Winning The War In Prayer

I can barely see you with these lights. Let me see you. Well, I've sweated all my curls out in this humidity, and I lost two eyelashes. So if I'm looking cockeyed, it is what it is. But, you know, Pastor Ron used to say back in the old building, that old little metal building, he said if you hadn't sweated something through in your clothes, you hadn't had church yet. So if you hadn't sweated all the way through, you didn't do it right. Y' all want to do it again? No, we'll do it later. Okay. So good to be here. Ron sends his love. He will be here next. We both will be here next month. But I just wanted to scoot in today and just share with you what God's put on my heart. This prayer series has been life changing. Now, if you haven't taken it, digested it, and grabbed hold of it and put it to work, then that's your own fault, okay? Because it's been served to you. The fresh bread has been taken out of the oven every single week. And if it has not changed and transformed your life, then that's not the deliverer's problem. Correct. Okay. Because bread can be served and a meal can be served, but only truly hungry people will eat. When Pastor Steven was singing, I make room for you, I make room for two. Do you know what that means? When you got too much in your closet, what do you have to do? You have to clean some things out to put some new things in. So we have to make and shift and alter and adjust and make adjustments in our own life to receive the fresh stuff that's coming in so that we can put it to work. How many of you say, I have received it. I'm putting it to work.

It's changing my life.

And if it hadn't, guess what? Today's your day. Today. Look at your neighbor and say, today's your day.

Today's your day.

Get your heart and your mind open today. So I heard this story several years ago about a bodybuilder who was doing this tour. You know, you remember the John Jacobson power team who used to come around to churches and break phone books and they would crush cinder blocks and all that. Well, this bodybuilder was on tour. He was actually doing that. And he went to this African village and he was entertaining all the people in the village, and he was doing all these turns and these twists and Ms. Nancy, you know about that. Pastor Greg does that, doesn't he? He competes in that. So he was doing all these turns and these twists and these muscles were bulging everywhere. Chase. Sometimes he bodybuilds and sometimes he. He posts pictures. And I'm like, I don't have those muscles. I mean, how do you have muscles right here that look like fingers? Mine just look like breakfast I just ate. But he was. This bodybuilder was doing all these twists and turns and muscles were coming out of every nook and cranny. And the tribal chief looked at him and said to him, he said, man, that's really impressive. I don't think I've ever, ever seen muscles on a man like that before in my whole life. He said, let me ask you, he said, what else do you use all those muscles for? And the.

And the bodybuilder looked at him and.

He was like, well, this, this is what I do. I just go around and show my muscles. He said, that's it. That's all I do. And the tribal chief looked at him and he said, said, what a waste to have all those muscles and do nothing else with them. I've come today to tell you what a waste to have all this armor and all this power and do nothing with it. Ephesians 6 in the New living translation says this. It says, for we are not fighting against flesh and blood enemies against, but against evil rulers, authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits where in heavenly places. So knowing that, therefore, put on every piece of God's armor so that you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle, you will be standing firm, stand your ground. Put on the belt of truth, the armor of God's righteousness. Shoes. Put on the peace that comes from the good news so that you will be fully prepared. In addition to all these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil. Put on salvation as your helmet and take the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert. Be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere and pray for me too. Ask God to give me the right word so I can boldly express, explain God's mysteries. Plan that the good news is for the Jews and the Gentiles. I'm in chains now, still preaching this message as God's ambassador. So pray that I keep on speaking boldly for him, as I should. Thank you. Paul is saying here to the church in Ephesus, and he's saying it to us. Today, your struggle not in the physical realm. Verse 12, chapter 6. Flesh and blood is where the struggle is expressed, but that's not where it's rooted. Okay? Flesh and blood is where we see things coming at us, but that is not where it came from. That's not where. That's merely where the fresh is manifesting. It's not against physical world flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, world forces of this darkness, spiritual wickedness. In heavenly places, where is it rooted? Come on, talk back to me. Where is it rooted? In heavenly places. So whatever is plaguing you today emanates from the spiritual realm. Think about that. Whatever is plaguing you, sickness, disease, depression, insomnia, backache, neck ache, everything ache. Husband and wife problems, financial problems. Whatever is plaguing you emanates from the spiritual realm. That this is so important. So if you and I do not address the physical spiritually, we will never get the cure. Did you hear that? If we do not address the physical spiritually, you will never get the cure. That's like taking headache medicine when you got a stomach virus. We're addressing the wrong thing. Look at your neighbor. Say, are you addressing the wrong thing? The enemy doesn't want you to take seriously that all of your issues emanate from the heavenly spiritual realm. Because why then you might address it spiritually. Come on, I'm going somewhere. As long as you keep dealing with the fruit.

