Reviving the Call to United Prayer: A Vision for the Body of Christ Part 1

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. Hello everybody. It's nice to be here with you tonight. Thank you Apostle Eddie for the opportunity to share the word of God tonight. Let me just set my timer. I'm going to share with you something I have on my heart. It's actually something that I touched on in the Love and Unity Convergence in Oklahoma.

0:45 I'm going to talk tonight about the purpose, power, and results of praying together. By way of introduction, I believe we are going to see the return of prayer gatherings among the faithful believers who have decided they are going to devote themselves to praying out the heart and the will of the Father in this day and in this hour. And actually we have seen a decline in corporate United Prayer meetings. The churches that I'm involved with have seen a decline. People are not coming out to pray anymore. But I believe that the Lord is going to anoint the church with fresh oil in this regard.

1:30 Psalms 92, 10. And I believe that the spirit of grace and supplication is once again going to arise within the body of Christ because God would not be speaking this to us if he wasn't about to do it. Amen. So when I was thinking about this subject, I was thinking about the days of quote, old, some of us who remember back in the 1980s. And I know for me around 1984ish, after some time teaching the word of God in regards to prayer, God spoke to me and gave me a vision. And it actually came out of one scripture that he had spoke to my heart out of Zechariah 8, 20 through 22.

2:20 And it was thus saith the Lord of hosts, it shall yet come to pass that there shall come people and the inhabitants of many cities. And the inhabitants of one city shall go to another saying, let us go speedily to pray before the Lord and to seek the Lord of hosts. I will go also. Yea, many people and strong nations will come and seek the Lord of hosts in. And then for this particular scripture, because I got it out of a very old newsletter, I left it blank, and to pray before the Lord. I believe that this scripture is once again being revived in the land today, that God is once again calling the body of Christ to corporate united prayer because there is power in praying together.

3:11 And we'll get into that in a minute. So then there came a time after that that we pulled back and we once again had to lay more foundation whereby, like the disciples said to Jesus, Lord, teach us to pray. So we had to start teaching people how to pray because people didn't really understand the principles of prayer. And then for me personally, as I was thinking about this, in 2013, God spoke to me and said, once again, I want you to call the churches together and I want you to call them back together for a time of corporate united prayer in a neutral place. So what we did was we launched that vision again and we called it Kingdom Intercessors United or K-I-U.

4:00 And so for a long season, just before COVID hit, we were gathering churches and people were coming together and the leadership and pastors were coming together. And the purpose was to teach the word of God, to train others in how to pray, and then of course to lead corporate united prayer. Now for me personally, I was getting discouraged at the end because the anointing was very strong in the teaching and the preaching of the word. But when it came to the actual praying together, people would fizzle out after 15 minutes. So I started to get frustrated and upset.

4:42 And then what happened is COVID hit and I was relieved from that assignment. But I believe that God is once again calling us back to corporate united prayer whereby churches come together, believers come together, leaders come together. I actually used to have leadership leaders come to my home and we had as many as 79 leaders from the region just come to my house and they would come and we would come, we had one purpose, one vision, and that was to pray for our region. And what I loved about that was nobody had an agenda, nobody's pride got in the way because at that time we were all just ready to just pray together, be together and support one another and see revival birth in the lamb.

5:31 So anyway, so I believe we're coming back to that place where God is calling us back to that place. And I heard the Lord say to me today, I am calling my people back to consecrated united prayer. And then he gave me these scriptures, I'm gonna go ahead and read it. Joel 1.13 through 15. Guards yourselves and lament you priests, while you ministers before the altar, come and lie all night in sackcloth. You who minister to my God for the grain offering and the drink offering are withheld from the house of our God, consecrate a fast, call a solemn or a sacred assembly, gather the elders, gather the leadership, gather the churches, gather the people, even as leaders, let us be the example to our people that yes, we can be a part of these corporate united prayer meetings.

6:28 As a matter of fact, I remember back in the day in the 80s, the pastors, a lot of them wouldn't come to the meetings. It was only those that were hungry for God in the place of prayer where God is calling all of us back. He said here, gather the elders. So somebody's not muted. So if you could please mute yourself, that would be great. He's saying here, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the Lord your God and cry out to the Lord, no quiet praying. We all need to pray together all at once out loud from our seated position because we know who we are in Christ. We know we're the head and not the tail.

7:08 We know we're above only and not beneath. We know the word of God. We've been trained in the word of God. We have more knowledge, more wisdom, more revelation than any other generation or body of believers that has ever walked the face of the earth. And I feel like what God is saying is it's time to pray. It is time to seek the Lord until he comes and reigns righteousness on us. It's time to use our faith. It's time to use our knowledge and it's time for us to go into the place of prayer and gather together in unity and spend time in his presence so that God can do what he desires to do in the land.

