Outpouring IV – Prayer and Power

Mrs Nancy Lyn, 02/10/2010
This is the fourth of five plenary sessions of the Prayer Conference 2010.
In Malachi 1 and 2, we read that when the Lord confronted the people with their sins, the people responded by asking in what way  / how. The same goes when God brought up his love for them, the people offering defined food, etc. They were oblivious to what they had done wrong.
Often when we head a sermon, we think to ourselves he / she is not talking about us. We don’t share the Lord’s perspectives.
The burden of the Word of the Lord for this conference, as sister Nancy shared.

We love the Lord but have not removed the high places or idols in our lives.

1Ki 3:3  Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of David his father, only he sacrificed and made offerings at the high places.
From this verse, we see that one can love the Lord and yet still sins and eventually falls away.
Many young people look up to ministers and pastors. When these people fall, they got the wrong idea it is ok for them do the same thing, We are not to see things that way.
“Others may, I can't’”, ~ A.W. Tozer.

God forbade foreign wives but Solomon clung to his foreign wives. His clinging to his idols is in conttract
1Ki 11:2  from the nations concerning which the LORD had said to the people of Israel, "You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods." Solomon clung to these in love.
Jer 13:11  For as the loincloth clings to the waist of a man, so I made the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to me, declares the LORD, that they might be for me a people, a name, a praise, and a glory, but they would not listen.
The Lord wants us to cling to him and not to our idols. He wants us to cling to him to become his people. There are many modern idols luring us, including entertainment, education, career, etc. A lot of parents send children to tuition but do not put the same level of priorities when it comes to the things of the Lord.
Idols are things that takes precedence over God in our lives.

Consequences of not dealing with sin

Exo 20:4,6  "You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.  …  (6)  but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
Just as Solomon suffered consequences of his sins, our sins and idols can do the same, robbing us our destiny. Do not allow idols to stand in the way.
Not getting rid of sins or idols in our lives is akin to not destroying our enemies. God told Saul to obliterate the Amelakites (descendants of Esau) but he did not obey. The Amelakites became a thorn in Israel’s site since then. Saul died in the hands of an Amalekite. Haman was an Agagite, who came from the line of the Amalekites.
We cannot have one foot in the kingdom and the other in the world.
Even for those serving in the church, they may have idols in their lives. They may be clinging to the worldly music / books / movies. There is a revival among the young people but they need to be taught of the need of a separation from the world.
Parents need to be discerning. Sister Nancy bought up some incidents to show the reality of evil in seemingly harmless music, books, toys, movies, computer games, etc. Even those that seem harmless may impart some spiritual effects. People are becoming less sensitive.

what can be done to turn the tide?

Has the church not be been invested with authority? The battle for the souls of the future generations which can only be won through prayer.
2Ch 7:14  if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
God chose us. We need to obey. And it’s not something we do on our own. Corporate prayer is important. In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus taught us to begin with our Father.
There are a few things we need to do.
We need to recognize that the idols in our lives will be passed down to our future generations. In fact, they may be magnified.
We have to repent not just for our own sins but also the sins of our forefathers. This type of prayer is called identification prayer.
Identification Repentance is a term referring to a type of prayer which indentified with and confesses before God the corporate sins of one’s nation, people, church or family. (These sins often stand in the way of God.) It removes the legal basis of the rights of the power of the air to remain. We see that in the lives Nehemiah, Jeremiah and Daniel. Even thought they did not sin, they repented on the behalf of the people. This kind of prayer makes us humble. It is when we pray this prayer that the Lord will come and break the power of the enemy.
When we uproot the idols in our lives and build an alter for the Lord, the fire of revival we have been hoping will finally come down. Our hearts must be prepared.
We must repent for ourselves and our forefathers.