As long as you keep.

Getting baited, as long as you keep arguing, as long as you keep thinking it's your in laws and your outlaws and your husband and your wife or your boss or your nosy neighbor or that hypocrite at church, you know, Come on. Then you bypass the root and God listen. And then you are held hostage. It is a word. And Paul says that I wrestle our problem. I wrestle all our problems is in another realm. It's in a heavenly realm. So that's where our fight fight must be.

If your problem is in a heavenly.

Realm, that is where the battle is engaged. How many of us are held hostage on Facebook? How many of us are held hostage in our marriage because we think they are the problem? The good news is that he tells us to stand firm because if we fight the right way, we're already victorious. Right? Says to engage like this and stand firm because the battle is already won. You are already 100% victorious in the invisible. You are already 100% a victor, but it's in the invisible. Even though you may feel 100% thoroughly defeated in the natural Can I get a witness? So we must address the physical spiritually, right? And if you don't address the visible, the physical, spiritually, then you have a victory that you're not experiencing because we choose not to address it the right way. What a waste. Look at your neighbor and say, what a waste. Is there anybody in the room who is not experiencing victory in some area of your life? Come on, come on. Y' all lying like a dog. We all have areas in our life where we're not experiencing victory.

Because of.

How hard it is in the natural. Somebody say it's hard, right? It's a fight, right? Because of how the physical is dominating what we see, what we feel, what we experience, the people, the job, the wife, the husband, the lack of money, the sickness, all of those things. The toughest thing for God to do is to get his people to see and not to look at life from the area of our five senses. What we see, what we hear, what we taste, what we smell, what we experience, the people. God has given us all the equipment to win already. We just read it. He's already given us the equipment to win. But how many of you said that I'm experiencing something in my life where I don't have victory? Is it a God problem? Okay. Is it your sister's problem? Yes. Is it your mama's problem? Yes. Is it your wife's problem? So this is how he says to live. Coming back to verse 18 in Ephesians 6, he says, Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion, stay alert and persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere. And he calls out this whole section and tells us to put on the whole armor of God. So how do we wear it? What do we do it? How many of you have ever heard of the armor of God? Everybody has, right? We've heard about it. But I mean, what do you do? Are you supposed to get up every morning and role play and act like you putting it on? Like, okay, now I'm putting on my belt. Now I'm putting on my helmet. I mean, what do you do with this, really? I mean, how do you do it? What do you use it for? I'm pretty practical, so I need to know this. So the armor. Think about what armor's for. Armor is for fighting. Armor is not for playing. It's not just for getting up, going about your normal business. Armor is for fighting. And where is the fight? It's in heavenly places. But how, how do you engage it.

In prayer?

He goes on to tell us how to do it. So we've got to understand prayer. And. And when you do, it changes how you pray. It changes when you pray, and it changes your expectations after you pray, when you really understand what you're doing. And so many of us, this is prayer. I mean, listen, so many of us, even Christians, we can pray and we don't even have to engage our mind. Come on, y'. All. It's kind of like the national anthem before a football game or a baseball game. It gets the game started, but it has no relevance to what's going on on the playing field.

It's like an exercise.

