I met the Lord when I was 15 years old and all of my heroes in the faith were missionaries and evangelists. I read three biographies of J. Hudson Taylor the great missionary in China when I was 17 years old and Charles Finney and George Whitefield and John Wesley were my heroes. And when I saw my future I could only think of missions and evangelism and in my early days I was involved with campus crusade and navigators on the University campus. And then some years past and the Lord spoke to me in a very dramatic way, which I won’t give the details. He said I want you to be involved in 24 hour prayer that’s lead by worship teams. This was a confusing idea to me, 24 hour prayer? Why? Lead by worship teams? How? I had no idea what this meant or how to do this.
I was an evangelist. I preached on the streets of Bullhorn. I preached in restaurants just openly and I’m actually ashamed that I did some of those things it was bold but it was mostly in a flash. I preached in the university cafeterias in Bullhorn and made people very mad at me at the University. And when I dreamed of the future, I only dreamed of evangelism and missions.
To me an intercessor was a would be evangelist who went astray and they used bible verses to back it up. I am not joking, when a person said I am an intercessor I said “Oh brother”. I said get out of your couch and get in to the war. I truly had a negative feeling about intercessors and I didn’t like to pray at all.
If you would’ve told me in my twenties that I would be leading an intercessory ministry, I would’ve said that’s impossible because I don’t like prayers it’s so boring but God have surprises. And I said, “Lord what about evangelism?” and He spoke to me clearly that there would be an evangelism explosion when it was bathe in prayer. So I was willing to endure the boredom of prayer for the hope of greater evangelism. I had never been involved with prayer that had worship intermingled with it and with anointed worship prayers are not near so boring. So that was a great surprise but more than that, that was a great relief.
I first became acquainted with the YWAM over thirty years ago. It was first through a Joy Dawson’s teaching. I would transcribe her messages word for word and preached them and never give her credit, never. I’m not here to repent about that, I still don’t feel bad about it and I feel good about it and I encourage young people to keep doing it. But I touched YWAM in the mid-70s and the subjects that marked my spirit were the subjects of prayer. The fact that I would be talking to YWAM based about prayer is strange to me because YWAM taught me about prayer. So I would never think to give a testimony about prayer at YWAM because YWAM taught me prayer.
Secondly hearing from God or the prophetic ministries what that really is, the father heart of God, intimacy of God, and then revelation is the place of intersession. This became a common idea that I received from YWAM and putting feet to your prayers a very dynamic concept that you have exhibited for 50 years. But one thing strikes me about YWAM above the even these things that are so dynamic, it is that you were known around the world as a servant ministry. What I mean is a ministry that has a servant spirit that when YWAM is involved they will do the work and when it comes times to the platform, they’ll put other people on it. And on behalf of the body of Christ I say thank you for the fifty years of not just evangelism but with a serving spirit and fifty years of prayer and prophetic and intimacy and all of these wonderful things in your heritage.
One of those great joys in my life in terms of ministry relationships was connected with John Dawson maybe 20 plus years ago. And John Dawson is one of the princes of the earth in my opinion. But he exhibits the spirit alone in Darlene and so many of the senior believers had. I look at John over the year and I go “mmmm mwah Suma Comlaude, very, very good”. But I want to just give a few points on this hand out and again this is a teaching that I gave in Kansas City at the IHA mission’s base. We have about a thousand staff members, 500 fulltime and 500 part time. And we have all kinds of training and meetings but once a month we all gather and I give what I believe to be a teaching that gives focus. And we’ve been using this word "convergence" because the spirit is speaking these to ministries all over the world. We are approaching an hour of churches free of convergence where we serve one another and we promote others in front and YWAM has exhibit this second to no group in the Earth for my point of view.
You cannot say what I’m about to say next from your YWAM platform and I would put campus crusade alongside with YWAM in some of these statements but YWAM is the largest and most effective mission organization in human history. YWAM is the largest and most effective mission organization in human history.
