Enter In And Receive God’s Presence & Healing More Deeply In And Through Intercessory Prayer ?
The Garden Catalogue For Today
A Prayerful Meditation with Olivia Helmore
New Wine and Oil Meditation
Receiving the Lord’s ministry and message
Today, together, let’s seek the Lord’s face regarding the role He’s given us as ministers of His New Covenant.
Through Jesus, all prior covenants are fulfilled. The picture which most aptly describes the reality of the kingdom Jesus instituted, is one of marriage.
In the New Covenant, as believers in Jesus, Yeshua, we know our God from the inside out. We witness the reality of His covenant relationship with us and walk out our side of covenant relationship with Him, according to His Spirit at work in our midst.
In the New Covenant, covenant relationship is the restored reality we get to enjoy. It is also the kingdom, the good news, we preach. The reality of restoration to covenant relationship is the authorised message of King Jesus. Restoration to covenant relationship becomes reality by revelation of the Father in our hearts and for our hearts.
As we witness the love and faithfulness the Father has outworked for us in Jesus, He sovereignly births new love, faith, and life from within each person. Everyone is drawn to the Son by the Father’s leading, and we partake in that work through the Word and Spirit working in us! It is a beautiful ministry He grants you and me, as we experience His goodness for ourselves.
As we put to work the gift of faith He gives us, He gives us more. If we prove ourselves worthy stewards of His Word of reconciliation to the lost, the least and the broken among us, He counts us worthy to impart more revelation of His presence in our hearts.
The seal of His promise on our lives is the Holy Spirit. We receive His Holy Spirit, which cleanses us of our hidden faults, as the deposit of the things He has in store for us ahead. The Holy Spirit is like a royal signature on our lives.
In our earthly minds, we sometimes fall prey to doubt and fear. But the Lord knows He has given us an important assignment and He has not left us alone. He knew the significance of the commission He entrusted to us. And He alone counted us so precious and worth protecting that He sacrificed His own life to ensure we had everything we need for life and godliness.
Jesus, Yeshua, is not only our deliverance from spiritual death and bondage. He is also our preservation in the dangers we face today and tomorrow.
As we seek His face together, let’s bring Him our hearts and make room for Him to show us how He has walked with us every step until this moment.
Our witness and testimony of His revelation of Himself in our lives and to our hearts is such an important standard and reminder of His faithfulness to all people. There was nothing that commended us to God more than anyone else, except that He saw us as dearly beloved children and lost sheep, precious and dearly sought after.
Lord, please help us to receive Your ministry to us, that we may walk in grace towards those still outside Your kingdom and walk with grace alongside our brothers and sisters in You.
Please open our eyes to recognise Your ministry in our lives till now – what You have done for us, and even Lord, give us a glimpse of what You have done through us so far.
We offer You our praise and love. You saw and loved us when we were far off. Help us to receive Your message, that You did not require our goodness before You loved us. You were moved to do mightily on our behalf by laying down Your life before we even knew Your Name.
Give us more faith to believe in the power of Your voluntary sacrifice to redeem all things by Your grace, Your love, and Your faithfulness to humankind, even working through us as Your redeemed sons and daughters, now ministers of Your kingdom.
Help us to do what You have said and share Your kingdom as You are the Light of the world living inside us. Help us to know and honour You as ever present and ever sufficient to prepare and equip us for the walking out and working out of Your kingdom.
Help us to believe in the reality and goodness of the works You have prepared for us to walk in: that You will truly effect Your kingdom as we carry Your ministry and message of redeeming love to a broken world, in whatever way You lead each one by Your Word and Spirit.
Thank You for the unique way You are leading each one. Thank You for the gifts we share, especially the gifts of communion, repentance, and restoration to fellowship with one another and You.
You desired to come as God in our midst, Immanuel, the infinite incarnate, and Yours is the ministry and message we carry. You have made Yourself known to us by Your Word and Spirit. You are alive in our midst, and You make Yourself known to each one as we seek Your face.
