This has been the theme of what the Lord is teaching me lately. I'm trying to slowly absorb all that He is revealing to me because I want it to stick. I'm going to share some of what I'm learning. This first part is actually from a book I'm reading titled "Storm Warrior" by Mahesh and Bonnie Chavda.
Quote
The Prayer of Transformation
Together with our church family, Mahesh and I had gone to see the movie
The Passion of Christ. The scenes of Jesus' trial, agony in the Garden, arrest and crucifixion were powerfully imprinted on my mind. As we came home I was overcome with a desire to go to the mountain of prayer. A fresh sense of the depth of God's love lay upon my heart as I recalled Jesus' sacrifice. I went out for a prayer walk.
The night was clear with stars overhead as I turned down the road leading out of our neighborhood. Tears streamed down my face as I was caught up in the reality of the splendor and spectacle of Calvary. My heart was captivated afresh by the intervention of great love that promises ultimate triumph over sin and the grave!
Replaying the scenes of Jesus' prayer in Gethsemane, I paused on the portrayal of His rising after His prayerful agony. Having folded Himself body, mind and spirit into the Father's hand, it showed Jesus standing and taking a single step. As His sandaled foot met the earth it came down upon the head of a serpent that had been lingering nearby during His travail. The skull of the snake cracked and was crushed under Christ's heel-all because of a simple step on the path of obedience to the Father.
The reality of that power of Christ welled up within me as I walked along. I began to worship Him and pray in my prayer language. The moment I uttered the first sound I could see with spiritual eyes the presence of a mighty gathering army of the Lord's hosts in the air overhead. An army was mustering to the cry of my heart. It was like the story of Elisha and his servant as an opposing army surrounded the city where they stayed. There were two armies, but the servant with natural eyes only saw one. He panicked and though all was lost. But the man of God replied, "No worries!" He prayed that the servant would see with true eyes, and ranks of spiritual warriors of light that had gathered on their behalf came into view: "And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha" (2 Kings 6:17)
As I walked along praying in the Spirit I, too, beheld them-angels and saints that have gone on to glory all mounted on horses coming from the heavens! They were ready to overturn the forces of darkness on the word of my prayers.
In that moment I realized that I was an ambassador for the Church in this generation. God was listening for the voice of His bride-and was ready to answer when she called! I was a vessel of incense, pouring out many prayers formed in the watches of the night by prayer groups around the world. As I was carried along with a heavenly gathering behind me, I thought of the soldiers serving on foreign fields in the global war on terror. Suddenly I saw a flash of light. I discerned that it shot in an arc from where I was walking over to a military base on the other side of the world where someone dear to us was serving. I felt that the prayers going up for him were being answered and that a breakthrough and time of refreshing was coming. It seemed that many prayers of many watches were suddenly being poured out for answers.
At an intersection in the road I heard the sound of several huge tractor trailer trucks roaring up the highway. I turned to discover that it was not trucks at all. I saw the effects of a fierce wind barreling down the valley toward me. In a moment it was upon me. Leaves and debris intermingled with stinging bursts of rain came from all directions. I could scarely stand in its force. The gusting wind and rain and flying debris seemed the only rebuttal the prince of power of the air could make to contradict prayer being loosed in the name of Jesus and the power of His blood! I began to laugh in triumph in the face of the wind and rain.
I pressed on in the wind storm and realized only later how dangerous that could have been. I was too busy singing Scripture to notice. "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because He has anointed me to preach good news!" I sang. "This is the year of the favor of the Lord! This is the day of vengeance of our God!" When it occured to me there was no other person or vehicle out on the street, I wondered if I should turn back. But then I saw something else. Before me in a vision on either side of the sidewalk were two great looming trees. As I moved between them words from the book of Jude came to mind. I saw those trees as symbols of two evils sinking their ideology into the hearts and minds of a new generation of young Americans.
The unction to uproot those trees and deliver the young generation was so strong I called them by name: "You twice-dead trees of perversion and rebellion, I pull you up out of the heart and soul of America by the root." As words from Scripture came to mind I reached out and "uprooted" each of the trees in succession. I bound the powers of deception and seduction rampant in the secular culture invading our college campuses. At that instance there was a huge cracking and crashing sound, and every streetlight for blocks in every direction suddenly went black!
By now I was drenched. With rain whipping my face, I made a "visor" over my eyes with my hands and distinguished a single pair of headlights creeping along the road.
The car stopped beside me. "Mom?" It was our daughter Serah who had come out in the storm to look for me. Grateful to be out of the elements, I got in the car, and as we turned for home I began to tell her about my unusual experience. Just as I was recounting the crashing sound of the trees in the vision, our headlights illuminated an astounding fight. There, lying across the highway, were two gigantic upturned trees. The crash I heard as I "uprooted" the spiritual trees trying to take root in a new generation was the sound of those two enormous trees being ripped out of the ground in the wind!
When we finally reached home I recounted the story once more to the rest of my family. The telephone rang. It was the young soldier I had prayed for when I say the arc of light go to his military base on the other side of the world.
"How are you able to call? What's happening?" I asked. "A little while ago," he said, "the power on the entire military base shut down. We got permission to come outside and use our cell phones while they try to restore power to our station."
I knew that God was giving us a sign to reinforce our belief that prayers in Jesus' name are mighty. They are heard on high. They are attended by angels. They shake things in heaven and change things on earth.
The next morning we went out to see the aftermath of the storm. Blocking the highway lay the two trees, each measuring more than seventy feet in height! In the months that followed we began to see powerful breakthrough and transformation in the lives of young people we had been interceding for. These children of believing parents began to turn away from darkness and back to the Lord and His plan for their lives. The roots of bondage were broken.
Blessed and Broken
Storms in our lives, including the troubling events of our day, are meant for our transformation into the image of Jesus' glory. Pain is not meant to snuff out our lamps; pain is the oil that makes the flame burn brighter. Saint Francis Assisi is quoted as saying,"And in dying, we behold His glory." It is the eternal law of redemption.
Sometimes the breaking is voluntary, as Jesus showed us by laying down His life in obedience to the Father. (skipping to page 113) And there are times to allow God to break us and give us out to others. If you have fasted and rebuked, confessed the Word and persevered and your circumstances have not changed, look again to see how this trial can make you bread for the hungry. When you coorperate with God's breaking, you can smile at your betrayer, welcome him and call him friend. That does not mean that he will destroy you. Rather, the destructive events in life can become the hidden agenda of God to transform us. In all God is "working together for our good."
At the end of his life Paul wrote, "I am already being poured out as a drink offering." The Lord allows storms that break us with a purpose of knitting us closer to Him.
End Quote
Taken from Storm Warrior written by Mahesh and Bonnie Chavda, pages 109-113. This particular story is written by Bonnie Mahesh.
Can we say wow! This story spoke volumes to me. I love that the Lord is so in control. Often times we get so caught up in life that I believe we tend to begin to think that He isn't there, or He isn't helping us, or answering our prayers. BUT He knows, and He has a greater purpose.
My prayer right now is that I can learn to hear His voice clearly. That I can be used by Him. That I will be obedient and not grieve the Holy Spirit. That I can die to myself each and everyday and life solely for Christ.
If this book is something you feel you would like to read it can be purchased here
Mahesh Chavda Ministries. I have read The Hidden Power of Speaking in Tongues, The Hidden Power of Prayer and Fasting and now Storm Warrior. I learned so much from them and hope that one day soon I'll be able to visit their church and hear them bring God's word in person!!!
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