Just inhabit. Listen, I could tell any one of you, those who aren't even saved, to say the blessing. Thank you, Jesus, for this food. Bless the hands that prepared it, and bless it to our bodies. Take all the fat grams out in Jesus name. I didn't have to think about it. It's just an exercise in habit. When we lay down at night, I mean, come on, y', all, you know, we tired anyway. And we lay down. Oh, Jesus, bless me. Bless my family, bless my kids. Lord, I plead the blood of Jesus over the doors, the walls, the windows, and keep sickness from us. And in Jesus name, wake me up tomorrow. Amen. We did not have to engage our mind at all. It's just habit. Or what about this?

It's kind of like.

This is my favorite example. It's kind of like a spare tire. We want it there in case we get in a pinch, but we don't ever think about it. We don't use it every day when things are just going, que sera, sera. We just get up, brush our teeth, do our hair, do our makeup, get our kids lunch ready. We just fight with our husband on the way to church. And we do all those things that are just normal to us. And it's like the spare tire in the back of the trunk. So I'm going to try to explain these verses today because if we understand the context, it changes the how we pray. It changes when we pray, what you get when you pray. So let's define prayer. Okay, let's define it. Think in your mind how you would define prayer. Prayer. This is my definition. Prayer is earthly permission for heavenly interference. It's earthly permission for heavenly interference. Well, that brings up a question.

Why do I have to give Heaven.

Permission to interfere with my life? Well, there's a whole theology behind that. That's another day, another sermon, another dollar. But God organized the world to work through people, okay? Genesis 1, when he made Adam and Eve, he said, I make them in my image and I make them to what? To rule. I created them. He said, let them rule. Let them have rulership and governance of what's going on here in the physical. So if you don't like what's going on in your life, and if you don't like what's going on in your home, you don't like what's going on in your health, you don't like what's going on in your marriage, you don't like what's going on in your bank account. Come on, somebody again. It's not a God problem. Just raise your hand, say, it's me, Lord, standing in the knee to pray. It's me. It's me. So it's earthly permission for heavenly interference. So he only joins when he's invited.

Most things.

Only when he's requested. We have the right to leave him out. We have the right to put him on the shelf. We have the right to go about our day and only be concerned with me, myself and I. That's our right. We have the right to act independently of him. Let me be clear on one point. Prayer does not make or force God to do anything. Prayer is calling on God to help in ways that he has already intended to help in the first place. He's waiting on the rulers to rule. Y' all ain't ready. Y' all used to Pastor Ron making you shout and turn backflips. Let me prove it. James 5:16 through 18. Confess your sins to each other. Pray for each other so that you may be healed. And the earnest. Another translation says, the effectual fervent. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. Listen. And then he stops there. And then he goes to Elijah. He references First Kings. This is just a reference. Elijah was a human, as we are. And yet when he prayed earnestly that no rain would fall, none fell for three and a half years. Then when he prayed again, the sky sent down rain and the earth began to yield its crops. So he wants to throw in there and let us know that Elijah was just a normal man, just an ordinary man. Wasn't nothing special, right? We always think everybody in the Old Testament had more power than us. No, he said, Elijah being an ordinary man, nothing special about him, human as you are. Okay? He did this thing. So the Bible tells us to compare Scripture to Scripture. So James was referencing the story in First Kings. That's the actual account. So First Kings 18. Let's go there. Later on, in the third year of the Drought. The Lord said to Elijah, go and present yourself to King Ahab. Tell him that I will soon send rain. Oh, who's going to send rain? That I will send rain. So Elijah went to appear before Ahab. Then Elijah said to Ahab, go get something to eat and drink, for I hear a mighty rainstorm coming. So Ahab went to eat and drink. But Elijah climbed to the top of Mount Carmel, bowed low to the ground and prayed with his face between his knees. Then he said to his servant, go and look toward the sea. The servant went and looked, then returned to Elijah and said, I don't see anything. Seven times Elijah told him to go and look. Finally, on the seventh time, his servant told him, I saw a little cloud about the size of a man's hand rising from the sea. Then Elijah shouted, hurry, Ahab. Go climb in your chariot. Go back home. If you don't hurry, the rain will stop you. There's a whole lot here that I don't have time to unpack, so I'm gonna give you the Cliff Notes, okay? God said it's gonna rain, so let's just establish that who said it. God said, it's gonna rain. But Elijah prayed, and he only prayed about what God had already prayed.

