Study in Prayer

Yesterday, we established the fact that the Apostle Paul had instructed to pray without doubting, just like Jesus did. We looked at 1 Timothy 2:8 which reads:

“I will, therefore, that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.”

We then linked that to what Jesus taught in Mark 11:23-24:

“…verily I say unto you, that whosoever shall say to this mountain, be thou removed and be thou cast into the sea; AND SHALL NOT DOUBT in his heart, but shall BELIEVE that those things he saith shall come to pass; he shall HAVE whatsoever he saith. Therefore, I say unto you, What things soever YOU desire, when YOU pray, believe that YOU receive them, and YOU shall HAVE THEM.”

But Paul also said in 1 Timothy 2:8 to pray “lifting up holy hands without wrath. “ Many people who come from denominational church backgrounds may find it difficult to lift up their hands in praise and prayer.  I know, I was like that before. In a Faith based bible school, too!  Amen!

We had praise and worship first thing every morning in the sanctuary. People would be raising their hands in worship and, to me, it seemed weird. It seem unnatural. I did not see anything wrong in what they were doing. But to me, and how I was raised, it was unnatural. It made me feel ‘funny.’

I was raised as a Lutheran, they did not sing or pray like that…

Then, I was a heathen for over 20 years – I definitely did not do anything like that…

You’ve heard my testimony about joining the Independent Baptists after I was born again. They definitely did not do anything like that!

But as I was exposed more and more to the Faith community, I continued to see them enter into praise and worship and raising their hands, speaking in tongues and just enjoying the presence of the Holy Spirit.  I wanted more of that.

But when it came to ME lifting my hands, I was hesitant. 

Eventually, one day, the music and words and atmosphere were so powerful, I raised ONE hand. Yup!  ONE!  That was a major breakthrough for Brother Bob!

Over the course of a few more months, I noticed I was keeping one hand up almost all the time in worship. And if it was REALLY GOOD – I had both up!  I had not even noticed I was lifting up both hands sometimes.

What was happening?  My spirit man was starting to surpass my natural mind. AMEN!

So, do you have to lift your hands in worship, or, as we are discussing here, in prayer?  No. It is not a requirement. 

But, if the Apostle Paul said “not to doubt,” and we obey THAT part of the scripture, then we should also obey the rest of it, too. Right?  He said to “lift up holy hands.”

Stop picking and choosing what you will obey and what you will cast aside!  Just OBEY!

And watch the doors of Faith come bursting open and flooding into your heart as you do!

Amen!

Let’s Pray!

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I think we can pretty well agree that everyone needs to be praying. Amen? 

I think we can pretty much agree that YOU need to pray – as well as I. Amen?

But did you know, there are explicit instructions the Apostle Paul has given us concerning HOW we pray?

We studied before about making intercession for all men, for kings and all that are in authority. I’m not going to go back over that, as we covered it pretty in-depth.

But in 1 Timothy 2:8, Paul also gives us some specific instructions. Let’s look at that verse.

1 Timothy 2:8:

“I will, therefore, that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.”

Most Christians today, I would venture to say, DO NOT DO THAT!

We should know, more than others, that we are to pray without doubting!  Jesus Himself told us to pray without doubting!  Turn over to Mark 11:23-24:

“…verily I say unto you, that whosoever shall say to this mountain, be thou removed and be thou cast into the sea; AND SHALL NOT DOUBT in his heart, but shall BELIEVE that those things he saith shall come to pass; he shall HAVE whatsoever he saith. Therefore, I say unto you, What things soever YOU desire, when YOU pray, believe that YOU receive them, and YOU shall HAVE THEM.”

Amen!  Glory to God!

But there are Christians who want to argue with Jesus! 

Can you imagine walking up to a homeless person holding a sign asking for money – and you tell him, “Do you believe that if ask me, I’ll give you $10,000?”  And the homeless guy wants to argue with you?

“Well, you don’t really mean that! Why in the world would you want to do that?”

