Mother's Day Service at Agape Worship Center Part 1

0:00 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. Praise God. You may be seated. I just want to thank you for having me. It's an honor, and we know that Pat is now one of the great cloud of witnesses Hebrew speaks of who is watching us run the race that is set before us.

0:42 Amen? And she's cheering us on. As a matter of fact, when I was sitting there, I saw her passing the baton to many of you. Her wisdom, her revelation, the knowledge, and the love, and the mentoring, which is all encompassing those things. So that baton has been passed, and we're thankful for that. Because spiritual things are transferable, and when you sit under someone's ministry and you're close to them, what's in them is imparted onto you. And I love that about her. She was such a woman of God, she imparted her heart, her strength, her wisdom.

1:25 And we need more women like Pat in this day and in this hour. And I believe that many of those women are here right now. Amen? So before we get into the Word of God, I just would like to say I do have books in the back. And this is my most recent book, Contend Stewarding the Hearts and Destinies of Our Children Through Prayer. And it's in my, for me personally, it's almost like my legacy. And we'll talk about this as we get into the Word. But anything and everything that I know about prayer is in this book. But it's specifically for our children.

2:07 Praying for our children, how to pray for our children. The promises of God concerning our children. And I also have almost a hundred scriptures in the very back of the book of all the promises of God for your children. So I really tried to make this book complete for you, full for you, because we're lacking in the area of prayer. My people are perishing for a lack of knowledge. And I believe that's one of the reasons why the Holy Spirit spoke to your pastor about having me come and share this with you. But we also, at a certain point before we went to publish it, I got an idea from a gentleman who does editing and writes books himself.

2:54 He said, why don't you put a little outline at the end of each chapter so that people can use the book as a Bible study. So it's more like interactive. So I said to him, I said, I'm done. Anybody that's ever written a book, it takes a long time. And I listen, I'm done. You do it, you work with my team, and I'm good with whatever you put at the end of the book. So we did that. So I just want to encourage you. Who's the prayer leader in the church here? The prayer leader. Do you have a prayer specific? Jojo. Where's Jojo? Steven, can you bring this to Jojo, please?

3:35 So I just want to give this gift to you, honey. God bless you. You look beautiful in your Mother's Day outfit. Amen. So I'm going to be talking today about the power of a praying parent. And as I enter into this message, we're going to highlight some things that may be a little, you know, oh my God, not unpleasant, but the reality of what's happening in the world. But just rest assured that we're going to end up on a good, happy place because we know that the Bible says, where there's sin, it abounds.

4:19 The grace of God does so much more abound. And I believe we're living in the last days. And I believe that God has a plan for the rising generations. As a matter of fact, even in the book, I speak about the millennials who are the over 30 crowd and then the Gen Zs, which are underneath that age group. He has a plan for these rising generations. But my friends, you and I as grandparents, as parents, as aunts, as uncles, as mentors, we have got to take our place. Amen. How many of you agree with that? Okay. By way of introduction, I just want to read something I wrote at 4 o'clock in the morning.

5:01 As I am looking at this season we are in, there is a huge need for us women to find our voice and stand for our nations and the children of our nations. Each generation must stand their ground and find the courage and fortitude to speak up and stop the forces of evil who would still kill, steal, kill, and destroy. We never thought we would come to this place, but here we are. Some states and nations are further down the road. We must ask ourselves the important question, if not us, then who?

5:42 If not now, then when? We can effect change by using our voices, and we can effect change by going to prayer and contending for the hearts and destinies of our children. This call is not just for women, but for men to rise and be the voice of change and release your authority in the place of prayer. There is a call to action. How many of you followed me on Facebook last year when we did a prayer for the rising generations, a call for action? We're going to start that back up again this year.

6:23 Although my personal page has reached its limit, you can follow me on my ministry page, and we will post the prayers there, okay? Where we all pray together for the rising generations. There is a call to action with an urgency for both mothers and fathers, grandparents, and so on and so forth to arise. Be the voice of change through mentoring. Be a house of prayer that will push back the forces of darkness that seek to kill, steal, and destroy the rising generations. The kids are glued to their phones. Media, social media, and our schools have an agenda to guide them to the dark side, but we can arise like Deborah and be Christ in the midst of this agenda.

7:12 The Bible says the gates of hell will not prevail against the church. How many of you know you're the church? How many of you know that we know more than any other generation, pastor, that has ever walked the face of this earth? Are you listening? The Bible says the gates of hell will not prevail against the church, but the gates are shaking. There is war at the gates. It was too early in the morning to find that scripture, but there is war at the gates. Remember that greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world, and through our voice, through our stand in faith and prayer, we can push back the agenda of the enemy and win this war.