You have many reasons to brag around and distract around and be a no dull. The most effective in human history, that gives you bragging right as far as I am concerned but do the researching and do the math. Then what I said is a true statement but the amazing thing is you’ve never done the research, you’ve never done the math that’s never occurred to most of you because you’re too busy researching where you aren’t to brag about where you are. If ever a group had the right to be a know it all and to tell everyone else how to do it, it would be YWAM. But you excel in a serving spirit and in a teachable spirit and that to me are remarkable.
I’m talking to the twenties something right now. Be like your leaders, this is a remarkable work of God what’s in their spirits. Now I’m not saying this because I’m here in front of you, I have said these things a number of times to our staffs back at Kansas City because the Lord told us very clearly that our first assignment in intersession is to back up and serve YWAM .
In January 2004, the Lord told us to serve YWAM and back them up wherever they go in the world that they would ask to go for. And so in order for me to obey that and for our movement they have to know who YWAM is. I think some of them might know more about YWAM some of the details than maybe some of you. I don’t really know if that’s true. I say that in fun and affection.
In January 2004, I made a commitment to John Dawson that I’ve only made to one man in 30 plus years of ministry. And probably I will never make this commitment again, I don’t know. As the president of YWAM, I said John I commit myself to your servers, our entire team, to follow your direction whenever you call on us. I said you give to word me John, brother to brother, you don’t have to explain it tell me what city what initiative and we will cover it in prayer. Send me a one sentence email, I know you’re busy, tell me this City and we’ll covering it that day if humanly possible. I say humanly possible, it may take me a day or two to make me communicate to everybody. I said John this is not a nice brother 'sstatement that I give to my friends. I’m far too jealous for our prayer furnace, it’s what I call the prayer cannon the prayer furnace, I’m far too jealous just to make commitments in a random way. And so John has called on that commitment several times through the years but I would invite him to call on it more.
And of course Mark Henderson who’s a dear brother of mine and a dear brother with John, He has given us many assignments on behalf of YWAM but he gives us like 50 cities at a time I said maybe one city at a time not 50. I said this will be hard I never think about 1 city though the smallest number is 50 because remember I’m YWAM I need to get my brain bigger, Thank you but let’s just get a few notes.
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My spirit is excited by the hour of history we live in. I believe that we are approaching the coming of the Lord. No one knows the day or the hour, don’t let anybody tell you that they do. I don’t even know for sure that we’re in that generation but it’s my opinion that we are. I don’t have a revelation of it but it’s my opinion just from the signs of the time spoken by the word of Jesus. It’s my opinion where some decades away, maybe 2,3,4,5,6 (decades) I dno't know. Nobody in heaven is asking for my opinion on the subject but I’m looking at the words of Jesus and I say if things are happening we have to be getting nearer to that day.
A. signs of the times.
the gospel preached in every single what we know every nation on the earth. We’re so grateful for David Hamilton and the team that devided this 4000 geopolitical zones so that we know where we are but more importantly we know where we’re not. I’m talking the body of Christ at large, what a service David Hamilton has given us.
B, the task is diminishing we can see it, we can measure it.
Jesus is winning I stole that right of for YWAM tapes a long time ago but I don’t know it it’s a little uncomfortable because you guys. I got that from you it’s on my hand out there you have it. Look at the numbers here in paragraph B, of course you’re familiar with those already. The final 600 untargeted, unreached people groups of the earth have been located. Out of 12,000 ethnic groups, the last 600 have been identified. Three hundred of them are now being engaged, not fully reached but engaged. Three hundred left out of 12,000 people groups.
Jesus is winning I stole that right of for YWAM tapes a long time ago but I don’t know it it’s a little uncomfortable because you guys. I got that from you it’s on my hand out there you have it. Look at the numbers here in paragraph B, of course you’re familiar with those already. The final 600 untargeted, unreached people groups of the earth have been located. Out of 12,000 ethnic groups, the last 600 have been identified. Three hundred of them are now being engaged, not fully reached but engaged. Three hundred left out of 12,000 people groups.
