🎙️ Prayer and Purpose Podcast | CTN Episode 4

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. Welcome to our broadcast, Prayer and Purpose, and I'm your host, Margie Florent. Today we're gonna be talking about the foundations of prayer. But before I dive into my teaching, I just want to take a moment to remind each and every one of you that it's very important to have a balance of both devotional time in the word of God and prayer in the presence of God.

0:45 The Bible says whoever builds his life, builds his house on a good foundation, which is hearing the word of God and doing the word of God, that when the storms come and the winds come and beat against your house, Your house won't fall. Why? Because you've built your life. You've built your home. You've built your ministry. You've built even your purpose. on the word of God. And therefore, when storms come or discouragement comes, you have a foundation, which is the word of God. You know the scriptures and therefore your house won't fall. So it's good. And it's it's important to have your devotional time, your study in the word of God. But it's also important to have a balance of a prayer life.

1:31 It's very important. We've said this before. I'll say it again. What's more important on a bird? the left wing or the right wing. You need both to fly. Let me put it like this. We need both to fly. So it's just very important that you maintain a balance. And you'll also find in your walk with God that there'll be times when you'll need to study more. And so follow after the Holy Spirit because there may be something he wants to teach you and guide you into concerning the scriptures. And then maybe at times you need to pray more because there's some things coming up the road ahead that he wants you to give birth to. Some things coming up the road ahead regarding your family or your children that he wants you to pray into. So it's very important also, yes, to have a balance, but also to remember. to be led by the spirit of God. The Bible says those that are led by the spirit of God are the sons of God. And the Holy Spirit is here to lead us, to guide us into truth, to lead us and guide us on the best path for our life. And so it's important to listen to his voice. So while we may say it's important to have a balance, you will find that there may be times when you need to study the scriptures more and your prayer life isn't as much or. You may find that you're praying a lot more and you're meditating on scripture, but your prayer life has more preeminence. Okay.

3:02 So we're talking about the foundations of prayer. And I'm very excited about sharing this with you today. Leroy Brownlow once said, let us not neglect prayer just because we do not fully comprehend the infinite power of the God at whose throne we kneel. He said, I do not know everything about gravity, but I know it works. So let's talk about what we do know about the foundations of prayer. OK, number one, the four simple foundations of prayer. Number one, number one, you have to ask.

3:46 I'll just stay with me. You have to ask, ask, seek, request and inquire is mentioned 100 times in the Bible. Ask is mentioned 33 times. When God says something one time, he means it. When God says something 33 times, you better believe he is trying to get your attention. John Wesley once said, it seems like God is limited by our prayer life, that he can do nothing for humanity unless someone asks him. Now, why? Why is that, Margie? Why? Why is that the case? That God seems to be limited by our prayer life and that he could do nothing for humanity unless someone asked him. I'm going to give you the number one thing. Number one, because God is not running everything in this world. He, my friends, does not have everything under control. Now, when I'm speaking in a church or in a women's event or a conference, and I say those two sentences, very often I could feel people in the congregation or in the audience somewhat put the brakes on or their spiritual antennas go up or they question, what? I've always thought that God has everything

5:18 under control. I always thought that, you know, que sera, sera, whatever will be, will be. But my friends, I'm going to prove to you in the scripture that God does not have everything under control. And that's why you and I as believers have to take our place in prayer, have to take our authority in prayer, have to use the name of Jesus, have to speak the word of God. And when we do, this kind of praying opens up the door for God to work. The Bible says in James 4, 2, we have not. Because we ask not. So let's dive into why we need to ask. Prayer is necessary because man, after the death, burial, and resurrection, man is God's avenue into the earth or into the world. Therefore, it is necessary that we ask.

6:15 Let's go into Genesis chapter 1. Right from the beginning, Genesis 1, 26 and 27 says, God said, let us make man in our own image according to our likeness and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God, he created them male and female. Okay. And he said, he blessed them and he said, be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion. over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, over every creeping thing that moves upon the earth. So God said to Adam and Eve, he said, I am giving you dominion.

7:15 That's a key word. That word dominion is R -A -D -A in the Hebrew. And it means to tread, to rule, to rule, to have dominion. And it means to dominate. The English definition means to rule or to have authority. So God created Adam and Eve in his own image, in his own likeness. And he put Adam and Eve in the garden and he said, I am now giving you dominion. I'm giving you the authority. I want you to tread. I want you to have dominion. I want you to dominate. He gave the dominion over to Adam and Eve. But this is what happened. But let's just say this first before I tell you what happened. He didn't say. I'm going to dominate you. Adam originally had dominion upon this earth and in the world.

8:08 In a sense, he was the God of this world. You can also look into Psalms 8, 6. But Satan came and this is what happened. He lied to Satan. Adam committed high treason. And what he did is he sold out to Satan. He turned this world. He turned the earth. over to Satan because he committed high treason and because of his disobedience, because he did not honor and listen to the voice of the Lord, his God. Now, before we go any further, we're going to go ahead and we're going to take a break here and I will see you shortly. 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 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.

