Many of us have a defining moment in our lives that marks a convergence of our dreams, our passions and abilities with a revelation of the unique call that God has upon our lives. In that moment there is a burst of joy and expectation as we discover that our heart’s desire, our identity, our mission and the equipping to fulfill it have all been provided for by the Lord’s grace at work in our lives. The journey to this moment may be years in the making, but when it arrives the joy, peace and authority that comes into our lives transforms us and we become an even greater reflection of God’s glory.

This is the testimony of what one of our Zion College students experienced from her first year of studies at our ministry training center. She is one of the many dear saints who work in the social service setting providing care for those who have no other place to turn, and her heart resonates with God’s compassion for the lost, the oppressed and the hurting of the world. Over the course of the year the Zion College faculty watched this student blossom as she found the answer to her heart’s cry for the hurting within the framework of the love, support and authority of the local church body. As she stepped into this revelation, there was a fresh impartation for miracles and transformation to touch the individuals she worked with, and she shared several amazing testimonies with us. Her life is a beautiful example of the equipping and direction we experience as we find our individual destiny framed by the big picture God has in mind for His Body, the Church. The following is an excerpt from her final paper on The Church.

Death, addiction, abuse and neglect, violence, injustice, rejection, families torn apart and children abandoned to be cared for by strangers and often victimized by the shortfalls of the government system intended to help them are all evidence of the works of the devil on the earth today. I John 3:8 states, “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.” Jesus completed His mission at Calvary, and out of His side was formed a helper in which He might pour out His Spirit to manifest this victory on the earth. This helper is His bride, the Church.

Jesus first mentioned “the church” in Matthew 16: 13-19. “When Jesus came in to the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, ‘Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?’ So they said, ‘Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’ He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Simon Peter answered and said, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.’” This simple sentence describes the Church’s amazing power, authority, and God’s intent for her to rule and reign on the earth.

Essentially we see from Matthew 16 that God’s original commission to the first Adam and his helper Eve was restored to the Last Adam and His helper, the Church. As Dr. Bonnie Chavda said several times in class, when God commanded Adam to tend and guard the Garden of Eden, it was with the intention that this garden would grow to cover the earth as a habitation for the family of man to tabernacle with God eternally. The Garden of Eden is a type of the Church.

Alister McGrath describes the church as a, “walled garden of God’s transforming love for humanity” where the believers can grow and be protected. “The church is called and fashioned out of the world in much the same way as a garden is an enclosed portion of wilderness, which can be watered, cultivated and tended” (142). The Master Gardener, God, is the one who causes growth, and His Church co-labors with Him, both letting His Spirit tend and guard us individually, creating a safe community for others to come and be restored to His garden. “I (Paul) planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth. Now he who plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building” (I Corinthians 3:6-9 NASB).

The Church is a walled garden where I have experienced transformation and expanded it into my sphere of influence at work and with friends. At work I have been able to pray for others instead of reacting in a negative manner. During a time of many trials, the Lord brought me into a safe haven to tend and guard my heart. I did not realize the extent to which I harbored anger and fear that God had abandoned me. At the time I did not see how God was intervening in my place of need; however in retrospect He was with me and brought me out alive instead of dead and with minimal casualties for the circumstances, for a purpose. Through this process of crushing, the Lord used His body on earth, my local church community to set my mind free and start the healing process in my heart. As a result I found that in my relationships to those outside of the church, in the wild waste of the world, it has been easier now to encourage and minister to those who are being crushed than to join them in their pit. Augustine of Hippo stated that in Song of Songs 4:12-13 the church is portrayed as “an enclosed garden, my sister and bride, a sealed fountain, a well of living water, an orchard of choice fruit.” I will say that in this season I have rowed towards the wave of darkness, waiting on the Lord in the “shack” and found that in the midst of that storm there is an anchor in His garden where He tends to each of us through His Church.

This restoration of the Garden of God on earth is first prophesied when God tells Eve, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise His heel” (Genesis 3:15). This work was finished when Jesus took the penalty of our sins, tasting death for all mankind on the cross. Yet, Paul writes to the Romans, “And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly” (Romans 16:20). I believe this means that the Church is still actively involved in crushing the head of that serpent satan.