8:00 We're praying to win. We're not defeated. We're not drawing back. We're praying to win because we know who we are in Christ, and we are not ignorant of Satan's devices. Amen? So be the voice of change. When I was getting ready this morning, I kept hearing that in my spirit. How many of you know nowadays some of you moms, it takes a little longer to get ready in the morning between the hair and the makeup, the whole nine yards, is it going to fit, the whole thing? But the whole time I was getting ready this morning, I kept hearing in my spirit, be the voice of change. Number two, respond to the call to pray. Lastly, parents, grandparents, you know who you are.

8:43 Be strong, the Lord said, and very courageous because we must take back the land the enemy has stolen. And I was reminded of Joshua 1, when God called Joshua to go forth and to pick up the mantle of Moses, God told Joshua three times to be strong and very courageous. Because you know why, pastor? Because God knew that Joshua needed to hear that because he knew that the path that was up the road ahead was not going to be an easy path. But he said to Joshua, listen, don't turn to the left. Don't turn to the right. You keep your focus on Jesus.

9:25 It wasn't Jesus and Joshua, but you know what I'm saying? Jesus, the author and the finisher of what I desire to do in these rising generations. But as mentors, as mothers, as fathers, as grandmothers, wherever your sphere of influence is, we have to be strong and very courageous. There is war at the gates. That's why we've got to take our stand. Amen? Amen. Now, before we get into my teaching, one of the things needed in the heart of a praying parent or person is vision. First of all, I'm going to cast vision regarding what God has in store for your children. Now, Psalms 127, verse three through four says, behold, children are a heritage from the Lord.

10:12 The fruit of the womb is a reward. These children are our reward. They're a heritage from the Lord. They've been given us from the heart of God. And the Bible says they're like arrows in the hand of the warrior. So are the children of one's youth. So our children are our reward. Amen? Now, let me just quickly give you my personal testimony. So when I was 34 years old, we, my husband at the time, decided we were ready to have children. And so therefore, we began the process, and nothing was working. We were a year into that.

10:53 And finally, I ended up in a doctor's office, Dr. Cooper. And he was kind of popular back in the day with helping women get pregnant and conceive. I ended up in his office, and he did a few procedures, and they didn't work. So what happened is we ended up having and talking about and then having to take the road to what is called now IVF, or in vitro fertilization. Now, for me personally, I came from Kenneth E. Hagen School. I was raised in faith, taught to believe God, taught to use my confession, taught to just in general use my faith. But nothing was working, so to speak.

11:36 So I was coming home from one of the appointments with Dr. Cooper, and I was pulling into my driveway, and I was really upset, because I'm like, well, you said that I would be the happy mother of children. You said none will lose their young by miscarriage nor be barren in the land. I've been standing on your word. The winds are coming. The storms are coming. They're beating against my face, and I don't understand why this isn't working. And when I was pulling into my driveway, I took the right-hand turn, clicked the garage door open. The garage door went up, and I heard audibly on the inside of me, and I wrote it down. You will have twins in your first pregnancy and a single ten in your second.

12:21 In your first pregnancy, you will get pregnant through in vitro fertilization, and in your second pregnancy, you will get pregnant on your own. It's a mouthful. And I was like, what? To make a long story short, we went in for the procedure, and anybody in here that knows anything about fertility treatments understands it doesn't always work the first time. But what happened with me was we went in for the in vitro fertilization. We implanted the eggs, and two embryos took, and I ended up with twins in utero. Just exactly what he said.

13:03 And so therefore, I was happy. I was excited. I was like, Lord, you fulfilled your promise. See, sometimes when you are believing God for something, he works. You know there's an old saying, God works in mysterious ways, his wonders to perform. That could be kind of an unbelief thing to say. But in general, you don't always know how your faith is working. Your faith is activated. So don't put God in a box and just say, that's the only way God can work is through my faith. Sometimes I think we miss the promises of God because we put God in a box. Whereas in my case, he used Dr. Cooper. So I was happy. I was so excited.

13:43 But then about, I would say, what was it, Marcia? Twenty-eight weeks into the pregnancy, I began to have preterm labor. So they put me on bed rest. And long story short, on the day of my baby shower, I went into labor. I was 30 weeks, three days, ready or not, those babies wanted to come. So they rushed me to the emergency room. And the doctors, they gave you steroids so that the lungs can expand and open. It's all about the lungs and the breathing. And it wasn't working.

14:23 And so therefore, I ended up in the OR. And they went in to do an emergency C-section. And what happened is when they took Jonathan out, he came out crying and screaming and loud. Amen. Okay. Now, when they went to get Danielle, she kept crawling up my ribs. How many of you pregnant moms know what I'm talking about? You know, those babies, man, when they're in your, you just, you feel them moving, they're kicking, you know, the whole thing. She crawled up into my ribs and I could feel her doing that. And she didn't want to come out. So the doctor went in and finally got her out.

