Is There a Watchman Pt. 2

0:00 I am so excited about this. I want to welcome you to the Purpose Project podcast. During our time together, I will teach you how to pray, how to intentionally develop intimacy with your Creator, and challenge you to discover and embrace your God-ordained purposes. I am your host, Margie Flarrant. My prayer for you today is that you will be empowered and strengthened in the Word of God to move forward into your destiny. They need our prayer support. Let me explain something to you. This is how it works.

0:40 Has anybody ever in here ever taught the Bible in a Bible study or in a church or in a woman's meeting? A man or a woman? Yep, right. A male meeting. You know, have you ever had people praying for you when you're preaching? Have you ever had people not praying for you when you're preaching? I know the difference because I do this all the time. Praying for me, praying for you that your faith fail not.

1:21 Praying for you, praying for me. Why? That the Word of the Lord may have free course and that we would be delivered from unreasonable men. Praying for me, praying for you. Why? That no weapon formed against you will prosper. That God would open up a door that no man can shut. And I'm telling you, it's like Aaron and her. You got prayer people praying for you and all you've got to do is just ride on through the Word of the Lord as free course. It's really fun. People like you. They don't hate you.

2:02 They look at you like you're perfect and you're beautiful and you have favor with them. You don't sense the warfare. It's just so much easier. I'm telling you, I'm just being honest with you. It's just fun. Aaron and her holding up their hands of Moses because that's what prayer is. Prayer is a supportive ministry. It undergirds the person and lifts them up to a level in God because we are in a war and the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. And instead of me having to do all the warring and you having to do all the warring in a meeting like this, they do the warring for us.

2:49 And you know, Aaron and her, as long as they held up the arms of Moses, how many of you know what happened? See, you know. You guys know. You know what happened. The miracles still flowed, signs and wonders flowed. Moses was weary and well-doing. Now Aaron and her came and held up the arms because they realized he needed support, so to speak, in the natural. But I look at that like prayer support. I've been in places and you know, I have a prayer team and I've had times I could tell they were praying. You can feel it.

3:34 And I'll be, the beauty of cell phones is, send, help me. I need help. Guys, help me. And I think they start to pray. And the anointing starts to flow. I begin to grow and I begin to flow and I begin to be everything. Things are born. Things that I never even thought of, I say and I operate in. And what is that? It's not just me. It's not just you being good receivers. I am telling you the truth. It's the power of prayer.

4:16 Prayer goes into the realm of the spirit and it produces results. Satan is the God of this world, the prince of the power of the air. And prayer puts the enemy to flight. Prayer opens up the door for God to work. Catherine Coleman once said, the greatest power given to man is the power of prayer. Why did you say all that? I said all that to say this. Our children need our prayer support.

5:05 I pray that you may be able to stand there for in faith. Not being moved by what you see. Not being moved by what they say. Not being moved by their behaviors. Being that man and that woman, that parent who prays for them and I pray for you that your faith fail not parents. Because sometimes we look at what we see. Sometimes we listen to what they're saying and we get off course. We lose vision.

5:46 You have to have vision in prayer. Without a vision, the people perish. You have a vision in your heart for your children. And that vision has been given to you by God. Don't let anybody steal that vision. You keep praying and you pray that vision through. You give birth to the vision that you have on the inside of you on the behalf of your children. Let no man steal what God has put in your hearts. And though the vision tarry, wait for it. Listen, it's going to speak. Let the kids go through what they're going through.

6:26 I'm not saying go through bad, but let them take their journey and let them walk knowing that they have your prayer support. But they will eventually end up into the purpose and the plan and the thing that God had for them in the first place. Especially with your prayer support. Mothers, fathers, I'm going to have something to say to you. Listen to this. Yep, yep, yep, though this shall I bring you to the birth and shut up the womb? Listen, when those babies were coming, there was no stopping the birth of those twins. There was just no stopping. They tried everything.

