Run Like Elijah to the Place of Battle 9-2-09

Good morning, Lord Jesus. You are Lord of the heavens and Lord of the earth. Be Lord of my life and Lord of my day. ... "In a little while the heavens grew black with clouds and wind; there was a heavy rain. Ahab rode off and went to Jezreel. But the hand of the Lord was on Elijah; he girded up his loins and ran in front of Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel" (1 Kings 18:45-46). "Prayer prepares the way for the battle. Our prayers run ahead of the enemy to the place of battle to declare the victory of the Lord before the battle even begins. The hand of the Lord was on Elijah and the Spirit of Elijah prepares the way of the Lord. The Lord's hand is stretched out in our day, in this generation, to prepare the way of the Lord in our hearts and in the earth. He is anointing those who will travail in prayer to birth the promises of God, praying fervently, passionately, tenaciously for the coming of the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven...." Words like this came flowing out of my spirit and out of my mouth last night during our Prayer Revival in central Kentucky. These were all words I never planned to say, but they were burning in my spirit and they felt like tongues of fire as I spoke them. I never made it to the message I had planned to speak from the next chapter of the story of Elijah. As soon as I said "the hand of the Lord was on Elijah; he girded up his lions and ran in front of Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel," I had a vision in my spirit of Elijah supernaturally running past and then ahead of Ahab in his chariot trying to outrun the rushing rain. I had wondered before what this part of the story could mean about Elijah running ahead of Ahab, and suddenly, Your revelation and insight came to me in the flash of a moment and I felt I knew at least part of what this means: It speaks of a day to come. You brought to remembrance my trip through the land of Israel and that the Jezreel Valley, off to the east of Mount Carmel, is the Valley of Armageddon. "Har Meggido" from Hebrew means "Mount Meggido" and it stands in that valley where wars have been fought since the beginning of time. They say the city of Meggido has been built and destroyed at least twenty-five times. It's probably the most strategic battlefield on the face of the earth. Generals who have fought there include Gideon, Deborah and Barak, Saul, Jehu, and Josiah. Other Generals who fought in the valley of Jezreel include Napoleon, Ptolemy, Saladin, and Allenby, among many others. And it will be the sight of the final battle to come. Demonic spirits sent from Satan, his antichrist, and his false prophet will gather "the kings of the whole world, to assemble them for battle on the great day of God the Almighty... at the place that in Hebrew is called Harmagedon" (Revelation 16:12-16). But though the kings of the earth, deceived and confused by the enemy of our souls, will gather together to try to destroy Israel in a worldwide display of the destruction of the covenant promises of God, You will return in glory and power to destroy the one who seeks to destroy the people of Your covenant. "And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will destroy with the breath of His mouth, annihilating him by the manifestation of His coming" (2 Thessalonians 2:9). The lawless one, the antichrist, who seeks to lead the nations astray will be destroyed by the manifest glory of Your presence at Your second coming. A generation standing firm in the faith through persecution and tribulation will caught up with You in the skies to see it. "For the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel's call and with the sound of God's trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage one another with these words" (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18). On that day, the Day of the Lord, the great battle of Armageddon will never be fought. It will end before it even begins in the light and the fire of the glory of Your coming. We'll see it from the sky, where You've called us up high with You to see Your victory over the enemy of our souls and the adversary of Your Kingdom. And at the same time, as Your Word declared long ago, the people of Israel will look and behold the coming of their Messiah. "Then the Lord will appear over them, and His arrow will go forth like lightning; the Lord God will sound the trumpet and march forth.... On that day the Lord God will save them for they are the flock of His people; for like the jewels of a crown, they shall shine on His land" (Zechariah 9:14-16). "And I will pour out My Spirit of compassion and supplication on the House of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that, when they look on the One whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over Him, as one weeps over a first born.... On that day a Fountain shall be opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and impurity. On that day, says the Lord of hosts, I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, so that they shall be remembered no more; and also I shall remove from the land the prophets and the unclean