15:07 But when they got her out, she wasn't crying. And that's disturbing to a mom, right? Moms, the baby wasn't crying. You want to hear the baby cry. And so I was, they were all rushed and they were all concerned. And that was the place where God taught me, you are not only a mother to your children in the natural, you are a mother to your children in the spirit. And there is war over these, the destinies of these two children. They've come from my heart. All the promises of God are yes and amen. They're called, they're anointed, and they're chosen to live in a time such as this.

15:50 And right at the gate, here comes the enemy to try to sniff them out. And so therefore in the, in the old war, I immediately realized I am called to fight for these children. And most of all, I really had to fight for Danielle. You know, they were in the incubator and I put scriptures on, so on and so forth. Now, you know, at this point, they're perfectly fine. Thank you, Jesus. And Danielle's pursuing ministry, and she's pursuing her masters, and they have, and she's married to a man in the ministry. So anyway, this is the funny story. And I think you moms will appreciate this. You know, seven months after they were born, the twins, so they're premature.

16:32 So they're like tiny. They let me bring them home at four pounds, five pounds. They were tiny. I'm talking, how many know that's tiny? Itty bitty. You know, it's about the size of my puppy when I brought my puppy home. Right? Just tiny. And about seven, seven months after they were born, the twins, tiny, tiny, tiny, there was something going on in here. How many, you know, moms know sometimes we could do denial really well. Especially when it comes to pregnancies. So there was something going on in here. And I feel this movement. And then I just was like, you know, one night I just I felt the movement and I pulled the cover down and I saw the little, you know, the finger hitting the in the belly and the little little bump that comes out as a result.

17:24 And I said, I'm not pregnant. It's impossible. But how many know that with God all things are possible, even though there was not a lot of activity going on in the house. It was that one time my best friend came over and helped watch the babies. Can we just say yes? You understand what I'm talking about? So I go to Dr. Cooper and I bring the twins because I wanted him to see the babies. And when I walked in with him with the babies, I had Allison with me at the time. I said, Dr. Cooper, just do me a favor. I've been craving orange juice, which I strongly dislike.

18:06 And I just don't really feel good. And could you just do like a really quick pregnancy test? So they came out, they gave me the pregnancy test. It comes up, bang, bright blue. It's a cross. He looks at me and he goes, you're pregnant. I go, stop joking with me. I'm not pregnant. No, come on, because he was a jokester. So then it was the whole thing. Get ready for the ultrasound. Now everybody's scrambling. We go into the ultrasound. I have these two little babies that are about eight pounds, 10 pounds at the most. And I look on the screen and as God is my witness.

18:47 See, with the twins, you didn't know if it was a boy or girl because you watched them grow from like the size of the end of my nail. And you watched them grow into these human beings. As God is my witness, we did the ultrasound and she was a girl. She had arms. She had legs. She was sucking her thumb. I was more than halfway there. And within the same year of 1992, Jacqueline was born. And the Lord, I said to the Lord, what was that all about?

19:28 He gives you like part of the story, but he doesn't tell you the whole story. And I remember calling a friend of mine who had triplets. And, you know, you know how it is. I just child proof the whole house. I let them write their trikes in the house. I just you had to do something if you've got three toddlers. Don't judge me. And it was winter, right? They were born like this was all happening at once. So I call my friend with the triplets and I said, just tell me the truth. Because her kids were older than mine. I go, does it get any easier? She didn't answer me. I know I was in trouble. But that's my story.

20:08 So here's the thing. My children are millennials. Your children, some of them are the Z generation. I want to read you a few statistics. In November 11, 2016, I saw a Time magazine, 2016. I'm just going to give you something just for you to think about. Just in case some of you don't know. In this article, the article title was literally, the kids are not all right. The subtitle was, American teens are anxious, depressed, and overwhelmed. And experts are struggling over how to help them. Adolescents today have a reputation for being more fragile, less resilient, and more overwhelmed than their parents were when they were growing up.

20:57 I can testify of that. And I'll tell you why. Because I had three kids in one year, and all their friends were always at my house. So I always had a house filled with kids. We had the pool parties, the pizza parties, and a lot of these kids, they still today are close to me. Seriously. And they call me godmother. So I saw it all, and I've seen it all. Now some of you are godparents, not of children born in your own womb, but children that were not born of your womb, but you are called to steward their hearts and their destinies through prayer.

21:38 And so it says here, adolescents today have a reputation for being more fragile, less resilient, and more overwhelmed than their parents. I've seen it, and it's a fact. Sometimes they are called coddled or helicoptered. Why young people are suffering? Anxiety and depression has been on the rise since 2012 after several years of stability. But I've got good news. These kids, the kids that are rising in the land today, they are what I would call the Joshua generation. The word Joshua, the meaning of Joshua, Yeshua, is deliverance.

