Building Watchman Towers of Prayer and Intercession

God is calling Christians to watch and pray. Are you on your post?

Are you building walls of religion or towers of prayer? Your answer could denote the difference between a woe-filled fate and a fulfilled destiny.

Prophets obsessed by the fear of man or unholy desires will not fulfill God’s ultimate plan. We must be careful, then, not to prophesy according to the party line in order to establish and preserve popularity in ministry circuits. If we fall into this trap we find ourselves in danger of perverting the gift of God by building walls of religion.

True prophets are not always the most popular five-fold ministry gift on the block because they are bold enough to release a word of the Lord that deals with sin or that warns the local church of potentially unpleasant circumstances coming down the proverbial pike. In order to properly carry this mantle, genuine prophets must build towers of prayer.

False prophets build walls of religion that lead people astray with fabricated edification, misleading exhortation and counterfeit comfort. “These evil prophets deceive my people saying, ‘All is peaceful!’ when there is no peace at all! It’s as if the people have built a flimsy wall, and these prophets are trying to hold it together by covering it with whitewash! Tell these whitewashers that their wall will soon fall down” (Ezekiel 13:10 NLT).

Verily, verily, the whitewashed walls of religion are going to come tumbling down in a heap of self-righteous rubble and the false prophets are coming down right along with them. Let’s not forget that Jesus pronounced woe on the Pharisaical hypocrites, calling them whitewashed tombs that look beautiful on the outside but are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean (Matthew 23:27).

You can’t whitewash sin. You can’t whitewash religion. And you certainly can’t whitewash false prophecy. We must guard our hearts in order to maintain a pure prophetic flow and a life of prayer that will wash away the plans of the enemy instead of fortifying his deception by watering down the truth for the sake of acceptance.

True prophets may not always have the flare, charisma or appeal of their false twins, but who said they are supposed to? Jeremiah wasn’t the most popular prophet in his time, nor was Ezekiel in his day. John the Baptist had his head served up on a silver platter for warning the people of the looming decision between everlasting life and eternal hellfire. But they were the unadulterated mouthpieces of God. And so it should be.

One of the key disparities between the true and the false prophet is prayer. The Bible says the foolish prophets discussed in the 13th Chapter of Ezekiel did not stand in the gap or make up a hedge for the house of Israel so that it could endure the battle. These diviners did not intercede in prayer to protect God’s people.

True prophets, by contrast, may not win any popularity contests in the local church, but they will sacrifice to make intercession. Instead of building walls of religion, they build towers of prayer; watchtowers in the spirit that allow them to see the assignments coming against the local church. They take that revelation and use it as spiritual mortar to make up a hedge in prayer.

You can’t separate a prophet from prayer any more than you can separate an evangelist from preaching the Gospel. The very first time you ever see the word “prophet” in the Bible, it is connected to prayer. In the Book of Genesis when Abimelech took Abraham’s wife, the Lord said, “Now return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live…” (Genesis 20:7). So while not every intercessor is a prophet, every prophet is an intercessor.

Consider the prophets of old. They were often called watchmen. Scripture reveals three types of prophetic sentinels whose mission is to stand guard, keep watch and report what they see. We find Old Testament prophets on the walls, walking in the streets of the city and in the countryside.

“I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence…” (Isaiah 62:6) Watchmen on the walls are positioned to see far distances in the spirit and discern whether friend or foe is approaching. The watchman gives word to those in authority so they can decide whether to sound an alarm of welcome or an alarm of war. In today’s local church, these watchmen help protect against enemy attacks. Every prophet is called to this post.

“They surround Jerusalem like watchmen surrounding a field, for my people have rebelled against me, says the Lord,” (Jeremiah 4:17 NLT). This relates to the prophets in the harvest fields. Prophets have a clear role in evangelism as watchmen who protect Gospel-preaching efforts against the destructive work of principalities and powers that keep the lost from hearing the truth. Prophets should be deployed on local church outreaches and international missions to watch, guard, pull down and destroy opposition to the Good News.

“The watchmen found me as they made their rounds in the city” (Song of Solomon 3:3; 5:7 NIV). In today’s times, this watchman is assigned to stand guard over the Body of Christ to see emerging problems. This is a larger responsibility that carries with it a heavier prayer burden and greater implications for the Church at large.