Someone says you can’t say the Lord returning. Well that’s true the day and the hour nobody knows but there’s 300 groups are left. Ayayay or Hallelujah if you want to be biblical about it!
D, sign number two. Unprecedented unity among the labors in the kingdom is happening right now in the earth.
E, the word convergence.
Convergence requires a serving spirit of the leadership in the ministries around the world but a serving spirit only comes from giving our identity before His eyes. If I identify my life and heart by what He says when He looks at me instead of what I do, then I can serve people with a free spirit. Again this is deeply engraved in the foundation of YWAM. Convergence, we can do something together we can’t do separately as we embrace one another’s calling across the body of Christ.
E, the word convergence.
Convergence requires a serving spirit of the leadership in the ministries around the world but a serving spirit only comes from giving our identity before His eyes. If I identify my life and heart by what He says when He looks at me instead of what I do, then I can serve people with a free spirit. Again this is deeply engraved in the foundation of YWAM. Convergence, we can do something together we can’t do separately as we embrace one another’s calling across the body of Christ.
It’s a very simple concept but it’s been neglected for many generations. There were not building our name in our ministry but the fame of his name that we find our identity before the audience of one so we have a free spirit to be famous or forgotten. It doesn’t matter because the pay is the same He loves me, I love Him therefore I am successful. If the numbers are real big or the numbers are real small He loves me I love Him therefore I am successful already. And with that kind of connectedness to God’s heart we have a free spirit to serve with an open hand. Again this is something deep in the foundation of this movement. It’s not a teaching, it’s proven, and it’s been walked out for 50 years.
F, we can only experience God’s fullness when we connect together. Read the verse in Ephesians 3,
“We can only comprehend the debts of God’s love as we connect together across the whole body of Christ, part of my inheritance is in your hands and as I love and served you, part of my inheritance is released in your hands.”
People talk about the Methodist, the Baptist, the denominations, I say they love Jesus and believe the bible. That’s good enough for me, they can do different, they can say different, it can be all different but if they love Jesus and the bible let’s do it together with all their hearts. I want to give just a simple report on a very historic gathering.
In Paragraph A, it was the cold old gathering in Orlando, and again I know you know this but this is a handout I gave to my staff. And we had a big young adult conference in December and we had 20,000 young adults from around the world come for four days. And these are things I taught them so I did not prepare this for YWAM. I want these other prayer ministries to know YWAM, campus crusade is with more than just a reputation but to really understand who they are.
As a leader of prayer ministry with many other ministries we want a mobilize prayer for the missions movement not alone I’m talking about all of this together working on mobilizing together. Imagine this, Paragraph A, 170 of the CEOs of the largest mission organizations of the western worlds and the mission organizations outside the western world. And there were number of the top prayer ministries from around the world and the church planning movement from around the world all in one movement. Mark Henderson gave leadership to them. And Loren Curningham was there and John Dawson and many. I mean it was a who’s who of the body of Christ where I was sitting. I was tempted to go get autographs but I didn’t.
Paragraph B just look YWAM and campus crusade. 50,000 full time workers, I’m telling the young adults and I’m touching “let’s get behind these guys with all of our hearts”. Pray for them and I’m connecting with many ministries not what I have I don’t even know who they all are but I want all of us to be working together on this task.
Paragraph C, that these mission leaders, the prayer leaders and the church planting leaders understood there was a significant moment occurring during the congress that we were to recognize that God was strategically connecting us together to complete the task of bringing the gospel to every nation. And every creature, I like these every creature. Loren says every creature, but he got that from Jesus, but Loren I like it that you says that all of the time. And 18 months after that congress, again this handout is about a year old, look at the commitments, 4 million church plans, five hundred thousands of houses prayers.
