The Fear of the Lord & the Power to Love

When you have time and want to listen to a prophetic message, I encourage you to listen to Shelley Hundley's Turn Word. I believe this is a profound word from the Lord, a word of warning and rebuke, but also a word revealing the power of intercession. I still have only tapped the surface of prayer, but if intercession is the ministry of Jesus, and we as children of God have the Spirit of Christ and have been seated with Him in heavenly places, then why do so many of us still have such a void, dull prayer life? The fear of the Lord and the power to love Him with all of our hearts, soul, mind and strength are "like two foreigners in the land". The more time I spend in the Word and in prayer, the closer I feel I get to the heart of God and the greater burden I feel for His people and His lost sheep. But if I lack fellowship with Him, and sometimes even in my seeking, my heart becomes dull and numb, it's usually because I lack a revelation of the truth about who God is and who I am in Christ. In Shelley's vision, she saw a huge ship full of people heading straight into the nastiest storm imaginable, which she perceived by the Spirit to be the judgment of God upon the nation of America and IHOP. In the vision she jumped into the ocean and began to push the ship, yelling "Turn! Turn!" in an intense spirit of intercession, and the ship actually began to turn. The Bible tell us "prayer is powerful and effective", but do we believe it? Or do we see God as small and think we are insignificant? A ex-evangelist in China who had become paralyzed and therefore bed-ridden & unable to go about & preach was asked if He was despaired by his condition & inability to do what he was called to do. His surprising response was, "You don't understand; when I pray from this bed, all of China shakes." One thing I heard the Lord speak very clearly to me when I was here at the One Thing Conference the end of last year when He confirmed to me that He was calling me to come back to IHOP for a longer period, was the power of my prayers for my family. He said to me something along these lines, "If you were to never go to the nations, if you were to never become a missionary, but if I called you to pray for your family & never give up, and if their souls were saved, wouldn't they be just as precious as the hundreds you want to go for in your "yes" to me to take My gospel to the ends of the earth?" This hit my heart with such strength. In that moment I had a revelation of the wisdom of giving myself wholeheartedly to these disciplines and in an extreme way for a season. I've been reminded over & over that it's not it vain. It's vital I encounter the reality of these truths that have been revealed to me & learn to live in them to be prepared for the day of shaking. I saw the wisdom in what the Lord was setting before me and calling me to. I have seen the wisdom and the fruit of it during my time here, in my life and the lives of many others, and I know the sacrifices I've made and my perseverance will not come without reward. My reward is and will always be, Jesus. The Beautiful God, perfect union with Him, experiencing His love for all eternity. We have become one with Jesus in Spirit! (1 Cor 9). Meditate on that for just a minute, you might just get lost there for hours!!