CTN Episode 20 – Prayer for a Nation

0:00 You pray it and he can answer it. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. God will put the prayer in your heart to pray so that he can answer it. It goes into the hearts of the people, doesn't return void, it produces results. Make me a house of prayer. How many pastors or assistant pastors or heads of prayer ministries do we have here today? Wonderful.

0:48 Yes. This is what Kingdom Intercessors is about. United is about. The gathering together of not just... Those who are, we would, I don't even know how to, believers, but those who are leaders as well. I think it's good that we all gather together in one accord in one place and seek his face. Amen? Thank you, Lord. Praise you, Jesus. Well, we're going to go ahead and get into the word this morning. I've had so many notes lately, and I didn't get to use any of them. But I think this morning we're going to stick with the program and that there's a need for line upon line, precept upon precept, because I truly believe in my heart that in the body of Christ, there is a lack of teaching. in regards to the art of intercession and some things that need to be accomplished through this type of prayer. And I believe that what the Spirit of God wants us to do is to help fill those gaps, fill in those holes, bring instruction and guidance along certain regards and certain lines. I really

2:22 believe that there's people here and people even that are watching this that many of you are seasoned intercessors. And what I was hearing when I was praying in tongues is many of you who are seasoned intercessors, you have been through hell and back. And what the Holy Ghost says, he said, I'm going to strengthen the feeble knees. I'm going to strengthen them. And all that warfare that you have been experiencing is going to break off of you today. Don't clap. Because what the enemy has desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat and cause you to be ineffective in your prayers and intercessions. to wear you out, wear you down with circumstances and all kinds of clutter. And the God of all flesh, the God who is Jehovah Jireh, the God who is the strength of our life is going to strengthen us with might by his spirit in our inner man. And we're going to rise up out of this. depression I think some of you are in, and out of this warfare, and he's going to bring you into a wide open place and in a new place of grace. And see, it's been the enemy that's attacked his key intercessors and some of his key leaders. It's been the enemy.

3:50 And we haven't discerned it properly because, to be honest, we live in New Jersey, New York, on the East Coast, and there's so many distractions coming at us. Sometimes I think we just get muddied with everything that's going on between the natural and the spirit. And those of you that are very spirit conscious, you're keenly aware of what's going on in the spirit, but then you're also bombarded with what's going on in the natural. And with all this going on, the enemies tried to neutralize us. Well, guess what? No mas. It is the anointing that breaks the yoke. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. And the place we receive truth is from one place. It's the foundation of the word of God. I'm just going to be straight up with you.

4:54 I don't want to hear your experiences. I'm bored with it. I'm done. Listen, don't get me wrong. We all have experiences. But what we need is we need the foundation of the word of God so that when the winds come and the storms come and beat against our house, it's not our experiences that's going to cause us to overcome. It is the word of the living God implanted in your heart that lives and abides forever that is going to cause you to stand. the days that we live in. Are you listening to what I'm saying to you? It is very important that we build our lives, build our hearts, build our churches, build what we're doing on the word of God. Kenneth E. Hagin once said, he said, long after some of these people are gone, he said, I'll still be standing here because I have the foundation of the word of God. And he was a true prophet, and he was never pressured into prophesying when the spirit wasn't there to prophesy. He didn't stir anything up in the flesh. If there wasn't that anointing there, he just taught. the word of God. And the word of God has not returned void and the word of God is not boring. I believe we need more teaching in the church because the church is tiltering and being tossed to and fro and carried

6:26 about by all kinds of winds of doctrine. But the way we stabilize the church is by sticking with the Bible. The spirit and the word, they agree. We need both. Too much word and we dry up. Too much spirit and we blow up. You get a combination of both the word and the spirit and the church will arise and the church will shine and the church will grow up. and the church will be an exceeding great army that God has called us to be in these last days because we are truly in the last days. We truly are. But I have a warning inside of my spirit I just want to share with you is stick with the Bible. Hold fast.

