Displaying items by tag: Dr Jason Hubbard

Global Jesus Fast - Beholding the Lamb

March 1^st - April 9^th 2020

We want to join with Lou Engle’s call to a Global 40 day fast to see a world-wide manifestation of Jesus the Evangelist!  https://louengle.com/thejesusfast/

Before Jesus ever performed a miracle, before He ever preached the gospel, the Spirit of God drove Him into the wilderness to fast. He came out of that fast in the power of the Holy Spirit. Before there was an original Jesus movement there was an original Jesus Fast. For 20yrs Lou Engle has been calling an entire generation to extended prayer and fasting. Now at the threshold of a global harvest we are calling for a world-wide Jesus Fast. As the late Bill Bright (founder of  Campus Crusade/CRU) shared,

“I believe the power of fasting as it relates to prayer is the spiritual atomic bomb that our Lord has given us to destroy the strongholds of evil and usher in a great revival and spiritual harvest around the world”

Please prayerfully consider how the Spirit would lead you during this time of prayer and fasting. Here are some practical guidelines to help you think how to get started! https://www.ihopkc.org/about/fasting-guidelines-and-information/

I put together a devotional guide called ‘Beholding the Lamb’ to help us meditate on Jesus during this season of fasting.  You can download your copy at our website here.

Fasting is Feasting - 8 Fundamental Truths about Fasting

1. Fasting is not a command but a spiritual discipline. Biblical Fasting refers to abstaining from food for spiritual purposes. The Bible assumes we will fast. Jesus simply takes it for granted ( 6:16-18/ “when you fast.” In Mark 2 we see the same emphasis. When the Pharisees queried why Jesus’ disciples didn’t fast, he explained it in terms of his own physical presence on earth. “The days will come,” he said, “when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day.” The point here is that the Messiah has come like a bridegroom to a wedding feast. Such a moment is too joyful and stunning and exciting to mingle with fasting. Groomsmen don’t fast at the bachelor party! The rehearsal dinner is no place to be sad. Jesus is present. The time for celebration is upon us. When the wedding feast is over and the bridegroom has departed, then it is appropriate to fast.
2. Fasting is Feasting motivated by deep desire. That is to say, fasting is not the suppression of desire but the intense pursuit of it. We fast because we want something more than food or more than whatever activity it is from which we abstain. If one suppresses the desire for food it is only because he or she has a greater and more intense desire for something more precious. Something of eternal value.
   
   That is why I say that fasting is feasting! The ironic thing about fasting is that it really isn’t about not eating food. It’s about feeding on the fullness of every divine blessing secured for us in Christ. Fasting tenderizes our hearts to experience the presence of God. It expands the capacity of our souls to hear his voice and be assured of his love and be filled with the fullness of his joy.
   
