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A Voice in the Wilderness
“A preacher preaches a message. A voice is much more than this. A message can deliver content, but a voice comes from an anointed life that has the power to actually turn people. A message delivers information. A voice delivers people. Anyone can deliver a message, but only a consecrated life can be a voice.” Wes Martin
Dear Intercessors,
Today we are hearing voices from every direction. The voice of technology, and the voices on the internet and TV are at an all-time high. Rarely can we get away from all the noise. It is blaring for our attention all the time day and night. Everyone seems to be trying to be a voice in a busy and rapidly increasingly world of noise and empty promises.
But what is God looking for at this point in human history?
He is looking for consecrated ones who will be His voice; His voice in prayer, His voice in speaking words of truth, and His voice in everyday life in various situations that we encounter all day long. Even though we are in a world of noise, we are in a famine for truth. False promises and lies are everywhere. It’s time to stand on God’s Word and speak His truth into our life circumstances.
God is looking for those who walk in wholehearted abandonment like John the Baptist. His life is an example to each one of us.
The Life of John the Baptist
“Then they said to him, ‘Who are you, that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?' He said, "I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness: 'Make straight the way of the LORD,'" as the prophet Isaiah said” (John 1:22-23, NKJV).
Let’s look at some of the qualities of the life of John the Baptist because he was God’s voice in the wilderness. What was John like? How could he become a powerful and anointed voice for God?
- John identified himself as a voice - He prepared people to encounter God Himself. When he spoke, decisive shifts took place in people’s lives and they turned toward righteousness.
- John lived in simplicity - He lived in isolation and was consumed with His message and the one who had sent him.
- John was a faithful witness - He was faithful to the word of the Lord regardless of cost (John 3:7-18, 29).
- John was established in His identity before God - He did not look to other men for his identity or for approval. He looked to God.
- John was a man of prayer and devotion - As he grew up he became strong in spirit in the desert (Luke 1:80). He had a deep life with God.
- John was a consecrated vessel - He was set apart as a Nazarite to minister to God all his days. He did not drink wine or strong drink (Luke 1:15). He practiced fasting regularly.
In these days God is looking for those who can be His voice in the wilderness. Like John the Baptist, He is looking for those who will prepare for His Second Coming.
Are you a voice for God? Are you that consecrated vessel God can use in this critical day?
The Spiritual Violence of John the Baptist
“There has not risen one greater than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater [in opportunity] than he. And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force (Matthew 11:11-12).
John was the Father’s messenger who came to prepare the way for Jesus. He was the greatest man and a burning and shining light (John 5:35). Matthew 11:12 speaks of spiritual violence. It points to being resolute to pay any price necessary in seeking more of God. This is what John the Baptist was like. He violently reordered his priorities and the way he did everything. His lifestyle had a violent impact on the devil’s kingdom.
Jesus set John forth as the premier model of wholeheartedness in devotion. In his spiritual violence, John radically sought after God without reservation or compromise. He loved God. He was great in God’s sight. When God releases a greater measure of His power and presence, He looks for a greater dedication. In these days God is looking for those who will experience the Kingdom of God in greater measure by the holy forcefulness of spiritual violence. John the Baptist was this type of man internally because of his extravagant love for God that confronted all the inner hindrances and barriers to fully experiencing God in his heart. John the Baptist was hungry for God. He had a vision to have everything that God would give the human spirit in his age.
John called himself a friend of the bridegroom (John 3:29). This is how he saw himself. He had a forerunner ministry. He opened his heart to God and prepared the Bride for the coming of Christ. He stood, He heard, and He greatly rejoiced because of the Bridegroom’s voice. He modeled the way to prepare a spiritual highway (Luke 3:7-20). He emphasized calling people to repent and announced the coming of Jesus. He called people to righteous living. He modeled a wholehearted pursuit of God and what it looks like. His life’s message is clear. No one has ever passed him in abandonment to God.
So many in the Church have lost their purpose in life. In the pursuit of making this world a pleasant place to live, multitudes have chased after lesser gods. We must listen to the message of John the Baptist. We must repent and return to God with wholehearted abandonment. We must wait upon God and prepare in these end times (Matthew 24:42-43; 25:13; Mark 13:33-38; Luke 21:26; Revelation 3:3 16:15).
As we wait, pray, and live in righteousness, we gain strength for our hearts. Jesus is coming again. Like John we must prepare this generation for the Lord’s return. John prepared for the first coming of the Lord through modeling his lifestyle, his message, and through the power of the Holy Spirit that was on his life. We must prepare others for the second coming of Christ. We may be a forerunner as an intercessor, in the marketplace, in the media or as a preacher calling people to prepare the way of the Lord. We have the same Spirit in our lives as John did.
