🎙️ Prayer & Purpose Podcast | CTN Episode 5

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. We're going to continue our study on the four foundations of prayer. We left off with the first foundation. That is number one. We have to ask. You and I have to ask. We said that man is God's avenue into the earth. And I want to invite you to go back if you didn't hear that first episode. On that first foundation, I would invite you to go ahead and dive back into that episode and find out the things that we said about why it's important that we ask. Now, the second foundation of prayer is number two, that God hears you when you pray. Proverbs 15, 29 says, the Lord is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayers of the righteous. And I love this scripture. First John 5, 14 and 15 says, now this is the confidence.

1:20 I like that word confidence. This is the confidence that we have in him. That if we ask, there's that word ask again. If we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know he hears us. we know that we have the petitions we desire of him number one he said this is the confidence that we have if we ask anything according to his will now his will is found in the word of god so if you want to know what the will of god is go into the scripture find a scripture that meets your need or the need of a person you are praying for agree with the scripture and that's what you present before the throne room of god now the bible says If we ask anything according to his will, then we know when we pray according to his will and we ask, he hears us. See, God is not deaf. God hears you when you pray. And if we know he hears us, whatever we ask, then we know that we have the petitions we desire of him. I just want you to get that visual in your mind and in your heart. Number one, that his eyes are upon you. but his ears are also open onto your prayers. Have that visual within

2:51 you that God hears you when you pray. God is not deaf. God is not blind. He hears and he sees. And when you pray, he hears your prayers. John 11, 42, when Jesus was standing at the tomb of Lazarus, Lazarus was dead four days. He came to the tomb. Now, in this particular case, in this particular prayer, Jesus groaned in the spirit. He wept and he was troubled. That's another kind of prayer. We'll talk about that in another episode. But when he prayed according to the will of God in that prayer, Romans 8, 26 through 28, the Bible says he lifted up his eyes toward heaven and he said, Father. I thank you that you heard me and that you hear me always when I pray. So when you pray, your prayers go past your hands into the hands of Jesus. And if Jesus said, Father, I thank you that you hear me always when I pray. Then when you pray and they pass through the hands of Jesus, God hears him when he prays. God hears you when you pray. Okay.

4:09 So the only time that he won't hear you is if you regard iniquity in your heart, if you have unforgiveness in your heart, if you have ought against anybody. The Bible says in Psalm 66, 19 through 20, if I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear. But certainly God has heard me. He has attended to the voice of my prayer. Blessed be God who has not turned away my prayer nor his mercy from me. So it's very important that when you pray and you stand before the throne room of God, that you confess your sin. You make sure that there's nothing in you that's going to hinder your prayer life. I don't know about you, but it's not worth it. We have way too much to do for the kingdom of God. We have way too much going on in the world. We have way too many things that are happening in the lives of the rising generations. And they need you and I as mothers and fathers to stand in the gap for them, to put up the hedge so we should not have any ought against anybody because it will hinder our prayers. And my friends. It is not worth it. Eternity is at stake here. Okay.

5:27 So it's very important that when you pray, you know, you just take a look on the inside. The psalmist said, Lord created me a clean heart and renew a right spirit within me. So take a look on the inside. We don't want to have condemnation and we don't want to have guilt consciousness and the condemnation consciousness, but just look on the inside. If you have any odd against anybody, let. it go because it's not worth it so God hears you when you pray number three when you pray he answers you Jeremiah 33 3 says call upon me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things which you do not know so when you call upon him he will answer you have you ever called somebody you know, and you get their voicemail or back in the day, some of you will remember this. We used to get a busy signal.

6:26 Now we just get voicemail. Well, when you call upon God and you pray to him, he not only hears you, but the Bible says, I will answer you. You just have to be careful between the time you said your prayer and the time when the answer manifests, because there's always a gap in between. That's where faith comes in. And that's where you've got to hold fast the confession of your faith without wavering, which is our next point. But I'm going to say it right here and right now. That's why it's important that you understand that he answers you when you pray. Just don't allow doubt and worry and confusion to get in the way, you know, between the time you pray and the time your manifestation comes. Jesus said in Luke 18, 1, he said, men ought to always pray and not faint. Don't faint if you don't see visible results. Hold fast the confession of your faith. This is the confidence that you can have in him. If you ask anything according to his will, he hears you. And if you know he hears you, you know that he's answered you. You know that he has. the petitions you know that you he you know that he answers the petitions that you ask of him okay so god hears you when you pray and he answers you when you pray isaiah 41 17 says when the poor and needy need water

7:59 or when the poor and needy need water the lord said i will answer them i will not forsake them. So the Lord answers your prayers. Now, before we get into our last foundation, we're going to go ahead and take a break here and I'll see you when we get back. 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. 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 margithurant .org, or the number is on the screen. I look forward to praying with you. Now let's go back to the broadcast.