7:48 And he desires that all men be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. He desires to send the rain in the time of the latter rain. He desires to break up the foul ground. There's so many things he desires to do, but man is God's avenue in the earth. We have not because we ask not. Prayer opens up the door for God to work. When we enter into prayer, we're praying out of our seated place in Christ with all authority, all power, and God is just waiting for us to yield to him as a house of prayer and loose the intercessor and let him go.

8:29 But many have grown weary in well-doing, many have drawn back, but it is time my friends to seek the Lord. And I believe it begins with us as leaders and it begins with us as leaders casting the vision, showing them the power of prayer, showing them the power of corporate prayer, encouraging people, yes, not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together to hear the word, but what about not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together to pray together, to stand with one another, to bear one another's burdens. And so let's go on and read the scripture and cry out to the Lord, alas for the day, for the day of the Lord is at hand.

9:15 It shall come as destruction from the Almighty. Now, Joel 2, I'm gonna read this. I'm gonna go ahead and read it. Joel 2, 12 through 19. Now therefore says the Lord, turn to me with all of your heart. How? With fastings, with weeping and with mourning. Aren't we just mourning what is going on in the world today and in the United States today? Why don't we channel that mourning, channel that grieving in our spirit and enter into the place of prayer and yield over to the Romans eight kind of praying and pray in the Holy Ghost and release the will of God in the earth by our prayers.

10:01 Yes, we're mourning, but let's turn our mourning into prayers. Amen? So he says, rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God. He, you know what? I'm just gonna say it. I'm not speaking to us here that are on this Zoom. I'm speaking to the church, universal church needs to return to the Lord. The universal church has grown weary and well-doing. The universal church has gotten lazy. The universal church has become very codependent on leadership to get the word of the Lord.

10:42 And it's time for the universal church, the members of the body in particular to rise up and return to him. And the greatest place we can return to him is in the place of prayer, our devotion to him in the place of prayer. Return to the Lord. He's gracious and merciful. He's not gonna hold it against us. He's just waiting for us. He's slow to anger and of great kindness. And he relents from doing harm. And who knows if he will turn and relent and leave a blessing behind him. He said, a grain offering and a drink offering for the Lord your God. Then he goes on to say, he says, blow the trumpet in Zion, consecrate a fast, gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children and the nursing babies.

11:34 I think we need to bring the kids to our corporate United prayer meetings. I think we need to show the kids, the young people, how we pray and how we do it, like in the days of old, in the old Pentecostal days, when the kids used to be under the chairs and under the pews and they were shown how to pray just by our examples. I think we should return to that. Gather the children and the nursing babies. Let the bridegroom come out from his chamber and the bride from her dressing room. Let the priests who minister to the Lord wait between the porch and the altar. Let them say, spare our land, spare your people.

12:16 Help us Holy Ghost, help us Jesus. Spare your people, O Lord. Do not give your heritage to reproach that the nations should rule over them. Why should they say among the peoples, where is their God? You know, the churches, people are laughing at us. They're saying, where is your God? Well, greater is he that's in us than he that's in the world. We need to release our God in the earth and not be ashamed of the gospel of salvation. It is the power of God unto salvation. Where is your God? Then the Lord will be zealous for his land and pity his people. The Lord will answer and say to his people, behold, I will send the rain in the time of the latter rain.

13:03 I will send the grain. I will open up doors that no man can shut. I will do for you exceedingly abundantly above all you ask, hope, dream, or desire. I will do it because it's my will. It's my desire. And when you pray, you are releasing my will. You are releasing my desire. Christ in you is being manifest as you pray my will in the earth. I will send you grain and new wine and oil, and you will be satisfied by them. I will no longer make you a reproach among the nations. So we're talking about corporate prayer. We said it's not just, I think we need to have meetings now more than ever where, you know, we start to gather together and not always have teaching.

13:56 I believe that God is calling us to pray together, to stand together, not forsaking the assemblies of ourselves together. Because also the Bible says in Psalms 133, behold how good and how pleasant it is when the brethren dwell together in unity, when we all come together in unity. God said, that's where I will command my blessing and life forevermore. And I was looking at Psalms 133 in the light of corporate United prayer, the gathering together. And I said, Lord, what does that mean? He said, it's the joy and harmony that comes from being united in purpose and in spirit.

