Tag Prayer

On the day of Pentecost, a day that is commemorated each year as the day that the Holy Spirit was poured out and marked the beginning of the demonstration of the power of God in believers which enabled them to carry out the great commission as promised by Christ, we acknowledge the special place the Holy Spirit has in our lives as believers in Christ. He said that they should wait in Jerusalem until the promise of God to pour out His Spirit was fulfilled, and that He would not leave them alone but would send a counselor, a helper who would give them power.

What place does fire have in the operation of God’s will and His kingdom? Throughout the word we see examples of God sending fire to consume the sacrifice, or appearing as a column of fire, or even as fire in a burning bush that was not consumed. Let us look at the command of God to Moses when instructing Him on how the Israelites were to make a dwelling place for Him amongst them, which was called the Tent of Meeting. Also known as the Tabernacle, this housed the Holy of Holies and the Ark of the Covenant. Look at what it says in Leviticus 6:8-13:

8Then the LORD said to Moses, 9“Command Aaron and his sons that this is the law of the burnt offering: The burnt offering is to remain on the hearth of the altar all night, until morning, and the fire must be kept burning on the altar.

10And the priest shall put on his linen robe and linen undergarments, and he shall remove from the altar the ashes of the burnt offering that the fire has consumed and place them beside it. 11Then he must take off his garments, put on other clothes, and carry the ashes outside the camp to a ceremonially clean place.

12The fire on the altar shall be kept burning; it must not be extinguished. Every morning the priest is to add wood to the fire, arrange the burnt offering on it, and burn the fat portions of the peace offerings on it. 13The fire shall be kept burning on the altar continually; it must not be extinguished.

Is it not amazing to note that the fire was never to be extinguished but was to be kept burning? In the times of Elijah we see fire coming from heaven to consume the sacrifice, and that brought back the reverence of God among the people. A demonstration of the nature of God as being an all consuming fire. In Revelations we see fire in seven lamps, also called the ‘seven Spirits of God:

1After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” 2At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. 3And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and ruby. A rainbow that shone like an emerald encircled the throne. 4Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. 5From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. In front of the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits ^a of God. Revelations 4:1-5, NIV

The censers that are filled with incense which are linked to the prayers of the saints also indicate that there is fire, as incense requires to be burned to release its aroma:

3Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all God’s people, on the golden altar in front of the throne. 4The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of God’s people, went up before God from the angel’s hand. 5Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth; and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake. Revelations 8:3-5, NIV

Now we can see the relation to fire and why there is a requirement for an altar which is on fire! Paul tells us that we are the temple of the Lord, the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit, who baptizes us with His Fire, for indeed our God is a consuming fire, but he consumes that which has to burn in order to purify it, a refining fire for the redeemed yet a destructive fire to the enemy and those who assign their lot with His by refusing to acknowledge God’s sovereignty and position as creator and Lord. The Holy Spirit is our fire and we turn our bodies into a temple that has the altar of heaven inside it. Indeed when Christ says He and the Father will come inside and dwell within, it is by the power and presence of the Holy Spirit.

Today we have reduced our relationship of fire to one where we seek external fires of revival and moves of God in our nicely constructed buildings and organized worship that gently or even sometimes forcibly remove the Holy Spirit from our midst. We have succeeded at perfecting the religion but not the relationship. Jesus told us of a time when true believers would worship in Spirit and Truth, and that God is seeking for such. The hour has come when the outpouring that is beginning will cut through walls, borders, denominations, religious rites and practices, political systems and even enemy strongholds to reveal a bride that has a lamp trimmed with oil and burning, ready to receive the bridegroom.

May Yeshua grant you the fellowship of the Holy Spirit as you pray for the precious gift of fire that will restore the broken altar in our hearts and keep the fire burning until He comes! Be blessed! Believe!

A Bible verse that we have probably heard many times is John 3:16, which gives us the core reason for our redemption through the belief in the name and the purpose of the Son of God, Jesus Christ.

Let us look back at David and his revelation of the greatness of God and His purposes for mankind described in Psalm 8:

1 O LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is Your name in all the earth!
You have set Your glory
above the heavens.

2 From the mouths of children and infants
You have ordained praise
on account of Your adversaries,
to silence the enemy and avenger.

3 When I behold Your heavens,
the work of Your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which You have set in place—

4 what is man that You are mindful of him,
or the son of man that You care for him?

5 You made him a little lower than the angels;
You crowned him with glory and honor.

6 You made him ruler of the works of Your hands;
You have placed everything under his feet:

7 all sheep and oxen,
and even the beasts of the field,

8 the birds of the air and the fish of the sea,
all that swim the paths of the seas.

9 O LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is Your name in all the earth!

How amazing that God would choose to make us in His likeness and then make us rulers us the work of His hands! Indeed, the Psalmist is baffled and astounded at the responsibility and honor given us, even though our earthly form is a ‘little lower than angels’! On a side note is it not amazing the nugget found in this Psalm that has to do with praise as a weapon of spiritual warfare that God has ordained to silence the enemy and avenger.

