable practices the LORD your God will drive out those nations before you. 13 You must be blameless before the LORD your God.

Jeremiah 32 v 32 – 41 32 The people of Israel and Judah have provoked me by all the evil they have done—they, their kings and officials, their priests and prophets, the men of Judah and the people of Jerusalem. 33 They turned their backs to me and not their faces; though I taught them again and again, they would not listen or respond to discipline. 34 They set up their abominable idols in the house that bears my Name and defiled it. 35 They built high places for Baal in the Valley of Ben Hinnom to sacrifice their sons and daughters to Molech, though I never commanded, nor did it enter my mind, that they should do such a detestable thing and so make Judah sin.36 "You are saying about this city, 'By the sword, famine and plague it will be handed over to the king of Babylon'; but this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 37 I will surely gather them from all the lands where I banish them in my furious anger and great wrath; I will bring them back to this place and let them live in safety. 38 They will be my people, and I will be their God. 39 I will give them singleness of heart and action, so that they will always fear me for their own good and the good of their children after them. 40 I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good to them, and I will inspire them to fear me, so that they will never turn away from me. 41 I will rejoice in doing them good and will assuredly plant them in this land with all my heart and soul.

Thursday 22nd Feb. 1 Corinthians 10 v 1 – 13  1For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. 2They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. 3They all ate the same spiritual food 4and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. 5Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered over the desert. 6Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did. 7Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: "The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in pagan revelry." 8We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did—and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died. 9We should not test the Lord, as some of them did—and were killed by snakes. 10And do not grumble, as some of them did—and were killed by the destroying angel. 11These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come. 12So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall! 13No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.

.

NATIONAL 40 DAYS OF PRAYER & FASTING

Friday 26^th January to Tuesday 6^th March

Humbling ourselves in surrender and repentance before the Lord 

WEEK 6: Broken Covenants

Friday 2nd March:      Ecclesiastes 5 v 1 – 6 Acts 5 v 1 – 11

Saturday 3rd March:   Nehemiah 1 v 1 – 11

Sunday 4th March:       Proverbs 2 v 1 – 22

Monday 5th March:      Jeremiah 31 v 31 – 34 2 Peter 3 v 1 – 18

Tuesday 6th March:      Psalm 116 v 1 – 19

31 MEETINGS HELD IN LOCAL CITIES: 

31 local cities across Melbourne hosted and brought together Christians and Churches within their communities to pray. It was a time of reflection on what God is saying to us and the Church in the light of the drought and other issues facing our nation.   These meetings were listed on the 40 days brochure.  The aim of these meetings was to begin or support local networks of united prayer through-out the 31 municipalities. 

Prepared by the APN for your reflection during the 40 days. Each week will have a different theme that corresponds with one of the six major areas of sin, which God identified during the prayer season of late 2006. Scriptures have been prepared that will invite prayerful contemplation on what God revealed during that time. Their purpose is to stimulate your heart to aspire to a closer walk with God and a turning from patterns of past behaviour that have resulted in a less than radically obedient response to His commands. Specific prayer points are not included because this is not a time of praying for the nation, nor even for the Solemn Assembly itself, although both are not excluded should the Lord lead you that way.  

SEE THE INTRODUCTION TO THE 40 DAYS AND EXTRA READINGS AND REFLECTIONS FOR EVERY DAY ON THIS WEBSITE See: Daily Readings Intro , DOWNLOAD BROCHURE PDF HERE Page One Page Two 

Week 1 Extra Readings,

Week 2 Extra Readings

WEEK 4: Shedding of Innocent Blood 

WEEk 5: Injustice

Transformation begins with our personal transformation We invite you to let the transformation begin with you. When we let God change us, He will be able to unify His Body in functional relationships and united prayer and serving in local areas. Then we will see God’s impact in our local cities and then across the City of Melbourne and Australia progressively. 92627444Transforming Melbourne's role. The Transforming Melbourne movement is coordinating Melbourne’s local city networks, churches and ministries so that we engage with the national prayer focus in the local areas of Melbourne. We will be able to help you focus on local Melbourne issues that relate to the weekly focus outlined in the national schedule.    

FASTING: As a means of entering into a deeper expression of humility before God those participating in the 40 Days of Preparation are encouraged to consider some form of fasting for the period from 26th January until 6th March. Fasting can take many forms. These are some you may wish to consider.A 'Daniel' fast – vegetables only (see Daniel 1:12), Fast one meal a day, Fast one day a week Or simply give up something that would be a personal sacrifice for you. The challenge is that we seek to do something to humble ourselves before God (on behalf of this nation during this period of 40 days as we prepare ourselves)(See: www.ccci.org/howtofast  for more on fasting) 

INTRODUCTION

– We repent of our responsibility for the innocent death of Christ.

– We repent for the innocent blood that was shed in the formation of our nation and for our lack of formal apology and reconciliation with the indigenous people of this land.

– We repent for the innocent blood that our nation is shedding as one of horrific consequences of being at war in other people’s countries.

– We repent of our own nation’s children who are slain through abortion. We grieve these lost children – the richness their lives would have brought to our families and nation. We mourn the impact of these decisions on the mothers and fathers of these children – so much emptiness! Empty wombs, empty arms, empty hearts filled with counterfeit comforts.

– Forgive us for choosing secret sin over the relief of truthful confession. In hiding from the consequences of our sin we have bred deceit and festering guilt and worthlessness that has alienated us from each other and from you, Lord.

– We repent of the judgments of religious culture that have influenced unmarried mothers to abort children, fearing more the judgment of the church against them as unwed mothers. Lord, have mercy on us. Forgive us for judgments we held in revenge and bitterness against others. Identify to us the times when we have taken and held offense against another and thereby cast our condemnation on them. We lay down our judgments and seek your mercy for us and them.