Thank You for training us to walk in step with Your Spirit, to be equally yoked with You as You restore us day by day to Your original pattern of covenant relationship with You.
Please forgive us for any way we may have hidden the work of Your glory in our lives for fear of man. Please forgive us for any way we may have:
- discounted Your nearness to us,
- disregarded the intentional price You paid to redeem us on a personal level, or
- doubted the effectiveness of Your Holy Spirit at work in us.
May You use each one of us to display the glory of Your goodness. May You deliver us from fear of the evil one and fear of man.
We know You are worthy of our praise and love Lord! Help us to walk worthy of the ministry and message You have entrusted to us. Help us to trust You as our King and Commissioner.
Help us to know You and honour You from the inside out, doing the thing You ask from us today and tomorrow, pressing on towards the goal ahead, forgetting what is behind.
Please forgive us for walking in self-accusation when You have said we are washed clean in the blood of the Lamb and You remember our sins no more.
Help us to know Your ministry of reconciliation to us in first place, so we can speak from hearts washed clean from a guilty conscience and bodies washed with pure water.
You are worthy Lord! Amen.
Now let’s read the Word together and receive it by faith as nourishing food for our spirits.
Hebrews 10:12-25
12 But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God, 13 and since that time He waits for His enemies to be made His footstool. 14 For by one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.
15 The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First He says:
16 “This is the covenant I will make with them
after that time, says the Lord.
I will put my laws in their hearts,
and I will write them on their minds.”
17 Then He adds:
“Their sins and lawless acts
I will remember no more.”
18 And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary.
A Call to Persevere in Faith
19 Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, His body, 21 and since we have a great Priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another — and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
Prayerful Meditation by Dr Hilary Moroney continuing from Revelations of Jesus the Light of the World
Let us meditate on who He is now in Glory from the scriptures below and seek God who He is calling us to become in Him?…..He’s calling us into His heart, set apart to be His image bearers and light carriers – like the Syrian Bishop (referring back to day 3 this week) – witnessing for Christ, His loving nature to Forgive and to pray for and bless those who do evil to us and to forgive.…
Let us Pray in accordance with Apostle Paul’s prayer to understand the importance of us receiving from the Holy Spirit
Eph 1:16-21 16 I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, 18 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power 20 which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.
King David in the midst of his enemies in Ps 27 asked; “Of whom shall I be afraid?” After some recent stabbing incidents let us thank Jesus prayerfully as we focus on Ps 91, that we can put our complete trust in Jesus as our refuge and as our Light in the midst of ‘dark situations’.
Jesus asked me some serious questions as I have been labouring in this wonderful process of writing these devotions, saturated through His Living Word. So, I’m passing these questions onto you in love to ponder also as I sense Jesus is issuing us all an invitation to come much closer to Him, to be more intentional with our time. What if we’re entering into a 7 year preparation period and He’s calling us to be the carriers of His Glory in far greater measure?
Will we live Christ centred lives as our true Father’s ‘sons of the light’? (Eph 5:8-21)
Or will we be hypocrites and pretend to, but in reality live according to our culture, deceived as sons of darkness? Will we live according to the first Adam or the second, according to Jesus’ Resurrection life fully living in and through us? What is our dream? To become a well-known ‘leader’ with a large following, popular and successful, living a life like an ‘earthly King’? or are we willing to stoop down and wash other’s feet, to walk in humble obedience with our heavenly Father, in true heart covenant allegiance with Him and others? Are we willing to go where He calls us, and to die the death He asks of us that will give Him greater Glory, like Bonhoeffer?
Is this a Malachi 3 moment, as we consider the cost of going through the Lord’s purging, purifying fire, or the decisions He made in the garden of Gethsemane? Does our life, relationships, behaviour, giving, integrity, nature, use of words reflect the True of Life, reconciling humble nature of Jesus?
Do we confess Jesus as the Light and Love of our Life? Do we obey Him and share His Gospel of the Kingdom of God with others?
Do we manifest His Kingdom of Light, Holiness, Grace, and Truth through the power of the Holy Spirit living within us?