We then can see the relation with John 3:16 if we look at it more closely. Keep in mind that from Genesis chapter one, we are given an assignment to have dominion, or rule in other words, over God’s creation and to replenish the earth, subdue it and have dominion over every living thing. Now let’s take a closer look at the verse:

¹⁶ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. John 3:16,17 (NIV)

The word used in the Greek translated ‘world’ is Kosmos. If it had to do with the earth it would have been ‘Terra’. When examined further the word Kosmos actually means ‘orderly arrangement, decoration and by implication the world and its moral order or system of moral governance (Strongs 2889). The word for love is ‘agape’, which is the highest form of love according to the Greeks, and if we are to then use these expanded meanings, we see that God is intent on restoring what David sees in Psalm 8 and what we read of in Genesis Chapter 1, which is a system of rule that had man in dominion and replenishing, subduing and having dominion and full authority over what God created on earth.

Why then is there a question of perishing and not having everlasting life? This is because when mankind fell through the sin of Adam and Eve, we lost the access to the tree of life and our bodies no longer carried the glory of God which we were supposed to be crowned with. The enemy lied to us and still does so today with the deception that we are not whom God has called us to be, with the purpose of us not having that relationship and all its rights and privileges restored as he is keen on our destruction in the end.

Praise God, as the Psalmist says, that His core character is love, and having loved the order of things, or Kosmos, that He had established in the beginning, He chose to give His only Son to pay the price so that all we had to do was just believe. No punishments. No fines. No retribution (John 3:17 ‘ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.’). No payments on our part.

Just by simply believing in Jesus and by having this relationship restored we begin to understand and operate in the kingdom principles rooted in the love of the very Father who redeemed us under the instruction of the Holy Spirit as we walk with The Son, whom the Bible declares has ‘the government upon His shoulders’. Halleluya! We then begin to change our ‘kosmos’ as we have the authority restored, and as we obey His word and operate under His guidance we have dominion over every circumstance and situation. Sicknesses have to obey. The enemy is under our feet. We experience the miraculous because it is the natural to those operating in the Kingdom of God.

May God give us the grace to understand our purposes and to accomplish them according to His will as we meditate upon how mindful He was to us to give us so much in the first place. Be blessed! Believe!

In the book of Matthew Chapter 24 and verse 14, Jesus explains to his disciples the events leading to the end times and his return.
¹⁴ And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. ((NIV)

Throughout history the gospel has been preached but let us examine what gospel, or good news, Jesus preached and commanded his disciples to preach. It certainly was not the gospel of Christianity, or a new religion. It was not a message of salvation for sure but it was clear that the good news would bring about mankind’s salvation. This begs us to ask why he insisted on it being the good news of THE KINGDOM. To understand the message of the kingdom one must understand what a kingdom is, how it is administered and ruled and who it’s subjects or citizens are as well as their responsibilities. According to the Merriam – Webster dictionary, a kingdom is defined as:

1 : a politically organized community or major territorial unit having a monarchical form of government headed by a king or queen. 2 often capitalized. a : the eternal kingship of God. b : the realm in which God’s will is fulfilled.

Thus a kingdom can be agreed upon as a territory or community headed by a king. Obviously even a community has territory, hence being able to organize itself politically. Having established that we then see that Adam was given ‘dominion’ over the earth and all that was in it and commanded to ‘subdue’ it.

²⁶ Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals,^[a] and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

²⁷ So God created mankind in his own image,
    in the image of God he created them;
    male and female he created them.

²⁸ God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” Genesis 1: 26-28, NIV

At this point you see that there is a territory and its possessions (all the living creatures and the land on earth) and one who is assigned to ‘rule’ over that territory.

Fast forward to the time of Jesus, and you find man in a state of struggle to subdue the elements and living creatures, let alone his own carnal desires which bring about every known evil perpetuated against fellow man. In this state God sends his son to remove the barrier between heavens authority caused by man’s rebellion against that authority (sin).

One would have expected that John the baptist would have preached the message of salvation but instead we see him in Matthew 3 preaching the following:

In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea ² and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” ³ This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah:

“A voice of one calling in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
    make straight paths for him.’”^[a] Matt 3:1-3 (NIV)

When Jesus begins his ministry again the same message in Matthew 4:17 and 23,24:

¹⁷ From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

²³ Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. ²⁴ News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed; and he healed them.

In Matthew 9:35 we see the same:

³⁵ Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness.

At this point it is clear that Jesus was not bringing a religion but proclaiming the sovereign nature of God and his right to represent him. He was not interested in systems of the world, and neither was he interested in overthrowing them. The word repentance has its root in the act of having a transformation of one’s mindset to move in a direction completely opposite to where they were pointed at. Mankind, unlike the fallen angels, did not fall from the kingdom. Mankind fell from their position of authority as representatives of the king on territory earth. As witnessed by miracles, signs and wonders (which are not supernatural in the heavenly kingdom, but just a restoration to what was supposed to be the natural), the kingdom of heaven or God reclaims territory and authority when God shows up. It is the very nature of a king to have dominion over his territory. His command is final. There is no democratic counsel, or option to do otherwise. Hence bacteria and viruses come under the dominion of God, as do body cells and parts. They submit to the final authority. This is commonly known as healing.

