Esther is a prototype of history’s hinge: a courageous woman who humbly and artfully spoke truth to power. Facing witchcraft and dark conspiracies in Persia’s power base, Queen Esther risked her life, armed with nothing but an undying love for her people, a providential position of authority, her own dignity and the secret arsenal of corporate prayer and fasting. Through her, a nation was spared annihilation.
Three years ago in a leaders summit in Fredericksburg, Virginia, our meeting was sovereignly hijacked as the Lord shifted our focus toward the hidden taproot of strength in the godly women of America. We began to envision something of a million women gathering on the mall in Washington, D.C., similar to the Promise Keepers gathering, that would be a last-stand breakthrough to hold back darkness in America. Those hours of corporate intercession were as strong and clear as any prophetic moment I have ever encountered in 30-plus years of prayer, but at the time we could not see how it could be brought to pass. Habakkuk’s statement seemed to be the counsel of the Lord to us, “If [the vision} delays, wait for it; it will surely come, it will not delay” (Hab. 2:3b).
The Truly Empowered Woman
That moment arrived Jan. 21, 2017, the day after the inauguration of President Donald J. Trump, as we watched hundreds of thousands of women take to the streets with the purported aim of “empowering women.” A vacuum had been created by this election, by historic women’s injustices, and it seemed a false heiress rushed in and was seeking now to become the hinge of history by framing the narrative of a future America that does not acknowledge God’s exalted view of women and His biblical design for her glorious purpose in the earth. Instinctively, we had a corporate knowing: It was the time for the true empowered woman to stand up, for the meek (strength-filled humility) shall inherit the earth.
Hundreds of thousands of women watched the March, heard the vitriol and could not identify with the radical ideologies being expressed that would not acknowledge God’s Word and ways in the public controversy. This new woman declared deep inside her heart, This is not my revolution. Now, like Esther, she is arising for such a time as this. It’s time for this corporate Esther to frame the future by recognizing and taking up her God-given role of persistent public persuasion in the open square as well as that of her humble appeal to God in prayer.
Fasting Through Purim
The Women’s March was the first shot across the bow, heralding a revolutionary rise against the president of the United States, “We the people” and in reality, the foundational biblical truths upon which our nation was founded. Soon after, the second shot was manifested publicly: an unprecedented global summons of witchcraft to curse President Trump, his Cabinet and all of those aligned with a biblical worldview. Suddenly, the whole controversy was elevated to a global spiritual dimension, inaugurating a spiritual battle that cannot be won on the playing field of protests and political arguments.
Only the church has the answer to this unprecedented manifestation of witchcraft. Spiritual strategy must be used to overcome this open-faced, brazen challenge of the powers.
According to Derek Prince, Haman (the adversary in the Book of Esther), was practicing divination through the casting of lots and was clearly aligning himself with demonic spiritual powers to destroy the whole Jewish population in the earth. Esther’s three-day fast broke the spiritual power channeled by Haman’s witchcraft. It effectively reversed the curse and shifted the whole public policy of the Persian Empire towards the Jewish people. I cannot stress this enough: We are in a similar day and a cataclysmic battle for the soul of our nation. We cannot live the same way we lived yesterday.
Recently, two women contacted me and asked me to use my influence to call for a three-day Esther Fast to answer this challenge. Immediately after, I experienced a life-changing dream where I saw a nation-wide Esther movement arising that alone could break a major spiritual power of death.
I knew then that I was to take my place as a Mordecai and call not only “Esther and her handmaidens” but the whole nation, to fast and pray for three days leading up to Purim. The Jewish holiday Purim celebrates God’s deliverance of the Jews through Esther’s fasting, sacrifice and courage. This year, Purim begins on Saturday evening, March 11.
Therefore, we are seizing this sudden moment for a three-day Esther Fast from sundown on Wednesday, March 8, through the evening of Saturday, March 11, to counter this witchcraft, to stand against the rising anti-Semitism, pray for the president and contend for the uprising of an Esther movement in America that will, among many things, reverse the decree of ’73, Roe v. Wade, just as Haman’s decree was reversed.
Let the women (and the nation) arise as Esther’s for such a time as this and take their place in the courts of heaven and in the public courts of man to shape history in this hour. If your heart burns, mobilize this fast to all your connections. Blow the trumpet in Zion! Call a fast!
Lou Engle is a revivalist, visionar, and co-founder of TheCall, Inc. For more than three decades, Lou’s passion has been to call believers into radical consecration through prayer, fasting and acts of justice.
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!
“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.
