A Spiritual Checkup For Intercessors

By Teresa Seputis

Lesson 1 Introduction
This next series will lightly touch on several areas that are very relevant to intercessors in their walk with God. Have you ever wondered what the difference is from an effective intercessor and someone who feels called to pray a lot? There are two types of differences. First, let me cover the measurable difference... the difference that is observable to the casual observer. An effective intercessor is one who's prayers are answered.. quickly and frequently and often powerfully. Another characteristic of an effective intercessor is that their prayers tend to be full of God's life and to carry God's heart. If they are praying for someone out loud while present with that person, e.g., ministry prayer, the person goes away feeling very ministered to and touched by God. There is a dimension of their prayer that seems to breath (or deposit) God's life into the person, or into the situation, that they are praying for. However, there is a more important difference.. one that may not be measurable to the casual observer, but that is it key to the whole thing. An effective intercessor is one who walks in deep intimacy with God, who knows how to hear God's voice, who does not come to God with their own agenda and ask God to perform it. Rather they find out from God what His agenda is, and even get their prayer strategy (petition, authority, blessing, calling things into being, etc) directly from God for the situation. They are spirit led in all they do. Yes, many of these have had natural training/knowledge that they apply. But they never "pray" out of their knowledge.. instead they draw into God's presence, get their instructions from God, and then follow them. These are the ones who God considers "highly effective", the men and women who He can trust because they are committed to doing things God's way instead of asking God to do things their way. They are committed to seeking/praying God's will for each situation rather than asking God to meet/bless "their will" for this situation. These are the Psalm 37 intercessors: Psalm 37:3-6

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3 Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. 4 Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart. 5 Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this: 6 He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun. These are the ones who are committed to walking in holiness before God and obeying Him. God's priorities become their priorities, what is important to God becomes important to them. What God disdains, they learn to disdain, because they are so hungry for God. They walk in intimacy with God. God is their personal friend and they are confident in their relationship with God.. they know they can approach Him in confidence because they are His and they love Him so dearly. The attacks of the enemy (shame, guilt, disqualification, fear, etc) loose power over them as they are filled with God's truth and light, cleansed by the blood of the lamb, personally commissioned by God and they know how to discern/recognize His voice. These men and women of God are fully committed to obeying Him, no matter what He asks them to do. Are you willing? Is that what you want? Does this type of radical relationship with God appeal to you? Are you willing to give it all up (Matt 13:46) to pursue God's Lordship in your life? Jesus said in Matt 14:15, that if we really love him, we must be committed to obeying Him... God is looking for men and women like that.. to raise them up as His faithful and effective intercessors... 2 Chronicles 16:9 For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Are you one of the ones God is looking for? If you are, stop right now and tell Him so. Invite Him to teach you how to become an effective intercessor. The following lessons will touch on some of the topics that will help you, but your real teacher must be the Holy Spirit. If you want God to teach you this, He will... just tell Him (and really mean it) that you are willing and ask Him to teach you. God will enter into a covenant with you to do this.. your part is simple.. you commit to obey Him when He shows you something clearly, to cooperate with Him as best as you can. His part is to teach you and to show you and to transform you. He will do His part if you will do your part. Here is a roadmap to what we will be covering. Next week we will look at just what prayer and intercession actually is. This will be basic review for most of us, but it is
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critical enough that it must be covered. After that, we will look at a model for effective personal intercession and a model for corporate intercession (or praying together). Then we will begin to explore some topics pertinent to being effective intercessors... covering a different topic each week:

hearing God's voice committing to God's Lordship in your everyday life God's Lordship in personal finances worship fasting overcoming condemnation

I hope this series will be a blessing and inspiration to you. The series is a tool, but the real teacher is the Holy Spirit. So why not take a few minutes right now to invite Him to come and be your teacher for the next ten weeks as we invite the Holy Spirit to give us a spiritual checkup and to make us effective in prayer and intercession.

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Lesson 2 Understanding Personal Prayer and Intercession

What do you think of when you hear the word prayer? Here are some of the more common answers I get when I ask this question:

Prayer is talking to God. (Some people who answer like this go on to address Bible Study as God talking to you.) Prayer is taking your needs before God Prayer is petitioning God for the needs of others Prayer is spiritual warfare

What do you think of when you hear the word "intercession"? Is it a subset of the above? Here are some more common answers that I get:

specialized praying for others bringing a list of petitions before God spiritual warfare and fighting demonic forces on behalf of a person or place or event

Prayer and intercession encompass all of these elements, but Prayer is NOT just Asking God For Things... Prayer is Building A Relationship With God
Prayer Means Building Relationship With God

Someone once described prayer to me as a one way phone call.. yeck! They explained that in prayer, we talk to God, tell Him our needs, share with Him the needs of others, etc. How would you like to receive a phone call like that? Where someone calls you, talks at you without letting you get in a word edgewise and then hangs up? You would not enjoy that very much, would you? Do you think God enjoys that type of interaction with us? Rather, God wants our prayer time to be two-way, to develop a place of intimacy with Him. Look at it like "building a relationship with God." Now, any time we want to build a relationship with someone, this involves spending time with that person. The same goes for building a relationship with God. He is our Heavenly Father. Just like earthly fathers love to spend time with their kids, God enjoys spending time with us.
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We don't have to be phony or "on our best behavior" to spend time with God.. instead we can be real. He knows what we're like ... and He likes us anyhow! Romans 8:14-16 14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out "Abba Father!" 16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are Children of God. Gal 4:6-7 6 And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, "Abba, Father!" 7 Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. John 15:9-11 9 As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. 10 If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love. 11 These things I have spoken to you that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. We have to be practical in how we begin building relationship. I once knew a person who decided to set aside three hours one day to seek God. So he blocked off the time, went to his prayer room, sat down and waited for God to meet him.. and waited and waited. He checked his watch.. only 10 minutes had gone by. The next three hours were the most miserable of his life.. he never knew three hours could take so long and he was never so bored. By the end of his grueling ordeal, he was convinced that prayer does not work. The problem was that he has set too big of a goal.. his expectations and practices were unrealistic. Hopefully none of you have ever had dates like that! Hopefully you have never had "prayer experiences" like that either. But if you have, put it behind you, draw up a clean slate, and let's start over. We know that when we first start building a relationship with someone we tend to have shorter meetings and we tend to have well defined activities. Perhaps we start with a brief phone call. Or perhaps we catch lunch or a cup of coffee together and chat briefly, or take in a movie... as we get to know each other, then the relationship builds. There is more common ground and we begin to know how the other person thinks, what they like, what interests them, etc. At some point we become so close that we
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can just sit and "do nothing" together and be comfortable. Or we grow so close that we can spend hours and hours together and not feel bored or strained or stressed. That is because we put in the time together and build a good solid relationship. This is how we build relationship with God.. Gradually, spending time together and building relationship. If you have not spent any intimacy time with God before, start with something small and manageable... like maybe 15 minutes twice a day.. and then build from there. Get to know Him, find out what His opinions are on various things (the bible is a great guideline and launching pad). Ask Him questions, invite Him to speak to you about your own life and relationship with Him. Invite Him to show you your misconceptions about God and invite Him to transform you.
In prayer, You don't just talk to God, He talks to you too

God will expose areas of your life He wants to change. He will bring them to the surface and make you aware of them. When this happens, the enemy will try to jump in and tell you that you can't approach God because you are not holy enough. That is just a lie designed to divert you from this process with God. Don't believe the enemy lies. Rather, believe what God says on this topic: Ro 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Is 43:25 I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; and I will not remember your sins. 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us form all unrighteousness. Heb 10:22-23 22 Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled form an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. Understand that there is a difference between fearing God and being afraid of Him. Fearing God is a reverent respect for Him, it draws us to Him, makes us desire to do things to please Him. Fear of God drives us to God on His terms, we desire to do
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things His way. On the other hand, being afraid of God pushes us away from God, it makes us want to avoid Him, to run from Him, to be afraid that His desires for us are unpleasant, etc. We are not to be afraid of God, but we are to fear Him.. to respect Him and desire to please Him and to be willing to do it "His way".
Now, what is Intercession?

According to the Revell Concise Bible Dictionary: "Intercession, addressed to God, is prayer for another person, usually to obtain God's help. Intercession is embedded in the concept of the priesthood, especially the Role of the High Priest -- Heb 5:1 'Every High Priest is selected from among men and is appointed to represent them in matters related to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins'." We are admonished to intercede for each other in the NT: 1 Timothy 2:1 I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone-James 5:16: ... Pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. If we feel called as intercessors, we are in good company, because Jesus intercedes for us. First, His death on the cross was intercession for us: Isaiah 53:12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. After rising from the dead, He continues to intercede for us:

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Hebrews 7:25 Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. Romans 8:3 Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. And The Holy Spirit Also Intercedes For Us: Romans 8:26,27 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. So, intercession is "agreeing with God for his perfect will on behalf of others." God reveals His will in two ways: 1. the bible 2. the Holy Spirit speaks to us and leads/guides our prayers From the bible, we know that:

God desires for all to be saved (2 Peter 3:9) God desires for His kingdom to advance (Luke 11:2) God desires to give good gifts to His children (Matt 7:7-11) God desires to meet our needs (Luke 12:22-31) God desires for us to be fully equipped (2 Timothy 3:17) God desires us to be mature in Him (Colossians 4:12) God desires the fullness of Christ to be manifest in our lives (Ephesians 4:13) God desires for us to obey Him (John 14:15, 15:14) God desires to be our Lord/boss (Matt 7:21) God desires for us to be in unity (John 17:23) God desires for us to be full of His love and joy and peace (Gal 5:22, John 17:13) God desires that we lack nothing (James 1:4)
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If you are a bit stuck on how to pray for someone, then look to the Bible for God's will for that type of situation and pray that over them. You can never go wrong by praying in agreement with scripture. However, intercession is also being led of His Spirit to find what He desires to do in a given situation.

draw near to Him ask Him what His Will is wait for Him to answer pray His will

So How Do we Pray Effectively? First build that intimacy with God through personal prayer. Also, learn to pray together corporately. Next week we will look at a model for personal prayer and intercession, and we will also look at a model for praying together effectively.

