How to Have a Praying Spirit | The Believer’s Authority | Abundant Life Church | Pastor Sean Thomas
How to Have a Praying Spirit | The Believer’s Authority | Abundant Life Church | Pastor Sean Thomas
Transcript
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Hey, everyone. Pastor Sean here, and I wanna thank you for subscribing to our podcast. I'm excited to get into today's message. And remember this, God is a good God. He loves you, and he wants to bless you. The Lord simply put in my heart for you to communicate this morning how to have a praying spirit. And I'm gonna say this right off the jump, is that when it comes to your prayer life, every prayer first starts in the spirit.
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It first starts in the spirit. Before it is on your lips, it begins in your heart. And I'll talk on that in just a moment. But I believe it's important that if we're gonna be prayed up, that we understand how to have a praying spirit.
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Because let me tell you, there are times in the natural in my flesh that I don't have the strength to pray. But when I learn how to have a praying spirit, that is the very thing and the only thing that I need to keep me moving. Because sometimes my mouth has to catch up to my heart. But if my heart's not in the right place, then my mouth has nowhere to go except in the opposite direction of the things that I'm believing and praying and seeking God for. So we gotta be able to have a praying spirit or we have to learn how to have a praying spirit. So it's a simple formula. I'm just gonna begin to break it down for you and I You already got the first point. Philippians says this, in everything.
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Write that down. In everything. If I'm gonna have a praying spirit, I gotta pray in everything.
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Not some things, not a few things, not just the things that I want, not just the things that I desire.
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The Bible says in everything.
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Say everything. Everything. Okay. So, the Bible says in everything there's prayer, there's supplication with thanksgiving, and I make my request known to God. Here's what want you to turn with me this morning. Ephesians chapter six verse 18.
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And I wanna I wanna park us in this scripture, and we're gonna begin to just rip down this text to the studs because I believe this passage that we're about to to examine and to look at really is a foundation for us to be able to activate everything that we've been talking about prior to today. And if you hadn't been in the services or had an opportunity to hear the teaching, I encourage you jump online, Get these teachings in your spirit.
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I I I don't know when I've had such clarity from the Holy Ghost on this teaching of prayer, and I'm grateful and honored.
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And every day, I just Holy Spirit continue to lead and guide. But I'm telling you, the Lord's moving this church to a new place, into a new season. And I know this, that God wants to respond to your prayers. I know this. There's things that you've been believing for and praying for. And through this series, you're being equipped with the tools as to how to approach. God, I want to see your prayers answered.
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Hear me wanna tell you this, even if I don't go any further. I desire, as your pastor, to see your prayers answered.
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And they can be answered and they will be answered. And there's many of you that are here today that said God has already been responding to my prayers. So Ephesians six, are you there? Yep. If you're there, say I'm there. Ephesians six verse 18, the Bible says this, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit, being watchful to the end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints.
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Let me just reread that one more time. Get this in your spirit today. Praying always.
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When are we praying? Always. With all prayer and supplication in what? The spirit.
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Being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for who?
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All saints.
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All saints.
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So what this text is telling us is this.
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Number one, what I just shared with you, Philippians says pray in everything.
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Now Ephesians is telling us you're gonna pray in everything always.
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Let's let's look at it like this. Always deals with the fact that you are not to stop in your prayer life. For we know that first Thessalonians chapter five says, pray without ceasing.
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But always is also a compound word that means in all ways.
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So always means nonstop, but in all ways means in every way possible you need to pray because the Bible says pray always with all prayer.
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There is different types of prayer based upon the way that you need to pray.
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And if you don't understand the different types of prayer, you'll approach the situation pulling out the wrong tool to resolve the situation.
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Hear me on this. It makes no sense that if you need a flat head screwdriver to pull out a Phillips head or to pull out a hip. No, you need a flat head screwdriver if it requires a flat head screwdriver.
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And so many of us will go into situations with the right heart and how we're supposed to pray, but we're praying the wrong things in the wrong way.
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You catching me?
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And so I don't need to go into the prayer of agreement with a prayer of intercession.
