🎥 Interview with Debra Gaskill | InspireHive Podcast | Part 2🎙️✨

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. Goes into the hearts of the people, doesn't return void, it produces results. I'm sure you do. You look amazing. Oh, back at you. There you go. You gotta work out. So, you know, it's like, you know, if you're starting a new health, and you want to get in shape, well, you know, you begin where you are. You start on the treadmill 15 minutes. And then after a while, you build a little more endurance. And next thing you know, it's 20 minutes, 30 minutes. And then you begin to see results down the road. Prayer is kind of like that, if I could use that analogy. You know, you start to pray, enter into the presence of God. You don't feel him. You don't see him. You're distracted or your mind is going crazy. And all of a sudden you reach a zone. And that's when the fun really begins. Because prayer goes from a sacrifice.

1:04 I'm doing this. Then it becomes joy. Then it goes into a desire. I really want to know God. To a discipline. Then you discipline yourself. Okay, I'm going into this closet, shutting the door. I'm going to seek a sacrifice. It goes from a desire to a discipline to a delight. Yes. Yes. You crave the presence of God. You crave prayer. You want to pray. You want to be with him. And then you see the fruit of it in your everyday life when you're at the grocery store, when you're with people. And that's where the friendship with Jesus really begins. Amen. That is so good because I love the analogy because when I first started going to the gym a couple of years ago, I can't tell you I was thrilled.

1:56 And I had to tell myself, you're going to like this. I actually learned that from Kenneth Copeland. He said that he hated getting on the treadmill and he told himself, you're going to love this. And eventually he did. And I had to really discipline, as you said, myself, you're going to drive there. You're going to go in through the door. And it really helps if you like talk to people or watch other people work out or get a trainer and have a buddy for a while. And then once you take off, it does. It really becomes a delight. And there's where you start to see some fruit. And I also loved what you said about finding a place in your home like where you won't be distracted.

2:37 There's always a dog barking. There's always, you know, we have these kids in our neighborhood. I'll hear these kids outside like screaming and you think that someone is peeling their skin off and they're just chasing each other. So I actually took a beanbag chair at one point and put it in my closet and shut the door. My closet is not that big. And leave your phone on the outside because it will be so tempting at first. Oh, I got to clean that drawer out. Oh, I've got to return that email or see if I have an email. And so I think what you said, I love it.

3:20 It's got to start out as a discipline, even if you have to set an egg timer. And I've done that before. I've said back in the day, I would set the timer like on my microwave or my stove and I would make myself pray for one hour. And you really do get to the point where it's like that, you know, oh, my gosh, you look at your watch. It's like an hour has gone by. You're kidding. It felt like five minutes. But I remember Brother Hagen would say, that's because, you know, you've gotten into the spirit. When time doesn't bother you anymore, you know, you're in the spirit. Yes. Yes. Just you're in the zone. And that's where friendship begins with Jesus and relationship. And it's an intimacy. It's not based on works.

4:03 It's based on love and relationship. And so many people say, I have to pray. No, we get to pray. Amen. Yes. Yeah. Oh, I get to talk to God. No, I get to talk to God. It's fun. Wow. And, you know. We were talking about the loneliness factor. Sometimes I think people are lonely because they don't put themselves out there. And I'm not talking about a dating app. I'm talking about you get involved in something at your church or you go for a walk in your neighborhood. Sometimes there is a practical side to things. I mean, there's someone in my neighborhood. I haven't seen her leave the house in like months. She's very reclusive.

4:50 You can't complain that you're lonely. When I first joined my church a little over two years ago, I purpose, I thought I'm not meeting anyone. So when they came up with an offer, would you like to teach a connect group within the church? Because they're all about connecting. I said, sure, I'll teach a group on healing because they didn't have one. And that's how I started meeting people and growing relationships with it. So if we're lonely, sometimes. Do you think it could be kind of self -inflicted? Definitely. I mean, you know, I think COVID created a lot of loneliness in people and depression and anxiety. But you're right. It takes effort sometimes to get out and to break your daily habit and your daily routine and put yourself out there. Yes. And even what you were saying about working out and going to the gym when you said about, you know, you started that program. Like working out is wonderful for our mental health. Sure. You know, it's wonderful.

5:52 And just connecting with people is good for our mental health. So, yeah, you just got to put yourself out there. But putting yourself out there with the right people. Oh, you read my mind. The next thing I wanted to talk about was sometimes people get involved in relationships out of loneliness. And it's like, well, they're better than being alone. So I wanted to bring up three great women in Pentecostal history who all went down the wrong road because of loneliness.