9:16 It's not in 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. So let's continue with our teaching. We said that in Genesis one, that God gave dominion to Adam over all the works of his hands. He didn't say, I'm going to dominate you. No, he said to Adam, I'm giving you dominion. And what we find in the scripture is that Adam turned the dominion over to Satan who was already roaming about. Okay. So he turned them. world over to satan he lied to him and he did what some would call high treason and sold out to satan now can you prove that to me in the scriptures margie can you prove it i'm going to prove it to you through the bible luke 4 6 and the devil said to jesus all this authority i will give to you and all the glory listen to

10:48 this for this has been delivered to me And I give it to whomever I wish. Now, this was a real temptation. This is when Jesus was up in the wilderness. He was led by the spirit up into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. So this was a real temptation. And Satan literally said it had been delivered to him. And he said, I can give it to whoever I wish. But what he wanted was. He wanted Jesus to bow down and worship him. But Jesus didn't do that. Here's another scripture. Second Corinthians four, three and four says, but if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose mind the God of this world or the God of this age has blinded, who do not believe. lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on to them. So here's another scripture that says that Satan is the God of this world. That's the beauty.

11:57 We're going to get into this, but I have to just say it right now because I'm so excited. That's the beauty of being in Christ, in him, in whom we have redemption. We now have the authority. We now have the dominion in Christ Jesus to come against the works of the darkness and take authority over him. And through our God -given authority, we can change things. And we said that before in our other episode. Prayer opens up the door for God to work. Prayer changes things. And you can change things by taking your place, taking your authority in the place of prayer. But let's keep... establishing this so we get it in our hearts and in our minds. You know, the Bible says that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. So I'm going to give you a lot of scriptures today. Here's another scripture.

12:49 First John 5, 19 says, for we know that we are of God and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one. Okay. But like I said, We now have been given the authority by Jesus. What was lost in Adam was restored in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. Actually, the Bible says in Revelations, behold, I was dead, but now I am alive forevermore. And I have the keys of hell, death and the grave. The keys were symbols of authority. And the beauty of it is in Matthew 28, 18, Jesus said to his disciples and we are his disciples. Right. He said to his disciples, all authority has been given to me in heaven and in earth. Now, I want you to go there for.

13:46 And then he talks about in my name, you'll cast out devils in my name. You lay hands on the sick in my name. He talks about the authority that's in his name. And when we use his name, he backs up his name. He is there to perform the power that is behind his name. So the dominion and the authority has been restored back to the church. And I wanted to bring this scripture in because this is one of my favorite. First Corinthians two eights has. But we declare God's wisdom and mystery that had been hidden and that God destined for our glory before the time began. None of this, none of the rulers of this age knew or understood it. In other words, the devil didn't understand the plan of redemption. The devil didn't understand what God was going to do through Jesus's death, burial and resurrection. The devil didn't understand that Jesus was coming to the earth as the second Adam and what was. lost in Adam was going to be restored in Jesus, the dominion and the authority that was lost in Adam. Jesus came to the earth as the intercessor, and he was the one that brought back that dominion and gave it, gave the keys, gave the dominion back to the church. So here's the scripture. It's one of my favorite. It says none of this, none of the rulers of this age understood it. For if they had, listen to this, they never would

15:19 have crucified the Lord of glory. Because the enemy just played right into the plan of redemption. And if they had known the power and the purpose and what was in store for this earth. through the plan of redemption, they would have never crucified the Lord of glory. When Jesus was on that cross, I can guarantee all the devils and all the demons and all the workers of darkness in the spirit realm, they were happy, they were cheering, they thought they had him, but they did not understand. that the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead, he was going to quicken the more Jesus and he was going to bring him back out of that grave and that Jesus would be raised by the glory of the father. They did not understand that what was lost in Adam was going to be restored. And at the birth of the church age, when the time had fully come at the birth of the church age, suddenly all. these little christ -like ones were born again they were baptized in the holy spirit they received to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the wicked one. They were little Christ like ones in the earth that were released because when they accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and savior, they became one with him and Christ in them. The hope of glory was

16:50 now present in the earth. And now they had to deal with the church, the body of Christ rising up and taking her place. I love that. Don't you? Ian Bounds once said, if prayer puts God to work on the earth, then by the same token, prayerlessness rules God out of the world's affairs and prevents him from working. Now, before we get into the scriptures that talk about asking, I just want to say this. You, my friends, have power. You have the authority. And I don't want to hear you say that you don't know enough Bible, that you don't know enough of the word of God. You know more Bible than any generation that's ever walked the face of this earth. You have to, first of all, understand that the name of Jesus has all power and all authority on this earth. And in one of our broadcasts, we will teach on it.

17:51 And you also have to understand that prayer, your prayers. Your prayers open up the door for God to work. Okay. So when we come back, I'm going to talk to you about all the scriptures that talk about how you have to ask. 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.

18:33 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?

19:14 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. Okay, so you have to ask. I'm going to give you a lot of scriptures. And like we said, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. It's not case at all, set all. You've got to take your place.