Paragraph D, the prayer leaders from international movements met and agreed together that we would work with many other ministries to see all 4000 zones covered in prayer. Look at paragraph D and I want you to catch this excitement. We’re asking every prayer ministry and every intercessor in the earth to adopt one mission organization that they’re going to focus on. Not that they can’t adopt more but have one that is really your focus that you’re faithful with. Take 3 individual missionaries and one of the 4000 zones. And so we’re storing up intercessors around the world to make this simple commitment.
Paragraph E, again this was published for the IHOP staffs and I tell them regularly YWAM is our number 1 pre-assignment and God gave us Egypt as our geopolitical zone. Though we prayed for many places of the earth but we’re committed in a focus way for Egypt.
Paragraph F, missions movement, prayer movement, church planting movement, with market placed ministries working together with an intensity never seen in history before to reach the seven spheres of society. I know you know all these, I just love saying it. I love to hear myself say this. So excuse me I just have to say it again. The mission movement, the prayer movement, the church planning movement with the market place ministries working together with an intensity never seen in history before to reach the seven spheres. I just love saying it, after the meeting I’ll say it a couple of more times.
Paragraph G, Isaiah 56, this is an amazing verse that the God says “My house shall be called the House of Prayer”. I don’t mean everybody is to do 24 hour prayer that’s not what the verses say. There are some called that but that’s not the main thing. God wants us to understand our identity as the people of God as being the house of prayer. This is not our identity just until the Lord comes, this is our identity a million and a billion years from now, this’ll be still true.
What does it mean to have the identity of the house of prayer as the people of God? Now I don’t have the song, the notes but I’ll just say it's simple. “To be the house of prayer, it means God speaks and moves our heart then we speak and move His heart”. And then we do that, He opens his hands and releases His resource. His resource is creative wisdom, divine ideas, it’s money, It’s open doors, it’s the energizing of our spirit for righteousness. There’s many things that are part of God’s resource, let me say it again that God speaks, moves our heart, I want to do this in Egypt “Yes Lord, OH, that felt so good” God speaks and moves our heart, then we speak and move his heart. “OH God, move in Egypt, OH God, move in Egypt” and then God says “OH that feels so good” so we feel good, He feels good. He opens his hands and things happen in Egypt. This is how we will be forever, some people have a wrong idea, they think that in the resurrection, intercession will be obsolete. No it’ll be more powerful in the resurrection. What? Wait, what about sin, I thought sin was over. Adam was given the dominion mandate before there was ever set and the dominion mandate was God would speak and move his heart, he would speak and move God’s heart and then he would cultivate the garden. Sin just created a hot sun and some weeds but intercession or the ruling through prayer is an eternal identity for all of us who believe in Jesus.
Mark and Karen Henderson have been connected with this IHA from the day we begin. May 1999, we begin and they were right there with us so we’ve had so much fellowship through the year and he’s inspired us and trained us and helped connect us in many ministries that are doing the work of God around the world. March 2004, I’ll never forget Matt Mark told me this, Mark is in one side of the house and Karen was in the other side of the house the same day they get the same word. “My house is a house of prayer, if it’s not a house of prayer it’s not my house”.
Again we’re not talking about IHOP's style of prayer that’s not what I’m talking about. We’re one of the ten thousand varied styles of prayer and worship. There’s ten thousand other varied ways to do this. In December 2006, Mark called me on the phone the day after. “Mike!, he said, I had a dream. He said we’re saying it along, we’re talking about the convergence of the mission movement and the prayer movement. God says they’re one movement. He says they’re not separate.” The great evangelist Jesus, He is also the great intercessor. The man leading the great harvest, he’s leading the great entire prayer movement. I think it is okay to talk about them separate but we do understand in a higher level there is no separation, not really.
III Paragraph A. Throughout history, the house of prayer has been central to the advance of the kingdom. I’m not talking about rooms where people do 24 hour worship that’s not what I mean by house of prayer, I mean some far bigger. Human history began in a prayer meeting in the Garden of Eden. Israel begins as a nation in a prayer meeting at Mount Sinai. The first building project God ever gave the nation of Israel was a worship sanctuary or a house of prayer.
