As a child of God it is important to remember that there are no insignificant disciples of Jesus, we all have a crucial role to play in seeing the Kingdom of God manifest in our world. As a believer, if you have been filled with the Holy Spirit, you have been given a powerful gift from God that enables you to literally change the atmosphere where you are and set the stage for breakthrough in the lives of those around you. Romans 5:17 says that it is intended for you to reign in life, not simply survive.
When we pray and intercede we are desiring to see breakthrough in our own lives and the lives of those around us. There are a few practical steps that can be taken to consistently see breakthrough occur, but before we get to that we need to deconstruct some mindsets that have been instilled in us through religious tradition.
The first mindset we need to deal with is our idea of Heaven and what goes on there. Heaven is a busy place, the throne room is a place populated by not just the Father and Jesus, but by angels, seraphim, elders, throngs of saints from previous generations and ministering spirits. Father God is not lonely in Heaven. It’s not just the Father and Jesus with the Holy Spirit in and out on occasion. The Father takes counsel in Heaven and declares His purposes for the Earth. There are many descriptions of what heaven is like in the Bible, notably in the books of Isaiah, Daniel and Revelation.
Daniel 7:9,10 “As I kept watching, thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took His seat. His clothing was white like snow, and the hair of His head like whitest wool. His throne was flaming fire; its wheels were blazing fire. A river of fire was flowing, coming out from His presence. Thousands upon thousands served Him; ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him. The court was convened, and the books were opened. (HCSB)
Daniel 4:17 This word is by decree of the observers; the matter is a command from the holy ones. This is so the living will know that the Most High is ruler over the kingdom of men. He gives it to anyone He wants and sets the lowliest of men over it. (HCSB)
In 1 Kings 22:19-23 the prophet Micaiah sees the proceedings occurring in the Heavenly counsel.
Then Micaiah said, “Therefore, hear the word of the LORD: I saw the LORD sitting on His throne, and the whole heavenly host was standing by Him at His right hand and at His left hand. And the LORD said, ‘Who will entice Ahab to march up and fall at Ramoth-gilead? ’ So one was saying this and another was saying that.
“Then a spirit came forward, stood before the LORD, and said, ‘I will entice him.’
“The LORD asked him, ‘How? ’
“He said, ‘I will go and become a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’
“Then He said, ‘You will certainly entice him and prevail. Go and do that.’
“You see, the LORD has put a lying spirit into the mouth of all these prophets of yours, and the LORD has pronounced disaster against you.” (HCSB)
Isaiah chapter 6 and Revelation chapter 4 each give a detailed description of the activities that are occurring in Heaven. The writer of Hebrews refers to the faithful of previous generations as a “large cloud of witnesses” (Hebrews 12:1) that are actively cheering us on as we are pressing on, which aligns itself with what Jesus taught concerning the saints of previous generations being very much alive in the presence of God. (Luke 20:38) Heaven is deeply interested in what is happening in the Earth at all times. We see in these scriptures that God convenes court, takes counsel and decrees things for Earth from Heaven.
As intercessors our part is to come into agreement with what Heaven has decreed and to hold counsel here on the Earth. Heaven is paying attention to the things that we discuss here as well. Malachi 3:16-18 says:
At that time those who feared the LORD spoke to one another. The LORD took notice and listened. So a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who feared Yahweh and had high regard for His name. “They will be Mine,” says the LORD of Hosts, “a special possession on the day I am preparing. I will have compassion on them as a man has compassion on his son who serves him. So you will again see the difference between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him. (HCSB)
We become that conduit for the declarations of Heaven to be released into the Earth and Heaven takes note of the counsel we hold in unity here on the earth.
Now that we understand that there is a correlation between the counsel in Heaven and the counsel on Earth, there are some practical steps that we can take to consistently see breakthrough occur. How we approach God is very important to seeing the atmosphere shift. We should always initiate our prayer time with a heart of gratitude towards the Father. Jesus began His prayers with gratitude to the Father and recognition of Him as his source. Purity is vital to seeing a significant level of breakthrough with God, not only purity in the sense of a cleanness from sin, but also a purity of purpose and heart motive. We need to break open the way and invite the Holy Spirit in by binding the enemy and praying for the release and empowerment of angels and ministering spirits, the exercise of our authority to bind and loose (Matthew 16:19) is crucial to breakthrough. Listen for what the Holy Spirit leads you into praying. Holy Spirit is looking for those who will partner with the declarations of Heaven and stand against the lies of the enemy. Obedience to what you hear the Spirit say is how we steward the atmosphere and cultivate it.
Be prepared to be anonymous, being anonymous does not equal being insignificant. The culture of the church for much of it’s history has unfortunately ingrained a mindset of hierarchy into the thinking of many believers in which we mistakenly believe that a higher level of visibility relates to our level of importance in ministry. God needs behind the scenes people in our culture, He needs those that will exert the influence of Heaven throughout our culture while remaining quietly in the shadows and operating largely unnoticed by men. You must be willing to be the key to breakthrough and not receive any credit for it from men. All glory goes to God anyway, your part may be unknown here, but you are well known in Heaven.
Heaven waits in eager anticipation for you to pray.
