Mike Bickle emphasizes the significance of the Book of Esther as a model for the church's role in the end times, portraying the church as a bride prepared in beauty and intimacy with God. He highlights that Esther's preparation involved both suffering (the oil of myrrh) and joyful encounters with God (the fragrant perfumes), which are essential for the church to operate in authority during crises. Bickle stresses that the church must engage in prayer and fasting to cultivate a spirit of prayer, which is vital for spiritual authority and effectiveness in the world. He calls for believers to downsize their lives to prioritize this preparation and intimacy with God, as it is crucial for fulfilling their divine purpose. Ultimately, the sermon encourages the church to embrace its identity as the bride of Christ, prepared for the return of the King.

before your presence and we ask you Lord to release a spirit of revelation. Holy Spirit we recognize your presence right now. We ask you to touch us. We're asking to encounter you even in the speaking and hearing of the word. We have need of you. We love your presence so we invite you now to come and touch us in Jesus name. Amen. Book of Esther is one of the clearest pictures in the Word of God of how the church is to function before the Lord especially in the generation the Lord returns. Obviously it's true of all church history but the description that John gave us in the book of Revelation of the identity and the function of the church in Revelation 22 17 the spirit of the bride say come the church functioning under the anointing of the Holy Spirit in a bridal identity crying out come Lord Jesus. Revelation 22 17 I believe it's the clearest and most comprehensive in time prophecy that the church would be under the anointing of the Holy Spirit the spirit of the bride the spirit is on the bride anointing the bride the church is in a bridal identity engaged in fiery intercession with authority the kind of authority that leads to the second coming of Christ he actually comes when the church cries come Lord Jesus that's authority the clearest picture of Revelation 22 17 I believe is the book of Esther most of you are at least familiar with the general storyline of the book of Esther we're only gonna look at just a little bit of it it starts off just to kind of give the context of the book it's approximately 500 years BC about 2,500 years ago the setting in the background is in the kingdom of Persia which is today modern-day Iran there's a young Jewish orphan she's an orphan she's an alien in a foreign land and the Lord sets her into a place of authority as Queen but before that happens the story creates the context of the story in Esther chapter 1 is there's a rebellion that breaks out in the kingdom and the Queen Queen Vashti loses her position her place of power and authority she's disqualified it's in the context of a banquet in a garden of paradise Genesis chapter 3 when Adam and Eve sinned is one of the historical realities that this chapter 1 depicts but what it what it leads us to is that the king is in search of a queen who would be his bride and that's the essence of the story the Lord the king is in search of a queen who would be his bride and that storyline develops particularly and especially in Esther chapter 2 he's looking for two things a queen and a bride they would obviously come together in the same person in the person of Esther but the idea is unmistakable the the plan is clear the king the Lord wants to share his authority he wants a queen he wants one to partner with him in authority but he wants to do it from the context of love from the context of a bride he doesn't just want a queen he wants a bride he doesn't just want a partner in authority he wants the authority to flow from intimacy from love that's the unmistakable picture of the book of Esther and then after the relationship is established the rest of the storyline shows us the power and the impact of the Queen's authority when she's prepared in beauty and established in love before the king we said again the rest of the story of the book of Esther chapter 3 to 10 shows us the extent of the Queen's authority she changes history she operates in authority that comes from being prepared fully in beauty and established in a relationship before the king in love now that's the message that the Holy Spirit is wanting to communicate to the end time church now it seems pretty obvious however as obvious as it is the church seems to constantly get out of sync and out of line with this plan of God's heart intimacy though it's going to be a centerpiece focus of the Holy Spirit it's still on the peripheral of what's on the church's agenda but it's going to be brought to the center the book of Esther makes that very clear her glory the story of Esther the glory is that she becomes the prepared vessel that God has chosen to bring deliverance to the people of God there's a crisis that's going to break forth in the land and the Queen is going to be the vessel the vehicle of deliverance in the crisis there's a crisis that's going to break forth in the land before the Lord returns and right now the Lord is raising up a queen he's raising up one in whom will be the vehicle of deliverance he's preparing her in beauty presently he's establishing her in love so that the authority flows from intimacy from prepared beauty the