7:08 I'm going to tell you something. There's going to be a performance of those things that have been prophesied over this generation. But God is calling you to a greater commitment of prayer for your family. And I'm not just talking to the ladies. Is there a watchman in the house? Men, dads, you're the watchman. I know, I know, I get it, we all make mistakes.

7:50 And I also get it that we can't get discouraged by our lack of prayer and some of the fruit that it's resulted in. We've just got to begin where we are and say, you know what, I'm going to gird up the loins of my mind. I'm going to be sober. I'm going to be vigilant. The adversary has gone about as a roaring lion. I am going to take my stand today and I am going to change things through my faith and through my prayers. And today is a new day. It's the dawn of a new day. And I am going to begin where I am today in praying for my family.

8:33 Can I just be honest with you? Your child, though he's been or she's been wayward, can be just like a saw. On that wrong road, persecuting the church, on the wrong road, I have enough faith in your prayers and the love that you have for your children. That when you pray for your children, they will have an encounter with Jesus Christ. You have to have faith in prayer. That's why you can't be moved. You can't be moved. You've just got to set your focus on what Jesus said.

9:15 And what did he say? We're going to read these scriptures. He said in Proverbs 22.6, train up a child in the way that he should go. And when he is old, he won't depart from it. I think one of the greatest acts for any parent is when you send your kids to college. Especially kids that have been raised in church their whole lives. Because I'm going to tell you. I can tell you because I have three in college. Three in preschool. Oh my God. Three driving with their permits.

9:56 I had two with their permits at once. It's bad enough with one. And then my son had his permit about eight months before the girls. But that ain't easy. Is anybody here out here? And then three in college. Yeah, when they go to college, I'm telling you. I'm going to tell you straight up. We have sheltered our children as Christian parents who have been raising kids in the church. They go to college. They wake up call. And you get wake up calls in the middle of the night.

10:37 You know my message isn't going the way I planned. Are you okay with this? I just got to follow the Holy Ghost. A man plans his ways. Studies to show himself approved on the God. But it's really ultimately the Lord that directs our steps. And you know when you're traveling ministry you've got to just follow the Holy Ghost. Because you have an amazing teacher right here in front of you. I mean my daughter called me one night. She said, Mom. She said it's just sad. I go, what do you mean? And I could tell. Yeti was trying to get her.

11:19 What do you mean? See, let me just share with you. Is there a watchman in the house? You could sense it when oppression is coming on your children. I said, what do you mean? She goes, all everybody does is drink. And for her, I don't think it was the drinking and the partying and the craziness that she saw. I think it was she felt bad for them. Because she could see that they were lost. Alienated from God. And needed Jesus to be their Lord and Savior. And needed to find real purpose.

12:05 So train up a child in the way that he should go. And when he's, oh he will not depart. You planted seeds in your children. Some people just need to come along and water them. Sometimes you just take, you don't do it in the spirit through prayer. You don't take your hands off of them in prayer and in the spirit. You sound with the spirit when you pray. You are absent from them in the flesh. But you are present with them in the spirit. But there comes a time, I think sometimes as parents, we do need to kind of go, let somebody else speak into their lives. We had a youth conference this weekend and it was just a perfect opportunity for another mom to come along and speak into the lives of our children.

12:55 I've had other Godmothers that have spoken into the lives of my children. The right Godmothers, the right voices. And for that I am grateful. So we plant some plants some water but God will give the increase. Acts 1631. Believe on the Lord Jesus and you will be saved. This is your promise. And what else? And your households. Don't give up on your children. I don't care if they're on the streets and they're homeless. Don't give up on your children. The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man, a righteous parent avails much.

13:45 Isaiah 54-13. All of your children. I've got a good, you know, I think I've got the black sheep of the family. You know, don't ever say that about any of your children. There's no black sheep, no white sheep, no good kid, no bad kid. Every child has different strengths. All of your children. She'll be taught of the Lord. And great will be the peace and amplified, says an undisturbed composure of your children. And you know what? I think some things are going to surprise us about our kids. I recently had a dream about one of my girls.