Let’s be inspired by John's life. Let’s let it challenge our lives to the core. We are God’s model of wholeheartedness. We are God’s voice at this time.
Being God’s Voice
As you pray, ask God to make you His voice. Ask Him to release His authority in your life to turn others back to God and righteousness. The world is living in a wilderness of increasing fear, anxiety, loneliness, and pain. People are hiding their fear through constant activity and in so many unfulfilling ways in their anxious attempt to make this life pleasant. They need God.
We are the voice of the Lord on the earth as we positively declare His will through our prayers and our lives. God is looking for consecrated vessels like John the Baptist. He is waiting for something to be done, waiting for someone to pray His will. We become God’s voice on the earth for breakthrough by praying His will as we listen and obey. Heaven responds to our prayers. God listens and acts on our behalf.
The atmosphere changes; we change; our lives change.
You are God's voice in this generation, pointing the way to His second coming. As you pray, you are releasing His power in the world. As you speak, you are declaring His will on this earth. As you travail, your tears are releasing His power to break the darkness over the land. As you live, you are modeling a dedicated life.
He wants to use you in greater and greater dimensions. He wants you to rise up higher as a consecrated vessel for His glory. But it’s up to you. The King of the Universe is calling you higher. Will you say “yes” to a holy lifestyle, to a deeper prayer life, to a level of consecration that only He can make real in your life?
Let’s be His voice and prepare others for His Second Coming. Let's prepare the way of the Lord.
“He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet: 'A voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him. Every valley shall be filled in,
every mountain and hill made low.
The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth. And all people will see God’s salvation... I baptize you with water. But one who is more powerful than I will come, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.' And with many other words John exhorted the people and proclaimed the good news to them” (Luke 3:3-6, 16-18).
A powerful word - A Voice in the Wilderness - Prepare the Way of the Lord
Together in the Harvest,
Debbie Przybylski
Intercessors Arise International
International House of Prayer (IHOP) KC Staff
deb@intercessorsarise.org
www.intercessorsarise.org
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Igniting the Fire of Prayer Worldwide
Our mailing address is:
Intercessors Arise, c/o Elijah Company, Inc., P. O. Box 396, Grandview, MO 64030
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Travailing Prayer
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"We are a generation that avoids pain at all costs. This is why there are so few intercessors. Most Christians operate on the shallowest levels of prayer, but God wants to take us into the deep levels of intercessory prayer that only a few ever experience. Deep, prolonged intercession is painful. It involves staying before God when everyone else has gone away or sleeps (Luke 22:45). It involves experiencing brokenness with the Father over those who continually rebel against Him. How many of us will experience this kind of fervent intercession?" Henry and Richard Blackaby
Dear Intercessors,
Prayer can be a very joyful experience, but there are times when we agonize and travail for God’s purposes to come to pass in people’s lives. There are days when the Holy Spirit burdens us over a situation, and we begin to travail in prayers of a very deep and intensive nature in order to bring it to birth.
God is looking for people with whom He can share His heart.
He wants to train us in deeper levels of intercession. He wants to teach us to travail in prayer. Jesus practiced travailing prayer while He was on earth. In Luke 22:44 we read, "And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground." Imagine travail of that nature. In the final hours of His life, Jesus wanted His disciples to understand His anguish of heart. But in the Garden of Gethsemane His disciples could not fully grasp the urgency of the hour, and Jesus prayed alone.
"Ultimately, Jesus prayed alone. He went farther than His disciples and prayed longer. At the greatest moment of intercession in human history, there was no one willing to go with Jesus and watch with Him. Throughout history God has looked for those willing to yield everything to Him and His desire to redeem the world. At times God has marveled that no one was willing to go with Him (Isaiah 59:16, 63:5). The prophets seemed to grasp more than the common people, for while society carried on as though nothing were wrong, the prophets agonized and wept over what they knew God was preparing to do."
We watched a wonderful movie called Amazing Grace. It was about William Wilberforce, a great Christian philanthropist who opposed the slave trade in England in the 1800's. Society was wicked but Wilberforce remained confident in prayer. He did not lose hope even though society was unspiritual and immoral. He knew that there were still many who loved and obeyed the gospel of Christ and that their prayers would prevail. A few years later there was a great revival and thousands were saved. Society changed dramatically.
