STEALTH MODE, EPHESIANS 6:16-20, ENJOY GOD 58 by Dr. Bill Bolin

Testimony/Prophetic audible vision from Kelli Jean Clark-Czuchna at FloodGate: Just wanted to share that while at Floodgate on Sunday, during worship, I heard God’s voice saying “I really enjoy this place. My heart is honored here and I delight to come here. I love to meet with these beautiful people and commune with them. They are lovely and I want them to know how much I enjoy coming here.” And what’s wild is that it seemed like three voices, three perspectives speaking to me, as in ALL of the Godhead expressing three types of individual joy that is felt when dwelling upon the praises of the people there. It was intense for me to experience the voice of God in such a way, a way that felt like I could pick out Jesus voice, Father God’s and Holy Spirit all communicating to me….is that even possible?

 STEALTH MODE

Boldness & Blessing

praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints— 19 and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak (Ephesians 6:16-20)

Holy Spirit empowers for purpose, not just an experience. Paul is asking the Ephesian believers to agree with him in prayer for a specific purpose.  The new wine of the Spirit is not simply about a feeling, but to give us boldness to demonstrate and communicate the Gospel as a sign and wonder carrier, making us victorious. Part of this element of victory as an expansive means of conducting our life in the midst of war happens as we extend the kingdom beyond our circumstances. This is why we need to know what we know and speak what we know and pray into what we are beginning to understand.  We are often the only Bible some people will ever encounter, at least initially. If we proclaim the message of the Cross in the power of the Spirit, we give Jesus the ability to do the rest. Paul wrote, You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone, but on tables of human hearts (2 Corinthians 3:3). We are supposed to agree together. Let’s talk about agreement, which is the unnamed weapon, a Javelin, which was a Romans soldiers long distance weapon.

AGREEING FOR VICTORY

Jesus taught us to pray in agreement through supplication for ourselves and others concerning spiritual warfare in Matthew 6:13, the Disciples Prayer, where He exhorts us to pray “Deliver us from evil,” which has to do with tests and trials that are always present, Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; 13 but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. 14 If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you (1 Peter 4:12-14) and God’s faithfulness that with the temptation [He]will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it (1 Corinthians 10:13).” Paul teaches us that Jesus deals with the principle of freedom from the bondage that our soul can come under when it submits to its own inclinations. Learning to live and walk in obedience on the Lord’s terms brings the capacity to rise above the works of the evil one who attempts to subtly manipulate us, causing us to be blinded, or pushing us to submit to things that exist outside the divine order God has prepared for our lives, when Paul wrote, with the temptation [He]will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it (1 Corinthians 10:13).”  The call to obedience is the call to recognize that you have freedom to chose and choices to make, and if those choices will be to resist the devil, the enemy will flee. The adversary has little chance of success against that kind of defense.

 

Obedient faith coupled with prayer (Matthew 6:9-14) And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one (14)

When Jesus was in Gethsemane He said to Peter and John, Pray that you won’t enter temptation, He was talking about the raising of an alert in our soul of our vulnerability. It’s not only a reminder that if I’m tempted, God didn’t get me there, but Jesus points out that I need to call on Him if I’m going to find my way through. Jesus told Peter and John, “Watch and pray.” We need an alertness quickened to our hearts because we can be caught in a place of “slumber” about issues that are dissolving around us, spiraling into chaos and starting to flavor our lives with something other than the tastiness of the kingdom.

 

Prayer is how we sharpen the Javelins tip. As it flies toward its mark, our development of our character and wisdom is what gives us the ability to hit the mark.  Paul tells us that our prayer has purpose. In this case it’s for freedom to preach, and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak. Our personal methodology is praying in the Spirit, unknown languages.  That’s a big S, not a little s. This supernaturally infused prayer is to happen always, not occasionally, 18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit. Paul then tells us to pray for others for their needs, as we extend ourselves into others as change agents, in this case through prayer, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints.

 

THE PRAYER OF AGREEMENT

How many of you had this happen to you?  Someone comes to you and ask you to pray in agreement with about a specific request or need in his life. The presuppositions that working are that you would want to pray in agreement with him, and second, that if we agree, then the proper use of this methodological formula of two in agreement will oblige God to act.

 

It is apparent that there are those who are teaching that all we need to do is to agree as the Matthew 18 text exhorts us, and whatever we ask, we will receive, 18 “Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. 19 “Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.

 

I don’t know everything that has been taught about this, but I don’t think that this passage is just about prayer needs being met, at least not exclusively. It is more about authority.  In the previous verses, Jesus said, 15 Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. 16 But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that ‘by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.’ 17 And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector. The passage is about discipline and correct behavior, not just getting what you want.  But that doesn’t mean that this doesn’t deal with prayer. Observe with me,

 

WHAT PRAYING IN AGREEMENT IS

However, as God’s children, we have authority given to us by Jesus to work out the plan and purpose of God in the world today. Because authority is placed on us, whatever we agree with is likely to happen. If you agree with God regarding something, what you agree about is very likely to happen, but if you agree with the god of this world, then what you agree about will most likely happen. The best way to find out whom you are agreeing with is to run your life tape on a daily basis. The thoughts that you are bombarded with all day long are the tapes, and they are pre-programmed. They are either pre-programmed by God, or by the enemy of God. Your thoughts are not your own; they are either prompted by God or the devil.  When we walk in agreement with the devil, the world or the flesh, our authority will be misused, as we sew into a field that isn’t owned by Jesus.  This causes us to become squanderers of the authority we possess, using it in a way that does not advance God’s Kingdom. This misapplication creates an unholy accord as we advance darkness over light.

