Day of Consecration

Today was our day of consecration. We spent five hours in the prayer room devoted to consecrating the next 12 weeks unto God. We had to pray about specific things, like what we were going to fast while we are here for the whole 12 weeks, and what we would fast on Tuesdays, which is the staff fasting day. We also had to do a word study on the word 'consecrate.'

There were many cool definitions of the word 'consecrate' or 'consecration.' Such as, to purify, devote. My favorite was this, a setting of gems, to crown. First, a gem has to be cut, formed, and then set. And then, to crown. Wow. This is what I got out of it:

-When consecrated, a king reigns from that moment on. Leaving behind un-kingly things. Choosing only that which serves the kingdom. The consecrated one sits on a throne. The consecrated wears a crown. The consecrated has legal right in kingdom. Legal right to call forth warriors defending kingdom. To make righteous decisions. To consecrate time, is a legal agreement with God. To focus wholly on the king, to be his servant.-

We had EGS tonight, focus on end-times. It was so powerful. Incredibly powerful, and convicted me in a lot of areas. The teaching was done by Wes Hall. We talked about the city of Babylon, the real city of Babylon, that is going to offer immediate satisfaction, and how we will chose, and justify, those satisfactions over God. Here are a few things that struck me in the notes:

~The book of Revelation is a call for the church to overcome in the midst of the darkest hour of human history as the rage of Satan, the wickedness of man and the temporal judgments of God are released on the earth in fullness during the final 3 1/2 years of human history before Jesus returns.
~Rightly understood, this prophecy is designed to fill us with great hope and confidence in the victory that the church will enjoy both in the midst of the Great Tribulation and for 1000 years afterwards as we rule and reign with Christ, and the age to come.
~Revelation does not picture the people of God escaping the tribulation, nor defeated by it. Revelation paints a picture of a glorious bride, VICTORIOUS in the midst of great trouble and worshipping her heavenly Bridegroom.
~The Lord will use this time of trouble to purify His Bride. At the end of the story, Jesus does NOT come to deliver a defeated, bedraggled bride, but a people, which has made itself ready to meet its King.
~To be forewarned, is to be forearmed.
~3 primary, these are just the primary, ways the enemy will try to defeat the church. It is important to not only know our weapons, but the nature of the assault.
*Seduction. The book of Revelation describes the culmination of lawlessness in the description of Babylon the Great-a wealthy city that will exercise GLOBAL INFLUENCE at the end of the age. Harlotry is attractive. It is deceptive. Seduction of wealth, power and pleasure (there was A LOT on this, it's worth listening to the teaching for all of it.) We have to deal with our 'secret' issues now, because in the end times, when we can so easily feed our secret desires, we will lose ourselves to what we are feeding. Even conceivable and legitimate pleasures will be offered in abundance...deception, again. But so will the things we consider horrific. Gross immorality and sexual perversion will be acceptable behavior. The enemy tries to offer us shortcuts to what God has already promised us (wealth, power, pleasure).
*Tribulation. God actually endorses the tribulation. We are told to endure it to the end, not escape it. (Matt 5:10-12; 24:9; Lk 21:12-19; 2 Tim 3:12) He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son (Rev. 21:7)
*Accusation. Read Zechariah 3:1-10. One of the enemies primary strategies against God's people has been to plant lies (accusations) in the hearts of believers concerning God's character and the value of redeemed humanity to God. The Devil wants us to believe the God is not a God of love. Accusations about His character, against His love and goodness, against His power and Sovereignty, and against His perfect leadership of human history. The Devil tries to convince us that God is not in control. And accusation about our value to God. He wants us to cause our hearts to despair and give up by telling us that God does not accept us and the blood of Jesus is insufficient to atone for our sin.
Our victory is in the blood of the Lamb. Read the picture above, too. The King of Glory WOULD shed His blood for me. That will cause us to flourish. Also in the Word of their testimony...agreement with what God says about His power, His plan, and His promises, demolish the lies of the enemy.
~The enemy's strategy CAN ONLY WORK IF our home is in this age. If it's in this world, and not in God's kingdom.

So, that's a lot. But it's what is the most powerful thing on my heart. Hope it makes you think about some things! It made me!