AGREEING WITH
"THE" INTERCESSOR
Part 3
Bill Click
A revelation of the eternal nature of true intercession enables us to understand our experience of praying in the Spirit. We are not just making sounds we do not understand, praying in ways which surprise us while waging warfare against demons. Likewise, we are not only building up our faith. Furthermore, we are not just preparing to release a prophetic word. Moreover, we are not just following a tradition of what is usually done before laying hands on people to release the gifts of the Spirit. Even though any or all of the above can be true in any given instance, there is much more at stake.
While interceding, we are participating in Christ's ongoing activity right here in the Earth. When in true intercession, we are joining in with the Voice which takes precedence over all other voices in Heaven. This must be the litmus for evaluating the authenticity of our intercession. It must be the result of prophetically coming into agreement with Christ's Apostolic prayer (Ro.8:27,34; Heb.3:1; 7:25; Mt.16:18). When truly interceding, it is because we have entered the realm of His rest in which our vessels yield, becoming activated by Christ through the Spirit, fully merging with Him and His prayer (Heb.4:9-16). Such true intercession steps out of the realm of chronological time and into the eternal realm with Christ at the Father's right hand, releasing eternal grace into the natural space of the Earth (Col.3:1-4).
The intercession Christ calls us to join with Him in is Apostolic in scope and Prophetic in quality. The intercession Christ calls us to align with is made in such a way that it releases the Church into the greatest dimension of effectiveness and establishment. Apostolic/Prophetic intercession is what set the stage for Pentecost (Ac.1:12-14). Apostolic/Prophetic intercession is what released the call of Barnabas and Saul into Apostolic commission (Ac.13:1-4).
Other examples from the New Testament feature being translated into the eternal realm during prayer. These make clear that these revelatory encounters became the raw material for Apostolic/Prophetic foundation and the church's strategic direction for gathering the harvest and establishing the Kingdom's presence among all people (Mt.24:14). For example, what Paul experienced but was instructed not to speak of directly in 2 Corinthians 12 deepened his command of "the mystery of Christ," revealed and laid by Apostles and Prophets (Eph.3:4-5; 2:19-21). John was also made to similarly "see," but was commanded to record and distribute these visions to seven churches for their practice and understanding (Rev.1:11). Peter was the first to receive revelation of Gentile inclusion into the faith through similar experience as well (Ac.10:9-23).
We may or may not have experiences such as those described above. The way Christ reveals His heart, direction, way and timing in His choice. Regardless, God does not ask us to establish the will of Heaven without first making us privy to its activity. How this is done is by granting us access into that realm right here in the Earth. Therefore, true Apostolic/Prophetic intercession will be accompanied by an increase and intensity of receiving visions, dreams and other unexplainable supernatural visitations and experiences.
Since this dynamic of intercession is not just a privilege but an essential function of Apostles and Prophets, we then realize such anointing for supernatural encounter is to permeate the entire Body. Accepting that such phenomena will be experienced will prepare the people of God for new intimacy with the Lord and result in new opportunities for overseers to enable those they lead to rightly perceive their experiences and grow as a result. This is of such importance because the foundational building material of Apostles and Prophets becomes the way Christ grants solid footing for all that the church is to be and practice (Eph.2:20; Mt.7:24-28).
Apostolic/Prophetic Covering
Intercession is for everyone, and those rightly aligned and positioned for mobilized relationship, ministry covering, and opportunity to co-labor with Apostles and Prophets must participate in the ongoing prayer of Jesus. Not as the "work" of intercession, but instead as the very same dynamic of prayer that Jesus was and is now forever occupied.
This will be possible as Apostles and Prophets intercede and cover those who are directed by God to align with them- releasing them into full continuity with their own Apostolic/Prophetic grace. However, the extent to which this is experienced by the Body will be directly proportional to the extent the Apostles and Prophets themselves authentically intercede.
It is not structural authority which releases the Spiritual riches of Christ, making contagious and available the grace of God to others. Instead, it is the life of Heaven's function which allows what lives within Apostolic and Prophetic ministers to cover the church so its members can rise up in it themselves. Apostles and Prophets must lead the way in experiencing the depths of Christ in the Spirit so that those they lead will be doing the same. Apostles and Prophets must go ahead of their charges in matters of spiritual experiences in order to provide true leadership for those who are also truly experiencing God's presence.
Emphasizing Form Over Function Prevents Apostolic/Prophetic Intercession
Function must take precedence over form in the church. If not, we will place organizational concerns over the desire of Christ to establish His members in full function as His witnesses in the Earth and their function within the body. If form takes precedence over function, the needs of people to be developed for Christ's destiny will be abandoned for preservation of the structure and the ongoing obligations of the organization. Whenever placing form over function we become impersonal, business-like in the world's sense, and make people fit into a predetermined plan instead of being personable, having a renewed mind in the Kingdom sense- encouraging and facilitating so that people fit into God's.