reason that's important for us to understand though it's a great storyline and it's pretty obvious is because this is the picture that makes sense of the struggle of our life right now this is the paradigm for which we will understand the Holy Spirit's challenge and dealing in our personal life in our corporate life he's wanting to raise up one that he would use for deliverance in a time of crisis from the position of beauty and the position of intimacy the main theme in the book of Esther although there's four or five prominent themes in the book of Esther the main one is the dynamic relationship of God's sovereignty and human response or human responsibility this is what dignifies human life that God will use his sovereignty his power in relationship to human response he will use his power in relationship to the way his people respond to him that's one of the great messages in the book of Esther said another way John Wesley is the one who said it God does nothing except in answer to the prayer of his people that God's gonna hold back restrain his intervening power except in response to the prayers of his people James chapter 4 verse 2 James chapter 4 verse 2 James tells us that we have not because we ask not that the Lord restrains and with withholds his intervening power until he hears the cry of his people he's gonna starve the church out of isolation he's gonna starve the church out of complacency until she right raises up in the place of prayer he's gonna withhold his hand in his presence because he doesn't want to give power apart from a relationship of love Esther chapter 2 let's look at it as the storyline unfolds in Esther 2 verse 12 it summarizes the theme of the chapter the necessity to prepare Esther in beauty this is a clear picture of the Holy Spirit's focus of what's happening in your individual life as well as in the body of Christ worldwide the plan is clear God is gonna raise up a queen to share authority but in the position and relationship of a bride and intimacy however she still needs to be prepared in beauty before he can entrust the authority to her and again that's what's happening in our individual lives this is the paradigm of which we understand the Holy Spirit's challenges to us personally and this is the paradigm for which we understand the struggle that we're in verse 12 let's read it and each young woman's turn came to go before the king after she had completed 12 months of preparation according to the regulations for the women for these were the days of their preparation that were apportioned to them six months with the oil of myrrh and six months with fragrant perfumes this was the apportion the king's plan the king's assignment for the preparation of the beauty of the one that would be Queen now we find in this passage again the Holy Spirit's focus this is what he's about right now he's preparing the church in beauty to function in authority because a great intervention of God is scheduled around the corner for the entire planet it's got to have a manifestation of glory and it's going to have a manifestation of pressure and crisis we're gonna find in verse 12 two different categories of the season of preparation now it talks about a 12-month season now that's the time that it actually was in the days of Esther in her actual life but the preparation we are in in one sense goes on till the day that we meet the Lord the preparation season it ebbs and flows there's different seasons of intensity and different focus points of the Holy Spirit in our preparation but regardless what season we're in we know the Lord uses two strategies two distinct strategies in our preparation number one it's called the oil of myrrh and number two it's depicted and pictured as fragrant perfumes now the myrrh in the Word of God is clearly it's signified many places throughout Scripture it was the burial spice myrrh relates to suffering and death Jesus when he was buried with myrrh and frankincense myrrh was the well-known burial spice it had a fragrance of its own but it was particularly used in that context the perfume is of a different nature a different type of preparation the first one the myrrh speaks of the negative pressures and the perfume speaks of the positive Song of Solomon addresses this reality in Song of Solomon chapter 4 verse 6 it causes calls it the north winds and the south winds the bitter winds of the north the cold winds of the north and the fragrant I mean of the refreshing winds of the south together they make up the plan of God to prepare his church as the Bride of Christ in beauty now the the oil of myrrh is the negative it's the pressure now the pressures come in two ways we have the voluntary now we have the involuntary pressures we have those circumstances we have no control over that we don't like it all that we're resisting and we want that pressure to finish sooner than later now and then that's the one of the first part of negative experiences then there's the voluntary oil of myrrh and that's the response of our heart of going against the unrenewed mind of our natural sinful passions our natural unrenewed mind and way and we're giving ourself in the presence of the Lord preparing ourselves that's the voluntary embracing of self-denial the voluntary embracing of what we call the fasted lifestyle Matthew chapter 6 gives the clearest and the most succinct description of the fasted