   Fasting is all about ingesting the Word of God, the beauty of God, the presence of God, the blessings of God. It is not a giving up of food (or some activity) for its own sake. It is about a giving up of food for Christ’s sake.
3. Fasting is not something you do for God. It is instead your appeal that God in grace and power do everything for you. Thus fasting is not an act of willpower but a declaration of weakness. It is not a work of our hearts and bodies but a confession of our utter dependency on God and his grace.
4. Fasting is not a statement that food or other things are bad, but that God is better! In other words, fasting is not a rejection of the many blessings God has given to us, but an affirmation that in the ultimate sense we prefer the Giver to his gifts. Fasting is a declaration that God is enough.
5. Perhaps the most instructive insight about fasting is what we learn when we compare it to the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. The Lord’s Supper is a feasting that looks backward in time, whereas fasting is a feasting that looks forward in time. The breaking of bread and drinking the cup is done “in remembrance” of our Lord’s historic, and therefore past, act of sacrifice. Thus by eating and drinking we celebrate the finality and sufficiency of that atoning death and that glorious resurrection. But when we fast we look forward “in expectation” to the consummation of Christ’s saving work and his personal presence forever. When we sit at Christ’s table with other believers we gratefully, fearfully, joyfully feast upon that food and drink that remind us of what has happened. And when we turn away from the table where otherwise daily meals are served we declare our deep yearning for what has not yet happened.
6. It is crucial that we understand the difference between being seen fasting, on the one hand, and fasting to be seen, on the other. Or again, to be seen fasting is not a sin. Fasting to be seen is (see Matt. 6:16). True, godly fasting is motivated by a heart for God, not human admiration. Being seen fasting is merely an external, and often unavoidable, reality. But fasting to be seen is a self-exalting motive of the heart.
7. Fasting opens our spiritual eyes to see him more clearly in Scripture and sensitizes our hearts to enjoy God’s presence. Look closely at Acts 13:1-3. Their fasting became the occasion for the Spirit's guidance to be communicated to them. Don't miss the obvious causal link that Luke draws. It was while/when or even because they were ministering to the Lord and fasting that the Holy Spirit spoke. I’m not suggesting that fasting puts God in our debt, as if it compels him to respond to us. But God does promise to be found by those who diligently seek him with their whole heart (Jer. 29:12-13). And what God said to them in the course of their fasting changed history. The results, both immediate and long-term, are stunning, for prior to this incident the church had progressed little, if at all, beyond the eastern seacoast of the Mediterranean. Paul had as yet taken no missionary journeys westward to Asia Minor, Greece, Rome, or Spain. Neither had he written any of his epistles. All his letters were the result of the missionary journeys he was to take and the churches he was to plant. This occasion of prayer and fasting birthed Paul’s missionary journeys and led to the writing of 13 of our NT books! (I’m indebted to John Piper for these insights on Acts 13)
8. Fasting is a powerful weapon in spiritual warfare and a preparation for anointed ministry! See Mt. 4:1-11 (Jesus fasted in preparation for resisting the temptations of Satan) and Mark 9:29 (Mt. 17:14-21). Fasting heightens our complete dependence upon God and forces us to draw on him and his power, and to believe fully in his strength. This explains why Jesus fasted in preparation for facing the temptations of Satan in the wilderness (Mt. 4:1-11; see Mark 9:29; Mt. 17:14-21). When Jesus returns from the wilderness, he does so in the ‘power of the Spirit’ to Galilee! See Luke 4:14

Dr Jason Hubbard - Executive Co-ordinator
IPC Connect

One of the key prayer strategies for the Go2020 initiative is praying for five people in our circle of influence who don’t’ know Jesus Christ. Everyone can pray for someone! Who is someone in your workplace, school, neighborhood, or in your family? Start with a prayer list of 5. You might start with a simple prayer,

“Lord, lead me to five people for whom I can daily pray and then create opportunities for me to share with them the good news of Christ”

It truly is God’s desire that all be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth!  We all have people in our lives and spheres of influence who are unsaved and don’t know Christ.  We should be praying for them because we care deeply about them and because we know that God cares for them and wants none of them to perish—His desire is for all of them to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9).  God always answers prayer when it is in accordance with his will and for his renown!  We don’t always know how or when he will respond, but we do know that he always acts in response to our prayers for others.  Our prayers are not in vain! His answers will always be for his glory, for our good and for the good of those we are praying for.  He is better than we think he is and doing more than we think he is doing!

“This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior,  who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:3-4).

“The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).

Here are four claims I like to use in praying for the lost! 

1. Claim One: Open Doors …So opportunities will be opened to those who don’t know Christ!

“Devote yourselves to prayer…that God may open a door…so that we may proclaim…Christ” (Colossians 4:2-3, NIV).

2. Claim Two: Open Minds …So people will hear the Gospel with an open mind.

“I am sending you to them [the lost] to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light” (Acts 26:17b-18a, NIV). 23

3. Claim Three: Open Hearts …So unbelievers will invite Christ into their hearts.

“For God…made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of… Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6, NIV).

4. Claim Four: Open Heavens …So the Spirit of God will be poured out upon all flesh and men will be drawn to Christ

“Open up, O heavens, and pour out your righteousness. Let the earth open wide so salvation and righteousness can sprout up together” (Isaiah 45:8, NLT).

Here are some other important themes to focus on praying for your lost family members, neighbors, friends, or co-workers!

1. Ask God for the courage and power of the Holy Spirit to be an effective witness in your sphere of influence.

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

2. Pray for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon all flesh! Pray for the Holy Spirit to convict the world in regards to sin, righteousness and judgment.

“ ‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams” (Acts 2:17).

“And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment:  concerning sin, because they do not believe in me;  concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer;  concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged” (John 16:8-11).

3. Pray for God the Father to draw all men to Christ through the power of the cross!

“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him” (John 6:44).

“And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself” (John 12:32).

4. Pray for God’s kindness to lead people to repentance.

“Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?” (Romans 2:4).

5. Pray for the gospel to the Kingdom to be proclaimed throughout the world! Ask God to give you his compassion for the lost and to send forth laborers into the harvest fields of the world!