9:34 of a jingle and what sounded like digging that was my dog Milo yes he's here with us in the studio so for this session we decided to take his collar off so I just wanted you to be aware if you'd like to see a picture of Milo you could follow me on my instagram at margieflaurent .com and we have a lot of content there including my really cute dog who made a lot of noise in the last segment okay so we're going to go ahead and continue in our subject the foundations of prayer the last foundation is to stay in faith and oftentimes i see people submitting prayer requests and they are asking for prayer and the mindset is if we could just get hundred people to pray or a thousand people to pray or ten thousand people to pray then God will hear our prayers and it will bring the manifestation of that which we desire well yes prayer opens up the door for God to work and we have not because we ask not but it's also important to remember that when you pray it's important to release your faith Mark 11, 23 and 24 says, That's what faith is.

11:07 Faith is believing even though you don't see the physical manifestation. And we're going to get into it in our teaching, but I just want to say right here that faith... is a spiritual force. And faith comes from the heart of the human spirit and it goes into the realm of the spirit and it is a spiritual force. And your faith with your prayers can open up doors, can move mountains, can do a lot of things that you are believing for. So it's very important that we stay in faith. And most importantly, exercise our faith when we pray. So let's go ahead and talk about what faith is. Hebrews 11 .1 says, Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. So faith is essentially, it's not just wishful thinking, but a deep -seated belief. what is not yet visible based on God's promises it's about having confidence in things we anticipate and a firm conviction about things beyond our physical senses so faith is a substance of things we hope for and it's

12:40 the evidence of things we don't see so that's faith it's believing before you actually see the manifestation. We've often heard the story of Thomas. People call him Doubting Thomas. Well, Thomas said, I'm not going to believe that Jesus is risen unless I see the nail prints in his hands. That's what I'm going to believe. And of course, you know the story. Jesus walked through the wall, manifested himself to Thomas and said, Behold my hands and that's when Thomas believed but that's not faith. That's why they call him doubting Thomas faith Believes that you receive it Before you actually have it and I like the scripture in Hebrews 11 1 where it says now faith is the new King King James Version says now Faith is so faith. I like to look at it like this is now You have it now. Now faith is. So in the realm of the Spirit, you believe you receive it, and you have it now. Okay? So we said faith is a powerful spiritual force, and it goes into the unseen realm. Let's go into James 1, verse 5. Hope you're enjoying these teachings. I would encourage you to let your friends know that we

14:12 are releasing this broadcast These are very basic foundational truths Regarding prayer and purpose and I just want to encourage you to stay with us because we're just going to progress with each and every episode in the things concerning prayer, the different kinds of prayer, the different ways to pray, and also we're going to get into finding your purpose, okay? So let's go into James chapter 1, verse 8 says, If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach. It says here, but let him ask how? faith so it's not just praying random words it's asking in faith but let him ask in faith with no doubting for he who doubts is like the wave of a sea driven and tossed by the wind but for let not that man suppose he will receive anything from the Lord the Bible says he is a double -minded man unstable in all his ways another translation says but when you ask you must believe and not doubt because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea blown and tossed by the wind that person should not expect to receive anything from the lord such a person is unstable or un or double -minded

15:46 in all that we do let's break that verse down okay In context, he is referring to the importance of faith when seeking guidance or help from God. When asking for this wisdom, which is the context, one must be or do or stay firm in your belief without doubt. This highlights the necessity of trusting God's character and his promises. It's very important. That's why we always say it's very important that you put the Word of God in your heart. The Word of God does not return void, but it will produce faith in your heart.

16:33 The Bible says in, I think it's Romans 10, 17, that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. It doesn't say that faith comes by having heard. No, we've got to daily put the Word of God in our heart. That's why the Bible says in Luke 11, give us this day our daily bread. So it's very important that in order for our faith to remain strong, that we put the word of God in our heart, because faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. So all the promises of God, the Bible says, are yes and amen. So his promises are trustworthy and will be fulfilled.

17:22 Yes and amen, the Bible says. Yes is in agreement and amen is the Hebrew word, so be it or truly. So when God makes a promise, you can stand in faith on that promise because it is yes and amen and it is certainly going to come to pass. In this verse, James uses the metaphor of a wave tossed by the wind to illustrate doubt. This imagery comes or conveys instability and uncertainty. Just as waves are unpredictable and are driven by external forces. Did you hear that? By external forces. A doubting person lacks a solid foundation in their faith and is easily swayed by circumstances.

18:14 So it's the word of God that stabilizes you. It's the word of God put in your heart that stabilizes you. So if you want your faith to increase, it's very important that you put the word of God in your heart. 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. Encountering God Through Prayer, Simple Strategies to Develop a Powerful Prayer Life.

19:03 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? 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.

