Peter continues:
Take a look at this picture( picture of a saint on her knees praying…then all around her mighty, mighty forces of angels being released into activity)… here’s a simple saint….. evidently praying. Somebody said one Christian with God is a majority.
God….help me with this bit……
Can we turn to the book of Esther for a moment. Esther chapter 4:13 to 5:3
Ch4: 13Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, "Do not imagine that you in the king's palace can escape any more than all the Jews.
14"For if you remain silent at this time, relief and (H)deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place and you and your father's house will perish. And who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this?"
Esther Plans to Intercede
15Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai,
16"Go, assemble all the Jews who are found in Susa, and fast for me; (I)do not eat or drink for (J)three days, night or day. I and my maidens also will fast in the same way. And thus I will go in to the king, which is not according to the law; and if I perish, I perish."
17So Mordecai went away and did just as Esther had commanded him.
Ch5: 1Now it came about (A)on the third day that Esther put on her royal robes and stood (B)in the inner court of the king's palace in front of the king's rooms, and the king was sitting on his royal throne in the throne room, opposite the entrance to the palace.
2When the king saw Esther the queen standing in the court,(Peter is weeping as he reads this) (C)she obtained favor in his sight; and (D)the king extended to Esther the golden scepter which was in his hand. So Esther came near and touched the top of the scepter.
3Then the king said to her, "What is troubling you, Queen Esther? And what is your request? (E)Even to half of the kingdom it shall be given to you."I take it you know the story of Esther…that is the beauty of a conference like this…most of you know where we are coming from.
Now I want to say this : Who you are determines your authority. Who you are determines your access. And I said to you earlier God has put in place certain legalities. One of them is that he has given government of the Earth to the human.
The other right or exousia…is the right of entrance into the very Presence of God by a new and living way, because of who we are there are certain rights which are implicit in that.
My dad was a director of a fairly large public company and sometimes when I was coming home from school I wanted to go in and see him in the office…. it was a fairly awesome building. And you went past the receptionist and that wasn’t too bad. she knew who I was so she’d just wave and I’d go up the stairs to the director’s suite, go through the big doors and head for my dad’s office. But I couldn’t get there without passing the secretary. It’s a fearful thing falling into the hands of the Living God….but this secretary would rank a close second!!! But anyway whatever was going on I could go into my dad’s office and just sit there. When I walked in he used to have a huge smile and say “ Sit down boy.” When we were very small he used to pull out a string of paper clips and say “Play with these” and we used to play with them for hours. But always always always we could go and see Dad. Why? Because of the relationship. Because of who I was to him I had access. And no one could deny me that access because he would grant it me.That’s just a simple thing, but I want to tell you that in Christ you have access.
Here we have Esther. God I thank you our relationship is far more than legal. You see Esther said it here…she said to her mates…you fast and I will go into the king- which is against the law…and if I perish, I perish. In those days if you went into the court without invitation you were liable to the sentence of death. It was that strong. So she goes with a certain amount of temerity and fear and arrives at the gateway, the doorway to the throneroom.
And you don’t know what was going through her head even despite the relationship she had with the king. Do you identify with that …sometimes? When there’s such an awesome sense of God’s Presence you think, “who am I?” But the bit that is so wonderful is the King looked across and she caught his eye (lump in Peter’s throat).
(Dan Bowen has alluded to pretty much the same phrase in Song of Solomon : You have stolen my heart, my sister, my bride; you have stolen my heart with one glance of your eyes" (Song of Songs 4:9).)
and I just want to tell you although he was this powerful, awesome ,majestic personality…his love for her touched his heart; and he beckoned to her. The warrior Bride! beneath his breathe”Oh God” as in how wonderful You are…
You see the whole thing of intercession is totally changing!!! (Chris’s note: I have yet to do a post on intercession from a 3rd level perspective….but imagine the difference between rattling off prayers in tongues in a meeting…and selling up all you have to go and bring up orphans in Jerusalem like Lydia Prince….or announcing by faith to an unbelieving nation’s press that the Dictators were defeated already in 1943 knowing everyone would call you mad…as did Rees Howells by the obedience of faith in Britain during the 2nd World War…when things were far from finished….. and you start to get an idea of the difference between the levels of operation.)