“And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction.  When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.  Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few;  therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest” (Matthew 9:35-39). 

6. Pray that the Lamb who was slain would receive his due reward in the nations!

“And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation…   12 saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” (Rev. 5:9, 12).

“Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession” (Psalm 2:8).

7. Pray for mighty signs, wonders and miracles at the proclamation of the gospel!

“And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness,  while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness” (Acts 4:29-31).

8. Pray for God to remove the blindness from the enemy over the minds of the unbeliever that they will see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ!

“In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Cor. 4:4).

9. Pray for the gift of tears, to cry out for the lost to be saved

“Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy!  He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him” (Psalm 126:5-6).

10. Pray for the Knowledge of the Glory of the Lord to cover the earth!

“For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea” (Habakkuk 2:14).

“All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you” (Psalm 22:27)

Dr Jason Hubbard - Executive Co-ordinator
IPC Connect

Desperate Prayer for a ‘Decade of Harvest’

Psalm 126:5–6 (ESV), “Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy! He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.

My wife has been on a long journey of suffering from migraine headaches for the last 20yrs. Often she has to be in a dark space, crying out in pain until it passes. We have struggled over the years asking the questions of “why” and “how long.” We know and trust in the goodness of God and continue to believe God, asking for his healing power! My wife is an amazing woman, godly wife and nurturing mom. I often hear her interceding in the midst of her suffering and pain and I know this touches and moves the heart of God. Often the only thing we are left with is desperate prayer. This kind of prayer is born out of human inability to make anything to happen, where we recognize we can do nothing about the situation… But God!

Throughout history, believers have cried out to God in times of distress. Sometimes after years of desperate praying, a single cry brings direction or deliverance instantly. The promise is clear:

“Call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me” (Psalm 50:15).

Here are some examples of people crying out to the Lord

• A cry of deep distress
“You saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, And heard their cry” (Nehemiah 9:9).

• To cry out for help
“He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him; He also will hear their cry and save them” (Psalm 145:19).

• To shout a war cry
“Then the men of Judah gave a shout [ruwa]: and as the men of Judah shouted, it came to pass, that God smote Jeroboam and all Israel” (II Chronicles 13:15).

• A cry of deep distress
“When He avenges blood, He remembers them; He does not forget the cry of the humble” (Psalm 9:12).

• To cry out
“But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!” And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him” (Matt 14:30-31).

• To implore with strong voice
“And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily” (Luke 18:7).

Crying out to God often with tears is an act of desperation and total consecration. It is a fervent expression of faith in God and trust in His goodness and power to act on our behalf. As Spurgeon said, “tears are liquid prayer.”

Jeremiah, often described as the weeping prophet, was a man caught up in the heart of the weeping God. As he walked through the streets and alleys of the Holy City and saw nothing but pain, suffering, and destruction in the wake of the Babylonian invasion of 586 BC, he writes,  

“Their heart cried out to the Lord, “O wall of the daughter of Zion, Let tears run down like a river day and night; Give yourself no relief; Give your eyes no rest. 19 “Arise, cry out in the night, At the beginning of the watches; Pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord. Lift your hands toward Him For the life of your young children, Who faint from hunger at the head of every street” (Lam 2:18-19).

Not only do we see believers throughout Scripture crying out to God often with tears, our God is also a ‘weeping God.’ Jesus himself, wept with his grieving friends over Lazarus. Jesus wept over Jerusalem as he rode in on Palm Sunday, and Jesus wept in the agony of prayer at Gethsemane hours before the cross. The author of Hebrews writes,

“In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence” (Hebrews 5:7).

Not only does Jesus weep over the lost and the broken but he also weeps over us with compassion in the midst of our pain and loss. He cares so deeply for each one of us. Only a weeping God can truly wipe away our tears. Think how close Jesus has to be to take his thumb to our face and wipe away the pain, and disappointment in our lives!

It so important for us to slow down, and let our hearts be gripped with the compassionate heart of Jesus. May we take time to watch Jesus weep, crawl under his burden, and cry out for his intervention!

It is this type of intercession, crying out to the Lord that often brings a breakthrough. When Jesus saw Mary weeping over her brother Lazarus, he was moved with compassion and raised him from the dead! God promises that those who ‘weep’ will ‘reap’ a harvest!

“Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy! 6 He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him” (Psalm 126:5-6).

