Healing The Land 4.  60 min.

This is minister Herman Parks, and I will be your host for this next hour of intercessory prayer. Please feel welcome to call in for prayer for yourself and for your loved ones. This forum is for the primary purpose of interceding on behalf of God's people through prayer. To pray ye one for another. Mostly, to pray for the land. That is to pray for those issues which plague us collectively, which are called strong holds. Let us pray.

Lord there are some things that happen on this earth, in this land, that we, even I, need to exercise the authority that you have entrusted us with.

We, even I am here to enforce the covenants, what you and Jesus have spoken on the earth. This we can do through intercessory prayer. God you are looking for those that you can partner with, to accomplish what you want to do on the earth. "For your eyes run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show yourself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to you." You said that, then you will raise up for yourself a faithful priest who shall do according to what is in your heart and in your mind." It is my desire to be that faithful priest.

God you are looking for individuals who are willing to stand in the gap to fulfill your purposes and enforce your covenant on the earth. For Lord you said, "So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one." Lord, I heard the voice of the Lord in your word, saying, Whom shall  you send, and who will go for you? Here am I oh Lord. 

Lord you said in Ruth 4:4, "If thou wilt redeem it, redeem it: but if thou wilt not redeem it, then tell me, that I may know: for there is none to redeem it beside thee; and I am after thee. Lord, and I say, I will redeem it. Lord even as you called Samuel, and Samuel said here am I,.. likewise, I say here am I my Lord. As Samuel said so say I, for you called me Lord. I stand before you Jehovah and your anointed.

Lord it is true that standing in the gap is intercession. Lord, I believe that standing in the gap also means that believers are standing in the gap for unrighteousness, even as Daniel prayed for his nation. It means becoming the solution to unrighteousness. Us believers, become the salt and light that is going to allow culture to be shaped and transformed so that you Jesus, do not have to judge that people or nation that we are standing in the gap for. We are to fill the gap.

Lord, evil still exists on the earth through Satan, but God you have given the "lease" on earth back to us through your blood covenant. However, we must exercise it to see the manifestation of the covenant promises. God you are waiting on us, your people, who are called by your name to exercise their authority to bring these things into being. Jesus you told us to do it and gave us the authority to do what you told us to do. Nevertheless, rather than us doing it, we pray for you to do the thing that you told us to do. We pray and tell you about the devil, rather than telling the devil about our God. Jesus one of your last instructions was the passing of your authority to those of us on earth. Lord, I pray for the grace, the strength, and the power to do the thing that you have called me to do. For as you have given us the power to get wealth, through your grace, you have given us the power to do the things that you have called us to do.

Lord, we are called your body. Therefore, when your word says that all things are put under your feet, you are saying that you put all things under the authority and power of your body, that is are put under the authority of the church, and we, even I am the church. The foot is the lowest part of the body. So the very lowest part of your body Jesus, has total authority over Satan and all his demons. Even though this is true, we your body have not yet exercised this God-given authority and victory, and so we do not see a complete manifestation of this truth at this time.

Our role is to enforce your will through prayer by claiming your promises and defeating the works of the enemy. Jesus, you came to defeat the works of the enemy. "For this purpose you were manifested, that One might destroy the works of the devil." We too, even I, am called to defeat the works of the enemy on earth. We do not have to ask what your will is in many situations because you have already stated your will. We are here to enforce your will through intercessory prayer. Unless we do this, we will not see the manifestation of your will and purposes on the earth. That is why prayer exists. You limited your authority on earth based on our involvement to pray your covenantal promises into existence. Many things on earth do not happen because we your representatives are failing to pray them into existence. You talk about those things that are not as though they were. You created us in your image. You gave us your attributes. One of your attributes that you gave to us is the power of the spoken word. You gave it to us with the expectation that we would use it. Devar. Things are words, and words are things. There is no difference between the word and the thing, when we use your words. You spoke the universe into existence by the power of the spoken word. You gave us, even I your authority, upon condition that we use it for your purposes. We are your co-workers in the earth. You refuse to act without your representatives, using their authority through prayer and spiritual warfare to activate your desired will. So this I do, even now. I speak to myself and the culture in order to change both.