Paragraph B, when David became king over Jerusalem the first thing he did was to establish the tabernacle of David and returning of the ark of the covenant. Now I got the verses here you can look up later. David had four thousand full time musicians on his staff. I read that and I said “What! What did they do all day long?” Well, they did work besides played their instruments. I got Bible verses on that because I tell the IHOP musicians “OH no no no David’s guys did work as well as doing their instruments” I got Bible verses.
Everybody in our full time staff, they commit to 50 hours a week. If they have the right to raise their own support as a missionary, they have to commit to 50 hours a week of missions work. They do half of the missions work in prayer and half of the missions work in outreach. They get to pick what they want and some of our musicians say “No, David just had them played the instruments” I said “I had Bible verses, they did the work outside the prayer room too”. Look what it says in Acts 15. “That God is going to rebuild the tabernacle of David”. Now part of the tabernacle of David is related to the worship and prayer ascending before the throne. And the initial fulfillment of this begins in the early church but there’s a vast global fulfillment that is bigger than what has happened in the history so far. Look at verse 17,
“So that the rest of man kind and all the Gentiles would call on the name of Jesus”
Paragraph C, the early church began in a prayer meeting.
Paragraph D, natural history will end in the context of a collision of two houses of prayer. And what I mean by natural history is the return of Jesus. Now I don’t want to go in to this right now, just make one short statement.
Paragraph D, natural history will end in the context of a collision of two houses of prayer. And what I mean by natural history is the return of Jesus. Now I don’t want to go in to this right now, just make one short statement.
When Jesus returns, He is bringing heaven to the earth, not abolishing the earth. The Bible never talks about the end of the world. I have people say “Wow! Do you think we’re getting near the end of the world?” I go “No! Not at all” They said “we’re not?” I said “No! No, the end of the age is different than the end of the world.” Because in this age, the nations are governed with the interference of Satan but that’s going to be over in a little while but the world won’t be over. The world would go on and on in a real long time and nobody knows the day and the hour. We don’t know when the Lord’s returning but the prayer movement and the mission movement and the unity movement they are exciting me that we’re getting nearer. And the conflict at the end of the age would be a conflict between two houses of prayer. You can think about that on your own time.
The closer we get to the return of Jesus, the more the Holy Spirit is going to give revelation and grace about the worship and prayer movement. And the more the enemy will raise up the counterfeit prayer movement that will be in collision. There’s a Jesus house of prayer that will fill the earth, it’s called the great harvest that they will all have a spear of prayer on it. And there’s a spirit of the antichrist house of prayer that’s contending against the name of Jesus and that’s spiritualism is exploding on a global level with many faces. And whichever house of prayer wins will control the whole world. Jesus has already won, it’s already done but it needs to be walked out day by day.
Paragraph D, the most powerful prayer and worship movement in history will happen in those decades preceding the Lord’s return. There is more on the Bible about this than I ever dreamed of some years ago.
Let’s go to the revelation of intercession.
Paragraph B, I call it the mystery of intercession, the mystery and the majesty on intercession. The mystery of intercession is how simple it is, we tell God what He tells us to tell him. It is so easy, everyone can do it but it’s so easy that so much neglect to do it. It’s mysterious how something this easy can be this powerful.
Paragraph B, I call it the mystery of intercession, the mystery and the majesty on intercession. The mystery of intercession is how simple it is, we tell God what He tells us to tell him. It is so easy, everyone can do it but it’s so easy that so much neglect to do it. It’s mysterious how something this easy can be this powerful.
Paragraph C, the majesty of intercession that Jesus does, the second person of the trinity intercedes, that’s remarkable to me. Jesus! You are as much as God as the Father is, why are you telling the Father what He tells you to tell Him, what is this? Your God just skipped it and do it without mentioning it. But Jesus lives forever making intersession this is majestic in my thinking.