He wasn't making up stuff. He wasn't fumbling around.

He wasn't praying vindictive prayers.

He wasn't praying selfish prayers. He only prayed about what God had already spoken.

What has God already spoken over your life and you haven't spoken, seen it.

Come to pass yet? I would urge you, go back again, get down in your prayer closet, make time, make it a priority. Because if God's already said a thing, he said, I watch over my word, and I make sure that my word produces. But I need partnership. I need partnership to bring it about. I need partnership to get what's in the unseen down into the scene.

Wait.

What God said did not happen.

Until he prayed. God declared it.

God desired.

Was his will in the spiritual realm.

Elijah had to call it down.

He had to get heavenly assistance to bring to pass what God had already said. Now we get a word, and we just sit back and say, all right, God.

Why is everybody always picking on me? Why is trouble always at my house?

It just rains on me all the time. Wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah. All we do is talk, talk, talk about the problem. We talk to people about our problem when we should be talking to God about people and our problem.

That's why I don't produce.

That's why I don't Produce, look how he prayed. He crouched down with his head between his knees. Now, nowadays, we don't know anything about birthing like that. I mean, we run down to St. Francis. We got a shower and got our makeup on, got our clothes packed. We get to watch a movie, turn on Netflix, get an epidural and some pain medicine and sleep till we have to, till they wake us up and say, start pushing. Okay, but the Old Testament, they knew exactly what he was talking about. That was a birthing position. When he got down, put his head between his knees. Pregnant women in the Old Testament had to travail. They had to.

Push this. They didn't have stirrups.

Y' all ain't listening to me.

They had to push out what had grown in. And Elijah took the travailing position, pulling out of heaven into the earth. Not one time.

He had to keep doing it. And for seven times. And this lasted. Listen, God gave the word and it didn't rain for three and a half years. Then God said, now it is going to rain. Elijah, go do X, Y, Z.

He did everything God told him to do.

Then the last thing, it still didn't manifest. He. He had to get in the birthing position and push out the word that God had given him.

Now, listen, we don't want to go.

Out of our way, right? We don't want to go out of our way. We just want to say, lord, bless me and keep me, make your face shine upon me. We like them genie in a bottle kind of prayers. No, God, I want you to give me some money for my vacation. Ain't tithe near one time.

Now, God.

I want you to fix my marriage, but ain't took one class. We've offered you healing the heart, offered to pay for it, offered to sign you up. Most of the time we have to drive you to it. Won't nobody come. We don't want to stay up at night. And God knows we don't want to get up in the morning. Travail is the last thing we want. Prayer is grabbing what God intends to do and driving it, pushing it, warring it down to earth. Listen, there. We forget that there. There's angels in the atmosphere. There's demons in the atmosphere right now. That's why scripture says that the kingdom suffers.

Violence.

That's what's happening up here. The kingdom is suffering violence, but the.

Violence, take it by force. You can't sit back on your couch and be more interested in the new Netflix series and wonder why God hadn't showed up in your Life. The kingdom is going to suffer violence, but the violence are the ones who.

Come out on the other side victorious. The one who wins is the most violent one. Prayer is the human means of entering the war. Write it down. Prayer is the human means for entering the war. And it's so interesting to me that the last part of the armor is the sword, which is the what? The word of God. What does the sword do?

That's what. That's how you launch your death blow. That's what makes them crumble to the ground. That's what gives you authority in the spirit realm.

Not your wants, your hopes, your attitude, your desires.

It's God's word that is forever settled.

Where?

In heaven. God's word is the thing that the devil cannot come up against. God's word is settled in heaven. That's what gives you authority.

