"Cleanse the Land" 8-14-08

Good morning, Lord Jesus. I lift up my face, open up my heart, and speak out Your name. I watch and wait in the silence of contemplative prayer to center my thoughts and ground my day in my relationship with You. ... "Praise, O heavens, His people, worship Him, all you gods. For He will avenge the blood of His children, and take vengeance on His adversaries; He will repay those who hate Him, and cleanse the land for His people" (Deuteronomy 32:43). Your heart is to cleanse the land for Your people. And one of Your means of grace is to cleanse the land through Your people, through confession and repentance for the generations of disobedience, violence, idolatry, and sin that defile the people and defile the land. To prepare the way for the revival and awakening of the hearts of Your people, You send Your forerunners with authority in the power of Your name to pull down the idols, break down the false altars, reclaim the high places, and dismantle the strongholds for You to open up Your heavens and pour out Your Spirit (2 Kings 23:22:1-20; Daniel 9:1-19; Nehemiah 9:2). We prepare the way of the Lord in our hearts and in our land. "It shall be said, 'Build up, build up, prepare the way, remove every obstruction from My people's way" (Isaiah 57:14). "See, I am sending My messenger ahead of You, who will prepare You way, who will prepare Your way; the voice of one crying in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the Lord, make His paths straight' " (Mark 1:2-3). Before Your first coming, You moved upon the hearts of Your people to prepare the way. Before Your second coming, You are moving on the hearts of Your people to prepare the way. And in Your desire to come into our hearts and dwell in our land every day, You move on the hearts of Your people to prepare the way. So by Your grace, we humble our hearts before You in repentance and lift up our hearts to You in faith, asking You to cleanse our hearts and our land to prepare for the fullness of Your Presence, that we "may be filled with all the fullness of God" (Ephesians 3:19). Today, You are leading a few of us on a prayer journey to an old farm in northern Kentucky not far south of the Ohio River where it's said the chains of slaves still hang on the wall of the cellar. Forgive us, Lord, for the sins of our generations in this land and all remaining manifestations of those sins in our hearts and our land today. In preparing the way of the Lord in days of Ezra and Nehemiah, they "stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their ancestors" (Nehemiah 9:2). So will we today as we stand in gap with prayers of identificational repentance and prayers to receive Your mercy and the cleansing of our land. We thank You for the Freedom Railroad that ran along this same land through these same generations. While some held the sin of slavery in their hearts, others heeded the call to bind up the brokenhearted and set the captives free. In these days of preparation, You are striking the earth with arrows of Your truth, You are breaking off the curse and releasing Your blessing, as we each do our part by Your grace to prepare for Your coming in glory and power. Today, let this gate of unrighteousness come down and Your gate of righteousness be lifted up. "Go through, go through the gates, prepare the way for the people; build up, build up the highway, clear it of stones, lift up a (banner) over the peoples" (Isaiah 62:10). With cleansed hearts and a cleansed land, we welcome the coming of the Lord. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Friends, please keep us in prayer today on our prayer journey up Highway 68. Rob Poindexter and I will be leading in a time of worship and the Word together with intercessors and watchmen from that area this evening at 7 pm at the Lighthouse Community Church near May's Lick, Kentucky. I join with you in prayers for the cleansing of your land for the coming of the glory of the Lord. Come to The Fountain! This Friday Night 8/15 -- the 3rd Friday night of every month. We're going to have a baptism! This is our ministry's monthly, city-wide gathering of the body of Christ from every tradition and stream to worship the Lord in Sprit and in Truth. Come drink deeply from the Living Waters in the freedom of the Spirit. 7 pm in the chapel at Centenary. Come early for intercessory prayer at 6:30. All are welcome. Call for details: 859-422-1794 or send a note to Marilyn at DirOfMinistries@aol.com Order my book, Morning by Morning, and our Ministry Resources at: www.shop.messiah-ministries.org Subscribe free by email to Messiah Ministries -- MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord ... Ministering the Healing Love of God" www.messiah-ministries.org 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502