Day 11

Wow, I really enjoy Saturday Sabbath in the Prayer Room!

We spent an hour in the prayer room soaking to start the day. Then, we met together to watch the Encountering God service from last night. Mike Bickle taught about the prophetic ministry in the end times out of Joel 2: 28-32. (I have to give a shout out to my dad, Laird Pearcy, here because this is one of his life verses!) He talked about how we see two kinds of prophets in the Bible: signs and wonders prophets like Elijah and Elisha and end-times prophets like Daniel and Ezekiel. But, these will come together in people in the end-times prophets. So, God will release a prophetic word about something that He is going to do along with a sign in the heaven that is going to take place. The end-times prophet would declare both and if people didn't listen right away, they would probably want to reconsider once the sign in the heavens appeared!

Mike also talked about the deep connection between prayer and the release of the prophetic spirit. The incredible prophetic ministry that Joel is describing is going to occur in the context of the Global Prayer Movement. And the Holy Spirit will be poured out on all flesh, or every believer who is living as a bond servant to God. As Mike said, this will include men and women, young and old, and Jew and Gentile. All that is required is responsiveness to God. He further described responsiveness as:

• Wholeheartedness: pursuing Jesus with prayer and fasting
  
• Living righteously: walking in active obedience to God, not in compromise
  
• Humility: stewarding the anointing with humility, not drawing attention to self or creating hype
  
• Scripture: honoring the Scriptures and not endorsing revelations that go beyond the Scriptures
  
• Finances: properly using finances and not living extravagantly
  
• Bearing the stigma: refusing the fear of man
  

Mike summed things up by reminding us that it's all about Jesus. Loving Him is primary. Then, we want to help people. But, we should always be making much of Jesus. I was really encouraged by this message and it challenged me to keep asking God to give me dreams, visions and prophetic encounters. My heart is really stirred up to grow in the gift of prophecy. God also stirred my heart to pray more specifically for Rockford and to ask God to give us increased prophetic revelation about what God wants to do in our area. That way we can contend more specifically.

I am continuing to enjoy spending extended time in the prayer room. I actually appreciate having more time today and tomorrow because 4 hours seems to go so quickly on weekdays! I am daily adding to my list of Scriptures that I want to meditate on, books that I want to read and study guides that I want to review. I guess anything that I don't finish; I will just take with me and continue at home. J

Also, for those of you wondering about my Sabbath, it was great! I slept in, hung out in the prayer room for a few hours, and then went with my roommate Jessi to make soap at her friend's house in Atchison, KS. I must say that it was a lot of fun and kind of made me want to start making my own soap. We'll see if that actually happens once I return to working. I also saw some chickens and lots of beautiful fall colors. It was a great day!