Lord, we come today. Our testimony to the principalities and powers is that our God is an awesome God. He is the One who took that contract of death and signed it Himself in our stead.
Lord, we thank You this morning that we have been set free from the chains and bondage of death and hell, and have been brought into Thy kingdom of love and righteousness. Lord Jesus, this is Your work and Yours alone.
Lord, You bore the cross alone. Lord, the winepress was hard. Lord, You endured, even throwing off the powers of darkness that would hold Thee, that tried to hold Thee in hell. But You arose, Lord, to the throne.
Lord, we come to this throne today by the blood of Jesus Christ. Lord, we have no other ground by which we can approach Thee except the precious blood of Jesus.
We ask, Lord, that You would anoint us this morning, that You might give us revelation of this great recovery work that You are doing in this age. Lord, give us revelation of Jesus Christ. Open our eyes and ears to see and hear, and my mouth to speak. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Well, we have been sharing, and let me read the theme verse. It is from Acts 2:42. There will be a number of Scriptures, I think, that will help us this morning as we share.
And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and the prayers.
And day by day, continuing stedfastly with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread at home, they took their food with gladness and singleness of heart,
praising God, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to them day by day those that were saved.— Acts 2:42, 46-47
They continued steadfastly in the apostles’ teaching, fellowship, the breaking of bread, and prayers.
I would also like to read 1 Samuel 13:19.
Now there was no smith found throughout all the land of Israel; for the Philistines said, Lest the Hebrews make them swords or spears.
— 1 Samuel 13:19
There was no blacksmith found throughout all the land of Israel, for the Philistines said, “Lest the Hebrews make them swords or spears.”
Let us go to Matthew 16. I will read some selected verses, beginning with Matthew 16:16.
And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
— Matthew 16:16
And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but My Father who is in heaven.
And I also say unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.— Matthew 16:17-19
From that time began Jesus to show unto His disciples, that He must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and the third day be raised up.
— Matthew 16:21
Peter had rebuked the Lord, saying, “Lord, You cannot go to the cross. This is not for You.” But He turned and said to Peter:
Get thee behind Me, Satan: thou art a stumbling-block unto Me: for thou mindest not the things of God, but the things of men.
— Matthew 16:23
If any man would come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.
— Matthew 16:24
And in Revelation 5:8, just prior to our Lord Jesus opening the seals on the book—the deed book to the earth and to the heavens—it says:
And when He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having each one a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.
— Revelation 5:8
We have been sharing on the recovery of the life and testimony of the early church. The early church was not something organized by men, but it was birthed. It became a spiritual, living being. It had spiritual life.
That which is born of the Spirit is spirit; that which is born of the flesh is flesh. The church was born on the day of Pentecost, and those one hundred and twenty were baptized into one body. It was a spiritual being that came into being on that day, and it is a living organism.
The church is not an organization, but a living organism. The basis of life, the fundamental life of the church, is Jesus Christ and His life—and His life alone.
Out of that life of the early church—you have to remember, it was like an infant child when it was first born. It was born in infancy, and in its infancy it was pure and righteous. It just loved Jesus, and they loved one another.
In fact, they were so enthralled with Christ and with one another that they could not help but meet daily with one another: to share Christ with one another, and to share the love that Christ had put in their hearts with one another. It was a marvelous, wonderful life.
This life took on four basic, essential elements of form:
As we shared a couple of times ago, this is really the teaching of Jesus Christ, because that is what they taught: what Christ had shown them.
They continued in the fellowship of the apostles. We know that each apostle did not have his own fellowship; that is not what it was about. They fellowshipped Jesus Christ. We are brought into the fellowship of God the Father and the Son. That is the fellowship into which they were brought in the early church, and what they fellowshipped around daily.
Then prayer and breaking of bread came forth. This was something that came forth out of life. It was not something that they sat down and voted on, saying, “Well, I think we need to start having group prayer,” or, “I think we need to break bread together and have the Lord’s table, and we are going to do it at certain times.”