14:25 And I was really surprised about the contents of the dream and what it meant. Do you know that God has some surprises for you? God has some surprises for your children. And he doesn't tell us everything about our children. I wish he would because if he, you know, I think the reason why he doesn't is because his parents, we might try to control everything. You know, and our children need to bloom where they're planted. They need to be allowed to grow and to flourish without our being controlling. Now we could pray in the spirit and we could stand in them, but we just got to let them grow and flow. And I had this dream about her. And in the dream, she was 21 and she had a toddler.

15:05 It's symbolic. And I came in the kitchen with her and was surprised and she was feeding the baby hamburgers. And I just realized that I'm a grandmother to this baby, long and short of it. And the meaning of the dream was, and I had somebody interpreted who knows more about interpretation than I do. And he just said to me, you are going to be surprised at what's going to happen with your daughter. And instead of her, you know, helping you with your ministry, you're going to be helping her with her ministry.

15:46 And she is going to supersede you. Isn't that what we want for our children? What does the Bible say? The Bible says that God said, I am able to do exceedingly, abundantly above all. You could ask hope, dream or desire. That's the kind of God we serve. All of your children shall be taught of the Lord and great will be the peace and undisturbed composure of your children. So let's close with this. How do we pray? How did the watchmen pray for their children? How do we pray as parents?

16:27 Number one, we pray with the scriptures. We are armed and dangerous as parents because we know a lot of word. So what do we do with the knowledge that we have? We stir up the knowledge that we have. You're born in church because God wants you to use what you have. Am I just preaching to the choir? You start stirring up and using what you have, and specifically on the behalf of your children, you start using the scriptures that you have learned through the years and turn it around and use it as a sword of the spirit in the realm of prayer for your children. Your prayers will avail much.

17:09 Take their need. Listen to the word. Agree with God's word on their behalf and that's what you pray out of your mouth. And Isaiah 5511 says, the word of God will not return void. It will produce in their lives. It will speak to them. It will release the ministry of the Holy Spirit and his ministry is to convince them of their need for Jesus. It will cause them to arise. It will cause them to shine. It will cause them to come out of the depression and out of the fear and out of all the things that they're experiencing. And it will help lift them to another plane in the realm of the spirit.

17:51 It will cause them to be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. When we pray those Ephesian prayers for our children, that God would strengthen them with might by his spirit and their inner man. When they walk into adverse circumstances like drugs and parties in the world, they're going to walk in with the strength of God. They're going to walk in with the wisdom of God. They're going to walk in with the maturity of God. They're going to know how to answer any man, any woman who tries to convince them that they should do some kind of thing that is against their conscience. They will be bold and they will be strong.

18:31 The Bible says the righteous are as bold as a lion. When you pray and you undergird them, you keep them free from the snare of the phalar and from the noise and pestilence. God covers them with his wings. Are you listening? That's a good scripture to pray for our kids. Psalms 91. Pray that psalm of protection over your children. A thousand father will fall at their side and ten thousand at the other side, but it will not come near them. And believe it, walk by faith. You say it, you are not moved, you are standing. And having done all to stand, you are standing there for and you are not going to quit.

19:15 You are not going to faint if you don't see visible results. You are going to be as bold as a lion. You are going to press into the presence of God, go boldly to the throne of grace on their behalf, and you're going to pray for them. And the angels of God will be released because your ministering spirit sent forth to minister to the heirs of salvation. It is going to cause grace where sin abounds. Grace does so much more abound. It will turn their mourning into dancing. It will protect them. Prayer opens up the door for God to work. Man is God's avenue into the earth. Glory be to God.

19:55 When my kids first started driving, I could guarantee you one thing. I was praying that psalm a lot. You see, there's different seasons to pray for different prayers for your children. This book is being birthed today. I never thought of half of this. You realize that the anointing that is in me abides in me and that he's teaching you and he's teaching me? You get that? Thank you. You saw something I didn't see.

