High Places
I had a word recently that we are to contend for the high places in our lands. I will look at what this means for us today and some actions to take in response to this word! The word I had was specifically for Ireland, but applies wherever the Ekklesia is located.
Wherever two or more of us are gathered we bring His Kingdom to the territory:
For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them. Matt. 18:20
We can declare that His Kingdom has come to our location today, just as it is in heaven:
Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Matt. 6:10
I felt we needed to go to the high places and heritage locations in our lands and pray and declare our covenant with God over the land. To repent for wrong, and to renew declarations of dedication to Jesus over the land. I had a picture of the high places, ancient sites of worship, the key locations, and lookout points in the land. Why would this be necessary now?
With few exceptions, the Christians have been sleeping and slumbering under a spiritual duvet. They are being placated and soothed into inaction like a child sucking a dummy/soother. Most have failed the test of Ezekiel 9:4:
And the LORD said to him, “Pass through the city, through Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations that are committed in it.
Rather than sighing and groaning with care, the standard response by many Christians has been that they do not want to be "political" and that they do not want to "offend."
This with no realisation that the most political thing you can do is to not engage on the issues facing us. You may think you are hiding from contending but this is like the refugee German Jew who said he never cared about being a Jew but he was still Jewish enough for the Nazis. You may try to hide but the world hates your King, and there is a battle going on that Christians cannot hide from. Deserting your post in a time of conflict is not peace it is cowardice. Do not mix the desire to be friends with the world with Kingdom.
You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God. James 4:4 NLT
"Politics" now includes: late term abortion; protection of children; sexuality and marriage; euthanasia; dystopian social controls; the erosion of free speech and personal freedoms; democratic freedoms; medical coercion freedom; election integrity; as well as the implementation of CCP like social credit systems.
God cares about these issues! Jesus' mission is to destroy the works of satan, and all of the list above are works of satan. As a result of our abandonment of our role and mantles, our land is overrun with the enemy to the point where even our new King is mixing his coronation with other religions in his desire for a "diverse" mix of faiths in his coronation.
King Charles may be the temporal ruler; however, it is the Ekklesia that has authority in the land. Jesus has delegated this power to us. It is up to us to rise up and decree and declare His dominion in the land.
Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Matt 18:18
High Places
There is something that resonates deeply in people about the high places in a territory. All over the world the high places hold a spiritual meaning for people and many are marked with some kind of monument. Perhaps this attraction is because high places have the best visibility, therefore signifying possession or dominion. Like a cross on a steeple, the landscape is marked by our spiritual declarations. One noteworthy example is the Christ the Redeemer statue of Jesus Christ with His arms spread wide in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The statue is located at the peak of the 700-metre (2,300 ft) Corcovado mountain overlooking the city of Rio de Janeiro and is a symbol of Christianity around the world.
High places are also seen as places of encounter. Moses went up the mountain to meet with God and to receive the tablets and came down radiating the presence of God (Exodus 19:1-3 and 24:12-18). Indeed, the Temple was built on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem, where an angel of God had appeared to David. It was considered a place of worship and encounter (2 Chronicles 3:1).
In scripture, we can see that high places were also contended for between God and the enemy. There is a territorial battle over these places of influence. If you are contending for your territory and nation this is a key place for that battle. Places of idolatry and the worship of false gods were established in high places. Indeed, when King Josiah brought his people back to God he was commended in scripture for tearing down the high places: And the king defiled the high places that were east of Jerusalem, to the south of the mount of corruption...2 Kings 22:13. We have to do a modern-day tearing down of territorial strongholds.
There are also high places that are established for remembrance and covenant. Usually marked in some way by a raised platform and some kind of altar, pillar or, in later days, crosses like the one below. Where are these places? In scripture, we can see one being established when there was a divine encounter. Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him... Genesis 12:7
Jacob built a monument or altar by erecting a stone. So early in the morning Jacob took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it. He called the name of that place Bethel...Genesis 28:18-19
Likewise, Joshua built an altar at the crossing of the Jordan when the Israelites came up from the wilderness by erecting 12 stones. And those twelve stones, which they took out of the Jordan, Joshua set up at Gilgal. Joshua 4:20
There is a rulership and Kingdom governance over the physical landscape that is ours to establish and to declare. What has happened in our lands is that the underlying meaning has been lost and the land has been left to rot by a sleeping and slumbering church. In the name of tolerance or some misguided secularism, even these symbols of our Judeo-Christian heritage are being removed or are under threat.