The Bible is utterly unfamiliar with casual praying.

Jesus was clear that those who reject him will spend an eternity in hell, ‘weeping and gnashing their teeth’ (Matt 8:12). May God grip us with the reality of millions walking on the broad road that leads to destruction. May we cry out and weep over them for their salvation!

When Jesus taught us to pray to our Father in heaven, He used the Greek word proseuchomai—the common word for prayer in the New Testament. But in Matthew 9:38 and Lk 10:2, Jesus used the Greek word deomai, a much stronger word meaning to ‘plead desperately.’ Also Jesus didn’t simply tell His disciples to pray for laborers to be sent out to the harvest fields. Jesus used a much stronger word—ekballo, meaning to ‘drive out, or hurl forth!’ This same Greek word ekballo is used in Mt 9:34, 10:1 and 10:8 for casting out demons! In both Matthew 9:38 and Lk 10:2, Jesus commands us to deomai (plead desperately) to the Lord of the Harvest to ekballo laborers (thrust them forcefully) into His harvest!

This year we are partnering with Go2020 to see 100 million united in prayer to see 1 billion come to Christ over this next decade! http://www.go2020.world/prayer

As John Robb writes,
“No one organization or movement can accomplish such a staggering feat, but if we flow together like tributaries in one unstoppable river, this can be achieved! Getting God’s heart of love for the lost through prayer will lead to our sharing Jesus with them in the power and sensitivity of the Holy Spirit just as the early church experienced” -John Robb

It will truly require desperate prayer to see these outcomes come to pass this next decade!

• 100 million Christians inspired and empowered by the Holy Spirit to pray and share the Gospel with as many as possible in their own communities and to the ends of the earth.

• One billion people being reached with the Gospel and millions upon millions getting saved all over the world over the course of this next decade!

• Unreached people groups hearing the Gospel for the first time and planting new churches among them. We have put together a helpful guide to praying for unreached peoples around the world. Here is the link https://drive.google.com/file/d/1EksUzKPVPfkKg8Ki2bLnDaeaCqFa3UZC/view

• 50 million new believers integrated into existing and new churches.

We praise God for the promise that the “effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much” (James 5:16).

In our desperation we want to encourage people to Pray God’s Word for the Nations! In 2020 believers and organizations across the globe are celebrating the Year of the Bible! The vision is for 2 million people to pray for renewed Scripture engagement - www.yearofthebible.com.

A great resource we recommend for praying God’s word for the nations is Dick Eastman’s book “A Watchman’s Guide to Praying God’s Promises.” You can request your free copy at www.ehc.org/free-books

May we cry out in 2020 to the Lord of the Harvest in fervent, desperate, Bible-based prayer for a coming ‘Decade of Harvest.’ May the Lamb who was slain receive the due reward for his sufferings!

“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing” – Revelation 5:12

For the Glory of the Lamb,

Jason Hubbard - Executive Co-ordinator
International Prayer Connect

Dr Jason Hubbard, IPC’s Executive Co-ordinator has written this short devotional booklet which takes us through the greatest love story of all time, when God’s own Son shed his garments of glory to become Bethlehem’s lamb.

It’s a 39 page booklet that will bring a fresh perspective on the Christmas Story and enrich, challenge and teach us more about the significance of the feasts, the history and the message of Hope for all mankind that Jesus brought.

It’s a compelling read.

Download ‘Re-kindling the Glory of Christmas Devotional’ HERE

‘Calling the whole Body of Christ to prayer and action for a lost world ‘

Christians around the world soon will celebrate once again the awesome light of Christ that has penetrated and continues to shine in the darkness of human history. At the same time, hundreds of millions of people still have yet to see that light and receive the abundant and eternal life it makes possible. They are without hope and without God, living lives of desperation and meaninglessness.

After being arrested by His light and filled with His Spirit, the early church turned the world upside down. Following Jesus’ command, as a first step they stayed in Jerusalem and “joined constantly together in prayer”.

That culture of united prayer brought the empowering of the Holy Spirit and ignited remarkable spiritual breakthroughs as the Gospel began to spread throughout the then known world. This same pattern of prayer preceding evangelism has been a consistent pattern in all the great revivals and mission advances from then on through church history.

Now, tens of thousands of churches with hundreds of mission organizations and prayer movements are joining forces for an epic prayer and mission initiative unlike anything the world has known. It is called Go 2020. The goal is to reach one billion who are still unreached by Christ’s Good News. Together, by May 2020, we aim to mobilize 100 million Christians to pray for those in their communities that do not know the Lord as well as those across the seas that are part of unreached people groups.

