Saints,
2020 was a year like none other. I believe it prepared us for 2021 and the coming decade. We have been tried and tested in many ways, so has our faith. I personally believe that faith must be tested to be trusted, therefore I want to encourage you to remain faithful in this season. God did not lead you this far just to let you down now, not at a time like this. He needs a people who are crazy enough to be borderline presumptuous with their faith in Him. And yes, it can be you.
Last February, I was called presumptuous for believing that the Saints should not forsake the assembling of the brethen (Hebrews 10:25). I was outspoken from day 1 of this pandemic, urging the Saints not to panic and to face this demonic disease with resolute faith, discerning early on by the Spirit of God that it was real yet smokescreen for a sinister agenda. I was ostracized for my stance by some leaders, and even falsely accused by others. But I stood alone with a few friends on the strength of prayer and faith, hosting meetings in our home and refusing to bow down to the fear mongering by going against the grain. Today, I am glad to see that some of them are turning around and realizing that we can no longer be intimated by fear, glory to God. I digress.
I started off this year as the guest minister at a conference up in the state of Minnesota. The theme of the conference was: Dangerous Prayers. When the pastor gave me the invitation back in November 2020, I rejoiced greatly because it confirmed what I thought to be one of the most pressing need in the body of Christ at this hour: a daring Bride.
As you may have already discerned, we may be living in times of epic biblical proportions. Evil is widely celebrated while good is openly shamed. That gets me excited because I believe there is no other agency on the earth that can meet the times with greater nuclear power than the Church of Jesus Christ. Our power does not come from this world, but from a place that is unaffected by time and the evil desires of man. It comes from the love of the everlasting God. I do not know about you but the Bible consistently shows us a God who relishes the opportunity to demonstrate His power, especially when the stakes are high.
Jesus gave the church all power and authority over serpents and scorpions (Luke 10:19). Yes, He said ALL. I had to read it again to be sure. Not some, not half of it, or a portion of it. ALL. Yet I suggest that we need to be reintroduced to prayer as a primary means to contacting true spiritual power. Therefore, the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray AFTER they had successfully healed the sick, cast out demons, and preached the good news in the town. They knew they had just operated in faith, but on borrowed power by the strength of His word. But they saw something about His prayer life that was uncommon, and they quickly linked it to the raw power that He displayed. Of all the things they could have chosen as their first lesson with the Master, they chose a lesson on prayer. Think about it.
Furthermore, it is time for the Bride of Christ to be a force to be reckoned with on the earth and daring to be dangerous in the secret place of prayer will make us dangerous in the marketplace. Yes, desperate times require desperate prayers and dangerous times require dangerous prayers. We need to kick timidity to the curb and soar. The Word says that we may be living in the world, but we are not OF the world (See John 17): we are OF a kingdom that cannot be shaken (Hebrews 12:28), and we have been marked by Jesus to be invincible against the gates of hell (Matthew 16:18). How about that! Is there someone here daring enough to believe this with me? I pray that you are!
I shared a convicting and challenging message on this matter at the conference and led the saints to a time of intercession at the altar in the end. We have already gotten some testimonies from the time of intercession at the altar alone, as people reported experiencing a depth of prayer they never felt before, while others weeping in their renewed hunger for the Lord. Beyond the revelatory word that was preached in the morning session, and the signs and wonders that took place in the evening session, perhaps the most rewarding thing to me was the grace to lead the people of God to dig their own wells and seeing them freshly encounter the Lord on a personal level.
May the Lord anoint you to pray with authority and with tangible results this year. May you be a dangerous man or woman in the Spirit, so much that the favor of the Lord upon your life causes your enemies to bless you and your destiny helpers to acknowledge you, to the glory of the Father.
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For such a time as this.
Ulrich