spirit" (Zechariah 12:10 - 13:2). On that day at last, the people of Your eternal covenant will look up in their darkness moment of what seems as the final solution of the evil one for their immanent and ultimate destruction and see the One whom they have pierced coming in the mercy and might of Your glory for their salvation. As with one face they will look up see their Savior come and as with one voice they will shout and proclaim, "Blessed is the One who comes in the name of the Lord!" (Matthew 23:39) "And so all Israel will be saved; as it is written, 'Out of Zion will come the Deliverer; He will banish ungodliness from Jacob. And this is My covenant with them, when I take away their sins' " (Romans 11:26-27). In this hour You are awakening Your people to pray. Your Holy Spirit is anointing us and empowering us to pray like Elijah and run ahead of the enemy to the place of battle, declaring Your victory before it's ever fought. Warriors run to the sound of the battle, and we will be warriors in prayer who run to the battle even before the sound of battle begins. It's true for that final battle. And it's true for every battle we may face between now and then -- in our own lives, in the lives of the ones we love, and in the lives of those of the nations You put on our heart with the burden of prayer and intercession. In the Spirit of Elijah that prepares the way of the Lord, Your mighty right hand is upon us and Your Holy Spirit is within us to "gird up our loins" and run in the power of prayer to take our stand and see the victory of our Lord. You are anointing Your people who are called by Your name in this day to prepare the way of the Lord, in our hearts first and in all the earth. You sent John the Baptist in the Spirit of Elijah to prepare the way of the Lord for Your first coming, and I believe You are doing the same in our day for Your second coming (Matthew 17:10-13). You are healing us, freeing us, and empowering us to lay aside every weight that would press us down and every sin that trip us up, so that we can "run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus" (Hebrews 12:1-2). In the Spirit of Elijah, as we "wait for the Lord" in prayer, we will "mount up like with wings like eagles, run and not be weary, walk and not faint" (Isaiah 40:31). We will be victorious in the battles that already belong to You, "for the battle is the Lord's" (1 Samuel 17:47). And every day will be the day of the Lord for us -- "the great and terrible day of the Lord" -- great for us who are being saved by Your grace and terrible for the enemy of our souls. "And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says the Lord of hosts.... Lo, I will send you the prophet Elijah before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes...." (Malachi 4:3-5). Lord, keep stretching out Your hand, sending Your Spirit, preparing our hearts and the way of the Lord, as You anoint us and empower us to gird up our loins and run in the Spirit to place of battle, where the victory is already won. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Friends, I know my morning prayer have been a little longer and a little deeper these past few days. I think the Lord is doing something deep in me during this Prayer Revival, and I pray for Him to be doing a deep work in you, for the revival of your spirit and the people of your region. Thank you for joining me in the journey of prayer and this great adventure with God. As always, please discern and test all that I share, remembering that I write these morning prayer before I've had my morning coffee! "Do not despise the words of prophets, but test everything; hold fast to what is good" (1 Thessalonians 5:20-21). As we say in Texas, where I'm from, "take the meat and leave the bone." Please keep us in prayer as I'm leading a Prayer Revival this week each night at 7pm through Wednesday at Westside Community United Methodist Church south of Danville, KY. If you're in the area, come join us if you can and pray for us if you can't. We're expecting a major spiritual breakthrough in Kentucky this year, and I pray the same for your region and nation. I think I'll be sharing many of these same themes of prayer and revival when I'm ministering across the Country of Estonia in Northeastern Europe in October and would appreciate your prayers or preparation for us now and all the Lord may desire to do. God bless you! Our Monday Night Prayer for Israel Group is hosting a Worship & Praise Service this Friday Sept 4 at 7 PM at Pathway Church, 2601 Clays Mill Rd in Lexington, KY (formerly called Southland Evangelical Methodist Church). Pastor Krista Hampton from River of Life Church in Paris will bring a message with the River of Life Praise Team; Hebrew Music by Vicki Welch, Shofar by Belinda Sanchez. Please come and spread the word! Contact Doris McCray for details: bndmccray@windstream.net Order my books, Free to Be Like Jesus and Morning by Morning and our other Messiah Ministries Resources or Contribute to Our Ministry on-line at: www.shop.messiah-ministries.org Subscribe by email to me at 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 Devotional Archives at: www.morningbymorning.blogspot.com