– We repent of the murderous impact of our anger towards others. (Matthew 5:21-24) We repent of the condemnation poured on our families through anger. We repent of the damage caused in the Body of Christ by our unrighteous pride, indignations and divisions and pray for the unity of the Body. [There is an article on this at the end of the daily readings.]

– We repent of the ways we as the Church have misrepresented the love of the Father in our unholy condemnations of the world that God loves so much.

– We seek the cleansing of the blood of Christ for our sin.

Read More – Daily Reading

Supporting Article: UNITY by John Alley

TRANSFORMING MELBOURNE JOINED THE NATIONAL 40 DAYS Transforming Melbourne put aside their planned 40 Days of Prayer & Fasting for this year (was to begin on Wed 21 Feb.) to join the National "40 Days of Heart Preparation" in Prayer 26th Jan. – 6th March in unity with the Australian Prayer Network 

WHY CHANGE THE DATES OF THE 40 DAYS OF PRAYER?We believe Unity, Servanthood and Prayer are essential to enable God to move. So put aside our preparation for the scheduled Transforming Melbourne 40 days of Prayer and Fasting (previously to be from 21st February – 1st April). We unite instead with the national 40 days of prayer recently initiated by The Australian Prayer Network. We do this so we can stand as one across Australia before our God in repentance and preparation for God’s transformation of our nation. We apologise for the short notice of this change in dates (but not for the move to unity!).Please do not let our change, or your starting the 40 Days a bit late deter you from participation!

WHY ANOTHER NATIONAL CALL TO PRAYER? In late 2006 the Australian Prayer Network coordinated 40 days seeking God’s face about the DROUGHT. Responses words and scriptures received from across the nation made it abundantly clear that God is very serious about the state of His Body and the resultant negative impact it is having on our Nation. Unless there is REPENTANCE and a spiritual turning back to Him by those who are called by his Name then the physical conditions currently being experienced across our Nation will only continue to deteriorate. This second national season of 40 days of prayer has been called to prepare our hearts to bring God’s Church in Australia into united repentance. 

NATIONAL SOLEMN ASSEMBLY: To Come Before God in RepentanceFriday 9th to Monday 12th March in CanberraThe 40 days of heart preparation from 26th January-6th March, will culminate in the NATIONAL SOLEMN ASSEMBLY in Canberra 9th-11th March. We invite you to be part of this historic event by representing your church and district in Canberra. Information: http://www.ausprayernet.org.au/

If you can’t be in Canberra you can share locally. Meet in small groups during the Solemn Assembly, and Local churches will be asked to include the theme of the repentance and forgiveness in their services on that Sunday (11th March) and to have a focused time of repentance and prayer from 12 to 3pm that day.   

.

NATIONAL 40 DAYS OF PRAYER & FASTING

Friday 26^th January to Tuesday 6^th March

Humbling ourselves in surrender and repentance before the Lord 

40 DAY BROCHURES NOW AVAILABLE

 Transforming Melbourne have produced brochures with Daily Readings for the 6 weeks (prepared by the Australian Prayer Network) with other information and details of United Prayer gatherings in each of Melbourne 31 local cities. These brochures are available from KOORONG BOOKS in Blackburn, and WORD BOOKS in Nunawading, Cheltenham, Frankston, Dandenong and the City.  Individual copies or bundles for churches can be collected by asking at the counter (they may not be on display, although they will be placed in the shopping bags.  They are also available from our Transforming Melbourne Office (Phone: 9570 2534).  DOWNLOAD BROCHURE PDF HERE Page One Page Two  MEETINGS IN LOCAL CITIES: There will be meetings in each of the 31 local cities across Melbourne to bring Christians and Churches to pray together with others in their community. They will include times of reflection on what God is saying to us and the Church in the light of the drought and other issues facing our nation.   These meetings are listed on the 40 days brochure and will be mainly at 7.30pm Wed 21st Feb., with a few meetings at other times that week. On eof the aims of these meetings is to begin or support local networks of united prayer. FASTING: As a means of entering into a deeper expression of humility before God those participating in the 40 Days of Preparation are encouraged to consider some form of fasting for the period from 26th January until 6th March. Fasting can take many forms. These are some you may wish to consider.A 'Daniel' fast – vegetables only (see Daniel 1:12), Fast one meal a day, Fast one day a week Or simply give up something that would be a personal sacrifice for you. The challenge is that we seek to do something to humble ourselves before God (on behalf of this nation during this period of 40 days as we prepare ourselves)(See: www.ccci.org/howtofast  for more on fasting) THE DAILY READINGS: Prepared by the APN for your reflection during the 40 days. Each week will have a different theme that corresponds with one of the six major areas of sin, which God identified during the prayer season of late 2006. Scriptures have been prepared that will invite prayerful contemplation on what God revealed during that time. Their purpose is to stimulate your heart to aspire to a closer walk with God and a turning from patterns of past behaviour that have resulted in a less than radically obedient response to His commands. Specific prayer points are not included because this is not a time of praying for the nation, nor even for the Solemn Assembly itself, although both are not excluded should the Lord lead you that way.  SEE THE INTRODUCTION TO THE 40 DAYS AND EXTRA READINGS AND REFLECTIONS FOR EVERY DAY ON THIS WEBSITE See: Daily Readings Intro , Week 1 Extra Readings, Week 2 Extra Readings Transformation begins with our personal transformation We invite you to let the transformation begin with you. When we let God change us, He will be able to unify His Body in functional relationships and united prayer and serving in local areas. Then we will see God’s impact in our local cities and then across the City of Melbourne and Australia progressively. 92627444Transforming Melbourne's role. The Transforming Melbourne movement is coordinating Melbourne’s local city networks, churches and ministries so that we engage with the national prayer focus in the local areas of Melbourne. We will be able to help you focus on local Melbourne issues that relate to the weekly focus outlined in the national schedule.    TRANSFORMING MELBOURNE JOINED THE NATIONAL 40 DAYS Transforming Melbourne put aside their planned 40 Days of Prayer & Fasting for this year (was to begin on Wed 21 Feb.) to join the National "40 Days of Heart Preparation" in Prayer 26th Jan. – 6th March in unity with the Australian Prayer Network WHY CHANGE THE DATES OF THE 40 DAYS OF PRAYER?We believe Unity, Servanthood and Prayer are essential to enable God to move. So put aside our preparation for the scheduled Transforming Melbourne 40 days of Prayer and Fasting (previously to be from 21st February – 1st April). We unite instead with the national 40 days of prayer recently initiated by The Australian Prayer Network. We do this so we can stand as one across Australia before our God in repentance and preparation for God’s transformation of our nation. We apologise for the short notice of this change in dates (but not for the move to unity!).Please do not let our change, or your starting the 40 Days a bit late deter you from participation!  WHY ANOTHER NATIONAL CALL TO PRAYER? In late 2006 the Australian Prayer Network coordinated 40 days seeking God’s face about the DROUGHT. Responses words and scriptures received from across the nation made it abundantly clear that God is very serious about the state of His Body and the resultant negative impact it is having on our Nation. Unless there is REPENTANCE and a spiritual turning back to Him by those who are called by his Name then the physical conditions currently being experienced across our Nation will only continue to deteriorate. This second national season of 40 days of prayer has been called to prepare our hearts to bring God’s Church in Australia into united repentance. NATIONAL SOLEMN ASSEMBLY: To Come Before God in RepentanceFriday 9th to Monday 12th March in CanberraThe 40 days of heart preparation from 26th January-6th March, will culminate in the NATIONAL SOLEMN ASSEMBLY in Canberra 9th-11th March. We invite you to be part of this historic event by representing your church and district in Canberra. Information: http://www.ausprayernet.org.au//ohttp://www.ausprayernet.org.au/ If you can’t be in Canberra you can share locally. Meet in small groups during the Solemn Assembly, and Local churches will be asked to include the theme of the repentance and forgiveness in their services on that Sunday (11th March) and to have a focused time of repentance and prayer from 12 to 3pm that day.   .

