Fire and Fragrance

The language is prayer, the rhythm is worship, the passion is intercession, and the outflow is radical exploits of evangelism!

These words leapt off the pages and landed like an explosive missile in my spirit as I began to be completely drawn into the revelation of prayer and worship portrayed by Sean Feucht and Andy Byrd in their book - Fire & Fragrance.  Phrases like "heavenly vertical worship" and "extravagant sound of love, adoration, and praise" and how the "Gospel of the Kingdom is forcefully advancing and exploding across the darkest and hardest nations of the world," made my spirit scream "YES!  YES AND AMEN!"

The Lord has been clearly speaking to me about the importance of prayer and worship in this hour of the world's history.  If ever there was a time to get before the throne of God, to get into His face, it is NOW.  God is preparing His Bride for a Global harvest that is going to draw in literally billions of souls.  And they will be drawn in by the beauty and glory they see on the Bride, which is the mark of being fully saturated in His presence.  His presence is the answer!  It is only through His presence that we are made ready for what God is about to pour out.  We can not handle the coming move of His Spirit without His presence.

It is crazy to me the weight of this word for right now.  It feels as if everything has shifted.  Even from a week ago, when I was wondering what my purpose is right now here in Ecuador (my last blog post - "Waiting for the Storm"), I have felt the shift in the spirit.  It's as if the Holy Spirit is breathing Himself onto the hidden treasure of prayer and worship.  So much of the Church sees prayer and worship as an exercise to spiritually better yourself.  This is far from the truth.  It is pure and undiluted warfare!  It is the hidden weapon of the Spirit.

For me, it's like a call has gone out in the spirit and something inside of me is recognizing that call as the very one that I was born for.  I am hearing a drum beat that is in complete accordance with the drum beat that I carry in my heart.  There is a whole new excitement, urgency and pure life that is flowing from the place of prayer and worship right now.  This is why I am called to the Nations!  This is why I am in Ecuador for such a time as this!

Fire cannot burn without fragrance being released, and you cannot have the fragrance of smoke without first starting a fire.  The fire of passionate, zealous love for Jesus has always been the foundation of the fragrance of Christ impacting the spheres of society, nations, and the entire globe in truly Kingdom-building way...  The fragrance of a burning heart is the greatest evangelism scent the world has ever smelled.

There is so much opportunity for ministry here in Quito.  Sometimes it's overwhelming seeing the great need of even just one city in one nation in one continent of the world.  I hear the cries of the broken, the poor and needy, the sick and the dying, and the ones in bondage, and I wonder how one person or one organization could even begin to make an impact.  But that is the beauty of prayer and worship!  I am doing more in one hour spent before the throne of God than I could possibly do out of my own strength in an entire lifetime.

I want to be strategically placed in the place of darkness, the place of brokenness, the place of great need, and simply burn.  I know that God is going to set up crazy, divine opportunities and scenarios where He will use me to release His glory, but that will come from a place of adoration and worship.

May the knowledge of the glory of God cover the earth in our lifetime!