A couple weekends ago I attended an apostolic conference in Hartford. The bishop was preaching on the significance of the Lord moving in & through New England. One thing he pointed out, which I already knew, is that Satan is not and cannot be a creator; he can only pervert that which is the Lord’s destiny. We all know that New England colleges & universities offers the highest level of education in the world. There are 8 Ivy League schools in the northeast. Most leaders from around the world have been educated, or want to be educated in our New England Ivy League schools. Of course we know what is presently being taught, we also know about the secret societies like Skull & Bones, Illuminati, Freemasonry, Shriners, etc. and how these secret societies are used to raise up young men to high leadership roles.
So, what is the destiny of New England? Think of the power of influence our region has! The Lord has predestined our region to raise up & educate powerful world leaders, to influence every arena of our world! What if REVIVAL broke out at Harvard? Or Yale? Or Dartmouth? Or any of our other schools? What powerful seeds can planted in our world….through the powerful influence of our little New England region! Some of us have praying for our colleges & universites for years, let’s increase the intercession.
The Lord has a powerful destiny for our state and for our region!
Isn’t it awesome to know that our God is the only God Who reaches out to us? He is not some sort of unattainable God who is so far away and unreachable. He is a God who never ignores us, He dwells among us. It is His longing and His desire to be with us! He communed with Adam in the garden. He met with Abraham out in the desert, He instructed Moses to build a Tabernacle so He could live among His people. He led David to start a 24/7 prayer tent. He led Solomon to build a Temple so He could meet with His people. Then He sent His only Son to connect with us, even lay down His life for us, pay the penalty of our sins so we can have the joyous opportunity to meet with this Glorious God, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords! What an amazing thing that was done for us! Not only that, He raised Jesus from the dead on the 3rd day! Because He is risen, we also have confidence that we will rise from the dead!
“But now Christ is risen from the dead and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep…..Death is swallowed up in victory. ‘Oh Death, where is your sting? Oh Hades, where is your victory?’ The sting of death is sin and strength sin is the law. But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!” I Corinthians 15:20, 54-55
I’ve walked with the Lord over half my life and I’m still so astounded and amazed at what was given me through my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. There is no other god, no other deity that can compare to my Lord Jesus and what He did for us on the cross!
Today, spend a few moments to meditate the price that was paid for you so you can have eternal life. So you can have access to God.
Calls Pastors and Christian Leaders to Pray for the Healing and Future of America. All Christian pastors, priests, leaders, and believers are invited to join national Christian leaders to lift a United Cry together at this historic, multi-ethnic, multi–generational, gathering on April 9th, 2016, from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm, at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.
WE’VE CHARTERED A BUS!
A charter bus is available for all who want to go to this significant prayer gathering. We are meeting at 10:00 PM Friday, April 8 at Stanley Memorial – Fountain of Life Church, New Britain. We will return late Saturday night, April 9. The cost will be $50 per person.
To register, you must send your check to:HOUSE OF GOOD HOPE, INC.P.O. Box 4042 Hartford CT 06147-4042. Your $50 check will guarantee your seat. At this time, 41 people have signed up, 31 have paid. The bus is filling up fast! Reserve your seat now.
*Payment must be received before April 1st.
SCHEDULE:
MONDAYS 7-9 PM School of Prayer Prayers that Heal the Heart –through this class you will learn prayers that will change lives forever:
• Break generational sins and curses
• Sever ungodly soul ties
• Replace negative expectations
• Renounce inner vows
• Receive divine pictures & visions
• Cast out demons
• Experience the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus
All are welcome to join us. No cost for the class, offerings are taken to cover cost.
FIRST SUNDAYS 4-6 PM Love Feast
Sunday, April 3 is our next Love Feast. Adam Wittenberg from the International House of Prayer-KC will be sharing his experiences as an intercessory missionary. All are welcome, bring a dish to pass!
“Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of God that will stand”. Proverbs 19:21
This morning as I was spending time in prayer at the house of prayer, I suddenly had a vision of myself, as well as the whole body of Christ in our western culture. I suddenly saw how we all are individual vials, and when we come together, we still remain in our hard little vials. We don’t truly mingle together, we don’t become vulnerable with one another, we don’t truly even love each other. The Presence of God isn’t fully released because there is no mixing together, no crying out together. Our churches are individual vials and we don’t mix with other churches. We, in our individuality all come together, yet we don’t mix with the others.