AUSTRALIA’S 40 DAYS OF PRAYER

SUPPLEMENTARY READINGS

including Daily Readings with full Biblical references ( N.I.V.), application to local issues, guest interviews and key articles.

In setting aside 40 days seeking God we need the Holy Spirit to lead us into something new, fresh revelation and real transformation. Invite God to break our automatic choices, old mindsets, limiting expectations, familiar emotional reactiveness and religious habits.

At our assembly on Australia Day a person saw Christ’s blood as poured out for us and yet our land and people are perishing so she asked the Lord why his blood was not reaching us and saw a veneer like a hard plastic shell over the city. The veneer was a sneer of self sufficiency and complacency preventing redemption from transforming the land and people. During this 40 days we, as the Church, need to rent open our coverings of pride and correctness so we receive the outpouring of God’s merciful grace of God and so God’s transformational love can saturate, heal and restore us.

Joel 2:13 Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity.

The 40 day readings are a guide for reading and reflection, rather than a specific prayer guide. Let the Spirit lead you deeper into real relationship with your Lord. Open your heart to Him in honest and reflective ways. Let your prayer emerge as real communication with God. If it is a conversation and you expect dialogue you will allocate periods of listening and waiting within your prayer time. The Spirit can bring Word to us through our recall of a Scriptural text, song or memory, and as the Word of God, open the Scriptural readings to us in fresh perspective, living Truth and conviction of applications in our life.

These 40 days of conversational prayer can be more than 40 days of petitioning if we invite God to lead us into relational connection with Him in our prayer time. Jesus has taught us critical elements that balanced prayer times include.

Adoration: We gain God’s perspective of our circumstance when we spend time in adoring, marveling, praising, worshipping and celebrating Who God Is through prayer as well as music.

Confession: As God’s gifts of life and love flow in us we see ourselves and with relief release the accusations of the enemy, the dirty rages of our own performance, our small mindedness, judgments, criticisms, offenses and self comforts. In the light of God’s love and enablement we are able to confess our sin and inadequacy freely to God and each other and be healed. (James 5:16)

Thanksgiving: When we receive who we are before God – sons and daughter lavishly loved with the right to belong, we can rest in God without having to earn our place. We can boldly exercise our right to access to God’s person, time, resources, power and the fullness of our inheritance. Each time we remember our prayer and testimony will break into thanksgiving. This is in response to Who God Is! It is in response to what has already been done for us – in that God loved us so much that he made a Way through Jesus to reconcile us to himself. To do this God became human so that He could come to us! Isn’t it amazing!

Supplication: When we remain in God; when we are one with Jesus as He is one with the Father, our prayers of petition seek God’s will on earth and speak God’s will into being. Our prayer is no longer requesting our fantasies in our timing and in forms we devise. Our prayer and fast is not to pacify and convince a remote or angry power. We are God’s children who delight in being one with him and so obey and submit to his will. God’s plans for us are perfectly encapsulating, healing and fulfilling. When we know and pray the will of God it is easy to pray with belief, faith and expectation, speaking into being what God would do.

Our prayer is not merely words. It is in our doing, our working, play, exercise and spontaneous encounters. God’s presence can permeate it all, breaking down any distinction we might make between the ‘secular’ and the spiritual aspects of our lives. Our invitation to God’s presence is in our constant awareness so that we are, throughout our day, modifying our responses to be closer to him, to delight him and see his will done. Our prayer becomes as natural and unconscious as our breath.

.

Week One Focus: LACK OF INTIMACY WITH GOD.

