Majestic

As Jesus taught His disciples, our prayers begin "our Father" so they are not self-centered but God-centered and so we remember "God so loved the world…"

Then, our prayers continue with "hallowed be Your name," so we remember there is no one else like our Father. He is above all.

"Our Father, hallowed be Your name," so we remember how BIG He is. He is bigger than anything in life. He is Majestic!

At our recent Moms in Prayer International Festival of Joy celebrating 30 years of answered prayer, I was struck by the majesty of our Father God. Prior to the main festival, state and regional leadership met for a getaway on the 37^th floor—in the Majestic Rooms—of the Dallas Sheraton. From my room on the 34^th floor, I looked down on a few story building, probably an old theater, with "Majestic" boldly painted across its front façade.

And then, we sang, "Majesty." Here are the words (simplified):

We're singing Majesty, Majesty

Your grace, Your grace has found me just as I am

Empty handed but alive in Your hands

We're singing Majesty, we're singing Majesty

Forever I am changed by Your love

In the presence of Your Majesty, Majesty

We praise You, oh God, lift up a new song

Oh we praise You, Lord, We praise Your name

You are the Father, You are the Father

Oh, we love You, we love You, we love You, oh oh

Oh, Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Michael W. Smith

Majesty is defined as impressive stateliness, dignity, beauty, royal power or greatness in the supreme. We often use it in reference to reigning sovereigns. Our Father is King over all the earth (Psalm 47:7), which makes Him King over any king, emperor, president, prime minister—any sovereign.

The Eternal reigns, clothed in majesty; He is dressed in power; He has surrounded Himself with strength. He has established the world, and it will never be toppled.

Psalm 93:1 (Voice)

Our Father, we come before You in praise to tell You and all who will hear of the glorious splendor of Your majesty. You are Majestic. We choose to meditate and contemplate on Your miracles, Your wondrous works.  We confess—there is nothing greater than You, nothing mightier than Your awesome works. We will tell of Your greatness as long as we have breath. We stand in awe of You. Praise You Father!

Your majesty and glorious splendor have captivated me;

I will meditate on Your wonders, sing songs of Your worth.

Psalm 145:5 (VOICE)

Arise, Moms

Arise, cry out in the night,
    at the beginning of the night watches!
Pour out your heart like water
    before the presence of the Lord!
Lift your hands to him
    for the lives of your children,
who faint for hunger
    at the head of every street.

Lamentations 2:19 ESV

As you read this verse, praying moms, realize that this is an action verse. Check out the verbs: arise, cry, pour, and lift.  Such verbs require deliberate action, intense action, and releasing action to the Lord. These words tell us to give intense, deliberate, meaningful pleading with the Lord for our children's very lives.

But, at the same time, these words recognize the Lord's sovereignty over all. Because of that, we can release our children in His care with confidence.

Know this, praying moms—the time you sacrifice in prayer for your children before the unseen Throne is not in vain.

In my distress I called upon the Lord;

to my God I cried for help.

From his temple he heard my voice,

and my cry to him reached his ears.

Psalm 18:6 (ESV)

Sit down and read out loud to yourself the whole of Psalm 18. Then, praise your living Lord, the God of your salvation—the God of your children's salvation!

 

Order Results in Rest

Praying moms, when we choose to pray with another mom in conversational, one accord prayer, we are choosing to agree in prayer in a manner that allows the Holy Spirit to center and order our hearts together with His. This makes for prevailing, passionate prayer!

I learned the method of one accord prayer—praying conversationally together subject by subject in an orderly manner—through my participation in Moms in Prayer International (formerly Moms In Touch International). One Accord Praying is the how-to order of prayer given to the ministry of Moms in Prayer by God to call His daughters to praying scripturally and specifically through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Make no mistake—one accord prayer is prayer led by the Holy Spirit. Misunderstanding this leads to missed opportunities for the Holy Spirit to bring powerful fervency to prayer.

So much of Scripture speaks to the fact that our God is a God of order. Creation alone articulates that clear and loud. Without order, the giant star, Canis Majoris, would have wiped out a good portion of the Universe already.

Just look at the instructions given to Moses to complete the tabernacle according to the pattern, (the order) that God had given to him. Not only that. Moses was to order the tribes of Israel as they traveled and as they camped.

When David attempted to bring the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem, disaster happened. Why? David said this, "…the Lord our God broke out against us, because we did not consult Him about the proper order.” (1 Chronicles 15:13 NKJ)

Paul writes, "…because God is the author of order, not confusion." (1 Corinthians 14:33a VOICE)

Definitely, God's own Word informs us He is a God of order.

In his book, "Spiritual Leadership," J. Oswald Sanders writes that a "lack of method and failure to organize have spelled doom for many promising ministries." He continues, "God is methodic and orderly. And God requires of his managers and stewards that "all things be done decently and in order." (1 Corinthians 14:40 KJV) "Our duty is to reflect the orderliness of God in all we do for Him."