In our School of Prayer, this past Monday night, we started a new series called “Studies in the Bride of Christ from Genesis thru Revelation”. It stimulated quite a bit of lively conversation in light of the Paris attacks. We discussed Ephesians 5:27 – “….so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish”. Also, Revelation 21:2 – “And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a Bride adorned for her husband….”
We discussed ways on how the Lord prepares His Bride. How does the Lord prepare His Bride? We all acknowledged the way it looks now — we the Church, Jesus’ Bride are certainly not ready yet! We all still see lots of spots and wrinkles in ourselves individually as well as corporately. We talked about how in past history God allows persecution, even martyrdom to purify His church. We discussed how Christianity grew and thrived in the midst of terrible persecution, even in recent years in places like Communist China as well as in other nations.
We asked if could it be possible that the Lord might be using these recent acts of terrorism as part of His plan to purify His church? One of the things we discussed was Jonathan Cahn’s prophetic word through Isaiah 9:10-12, after 9/11 happened, Some of the leaders of our nation even quoted parts of these verses – they kept saying “We will….”, using portions of Isaiah 9:10-12 as their reference. They didn’t take into consideration this statement, this attitude was something God hated. It is a sign of pride and self-sufficiency. In essence they were saying, “We can take care of ourselves, we can fight back, we don’t need God. We will rebuild. They may have attacked us, but we will counter attack and we will crush our enemy. We will not allow this to get us down. We will make ourselves bigger, better and stronger”. The same attitude was even displayed in France this past week.
Did anyone not consider what Isaiah 9:13 says: “The people did not turn to Him who struck them, nor inquire of the Lord of Hosts”… viagra france acheter.
It’s all about the “we”. What about God in and through all of this? Have we considered that maybe God may be allowing this because He wants to get our attention? As we discussed this, the word “repent” kept coming up in our conversation. Can it be possible the Lord is calling His church to repentance? Not to plot and plan and scheme on how to fight back, or find ways to defend ourselves? As we talked, I kept remembering all what I read in the prophetic books of the Bible and got chills. The Lord is the same yesterday, today and forever. Malachi 3:6 keeps running through my mind: “For I the Lord do not change….” He is the God of the Old Testament as well as the New Testament. If the Lord can allow pagans from outside nations to buffet His chosen, His beloved people who He brought out of Egypt, what right do we think we have some sort of special graces or dispensation to not suffer calamity today?
How many years have our people have been immersed in idolatry and immorality? How long do we expect God to close His eyes to all of that? Why do we expect to be treated differently than His own beloved people? Why do we expect the Lord to overlook our nation and western civilization’s blatant sin? Families are crumbling, now being “redefined”, we’re murdering our children, allowing sex to be exploited and selfishly spending our abundant resources while approximately 1/3 of the world is malnourished or starving. How long will this be allowed until the judgment comes?
I remember John Paul Jackson’s prophetic words from 2008, about the “Perfect Storm”. Is a “divine set-up” soon coming? Are we ready for this?
The God I read about in the Bible is a gracious and kind God, I believe that with all my heart. The Lord has a passion and a love to reach the lost, the broken, the hurting. But on the other hand, I read about God being a Righteous Judge. He hates man’s pride with such vengeance. God hates the self will, the “I will”. I remember reading in the Gospels Jesus’ harshest words were not toward those caught up in blatant sin or paganism, but toward the religious leaders. Didn’t He call them “white-washed tombs, hypocrites”? What would Jesus call us today? I’m a religious leader myself and I cringe at that thought.
We need to remember that Jesus never preached against Rome. Jesus never declared that Israel should defeat the Roman Empire – though everyone was waiting for Him to lead them into shaking off the tyranny of Rome. Jesus never sought to raise up an army to overthrow the Roman dictatorship. Today we need to recognize that, we need to remember that today in light of what we’re facing now.
I keep hearing: “Repent, for the Kingdom of God is near”. Instead of declaring the “I will’s”, maybe we should think about our doing a season of repentance and prayer, even throw in a little fasting in our churches…..before we decide to go out and crush our enemies?
What is God saying about all of this? I have a sense that more is coming, much more. Just as in Joshua 7:2-5 where the people may have thought they’re facing a little enemy they can easily crush themselves without God’s help, but ended up getting defeated, are we facing something much more than what the eye can see?
Our School of Prayer meets at 7:00 every Monday night at 107 Forster Street, Hartford. All are welcome to join us!