Local Issues: On Australia Day Friday 26th January about 4,000 people assembled to celebrate the dedication of our nation to God and to repent and pray together as the church in Melbourne. One witness said it was the culmination of all that she has ever talked about with God. We know unity to be God’s will and we believe that this is a particular season for unity in God’s church in our nation and city so God can release transformation upon us. Honesty, transparency and intimacy are critical elements of true unity. These qualities were not in evidence across the church yesterday, but we glimpsed them in a moment of public reconciliation with our nation’s forefathers – represented by the passionate response of a representative of indigenous pastors in the church who spontaneously responded to repentance for our lack of indigenous reconciliation. There was great power in the passionate cries of the youth for God to transform our high schools and universities. Their availability to God was honest, transparency and intimate.

Focal Discussion: You may like to stimulate an honest discussion on lack of intimacy with God with your friends.

Why do you think people lack intimacy with God? Fear of being exposed as having to admit, ‘I haven’t got it all together’ and not knowing who I could go to and be honest about that. We don’t know the way into intimacy so instead we go deeper and deeper into deception and self comfort which feel good, briefly. But while we hold onto our own cares, our independence, self sufficiency and complacency mean we are not open to receive God’s solutions. Many of us don’t really know God well enough to be able to trust him. Human relationships and religious effort have let us down and we fear or even expect the ultimate rejection from God. We protect ourselves from intimacy because we don’t trust who we think God is and this can also be because we are holding onto false images of God. We have been so disappointed our hearts are barely open to hope, faith expectation. We are blind to the true condition of our neediness and the truth about how gentle, kind, patient, faithful and loving God is.

What do we do about our fear of intimacy? ‘Perfect love casts out fear’ although most of us are confused about what that even means. ‘Love’ can be all kinds of things to us – sexual release, smothering mothering… ‘Perfect’ can represent performance – self reliance. Perfectionists can be covering their sense of unworthiness. Most of us feel unworthy to receive ‘perfect love’ as a gift.

What is perfect love? I think inside most of us crave complete comfort, caring, affirmation, nurture, tranquility that doesn’t end. God offers us care, compassion, provision, security, reconciliation and that he will pour his love into us and make us his lavishly loved children and heirs. (Isaiah 60:16, Isaiah 66:11-13, Romans 5:1-11, Galatians 3:29, 1Peter 1:23, 1John 3:9, Ephesians 1:13-15, 2Corinthians 1:22, Romans 8:15-17, Galatians 4:6-7) We have God’s Word that He LOVES us. Because God LOVED us (John 3:16) God sent His Word (Jesus) to reconcile us to Himself. (John 1:1-18) Jesus is the Way…. But the Father is the Destination. God’s purpose was and is our reconciliation with Him, that we would let Him be our Father and we would be one with Him. (John 17:20-23) You were made in the image of God who is LOVE, by LOVE, for LOVE, with LOVE, to give LOVE and to receive LOVE.

We know what life is like without intimacy and perfect love! We sure do. Honesty, transparency and intimacy are rare in human relationships but it shouldn’t be so and with transformation it won’t be. We all need to be heard at our point of need. When we are independent and refuse intimate relationship with God we are like orphans. We can lack comfort and a sense of belonging. We can feel isolated, rejected and abandoned and hide under a cloak of shame, trapped in a sense of unworthiness and poverty. We can get so used to be alone in the dark we don’t trust others enough to get close so we recreate our own rejection and abandonment. We can send and receive mixed messages, project our experience and self criticism, failure and lack of achievement and acceptance onto new relationships and onto God! An orphan can become addicted to shame, poverty, rescuing, judgment, rejection, projection, religion, aloneness, isolation, self hatred and dishonor. We are trapped in a cycle of feeling unlovable, unacceptable, worthlessness. We may not recognize that when we blame others, we are carrying deep feelings of blaming and hating ourselves and God. We not only believe the accusations of the enemy, we look at ourselves in his distortions of us, and have taken on his character and lies. We can be addicted to filling up on his poisonous reasons not to believe or trust God.

How do we come into intimacy with God? The same way we do with animals or people. It takes time – eye to eye, one on one, watching the other and knowing them, moving closer when we feel ready, gauging our mutual reactions. God’s reactions will surprise our limited distorted expectations. Healthy bonded children can run into the arms of their father they trust. Sadly some abused children learn to numb their instincts and submit passively and obediently to unwanted attention. Some learn to mask their fears with earnest and manipulate ways to try to attract adult attention or approval. There are parallels of all these reactions to intimacy with God. God is calling us into intimacy but we are not listening, we are numbed, living in crisis mode, trying to survive on our own. How amazing it is when we realize we are not orphans, our Father is here to rescue and embrace us! It is wonderful to become free, trusting, joyful and playful in our Father’s presence. This is a relationship that will not end and that has eternal fascination as we grow into more and more revelation of how incredible God is.

My prayer for you is: ‘that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in LOVE, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the LOVE of Christ, and to know this LOVE that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.’ (Ephesians 3:17-19)

This discussion was with Sue Tinworth and Dorothy Beach, leaders in an emergent church called Stillspace.

Key Article: Hindrances to God’s Presence.

Hindrances to God’s Presence

"Have you ever wondered if it is possible to get God’s attention or attract His presence?  And if it is possible, then why don’t we spend more time doing those things that welcome His presence?  God’s Word establishes clear principles regarding His presence.  There are things that prepare for and welcome the presence of the Lord – things like prayer, unity, worship, and a broken and contrite spirit.  There are also things that cause Him to withdraw or remain at a distance."  Rhonda Hughey

Dear Intercessors,

Jesus is knocking at the door of our cities.  Can you hear His knock?  Are you aware that Your King wants to visit your city, but He will not force His way in when there is no invitation.  It is the responsibility of the church to welcome His presence into the city.  He is the honored guest.  We must open the door for our King, and invite His glorious entrance into our cities.  We must do this together as the corporate church in the city.  The question we must ask ourselves is, "Are we desperate enough?"  "Do we long enough for His presence?"  "Can we live without Him in our city?" "Are we willing to seek Him together as the city church? 