No one organization or movement can accomplish such a staggering feat, but if we flow together like tributaries in one unstoppable river, this can be achieved! Getting God’s heart of love for the lost through prayer will lead to our sharing Jesus with them in the power and sensitivity of the Holy Spirit just as the early church experienced.

Would you and your church or ministry organization consider joining with millions of other Christ followers in such an awesome undertaking for His glory and so that everyone may encounter His great light?

Together, as we pray, mobilize, and trust the One who has all power, we can see the following happen by the end of May next year:

One billion people being reached with the Gospel and millions upon millions getting saved all over the world through May 2020.

Unreached people groups hearing the Gospel for the first time and planting new churches among them.

100 million Christians inspired and empowered by the Holy Spirit to pray and share the Gospel with as many as possible in their own communities and to the ends of the earth.

50 million new believers integrated into existing and new churches.

Personal Prayer: Lord here I am, use me! I will pray for and share the Gospel with others who need to hear it. https://www.go2020.world/get-involved

A suggested five-fold strategy to mobilize believers for prayer and outreach is described in this four-minute video.  

GO2020 video: https://vimeo.com/342384375 

This brochure can also be used to give others the vision of Go 2020 (some translations are also available).

Further information and helpful resources can be found at www.go2020.world/prayer. Please have a look at these resources and share them with others in your unique network of relationships.

Imagine how God could use you, your friends, and colleagues to ignite a movement for Jesus in your city and beyond!

All through 2020, a series of 40-day prayer guides will help us pray daily for those still unreached and for the harvest to be brought in. Here is the link to that guide which we hope you will share with those in your network or organization.

Please let us know if you are willing to help with this mobilization process.

The fulfillment of Christ’s Great Commission is closer than we realize if we can join our prayers and efforts together to make Him known through Go 2020.

Click on this link to get helpful resources and information updates.

Yours in Christ,

Jason Hubbard - Executive Coordinator
John D Robb – Chairma
International Prayer Council and International Prayer Connect

The Feast of Tabernacles

At the time of Christ, the Feast of Tabernacles was extremely rich with symbolism, and theology. God gave his people two primary reasons to celebrate the feasts. First to remember, and second to renew hope. 

God gave them the feasts to help Israel remember her deliverance and her provision from Yahweh and also to renew their hope!  If God had delivered and provided for them in the past then they can trust him to do so in the future!

In Leviticus 23:34-43, God instructed the people to build temporary shelters (sukkah) and to live or tabernacle in them for 7 days to remind them that God tabernacled among them in the desert.  The Feast of Tabernacles was held in the fall where worshippers would live in little ‘huts’ or ‘tents’ to recall the days when their ancestors lived in tents as they made their way through the Sinai desert.  They remembered how God-the Living God himself-graciously chose to come and live with them in a tent called the Tabernacle.

One of the major ceremonies during the feast of tabernacles at the time of Christ was the light ceremony. Jesus claimed, “I am the light of the world; follow me and you will not walk in darkness but will have the light of Life” (John 8:12). Jesus could have made that claim anywhere, to anyone, at any time but he chose to make it in a particular context during the Feast of Tabernacles (John 7:2).

On the first night of the Feast, when the sun had set to the sound of joyful singing, they would light four, twenty-foot high candelabras, looming over the city so that all of Jerusalem was aglow with light!  During this ceremony they would recall how God had guided them through the desert with a pillar of fire by night and cloud of glory by day.  God could guide because God is Light.  For seven nights people celebrated God as Light and then on the eighth night the candles were extinguished and they looked forward again to next year when light would light up the city of Jerusalem again. It was on the eighth night when Jesus, walking through the court of women proclaimed, “I am the Light.  I am the Light of the World.” His statement is brilliant in every sense of the word!  It’s as if Jesus is saying, “I am the light that pierces the darkness every night, illuminating the whole world.” As William Barclay writes of Jesus, ‘I am the light that never goes out.’ Staggering! And not just light ‘of the world,’ but light ‘for the world.’ As it says in Isaiah 9:2,

“The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.” 

As the apostle Paul declares, “God who said, let light shine out of darkness’ has shone in our hearts to give us the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ’ (2 Cor. 4:6).  Jesus Christ, the Morningstar, shines out during the darkest and the coldest time of the night.  He is the brilliant one. He is the dazzling one. He is the chandelier of heaven!  He is clothed in garments of light. His face shines brighter than the sun. His eyes are like flames of fire, with burning desire to do the will of the Father!