lifestyle the Lord Jesus gave it in the Sermon of the Mount he talked about prayer and fasting actually there's five different elements in Matthew 6 at the very center piece of the of the Sermon on the Mount talks about prayer and fasting giving blessing our enemies it's under the word forgiving one another but it's it goes on to declare the blessing of enemies and then serving without any recognition whatsoever now the point of of these activities is these activities are a conflict in our spirit doing these activities in themselves do not produce change but giving these act doing these activities the endeavoring the reaching to God to give ourselves in these activities there is a a mental process there is an emotional conflict as we pursue the lifestyle of these things five things described in Matthew chapter 6 and it's in the the going against the natural way it's the reasoning process it's the emotional collision it opens our spirit to the influences of the Holy Spirit some people might focus on the events on the activities themselves and they might slip into a wrong idea that the activities earn them a certain amount of divine intervention and a divine encounter and they and they and they've misunderstood though the activities are helpful to other people they do have redeeming value of benefit to others it's not the activities themselves that create the change in us it's the internal struggle that is deeply involved in a lifestyle with these activities now these activities are not one-time events their lifestyles and you can categorize them in several different ways but all five of those dimensions are critical parts of the heart response before the Lord that prepares us in beauty we are prepared in the beauty of the Lord through this pathway again the oil of myrrh is the involuntary pressures and trusting the Lord and responding to the Lord in involuntary pressures in a right way but the oil of myrrh is more than the involuntary pressures it's the voluntary lifestyle of Matthew 6 again it's it's not a one-time deal giving let's talk about giving for a minute when we give there's all the processes do I have to should I can I well Lord you gave me this for that there's a hundred reasoning processes that go every time we give or I don't know about every time but in the process of living a lifestyle of giving the same thing in the lifestyle of prayer and fasting the same thing in the lifestyle of blessing our enemies the same thing in the lifestyle of serving there's so many emotional and mental processes there's this discombobulation on the inside there's there's collision to live in a lifestyle and that collision is what opens our spirit to the Holy Spirit for inward transformation it's critical that we embrace the oil of myrrh that dimension of the beauty preparations the Holy Spirit touches our human spirit in a unique way in that context that he does not reach us in any other context besides that one the lifestyle of Matthew 6 we refer to it around here as the fasted lifestyle we make our spirit vulnerable to the Holy Spirit we open ourselves in a deliberate way to these mysterious in this mysterious inward workings and impartations of the Holy Spirit the oil of myrrh we put our cold heart before God's bonfire the image I've used that image for years it's the package of frozen meat it's the frozen hamburger and you put it if that's what our heart is like it's unresponsive to the heat and we put it in front of the bonfire and progressively it falls out and it becomes and then the fluid and the tenderness at first in our natural way we are unresponsive in the presence of God and the Lord says you put your cold heart in front of the bonfire and you will watch a process of tenderizing that will take place will take place over time it won't happen automatically I mean it won't happen instantly won't happen overnight it happened over time and the oil of myrrh both the involuntary pressures responding to the Lord in the right way as long as well as the voluntary pressures that are described in Matthew 6 where we go contrary to the natural unrenewed mindset the way of our culture that's one part of the beauty preparation it's called the north wind in written song of chapter 4 verse 16 it's the difficult dimension of preparation it's critical that we do it but there's the positive part of beauty preparation as well in verse 12 there's the perfumes the prager the fragrant perfumes that speaks of the times of encounter the times of revelation the time when the Holy Spirit is imparting us that's the enjoyable that's the sweet part but that is is just as vital as the negative part is the reason I say that is because often in the holiness camps through history they focus upon the negative in only responding to God in trial and rising up and and giving ourself in embracing self-denial according to the Word of God and giving ourself to the Lord that's the area that receives most focus in the place of preparation but I want to say that the perfumes the positive the south winds of song of Solomon 416 are just as vital as the north winds in the negative where we come to encounter the bridegroom God we come to grow in confidence we grow in revelation of who he is and who we are to him and our heart becomes alive and fascinated with his beauty David talked about this in Psalm 27 for this one thing I do I gaze I encountered the beauty that's