Dear Advancing Ones:

We are all going into a new era and moving toward a new place in the Lord.  Last week, I dealt with so many people who had experienced tremendous trauma and were continuing to experience severe circumstances. My first thought was, “I need to help people make it through trauma.” However, this morning the Lord spoke to me and said, “You need to help people to become whole again. This is a time when My people must create an overcoming spirit!” If you could not join us on Sunday, be sure to watch the time-limited replay as Robert Heidler and I ministered on “Developing an Overcoming Spirit!”

To overcome means to conquer; to vanquish; to subdue (overcoming enemies in battle); to surmount; to get the better of (overcome difficulties or obstacles); to overpower; to be victorious.  There are many conflicts ahead for each one of us.  Conflict is linked with the resulting “change warfare” that we encounter while advancing toward God’s Kingdom plan.  Therefore, the Lord is bringing new strength into our spirit man.  Remember, we do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit (Rom 8:4).

A Call to Be Whole
When we surrender our life to the Lord, we are usually fragmented in our soul with pieces of our life scattered here and there. The power of scattering is linked with a curse that has a right to operate because of sin and iniquity in our life. When we sin, pieces of the person God intends for us to be are left behind, connected to the times we missed the mark and acted in our own strength. We trade purity, blessing, health, and/or a part of God’s perfect plan for our lives for a moment when something of lesser significance temporarily satisfies our desire. Therefore, parts of the whole person that we should be lie scattered along the paths of our lives at each place where temptation led us to sin.

Although we in the Western world tend to compartmentalize our lives into physical, mental and spiritual (or body, soul and spirit), the fact is that a proper Biblical worldview is one of a unified, whole person in whom these parts are not separate entities, but are interconnected. 1 Thessalonians 5:23 says, “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus.” Here we see that God’s interest in sanctifying us is not limited to only the spiritual being of an individual, but He desires to see the whole person restored. The concept of dealing with a person holistically did not originate in the Far East or in New Age thinking; it originated with God.

E. Anthony Allen, in the book Transforming Health edited by Eric Ram, states: “The ways people think, feel, relate and manage their lifestyles can maim and even kill. But divine healing and renewed hope can transcend normal healing processes. Divine forgiveness, reconciliation, deliverance, restoration and renewal bring healing. Where God reigns there is healing. Wholeness comes not by ‘treating’ but by healing.”

Key Questions to Becoming Whole
These 28 days are a time to become whole again and overcome.  Here are several questions to ponder as you begin and continue this journey through this prayer focus:

1. What needs to be changed and transformed in your life?
2. What are you trying to change and transform in your life?
3. Are you attempting to transform “one thing” so that the whole of your life will reflect His glory in a greater measure?
4. Prioritize and list the top 10 changes in your life that need to occur.
5. Are you warring with the enemy of your soul to bring about these changes?  (You have an enemy that opposes you.)
6. We are called to cultivate, increase and multiply our sphere.  What is your plan for multiplication? 
7. Do you want to be made whole?

Often, Jesus would ask the question, “Do you want to be made whole?”  That is why after their faith response, He would say, “Your faith has made you whole.” When He heals, He also restores. Restoration is a holistic process. Only God has the power to gather the scattered pieces of our lives and bring them back into wholeness.  That is part of what happened to my life. When the Lord said, “I will restore to you all that you have lost,” I entered into a process of exchanging my fragmented life for a wholeness that gave me the power to obtain all the spiritual blessings that God had stored up for me in the heavenly places. My body, soul and spirit all entered into that process.  Recovery produces restoration, which produces multiplication.  The following 28-day prayer focus will help you advance on this journey.

Be Whole Again and Overcome!

Day 1: Memorize and meditate on 1 Thes. 5:23. “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  Declare that your body, soul, and spirit will enter into the process of becoming whole.

Day 2:  Read Luke 18:35-43.  Do not miss your moment to cry out for mercy!  When the Lord asks what He can do for you, present your petition without apology.