It simply came forth out of this life, this infant life of the early church.
Brothers and sisters, I have shared how, down through the years, this life has been so attacked that during the Dark Ages it almost disappeared completely. But praise God, through the Reformation, God began a recovery work to recover the life and testimony that the early church possessed.
Now, recovery work does not just regain what was lost, but it grows and builds into maturity. One day, that infant church which began a couple of thousand years ago will become the bride of Christ.
Brothers and sisters, in the early church they experienced Christ. It was the life of Christ that they experienced and shared with each other. This life, as it was manifested and as they experienced it together, became their testimony.
Testimony comes out of life. It comes out of reality. It does not come out of set things that you do, or rituals. It comes from life itself.
Their testimony was powerful. Thousands came to Christ in those early days of the church. They had such a pure and powerful testimony from this life that came forth as they gathered together daily.
First John 1:1-3 says—and this is the Apostle John:
That which was from the beginning, that which we have heard, that which we have seen with our eyes, that which we beheld, and our hands handled, concerning the Word of life
(and the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare unto you the life, the eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us);
that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you also.— 1 John 1:1-3
That was the testimony of the early apostles and the early church. Christ was manifested to them, and that was how they experienced Christ. Out of that experience, they had a testimony, and their testimony was real.
Today, the Lord Jesus Christ is no longer walking this earth as He did in those early days. The life of Christ today is experienced as the church gathers with one another, as we share Christ with one another in fellowship, as Christ is revealed to us through the teaching of the Word, as we gather together for prayer, and as we share the Lord’s table together.
That life is manifested, and you begin to experience Christ—the reality of Jesus Christ. That is what becomes your testimony.
It is not what you know about Jesus that is your testimony, but what you know of Him. That is, what you know Him. Not about Him, but what you know Him. That becomes your testimony: how the reality of Jesus Christ has touched your life.
All of us who have been saved through the power of the blood have a testimony, because we can, at a very minimum, testify that we have been saved—and saved alone by the blood of Jesus Christ—because it is real. It has happened to you.
Others might say, “Yes, men are saved when they accept Jesus Christ and His sacrifice on the cross for them.” But if they have not experienced the reality of that in their life, they are not saved. They are not a part of Christ. It is just form. It is just words. There is no testimony there.
But you have a testimony because you have experienced Jesus Christ.
Brothers and sisters, we talked about the life of the early church. This life became their testimony. It is not just good enough to understand these forms of life that we have been sharing on. It is not just good enough to attend a prayer meeting, a ministry meeting, or the Lord’s table.
It is not good enough just to attend and touch the outward form of life. All you have is knowledge and form. Unfortunately, much of Christianity today just has knowledge and form. But there is no life experience, no reality there, and therefore no testimony.
Brothers and sisters, we have to confess before the Lord Jesus Christ that our testimony today is very weak before God, because even with all that we know and all that we try to experience, there is so little of the reality of Christ.
But thank God, the life of the early church did survive. It survived the Dark Ages because God was merciful.
Today, what we enjoy of Christianity, of this life together as the body of Jesus Christ, we owe to many martyrs who died for the Word of God, who died in prayer, and who died for this way of life that was an experience of Jesus Christ.
Brothers and sisters, it is not just good to attend and touch the outward form of things. We have to enter into the life of it. That becomes our testimony.
We must recover the life that the early church experienced. What did they experience? They experienced Christ in the teaching of the Word. They experienced Christ in their fellowship with one another. They experienced Christ as they prayed together. They experienced Christ as they broke bread.
Only the experience of the life of Christ becomes testimony. It was a powerful testimony in those days, brothers and sisters, and our calling today, before He returns, is to recover the testimony of Jesus Christ. That can only be recovered by experiencing the life of Christ together.
How the enemy hates the testimony of Jesus Christ. Satan hates the testimony of Jesus Christ and will rise up against any form of testimony of the Lord Jesus.