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Lesson 3 Personal and Corporate Prayer/Intercession Models

A PERSONAL PRAYER/INTERCESSION MODEL

This model is built on the concept that prayer is a two way relationship with God. It understands that we can (and often do) come to God with prayer agendas, but there will be times where God decides to supersede our prayer agenda with His own agenda. These concepts are built into this prayer model. It is meant to be flexible.. a tool you build and launch form, not a rigid set of rules to hold you back or to grind you into a routine... There are six basic steps to this model.
Step 1: Praise And Worship

Remind yourself of what God has done for you and thank Him for it. Think about Who you are praying to. Think about the good things He has done for you and be grateful. Remember past answers to prayers and thank Him for what He's done. Let your mind dwell on times where He has been good to you, where He has come through for you, where He has brought His glory into seemingly impossible situations. 1 Cor 1:4-9 4 I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus, 5 that you were enriched in everything by Him in all utterance and all knowledge, 6 even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, 7 so that you come short in no gift, eagerly awaiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, 8 who will also confirm you to the end, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

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During this portion of prayer time, you may desire to strum a guitar, put on worship music or read sections of scripture to remind yourself of God's goodness, His faithfulness and His wonderful promises to us. Sample prayer: "I pray to My Lord Jesus Christ, who died for my sins on Calvary and rose from the dead, defeating Satan and death. Thank you for loving me and forgiving me and thank You for giving eternal life to me. I also pray to God my Father Who loves me and I thank You for adopting me as Your own child. I also pray to the Holy Spirit Who empowered the early Church at Pentecost and now lives inside of me. Thank you for leading and guiding and teaching me every day."
Step 2 - Invite God to lead your prayer time

Ps 31:3 For You are my rock an my fortress; therefore, for Your name's sake, lead me and guide me. Ps 25:12 Who is the man that fears the Lord? Him shall He teach in the way He chooses. Ps 37:23 The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and He delights in his way. Ask the Holy Spirit to be present in your prayer time. Give God permission to supercede your agenda and change the "syllabus" if He wants to. Ask Him to guard your mind during prayer.. that He keep out things He does not want you praying about (or put a check in your spirit) and that He also brings up everything He wants to cover. Take authority over enemy interference during the prayer time. (If you are feeling particularly laden with guilt/condemnation, you may want to do step 3 before you do this authority prayer. Otherwise, it is good to do this prayer before you examine your heart with God. It does not have to be drawn out or fancy, and the precise words are not important. But you want to take authority over the enemy and forbid him to interfere in the prayer time. Here is a sample prayer: In Jesus' name, through His power and authority, I forbid any enemy spirits to be involved in this prayer time. I take authority over this room and I command any spirits that to now willingly bow their knee to the Lord Jesus Christ to leave, right
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now. I forbid confusion or fear or condemnation to any other spirit to become involved in this prayer time. Lord Jesus, I turn this prayer time over to you and I ask you to please lead it. Do not allow anything to happen here that is not lead of Your Spirit. Holy Spirit, please lead and guide me. Make me sensitive to Your will.. able to hear Your voice. Please alert me if I inadvertently wander into any area You do not want me to cover and please remind me of all that You do want to do here today. I ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.
Step 3: Assure you're right with God

Invite the Lord to show you anything in your life that displeases Him. Ask God to show you anything in your life that separates you from Him. Immediately deal with anything He brings up by confessing and repenting and asking for forgiveness. Allow God to wash you in the blood of Jesus and make you holy. James 4:8-10 8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy into gloom. 10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up. This is very important.. it is the area that most often hinders our prayers. God considers unforgiveness a sin, and it must be dealt with before you can pray effectively. If you find it too hard to forgive someone, discuss it with God and ask Him to help you. Matt 6:14-15 14 For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. Mark 11:25 And if you stand praying, forgive if you have anything against anyone.

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Step 4: Invite God to change your nature to be more like Him

You want a relationship with Him where you do not grieve the Holy Spirit. So, ask God to change your nature and make your more like Christ. Invite Him to change your desires to line up with what He wants to do in your life. I prayed this prayer every day for a few years. I did not realize it, but God was transforming me daily as I prayed. Then one day He called to my attention about how much He had transformed me, and I was amazed. The exact words are not important, it is the heart and attitude behind it that matter. Here is the prayer I prayed: Lord, please transform me and make me like You. If I could change myself and present myself to You perfect, I would.. but I can't. So I am asking You to please change me. Please change the very desires of my heart to line up with the desires of Your heart. Make me want the things You want. Let the things that are important to You become important to me. Let me love what You love and hate what You hate. Make me to disdain the things You disdain. Please change my personal ambitions and even the motives of my heart to line up with Your motives and with Your plans and purpose and call on my life. I want to be like You. I want to desire what You desire and I want to want what You want. Change me Lord, transform me. Teach me to look at things from Your perspective, to see things Your way. Give me ears to hear Your voice and a heart to obey You. Amen. Here is some scriptural references for this type of prayer: Ps 40:8 I delight to do Your will, O my God, and Your law is within my heart. Ps 51:10-12 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. 11 Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me by Your generous Spirit.

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Ezek 36:26-27 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My judgements and do them.
Step 5: Prayer Time Topics

Having done all that preparation, give God Control and trust Him to lead you. John 16:13-15 13 However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. 14 He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. 15 All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you. Here are some of the things He might want to do in prayer time:

Intimacy (no petition or requests) Deal with areas of your life that He wants control of Heal past hurts or help you to forgive someone Review your day with you Have you intercede for someone else Share your delights with Him Have you tell Him about weakness or fears and turn them over to Him Make plans with Him: little ones (planning your day) or big life-impacting ones

Give God free reign to visit/change any area of our lives... 2 Thes 3:5 Now may the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patience of Christ. Pray your agenda if God did not supercede it. Most of the time He will allow you to pray your prayer agenda, He does not always supercede it. While praying, if you notice that the dimension of His life and power is not there ... or if you notice that the divine intensity or unction is missing, stop and ask God to examine what you are doing with you. Invite Him to redirect you if you've wandered outside of what He is
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doing. Tell Him you desire to be led of His spirit as you prayer. Then go back to prayer, trusting He will direct you.
Step 6: Ending your prayer time

Remember that "Amen" is not "The End". Thank God for what He's done. Ask Him to keep you close to Him during the day. Invite Him to call on you anytime during the day for whatever He wants. Drop into prayer frequently throughout the day, even if only briefly. Remember you're building a relationship with Him -- so spend time with Him John 14:23 Jesus answered and said to him, "if anyone loves Me, he will keep my word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. Ps 37:3-6 3 Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and feed on His faithfulness. 4 Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. 5 Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass 6 He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light and your justice as the noonday.
A CORPORATE INTERCESSION MODEL

Corporate intercession is praying together. As a group, we come before God and waiting on Him and catching His heart and then agreeing together on it. The big goal is unity in the spirit. If you don't have unity, if there is tensions and unforgiveness and such between members of the group, stop and deal with that before the group tries to pray together. Practical guidelines: 1. Start with lots of worship. 2. At beginning: - take authority in Jesus name over enemy interference - invite God's presence - ask Him to be in control and lead us - give Him permission examine our hearts / convict us 3. Silence and waiting on the Lord are OK.. someone does not always have to be talking out loud during corporate prayer 4. Pray short prayers, but pray many times - keep any one prayer short.. 2-3 minutes
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5.

6. 7. 8.

- keep your prayer to a single subject at a time - if several subjects are quickened to you, choose one if a long lag (or follow on the current subject) and jot the others down so you won't forget them. - feel free to pray more than once on a given topic - when you hear a brother/sister pray something, the Holy Spirit may quicken something else to pray about the same subject.. feel free to do that.. this is building on each other's prayers as the spirit leads Pray a subject through / Build on each others prayers a. someone starts off the topic b. everyone prays along the same topic as the Holy Spirit c. it is OK to pray more than once on a given subject d. feel free to share scripture that goes with the given subject as God quickens it to you e. build on each other's prayers as the spirit leads Intersperse worship between topics After long pause it is ok for someone who feels led to change topics and group press in on new topic. Save personal requests and personal ministry for the end.