7:28 to that which you have learned and received. Be doers of the word and not hearers only. Build your lives. Build your foundation on the word of God because there are winds and storms that are beating against the church of Jesus Christ in this hour. And if we don't have a firm foundation, my friends, I'm not a prophet of doom, but we're not going to make it. What happens? What happened to speaking the word? What happened to guarding your heart? What happened to thinking on those things that are pure and lovely and of a good rapport? What happened to those principles of faith that our fathers taught us? I remember about 15 years ago, men actually talked against and despised Kenneth E. Hagin, the father of faith. Are you kidding? Jesus Christ himself appeared to him in about seven visions. Read it in his book, I believe, in visions. And Jesus Christ himself taught him. Why did he have to do that? Because there were no principles. Those principles were not there in the church. And Jesus taught him and ministered to him and taught him through the word these principles so that the church could be stabilized and grow up into maturity. So what I believe is happening in the church right now, I know what's happening in the church. I believe there's coming together of the streams. Gee, Kenneth E. Hagin was right

9:04 after all. Our ministries don't have any money. Maybe we should start believing for some money. Because how is this gospel of the kingdom going to be reached to all nations? He gives you the power to get wealth. Why? That he may establish his covenant. But here's the other side of it. So the word people, they need the spirit. Too much word, we dry up. We got really bored in church for a while. People were bored. So people started going out and seeking those things that would cause them to hunger and thirst more for the things of God. And that's all good. But I believe that there's come an emerging of the streams. That's why I believe that we must love one another as Christ has loved you. We must lay down our lives. Greater love has no man than this, that a man would lay down his life for his friends. We need to love one another. We need to bear one another's burdens. We need to understand one another. And though you and I may not understand each other, and we may not 100 % agree with one another, but we can still love one another. I have this banner that I wanted to post on my wall, but I haven't done it yet.

10:23 It's one of my favorite things that Rick Joyner said. And I like Rick Joyner. He discipled me for three years when I was what I call hidden in my house. How is it possible that somebody can disciple you and you never met him? Through his writings, through his books, through his word in the books, the word of God. And I like him because he's a humble man. He's very humble. He always gives the glory to Jesus. But he said something in one of his banners. He said, the Lord is more interested in us loving one another than he is in us opposing one another with our doctrinal differences. He'd rather we have doctrinal differences and still walk in love. And just love one another. Let's just love one another.

11:13 Let's just start laying down our lives. We can have unity without all being in agreement with all these different teachings that are going on in the body of Christ. But I believe that we must stabilize and do everything that we do in the light of the scripture. Are you listening? My book, Contend, Stewarding the Hearts and Destinies of Our Children Through Prayer, is one of my most favorite projects thus far. In this book, I teach the reader how to pray effectively for their children, their grandchildren, and the rising generations that are in the earth today.

11:54 Make no mistake about it. There is war over the hearts and the destinies of our children. And this book will equip you as to how. to pray effectively for those young people. In this book, I teach you about the power and the purpose of praying in tongues. I show you what a prayer alert looks like. There are sample prayers. Not only that, there are outlines at the end of each chapter. So if you run a Bible study, you can use this book as a springboard to teach others how to pray for their children. Go to my website at margieflaurent .org. and pick up your own copy.

12:38 So that was my little speech. Number two, I believe that God's called us together because not only are the strong intercessors need to be encouraged and strengthened, but I believe God wants to raise up some young intercessors. He wants to anoint them with fresh oil. He wants us as fathers and mothers to teach them how to pray. You know, the disciples, when the disciples came to Jesus in Luke 11, verse 1, they didn't say, Lord, teach us to prophesy. Lord, teach us how to cast out devils. Lord, teach us how to preach. Teach us how to make homiletically correct sermons and outlines. We need all that. I get it. But they came to him and they said, Lord, are you kidding me? We've been watching you. And you continually flow in a river of revelation. And you continually are moved. with compassion and you heal the sick.