You tell the guy, “Ask.”

And the homeless guy say, “Ok. Give me $10,000.”

Then you turn around to go get it out of your car. And he says, “See – I knew you wouldn’t do it. Just leave me alone. I don’t need you and I don’t need your money…”

That is what Christians are like today!  I’m talking about Spirit filled believers!

They pray for their needs to be met – and if Jesus doesn’t reach into His pocket and pull out what you need immediately, they doubt He will do it all. Amen!

I hope I’m stepping on some Spiritual toes today!

We will take it up here tomorrow, but let me leave you with this little nugget of Wisdom…

God is not creating any more wealth or any more money in this world. He took care of it all at Creation. Now, when He needs to get some additional money to YOU – He has to work through other people to do so!

Just like you went to the car to get the money for the homeless guy, Jesus has to go find a willing and able believer to get money to you. It takes some time to do so. He can find someone who will do it immediately – I’ve seen it happen.

But it is not unusual for a period of time that must go by until it actually arrives in your hands.

But Christians today are like the homeless guy in this example. If they don’t see it in the natural immediately, they get offended and start cussing out Jesus!  

Let’s Pray!

Please subscribe to this podcast, leave us a quick 5 star review on Apple Podcasts to help us grow and be sure to visit our website for more information on our ministry: https://podcastersforchrist.com. And while you are at the website, download the free resource I have for you… it is free and is called, “How to Start a Christian Podcast.” It will bless you – go and download it today.

You can also WATCH these session on our Facebook Playlist at this link: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtKWeKtmv-BwgkquBTsSh-GznbmuUp_R2

Yesterday, we talked about how the prayers of righteous people can change a nation. And then we're going to be continuing down this path today as well. We discussed how Isaiah under the inspiration of the holy spirit went to the King's palace to just to, to walk in and say, I want to see the king. And he just didn't do that. Okay. It's you're, you're just not supposed to do.

That, but yet he did. And how he told us how he told Hezekiah, “God says, get your affairs in order because you are going to die.” And he turned around and walked out and Hezekiah prayed. And it wasn't some little cutesy prayer like, “Oh Lord, just bless me and bless my family and bless this palace. And bless the servants.” 

He prayed and he truly repented of his sins!

So God stopped Isaiah before he could leave the palace grounds and told him “I've heard Hezekiah’s prayer. Go back and tell him I've heard him. And I will grant his request and I will extend his life for 15 more years.”

Folks, our prayers go to the Throne Room of Heaven. Our prayers are presented as a prayer of petition before the creator of the universe. 

Do you think if you had the authority walk into the President's Office, on any given day, if you just showed up whenever you needed to talk to him, and you say, “Sir, I want to present this petition to you.” Do you think he'd look it over?

And he had already promised you before, he had given his word, that if you ever come into his office and give him a written prayer of petition that he could take actionable work on, He would grant you whatever you wanted? As long as it was legal, as long as it lined up with the constitution, do you think for even one second, you could walk in like that and then he would just wad it up and throw it away?

Maybe today's president would do that. Maybe the politicians today would do that. But if he was your father, do you think he would do that? 

Of course not. Which is why God says, “Whatsoever things you desire, Put it down into a prayer petition and whatsoever petitions you desire, I will grant to you. 

Folks Hezekiah was definitely a king that was Ordained by God. He may not have been perfect and all that, but he was still a Jewish person who obeyed the Jewish customs who believed in the Jewish God. 

He understood who Isaiah was. Isaiah was a prophet of the most high God. And when Isaiah just showed up and said, “Get your affairs in order, thus saith, the Lord, you are not coming down off that bed,” He believed him!

And he prayed and he repented of his sins. 

And God heard him.

And God still could use him, now that he had his attention!

Folks, you just do not understand the power and the authority you have in the Kingdom of God!

Demons tremble, or they should be, when you walk by! Demons, have no authority over you, unless you give them that authority. 