14:40 That's what the unity brings. It brings joy. It brings harmony. Prayer produces intimacy. Prayer produces intimacy with the one you pray to, the one you pray for, and the one you pray with. So when we gather together and we pray together, it produces intimacy. It produces joy and harmony. And then we look at the imagery of the anointing oil from Psalms 133. The Psalm uses the metaphor of this precious oil, reminiscent of the anointing of Aaron as the high priest. And this oil symbolizes consecration, blessing, and the sacredness of unity.

15:22 It suggests that just as oil brings joy and honor, so does unity among the believers. So when we gather together in unity in prayer, it's going to produce joy and honor. The dew of Hermon, the Psalm also mentions the dew of Mount Hermon, which is the abundant, it is abundant and refreshing. This imagery conveys the idea that unity produces nourishment and vitality to the community, similar to how dew sustains the land. So when we come together in unity, it's gonna nourish our community. It's gonna nourish the universal church.

16:04 It's gonna cause us to have more of a blessing in what we desire for God to see and do in the land. It says, when you pray together in unity, I'm gonna command a blessing. The Psalm concludes by stating that God commands a blessing where there is unity. Underscoring that such harmony is not beneficial, but also divinely favored. So God likes it when we gather together together. Overall Psalms 133 emphasizes that unity among believers is essential for spiritual health and community strength. And it invites reflection on the importance of fostering harmonious relationships.

16:51 Let's translate this to prayer. We said prayer produces intimacy with the one you pray with. So it's gonna cause us to love one another and support one another like never before. Now, I talked about this when we are in Oklahoma, we see the example of corporate prayer in the early church. And I know that you know this, but I'm gonna go ahead and read it anyway. In Acts chapter one, verse four, Jesus was that everyone was commanded not to depart from Jerusalem. And we read in the scripture that they were what? They were all assembled together. They weren't sitting in their own houses.

17:31 They weren't separate. They were in unity. They were in one place and one accord. And Jesus said, wait for the promise of the father which you have heard from me. And then we find out in the word of God that they all gathered together. We find that in verse 14, they all continued in one accord. How were they, what were they doing? They were praying. They all continued with one accord in prayer. In prayer, in prayer and what? And supplication with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus. Now there were 500 of them. Now you know the story Acts two, one through four.

18:14 When the day of Pentecost had fully come, there was only 120 left. Because that was the remnant, right? And I believe that we start to gather people for corporate prayer. It's probably going to be a remnant of people. But I believe and I'm seeing it in my spirit which starts out as a little fire of the remnant. This fire can spread throughout the whole body, throughout the whole church. So we see 120 were gathered. And the Bible says when the day of Pentecost had fully come, they're all in one accord and they were in one place. And the Bible says, and I know you know it, the Holy Ghost came, they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and they all began to speak the word of God.

18:57 They had freedom of speech. God was moving. 5,000 souls were added to the church. They preached with boldness. It was just an incredible time. And what I love about the book of Acts, I like to call it the Acts of the Holy Ghost, is that there's no amen at the end of this book. And I know you all know this because you're all Bible teachers, but I'm gonna say it anyway, there's no amen. I believe the glory of this latter house is gonna be greater than the former. But we also have to remember that we've got to do what the early church did. They gathered together in corporate prayer. They gathered together in unity.

19:37 They were in one accord. They were one mind. They all spoke the same thing. They were one heart, one soul, one purpose. And they gathered together in prayer. And I believe that we are missing this element in the church world today, and God desires to restore us back to this kind of prayer. So then you know the story, the devil gets mad. And you guys know as well as I do that the devil's mad. He does not like what is going on in the earth. I believe that the enemy knows things we don't know. It may seem like the devil's winning and all these things are happening and darkness is covering the earth, gross darkness, the world, and all this gender confusion and all these things are happening.

20:29 Oh, it looks so bad. But you know what? God has a plan. And God has a secret weapon, and that is his church, his body. And God has a plan. I believe God has a plan to bring back and to restore and revive the church back to like it was in the early church. But we've got to do what the early church did. So they're all mad. They're greatly disturbed that they taught the people and preached in Jesus the resurrection. Then there's 5,000 like we said, we're at it. And so, you know, at the end of the day, we find that the religious people, they all gather together and they're all conferring among themselves.

21:10 And this is actually fulfilling one of the prophecy from Psalms two. They're conferring and they're talking about what's happening in the church. And they said, you know, what are we gonna do with these men? What are we gonna do with them? Indeed, a notable miracle has been done and we cannot deny it. And that what they wanted was, they didn't want the word of God to spread any further. Are we living in that day and in the hour right now? We don't want you to preach. We don't want you to teach. We don't want you to say Merry Christmas. We want you to say Happy Holiday. We wanna take God out of the schools. We don't want you to talk anything. We don't want you saying anything. Don't you think we're living in the same season so to speak?