Paragraph D, as you read Genesis Chapter 1, you see the principle of intersession. I will describe it real simple so theologians, I’m not being theological right now. The Father has deep thoughts in His heart. The Father thinks “hmm. I’m going to create the heaven to the earth, this is a good idea.” And so the earth is there, there spirits hovering over the earth, now the spirit has as much power as the Father and the Son. The spirits hovering but it’s still dark and there’s still chaos. Holy Spirit you have so much power, why don’t you remove the darkness and chaos, come on, you can pull this off, the Father is already endorsed it, it’s His idea to make the heavens and all this, and the spirit says “no, I am waiting on the Son, I am waiting on the second person, the son of God to speak it before I move.” So the spirits hovering, He has all the power but it’s still dark. He’s waiting, he’s waiting, the father’s already okay that we can create light. Spirit’s waiting, suddenly the second person of the trinity, “Let there be light!” the spirit “yeah!” light was created and it goes on and on when the Son spoke the spirit move in power, but not until the Son spoke. That is a type of intersession, the Father has the idea, the spirit releases its power but only when the Son speaks the word.
Paragraph E, Jesus sustained all of creation by speaking his word, this is amazing to me. That’s a big subject for another day. I’ll leave that to David Hamilton to sort out because this is going to take a super brain to figure this out.
(Turn in the middle of Page 4 Roman numeral 5.)
Luke 18, this is remarkable, Luke 18. I want to encourage you to take this literally at face value. Jesus said He would release justice when the people cry night and day. Now they don’t all have to be in the same building crying together. Like I tell our staffs in Kansas City, I know the house of prayer at Kansas City is not IHop. Yes we have a thousand people mobilized but the house of prayer at Kansas City is a thousand congregations most of them we’ve never even met them. I said there’s been 24 hour prayer going in Kansas City years before IHOP did it. The woman crying in the inner city, the one crying out in the rural area in the night, who knows, I said what we are is a catalytic ministry, we take like a cup of gasoline and we throw it on the prayer furnace of our prayer city.
Luke 18, this is remarkable, Luke 18. I want to encourage you to take this literally at face value. Jesus said He would release justice when the people cry night and day. Now they don’t all have to be in the same building crying together. Like I tell our staffs in Kansas City, I know the house of prayer at Kansas City is not IHop. Yes we have a thousand people mobilized but the house of prayer at Kansas City is a thousand congregations most of them we’ve never even met them. I said there’s been 24 hour prayer going in Kansas City years before IHOP did it. The woman crying in the inner city, the one crying out in the rural area in the night, who knows, I said what we are is a catalytic ministry, we take like a cup of gasoline and we throw it on the prayer furnace of our prayer city.
Why am I saying this? Because 24 hour prayer has been going on in YWAM for decades, if we check the accounting records of heaven, prayers have been coming from YWAMer’s 24/7 all over the earth, God has it all organized. But the Lord is inspiring ministries all the earth to begin to gather 2 hours a day, 4 hours a day, 6 hours a day, in a catalytic way.
One ministry has an assignment for 2 hours a day, one for 4, one for 6, let just Jesus be the boss. But 24 hour prayer must ascend from the ministries of the earth. But the Lord’s pouring out his grace He’s giving people more grace and more energizing of the spirit to do more of this prayer and worship together.