We have these young people who are getting baptized today as a testimony—a living testimony of what Christ has done in their lives—and a testimony that they want to follow Him.
Therefore, to follow Him, they must put aside the old and take on the new. It is a living testimony of what Christ has done. The enemy hates it.
We need to pray for these young ones, that they will be able to stand up in the fires that result from standing up for Jesus Christ.
The enemy hates the testimony of Jesus. Therefore, as you might know, brothers and sisters, the teaching of the Word was almost lost before the Reformation. They even lost the truth of justification by faith. Men were lost and had no way—no way of salvation.
Fellowship—what did their fellowship consist of in the Dark Ages? It was not Christ. They could not get together and talk about Christ because they had not experienced Christ. Very little could they share with one another.
Prayer—what did it come down to? Rosary beads, chanting, forms, instead of real prayer.
The breaking of bread was perverted and became a tradition in the hearts of men, almost totally meaningless—a mockery to the real table of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Oh, the enemy hates the testimony of Jesus. It is a battle that we will be in until the Lord returns.
Well, today our thought is to share on prayer. We have shared on truth and fellowship; today I would like to share on prayer.
As I thought about this, I said, you know, prayer really comes forth from truth and fellowship. Now, allow me to explain what I mean.
As you begin to see the truth, as the truth of Jesus Christ is shared with you, as you begin to see who Jesus is and what He is, and you begin to see His heart, you begin to fellowship Christ with one another. You begin to touch the heart of God.
As you touch the heart of God, you begin to see that God has a great eternal purpose: to bring many sons to glory. Those many sons, baptized into one body and matured, will become His bride in eternity and will share in intimate fellowship and union with Him throughout eternity.
It brings us to pray. If we see something of God’s heart, how can we not pray?
It is through prayer that we fellowship with Christ. As we begin to see what Christ is after, what His heart is set upon, how can we not gather and pray that the Lord’s will be done?
So I would say and propose that the spirit of prayer rises out of our knowledge of, and fellowship in, Jesus Christ: the truth and the fellowship. I think prayer is an automatic result of that.
I think a real example of this can be found in Ephesians. You remember in those early chapters in Ephesians, what do we see? We have Christ revealed to us as Head of the church. The church is revealed to us as the testimony of Jesus Christ on this earth.
As you go through Ephesians—and Jim is going to be sharing on Ephesians, so I will not steal too much thunder—when you get to chapter 6, what do you find? You find a warrior dressed in the full armor of God.
What is he doing? He is wrestling against principalities, powers of darkness, and forces of evil.
We go from this great revelation of Christ and His church to this warrior. We discover that this warrior is also the church, and it is armored in Christ. If you look at all the armor, it is just Jesus Christ: the full armor of God.
They are wrestling, but they are gathering in their wrestling not just asking for personal needs. They are dealing with principalities and powers of darkness that rule over this earth.
The adversary, Satan, has set up a great cadre of fallen angels. A hierarchy exists among them. There is a prince of Persia mentioned in the Bible—princes of darkness trying to rule this earth and upset the authority of Jesus Christ.
Do you not see that when you have a revelation of Christ and His church, a testimony begins? The enemy hates the testimony of Jesus, and he is out to destroy it. He sets up all his principalities and powers to try to destroy it.
This church is a corporate man, as we say. In other words, it is not merely a group of individuals, but it is an army.
In this recent war that we have been involved in, they did not just send seventy-five thousand soldiers in there and tell them, “Do what you need to do. Shoot whatever pops up.” They had a plan. It was a strategy. They had to work together. They had to protect one another. They had to carry out the plan of the commander, the chief commander.
Joshua, when he was approached before he took on the battle of Jericho, had one approach him. He said, “Are you for us, or for our adversaries?” It was the Lord, and the Lord said, “No; but as prince of the host of the Lord am I now come.”
The church has a Captain of the host. The church is also called to be the army of God.
Brothers and sisters, we are on active duty.
