Universal Covering Of The Fivefold

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These offices form a spiritual umbrella to shield God's work and His family universally. Local churches in fact, if they want to attain all the Lord requires of them, must be under the covering and protection of the Apostolic and Prophetic. If they do not have people serving in those offices in their midst, they must affiliate or network with a ministry that does have these offices functioning to be blessed with the cloud by day, the apostles, and the fire by night, the prophets, for protection and direction. Unfortunately Satan tries to infiltrate the work of God's people and will do so if that work does not submit to the covering God set in place. I Corinthians 12:28 gives us the order of the church.

God oversees, Fathers the church, or you could say He is the "steersman leader" through the apostles. The Greek word used to describe the apostolic is "Kybernesis", a term borrowed from seafaring and used to designate the steersman or pilot that holds the ship on course.

The fiery light of God shines through the prophetic to expose sin and cracks in an individual's life or that of a ministry. It is through His prophets that He pulls down the enemy through warfare praise and prophesies His desires, warnings and direction. Through these two offices, revelation knowledge pertaining to this present age is released so that the church can advance towards being victorious overcomers, the church triumphant. But again, God gave them as gifts to humanity. We can submit to God's provision or not. It is up to us.

This God appointed covering is the hem of the robe of God. It is made from one thread, with no seam of division. It is a part of the robe of authority, His!

It is not that husbands are better than their wives or that leadership is greater than the people, but God's authority over the powers and principalities, and in fact over all evil, operates in them. When you look at the authority and priestly offices in them you see the physical image of the Robe that covers the body of Christ. The robe, dipped in the blood of the Lamb, made perfect through His blood, is offered for our protection.

This robe will cover us from the evil ones and safeguard us in the day of God's wrath. The Robe clothes the naked church until the day of redemption and glorification and she is given her spiritual clothes.

If God's people choose to submit to this covering and truly desire the Robe to be wrapped around them, then those operating in this authority must be made aware of the situations that need covering to be able to pray the covering over them. Church leadership does pray and cover the people in general, but not specifically, unless informed. The enemy can see this covering and does not touch it. So, any place you feel the need for the warmth and protection of the Robe, if a wife, look to the husband, as the family of God, look to those appointed among you as leaders. Now that we have our armor on, and we are properly covered, let us learn to pray!

Let me ask, what is prayer? Since prayer is one of the greatest ministries you will ever be called to perform as it is working in partnership with God's Spirit, you should want to learn how to pray effectively. As we have learned, we cannot accomplish anything without God, but we can do all things through Him. To begin a prayer session we must, number one, always ask God's forgiveness for anything we have done wrong. We don't want to put our armor on before we are cleaned up through the blood of the Lamb. We must secondly forgive all that have offended us, that our prayers be heard. Thirdly, thank Him for all He's done! Thank Him for all you are, and what you have. Remember, we enter into His courts with thanksgiving and His gates with praise. Begin now to praise and worship Him. He actually dwells in the praises of His people. Praise till you sense His presence. There is no sense in praying without the Holy Spirit. Jesus said, He is the vine, we are but branches, and without Him we can do nothing. John 15:5-7.

Did you ever wonder or give thought as to why God even wants you to pray? He knows all things, so why must you tell Him? Have you ever questioned, why is it that only those that ask will receive, and only those who seek that can find, and only those who knock that will enter in? Why does God say "You have not because you ask not"? Prayer is definitely a great puzzle, but here is a simplified answer. It is the alignment of your thoughts with God's will. This way prayer on earth voices God's will to the heavens for the angels to perform.

We can say it this way: Prayer is asking for God's will to be performed or manifested according to His Word on our behalf.

Let us read Matthew 18:18.

In this scripture we clearly see the relationship between our prayer and God's backing. God in heaven will bind and loose what His children on earth have bound and loosed. God certainly knows what needs to be bound, however, He chooses to allow His people to bind from earth first, then He will bind in heaven. He even backs the advice and counsel of His leadership. When they minister from truth He performs it. Think of it. Heaven's actions have been governed by actions on earth! Isaiah 44:26 says:

God will never act on your behalf against His will however, and He voices His will, concerning the situation you are praying about, through scripture. You must study the scripture so you are familiar with what He wants done, and through prayer, you agree with His will and He performs it. He asks you to agree with Him, thus making His will yours. If you do not search the scriptures for God's will concerning the situation, and you pray from your own intellect, Satan recognizes this and comes in quickly. This is knowledge from the tree of good and evil. Remember, intellect is the result of the brain receiving direction from the soul. It was experienced for the first time in the garden when Adam and Eve fell. While still perfect, they were directed by their spirit which was connected to the mind of Christ. God's warriors must learn to lay down their own thoughts, and submit to God's will. They need to search out truth from the Word, operate in this truth, and be sure to give God the proper glory, because it is God not their prayer that actually makes the request happen. As a prayer warrior learn to work through your spirit that has once again been connected to God since your rebirth. You too can now hear directly from the mind of Christ as in the beginning. What you hear from God will always be in line with scripture, but perhaps be made personal for your situation. If we could all grasp this, the Kingdom would be established much sooner, Satan and his forces would be chained much earlier for the thousand years, and the church would pass over from time to eternity much quicker. Due to the fact that so many are self-centered however, God's family for the most part is into praying their own personal affairs, and are failing to work together with God in prayer concerning the big picture. Therefore, lawlessness goes unprayed for and remains unbound in the body, lust and perversion are not loosed, addiction keeps an upper hand, and God's children are defeated. The self-centered just never mature enough to really pray for each other and unfortunately the church as a whole goes nowhere.

In next week's blast we will learn to pray as the body of Christ.