Jesus calls us to follow him and be the “light of the world” (Matt. 5:14-16). He calls us to reflect the light of his life to those around us!  Those who love the light come into the Light so that all will be exposed.  Nothing is hidden from God.  Light reveals and exposes all things.  There is no such thing as a “private moment.” 

The true acid test of whether we are being the light of the world, is whether or not we love one another.  I John 2:10, “Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble.”

As the IPC global family, we want to grow in radical love for Christ, love for one another and love for the lost and broken of our world.  One of the best ways that we can love well is through a lifestyle of prayer! 

All true intercession is born out of love. May God grant to us the grace to grow together in Love-motivated prayer. As Dr. Alvin VanderGriend writes, “Love motivated prayer is a love-motivated plea to a love-giving God, on behalf of love-needy persons who live in a love-starved world”

Let’s ask the Father to “Light up every nation” with the brightness of his glorious Son. Come Lord Jesus and ‘tabernacle’ in our midst as we mobilize love-motivated prayer across nations, denominations, and generations for the fulfillment of the great commission!

Dr. Jason Hubbard – IPC Executive Coordinator

“Our Father in Heaven, your Kingdom Come…” -Matt 6:10

This second petition of the Lord’s prayer began to explode in me in our recent gathering in Hong Kong, July 22-27^th. Several thousand Chinese came to pray in unity together as family from Taiwan, Macau, Hong Kong, and mainland China.

We joined with these precious saints to seek First God’s kingdom in the midst of a swirl of political chaos, turmoil, and increasing violence. Many protests have been launched against the Chinese government asking for democracy, religious freedom, and autonomy in the city.  Several times during our gatherings, we cried out, “Father Your Kingdom Come, Your Will be done, on earth as it is in heaven,” with a great sense of urgency. To pray this second petition of the Lord’s prayer is one of the most radical things we can pray as human beings. It turns out that in this petition we are asking God to bring about the most massive revolution imaginable. 

In using the term Kingdom of God or Kingdom of Heaven the Hebrew writers were not just thinking of a place over which God would rule, but rather it was a way of expressing, “God is acting as King.” The Hebrew prophets longed for the day when God would impose his kingly rule over all of creation, ushered in by God’s Messiah, ‘the anointed one.’  On the final day, the ‘Day of the Lord,’ God would judge human wickedness, and wipe away all evil, forever reversing the effects of the fall of man! He would vindicate those who trusted in him and fill them with his Holy Spirit, bringing about the restoration of all things according to God’s original design! 

Jesus asks to pray this way “Your Kingdom Come.”  We are given the amazing privilege of inviting God’s glorious future, heaven invading and occupying earth! Not only is God’s kingdom coming, but Jesus declared in Mark 1:15, “the time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand.” The term at hand literally means, ‘come near.’ Jesus means that the reign of God, God acting as King has come near!

Does Jesus mean it is about to arrive and therefore we should get ready?  Or does Jesus mean it has arrived and we should grab hold of it and enter in?! I believe he means both!  It is here right now -already- and it is yet to come!  Jesus is announcing that in him and because of him the future reign of God has now broken into the present! 

When Jesus healed the sick, cast out devils, raised the dead, calmed the winds and the waves, multiplied bread and fish to feed the hungry, championed the poor and the needy, filled ordinary people in and with the Holy Spirit- that is the Kingdom – the blessing of the future breaking into the present! And yet Jesus also says several times that the Kingdom was still to come, sharing with his disciples several parables to be waiting and watching – ready for his return! Therefore, in Jesus, this glorious, redeeming, restoring ‘reign of God’ is already -not yet!

In another sense it might be compared to ‘veiled’ versus ‘visible.’  The already – not yet is a matter of ‘hidden’ versus ‘manifest.’ The really good news is that in Jesus, the Kingdom is already among us but often in a veiled and hidden form. When the King is present, so is the Kingdom! Indeed, the Kingdom is present only where Jesus Christ is King! Certainly, the King is here- right where you and I are – in our everyday lives, in our homes, at our workplaces, in our hospitals- and yet just behind that thin veil of hiddenness. At any point God could pull back the curtain and we would all fall on our faces and worship!