What is to be done to restore and reclaim righteous godly heritage? We have an example in the ancient wells which are also another form of 'high place' in the land. Wells are places of habitation and blessing aligned to covenant - ancient wells are a connection to the generational covenant keeping God.
And Isaac dug again the wells of water which they had dug in the days of Abraham his father, for the Philistines had stopped them up after the death of Abraham. He called them by the names which his father had called them... so he called its name Rehoboth, because he said, “For now the Lord has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.”…And the Lord appeared to him the same night and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham; do not fear, for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your descendants for My servant Abraham’s sake.” So he built an altar there and called on the name of the Lord, and he pitched his tent there; and there Isaac’s servants dug a well. Genesis 26: 18-26
Note the pattern here. Isaac went to the old 'high place', a well, that had been taken over by interlopers who worshipped other gods and he called it by its ancient name which was founded and formed in covenant. Doesn't this sound like our present day examples? So much of our society may have lost its way or been taken over by "Philistines" but the well is still there. An ungodly bishop dressing in pink may be spouting nonsense from an ancient site but that is just noise. The signal is the dedication and generations of prayer that has gone on at that place. As the ancient coin legend states we can indeed 'stand on the shoulders of giants.'
Just as God met Isaac at the place of covenant when he declared the true ownership and identity over the land, so He will meet with us also as we declare His Kingdom. Of course, God is with us always, but there are special places of covenant and remembrance. Isaac called on God at a high place of covenant, had a new encounter with God and then he built or rebuilt an altar as a sign of covenant and re-dug the ancient well.
Following the pattern of Isaiah 61, we too want to be rebuilders: They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations. Who are these people referred to as 'they'? It is clear that it is the people who have been dealt with and transformed by Jesus, who claimed this scripture for Himself: The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion—to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.
It is those who have been transformed by Jesus who are empowered to be the covenant rebuilders. To go to the ancient high places and battle for the transformation of nations.
Holy Assemblies
Closely associated with High Places are Holy Assemblies. High Places are locations where these transformed reformers gather for Kingdom business. These purposeful gatherings are Holy Assemblies.
God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him. Psalm 89:7
Speak to the Israelites, saying, 'In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you must have a rest period, a remembrance of the trumpet blast, a holy assembly. Lev 23:24
Holy assemblies are marked by fasting and calling out to God. It is the time people can humble themselves and pray and seek his face and turn from their wicked ways to see the healing of their land (2 Chron. 7:14). The blowing of the shofar is also commonly a part of these gathering as it mirrors the heavenly trumpets, creating a link between heaven and earth, the spiritual and the natural. A High Place and and a Holy Assembly.
In addition to the feasts and holy days, these Holy Assemblies are also called in time of national distress. Joel called the people to a solemn assembly: Declare a holy fast; call a sacred assembly. Summon the elders and all who live in the land to the house of the LORD your God, and cry out to the LORD Joel 1:14. In the same way we must cry out to God, gathering together to contend for our land.
How do we do this? I do not think there is any quiet way to have a Holy Assembly at a High Place. It is a joining together of many people in response to a call from the Lord to gather. Let us plan, seek the Lord and then gather to do this at key places.
However, you can also just go to a High Place and pray as I do when I travel. Common sense must apply here. Our audience in prayer is the Lord and it is easy to be in a public place and pray. Put your hand on the wall of a building when you read the cornerstone or dedication. If you are in a closed country then take great care and be led by the Lord. For us, when we go to a historical site to pray and take communion, we can do this discreetly and have never been bothered. If you are live streaming a Solemn or Holy Assembly may require planning and even permits. Whatever the approach let us be responsive and DO IT.
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