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 DEAR READERS
I remember being in a meeting in
Cloverdale, BC, a few years ago when the preacher shared on the
verse from Psalm 11:3: "if the foundations are
destroyed, what can the righteous do?". Her answer to
the question was very simple, the righteous just need to rebuild
the foundations! Amen, we may be discouraged with many things
including the Government and the Supreme Court for instance, but
"Thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph (2 Cor 2:14).
This month I want to share some teaching on powerful prayer.
EN-HAKKORE: THE SPRING OF THE
CALLER
I have this growing feeling that we do not
need more prayer so much as more authorative prayer. We seem to
need more answers to prayer and there may be a frustration at
the low power level in our churches and prayer rooms. When
Samuel called unto the Lord it thundered! May the Lord lead us
to pray such prayers in His name and in the power of His Spirit
that He tears the sky apart and comes down over our nation. Have
a look at Judges 15 and the story of Samson recently captured by
3000 men of Judah and about to be handed over to the gloating
Philistines.
14 As Samson arrived at Lehi, the
Philistines came shouting in triumph.
But the Spirit of the LORD powerfully took control of Samson,
and he snapped the ropes on his arms as if they were burnt
strands of flax,
and they fell from his wrists.
15 Then he picked up a donkey's jawbone
that was lying on the ground and killed a thousand Philistines
with it.
16 And Samson said, "With the jawbone of a donkey,
I've made heaps on heaps!
With the jawbone of a donkey, I've killed a thousand men!"
17 When he finished speaking, he threw away the
jawbone; and the place was named Jawbone Hill.
18 Now Samson was very thirsty, and he cried out
to the LORD,
"You have accomplished this great victory by the strength of
your servant.
Must I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of these pagan
people?"
19 So God caused water to gush out of a hollow in
the ground at Lehi, and Samson was revived as he drank.
Then he named that place, En-hakkore, "The Spring of the One
Who Cried Out," and it is still in Lehi to this day.
A few thoughts:
Although hopelessly outnumbered 3000 - 1,
and with Samson facing humiliation from an expectant enemy, the
Lord entered the situation with a mighty outpouring of the
Spirit of God and took control. The new ropes that were holding
him back instantly fell away and a great victory was wrought
with something ordinary that was to hand. The battle though was
long and hard and left him exhausted looking at 'Jawbone Hill'.
Then something remarkable happened that has been recorded for us
in scripture. He called out to the Lord for drink of water in
such a way, in the power of the anointing that was upon him,
that the Lord instantly split open the hollow and made water
gush out so he could drink and be revived. Samson called the
place En-hakkore, 'The Spring of the One who Cried Out'.
Now may the Lord Himself help us to apply
this to our own prayer lives. The Lord is the same yesterday,
today and forever. These impossibly tight new ropes must break
under the power of the Holy Spirit as we admit that we are not
in control and yield control to Him. Control might even be the
main issue for us in 2003. If God can do it with the most
despised jawbone of a dead ass, He can most certainly use you or
me! Is this the time when the rivers of living water must spring
forth from our innermost beings all over Canada? Should we not
drink from the fountain of living waters and be revived from
coast to coast!
Samson cried out to the Lord, he called on
the Lord and the Lord answered. I believe that that was no
ordinary prayer, it was a Holy Ghost prayer and it was a
necessary prayer, for which God wanted to release provision. God
was not helping Samson to do his thing, God was mightily doing
His thing to prophetically lead the people of God out from under
an enemy that both despised Israel and the glory of His name.
May we be so discipled by the Lord that life springs forth as we
cry to the Living God. En-Hakkore is the spring of the Caller,
will you be a caller, will you cry out to God like never before
from the depths of your own being as the Spirit takes control?
Let us see wondrous answers to powerful prayers. A prayer:
FATHER WE THANK YOU THAT YOU HAVE NOT
GROWN DEAF AND THAT YOUR ARMS HAVE NOT WITHERED. PLEASE BREAK
OUR HEARTS WITH REPENTANCE AND SORROW FOR OUR OWN SIN AND HOW
HAVE WE HAVE TRIED TO BE IN CONTROL. WE PRAY THAT YOU WILL DRAW
US CLOSER TO YOURSELF IN TRUE INTIMACY THAT YOUR SPIRIT CAN BE
IN COMPLETE CONTROL. LET THE RISEN LIFE OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST
BE MANIFEST IN YOUR PEOPLE AND LET YOUR OWN NAME BE GLORIFIED IN
HIM. WE ARE DESPERATE LORD. HEAR OUR CRY. IN JESUS NAME. AMEN!
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