Now what is not immediately obvious but with a little bit of careful reading you’ll see it on your own. Luke 18 is in context to look 17, there should be no chapter breakdown. In Luke 17, right before this, Jesus is talking about the Generation of His return. When Satan is inspiring more oppression like the human trafficking that he’s inspiring across the earth. And look what verse 8 says, at the end of it, Jesus says, “I have a question for you, in the generation that I return, will I find faith or will I find agreement on this concept in the earth?” He’s not asking the question, will anybody in the earth have faith because we know there will be people who have faith because the great harvest is coming. It’s already fully operating and building and building and building. It’s not future, it’s now but building. He’s asking a question very specific very to the parable that He’s teaching and it’s very specific to His teaching in Luke 17 on the generation of his return. Jesus is the first social reformer to ever connect justice with night and day prayer. This is a strange idea, what social reformer ever said that the reform was going to be built on night and day prayer. I mean even the Godly reformers of history didn’t say night and day prayer, that’s a little extreme but Jesus knew when we agreed with His heart, it would change the spiritual atmospheres of cities and regions. And He knew that injustice would mount up in the same hour that the great outpouring of the spirit is being released as well. And the closer we get to the second coming of Christ, decade by decade, the closer we get, the more the Spirit will emphasize night and day prayer to stand against the spiritual forces.
I talked about the signs and the signs, preaching the gospel in every nation we’re so close. Unity and convergence, we still have a way to go on that but the Lord’s emphasizing it. A third sign of the time is the explosion of prayer ministries in the last 10 or 20 years. We have a long way to go to fulfill the whole earth but I can see it mounting up with force and speed.
Paragraph B, there’s two sides to justice. There’s the judgment side where God confronts those oppressors who commit acts of injustice but that’s only one side of justice there’s the salvation power of God side of justice too. Justice is God making wrong things right, that’s a simple definition, for instance when a person gives her life to Jesus that’s judgment on the kingdom of darkness when a person comes to the light. When one of this fierce of society is touched by God’s light that’s a judgment of the spirit of darkness. Every time somebody is healed from a decease that’s a judgment on sickness so every positive act of justice is salvation and deliverance but it’s a judgment on darkness.
Paragraph D, it is said in the prayer ministries, we have two very general focuses. This is overly simplistic but I just want to give you a simple statement. It’s night and day prayer for the outpouring of the spirit on the geographic areas. It’s what they did in Acts Chapter 1 for 10 days and the open heaven the power hit the city. And then second, there’s the individual praying for the ministry or the individual person and so the night and day cry for justice has both of these broad point of focus.
(Let’s turn to page six, the middle of it.) We’re just going to end with one verse.
Paragraph E, Isaiah 42, I love this. Now there are many verses in the bible describing the worship movement in the generation of Lord's return. When you study all the descriptions of the spirit’s activity in the generation Lord's returns and I’ve done this in an energetic way for some years now. I’m not claiming to be an expert or pro on all these verses but I have put a lot of energy on studying what the bible says on what will happen in the generation where the Lord returns. And in terms of the Holy Spirit’s activity by far the thing the bible describes most is the prayer and worship movement in the generation the Lord return.
Paragraph E, Isaiah 42, I love this. Now there are many verses in the bible describing the worship movement in the generation of Lord's return. When you study all the descriptions of the spirit’s activity in the generation Lord's returns and I’ve done this in an energetic way for some years now. I’m not claiming to be an expert or pro on all these verses but I have put a lot of energy on studying what the bible says on what will happen in the generation where the Lord returns. And in terms of the Holy Spirit’s activity by far the thing the bible describes most is the prayer and worship movement in the generation the Lord return.
Yes, there’s the transfer of wealth, there’s the divine ideas, there’s the prophetic ministry, there’s the harvest, many awesome things. And there are five or ten bible verses at least on every one of those but when it comes to the worship movement, this is not an actual number but it’s twice as many verses on any other subject. And I scratched my head and I said “Why?” because this is what will change the spiritual atmosphere that will cause an explosion of these other 10 or 15 glorious areas. But Isaiah 42 is my favorite passage about the second coming of Christ. I mean I love those other famous ones too like the 1st Thessalonians 4. I love that one but Isaiah 42 is like wow. Verse 10, this is about the generation of the Lord’s return. When you read it in context, the verses before it and after it I believe you will find this to be true. It’s applied all through church history but it has a particular fullness in that generation and again I think we’re in the early days of that generation. I don’t know, maybe we’re not that close, maybe we’re that closer, I don’t know, but my spirit is excited. I noticed this, here’s the command, “Sing the new song from the ends of the earth”. I love it there’s a worship movement exploding at every corner of the earth.