6:32 And one of them was Catherine Kuhlman. She was lonely and we don't have time to go into her story here, but she ended up marrying someone out of loneliness. She knew she shouldn't have done it. Every prominent minister of the day told her, don't do it. And she did it anyway and knew it was so wrong. She fainted during the ceremony. And as soon as the ceremony was over, she ran into her friend's hotel room and told her that she had made a mistake. And the friend said, too late. You did this. And it derailed her ministry for 10 years. Yeah. Amy Semple McPherson, first husband died. Second husband didn't want the traveling evangelist lifestyle, so they divorced.

7:19 And she admitted out of loneliness, she married her third husband, who was a con man, and made a bet with others that he could infiltrate her ministry and infiltrate her life. And he did just that. He was very abusive. And she ended up dying at 54 years old. Wow. And then of course, Mariah Woodworth at her, her first husband. I don't know that she married him out of loneliness. I don't know the situation, but I know that he was very mean to the people. And she always wanted to have a revival in Oakland, California. That was her dream. And when her ministry was thriving, she finally made it out there, had a huge revival.

7:59 And it was discovered during that revival that her husband was having an affair. Three prominent Pentecostal historians all derailed by wrong relationships. Talk to us, Margie, about just sticking a placeholder in there. And we don't think it's going to hurt us. And it's just, I know there is a ministry that kind of claims that they can get you hooked up with someone and get you married within a year. And they boast that that is what they're called to do. I'm not saying they're not. But I'm just saying that I don't know that we should give people that kind of hope. I believe that we can trust God for the right people if that is our desire. Some people, it's just not. And that's OK. And there's nothing wrong with you. But some people who want to have someone in their life, we've got to let it be God. Yeah, it's got to be God for sure.

8:58 Yes. Especially when you're in ministry. Like I have like for me personally. I was on all the dating apps and hired the matchmakers on the whole thing. And it just, it was, it was kind of funny. There's stories. I was kind of wishing I had a log on each particular date. It would have been a funny book, but it's gotta be God. Number one. And you know, it's, you have to be healed as well, you know, because sometimes former relationships, especially if you've been in an abusive. marriage or relationship can cause damage to the soul. Absolutely. It's very important.

9:40 Anybody that's listening that you heal your, make sure you get therapy, let the word of God. I know Deborah, one of her cornerstone scriptures is Proverbs four. The word of God will heal you, restore you, make sure you get healed. Otherwise you're going to attract. the same kind of guy that abused you hurt you was mean to you because you think that's normal back in my book a love like that i talk about that in two of the chapters you know when broken wings fly uh that's one of the chapters and you know you you just gotta get healed and it's gotta be god because what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul like for me personally i just want god i want to do his will I want to fulfill my destiny and my calling. And the devil knows that. Yes. He'll send people to try to derail us and to get us off track. I'm not afraid to love again. I believe that God has someone for me, but it's just being, making sure it's God, making sure you're healed. And then number three, being surrounded by the right people. Yes. Yeah.

10:51 I have a lot of really good friends. So I'm going to tell you something funny and I'm going to tell you something I've never said publicly. Okay. Like two years in and being single and the whole nine yards and I was getting frustrated and the whole thing. And I'm sitting here with a group of my friends. We were having like some kind of Bible study that I was leading. And they were all best friends. We were all sitting here in my son room and I don't know what, I just stood up. And I said, if God doesn't send me a husband, I'm going to go find him myself. You know, cause it's all about timing. Sure. In my timing, I wanted it now, but God knew I needed healing. I needed restoration. He knew that.

11:43 We've launched so many things in the last five years. We have a podcast. We have our prayer calls. I've been speaking. We're getting ready to do some things with CTN, Christian Television Network, beginning in June. If I had a guy in this season, I wouldn't have had the time for him to devote to marriage. But there will come a time. Because doesn't the Bible say, I am a restorer. God is going to restore everything that the locust and the canker worm has eaten. He is going to restore it. And if it's a desire of your heart, my heart, those that are listening, God's going to bring the guy. But let the Lord bring the guy. Don't be going out there. And I'll tell you something a friend said to me.

12:26 And I didn't really realize it because sometimes we're pretty and we don't really realize how pretty we are and attractive we can be because we're just. us sometimes we're maybe critical of ourselves at times and we don't really realize the power that beauty can have and my a friend of mine said to me your biggest challenge is going to be um your your beauty as a woman wow in dating and i didn't realize what she said because i was married for so long i wasn't in the dating world right and i realized the guys aren't reading they're not reading your profile they're looking at your pictures your picture yes very shallow thing yes it became very um concerning to me and uncomfortable and they were more interested in the outward and not the real us which is the bible calls it the hidden man of the heart which in the sight of god is more precious than all of this that we have on the outside So it's really, I don't know. I think there's a balance, Debra, you know, just letting God bring the guy, but also putting yourself out there. Yeah. Everyone just has to be led by the spirit, you know, and just follow the leading of God and also just be practical. Yes.