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Lesson 4 Hearing God's Voice

Our God is a communicating God and He is constantly speaking to us. Even when we don't think we can hear God's voice, God speaks to us in a variety of manners: the conviction of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, object lessons, through Holy Spirit arranged "coincidences", through Bible verses jumping out at us, etc. An object lesson is when God points our attention to something in the natural and then suddenly reveals a spiritual truth to us. This is a very common way God speaks to many of His children. Let me share the very first time God spoke to me this way. I was 17 and a new driver. I had been hungry for God and praying for weeks and weeks that God would let me see Him in His unveiled glory. I was in the car, driving through one of those tricky three-way intersections. It was almost sunset. Suddenly the road curved and I was headed straight into the sunset. Glare filled my windshield and I could hardly see where I was going or where the other cars were in relationship to me. As I said, I was a new driver, and this was my first experience at being blinded by glare... I was terrified. I prayed one of those "God, HELP!!!" prayers. Somehow I made it through that intersection without hitting any other cars and the road curved again and then I could see. I was still shaking, as only a new driver can do, from the experience. Suddenly God spoke so clearly in my thoughts that it was almost like an audible voice. It as the first time I'd ever heard Him speak directly to me. He said, "Teresa, you've been praying for me to show you My unveiled glory. But if I showed it to you, it would blind you, just like the glare from the sunlight blinded you a few seconds ago when you were driving. You wouldn't be able to see where you were going spiritually and you'd be in danger of falling off of My path for you. So I have to veil My glory somewhat as I reveal Myself to you, so you can grow safely in Me." Wow. I understood precisely what He was saying. The spiritual truth made sense to me because of the natural experience I'd just had... God had spoken to me through an object lesson. Now, not all object lessons are that dramatic, but the "gist" is the same.. first you see a pattern in the natural, and then you understand a spiritual truth from it. God does speak to all of us, whether or not we are good at discerning His voice clearly. But He desires and yearns for us to know and discern His voice clearly. This level of discernment, or of knowing God's voice, is born out of intimacy with Him. Let's look at a few scriptures:

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John 10:27-30 27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28 And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of my Father's hand. 30 I and my Father are one. But look back a few verses at John 10:11-15: 11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. 12 But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. 13 The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd; and I know my sheep, and am known by My own. 15 As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. You see, God is talking about the sheep being in relationship with the shepherd, and that is why they are able to discern His voice, because they knew their shepherd, they trusted Him with their very lives. By the way, if you want to hear God's voice clearly, there is a gotcha or drawback. God expects us to obey Him (John 14:15, 21). John 14:15 If you love Me, keep my commandments. John 14:21 He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him. The more clearly we can hear God's voice, the more He holds us accountable to obey Him. In other words, our accountability to obey increases as our ability to hear Him increases. Jesus states this principle clearly just after sharing the parable of tares:

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Luke 12:47-48 47 And that servant who knew his master's will, and did not prepare himself or do according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. 48 But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much as been committed, of him they will ask the more. So, now that you have learned the price tag.. increased accountability to obey, do you still want to hear His voice clearly? You do, Good! Then read on, and let me share some practical steps to getting started in this process.
Practical steps to learn God's voice

1. Make a commitment to the Lord that you want to learn His voice. Decide that you're willing to accept the increased accountability to obey Him. Make a conscious decision of obedience; a commitment to obey what you hear regardless of what God asks you to do (or not do). Then inform God of your decision and ask Him to teach you His voice. James 1:5: If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. Once you've asked, trust God to communicate to you. His job to speak so we understand. When we ask God for good things, like knowing His voice, He assures that we get good instead of evil... Luke 11:9-13 9 So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 11 If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?

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13 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him. 2. Give God a vocabulary to speak to you Increase your prayer/praise life. Get to know God's heart and to build relationship with Him. Remember, the more you know Him, easier it will be to discern His voice from any other voice. Spend time in His word and with God (get to know his nature/behavior). Have you ever had a close friend telephone you and then start talking to you without identifying who they are? Yet you know who they are because you have spent a lot of time with them and have learned to recognize their voice. That is the way it is with God, the more time you spend with Him, the more you read scripture and learn His nature, the more you worship and bask in His presence, the easier it is to recognize His voice. Finally, get into scripture. Scripture is the word of God. It is the final authority.. where God has revealed His likes and dislikes and His heart and His nature to us. Pour yourself into it, read it, meditate on it, memorize it! The more you are familiar with who God has revealed Himself to be through scripture, the easier it will be for you discern His voice. And the easier it will be to identify/discern the false voices that that try to imitate God's voice. For instance, if "God" were to tell you to go ahead and go out and get drunk and party and have fun in the world's sense of the word, you would know it was not really God's voice because it clearly contradicts scripture. Also, in my early days of hearing God, the Holy Spirit would constantly speak to me by recalling bible verses I'd memorized to my memory. Now, this may seem obvious, but He could not have recalled them to my memory if I had not memorized them in the first place. If you want to know God's voice clearly, get His word inside of you. Read it, become familiar with it, memorize it, mediate on it. 3. Give yourself permission to make mistakes Learning anything, even learning to recognize God's voice, is a process. Like learning any new skill, you are clumsy at first and improve with practice. So, don't give up the first time you make a mistake.

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I made a lot of mistakes in my early days. Some of them were quite comical. One Sunday morning I thought I heard God tell me to go to this specific church. I looked it up in the phonebook, and sure enough, there was a church by that name. So I looked up the address on a map and drove there. It was a relatively short street (only about 6 blocks long). I kept driving up and down that street, but the address of the church simply did not exist on it. I spent an hour looking for the church and finally came home frustrated. (Later, I learned that this street was one of the streets that stopped and started several times... and I had been driving up/down the wrong segment of the street.) Had I heard God right on going to that church that Sunday morning? Probably not. Did I feel like quitting since I'd obviously gotten it wrong? Of course I did. But I did not let myself give up. Eventually I learned to discern God's voice with a fair degree of accuracy. So, when you are learning, be persistent. Jesus Values Persistence: - Luke 18:1-5 is the parable of the persistent widow 1 Then He spoke a parable to them, THAT MEN ALWAYS OUGHT TO PRAY AND NOT LOOSE HEART. 2 saying: "There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God nor regard men. 3 Now there was a certain widow in that city: and she came to him, saying 'Get justice for me from my adversary.' 4 And he would not for a while; but afterward he said within himself, 'Though I do not fear God nor regard man, 5 yet because this widow troubles me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.' " - Luke 11:5-8 is parable of persistent friend in middle of night 8 I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of this persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs. One last thought on this.. when a baby learns to walk, it often takes a step or two and then falls down. What if, after falling two or three times, the baby decided not to try any more? Well, child of God, you need to persist in hearing God's voice just like you persisted in learning to walk. You fell on your fanny many times, but kept on trying. And eventually you were running all over the house, your previous failures totally forgotten. If you keep at it with hearing God's voice, you will
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eventually learn to hear Him clearly and forget the frustrations of the learning process... So, give yourself room to make mistakes and keep on keeping on... 4. When things go seriously wrong: The learning process sometimes stops when you are walking in disobedience. If is actually a kindness of God, because the more clearly you hear, the more accountable you are to obey. So if you are demonstrating a repeated lack of obedience, then God will probably put the process of learning His voice on hold until you renew your commitment to obey Him. You will "know it" if you are in this situation, because you know that you've not been obeying what you had heard before the process of learning his voice stopped. The fix is easy. Repent and get right with God. Recommit to obey. God will give you a 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc chance. Another thing that impairs the process of learning/hearing God's voice is if you've fallen out of intimacy with God. Chances are you won't be able to hear Him very clearly if your walk with Him gets distant. Fix this by running back to Him, asking Him to restore you and walking in intimacy with Him. Also, unforgiveness in your heart towards another can interfere with your ability to hear from God and damage your intimacy. Matthew 18:23-35, especially 32-35 32 Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, 'You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. 33 Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?' 34 And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him. 35 So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses. I am sorry to tell you this, but about the only way to get around that impairment is to consciously choose to forgive and to ask God to help you truly walk in forgiveness. It is not easy, but it is definitely worth it! Intimacy with God and clearly discerning His voice are far more rewarding than the fleeting
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"satisfaction" of holding unforgiveness (no matter how richly deserved) in your heart. There is one last "problem area" to cover here. That area is: what do you do if you seem to be hearing really weird things? First, bring it to God and tell Him what you heard and pray about it. Ask God to confirm if its Him or to correct if it's not Him. Also, get another believer to pray with you for guidance from the Lord. Run what you hear against scriptural principles. If it violates scripture, throw it out. Finally you can go to your pastor or a lay leader you trust (such as an elder or home group leader) and ask them to help you discern if what you are hearing is really from God. Remember, God is more interested in talking to you than you are in hearing Him, but He won't force you.. you must desire to hear His voice and be willing to obey Him when He does speak to you. If you are, God will teach you... and His ability to teach you to hear His voice is greater than your ability to hear it wrong! You can trust Him to teach you to hear Him clearly.

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Lesson 5 The Lordship of Jesus Christ in Our Day to Day Lives

I'd like to start by sharing a story about when the leadership core decided to get together and go fishing. The boat left very early in the morning and all of them brought their thermos full of coffee. The boat pulled about 300 feet from shore and anchored so that they could fish. They had a great time fellowshipping and fishing. But as the morning wore on, the coffee began to work it's way through their systems. The captain of the boat came out to announce that the restroom on the boat was out of commission. After a while, the coffee had worked through Donna Cox's system. So she said, "Excuse me, brethren", put down her fishing pole, climbed over the rail and walked on the water to shore. She went behind a bush, did her business and came out looking very relieved. Then she walked back across the water to the boat, climbed over the rail, picked up her pole and continued fishing. Teresa Seputis stood there with her mouth hanging open for a few minutes and then turned to Paul Gaskin and said, "Did you see that!! Donna walked on water, just like Jesus did!" Paul shrugged his shoulders as if that were no big deal and then all of them concentrated on fishing for a while. Pretty soon the coffee worked it's way through Paul's system. He said "Excuse me brethren", laid down his pole, climbed over the rail, walked on the water to the shore, disappeared behind a different bush but came out looking just as relieved. Then he walked back on the water to the boat, climbed over the rail, picked up his pole and resumed fishing. Teresa's mouth fell open again. She muttered something about Jesus walking on water and Peter walking on water and now Donna and Paul were walking on water. She asked Lucy Deliganis if she'd seen that. "Yes," Lucy replied, as if it was no big deal. After a while, the coffee had so worked through Teresa's system that she simply could not wait any longer. "Well," she said to himself, "Donna did it and Paul did it. I guess I can do it too." So she said, "Excuse me, brethren", put down her pole climbed over the rail. Her feet hit the water, but instead of being able to walk on it, she sank rapidly to the bottom.