Peter continued: Sitting on Earth. Reading out shopping lists of prayers. Praying out good ideas….(sound effects:three great big raspberries). True intercession comes from intimacy. Clive said something yesterday, which I’m going to put in my notes…it was a corker!!
He said “One of the foundations of intimacy is self-disclosure”. And I want to tell you that the King on His throne wants to disclose some things to you….of His affection…of His love…but also the secrets of His heart. So Esther finds herself drawn, welcomed…Legalities all forgotten…they were there…but hearts had been won!
The place of true intercession is the place of heart communion and worship. You cannot separate them.
It’s a place of revelation. True intercession comes from revelation. Then an invitation comes. It’s just awesome stuff. Esther reach out your hand and touch the sceptre.
What was the sceptre? It was the sign of government, rulership, authority and majesty. Esther , touch the sceptre my dear. My friends there is an authority in intercession that God wants to release to us. When we know who we are. And out of the intimacy and self-disclosure and sharing of heart…..
Do you know…I don’t know about you but it says at one point that Esther was weeping in the presence of the king who was her husband. What husband is there that is not moved by the tears of his wife? And your heavenly Bridegroom , who is the Lord of Hosts, who is the King of Kings, who is the Commander of Heaven’s armies, who is your lover is moved with what touches your heart…because you share a heart with Him. And you share His heart and He shares your heart. So when you weep you touch His heart…you know what’s on His heart…so you weep…and you move His heart.
By the grace and favour of the King she found herself in the place of the most incredible influence….because she had touched the heart of the King. But she’d gone through the purification…months of the stuff. Oils poured all over her…the beautification…you read it all.So her heart was pure. she was not coming with agendas…mixed motives…she was coming with one desire…for the Kingdom.For the will of the King to be done on the Earth as it was in heaven. And she recognised that she was an instrument of letting the King of Glory come in.
God needs a human channel through whom to release His glory and His power and His authority into the Earth. I haven’t got time to go through it all…but that kind of intercession is in an incredibly safe place. There was huge warfare represented in this scenario.It was the warfare for a nation. For a nation that was in bondage. It was huge warfare involved. But do you know what she had such favour with the king, such audience with the king,such access to the king, such security with the king that the enemy Haman was present …but could do nothing. And he went out shamefaced.
And there’s a place of intercession in the secret place of the Most High. There is a place of intimacy where huge warfare is done…for the battle is His not ours. And it is warfare right in the face of the Enemy. But when we are in that intimate place with the King the Enemy cannot come near because He will not approach the Lord of glory. Oooh…glory.
What is your request? It shall be given to you ..up to half the kingdom. Because they shared heart. He knew he could trust her. He knew that what she’d ask for was from a place of sharing his heart. And then the most amazing thing happens. Not only is there an enduement of favour. Not only is there access. Not only is there the instruction to touch the sceptre….the impartation of power and authority from the king. Not only is there the request to make petition. But then there is the right of decree that is given.
Then the king said to Esther and Mordecai the Jew…surely I have given Esther the house of Haman, the house of the enemy and they have hanged him on the gallows because he tried to lay his hand on the Jews. Now you write to the Jews as you see fit, in the king's name, and (I)seal it with the king's signet ring; for a decree which is written in the name of the king and sealed with the king's signet ring (J)may not be revoked." Esther 8.8
The Psalm 24 theme is reprised and continues on here
My friends this is a season where out of the intimacy of the throneroom, out of the revelation of the heart of the King there is coming a prophetic anointing and a mantle of decree that is coming to the church of Jesus Christ…..please handle this with care.. we cannot go making decrees in our own…. (right) these are things that come from the throne of God. There is coming a time and it now IS when intercession ill still need to continue in the way I’m describing but there is going to come a moment when God will release authority to make decrees into the Earth. Why am I saying that? Because WE have been given the Earth. We have authority in the Earth. And when we speak under the anointing of the Spirit. When we speak according to the Word of God, we are releasing His Power His Word into Earth realm. AND IT WILL HAPPEN.
