Church before awakening

_{"The Sleeping Beauty"}

© Björn Griesbach arthaus

Our Sleeping Beauty

..a calling for the
Man/Woman
of Prayer..

 

Eph 5:25
Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the Logos, so that he might present the church to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.

Learning from the former awakenings

Every awakening came up with a deep thirst and hunger for measure, holiness and close relationship / intimacy with Christ. Every awakening started with dissatisfied persons who asked the Lord for change. They were hungry and thirsty, basically permeated with the worldly things and routine. And "permeated" meant: they were "sick and tired" of the way they lived. They had a feeling that this was not good. So. They were starting the seeking and the prayers.
I won't ever suggest that Gd Almighty starts a new era BY our prayer. But He is merciful - and we have petitions and pleas, and we have possibility to bring them before Him.

With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints...
Ephesians 6:18
First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men.
1 Timothy 2:1
..in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
Philippians 4:6

And yes, Christ said:

If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Rivers of living water will brim and spill out of the depths of anyone who believes in me this way, just as the Scripture says.
_{Jn 7:37 MSG version}

It means that we have found the 1.2.3. preparation-steps towards the Lord's New Deeds. We have to pray for..

1. Thirst
2. Prayerful persons
3. The river of the Living Water – the Holy Spirit – in us and from us.

during the preparations.

How to pray?

We have to pray according to the original Christian form of prayer. Immediately we have two different approaches, teachings, models about the prayer:

a. The well-known model

The first is the well-known outline, recorded in Mt. 6:9

Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
Mt 6:9-13

This is an outline, a prayer itinerary which helps us to develop /evolve our priestly activities. The priestly vocation ( 1Pt 2:9 and Rev 1:5-6) is our highest privilege. It brings an everyday task and its dynamic ripples vertically and horizontally via prayer, adoration, worship, proclamation (Kingdom - representation) and social activity: charity.(grace). Glory and Mercy — As it is in the heaven.

Study on the "Our Father Prayer"

b. The 2 phases model

We don't need too much knowledge for the above-mentioned job. We are the royal priesthood, we do it. However, Jesus often used the 2 phases prayer model, and this helps a lot!
We, sometimes call it: "Tabernacle of David"..or 'Davidic' prayer-tent. How is King David related to Jesus Christ? Well, we mustn't forget, this is Jesus' very own family-line & heritage. He came from the House of Judah, instead of the house of Aaron. Surprisingly few Christian knows the fact that Our Messiah /Christ is not a kind of Jewish High Priest. Since his family line and tribe came out of the Judah - Davidic line.

Jesus Christ is the final, glorious embodiment, the direct completion of the promise given to Abraham by Melchizedek. You can read various articles about it here, in the blog.

David and Jesus both lived very active lives, and although they experienced suffering and persecution, they kept the "beacon" they received from heaven and acted according to heaven's instructions. This is the dream of every believer: to be able to be in sync in every situation.
They kept the routine for the everyday communication with the Heaven.

Inside - briefing
Outside - Action
and avoiding the "seemingly good" things.

The first stage needs separated time and place for adoration, prayer and meditation. Jesus used his midnight hours for being separated / alongside with Gd.
The second stage needs love {agape, not simply filia}, often needs a team – and sometimes but not always – a good management.

The Lord taught his disciples about these phases, and we should be really grateful for the record:

I have much to say about you and much to judge, but He who sent me is true, and I declare to the world what I have heard from him.”
{They did not understand that he had been speaking to them about the Father.}
Jn 8:26-27
I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of Him who sent me..
Jn 5:30

You can read more details here about Christ's 2 phases prayer model.

Although some so-called charismatic groups pay great attention to external spiritual phenomena, the source of these must be the Holy God and his Spirit who moves according to Jesus motivation. This is the healing and restoration in the New Covenant era. {nowadays}. It follows that as the Church is restored and awakens from its deep sleep, so will the active agape love and restoration flow out (spread, radiate) in the spheres of Christian communities, in different social groups and situations. This is what the eternal Voice says "the Word became flesh". The proto type of this is Jesus who became flesh despite of his heavenly position.