20:36 Do you see why we are fitly joined together and that which every joint supplies and we need each other? Not one person has it all. That's why we all work together. What is the vision? The main vision is to build the kingdom. But there are different seasons to pray for different things over your children. Ask God. If you ask God for wisdom, James said, if you lack wisdom on how to pray, he will give it to you liberally. Ask God for wisdom on how to pray for your kids. God knows we've been asking for wisdom for everything else.

21:17 Now, how do I handle this situation? Here, God help me. I didn't know what to do with my five-year-old kept having night terrors. I just knew the power of the name of Jesus. I just knew the authority of the name of Jesus. I just knew that whatever I bind on earth is bound in heaven. I just knew that no weapon formed against her will prosper. I just knew that great is the sleep and the undisturbed composure of my children. He gives my daughter because he's her beloved sleep. But you know what? She doesn't have night terrors anymore. She has different needs. So there's different seasons to pray for different things for your children.

22:00 Don't get stuck in a rot praying that same prayer over and over when God is wanting to do a new thing in your young child or in your youth or in your grandchild. And he wants it to spring forth, but it's not going to spring forth unless somebody prays. Somebody once said some famous revivalist, forget who you probably know, but it seems like God is limited by our prayers. Yeah. There's different seasons to pray for different things for your kids.

22:42 Whoo! Take the need to the word. Don't pray the problem over and over and over and over again. You're praying yourself into a rut. Pray the answer. The word of God. I'm going to read a scripture. I promise I'm going to close in about five minutes, but you seem good. You don't seem like you're tired. We just quoted it, but I'm going to quote this in the message. It's the one that we just said, if any of you lack wisdom.

23:23 Don't you love the Holy Ghost? Let him ask of God, but let him ask in faith with no doubting. For he who doubts is like the wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose he will receive anything from the Lord. He is double-minded, unstable in all his ways. So the message says, and I like this, ask boldly, believing without a second thought. I'm not giving up. People who worry their prayers are like wind-whipped waves. Don't think you're going to get anything from the Master that way. You ever prayed a worry prayer?

24:04 How many of you have ever prayed a worry prayer? We've all done it. Because we're parents. We can't help it. Worry, worry, worry, worry, worry prayers, fear prayers. We pray in faith. We're praying the Word of God. This is the weapon of our warfare. It is not carnal or worry-minded. It is mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. You think about Jesus when he came against the enemy during that temptation. What did he do? He said it is written. It is written. He used the Word of God. So pray the Scriptures.

24:44 How do we pray? In the Spirit. Tongues. Pray in the Spirit. Tongues. Pray in the Spirit. Tongues. It's the same thing interchangeable. When we don't know what to pray and God knows his parents, we don't. What do we do? We pray in the Spirit. We pray in the Holy Ghost. When you pray in the Spirit, you know the Scripture according to what? The will of God. Romans 8, 26 through 28. What about the Bible? What does it say in another verse of Scripture?

25:25 This is the confidence. Confidence. Confidence as a parent. That if we ask anything according to his what? His will, we know that we know, that we know, that we know, that he hears us. And if we know he hears us, we know that we know, that we know that we have the petitions we desire of him. So that means when you pray in the Spirit, you're praying the Word of God and it is producing results in your children's lives. And I don't understand. The Bible said that you wouldn't quit trying to figure it all out.

26:08 Trust the language of heaven to do the work for you. When you pray for your children, I want to encourage you. Convict the gifts of the Spirit. For to one is given by the Spirit the Word of Wisdom, to another the Word of Knowledge, to another discerning of spirits. There's nine gifts of the Spirit, but specifically pray for the Revelation gifts. It didn't say to the minister is given the Word of Wisdom, to the prophet is given the Word of Knowledge, to the evangelist is given discerning of spirits.

26:48 No, it's said in the Bible because that Scripture in Corinthians was written to the whole church. And it says in that Scripture, for to one is given by the Spirit the Word of Wisdom, to another the Word of Knowledge, to another discerning of spirits. Written to the whole church, so for to one parent, to another parent as a parent, covet the gifts of the Spirit to be in operation as watchmen in your house. And God will give you a Word of Knowledge about your child. How will it come? How does it come?