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About then, Paul turned to Donna and said, "Next time, do you suppose we should tell her where the stepping stones are?" I'm sure we've all identified with Teresa's imaginary experience from time to time -in that we have noticed a discrepancy between what we see in the Bible and what we see in our own lives. Yet when we try to step out in faith, we seem to sink. For some of us, that discrepancy comes from lack of victory over besetting sins. We read in the bible about how Jesus overcame sin and death and has given us power and victory. We see how people in the bible are transformed by the indwelling Holy Spirit to be holy and victorious. Yet we struggle with that same besetting sin over and over again. Each time we fall, we feel truly sorry and sincerely repent, promising to never do that sin again. But we seem powerless to keep that promise and keep falling into it over and over again, feeling worse about it each time. For others of us, the discrepancy between what we see in the Bible and what we see in our own lives comes in the area of the Fruit of the Spirit. We read about how we are to be filled with love, joy, peace. We even see it happening in some other Christian's lives. But this does not seem to happen in our own life. We find ourselves constantly worrying about the various stresses and problems of day-to-day life. Or we find ourselves feeling depressed or struggling with rejection. We see the blatant discrepancy between how the Bible says we should live (full of faith and hope and joy and patience and love) and how our lives are actually turning out. We desire so much to have the fruit of the Spirit manifest in our lives and pray for it and hope for it, but it just does not seem to be happening. Or if it is happening, it is happening much too slowly for us. Some of us read the scriptures where it says "My sheep hear My voice and they know Me" and they wonder how come they don't know how to recognize the Lord's voice. We see folks in the body operating in prophesy and word of knowledge and such -clear evidence that it really is possible to hear His voice. Then we wonder why we can't hear it like they do. Is it that God does not care to speak to us, or is it that we're simply no good at hearing Him or is it something else? Surely it must be possible to hear His voice like the scriptures say. How come it is so hard? And there are many other areas where we may notice a discrepancy between what the Bible says we should be like and what our lives are really like. Why is this? What is missing? I believe that the root of the problem comes from the fact that many of us never gave Jesus Christ full and unchallenged Lordship in our lives.
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Many Christians learn to accept Jesus as their savior with no clue about His Lordship. They truly believe in Jesus and are grateful that He has redeemed them. But they go about their day to day lives in pretty much the same manner they did before. Oh, they make some adjustments here and there to attempt to honor God. They come to Church faithfully on Sundays and they have a 20 minute or so quiet time each day for biblestudy, devotions, prayer. But they continue being the boss of their own lives; they continue to live for themselves. Why? In many cases its simply because no one told them that Jesus wants to be in control of their life. No one told them that our goals and motivations are to change, and that we are to be doing what the Father is doing instead of doing our own thing. Jesus is not satisfied to be merely our savior. Yes He gives us eternal life, He saves us from the consequences of sin. But in return, He demands that we give our lives fully and unreservedly to Him. He wants Lordship in our day to day lives. He calls for a radical commitment to Him, including total obedience. In my own case, I had considered myself a "committed Christian" for 18 years. I did daily devotions and prayer and I even memorized a lot of scriptures. I watched my language and tried to behave in a "Christian manner" including appropriate behavior and strong morals. I shared my faith from time to time and occasionally led people to the Lord. I was doing everything I knew to do to be a "good Christian". But, despite all my efforts, it was a very frustrating time for me. I read about the fruits of the spirit, but did not see them manifesting in my own life. I read about the victory that He has given us over sin and over all the power of the enemy; yet I keep falling over and over in besetting sins and could never seem to gain the victory. I read about the peace that passes all understanding, but rarely experienced it. I read how His sheep know His voice but had no clue what His voice sounded like. Then one day I found this tiny little verse hidden in one of the gospels. When I grasped what it really meant, that tiny verse revolutionized my entire life. That little verse is tucked away between some incredible promises of victory, power and answered prayers. Lets look at John 14, starting at verse 12: 12 "Most assuredly I say to you, He who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these because I go to My Father.

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13 "And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 "If you ask anything in My name, I will do it. 15 "If you love Me, keep My commandments. 16 "And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever-17 "the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. 18 "I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you." Incredible promises, eh? Yet tucked away in this passage is the key to all of this -- the key to victory and power and abundance in our walk with the Lord. It is stated so simply that it took me 18 years before I realized it was there. Did you happen to find it as we read the passage? Which verse was it? Verse 15: If you love Me, keep My commandments. Another translation puts it this way: If you love Me, then obey Me. Well, what does that mean? How could that little verse be the turning point to victory in my Christian walk? I believe that Jesus is saying point-blank that He wants Lordship in our lives if we are to walk in His power and authority and victory. He puts it another way in Luke 6:46-49: 46 "But why do you call Me 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do the things which I say? 47 "Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like: 48 "He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundations on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock.
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49 "But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream beat vehemently; and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great." In other words, if we want a solid foundation in our lives -- if we want a Christianity that stands firm when hardships and trials come our way; we must make Jesus our Lord. We must start living for Him and stop living for ourselves. We need to be totally committed to obey Him and to honor Him in all we do and say, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. "Yea, sounds great. But how do I get there? What does it mean in my day to day walk?" I started asking those questions ten years ago. What I found is that it is a process and He continues taking Lordship in more and more areas of my life over time. And as this occurs, I started seeing more victory and more power in my Christian walk. Ten years ago, I began to ponder what it meant to make Jesus Lord... What about my relationships with other Christians? Am I really obligated to love them and to try and get along with them -- even the ones who are not giving Jesus Lordship in their own lives? Have I given up my right to complain about someone to my friends or to try to avoid that person who is so unpleasant to be around if Jesus tells me to reach out to him in love? I guess I have. What if He tells me to do something I don't want to do -- like maybe to share my faith with that grouchy man who always sits next to me on the subway? Did I give up my right to debate this command with Him? Did I give up my right to try and ignore Him when He tells me to do something I don't want to do? I guess I did. What about those little sins I enjoy? Am I willing to give them up and to invite Him to shine His light and His presence into that part of my life? What about my eating habits -- can the Lord really impact what I eat and drink and the way that I take care of my body -- which is supposed to be the temple of His Holy Spirit? Will I obey Him if He tells me to stop eating sweets because it is unhealthy for my body? Do I really want Him that involved in my day-to-day life? Well, what about my finances? If He is Lord of my finances, then He gets the right to dictate how my money is spent. Hey, wait a minute! I already tithe. Does that mean that Jesus gets to call the shots on the 90% that I get to keep? I guess it does. If Jesus is really Lord of my finances, He has the right to tell me to give $100.00 cash to
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someone in need. Hey, wait a minute -- that kind of gift is not even tax deductible. Can Jesus really spend my money any way He wants to? I guess that He is not Lord of my finances until I can answer "yes" to that question. Well, what about my leisure time? I go to church on Sundays and I do devotions every morning. Does Jesus really have the right to come into my leisure time and tell me how to use it? Does He have the right to say, "forget going to that football game -- I want you to go baby-sit for your next store neighbor so they can see Christian love in action"? Does He have the right to tell me to stop watching shows on TV that are violent or sexually explicit or that teach new age philosophy? What does His Lordship in my leisure time really mean? What about those Science Fiction and Fantasy books I love to read. What if Jesus does not like me reading them? Am I willing to stop and to get rid of my book collection? Gee, this is sorta stepping on my toes. His Lordship can hit pretty close to home. Giving Jesus Lordship in my day to day life really impacts me and makes it "expensive" to be a Christian. Why on earth would anyone want to pay such a price? Why should we make such a radical commitment to Him? There are a lot of reasons. One is because Jesus expects to be Lord, not just Savior. He gave His life for us, so it should not be surprising that He wants us to give our lives to Him. That is the main thrust of Gal 2:20, which says, "For I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me." Then there is John 14:15 -- "If you love Me, obey Me." That little verse is sandwiched between incredible promises of power and victory. If we want to be someone who prays with power and authority, Jesus must be our Lord, not just our savior. Of course, I want to walk in that type of power and authority and to be able to pray effective prayers. Don't you? And then there was that parable Jesus taught about the wise man building a foundation under his house. That foundation is a firm commitment to allowing Jesus to really be Lord in every area of one's life. If we have sincerely made Jesus Lord, then our faith will not be shaken when the severe trials come. We will be able to stand firm on the foundation of His Lordship in our life. I'd sure like to have a firm foundation -wouldn't you? But the best part is the intimacy with God, that close fellowship that comes from giving Him total Lordship. Feeling His presence, seeing the fruit of the spirit in our lives, learning to discern His voice from NOT His voice and being enveloped in His love. It is only after we give Jesus Christ Lordship in our lives that we truly begin to experience that Peace and Joy that is born out of a deep fellowship with God.
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Some of you might be thinking, "OK, sounds good. But how do I get started?" There are probably many ways to get started, and I'd like to share two of them. One comes from the book, "In His Steps," where the pastor of a prestigious church invited the people in his congregation to an experiment in giving Jesus Lordship in their lives. He was talking radical commitment to the Lordship of Jesus in every detail of their lives. How did they do it? They made a commitment that for a one year period they would ask themselves the following question -- "What would Jesus do in this situation?" Then they would do what they believed Jesus would do, no matter how costly it was for them. God turned the lives of the people in this story around drastically as they began walking out the Lordship of Jesus Christ in their lives. Most of them went through some trials at the beginning. A few gave up, but the others pressed on to incredible victory. What was their secret? They asked the Lord to show them what He would do in their situation and then did it. They asked themselves the question "What would Jesus do in this situation?" My own approach was not so eloquent, but it seems to work... I got started by simply telling Jesus that I wanted to give Him lordship in my life, but had no clue how to walk that out. I invited Him to come and show me how. I also committed that I would obey Him as best as I could and gave Him permission to touch whatever part of my life He wanted to. I also asked Him to help me with my commitment to obey Him, because I figured I was too weak to do it on my own. Now there are many areas in My life where Jesus has moved in and taken Lordship, and He has done a really good job. There are also some areas that still need to go under His lordship -- I am learning that giving Jesus Lordship is a process rather than a one-time event. We make our initial commitment and He starts to move in, but He takes one or two areas of our life at a time. When they get under His Lordship, then He reaches down and takes another area. We can be successful in this only because He is the one that does the work and transforms us as we cooperate with Him. I'd like to ask you to close your eyes for a few seconds. Think about your life. What parts of it are already under the Lordship of Jesus Christ? Are there any parts that are not under His Lordship? Are you willing to give Him Lordship in those areas? What about the areas of your life where you're constantly experiencing defeat? Would you like to have His victory in those areas? You know He can and will give you the victory, but it comes with a price tag -- the cost is that you must give Him lordship in that area of your life? Maybe you are at that place of just discovering that Jesus wants Lordship in your life. I'd like to encourage you to silently review your life with Him and then to consider
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offering an area of your life where He does not already have Lordship to Jesus. Realize that this is both the best decision and also the most expensive decision that you can make. Select an area of your life and lay it on the altar as a gift to Jesus. Invite Him to come into that area of your life. In doing so, you will be giving up your rights to control that portion of your life. But Jesus will bring His beauty and His victory and His glory into that area as He actively takes Lordship over it. Realize it is a process and that you may find yourself trying to take back control until He reminds you that you've given Him the driver's license in that area. If you will commit to giving Him Lordship, He will commit to walking it through with you and will continue to bring His presence and His victory into it. Once you've chosen an area of your life to give Jesus Lordship in, go talk to Him about it. Tell Him that you are giving up all your rights in this area and invite Him to come and take lordship of it. Ask Him to teach you how to walk out His lordship of this area of your life in your day to day walk. If Jesus has only been your savior up to now, it is time to start making Him your Lord.