One of the interesting keys to understanding this prayer is to see how Jesus uses the verbs, ‘hallow, come, be done, give, forgive, deliver.’  Surprisingly the verbs are in the imperative. They are commands not requests. To pray the Lord’s prayer is to command not to request, “Be done - your will, Hallowed – be your name, Come - Your Kingdom” This may seem a bit audacious, but this is how Jesus taught us to pray. These verbs are also in the passive voice, which means only God can hallow his name, bring his kingdom, do his will!

The prayer is not what many believers have thought it to be, ‘let us hallow your name.’ ‘let us bring your kingdom,’ ‘let us do your will.,’ important as those things may be. Rather the prayer is, ‘Father you do it! You hallow your name on earth as it is in heaven. You bring your kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. You do your will on earth as it is in heaven!

Professor Stendahl of Harvard university reminds us that the prayer, “asks for the establishment of the kingdom of God, by God for us, not by us for God.” We are asking God to do what only he can do!

So then how ought we to pray, “Your Kingdom Come?” Of course, with each of these simple phrases you can include the who, when, where, of places, circumstance, situations and peoples as the Spirit leads! It might sound something like this:

“Father before the coming Day of the Lord, Revealwhat is invisible, Manifest what is hidden!”

“Father Unveil your Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.”

“Father let your Kingdom come in me, so it can come through me!” 

“Father act as King!  Extend your sceptre, reign and rule on earth as you do in heaven! May your Kingdom be established, be expanded, and be embraced!”

“King of Kings manifest your splendor, power and glory on the earth! Break through any darkness King Jesus! Make wrong things right! Heal the sick, bind principalities and powers, raise the dead, free the captives, reconcile enemies, reverse the effects of sin, restore broken humanity, Come and Reign without Rival on the earth!”

And at the end of each of these prayers as you add specific places, situations, peoples as the target of your prayers, you can also add, “So that’ your name might be hallowed! ‘So that’ your name might be honoredand treasured!  ‘So that,’ your name might be treated as infinitely valuable here on earth (in your home, school, church, city, nation, etc.)  as it is in heaven!

Come Thy Kingdom!

Dr. Jason Hubbard – IPC Executive Coordinator

Global Outreach Day is a Global Missions Network that calls the Church worldwide to focus on praying and sharing the Gospel with the un-churched in the month of May each year.

This coming year, May 2020 the vision is to mobilise 100 million people in united prayer. 

We are calling this initiative Go2020!

Already, Christians in 250,000 churches across 140 nations are part of this global outreach strategy to pray and witness towards the fulfilment of God's great commission.

Can you imagine with me - God calling 100 million Christians to united prayer for the global harvest?! 

We know that Jesus said that the harvest is ready, but the workers are few. Pray then to the Lord of the harvest to send forth laborers into the harvest fields of the nations. (Luke 10:2 ESV Paraphrased)

Would you join us in praying for Go2020?!

Together, we can reach 1 billion people with the Gospel!

For more info and to sign up, visitwww.go2020.world/prayer

Dr Jason Hubbard - IPC Executive Coordinator

We are excited to announce the North East Asia Prayer Council gathering in Hong Kong, July 22nd, with Gloria Au Yeung and her amazing team.

We would be honoured to have friends of IPC from around the world to join us and also if you could help us get the word out to invite key prayer leaders that you know from Korea, Japan, Hong Kong/China, and Mongolia.

People that attend are also encouraged to stay with us for the Oneness Gathering with David Demian and his team from China, July 24-27th.

My heart for this is to see a true spirit of John 17 unity and oneness grow between these beautiful nations and prayer movements.

Dr Jason Hubbard - Executive Coordinator

International Prayer Connect

As we approach Pentecost Sunday, June 9^th, 2019, let’s ask the Lord Jesus for a fresh ‘infilling’ of the person and presence of the Holy Spirit. One of the keys to a powerful intercessory prayer life is ‘praying in the Spirit.’ Dutch Sheets states boldly, “Without a doubt the greatest single key to successful intercession is learning to co-operate with the Holy Spirit allowing him to be all he was sent to be in us!”

 As John the Baptist stated,

“This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’ ³¹ I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.” ³² And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. ³³ I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes in and with the Holy Spirit.” (John 1:30-33)

God-the-Son in our flesh who comes to take away the sin of the world, is also the One who comes to baptize in and with the Holy Spirit.  The two works belong together.  When these two titles are kept together the gospel is really ‘good news.’ Jesus-to-the-rescue takes away sin, and then baptizes humans in and with the Spirit of God. 

