🎙️ New Episode: CTN Prayer & Purpose – Episode Two 🎙️

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. Welcome to our broadcast, Prayer and Purpose. I'm your host, Margie Florent. Before we get into more of our teaching regarding the necessity of prayer in the life of the believer, I first want to do a quick review. So just so you have a little more of an understanding of who I am and how I operate in my gifting. I am a teacher, but I'm also a prophetic teacher.

0:43 So there's going to be times where I teach a lot and there's times we're going to be very prophetic. And I have a mixture of both, depending on how far we get in today's broadcast. But before we get into the next segment of our teaching, I want to first do a quick review, which is the teacher in me. We talked about Jesus being our model as a man of prayer. Hence the scripture, Lord. Teach us to pray. Jesus in his earthly ministry was a man of prayer. Now, this is what's on my heart. Many, many, many people that I speak to want to pray, want to be men and women of prayer, but they just don't know how. And that's the purpose of why we do what we do. We're going to teach you how to pray. And the beauty of this broadcast is, is we have a lot of time ahead of us. We have a lifetime ahead of us. I think there are so many things we could teach you regarding prayer. It would take months, if even years.

1:43 So let's get back to Jesus. He was a man of prayer and he wants to teach us how to pray. Prayer is the believer's lifeline. I see also a lot of times in the body of Christ and with people that I talk to, they have a very good devotional life in the word of God. They read the scriptures, they read devotionals, but they're lacking in their prayer life. And therefore they're not experiencing the intimacy with God that they desire to have in their lives and in their Christian walk. Let's use the bird analogy. Okay, what's more important on a bird, the left wing or the right wing? It takes both to fly, correct? So what's more important in the Christian walk?

2:33 Your word life and your devotional life and your study in the word of God or your prayer life? My friends, you need both to fly. You need a balance of both. Catherine Coleman once said, the greatest power God has given to man is the power of prayer. And one time I said to God, Lord, I just want more of you. I want more of you. And that was my prayer before the throne room of grace. And one day the Lord said to me, Margie, you don't need more of me. I need more of you. And I was reminded this morning when I was preparing of a scripture. Matthew 22, 36 says. Teacher, what is the greatest commandment in the law? Jesus replied, you shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, and with all of your mind. So he says you're to love the Lord your God, first of all, with all of your heart. Let's talk about the heart. This is the core of a person's being, encompassing emotions, desires, and will. This speaks to me. of wholehearted devotion, which includes affections and intentions. So we said you're to love the Lord your God with all of your heart. But he also said with all of your soul, soul is the life force or essence of a person committing yourself to him entirely. Again,

4:05 that's that reckless devotion to Jesus Christ. So but let me just say this about your soul. We're not going to talk about it today, but your soul does need to be renewed. After you're born again, the Bible speaks of in Romans 12, 1 and 2, the renewing of your soul. But we can still give our souls to God and consecrate ourselves to God. And he will come in and he will heal the brokenhearted. He will heal your souls. He will renew your mind, especially when you read the scriptures and you find out. how much your heavenly father loves you. So he said, with all of your heart, with all of your soul and with all of your mind, the mind represents intellect and understanding. So that speaks to me of engaging your thoughts and reasoning in pursuit of him.

4:59 I teach on the subject of continual prayer, how to keep your mind continually stayed on him. And again, we'll talk about that another time. But that's harnessing your mind. That's keeping your mind stayed on Jesus. Again, that speaks to me of devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ. And then he said, with all of your heart, with all of your soul, with all of your mind, with all of your strength. Strength includes physical capabilities. and resources. So he wants more of us. He says, I want you to love me radically with all of your heart, all of your soul, all of your mind and all of our strength. And prayer will produce that. We also talked about how prayer changes things. The very first thing that prayer changes is you. The Bible says, but we all with unveiled face. Beholding in the mirror, the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the spirit of God. So when you pray in the realm of the spirit, you are looking at him. And you become what you behold. And when you behold him and you spend time in his presence, you are being changed into the same image from glory to glory to glory. And at first you don't see the changes that are taking place. It seems like nothing's

6:31 happening. But rest assured, my friends, that when you pray, when you spend time in the presence of God, something is happening. You are being transformed. You are being changed. There is an exchange taking place. You are creating intimacy with your heavenly father. So Oral Roberts once said, in prayer, we learn to change. Prayer is one of the most changing experiences we will ever know. Okay, what else does prayer do? changes the world. We talked about 2 Chronicles 7, 12 through 16. I'm just going to quote a few parts of it. When I shut up the heaven and there is no rain or command the locusts to devour the land or send pestilence among my people, he said, if my people, and this call is to all, not just the few intercessors that are in the church.

