Let us examine afresh our prayer life. Even those who give themselves wholly to prayer must constantly review what they are doing and why they are doing it.
The right motivation behind prayer is very necessary, just as in any other action of faith. Usually people speak in tongues in an initial experience that is glorious, but after a while their motivation for speaking in tongues changes. As their motivation changes, the effectiveness of their speaking changes and it may even become detrimental.
In I Corinthians 14, we read what Paul wrote about speaking in tongues. Restrictions were placed upon it, because the Corinthian church had twisted this gift from God into something He had not intended it to be. In I Corinthians 1:7, we read that they “came behind in no gift, in all utterance, all knowledge, waiting for the coming of the Lord.” Not a gift was missing. They had no lack of revelation or knowledge. As we read Paul’s Epistle to them, we see that it was not a lack of revelation, but a lack of proper motivation and proper use of the gifts which caused deep problems in the Corinthian church. We understand how this could happen.
With all the gifts and ministries that God is restoring to the Body of Christ today, it is evident that He wants us to keep a pure motivation, a true purpose, and a proper function of everything that we enter into. Because it is easy to become ambitious, we always need a fresh, genuine focus on what God wants.
To strengthen our faith in what we are believing for, let us review God’s basic purposes for prayer and intercession and their functions. Intercession is definitely the bulldozer of Christ’s Kingdom for pushing the rocks out of the way. Prayer is the steamroller to prepare a highway for our God (Isaiah 35:8).
The book of Philippians gives us a broad picture of prayer and our objectives in prayer. It will give us a new revelation of where we stand concerning God’s promises.
Paul urged the Philippians to pray concerning everything (Philippians 4:6). He himself believed for nothing less than what we are praying and believing for—resurrection life, the attaining to perfection in this life (Philippians 3:10–12). We should be moving in everything that was in Paul’s mind and heart when he wrote to the Philippians.
In the timing of God, or for some other reason, as far as we know, Paul did not attain the out-resurrection from the dead that he believed for and that we are contending for today. Perhaps it was not the season for it, or perhaps not enough people were interceding for Paul. There was not much prayer for Paul as he approached a time of persecution and stress when all forsook him and fled (II Timothy 4:16). All in Asia turned away from him except one or two who stood by (II Timothy 1:15–16).
At the beginning of the New Testament Church age, people did not have as much light on spiritual truths as we have now. We are entering into the day of the double portion. There is more revelation on the earth today—a great deal more. There has been more spiritual growth in a greater number of people than happened in the entire New Testament generation. Of course, populations were smaller then, and the brethren were dealing with fewer problems. A church in a city like Samaria probably had a few hundred people at the most.
Our smaller cities today are populated as heavily as most of Palestine was during Paul’s time. God is loosing more apostles and prophets to minister in our time than were present in the entire New Testament period. There will be more prophets in our generation than are recorded in all of the Bible, which covers a history of thousands of years. This seems staggering. Yet we still go back in faith to the small, earnest beginnings in which the early Church hoped for fulfillment. Their truths were preserved as guidelines for our objectives and focus. Let us press into these truths.
Again in this generation, God is doing something very unique. We must remember that the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified at the age of thirty-three. Paul called himself “Paul the aged” when he was approximately fifty-five years old (Philemon 9). This is a humbling thought for those of us who are close to the same age. Christians in New Testament times lived fast and hard and under severe persecutions and far more difficulties than we do today. Now in a few hours, a brother can travel to another church across the country, a distance which would have taken Paul months to travel on foot in one of the missionary journeys. Today we have much faster ways of communication and transportation. We can record today’s Living Word on tapes and distribute them throughout the land within a few days. Before the invention of the printing press, imagine the painstaking work required to send one epistle of Paul, or one chapter of the Bible, to the Christian world in his time. We do not realize the extent to which God has brought this day forth. Everything is geared and prepared for the explosion of the Kingdom of God, for the gospel of the Kingdom to be published throughout the earth.