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Faithfulness in Finances
This is a touchy topic for many. But the truth of the matter is that God expects us to be faithful to Him in finances. This means the sometimes dreaded "T-word" (tithing). But it is more than that. God wants Lordship over your purse strings, and He will undoubtedly test you in this area. Jesus Himself said: Luke 16:11 If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon (money and finances), who will commit to your trust the true riches? If you want to be an effective intercessor, God must know that His Lordship is more important to you than your finances. He desires to trust you with the true riches of the kingdom.. His power and authority to do with the Father what the Father is doing, the realization of John 14:12-14 in your life: John 14:12-14 12 I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. God desires to give us this type of authority in intercession and in our day to day Christian walk. But there is a condition attached to this promise. Look at verse 15, the verse immediately following the promise 15 "If you love me, you will obey what I command. Now, God knows that for most of us, the area of finances is one of the most difficult to turn over to Him. So this is an area that He tests and grooms His effective intercessors in. He will sometimes ask us to give money, sometimes even large sums of money, to something He wants rather than what we want. Sometimes this does not even make sense to us. Let me share a brief story to illustrate: I had only recently committed to walking out God's Lordship in every area of my life, and asked Him to teach me how. One of the first "lessons" He gave me was in the area of finances. My friend Lenora had recently become engaged to a young minister who lived by faith rather than taking a salary from his small church. God spoke to me one day and said, "Teresa, Raymond does not have enough money to buy an engagement ring for Lenora. I want you to give the money to him and to tell him it is from me." The ring Lenona wanted was over $2,000 dollars, and was nicer than my own
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engagement ring. Well, I had the money, I'd been saving it towards something I wanted for myself. I spent a few days making sure it was God's voice and not the enemy's. The hardest part of obeying God on that was not giving up the thing I'd been saving for; it was that I'd be paying for Lenora to have a nicer engagement ring than the one I had! I struggled for a bit then God said, "I want you to do it this morning." It was Saturday, I took the money from the bank and went to Raymond's house and gave it to him, telling him it was from God in answer to his prayers. He did not look inside the envelope to see how much was there. He did not invite me in. He simply said "Thank you," and closed the door, leaving me standing on the doorstep, feeling stupid. But the next day I attend his church and heard his side of the story as he shared it in a sermon. He had been on his face praying when I knocked at the door. He was considering calling off the wedding. Yes, Raymond had faith for himself to live "on faith" but how could he ask his bride to do this? He could not ask Lenora to live this way... He complained to God that he did not even have the money to buy her an engagement ring. and he might not have the money to meet any of her other needs. So he was going to call off the wedding. Right then his prayer was interrupted by a knock on the door. It was me, handing him an envelope. After he closed the door, God spoke to him and said, "Raymond, if you trust Me, I will take care of both you and Lenora. See, I have already provided you with the money for the engagement ring. Open the envelope and look." God used that little test of my obedience in finances to speak to Raymond in a powerful way, to build his faith and to keep him from calling off the wedding. (By the way, that was years ago and they are still happily married.) I was wowed and amazed by what God had done. I began to realize that God had a "big plan" and purpose, and that if I wanted to participate bigtime in it with Him, I would not be able to hold back any area of my finances. Of course intercessors need to be tithing if they want to be effective in intercession. This is laid out in the old testament in Malichi, but Jesus confirms it in Matthew 22:21, Mark 12:17 and Luke 20:25. He is asked if people should pay taxes. He asked them to show him a coin. They He said, "Who's picture is on it." They replied, "Caesar's" Then Jesus said, "give to Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and give to God the things that are God's." From this we see that effective intercessors are to pay taxes and be in right relationship financially with the government. But even more so, we are to not withhold from God anything.. not even our finances.. that belongs to Him. Have you
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made a commitment to give Jesus Lordship in every area of your life? If so, you have given Him Lordship over your finances. Do not be surprised if He moves in and takes Lordship in that area.. rather be surprised if He does not. Because if you want to walk with Him in power and authority, He must be Lord of your finances. Also, there will be times where God asks us to give as a prophetic gesture (or a prophetic acting out) in our intercession. I have had this happen many times to me.. Let me share one such story with you, from June of 1995... Sunday, June 4, our pastor shared that finances were way down because people were not tithing and that if a financial miracle did not happen soon, he would have to take a drastic measure (like `across-the-board salary cuts' for the Church staff or lay someone off). He did not make a big plea for money or pressure anyone to give, but he did inform us of the financial situation. He mentioned that only about 25% of the Church was tithing. (The previous Sunday, I was in Toronto and Jack Deere had preached on tithing and it's relationship to our release into spiritual authority. He mentioned that we spend our money on what we value and if we are unwilling to obey God and tithe; we are telling God that we don't think He is very important. He also demonstrated from Luke 16:1012 how God uses our financial rightness with Him (e.g., obedience in tithing) to determine whether or not He could trust us with the true riches of His authority. Jack explained that healing authority and the miraculous and even an authority in intercession all fall under the category of "true riches". At the end of that Sunday morning service in Toronto, Jack Deere said that God was going to heal some of the people with terminal cancer as a sign that this message was really from Him. Of course, I'd prayed that God would touch/heal my friend Diana as well.. she was dying of cancer and our whole Church had been praying for her for a very long time (months). I was deep in intercession for Diana as they were ministering to the people with terminal cancer who'd come forward for prayer. I asked God to pretend that Diana was standing in that group and to visit her with the same healing anointing. The Lord spoke to me and said, "Teresa, your Church is not tithing. That is why you (corporately) do not have authority over cancer and why Diana is not being healed." She died less than 24 hours after the Lord told me that.) Now, the following Sunday, our pastor announced from the pulpit that we were in financial trouble because we were not tithing. I prayed about this when I got home. I figured that I already tithed, so I was "in the clear". But I started praying for a release from the things that kept the people in our Church from tithing. I also prayed that the
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Lord would forgive us for our disobedience as a Church and would restore our authority. Then the Lord spoke to me again and told me to "put my money where my mouth was". He told me to give a freewill offering of ten times my regular tithe above and beyond tithing. His voice was so clear that I did not have to seek Him for confirmation. So the next day I called the Church office and talked with the person who handles the finances. I mentioned that the Lord had instructed me to give a certain sum of money and that I hoped this would help defer any salary cuts or other drastic measures. I had to come to Church for a meeting on Tuesday night, so I dropped the check off. (Ten times my normal tithe is a lot of money to me, but I was so confident that this was the Lord's will that I never gave it a second thought. I felt good about obeying the Lord on this but did not think about it very much.) When I got home that night and went to bed, the Holy Spirit fell on me and it was as powerful very powerful. I was filled with extreme joy as soon as my head hit the pillow, then I started laughing. (The Lord worked it out so that my husband was working late on the computer and I had the bedroom to myself until after 2:00 AM. It turns out that I needed it that long, as the Holy Spirit remained on me for a very long time.) God's presence was very tangible in the room and my spirit was full of His delight. There did not seem to be any great purpose in this visitation, and the Lord didn't really speak much of anything to me. It was more like He was playing with me. I can't give a detailed description of what happened, but it happened for about 3 and a half hours. I felt full to overflowing and it was so good just to be in His presence. I do remember telling Him that I wish we could do this all of the time. When I woke up the next morning, I was still laughing. I remember wondering why the Lord fell on me so powerfully that night. It wasn't until much later that He showed me that this was a blessing because of my obedience in giving the offering He told me to give. That Thursday at work, my boss walked into my office and handed me a check for twice the amount of money that I'd given to the Church! It was a totally unexpected bonus. It did not even occur to me that this was because I had given an offering to my Church. I figured that the offering was an "intercessory act". I truly did not expect anything back from God; I was just obeying what He told me to do.