There are three activities in addition to worshipping the Lord that will crush the head of satan: corporate prayer, fasting and watching:

Prayer is designed to be an intimate dance with the depths of God’s heart orchestrated and choreographed by the Holy Spirit. God’s heart is for restoration, healing, strength, peace and joy. The tune and the rhythm of the dance will bring justice where there is injustice and salvation for the lost. The twirling and spinning of the dance of prayer throw off and obliterate darkness and its stronghold while expanding the territory of God’s Kingdom. The more intimate we are with the Lord in prayer, the more precise, penetrating and effective our prayers coupled with fasting will be in hitting the mark, obliterating the enemy’s arrow and existence. I have experienced that this dance of intimacy is easier to step into and flow in the corporate setting of The Watch of the Lord™. As evidenced in the Book of Acts, corporate prayer was an unceasing activity of the early church, and radically transformed the culture and society of their day.

Fasting acts as a catalyst catapulting our prayers that God’s Kingdom come on earth as in heaven. This is evidenced in Isaiah 58, which outlines the purpose and power of corporate fasting. To loose the bonds of wickedness is one target of the fast the Lord has chosen. In The Hidden Power of Prayer & Fasting it states that, there are broken, hurting, desperate people under demonic influences all around you. Psychologists, psychiatrists, therapists, and mental health providers and workers cannot cure or even sometimes even help. There is a place for helping in the natural but there are some demonic strongholds that only come out by prayer and fasting as Jesus stated. The benefits of fasting are out of this world, beyond, reaching into this world: “Revelation, healing and wholeness, righteousness, the presence of the shekinah glory of God, answered prayers, continual guidance, contentment, refreshing, strength, work that endures (like an ever-flowing spring), raising up of future generations, and restoration (Chavda p.44-45).” May the Church yearn for the Lord’s fast to destroy the works of the devil and to bring to the lost and hurting the needed restoration of the Lord.

Watching. In the book, Watch of the Lord, Mahesh & Bonnie Chavda state, “Throughout Scripture there is evidence of God’s power being released when people went without sleep (watched) and prayed-both individually and in one accord with others” (17). As the Church watches and prays, there is not only power to destroy the works of the devil, but an exponential increase in signs, wonders, and miracles wherever the gospel is preached. As we saw in the first garden, man lost his dominion when he fell into temptation. In Matthew 26:41, Jesus spoke to his disciples in the garden of Gethsemane, and gives us the answer to protect us from the serpent’s wiles: ‘Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit is indeed willing, but the flesh is weak.” As we advance the garden of God’s Kingdom on the earth, watching is key to keeping the territory we have gained.

Why do we need revival? Revival destroys the works of the devil! In 100 Year Bloom by Mahesh and Bonnie Chavda, they state that in Hosea 2:14-15, “God reveals the quintessential context in which revival visits the earth: ‘I will allure her and bring her into the wilderness and speak to her heart. I will give her her vineyards from there. And the valley of trouble will become a door of hope.’ Revival is trouble pregnant with hope.” The promise of revival is resurrection of the dead to life everlasting and restoration beyond what was destroyed. Worshiping the Lord, fasting, praying and watching are weapons that we make war with in the heavenlies to set the captives free and bring lost souls into salvation of the Kingdom of God.

We need a revival of the true fast – one that “looses the bonds of wickedness, undoes heavy burdens, sets the oppressed free, breaks every yoke, feeds the hungry, houses the poor and homeless, clothes the naked, with our light breaking forth like morning, our healing springing forth speedily" (Isaiah 58:6-8). We need a revival that drastically changes our society and government nationally and globally and ignites the Church, His “ekklesia”, to rule and govern according to the Lord’s ways, bringing glory to His name, reflecting the foundations of our nation as it was first founded on Christ. We need a revival that forever changes the prayer life of the Church to a more intimate dance with the depths of the Lord’s heart in prayer as orchestrated by the Holy Spirit. A revival that vanquishes all seemingly impossible strongholds of the enemy, establishing the triumphant victory and rendering the justice of the Lord. A revival of God’s love that so transforms all of creation bringing tears of joy to the Lord’s heart. A revival that reaches from the high places through to the low places, to the in-between and hidden places.

As the Church we are to extend the Lord’s scepter of justice through fasting and praying, watching and worship: God’s Kingdom come, His will be done on earth as it is in heaven – and the gates of hell shall not prevail!!