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Lord you know that, your word says: "For we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now."  Your word goes on to say, "And he answered and said unto them, I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out." All creation, even inanimate objects are waiting for us men to come into his glory so that they can be restored to the glory that they once knew. According to Luke 19:40, if people refused to rejoice at the coming of Jesus, creation itself would have, and will, break out in spontaneous praise. No rock should have to do what you created us to do Lord. Therefore, I praise you LORD for your goodness, and for your wonderful works to us the children of men!  For we are bought with a price: therefore we should glorify you in our body, and in our spirit, which are yours. 

Lord, even the mountains respond to your name, to your authority, to the authority that you gave to us Lord. For your word declairs if we speak to the mountains and tell them to be cast into the see, if we are exercising your will in the earth, that the mountains will respond to us. Not only the mountains but even the storms will respond to us if what we are speaking to it is in allignment with your purposes.  

Lord you said, These things are written for our learning. Lord I pray that I might learn from what is written, and not have to repeat the errors of others. Lord, you said peace be still.Then you went on to condemm your disciples for being so afraid. For in Matthew you had already spoken to the fig tree, and told them that they could speak to the fig tree just as you had spoken to it. 

You told them that not only could they speak to the fig tree but they could also speak to the mountains. Furthermore in Mathew, Peter had already walked on water in the mist of a storm. Now, we are in Luke and you are asking them, why are you so afraid of this storm. I am confident that you expected them to speak to the storm, because the things that you do they will do also. Lord I pray that I, even I, might learn from the errors and the accomplishments of your disciples. Lord, you gave your disciples the authority to heal the sick before you ascended, because you were with them. Praise your name Lord. You gave them the authority to do the things that they saw you do before you sent back the Holy Spirit and you expected them to do it. Just as you expected the disciples to feed the multitude after they saw you do it the first time. Instead the disciples were chestising themselves for forgetting to bring bread. True, upon your ascention you said, wait till you receive the Holy Spirit, and you will have power, because I will no longer be with you. Nevertheless, at the time of the storms, just as at the time of the disciples' healings, Jesus, you were with them. Therefore, they did not have to wait for the Holy Spirit to come upon them. They were expected and authorized to do it now, just as they performed their healings now. Praise God for the reading and hearing of his word. Lord you said that these things are written for our learning. Lord, as you gave them the authority to do, as you expected them to do, you have given us, even me the authority and the expectation to do the things in the earth that you yourself did. To heal the land. To speak to the culture, even as I speak to myself.

Some of us know the story of John G. Lake and how his family members were dying regularly. He prayed to you for their healing. God you told him to heal them and he would not do it. Finally, his sister was sick and dying. Again John G. Lake prayed for her healing. Nevertheless, she died also. Finally, John got the message and he raised her from the dead. Lord you are telling us today, we who are part of the group of those who believe that Jesus is Lord, we should heal them! We should use the authority that he gave to all saints. We should not wait on the Apostles, the Prophets, the Evangelist, the Pastors, or the Teachers to heal them. We should do the works of the ministry and we should heal them. Nevertheless, like John G. Lake, we do not believe that we can do it because we do not believe that we have the Gift of Healing. So like John G. Lake, we will not even try to do it. After all we believe that only those who have the gift of healing can heal anybody.

As a pastor that I know named Pastor Joseph says, stop it! Pastor Joseph has a very heavy african accent, so it sounds like he is saying stupid. Nevertheless, he is saying stop it! Like him, I am saying stop it! Do not get caught up in false humility and say I cannot heal anybody. Only Jesus can do the healing.

