Day 20
A Warfare of Rest – Day 20 – The Procession
One day, at the Lord’s prompting, I went to clean a friend’s apartment as a surprise for him. He was not a believer and had struggled with addictions throughout his life. But he had a tender heart toward God and always said the only reason he was still alive was because of the prayers of his Pentecostal grandmother, who had passed away a number of years before.
I must admit I wasn’t feeling particularly magnanimous that afternoon. Truth be told, I was being grudgingly obedient – complaining as I cleaned through the cigarette butts and plates of dried-on food. Yech! At one point, I was gathering together some papers that were scattered on a table, when a small picture slipped out. It was a well-worn school picture of a small boy. As I turned it over, I saw my friend’s name and the words “10 years old”, written in a shaky script. I realized this must be a picture that his grandmother kept while she was praying for him and he reclaimed it when she died.
Suddenly, without warning, I saw a bar of liquid light appear near the ceiling and run across the whole room. And I heard the Lord say, “This is the faith of generations, reach up and grab a hold of it.” As I reached my hand up by faith, I was caught up in a vision and found myself standing in a huge hall where points of light, filled with incredible energy, were ricocheting all around. There appeared to be no resistance, so none of these points of light were diminishing in energy as they moved.
Then the Lord spoke again. “These are the prayers of My saints, spoken by faith in accordance with My Word. They are living and active and have not lost any power since the day they were prayed. And I am asking you to reach back into the pages of spiritual history and join with the prayers, faith, worship and prophetic utterances of former generations. Can you not see their hands reaching out to you to carry the burden, to pick up the call?”
Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for…All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance… God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect. (Hebrews 11:1-2; 13; 40)
When we accept Christ, instantly we become eligible to be linked into a procession of faith that is as old as Abraham and through which we can play an integral part in the timeless plan of God to see every one of His promises fulfilled.
In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. (Ephesians 1:11,12)
As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. (Isaiah 55:10-11)
About a year after this “hall of faith” encounter, I was given another vision in prayer one day. I saw a farmer, walking across his field at the end of the work day. He was praying and as the words came out of his mouth, they turned into letters that I could see and then they fell into the ground. Then the scene changed and I saw a little country church on a warm summer morning. The doors and windows were open and I could hear worship. As I watched, musical notes begin to float out of windows and then drop into the ground. Then I heard the Lord say,
“There is a great deposit of My glory in this nation because I have had many godly men and women whose feet have walked this land and worked this land while faithfully serving Me. And as My word was sung in worship or spoken during a meeting or prayed by someone in their secret place, that Word, mixed with faith, fell like seeds of righteousness that went deep down into the soil and remains yet today. There are many who sowed and never saw the harvest that was promised. But I have not forgotten those seeds of faith. They are not dead nor lost. Instead they lie dormant, sleeping, waiting for the right season when there will be a prophetic cry to ‘Come forth!’ And they shall spring to life and be gathered in as part of a great end-time harvest. When those seeds did not bear fruit in the generation in which they were planted, the enemy rejoiced thinking he had thwarted My plan. But he did not know and he could not see that they were not lost but hidden away for the time of the fulfillment of all the generations.”
To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven… (Ecclesiastes 3:1)
A few years ago, in a prayer meeting, I saw a picture of myself wearing a T-shirt across which was emblazoned in large letters: Gen X - the generation that reaped where they did not sow. And the Lord said to me, “Remember this, as it will be your safety against falling into the trap of wrongly believing that you are somehow better or wiser than those that came before you. You are not – you are simply landing in the fulfillment of time.”
We have a great privilege of being among those who are coming at the very end of this magnificent procession of faith. And if we are willing to humble ourselves so the Lord can entrust us to call forth life into the seeds of faith as He directs. I truly believe that we will have the honour of seeing the prayers of many generations fulfilled and the faith of many generations being made complete.
If this resonates with your heart and you would like to make the commitment to take your place to stand in the procession of faith, contending not only for your own promises, but for all the generations, then let’s pray this prayer together. “Lord, I thank You for the privilege of being invited to enter into the company of faithful ones, men and women from throughout the generations who, against all hope, have believed in You and even when they have not seen the fulfillment of all Your promises, they have greeted them at a distance by faith. Father, enlarge my heart and my perspective so I can contend for more than just my own promises. I want to see what You desire, and what many have stood for, being made complete as You establish Your kingdom on this earth. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”
Love,
Stephanie
On behalf of the Awaken Team
We would love this journey to be an expression of the corporate body and not just a few of us, so if the Lord gives you a vision or dream or speaks to you through a scripture or if you have a story or testimony you would like to share, please send it to share@awakenthedream.org.
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