This explains why Jesus sent out his disciples with the following instruction in Luke 9:1,2:

When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, ² and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.

Notice once again he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God AND to HEAL THE SICK. Those two are not mutually exclusive and are a non-negotiable part of the contract. In Luke 10:9 we see another reference to healing the sick and the kingdom of God:

⁹ Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’

This then is the gospel of the Kingdom. The restoration of the authority of God in territories by His presence manifested in those who have believed in the message of Jesus and embraced their redemption found in the work of the cross. Indeed by His stripes we were healed. This is not a declaration of possibilities or probabilities. It is the living word of God available to all who believe in Christ and who then receive the power to become sons and daughters of the King. The king always sent his representatives out with authority, for he knew that his glory was represented by their appearance.

In this last hour the Holy Spirit will quicken us to understand that the kingdom of God is one of power and authority, not for the sake of ruthless dominion but a loving restoration that will also see creation rejoice, even if for a brief period, in the manifest presence of the Father on earth as believers experience the last great outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the world is filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the see.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
    for they will be filled. – Matthew 5:6, NIV

Blessed are the pure in heart,
    for they will see God. Matthew 5:8, NIV

“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:3, NIV

³³ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Matthew 6:33, NIV

Holy Spirit we are hungry. Fill us with His righteousness and cause us to proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God and verify it with miracles, signs and wonders. Father, THY kingdom come and THY will be done here on earth, as it is in heaven. Amen.

1949 – October: Hebrides Islands, Scotland (Duncan Campbell)

Duncan Campbell

Following the trauma of World War II, spiritual life reached a low ebb in the Scottish Hebrides. By 1949 Peggy and Christine Smith (84 and 82) had prayed constantly for revival in their cottage near Barvas village on the Isle of Lewis, the largest of the Hebrides Islands in the bleak north west of Scotland. God showed Peggy in a dream that revival was coming. Months later, early one winter’s morning as the sisters were praying, God give them an unshakeable conviction that revival was near.

Peggy asked her minister James Murray Mackay to call the church leaders to prayer. Three nights a week the leaders prayed together for months. One night, having begun to pray at 10 pm, a young deacon from the Free Church read Psalm 24 and challenged everyone to be clean before God. As they waited on God his awesome presence swept over them in the barn at 4 am Mackay invited Duncan Campbell (1898-1972) to come and lead meetings. Within two weeks he came. God had intervened and changed Duncan’s plans and commitments. At the close of his first meeting in the Presbyterian Church in Barvas the travel weary preacher was invited to join an all night prayer meeting. Thirty people gathered for prayer in a nearby cottage. Duncan Campbell described it:

“God was beginning to move, the heavens were opening, we were there on our faces before God. Three o’clock in the morning came, and God swept in. About a dozen men and women lay prostrate on the floor, speechless. Something had happened; we knew that the forces of darkness were going to be driven back, and men were going to be delivered. We left the cottage at 3 am to discover men and women seeking God. I walked along a country road, and found three men on their faces, crying to God for mercy. There was a light in every home, no one seemed to think of sleep.”

When Duncan and his friends arrived at the church that morning it was already crowded. People had gathered from all over the island, some coming in buses and vans. No one discovered who told them to come. God led them. Large numbers were converted as God’s Spirit convicted multitudes of sin, many lying prostrate, many weeping. After that amazing day in the church, Duncan pronounced the benediction, but then a young man began to pray aloud. He prayed for 45 minutes. Once more the church filled with people repenting and the service continued till 4 am the next morning before Duncan could pronounce the benediction again.

Even then he was unable to go home to bed. As he was leaving the church a messenger told him, “Mr. Campbell, people are gathered at the police station, from the other end of the parish; they are in great spiritual distress. Can anyone here come along and pray with them?”

Campbell went and what a sight met him. Under the still starlit sky he found men and women on the road, others by the side of a cottage, and some behind a peat stack all crying to God for mercy. The revival had come.

His mission continued for five weeks. Services were held from early morning until late at night and into the early hours of the morning. The revival spread to the neighbouring parishes from Barvas with similar scenes of repentance, prayer and preaching. People sensed the awesome presence of God everywhere.

That move of God in answer to prevailing prayer continued in the area into the fifties and peaked again on the previously resistant island of North Uist in 1957. Meetings were again crowded and night after night people cried out to God for salvation.

The Hebrides revival, experienced in a Presbyterian context, illustrates how the impact of the Spirit floods and transcends any context. Campbell emphasised the importance of a baptism in the Spirit, as had been a common theme in the Welsh revival.

Source: Renewal Journal – Geoff Waugh