by lighthouse | Jun 30, 2021 | Fasting & Prayers
From This Day Forward…
Scriptures For Meditation — Haggai 2:18-19; 2 Chronicles 6:12-31
Hag 2:18 ‘Consider now from this day forward, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, from the day that the foundation of the LORD’s temple was laid—consider it:
Hag 2:19 Is the seed still in the barn? As yet the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree have not yielded fruit. But from this day I will bless you.’ “
The two passages of scripture that we are meditating on for this last day of our fasting and prayers, capture the essence of what God is doing in our lives in this season.
Altered At The Altar
We started our first instalment of the series on curses and blessings reading the prophetic message that Haggai gave to the children of Israel, letting them know that the reason they were living under a curse was because they had neglected to keep their vows to God, which they made to Him when He delivered them from the bondage of the Babylonian captivity. (Hag 2:1-17)
They were meant to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple and the walls of the city. However, when they got their deliverance, they soon forgot about their obligations to God and went about their merry lives doing their own stuff; an attitude that even till this day, many of us unwittingly find ourselves exhibiting.
Whilst our focus yesterday was on pulling down and destroying evil altars, as we saw in Gideon’s life, we can only build the Lord’s altar, after other unholy altars have been destroyed.
Haggai returned to express an imminent change in the fortunes of the children of Israel, after they eventually did what God had demanded of them. As they laid the foundation of the temple and began the work of rebuilding God’s house, another prophetic word came to them from God —
From this day forward, I will begin to change your story; I will change the situation of your life, and I will bless you!
This is also the promise of God to us today!
We tore down the altars of Baal in our lives yesterday, and today, we shall be laying the foundation of a glorious Temple to the Lord in our lives and rebuild the altar where our lives will be an offering — a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving to Him — For as the bible says, we (believers) are the temple of God.
Recovery, Restoration, Rededication
In the second scripture, we see again, what happened when Solomon was dedicating the completion of the original temple that had been destroyed.
Solomon petitioned God on behalf of himself and the nation, by making some demands on God’s mercy and favour on account of the temple that had been built. (2 Chr 6:12-39)
He closed his prayers with a powerful invocation of God’s covenant keeping grace:
2Ch 6:40 “Now, O my God, I pray, let Your eyes be open and Your ears attentive to the prayer offered in this place.
2Ch 6:41 “Now then arise, O LORD God, [and come] to Your resting place, You and the ark of Your strength and power. Let Your priests, O LORD God, be clothed with salvation and let Your godly ones rejoice in [Your] goodness.
2Ch 6:42 “O LORD God, do not turn away and reject the face of Your anointed; remember Your lovingkindness and faithfulness to Your servant David.”
Prayer Focus
We are also going to similarly rededicate our lives to God, and invoke His grace and loving kindness — His mercy and His favour over our lives and our families.
We have confessed and repented of our sins, renounced ungodly covenants and broken every curse and cancelled negative pronouncements over our lives and families.
We know that in the name of Jesus, our faithful Heavenly Father has heard and answered our prayers and rebuked the enemy, shut the mouth of the devourer and destroyed his power and influence over our lives.
We will therefore pray and claim the same promise that He made through Haggai to His people —
From this day forward, the Lord our God will bless us!
This is our battle cry against the enemy of our soul and destiny; we are blessed beyond the curse.
We have been blessed by God, and no one can stop it or reverse it!
The shout of our King is amongst us; Jehovah has been proclaimed to be our King.
Hallelujah!
Please join us online on Zoom again tonight for us to pray the prayer of Restoration and Rededication together.
May the Lord answer you speedily in Jesus’s Name.
Shalom,
Pastor Wale Ola
Prayer & Fasting
(Online Corporate Prayers)
Please Join Us For Prayers on Zoom TONIGHT from 7:30pm – 8:45pm. Click the link below to Join directly from your, PC, Mac, Linux, and on your iOS or Android phone: https://zoom.us/j/2018045150
Password: oasis
by lighthouse | Jun 29, 2021 | Fasting & Prayers
OPEN AND CLOSE
Scripture For Meditation — Judges 6:1-32; 1John 1:9; John 8:36
“When the enemy has an open door into your life, the doorways of God’s blessings in your life are closed.”
This was the statement that the Spirit of God impressed in my heart as I prepared to write today’s blog.
God had promised to increase Israel as the sand on the sea shore; but as we read in our scripture passage, their sin stopped their growth and diminished them, and then their enemies, though otherwise every way inferior to them, overpowered them with numbers.
Open Doors and Breaches
Taking advantage of the open door that the Israelites’ disobedience presented to them, their enemies tried to deprive God’s people of the blessings which God had promised them —
They tried to hinder the access and enjoyment of the Israelites to the promised land.
The Enemy’s Strategy —
A repeating pattern of failure and a cycle of defeat.
Jdg 6:3 For it was whenever Israel had sown [their seed] that the Midianites would come up with the Amalekites and the people of the east and go up against them.
Jdg 6:4 So they would camp against them and destroy the crops of the land as far as Gaza, and leave no sustenance in Israel as well as no sheep, ox, or donkey.
Jdg 6:5 For they would come up with their livestock and their tents, and they would come in as numerous as locusts; both they and their camels were innumerable. So they came into the land to devastate it.
They always came at the time of harvest to devour the fruits of their labour.
All their produce and livestock was stolen after they worked hard to bring it to fruition. Does that sound familiar to you?