Lord, you know that false humility and vanity are the opposite sides of the same coin. Lord, your word declares that we should not think more of ourselves than we ought. That would be vanity. It is also true that we should not think less of ourselves than we ought. That would be false humility. Lord, we should think of ourselves in accordance to what you say that we are. We say that I am just a no good sinner saved by grace. That is false humility. God, you say that we use to be no good sinners. Nevertheless, we are now saints. We are the righteousness of God. We are more than conquerors. We are above and not beneath. We are the head and not the tail. Lord, I say about me, what you say about me. Lord, often when we say about ourselves, what you say about us, the world often equates that with pride.

Lord, Moses said that he was the humblest man in all the earth. The world would call that false humility. Nevertheless, when we say about ourselves what you say about us, you call that true righteousness. Lord, I am going to take a moment to express a parable of our own creation, to remind myself of some truths. There was once a company that had an election to determine who was the humblest person in a particular department. Everyone agreed unanimously, that Joe Smith was the humblest, so they presented him with a reward. Immediately upon his acceptance, they took the reward back, because to them true humility was being so humble that you refues to admit you are humble. 

Lord, what I get from your word is that pride and false humility are opposite sides of the same coin. Both are putting the emphasis on self. Vanity says, look at me, I am the smartest, the most outspoken, the strongest, or the one with the most personality in the room. False humility or shyness say look at me I am the dumbest, the quietest, the weakest or the shyest person in the room. Lord, renew our minds, even my mind. Lord, you said that faith comes by hearing. The best place to hear words of faith from is our own mouths.

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Lord, your word declares that when the animals of the earth finally come into their glory that the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and a little child shall lead them. Lord, you know that there was an article in the news recently on July 16, 2016. A Florida toddler was dragged from the grips of his father's arms, by an alligator with the toddler in its jaws, and drowned. This was a horrific day for the parents of the toddler, and for the family. A question that a therapist put to me was how would he address such a father if it was his patient?

The response that I gave was in part, sin is in the world because of what was done in the past, that is because of Adam's sin. Nevertheless, in the future, Lord, your word says the child will lie down with the alligator. Nothing that we do short of bringing the child back from the dead can change what has already happened. Raising the child from the dead once the body is found, may not be what he is ready to hear. That may require a lifestyle on his part that was quite different from the lifestyle which he has lived. Furthermore, there may be insufficient time to gather the faith necessary to raise the dead.

Nevertheless, Lord your word applies to every aspect of our lives. Lord, in these heal the land intercessory prayers we, even I am called to apply your word to whatever happens in the news. Lord, if events happen in the culture, in the neighborhood or in the land we, even I am called to express what the bible says about it. Lord contrary to popular opinion, we the church are called to address from the scriptures, issues of civil government, taxes, law, military, moral issues, foreign policy, slavery and etc. These are what people would label today as political issues. Lord, these are issues that your word addresses. These should be issues that the church should be addressing. 

These are issues that the church addressed from the pulpit in American history. Lord, I am persuaded that a major function of intercessory prayer is to change the culture so that you Lord do not have to judge the nation. Jesus you preached about issues that were a part of people's every day lives. Matthew 19 taught about divorce. Matthew 25 taught about taxation. Matthew 20 taught about employer employee relationships. John 8 taught about civil court procedures. Lord, we have turned the great commission into a salvation mandate, to go ye therefore and make converts of men, rather than disciples. Thus, resulting in 52 sermons each year on salvation, to people who are already saved.