21:54 This is literally hell's warfare coming against the body of Christ. This is the agenda of the enemy. That's why we need one another now more than ever. We need to gather together now more than ever. There has to be something, I don't know, maybe Apostle Calvin could give us the answer. There has to be something about the power of unity, the power of praying in tongues together, the power of speaking the word of God together, the power of love and unity. There has to be something that we don't understand. That's why the devil, if he can divide us, he can conquer us. But when we come together and gather together, there is nothing that will be impossible to us which we have imagined to do.

22:41 So let's go on. So you know what? The disciples said, we're not listening to you. So you know what they did? This is what they did. And being let go, they went to their own people, their own community, their own companions, and they reported everything that the priest said. They didn't deny the circumstances, but they denied the circumstance to have power over them from fulfilling the will of God in that day and in that hour. They said, no, you are not stopping us. No, woe is me if I don't preach the gospel. No, I'm not saying happy holiday, I'm saying Merry Christmas.

23:22 No, we are not stopping. They went to their own companions. Thank God we have one another, amen. They went to their own companions, they reported everything that the chief priest had said, and they raised their, they raised their voice to God. I love this. I like to call this book of Acts prayer. They raised their voice to God. They raised their voice to God with what? With unity, with one accord. And they said, Lord, you know, you're God who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them. And then we go down a few scriptures for the sake of time.

24:04 And they said, behold their threatenings, but we are not stopping. We have one another, we have our love, we have our unity. We know the word of God. We know the enemy, we are not ignorant of Satan's devices. We know that he has a plan to destroy the things of God in the earth, but we are not backing off. So Lord, behold their threatenings, but grant unto your servants that with all boldness, they may speak your word. So they prayed for boldness, right? Don't we need boldness in the body of Christ today? So many Christians are intimidated and fearful, you know, to speak the word or to be bold for Jesus.

24:47 So we need to pray for boldness. And not only that, they said, but by stretching forth your hand to heal and that signs and wonders will be done through the name of your holy child, Jesus. They prayed for signs and wonders. They believed God for miracles. And I love verse 31, when they prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and they spoke the word of God with boldness. I want you to notice they weren't shaking. Now over the weekend, I have a pool and I put my dog in the, I got him on this little mat thing, because the only, you know, he hates the water. He's dying when he gets a bath or so he thinks.

25:30 It's like, you can't even believe the drama. So in order to get him in the water and get him on the mat, I have a treat. So I said to him, treat. And he comes on the mat, he gets the treat, he's in the water, he's floating around. And then I take him off his little mat thing, put him in the water by the stairs. He gets on the stairs, but he gets all wet and he gets out of the pool. So I came in a little while later and he was in the house and the hair conditioner was on. He was so cold, he was shaking. Wrapped him up in a towel, put him on my lap, brought him outside. My dog was shaking from the cold, okay? So let's think about this in the light of prayer.

26:12 The people weren't shaking, their bodies weren't shaking. The house shook. The house shook because of the power and the purpose and the results of praying together in corporate United prayer. I would like to see prayer meetings like that, where God restores us and restores prayer in the church and restores corporate United prayers, praying, and takes the laziness out of the pulpit and the pew. I said pulpit and the pew, yes. Some people, you know, it's really easy to teach, but when it comes to prayer, there is no showing off, amen? But I would like to be in a prayer meeting that the house shook because of the power of our prayer and our unity and our faith, amen?

27:00 And the Bible says that the place shook, and then as a result, great power gave the disciples witness. God gave them witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus and great grace was upon them all. So how did they pray? How do we pray in our corporate prayer meetings? And this is very intimidating because I've been doing it in a lot of these places. God's been sending me recently to lead corporate United prayer. And let me tell you something, it's not always easy, but there's an anointing now to take us in. There's a prophetic anointing now to take us in. God is opening up the eyes of our heart and the eyes of our understanding, and he's beginning to show us what we're praying about.

27:45 And he's using us to guide people on the path of how to pray and how to do it and pray into this and pray into that. So how did they pray? They prayed all at once. They prayed out loud. They prayed for boldness. They prayed in a known tongue, because we know the Bible says they prayed for signs and wonders and boldness. Now, did they pray in an unknown tongue or tongues? We don't know because the Bible doesn't tell us, but what we do know is that they were filled with the Holy Ghost, Acts 2, 1, 3, 4, and they were speaking in tongues. Doesn't say it, but I love getting a whole group of people in a room and having everyone pray in tongues.

28:31 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 margieflora.org.