If we comply or compromise with the work of Satan, if we do not give all diligence to block him in every way and move right into the Kingdom, we are missing the greatest opportunity of all time. There has never been a greater opportunity than we face in this generation. We must break into the unlimited access to the authority of Christ and loose creation from futility. Therefore, we must realize that our greatest function is intercession.
The great amount of time devoted by today’s New Testament churches to praying and ministering to the shepherding ministries is unusual. This generation of believers is becoming more concerned about ministering to the Kingdom of God than they are in having their pastors minister to their own needs.
At the beginning of our entering into God’s end-time move in this generation, everyone in the congregation wanted personal ministry and prophetic words spoken over them. The further God led the people into the depth of His Spirit, the more He turned their focus away from those personal needs. He created, instead, a hunger to appropriate His Living Word as it was spoken to the entire congregation. There was less personal ministry, while there was more ministry focused on faith for establishing the Body of Christ. People were ministered to for becoming elders, deacons, and other foundational ministries. Couples were ministered to for marriage because God was preparing a basis of marriage for His Kingdom. Slowly but surely the ways of ministry changed. Elders continued to minister help to people, but more and more the primary focus of prayer was devoted to the apostolic thrust into the Kingdom. Today, as in Paul’s day, we focus on intercession, praying and believing and loosing areas into the release God has for them. We can do more than release; we can exercise faith to bind areas over to the perfect will of God.
The apostle Paul spent more of his time in intercession than in any other ministry of the Word. The Lord Jesus Christ is bringing forth His Kingdom because “He ever lives to make intercession” for us. The purpose of His ever living “to make intercession” is that He might save us “to the uttermost” (Hebrews 7:25). Our salvation will not bog down with limitation, because He ever lives to break us through, so that the fullness and the perfection of what He has provided will be ours. We will not be half-saved. We will not be half-baked saints like the descendants of Ephraim pictured in Hosea 7:8: “Ephraim is a cake not turned.” God will finish all that He has started within us.
Paul wrote to the church at Philippi and spoke of his jubilant service for them of intercession with joy: I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all. Philippians 1:3–4. What a key of joy there is in the book of Philippians! Note its references to joy and rejoicing, and realize that it was written during a time when those people were being persecuted. Today is different from the day in which Paul lived. We live in a day of a psychic assault, a day of brainwashing, a day of conditioning, a day of responses. It is a day of mental bondage, no less than the day when people actually were slaves. However, only a section of the Roman population were slaves then, whereas most of today’s population is under psychic domination and control of an old establishment.
Today, let us cry out for freedom. Let us shout, “Freedom! Freedom! Freedom!” Proclaim freedom throughout all the land, and refuse to be under bondage!
Paul said that he offered prayer with joy: … with joy in my every prayer for you all, in view of your participation in the gospel from the first day until now. Philippians 1:4–5. There was much joy in his heart because he sensed that the people were not spectators, just drawing what they could from him. They were participators with him.
Similarly, this is a day of “participation” in the Body of Christ. We come to church to participate, to be a part of all that God is presently doing. The day of Body ministry has truly come. As we participate more and more, we will all be moving in the flow of God’s Spirit together. We will have times in a service when the prophets will speak two or three (I Corinthians 14:29). The apostles will speak and lay out guidelines for us. Meanwhile, we will be grabbing new truths and moving in them, absorbing them and participating in them.
At the very beginning of the Philippian church, the believers participated aggressively. Paul said, For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. (This Scripture was true then, and it is doubly true now because the day of Christ Jesus is upon us.) For it is only right for me to feel this way about you all, because I have you in my heart, since both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers of grace with me. Philippians 1:6–7. Paul was locked in prisons with bars which were visible. He experienced about five years of imprisonment: two years in Palestine, two years in Rome, and one year enroute to Rome.