Today, in our setup with our armies and Air Force, we have reserves, and then we have what is called the regular military. The reserves are those who train at home. They go through basic training; they are prepared and ready to go into service if they get called up, like many were during this war.
But in God’s army, there are no reserves. We are all on active duty. We are all called to the front line. We are all called to stand shoulder to shoulder in this battle.
No reserves. Active duty.
Let me read Matthew 16 again, real quick.
Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but My Father who is in heaven.
And I also say unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
If any man would come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.— Matthew 16:17-19, 24
The Father reveals Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ reveals the church. What is His charge to the church?
Is it to have socials? Is it to be concerned about personal needs? And, by the way, supplications are okay.
His charge to the church, I find very interesting. This is the first time—Jesus only mentions the church twice—this is the first time He gives her her charge: bind and loose. Bind and loose.
This is warfare, and warfare is carried out through authoritative prayer: prayer of authority.
The Lord says, “You are My church. You are My army. I am the Commander in Chief. Whatsoever you bind, I will bind in heaven. Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven. Whatever you loose on this earth will have been loosed in heaven.”
How do we have this authority to bind and loose? How does the church have this ability to have effective prayers that will deal with principalities and powers of darkness?
The secret is in the last revelation in this section: the revelation of the cross.
Take up your cross, and follow Me.
— Matthew 16:24
What does the cross mean? Not my will, but Thine be done.
Every called-out saint in the army of God is called to take up the cross. That basically means, “Not my will, but Thine be done, Lord. If I need to pray, I am going to get on my knees. I am going to pray with my brothers and sisters. We are going to bind this thing up, or we are going to loose for the kingdom of God.”
We are going to deal with the powers of darkness that lie behind all these things that we see and hear.
What makes our prayers effective is when we, as individual members of that garment, are willing to take up our cross, deny our own selves, and follow the Lord wherever He might take us. It means praying. It means fellowshipping. It means studying and entering into the Word of God, making it real in our lives.
Deny yourself. Self wants to do everything else. It will even be religious, but it will not follow the Lord.
Not my will, but Thine be done. Then the church can come together on its knees and pray with one accord.
Remember when those one hundred and twenty were in prevailing prayer? It was ten days of travailing prayer. It says they were in one accord. They had one purpose, one heart, one accord.
Then the church can bind and loose. It can bind and loose because the authority of the throne stands behind His church when His church is taking up the cross and standing as one man before Him.
Brothers and sisters, the church has to take its proper ground in this fight, in this fight of prayer. What is the proper ground? Once again, it is the ground of the cross. It is the ground of the victory of the cross.
Today, our brother read out of Colossians that He stripped the principalities and powers and cast them off. That is the way we began.
That is the ground on which we stand. The church does not fight for victory; it fights from victory. The victory has been won in Jesus Christ. It has been done. In heaven, it has been accomplished.
But it has to be made real on this earth, and it is the place of the church to take the reality of what has been done in heaven and bring it down to this earth through binding and loosing prayer—authoritative, executive prayer. Bring the will of God down to this earth.
That is why it is so important that we be following the will of God in our lives personally. If we want to bring the will of God down to deal with principalities and powers of darkness, then we need to follow the will of God in our own lives.
It is powerful, brothers and sisters. All the gates, it says—the gates of hell—have been opened against the testimony of Jesus Christ.
Are we going to leave the will of God as an objective truth? It has to be accomplished on this earth, and that is the work of the church in prayer, in executive prayer.
The second issue, I would say, is the ground—the ground of the cross. Let me say this: in Revelation, it says they overcame by the blood of the Lamb, the word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives unto death. That is the cross.
And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb, and because of the word of their testimony; and they loved not their life even unto death.
— Revelation 12:11
You cannot go into any battle when you are impure. We are sinners. We need the blood of Jesus Christ.
When we go to pray, we need to be keenly aware that we can only approach the throne because of the blood of Jesus Christ. It needs to be active and real in your life. Our sins have to be dealt with, and can only be dealt with through the blood of Jesus Christ, as we come before Him washed in the blood.
