heaven's tree book club

August 29, 2012
graying Heaven "Down
"If you want anything from God, you will have to pray into heaven. That is where it all is. If you live in the earth realm and expect to receive from God, you will never get anything!"
We learned about this principle yesterday. The idea of praying God's will into heaven. There is no arthritis in heaven and thus God's will is that there is no arthritis on earth according to the author. This seems to make sense. We see a whole lot of things on earth that are not in heaven. Sometimes it makes me wonder if it is satan who has more power than God due to all the things I see here on earth. The author opens with a powerful story of how he prayed heaven down to earth. It involves a woman who decided to set up shop with some magical practice.  

"The Fourth of July Celebration was the biggest event of the year for our wonderful community. The parade, rodeo, and demolition derby were just a few of the activities that took place during the festival that lasted nearly a week.
Carnivals would also make their way to us, with rides, games, and special foods that are common at those events. One year a fortune-teller tried to get in on the celebration. She pitched her tent with the others and laid out her tarot cards, crystal ball, and other psychic paraphernalia. The devil sent her to impart the gift of demon possession to the citizens of my city. The folks in our church began to pray.
As I walked around her tent I began to declare, You don't exist in heaven; you are not to exist here. This is my town. You are here illegally. I forbid you to establish roots here! God has declared that wherever the soles of my feet tread, Cod lias given it to me. I bind you to the word of Cod that declares that I have authority over you. Be (;one! I continued to walk around the tent like Israel walked around Jericho. Nothing fell in the natural.
I did not speak these things to the woman. I didn't even do it loud enough to draw her attention. She was not my enemy nor was she my problem. The kingdom of darkness that empowered her was my target.
While she was doing her sorcery to a couple seated at her table, I stood on the other side of the tent wall, only a few feet away from the unsuspecting couple. I held my hands toward them, binding the power of hell that was intent on their destruction. I left when I felt I was done. (The hands that are surrendered to God can release the power of heaven into a situation. In the spirit world it is released like lightning.')
Even though the fair went on for many more days, she left town the next morning. The power that influenced her had been broken. She couldn't leave fast enough. It was as though the hornets of Exodus drove her out of town."
Bill Johnson had the spiritual awareness to pray against the demonic forces that had set up shop in this specific situation. His prayers were heard and the woman's powers were broken. This is a powerful illustration of how one man prayed against the forces of darkness and drove out the darkness that wanted to inhabit the place. I like how he did not see the woman as his enemy, but rather the dark forces. This is the right perspective to have.

This next passage is powerful for it speaks of the priority and power of worship. The author discusses some about how the Lord's prayer is the model of how we pray heaven down.
"The more we live as citizens of heaven, the more heaven's activities infect our lifestyles.
Worship is our number one priority in ministry. Everything else we do is to be affected by our devotion to this call. He inhabits our praise. One translation puts it this way. But You arc holy, enthroned in the praises of Israel. God responds with a literal invasion of heaven to earth through the worship of the believer."
One of my sons is a worship leader. He took a friend along with his guitar to the mall to worship God. They stopped after three hours of singing and dancing before the Lord. An unsuspecting man walked through the same area where they had been worshiping God. He stopped, reached into his pocket, pulled out illegal drugs, and dropped them onto the ground. No one said anything to him about his sin. How did it happen? Heaven touched earth, and there are no illegal drugs in heaven.
We see this on a regular basis as our ministry teams go to the streets of San Francisco. We work in compassion ministries as well as overt efforts to bring the supernatural power of God into broken lives. Healing and deliverance is the norm. Sometimes this happens in the worship environment.
As His presence becomes manifest upon a worshiping people even unbelievers are brought into an encounter with God. My son and daughter have ministered to the Lord on troubled streets in San Francisco. As people walked by we saw many who manifested demons while others broke out in joyful laughter as they came into the presence of the Lord.
These things shouldn't surprise us. Look at how God responds to the praises of His people as mentioned in Isaiah 42:13: "The Lord shall go forth like a mighty man; He shall stir up His zeal like a man of war. He shall cry out, yes, shout aloud; He shall prevail against His enemies."
"Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."
This is the primary focus for all prayer—if it exists in heaven, it is to be loosed on earth. It's the praying Christian who looses heaven's expression here. When the believer prays according to the revealed will of God, faith is specific and focused. Faith grabs hold of that reality. Enduring faith doesn't let go. Such an  invasion causes the circumstances here to line up with  heaven."
God's kingdom come. This is what we pray. God's kingdom comes also in our worship as we see in this illustration. A man pulled out his illegal drugs and dropped it because he came into contact with the presence of a Holy and righteous God. We sadly do not see this kind of worship in church today at least not the churches where I have been to. I do not mean to say that the worship is not meaningful, but the worship is not filled with the powerful presence of God. It has been a long time since I went to a worship service where truly God's presence was felt, and people were brought into an encounter of God. We lack the Holy Spirit's movement in our worship services today.