The term baptize simply means to ‘immerse.’   The Greek text uses both ‘in’ and ‘with,’ the Holy Spirit. The ’in’ relates to that which we are immersed into, and the ‘with’ speaks of that which saturates us or literally, overwhelms us.  Therefore, Jesus the Baptist dunks us in and drenches us with the very life of the Triune God!

Dallas Willard uses the word ‘engulfment’ to describe this experience.  Jesus promises an engulfment in the Spirit of God.  He promises to clothe us, or dress us with ‘power from on High.’ Jesus of Nazareth, God-in-flesh, redeems us from the power and grip of sin and then baptizes us, immerses us, soaks us, dresses us, saturates us, drenches us, and marinates us with the very Life of the Living God!

When the text says that Jesus ‘baptizes,’ it is in the present tense.  In New Testament Greek the tenses of verbs speak of the time of action and the kind of action.  The ‘present’ tense speaks of continuous action, literally ‘to keep on.’ Jesus is the one who keeps on baptizing in and with the Holy Spirit. In other words, He comes to keep on soaking us, keep on drenching us, keep on immersing us, keep on filling us with the Holy Spirit, until every fiber of our being radiates with the very presence of the Living God!

We see this confirmed in the story of the early church! Jesus promises, “in a few days you will be baptized in and with the Holy Spirit not many days from now” (Acts 1:5).  On the day of Pentecost, ‘they were all filled with the Holy Spirit”(Acts 2:4).  And then a few chapters later in Acts 4:31, the text says, “the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 4:31).

Paul says that it is God’s will that we ‘be filled with the Spirit.’ Not just once, twice, but over and over again! 

“Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. ¹⁸ And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit,” (Eph. 5:17-18)

Whereas wine can ruin one’s judgment leading to debauchery, in contrast ‘being filled with the Spirit,’ leads to empowerment, self-control and a life exhibiting the fruits of the Holy Spirit! It is the nature of Jesus to keep on giving his life to us.  He fills us and keeps on filling us in stages, ‘grace upon grace’ as John puts it, transforming us from, ‘glory to glory’ as Paul teaches us (2 Cor. 3:18).

Barriers

I believe there are two common reasons why many do not experience the fullness of the Spirit in their lives.  The first is fear.  We fear that if we really open up to Spirit we might be swept up into something beyond our control.  The fact it is, Jesus is beyond our control.  We are talking about the Living Lord Jesus coming to occupy and possess us by the Holy Spirit!  Out of fear we can settle for a form of religion devoid of power.  We try to domesticate the One who is an All-Consuming Fire and settle for the predictable even if it is no longer satisfying. 

The second reason is the lack of hunger.  We think we have all we need.  We are content with what God has done for us, and we no longer come to God desperately needy and poor in Spirit. 

However, the reality is that we need the life of God ever-increasing, ever flowing like a river out of our innermost being (John 7:37-39).  We need to come more and more under the sway and influence of the Holy Spirit! 

We need to be invaded, and permeated, saturated, and flooded with the life of the Spirit in every aspect of our lives!  From the very beginning, God has revealed his passion to give his Very Self to the world. 

The Holy One intends to fill the whole created order with his Glory!  The filling of the Holy Spirit makes fully alive, fully human!  We are finally what we were created to be when filled with and animated by the life of the Triune God! 

In Luke 11, Jesus writes,

“And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?  If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

The Father is a good father and gives good gifts to his children.  In our life of prayer we come to him in dependence recognizing we can’t do anything apart from Jesus.

We need HELP! As Alvin VanderGriend states, “The Father is in the prayer-assistance business. He has appointed his Son, Jesus to be our enthroned prayer assistant, and his Holy Spirit to be our indwelling prayer assistant.” Jesus is telling us to ask and keep on asking, seek and keep on seeking, knock and keep on knocking for the great Helper, the third person of the Trinity!  

So this Jesus comes as a Lamb- to- the- rescue to take away the sin of the world. And He comes to baptize again and again and again in and with the Holy Spirit.  And whenever he does “there enters into our helplessness and fatigue, ‘a surge of new life,’ and we are freshly empowered, “to do the undoable, to face the un-faceable, to bear the unbearable.” (William Barclay)

Let’s return to the Holy Spirit, turning away from our own works to a total dependence on the Holy Spirit!

Dr Jason Hubbard - Executive Coordinator

International Prayer Connect