Many of God’s people today are locked in prisons without visible bars and chains such as Paul knew; but those restraints are just as strong, sometimes holding a man at the brink of death. Our unseen imprisonments, restraints, and forces hold us back and cut us off from the flow of God’s Spirit. They leave us without strength, with our hands seemingly tied. Let us will to break out of our chains and serve God’s people without limitation.
Sometimes we suffer spiritual bondage and imprisonment as though we were criminals who had done something dreadfully wrong. Still we should rejoice that today’s Living Word is not bound. As Paul said, “I suffer imprisonment as a criminal, but the Word of God is not bound” (II Timothy 2:9), so today the Living Word of the Lord that is being spoken is not bound. It is being recorded and printed and sent throughout the earth. But those who speak it have been prisoners too long. The oracles of God’s Word in this hour must be loosed—every one of them!
When we look at our brothers in Christ, we rejoice with faith in our hearts as we review what God has for them. They must be set free! Those who have been chosen by God to be apostles, prophets, pastors and teachers have a tremendous potential to shake the whole world. As we hear the rattle of their chains, we must determine to see their imprisonment end. Satan assaults in every way possible to limit and hold back the men of God through relationships, through circumstances, and through harassments. This must change!
Are we different in heart than Paul was when he wrote his Epistle to the Philippians? No, we are not. As we intercede, we cry and grieve and become angry; but we also shout and rejoice. Every emotion is brought into play. We must not submit to the frustration, the bondage, and the limitation because the prophecies and commissions which rest upon us are not coming to pass. We must not allow year after year to pass without breaking through to their fulfillment.
Let us be free! Let us be loosed! When our bondage is broken, we will be surprised at our rapid rate of growth, not in numbers but in the quality of ministry. Our present services will give way to awesome worship when we break through to the awareness of the Parousia, Christ’s presence. Then we will stand in His presence and weep and bow on our faces in this most solemn moment of our experience.
Let us hasten the day of breaking through this explosive time of intercession to come into His holy presence, until we will not be able to stand and minister because of the glory of the Lord that fills His house. Let us reach in for something alive. Let us reach in for Him. Satan will try to stop us because we are an evident token of his defeat. As we sing and shout praises to the Lord while the drums beat and the cymbals clang, it is one more evident token of the prayer we are offering with joy and rejoicing.
Note this passage about prayer which Paul wrote to the Philippians: For God is my witness, how I long for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ; having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. Philippians 1:8–11.
Paul told the Philippians that his imprisonment helped to spread the gospel, because most of the brothers were trusting the Lord and taking courage to speak the Word of Christ without fear. But he also said that some proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, rather than from pure motives, thinking to cause me distress in my imprisonment. Verse 17. But he had a very positive viewpoint about both those who were praying for him and those who were rejoicing because he was in jail—it did not matter.
Paul said, What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed; and in this I rejoice, yes, and I will rejoice. For I know that this shall turn out for my deliverance through your prayers and the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ (because they were praying for him, Paul knew that everything was going to turn out for his release), according to my earnest expectation and hope, that I shall not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness, Christ shall even now, as always, be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. Philippians 1:18–20.
(Brother Maybee continues the unfolding of the word.)
God revealed to the apostle Paul that circumstances were no deterrent to the will of God. This was best demonstrated when Paul and Silas were in the Philippian prison in a very discouraging set of circumstances (Acts 16:25). At the midnight hour, they were worshiping and glorifying the Lord. In no way were they depressed by their circumstances. As they opened their hearts and rejoiced, their circumstances were shaken by the power of God, and the apostles were loosed (Acts 16:26).
In Romans 8:26–27 Paul wrote, And in the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
On a spiritual level, then, there is no wasting of time. Our intercession must do more than set us in motion as human beings. We must intercede on the level of the Spirit, so that we will not be tied to the limitations of our flesh. By the operation and the fullness of the Spirit, we are being lifted out of the area of flesh control to walk in the Spirit, to live in the Spirit, and to speak in the Spirit.
