Melissa Nordell: "Intercession for the Broken Cisterns"

From the Desks of Steve Shultz and Julie A. Smith:

"Cisterns" is an interesting word, as we hardly hear it spoken of, so it caught our attention.

Melissa Nordell received some awesome revelation from the Lord...about how we need to intercede for broken cisterns, as she says:

God then spoke to me about interceding to repair cisterns (representing the Ecclesia) needing pure water (signifying Holy Spirit), not just for my area but the whole nation and around the world. The cisterns He was referring to have no flow, or little flow, of Holy Spirit – absent of life and the fountain of living water. These cisterns might be dry, broken, cracked and filthy. Some have lost their "first love," some are burned out, some are not truly worshiping Him, and some are focusing on legalism and religion; but all are needing to be revived through intercession. Reviving these cisterns is sorely needed for the end-time harvest.

Saints, there is much brokenness in this world that needs repair, and your prayers are vitally important in seeing this happen. The good news is...we all can participate and make a huge impact. (To Subscribe to the Elijah List subscribe here.)

Interceding with you,

Steve Shultz and Julie A. Smith, Co-Editors
Elijah List Publications

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I had a dream the other night in which I was on a prayer journey for transformational intercession of cities. I pulled into Dothan, Alabama in an RV, looking for a place to camp with an intercessory team. In the natural, I had no plans to visit Dothan (although that would be nice), and no current plans for a prayer journey, so I knew I needed to pray in tongues and ask the Lord for a word of wisdom to interpret this dream. Words of wisdom can give the interpretation and understanding for dreams, visions and words of knowledge.

I soon heard the Lord direct me to a Christian dream interpretation book to look up the word "Dothan." I had no idea that city was in a dream book. I found out that it indeed refers to two cisterns, and that there are two Scripture references for the city of Dothan in the Bible.

The Place of the Cistern

When Israel told his son, Joseph, to find his brothers, he went to Shechem, where a man asked what he was looking for. Then in Genesis 37:17 we find this: "And the man said, They are departed hence; for I heard them say, Let us go to Dothan. And Joseph went after his brethren, and found them in Dothan."

The city of Dothan, Alabama is named for the city mentioned in this verse – the location where Joseph was thrown into the cistern by his brothers out of jealousy, after initially conniving to kill him.

Since I was going to attend an intercessory meeting the next night, praying for our area and land, I figured the Lord was giving me information about what to intercede for that night. The intercessors in the dream seemed to be a compilation of people I knew would be at the prayer meeting.

A cistern is a reservoir, tank or container for storing or holding water or other liquids. Cisterns, in Old Testament times, held rainwater for future use, but they could be broken or emptied, no longer giving life. Dry cisterns reveal what filth is at the bottom. Deceased bodies (people and animals) were sometimes thrown into broken cisterns. (Photo via Flickr)

God then spoke to me about interceding to repair cisterns (representing the Ecclesia) needing pure water (signifying Holy Spirit), not just for my area but the whole nation and around the world. The cisterns He was referring to have no flow, or little flow, of Holy Spirit – absent of life and the fountain of living water. These cisterns might be dry, broken, cracked and filthy. Some have lost their "first love," some are burned out, some are not truly worshiping Him, and some are focusing on legalism and religion; but all are needing to be revived through intercession. Reviving these cisterns is sorely needed for the end-time harvest.

The Fountain of Living Waters

"For My people have committed two evils; they have forsaken Me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water." (Jeremiah 2:13)

As Jeremiah was confronting the people of Israel of their sin in the Scripture above, he was clearly not speaking to the heathen world but to the followers of God. These Scriptures thus pertain to the Church. The Lord is desiring His Church to flow with the living water and presence of God, and we need to lovingly help them to get where they should be through intercession.

"It came even to pass, as the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the LORD; and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music, and praised the LORD, saying, For He is good; for His mercy endureth for ever: that then the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of the LORD; so that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of God." (2 Chronicles 5:13-14)

The Ecclesia should be so full of God's presence, with His life-giving water, that we all cannot even stand to minister.

