10,500 Global Prayer Connect

For our friends in Taiwan, HK, China, please note that your time has changed to 8 AM.

In meditating on the topic of “The Joy Set Before Christ” for the past few weeks, we saw that one expression of this joy is the picture of the Bridegroom looking forward to His wedding day.  This is the picture declared in Revelation 11:15 and revealed in Revelation 21:1 – 22:6, where the New Jerusalem, the epicenter of Christ’s Kingdom, is introduced as the Lamb’s bride and wife.  This is a picture of Christ’s burning zeal as spoken in Isaiah 9:7.

The following message series from the past 3 weeks talks about our Kingdom responsibilities today as Christ’s bride – our preparation for that wedding day when we take on the role of the Lamb’s wife.

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

We thank God for revealing to us the 10,500 blueprint as our “bridal preparation” for that wedding day with the Lamb.  In our call to the 10,500 blueprint, may the Holy Spirit raise up market place leaders who will devote their careers, businesses, and resources to prepare for the wife’s role as the City of God, the New Jerusalem.

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As many of you already know, I will be speaking at a market place gathering called Kingdom Economic Yearly Summit (KEYS) to be held at the LAX Marriott over March 21^st – 25^th.  Please intercede for the Kingdom work of the Lord in this important gathering of market place leaders.  You may register for this conference at the following website:

http://www.kingdomeconomicsummit.com/

If you are in the Southern California area, please try to attend the evening session as they are open to public.

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.  No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him.  They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.  There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light.  And they will reign for ever and ever. – Revelation 22:1-5

Of the increase of his government and peace, there will be no end.  He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever.  The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this. – Isaiah 9:7

In the previous week, we saw an awesome picture of the Lamb’s Wife, the New Jerusalem, carrying out her duties to govern and disciple the nations to walk in righteousness and to facilitate their value creation; ultimately worshiping God through the splendor of their fruitfulness.  This picture of hope and glory, of the role of the Wife, is what we, the Bride, must prepare for with all of our mind, heart, soul, and strength.

Revelation 22 provides further insights on the role of the Wife.  We will serve God and the Lamb at the place of His throne and have direct access to His presence.  We will reign with Him and be identified with His name on our foreheads, an indication of our call to steward His authority, wisdom, and resources.  Reigning with God means to advance His “Isaiah 9:7 Kingdom agenda” as His agents – with the wisdom of His light and the resources of the fruits and leaves from the tree nourished by the water of life.

In our role to govern and disciple nations as the Lamb’s Wife, we will steward God’s wisdom and the tree of life’s fruits and leaves to bring healing, peace, and ever increasing prosperity.  Even though that is a glorious picture of what’s to come, the Bridegroom expects His Bride to exercise that role today as we prepare for the wedding day.  Today, we have Christ’s authority and have access to His wisdom and to the power from the water of life.  In that, we have a responsibility to bring healing, peace, and prosperity to the nations, as a foreshadow of the greater role to come – the glorious City of God.

Market Place Prayer

May the Holy Spirit lift the faith of His market place leaders to fully embrace their “bridal” responsibilities and capabilities.  May the Lord raise up His market place leaders to serve the nations in His wisdom and the flow of the water of life.

The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever.” – Revelation 11:15

I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.  The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp.  The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it.  On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there.  The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it.  Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life. – Revelation 21:22-27

Last week, we shared that as the “bride” of Christ, we have a market place responsibility to prepare for our “wife’s” role as the glorious city, the market place that Christ died for.  One of the key steps to preparation is to see the picture of joy that Christ saw so that we can understand what we must prepare for.  A first step is to apply the principle of Revelation 11:15 – there are both tangible and intangible Kingdom elements of this age that will persist into Christ’s eternal Kingdom.  As the bride, we have the duty to understand what those Kingdom elements are and to commit our heart, mind, soul, and strength to steward them, to prepare for a greater assignment when the Master returns to establish His Kingdom.

Christ’s picture of joy in Revelation 21 shows that networks of people with governing structures (nations) pursuing value creation will continue into Christ’s eternal Kingdom.  These nations will walk by the light of God.  Their access to the New Jerusalem is constant, but strictly controlled.  In other words, the “wife” has a duty to govern and to disciple the nations to walk in righteousness and to facilitate their value creation, celebrating its splendor in the City of God.  As the bride, we are called to prepare today for this eventuality.  Is the church pursuing the preparation for that duty?

Market Place Prayer

May the Holy Spirit stir in the market place leaders a greater picture of joy that Christ saw as He took the punishment of the cross.  May we come to understand how our market place duties today connect with Christ’s joy, the “wife” serving her Husband, fulfilling her Kingdom duties as a city, as Christ’s Body.

This Week’s Audio Message

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. – Hebrews 12:2

One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.”  And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. – Revelation 21:9-10

Revelation 21 shows an incredible picture of the “joy set before Christ” that took Him through the cross.   It is the vision of the Holy City, the New Jerusalem coming from heaven.  Even though the scripture provides great details of it physical features and dimensions, what makes this city, this physical structure, a picture of joy for Christ is revealed by the angel who called the New Jerusalem the Lamb’s bride, His wife.

The New Jerusalem will be the most incredible physical structure ever created.  But the joy that drove Christ to endure the cross is more than that.  It is Christ seeing the vision of that structure enabling His bride, the church, to continue His Eden directive – to be fruitful and multiply as a market place, as a city, as a Kingdom under His governance.

The fact that we are called the bride has great implications for our market place responsibilities today.  The bride does not yet have the responsibilities of a wife, but is committed to prepare for that role.  In the same way, Christ expects the church today to prepare for the wife’s role, to prepare for our place in the awesome city where we will celebrate the splendor of creativity and value creation as we work as one Body under His headship.  We, as Christ’s bride today, have a market place responsibility to prepare for that role as the Lamb’s wife.

Market Place Prayer

May the Holy Spirit inspire His market place leaders to understand and fully commit to the bride’s preparation as the Lamb’s wife, as a city – a market place in New Jerusalem under Christ’s power, wisdom, and love.