When you come on the scene to assist a brother or sister in the Lord, and you put yourself in agreement with their prayer and you start speaking the word of God, you begin to resist the devil and he will what? Flee!

He's not going to sit there and take it. He's not going to sit there and try and fight you over it. If he's fighting you, it's because there's some doubt and unbelief in your heart. That's the only reason. Every demon must flee. When you resist him with the word of God, they have no choice in that matter.

The only person that has a choice is you. You are the only one that can choose to pray or not the pray. You're the only one that can choose to believe or not to believe. 

The angels believe and the devils believe, but it doesn't do them any good. 

You are the only one that has the authority to change things in this nation, without firing a single shot. 

You are the only one that has the authority to pray to the creator of the universe that He would intercede in the affairs of this nation. 

God can change the leadership one way or another. Some will just be voted out of office. Some will get sick and die. Some will just decide it's time for them to leave. It doesn't matter. They left! 

You're the only one that has the authority to pray for like that. The only person is you, as a collective body of Christian believers.

The problem with what's going on in this nation right now is because believers like you and me have failed to do their job. If this was the military, every one of us would have been court-martialed by the most high God for dereliction of duty. That's how serious this is. 

Now. I'm going to pray with you right now that you would get a Christian backbone in you, that you would stand up and take your rightful place of guard duty and stand guard over the affairs of this nation and the world. If a demon tries to come into your area of responsibility, just like you teach privates in basic training, call out “Sergeant of the guard posts number three” or wherever you're at. You're calling for help from the most high Himself. And then you resist that demon. You resist that devil that's intruding into the air area.

You take authority, you'd put him under fire and then allow the angels of God, the backup to come in and make sure that he leaves praise, God!

Don't shut me down when I'm preaching good! 

Let’s Pray!

Please subscribe to this podcast, leave us a quick 5 star review on Apple Podcasts to help us grow and be sure to visit our website for more information on our ministry: https://podcastersforchrist.com. And while you are at the website, download the free resource I have for you… it is free and is called, “How to Start a Christian Podcast.” It will bless you – go and download it today.

You can also WATCH these session on our Facebook Playlist at this link: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtKWeKtmv-BwgkquBTsSh-GznbmuUp_R2

2021 is the YEAR OF PRAYER!  To help with this, Pastor Robert Thibodeau is conducting a DAILY short study in all aspects of prayer!  

Yesterday, we talked about how the prayers of righteous people can change a nation. We will be continuing down this path today as well.

We discussed how Isaiah, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, went to the kings palace and demanded an audience. As we studied, you just don’t walk up and demand to speak to the king! You can’t do it to a president, what makes you think you could do it to a king? Amen?

Then, how Isaiah was ushered into the kings bed chamber – and then just flat out told him, “Thus saith the Lord, get your house in order boy!  You are going to die!”  Then turned around and left!

In today’s verse, we see this so affected Hezekiah, that HE humbled himself and prayed to the Lord our God! Amen! And, because he humbled himself, God stopped Isaiah before he could even leave the palace grounds and told him, basically, “Go back!  Your message worked!  The king has humbled himself before me. So go back and tell him I have heard his prayers and will grant him an additional 15 years of life.”

Amen!

Don’t you desire to see your prayers answered like that? Where you could pray and have a prophecy declared over you or your family that wasn’t all that glorious to begin with – changed? Would you rather have it be that way – or the prophecy concerning some not so great things come to pass?

Well, it works the same way where interceding for your nation is concerned. 

In much the same way that that Hezekiah prayed, we can change the damnation prophecy that is hovering over this nation right now! Amen!

I believe Christians are about to change some things, some very public things, about this nation. I believe the effectual prayers of righteous people are answered. And their prayers – YOUR prayers, about to be answered in miraculous ways. Ways that will astound and amaze unbelievers in such a way that they will ask, “How is your prayers are answered so quickly?”