Let me give you an example. When Elijah was faced with his nation in the lowest point of its spirituality. there was more evil being done in the sight of the Lord than at any time, and God raised up the prophet Elijah. He raised him up initially as an intercessor. And it says that Elijah prayed that it would not rain. And I don’t think this was a little petitioning. I think this went on for months and months…it says in James..effective fervent prayer…”He was crying out “God will you dry up the heavens” Why? Because God had given him the strategy. He said what I am going to do is to dry up the heavens and cause drought. I am going to cause an economic famine in the nation so the nation will turn back to me. Does it sound familiar?
And He was crying out and crying out and crying out. And then the Word of the Lord came to him saying “Elijah, go and show yourself to Ahab.” And intercession changed to decree. And he stood before Ahab…which I think was a pretty scary thing to do…and he said..Ahab, your time’s up mate.He said there will be no rain in this land according to my word.Yeah? He had touched the throne. He had touched the sceptre. He had been given the right of decree.And he went into Earth realm and made a decree and from that nanosecond the heavens dried up and there was no rain for three and a half years. Intercession changed into prophetic decree and declaration. Could we have the other picture up please. I want to finish with this. Just look at that for a moment. It’s David and Goliath…but these are not the garments of a shepherd boy. This is like a 20th century young person. Haircut. Clothing.Hoodie? Goliath representing the strongholds who are over the land. The little shepherd boy.David.Who had learned intimacy. He’d learned how to worship. He’d learned how to move the heart and the hand of God.
I want to finish by talking about something that is written in the pages of scripture…but I want you to be very careful with this.I am going to make the statement…but first of all before I say anything…Paul says our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers and rulers in the heavenly places…the dark places…the second heaven…wherever…and I want to say this very very carefully…
Oftentimes the scenario of warfare that is played out even in churches is flesh against blood.
Many times splits, contentions, strife that goes on in the local church is the playing field…but behind it is a lot more. Yeah? I’m going to tell you a story about our church in a few minutes…but….we wrestle not against flesh and blood. A principle of Biblical interpretation is this. What is often natural in the Old Testament speaks of the spiritual in the new…cos you can have all kinds of bother in the Old Testament. People’s heads getting cut off…goodness knows what…you know.And the kind of language used by David in intercession would scare the living daylights
out of you…”God crush the Enemy Lord. Lord break his teeth. And I read this stuff and I thought…What!!!?? Can we just leave that for a moment. Because what I believe is natural in the Old Testament is spiritual in the new. And I want to talk to you just for a moment about imprecatory warfare. What do I mean by that? It is seeing God’s wrath meted out among His enemies. And when I am talking about enemies I am not talking about people. I am talking about spiritual forces which may control people, may control churches, may control nations…whatever. The battle is not ours it is His. but because we have access to the King…to the the throne…we have the right of access and we have influence with the Lord of Hosts to actually mobilize the armies of heaven. He commands them, we don’t. And I’ve found myself praying in recent weeks over a number of issues that we have seen dramatic change in.
I said” Lord I bring this to You…I know there is something going off here…that is not just about people. This is about a spiritual influence that is coming and I don’t want it anymore. And I’m not going to get into all this binding and loosing stuff…I’m just going to let You loose…because You know who the Enemy is…I know where the battlefield is..I tell you where it needs to go and I am going to watch what happens. And I found myself in the study on my own…and I’m not taking on national things..just local issues which I think I have faith for…and I’m just saying to the Lord of Hosts…will You send your troops and will You slaughter the beggar that is behind this.I can see a manifestation of something that is not You. And these people do not want to behave like that …but they are under the influence and control of something.
This is Biblical ...please. Jesus actually said to Peter – “Get behind me Satan.” Why? Because the enemy was manipulating Peter to try to distract Jesus and get Him off course. Now I’m not getting silly and being over demonic or anything…or giving a principle of life…but I am just chucking out something for you if you want to look at it. And I’ve found incredible things have begun to break out…even over individuals. Changes that are happening. Why? Because a warfare is being waged in heaven. God knows who the Enemy is…and I think I know the scenario…but I’m not going to go there…I’m not going to get tangled up with these beggars…I say Lord You know it…I can see it. We need to have discernment. Don’t go and read all the books and then go popping stuff off just cos it’s fun. We need to have revelation from God. There is going to come a spiritual discernment in the church because as our spirituality increases…you know the higher the level the bigger the devil. We are going to need to see more about what is going on in the spirit realm at large and God is going to raise up people who have spiritual discernment so we’re not having all this rubbish and stupid nonsense about this and that…we’re going to have clear revelation from heaven. We are going to know where we target but it’s not for us it’s for HIM. But He needs our co-operation to release this into Earth realm. This is what this is all about…am I making any sense?