This Monday, we will finish our last class on “Communion With God” in our weekly School of Prayer at House of Good Hope. I personally started this class on my own last winter, long before it was introduced in the School of Prayer. I started it originally with the goal of obtaining college credit. But the class was so good, I then introduced it on Monday nights. Many told me they’ve learned so much, said how great it was! Mark Virkler excellently teaches us how to hear God’s voice, and he taught us many tools on how to do this. Everyone in our class now knows the 4 basic keys:
1. Quiet yourself down
2. Look for vision
3. Tune in to spontaneity
4. Write what you hear God say to you.
All this looks very simple, but it’s a discipline I found we still need to learn. I was doing some of it, but not all 4 steps. Following all 4 has stretched and challenged me. And this comes from a seasoned journalist! I’ve been journaling almost all of my life: since I was 13 years old, after I read the book – Diary of Anne Frank. Her story so moved me, I decided to write down my thoughts and keep a record of my life. I’ve kept this up ever since, now have a bookcase full of my journals.
Everyone who comes to this house of prayer knows how strongly I emphasize the importance of keeping a journal, I regularly hand out notebooks to encourage those to start journaling. But one thing I’ve not done is to record all that what I hear God saying to me, as what Mark Virkler says: “the art of 2-way journaling“. I found I almost never allow Holy Spirit start the conversation with me when I pray. I rarely ask the Lord what HE wants to discuss with me, all of it is only about what’s on my heart, not God’s. As with most of us, I start my prayers with what I want to pray about. For almost all my life I’ve only written what “I” thought, or what “I” am going through. I never bothered to record any of the dialogue I have with the Lord; what He says to me (unless it’s a “biggie”!), and I’m an intercessor! If we believe God is real and He is keenly interested in all that we do, why can’t we go to Him, ask questions and write down what we hear the Lord say to us? We all believe God speaks directly to our hearts, why can’t we just write down what we hear? For me, this way of 2-way journaling has been life-changing! It has been a discipline for me to learn to quiet myself down and wait to hear what the Lord wants to say to me. I ask the Lord in prayer, and I do record my prayers, but I’ve been negligent in waiting for the Lord to answer me – and especially writing the answer down when I get it! I’m also very good at writing down my thoughts, my ideas, my strategies, etc. Not God’s.
As I’ve been practicing this “2-way” thing, one important topic the Lord has been discussing with me is my “trust” factor. I keep hearing the Lord ask me: “Do you trust Me?” Yes, I believe every word in the Bible is real. Yes, I do believe the Lord takes care of His children, provides for their needs as they relied on Him. Yes, I do believe that the miraculous is here today, I’ve even witnessed some powerful miracles in my life and in those who I’ve prayed for. Yes, I believe in prophecy and I do believe the Lord uses me at times. I believe in all of that. But do I truly believe in all of that…..for me? All the time? Do I also trust the Lord to meet MY needs? Especially my every need? Do I truly know how to depend on God for my everything? I remember one time wanting to discuss with the Lord something that was in my mind, but suddenly I found myself redirected to start thinking about my job. The Lord asked me – “Do you trust Me?” The Lord was asking me: did I trust God that HE is my Provider, not my own 2 hands or my paycheck? Until this was brought up, the thought never occurred to me. I’ve done a lot risky things in my life, but I always trusted in my weekly paycheck to provide for me. Not in God.
I suddenly saw a picture in the movie Aladdin – he had his hand out to Princess Jasmine and asked, “Do you trust me?” I heard the Lord ask me: “Do you truly trust Me to provide for your daily bread? Do you truly trust Me to provide for your every need?” Princess Jasmine knew if she took Aladdin’s hand, she would be going on a risky wild and crazy ride, there was no going back. But Jasmine desperately wanted to go with Aladdin. So, as risky as it was, she took his hand. She took the risk, went on that wild and crazy ride and loved every minute of it!
So here I am, in my prayer room with that image embedded in my mind. Like in the Aladdin movie, I saw the Lord extend His hand and ask me: “Do you trust Me?” Like Princess Jasmine, my heart beats quickly when I hear the question, yet I’m afraid. I hear the Lord asking me to take risks, even greater risks than I’ve had in the past. Am I willing? Do I trust Him? Do I trust God with my everything?
Another picture the Lord gave me was of Bilbo Baggins from the Hobbit, one of my favorite stories. I so relate to Bilbo! Part of me wants to remain safe and comfortable in my little “hobbit-hole”, yet part of me craves adventure: wild, life-threatening crazy adventure! Bilbo finally made the decision to go on the adventure that was put before him. Here he was, running down the lane, coat tails flying, off to meet his adventure. I keep hearing the other hobbits yelling at Bilbo, asking what’s he’s in such a hurry for? Bilbo’s response was: “I’m going on an ADVENTURE!!” Am I willing to risk it all? Am I willing to go on an “adventure” with Jesus? Do I trust the Lord with my……everything? Can I TRULY trust God?