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The next day, the Lord spoke to me and told me about the relationship He said that He is eager to demonstrate to His kids that the principles that He laid down in the Bible really do work just the way He said they would. So, this is time to do a spiritual checkup with God. If you are not tithing then you need to have a discussion with God about that. But, beyond tithing, are you really willing to let Him be Lord of Your finances? If you are, stop and tell Him so, and ask Him to empower you to obey Him when He tests you in this area.

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Lesson 7 Worship
Did you know that there is a relationship between your worship life and increased hearing in the prophetic and effective intercession? God wants us to be instant in season and out of season to worship Him. "In season" is easy.. that is worshipping when we feel like it. "Out of season" is a bit harder.. .that is worshipping when our world seems to be falling apart, when we are burdened down with the cares of this world, when we are sad, etc. David understood this and in the Psalms we see a constant pattern of David taking his eyes off of the circumstances (and boy did he have some get-me-down types of circumstances) and focusing his eyes on God. Here is the secret.. as we focus our eyes/attention away from the circumstances to God, God meets us and lifts us up to the heavenlies.. into His presence where there is "fullness of joy". I was going through a situation that in the natural is very hard for me... if I was to focus on this situation, I would become overwhelmed and sad, alternating between wanting to give up and crying out to the Lord for His intervention in it. But God showed me that He has a better way.. He wanted me to focus on Him instead of on the situation. He wanted to saturate me with His presence and reveal Himself to me. As I looked to Him instead of to the problem, I was drawn to Him and my heart spilled out into worship. The problem became small and insignificant in the presence of almighty God who can do all things and who works all things together for good. God became so big and so real and so tangible and so awesome. Intimacy with God and worship go together. As we draw into worship, He comes and inhabits our worship.. for the bible says God inhabits the praises of His people. When He inhabits, we are in His presence and there is an increased intimacy with God. As His presence increases, we cannot help but respond to Him with increased worship and as the worship increases, His manifest presence with us increases... a circle that goes on and on until we are transformed from our circumstances into His very presence. And as God's manifest presence with us increases, there is an increase of anointing.. where we can flow more freely with God and what He is doing.. where we can move more easily in His gifting. It becomes easier to hear Him speak. It becomes easier to flow in prophetic intercession. But our goal is NOT to worship so we can flow more and move more in prophetic intercession. Our goal is to worship to draw closer to Him and it is a "fringe benefit" that we are able to flow more easily in His anointing. Our attention and focus are on Him, not ourselves and we desire to do with

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Him what He is doing to please Him. We are drawn into new depths of closeness with God. Finally, God told me that worshipping Him is our first and highest calling -- what we were created to do. Yes, it is good to share Jesus with the unsaved. Yes it is good to tangibly meet people's needs and so manifest the love of God. Yes, it is good to pray and intercede and do spiritual warfare. Yes, it is good to minister to the saints. Yes it is good to breathe His life through the prophetic, to set captives free and empower believers through renewal prayer. We are to do all of these things, because our Father is doing them and we am to do with Him what He is doing. But our greatest ministry ... our highest priority... is to minister to the Father.. to worship Him. This is what He created us to do. And as we minister to Him and come deeper into His presence, we am able to see/hear/perceive more what His heart is and what He is doing/saying. And then we am able to flow more easily in His anointing (e.g. with His Spirit to do what He is doing). And He does delight to use us like this, to let us do with the Father what the Father is doing. Yet our highest calling and priority remains to minister to the Father in love by worshipping Him freely with our whole heart, our whole being. For when we worship God, it blesses Him.. it ministers to Him, it makes Him happy. God's "school of worship" is incredible... we can go through circumstances that should be overwhelming, that should really get us down. Yet our spirit is soaring and we am filled with His joy. (This is because we have chosen to focus our eyes on Him and to look to Him instead of to the circumstances.) He once told me that we have a choice.. we can choose to look to Him and be transformed into His presence or we can choose to focus on the problems and circumstances and be dragged down by them. God told me that to go up "with Him" in worship, we must let go of the things that hold us down.. to stop clinging to them. He told me that if we are willing, He will help us.. even to the point of prying our grasp off of those things that we are holding onto. Then He showed me a picture of a child's hand tightly grasping a stone. A parent's hand came along and began gently prying the fingers back one by one until the child could not cling to the stone any more and it fell out of his hand. God said He would do this for us... to help us release those things so we could go higher with Him. He said there would be times when we would find it easy to simply let go of what holds us back and go up into worship with Him. But when it was hard to let go, He would not be upset.. He promised to help us (pry our fingers loose from what we am clinging to) if we will choose to look to Him and focus on Him instead of on it.

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A friend of mine put it this way -- "Where we focus our attention is where we will dwell. We have a choice. We can live in the sad-lands, or we can live in God's promised land. It is up to us." God desires that we focus our attention on Him and worship and that transforms us from the sad-lands into His very presence where there is fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore. Come there with me.... turn your eyes from your circumstances to our awesome and most powerful God and enter into worship... for He is worthy of our worship and praise... and in His presence is fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore.

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Lesson 8 Physical and Spiritual Aspects of Fasting

