Take It To The Streets!

TAKE IT TO THE STREETS!

When Zion Travails...

The anguishing gut-wrenching cries of agony resounding from the room. The sounds of labor as a lady in child birth, with tenacious determination, struggles with the exertion of it all, yet willing in order to bring her child into the world. It was early, before the breaking of the dawn, yet the excruciating resonant groans as she wept wailing with the unmistakable, definitive, distinct and undeniable voice of travail.

Yet, it was not from the walls of a hospital room from which the cries were heard. No.. but the sounds were coming from a room that had the direct attention of God. A place were many tears flowed, burdens were brought, and passions were born. Some call it, the prayer room.

But what is travail and what is its purpose?

Isaiah 66:8 says that as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children.

As the children of God travail in prayer, things are birthed and brought forth in the Spirit. Things begin to happen.

Paul was a man who travailed. Galatians 4:19, My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you. Paul had already travailed for them to be born into the kingdom of God , and now he was travailing for the remainder of the work to be done, Christ being formed in them. Paul knew that the destiny of baby Christians was to ultimately come into the fullness of Christ. Those little children were not to remain “babes,” but were to be brought into maturity becoming sons of God. Travail produces sons.

Daniel was a man who experienced travail. In Daniel 7:15, he is seen grieving in the spirit.

In I Samuel, Hannah is seen weeping and in such agony that the priest accuses her of being drunk. But her travailing at the altar produced a son.

Jesus wept in travail just before he woke Lazarus up from the dead. Then... there was a resurrection.

The greatest travail of all time was Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane before He went to the cross for the sins of the world. “Luke 22:41‑44: “And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and knelt down, and prayed, Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. And being in agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.”

This travail was so agonizing and painful that it caused Him to sweat blood. The Lord knew what awaited Him on the cross of Calvary. He could never have faced the crucifixion without first praying through and getting the victory in the spirit. This great travail gave Him the serenity and courage to face the traumatic events of the next day. He had won the victory in the spirit before He ever faced the enemy in the flesh.

How comforting to know that when you pray in travailing, intercession, God will answer!

Joel declared "Let the priest weep between the porch and the altar and let them say, spare they people oh Lord...". (Joel 2:17)

This morning as I entered in a deep spirit of travail, where gut wrenching sobs racked my own body as I prayed for a particular situation. I begin to pray for understanding and the Lord gave me the scriptures in Micah 4:8-10, 13

And thou, O tower of the flock, the strong hold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion, the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem. Now why dost thou cry out aloud? is there no king in thee? is thy counselor perished? for pangs have taken thee as a woman in travail. Be in pain, and labor to bring forth O daughter of Zion, lie a woman in travail; for now thou shalt dwell in the field and thou shalt go even to Babylon; there shalt thou be delivered; there the Lord shall redeem thee from the hand of thine enemies.

When we travail in the spirit, God is using us to bring forth His will into the world, or into a particular situation.

We should constantly pray that God would "Let His mind be in us"!

Romans 8:26‑27: “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.”

Lord let YOUR spirit pray through us, for we don't know how to pray! But praying in the spirit and with understanding, we will see those things be birthed and come to pass in the name of Jesus!

Speak your answer into existence! Believe the report of the Lord! Let Him use you in prayer, intercession and venture into the deep waters of travail, for when Zion prevails it brings forth children. When we stand in the gap for a situation or a person, Jesus will respond!

Only Believe!

One of the only two proper names in the stories of the miracles of Jesus, Jairus was a man well known and a ruler of the synagogue of Caperneum. His very name meant "God enlightens, or that God would arouse or waken". The experience of Jairus in his life would attest the fact, that his very name came to fruition. Jairus, was brought by God into a heart rendering experience of excruciating pain, and grief, in order for Him to be awakened to the supernatural greatness of God! The very foundation of His life and his faith in Jesus was shaken to its very core.

The apple of his eye, Jairus' daughter was very ill and near death. Imagine the desperation that Jairus felt, as he made his way down the road to where he knew to find Jesus. His heart heavy, perhaps tears threatening to spill down his face, he hurried down the road. His feet feeling heavier with each step, his heart full of emotion, yet he still tried to keep the demeanor a leader of the synagogue should. His mind was swirling with thoughts and emotion, but He had faith enough to belief that if He could just get Jesus to come to his house, all would be well.

Yes, even Jairus, a man of great stature, and clout. A leader, a minister at the synagogue... his faith was being tested. He was walking through the fire.

At last he got to where Jesus was, and this high ranking, well to do person, threw himself at the feet of the simply dressed Jesus. Jesus was Jairus' only hope.

Jairus implored Jesus to come to his house. Told him his pitiful story about his only daughter of 12 years, lying there dying in her bed. If you would just come Jesus, I know she would be made well!

Little did He know that Jesus had made Jairus himself to be the apple of his eye just as Jairus had made his little sweetheart his pride and joy. Jesus had his eye on Jairus's situation all the time, and YES, He would be happy to go to Jairus' house.

The Psalmist David said, "Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings!"

It is said that the Saudi King has a custom of setting aside part of his time to hear the requests & problems of the common people. If this is so, how much more would the King of Kings want to sit down with his children and respond to their cries?!

But then something happened! The multitude that had been thronging Jesus now closed in again. Dispair must have crept over Jairus, as his mind began thinking oh no! Now what am I going to do! Jesus will never get there in time! I am sure his heart was about to break, and tears and sobs threatened to well up inside. And then, right before his eyes, he saw Jesus work a miracle with the woman that had the issue of blood. While this is going on all of a sudden Jairus' servant comes running up, panting and out of breath. His face tells all Jairus needs to know. Jairus! Oh Jairus, I am so sorry your daughter is dead. You didn't get back soon enough... it's too late.