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Now hear me, put some prayers do work together, but if my brother just simply needs me to agree over the fact that maybe he is sick and he needs a healing touch from the Lord, I don't need to sit there and inter cede and figure out what God's trying to say in the matter. He just simply needs a brother in faith that can have the prayer of agreement to get the job done. In other ways, you might need the prayer of intercession because you don't have wisdom or clarity on a given situation, and so you gotta press in, and you gotta get your knees deep into the ground. You know that where you get so prayerful that you're leaving those knee prints in the ground? I believe it was Billy Graham where they they have, they had documented that in his room. Whenever he would get up and he would leave from from his room, you'd go back in there on the rug of his ground, you could see the imprints of his knees where he was praying and interceding for the souls.
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Intercession requires a different level of prayer, but intercession is its own prayer of itself. So you've got to know the different types of prayer. There is the prayer for the sick. There is the prayer of agreement. There are different types of prayer, and Paul says pray in everything.
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Pray always with all prayer.
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Does that make sense? So, I'm praying in every way possible with all prayer. In other words, I'm gonna take the entire kitchen sink, and I'm gonna empty it out. Devil, I don't care what you try to throw at me. God has given me a tool for every single thing you try to throw my way. That is the goodness of God, that God will never lead you into a situation and not give you what you need to see your way out. God is not the tempter, but when temptation comes, God will show you a way out. That's good news, because the gospel will always point you in the way that you should go. Maybe you're feeling stuck. Maybe you've been going through a week that you're just like, don't know what to do. But when you begin to get prayed up in the Holy Ghost, God will show you a way out.
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Pray always with, help me out, all prayer.
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So he says pray always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit.
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In the spirit.
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You're gonna pray in the spirit.
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You know what's interesting?
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Because in John's gospel in chapter four, there is this story of this woman that Jesus encounters. We know it as the story of the woman at the well. And they begin to have a dialogue. And for our time purpose, I just wanna get it to this statement that Jesus says.
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Jesus says the time is coming where we are no longer worshiping on this mountain or that mountain. Because your worship is not about a place, your worship is about a posture.
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And he says, the time is coming yet I say is now that those who worship will worship in spirit and in truth.
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Spirit and in truth.
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In the same way, not only in your worship, because worship is your drawing near to God. Prayer is us drawing near to God. Your prayer starts first in spirit, then in truth.
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A lot of times we want to go to God in truth and then get the result of the spirit.
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In other words, we go to God based upon what we believe, and then we want to get this thing and have God respond to where we are.
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Spirit is based upon where He is first. So, gotta pray in spirit. I gotta get to where God is first in order for me to understand what His truth is.
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His truth outside of His spirit is just a truth, but truth in His spirit is the absolute truth of the living word of God. You gotta look at it like this, is that when you get saved, you don't walk around saying, I've got salvation before you actually prayed a prayer of repentance.
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You don't actually walk around saying, I'm born again and you haven't given your life to Christ.
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Being born again is a truth, salvation is a truth, but you gotta be born in the spirit first before you can walk around in that truth. You catching me? There is a process, those that worship, those that pray, those that come to God, you got to come in spirit first, then in truth. Because God is a spirit.
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God is a spirit.
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So I go to God where he is.
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So I can understand his word, his truth.
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Interestingly, that word truth in the Greek, it means athleethia where we get the word athlete from.
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Is that interesting? Who would have ever thought that the word truth had anything to do with an athlete? I'm a tell you why.
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Because when an athlete who is training for a given sport or a given race or whatever it is that they are training for, they don't train saying, I'm gonna lose.
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I'm gonna put in all this hard work because I just expect that, you know, I'm gonna get the runner-up prize. I mean, I don't want no runner-up prize.
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I play to win.
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I won no participation prize.
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Man, they better get rid of them participation prizes in rec leagues.
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No, I came to win.
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What that means is this, truth is an athlete that is training themselves with certainty that they're gonna win the prize. Truth for your life is that I have come to God and I know what His word has said that I'm so certain as I work my faith, it shall come to pass. There's certain certainty.
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So when I pray, I'm praying coming to God in spirit in my heart for the Bible talks about that the spirit of God, it starts in the heart.