The word of their testimony—what was their testimony? Jesus is Lord.
If we are going to come in executive prayer, Jesus needs to be Lord of your life. You have got to make Him Lord. If He is not Lord of your life, our executive prayer is very weak—very weak.
They loved not their lives unto death. In other words, they put Christ before themselves. That is the ground on which we need to stand.
Then we can come and pray in one accord, with one purpose and one heart. We come as one man. We come as an army, not a group of individuals just firing off shots anywhere, but a coordinated, precise attack on the principalities and powers of the air.
We are not shooting off cork guns here and there. It is missiles designed to take out the enemy.
I have been quite intrigued in this war by how specific the development of our weapons has been: very specific, very targeted—within three meters. It has been, in some ways, kind of awesome. Then they have these bunker busters: weapons designed specifically for a specific purpose, to take out the enemy.
So when we come together in corporate prayer—the prayer of the church—we are looking to the Lord: “Lord, we need to bind up this situation,” or, “We need to loose Christ in this situation. Give us the specific target to pray for. Give us that guided missile that will hit home.”
Let us turn to 1 Samuel 13 again. I just want you to see it with your eyes: 1 Samuel 13:19.
Now there was no smith found throughout all the land of Israel; for the Philistines said, Lest the Hebrews make them swords or spears.
— 1 Samuel 13:19
The Philistines, who were their enemies, had taken away their weapons—their swords and spears. Not only had they taken their weapons away, but they had taken away their ability even to make weapons.
This has always been the work of the enemy. He wants to take your weapon away. Your weapon is prayer.
He even took away their ability to make weapons. They had to fight with their rakes and their hoes, the utensils they used for farming. Those were the only weapons they had.
This was in the day of the judges. Actually, the day of the judges is very much like the Dark Ages that we have been through. It was a very desperate time in the life of God’s people, the nation of Israel.
You know, in the Old Testament, the nation of Israel was to be the instrument of testimony on this earth, to carry the testimony of Jesus. Their weapons had been taken.
The enemy had them totally in surrender, totally oppressed. He just took their weapon, and then took away their ability even to have weapons.
We need to learn how to pray. The enemy has not only taken away this binding and loosing, this authoritative prayer, in the church of God today; many, many brothers and sisters in Christianity do not even know about authoritative prayer. They do not even have the ability to pray that way. They have no understanding of how the enemy has worked.
In much of Christianity today, in many places, they really do not even have a prayer meeting as a church.
In some places, I remember, I attended one myself personally. It was a pretty well-grounded church in the truth. We were pretty well-grounded in the truth, but when we would gather for prayer meeting on Wednesday nights, basically it was a sermon.
Usually it was on prayer, but it was a sermon. Then we would get together in a room and share about some personal needs within that assembly. That was good. I mean, I am glad we did that. But there was no binding and loosing. We did not even know it existed.
We did not know that we needed to be dealing with the principalities and powers behind the scenes.
How the enemy has worked. If he cannot convince you that he does not exist, he will take away all the weapons that he can.
You know, I find it strange today that it seems to be Hollywood that is aware of principalities and powers. You think about it. All the movies that we see portray satanic, evil powers.
I tell you this: they are far more heinous than the movies could ever depict. Now, I have to say, I think Hollywood has touched the dark side, so do not get me wrong. I am not raving for Hollywood here. All I am saying is, it is a fairy tale.
We talk about all these dark things. They are kind of known. I think men, down in their hearts, sense there is an evil. They should; it is manifested all over this earth.
But the enemy has taken our consciousness away from the real battle. Many, many brothers and sisters do not realize they are in a battle. All they see are circumstances, problems, and issues, either in their individual lives or in the church.
They do not realize that behind it there are powers of darkness trying to destroy you, trying to destroy your Christian life, keeping you from prayer, keeping you from fellowship, keeping you from sharing in the Lord’s table in reality and touching the love of Jesus Christ in His table.