Now He names 7 or 8 specific areas of the earth those who go down to the sea, do you know any ministries or groups down by the sea? The coastlands now think of all of Asia all the way down Africa and North America to South a lot of coastlands. All of these areas will have an explosive worship movement. Go to the wilderness, the out of the way places. I mean those places in west Texas that in 30 miles past the last Wal-Mart. Going to Wal-Mart’s the biggest event of the month, the wilderness there will be songs, fresh ones coming rising to heaven it will happen in the major cities. It will happen in the little villages in Qatar that’s in Saudi Arabia, in the Arab nations. The villagers, the worship movement will come forward.
Well the hardest place to get water and housing and buildings is the top of mountains and the holy spirits says, “I’ll raise the worship movements in the mountain tops too where nobody lives”.
Verse 13, now this is a description of the second coming, Jesus is the right hand of the Father. He’s listening to the coastlands, the Islands, the mountain tops, the villages, the big cities, the little cities, worship exploding. Jesus says, “Father! They’re crying for me! Come Lord Jesus!” Love songs ascending as a cry of war breaking the bonds of wickedness shifting things in the spirit. He will stir up His Zeal like a Man of War. He will cry out and the guys say “Cry out?” and Isaiah says “Yes! He’s going to cry out when He hears these songs from all over the earth.” And He will destroy the oppressors because the cry of justice has rise up night and day from the nations of the earth.
And you read the rest of Isaiah 42 on your own and it’s describing the judgments in the book of revelations against injustice and oppression. But I finish with this point, verse 13. What happens right before Jesus stands up and shouts with Zeal from heaven? There’s a worship movement in every single tongue in tribe of the earth because the gospel has gone to every single one of these regions and He shout so loud Yes? He shouts so loud, Isaiah said, “You heard me”. I got one big question well I got a thousand of them actually, “Jesus, what are you going to shout when you come? Just give me a hint” because He’s storing up one shout. I don’t mean it’s one more but He’s storing up one thing for this hour. I don’t think he’s saying 'devil you’re in trouble.' I don’t think it’s the first thing he says, I think when He hears the love songs that our cries of war, He shout something like “I love you too! I am with you! Here I am!” something like that.
Let’s stand. OH He’s going to shout something about those love songs. I don’t know what it is but I know we’re going to like it. And again the love songs are a cry of war that wraps the enemy. It’s love and war because the bride has an army boots, there’s no contradiction in that. Let’s just end with a prayer.
Here we are at the 50 year anniversary. What a remarkable achievement in history even though you don’t look it at that way but as an outsider I can say it. Jesus, this movement that’s known for prayer and prophetic and evangelism and works of justice in the Father’s heart in this fifty year jubilee, God I thank you that you are going to give Loren and Darlene Curnningham a multiplied influence in the nations. That many ministries across the nations, and I’m one of them are standing behind this leadership saying, “Lord! Tell us the direction we are behind you to serve you”. Lord I thank you for the men and women that are ready to walk in convergence under this apostolic leadership. That’s far bigger than YWAM, it’s the gospel of the kingdom into the earth. And as the worship team is getting ready, I just want you to make a fresh commitment in your heart to Jesus. Jesus I want to grow in a spirit of prayer. I want to grow on the prophetic anointing. I want greater effectiveness in evangelism. I want greater endurance in just the labor, the hard work of the kingdom of going to nations. I ask for help to stand under resistance and persecution and I ask you for that serving spirit that’s been in this spiritual DNA for 50 years. For Jesus said that servant will be the greatest of all. The Lord is about to do something with YWAM and Loren and Darlene that’s going to manifest that principle. And we say yes to you Jesus. Amen and Amen.
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