 "It’s not possible to have a lasting corporate impact on a city as a single congregation.  God hasn’t constructed the rules of life that way.  It requires corporate unity and agreement to accomplish corporate results…  God has ordained a corporate church in each city!  There is something bigger than our local congregations!  There should be one Shepherd and one king enthroned in our cities.  We must start with a common vision and purpose and then build according to God’s blueprint, not our own.  We can’t start with our own empire and then try to build up to who God is.  He will step down to us in response to our desperate cry."  Rhonda Hughey

 We are presently in an area of southern Spain where there is a big invitation for God’s presence.  Many of the churches are seeking God’s face and are crying out for His presence.  There is a non-stop prayer meeting where there are prayers asking God to come and dwell in this area of Spain, Gibraltar and North Africa.  There is one prayer meeting after another – sometimes two churches meet at the same time, sometimes there are one or two praying in the early morning, and at other times there is loud praying and praise, and the room is filled with the fragrance of Christ.  The expectation level is growing.  The hunger is increasing, and God is changing all of our lives in the midst of it all.  Would you join us in prayer that God would visit and make His presence known in this area of the world called Campo de Gibraltar?  See www.campo247.com for details.  Last night the pastors in this area spent the whole night in prayer together!  There is the sense that prayer has reached a new level, and there is a magnetic attraction to the prayer room.  I find it quite appealing  and can’t wait to get to the prayer room.  There seems to be an unusual grace at this time to pray long hours where it seems but a few moment. 

Roadblocks to God’s Presence

"We haven’t yet realized the consequences of our lack of unity and refusal to contend for God’s presence.  I want to encourage you to consider the condition of your city:  Watch the news, read the newspaper, listen to conversations, and look at the people around you.  Let the condition of your city break your heart and draw you into intercession for a breakthrough of God’s presence."  Rhonda Hughey

 Just as there are roadblocks keeping you from reaching your destination when driving a car, there are roadblocks to God’s entrance into your city.  There are many obstacles to God’s presence.  The following are a few key barriers together with verses relating to these obstacles.  I encourage you to pray that God removes these roadblocks that keep His presence from entering your city.  Pray that God removes them from your own heart.

• Pride – We are often self-righteous and think we are good, but Jesus is our example of humility.  God hates pride, and He will not bring His manifest presence into our city when we are walking in pride.  We often try to get to the highest position, but Jesus carried a towel and washed His disciple’s feet.  "Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:  Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.  And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross! (Philippians 2:5-8)

Idolatry – Idolatry diminishes God’s glory.  When the presence of God is not in a city, it is the fault of the churches.  We are responsible.  Whatever we substitute for our love for God becomes an idol.  These idols may be sports, TV, material possessions, etc.  Think about where you spend your time, and examine your own heart.  "Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord?  Or who may stand in His holy place?  He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, nor sworn deceitfully" (Psalm 24:3-4).

Immorality – The temptations towards sexual sin is everywhere.  Every believer must guard against this.  Pray for purity in the body of Christ.  God is revealing sexual sin in his church.  He will make His presence known when His church walks in holiness."Flee from sexual immorality.  All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body.  Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?  You are not your own; you were bought with a price.  Therefore honor God with your body" (I Corinthians 6:18-20).

Unbelief – We must believe the promises of God and have faith to believe He will accomplish them.  Unbelief denies his promises and power.  It will prevent us from entering the promised land.  God promises us that if we ask in His name, He will do it (John 14:13-14)."And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him (Hebrews 11:6).

Distractions – Distractions are everywhere.  We must give God unhurried time and undistracted hours.  We can no longer get busy with secondary things when the King wants our attention.  The amazing thing about this month of prayer is that we are learning to focus only on the Lord Himself.  God desires that we seek one thing."One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple" (Psalm 27:4).

Luke-warm Hearts – So many in the church have left their first love, and their hearts no longer are passionate towards God.  They have settled for a luke-warm life.  God wants us to be on fire for Him.  One of the recurring prayers during this month is for the fire (fuego) of God! "I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot.  I wish that you were either one or the other.  So, because you are luke-warm – neither hot nor cold – I am about to spit you out of my mouth" (Revelation 3:15-16). 

Religious Spirit – This is a counterfeit form of life and Godliness.  It may look good on the outside, but it is based on human wisdom and agendas.  It may have many programs but it is a substitute for Jesus and is totally disconnected with real life. "… having a form of godliness but denying its power" (II Timothy 3:5).

Disunity – God will not make His presence known to a disunified church.  We must learn to value the other parts of the body of Christ.  We must see that we fit together and cannot reach the city by ourselves.  We desperately need each other.  See Psalm 133. "I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one:  I in them and you in me.  May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me" (John 17:22-23).

One thing that God wants us to realize is how very desperately He cares for the lost in our cities.  He is a compassionate God, and the pain and cries in the city have touched His heart deeply.  He wants us to partner with Him in bringing hope to our cities, but He cannot do this if there are barriers preventing His presence from entering the place where we live.  He is the answer to all the problems and pain.  His presence in our cities will make all the difference.   

 Father, we pray that you would visit us, and make your presence known in our city.  Remove the distractions in our churches that keep us from you.  We want to seek only one thing – you and your presence.  Take away our luke-warm hearts, and set us on fire for you.  Forgive our disunity, and bring your church in our city together as one.  We repent of any pride in our lives.  Teach us to walk in humility.  Remove all immorality and sexual sin from our city.  Take away our idols.  We want to worship only you.  Give us faith to believe that you can change the situation in our city.  Let your Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.  We invite you as King into our city.  We choose to partner with you for transformation in our city.  In Jesus’ Name.  Amen.

 (Pray the above prayer naming your specific city and repenting of any sins and barriers to God’s presence in your city or personal life.  Be very specific.) 