There are a lot of different views on fasting. Some people feel that it is not really a fast unless you take ONLY water. Others feel it is OK to take in any non-nutritive foods (such as sugar-free soda, tea and/or decaf coffee (as long as you only use artificial sweetener and fake cream in it). Others feel it is fine to include juices. Others find it OK to have a glass of non-fat milk per day on long fasts, as long as you stick strictly to liquids. Pretty much everyone agrees that things like milkshakes and other liquid desserts are NOT valid for a fast. But the opinion which should really count is the Lord's opinion... I recommend not doing a long fast unless the Lord has called you on one. And if the Lord does call you on one, then ask Him which type of Fast He is calling you to. My first ever fast was a 10 day fast (I don't recommend that you fast that long for your first fast unless God expressly calls you to.) I took nothing but water on that fast. I had no clue about guidelines for breaking long fasts and broke it with two doughnuts and a cup of coffee. It was only by the grace of God that I did not get extremely sick.... sometimes God protects us from stupid mistakes when our heart is in the right place. But I would not presume on His grace by fasting (or breaking the fast) unwisely. Remember that the point of the fast is to obey and honor the Lord and to draw close to Him. I find that on long fasts, I am able to discern His voice more clearly than when I'm not fasting. Not everyone has that experience. Some feel only tired and irritable and even further from God on a fast, but find that place of intimacy after they have completed the fast. It is important to have the right motives when fasting. Please do not view fasting as somehow spiritually twisting God's arm and obligating Him to answer your prayer. It does not work that way. God is NOT very prone to being manipulated. Instead, view the fast as a time to separate yourself unto the Lord, to put seeking Him above satisfying your bodily needs, with the intent of allowing Him to touch and change you. Look at the fast as getting yourself more in tune with Him rather than as getting Him to do something for you. It is very important that we do not get our focus on the fast as through the act of fasting is of merit in and of itself. Rather, try to keep our focus on God and drawing more into intimacy with Him, of being able to hear His heart on a matter. But you will be aware that you are not eating... your flesh will start to cry out for food. It will try to consume your attention. On my first 40 day fast, I dreamed that I was eating and it was a very realistic dream. When I woke up, I thought I'd broken the fast and started repenting to God for doing so. He told me it was just a dream and I had not really
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eaten anything. Your mind and your body may crave food. It might even play weird tricks on you. You might find it advisable/necessary to take this to the Lord and ask Him to help you with it. He is usually willing to help you (give you strength and will power to fast) if He has called you to do so. As in all spiritual things, "without Christ we can do nothing" (John 15:5b). The physiology of a fast goes something like this... the first 3-5 days you get really "hungry" and start feeling weak. Then your body begins to switch over to consuming energy form stored fats. (Unfortunately, it also breaks down non-fat tissue... so this is a terrible and unhealthy way to diet. Don't fast to lose weight. You will probably gain it all back and a bit more when you start eating again.) After a while your body stabilizes and you feel more energy and also don't feel hungry. A rather unpleasant side effect is that you will usually have diarrhea for several days as your digestive system shuts itself down and then you won't have any stool type of activity. Note that what I described is for the total types of fast -- water only or water and non-nutritive liquids. If you take juice or skim milk, you will find the first few days easier, but will tend to stay hungry longer. Your body will probably switch over to burning stored fat (as in the water fast) but it make take longer to do so. In one sense you stay stronger by putting the sugar from the juices into your system, but in another sense you get weak because you don't switch over to the burning-fat-store type of energy as fast. The tradeoff on this effects different people differently, depending on their metabolism. It is not uncommon to get dizzy or light-headed on a long fast, especially if you end up getting up rapidly from a sitting or laying position, or if you are exerting yourself physically too much. This is often an sign of dehydration.. that you are not getting enough fluids into your system and the best thing you can do in that case is to increase your water intake. You will find that you get cold easier -- in fact, sometimes I can't stay warm on a long fast, even if I turn the thermostat up to 80 degrees (where my non-fasting husband is literally melting). I find that it is unwise to consume cold things while fasting... especially things like chewing on ice cubes. If you do that, you do get a bit of a sensation of eating, but you also end up getting so cold that you can't get warm again for a long time. Drinking hot liquids seems to help... even if it is just hot water. It is very unwise to exercise strenuously while on a long fast. Many people find that the can continue working the duration of the fast if they are careful to curtail most physical activity. When I'm on a long fast, I cut back my walking as much as possible and drive more. By all means do not do any exercise types of activity like jogging or playing volleyball or going dancing during a fast unless the Lord has explicitly spoken to you to do so. Some people wisely curtail their activity and still find that they need
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to take some sick days to just rest in bed during a long fast. Again, different people seem to handle this differently, based on their constitution and such. I can usually work the whole time I'm doing a long fast if I am very careful to curtail all other physical activity, but I usually get very tired. (I also usually take juices and a glass of non-fat milk on a long fast, which helps me with the physical endurance.) I will often go to be very early when I'm fasting. Sometimes I get into a phase where God will wake me up in the middle of the night to pray. Usually I don't feel much like praying when He wakes me up... I feel more like I have insomnia. I am often groggy when this happens and it takes a while to figure out I'm supposed to be praying. After I pray on whatever topic(s) He has on His agenda, it becomes easy to get back to sleep again. But if I don't pray through His agenda, I usually have a great deal of difficulty getting back to sleep. Sometimes the level enemy attacks and spiritual warfare goes way up on a long fast. In fact, on both of my first two 40 day fasts, I came under a much greater degree of spiritual warfare than I usually experience. It was almost as though the enemy was trying to wear me down and get me to give up on the fast. Another common thing that happens when we fast is that we subconsciously expect God to give us special privileges because we are fasting... things He does not necessarily plan to do. For example, one time when I was on a long fast, I was trying to park somewhere where it was very difficult to find a spot. Since I was weak from my fast, I expected God to give me a close parking spot and was miffed with Him when He did not do so. I was complaining to Him and He set me straight by asking me why I thought that I merited special privileges just because I was fasting. Also, I expected Him to protect me from enemy attack. It was a real eye opener to me on my first 40 day fast when I had more severe bad things than usual happen to me... such as my car being broken into and my favorite coat being stolen, the diamond being stolen out of my wedding ring by a dishonest jeweler, and on and on. I was so overcome that I started to have attitude problems and God had to give me a little lecture on having a pure heart... trust me, you don't want to get that type of lecture from Him! It is not fun, especially when He is right and you know you are in the wrong. So, watch your expectations during a fast and guard your heart and your attitude. Expect that spiritual warfare and enemy attacks will be higher than usual when you fast. Don't be disappointed if the fast is not the ultimate spiritual experience where you are walking on cloud nine and on the mountain top. There will be times like that, but there will be lots of times that are not like that. In fact, during some parts of a long fast, you may feel "father away" from God than when you are not fasting. This is not unusual. Finally, be careful on breaking a fast. Many find the breaking of a fast harder than the fast itself, because your digestive system turns back on and you start getting really hungry. You have to eat wisely and in small quantities. This is hard to do... you want
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to stuff yourself. But if you do that, you will probably get very sick. I usually break fast with plain bread types of food, gradually adding back in fruits and vegetables and eventually regular food. Personally, I do very well with milk or cheese in breaking a fast, but many people get sick from that. Also, be advised that you will may experience some diarrhea as your digestive system begins to turn itself back on. This is fairly normal and should not be a cause for alarm. There is a weird spiritual dynamic that seems to happen around breaking a fast. Lots of times you feel so close to God by the end of the fast that you don't want to come off of it. There is sometimes a bit of a fear that you might loose the spiritual ground you gained or loose that ability to discern His voice. Remember that God created us to eat, that is part of how He made us. Even Jesus broke His 40 day fast and went back to eating. God does not expect us to fast indefinitely. He wants to be Lord of our fast, including Lord of breaking our fast after the prescribed time period has ended. Be sure to invite Him back into your eating just as you invited Him into your fasting. Finally, don't assume that 40 is the magic number. The Lord has called me to a lot of 2 and 3 week fasts. I have only ever fasted more than 3 weeks on six or seven occasions. Be sure not to set a goal of fasting longer that the Lord has called you to fast. It is much better to check in with Him and set a 14 day fast as per His calling than to assume you will fast 40 days when He has only graced you for 14. As with any other area of your life, be sure to invite Him into the fast. Ask Him to lead and guide you and empower you and teach you and speak to you on the fast.

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Lesson 9 Overcoming Condemnation

One of the strategies that the enemy will use against intercessors is to try and get them to disqualify themselves. No one can "take an intercessor out" (or make them ineffective) more quickly and powerfully than that intercessor themselves. E.g., the enemy wants to try and talk intercessors out of stepping up to the place of intercession. He tries to focus them on their failures, their inadequacies, etc. and convince them that they have no right to be praying/interceding because they are too much of a mess. One of his favorite strategies is to bombard them for weeks (sometimes for months) with temptation in an area of weakness.. until they finally succumb to it.. briefly. Then, with glee, condemnation and disqualification set it.. trying to convince the intercessor that they can no longer intercede because they have "fallen" into this sin. The enemy takes a magnifying glass and focuses it on the person's weaknesses, faults and insecurities. The enemy diverts their attention from God and His greatness and His love, mercy and forgiveness to their own faults. Things begin to look bleak .. hopeless.. and the intercessor is so focused on their failure that they forget the truth. The strategy to overcome this type of attack is to let God's light shine into the darkness that the failure and enemy attention has created. Yes, child of God, you sinned, you made a mistake or you blew it. Ok, you know you are human and dependent on God's grace. Now get up, run back to God. Apply the blood of Jesus and receive your forgiveness. God is not a liar. He said that if you confess your sins, He would forgive you and make you clean and righteous again: 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Did you think that applied to everyone but you? Somehow you are disqualified or need to be separated from God for a season or punished for a period of time before could be restored? Guess what? If you are hearing these type of things, it is your adversary .. condemnation and disqualification .. whispering into your ear to try and get you to disqualify yourself. This is a strategy of the enemy against you to try and neutralize your prayers by getting you to stop praying. There is good news:

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Romans 8:1-3 1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. CONDEMNATION and DISQUALIFICATION are defeated by the Blood Of Jesus! They have no power over you! ** Please note. I am not talking about those who use the blood of Jesus as an excuse to keep sinning (or do what they like) and occasionally repent to be "right with God in case they die" so that they can go back and sin again. If you are living like that, you have no interest in God's lordship in your life, and I am not talking to you... Romans 6:1-4: 1 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3 Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. But the vast majority of intercessors do not fall into the "let's keep on sinning 'cause there is grace" category. Rather they are men and women of God who love God and desire to live holy before Him. From time to time they fall, make a mistake or blow it. Then the enemy tries to come in with condemnation and get them to disqualify themselves. This is a very common strategy the enemy uses against intercessors. I have fallen prey to it many times.. through I am getting much faster at recognizing and combating this strategy. Let me share a somewhat recent example with you. My husband, Ed, and I have a fairly good relationship.. we do not fight very often. But last May, about a week before our 11th wedding anniversary, we got into a real bad argument and both said terribly hurtful things to each other.. things designed to make the other feel bad. Well, a few hours later it was time for my regular evening devotions, but I felt too dirty to get into God's presence. So I stayed up all night watching TV in an attempt to avoid God.. finally falling asleep on the living room sofa with the TV still going. The next morning I woke up late and rushed to work, not having time for morning devotions with God.. I was lonely that day because God was not in my day with me.. and shame and condemnation were having a field day with me. By that evening, I knew I could
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not avoid God any longer. I knew I'd blown it and was not looking forward to what God might have to say to me.. but I was determined; whatever His terms and conditions were, I wanted to be right with Him again! I sat down and told Him so, repenting for my behavior in the argument with Ed and also repenting for avoiding Him. Within minutes, He told me to get a paper and pencil and start writing, because He wanted to talk to me. (God frequently does this.. sort of has me prophecy to myself by writing out what He is saying and then going back over it prayerfully when He is done.) This is what God said to me. It is very private, and I would not normally share something like this. But I feel that He wants me to share it with you, so that you can be encouraged and know of His goodness and grace in these types of situations: Welcome daughter, come into my presence. You should not have allowed the incident to push you away from it. Now come back to me and find my blessings.. for they are surely upon you. Now, Teresa, who moved? Did I pull away from you or did you pull away from me? (I did lord) Well, guess what.. if I want to withdraw my presence from you for a season, I can certainly do it on my own... I don't need your help! Sweetheart, don't decided to withdraw your presence from me.. it is not good for you. It causes you unnecessary pain and suffering...it is not my way. Never punish yourself by deciding you are too dirty to come to me ... instead come to me and let me wash/clean you... let me shine my light on you and dispel any darkness... let me shower you in my truth... Teresa, I am much safer to run to when you feel dirty than it is safe to run away from me. You cannot survive apart from me... don't even consider it. If I wanted you separated, I would separate you. This is a season of intimacy... run to me no matter how dirty you feel. Have I not told you over and over that I am safe? Yes, I am a safe place... Will I not forgive you freely? Yes, daughter, I am a safe place and my arms are wide open to embrace you. So, child of God, if shame or condemnation is trying to get you to disqualify yourself, run to God.. embrace His truth and light and His forgiveness. Let Him reinstate you as only He can do. Run to Him!