How excruciatingly slow God often seems! Waiting on God is one of the hardest things to do! And while we are waiting, often times a messenger or bearer of bad news will come in again to shake our world! If we could only realize that while we are waiting, other miracles are happening! God is doing more than we can see with our naked eye! Jesus told Jairus, Fear not, only believe!

Finally Jesus goes with Jairus... as they approach the house they hear the sounds of the mourners. Wailing, pulling out their hair and beating their chests as was customary in those days. The sounds grieved Jairus, but He had faith to believe Jesus was going to take care of his precious baby girl.

The first thing Jesus did was separated those that believed from those that He knew were either fearful or didn't believe.

Lord help thou our unbelief! In Revelations, the fearful and the unbelieving were the first mentioned to be cast into the lake of fire!

Revelation 21:8
8But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.

God help us to believe you for miracles! Help us to believe you for the answers that you are already have worked out! Let us not deviate from our faith and belief that in YOU we have life, and life more abundantly. That it is through YOU we will experience a resurrection in our own lives, situations and problems!

The second thing Jesus did, was tell the people to stop mourning. He saw the situation as it were, not in the way that it appeared.

Peter, James and John were there being trained to have faith beyond the obvious. Faith to speak the word of faith that brings God's will into reality.

There was much laughter of unbelief... but Jesus spoke to the little girl and told her "Child get up!" (Greek intransitive, "to wake up, stir oneself, rise from the dead".

At once she stood up (Greek, parachrema which means immediately). There was an instant resurrection!

When it was His time.. Jesus stepped on the scene and instantly there was a resurrection!

Oh to have the faith and understanding that Jesus is working it all out! We are the apple of HIS eye! And after we come through the trial by fire, there will be a resurrection!

The Power of His WORD!

The spirit and power of the Lord is so real! Last night, we had our Filipino Bible Study at the home of Bro. & Sis. Brent Howell. What an incredible time in the Lord! His WORD truly is alive! With a total of 7 in attendance, we were happy to see Bro. Gonozolo and Bro. Salvador as they joined with us, along with Marilyn our new filipina friend! The anointing of God was in the house, you could feel it! It was something that was almost tangible and without a doubt our hearts were turned towards Him and changed! He is the author and finisher of our faith. His WORD a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path! Our study last night was on the Power of His WORD! Truly the Word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword! Thank you Jesus for your WORD!

The Number Three

The number three is associated with completeness or resurrection.

Jonah was in the belly of the fish for 3 days
Christ was buried in the earth for three days
Daniel prayed three times a day (Dan. 6:10);
The Multitude was with Jesus 3 days
Peter denied Christ three times (Matt. 26:74-75);
Jesus prayed three times before He was taken to be crucified (Matt. 26:36-45).

This morning the Lord quickened to me Daniel chapter 3 again, as a continuation of my study yesterday regarding the three Hebrew children.. In that chapter (3)... He brought them through the fire and also promoted them!

For those of you reading this that happen to be working with Multi-Cultural Ministries. July will mark the 3rd year of MCM! The first year the seeds were being put into the ground. The 2nd year the seeds had to die, and likewise the church (Spanish) seemingly had to as well. But now we're headed into the 3rd year and there is going to be a resurrection!

Today I prophesy to the dead bones... Hear the word of the Lord! You SHALL LIVE AGAIN!(Ez. 37:4)

On the 3rd day(year)you WILL rise again!
The seeds which have been sown are going to sprout up, take root, and bring forth fruit, not many days from now! Many shall be the increase from every tribe, tongue & nation in the name of the Lord!

The Eye of the Lord

This week has been full of surprises when it comes to the Word of God. It really has shown me personally, how alive the Word really is, if we allow it to be!

Last night, before going to bed, I began reading the book entitled "The Power of Spiritual Alignment", by Frank Damazio. As I began to read there was a segment of a chapter that stood out to me.

A spiritual man is not a man born again, but a man born again and walking in alignment. We need to learn how to walk in alignment with the kingdom of God, with a single eye and a single focus:

The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye be in single focus, pure and sound, your whole body will be well lighted. But if your eye be diseased, your whole body will be full of darkness. Matt. 6:22-23

The Lord is not speaking here of the physical eye but of the inner spiritual eye, or value focus. To have a single eye is to have an eye without ulterior motives, one that is free from inner discord, upright and pure. In Scripture, the eye refers to a particular way of seeing things and actually speaks of your focus on life. You may have an out-of-focus look on life and need to have an eye adjustment in order to develop a single eye....

Prov. 15:30 The light of the eyes rejoices the heart, and a good report makes the bones healthy.

Eph. 1:18 The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.

As I read, my heart began to beat a little faster, and my mind immediately went back to the preaching of Sis. Willoughby this past week about the eyes of the Lord! The presence of the Lord instantly came into the room where I was!

Truly, we as true apostolic believers must keep our eyes stayed on Jesus.. and as Sis. Willoughby so powerful stated, stay in the eye of the storm.. which is Jesus!

As I began to do my own study on the eyes of the Lord, there were several scriptures that stood out to me.

2 Chronicles 16:9
For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly: therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars.

Psalm 34:15
The eyes of the LORD are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry.

Psalm 17:8
Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings,

Psalm 33:18
Behold, the eye of the LORD is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy;

Several years ago, I remember the Lord speaking Psalms 33:18 to me. At that point in my life, I was in the valley of dispair, I could see no way out! But this scripture ministered to me for several months, and Jesus truly DID have His eyes on me.

Jesus, keep me as the apple of your eye, help me to have a healthy fear of you so that Your eyes will stay on me!