Lord, getting back to the therapist's question on how might he address such a patient. Lord, you know that I am a peculiar person. Lord, you know that you have imparted in me a call to think differently. Lord, that is what I bring to this intercessory prayer, my own peculiarities. Lord, one thing that people do not say about me is that I am over simplistic. They do not say that I am guilty of reductionist thinking. That is they do not say that I am guilty of believeing that complex ideas have an obligation to reduce themselves to a level that can be easily understood. Although they might say that I talk too much and do not hurry up and get to the point, even now. While others call that very thing being thorough. Lord, you called me to teach the gospel with simplicity and understanding. Lord, for that purpose you directed me to become a database designer. Lord, my life has been led in this direction because the function of the designer is the simplification of complex tasks. That is to assign the redundant elements of the task to the computer. Thus, simplifying the elements left to us, your people, who are called by your name. Nevertheless, your word declares that there is a special blessing for those who read and at least try to understand the book of revelation, although it may be quite complex. The understanding of the book of Revelation, is not a complex task, expected to be reduced to simplicity. It applies less to the reductionist philosophy, then other parts of scripture. Your word tells me to study to show myself approved. Although I may write a computer program to simplify a complex task, and be quite successful, the user must still study to understand how the program itself works. This understanding is not going to come through osmosis. Garbage in, equals garbage out. The level of complexity of the final task is still directly proportional to the level of the complexity of the initial task. As one complexity increases, the other increases. Lord, help us, even I to strike a balance between over simplicity and thoroughness.

Yes! There is an obligation of simplicity on my part as responding to your call on my life as a teacher. Nevertheless, this intercessory prayer is between me and you oh Lord. Let whomever is listening hear. Everyone will not be able to understand the words, ideas or even what drives my confidence. Nevertheless, you do Lord. I have said all that in response to further addressing the therapist's question on how would he address such a patient. Lord, you know that in science there is a substance called a catalyst. 

Lord, one might ask, why am I talking about science and mixing it with the gospel. Because, my confidence has a great recompense. Lord, I am talking about me. When I mix what I think I know, with your word, that is when my confidence has a great recompense. When I hear the preacher talk about something that I have experienced, that is when the Holy Ghost comes on me. For Lord knowledge discovered is more powerful than knowledge given. For Lord, your word says these things are written for your learning. When I can line up what is written in your word, with what I experience, that is power for me, even if my experience is limited to dreams.

Again I say, in science there is a substance called a catalyst. The dictionary defines a catalyst as, a substance that posesses three attributes. 

1st it is a substance that, causes, a reaction to take place. For example oxygen causes burning to take place. 

2nd, the substance is not, consumed, in the reaction. When gold is placed in the environment, gold acts as a catalyst between the interaction of chlorine and etholine to produce, etholine oxide. Gold is not consumed in the reaction. That is a good think, because we get to keep our gold. The reason why we want etholine oxide is because etholine oxide functions as an solvant which is not flamable.

Because gold is not consumed in the reaction, then the only way that we could know that gold was  necessary for the reaction to take place is by the process of experimentation. For example if we saw a solution of etholine oxide laying there, we would have to use scientific experimentation. That is trying to produce the etholine oxide, with, and without, the presnce of gold. 

The principle of catalysis, exists in nature. For Paul said in your word, "For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse." Thus, we do not have to understand everything about nature in order to understand the Godhead. Nevertheless, the Godhead itself is revealed through what we do understand about nature. Likewise, we do not have to understand everything about a catalyst to compare a catalyst with other phenomenon in nature.

3rd the catalyst speeds up the reaction. Now, what would happen if under normal circumstances, gold only found itself in the prencence of chlorine and etholine, in order to produce, etholine oxide, once every 100 years.

Now when we introduce the catalyst gold into the environment, the reaction speeds up to 2, 3, 100 or whatever times every 100 years? This might be defined as a miracle. Its frequency may simply depend on how much gold you place into the environment. More importantly, how frequenly would we have to place gold into the environment in order to convince ourselves to put in the work to produce greater amount of the catalyst gold into the environment. How would our costs vs benefits analysis work. 

Lord, your word says that faith is the substance of things unseen. Faith is the substance that we have to put into the environment to cause the desired reaction to take place. The fact is only a tiny bit of catalyst is required. Lord, your word says that only the faith of a mustard seed is needed. The opposite of a catalyst, a substance that reduces the rate of a reaction, is an inhibitor. That sounds like doubt.