The point is anyone who stands in the five-fold function of prophet should keep their spiritual binoculars around their neck and watch. But not just watch – watch and pray always. Anyone carrying a prophetic mantle needs to closely examine the fruit of his or her ministry. If we have prophesied peace unto popularity, then we need to repent. We need to trade in our whitewash for some substantive mortar and start building towers of prayer that will bring genuine edification, authentic exhortation and legitimate comfort to God’s people.

Let us not be foolish prophets who build our ministries on the sands of seduction for the sake of acceptance because Jehovah promises that rain will pour from the heavens, hailstones will come hurtling down and violent winds will burst forth against those whitewashed walls and expose them (Ezekiel 13:11-12).

Instead, let us build our ministries on the Rock and prophesy the mind of Christ so that when the hurricanes of religion come against the local church and when Jezebel hurls her spiritual sleet at the sanctuary and when the winds of witchcraft blow against the walls, the foundation of our ministries and our local churches will be fortified to stand and withstand in the day of battle.

Jennifer LeClaire is the editor of The Voice magazine. You can visit her online at www.jenniferleclaire.org

What To Do With A Prophetic Word

Oftentimes people ask me what to do when they receive a prophetic word from the Lord for someone else. Do they share it with the person to whom the Lord is speaking about? Do they keep it to themselves and pray? Do they do nothing?

First, let me say that the Lord has a purpose in everything. He will not tell you something about a person, city, nation — or even yourself — just so you can be ‘in the know.’ Knowledge is never for knowledge’s sake. It is to be applied. So doing nothing is never the right response.

Second, let me say that when the Lord gives you a prophetic word, praying for the person, situation, city, nation, etc., is never the wrong move. In other words, you can’t go wrong praying. It may very well be that the Lord has called you to intercede based on your newfound knowledge from Him so that He can bring change to a situation or help a person in need. Prayer may not be the final action, but it’s a good place to start.

So how do you know if you are supposed to release the propehtic word to an individual or over a city or circumstance? I always tell people this: The same Lord that gave you the prophetic word will tell you what to do with it — if you ask. Don’t sit and wonder what to do. Remember, the Lord didn’t share His secrets with you so you could get puffed up with knowledge. He told you so you could take action. So ask the Lord.

Wisdom asks the Lord before releasing something He shows you over an individual. Sharing what the Lord showed you might not edify, comfort or exhort that person. It might rather embarass or make that person feel exposed. If the Lord is showing you a weakness or need a person has, it may very well be that the Lord is showing you so that you can intercede for that person or come alongside to help without uttering a prophetic word.

So, again, when you get a prophetic word, you first response should be to inquire of the Lord, “Father, what do you want me to do with this knoweldge? Do I share it with the person or pray on their behalf?” The same Lord that gave you the word will tell you what to do with it. The Lord will give you an unction to prophesy. Without that unction, we should watch and pray and wait for the Lord’s next instruction.

Share this entry with your friends!

Jennifer Leclaire
www.jenniferleclaire.org

The New Generation by Steve Hill

"The New Generation!" - Feb 13, 2007 at 23:00
By: Steve Hill

One of the recurring words of the prophetic movement is that of a new generation arising which will really do the stuff and rise above the sins and failures of the old. Aside from the fact that the prophets love the word "new" just as much as the advertisers because of its power to grab our lust for the next, biggest, brightest and best, this theme carries some heavy baggage!

It implies that simply because we are a part of this new generation, we are better than our fathers! That is hardly a way to honor our fathers! It was said that this generation had a different attitude towards money, power and fame and would not fail as leaders have in the past! Yet those among us who have failed in the recent past have all been identified as belonging to this new generation!

The truth is that there is one new generation and that is the generation of Jesus Christ. There is one new man. There is not a newer version of the new man coming in this generation or in any generation to come. Those who failed in the past failed for the same reason that one of us fails today. Wearing an open necked shirt rather than a suit and tie does not change the nature of man!

The new generation word implies that we are part of some kind of a new dispensation which does not need John's command, "Do not love the world!". A dispensation where the the world, the flesh and the devil have less power to seduce. If we believe that we have already been seduced!

The truth is that our enemies are still the same and always will be. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life wait to bring forth death in any man who will feed them. As John Wimber used to say, "Watch out for the three 'Gs'- the glory, the gold and the girls!"

