One of the exciting things that the Lord has said to me about this year is that it's a year where we're going to go from survival to revival. Now, in order to do that, we're going to have to learn how to enter into prayer on a whole new level and in a whole new place of power than what we've ever experienced before.
Ninth Hour of Prayer & the Time of the Evening Sacrifice
| “Now, I've never had an angel come and interpret a dream for me, but I'm telling you, we're living in a day when anything is possible.“ |
As I began to study the Scriptures regarding this new year (as you know, this is the year 2019 or 5779, both which end with nine), I found something very interesting referred to in the New Testament as the ninth hour of prayer. In the Old Testament, it's referred to as the time of the evening sacrifice. But in both of these cases, it is a time when Heaven and Earth begin to come together; when Heaven literally responds to the prayers that are being prayed from the earth realm.
Let me give you a couple of examples from the Old Testament, from 1 Kings chapters 18 and 19, when Elijah was on Mount Carmel. (Most of us know the whole story about Elijah saying, “Choose you this day whom you're going to serve” and how the prophets of Baal had their false offering and were cutting themselves and giving their false prophecies, trying to get it to rain.)
Remember how there was a drought in the land and Elijah basically said, “I'm going to show you who's God”? The Bible says that at the time of the evening sacrifice (which we have come to find out is actually the ninth hour of the day or 3 o'clock in the afternoon) Elijah said, “Stop all this nonsense” and he began to prepare his offering. He told the people with him to go and get pitchers full of water, in the time of drought, and pour water all over the sacrifice. After this was done, he called on God from Heaven, and Heaven answered by fire in the ninth hour.
There Is No One Like Our God
Wow…and we're in the ninth hour! God is going to answer by fire and show who really is God, I'm telling you! I hope that this excites you as much as it excites me, because I believe the things that we've been praying for, things that we've been praying to see overturned, things that we've been praying to see God move in and things that we've been asking God about, He will answer this year. (Photo via Flickr)
God, shut the mouths of those people who are lying – those prognosticators – wherever they're coming from, from the Church, from the world; whatever it is, wherever they're coming from, shut their mouths. Let me just say, God wants to shut their mouths by showing who the true God is, and He will answer by fire from Heaven in miraculous ways this year.
In the Old Testament, we see that Ezra was crying out to God, praying and crying for revival in the land because the Jewish people had lost their identity, they'd lost their purpose; but, at the time of the evening sacrifice, the spirit of revival broke out. We read in Ezra chapter 9 and 10 that a spirit of holiness fell on the people in the ninth hour.
I want you to have an expectation that God's going to stir, and revival is actually going to bring a greater fear of the Lord. It's going to bring a greater level of desiring to be pure and holy before God and to be the separate people that He has called us to be. I believe that we see this in the book of Ezra.
We also see, very interestingly, in Daniel chapter 9, Daniel crying out because he's had a vision that he does not understand. He's crying out as he's seeking the Lord. It says at the time of the evening sacrifice, or again the ninth hour, God sent Gabriel from Heaven to answer him. Remember, the ninth hour is considered to be a time frame of when Heaven answers Earth. God sent Gabriel from Heaven to begin to explain the mystery of the dreams and the visions that Daniel had.
Time for a Strategy and a Miracle!
Now, I've never had an angel come and interpret a dream for me, but I'm telling you, we're living in a day when anything is possible. As a matter of fact, it's really interesting that angelic interaction is a part of this ninth hour. We see this in the New Testament when Cornelius, the gentile, Roman centurion, is crying out to God saying, “God, what must I do to be saved?” And it actually says that in the ninth hour an angel visited him and told him, “Cornelius, go send for Peter. Peter will tell you what to do to be saved” (see Act 10:1-6). So that was the entrance story to the first gentile and his household coming to know Jesus. It brought tremendous revival, and entire nations ended up being open to the Gospel because God answered from Heaven, came down and began to interact with man and give them a plan and a strategy.
Some of you need a plan and a strategy; don't be surprised if God even sends an angel to give you a plan and to give you a strategy. The ninth hour is a miracle time. We see in Acts chapter 3, Peter and John walking by the gate called Beautiful. They're going to the time of prayer, to the time of the evening sacrifice; again, the ninth hour. As they are walking in, they see the lame man who was begging alms. We know the story…they say, “We don't have any silver and gold, but what we do have we give you in the name of Jesus, rise and walk.” And in the ninth hour, that man who was lame at the city gate for decades suddenly leapt to his feet and went walking and leaping and praising God (see Acts 3:1-10).
I'm telling you, this is the time for suddenlies, this is the time for miracles, this is the time for people to start walking and leaping and praising God, coming out of death, coming out of survival, coming into revival!
It Is Finished!
Now let me tell you one last story about the ninth hour. The most famous and important ninth hour reference that we find in Scripture is when Jesus hung on the Cross. After hanging there for hours, it says that in the ninth hour, Jesus cried out and said, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” And then He said, “It is finished.” He didn't say, “I am finished.” He said, “It is finished.” He finished the work God gave Him to do, and at that moment the veil of the temple was torn from top to bottom and a whole new era came to Earth.
When Jesus died, He paid the price for our sins so that we can come out of a place of just surviving in Earth, and into a place where we can be revived, where we can experience new life; where we can experience the miracles that He's promised us. I'm telling you, we are in the ninth hour. God is going to answer from Heaven the prayers that are being prayed from Earth, but let me admonish you: You've got to pray the prayers from Earth to have Heaven answer. This is a time to press in, in prayer, as never before and to watch and see what God will do. You're going to have a suddenly. You're going to have a miracle. You're going to have a change that's going to transform your life from this point forward.