But you have not obeyed My voice:
God sent this messenger to tell them where the real problem was. It wasn’t that the Midianites were so strong, it was that because Israel was so disobedient, they were under the curse of toiling without harvest.
Manifestations of The Curse
Some of these things may be identifiable in our own lives as well:
• Hardship — Threshing wheat in the wine press — This was both difficult and humiliating.
• Fruitless labour — They had neglected to honour God with their substance and had prepared that for Baal with which God should have been served, and now God justly permitted an enemy to take it away in what should have been the season of their harvest.
• Poverty — When Israel kept in line with God, they reaped what others sowed (Jos 24:13; Psa 105:44); but now that God had forsaken them others reaped what they sowed.
• Oppression— The Israelites imprisoned themselves in dens and caves, because of the oppressive spirit of fear that had come upon them (Judges 6:2)
Tearing Down The Altars of Baal
By Gideon – Jdg 6:25-32
By Jehoiada – 2Ki 11:18
By Josiah – 2Ki 23:4-5
In ancient Israel, the people worshipped Baal because he was thought to be the god of weather, and they relied on the weather for agricultural prosperity.
In the hard economic times because of the Midianite oppression, people worshipped Baal all the more – not understanding that they only made things worse by not turning to God.
God called Gideon to get his own house in order first –
He had to destroy the altar of Baal before he could raise an altar to the Lord, and reverse the prevailing negative circumstances in their lives!
This is the same call of God to us in this moment in time — Get your house in order first!
We have to tear down the demonic altars of lies, deceit and unrighteousness that have prevailed in our lives, and empowered the enemy at the expense of the praise and honour that is due to God and robbed us of our destiny.
Prayer Focus
Spend the day to reflect on the negative patterns in your life or family.
Repent of whatever open doors or gaps that may be in your life or family that have empowered or are empowering the enemy to work against your destiny.
Cancel every curse that’s operating in your life or in your family line that are the result of the open doors.
Prayers of Renunciation (To be read from the slides at the prayer session tonight)
Prayer & Fasting
(Online Corporate Prayers)
Please Join Us For Prayers on Zoom TONIGHT from 7:30pm – 8:00pm. Click the link below to Join directly from your, PC, Mac, Linux, and on your iOS or Android phone: https://zoom.us/j/2018045150
Password: oasis
by Pastor Wale Ola | Jun 28, 2021 | Fasting & Prayers
The Shout of The King Is Amongst Us!
Scriptures For Meditation — Numbers 23:19-21; Jer 31:29-30; Eph 1:3
Num 23:19 “God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?
Num 23:20 Behold, I have received a command to bless; He has blessed, and I cannot reverse it.
Num 23:21 “God has not observed wickedness in Jacob [for he is forgiven], Nor has He seen trouble in Israel. The LORD their God is with Israel, And the shout of their King is among the people.
We have been studying the story of Balaam and Balaak in the book of Numbers, where Balaak (the king of Moab) had employed the prophet Balaam to curse Israel.
As we read In the story, there are a few important pointers that we can hold on to as we petition God on behalf of our families and contend for our destinies; we will identify and stand against whatever repeating limiting or destructive patterns that we may be experiencing in our lives or families.
1. God cannot lie
This is the foundation on which we will be building our stand as we believe God for what we are petitioning Him for. Whatever He has promised to do in our lives or situation, He is faithful to keep His promises concerning us.
2. When God blesses you, no one can reverse or alter His pronouncements over your life.
3. The blessings of God over your life are more powerful than whatever curses may have been spoken over your life or at work in your family lineage.
4. Because your life is hidden with Christ in God, every Curse or negative pronouncement concerning your life will not stand not prosper.
5. God has blessed and equipped you with everything that you need to fulfil His purpose for your life.
What’s Your Reality?
Having said all of that, some of us will realise upon looking closely into our lives, that the story of our lives may be somewhat removed from this reality. We may suspect that there appears to be some sort of hex or curse or negative spiritual forces fighting against us like an unseen hand, pulling us back or resisting us when we try to move forward in life.
And this may not just be limited to only ourselves, as sometimes, we could identify the same pattern at work in the lives of some people in our family line as well!
Friend, if these are true concerning you, that ought not to be so in your life as a child of God; and the Good News is that in Christ Jesus, we have the victory and authority over Curses and negative pronouncements spoken over our lives!
Search and Destroy
God’s charge to us as we fast and pray this month, is to stand and believe Him for the cancellation of every Curse and the cessation and reversal of every negative cycle that we may have been experiencing in our lives or families.
Prayer Focus
On this first day of our waiting on the Lord, we will spend our time to consecrate ourselves to God and invite and entertain His Holy Presence in our lives / space.
Num 23:21 “God has not observed wickedness in Jacob [for he is forgiven], Nor has He seen trouble in Israel. The LORD their God is with Israel, And the shout of their King is among the people.
Or as the NLT puts it:
For the LORD their God is with them; he has been proclaimed their king.
God being with us is indeed our greatest defence against the attacks or wiles of the enemy!
Let’s lift a shout of praise to our Defender and Shield.
Let’s lift up our voices and proclaim Him to be our king.
Let the shout of the King sound louder than the evil words that the enemy has been speaking concerning your life and over your family.
Position yourself for your deliverance and breakthrough in Jesus’s Name!
Eph 2:10 For we are His workmanship [His own master work, a work of art], created in Christ Jesus [reborn from above–spiritually transformed, renewed, ready to be used] for good works, which God prepared [for us] beforehand [taking paths which He set], so that we would walk in them [living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us].
Amen