the positive dimension of verse 12 it's both and it's not either or and I want to say this that it's never enough to just endure the passing of time in order to be prepared meaning I've seen many of believers 20 years they've logged in 20 years in the kingdom of God and they are no deeper in the spirit 20 years later than they were back then the passing of time without an aggressive present tense heart engagement does not in itself prepare us at all in fact it oftentimes has exactly the opposite it hardens us it requires a present tense heart engagement now today in the present tense in the negative and the positive dimensions I want to stress those again there's the responding to the Lord in the right way in the involuntary pressures of life the circumstances we find ourselves in we have no control over that we hate those circumstances but the Lord says lean into sovereignty trust my wisdom stand up and resist it but trust me and give yourself to me you'll find me in a special way in the oil of myrrh in that circumstance leaning into sovereignty developing a history of trusting God's wisdom and loving kindness though we cannot see it with the natural eye as we lean into sovereignty we trust Romans 828 that everything will produce good in us even though the devil has a hand in the negative circumstance even in our own sin and foolishness we produced part of the negative circumstance God says I will overrule it for good lean into sovereignty and trust me it's called the oil of myrrh it's critical that we go in that direction that we stand in the place of confidence before him saying Lord we trust your wisdom though he slayed me I I will trust him it's what Job said and though we understand there's a demonic rage in our difficulty there's human sin and foolishness in our difficulty and there's divine sovereignty overseeing the whole process it's called the oil of myrrh in the book of Esther it's a critical part of our beauty preparations but there's a second part of the oil of myrrh it's the voluntary giving ourself into the presence of God it's that Matt again the Matthew 6 the fasting the prayer the giving the blessing the serving with no recognition that action that even collision sometimes the violence that happens in our spirit when we endeavor to live a lifestyle I don't mean a one-off thing a lifestyle in that reality opening our spirit to encounter the presence of the Holy Spirit coming away with with a transformed experience with the Lord now in this fasted lifestyle these kingdom activities I'm talking about doing it in March is good but we still need to give ourself to the Lord in April and May in the same way doing it in 2003 is good but we still do it in 2004 in 2005 it's not a one-time deal it's a continual lifestyle it's the place of encounter in a unique we're giving the Lord a unique access to our spirit in those activities and again the emotional chemistry change the mental processes are critical that we we work that muscle over and over it's like an exercise it's like repetition over and over we give ourself under those five areas and the Lord is breathing and releasing his fragrance it's it's myrrh it's a spirit of it takes a death to self self-denial but it does release the fragrance of God there's a sweetness in the midst of the bitterness in that dimension someone says I love fasting and prayer and giving and I said I love it with an asterisk I love it sometimes I feel it sometimes other times I don't like it at all not just in the old days I don't like it today it's it's it's myrrh it's fragrance with bitterness there's moments of such sweetness when the Lord provides and you can give in that extravagant way and to the purpose of God there's such a glory there's an exhilaration in that but there's a cost to it there's an exhilaration in prayer fasting but there's a cost to it it is myrrh it's truly myrrh it's death with fragrance it's bitterness with sweetness it's not enough just to trust the Lord in trials and difficulties we need to do the voluntary embracing of death to self of the cross not just the involuntary trust I mean not just trusting the Lord in the involuntary situations I look at both dimensions of myrrh and I say Lord I want to be yours in both of them but then the Lord would whisper and say don't stop just in giving yourself to me in the negative issues the struggles give yourself to me in the positive cultivate the understanding of my beauty cultivate the understanding of how I feel towards you cultivate the understanding of what you look like to me and that's the second part again I'm just being a repetitive I just want to just focus in on this and stress this for a few moments here that's what the Holy Spirit's doing right now in our lives we're in a season of beauty preparation the reason for the preparation of chapter 2 verse 12 is to give us the authority which is the whole Esther really it's it's chapter 3 all the way to the end the book the rest of the book is how the prepared bride operates in authority from the place of intimacy let's look at Esther chapter 4 verse 14 to 16 in some ways of course I must say in some ways this would be the the critical point of the book but not necessarily because I could say that of about three or four verses but this is one of my candidates for the most important verse of the book I have several different ones here verse 14 to 16 there's a