"One of the most important teachings that I have ever received came from Derek Prince about thirty years ago. It was a wonderful message on praise. In it he suggested that if we only have ten minutes to pray we should spend about eight praising God. It's amazing how much we can pray for with the two minutes we have left. That illustration helped me to reinforce the priority of worship that I was learning from my pastor...my dad.
Once again, this prayer has two main objectives: (1) Minister to God out of an intimate personal relationship; and (2) bring the reality of His rulership (the Kingdom) to earth.
An outline of this Matthew 6:9-13 gives us the Kingdom approach to prayer:
 1. Praise and worship
 2. Praying for heaven on earth
a. Heaven's effect on material needs
b. Heaven's effect on personal relationships
c. Heaven's effect on our relationship to evil
3. Praise and worship
"Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. "u
Granted, this verse is not in the prayer model that Jesus gave in verses 9-13. But it is in the context of His overall message of the Kingdom in the Sermon on the Mount. In it He establishes the priority that encompasses all Christian values and objectives. Seek His Kingdom first!
Understanding this prayer helps us to realize the intended goal of all prayer—that the Lordship of Jesus would be seen in all circumstances of life. As the Kingdom of God confronts sin, forgiveness is given and change comes to the nature that had only known how to sin. When His rule collides with disease, people are healed. When it runs into the demonized. they are set free.The Kingdom message's nature provides salvation for the whole man—spirit, soul, and body. That is the gospel of |esus Christ."
"When we pray for His Kingdom to come, we are asking Him to superimpose the rules, order, and benefits of His world over this one until this one looks like His.That's what happens when the sick are healed or the demonized are set free. His world collides with the world of darkness, and His world always wins. Our battle is always a battle for dominion—a conflict of kingdoms."
"Because my focus was still on me, there was little victory I actually could trace back to my prayers.
Travailing in prayer is not always a sign of true intercession. Many are not yet able to distinguish the difference between the burden of their own unbelief and the burden of the Lord. I now pray until I come into a place of faith for that situation.24 When that happens, my perspective on the problem changes.
I begin to see it from heaven's view. My role also changes. Instead of asking God to invade my circumstances, I begin to command the mountains to be removed in His name. It is from this place of faith (or rest) that I discover my role as the pray-er.
Pray until there's a breakthrough.Then exercise the authority given to execute His will over the circumstances at hand."
Prayer:
Father, this world is not ok. We need Your kingdom to come and will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. So many of us face maladies of the heart and body. I pray for these mountains to be removed in Jesus name that peace and harmony within our bodies and between people can be achieved. In heaven, there are no physical or emotional maladies and You desire for us to have health in all areas, physical, emotional, and spiritual. I see all the things that are not of You here in this world. I start with my city and ask You to bring hope to this city. So many businesses are not doing well and people here seem so discouraged. Help me to see situations through Your eyes and the faith to believe You for impossible situations. I continue to face so many impossible situations in my life and I wanted August to be the breakthrough month and yet it is almost the end of August and no breakthrough is in sight. I long to see prayer like Bill Johnson who prays demonic forces out of sight. I desire to see worship and experience worship that is full of Your holy and righteous presence where people have a God encounter and are touched in a mighty way. Father, I want to experience Your healing power and touch here on earth.