Though we dwell on the earth, we are not of the earth. We must live on a spiritual plane where the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. When we do not know exactly how to pray, the Holy Spirit intercedes with groanings in our inner man. Then we are praying according to the will of God with a continual flowing forth as the Spirit directs, but without loss of time or strength. The Spirit directs our intercession to bring the release and to do the good that God intends should be done.
Paul wrote to the Ephesians that God was looking for the day when an administration would come forth in which He would be able to sum up all things in Christ (Ephesians 1:10). We are living in that day. We are seeing an administration of God raise up people to be His vessels for the summing up of all things and thus bring the Kingdom of God into full manifestation. We groan within ourselves to put off the cloak of flesh and to put on the cloak of righteousness, to put on Christ (Romans 13:14), to put on His fullness, to put on His depth. We want to see, with more than the eyes of our understanding, the victorious reality that is expressed so much in the Word of God.
What will result from the groaning of the Spirit of God? Concerning the difficult circumstances in people’s lives, Paul said, And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28.
Let us look at Paul’s circumstances. He was thrown into prison because of his active ministry and the flow of God’s Word from his mouth. But in the heart of that prison there was an opportunity for God to reveal His glory. In that jail there were people who might never have listened to a Word from the Lord. God saw their value, just as He has seen value in the whole human race. The jailer and his family, and perhaps others who were in the prison, were of value to the Kingdom of God. God used the circumstances of a prison to bring a Word to their hearts which reached them and resulted in their release. Their coming into the Kingdom of God, and the blessing that came to the apostle Paul through their lives, caused much rejoicing that night (Acts 16:23–34).
In the same way, the circumstances in our lives work toward a good end. God turns our circumstances around to bring forth the good that He has destined, so that the Kingdom of God might be manifested in all the earth. Dare we actually believe that God causes all things to work together for our good, and that the events that drive us into intercession and bring such conflict in our hearts will all have a good ending? We have no alternative but to believe this, because God said so.
Paul did not say that God works everyone’s circumstances for good. But He does so for those who love Him and who are called and chosen for His purposes. Thus God is working deeply in the lives of those who are called to identify with the sufferings of Christ, in order that they might enter into the glorious inheritance they share in Him (Romans 8:28–30). Theirs is not an easy way, but it is a glorious way of total victory.
There are a few truths about which we need to be persuaded. One of them is that God is for us, even in the midst of all that appears otherwise. Paul was persuaded that God is for us, for he said, What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? Romans 8:31.
Another truth is that regardless of how others have responded to words from God, we should be concerned that we not only have a Word and a revelation from God, but that we submit to divine order because of that revelation. The disciples of the Lord came to Him and said, “We saw someone casting out demons in Your name, and we tried to stop him because he was not one of us.” And Jesus said, “He who is not against us is for us” (Mark 9:40).
The will of God for us is that we walk in New Testament divine order and intercede to bring forth the firstfruits of the Kingdom with humility and submission. God has released to us a level of grace that the majority of believers have not yet experienced. We see this manifested greatly by the spiritually lame, halt, and blind whom God is bringing into a walk with Him, because now is the accepted time of the Kingdom.
The Scriptures teach that all creation is groaning and travailing, waiting for a people who will see what Christ has done for them and reach in by faith to appropriate it. They, in turn, will speak those things into existence to enable it to become a living experience for everyone else, as well as for creation itself (Romans 8:22). This potential for the Kingdom is not something new; it has always been in the earth, resident in the Spirit of God, waiting for a people who would have faith to reach in and by appropriation draw it down, and by the dedication and motivation of their hearts, make it work.
Revelation 14:4 speaks of these same people who do not defile themselves with the harlot. This Scripture is not talking about a natural woman, but about the harlotry that exists in the religious world. Those who do not defile themselves “follow the Lamb wherever He goes.” Let us, then, not defile ourselves, but be released to follow Christ on a level higher than the world has ever seen.