"When we see the ruined condition of our cities and communities, it should break our hearts and stir us to prayer.  We have underestimated the pain in God’s heart over the devastation and brokenness of people who live in darkness.  Isaiah 9:2 declares what the result would be when Jesus’ presence came to earth: ‘The people walking in darkness have seen a great light’.  God fully intends to continue to bring hope and restoration to forsaken, desolate communities, and He is looking for those who will partner with Him." Rhonda Hughey

Together in the Harvest,

Debbie Przybylski

Intercessors Arise deb@intercessorsarise.org www.intercessorsarise.org

Friday 26th January

2 Chronicles 7:11–16 When Solomon had finished the temple of the LORD and the royal palace, and had succeeded in carrying out all he had in mind to do in the temple of the LORD and in his own palace, 12 the LORD appeared to him at night and said: "I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a temple for sacrifices. 13 "When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, 14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 15 Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place. 16 I have chosen and consecrated this temple so that my Name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there.

James 4:4–10  You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. 5Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely? 6But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." 7Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

Saturday 27th January

Deuteronomy 32:1–9   Listen, O heavens, and I will speak; hear, O earth, the words of my mouth. 2 Let my teaching fall like rain and my words descend like dew, like showers on new grass, like abundant rain on tender plants. 3 I will proclaim the name of the LORD. Oh, praise the greatness of our God! 4 He is the Rock, his works are perfect, ad all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he. 5 They have acted corruptly toward him; to their shame they are no longer his children, but a warped and crooked generation. 6 Is this the way you repay the LORD, O foolish and unwise people? Is he not your Father, your Creator, who made you and formed you? 7 Remember the days of old; consider the generations long past. Ask your father and he will tell you, your elders, and they will explain to you. 8 When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when he divided all mankind, he set up boundaries for the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel. 9 For the LORD's portion is his people, Jacob his allotted inheritance.

Psalm 9:7–12  7 The LORD reigns forever; he has established his throne for judgment.

 8 He will judge the world in righteousness; he will govern the peoples with justice.

 9 The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.

 10 Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you. 11 Sing praises to the LORD, enthroned in Zion; proclaim among the nations what he has done. 12 For he who avenges blood remembers; he does not ignore the cry of the afflicted.

Sunday 28th January

Hosea 10:12–1412 Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the LORD, until he comes and showers righteousness on you. 13 But you have planted wickedness, you have reaped evil, you have eaten the fruit of deception. Because you have depended on your own strength and on your many warriors, 14 the roar of battle will rise against your people, so that all your fortresses will be devastated— as Shalman devastated Beth Arbel on the day of battle, when mothers were dashed to the ground with their children.

Lamentations 3:22–33, 40–42  Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.  23 They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.  24 I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him."  25 The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him;  26 it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD. 27 It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is young. 28 Let him sit alone in silence, for the LORD has laid it on him.  29 Let him bury his face in the dust— there may yet be hope.  30 Let him offer his cheek to one who would strike him, and let him be filled with disgrace.  31 For men are not cast off by the Lord forever.  32 Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love.  33 For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to the children of men.

Monday 29th January 

Matthew 13:10–23  The disciples came to him and asked, "Why do you speak to the people in parables?" 11He replied, "The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. 12Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. 13This is why I speak to them in parables: "Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand. 14In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: 'You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. 15For this people's heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.' 16But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. 17For I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it. 18"Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: 19When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path. 20The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. 21But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away. 22The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful. 23But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown."

Tuesday 30th January

Matthew 6:25–34  "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?  28"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Acts 2:38–42  Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call."  40With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, "Save yourselves from this corrupt generation." 41Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day. 42They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

Wednesday 31st January 

John 15:1–17 "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. 5"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. 8This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.  9"As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. 11I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. 14You are my friends if you do what I command. 15I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. 17This is my command: Love each other.

Thursday 1st February 

Revelation 2:1–7  "To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands: 2I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. 3You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. 4Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. 5Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. 6But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. 7He who has an ear, let him hear w hat the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.

Revelation 3:14–22 14"To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God's creation. 15I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. 17You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. 18I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. 19Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. 20Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me. 21To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."

.

Week Two Focus: Idolatry.

Local Issues:

Focal Discussion:

Idolatry sounds like an ancient and irrelevant area but idolatry in contemporary Western culture can catch us unaware. Invite God to convict you of the things that hold your eyes longer than they should; things that draw and capture you.

1. One is the extent to which we really worship knowledge, rational evidence. We are so arrogant in what we think we know. But if you watch how fast knowledge is outdated now you realize how temporary and unreliable it is a foundation of truth .

Another is our dependence on materialism.

Another can be television.

But the most concerning is that we worship false images of God and false spirits who we think are God. We can project our earthly experience of fathering onto God. Scriptural references can be used to construct all kinds of false images.

Hosea 5:4 Living Bible ‘Your deeds won’t let you come to God again, for the spirit of adultery is deep within you and you cannot know God.’ The NIV calls this a spirit of prostitution. Our adultery may be literal or spiritual. Lucifer was cast out for wanting to be God but in heaven and earth He has promoted himself as worthy of worship and he has set up schemes that desecrate God’s image. For example that suffering means God does not love us or does not exist. When we agree with the lies of the enemy, that ‘we are unloveable’, ‘alone’, ‘hopeless’, that ‘we are the only ones who are right and so we can’t be in unity’ etc we put Satan’s truth above what God says about us – we believe and hence elevate and worship Satan. Instead we need God’s revelation on the truth. We need to repent of our idolatry, and recognize who is the source of deception, confusion, suffering, accusation and for replacing relationship with religion. ‘Religion’ that is legalistic critical, arrogant self promoting, reliant on false construction and materialism kills relational intimacy with God, each other and across the Body of Christ.

Read 2 Corinthians 4: which invites us to renounce deception and distortion and let Jesus bring light to our darkness so we fix our eyes on what is unseen and eternal.

Hosea 14:4 Living Bible ‘Then I will cure you of idolatry and faithlessness and my love will know no bounds, for My anger will be gone forever.’

