Rob Rufus at Newfrontiers Prayer and Fasting - Session 3

This is the final address that Rob Rufus gave to the Newfrontiers Prayer and Fasting gathering just before "Together on a Mission 2007". The first part is here and the second here. This message deliberately much shorter than the first two but carries a powerful exhortation that must be read.

"I have been expanded and enlarged by the prophetic calibre among you. Been very encouraged. (Psalm 89:1). Today is about staying refreshed in the anointing. We have to stay confident! Leadership is all about staying confident through a constant wear and tear that is trying to bring us down to the lowest common denominator.

God is looking for leadership that will stay bold, stay in the anointing of God, stay fresh, lead with grace and kindness, with goodness and pure hearts, where God's people feel safe under the integrity of our leadership.

(Exodus 30:22-33). Great types and shadows study on the anointing - this is the sacred anointing oil. This anointing is so sacred and fragrant and wonderful that we need to stay fresh in it - daily! (Psalm 89:19). This anointing comes on David but God is storing David's hall and tent and you may see that in Acts 15. One of the great things that means is that the nations WILL pour in. It speaks of freedom and grace that we are kings and priests unto our God.

God wants us to stay fresh in the anointing on a daily basis. "With my sacred oil (or fresh oil) I have anointed him". Here is the benefits;

"My hand will sustain him, surely My arm will strengthen him, no enemy will subject him to tribute, no wicked man will oppress him, I will crush his foes before him and strike down his adversaries. My faithful love will be with him and through My Name, His horn (or prestigal influence) will be exalted, I will set his hand over the sea (which I believe in prophetic language refers to nations), he will call out to Me, 'You are My Father, My God, the Rock and My Saviour and I will also anoint him My first-born. I will maintain My love to him forever and My covenant and with him will never fail".

I don't find it a great discipline to pray and be alone with God! The greatest discipline is to say no to other things so you can be alone with the Lord. The apostles and elders of the Jerusalem church had to turn down waiting on table, waiting on grocery distribution - not because they felt they were superioror above that or in some kind of elitist position. There was no sense of pecking order or religious hierarchy in the church but they understood they MUST give themselves to prayer and the Word of God.

I really believe God is calling us to seperate ourselves more and more from business. It's not very easy - some of you are leading churches that are small like the size of my church back in Hong Kong. You have to do so much and Glenda and I are the secretaries, doing much of the secretarial work as well as travelling internationally a lot and your time is really pressurised and full but more and more I find more and more that if I neglect the time of waiting on God then I pay some very serious prices for that.

We have just been through 2 months of pressures and testing and one thing Paul says in 2 Corinthians 1:8 ff; "We were under great pressure ... despaired of life ... this happened so we will not rely on ourselves but God who raises the dead".

When you come through times of pressure beyond your ability to endure - when you come out the other side one of the things you realise is that spending time with God and the prayer of believers around you that brings deliverance and relying on God who raises the dead means you will determine to spend more and more time with Him!

The more time you spend with God, the more revelation comes, the more clarity comes, the more perspective comes and the more you feel sane, you just feel His affirmation and clarity come into your life.

I want to give that as an encouragement to you. (Isaiah 40) "Those that wait ... will mount up on wings like eagles". The Hebrew word "wait" means to bind themselves with twisting about. The word "renew" means to bind themselves with "twisting about". The word "renew" is an exchange of one strength for another.

So what Isaiah is saying is that those who bind themselves with twisting about the Lord exchange their strength for the Lord's strength. The secret of Christianity is a life of exchange - yours for the Lords.

As we come to wait upon the Holy Spirit our Comforter, God Almighty equal with Jesus Christ and a Person with form, the Holy Spirit is here and we can bind ourselves with twisting about and exchange our strength for His. To break ivy off a wall you must knock down the wall because the ivy has exchanged it's strength for the walls.

There must be a daily coming before the Father in the throne room of grace through the Lord Jesus Christ and waiting on the Holy Spirit.

There must be a time of intercession where we will pray sometimes for 1 hour - no breakthrough - 2/3 hours - no breakthrough. However long it takes! And then the breakthrough comes. Or it can come as a glorious peace and the strength of God comes - an exchange of wisdom. You will then get the influence over nations and favour where there was none before. You don't have to manipulate or cajole but wait on god in the secret place with the Most High.

Many see people on platforms and think they're just lucky to jump through all the bureaucratic hoops and do all the right things but actually most people God gives genuine profile to is because they have spent time in the solitary place, the secret place and have spent hours alone with God.

It is not a discipline to pray! Whatever our call - we need to spend time in the secret place. Go to the mountains and the forests and spend time with Him.

IF GOD'S PRESENCE DOESN'T COME TO ME DAILY I FEEL LONELY FOR THE PRESENCE OF GOD - I BEGIN TO YEARN AND ACHE AND CRAVE FOR HIM!!

Cut off the noise and engage with Almighty God! Sometimes it just takes one noise to sabotage that intimacy and in these days we are called to spend time waiting on Him.