crisis that's been a that that's come forth in the kingdom of Persia there's an edict that's gone out most of you know the story to exterminate to annihilate the entire Jewish race in Persia genocide I mean to kill every one of them man men women and children without exception and the Lord has a bride that's been prepared in beauty in the king's court for such a time as this and that's exactly what's happening in history right now God is preparing a bride right now to be in the place of authority established in love prepared in beauty for the great crisis to be the ones in whom God uses as the release of his authority in the hour of crisis and Mordecai her adopted father I mean her father by adoption says to her in verse 14 if you remain silent at this time if you remain completely silent relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place he looks at her he says this is the time you've got to rise up because it's gonna be a risk to her life I don't want to go through the whole setting but it would risk her life to stand up and to make a difference she could get killed in the process that's the point of verse 14 and 15 and 16 he goes no this if you are silent if you draw back relief and deliverance will come for the Jews from another place relief and deliverance will come there's the principle the Lord's sovereign purposes in history are going to be accomplished if us as individuals draw back and and abdicate our personal position and invitation of the Holy Spirit the purpose of God is going to happen in this nation and in this city if each of us in this room say no he says I'll raise up others to give your role to so the purpose of God is clear and sure however our individual participation of it depends upon our personal response he says in verse 14 says who knows whether you've come to the kingdom for such a time as this of course Mordecai knew that's why she came to the kingdom he goes in essence he could have said what's the chances that a young orphan alien a complete alien to the nation of Persia an orphan girl could end up in the ultimate place of power in the whole world he goes what do you think the chances are that you're in this place by coincidence and then in verse 16 she says okay get all the Jews together and fast and pray for me and I'll get all my gals together here in the court and we're gonna fast and pray and she says the critical phrase in verse 16 she goes I will go to the king which is against the law she had to break the Persian law in order to continue in this process she goes I will go to the king and for those of you that have studied Song of Solomon this is Song of Solomon 4 6 I will go to the mountain of myrrh I will arise I will go and then she says and if I perish I perish if I lose everything in the process it is enough for me that I have said yes to the Spirit of God and I stand in my place of destiny before him and if I lose my life in the process it is enough that I've obeyed him this is the spirit of the end-time Church of Revelation 22 17 then again the rest of the book is going to describe how she operates in that authority and there's a number of different expressions of that authority when we the Lord right now is preparing us in beauty preparations that's what he's doing right now individually and corporately I don't mean just corporately our little fellowship here in our little ministry but the whole body of Christ worldwide this is what he's about if we don't know it then we minimize the focus of the Holy Spirit's preparation and we're about other business that's even outside of the main and plane of what the Holy Spirit is focusing on and we can squander away our life and our resource and our energy and never even connecting with the reality of the seriousness and the urgency of the hour of which we live because see we live in a unique time in history we live in the generation that I believe the Lord is returning in if that be true and I believe with all my heart it's true there are many dimensions of glory and pressure and there's an opportunity for the church in this hour never given the church in history now when the hour comes the beauty preparation there's two things I see in verse 14 to 16 two things at least I want to focus on right now number one she has the ability to respond to the Lord with all her heart in the prophetic moment you know there's a prophetic hour there's a prophetic coming of the Lord to us I've been walking the Lord 30 years what it plus and in that 30 years maybe 10 or 15 times 5 or 10 times I don't know maybe I could if I really thought about it I could categorize it fake it through but it's not like every week or every day or every month it's every year two or three or four there's a time when the Lord draws near to us and it's a time of transition it's a time of decision we're either gonna go path a or path B and we get those windows of opportunity every several years the season changes and we don't exactly know when they're gonna come they sentence in my life they kind of come as surprises kind of there I am in a moment of decision and if we have pressed in to chapter 2 verse 12 the beauty preparations and the hour of decision we have grace to say yes with all of our heart but there's more than that the fruit of the beauty preparations is her ability to operate in authority in the spirit now Zechariah chapter 12 verse 10 let's look at