"2009 - A Year To Engage The Open Heavens" by Garris Elkins

n 2008 God accelerated His people into a new place. We have been positioned beneath heavens that have been opened by the very hand of God. We are now standing under unrestricted heavens. This is the time to order all aspects of our lives to reflect this reality.

As I pondered this word for 2009 I sensed three assignments for the Church as she stands under the open heavens:

Praise it down! - 2009 is the year that worship will be experienced in a new dimension. Praise is the music that adorns the stairway of heaven that connects this earth with the heavenly realms. As we praise we will be taken into new dimensions of “stairway worship” that will join our voices to the voices of heaven. Praise under the open heavens will allow us to hear the sounds of heaven and bring that sound down upon the earth to displace the sounds of fear and sorrow. The sound of praise will push back darkness and create a new space into which the miraculous works of God will be poured out.

Pray it down! - 2009 is the year to pray down supernatural provision with a greater boldness. Heaven is waiting to hear our petitions. The provision of 2009 is hanging like a swollen water droplet that is about to fall to earth and splash all around. Our prayers will shake loose those drops of promise that will water our communities, our nation and the world.

Pull it down! - 2009 is the year to activate heaven through unusual prophetic acts. These prophetic acts will declare the intentions of God upon the earth before they become visible in the natural. Individuals and ministries will at first look foolish taking these postures, much like Noah did when he built the ark. Endure the ridicule because the rescue of heaven is on the way and heaven's target will be your act of obedience. As the flood waters rose in the time of Noah, so the flood waters of fear are rising in many hearts. Unusual prophetic acts, that at one time looked ridiculous, will become postures of promise.

God is calling His people to “speak” in a language that will be seen more than it will be heard. This is not a year to be timid. Pull it down! Pull it down! Pull it down!

A prayer for 2009 - “Father God, I am standing beneath Your open heavens. You have brought me to this place for a time such as this. Thank You that the open heavens are not effected by a closed earth. I shout out to You, my Jehovah God, Here I am. I am ready to engage Your open heavens! For 2009 I will praise it down! I will pray it down! I will pull it down so that Your Name is glorified upon the earth! I pray and declare this in the Name of Jesus Christ Your magnificent Son. Amen.”