Suppose we put all the faith that we can muster up. Suppose we were to live a life of faith. Suppose we were to walk by faith and only believe. That is without mixing faith and doubt. What would it cost us? What would we loose? Lord, help me to increase my faith so that I might accomplish your will, and this talking to myself is working to that very end.

Now, let me get back on track to the wolf dwelling with the lamb. To the alligator being at peace with the little child. Lord, I know that, that time is not now. Nevertheless, although perfection is not currently in our lives, perfection is approachable. Ten thousand will fall on my left and ten thousand shall fall on my right, but it shall not come near me. Lord, we, even I can, and do intervene, on behalf of men coming into your glory. For all creation is waiting on us, even me, to usher them into their glory with you Lord. For your word says that a day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years is as a day. Lord, for you there is no distinction between a thousand years and a day. So although we have been waiting a thousand years for a thing to come to pass, for you it is only as a day. Nevertheless, Lord the opposite is also true. The thing that we expect to take a thousand years to come to pass could happen overnight when we find ourselves in that shekhinah glory. When we find ourselves in that place where eternity invades time. So Lord let my will, line up with your will, and let me be the impetus for your will to be done in the earth. Lord, I pray for the ushering in of that day when the wolf shall lay down with the lamb.

Now the final piece of the puzzle to the question that the therapist put to me, which was how would he address such a father if it was his patient? As mentioned erlier, sin is in the world because of Adam's relationship with God. Nevertheless, righteousness is also in the world because of the work that Jesus, as a man, did. Because of what Adam did the current relationship between animals and men exist. In our movement from what Adam did to what Jesus did, the earth does not, so readily yield its fruit. We must toil to cause the ground to yield its fruit. Nevertheless, there are things that we can do to expedite the transition, like let the ground rest, like develop our faith. 

Bad things happen to good people because sin is in the world. For many of us the works of sin like the works of faith are probability distributions. Their results go around, and everybody gets a turn at bat. The sun shines on the righteous and the unrighteous. This incident with the alligator was, one man's turn at bat with, what some might call bad luck or what others might call the works of the devil. Simple probability dictates that he is overdue, for his turn for a blessing. What faith guarantees, is that when his blessing shows up, he will not just ride it out, and let it pass him by. He will be prepared. For success is, the intersection of preparation and opportunity. Opportunities, always eventually show up. So those who are prepared when the opportunity shows up will experience blessings, and those who are not will have to sit around and wait for the next opportunity to show up. The way that we get prepared for the opportunity when it shows up is, according to your word God, if we draw close to you, you will draw close to us. 

Again Lord, your word says that these things are written for our learning.  The devil meant it for evil, but you Lord, used it for good. We can learn from our mistakes, or we can learn from the mistakes of others. Learning from others' mistakes is a better way to learn, because often when learning from our mistakes we do not recover from the beating that we suffer. Lord, I thank you for the confidence that your word puts in me. For my confidence has a great recompense. I give you the praise and honor for all good things that happen in my life. I make an on purpose and deliberate decision not to give the credit to chance, nor coincidence. Instead, I give the glory to you oh Lord. Amen.


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Lord I take this moment to give to your people what you haven given to me.

Thus saith the Lord, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.  Either call me God or stop calling me good. Do not live in contradiction.

Just as there is no difference between the Jew and the gentile, because the path to your righteousness is the same for the Jew as it is for the Gentile. That path to your righteousness is by the faith of Jesus Christ.

Likewise, there is no difference between the word salvation and the word healing because they are the same word, sozo. 

Do not use if it be thy will for healing, unless you are prepared to use it for salvation also. Do not live in contradiction.

Lord your word says, if we will comfess with our mouths and believe in our hearts, we shall be saved. Lord, your word does not say, if we shalt confess with our mouths, and believe in our hearts, and if it be your will, then we shalt be saved. Lord, you are willing to save everybody, all the time, just as you are willing to heal everybody, all the time. 

If we do not get saved, or do not get healed, just maybe the devil meant it for evil, nevertheless God you can use it for good. So let it be.