that Zechariah 12 that's the second to the last book of the Old Testament Zechariah 12 I went to look at this verse Zechariah 12 what's going on in Zechariah 12 is the greatest crisis in Israel's history it's yet future Zechariah 12 verse 1 and 1 to 3 is describing all the nations of the earth yet in the future this is yet future tense for today they will all gather around the city of Jerusalem in the nation of Israel to destroy them to do the same thing that was that were the Satan attempted to do in the book of Esther it's gonna happen again Esther is about its fullest expression is in this time of history that's yet ahead of us and it's a statement of of great significance I mean it's I cannot exaggerate the significance of chapter 12 verse 10 that the means of which God delivers the the the nation of Israel is called the spirit of supplication and grace it's the greatest crisis in Israel's history and they have the greatest provision in the spirit to ward off the crisis I'm not sure we fully understand the implication I know that we don't it's not that I'm not sure we don't we don't the spirit of grace and supplication instead of the spirit of supplication another idea for supplication is prayer the spirit of prayer I want to talk about that in just the next couple moments this is the fruit of the beauty preparations this is what Esther 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 is all about is is moving number one having the ability to respond with all of her heart in the hour of crisis but then in addition to that having the authority to make a difference it's one thing to have a heart response it's another thing to have authority with God to actually change the circumstance to move angels and demons and to change the circumstance to change history under the leadership of the Holy Spirit the demons said to the seven sons of Sceva in Acts 19 verse 15 he says Paul Jesus we know Paul we know but who are you in other words there was these people trying to operate in the spirit they had no authority they said we don't know who you are the devil will know the end-time church is a bride before the throne crying come under the spirit of grace and supplication the spirit of grace and supplication and this verse is meant to be understood as the most extreme example the greatest picture of privilege and power upon the end-time church there is no greater attainment in the spirit than chapter 12 verse 10 it's called the spirit of prayer what is it what is the spirit of prayer well if I had to pick one verse to describe it I'd pick Romans 826 Romans 826 Romans 826 says Paul says that when in your weakness in our weakness how many of you know about weakness we know about weakness don't we mental emotional physical we don't understand what's going on or emotions are freaking out we're not responding right we have all these this chaos on the inside in weakness Romans 826 he said the spirit will help you in prayer in weakness oh my goodness what a fantastic promise the spirit of prayer is when there's Holy Spirit activity upon the human spirit moving us and it's particularly expressed in the place of prayer our heart is moving under the orchestration of the Holy Spirit the inspiration the impartation we're moving in concert with God the Holy Spirit or human spirit in prayer we're talking to God and things are happening in history now the spirit of prayer Romans 826 when the Holy Spirit is moving on the human spirit in power there's a personal manifestation of the spirit of prayer it's our heart is tenderized it's pleasurable it's when our heart feels God's heart it's when our heart easily moves by the Word of God in prayer that's the spirit of prayer in a personal sense in a general sense but there's a spiritual prayer in a in a special sense and a the general sense is what our heart is just moving in that tenderness and I know what it means to have a spirit of prayer I know what it means to come before the Lord in my heart's moving it's flowing like a river when I open the word and when I just close my eyes they Lord I can feel him I oh I love the spirit of prayer the spirit of prayer has a personal tenderizing dimension I know what it means to have it I know what it means not to have it I know what it means to cultivate it and intensify it I know what it means to lose it and I know what it means to gain it back again because it's it can't be cultivated it can be gained and lost and intensified there's a general spirit of prayer that's in a personal tenderizing of our heart oh it's the most powerful possession a human being can have but there's a special manifestation of the spirit of prayer when the anointing comes on and there's a breakthrough of authority where the very rod of God is entrusted to us when under the umpteen of the Holy Spirit we can loose angels and stop demons and change circumstances in authority and there and the greatest manifestation of the spirit of prayer in that general I mean in that specific way is corporately together Psalm 133 when the brethren are dwelling in unity under the anointing of prayer that's what's happening in Zechariah 12 10 we literally we we stop the onslaught of the enemy and change history so there's a general and there's a there's a very very specific sense which the spirit of prayer happens it's the highest attainment of beauty is the spirit of prayer the beauty preparations