19:57 Go to my website at margieflaurent .org. So we emphasize the importance of putting the word of God in our hearts and that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Let's go ahead and talk about verses seven and eight. It says that when a man doubts. Let not that man suppose he will receive anything from the Lord. He is a double minded man, unstable in all his ways. So it is critical that you and I get out of doubt and get into faith. It's important that we have an expectation of receiving from God instead of receiving nothing from God. And if we are being tossed, we are double minded.

20:48 And the Bible says, let not that man think he will receive anything from God. In other words, you or I will have conflicting beliefs. You know, we will not receive anything from God again. That's why it's very important to have the word of God in your heart. to know the scriptures, to know the promises so that you won't be double minded in all of your ways. So it's not just prayer. It's exercising your prayer in faith. Now, I want to make a comment here, and I think this is going to encourage many of you. You can have faith in your heart and be stabilized in your heart and doubt and warfare coming at your mind or. your thought life now the bible says in second corinthians for though we walk in the flesh we do not war according to the flesh for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through god to the pulling down of strongholds casting down imaginations another translation says arguments and every thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.

22:08 So there's times when you pray and you know you've prayed in faith and you've got all kinds of doubt and unbelief thoughts coming at your mind. But you know that you know that, you know, on the inside, you have faith. You prayed in faith. Well, my advice to you is to cast down those thoughts when those thoughts come at your mind. Cast them down. Don't accept the thought. Didn't Jesus say, don't take the thought? Okay, just cast them down. There's another scripture in Psalms that says, I am distracted at the noise of the enemy. Sometimes it's just the enemy to get you into doubt, to speaking and saying the wrong things, and therefore it nullifies your prayers. Just hold fast the confession of your faith without wavering. Faithful is he, who had promised okay let's talk about the faith of abraham romans chapter 4 it says here we're doing a thorough teaching on faith and i hope you're enjoying it romans chapter 4 verse 17 says edison is written speaking to abraham i have made you the father of many nations in the presence of him whom he believed who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did, who contrary to hope in hope believed so

23:40 that he would become the father of many nations according to that which was spoken. So he took that which was spoken. He took the promise of God. Okay. And he, he believed. And the Bible says in verse 19 that Abraham was not weak in faith. He did not consider his own body now dead. Neither Sarah, who was 100 years old, and he did not waver. He wasn't wavering at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God and being fully convinced. that what he had promised what god had promised he was able also to perform so we see in this scripture that abraham believed god he didn't consider the circumstances he didn't consider the deadness of sarah's womb the bible says he was fully persuaded he did not waver at the promise of god through unbelief and that is very important lastly let's talk about peter walking on the water and here's what it looks like to exercise your faith the scripture says um in matthew 14 that jesus told the disciples to get out you know he he was tired and immediately the bible says jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of him to the other side

25:12 while he dismissed the crowd. After he had dismissed them, he went up into the mountain by himself to pray. And later that night he was alone. And the Bible says, you know, that the boat was out there. There was a lot of waves. There was a lot of wind. And shortly before dawn, Jesus steps out into the water and he's walking on the water and he's coming to the disciples. Now the disciples get afraid, they get upset and they're like, oh my gosh, It's a ghost. But Jesus immediately said to them, take courage. It is I. Don't be afraid. I want to just say something about fear.

25:53 Fear is the opposite of faith. That's why Jesus said to the disciples, don't be afraid. Take courage. It is I. Faith is a spiritual force, we said. but so is fear. Stay in faith. Job said, that which I greatly feared has come upon me. So it's important to remember to stay in faith and don't allow fear access to your heart. So the scripture goes on to say in verse 28, Lord, if it's you, Peter said, tell me to come on the water. Then what did Jesus say? He said, come.

26:35 And this one word released enough faith in Peter's heart to step out of the boat and step into the water. But what happened? I know many of you know this story, but it's worth repeating. Because again, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. What happened to Peter? The Bible says he stepped out of the boat. He was walking toward Jesus. And when he saw the wind, he got into fear. The Bible says he was afraid. And he got out of fear. He saw the wind and he began to sink. And he said, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus reached out and caught him. And then he said, oh, you have little faith.

27:16 Why did you doubt? Peter started out in faith, but he didn't end there. OK, what we want to do is we want to stay in faith. And I also want you to notice in this verse. that peter what he did was he took his eyes off of jesus he took his eyes off the promises and therefore he began to doubt he began to waver and that's when he began to sink so it's very important that we focus on the word of god look at the word of god look unto jesus the author and the finisher of our faith and stay rooted and grounded In the promises of God that are all yes and amen.

28:01 Okay. We're going to conclude this episode today. And I look forward to seeing you next time. 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. Thank you so much for tuning in to today's podcast. It has been such a joy sharing this time with you. For more inspiration and resources on today's topic, please visit our website at margiefloran .org.