13:59 You continually know what kind of spirit is behind a person. You know exactly how to minister effectively to them. And they notice, hey, what are you doing when you leave town and you go up in a mountain and disappear? What are you doing? Why does he get up early in the morning? Who the heck wants to get up early in the morning? I'm getting there. It's getting better. It's like, really? They would watch him, and they saw that he would get up early, and he would go, and what was he doing? He was praying. So when the disciples came to Jesus, I believe they asked him the most important question they could have possibly asked him.

14:42 They said, Lord, we've been watching you, and we know what you have, and we don't have it, and we want it. So, Lord, teach us to pray. I believe our young people need to be taught how to pray. We have to pass this baton back to them or on to them. Kenneth E. Hagin passed it to me. Bobby Jean Mark passed it to me. Billy Brim passed it to me. The Halversons passed it to me. Who am I going to pass it to? Who are you going to pass it to? We've got to train and equip this next generation, not just in the word, but in how to pray effectively. Lord, teach us to pray. Prayer opens up the door for God to work.

15:38 Prayer changes things. First person it changes is you. But then prayer changes your world. And specifically for this morning, prayer changes your nation and will change your nation. Our message this morning is entitled Prayer for a Nation. And I didn't say prayer for America because I believe this word can be used to all the nations of the world. It is not just, you know, the United States hasn't yet seen some of the persecution, but some of these other nations are right in the midst of persecution. And you and I are sitting in this church, and it's good. We're here. But there are men and our brothers and our sisters that are living in other countries that need to know how to pray for their nation. Not only that, they need our prayers. I'm just going to go with what comes up in my spirits, okay? Prayer produces intimacy. Prayer produces intimacy with the one you pray to. We know who that is. The one you pray for and the one you pray with. But prayer for a nation. And this is what I believe is going to be happening as we press into God

17:11 and as we gather together in our churches and in our corporate meetings. I believe. that as we're open and yielded to the Holy Spirit and sensitive to his voice and his leading, I believe what's going to happen is Acts 10, 44. You see this here? This is a program. I made it. If anybody knows anything about me, everything's got to be lined up. By the minute, absolutely nothing out of place. And it's good to have programs.

17:55 But we also have to be open and receptive and yielded to the Holy Ghost because I believe what's going to happen is as we see the day approaching and as we gather together and we come together, as we see... the day approaching i believe that the spirit of grace and supplication and the holy ghost and prayer is going to begin to fall on our congregations and our program is going to go out the window and it's not going to be a minister to me minister to me kind of a service even though that's okay it's going to be more of the spirit of prayer moving in the womb of god's body of the body of christ because the lord Lord is going to utter his voice before his great army. Jesus Christ is the head. We are the body. We get our orders from him. And he's going to begin to stir within us both to will and to do of his good pleasure. And he is going to stir up. the spirit of grace and supplication, and we are going to begin to enter into prayers and intercessions and givings of thanks, and we're going to begin to birth something. I believe that God has some surprises for us. I don't know about you, but I'm ready to use what God has given me. Let me just say this, and you know this. You and I know more word than Catherine

19:26 Coleman did in her day. What are we doing with it? I believe we could channel what we know in prayer. The Bible says, ask for the heathen. They're your inheritance. And the uttermost parts of the earth are your possessions. Believe we could use our faith and use the knowledge of what we have take it into that place of prayer And I believe we could pull down Strongholds we could ask for the heathen we could pull them up out of darkness into this life the Bible says and of some have compassion and others save with fear pulling them up pit and causing them to see the light of the glorious gospel in the face of Jesus Christ. Kennedy Hagan once said, he said, some people will never be saved or healed unless someone stands in the gap, puts up the hedge, and prays for them. Why is that? It's because darkness has them blinded. The Bible says the God of this world has blinded the minds of them that believe not. Do you remember what you were like before you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior? You were blinded.

20:48 You were without hope. You were alienated from God. You were groping in darkness. You didn't know about God or Jesus, or maybe you did, and you just didn't know how to get to Him. But when you pray and you stand in the gap for somebody and you intercede, what happens is you go into the Spirit, That's why Jesus said you ought to always pray and not faint. You go into the realm of the spirit and you're going in. You're not going in powerless. Who told you you were powerless?