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We understand that the scripture talks about the fact that the spirit of God reveals the things of God. The spirit of man reveals the things of man. Our eye hasn't seen and our ear hasn't heard the things that God's prepared for those that love Him.
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So those things are in the spirit of your heart. So I need the Holy Ghost, I need the Holy Spirit to reveal the truth of what God said for my life. Are you with me?
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So when I come to God in spirit, now I am able to declare with certainty his truth.
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Not my truth, not my feeling,
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not my belief on a matter, not how I desire to interpret what the holy scriptures say.
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Because we've got a lot of that nonsense today where people are giving their interpretation of what the holy scriptures say. Creating misinformation and deception and confusion in a generation that is simply telling me just what is the truth.
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Like if I can just pause for a second and put a spotlight on this.
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This is the living word of God, the absolute truth.
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This gives you what chat GPT cannot give you. This gives you what no Google service can give you. This gives you what no man made thing can give you because this was not made by man. This is the breathing, living word of God which is all truth.
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You do not substitute your reading time with what you can get through a podcast. You don't substitute your study time for what you can get through another preacher or a minister. And I honor preachers, and I honor ministers, and I honor communicators of the gospel, but your truth has to come when you bust open the pages of this book.
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For this is the lamp to your feet. It's the light to your path. It's what you hide in your heart that you would not turn and sin against God.
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It's spirit and in truth.
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Spirit and in truth. And if I don't come to God with the right spirit, then I'll never have what his truth says.
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I'll only have what my truth says.
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And my truth oftentimes out well, not oftentimes, all the time outside of the spirit is gonna be rooted in my feeling and in my circumstance.
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And so the Bible says in first Timothy chapter two verse eight, I pray, I desire that you would lift holy hands without wrath and doubt.
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Two quick ways to keep you in the wrong spirit is wrath and doubt. Not having faith when you come to God is your doubt because you're worried and you're anxious, and that's what we talked about last week. But today, I wanna just simply draw your attention to this, is that if you've got wrath inside of you, you need to get it out.
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Pastor, what is wrath?
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Wrath is simply anger in action.
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It's anger in action. It means that you've allowed yourself to be so angry over a matter. You've allowed yourself to be so offended at a situation or a person or a circumstance that I'm just gonna hold on to that and I'm gonna remember that till next time.
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And so, you do is in your anger, you begin to build it up.
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I've got this trash can pull out drawer in my house, and in the front bay is the trash and in the second bay is recycling.
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Any recyclers in the room? Okay.
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My wife loves recycling.
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I I believe in recycling.
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I'm not so good at the action of recycling.
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And so we got this one bin that begins to fill up very, very quickly. Apparently, you know, we're fans of plastic and paper goods in our house.
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And so we have this bin, and it fills up really quickly. And so I get annoyed because I gotta take out the bin. I gotta walk it all the way out now to another recycling bin, and I gotta dump that out into that recycling bin. And then twice a week, I gotta take that recycling bin, and I gotta walk that all the way out to the road. And I'm like, man, this is a lot of work to recycle. I should be getting paid simply for the amount of recycling effort that is going into this situation.
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And so we got this bin and it's filling up. And one day I came in and I was like, man, it is Thursday. You say, why is that so important? Because Thursday in our house is pizza night. And I get excited about pizza night. And so we had the we were getting everything ready and I just noticed that the recycling bin was getting full and I was like, man, I'll just I'll take care of it after dinner. I just wanna get to Thursday night, pizza night. You know, my kids, you know, they're there. They're my biggest fans. Yeah, dad. Pizza night. Pizza night. Pizza night. I mean, it's a whole situation.
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And so we're excited about the deal. And I had this like plastic container that I went to go put into the recycling bin. And when I put it in there, it did not fit because it was full.
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Some of you are like, oh, thank you for for feeling my frustration.
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I got so irate over the matter that I just like, if I I didn't have a hammer like Thor, but if I had one, it was that amount of force. I like Hulk smashed the daylights out of that thing just to smush it down into that can to give me a little bit more room.
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And when I did that, I broke the entire trash and recycling pullout drawer.
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And my wife is like, what did you do?
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You got me into this.
