Texas, Our Texas

TEXAS OUR TEXAS
A Prophetic Song (Based on State Song “Texas Our Texas” which was adopted in 1929)
by Merrie Cardin and Tom Schlueter (July 2009)
Texas, Our Texas! Come bow before God’s throne!
Texas, Our Texas! Come worship Him alone!
You’ll be bolder and grander, withstanding ev'ry test
His glory He’ll display and you’ll stand supremely blest.

Chorus:
God bless you Texas! And keep you brave and strong,
That you may grow in power and worth, throughout the ages long.

Texas, O Texas, He is your single star
You’ll send out its radiance to nations near and far,
Emblem of Freedom! It sets our hearts aglow,
It burns with God’s glory and brands us as His own.

Texas, come worship, the One who sets you free
Send forth His kingdom – this is your destiny
Take up your mantle, a prophet true and strong
Call back the nation to worship God alone

Continue to pray for Texas.  Texas is a fulcrum point (a plumbline) for a nation which is teetering.  Pray that the Lord will use Texas as a humble servant and prophetic voice to the nation in this hour!
Check out the purpose and schedule for Root 52 Texas.

Texas – Root 52 Initiative

Texas – Root 52 Initiative
The Prophet State
Statehood – December 29, 1845
Name is Native American meaning “Friend”
Lone Star State

For 2010, the United States Reformation Prayer Network is implementing a national prayer strategy called “Root 52″. This prayer initiative is a 52-week prayer strategy to bring the nation back to its covenant roots.

During the first two weeks of 2010, all 50 states stood together to fast and pray for our national leadership and national governmental structure. Now, we are moving forward with each state network continuing to fast and pray with a focus on government leadership and the seven mountains. The torch of prayer and fasting will go “en route” from state to state in the sequence that they came to form the United States of America, until we complete 52 weeks, equaling 1 year.

Starting this Friday (July 23) the torch will pass from Florida to Texas (the 28th state).  Check out the list below for prayer locations throughout the state. Go to the following link to download a PDF copy of our Texas State Prayer guide: PRAYER GUIDE

LOCATIONS FOR PRAYER IN TEXAS

• 7 PM – Friday, July 23 in Granbury (Crossroads Prayer Center, 1950 Acton Hwy, Granbury, TX)
• 7 PM – Saturday, July 24 in Waskom (Kenshire Ministries, 2591 Magnolia Road, Waskom, TX
• 2 PM – Sunday, July 25 in Victoria (Rising Eagles Ministries, 1604 E. Crestwood Dr, Victoria, TX)
• 7 PM – Monday, July 26 in Canyon (Summit Church, 2008 12th Ave. Canyon, TX)
• 7 PM – Tuesday, July 27 in El Paso (YWAM Base, 4444 Edgar Park, El Paso, TX)
• 7 PM – Wednesday, July 28 in Austin (Beautiful Savior Lutheran, 6830 S. Pleasant Valley, Austin, TX)
• 7 PM – Thursday, July 29 in Arlington (Prince of Peace Church, 1701 Martin Luther Dr, Arlington, TX))

Set In Order

Have you watched streams as they flow towards a common river? Have you studied the heavens when the sun, moon and earth line up for an eclipse?  Have you been in a meeting where there is a synergy released as everyone comes to a common conclusion or experience?

The word is "convergence."  In the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, convergence is defined as the act of converging and especially moving toward union or uniformity (2)  independent development of similar characters (as of bodily structure of unrelated organisms or cultural traits) often associated with similarity of habits or environment or (3) the merging of distinct technologies, industries, or devices into a unified whole.

Simpler please! Convergence is when everything comes together and "something happens."  I have felt for weeks that we are near "something happening."  It is hard to put into words but I can feel an excitement and tension building in my spirit.  As we have focused our prayers on national issues (oil spill, border security, Israel, etc), the Lord has been converging our prayers and intercessions.  I can not recall a time when the "prayer energy" in our city of Arlington has been so high. 

I believe the Lord is about to set some things in order.  Even a meeting next month, which was supposed to be nothing more than an annual gathering of the council members of the Texas Apostolic Prayer Network, has turned towards a key gathering on Friday, August 20 at Prince of Peace Church in Arlington.  Dr. John Benefiel of Oklahoma and Dr. Chuck Pierce of Global Spheres will be with us.  It is a convergence and you are invited!  You can download a map at this link: MAP.

Reset

According to Romans 12:1-2, we are not to conform to the world around us but be transformed by the renewing of our minds in Christ Jesus.  We are to shape the culture not conform to it.  Over the last few weeks at Prince of Peace Church, I have declared the following:

• The Lord created us to be a culture of blessing. JESUS is the full manifestation of God’s kingdom culture.
• We provide a voice (a message) to the culture.  It makes us change agents.  We are carriers of God's wisdom, hope, revelation, mercy. compassion ad direction.
• We are to infiltrate the culture not isolate ourselves from the culture.
• We are the Head not the Tail. The BEST tool we provide in the marketplace is success that has been shaped by God's presence in us.  Success leads to influence.  It is vital that righteous men and women occupy the seats of authority in every sphere of society.  