Now intercessors for a long time have been “watchmen”. Standing on the city walls. And a lot of it has been about warning. - “I’m warning you that the enemy is coming!!” I get fed up of warnings. I want to get to grips with the beggar . I don’t want to be just warned that he’s coming! Yeah? And a lot of it has been about defensive warfare. Just to say to you…if you have stood through the last two decades, you’re a victor! That was all you were required to do. Having done all to stand!!! BUT NOW. IT’S CHANGING.The season is changing and it’s a time for us to see the Kingdom begin to advance. The end of all spiritual warfare is for the salvation of human beings. As they come into full salvation, they then take their place in government in the Earth under God.
This is the time of offensive warfare so two kinds of people will emerge in the intercessory realm. One will be spies. Who will go in and look at the land and will come back and say this is the territory we are going to take. And these are the giants that are in the land. Lord raise up the spies to go in.
And there’s another crafty little group that are going to get raised up…and they’re eavesdroppers. I like the eavesdroppers…they’re there in scripture, I am not making this up.Gideon sent his eavesdroppers in to listen in to the Midianites. And they returned and said…”Actually we’ve caught the mood of the enemy. The enemy is terrified of us.Because of the sword of the Lord and Gideon. They had this dream of a big loaf of bread which rolled into the camp etc etc.
And the other event was actually the thing that invoked the Syrians to come against Dothan…which I mentioned before. The King of Syriah said there must be someone passing the info on…cos every time we go anywhere the Enemy know about it and are there ready. And one of their guys said well actually the problem is their prophet Elijah who hears everything that is spoken even in your private bedroom.He hears all the battle plans and tells it to the army and they just go out and do it.
I tell you there’s going to come eavesdroppers.We need that kind of intelligence.We don’t want to beat the air. We want to see some battles won. Because we are hitting real targets. Lift your hands up a moment!
Lord, I want to pray in Jesus Name that you will raise up from amongst us…not just watchmen who warn us…but I want to pray for those who will be eavesdroppers and spies…who will give us spiritual intelligence Lord God so that we will know from heaven what You want us to wage war against on the Earth. Right now release that anointing across the Body of Christ Lord, I’m tired of mumbo jumbo…of all this if but and maybe.Where we can say by the mouth of two or three witnesses..THIS IS THE LORD. Lord the Enemy tries to conceal himself but I decree that in this time he will be exposed in the places that he needs to be.Because Your people will be given discernment Lord, Divine revelation and understanding.Thankyou Lord. Hallelujah.
So…in this next season as we begin to engage in the Kingdom.. as we ascend the hill of the Lord…that place of intimacy with the King..as our eyes begin to behold the Lord of hosts the King of Glory the Commander of heavens armies…Lord I thank you that You are going to release to the Body of Christ the authority that is hers. Lord and as we look at this picture we thankyou that this uncircumcised Philistine fell to the stone of a young lad.Lord that you train our hands for war…and that where the enemy comes against us one way…I want to see them flee by seven…because YOUR HOSTS have been released Lord.We declare your glory right now. We declare your victory.We declare that You have never been defeated and You never will be Lord.And I pray Lord God that You will mobilise us Lord …that we will see the strongholds torn down Lord…not by our imagination but by revelation of the Hoy Spirit…and Lord I pray that thousands of men and women will be tipped into Your Kingdom…because the god of this world is being blinded himself…In the Name of Jesus , thankyou Lord!
End
Peter Stott is currently with Mariette in the USA for 2 weeks, in Chicago and Paduka,Kentucky.He can be contacted here: admin@portsdowncc.org.uk and the web address for Portsdown Community Church which I refer to most often as Havant is here http://www.portsdowncc.org.uk/.
The Psalm 24 theme is reprised and continued here
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