I see how the Lord gives each of us vision in our journeys with Him and calls us to His assignments. Our eyes are opened to the importance of the vast call on our lives – something so incredible and much bigger than us! (this isn’t just about me, I believe everyone has an incredible call on their lives – some haven’t yet discovered it). But then His assignments become “our” assignments, “our” ministries, “our” callings. Pride sets in. We don’t see the reason for the assignments the Lord gives us is for the Greater Cause. All we can see is what we are called to do. We can’t see how what we do fits together with all the other things that are going on around us. There is no laying down our lives for each other. There is no preferring of one another. We come together, but we all take our places to do “our” ministries, yet there is little mingling.
There is so much pride in all of us! We can’t see beyond ourselves. We are the centers of our universe and as far as we’re concerned, nothing much else happens apart from us. As I saw this in myself as well as in others, my heart broke. I cried as I saw this was so evident in me, and it is in everyone who I know and love; every ministry, every individual! Much of it, if not all comes from our American culture. It is so painful to see how little our American Christianity is truly Biblical! It is also so painful to see how little effect we have on the world because of our American individuality. There is so very little mingling of our vials.
I am painfully aware this is one of the main reasons we don’t see revival come to our land. Many of us have been crying out for revival for years, even decades, but we see little results. Why? Could it be because we are so caught up in what we’re doing we neglect to do the greatest thing: die to self? Even lay down our lives for one another? We all know the Scriptures and we quote them to each other as well as preach them from our pulpits:
“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it”. Luke 9:23-24
“Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends”. John 15:13
It is a rare thing when I meet someone who is full of humility. I’ve met very few people who actually practice these Scriptures! We all say we do, including myself. But do we actually? When leaders get together, what is the topic of our conversation? Is it, “how can I help you?”, or “how can I serve you?” or “how can I see your ministry grow?” Or are other subjects discussed? Do we really know how to serve one another in love? Or is what we do still is all about us with very little left over for anything else outside our sphere of influence? I saw this my heart, and had to spend considerable time in repentance this morning. I saw my pride, my worship of my individuality, even my worship of “my” vision in building this house of prayer. I saw how my attitude is so wrong! Do I truly serve others? Do any of us ever truly serve others? Or do we just care for those who are part of “our” ministry, “our” thing?
Do any of us truly want revival? Or do we just want to see our individual assignments and callings prosper? That is the question I’m asking right now. What is the Greater Cause? Let’s get beyond that. The assignments we’re called to is not ours. It was never ours and it will never be ours. The Lord created us to be together, to work together. Yes, we all are unique individuals with different callings. But the reason why the Lord created us to be unique is so our unique flavors can be released as we blend together to make that awesomely incredible fragrance in our worship to God! Just as we desperately need the Lord, we also desperately need each other. We need to pray together, we need to worship together, we need to work together, we need to play together. It doesn’t matter which denominational tribe we belong to. Our theologies don’t matter. When we reach the Throne Room of God’s Glory, we will suddenly realize how little our theologies matter. What matters is the fact that if we are brothers and sisters in Christ, we need to learn how to love one another. We need to learn how lay down our lives for one another through our love for one another.
I admit that I’m not even close to where I see I need to be in this, but I want to be! I plan to make this my goal for 2016. I invite you to join me in this. Let’s all do a heart check? What is most important to you: see transformation and revival come to our land, or see ourselves and our assignments prosper? Are we truly willing to lay down our individuality, even our assignments for the Greater Cause?
Break us open Lord? Break our vials, Lord!
HOUSE OF GOOD HOPE SCHEDULE:
Monday nights 7-9 pm School of Prayer
Studies in the Bride of Christ, from Genesis through Revelation.
This is a study of our covenant relationship with Jesus as His beloved Bride.
I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet The words repeat Of peace on earth, Good will to men.
And in despair I bowed my head;
There is no peace on earth,”
I said
“For hate is strong and mocks the song Of peace on earth, Good will to men”.
Then pealed the bells more loud and deep: “God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;The wrong shall fail, the right prevail, With peace on earth, Good will to men.
This year our house of prayer had the high honor of singing Christmas carols today, on Christmas Eve at the State Capitol Christmas party. It was such a privilege to sing about the blessed hope of Jesus in our state seat of government! As we sang, I started to think through the words of these beloved old carols. Each of these carols was like a sermon, preaching about the incarnation of our Savior and the hope we have through Him. What an awesome way to offer this reminder to those who work in our State Capitol!