Day 3:  Read John 5:1-17, and memorize verse 17.  The Lord knew the man’s condition. He knows your condition.  The question He asked was, “Do you want to get well (be made whole)?”  However, the man began to explain his condition rather than answer his question. Quit explaining and just receive.

Day 4:  Read Psalm 16 and Acts 17:24-28.  Many of us have gone through trauma.  The key to overcoming trauma is resetting your boundaries.  First of all, the Lord knows where you are.  He predestined your time and place.  In your reset boundaries, you must start managing all the stimuli new and fresh.  When He planted the Garden, He meant for the Garden to go out and overtake the earth.  Don’t make your boundaries too big until you process every area of grief and trauma.  Watch anything carefully that comes into your boundaries.  He is very near to you – you can grab for Him and find Him.

Day 5: God has a plan for you!  Meditate on Is. 55:8-11. His ways are not your ways. Memorize Jer 29:11.  Ask for hope to arise in your heart.

Day 6:  Read Romans 8. Meditate on Phil. 4:7.  Let the Spirit of the Lord renew and transform your mind.  Speak out loud into your atmosphere. Rom. 12:1-2.

Day 7: Embrace the power of restoration.  Read Joel 2.  He can remove all the ways the locust have decreased you.  He can fully restore all your loss.  Allow Him to bring back what you need for your future.

Day 8:  You have a future!  Let the Lord recreate your expectations.  Memorize Prov. 13:12 and Prov. 10:28-30.  Ask the Spirit of God to cause hope to spring up within you.

Day 9:  Read Phil. 3:10, Rom. 5:18, and memorize Rom. 8:1.  Break the power of condemnation and self-pity.  The enemy condemns.  The Holy Spirit convicts.  During your trial the enemy will remind you of everything you have ever done wrong.  He will also make you feel sorry that you are having to endure this.  The Holy Spirit came to comfort and convict us.  Bless Holy Spirit. Ask for a new infilling of His grace.  Ask for an activation of the gifts within you that are more powerful than any word the enemy can say.  In the midst of your bruising and emptiness, Holy Spirit is ready to fill you new and fresh.

Day 10:  Memorize and mediate on Proverbs 18:14. “The spirit of a man will sustain him in sickness, but who can bear a broken spirit?”  A broken spirit occurs when life’s difficulties crush our ability to resist.  However, Jesus came to heal our bodies as well as soul and spirit.  Choose to embrace His desire for you to become whole again.

Day 11: Memorize and mediate on 1 John 3:8. “He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.”  Yeshua did not deviate from His call.  Ask for His Wisdom and Revelation to vanquish the plans of the enemy.

Day 12: Read Mark 5:25-34.  There will always be a crowd that one must press through. This woman was desperate, and the Lord acknowledged her and delivered her from her past season.  Press through and touch Him to begin your next season of wholeness.  Read Luke 17:11-19.  Do not stop by asking for mercy alone.  Be like the one leper who returned to the Lord with gratitude for his healing and was made whole.  Read Luke 7:36-50.  When you are forgiven much, you love much.  Take time to express your love to the Lord for all He has done for you.

Day 13: Read Matthew 8:5-13.  Faith is linked with authority.  To the extent that we submit to the authority God has placed in our lives, our faith has opportunity to stretch and strengthen.  Faith is the overcoming agent that God’s people have in this earth.  Review your authority structures, and the answers to your questions above.

Day 14: Read and meditate on 1 Corinthians 13:12-13. I encourage you to read this in several translations.  Yeshua came because of love, and the Kingdom was then established upon that love. Everything the Lord does is based on His love. Without our love for Him and others, our vision suffers. Ask the Spirit of God to fill you afresh so you choose to pursue love in all your overcoming.

Day 15:  Read Jeremiah 1.  Do not be afraid of the voices that would claim to prevail against you.  The Lord is giving you divine strength that no hostile power can overcome!