Paul said that the Spirit helps us in our weakness; thus there is a complete provision for God’s sons coming to full birth. There is no inability to bring forth every member of the Body of Christ who is flowing into the Kingdom of God. Any lack is of our own incapacity to appropriate.
In Isaiah 28:15, we read that Jerusalem made a covenant with death and Sheol. God sent His Son to destroy death, which has always been an enemy of God. Death is manifested not only physically, but also as a spirit which affects the human race with an acceptance of futility. We, however, are in a new age in which the Spirit of God the Father will be released. New dimensions of the Holy Spirit are revealing God’s provision, taking us from one step to another, until we become able to walk in sonship and see the final and complete release from death. Paul said that we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. Romans 8:37b.
God accomplishes His purpose by entering into our lives as we draw and appropriate the fullness of Christ by faith, so that we might express His fullness and see Christ in every member of the Body of Christ. Intense intercession to bring forth the end-time firstfruits of sonship will release Christ in the individual who is reaching into the Kingdom of God.
Today, Christ is coming forth! Our release is coming forth! Our prayers are bringing an area of release that we have been waiting for. Because it is here now, we will rise even higher than we believed possible.
Romans 10:10 says, For with the heart, man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation. If you talk for two or three minutes, you will reveal where you are. Your mouth confesses where you are. Whatever is building up in your heart flows out of your mouth (Luke 6:45). This is why Jesus said, “For by your words you shall be justified, and by your words you shall be condemned.” Matthew 12:37. What you are is what you proclaim.
What are you proclaiming today? Are you proclaiming release? Do you proclaim that Christ is the victor? Do you proclaim that Satan has fallen and that the powers of darkness must give way to the authority of Christ, to the authority that is being released in the Kingdom of God? The powers of darkness must give way to the authority of Christ as He releases it in the Word of God.
Speak God’s Word and see changes wrought in your personal life and in the vast dimensions of the Kingdom of God. If you expect to speak in Christ’s authority to loose all of the land, then first release His authority in your home. Start speaking His Word of authority that looses you from the bondages and restraints and reactions which keep you from being His release to your community. As you speak a Word of release, turn from problems and reach in continually for His provision.
Do not focus on your own problems; speak a Word of faith into them, and believe! Live as though changes had already happened. When someone has a need, and you believe you have a Word from God, speak that Word. Release that flow of God’s Spirit, and walk away from the problem. If nothing seems to happen, that is not your problem. You have released a Word from God. Draw the anointing from God and believe that the Word you have spoken will accomplish what it was sent to do.
God has confidence that His Word will do exactly what He sent it to do. His Word is raising up a people today to walk in a way that no people have ever walked in all of human history—in the fullness of God, expressing a manifestation of sonship.
None of us knows exactly what to expect, but as we continue to reach into the Spirit of God and expose ourselves to Him, it will become apparent what we shall be. I John 3:2 says that as He appears we will be like Him. We will be like Him in whatever way we have a revelation of Him. Whatever revelation of the Lord we have today will not be good enough tomorrow. We need an ever-expanding, fresh revelation. As the revelation grows, the image of Christ within us grows. As the revelation of Christ grows in our hearts, we become more like Him.
The image of Christ is coming forth in today’s apostolic ministry. As we see this, we become the image of Christ coming forth. We are being changed “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye.” We are putting on Christ and moving toward the day when the frailties of flesh will be swallowed up in total victory, and we shall rule with Christ over all (I Corinthians 15:51–54).
There is no more glorious day than today. This hour, this minute, this very second, we are changing! We will keep changing as the intercession of today gives way to the intercession of tomorrow, and as tomorrow’s intercession gives way to the intercession of the next day. Intercession will continue to grow. Extensions of it will continue to unveil. It will change and expand continuously. Nothing we have known will ever be the same. Because we are changing, we will never be the same.