One song began to especially speak to me, “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day”. The words of that Christmas carol seem so relevant today! This carol was written in 1863, in the midst of one of the bloodiest times in the history of our country, the Great Civil War. Henry Wadworth Longfellow just lost his beloved wife and his son was severely wounded in the Battle of New Hope Church. As he listened to the peal of the bells followed by Civil War cannon fire in the distance, Longfellow contemplated the messages of both sounds – one of war and one of peace. Even with cannons firing off in the background, the church bells began to rekindle hope in his heart. Through the saving power of that newborn baby, there could be peace with God and goodwill toward his fellow man.
How these words seem to fit today! Again our world is going through increasingly violent times. Again many of us are asking, “Is there no peace?” But, as the words of this song reminds us there is “peace on earth, goodwill to men”. It’s not about the absence of war or conflict. What this Christmas carol reminds us of, is the type of peace that only Jesus can give you:
“Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you.
Let not your hearts be troubled,
neither let them be afraid”. John 14:27
It is so astounding to realize we serve and worship a God Who is with us in the midst of the storms. The storms may not be taken away, but there is a God Who comes to us and holds us as the storms pass through our lives!
May you feel the Lord holding you in His arms with His peace as you go through the storms that surround you.
Wednesdays, 8-10 AM
House of Good Hope
107 Forster Street #2, Hartford
Last Saturday morning the Lord spoke to me while I was in Meriden, part of a powerful prayer monthly meeting with the Wailing Women led by Patricia Videlia. I suddenly had a flashback of the Saturday nights I spent on my face in my church over 20 years ago. In 1993, I consecrated my life to the Lord in a deeper way. At that time, I felt the question asked of me: “How much of God do you really want?” Of course, I wanted all the Lord has to give me, I want it all! I made a promise to the Lord I would spend my Saturday nights in prayer at the church. Those nights of my lying on the floor in my church sanctuary were life-changing for me! I was so desperate for change, I desperately wanted to see revival come. Our church needed revival, our town needed revival, our state needed revival, New England needed revival! Most of all, I needed revival! I desperately wanted more of the Lord’s Presence in my life and I knew the only way I was going to get it was through times of sacrificial prayer. This was where it all started for me. Those nights of worship, prayer and intercession were some of the sweetest hours in my life!
Would you like to have a deeper, more intimate relationship with Jesus? Do you want to see transformation in your family, on your street, in your town…..transformation in you? The only way to get that is to sacrifice a few hours a week in prayer. Go on this journey with me! Let’s discover together the heart of God, ask for His secrets. Let’s explore together the intimacy Jesus wants to share with us. It can be obtained only through sowing your time with the Lord in prayer.
There is a dynamic that can only happen in corporate prayer. Charles Spurgeon said this about corporate prayer meetings over 100 years ago:
“United prayer is useful inasmuch as God has promised extraordinary and special blessings in connection with it,: “For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them” [Matthew 18:20]. “If two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven” [Matthew 18:19]. God asks for agreement, and, once the saints agree, he pledges himself that the prayer of his agreeing ones shall be answered. Why, see what accumulated force there is in prayer, when one after another pours out their passionate desires; when many seem to be tugging at the rope; when many seem to be knocking at mercy’s gate; when the mighty cries of many burning hearts come up to heaven. When, my beloved, you go and shake the very gates of heaven with the powerful battering-ram of holy passion, and sacred insistence, then will the kingdom of heaven forcefully advance. When first one, and then another, and yet another, throws their whole soul into the prayer, the kingdom of heaven is conquered and the victory is very great indeed.”
“As I was sitting for a little while and thinking over this text I thought of the accumulated love of God which there is in a prayer-meeting, because God loves every one of his children. There is so much love for one, and here is another, and there is so much love for him, and then, if God’s love to one of his people is a reason for answering his requests, if there are ten present, there is ten times the reason; and if there is a thousand present then surely there must be a thousand times the force of love to move our Heavenly Father to grant the accumulated desires of the assembly. The prayer-meeting is an institution which ought to bevery precious to us, and to be cherished by us as a Church, for to it we owe everything”.
You are invited to join us in prayer from 8-10AM every Wednesday morning starting December 16. I can assure you, life will never be the same for you again!