7:25 This call is to every single one of us who are children of God, who are born again and who are sitting in churches. He said, if my people, which are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways. He said, I will hear from heaven and I will forgive their sin and I will heal their land. So prayer changes your world. E .M. Bounds once said, God shapes the world through prayer. The more prayer there is in the world, the better the world will be. Well, I just don't understand how my prayers can open up the door for God to work. Well, your prayers can. open up the door for God to work. The Bible says in James 4, 2, we have not because we ask not. If we don't ask, we don't take our place in our authority. If we don't exercise our faith in prayer, we are not going to see the changes that we desire to see in our world. So God said in this scripture, now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive. onto the prayers that are made in this place. So we're going to go ahead and we're going to take a little break and we'll see you in a little bit. Early in 2025, I had a dream that I'd like to share with you. I dreamed I was a guest speaker in a church. During the

8:55 preaching, I had a vision of a great ship. I saw the ship going straight and it was moving fast and furious ahead on the water. Then I saw the ship suddenly turning to the right. I said to the people, the ship is turning, but we must continue to pray into it. It's not a time to stop praying. I could see that the ship was turning and the church was at the helm of the ship, causing the ship to turn. Upon awakening, God gave me an assignment, and the assignment was, and still is, to mobilize prayer. We are praying together on our KIU prayer conference call. I would love it if you could join us. If you'd like more information, go to my website at margithlaurant .org, or the number is on the screen. I look forward to praying with you. Now let's go back to the broadcast.

9:55 Let's continue our teaching. Other reasons why prayer is necessary. Prayer produces intimacy with the one you pray to, with the one you pray for, and with the one you pray with. Let's address first the one you pray to. Who would that be? the father or the lord jesus christ whatever season you're in in your life sometimes you need to sit before the father and you need the father's love or the father's hug whatever you need from the father or sometimes you need to have intimacy with Jesus and you want to focus in on him. Let's just talk about the one you pray to, the Lord Jesus. Our example was the Apostle Paul. And he said, my determined purpose is that I may know him, that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted. with him perceiving and understanding the wonders of his person more strongly and clearly. He was determined that he was going to come to know Jesus on a deep and personal way. And in the day that we live in, so many are struggling with wanting to know your purpose. Well, my friends, your purpose, number one, as we said before, is to love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul. And with all of your strength and all of your mind, your purpose is and should be to know Jesus, to become more deeply and intimately

11:26 acquainted with him. And you may say, well, Margie, I don't see Jesus. I don't feel Jesus. Well, my friends, that's where faith comes in. You know, blessed are those that believe and have never seen him. When you pray, just know that Jesus said. I will never leave you. I will never forsake you. I am with you always. So when you pray or when you walk about your everyday life, he's never left you. He's with you. He's there whether you see him or not. And therefore you're blessed. Okay. So the apostle Paul said, he said, my determined purpose is that I may know him.

12:11 Moses is another example. that we spoke of. He, the Bible says, had a relationship with God. The scripture says in Exodus 33, 11, face to face, and I love this, as a man would speak. to a friend that's how close he was with god but it wasn't like that the whole time when god first came to moses the bible says in exodus 3 that moses was afraid to look at god And one day I said to the Lord, what changed about his his posture before you? What changed? And the Lord said to me, he came to know me. He came to understand me. He came to understand my heart.

12:58 He came to understand my ways. He saw that I was a faithful God. He saw that I was an ever present help in the time of need. He saw the love that I had for my people and therefore his trust in God and his reliance on God and his. friendship with god developed over time and here we see in exodus 33 11 that moses had such a deep intimate relationship with god that it was face to face as a man would speak to a friend so the knowledge of god through word and experience produces intimacy in the place of prayer. I wanna share a really quick story with you. I had been seeking the face of God and seeking Him and seeking Him for many days and a couple of weeks, three weeks, four weeks. Every time I put the kids on the bus, I would go into my office. I would shut my door. And I said, Father, I'm going to seek you. Father, I want to know you. I want to understand your heart. And I would read my devotional. I would read the word of God. And I would study the scriptures. But I also went into prayer. Do you remember the analogy about the bird? You need both to fly. Prayer. and the word of god and so i'm just going to go into prayer and i'm going to spend time in your presence so i would pray the scriptures and then i would pray in tongues and we'll talk about that in another episode i would pray in tongues i would

14:28 worship and i would look at him with eyes of faith knowing that he is an ever -present help in the time of trouble knowing that he was there even though i didn't see him and one day I put my children on the bus and I went into my office where I always pray. The place that I set apart for my place of prayer, my place of devotion. I literally opened the door. And when I stepped my foot on the inside of the room, the power of God hit me and the presence of the Holy Spirit overpowered me. Very unexpected, to say the least.