13:47 Yes. Oh my gosh. That was just such a word right there. And it reminded me of a couple of things. First of all, if somebody contacts you, social media, in person, whatever, and says, God told me, you're going to be my husband. You're going to be my wife. Red flag, red flag, red flag. That's a weird guy. Yes. That's a weird person. Yes. You know what? I saw this happen several years ago. There was a conference and people came even from different countries. And a man who had come from another country sat in close proximity to a single lady. And she over the three days, she started telling people around her. That's my husband. It got back to him. Two days later, they went on a date. Several months later, she traveled to the country he was from to see him. And they got engaged. How quick?

14:59 Months. Second meeting, second time they had been physically together. And then after that, they were married. Once they were married, you don't see him on social media. He had a business page. You don't see that. It's all, it was a giant chokehold. And I have, and what happened was these seeds got planted in his mind because she's going around telling everyone that's going to be my husband and she's an attractive lady. And he's probably thinking, wow, we, you know, I just hit the lottery because you're right. Men are very visually motivated. Yep. And, and there you have it. They've like fallen off the face of the earth. And so I think it's very dangerous when you have seeds like that planted in you or when somebody I've received voice messages like that before from someone on Facebook I've never met. And they'll write me and say, you know, God told me this. And I'm thinking, well, that's funny because God hasn't told me anything about you. And so I think we have to be very careful. Yeah. And if we haven't heard it, then I think. that needs to just go by the wayside but i also want to say that you are so right on what you were saying about getting healed because i had a lot of anger in me from what i went through because i feel like i had really given some of the best years of my life buddy and i had a lot of anger and um i i did get help

16:33 i went to a friend of mine who's a christian counselor of 30 years i was not too proud to go knocking on her door And this is what I was told from a Christian counselor. They said, it's actually a sign of strength when you come looking for help. Weak people will just keep it buried and keep going through and perpetuate the cycle of abuse. And I remember, you know, I went like two times and then I said, God, show me, show me my issue. Why am I so angry? And I'd had a problem with my mom in childhood, just rejection. So the first man that came along and had two donuts and said, here, do you want one? I jumped because I was looking for someone to fill that void and give me some attention. And if I hadn't figured that out, and if God hadn't have revealed that to me, I guarantee you, I would have gone through a string more guys with different names, different truck color. but all the same abusive, narcissistic type of relationships. So what you said about getting healed, absolutely paramount.

17:45 If there's any of that in your heart that you're still from your last relationship, you got to get it out. Yeah, and he heals the brokenhearted and binds up the wounds. And that's where prayer comes in and intimacy with Jesus. I'm hearing a scripture right now. I don't know who this is for, but there's a scripture that says, He will wipe all the tears from your eyes. Good. So you've cried a truckload of tears, whoever you are. And God said, I'm here. I'm close to you. Just yield to me. I'm not like that man that hurt you. Yes. This patient, kind. I don't boil over with jealousy because that person, that man was a very jealous person. That's not God. So it's renewing your mind to the fact that men. are not like God. Men that were mean to you are not like the God who loves you. Yes.

18:41 Understanding that. And yeah, I just see him wiping all the tears from your eyes and he's held all those tears that you've cried in a bottle and he knows all about it. He just wants you, whoever you are to come on to me. He, Jesus said, amen. All you that labor and are heavy laden. You're so heavy. You're just burnt. You're like the woman. you know, that was bowed down and in no wise could lift herself up. You're just heavy laden. Jesus wants you to come to him. He's going to heal you. He's going to restore you. He's going to put you back together. And when he puts you back together, it's you are going to be better than you were before. When God restored Job, the word of God says in Job 42, he gave Job twice. as much as he had before.

19:34 Yes. So I just, that was a word for somebody. Amen. Amen. And whoever you are, receive that word, receive it instead of, I got to have a man. I got to have a woman. I got to have, I got to have, you got to have Jesus. You got to have him first and then everything else will fall into line. Margie has some amazing resources. She has written 10 books. I'm going to put her website in the comment section once the podcast is over. But Margie, if there's anything you want to tell our listeners about today, I just want to give you the platform to do that. And then I'm going to ask you to pray. I'm going to ask you to pray. I know you're very prophetic.