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I don't understand why I'm recycling peanut butter jars. And I don't I understand why. Why am I washing the peanut butter, the last residue remem why am I cleaning something I'm throwing away right now?
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I'm not happy about this, but I'll do it because I love you.
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I love you. This is what you want. So I break the drawer, and now I'm spending the next hour and a half fixing it. Can you just do it after you eat the pizza with the kids? No, because I will not enjoy this pizza.
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It is not good to me anymore.
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So I had to fix the drawer.
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What's the point? The point is this.
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Anger, when you begin to let it build and build and build, it's a matter of time till all that anger that's been built up turns to wrath and something breaks in your life.
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And when you find yourself broken, when you find yourself remaining in a place of brokenness because of someone's offense, of someone's abuse, or the way that someone treated you, or the way that someone came against you, whether they said something, did something, posted something.
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What you're doing is you are still allowing them to have a piece of you that they do not deserve. That's too much power to give to an individual.
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And so, I come to God in prayer, I gotta get that junk out.
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Hear me. You gotta get that junk out. The Bible says this, is that anger rests in the bosom of fools. You know what it is to be a fool? A fool or foolish is to be godless.
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And so when I allow anger to fester up, what do I do? I look godless. You know what deters believers from ever wanting to come to church? Is an angry Christian.
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It's someone that's constantly walking around pissed and frustrated and and and talking all kinds of things that absolutely buries your witness.
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Anger rests in the bosom of fools.
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And at the end of the day, the only one that is the fool is you. Because you will do something that you know is not godly, and you'll look back and be like, why did I do that? That was so foolish.
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The Bible says in Isaiah, talking about the people of Israel, they have come to me with their prayers. They've drawn near with their mouth, but their heart is far from me.
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He says they draw near they draw near to me with their mouth, but their heart is far from me.
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And your heart gets far from what you're praying. And see what you're praying might be right, but your spirit is in the wrong place.
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And when your mouth and your spirit don't match up, it is divided.
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And the Bible says that a house divided cannot stand. And so your prayer life is not pushing through because you haven't learned how to have a praying spirit. You got to get that junk out. You can't harbor and hold on to that stuff. I don't care what you gotta do. If you gotta get into your car and yell and let it If you gotta go find somebody that you can talk to, go find somebody. If you need a spiritual counselor, get a counselor. If you need a pastor or leader, go get somebody. But whatever you gotta do, you better cut down to the center part of that pie and get that bad feeling out because God wants you to see your prayers answered.
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You gotta get it out.
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So you're saying I can't be angry?
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The Bible says be angry but do not sin. And follows up with do not let the sun go down on your wrath.
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God got angry. Anger is an emotion.
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It's what you do with it. And I refuse to let anyone, anything, any circumstance to rob me of my if you would, my my right spirit before the Lord. Here's what happens.
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If you don't deal with that anger, if you don't deal with those offenses and those things that's in your heart.
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Number one, you're gonna have a real hard time getting your prayers answered.
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And here's why you're have a hard time getting your prayers answered.
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Is because now you're saying that your offense, your anger, your emotion, your situation is more important than the God that you serve. And so, I would rather have an affair with my anger rather than give my heart to God.
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And so you are sleeping with your own emotions out of wedlock to the to the one that you are called to be connected and married to.
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You gotta get that junk out.
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You gotta deal with that stuff.
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You gotta get down to the root and to the core of it because God wants you to have a praying spirit.
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A praying spirit because it's only by the spirit is the wisdom of God revealed.
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You can't think into your next season when you're allowing your emotions and the things to grip you to the core because all you can see is the moment.
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And so when I hold on to these things, I now, listen to this, I lose intimacy with the Lord.
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Intimacy. I don't know if you've ever heard this before. Intimacy into me see. See into me. God's saying you can't see into me and what I have for you because you don't have intimacy.
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And you don't have intimacy with me because you're having more intimacy with yourself and your feeling.
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Pastor, can you just move on from this? No. I pray to God that your lack of response is the Holy Spirit convicting you so that you can get that junk out because God wants to show up in your life in ways that you've never even thought or imagined, but you can't when you don't have a praying spirit. And here's what I find, is that when people don't have intimacy with the Lord, those are the ones that get most offended at church. And we drop the language like, well, I was just church hurt.