of chapter 2 verse 12 are manifest the rest of the book in the context of the spirit of prayer in the theological context she operates she speaks to the king and history has changed the book of Esther is about the spirit of prayer flowing out of the preparation of beauty the spirit of prayer is the most powerful thing given to the human spirit it will meet the need of the hour that's coming the spirit of prayer it's not like we're just waiting for the crisis in the future today as well as in the future in the in the the the magnifying of the crisis is coming beloved without the spirit of prayer the church is weak and vulnerable to the onslaught of Satan now here's the problem with that the church in the West has almost no experience today with the spirit of prayer and it's our most powerful position before God I hop as a as a as a family and as a ministry we have almost no experience with the spirit of prayer now I'm not saying that say like aren't we bad that's not my point my point is to say there's something in the Word of God that's promised that's just just before us and I have a vision that we're gonna go after it together and get it my point isn't to say what we don't have and aren't we bad my point is to say there is more and it's within reach of this people it's our inheritance that's the point of what I'm saying this for most believers that I know around the world are not even aware that the spirit of prayer is their inheritance they're not aware they don't have it because they never think about its existence they live in such vulnerability to the onslaught of Satan without any awareness that there's something they can cultivate to resist the onslaught it's almost like an unknown gift yet it's the most clear and powerful gift described in the Word of God and there's an individual expression of authority where the rod of God comes through one man or one woman but there's nothing like the corporate expression and then and we've had it for a half a minute a few times and I hop I've been in the room a few times I said something happening it's a supernatural thing yes we do the human part but there's a God-breathed manifestation of authority that has a supernatural dimension to it beloved that's what this whole thing that we're posturing ourselves for but it's it's necessary as a family and as individuals as a spiritual family we're engaging in the beauty preparations with all of our heart because we want to operate in the spirit of prayer in the general sense of individual tenderizing and we wanted in the corporate sense of the breakthrough of power the breaker anointing it's what Satan fears more than anything is the church under the spirit of prayer it's what Israel has in the final hours that brings the second coming and stops Satan in his tracks it's called the spirit of prayer I mean this is not a small thing this is the ultimate statement of of the power of God breaking into human history Zechariah 1210 it's what the devil fears most it was Mary Queen of Scots who said I fear the the prayers of saintly John Knox more than all the armies of England she said the armies of England under Queen Elizabeth might come up and assault me but I think she's Catholic and he was Protestant she was I fear the prayers of that man more than all the armies of England and she spoke rightly Satan has one great fear not the church even with a little bit of intimacy not the church a little bit of fervency although that postures us for what he fears he fears the church under the spirit of prayer because that is his destruction in a manifestation in history the church and that is our inheritance that is our portion that is what we exist for as a family that is our focus to enter into the beauty preparations the oil of myrrh the perfume the gazing the trusting the pressing in so that the spirit of prayer is released the rod of his authority is extended through our midst as one man together before him it's what we're here for spirit of prayer is the most powerful thing in history upon the body of Christ but it's more than that the spirit of prayer is the most enjoyable thing it's not only what Satan fears it's what the human spirit craves what we long for more than anything is to flow under the anointing of the spirit called the spirit of prayer it's the final resting place of the human spirit it's really what you're looking for really it's true what you're looking for search no more God is jealously guards us as individuals there's this God-shaped vacuum in our spirit no relationship can satisfy it no no ministry success can satisfy it no prosperity the marketplace can satisfy it no nothing can satisfy it but the spirit of God resting on the human spirit it is the final frontier it is the final resting place of the human spirit it's where we are at our highest and our finest as human beings and yet the body of Christ especially in the West because there's a spirit of prayer breaking out across the world in many places we have almost no thought of that and without it we are vulnerable and bored and at a distance from our destiny beloved I cannot and will not live without this being manifested I've only experienced it a few times in the and the breakthrough part I've experienced it a bit more in the individual part and I've and I've had it and I've lost it and I know how to get it back and we get it back by Esther 2 verse 12 there's the