Prayer for Writing and the Power of YES – Episode #693

Podcast: Download (8.3MB)

Subscribe: RSS

Podcast (podcast-mp3): Download (5.8MB)

Subscribe: RSS

Prayer for Writing and the Power of YES
Episode #693
03/15/2020

Martha:
We’re having a meeting this morning in front of a fire, on this lovely mountain cold day. And this meeting is for prayer and listening prayer and praise.

John and I are leaving today for a fairly long retreat of two weeks for the writing; my part is the writing of the book of the bride, which is such an enormous task. I constantly say to the Lord, “Why on earth did you pick me?” And He says, “Because I did!”

And really from 1988, and it was the 40th anniversary of the birth of Israel, for some, that has a connection somehow, I have been passionate to be the friend of the Bridegroom and lay down my life for the Bride.

And now it’s coming to the formation of putting it in book, a book. I have, I couldn’t count the number of files I have on the bride, of insight. And… But the Lord spoke to me and said, “It’s finished!” In His will and His purpose and His power, the book is finished. I don’t know how many, how long it will be until I reach that finishing line.

But I do want to ask you, those of you who are hearing this, to please pray for this book and for me. I’ve never encountered such warfare against a writing as I have this one. You can imagine that this would be the ultimate hate of Satan because it is the destiny of every Believer and the, and the fulfillment of Jesus Christ of His, His dominion and throne. So it’s, it’s important.

Some years ago I asked for prayer and I asked for fasting. I, I don’t know that I have that calling to say it this time, but I think some forty-five or fifty people prayed for me when I went away and that’s the time that the Lamb came in the room and I experienced Him. And I always credit it to the power of prayer and fasting. And that, that… It’s not for me to get it but for me to get it for you, the church – for me to see and touch that spiritual realm in this, in the writing of this book. I want to see the Bride. I want to see the Bridegroom. And that’s what I’m asking for. And when I’ve asked Him to see… I asked Him, “I want to see the cross,” and He let me see it twice. And that’s in the book on forgiveness.

But I’m just, just asking for commitment to pray and listen and we’re going to, when, when I finish this recording, we’re going to do some warfare. Well, let’s do it now. I, I know… I’m going to declare and you’re going to agree, there are seven of us here, that the works of the enemy are destroyed. Hebrews 3:11 or something like that. Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil. And so we are declaring together that the works of the enemy against this writing, against us, against you and John and me and everyone, that those plans are destroyed. We have power. In the name of Jesus, we have been given authority over all the power of the enemy and we take that authority and declare that we are, we are living in a fortress, we are living in a, under the wings of the Lord and we are safe and secure and unapproachable. Amen.

John:
Amen.

Martha:
I want to read from Ephesians in the Passion. Ephesians 2 starting in verse 7:

“Throughout the coming ages we will be the visible display of the infinite, limitless riches of his grace and kindness, which was showered upon us in Jesus Christ.”

I want us to be under this shower. It’s not a sprinkling; it’s a shower of grace and kindness.

(Verse 8) “For it was only through this wonderful grace that we believed in him. Nothing we did could ever earn this salvation, for it was the gracious gift from God that brought us to Christ!” 

Then to verse 20:

“You are rising like the perfectly fitted stones of the temple; and your lives are being built up together upon the ideal foundation laid by the apostles and prophets, and best of all, you are connected to the Head Cornerstone of the building, the Anointed One, Jesus Christ [himself!]”

And I got that vividly this week. It’s interesting that this verse has come up here. I was visiting with our dear friend and pastor who’s helping John with his manuscript and me with mine, and she was saying some nice things about John and I said, “You know, John and I are two living stones that God carved and sanded and formed and, and so that we, we fit.” And there’re a number of people in my life that I feel we fit together because we’ve been, we’ve allowed the carving and the molding and the wrecking… Huh?

John:
Chiseling.

Martha:
Chiseling is the right word… with each other. But this is interesting because we’re being formed as the church individually but for the cooperate bride.

Joan brought me this quote from someone and I have sobbed over it. You may, it may not hit you like it hit me but it hit me and I was wrecked.

It’s a friend of R.T. Kendall. “If you could live your life over again, what would you change?” And the man said, “I would believe that only God can turn water into wine.”

If we believed that only God! See sometimes I think I can change things and sometimes I try and sometimes I fail (laughs), because only God can turn water into wine. And that has just wrecked me.

John:
I always go back to the “Effort is blasphemy.” And I can’t tell you how many times I’ve attempted, I’ve tried, I’ve tried to, if not be the miracle, you know, bring it in, you know, be the, the responsibility of, of bringing the miracle in and, you know, it’s just, that’s just garbage. It’s just… It’s… He is the only One. So that’s why when you read that, I, I wrote it down immediately. I loved it. I absolutely loved it. He is the miracle worker. He is the one. He’s the only one.

Martha:
And we are the water and we are emptied out to be filled with the wine, which speaks of joy.

John:
It’s one of those simple statements that as long as you, you kind of ruminate on it, it’ll just kind of develop and evolve and…

Martha:
And take hold of you.

I‘ve often in the past told the story of my father, who was adopted by a French family in Louisiana, and came down on the famous orphan train to be adopted by this lovely family. And they, they loved him but my father was always looking for his real family. He never found them. But he missed his life in one sense, because he didn’t recognize that God had given him the best. And though it wasn’t what he wanted or what his heart longed for, it was God’s best.

And my daughter knows that story and, and she was doing a class on being creative and she said… She was going over my life with me. She was kind of interviewing me about my life and some of it was very hard in my childhood. One is that my mother died when I was fourteen. And… But those were, those were very difficult years and she, she said to me this statement, boiling it down to such a simplicity, it’s staggering. She said, “Papa (my father’s name for her) Papa said no to life but you said yes. In spite of your suffering, you said, you simply said, ‘Yes, I will live.’”

And it’s so interesting more, the word is more than interesting, it’s so phenomenal, so holy that it can be boiled down to that state. And life comes at us. This was my struggle through the long illness that the Lord allowed in my life as a wilderness. The thing I had to keep professing is that I will live, “I will want to live, I will, I will hang on.” And one of my doctors said to me “You could have died, Martha.” And I knew it well because I could feel the, the, the attack of death.

But that is the attack and it has to be so secure in you and me to say yes to Him. That’s an unconditional yes. And the no is a, is an entire rejection. And it’s, we do it. We do it. And, but we have to be really aware that the question, God’s question of our commitment, our surrender, our laying down our life, all of that—the answer is yes or no.

And I was working with someone recently and she, she has just, just has not come through to surrender. And she said, “What, what is wrong with me? I, I try and I pray and I get and I listen and I hear.” And I said, “You know the truth. God reveals it to you. But you never make the choice.”

It’s all it boils down to for you and me. God will sustain our choice either direction, because the choice is sacred to Him. And so, it’s so easy – or is it? Maybe it isn’t easy to say no. To say yes is safety, provision, fulfillment, success. Everything is in the yes, because when you say yes to God, you free Him to do for you what all that He can do which is everything.

So your simple yes, and then as Jennifer said in the podcast this week, put your feet on the ground and act on it; that’s when you know you’ve, you’ve got it. It’s… It would be simple enough to just write down your yes and look at your life and look at the scriptures where there’s a yes. Jesus certainly said a huge yes to come and give His life.