by lighthouse | Jun 30, 2019 | Fasting & Prayers, News & Announcements
Speaking Well
Jer 29:7; 2Chronicles 7:14
The word “bless” even though a commonly used term in Christian lingo, is very often not really understood by many!
Most Christians easily relate to the word blessing on the basis of material benefits or prayers of good will pronounced over a blessing, as it indeed is; however, when we understand that at its root, the word means “to speak well of”, we can begin to see how the words that we speak about the church, the people and the location that we are in, can actually have the opposite effect to blessings!
God is challenging us to pray for, and seek the welfare and prosperity of the place we are in — the community, the people, our local assembly (The Lighthouse). The question to you dear friend is:
What does this practically mean to you as an individual? How will you see to it; what will you do personally to make this will of God established in this season?
Apart from the things that you can offer in service to the ministry or to the community, a good place to start is by speaking well!
Do you speak what you see or do you declare what God has said and what you wish to see concerning the ministry?
Dear friend, it is time to be watchful over the words that we speak or that we allow people to speak to us concerning the church — it is time to begin to speak well; to declare words of blessing over the community and over the ministry and the members of the church.
It is time to speak words of life and not unwittingly be a mouthpiece for the adversary, or be a commentator about all that is “wrong” or you think is undesirable about the ministry or your brethren!
That is it our prayer focus today —
Pray that God will heal this ministry and deliver us from the power and influence of the negative words spoken or limiting pronouncements that have been or are being declared over us.
Declare words of faith and words of life over the church and the community.
Speak words of blessings over the school that we meet in.
Ask God to open your heart and your eyes to what (or what more) you can do personally to ensure the welfare and prosperity of the ministry or the community we are in.
Pray that God will enable you to do what He will show you or put on your heart to do.
Pray that God will raise people who are skilled, willing, available and are consistently committed to help the ministry accomplish the will of God for us.
by lighthouse | Jun 29, 2019 | Fasting & Prayers, News & Announcements
Binding The Strongman
Scriptures For Meditation — Mark 3:27; Luke 11:21-22
Jesus talks about “The Strongman” in our scriptures for meditation today. This is a descriptive term of the sway that Satan exerts over people and places.
He tells us that unless the strongman is bound, we cannot just enter into his territory or area of dominion and influence, and hope to plunder his goods.
Extending our application of the scripture that we meditated on yesterday (Jer 29:7) and the quotation on deliverance, we will be praying for the physical location of the church today — the community in which the church is situated, and the school premises itself.
It follows from our opening scriptures, that for the church to prosper in its ministry of winning souls, delivering people from the oppression of the powers of darkness and enforcing the will of God in their lives and in the community, the strongman has first to be bound and incapacitated!
The bible tells us in Ephesians 6:12 Amplified Bible (AMP) —
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood [contending only with physical opponents], but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this [present] darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly (supernatural) places.
Reading this from the perspective of the earlier two scriptures (above), we begin to see what we might have to deal with, in praying for the prosperity of the church and our ministry in the community.
There are spiritual forces in every geographical area that have been entrenched and exercise dominion, authority or influence over the areas and the people.
These powers of darkness actively work to resist the progress or effectiveness of the work of God’s kingdom in the communities and in the lives of the people.
But the Bible also tells us in John 1:5 that the light shines in darkness and the darkness cannot overwhelm it; and also in 1John 3:8, that Jesus Christ came to destroy all the works of the evil one!
Prayer Focus
Let’s bring the community that the church is situated (Barnet, Finchley, East End Road) and the school (Christ’s College Finchley – The organisation and the physical premises) before God. Let’s plead the blood of Jesus Christ over the area, the school and the people, that the blood will begin to speak on their behalf.
Let’s petition God to send forth His angelic hosts to begin to war on our behalf to overpower the forces of evil that are operating to hinder the work of the gospel.
In the Name of Jesus Christ, let’s pray that the strongman operating over the area be bound, and let’s lose the community, the people and the school from the power and influence of satanic forces that are in operation.
Let’s pray that the will of God in the area concerning His kingdom the people of the community and the school be fully established.
Let’s pray for the welfare and prosperity of the community, the people and the school; let’s pray especially, that the influence of the kingdom of God will expand and the work of this ministry will prosper.
Let’s pray that God will release the community, the people and the school from the hold of Satan and his forces, that God will give us the keys to the gates of the community and the hearts of the people, to free them from the dominion of Satan, and bring them into the light of the kingdom of God.
Let’s pray that we will begin to see souls saved regularly, the people delivered and set free to worship the LORD and planted in the LIGHTHOUSE to increase the church.
by lighthouse | Jun 28, 2019 | Fasting & Prayers, News & Announcements
Intercession For The Lighthouse
Scriptures For Meditation –Jeremiah 29:7
Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.
As I meditated on the theme for this month’s fasting and prayers, the Holy Spirit amplified one of the statements that I made in one of the Sunday messages on the recently concluded series on deliverance —
Deliverance is not always about casting out demons —
fundamentally, it is about divine alignment —enforcing the victory of Calvary and bringing the will of God to bear in a situation — in the life of a person, in a place or time.
God began to impress on my heart, that the part of actively seeking to enforce the will of God in a place is often overlooked by many, as they focus mainly on enforcing the will of God in their lives, whilst trying to progress in life!
But the two are actually often related —
Sometimes, you have to enforce the will of God in a place as a prelude to seeing the will of God enforced in your own life.
Our scripture for today somewhat expresses the sentiment of what God is saying to us. An important conclusion to the instructions that God spoke to the exiled Jews by prophet Jeremiah enjoins them to pray for the prosperity of the place they were occupying, as their own prosperity was tied to this.
As the Amplified Bible translates this verse:
And seek (inquire for, require, and request) the peace and welfare of the city to which I have caused you to be carried away captive; and pray to the Lord for it, for in the welfare of [the city in which you live] you will have welfare.
There is a truth in this scripture that can also speak about the local church that we attend, or the place in which it is situated!
Thinking about this, we will be concentrating on praying / interceding for The Lighthouse (As God has named us) over this period of fasting and prayers.
We will be praying for the church as a corporate body, for the will of God concerning the ministry to be established; and also in the lives of individuals/families, and for the neighbourhood and community in which we are situated.
Prayer Focus
As said earlier concerning enforcing the will of God, it is about bringing things into divine alignment.
Divine Alignment—
• Every time we pray, what we are doing is making room for Heaven to invade earth;
• we make ourselves agents of change as we unite with God and invite Him to make His sovereignty paramount and His dominion evident in the situations or places that we bring before Him.
• We are making room for our lives to come into alignment with God’s predestined plans; for our lives to be in consonance with the destined timing of God’s agenda.
As Jesus taught us to pray —
“Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”
We pray that in whatever area the ministry has been held captive, oppressed or placed under any yoke by the enemy, the power of the Holy Spirit will work actively in us to break the church free from the dominion of the powers of darkness!
Let’s pray for our ministry, that God will bring every area and every family, men, women and children into divine alignment with His will for us.
Let’s pray for the prosperity and welfare of the ministry, that God will increase us spiritually, numerically and financially/materially; for the manifestation of the Spirit and power of God to increase tangibly, for souls to be saved and added weekly, and for the gateway of miracles to be open unto us.
We pray that God will break the church free from whatever had limited us in the past, so we can be free to experience the fullness of God’s counsel / plan for the ministry.