Believing that you will do better simply because you are a new generation is an arrogance that carries the seeds of its own downfall. No leader in the past set out to deceive or to fail but when was the last time you heard a message about the danger of pride? Talking about pride seems to old fashioned in our culture of success but success is a hotter test of our character than failure!

We love this new generation word because it implies that we can lead significant lives without the discipline of consistent moral choices. It appeals to the arrogance of our moral and spiritual laziness.

James 1:14, is still true! Each of us "is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed."

James 1:22 is still true! All deception begins as self deception when we hear the word but do not do it.

There is a new generation.

It was birthed two thousand years ago on the day of Pentecost!

It is the generation of Jesus Christ!

Let us declare that generation!

http://www.harvest-now.org

A Prophetic Word for 2009 - Steve Hill

A Prophetic Word for 2009 - Jan 4, 2009
By: Steve & Marilyn Hill

"Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge." I Corinthians 14:29

The flood of prophecies for 2009 have begun to come in. They sound remarkably similar to most I have been hearing for the past 15 years! "This is the year of revival! This is the year of His power. This is the year of increase! This is the year of harvest." You mean it really, really, really is going to happen this time?

I cringe to remember giving "prophetic" words like that! We mistook emotional fervor and hype for anointing. There was no judgement! There was no accountability. The only point was the "power" of the prophetic utterance in that moment. It was paid performance art pure and simple! Forgive us Lord!

There is a major problem with all of the prophecies about revival to come. It is a religious problem which Jesus encountered. Religion will get all excited about the Messiah to come but try to kill Him when He is standing in their midst (Luke 4:16- 30). Why? The Messiah in the future does not demand faith and obedience now!

The revival to come does not demand obedience now. We can feel all warm and fuzzy about the wonderful word and clap at what God will do while conveniently forgetting that where ever people are simply obeying Jesus they are seeing the Kingdom multiply now.

The future can be an escape from present responsibility!

Prophecies about revival to come lessen personal responsibility even further by emphasizing what God WILL do rather than what God has already done! If Jesus has dealt with all sin on the cross and if Jesus has all authority, then we are completely, totally and absolutely without excuse!

The problem is not with God! His work is finished! The problem is with the laborers! Jesus commanded us to pray for the laborers! He did not ask us to pray for the harvest. He did not even ask us to pray against the demons! As a matter of record in Luke 10:18, Jesus saw "Satan fall like lightning from heaven" AFTER the disciples went out to befriend, demonstrate and declare the Kingdom. The gospel of the Kingdom only has power as it is demonstrated and declared outside the four walls of our comfort zones! Much of the fervor of the spiritual warfare movement is simply the avoidance of doing the now work in the fields.

In John 4, the disciples did not want to go through Samaria but Jesus did. He talked to a woman and had a revival in that town. Jesus pointed out the difference between Himself and the disciples. It was a difference of vision!

"Do you not say, 'There are still four months and then comes the harvest?' Behold I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest", John 4:35.

The disciples saw bare, hard ground. Jesus saw white fields. Same view, different eyes, different vision! The problem was not with the harvest but with the laborers!

Harvest fields tend to be poor and difficult places. Harvesting is hard work where ever the field! You have to get dirty and involved. Sinners do not give honorariums. Discipleship is about one on one stuff! Jesus sent away the crowds in order to invest himself in the twelve. Revival is not about platforms and performances. It is about relationships, sacrifice and obedience.

I have a prophetic word for 2009. It is a prophetic word which as been accurate for about 2,000 years and which always will be accurate! It comes from Paul, "Behold now is the accepted time; behold now is the day of salvation." II Corinthians 6:2b

And you are right! This is the same as the "Prophetic Word for 2008"!

That was the most forwarded article of 2008 and I think it deserves a resend.

Be challenged afresh!

Thanks to all who helped us to seek to walk this out.

Steve & Marilyn Hill
http://www.harvest-now.org

Top Ten Predictions for 2009

1. The Bible will still have all the answers.

2. Prayer will still work.

3. The Holy Spirit will still move.

4. God will still inhabit the praises of His people.

5. There will still be God-annointed preaching.

6. There will still be singing of praise to God.

7. God will still pour out blessings upon His people.

8. There will still be room at the Cross

9. Jesus will still love you.

10. Jesus will still save the lost.