A Good Place
21/09/04 21:06
Rugby is a good place to go to pray.
There is an openness in the heavenlies and the angelic is very active. The receptivity to the prophetic is also very high.
Known for the public school, its cement and as the birthplace of its namesake, Rugby has a reputation that goes around the world. It is also a place of great innovation and creativity. The jet engine was developed here and the first street gas lamp in the nation originated in Rugby. The ease with which the Lord drew near as we worshipped all indicated that this is very clearly a Sardis type of city.
Note: Sardis City ( by Martin Scott)
Sardis: the City of Mercy
Sardis known for its creativity and music! It was a “happening” place. Had great influence.
Conquered because it didn’t watch!
City of great tolerance – i.e. Mercy without truth.
Mercy Cities have a gifting which enables them to take what is happening and significantly develop it. Sardis has the ability to birth new things.
Sardis type cities need to hold on to a strong faith that Jesus is building the church and therefore must have a strong prophetic element to them.
The significant contribution of Sardis type cities will be the ability to communicate the mercy of God and to encourage the church to think out of the box. It will be a place that will manifest the fullness of the Spirit. Creativity should be at the heart of the church.
Fullness means that all the people of God will be empowered not some elite leadership.
Surface Strongholds
Redemptive Giftings
Place that helps everyone find their destiny and sense of belonging. Even when people have felt that they’ve not fitted elsewhere – here they can develop their calling and significance. This is particularly true for those who are creative and have gifts of innovation.
Wells of prayer and the prophetic can be opened up here for whole areas and for nations. It’s a place of refreshing with copious amounts of the Spirit to be drunk from.
A place willing to do things that haven’t been though of before. Ability to break patterns – this is essential if the church is to break out to a new level. These cities do not repeat what has gone before but demonstrate that boundaries can be broken.
A night city:
Watch and pray will be a significant part of the task especially praying in the night hours. In line with the night element Sardis type places will be conducive to revelation coming to people in dreams.
Promises
A remnant will be enough
Jesus calls for the few to turn the city around. Numbers are not the key but holiness/cleanliness is.
Heavenly authority given but “the few” need to have a clear sense of their own identity – they need to know their inheritance. Angels will also know the names of the few so angelic activity would be expected in these places.
A significant sign of turn-around in these places is when spiritually here comes the “feel” of freedom to breathe and the lack of oppression; symbolically it will often be marked by the release of new property.
Prayer:
So we call you wonderful cities of mercy to arise. You have such a well to tap into and we want to encourage you to do the things that have not been done before. Be unashamed at developing what has been done elsewhere, and show it can be taken to new dimensions. You can open up the rich wells of creativity, you can release dreams and dreamers. Our God has never been boring, so come on show us this God who is alive.
There is an openness in the heavenlies and the angelic is very active. The receptivity to the prophetic is also very high.
Known for the public school, its cement and as the birthplace of its namesake, Rugby has a reputation that goes around the world. It is also a place of great innovation and creativity. The jet engine was developed here and the first street gas lamp in the nation originated in Rugby. The ease with which the Lord drew near as we worshipped all indicated that this is very clearly a Sardis type of city.
Note: Sardis City ( by Martin Scott)
Sardis: the City of Mercy
Sardis known for its creativity and music! It was a “happening” place. Had great influence.
Conquered because it didn’t watch!
City of great tolerance – i.e. Mercy without truth.
Mercy Cities have a gifting which enables them to take what is happening and significantly develop it. Sardis has the ability to birth new things.
Sardis type cities need to hold on to a strong faith that Jesus is building the church and therefore must have a strong prophetic element to them.
The significant contribution of Sardis type cities will be the ability to communicate the mercy of God and to encourage the church to think out of the box. It will be a place that will manifest the fullness of the Spirit. Creativity should be at the heart of the church.
Fullness means that all the people of God will be empowered not some elite leadership.
Surface Strongholds
- A stranglehold of creative gifts
- Tendency for one expression of church to claim to have the Spirit
- A teaching on grace that ignores the need for discipline.
- Inability to complete what has begun so perseverance is important in this place
- Over focus on the past so need to have living stories not past testimonies. Should be a “restlessness” in the people of God to continually press in for something new
- Passivity/sleepiness/apathy is a major issue.
- Compromise.
Redemptive Giftings
Place that helps everyone find their destiny and sense of belonging. Even when people have felt that they’ve not fitted elsewhere – here they can develop their calling and significance. This is particularly true for those who are creative and have gifts of innovation.
Wells of prayer and the prophetic can be opened up here for whole areas and for nations. It’s a place of refreshing with copious amounts of the Spirit to be drunk from.
A place willing to do things that haven’t been though of before. Ability to break patterns – this is essential if the church is to break out to a new level. These cities do not repeat what has gone before but demonstrate that boundaries can be broken.
A night city:
Watch and pray will be a significant part of the task especially praying in the night hours. In line with the night element Sardis type places will be conducive to revelation coming to people in dreams.
Promises
A remnant will be enough
Jesus calls for the few to turn the city around. Numbers are not the key but holiness/cleanliness is.
Heavenly authority given but “the few” need to have a clear sense of their own identity – they need to know their inheritance. Angels will also know the names of the few so angelic activity would be expected in these places.
A significant sign of turn-around in these places is when spiritually here comes the “feel” of freedom to breathe and the lack of oppression; symbolically it will often be marked by the release of new property.
Prayer:
So we call you wonderful cities of mercy to arise. You have such a well to tap into and we want to encourage you to do the things that have not been done before. Be unashamed at developing what has been done elsewhere, and show it can be taken to new dimensions. You can open up the rich wells of creativity, you can release dreams and dreamers. Our God has never been boring, so come on show us this God who is alive.