12 Weeks of Prayer: Week 1-Day 1
By Dr. Teresa Allissa Citro
Founder and President of Thread of Hope
I’m very excited to share that God is calling us at Thread of Hope to lead in prayer again. Last week, the Lord put in my heart to call an intense warfare prayer vigil. He then gave us weekly prayer points and it turns out to be exactly 12 weeks. This number is very significant biblically. It’s considered to be a symbol of perfection and government. It is also perceived as a symbol of authority and completeness. Isn’t that interesting?
This tells me that Jesus Christ, Who is the King of kings and the Lord of lords, is about to showcase His power and might. In Isaiah 9:6 it says, “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”
Please understand, this verse has nothing to do with a spiritual leader. Rather, it has everything to do with a Kingly leader. Let me explain. Before the birth of Jesus Christ, the priests from the house of Zadok had the responsibility of carrying the government upon their shoulders. They were considered the religious leaders. Notice how nobody was considered the actual kingly leader? Until the birth of Christ. Then everything changed.
This Kingly leader is the Lord Jesus Christ! He came the first time to pay our debt and reconcile us back to God. He came as the Perfect Lamb of God. Next time He comes, He’s coming as the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, and the rightful Kingly leader. He IS the Prince of Peace. The government IS upon his shoulders.
Beloved, Jesus is soon coming. We do not know the time or hour, but we know He is coming. He will reign as the Kingly leader.
The world is in great turmoil, confusion, and it is full of lovers of themselves. Good is evil, evil is good. In case you haven’t noticed, we are living in a time of great deception, conniving, and lying. Seems like all hell has broken loose. The Bible warns us of such times and such spirits. We are to stand our ground in faith. We are not to move in fear as many are doing.
Please read the following passages with me.
“Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous;” 1 John 3:7.
We are to be very careful by not allowing anyone to deceive us, trick us, or dupe us into believing that which is not true. Unfortunately, this is what is happening at this very moment around the globe. This verse is interesting to me. The very next thing it says is, “The one who practices righteousness is righteous.” It’s our job to operate, exercise, and implement righteous behaviors. We are to imitate “He who is righteous.” Really, we have no excuse. We are called to righteous living. Honestly, this is the greatest kind of life, bringing in blessing after blessing.
The next passage goes even deeper, “See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ,” 1 Colossians 2:8.
This is a heavily loaded verse. We must take the time to break it down. It’s our job to not allow anyone to take us captive. Captive means to be under one’s power. This can easily happen if we’re not watching carefully. It’s so subtle. It happens when we are tricked into believing people’s philosophies. Philosophies meaning people's beliefs, convictions, ideology, ideas, notions, theories, doctrines, and views. Their values, principles, ethics, and attitudes are contrary to God’s word. God’s viewpoint and outlook are nothing like the world’s view. There’s no such thing as God’s school of thought. God’s principles are clearly defined in scripture. They are holy as He is holy.
We don’t submit ourselves to people’s thoughts and ideas. For example, we hear, “The Bible was written long ago, things have changed now. We need to keep up with the time.” That’s ridiculous. God’s laws are God’s laws. Period. That which He calls sin is still sin. In this verse, “deception” shows up again. This is God making the point again. Don’t be tricked by anyone.
Next comes something I personally dislike. Traditions of men are also mentioned in this verse. Just the other day, someone tried to tell me it was biblically correct to have two wives. In their “Christian” culture you could have a wife in their country and one in USA or Europe. Really, where in the Bible is that found? Abraham was accused. Let me be clear, Hagar was not Abraham’s wife. She served to make an illegitimate baby. If anyone goes there, then you must believe that Abraham divorced his second wife by sending her and the child away. Do you understand how important it is to know scripture?
Finally, there’s one more verse that clearly speaks about not being deceived because doing so will cost your soul. I’m going to give you homework. Please, look up and memorize 1 Corinthians 6:9-10. This will save your soul from hell. Don’t let Satan dupe you into committing sins that will land you in hell. God is very clear on what sin is. “Do not be deceived. The unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God.” Wow, how horrifying is that?
However, we don’t have to be horrified. God will forgive us from all unrighteousness and will seat us in Heaven with Him.
Today we begin the 12 weeks of prayer.
This week, we will pray that God removes the veil of deception, lying, and conniving in our world. And that people like our family, friends, and colleagues will come to know Him. Let’s pray that God will use us to reach out to a lost world with the hope of eternal life in Jesus Christ.
Satan who is the father of all lies has been using these evil deceptive practices since the Garden of Eden. Jesus, the Kingly Leader, was born to crush the enemy. He did that when He died on the cross for our sins. His redemption reconciled us back to God and we were given the authority to step on the ugly serpent's head and crush him under our feet. Glory to God for we are forgiven of our sins and cleansed by His blood. We are headed for Heaven.
“In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.”
2 Timothy 3:12-15
Let this be our prayer: Heavenly Father, we rebuke and ask that You expose and reveal these deceiving, lying, and conniving spirits. We rebuke Satan’s tactics and we crush him under our feet. We proclaim victory over the enemy and we ask that You use us to share the truth of the Gospel. Let us shine like beacons of light in a dark and sinful world. Let the light of the world shine through us. We are Your children, the righteous of God. Thank you for removing the scales off of our eyes so we could see You. Lord Jesus, we repent from our sins and ask You to be the Lord and Savior of our lives. We will walk in righteousness and holiness, and we will take the mind of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Praise & Worship: Tasha Cobbs - Break Every Chain (Lyrics) - YouTube
“Vindicate me, my God, and plead my cause against an unfaithful nation.
Rescue me from those who are deceitful and wicked,” Psalm 43:1.
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