21:29 Greater is he that's in you than he that's in the world. You have the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob living on the inside of you. The one who was and is to come. The one who is alive forevermore and holds the keys of hell, death, and the grave. You are strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. You have the full armor of God and you are able to pray and see results in your prayers. That's the devil that's lying to you. My prayers don't work. Really? What does the Bible say? Let's get back to the Bible. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. Are you the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus? Are you the head and not the tail and above only and not beneath? That's me. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's me. Well, then your prayers work. You just can't be moved by what you see. You can't be moved by what you feel. You can't be moved, especially when you're praying for something and it gets worse. It gets worse because it's getting better. You're going in like Jeremiah 9 -1. You're rooting things out. You're pulling things down. And that devil, those demons, those evil spirits, whatever's going on, even that person's own will, they don't

23:00 want to give up. And so they get uncomfortable. What's this atmosphere I feel around me? Something's convicting me. Something's convincing me. Something's causing me to see my need for Jesus. It's the Holy Ghost. It's not by might. It's not by power. It's by the Spirit. It's the Holy Ghost. It's the Holy Ghost convicting them. And it's because someone stood in the gap for them, put up the hedge, and prayed instant, in season and out of season, yielded to the groanings. Yielded to the inner workings of the Holy Ghost. Prayed in tongues when they didn't know what to pray.

23:45 Because how the heck do you pray for somebody when you just have run out of everything to pray? You use your prayer language. You go beyond your language and your head and everything you know, and you go into the place where he that searches the hearts knows what is the mind of the spirit because he makes intercession according to the will of God because he knows everything. We don't know everything. Since when do we think we know everything? I know it. I know. I know. We don't know everything. That's why I thank my God I speak in tongues more than you all, the Apostle Paul said. I spend about 95 % of my praying praying in tongues. Well, my mind is unfruitful. I don't know what I'm praying. you pray that speaks in an unknown tongue speaks not unto men but unto god how be it in the spirit he speaks Mysteries.

24:52 And he that searches the heart. Inside my heart, I just don't know. And I absolutely cannot figure this thing out. But you, God, you are all -knowing and all -sufficient, and I yield myself to you. You are Ishaya, and you are Limesh. And, oh, my God, establish your people in this day and in this hour. Oh, God. Revive your work in the midst of these times. Make your mercy and your grace known in wrath. Remember mercy. But I just don't know what else to pray. So I yield myself to you. And I say, oh, my God. And my heart becomes his heart. Because the more you pray and the more you stand upon that watch, the more you begin to see as he sees. You begin to love as he loves. You begin to desire what he desires.

25:54 And your thoughts become agreeable with his thoughts, and then your prayers work. They succeed. But we've neglected praying in the Holy Ghost. Yes, we have. Turn to your neighbor and say, yes, we have. I shall not be moved. And we shall run and not grow weary. We shall walk and not faint. And we will move. in the spirit of prophecy and prayer. And we will use everything we've learned about prophetic, being a prophetic people. And we will take our place in prayer. And we will rightly divide the word of God and the word of truth. And together we will see this revival born. But it's not going to happen if my people, which are called by my name, don't humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from this wicked ways. You've got to pray. You've got to pray. And having done all to stand, you stand therefore. I'm telling you with an attitude.

27:08 With an attitude. Something in you is stronger than something on the outside of you. With an attitude. I will not be moved. I've seen it in the spirit and I'm not moved by what I see in the natural realm. The natural realm is subject to the spirit. How can you say that? Give me chapter and verse. The spirit was here first and then God spoke and everything became. This is my book, Decision Time. Everyone should read this book, especially those of you who are at a crossroads in your life. You don't know what to do. You don't know how God is leading you.

28:03 This is the book where you reach a place where you say, Lord, not my will, your will be done in my life. I also include in this book. how to hear the voice of God, which is important when you're making decisions. If you go to my website at margieflaurent .org, you will see that this book is available to you. Thank you so much for tuning in to today's podcast. It has been such a joy sharing this time with you. For more inspiration and resources on today's topic, please visit our website at margieflaurent .org.