These two abovementioned Heaven-Earth Co-working models are timeless. This is the essential base of Jesus earthly mission, has been established in the Vertical relationship (before the Throne of Grace) so we can see the results in the Horizontal relationships, in the discipleship and in the priesthood tasks also.
The apostolic teaching, not surprisingly, confirms us to follow the 2-phase model, enjoying the given grace, coming to the Lord with a trusting heart which seeks the Lord's gaze and obeys the Lord's direction:

Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
_{Rm 5:2 - ESV}
Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Heb. 4:16
Give and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you..
Luke 6:38 (just think about the giving for the heaven.. and getting)
He has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness
2Pt 1:3

You can read a study here about granted, given things

The 1st two verses in 2 Peter 1 points to the deepened immersive phase which "gives" the believer the opportunity to restore and reinstate His/Her status in the Lord. This status gives Him back the authority, acknowledging His will, His Plan "A" in the hearts of believers. Meanwhile the 2nd statement usually helps finding the gaps /problems when local communities stuck in their religious routine, mistakingly believing that their filia == agape...

Step Zero: Prayer for & in Purity

This post millenia is the mischievous era of building large congregations or large churches. Such congregations practically embrace the portfolian church-growth idea and they very quickly fill up their groups with churchgoers or "churchy" people. The environment encourages everyone, and embraces everyone. But repentance is rare. (Not to mention the lack of sin confessions, lack of mentoral eldership, accountability, which brings in lot of problems & demonic influence.)
Meanwhile Jesus appointed twelve - He also named them apostles - to be with Him (Mk.3:14) and the apostles {our forefathers btw.} were well aware of the insiders and of the outsiders.

Preparation

Measure and Judgement - not condemnation

Purity and sound measures are to be pillar of strength and established ID:

In my previous letter I said, “Don’t mix with the immoral.” I didn’t mean, of course, that you were to have no contact at all with the immoral of this world, nor with any cheats or thieves or idolaters—for that would mean going out of the world altogether! But in this letter I tell you not to associate with any professing Christian who is known to be an impure man or a swindler, an idolater, a man with a foul tongue, a drunkard or a thief. My instruction is: “Don’t even eat with such a man.” Those outside the church it is not my business to judge. But surely it is your business to judge those who are inside the church—God alone can judge those who are outside. It is your plain duty to ‘put away from yourselves that wicked person’
1Cor 5:9-13
_{Phillips version.}

The good news is that judgement is not condemnation. it means: Gd used to adjust us in different ways, including pruning. But pruning brings multifold branches, flowers and rich harvest when the tree brings fruits.
Apostle Peter says:

The time has come for judgment to begin with the household of God; if it begins with us, what will be the end for those who do not obey the gospel of God?
1Pt 4:17

Now that we understand the church's need of the preparation and judgment {which is not The Judgment of the Last Day}, we can move on to the pruning, which is the preparation for revival. Do not forget: before Jesus came, John came with the spirit of Elijah! Listen carefully: The prophetic word always contains the heaviness and danger of the situation, alongside the promise! John the Baptist is not a marginal figure in our Gospel:
Let us read some Bible verses here. First, the angel Gabriel announces John's birth to Zechariah:

"And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."
Luke 1:17

This is the fulfillment of the prophecy, given to Malachi. The LORD had a plan for the remnant of the believers in Israel:

"See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes. He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction."
Malachi 4:5-6

Jesus consciously taught about this:

"For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John. And if you are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who was to come."
Matthew 11:13-14
The disciples ask Jesus about Elijah coming first. Jesus responds: "To be sure, Elijah comes and will restore all things. But I tell you, Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but have done to him everything they wished. In the same way the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands." Then the disciples understood that he was talking to them about John the Baptist.
Matthew 17:10:13

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*MSG – The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language
Copyright © 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved.
*Phillips translation: The New Testament in Modern English © 1958, 1959, 1960 J.B. Phillips and 1947, 1952, 1955, 1957 The Macmillian Company, New York