oil of myrrh there's the trusting and leaning in the involuntary times of suffering and pressure there's the giving ourself in prayer and fasting the opening of our spirit of that voluntary oil of myrrh of difficulty where we open our spirit and there's the gazing and the encounter and the beauty beloved that is the God-ordained pattern to be able to move in the spirit of prayer it's not an accidental pattern it's a real one it's not just the most powerful place that Satan fears it's not just the most enjoyable place that the human spirit craves it's the most profitable place in eternity it's what we bring with us whatever we touch in the spirit of prayer we I don't bring my mailing list I don't bring my ministry profile I don't bring any of that with me before the Lord I bring love but another way to say it is I bring the spirit of prayer I when I stand before God he's not gonna look at me and measure me by anything but the size of the experience of my heart before him in the spirit it's the most profitable thing to do I assure you it will last forever it is attainable it is attainable again there's God's part supernatural the wind of God breaking in it does take supernatural intervention but we posture ourself we put our cold heart before the fire there's a human posturing Matthew chapter 6 that we talked about but it starts with a vision that's what I'm gonna leave you with have Seth coming up it starts with the vision where you said I'm not gonna live without this I'm not gonna live without the general spirit of prayer I'm at the tender eyes in my heart I'm not gonna live without the spirit of prayer in that historic breakout I'm gonna be a part of a people in whom the rod of his authorities entrusted to as a queen with authority from the places a bride in love with beauty preparations we start with the vision we refuse to live without it it's the thing I've said over and over why not me why not me why some biography in history why not me the old preacher saying you've heard it over and over if not me then who if not now when if not here where it has to start with the people who have a vision they will not go forward without this reality but beloved we're clear about it we're going we're leaning heavy into beauty preparations we have a vision we want to operate in the spirit of prayer this is what we're going after we're clear about it Satan wants to confuse us distract us we're unmovable we're unmoved this is what our life is about on the planet then we've changed the way we spend time and money and energy when we have this focus of the book of Esther before us starts with a vision I'm gonna have this thing it's worth whatever it cost in the Western culture this thing is so foreign in the ministry in the Western world it's almost that and just a not just a it's not a thought a concept disagreed with it's a concept almost never thought about and it is the central point of our destiny as the body of Christ in history and we're going after it I'll just end with this last paragraph or so most of us we're gonna need to downsize our lives he's got too much stuff too much activity too many things too many activities to be responsibilities too many too many too much clutter too much play too much work too much we have to be in the presence of God to develop this part of our destiny we've got a downsize we need to downsize our ministry some of us we need to downsize our lifestyles we need to downsize our playtime we need a downsize just clutter we have to give ourself with a passion to this reality the great part you know I talked to one oh I've talked to so many over the years and say I just don't have time I sure you do just downsize your whole life you have less to pay for you have less to fix you have less to protect you have less to distract yourself with just cut your lifestyle in half and you don't even have to work there's much then I go whatever thought about that I said if you're serious just downsize it's what I did I just decided not to upsize on the front end I'm serious I was a young man I decided to downsize from the from day one I said why should I get all this paraphernalia then cut it all out in a few years when I wake up why don't just start now downsized and keep it that way I don't want to have to guard and fix and protect and play with so many things I want to have time to develop the spirit of prayer and I know that's what a number of you are all really about and people are just amazed I go what's the big deal about downsizing I said you need to work half as much if you have half as much stuff to pay for and play with this is well that's intense I go hardly you're laying the earth another minute and a half you're in eternity forever I go that's not even a big point I go it means nothing to do that in reality it's nothing amen let's stand Alan do you agree with this stuff how I was like a kid in a candy store just go nuts well it's the same old same old it's the same message I give every other week so it's nothing new but beloved we got to do it I'm preaching to me I'm preaching to you I want to sign up again and again and again I need to sign up about every ten days to this I really mean that that's how it works we got a re-sign up about every ten days it's really true I'm gonna invite anybody that wants prayer for healing for impartation for the Lord to touch your heart to come stand on these blue lines