Title: The Law of Accumulation

Speaker: Apostle Jacques Van Der Westhuizen

Icebreaker: Welcome back! What is your favorite thing about new beginnings (new year, new semester, new season, etc.)?

This Sunday we celebrated Miracle Sunday with a powerful message by guest speaker, Apostle Jacques Van Der Westhuizen. Apostle Jacques stirred our faith with his dynamic word on how our prayers and acts of faith build over time, leading to a great breakthrough later. We're used to rain here in New Orleans, and we know that clouds accumulate, or fill with, water before rain pours out. A lot of accumulated water in the clouds will lead to heavy rainfall, while just a little bit of water will only let down a drizzle. We can imagine a cloud when we speak of things we do to grow spiritually - each action we take is like a drop of water being added to the cloud. It takes a lot of time for enough water to accumulate for an outpouring, but we can trust that it will release in due time if we continue adding a drop at a time...

Acts 12:1-10

I. Fill the Bowls (Revelation 5:8)

• The word accumulate means to gather together or build over time. We know that clouds accumulate water over time before pouring out rain. We know that we can accumulate a lot of junk in our cars or homes if we go a while without cleaning things out.
• Revelation 5:8 makes reference to "bowls of incense" in heaven that are filled with the "prayers of the saints." This illustration lets us know that our prayers are accumulated, or collected and gathered, in heaven. You can imagine a large bowl takes time to fill if you're adding one drop at a time, but you can also trust that consistently adding one drop will accumulate enough for the bowl to overflow after a while.
• When we speak of accumulation we're speaking of a law, a principle, that God has established to govern the spiritual realm and how we engage with it. If every prayer we pray is one drop in our heavenly bowls, we need a lot of patience and perseverance if we want to see those prayers overflow. At the point of overflowing we can see God move in the situation we've consistently prayed for, the overflow is like a signal to God that it is time to release what we need.
• Perseverance and patience are not natural human strengths. Many of us can admit that we are impatient people who want to pray about things one time and see a miracle. However, there must be something more that God works in us while we remain consistent about praying and waiting on him...

Discussion:

We know that we can bring our needs and desires to God, but prayer is also about hearing from God, its two-way communication... What happens to us as we spend time in prayer, regardless of what request we may be praying for?

II. Wait To See the Fullness

• More than just our prayers accumulate in the spirit realm. We obey, we surrender our wills, we follow the Lord's leading and we accumulate blessings over time. These accumulated blessings can overflow in our lives and down to generations after us. The anointing can also accumulate over time as we steward it well and grow in it. Our faith can supernaturally accumulate as we put it into action through prayer and other acts of faith. Honor, the way that we serve and regard others, can also accumulate and return to us in unexpected ways later.
• What does all of this mean? Nothing that we do is without consequence, and nothing happens coincidentally. When we find that we're gaining momentum in a particular area, or notice a shift in our lives, it is the result of some sort of spiritual pressure accumulating and breaking through.
• Everything has a measure of fullness, remember our example of the bowls, when a bowl is full and continues to be filled then it can start to overflow. Spiritually, when we press in, when we apply pressure through our prayer, giving, fasting, other acts of obedience, we are pushing toward that fullness and overflow. It's not a physical strain to apply this pressure in the spirit, it's a persistence in the things we know to do regularly.
• How will we know that we're seeing the fullness or approaching overflow? You can sense momentum gaining in your spiritual walk. When you sense things intensifying it's not time to give up, it's time to press on even more because you're on the brink of a miracle. God can shift things in an instant, we don't have to strive for it, we simply have to do all that we can by faith to keep up with the momentum when we sense that things are moving.

UPCOMING EVENTS + REMINDERS:

GriefShare: Grief is one of life’s most difficult journeys, but you don’t have to go through it alone. If you, or someone you know, has lost a loved one you can begin your journey from mourning to joy through GriefShare at City Church. Meetings are held on Saturdays at 9:00 AM in the District Pastors’ Office. For more information please visit citychurchnola.life/GriefShare.

Wednesday Morning Prayer: You can participate in corporate prayer every Wednesday morning at 7 AM on Facebook. Join us each week as we continue to pray for our church, our city, and our nation.

City Life TV: You can watch our Bishop deliver thoughtful messages throughout the week. Tune in to WHNO, channel 20, Saturdays at 10:00 PM.

REPORT:

Please continue to report your in-person and virtual group meetings!

By using the same email you would normally receive, you may update your group information and report your weekly meetings.

If you need help with reporting, please contact your district pastor.

Have an amazing and spirit-filled group!