10,500 Global Prayer Connect

As Pastor Li-En and I travel through Asia this week, we would like to take this chance to look back at the messages the Holy Spirit breathed on us from the past several weeks.  From these messages, the Lord has shown us how Christ’s Kingdom is modeled by the bond between a husband and wife, the love and commitment that create and sustain a family.

The Joy Set Before Christ – Christ’s Kingdom Model is in the Family

Message 1 – From First Adam and Eve to Last Adam and the Church

Message 2 – The Church – Christ’s “Bone of Bones, Flesh of Flesh” (Genesis 2:22-25)

Message 3 – The Church – Christ’s “Suitable Helper” (Genesis 2:18-21)

The Joy Set Before Christ – Picture of the Bride and the Wife

Message 1 – The “Bride and Wife” of Christ is the New Jerusalem (Hebrews 12:2, Revelation 21:9-10)

Message 2 – The Bride’s Kingdom Responsibility – to Prepare for the Wife’s Role (Revelation 11:15, Revelation 21:22-27)

Message 3 – 10,500 – One of Our Bridal Preparation for the Wedding (Revelation 22:1-5, Isaiah 9:7)

Market Place Prayer

May the Lord help us to understand His heart for the family institution and how it connects to the market place.  May the Lord lift up the 10,500 market place leaders in wisdom and commitment to raise strong families that become salt of the earth and light of the world.

The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”   Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air.  He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name.  So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field.   But for Adam no suitable helper was found.  So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and closed up the place with flesh. – Genesis 2:18-21

Last week, we saw an incredible picture of Christ’s love.  In His grace, Christ not only saved us from eternal condemnation, but He also intends to elevate us to the position of His “wife” when He returns to establish His Kingdom.  This “illogical love” speaks of His relationship with us and lays the foundation for the reign and expansion His Kingdom through us.  As the “bride” today, we have a market place responsibility to prepare for this role of becoming Christ’s “wife”.

The fact that Christ expresses our positional relationship as His wife has great market place significance.  Again, Genesis 2 provides insights into our eventual Kingdom partnership with the Last Adam through the model demonstrated between Eve and the First Adam.  Adam had a Kingdom assignment over Eden.  By giving names to the living creatures, he was taking dominion and kingdom responsibility over them to fulfill the Genesis 1:28 Agenda.  But in the creation account, God seemed to show His heart for the “wife” by especially emphasizing that Adam needed a suitable helper.

The idea that really blows my mind lies in the term “suitable helper”.  This role, given to Eve, is often misconstrued as an assistant or someone with lesser responsibility and authority.  The word “suitable” in the original language can mean to bring completeness and wholeness to a situation by being present and involved.  Scripture also use it to convey a sense of balance by a “countering force”.  In other words, God imparted to Eve specific Kingdom responsibilities that she must carry out in order to bring balance and completeness to Adam.  Eve did not just serve Adam’s agenda and cleaned up after him.  She had full ownership of the Kingdom and partnered with Adam in bone and flesh.

Once again, it’s hard for me to fathom.  But Christ paints the same picture of “suitable helper” through the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21.  As the “Wife of the Lamb”, God will impart to us Kingdom responsibilities to complement the Last Adam.  As the bride, we expect that impartation to have already begun today.  What does that say about preparing ourselves as a pure and spotless Bride?  What does that say about living out our 10,500 assignment to prepare for our roles as His Kingdom partner?  We will press into these questions during today’s Global Prayer Connect intercession.

Market Place Prayer

May the Lord impart to the 10,500 market place leaders a vision and passion for their Kingdom responsibilities.  May the Holy Spirit breathe unto us the faith and ability to prepare for our role as Christ’s “suitable helper” in His Kingdom.  May we be a prepared bride, pure and without blemish.

Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.  The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.” For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame. – Genesis 2:22-25

During the past several weeks, we shared on the picture of joy that Christ saw of His Bride and Wife, the Holy City.  From that picture, we get a glimpse of our future Kingdom roles as His helper in governing nations and their market places.  Furthermore, we saw that as His Bride, we have a market place responsibility today to prepare for the Wife’s role, as the “helper” in Christ’s Kingdom.

Last week, we began to dig deeper into the idea of the “wife” and how that speaks of the relationship Christ desires with us.  When Jesus returns to establish His Kingdom rule, a wedding will be held to signify His relationship with the Church.  What does this mean?  We get some insights by looking back to the very first wedding God officiated in Eden, where the scriptures describe His intent for the marriage institution.  This first marriage between the First Adam to Eve represents a model that foreshadows the Last Adam’s relationship with the Church.

It seems unimaginable.  But in declaring us as His wife, Christ conveys a connection of intimacy with us as “bone of His bones and flesh of His flesh”.  And as “a man leaves his father and mother to be united to his wife”, so Christ commits Himself to our partnership, to our Kingdom destiny.  We become the center of His heart, His focus and priority, just as a husband dedicates himself to his wife.  Although our relationship with the Father has been cut off by sin, but through this marriage with Christ, we become the Father’s children.  And there is no shame because His love has overpowered any fear of judgment in us.  We will be judged, but there will be no fear in it.

Why Christ would save us from eternal condemnation by His grace is already beyond our comprehension.  But even more incredible, He intends to elevate us to the position of His Wife, His Helper, as Eve was Adam’s helper.  This is beyond unconditional love!  This is illogical love – a love that cannot be explained or justified by reason!  This love that establishes the New Jerusalem, will become our template, our model to further establish nations in Christ’s Kingdom.  Such fruit of His love, through the cross, is the joy set before Christ.

Next week, we will ponder on the significance of being Christ’s Kingdom “Helper”, as Eve was Adam’s kingdom “helper”.

Market Place Prayer

May the Lord grant the 10,500 market place leaders a foretaste of the Bridegroom’s love – the “illogical love” that establishes the Holy City, the center of Christ’s Kingdom, His treasure possession.  Let us see a foreshadow of the splendor of our market places as we reflect the glory and honor of Jesus Christ (Revelation 21:24-26).