House of Faith Ministries

1 Thessalonians 3:710 “Therefore, brothers, in all our distress and persecution we were encouraged about you because of your faith. For now we really live, since you are standing firm in the Lord. How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy we have in the presence of our God because of you? Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you again and supply what is lacking in your faith.” NIV

 

It is hard for us to understand the context in which the early church was fashioned. The names Thessalonians, Corinthians, Ephesians, Galatians, and many others immortalized in the New Testament have a kind of romantic air for those of us who read about them and receive encouragement from their letters after our salvation. We seem to forget that these were people deep in darkness, depraved, immoral, totally debased by their idolatry and paganism.

 

Such was the power of the Apostolic Church Age, that today when we read about them, we do not see them in the historical bad light of where they came from. That is the power of intercession at its best, able not only to transform individuals, their cities and their future, but even their polluted past was expunged it seems.

 

What drove those early prayer warriors in the face of such tremendous spiritual opposition and seemly astronomical odds against them? “For now we really live, since you are standing firm in the Lord.”

 

Intercession was their life! Just the news that the Thessalonians were standing firm in the faith gave great encouragement to the laborers, to the point of shouting “now we are really alive.” Imagine that, can you see yourself getting that excited after hearing good news about people you have been interceding for in a faraway place?

 

“The joy we have in the presence of our God because of you.”

 

I believe it wasn’t necessarily their joy they were rejoicing over as much as the joy reflected from the presence of the Lord. It was a joy so strong that the memory of distress and persecutions just faded far into the background; a joy that moved them to pray more earnestly night and day for another open door where they could supply more to whatever the objects of their prayer might be lacking in their faith.

 

2 Corinthians 1:4 “Who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”

 

I believe the power to steadfast intercession flows from a graceful heart that has been delivered from the power of darkness to the understanding of the magnificence of God’s marvelous light. It is the liberty we’ve experienced that drives us to proclaim freedom for those who have been taken captive.

 

If the precepts we have presented here bring radical deliverance to the soul of the readers through the power of the love that Jesus clearly demonstrated to us, then how can we keep it to ourselves? How can a blind person whose eyes have been healed allow those who remain blind to fall into the pit?

 

If there is any reason at all for the pain caused by our past sins to remain vivid in our hearts, it has to be so that we can identify with the target of our intercession. We have peace, the peace of God. We know forgiveness because of His great love. We walk in victory because of His covering anointing that leads triumphantly. We retain the painful memories so that when we see the lost without hope, we don’t give up!

 

We identify with their pain, we feel their hopelessness, we sense their darkness, we can almost taste their bitter tears, but still, we don’t give up! We know life and we know it in great abundance, so we fight on. Their rejection will not deter us, their persecution will not discourage us, their indifference will only make us more determined to continue to battle on behalf of their broken souls.

 

We pray in secret for the manifestation of God’s light to shine in their darkness. We speak prophetic words over their lives that blow away the gloominess that hang over their lives, the same way gales blow away the storms.

 

We divest ourselves of our frailties and limitations so that we can, as empty vessels, be filled with our Lord’s radiance that brings life and peace. We proclaim to a wounded and hurting world that there is hope. We manifest the power of the dominion that has been restored to us in the Name of Jesus over the agents of deceit. We bind the merchants of death by executing over them the Written Word.

 

1 Corinthians 15:5458 “…‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’ ‘Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?’ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” NIV

 

Thank you Lord Jesus for the privilege to serve you in such a wonderful way!