By following the Four Steps of Prayer using One AccordPraying, Moms in Prayer members are being led by the Holy Spirit. There is nothing wrong with praying differently. But for Moms in Prayer, this is the "order" given to the ministry by the Lord for His particular mission and His way to accomplish it. God did that, not Fern Nichols, the ministry's founder. She was and is just His instrument. In reality, this is no different than what God did when He gave Moses the pattern for the tabernacle. So, for Moms in Prayer, to do any other "order" is to depart from the leading of the Holy Spirit as God would not contradict Himself.

And, as Moses learned, to do what God had given to him to do meant that he would experience God's presence and rest. For after the tabernacle was built according to God's order and Moses was given his new orders, God assured him—

My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.

Exodus 33:14 (NKJ)

So, praying moms, order is not only a good thing, it is a Holy Spirit thing!

And when we follow God's order, we are on the path that gives us not only His Presence but rest.

Prayer Warriors

Do you remember singing, or even still sing the song, "I'm in the Lord's Army"?

When you sang, "I'm in the Lord's Army," did the words ring applicable to you?

According to definition, an army is a fighting force. And, like Ron Hutchcraft wrote, "If you know Christ, you are in His army."

In fact, John makes a point of this in Revelation 17:14, where he writes the angel's words, "These [God's enemies] will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings; and those who are with Him are called, chosen, and faithful.” If you are His, you are one of those with Him.

The word Jesus used in the Book of Revelation often translated overcome is the Greek word nikaō, which means to conquer… to conquer. There is something required of anyone who desires to conquer. Conquerors fight! Conquering only happens as a result of war, of battle.

An Open Doors International worker said, “…the battle is real but also…victory only belongs to those who participate. So often I hear Christians say ‘we are more than conquerors!’ You can only say that if you are part of the battle.”

And the truth is, we either conquer or we are conquered, we either pursue or are being pursued. That is the kind of enemy we have. That is the kind of enemy our children have!

Tony Evans wrote, "Doing battle with Satan requires more than a dose of will power. All warfare requires weaponry. Spiritual warfare requires spiritual weaponry."

That is what David knew. When David faced an enemy, it wasn't through his own weapons he expected victory. It wasn't with the stones and the sling he expected to beat Goliath. It was with the name of the Lord of hosts.  Jim Cymbala wrote, "That was David’s whole posture, his instinct, and especially his approach to warfare. It doesn’t matter what the Philistine armies have. If we call out to God, He will give us the victory."

Lisa and John Bevere in their book, "Girls with Swords," wrote—"I believe God has awakened His daughters to be more than soldiers. He is calling us to be warriors."

Praying moms, being intercessors, we are, as Os Hillman wrote, "the front-line warriors raised up to do battle for the saints." That is because "intercessory prayer is the secret weapon of Spirit-led activity."

Intercessors are the victorious warriors in the work of the Kingdom, which is the spreading of the Gospel—God's good news of salvation—to all people. You are the offensive army on the battlefield over the "land" of the next generation. You participate action by action, pushing back the enemy until triumph occurs. That's who you and I are!

We need to wake up and switch into war mode. As Christ's own, the purity and fire of His love should motivate us to action. This is love-motivated warfare.

Linda Mealiff, the Moms in Prayer Kansas State Coordinator, wrote, "How do you want to be remembered by your children? … for being kind or loving, supportive, involved, accessible, fun or wise. I aspire to be all those things, but I’ve come to believe that THE most loving thing I can do for my children and grandchildren is to pray for them. I want to be known as a praying mom. I’m not talking about “God bless Jimmy” prayers. I’m talking about intense intercession for salvation and godly character and specific areas of weakness that Satan is attacking. I’m talking about getting into “war mode,” which even the sweetest mama is capable of when her child is being threatened or assaulted."

This is love-motivated warfare AND peace-motivated warfare. Paul said in Romans 16:20 that it is the God of peace who will crush Satan under our feet. Peace will only come through conquering evil. So, as warriors of the Kingdom we need to stay ready! We've been called to join our Lord in the battle of intercession with authority, His authority. We must follow Him into the fight! We must follow His example and speak "It is written" over our enemy on behalf of our children.

I think of Joshua standing overlooking Jericho. Moses was gone. Perhaps he was thinking of all that had gone before. And now…  But when Joshua looked up, he saw the Commander of the Army of the Lord with His sword drawn.

Listen to Deuteronomy 20:1-4, Moses' words to Joshua and the Israelites.

When you go out to battle against your enemies, and see horses and chariots and people more numerous than you, do not be afraid of them; for the Lord your God is with you, who brought you up from the land of Egypt. So it shall be, when you are on the verge of battle, that the priest shall approach and speak to the people. And he shall say to them, ‘Hear, O Israel: Today you are on the verge of battle with your enemies. Do not let your heart faint, do not be afraid, and do not tremble or be terrified because of them; for the Lord your God is He who goes with you,

to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.’

Sing it, prayer warrior—"I'm in the Lord's Army…"