Avoid Distraction.  It is going to be extremely important in the days to come that we set our faces like flint to the Lord.  Our lives our determined by plumb lines, defaults and anchors.  Whatever we do in life - our days are determined by habits, patterns, and default actions. By default we get up at a certain time in the morning.  By habit we eat at certain times and drive established routes. Defaults are needed for the simple reason of “keeping us on track.”  They are extremely helpful when word processing on computers. Whether we are building, writing or fishing – we must remember our secured position.

The same thing happens in our expressions of faith and worship.  We do things because that's the way we've always done them.  And many default actions are good when we habitually go to the Lord in pray or naturally exercise our authority over satan when he tempts us.  By default we should go into the Lord's presence.

But sometimes we do things in church "just because." Many aspects of our life in Him are filled with distraction. Now I am not espousing change for the sake of change but the Lord is challenging us to focus on Him and not just do "the default thing."  Some actually came to Jesus having done the "right things" but He announced that He did not know them. (Matthew 7:22-23)

Paul writes: “But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ" (2 Corinthians 11:3).

Whether we are talking about our personal lives, the world around us or by our identity as the church - we must be defined by who He is. I cannot express with words the importance of our obedience to the Lord in the coming days.  We are standing at a place in history where the Lord is depending on our intercessions, ministry, influence and headship. 


We must allow our defaults to be set according to His pattern.  As a matter of fact, in the middle of my sermon yesterday, one of our members declared that it is essential that we don't just go back to our own default but allow the Lord to hit the "reset" button.  This takes us back to His original intentions for us.  What a powerful word!  Lord - reset us!  Become our default.

And the earth is glad

On June 25 I wrote a blog entitled "Can This Really Happen?" It referred to the decree we need to make that our land is no longer under a Baal structure.  What is a Baal structure? I would recommend that you go to the Teachings on Baal on the Heartland Apostolic Prayer Network.

But briefly, Baal is identified by Jesus as the ruler of the demons in  Matthew 12:24  (Beelzebub is another name for Baal).  Baal is a ruler that desires to govern the people of God.  This was evidenced throughout the Old and New Testaments as well as in present day experience.  His names (or titles) give us a clue to his intent.

• Baal-hamon, one of Baal's names, means "the lord of wealth or abundance." Baal desires to control your wealth.  But he doesn't just control - he steals! 
• Baal-berith, another of his names, means "the lord of the covenant." The Hebrew word baal actually means "husband" or "marriage." This spirit always attempted to cause Israel to "divorce" or break covenant with God and "marry" or align with him. Consistent with this, in so many ways America has broken covenant with God and married Baal. This is why we decide to divorce ourselves from him and be married to Jesus.
• Baal (because he is a fertility god that has phallic images) is the strongman behind sexual perversion. America is, to one degree or another, under Baal's orchestration. You will continue to see God expose leaders in the church who aligned themselves with this spirit. But he was also worshiped because he was believed to be the deity who controlled the fertility of the land - rain, crops, etc.  Fertility of the land was secured through the sexual acts of prostitutes in the temple.
• Baal is also attached to Molech (child sacrifice) and always goes after the next generation, trying to cut off the extension of God's covenant purposes. He is a violent spirit and even required human sacrifice. Abortion is under Baal, as is the "cutting" of today's young generation (see 1 Kings 18:28), the vampire and goth movement, and the death culture in general that has so invaded America. Baal is leading the fight to avert the great awakening planned for the young generation of Americans today. (Edited from a teaching by Dutch Sheets)

All of us are influenced in some way by Baal. And when we decree our divorce from him and announce that he is no longer in charge - WE SEE A RELEASE in the areas that he was controlling - finances, covenants, fertility of the ground and redemption.  

ALL OF THESE ARE UNDER THE SOVEREIGN RULE OF OUR LORD AND GOD.

Sooooo.... it should not surprise us that when we corporately and individually declare that we will not be married to this deity that life springs forth.  We witness rain where there was drought.  On a trip through Texas just yesterday I was in awe of the beautiful fields of corn.  This year was a banner year for wildflowers.  My dad announced that the hill country of Texas is experiencing a bumper peach crop.

And this doesn't just affect the fertility of the ground.  The Forbes report just announced the following: "Looking for a place to take advantage of the recovery? Try Texas.The Lone Star state's major metro areas--Austin, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Houston and San Antonio--are all emerging from the recession better than their counterparts in many areas of the country. Austin is a government and tech center. Dallas and Ft. Worth get a boost from major corporate operations located there. Houston is a hub for the profitable oil industry and the U.S. military gives San Antonio a lift. The places that are likely to recover the fastest seem to be places that have suffered the least during the recession,” says Howard Wial, who heads up research on metro and regional economies at the Brookings Institution's Metropolitan Policy Program. Texas, he notes, has a fiscally stable government buttressed by oil and gas revenues and spending from Uncle Sam." 
 
You can read the whole article clicking HERE.  Texas, as well as many other states, has officially divorced Baal.  And we will and must remind him and ourselves constantly of that fact.  When it comes to Texas - the Lord reigns...and the earth is glad.