To get God’s intentional construction of who He is we need to look at Jesus who is God’s exact representation and image. (Hebrews 1:3, Colossians 1:15) Is that how you see God? God is Spirit and can only be seen by those born of Spirit. (John 4:24,

John 3:5-6) Read 1Corinthians 2: and invite the Spirit to reveal a fresh and true revelation of who God is.

Job 19:25-27 ‘I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!’

Key Article: Pursuing God’s Presence.

Pursuing God’s Presence

"In every revival in history we read a similar testimony.  When God responded to His people by sending His presence, He didn’t just work himself into their routine religion – He overtook them by His power and glory!  He left a trail of glorious chaos in His wake – weeping, repenting, rejoicing, reconciling, changing of habits, healing of families!  Nobody wondered if Jesus was involved in these meetings.  There was no doubt in their minds and no lack in their hearts."  Rhonda Hughey 

Dear Intercessors,

The purpose of our life is to pursue God.  It is what we were created to do.  God wants us to seek and long passionately for His presence.  His presence is real and tangible.  It will change our lives completely.  The problem is that most of us are not aware of what is available to us.  Our hearts are not burning for God, and we have settled for lesser things.  As I mentioned last week, right now we are involved in a month-long prayer meeting where several churches in the area of southern Spain called Campo de Gibraltar are seeking God’s presence.  What is happening in the midst of this prayer meeting is that our level of hunger for God’s presence is increasing.  We are discovering in a deeper dimension that God’s presence is needed to reach the city, that God’s presence needs to be pursued and that we cannot live without it.  I encourage you today to seek God fervently for His presence in your own life, in your own church and in your city.  This is what real life is all about.  God loves to be sought after.  His presence and Spirit will move us forward into realms of fruitfulness beyond our wildest imagination.  But we must hoist our sails and catch the wind of His Spirit.  The breath of His Spirit will change the face of everything, including our own lives. 

"The breath of God’s Spirit must fill the church, empowering it to move forward into God’s destiny.  God’s Spirit births every movement of the church.  Without being Spirit or presence-driven, the church sits listlessly in time, like a sailboat going nowhere in a calm sea.  We can use our paradigm as paddles and row as hard as we like, but the forward progress is negligible.  Or, we can hoist our sails of worship, catch the wind of His Spirit and move forward into His purpose, plans and productivity (fruit) in ministry."  Ministries Today

The Bible and Pursing God’s Presence

"We must become hungry and thirsty for more of Jesus in our midst.  We must cry out in desperation for God’s presence to be restored in our lives, our churches, and ultimately in our cities.  We must treasure the manifest presence of God, because as Jesus said in John 15:5, ‘Without Me you can do nothing’"  Rhonda Hughey

The question we must ask ourselves is, "Are we hungry enough to pursue God’s presence?"  Are we desperate for God to transform our cities?  The cost is high.  This month we are finding that out that as we spend hour after hour in prayer, we are being stretched in our capacity to seek after God.  It will cost to seek God’s presence.  It will take diligence and time.  We will have to clear our schedules of so much busyness if we want city transformation.  We will have to sacrifice.  But it will be worth all the pain.  Are we willing to pay the price?  Are we willing to pray with others of different denominations and backgrounds?  It will take the churches in the city coming together to see city transformation.

The Bible has so much to say about God’s presence.  God longs for us to build a house where He dwells.  The following are verses to challenge you to pursue God’s presence.

·         II Chronicles 7:14 – "If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land."

·         Isaiah 66:1 – "Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool.  Where is the house that you will build for Me?  And where is the place of My rest?"

·         Isaiah 56:7 – "Even them will I bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer.  Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on My altar; for My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations."

·         II Chronicles 7:15-16 – "Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to prayer made in this place.  For now I have chosen and sanctified this house, that My name may be there forever; and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually." 

·         Isaiah 62:4 – "No longer will they call you Deserted, or name your land Desolate."
·         Ephesians 3:17-19 – "I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."

The testimony to what happens when God’s presence arrives is quite astounding!  Are we ready for it?  Can we handle the depth of work His Spirit will do in our own individual lives that will prepare and empower us to reach this desperate and dying world?  Here is a testimony of what actually happened when God showed up!  "In that old building, with its low rafters and bare floors, God took strong men and women to pieces, and put them together again, for His glory.  It was a tremendous overhauling process.  Pride and self-assertion, self-importance and self-esteem, could not survive there.  The religious ego preached its own funeral quickly."  When God’s presence touches our prayer meetings and our churches, all flesh must die.  We see the futility of our own ways of doing things, and we begin to see the majestic wisdom of God and the attractiveness of Jesus.  We begin to line up with His ways, and what once was a barren way of trying to produce life becomes a supernatural encounter with the presence of the living God.  This brings forth amazing fruit in every dimension of our lives. Doesn’t this seem to be a better way of life than what many of us have tried for so many years?  

"Shouldn’t Jesus himself be the preeminent attraction?  We can promote our church programs with precision and good marketing techniques, but when somebody who is blind or deaf gets healed, or a political leader gets saved, or once-barren land produces a bountiful harvest, people will flock to church.  God is His own best promoter!  He just shows up and effortlessly turns our routines into supernatural encounters that are life changing."  Rhonda Hughey

Together in the Harvest,

Debbie Przybylski

Intercessors Arise deb@intercessorsarise.org www.intercessorsarise.org

Friday 2nd February

Leviticus 26:1–13  1 " 'Do not make idols or set up an image or a sacred stone for yourselves, and do not place a carved stone in your land to bow down before it. I am the LORD your God.  2 " 'Observe my Sabbaths and have reverence for my sanctuary. I am the LORD.  3 " 'If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands, 4 I will send you rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees of the field their fruit. 5 Your threshing will continue until grape harvest and the grape harvest will continue until planting, and you will eat all the food you want and live in safety in your land.  6 " 'I will grant peace in the land, and you will lie down and no one will make you afraid. I will remove savage beasts from the land, and the sword will not pass through your country. 7 You will pursue your enemies, and they will fall by the sword before you. 8 Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand, and your enemies will fall by the sword before you.  9 " 'I will look on you with favor and make you fruitful and increase your numbers, and I will keep my covenant with you. 10 You will still be eating last year's harvest when you will have to move it out to make room for the new. 11 I will put my dwelling place among you, and I will not abhor you. 12 I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people. 13 I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt so that you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians; I broke the bars of your yoke and enabled you to walk with heads held high.