27:29 It can, yep, I just heard him say, and it'll help you to go to war on their behalf. Because the, I just heard him say that, because these gifts are not carnal. They're mighty through God, and it helps you go to war on their behalf. It reveals the secret things, things that we can't see that are going on. Strategies of the enemy, because when you're a watchman in your own house, a watchman stands on the walls of a city, or a nation, or in our case today, our own homes, and we peer into the distance, and we see trouble coming from afar. And all throughout the Old Testament, God warned people by the Word of Knowledge, or the Word of Wisdom.

28:10 He showed people things to come. We ought to be having those gifts in operation in our homes. And the enemy is afraid of us finding out about it. I get it. We're not to think more highly of ourselves when we ought to, but let me tell you something. It's time to arise. It's time to say these gifts are for me as a parent. It's time for you to say, I can operate in these things. Now for myself, we don't want this stuff for ourselves. It's for the future of our children's destiny. It's to keep their hearts safe. So let's cut at the gifts of the Spirit.

28:50 How do they come? It can come in a dream. It can come in a mini vision. I don't know how to explain those. You look on the inside and you see something. You can't explain how you see it. It can come by a Scripture, or a half a Scripture. I've been praying for my kids before and got like a half a Scripture. I wrote it down and then I went and got a concordance. Nowadays you got BibleGateway.com. How easy can it possibly be, church? We've got everything we need. It can come by an inner witness.

29:33 You just know that you know that you know. You know how you know that you know that you're born again? You just know that you know that you know something's not right. It's like a red flag. It's like a red light. Something's not right. It's an inner witness. That's the witness of the Holy Spirit. He's wanting to show you something to come on the behalf of your child. Or maybe right then and there. They're right in that situation. You get an inner witness or you awaken in the middle of the night. You feel or you sense on the inside sorrow, pain, sadness. Or you wake up in the middle of the night and you have six kids. But that one child is on your heart and you're thinking about them and thinking about them and can't get them out of your mind.

30:18 What is that? That is the Holy Spirit. That's the Holy Ghost. Everyone say the Holy Ghost. That's the Holy Ghost. It's the Holy Ghost. Contending for the hearts and the future of our children. A book was born today. Wisdom is going to increase concerning what we need to do for our kids. And I'm going to say this as we close. I don't want anybody in here discouraged.

31:02 Look at me. I want no discouraged parents. Many of us have done the best we can with the knowledge that we have. You get discouraged, you get defeated and then what? You'll dig yourself in a hole and then you won't be any good for your kids. So stop it. Don't be doing that. It's ridiculous. Don't be doing that. But let's begin where we are. Jesus is the author and the finisher of their faith. And having done all the stand, we are going to stand.

31:42 And we're going to stand together. Why don't we stand? We're going to contend for the hearts and the destiny of our children. Satan's after their hearts. Gird up the loins of your mind. Be sober. Be vigilant. All you have to see what I did the other day in front of my kid. Really?

32:23 Welcome to the club. Of the imperfect parent that you know what? They know when you love them. They know your love. And what does the Bible say? Perfect love drives out fear. The law of love covers a multitude of sins. My kid's definitely one. Mommy, you're a minister? And you said that? Like, yeah. And then I got all their friends watching me. It's ridiculous.

33:04 Yeah, I'll sit at the kitchen table with them. I'll have eight kids at the table and I'm just sitting there watching, talking, and they're all, you know. They see, let me tell you something. Can I be honest? You know what I realize? I don't know who we were talking about it with. Maybe a friend of mine. Kids like it when you're not perfect and you're a Christian. This is their reality show. And this is the real deal. Why do you think these kids like all this reality stuff? Because they're looking for something that's real. We start to put on that religious facade and they don't like that. We are not perfect.

33:45 We have this treasure. Where? In earthen vessels. Some of the greatest things we could say to our children is, I'm sorry, I screwed up. And they're cool with that. Amen. So let's just wait on the Lord for a minute. Let's just lift our hands for just a moment.