15:11 came down on my knees. And right then and there, I had what I call an encounter with Jesus Christ. And the Lord spoke to me very clearly. And he said to me, he said, Margie, he said, I have watched over you and preserved you even unto this present hour. That's the only words I can remember. And then I took out my journal and I began to write all the other things that he was speaking to me in that moment. And during the visitation, I just was so. overwhelmed with the love of God and with what he was saying to me. But how long did it take for you to get to that place? Well, it was weeks, but I didn't care. No matter if I heard from God in that way, in that manifestation or not, I knew he was with me. But that was a secret moment with God. There was a precious moment with God, but it didn't happen. you know the first time i prayed and that's why i want to encourage you that prayer like we said goes from a sacrifice to a joy it goes from a desire to a discipline to a delight and eventually you'll it'll come to a place where you will have encounters where god will meet you in the secret place but this comes as we spend time in the presence of god the bible says those that seek me Find me. When you knock at the door, the door will be open. There's another

16:44 scripture that's coming to my mind as I shared with you. Men, Jesus said, ought to always pray. and not faint. Don't think you're not changing in the presence of God. Don't think he doesn't hear you when you pray. Don't think his eyes aren't open and his ears attentive unto your prayer. He hears the cry of the righteous. The Bible says, James 5, 16 says, the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. Prayer produces intimacy with the one you pray to. Let's talk about others who had intimacy with God or was called the friend of God, like Moses. Abraham, he's often referred to as a friend of God. And then we have David. You know the scripture, I'm sure, that David, the Bible says, he went down in history as a man after God's own heart. I want to ask you a question before we complete this segment. What would you like your legacy to be? I've often said, I don't want to stand, first of all, before a stranger when I leave this world and go up into heaven. I want to stand before a God who I already have some kind of intimacy with. Number two, I've often said, I want my legacy to be like Moses. That it wasn't the signs and the wonders and the miracles. But

18:17 it was that he was a prophet, but he was different. He was a prophet who knew God and had intimacy with God in a face to face relationship. OK, we're going to go ahead and take a break here and we'll see you in a few minutes. The Lord spoke to me one day. He said, Margie, many of my people desire to be intimate with me. They desire to spend time with me. They desire to have a vibrant prayer life, but they just don't know where to begin. They just don't know how to start. So I wrote this book with that in mind.

18:58 Encountering God through prayer. Simple strategies to develop a powerful prayer life. I take the reader from the very basics. Begin where you are. Begin with 15 minutes. Find a quiet place in your house. Go into a closet if you have to. Shut the door. Just begin where you are. And I teach the reader about the heart of the Father. Because if you don't know who God is, you're not going to understand his character and his nature, and you'll be afraid of him. So I go into the heart of the Father. Who is the Father?

19:39 What's his character? What's his nature? And then I take the reader all the way up into... what I call contemplative prayer. So if you would like a wonderful resource on how to begin your prayer life, I encourage you to get this book, Encountering God Through Prayer. Go to my website at margieflaurent .org. So prayer produces intimacy. With the one you pray to, with the one you pray for, we're going to focus and highlight. the one you pray for, specifically your enemies. Matthew 5, 44 says, but I say unto you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and what? And pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.

20:37 I love what Norman Vincent Peale once said. He said, when you pray for anyone, you tend to, modify your attitude towards them. Why does that happen? Because when you pray for someone who's been mean to you, who's spoken against you, who's persecuted you, when you begin to pray for them, you see them the way that God sees them. And how does God see our enemies? God is love. He is the very essence of love. And love is patient. Love is kind. And so when God looks at your enemies, he's kind towards them. He's merciful towards them. He gives them time to repent. It's not up to us to vindicate ourselves. So that's why the scripture commands us, love your enemies, bless those that curse you, and pray for them.