Day 16: Read John 12:35-36.  Memorize and meditate on Romans 12:21. Do not allow darkness to overtake you. Walk in the light and overcome evil with good.  Declare your latter end will be greater than your former.

Day 17: I would love to encourage you to read the book of James.  Be sure to meditate on James 4:6 and memorize James 4:7.  Never forget that you have an enemy, an adversary, the devil, that does not play fair.  Submit yourself to God, resist him, and he must flee.

Day 18: Read 1 John 4, and memorize verse 4.  Declare that you are of God, and He who lives in you is mightier than he who is in the world.

Day 19:  Read Revelation 2 and 3.  Read out loud the promises for those who overcome.  Now read Rev. 12 and memorize verse 11.  A testimony overcomes the devil, and comes out of your mouth by the Spirit of God with the power to dismantle demons. The enemy surely doesn’t want the circumstance we’re in to become a testimony; if a testimony occurs, then the overcoming power of God’s nature within us will displace him and overthrow the devil’s strategy within us from that day forward.  Confirm your choice to endure conflict so your overcoming testimony is secured.

Day 20: Read Hebrews 4. Today is a day for you to war to enter His rest.  Do not stop until you come to the throne of grace and obtain mercy for your time of need.

Day 21: Read James 4 and memorize verse 7.  After the second of our twins died, I heard Pam share one of the most impacting things I have ever heard. She had been questioned on how she could be doing so well after the loss, and said: “If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my life, it’s that the quicker I submit to the hand of God, the quicker I can resist the devil. I have chosen to submit to God’s hand in this circumstance. And in submitting to the hand of God, He will give me the ability to overcome the enemy so that the double portion that has been robbed will be returned.”  Choose to submit and receive an overcomer’s anointing!

Day 22:  Read Numbers 13 – 14:38.  Joshua and Caleb were among those who spied out the land and chose to believe the promise of the Lord.  Do not fear the giants that oppose you.  Declare that your giants will become your bread!

Day 23: Read Joshua 1.  Be strong and of good courage like Joshua.  Do not fear to tread on new ground and declare that you will prosper in every area of your being.  Read Joshua 14:6-15.  Contend for your promises like Caleb.  He was as strong for war at 85 as he was at 40.  Declare you will drive out your enemies as the Lord has said!

Day 24: Read Proverbs 31.  This woman not only exemplifies the virtuous wife, but also the Bride of Christ.  We are called to exemplify excellence, moral worth, ability, nobility and wisdom in action.  Decree you are developing your supernatural, overcoming identity!

Day 25: Read Daniel 6.  Daniel is one of my favorite leaders in the Bible.  We need to be like him if we are going to make it in days ahead. Daniel had an excellent spirit, and allowed his character to be tested.  Like Daniel, we can develop excellent spirits by allowing our minds to be transformed to reflect the Kingdom culture that we are a part of.  Choose to be set apart and represent the Lord’s desire in this earthly battle.

Day 26: Read 2 Cor. 10 and 11, 2 Timothy 4:1-8.  Paul counted the cost and still chose to follow the Lord to the end.  The same Holy Spirit who empowered him to fight the good fight will also enable you to finish your race.  Ask the Lord to fill you with His overcoming power to press into your new place in Him.

Day 27: Read Isaiah 40:25-31 aloud.  The God of Israel empowers the weak and gives strength to those with no might.  Wait on the Lord and watch how He raises you up.  Declare that you will run and not be weary, and walk and not faint! Memorize and meditate on Hebrews 12:12-13.  Speak to your hands and knees that they are being strengthened for you to advance on your path of overcoming!

Day 28: Read 2 Chron. 20.  Through the word of the Lord, we gain strategy to overcome the enemy’s plan.  Do not be dismayed at what opposes you, for the battle is not yours but the Lord’s.  Arise with a song of praise and declare His mercy endures forever! He will send you forth to overcome every blockade.

No matter when you receive this 28-day prayer focus, begin on Day One, and enter into this time to be whole again and overcome!

Blessings,

Chuck D. Pierce