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And your church hurt because now your priority is about being seen. It's about having a title. It's about having a position. It's no longer about you and God anymore. It's about how you're visible amongst others, and that offense just keeps piling up. It's piling up. It's piling up because you've lost intimacy with the Holy Spirit. But when I get back to the place of the Holy Spirit, then the Holy Spirit allows me maybe to deal with those things that I haven't dealt with. Lay those things down. Deal with those situations, giving me the grace and mercy if there's opportunity to reconcile with an individual that that can happen.
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But if I don't get to the place of what David said, God, make a clean heart in me and take not your what?
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Spirit. Your Holy Spirit.
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Well, he wasn't the one that was offended.
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No. But maybe it's not you that were offended. Maybe you were the offender.
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Uh-oh. Pastor's meddling. He's getting into your business. I'm getting into your business because I care about you. I'm getting into your business because I do not want to see your family, your future be stopped up because we're not willing to get real. The reality is this, when you get real, you get healed.
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You gotta get real.
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We didn't come to church for a program. We didn't come to church because, you know, we just you know, we're trying to just have a a fun time. And I love having fun.
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I come because I want the Lord to encounter my heart in a way that as I come to Him in prayer, things are changing, things are moving. Amen.
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Amen.
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Children are coming back to the Lord. Your marriages are being restored.
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We're having greater favor and influence in our city. We're able to reach our world with life. We're able to see God show up for when the righteous are in authority, the scripture says, the people rejoice.
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Can I give you a better definition of that scripture? The actual intent is when it says the righteous are in authority, when the righteous take authority. Well, I'm just waiting for my authority to show up. No, God's given it to you. You need to take responsibility in it.
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And we rejoice.
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We return, rejoice. We return to joy. We return to the opportune time.
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When the righteous are in authority, people rejoice. Amen? Amen. This is good, isn't it? Yes.
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I find that if I can give you a tough talk with a few things and make you laugh, you know, then you're not reaching for the, itch cream so quickly.
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It's like, oh, man, pastor, move it along. Move it along.
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So listen to this.
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It says, in everything I'm praying, always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit.
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Okay?
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And the scripture says, being watchful till the very end with perseverance.
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Watchful till the very end means I am now lifting my eyes off of just me and recognizing I'm not the only one in the equation.
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I'm being watchful until the very end with all perseverance, and the Bible says for all saints.
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What am I being watchful for? For you. Who are you being watchful for? One another. Who are we being watchful for? The body of Christ is caring for the body of Christ. We're being watchful.
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It's not just the arm that's on the body, but there is an arm. There is a leg. There is a foot. There is a nose. There is ear, there is an eye. We are multiple parts of the body making up one body. So now we are watchful, careful for one another with perseverance. So, watchful to the end speaks of time.
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Perseverance deals with that there will be adversity in challenges.
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There will always be adversity in challenges that come, but watchful is time in the midst of adversity. Let me put a better word for adversity, tension.
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Maybe you've heard this if you're in fitness.
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Time under tension is what produces results.
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You've got to be able to have the tension because that's what strengthens the muscle.
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So when we are coming together in prayer, we're being watchful for one another. We're like the body that is getting a full body workout. Our muscles are getting stronger. It's strengthening so that we can persevere and push into God's word. Push into God's promises. Push into God's presence. Push into what God has spoken for his people.
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So being watchful to the very end with perseverance for all saints. I want you to say all.
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All.
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That's number two.
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In all prayer, that's number three.
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And for all saints is for everyone, it's number four.
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So your prayer life is not just about you.
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It's about what God would like to do through you.
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Okay? So I'm praying in everything always in all prayer for everyone.
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I'm gonna use this word. I'm gonna emphasize it.
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Pray for for, f o r, for.
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F o r is not spelled a b o u t. It's not about them. Pray for them. And many of us, we can pray about people, but are we willing to really get on our knees before the Lord and pray for them?
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It's not praying about people.
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You know, praying about people is God, you know, I was pulling in to church today and I sense that Jamie has got an offense with me.