It is just kind of happening. We are not aware of the warfare.
Now, I do not want to become too warfare-conscious. We need to be Christ-conscious. But we need to be aware of what we are in, because Ephesians ends with this warrior, armored fully in Christ, wrestling against principalities and powers.
Israel was the testimony of Jesus on this earth. One day, they will once again, in the kingdom age, become that nation of testimony to the Lord and will be the ones who go out and share the gospel throughout this earth at that time.
But they have been set aside. The church today is the testimony of Jesus Christ.
In the day of the judges, their testimony was almost nonexistent. The enemy was almost in full control. You remember how the Lord raised up Samuel, the prophet Samuel? Samuel prayed.
Samuel was responsible for anointing David king. Samuel, in his life before the Lord, was really the warrior. He stood for God’s purpose on this earth. He knew God wanted a king after His own heart. He stood, and thank God, he anointed David.
So in 1 Chronicles 12:23, it says:
And these are the numbers of the heads of them that were armed for war, that came to David to Hebron, to turn the kingdom of Saul to him, according to the word of the Lord.
— 1 Chronicles 12:23
These were bands of men who came to David at Hebron, armed for war, to transfer the kingdom from Saul to David.
The Lord had raised up David, a mighty warrior. Remember how he took on Goliath. He was a mighty warrior, and these men were mighty warriors. They knew how to fight. They knew how to use their weapons. They would not break rank in battle. They stood their ground.
But even David, as mighty a warrior as he was, gives us a very sobering thought in 2 Samuel 11:1. Let me read it:
And it came to pass, at the return of the year, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the children of Ammon, and besieged Rabbah. But David tarried still at Jerusalem.
— 2 Samuel 11:1
Oh, what a telling line of Scripture that is. David had sent his armies out, and they were successful. But it says David tarried in Jerusalem.
This mighty warrior, this mighty one—the edge had been taken off his fighting spirit.
I am not sure why he decided to tarry. Maybe he was weary. The battle is long, brothers and sisters. Sometimes we just want to give up, do we not? The pressure is always on. The enemy is not going to let up. I think we need to get that resolved.
Sometimes we want to cave in. That is why we need one another. It is a long, weary battle. It seems to never end, and frankly, it will not until the Lord comes back.
Maybe he was weary of battle. Maybe he was self-confident. Maybe he just said, “Well, I think the army can take care of it. I do not need to be there. I have plenty of mighty warriors. They are gathering for prayer tonight. They can take care of the principalities and powers. I need to be home. I am tired.”
You see the application. Maybe he just wanted an easier life. After all, look at all the great things David had already done as a warrior. Maybe it was time for him to retire.
He should have been leading his men. Thank God, in those days they had real leaders. Usually those leaders were in the forefront of battle. He should have been leading his men and directing his men.
His army won, but David lost. Israel really lost.
Do you remember what happened? David was at ease, looking out over his balcony, and he spied Bathsheba. This warrior spirit crumbled. His heart was filled with lust.
Brothers and sisters, he was in the wrong place. He should have been leading his men in this battle. He was in the wrong place, and the enemy took advantage of that.
Oh, he just wanted a little bit of peace. So wearisome, this battle. He looked over the wall, and the enemy was tempting. The enemy got his ground because David left his post.
The enemy had the ground he needed to get back. Remember the tragedy that happened after that. Many in the nation of Israel were killed.
David’s family life was troublesome thereafter. His own son Absalom rose up against him to take the throne. David suffered, as did the nation of Israel, because of one man’s mistake.
It was simply withdrawing from the battle. It was that simple: withdrawing from the battle.
This morning, brothers and sisters, obviously the ministry is on prayer. I would ask: is the enemy taking your weapon?
Is it through sin, which weakens us? We need to get it right with the Lord.
Is it fear? Has the enemy brought fear into your life—something that grips you? There is victory in Jesus over fear.
