Ready for my Bridegroom

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Imagine . . .

The groom and his excitement on the morning of the wedding!  The groom has waited years and years for this day! Many preparations have been made; everything is set and beautiful! The guests have arrived and are seated.  He has not seen his bride all morning but is soooo excited to see her walking towards him down the aisle. The groom enters the ceremony and stands at the altar waiting for his bride.  He is eager to marry the one he loves and his heart is racing.  The music starts . . . soon he will see his bride,and they will be united forever! 

The bride enters the room.  The groom looks and his heart sinks. His bride is wearing sweatpants and a sweatshirt.  Her hair is undone and she looks like she just came out of bed.   His bride has not made herself ready; she is not ready for the wedding.  Can you imagine what the groom is feeling? The disappointment after all the excitement and sacrifice for the wedding! How can it be that his bride is not ready? 

For the last 5 days, Monday, the 18th throuh Friday Feb 22nd, our team has been praying for the sanctity of marriage in America. (Read last post for a letter from Jason Hershey, the leader of Washington House of Prayer and YWAM DC, for more information and the heart behind the 5 days.)  

Sunday night at our worship set, God laid on my heart Rev. 19:6-8. 

Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, 

like a roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: 

Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. 

Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! 

For the wedding of the Lamb has come and his bride has made herself ready. 

Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear. 

(Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.) 

After I read the verses aloud and then prayed for the church of America to wake up to the sounds of thunder and prepare herself for the wedding that is to come with our bridegroom,  Jason shared the story I wrote above about the bride not being ready.  It was a dream he received during this engagement. As he shared, an overwhelming feeling of wanting the church of America to be dressed and ready for the wedding of the Lamb came over me.  I became more and more excited about praying for marriage this week!  

Monday morning, I woke up before my alarm with an excitement in my heart! 

An excitement and strong desire to put on make up and wear a dress for Jesus!

I want to be found ready for my bridegroom and ready for the wedding of the Lamb!  

For those who might not know me very well, that is VERY, VERY STRANGE.  Honestly, I have not worn make up since we have been in DC, which has been 6 months! Also, the stranger part about it was that I was EXCITED about putting it on and getting ready!  I went to the bathroom with a joy in my spirit and talked with my groom, Jesus, the whole time I put on my make up.  As we talked, I shared my desire to be ready for Him when He returns.  I felt Him ask me if I  was willing to take the time and wear make up and a dress for the 5 days we are praying for marriage to "make myself ready for the wedding of the Lamb". My heart was so filled with joy and excitement that I said YES right away (even though it is not my custom to wear dresses and make up).

I then dug out my summer clothes (thanking God I did not send them back to the farm for the winter) and had fun looking and picking out a dress for that day. Everyday this week I got ready and dressed up for the Wedding of the Lamb!  It was an amazing week of breakthrough in my personal life as God not only asked me to get ready physically but in my heart.

Monday

Tuesday

 

 Wednesday

Thursday

  

 Friday

I want to be found ready for me bridegroom when He comes! Are you ready for your bridegroom? He is waiting.

Join us for . . . 5 days of prayer for the Supreme Court and Sanctity of Marriage

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In 1973 Roe v. Wade stunned the American Church and in many ways, took her by surprise. For 40 years now we have been battling to remove this plague of Abortion from our land.  What we wouldn’t all give to be able to wind back the clock and have a do-over! It’s way easier to stop a strong man before he gets into your house, than to take the house back after he’s made it his stronghold.  

We know God hears prayer, holds the hearts of kings in his hands, and honors our supplications as much as Elijah's! If it were December 13, 1971 again and the Oral Argument of Roe vs Wade were being held at the Supreme Court, to what length would we go to mobilize prayer for those nine Justices?  Considering the cost of 55 million lives since,  I'm sure we all would bring everything to a grinding halt to pray for the nine “Supremes”.

My friends, the Roe v. Wade of our generation has come upon us. March 26 & 27, the Supreme Court will hear cases Hollingsworth v. Perry and United States v. Windsor. Both cases are really Sexual Immorality v. Sanctity of Marriage.  Will the Supreme Court of the United States call sexual immorality equal to holy matrimony?  This is a spiritual war, and you had better believe we can win it, or we’ve already lost!  40 years later, we have an opportunity to show God that we are different now.  The children of Israel were in the desert for 40 years because of their unbelief and also for a generation to learn how to fight.  Let us not be prayer-less or faithless! Let’s repent of our unbelief and passivity! Let’s rise and pray!

God has spoken and confirmed to our intercession community in DC to mobilize the mobilizers to prayer for the Supreme Court and the sanctity of marriage.  God has through a couple of dreams confirmed these things:

Five days of prayer and fasting Feb 18 - 22. Please fast and pray with us. This fast is a fast for mobilization. Ask God for strategy. Gather the army. Repent of passivity. This is a month before the cases will actually be heard.  We received these dates from the Holy Spirit for no apparent reason.  We know in the natural this gives us a month after those 5 days to mobilize beyond ourselves. Secondly we also know that many of the justices make up their minds before the oral arguments, simply through reading the legal briefs from both sides. 

Pray for all the Supreme Court Justices, but specifically for Justice Kennedy. We know that Justice Kennedy will likely be the swing vote on this case.  One of our intercessors had a dream in relation to this issue in which was spoken the phrase, “Justice Kennedy -our swing vote - is in the church.”

Let’s pray that God would slam the door shut to the spirit of sexual immorality in America and deliver a generation from sexual confusion.  Let’s take the keys of David and lock shut the door!

I believe God has given us an opportunity to turn back the clock. If we rise up in prayer, and in faith, I believe God will reverse Roe, too, as we show him that we are a different church 40 years later.  Joshuas and Calebs, let’s go in and take promised Land!

Jason Hershey

Jason Hershey resides in Washington DC and leads a community of full-time intercessors committed to standing in the Gap for America. He is the founder of David’s Tent DC and Washington House of Prayer.  www.davidstentdc.org  If you’d like to come and pray on site in Washington DC, please email,info@davidstentdc.org.