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Lord, there is that devil that's inside that woman. In fact, when I pulled in, she took my parking space. God, she took my joy. Deliver her of that thing.
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Brother, you ain't got joy.
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You don't got no joy. You didn't have no joy.
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You don't have you don't have one lick of joy inside of you. It had nothing to do with her at all. You're praying about her and not for her.
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God, I know that Jamie has had a tough week this week.
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Lord, I know that there's been some challenges that's come out her door. I might not understand them all, but God I pray for her that you give her wisdom. You give her strength. You give her grace. You give her everything that she needs so that she can walk in the call that you've placed upon her life. I'm not praying about people. I gotta learn how to pray for people.
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And the reason why we don't know how to pray for people is because we're not willing to take the time to understand them.
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And when we don't take the time to understand where people are, we get frustrated, we get impatient, now we get worked up and we create an offense that most of the time is not even existent, but because we're not willing to understand them, I'm just gonna pray about them.
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But the Bible did not say to pray about them, the Bible said to pray for them.
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I gotta learn how to pray for them.
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Now, this brings me to this part right here.
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I want you to lean in on this.
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First Timothy chapter two, and I want you to put your eyes on verses one and two.
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Want us to turn there? My team will put it up on the screen.
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Bible says, verse one and two, therefore, I exhort first of all supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for who? All men. I wanted to clarify that because Ephesians said all saints, but first Timothy now says all men. So I'm praying for everything or I'm praying in everything always with all prayer for everyone.
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Why is it important to pray for everyone?
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Well, I'll tell you.
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It's because your next level is locked up in who you're connected with. Oh, I just don't believe that. Why did you come to church today? Now, I'm saying this with humility. I'm not saying this with arrogance. Hear my heart. You came because you believed that pastor had a word that would minister to your spirit. So your next level is locked up in what the Lord has allowed me to minister to your heart today.
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No different than the very home that you're believing for, that you've been, God, I'm praying for this new home, and I'm storming heaven, and I'm letting my petitions be made known, and you know, and I'm God, I thank you for every single thing that is on that wish list of a house. I believe it, and that is great. God heard your petition, but he said pray for everyone because that home is under the ownership of another individual.
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Your next level is locked up into the ones that are around you.
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If you don't like the situation, if you don't like the fact that you haven't gotten a promotion, stop talking about the promoter and start praying for the promoter. Pray for the promoter and the promotion will come. Pray for the homeowner and the home will come.
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Couple weeks back, I left you on a cliffhanger with our testimony about us re when how we stepped into our new home, and it was simply this. This has happened twice when I got a hold of this prayer principle.
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What happened was in 2017, my wife and I, we wanted to move into a new home in the area. It was our first family home. Prior to that, we were in a townhome. And we said, God, want a place that we can begin to lay down some roots and and start our family. And so we found the home that we were believing for. And when we put in our offer, our realtor, he told us as he said, you know there was several other offers and people offered more money than you did.
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And it probably will go to them. So, we started praying for the homeowners.
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Lord, I thank you for what you are doing in this wonderful couple that is getting ready to retire. Lord, I thank you that as they get ready to move across the state, because we knew their story. Father, I thank you that you bless them in these latter years of their life. Father, I thank you for giving them health. I thank you, Lord, for favor upon their life. Lord, I thank you for what you're doing through them. And all of a sudden, I got a phone call from our realtor, and he said, I wanna tell you something that the homeowners, they said, we don't know why, but we're gonna go ahead and just give the house to the kids. Meaning, me and my wife.
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What happened? I stopped praying for the home because God already knew the desire of my heart. I started praying for the homeowner, the one who was in authority.
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So, when the Bible says pray for everyone, including kings and everyone that's in authority, that's not just talking about political leaders.
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And by the way, we need to pray for our politicians.
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Whether they are God fearing or they're against the things of the Lord, you pray for them because the next level of this nation is locked in those who are leading it. Stop praying about them. Stop praying against them. Start declaring, God, let there be a holy awakening in their heart. God, let the righteousness of the Lord begin to encounter them. God, I thank you for our all those that are in leadership. I thank you for our president and the cabinet and the vice president. You gotta begin to declare over your local leaders. God, I thank you for the city of Margate. God, I thank you for our mayor. Lord, I thank you for our commissioners. That's fine. I'll pray this by myself. God, thank I you for those that you placed in authority over this city. I declare God greater favor. Lord, I declare God greater influence.