God does hear the travailing prayers of His people.
Today there are many people living at ease, not grasping the importance of the hour. God is looking for individuals who will stand with Him in intercession and travail for souls; ones who know the significance of the days in which we are living. You may be one God chooses to travail over nations or cities, over this generation of youth, and over unsaved relatives or co-workers. God is bringing you deeper in Him for a purpose. Don’t give up. William Wilberforce believed that God would break through. The situation in the 1800's sounds much like the situation we face today.
While talking with an intercessor who was struggling personally, I told her that God is taking intercessors deeper. He is preparing them for something very significant.
- When you go deep with God, you gain power.
- Your prayers have an element of urgency and authority.
- You pray from your heart because in your training through the trials, you receive God’s heart.
God is looking for those who will not fall asleep, but who will travail to birth His Kingdom purposes on earth. Travail is a cry of desperation. It is worth it to press in, travail, cry out, seek, and passionately hunger after God. If you feel barren in some area of your life experience, rise up in thanksgiving and say, “Thank you" to God. You are in a position for God to bring something to birth through your impassioned prayer. Travail brings forth birth. It is a powerful way to touch heaven and change earth with our prayers.“God’s first requirement in ministry is barrenness. God looks for people who are incapable of producing life on their own, those who have come to the end of their own striving and honestly admit their true condition. Most of us, not wanting to bear this reproach, go around feigning 'life.' Our activities become the substitute for the anointing. Programs replace productivity and prayer. Life seems to abound everywhere, until one looks below the surface and realizes it’s only a veneer—a form of godliness that lacks power. Why does God insist on barrenness as a prerequisite for blessing? Simply because no flesh can glory in it… God has to strip us first so that He alone is glorified.” David Ravenhill
Travailing Prayer Brings Forth Birth
Travail is hard work and can be compared to childbirth. If you talk to any mother, you know that there is intense pain and agony involved in childbirth. Travail is a form of intense intercession that is initiated by the Holy Spirit. In travailing prayer, an individual or group is gripped with that which grips the heart of God. Travail happens after you have carried something in your heart for a period of time. It can be a burden, a promise, or a longing that God has put in your heart. There comes a time to bring the burden to birth through prayer.
God is the initiator who desires to bring forth life. Through travail He creates an opening that has been closed. When we listen carefully as we read His Word, we receive His heart to pray His purposes in travailing prayer. This opening provides the way for the birthing of God’s purposes and plans. We wrestle in prayer to see God’s plans birthed here on earth. We agonize to see God move in certain situations and to see the lost saved.
Such strenuous prayer calls for perseverance.
Jacob wrestled all night in Genesis 32:24-26. He would not let go until God blessed him. Ephesians 6:11-12 says that we wrestle in prayer against the world rulers of darkness and the spiritual forces of wickedness in heavenly places. In one sense, we are in a wrestling match with the enemy, but we are the winners when we persevere. Epaphras wrestled in prayer for the Church at Colossae (Colossians 4:12-13). Jesus knew how to travail when He walked this earth. We read in Hebrews 5:7-8:
“During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered.”
We must passionately pray the promises that God has laid on our hearts until they come forth. We must travail and wrestle and cry out to God on our knees. Are you desperate enough to travail over the promises that God has given you? Are you willing to pay the price to bring them to birth? Don’t give up. There is too much at stake. Remember this always:Travailing prayer brings forth birth.
God has laid dreams, purposes, and destiny on our hearts. He has a global plan, and we are all part of it. We may feel barren at the moment but deep in our heart the dream is there. There is joy in the heart of a mother when her baby is finally born. Likewise, when something is finally birthed in the spiritual realm, there is tremendous joy! I encourage you to press into the purposes of God and travail in prayer until God’s plans are birthed.
Your joy may be right around the corner.
“Wrestling in prayer enlists all the capacities of your soul, marshals your deepest holy desire, and by the grace of God uses all the perseverance of your holy determination. You push through a host of difficulties. You push back the heavy, threatening clouds of darkness. You reach beyond the visible and natural to the very throne of God. With all your strength and tenacity, you lay hold of God's grace and power as it becomes a passion of your soul.” James Goll
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Together in the Harvest,Debbie Przybylski
Intercessors Arise International
International House of Prayer (IHOP) KC Staff
deb@intercessorsarise.org
www.intercessorsarise.org
Igniting the Fire of Prayer Worldwide
Our mailing address is:
Intercessors Arise, c/o Elijah Company, Inc., P. O. Box 396, Grandview, MO 64030