20:21 However you feel led, I'm just going to ask you to minister to the audience. Okay. With respect to the resources that we have, the one I was thinking about, my most recent book is Contend, Stewarding the Hearts and Destinies of Our Children Through Prayer. And in this particular book, I go into all the scriptures. regarding God's promises for our children, that they be saved, that they be everything God's called them to be, that there's war over the hearts and destinies of our children and how to take authority over the enemy, how to pray for them, what scriptures to pray. I have in the book testimonies of many men and women that have prayed for their children and how they prayed, which is important because we want to pray correctly. And the results of their prayers. So contend is my most recent book.

21:15 I get into the benefit and the purpose of praying in tongues. Good. Because when you don't know how to pray for something or someone, you pray in the Holy Ghost. And when you pray in the Holy Ghost, you're praying out the plan and the purpose and the mind of God for that particular situation. I have encountered God through prayer. And that prayer. takes the reader from what we talked about earlier, begin with 15 minutes. And I bring the reader all the way into praying contemplative prayer. So I teach people how to pray from right from the very get go. And that's a very good resource. If you're new to prayer, you don't know how to pray. You have a desire to pray, but don't know how. Then we have other books.

22:01 I have Mark for intercession. which is the prayer, how to pray for another person, how to pray for a city or region, how to pray for the unsaved, the person who's saved, but they have weights. And then I have focus, eliminating distractions for enhanced spiritual vision. Some of the weights and the things that keep us distracted. So needed. Right? For example, distracted at the noise of the enemy. That's warfare. If you don't know it now, know this. Not all your thoughts are your thoughts. Say that again, Margie. Say that again. Not all your thoughts are your thoughts.

22:45 Yeah. There's warfare that comes at your mind. There's accusations that come at your mind. All kinds of things that come into your mind. It's not all your thoughts are your thoughts. So I talk about the different distractions, the lesser road. The list just goes on and on. But we do have a lot of books. And you could go to my website at margieflaurent .org. Okay. Do you want to lead us in a time of prayer? Sure, I would love to. All right. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Jesus. So Father, I thank you for this time. Yes, God. Thank you for your presence. I just sense that the Spirit of God is manifesting himself with a tangible presence on many of you. And he just wants to bring to you the healing that you need.

23:38 And the Spirit of the Lord is here. And he's here to heal the brokenhearted and bind up the wounds. And the greatest... thing that God could do is manifest his love right where you are, because it's the love of God that brings the healing. So Father, we just thank you for your love. We thank you for your presence. And Father, those that are listening, I just pray that there would be a release of your love, the tangible love of God upon their lives and wherever they are as they're listening. In the name of Jesus. Yes. Father, I also pray that you would grant unto our listeners a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of who you are, in the knowledge of your heart, in the knowledge of what your heart looks like. So I pray that you'd open up their eyes, that they may see the reality of who you are in your heart. And therefore, it'll cause them to draw close to you and not be afraid of drawing close to you. Yes. We thank you. We praise you, Jesus. Praise you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Jesus. We worship you. We praise you. We thank you, Jesus. Worship you, Jesus.

25:00 Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank you. Amen. Amen. I just feel as you were praying that there's somebody who knows they are playing with fire. But out of loneliness, you allow it to continue. We've all been there. We have all been tempted to fill the void. But I just heard these words that if you play with fire, you get burned. And instead, allow the fire of the Holy Spirit to burn that desire out of you for just trying to put a placeholder in. Allow the fire of the Holy Spirit to burn that out of you and heal you so that he can bring someone that's on fire for God. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Yeah. Oh, hallelujah.

26:07 He wants to bring you someone who's not dangerous fire. He wants to bring you someone who's on fire for God. Then you burn together in the right way. Amen. Amen. Amen. A lot of times the enemy will bring a counterfeit before the real comes. Yes. Yes. Amen. That's why it's very important to be spirit led. Listen to your heart. Your heart will not. guide you the wrong way. Your heart will guide you the right way. Just be quiet. Yes. Yes. Amen. Anything else, Margie? I think we're good. I think we're good. I encourage the listeners to develop intimacy with their creator.

26:52 Amen. He wants, you know, he wants you to come to him. I second that. I second that. That is the number one. Walking with God is fun. It seriously is. It's fulfilling and fun and adventurous. And it's just, it's everything. I love something Keith Moore says. And he says, prayer will give you previews. When you spend time in prayer. You get previews that you wouldn't get about you, about your situation, about your children. I want to get that book about praying for your children. That sounds amazing. About which job to take. Listen, don't just take any job. Don't just buy any house. Prayer will give you previews for the next step, any step of your life. Amen.

27:48 Archie, I can't thank you enough. Thank you so much. Thanks for having me, Deborah. thank you for your wisdom thank you for bringing your anointing and your ministry to this program today god bless you and god bless you all for watching us thank you so much have a blessed day god bless 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 margiefloran .org