21:36 You may not be ready. And the spirit of God wanted me to say that right here, right now. You may not be ready to pray for your enemies because the pain goes so deep and you hurt really bad. If you're not ready to pray for your enemies, I would invite you to have a friend pray for your enemy. Have someone else pray for your enemy. And when you're ready. You, God will cause you to be able to stand up and stand in the gap on the behalf of that person. But it doesn't mean, you know, that you go back to abuse. It does not mean that you go back to that person that betrayed you. God's not asking you to do that.

22:18 What he wants us to do is in the realm of the spirit, bless them, not curse them. Okay. Bless them. Pray for them. Stand in the gap for them. Because God's heart and God's will is that they be restored. And then keep your boundaries up. And also remember this, my friends. Don't take it so personal. Okay? Don't take things so personal. Because hurting people hurt people. And, you know, the Bible says in Proverbs that... Out of the issues of life, out of the heart, flows the issues of life. And oftentimes, it's whatever's in them and whatever has them messed up is causing them to lash out at you the way that they're lashing out. Okay? And sometimes... It's not even them. They're being influenced by demonic activity. You know, the Bible says we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers and the rulers of the darkness of this world. And sometimes our enemies, without even knowing it, are beings inspired by the devil to hurt us, to get us off course, to get us in unforgiveness, to get us in a place where our prayers are no longer effective. The Bible says, I believe in Psalm 66, that if I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. So it's

23:50 very important that you pray for your enemies. It's very important that you understand that unforgiveness will rob you of your ability to get your prayers answered and to receive from God. I'm going to go ahead and read in Mark 11. Mark 11, I'm not going to read the whole entire verse. It's beginning at verse 22. Jesus is teaching them what we call the prayer of faith, how to get your own needs met. And then he says in verse 25, and when you stand praying, if you have ought against anyone, forgive them. And your father in heaven, when you do that, he will forgive you also. But if you do not forgive. Neither will your father in heaven forgive you your trespasses.

24:40 So it's very important that you pray for your enemies. It's very important that you let things go so that you can have that intimacy that we talked about with the father and with the Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 12 says here, Romans 12, 19 through 21 says. Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of men. If it is possible, as much as depends on you. See, you be the bigger person. You be the better person. You walk in love. You walk in forgiveness. You be that person that prays for your enemy.

25:20 If it is possible, as much as it depends on you, live peaceably with all men. Beloved, do not avenge yourselves. But rather give place to wrath for it is written, vengeance is mine. I will repay, says the Lord. Therefore, if your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him a drink. For in so doing, you will heap coals of fire on his head. And then the spirit says, do not overcome, be overcome by evil, overcome evil with good. So prayer produces intimacy with the one you pray to, the one you pray. Just so you know, I have a book. It's called Marked for Intercession. This is a whole book. specifically on the prayer of intercession, which is not praying for yourself. It's praying on the behalf of another person standing in the gap. In this book, I talk about how to pray for the unsaved, how to pray for someone who saved, how to pray for the leader, how to pray for the ministry leader, how to pray for your children. There's all kinds of chapters in this book that will help you. We also have a notebook that goes along with it, that Bible study that can be used as a Bible study for your church. But in chapter, I believe it's 14, I have a whole entire chapter devoted on praying for your enemies and the benefits of it. Lastly, prayer produces intimacy with the one you pray

26:51 with. The one you pray with. I want you just to think about that. And here we are thinking about prayer produces intimacy with the one I pray with. yes the one you pray with this is where i would encourage you to spend some time if you're a married couple to pray to praying with one another praying with one another holding hands and praying with one another colossians 2 2 says being knit together in love the presence of god is released when you pray together as a married couple which will keep your hearts soft in your attitude towards one another. And it'll keep you in a place of agreement. And it promotes communication and intimacy. So I just really want to encourage you, those of you that are married, to spend time praying together.

27:44 And lastly, prayer produces intimacy with the ones you pray with. It's very important that we all attend corporate united prayer in our local churches. Because when we all pray together, Prayer will bind us together and cause us to love one another and just be connected to one another with the same heart, same vision, same purpose. And Psalms 133 says that when people are together in unity, that's when God commands his blessings. Okay, so we're going to stop for now. Thank you for joining our broadcast. I look forward to seeing you the next time. Thank you so much for tuning in to today's podcast. It has been such a joy sharing this time with you.

28:30 For more inspiration and resources on today's topic, please visit our website at margiefloran .org.