Filling Up Our Cisterns

Some do not know what to do in order to bring the true fountain of living water into their "cisterns," and even Joseph needed help to get out. Our assistance will build the Ecclesia and the Kingdom of God in the spirit, somewhat like re-digging the wells of revival that have been stopped up (see Digging the Wells of Revival by Lou Engle). However, cleaning up and rebuilding cisterns is a little different. Wells that have been stopped up with rocks by the enemy, to cause the people to have no water, can be "re-dug" through intercession. Broken cisterns, when they were whole, were there to hold life-sustaining water, but they were neglected, abandoned and broken by us. They now need repairing and a divine flow through intercession.

Intercession and spiritual warfare, as well as true worship with words of adoration, praise and reverence, cause cisterns to flow with pure water.

I am told that deep cisterns for farming, where I live in the Central Valley of California, periodically require explosives to get rid of the cement-like filth at the bottom. That is what we need in the spirit – holy dunamis, faith-filled dynamite in intercession! (Photo via PxHere)

Ezekiel talks about the river of God with its life-giving water which flows from the threshold of the temple. First, the river began as a trickle, then it got higher and higher until it got very deep:

"The man brought me back to the entrance to the temple, and I saw water coming out from under the threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east). The water was coming down from under the south side of the temple, south of the altar. He then brought me out through the north gate and led me around the outside to the outer gate facing east, and the water was trickling from the south side.

"As the man went eastward with a measuring line in his hand, he measured off a thousand cubits and then led me through water that was ankle-deep. He measured off another thousand cubits and led me through water that was knee-deep. He measured off another thousand and led me through water that was up to the waist. He measured off another thousand, but now it was a river that I could not cross, because the water had risen and was deep enough to swim in – a river that no one could cross." (Ezekiel 47:1-5)

Then, in verse 12, Ezekiel describes fruit trees of all kinds that would grow on both banks of the river, which would have leaves that would not wither. They would continually bear fruit because the water from the sanctuary would flow to them. He recorded that the fruit would be for food and the leaves for healing. Most scholars believe that these trees recorded in Ezekiel 47 represent Christians bringing life and healing to the world. It all comes from the fresh living water of Holy Spirit.

Interceding for Cisterns to Be Repaired

So, how do we intercede for cisterns to be repaired and the fresh water of God to flow? First, we intercede to ask the Lord, prophetically, what might have stopped them up, broken them or made them dry. Then we repent for those things, standing in the gap. Next, we ask the Lord to repair what has been broken, and declare that the filth, trash and dead things are cleaned up by the power of Almighty God. Then, by decree, we replenish the dry and filthy cisterns with life-giving water flowing from the river of God.

It is important that we declare Scriptures out loud that pertain to the life-giving water, and to the flow of Holy Spirit as well. Prayer journeys, as well as anointing land and buildings, do a work also. Some may want to go to strategic areas that need life with a worship team, singing songs of worship unto the Lord.

Please agree with me: Lord, I worship and honor You for who You are. I repent for whatever happened to dry up, break and crack cisterns in my area, and even in my own life, causing Your true and living water to stagnate, becoming impure and dry. Lord, I ask You to repair that which has been broken and cracked. Clean up that which is not of You and that which is causing stagnation. I decree and declare that pure water will flow with life from Your throne as in Ezekiel 47, rising higher and higher by the Spirit in me and in my church and my area. I decree and declare this all in Jesus' all-powerful name!

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Melissa Nordell
Strategic Prayer Command Ministry
Email: strategicprayercommandmin@yahoo.com
website: www.strategicprayercommandmin.com

Melissa Nordell is a graduate of Wagner Institute and founder of Strategic Prayer Command Ministry. She is an ordained teacher of intercession, who also teaches and speaks on the prophetic. She was the former lead intercessor of The Dwelling Place Church in Hemet, the "Transformations Church," featured in George Otis Jr.'s first "Transformations" video, and has continued to teach intercession, spiritual warfare, and transformational intercession ever since. She has been certified to teach prophetic modules by Christian International in Santa Rosa Beach, FL. She is also a writer and editor who has written articles for the Elijah List, Breaking Christian News and God Reports.com; and she gives all glory to God for all of this. Melissa has a hunger to see the world transformed for God, more souls reach Heaven, and more cities and lives transformed through proper intercession.

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