I hear the Lord ask me if I can trust Him, not only for His ability to provide for my daily needs, but for me to partner with Him; in a sense, “go on adventures” with Jesus. We all have dreams. Some of us even may sense the Lord leading us in some sort of direction. Like me, many of us talk about it, but we’re a bit too afraid to launch out in what we hear the Lord leading us to. We think we need more training, more maturity, more money, more of something we think we don’t yet have. And…..we don’t have enough trust in God to truly believe He will provide all of that for us! We spend all of our lives preparing for our adventures, yet too afraid to step out and have them. For some of us, suddenly we find it’s too late. We missed it.
Are you willing to go on adventures with Jesus? Has the Lord challenged you in this area of trust? Are you willing to go so far as even lay down your time, your career, even your resources to go on these adventures with the Lord? Are you willing to be stretched?
Am I willing?Are you willing?
“DO YOU TRUST ME?”
Starting Monday, September 28, 2015 our Monday night School of Prayer will be studying and discussing the “trust” factor. The class will be called – “Do you trust Me?” We will explore what it means to go on these “adventures in God”, allow ourselves to be stretched further, even beyond than what we’re used to. This will be a class with no tests, with no right or wrong answers. It will more of a discussion forum, mixed in with lots of prayer. Together we will discuss and learn from each other what it means to truly trust in God for our everything. Everyone is welcome, no charge for the class. Offerings will be taken each weekto cover costs. Respond to this message if you would like to join us?
Come, let’s go on some wild and crazy adventures with God!
This is from one of our friends who is part of House of Good Hope, Linda Maynard. Lin is an excellent writer and has written in many blogs over the years. Be blessed as you read this:
TUESDAY scenario with two friends driving in a car
Kim…” Gosh look at the SKY! Lin” peering out the windshield
Lin…“Yeah”… kind of feebly
Kim…” Over there…LOOK OVER THERE!!!” “Don’t you see that?”
Lin…. quiet… not sure what to say.
She thinks “she is a LOT more excited than me….I see very dull coloring”
Kim…”Can you see the separations and the breaking of the colors?”
She continues, “I LOVE the sky, I have ALWAYS LOVED THE SKY!”…” I am ALWAYS LOOKING UP!”
Lin… thinking, “maybe if I tell her about the project I heard about the sky and how they did the experiment with people…They were supposed to pay attention to the sky and look up every day and note the reaction from other people on the street.
Kim chimes in again “I have NEVER seen anything SO BEAUTIFUL have you???”
Lin…Sinking down further in the seat and thinking…” I just don’t see what she sees and from what I can see … it doesn’t seem ALL that exciting”
They arrive at Kim’s home and they part, with Kim all aglow with the wonder of the Lord and of the sky and of nature.
As Lin drives home, she is struggling even to see the road…it is very blurry. She can’t quite figure out why it is SO bad.
“The road is dark and I think I’d better not drive in the dark anymore.”
WEDNESDAY on fb
Lin cannot believe what she is seeing… photo after photo… of magnificent beautiful and colorful skies that others, who live locally, have posted from Tuesday, just before
“Wow! How come I missed those?” thinks Lin.
UNTIL….
“DUH!!!”
…It dawns on her, that the skies she saw in the pictures on fb ,were of the VERY same sky, Kim saw the day before…EXCEPT Lin was unable to appreciate them at all…even with Kim’s excitement.
She WANTED to see…
…she TRIED to see…
…she STRUGGLED to see…but to no avail…
Kim had been practically jumping up and down.
Lin remembered why ….She had forgotten her GLASSES that day!
Her vision was compromised…and was not in any way crisp and clear.
What Lin saw was dull and muted, although the beauty that showed forth was right there.
The masterpiece of God’s artistry was not clear at all, to Lin
Lesson…” Without good vision…people perish”
And although some may think they have a clear picture…t is FAR below the brilliance and majesty of God’ Himself.
If people can’t see what God is doing,
they stumble all over themselves;
But when they attend to what He reveals,
they are most blessed. Proverbs 29:18 The Message
Penned by
Linda Kosinski Maynard
Princess Jasmine knew if she took Aladdin’s hand, she would be going on a risky wild and crazy ride, there was no going back. But Jasmine desperately wanted to go with Aladdin. So, as risky as it was, she took his hand. She took the risk, went on that wild and crazy ride and loved every minute of it!