Pastor Gary Stebbins -COTR-Melbourne, May 10, 2010
We are living in a critical time in the history of our nation. Our lives, our society, our nation, will be governed either by the Spirit of God or the spirit of darkness. There is no middle ground. We either serve the Living God or the prince and power of the air, which is Satan. We either allow Christ to rule our lives or the spirit of the antichrist will.
Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour (1 Jn 2:18).
An antichrist is anyone who denies God the Father and Jesus the Son.
Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son (1 Jn 2:22).
The antichrist spirit stands in opposition to God and His ways. The battle of the last days will be between the power of the Holy Spirit and the power of the antichrist. The church, under the anointing and power of the Holy Spirit, is a force that the powers of darkness will not be able to stand against.
"I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it (Matt 16:18).
One of the disciplines that brings strength to the church is prayer. Personal, private times of prayer are important, but there is strength in numbers. Our efforts are multiplied when we pray together.
On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have appointed watchmen; All day and all night they will never keep silent. You who remind the LORD, take no rest for yourselves; And give Him no rest until He establishes And makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth (Isa 62:6-7).
We are called to be watchmen, to stand in the gap for our nation and for all mankind. We are called to intercede for each other, our families, our community, and the world. Nothing God wills to do on earth will happen without prayer. When believers pray together in agreement with each other and with God, nothing will be impossible to them.
“Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven. “For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst” (Matt 18:19-20).
There is great power in a church that unites itself together in prayer. God is calling His church to prayer. In Acts 12, Peter has been arrested and thrown into prison by King Herod. Herod’s intent was to kill Peter like he had done to James. Suddenly an angel of the Lord appears to Peter and leads him out of the prison and sets him free.
And when he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John who was also called Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying (Act 12:12).
Peter’s deliverance was the result of people gathering together to pray. Corporate prayer is perhaps our strongest weapon against the spirit of the antichrist. That is why Satan works hard to distract, divide, and destroy unity in the church.
God moves when His people unite themselves together in prayer. Spending time together in prayer will not only move heaven, it will change us. Praying together with others brings us into unity and sets us in place as watchman.
Do you pray?
Have you taken your position on the wall with others?
No comments:
Post a Comment