How would we respond seeing who Jesus really is in His supernatural Glorious Light as at His Transfiguration?
In Matt 17:1-5….“Jesus took with him Peter, James and John…… and led them up a high mountain by themselves. 2 There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. 3 Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus. 4 Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” 5 While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” …….
How would it have been for John the Apostle on Patmos to have had the Glorious Revelation of the Risen Christ on His Throne in the Spirit?
Would we be willing to be shut away on an island to write as the Apostle John did in the Book of Revelation 1:12-19?
…..12I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 and among the lampstands was someone like a son of man, dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. 14 The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. 15 His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. 16 In his right hand he held seven stars, and coming out of his mouth was a sharp, double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.
17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. 18 I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.
19 “Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later.
As I write these questions, my heart is deeply convicted by Jesus’ words penetrating my heart. I pray that they can be powerful for you also in this season of His great mercy and grace. He’s calling us aside with Him as in Isa 55:1-11
God planned from the beginning to bring us not only back home into His family, but to raise us up to live a new life in the Spirit where Jesus comes to live His life with us, in us and through us. Then, we rule and reign with Him for His Greater Glory and Kingdom advancement. Will we bow our knee to Jesus our King in true submission, yielding to His will to be done on earth through our lives, no matter how inconvenient or costly? Will we prioritise our time in His presence above all else, worshipping and loving Him, drinking from His Spirit…His Kingdom coming as in heaven as Jesus taught us to pray as we live in His Word and Spirit? Jn 14:20- 23 & Gal 2:20
Jesus we thank you for your great mercy and grace and Pray as David did in
Ps 139:23-24
23 Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24 See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
Why not get your journal and pen out and meditate on the word of God and wait and listen to hear from the Lord and write it down, may God Bless you in this process. Ps 51 is also a very helpful Psalm of David’s to help with this sanctification process.
How To Pray For The Lost
Do you know that God wants all people to be saved? Do you have a burden for souls? Jesus did. He said that He had come to seek and to save the lost.
“I want you to pray and make intercession and give thanks for all people, for kings and all in authority, for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the Truth.” 1 Timothy 2:1-4
For 1 hour each week, what would happen if you gathered together with two or three others and prayed for people by name? What do you think the outcome would be?
Stephen Glenister, at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Spain and recalls a speaker asking that very question of about 5,000 people in a meeting. He said, “Put up your hand those who have been saved by a tract …”, and only 3 or 4 people raised their hands. Then he asked “how many were saved through one on one evangelism by a friend?” and 4,990 people put up their hands! People can’t find the answer themselves they need YOU to tell them.
As we go and see the people we are praying for, conversations get started through answered prayer.
When we pray for the lost we must be prepared to speak to those for whom we are praying for about Jesus. Don’t try to witness to them straight off. Just pray for them. When prayer is answered and at an appropriate time you can say, “Has anyone ever taken the time or trouble to explain the Good News about Jesus?”
Ask God to give you His Heart for the lost.
Ima Odutola from: Light and Grace Ministries
The Lord arises with healing in His wings
Anchor Scripture:
Malachi 4:2
But unto you who revere and worshipfully fear My name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in His wings and His beams, and you shall go forth and gambol like calves [released] from the stall and leap for joy.
Ps Jeff’s Special Today: “Disdain for God’s Word”
1 John 5:7 says: ” For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one.”
The Word is eternal, living and powerful:” For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.“ (Hebrews 4:12).
Being candid with yourself and the Holy Spirit, is this old pattern of not honoring God’s Word still blocking your serving your Almighty Creator today? Is there any remnant of this old pattern needing to be confessed to Him, your Teacher (Matthew 23:10)? Are there any old vows you made in this area that now need to be removed? Do you think this is only applicable to the disciples 2,000 or 3,000 years ago? Do you have any residue of a residue of this issue for such a time as this? Was it connected to your upbringing as a child? Was it a family pattern in any way?
God bless you as you seek His Holy Spirit Wisdom and Comfort on this issue. May you go forward on His path, “perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” (2 Corinthians 7:1).