If form rules over function, we will quickly become those with politically secured, positional leadership which generate personality cults instead of gift-oriented ministry which releases the grace of the Spirit to bring attention to the Lord of the Church. If form is more valued than function, the ministry will become a matter of "slots" to be filled. When that emerges, either a spirit of volunteerism which has its roots in ambition or being driven or a guilt-manipulation which produces reluctant serving will be sewn into the fabric of the church. Instead of the ministry being saturated with God's presence, it will then be riddled with stress, codependency, confusion and even strife. Doing as we want in serving God is not seen in the New Testament. Guilt-manipulation for the sake of programs isn't either. All of these ultimately result in a religious system which prevents the will of the Lord from either being understood, received in heart, or ever accomplished (2Tim.3:1-5).
This is no less true in regard to intercession. Why? Intercession's very nature is dynamic in life flow, not static in its program. True intercession always flows in agreement with the Head Intercessor (Ro.8:27). All that the Lord does through us in intercession is part of a greater plan. We are continually being restored to God's original intention (Ac.3:19-20; Ro.8:29). When form guides intercession, it flows from present understandings and becomes rooted in human circumstance. But when function births and directs intercession, it flows from Christ and results in the release of His creative power. Intercession can never be separated from the prayer of Jesus at the Father's right hand.
When the preservation of what exists is prioritized over the creation of what God is longing to establish, the Apostolic/Prophetic will of God cannot be accomplished (1Cor.1:28). Without Christ's foundational undergirding, all that is accomplished will be temporary at best (Mt.7:24-28). Whatever is sought to sustain what is temporary will not only be counterproductive to the prayer of Christ, it will also be ultimately religious and self-serving. Being invested in heart to preserve what presently exists at the expense of what God has actually chosen to establish is always doomed to fail (Gen.17:18).
Apostolic/Prophetic intercession is not a new way to accomplish an old task. Apostolic-Prophetic intercession is not given for supporting a failing program. Apostolic/Prophetic intercession is not given for establishing a movement, developing a network or sporting an affiliation. Apostolic/Prophetic intercession is a means of entering into ongoing the prayer of Jesus that His Church becomes built and functions according by Divine choice and design (Mt.16:18; Eph.2:19- 4:17; 1Cor.12:28). The result of that will not only be the restoration of individuals, but the advance of true witness of Christ through His company of believers.
Intercession, Don't Get Disqualified
The disciple's prayer makes it clear that our "Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask Him" (Mt.6:8). The Father has promised to take care of our business as we take care of His (Mt.6:33). We are commanded to throw our cares into His lap, so that He can care while we trust (1Pe.5:7). When we care about what we should be trusting for, we do not position ourselves to care about what He desires for us. It is at this point we disqualify ourselves from flowing in Christ's intercession, because without a faith which releases us and ours to Him in order to prefer Him and His, it is impossible to please God (Heb.11:6).
This two-edged sword of the Word cuts to the cord of what prevails as Christianity in this hour (Heb.4:12). There will be no way to avoid soberly dealing with the reality of His love and care for us. Out of God's unfailing love for us we must also continually demonstrate our love and care for Him (1Jn.4:19). Those who will enter into His heart through true Apostolic/Prophetic intercession will be abundant in the understanding of His will, the impartation of His heart, and the experience of His love. They will live lives of trust, rest and be truly blessed.
Intercession, Deeper With Christ
Intercession, Deeper With Christ
As we meditate upon the depths of Christ's experience of intercession to the Father, embracing our privilege and responsibility to share it with Him through the Spirit, we will perceive more than just how the Lord makes intercession for us. We will also begin to envision the gateway to entering that same intercession with Christ as well. As we meditate on His prayer in John 17, the extent to which our hearts, minds, desires, and energies must be conformed to the Head Intercessor is made clear. As we stay before Him, our inner man is changed into that which we see in the secret place.
Throughout the Gospels we see that Jesus did absolutely everything to retrieve what had been lost (Mt.23:37). He gave up every breath of life and every drop of blood, took on every weight of sin, and became crushed and destroyed under its force of gravity. He was "the lamb slain from the foundation of the world" (Rev.13:8).
God in Christ before the world began decided to make intercession for us by giving up His life in the Earth. Apostolic revelation of "the mystery of Christ" makes it clear: what Jesus once and for all accomplished on the Cross became the basis of what He now does for all who receive what He offered.
Because He is the image of the invisible God, we have been made to partake of that which God paid in Christ for us all (Col.1:15-19). The restoring of all mankind to Himself has been continually in His heart, on His mind, and flowing over His lips. This has been the case since before all that is was made. It is true now in this very moment, and will remain so until time is no more. Therefore, Apostolic/Prophetic intercession will always be concerned with not only the character of the church, but also moving forward by Christ's grace to reclaim that which also was lost, in order to restore all of mankind to conformity with His image (Ro.8:29).
end part 3 of 3
Apostle Bill & Prophet Nancy Click
RIVER OF POWER MINISTRIES
P.O. Box 848, West Chester, OH 45071
513-423-9842 rpmclicks@juno.com
www.riverofpower.org
RIVER OF POWER MINISTRIES
P.O. Box 848, West Chester, OH 45071
513-423-9842 rpmclicks@juno.com
www.riverofpower.org
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