International House of Prayer Tallahassee – Growing in the Prophetic Conference
Our Calling To Go Deep in God Page 1
Our Calling To Go Deep in God
I.God’s invitation and calling to His church
A.God is calling us to go after His heart in this hour. Many in the global prayer movement are saying we are living in crucial times of God pouring out His Spirit in the earth.
B.The end-time move of God is described in the Word of God as a time of great upheaval, yet at the same time, great release of His Spirit in the earth Acts. 2:17 says “And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh. Your sons and daughters shall prophesy…”
C.God is raising up a Prophetic Generation of young adults who desire Him more than anything else this life has to offer. God is raising up those who would say – It’s time to put and end to the mockery aimed towards Christians and the Church. It’s time that we see a powerless compromising church walk in the full manifestation of power that it was designed to walk in.
D.God wants to establish a dwelling place or habitation of His presence on the earth.
2 How he (David) swore to the LORD…3 "Surely I will not go into the chamber of my house, or go up to the comfort of my bed; 4 I will not give sleep to my eyes… 5 until I find a place for the LORD, a dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob." (Ps. 132:2-5)
E.We must be resolved to lay hold of our calling in God (Eph. 1:17). We need revelation of how attainable this is and how valuable it is to God to pursue a life of full devotion to the Lord.
II.God is calling THIS PROPHETIC GENERATION to be focused and faithful to our assignment
F.A.In this local House of Prayer that means our primary mandate is to “keep a consistent sanctuary of worship and prayer” modeled after the tabernacle of David, to go deep in God and function as a perpetual solemn assembly.We in this House, are a “Special Ops unit” with a narrow assignmentin God’s larger strategy.
8 And you have not kept charge of My holy things, but you have set others to keep charge of My sanctuary for you….15 But...the sons of Zadok, who kept charge of My sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from Me, they shall come near Me to minister to Me; and they shall stand before Me…16 They shall enter My sanctuary, and they shall come near My table to minister to Me, and they shall keep My charge. (Ezek. 44:8-16)
II.III.a Holy Spirit GREEN HOUSE:a BREAKTHROUGH WITH a DOMINO EFFECT
A.We are to be a spiritual greenhouse for young tender plants to grow quickly in God and where people can gather to pursue the fullness of what God has promised in this age and to be great in Him. The 3-fold greenhouse effect of time before God is: intimacy, intercession and messengers.
B.‘Oil of intimacy’:breakthrough of power in the inner man(Mt. 25). God is desiring His people to be filled with the oil of the Holy spirit through intimacy with Jesus. True transformation in the Church and society only comes through people ablaze with God’s fire. History is only changed by people on fire.We must put ourselves right in the way of God’s fire as our top priority.
C.Forerunner Messengers:breakthrough in End-Time revelation(Rev. 10). These messengers will prepare the Church as a Bride for the End-Timeswith a 4-fold focus:1) Intimacy with God;2) Understanding the End-Times;3) Sermon on the Mount lifestyles;4) Power of the Holy Spirit (harvest, revival, prophetic, healing, faith, authority of the believer). Again, the purpose of this conference is to help us understand our prophetic mandate and to rise up with great release of power in our lives, through the Holy Spirit.
D.Dan. 10Intercession:breakthrough authority to change nations. God is raising up Prayer ministries that change the spiritual atmosphere of cities and nations. This will result in God’s releasing deliverance for the Church and the lost and transforming the Church and society. The only hope for the nations is a Holy Spirit anointed prayer movement.
E.This mandate will only be accomplished by lifestyles that pursue 100-fold obedience as they are saturated in the Word with much fasting & prayer. It requires a “revelation of our calling” to see our weak labors in the Prayer Room as sacred.
17 That the Father of glory may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him 18…that you may know what is the hope of His calling… (Eph. 1:17-18)
III.IV.The call to the fullness of God THROUGH THE HOLY SPIRIT
16THAT He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, 17 THAT Christ may dwell (release His presence)in your hearts (mind, emotions, will) through faith (confidence); THAT you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehendwith all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height -- 19 to know(experiential intimacy) the love of Christ which passes knowledge; THAT you may be filled with all the fullness of God (destiny for each stage of our lives). (Eph. 3:14-19)
A.In Eph. 3:17-19, Paul describes the greatest heights of glory that God makes available to the human heart in this life. There is no experience greater than what Paul sets forth in this passage.
B.Paul gives us a clear picture of where God wants to bring His people. To receive this as a realistic life vision, is to enter into a lifestyle that is most demanding, but leads to what is ultimately most rewarding. We deeply want all that God will give the human heart.
C.This prayer is a significant theological statement of how to cultivate intimacy with God and experience the deep things of God.It presents the biblical pattern for pursuing God.
D.Paul presents a 4-fold progression in our development and growth in the Spirit. This is seen in the 4 times he uses the word ‘that’ designating the 4 different stages of growth. The connecting phrases give us understanding of the sequence of progression in holy passion. Stage #1 is focused on asking for divine strength whereas, stage 2-3 gives us vision by revealing God’s promise to release His presence and purpose in those who persevere in love and obedience and fullness.
- Stage #1: prayer with fasting for God’s strength to persevere in our pursuit of 100-fold obedience (finances, time, speech, eyes) is in context to filling our mind with His Word.
- Stage #2: breakthrough of Jesus’ presence in our inner man (mind, emotions, will). This is the same as being rooted and grounded in love (from God, for God and others).
- Stage #3: new ability to perceive and comprehend God at a new level and to be lost in the ocean of God’s love. Only the pure in heart can see the deep things of God’s heart.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. (Mt. 5:8)
- Stage #4: Filled with all the fullness of God. We are not to be lacking in our depth in God. We need to experience His fullness through the power of the Holy Spirit (2 Tim. 1:6; 1 Cor. 2:4-5; John 14:12).
IV.V.Abiding in Christ
4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. 5 I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. (Jn. 15:4-5)
A.There are two components to our abiding relationship with Jesus. Our partis to be faithful to turn our attention inward to communicate with the Spirit. God’s part is to release His supernatural activity in our hearts (our mind and emotions).
B.We can only abide in Christ as we fellowship with the Holy Spirit. We deeply value our friendship with the Spirit. A vibrant walk with Him is essential in our quest to experience more of God. It is futile to seek deep experiences with God while neglecting the Spirit’s presence and His leadership in our lives. We cannot go deep in God with a dull spirit. We can all fellowship with the Holy Spirit. He is a dynamic Person who lives inside us to empower our hearts as we walk in friendship with Him.
14The love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all (2 Cor. 13:14, NAS)
1 If you have any…comfort from His love, if any fellowship with the Spirit… (Phil. 2:1, NIV)
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