And that is where you can pop in and give your personal testimony, share the Gospel and other such things. But it must all be in accordance with 1 Timothy 2:1-2, which says

“I exhort therefore, that FIRST OF ALL, supplications, prayers, intercessions and giving of thanks be made for ALL men; for kings and for all that are in authority; so that WE might live a quiet and peacable life in all godliness and honesty.”

We studied about this scripture and the importance of praying for those in authority – and we are to do that. But not just pray “for them” – but to pray they will be brought under conviction!

Pray that the conviction is so strong and so powerful – that they actually have the HELL scared out of them! Amen!

Pray that their very core of the being will be shaken – shaken to the core, if you will. Amen!

Just like Hezekiah was shaken to his core, prayed, repented and God IMMEDIATELY answered his prayer – you and I can have and see the same results as WE pray for our leaders and those around us.

Amen!

Let’s Pray!

Please subscribe to this podcast, leave us a quick 5 star review on Apple Podcasts to help us grow and be sure to visit our website for more information on our ministry: https://podcastersforchrist.com. And while you are at the website, download the free resource I have for you… it is free and is called, “How to Start a Christian Podcast.” It will bless you – go and download it today.

You can also WATCH these session on our Facebook Playlist at this link: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtKWeKtmv-BwgkquBTsSh-GznbmuUp_R2

I don’t know if you know it or not, but in some instances, when a prophecy of God’s Judgement is about to fall, in Biblical times and in modern times, the prayers of righteous people can change the outcome.

Amen!

In our scripture today, God had sent Isaiah the prophet to tell King Hezekiah, “Get your house in order, you are going to die.”

Certainly, Isaiah was speaking under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. You just did not walk up to the palace and demand to see the king, especially when he is sick! Amen!

Then, to walk into the king’s bedroom and tell him, “God’s had enough of you old boy, get your affairs in order. You are not coming down from that sick bed.”

Then turn around and walk out!  That is boldness! Amen!  And it can only happen when the Holy Spirit is involved.

I know there are some prophets that are discussing all of the bad things happening in the world today. I have been sharing about them, too. Amen!  

I truly believe that the soon return of Jesus is just around the corner. A firmly believe I will see it in my life time. I also believe that everything in the world, in this nation and in the cities, towns and country side is going to get a whole lot worse for everyone before it gets better!

How do I know that?

Just read your Bible, son! It’s all written out, about 2,000 years ago!  And EVERYTHING – and I mean EVERYTHING – that the Bible said MUST take place before the Rapture  has already occurred. Amen!

The only thing left is Jesus to yank all the believers out of here – then the real trouble begins.  

Why hasn’t He done so yet? Especially if everything that needs to take place has already happened?

Because of righteous people, born again Christians, interceding in behalf of unbelievers and their nations. That’s the ONLY reason.

God is answering the prayers of Christians to not wrap this up until the last possible moment – all in an effort to get as many people born again as possible. That includes your family and friends, too. Amen!

In our scripture today, Isaiah turned and walked out. Hezekiah turned and prayed. And God heard his prayer.  He then stopped Isaiah before he left the palace grounds and said, “Go back and tell Hezekiah that I’ve heard his prayer and will add 15 years to his life.”

Amen!  Glory to God!

I’m way over time for today. But we will take this up again tomorrow. 

But YOU don’t have to wait for tomorrow. Start interceding TODAY for your family, friends, co-workers and this nation. Your nation.

God is listening. God will hear your prayers. 

And, who knows, your prayer may be the very one that gives this fallen world and all of those headed to hell one more chance to repent and be born again before the trumpet sounds.

Amen! 

Let’s Pray!

Please subscribe to this podcast, leave us a quick 5 star review on Apple Podcasts to help us grow and be sure to visit our website for more information on our ministry: https://podcastersforchrist.com. And while you are at the website, download the free resource I have for you… it is free and is called, “How to Start a Christian Podcast.” It will bless you – go and download it today.

You can also WATCH these session on our Facebook Playlist at this link: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtKWeKtmv-BwgkquBTsSh-GznbmuUp_R2