 

To develop the idea of agreement, there are two areas that I would like to touch on. The first is Romans 12 where Paul is dealing with the issue of, do we live connected with God and one another? Paul’s answer is that we are to continuously connect ourselves to God and with one another by offering ourselves as living sacrifices, as we press onward and upward into the light of God’s mercy, as we sacrificially present ourselves to Him and to one another. When we act as servants in this manner, we become “otherly.” On the other hand, there is a conforming to this world that we are more naturally inclined to participate in. The critical thing that we must understand is that this world has been pre-programmed by the enemy of God.

 

The enemy of our soul has pre-programmed us to have proclivities, preferences and tastes that are sensate based, gratifying to our baser, sentient nature, and to like certain kinds of things that this world offers due to the Noetic effect that we are all subject to as denizens of a fallen world. Another way of pre-programming us is by the constant running of the enemy’s program of remembrance, which will continually try to condemn us by trolling through our past and raising into view the areas of life and conduct that we bring us shame. If we agree with that programming, we will live out life according to what the enemy wants us to agree with, Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down (Revelation 12:10).

 

It is critical to our spiritual well being that we understand our need to learn how to identify whom we are agreeing with and why we are agreeing with them.  If we agree with the enemies programming, then there will be an working out externally of that with which we have entered into an agreed state of being, which will cause us to live a life which is condemned as we labor under a taskmaster who really has no right to use us.  This failure on our part always leads to a reification of the garden, as the enemy takes authority that wasn’t his, making it his own, or at least using the authority we rightfully have for his nefarious purposes.  In this case there are two or more agreeing, the programming of the devil and us.  This leads to a complete waste of our authority, as it winds up being utilized for the enemy, and not God who vested you with that authority.

TWO TYPES OF AGREEMENT

God often views reality in a completely different way than we do ourselves. He thinks of you as a completely different kind of an individual. He sent his own son to bring you back to Himself, to make you His. He likes you. If you want to agree with someone about something, why don’t you agree with God about who he says you are? This is what is designated as an internal agreement.

A second kind of agreement is external. In Acts 4:23-24 we see a corporate external outworking of agreement and being let go, they went to their own companions and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them. 24 So when they heard that, they raised their voice to God with one accord and said: Lord… Our prayer life is directly related to how we are walking with God. They raised their voices together to God. They responded as a corporate group and prayed in agreement. They were outraged by what had happened to Peter and John, and their first response was to pray: a cacophony of prayer, a harsh or discordant sound, harshness in the sound of words or phrases; and a harmonized prayer, one of spirit, desire, etc.; a prayer that God would rule in this present circumstance, and when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness (v. 32). All believers were one in heart and mind, When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place (Acts 2:1). If you are going to learn to pray in agreement,  you have to learn to be in one heart and one mind.

Learning to pray in agreement, based on Matthew 18, is not some kind of methodological activity, which when you say it, you have accomplished it.  Praying in agreement starts with you and me being close to each other in Christ. Our agreement is something more than what we mouth. It has to do with our heart’s attitude. Do we love Jesus and one another?

Jesus thinks a lot more kindly of you than you do of yourself. You are not what you think you are. God has bought you through Jesus, so you need to agree with God about how he sees you. If you learn to agree with him, your behavior will change. You will begin operating in a way which shows correspondence with what Jesus says.

Agreement will have its recompense. If we are in agreement, we will pray in one accord. We will pray with the Acts 4 dynamic. Learning to pray in agreement is learning to pray in God’s will. If our minds are transformed, we will discover the perfect will of God (Romans 12:2).

CONCLUSION

We are to never neglect prayer, as inactivity is a very precarious proposal when it comes to God’s desire to bring us into agreement.  Also, be careful to keep within the lines of Scripture’s revelation. In other words: don’t make it say what it doesn’t. Scripture should never be stretched or distorted.  Nor should Scripture be diminished through changing its relevance to impact the ‘here and now.’ God is the same yesterday, today and forever. So is His Word! Its application doesn’t change dispensationally.

If Holy Spirit makes a Word of God come alive to you, a major kingdom key is recognizing that the Word has the power to bring about the fulfillment of what has been prophetically activated.  The Word as Scripture and as a word rightly spoken, has seed waiting to spring to life.  This is how we cross swords.  When you receive the Word of God that’s taught and desire to see it worked into you; or to see that promise fulfilled in your own circumstances, it is not your burden to make it happen.  Your part is to build the platform for it to be showcased, as power is in the Word. Our responsibility is to stand in faith before the Lord and to hold onto His Word. To be authentic all “words” must be in accordance with the written word; (Bible), and all must glorify the living Word; Jesus. Jesus is the truth, the living Word of God; He is light and there is no darkness in him (1 John 1:5).

 

 

 

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