I have not time to go into my own battles with that, but I will say this: if you stand on the blood of the Lamb, fear cannot hang around.
Is it doubts? Does he bring doubts into your life about your own Christian life, about the fellowship, about many things? Many doubts.
Is it love of the world? You know, the love of the world draws us; the love of Christ draws us. We find ourselves not in the battle.
Is it the busyness of life? The enemy loves to keep us busy with many things.
Is the enemy taking your fighting spirit?
I mentioned that it says in Revelation—I have read this many, many times—that in the last days Satan will wear out the saints. That is his battle tactic for the last days: to wear out the saints. We just get exhausted, not only with everyday life, but with the spiritual battle, trials, difficulties, and pressures.
We have to learn to stand together, shoulder to shoulder.
Wednesday nights, we gather to the Captain of the host. We gather as the army of God to transfer the kingdom of this world to the kingdom of Christ.
We need to learn to be His army and to bind and loose.
Let me end with Revelation 5:8.
And when He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having each one a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.
— Revelation 5:8
Christ has the deed book to this earth and this universe in His hands. We remember that book has seven seals. As you read through Revelation, you see that as the seals are opened, events begin to happen. Principalities and powers of darkness are drawn out into battle, and there are great, horrific battles going on.
Many scholars think we are between the fifth and sixth seals. But, brothers and sisters, all the seals have been opened in heaven. On this earth, we are somewhere between the fifth and sixth seal. There is a lot, if you read, that is going to happen in the sixth and seventh seals.
We are to be involved in bringing the kingdom of God to this earth.
Before Christ opened one seal, before He opened that first seal, the Word records that the elders opened up these vessels, and odors came out. It says in the Word that it was the prayers of the saints.
I hope we get the picture. Christ did not open one seal until He heard the prayers.
Until He heard the prayers.
Our Captain, the One who holds this book in His hand, does not open a seal until He hears the prayers of the saints.
Like I said, the seals in heaven have been opened. But as far as being experienced on this earth, we have to stand with our God:
Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth.
— Matthew 6:10
The next events that are to occur to sum up this age, to sum up this hour in which we live—which surely cannot be much longer before He returns—require that the saints pray, that the church prays. Then heaven will take action. Heaven waits.
Do we want to hasten the day of the Lord? Let me say, brothers and sisters, God is on a spiritual calendar, not one that we are used to—not the calendars that we are used to. He is on a spiritual calendar, and it says we can actually hasten His return.
It is through corporate prayer, through the prayers of the saints, through His church, as we stand for His will to be done on earth.
Brothers and sisters, we need to recover the life and testimony of the early church and go on to maturity to become the bride of Christ. We need to be in prayer.
We have our sister who is going back to Papua New Guinea. We need to stand with her. That is a big mission field out there. We have many of our brothers and sisters who are out there on the front lines.
But we also have many world events going on, even today, and things we have experienced in the last three weeks. They are going to affect how God carries out the opening of these seals, to prepare the nations for the last hour.
Well, may we not be caught off guard. May we not be caught unawares. May we recover the life and testimony of Jesus Christ.
Lord, we come to Thee today. Lord, we need Your grace.
Lord, when we begin to see what we bring all to, we can only say, “Grace, grace.” Lord, we need Your grace to live this life.
We need this grace to understand Your Word, to seek Christ in Your Word. We need this grace, Lord, to share Christ in fellowship. We need this grace for prayer.
We need this grace, Lord, that when we come to Your table, it will be a love feast and not a ritual. Lord, we need You to reign and prevail.
Now, Lord, as we consider this matter of baptism that lies ahead of us today, we stand in the name of Jesus Christ for these young people. Lord, they are warriors who are going to be on the front lines. We stand for them. Lord, we pray for them.
We pray, Lord, that their testimony will be full and real. We stand against all the attacks of the adversary to try to diminish this testimony today.
Lord, we loose the power of Christ in their lives, that they might follow Thee, that they might take up their cross daily and follow Thee. In Jesus’ name. Amen.