That's why we're not making contact with heaven, because we pray. Vague, empty, no thought, spare tire prayers. We talk about our problems all the time, but to the wrong people. We gripe. We talk about them on the phone to our friend, to our doctor, to our daughter on Facebook. Tell everybody all our problems, what's going on. All that time it took you to type and answer. Everybody that just gave you a little brush of comfort.

They can't help you. What you need is heaven to invade earth. You need heavenly assistance to your earthly problems.

There are radio signals and TV signals all around us right now, but we don't hear any music. And we can't watch Netflix right now. Right? We can't. We not seeing a movie and we're not listening to our favorite station. Why? Because we don't have the capability.

To pull it down. They're still there.

Y' all ain't hearing me.

But if I brought a radio up here and. And I plugged it in, if I got connected, if I got a TV and I plugged it in and I had some cable connected.

We would get to watch a movie or listen to some music because we have something to receive it.

God is moving. God is moving. There are angels there. There are demons fighting all around us right now. Yeah, that demon that didn't want you to get here today. And prayer is the means of contact to bring it down.

Rhonda, be proud. I am. Sweated through my underwear. So back to verse 18. He says, Pray at all times. Now, you. You can't just read the Bible. You gotta. You gotta read it. You gotta study it. You gotta figure it out, what he's trying to say to you. And in The Bible, there are two words for times. There is Kronos and there is Kairos. Now Kronos is just minutes to hours, to days, to months, to years. Time keeps on ticking, ticking, ticking into the future. Okay, that's Kronos. But Kairos is a specific time. It's a dedicated time, it's a set apart time.

So if I said I want to.

Make an appointment with you and I want to meet you tomorrow at noon, that's not Kronos, that's Kairos. That's an appointed time, that's a certain time.

And if I made an appointment to.

Meet with you at 12 tomorrow, I'm meeting with you for a reason. So verse 18 where it says says.

Pray at all times.

He's not talking about 24 7. He's not talking about in the shower, in the car, murmuring under your breath. Now there is another scripture for that. That's pray without ceasing. Okay? That's at all times be in communication with God. But this scripture right here, the context of this one he uses, pray at all kairos at specific appointed times. I wonder which specific appointed times he's talking about. You have to understand the context of this whole thing that I read to you, this whole section he's talking about. He's talking about war. Trouble has hit your house. Come on somebody. Verse 13 he says put on the full armor so that you may be able to resist war. That is fighting language in the evil day.

What's the evil day? That's when all hell is breaking out your house. That's when you feel like I'm about to lose my mind up in here. That's when your house was foreclosed on and your husband walked out in the same day. That's when you find out that your spouse has been unfaithful. That's when you looking up to heaven and say, I just don't think I.

Can make it another day. This is just too much. Now most days are not like that, right? Most days we just get up, go to work, do our thing, pump our ten dollar a gallon gas. Can't hardly buy a hot dog on the way home. Go play with the kids, tuck them in bed, watch a movie, go to bed, say our rote prayer. Most days are not like that. But then there are some days when you feel like the devil is riding.

Your back like a pack mule. Do you know what I'm talking about? That's the evil day. Say the evil day on that day. Say on that day and that time, under those Kinds of situations and attack. This is where you need this kind of prayer. Specific, concentrated, bow down Elijah, kind of praying, throwing God's stuff back at him. That's when you say God. Now you said I was the head and not the tail. Now, God, you said that the blood you spilled on the Via Dolorosa was for my healing. God, I don't have to deal with this arthritis now. God, I don't have to deal with this. COVID19 God, because you said. Because you said healing was a benefit of the blood. God, that's when you said I can walk in favor with God and man, that my name is at the top of the page when all hell is breaking loose. You have a unique ability to get specific with God when all hell's breaking out.

We don't miss church, we don't miss.