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God, I declare that what you have placed in abundant life church will not fall short and will not fall on deaf ears. For God, you assigned us to reach our world with life. Father, I thank you that the city of Margate will know that you're a good God, that you love us, and you wanna bless us. Father, I thank you, Lord, that the gospel will continue to go forth locally and internationally and globally because God, it is your heart for the world to know that you are good.
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Stop praying about, start praying for.
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Your next level is locked up in who you're connected to. And when my wife and I, we were believing for our most recent house, because our family started to grow, we had our son, and we had our daughter, And the church started growing and I'm thankful for that.
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We started to say we need a little space.
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Need a little more space.
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And so this second time because we realized the first time we locked into something. The second time, I just started praying for the homeowner. God already knew for years what our next house was supposed to be. He already knew our desire.
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I need to keep going back to God. God, I just wanna remind you about this home. I started saying, Lord, whoever holds the keys to my future in this earth, Lord, pray for them, bless them, strengthen them, move in their life. I declare favor and sure enough, the most recent home that we purchased, was last year, and this is when I said that was our open heaven personal blessing that God did exceedingly and abundantly in our life. It came because we started praying for those that were in authority.
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If nothing else, get this right now. Start praying for the one who is in authority over the thing that you're believing for.
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Start praying for them.
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Pray for their peace. Pray for their salvation. Pray for their prosperity. Pray that God begins to encounter them. This is what Nehemiah did. He said, God, I pray for the nation of Israel. I pray for my father's house. I pray even where I did wrong, I repent. But I pray that the king would grant me mercy and favor. And when he came to the king, the king looked at him and gave him mercy, gave him favor, and gave him resources to go back and rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.
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Your next level is your opportunity.
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Opportunity.
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Opportune means new season.
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If you didn't know that, opportunity means new season.
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Now listen to this.
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Opportunity.
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You can't have the word opportunity without the word unity in the word.
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Who I'm connected to will determine the next level in where I go.
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And until we learn as a church to become unified as one, then we're gonna be limited into the next level that we can go.
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And our next level is gonna be determined by us coming together with a praying spirit in a right heart, Not one filled with doubt, but one filled with faith.
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Not one in worry and angst, but one with certain certainty because we are in spirit and we are in truth.
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And we know that God has ordained and called this house to be a place of his love and his goodness and his blessing. He's ordained your family to walk in purpose and destiny. He's ordained your life and your marriages and your children to know that he's a good God and that he loves you and he wants to bless you. But until we look and recognize that the opportunity is the unity.
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So I pray in everything, in all things, with all prayer, for everyone.
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And first Timothy two eight says, that when I lift my hands without wrath and doubt, I pray everywhere.
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Everywhere that I go, I'm praying and declaring and speaking the goodness of God.
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Maybe it's not something that I personally need today, but maybe it's something that you need today.
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There's never an excuse to not be in a posture of prayer. Prayer moves outside of just the realm of yourself, and it speaks to the body of Christ being unified as one.
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And when we're unified as one, the Bible tells us something very powerful about the prayer of agreement.
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Do you wanna know about the prayer of agreement?
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Do you wanna know what the prayer of agreement does?
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Do do you know what the prayer of agreement does?
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Jesus gives instruction on the prayer of agreement and what the prayer of agreement does. You wanna know what it is?
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You sure?
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Good. Because we're gonna talk about it next week.
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Gotta leave you coming back for more. And I say that with this.
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God's given me some something very specific and very in in a lot of ways, I'd say very revelational on this subject. I'll share them with some of our staff as I've never seen this before.
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But I had to bring us to this right here in order to get us to there.
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God, have a praying spirit.
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Father, I thank you, Lord, today for the men and women of God. I thank you, Lord, today for the generations. I thank you, Lord, today for what you're doing in the hearts of your people. Lord, I thank you today. If there has been anyone in the room that has been struggling, Whether it be with anxiousness or anxiety and and fear. Whether they've been going through a place where that there's been a lot of hurt and offense.