2 Chronicles 7:19–22  19 "But if you turn away and forsake the decrees and commands I have given you and go off to serve other gods and worship them, 20 then I will uproot Israel from my land, which I have given them, and will reject this temple I have consecrated for my Name. I will make it a byword and an object of ridicule among all peoples. 21 And though this temple is now so imposing, all who pass by will be appalled and say, 'Why has the LORD done such a thing to this land and to this temple?' 22 People will answer, 'Because they have forsaken the LORD, the God of their fathers, who brought them out of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, worshiping and serving them—that is why he brought all this disaster on them.' "

Saturday 3rd February 

Deuteronomy 8:10–19   When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you. 11 Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. 12 Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, 13 and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, 14 then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 15 He led you through the vast and dreadful desert, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock. 16 He gave you manna to eat in the desert, something your fathers had never known, to humble and to test you so that in the end it might go well with you. 17 You may say to yourself, "My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me." 18 But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today.  19 If you ever forget the LORD your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed.

Deuteronomy 13:1–4  If a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a miraculous sign or wonder, 2 and if the sign or wonder of which he has spoken takes place, and he says, "Let us follow other gods" (gods you have not known) "and let us worship them," 3 you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The LORD your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul. 4 It is the LORD your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him.

Sunday 4th February 

Isaiah 40:18–24 To whom, then, will you compare God? What image will you compare him to? 19 As for an idol, a craftsman casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold and fashions silver chains for it. 20 A man too poor to present such an offering selects wood that will not rot. He looks for a skilled craftsman to set up an idol that will not topple. 21 Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood since the earth was founded? 22 He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in.  23 He brings princes to naught and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing.

24 No sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown, no sooner do they take root in the ground, than he blows on them and they wither, and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff.

Jeremiah 13:1–11  1 This is what the LORD said to me: "Go and buy a linen belt and put it around your waist, but do not let it touch water." 2 So I bought a belt, as the LORD directed, and put it around my waist.  3 Then the word of the LORD came to me a second time: 4 "Take the belt you bought and are wearing around your waist, and go now to Perath and hide it there in a crevice in the rocks." 5 So I went and hid it at Perath, as the LORD told me. 6 Many days later the LORD said to me, "Go now to Perath and get the belt I told you to hide there." 7 So I went to Perath and dug up the belt and took it from the place where I had hidden it, but now it was ruined and completely useless. 8 Then the word of the LORD came to me: 9 "This is what the LORD says: 'In the same way I will ruin the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. 10 These wicked people, who refuse to listen to my words, who follow the stubbornness of their hearts and go after other gods to serve and worship them, will be like this belt—completely useless! 11 For as a belt is bound around a man's waist, so I bound the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah to me,' declares the LORD, 'to be my people for my renown and praise and honor. But they have not listened.'

Monday 5th February

Isaiah 46:1–14  1 Bel bows down, Nebo stoops low; their idols are borne by beasts of burden. The images that are carried about are burdensome, a burden for the weary. 2 They stoop and bow down together; unable to rescue the burden, they themselves go off into captivity.  3 "Listen to me, O house of Jacob, all you who remain of the house of Israel, you whom I have upheld since you were conceived, and have carried since your birth.  4 Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you. 5 "To whom will you compare me or count me equal? To whom will you liken me that we may be compared? 6 Some pour out gold from their bags and weigh out silver on the scales; they hire a goldsmith to make it into a god, and they bow down and worship it. 7 They lift it to their shoulders and carry it; they set it up in its place, and there it stands. From that spot it cannot move. Though one cries out to it, it does not answer; it cannot save him from his troubles. 8 "Remember this, fix it in mind, take it to heart, you rebels. 9 Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me. 10 I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please. 11 From the east I summon a bird of prey; from a far-off land, a man to fulfill my purpose. What I have said, that will I bring about; what I have planned, that will I do. 12 Listen to me, you stubborn-hearted, you who are far from righteousness. 13 I am bringing my righteousness near, it is not far away; and my salvation will not be delayed. I will grant salvation to Zion, my splendor to Israel.

Habakkuk 2:18–20  18 "Of what value is an idol, since a man has carved it? Or an image that teaches lies? For he who makes it trusts in his own creation; he makes idols that cannot speak. 19 Woe to him who says to wood, 'Come to life!' Or to lifeless stone, 'Wake up!' Can it give guidance? It is covered with gold and silver;        there is no breath in it. 20 But the LORD is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him."

Tuesday 6th February 

Colossians 3:1–17 1Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.  5Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. 7You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. 8But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 9Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. 11Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all. 12Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. 15Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. 16Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. 17And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Wednesday 7th February

Ephesians 5:1–17 1Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children 2and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.  3But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God's holy people. 4Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. 5For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a man is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. 6Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God's wrath comes on those who are disobedient. 7Therefore do not be partners with them. 8For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light 9(for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) 10and find out what pleases the Lord. 11Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. 12For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. 13But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, 14for it is light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said: "Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you." 15Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 16making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is.

Thursday 8th February 

1John 5:13–21 13I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. 14This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him. 16If anyone sees his brother commit a sin that does not lead to death, he should pray and God will give him life. I refer to those whose sin does not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I am not saying that he should pray about that. 17All wrongdoing is sin, and there is sin that does not lead to death. 18We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the one who was born of God keeps him safe, and the evil one cannot harm him. 19We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. 20We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true—even in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. 21Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.

Source: Australian Prayer Network

www.intercessorsarise.org

.