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Lesson 10 Helpful Spiritual Disciplines

We have spent the last 9 weeks running through a spiritual checkup. We have looked at things like our heart motives (e.g., do we want to be an effective intercessor?), building relationship with God, allowing God to speak to us about personal areas of our lives or to supercede our intercession agenda with His agenda, learning to hear His voice and be spirit-led, committing to His Lordship in every area or our lives (even our finances), worship (even when we don't feel like it), fasting, and overcoming condemnation and enemy ploys to get us to disqualify ourselves. Now, for the final lesson, I would like to share a Spiritual discipline to help tie this all together and make it practical in our day to day lives. I would like to offer this on two levels:

Our Personal Walk With God Our Prayer/Intercession Life

Spiritual Discipline For Our Personal Walk With God

Early each the morning, pray and invite God to orchestrate (e.g., plan) your day for you and to make you aware of His leading and direction in it. Throughout the day, try to pay special attention to details, asking God and yourself if "this" or "that" is God's hand. Feel free to pray frequently, asking God what He is doing and how you can do it with Him. At night, before you go to bed, put aside some quiet time and ask God to review your day with you. Ask Him to point out those cases where you heard His voice (and review whether or not you obeyed Him and what your attitude was when you heard Him ... e.g., did you obey gladly or obey grudgingly or did you decide you were not going to do what He asked?) Ask God to reveal to you the times throughout the day (if any) where you missed His voice all together. If there were any, ask Him how you can be more sensitive to hearing Him next time, what types of queues to listen for, and ask Him to alert you next time you "miss Him". During this review time with God, begin ask yourself (and the Lord) questions like:

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What were you doing when God spoke to you? Were you in quiet time with Him, or were you busy doing day to day activity? If possible, identify your activity each time you noticed God speaking to you or each time you noticed Him orchestrating your plans. See if there are any patterns. What was your mental state when God spoke to you? Were you in communion with God or Worship? Or were you upset and crying out to God, were you happy or mad or frustrated or were you just concentrating on mundane things when God suddenly broke in? If possible, identify the mental state you were in each time God communicated with you or orchestrated something, and look for any patterns. Were there ways God spoke to you that were easy to identify/notice that God was speaking to you? Were there times when you were in the middle of something God was orchestrating before you noticed He was doing this? Were there ways God spoke to you or lead you that were harder for you to notice.. ways you almost missed. Did you notice any patterns of ways God may commonly speak to you or lead you? (For instance, when I first started learning God's voice, He would frequently speak to me through object lessons.. pointing something out to me in the natural and then showing me the spiritual application. Another example is that God used to speak to me by repetition.. first I'd read something in a Bible verse, then later that day, I'd hear it in a song, then a bit later someone would mention it to me and maybe an hour later I'd see it an a magazine article... finally I got the idea that God was trying to tell me something.)

The point of asking all these questions is to look for patterns that might help you more easily identify when God is speaking to you or leading you. This exercise (or spiritual discipline) is powerful, even when done for only one day, but it is effective when done repeatedly for a long period of time.. like every day for a month.
Spiritual Discipline To Fine-Tune Our Prayer/Intercession Life

You have to be feeling a bit "brave" for this exercise, as it has a tendency to turn your prayer life upside down. The goal is to have our prayer life be spirit-led, to make us confident in the prayer assignments He has given us, to identify those prayer targets we are carrying that God has not assigned to us, and to make us aware of prayer assignments that we've been missing.

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The first step is to sit down and prayerfully compose a list of all your regular prayer targets.. things you pray for on a regular or ongoing basis. This may include specific people (such as I pray regularly for my prayer partner Lucy). It may include specific ministries, such as your local church or maybe GodSpeak International. It may include places, such as South Africa or Turkey. (These may be "permanent" long-term assignments, or they may be short term assignments that you are currently carrying.) It may include people you know, specific prayer requests that have been given to you, things you read in the newspaper or saw on the news that sparked your heart. It may include abstract things like a release of God's power and glory over the church or it may be very specific and measurable, such as that the murder rate of Oakland would go down. It may be for people's benefit (such as Lord make Aunt Sue strong in God and a woman of faith) or it may be for a specific need (Lord, Bret's sinuses need healing) or it may for a people group (Lord break financial oppression off of the people in Mitchel's Plain and release financial liberty among them), or it be direct spiritual warfare (taking authority and addressing spirits as God leads, etc). The next step .. to be done at a different time than step 1 was done, like maybe the next day or later that week, is to sit down and prayerfully go over this list with God. Ask God how He feels about each prayer target.. what His heart is on it. Some of His answers may surprise you.. For instance, I had been praying regularly for my husband's salvation after God had already promised it to me. Yet I continued to petition for it. He told me to stop praying so frequently about that (though an occasional reminder was ok) and to trust Him to do what He has already promised. He said I was wasting prayer energy on something He'd already granted even though I hadn't seen the manifestation of His answer yet, and that I was to put that "prayer energy" into other areas that He had assigned to me. It was actually very "freeing" to not be reasonable to pray for Ed's salvation every day, but to trust Him for it. By the way, the Lord has since raised up several intercessors who He has assigned (on and off) to pray for Ed's salvation. Every time I hear of someone God has raised up like that, it gives me more confidence in His faithfulness to keep His promises. I found that I was not putting enough prayer out in certain areas, like praying for a friend's family. Shortly after that, the family suffered all sorts of attack and I found an increased energy and intensity to pray for them.. so far most of the family have come through their crisis ok, but there is still need for more prayer in this area. I found that I was praying for certain things out of obligation, rather than because God told me to. I had allowed a person to pressure me into agreeing to pray for them about something because I was afraid of hurting their feelings. To my surprise, God was not at all pleased with my prayers in this area. He would prefer I don't do that since I was not assigned to that area. And there had been some assignments I'd missed all together because I had been too busy with the "obligation" prayers.
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Talk to God about each of your prayer targets. Do this several days in a row. God may not say much to you about some of them, and that is ok. But, you will notice that God will repeatedly tell you YES or NO regarding certain assignments.. the ones that He repeatedly says NO to, cross them off your list for a few days and see what happens. The ones that He repeatedly says YES to, this is where to put the majority of your prayer focus. Ask God to teach you not only what to pray, but how to pray for it. Be very open to His leading. Allow Him to move you in new areas. Now, the last step is to ask God to make you aware, each time a new potential prayer target comes into your prayer life, as to how it comes in, whether or not it is an assignment from God for you to pray about. I am not talking about the one-time prayers, but rather the requests and targets that you feel led to "pray through." Ask God to show you what type of intercessor assignments He has called you to. C. Peter Wagner has identified four types of intercessors, and many have found his categories very helpful. If you know what types of prayer assignments the Lord typically gives to you, it will make you more effective. Because you can concentrate on your area of expertise and not waste time on things you have not been called/gifted to pray for. Briefly, here are the four categories: General Intercessors... these are people God empowers to pray for specific prayer requests. Typically they are ones who will take on a specific prayer requests and thoroughly pray it through .. until the request is answered or God says "stop praying". This type of intercessor often keeps a prayer list and often keeps a prayer journal with dates, requests and the date and way the request was answered. Personal Intercessors... these people seem to be assigned to cover specific individuals. They are often in some type of relationship with this person, but sometimes they don't know them personally. They will often pray for many different aspects regarding this person, and may be open to taking requests from the person, but will have difficulty praying for requests/individuals who they don't feel God has assigned them to. Personal Intercessors may feel called to cover all aspects of a ministry (such as GodSpeak International) instead of just specific individuals.

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Strategic Intercessors... these people tend to get specific short term prayer assignments from God. These can vary from covering an individual to covering an event to covering specific requests. Assignments can last from a few days to a few months. Often these assignments come directly from God, complete with some from of supernatural revelation, and not from formal prayer request lists. Strategic intercessors usually cannot pray prayer lists, and cannot commit to praying through specific prayer requests that their friends and acquaintances may bring them. In fact, many strategic intercessors tend to dread "praying lists". Warfare Intercessors... these people seem to be called in to direct spiritual warfare, direct engagements with the enemy under direction from God. This can vary from personal deliverance to taking on stronger demonic principalities. They often have the gift of discernment and supernatural revelation from God regarding enemy activity/plans. These intercessors seem to move under a divine protection, suffering relatively little spiritual counter-attack for the warfare they engage in. However, if someone not assigned to this type of warfare were to do the same activities, they will often get wiped out bigtime.. By prayerfully paying attention to the types of prayer assignments the Lord gives you and how they arrive, you can begin to get an understanding of what type of intercessor God has called you to be. Some people find they fall into two or even three categories. But knowing these categories and where you fit in them can be quite helpful. For instances, if you are a general intercessor (my favorite type to have on prayer lists), then you will be very good at latching onto a request God has quickened to you and praying it through. You will also be good at discerning when God says it is time to stop praying for it. You will like to have prayer requests and prayer needs made known to you, and you will find vague abstract prayer requests rather frustrating. You will love to receive feedback of how God answers your prayers, and you will be used to getting lots of feedback of God answering prayer. On the other hand, if you are a strategic intercessor, prayer requests and prayer lists will drive you crazy, making you feel frustrated and confined. You would rather be given general info on a situation and go wait before God and for His instructions on how to pray for it. Now back to how this applies to the spiritual discipline... The reason this information is pertinent is because you are now asking the Lord to help you identify what type of intercessor you are and what type of style you work most effectively in. Invite God to
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show you clearly what style of prayer He has gifted you in and called you to, and then ask Him to begin to orchestrate more opportunities for you to move in the element He created you to be effective in. At the same time, ask Him to show you the areas (if any) where you are being pressured by man (instead of assigned by God) to pray, and ask Him to quickly identify to you when you are taking on a prayer assignment that is not of Him. Remember, the Goal is to prayerfully review your prayer life with God, and to finetune it so that your prayers are even more spirit led and even more effective. I hope this teaching series has been a blessing to you...

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