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Don't take my passion for preaching to the place that I don't have empathy for where you've been wounded or hurt. We all have been wounded and hurt. I get that. But I'm standing here today because I was willing to lay that thing down. I was willing to nail that thing to the cross, put it to death because I can't carry on any longer.
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That offense, that abuse, that hurt, that thing, I refuse to allow that to hold my life hostage from who God has called me to be and what God has called me to do. And so, I thank you today for those that that have been maybe going through a very challenging season, a very trying season where there's been a lot of hurt and frustration. Maybe there's been let down and disappointment.
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The one thing that I know is this, is that God, you've never been a let down. God, you're the one that does not disappoint.
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God, you're the same yesterday, today, and forever.
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So right now, maybe you're in the room and you're like pastor, I've just Man, my heart's been hurting.
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Whatever that situation is, I want you to bring it to the Lord right now.
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Begin to submit it and and and set it before the Lord right now.
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In fact, what I'd like to do, I'd like to lead you in into a prayer for this.
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Whatever that thing is, you gotta you gotta rest it before the Lord.
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And if there's one, and I know there's many, because one of the number one things the enemy uses is offense to divide contentions.
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He uses these things to destroy.
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The devil hates a church that is united as one. The devil hates unity in the body of Christ.
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That's why Jesus, his last prayer was God, just as you and I are one, I pray that the people are one with you. That they understand that this thing is that we're connected.
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That's where true unity begins.
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Before there's unity amongst one another, it's unity between you and God and you can't allow there to be one thing. So if that's say, man, there's something that's in my heart. I've been struggling with this thing.
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To yourself, just say, God, I give you this today.
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I surrender this to you today. Lord, forgive me for holding on to this hurt, to this offense.
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Whatever that situation was, it's a person, an individual, just release them right now. Don't give them that power. Release them right now. Give it over to the cast that care over to the Lord because he cares for you. God, I give this situation over to you right now.
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I give this matter over to you right now.
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I lay this at your feet today, Jesus. Cleanse my heart. Make a make a clean heart in me, God. Let there not be one thing that pulls me away from your presence, pulls me away from being in a place of intimacy with you.
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And if that's you, I want you to say now, holy ghost, fill me with joy. Fill me with peace.
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Fill me with love.
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Oh, God, I thank you right now. There's there there is heaviness that's just like melting off right now.
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It's just melting off right now. It's just washing off right now. Oh God, I thank you right now, washing the people in your blood. I thank you Lord right now for cleansing hearts and and renewing minds. Oh God, I thank you Lord right now that these weights and these things and the sin, it's coming off right now. Oh God, I thank you Lord for beginning to be the lifter of our soul. Father, I thank you, Lord, right now making clean hearts.
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Oh, God, I thank you right now for peace, for joy, for strength, for hope. Let it rise. Let it rise. Let it rise.
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If that's you right now, just begin to thank the Lord that today is the start of a new day. Begin to thank the Lord that today is the start of a new day. Thank the Lord that I'm not going back to that old me. I'm not going back to that old thing. But God, I'm gonna lift my hands. As the Bible said, I lift my hands as holy hands without wrath and without doubt. Everywhere that I step foot, that father, I'm connected with you. Father, I thank you, Lord, for giving your church a praying spirit.
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A praying spirit that we will see the things that we are believing for. We will see the things that we are praying for.
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Oh, I thank you for what you're doing in the families of abundant life. Lord, I thank you for what you're doing in the marriages of abundant life, in the future generations of abundant life. God, thank you for what you're doing in Margate. Thank you, Lord, for what you're doing in the Tri County area. Lord, I thank you for a holy sweeping through South Florida, a holy sweeping across our nation. Father, I thank you, Lord, for your goodness and your love to rest upon us this day.
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In the mighty name of Jesus. We thank you, Lord. Thanks again for listening to today's podcast. We trust that it has touched your heart and blessed your life.
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Listen to support the ministry. You can go to our website, abundantlife.tv.
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And remember, we are better together.