Call to pray
By
Sergio Occhiochiuso
When we start to pray whether in our daily devotion time to the Lord or in a corporate prayer meeting we actually declare war on the enemy, it is like blowing the trumpet or the shofar (the ram’s horn) as in going to battle to stand against the forces of the enemy, against the satanic forces that have invaded “our land”.
Now this land could be a nation, a city, a town, a village, a hamlet, our community where the local fellowship is involved, it could be also the people we love and care. Wherever we go to prayer for we blow the trumpet of war, and as we continue to pray in what we are aim at we gradually take authority over it until there is a break through, God will give His people victory.
Prayer
Prayer is the staff of the Spirit,
The water and bread of the soul,
The mystical language of heaven,
The day-spring of young and old.
Prayer is the shade in life’s desert,
The friend by the road I trod,
The key that unfasten the portals,
That leads to the presence of God.
Prayer is the spiritual chalice,
I lift to the fountain of love,
Catching the streams of God’s goodness,
Poured from the windows above.
Prayer is the voice of communion,
The life-line between God and man,
That tells me my Father is listening,
And ne’er to understand.
Edna Morris Roberts
When we see the word trumpet in the Bible, the Hebrew equivalent is "shofar". Shofars are those twisty brown ram's horns that have recently become a quite popular Christian decor. Well, forget decor -- we need to learn how to blow those things!! All around the world this season, the shofar is being blown among Jewish communities. While for most Jewish people today, it is tradition to hear the shofar blast, few know of Jesus' soon return.
In Biblical days, there were many reasons why the shofar was blown. But most often, it was blown for the purpose of warning the people of impending danger. As we enter into a New Year, and the Lord's return draws closer by the day, we have a responsibility. We as the body of Messiah are called to be watchmen. We need to be bold and
knowledgeable of the Word, that we might be effective witnesses to warn the world of the judgment that is coming! Be bold and courageous, stand firm in your faith and sound the shofar! There's so much work to be done!
(Worthy Ministry –
“When you go to war in your own country against an enemy who is oppressing you, the trumpets will sound a fanfare. Then the LORD your God will remember you and rescue you from your enemies.”[Num. 10:9]
When the enemy seeks to conquer the land where we are, it is time to blow the trumpet (the shofar) over the land and declare it is time to pray. - What is that the enemy is invading the land? By a spirit of destruction seeking young lives to be hooked in drugs, alcohol, and any other addiction the enemy can think about it. The land, the communities where we are need to be set free and the most effective way is in prayer. – When we go to pray we declare war and we are ready to go into spiritual warfare, we pray for the nation, for the city, for the town, for the village, for any situation, for our family, for our friends, for the community, we declare to the enemy and to the forces of evil that we are not prepared to stand aside and let their army marching over the land that God has giving us, we become a militant force, that the enemy hearing the sound of voices praying in one accord will start to shake (Amos 3:6; Jer 4:19), because prayer moves mountains.
Our God is the God that remembers His promises, and He gets involved He will put His standard in the midst of His people and He will blow the shofar over the land, the blowing of the shofar is a declaration to the Church to pray and fasting, it is a call for unity and the Lord will be with the Church He will be on our side. He is the “cavalry” coming in our aid to declare to the enemy that because the Church is rising against the forces of evil that for a long time they have had it good and they have chained and bound and they thought they could anything they want, their time is up their defeat is near because the prayers of the Church are being answered, God is blowing the shofar and victory is close.
Blow the trumpet
A clear sound
Clarity in prayer
Initiating spiritual warfare
“He remembered his holy promise to his servant
Abraham.
He brought his people out with joy, his chosen ones with a song of joy.
He gave them the lands of other nations, and they inherited what others had worked for so that they would obey his laws and follow his teachings. Hallelujah!” [Psalm 105:42-45]
We will be remembered. What it is that the Lord will remember? The Lord in our spiritual warfare against the invader will remember His Covenant that He made with Abraham, His friend. It is not owing to the goodness of the people, or of the righteousness of the people that the Lord will remember the Covenant, the Covenant that cannot be broken; His promises never fail as He took
The Church will know also the joy of overcoming the enemy, God’s people are in the calling of God, moving in the calling in freedom and they will show the light of salvation, and in this light the darkness that has for a long time afflicted the land will be destroyed. We the Church has the right to defend the land which has been appointed to us by the Lord, we are the children of God and our authority comes from the Lord Jesus Christ, which abides in us.
Our calling is to be zealous to obey the Lord and to move in our redemptive lives through Christ Jesus in victory praise the Lord
Remembered the Covenant made with Abraham
Conquering, defending our heritage
With joy and gladness
He said, "Abram, don't be afraid. I am your shield.Your
reward will be very great." Abram asked, "Almighty
LORD, what will you give me? Since I'm going to die without children, Eliezer of Damascus will inherit my household. You have given me no children, so this member of my household will be my heir." Suddenly, the LORD spoke his word to Abram again. He said, "This man will not be your heir. Your own son will be your heir." He took Abram outside and said, "Now look up at the sky and count the stars, if you are able to count them." He also said to him, "That's how many descendants you will have!" Then Abram believed the LORD, and the LORD regarded that faith to be his approval of Abram. Then the LORD said to him, "I am the LORD, who brought you out of
Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.”[Genesis 15];
“I will certainly bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and the grains of sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of their enemies' cities.” [Genesis 22:17]
What is the Covenant God made with Abram? It is the promise of an heir and of the promise land that He was going to give to the children of Abram, for the natural
For the spiritual children of Abram the promise land is where the Lord has called His Church to be involved, what ever corner of the vineyard they are involved. We are blessed beyond our understanding, indeed the blessings of the Lord is so much that we cannot grasp it. Both seeds the natural and the spiritual will always multiply this is part of the Covenant of God with Abram.