Tithing, we don't miss prayer time. We don't miss reading our Bible. When all hell's breaking out against us, we know that. They can't help me. I need heavenly interference. Listen, I've seen God move on my behalf when my back was up against a wall and I had no other option. My bank account couldn't help me, my name was ruined, My husband wasn't there, you wasn't there. But I had heavenly interference for my earthly situation. Who am I preaching to today? I came today to rouse somebody up. I came today to tell you to get up and get your head in that birthday position and get your heavenly assistance. Some of y' all said, I can't do it another day. I can't live like this another day. I can't live like this another day. I came to remind you that some things only come about by prayer and fasting. Denying yourself, God, I can't do it without you. God is calling us to a deeper, specific, kairos kind of posture in travail so that you can pull down what he's already promised in your life.

Come on, y', all, we about to do it. There ain't no sense in giving you revelation if I don't give you an opportunity. Oh, Jesus.

How many prayers could have.

Already been answered if we would just.

Suit up and get violent and throw God's word back at him. Now, you can't throw God's word back at him if you don't know what he's saying. If you don't know what he says about healing, if you don't know what he says about prosperity, prosperity in your finances. If you don't know what he says about prosperous living and having joy and Having peace and having right relationships. No, we want our way. We want to state our opinion, and our opinion does not pull heaven from our. In our situation, we need to shut up talking to people and start talking to God. Oh, we about to enter war. Come on. If I'm preaching to you today, you say, I'm tired of staying stuck. I'm tired of staying broken, broke. I'm tired of staying sick in my body. Come on, somebody, and get down here around this altar. It's time for the kingdom to suffer violence.

Gonna take it by force.

Come on, get out of your seat. This ain't for lazy people.

I'm gonna take it by.

I know some of y' all struggling I know some of y' all struggling in your body. And if you stay in your seat, you go leave. And stay in a cycle and stay in your cycle. Get out of your seat. Push it out. Push it out.

You say, I'm embarrassed.

I don't want to act like that in front of people.

Well, go on.

Stay in your sick cycle. Go on. And stay in your poverty cycle.

Come on, say that.

Go and stay in your broken marriage. Come on, come on, come on. Keep laying down at night and you can't see sleep. Come on. The violent take it by force. Sometime you got to do what you've never done to get what you've never had. That ain't just cliche. Some of you are this close from operating in what God says you can have, but you refuse to to do the simple thing. You'd rather watch every Hallmark movie than open up your bible and get God's word on why you stuck. I'm going to tell you when you finally get sick and tired of it.

You'Ll do something about it.

That's right.

This ain't nobody's problem but ours. Nobody look at your neighbor and say, stop blaming people.

It's on you. Look at them.

Say, it's on you.

Come on.

I can't help you. I can't help you. Pastor Rod can't help you. You need heavenly assistance. Come on, Stephen, let's go.

Surrounded. It may look like I'm surrounded but I'm surrounded by you. It may look like I surrounded. I'm surrounded by you can say it may look like I'm surrounded. I'm surrounded.

Come on, get your b. Get your body back. Get your body back.

It may look like it.

It may look like.

But I'm surrounded On the right and on the left.

Come on, one more time.

It may look like.

It may look like I'm surrounded by.

This is how I fight my battles. This is how I fight my battle.

This is how I fight my battle.

I see victory.

Victory.

This is how I find my can you see it?

My prayer is my words are weapon. I'm going to use them. I'm going to use them. My pres is a weapon. Your pres is a weapon. My pray is a weapon.

Now God, I'm believing. I'm believing as we throw your word.

Back at you concerning our situation that we will have heavenly interference on this earthly realm.

Not my opinion, not my wants, not.

My desires, but your word because you.

Watch over your word to make sure that that thing performs in my life. So I would tell you today, if you're in the middle of a struggle.

Go get a word on it.

Go get a word on it. Your word goes is my weapon and.

You watch over your word and you make sure it performs. We thank you Jesus for giving us everything that we need already for life and godliness. And we will forever ever give you.

The praise for all the good things.

God that you've already done in our.

Life and all the amazing, wonderful things.

You'Re wanting to perform in our life as we cooperate with heaven. In Jesus name. Amen.

Come on, give God a praise in advance. It's already done. It's already done.

It's already done.

It's already done.

Incredible. God.

I love you.