19:56 You've got to take your authority. You have to ask because man is God's avenue into the earth. Okay, Matthew 6, 8 says, therefore, do not be like them for your father knows. The things you have need of before you what? Ask him. Matthew 7, 11 says, if you then being evil or natural know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your father who is in heaven give good things to those that what? Ask him. Matthew 18, 19 says. Again, I say to you that if two of you will agree on earth as touching anything, they shall what? Ask. It shall be done for them by my father, which is in heaven. That's the power of agreement. And I love having a prayer partner that when I'm feeling a little bit weak, I could go to my prayer partner. We can agree together as touching anything and it shall be done by and for us by my father, which is in heaven. John 14, 13 says, and whenever you ask, Jesus said in my name that I will do that the father may be glorified in the son. John 15, 16, you did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should remain. And whatever you ask the father in my name, he may give it

21:30 to you. John 16, 23 says, and in that day, you will ask me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the father in my name, he will give it you. James 4, 2. And you're going to hear me quote this scripture a lot. You have not because you ask not. You want things to change? You have to ask. You want, you know, circumstances to be different? You have to ask. Psalms 2 .8 says, ask for the heathen. Ask of me and I will give you the nations or the heathen, another translation says, for your inheritance and the ends of the earth for your possession. Matthew 7, 7 and 8 says, ask and it will be given. Seek and you will find. Ruth Bell Graham once said, God has decreed to ask to act in response to prayer. Ask, he commands us, and Satan trembles for fear that we will. See, the enemy doesn't want you to pray. The enemy doesn't want you to ask. The enemy doesn't want you to take your place. But remember this, greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. Don't allow the enemy to drive you off your knees and keep you from praying. You take your place. in prayer because my God said that we have the authority and whatever we ask and whatever we bind on earth

23:01 is bound in heaven. Now, before we close today, I want to tell you a story about a man by the name of John Ramirez. I don't know if any of you ever heard of John Ramirez, but John was a Satanist high priest at one of the highest levels. And he got born again in 1999 and he was discipled. under the ministry of david wilkerson which leads me to believe he was trained right okay and in his new season of his life his ministry now is to expose the work of darkness in other words His mission is now exposing how the kingdom of darkness works, which helps me because I do a lot of teaching on prayer. And I want to understand how does prayer open up the door for God to work?

23:50 How does using our authority work? What does it look like? So somebody like John Ramirez, he told us about the secrets of the kingdom of darkness. Here's the thing about John Ramirez. He said himself before he got born again, his father was the devil. He said he would chant all night and into the morning in what he called demonic tongues. He said he would leave his body and put curses over cities, over regions, over states, and over countries. Okay, so he was a pretty powerful guy in the realm of the darkness. So he would leave his body. Here's the point I want to make before we close. John would leave his body, go into a neighborhood. in the spirit realm in order to weaken it in the natural realm.

24:40 So he was operating in witchcraft. Think about it. He would leave his body. He would, I guess, astral plane or whatever you call it, over neighborhoods in the spirit realm. And his mission was to weaken it first in the spirit realm, and then it would manifest in the earthly realm. Real briefly here, that's how your prayers work on the good side. When you pray, you're affecting the spirit realm. You're going into the spirit realm and you're affecting the spirit realm. And eventually it will manifest in the natural realm. But it works the same way in the kingdom of darkness. If you want to change something in the natural, go to the spirit. And that's what John said. He would go into the neighborhood in the spirit realm in order to weaken it in the natural realm. He would speak word curses over a neighborhood.

25:40 Now listen to this. If he saw people praying, he said, and I'm quoting him, there was no accomplishment in that neighborhood. Think about it. He said that neighborhood was blessed. And sanctified through prayer. And you couldn't touch it. He said other neighborhoods. He said it was party time. And he also said I hated the prayers of the church people. So I just want to encourage you. Rise up. Take your place in prayer. You have not because you ask not. Begin to ask God.

26:20 And the Bible says whatever you ask according to the scriptures. He hears you. And if you know he hears you, you know that you have the petitions you desire of him. Now, before we go, I have it in my heart today to pray for you. Okay? And these are the two things I'm going to pray for, for you. Number one, the Lord said to pray for you that you would be anointed with fresh oil according to Psalms 92 .10. And he said, number two, pray and ask for the listeners. ask that they would have a revelation of my heart and a revelation of the scriptures when they read my word. And so that's what I'm going to do today.

27:03 I'm going to go ahead and I'm going to pray for you. Now, listen, there's no time and no distance in the spirit. Though we're absent in the natural, we're present in the spirit. So when I pray, I want you to lift up your hands wherever you are, and I want you to receive. the prayer that I am praying over you. So Father, I just come before the throne of grace on the behalf of my listeners. Lord, I lay one hand on you and one hand on them. And Father, I ask that you, Lord God, would anoint my listeners with fresh oil. And not only that, Father, I ask that the eyes of their understanding would be enlightened.

27:47 that they would come to know and understand the secrets of your heart, who you are, what your love is, and what your purpose and your plan is for them and for their lives. And we give you, Jesus, all the praise, all the honor, and all the glory. And we thank you. Now, there it is. There's the presence of God. Just receive his presence. Thank you, Father, for anointing my listeners with fresh oil. Thank you for the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit coming upon them. I thank you for that. And I praise you for it in Jesus' name. 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 margiefleuron .org.