Jesus said “I will build my church. And the gates of hell will not overpower it.” [Matt16:18] this is the blessing that we have, no matter what the enemy throws at us he can’t prevail, overpowering the Church, but on the other hand we will possess the gate of our enemies in Christ Jesus we are more than conquerors.
The prayers of the people of God will release such an attack against the enemy that will destroy every stronghold that Satan has over the nations, city, town, village, families community all will be destroyed on this there are no doubts whatsoever , it will be like a spiritual “nuclear” attack.
The spiritual seed will overcome everything through Christ Jesus our Lord and Saviour and coming King
The promise of an heir and land
A Covenant struck between God and man
“The LORD said to Abram, "Leave your land, your relatives, and your father's home. Go to the land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation, I will bless you. I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you, I will curse. Through you every family on earth will be blessed. Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, "I'm going to give this land to your descendants." So he built an altar there to the LORD, who had appeared to him.” [Genesis 12:1-3, 7]
When was all started? It started when Abram answered God’s calling. The Lord will call us from a place of comfort to a place of the unknown. The calling out of Abram was from a place of total security to a place of the unknown, what was asked of Abram was to trust to a voice, to someone, to something, that he could not see or touch, yet what it seems to come through is the fact that before this call came he perhaps had already developed a fellowship with God. This why he was prepared to move out from a place of comfort to a place of discomfort yet the Lord didn’t just give the order of moving out without first give Abram some sort of security for obeying God.
In fact the Lord gives Abram a sevenfold prophetic word, which is being fulfilled as the centuries roll in.
1) From Abram would come fourth a great nation.
2) Abram would be blessed.
3) Abram’s name would be great.
4) Abram would also be a blessing.
5) God would bless all those that will bless Abram.
6) And curse and be against all those that are against and curse Abram.
7) And finally the earth would be blessed because of Abram.
Abram moved from this place of comfort, when he was 75 years old and despite his age he just went as the Lord directed him. He took all that he had, he arrived to Canaan Abram went through the land. Then the Lord told Abram that this
Abraham was a builder of altars, all his life he built altars to give thanks to God. This speaks very much of a life dedicated to God, even if at time he was prepared to ask from God either to do it or to shut up, even if at times he wavered and allowed the carnality of his nature to take over and went his own way. In all this God looked the heart of the man and accordingly he dealt with Abraham.
Receiving the land
“My promise is still with you. You will become the
father of many nations. So your name will no longer be
Abram [Exalted Father], but Abraham [Father Many]
because I have made you a father of many nations. I
will give you many descendants. Many nations and
kings will come from you. I will make my promise to
you and your descendants for generations to come as an
everlasting promise. I will be your God and the God of
your descendants. I am also giving this land where you
are living-all of
your permanent possession. And I will be your God."
God also said to Abraham, "You and your descendants
in generations to come are to be faithful to my promise.
This is how you are to be faithful to my promise: Every
male among you is to be circumcised.” [Genesis 17:4-10]
When we blow the trumpet we remind the Lord our God His promise, His Covenant to Abraham, we remind Him that we are stepping out in accordance to His promise, and every word spoken to Abraham in the Covenant does apply to us, applies to the Church, no word spoken over the Covenant will fail, we are moving in faith knowing that He the Lord will back us up, the Lord confirming the Covenant with the act of circumcision, as the Hebrews being a separate people unto Him.
The Church is also a separate people from the world “However, you are chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, people who belong to God. You were chosen to tell about the excellent qualities of God, who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.” [1Peter 2:9] we are in the world but we don’t belong to the world through the acceptance of redemptive salvation confirmed with the shedding of the blood at Calvary Jesus Christ being the sacrifice for us and our sins – the Church the seed of Abraham will benefit from the Covenant. As the Covenant is established in the seed of Abraham the natural as well the spiritual is an everlasting Covenant for the Church and all the benefits are ours by right of the new birth in Christ Jesus (John 1:12). Therefore as we stand as one in Christ Jesus the enemy will know that the Church is on the move in taking back our heritage by birthright
Establishing the Covenant
Finally
“Blow the ram's horn in
Call for an assembly.
Gather the people. Prepare them for a holy meeting. Assemble the leaders. Gather the children, even the nursing infants. Grooms leave their rooms. Brides leave their chambers.” [Joel 2:15,16]
Therefore in these last days there is the need to blow the trumpet in the land to give a clear sound to the Church, for the Church needs to come together to pray, to seek the Lord and repent, so that we will be able to walk in victory.
Prayer is the answer to move in as “militant” people lead by the Holy Spirit taking the land back for Jesus, so that His name will be exalted and the glory of God is manifested.
Time to call God’s people
Make a clear sound
Clarity in prayer
Coming with a repented and contrite heart
Teaching notes by Sergio Occhiochiuso
www.thecarpenterministry.org.uk