22:20 The book of Joshua shows us God's faithfulness to his covenant. How many of you know God will be faithful in your families? We sang it today. How many of you love that song called The Blessing? The blessing is true. It's on our children and our grandchildren. I believe these rising generations are the, I believe, I call them the Joshua generation, that God is going to reveal his faithfulness and his covenant to our families and bring them into the land he promised he would bring them into. Okay? So let's talk about, first of all, the call on this generation.

23:00 Are you ready? 1 Peter 2, 9 says, you are a chosen generation. Remember, we're painting a vision. You are a chosen generation. These young people, these generations that are in the earth, these young people that have all this going on, they have a call in their lives and they are chosen. You know what? I'm going to say it. Yes, they are special. And the world and the devil has picked up on their destiny, and the enemy sees it, and he is afraid. He's more worried about what our young people are going to become rather than who they are.

23:43 Right after the Twin Towers came down, I was invited to speak at a women's conference, the Church of Grace and Peace. Remember Walter Healy? So, you know, when the Twin Towers came down, you know the feeling that was in the air. How many of you moms and dads remember that feeling? We were all afraid. As a matter of fact, my kids said to me, Mommy, I thought you said nothing like this would ever happen in our nation. And I was like, Mommy was wrong. Because who would have ever thought? And the genius behind the terrorists, the genius and the preparation. Thank God we as the Church, we have our own set of wisdom and revelation, and the eyes of our understanding is being enlightened, and we have the gifts of the Spirit so that there is nothing hidden that will not be revealed because we've wised up after 9-11.

24:35 But after the Twin Towers came down, I had to speak at a conference. And it was a women's conference of all things. And you could feel the atmosphere. You know, we were worried. Can we just be honest? We were fearful. We were taken by surprise. And as a mother, as a parent, as a grandparent, what's the first thing on your mind? It's not about us. Is it ever about us? Can I be honest? Sometimes you've got to draw the line, you know what I mean. But it's about the kids. What about our children? What about our grandchildren? Lord, what's going to happen?

25:15 This invasion has changed the course of our nation. And now we are afraid for our children. And I just was like, God, really, I've got to go into this conference, into this meeting. I have to be the speaker. I have to be the encourager. I'm the one with the three kids at home. Right? And the Lord spoke to me. This is the first time he ever spoke to me. And I really, it was a foundation for the time and the season that I'm in right now. Think about it. See, your ministry has times and seasons. I believe I've entered into another season, but it began in 2011.

25:56 I believe that for me and for many of you, we're at the height and the pinnacle of what we're called to be and called to do. That's why it's not a time for you to grow weary. It's not a time for you to draw back. It's not a time for you to retire. It's a time for you to refire. Oh, but I'm old. I'm in aid. I'm this. I'm that. No, no, no, no, no. God has need of you in this hour. You're the mothers. You're the fathers. You're the grandparents. You hold the key in your hands. It's time. We've got to keep doing. I can't, I can't retire.

26:36 It's not a time to retire, my friends. And so I went into this meeting and I'm just like, Lord, what do I tell them? And I heard on the inside of me, you know, God doesn't speak audibly all the time. Do you know when he speaks audibly? I learned this from Kennedy Hagan, when there's rough road ahead, when he says, I want you to stay on the promise because it's yes and amen, but there's usually rough road ahead. He wants to hold us steady by his spoken word. So I heard audibly on the inside, you tell these mothers that those who I call, I equip.

27:19 He said, before I ever formed them in their mother's womb, I knew them and I have put within them everything they need to survive and prevail in the times such as this. And I was speaking in a women's conference with Yolanda Stiff, and a lot of this is in my book. I'm just giving you highlights. And, you know, the Lord was directing me and developing the mantle and the mandate to call us all to prayer for the rising generations. And all of a sudden I was teaching and I went into a seer anointing and I started to see, you know, the Holy Ghost will just come upon you randomly without you, you know what I mean?

28:07 You could ever do that. You're just minding your own business. And all of a sudden you start operating in the gifts of the Spirit. I love that, don't you? So I was teaching, all of a sudden I started operating in a seer anointing and I saw the rising generations, the millennials, the Zs, and I saw a great sea of them. And they were all running the race and they were all on a path. And then the Lord said, there's never been a day like this day whereby there are so many wonderful ministry gifts on the inside of these Zs and on the inside of these millennials and the devil sees it and he is afraid.

28:50 He said, they are marked by me. They are chosen by me. My mantle is upon them. I've graced them with the gifts of the Spirit and there's war over this destiny. But let me just say this because this isn't my message. These kids don't know how to pray. So we've got to enter in and we've got to not only teach them and train them by precept and example, but we've got to go in and we've got to be, some of us got to be like the Aaron's and the Hers as parents and hold up their arms so that that which is within them can come forth and be born.

29:35 Thank you so much for tuning into 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 margiefleuron.org.