(ThyBlackMan.com) We are teaching on, Lord, Teach Us to Pray. We are on the section called, The Mechanics of Prayer, or the functionality of prayer. We want you first of all to read the Scripture. Our two foundational Scriptures are found in Luke 18:1, and Ephesians 6:18.
Luke 18:1 [1] And He spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;
Ephesians 6:18 [18] Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;
The second thing in this text is that we told you to list seven types of prayer that the New Testament illustrates and talks about, some seven types of prayer that the believer should be functioning in and operating in. We told you one was the prayer of thanksgiving. Number two was the prayer of petition. Number three, the prayer of intercession. Then, number four, the prayer of warfare. Number five, the prayer of adoration and praise. Number six, the prayer of agreement. Then, number seven, praying in the Holy Ghost. Now, we have been through praying with or in the Holy Spirit. We talked about, the last time we were together, the prayer of agreement. And now today, I want to skip over the prayer of praise and adoration and move into the prayer of warfare.
The prayer of warfare. I need you real quickly to go to Matthew 16:19. [19] And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
Just for a little while, we are going to show you some things. See, in the Old Testament, in the old covenant, there was a different functionality, a different methodology . . . when you don’t think you have everything that you should have, how many of you know that you won’t operate in the fullness of it? In other words, you won’t really be praying where you should pray because of your mindset. (Sound goes off on tape). I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and watch this—whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
Now, go to (Sound off on tape again). Now, go to II Corinthians 10:4. [4] (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Now, atonement was like this: Up until Jesus came and went to the cross, the only thing that could be done with our sins is they would be covered. In other words, if you lifted up the covering over them, it [the sin] was still there. But His blood, the blood of that substitutionary lamb, covered it. Even though it was still there. But when Jesus came, they changed the word from atonement to this other word, remission. Now, remission means simply, to remove. So, that means even if the enemy came and lifted up the cover, when he pulled up the cover, the sin was removed. It was no longer there. Are you understanding what I am saying? But back in the old covenant, it was just atoned. It was covered. And if you peeked up under there, it would still be there. But it was covered. God always had us covered.
Now, when Jesus came, the level of spiritual authority greatly increased —because of the work, because of His blood, it removed the sin so that even though it’s covered, if you came up under there, it is no longer there. It is gone. Touch three people and say, “It’s just gone.” Now, it is gone. Say, “Because of the blood of Jesus.” That also means then that I have a different level or type of authority now. What the devil wants me to assume is that I don’t have that authority. It is like if you had two million dollars worth of bills, but I gave you a million dollars. What are you going to do with the money? You are going to start attacking that debt, if you’ve got any type of sense. In other words, you are going to take and you have to use what God gives you. Use what God has given you. That means that I am going to take that money and, even though it is not enough to pay all of the bills, I am going to pay most of them. What did that do? That reduced my debt ratio. That is what wisdom would dictate. Of course, if I got all the money I needed, I would just pay it all off.
That is the difference in atonement and remission. Atonement was just enough to cover. See, if you can make it with what you’ve got now, imagine if somebody gave you a jumpstart, one hundred thousand extra dollars, and you are already making it, guess what? After you pay off all your stuff with that one hundred thousand dollars, you are going to have some surplus income. Then, you will have more to operate with. If they came and totally wiped it out, you would get a clean start all over again. So, what the devil wants to do, since he is the deceiver, is to keep you thinking that you have no power, no authority, you know, you just have to take whatever he dishes out. Look at somebody and say, “The devil is a lie.” Because of the blood of Jesus—we are talking about warfare—so, when you go to war now, you are not just covered, but really you have full authority over that devil. Real quickly, turn to Luke 10:19. [19] Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
You hear me say this all the time, “God needs two things from us, our permission and our participation.” Our permission and our participation. There are some things you just have to do. It is like being filled with the Holy Spirit. You know, God is not going to move your lips and your tongue and make your voice do the sound. You are going to have to do that. If you want to break some of those bad habits, you have to drive on past the ABC Store. Even though you are praying, “God, take the taste out of my mouth,” you just have to keep driving. See, some things you have to do yourself. You cannot put everything on God. You’ve got to put the cigarette down. He is not going to come in the room and grab the cigarette and snatch the it out of your mouth. See, demons possess people, against their own will. See? But the Holy Spirit is a perfect gentleman. In other words, if you don’t yield to Him, He is not going to force His way in. But if you yield to Him, He will come in and do everything you need Him to do while He is there. That is why we have to get to the place where we do not resist the hand of God. We have to learn how to yield and trust God. That is why many times in life, He puts us in situations where we have to learn how to totally depend on Him. And as I learn how to totally depend on Him, I begin to get stronger and stronger in Him. That is how faith is developed. In everything that we do, when you talk about the things of God, are spiritual, even though there are natural applications.
God can read your mind, but He does not desire to read your mind. So, He says to us, “Ask, and it shall be given.” “Seek, and ye shall find.” “Knock, and the door shall come open.” Are you understanding what I am saying? Go back to Luke 10:19. [19] Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you. I showed you where He says, “I give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven, and whatsoever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” (Matt. 16:19) So, see, I am a gateway. The Church is not a thermometer. It is a thermostat. The people are God—we are a thermostat. A thermometer tells you what the temperature is. A thermostat sets the temperature. So, a lot of stuff that goes on in the world and around us, in our families and in our lives, it is because we are setting up reading the thermometer. See? We are just reading the thermometer.
We say, “It is bad today.” But a thermostat comes in and it sets the atmosphere. It changes the atmosphere. That is why it is so imperative that believers get in a place where they take prayer seriously, because when we pray, we are communicating with God and then, God has promised to answer our prayers. If we are not making any requests, He has nothing to answer. AMEN. If My people, which are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and forgive their sin and heal their land. (II Chron. 7:14). But who is He responding to? His people. If My people . . . So, we cannot sit around, and even though right now, it seems like the president is making crazy statements. Well, we’ve got to pray for the president. And we have to pray that he will be surrounded by Godly wisdom and Godly counsel. That no one but Jesus sits on the throne of his life. He does not hear the voice of the stranger, and whether he gets elected again or not, we pray that he will be the first president that will stand for God.
When you get in those political positions like that, it gets to be people pleasing. If you trace the history of Israel, God’s chosen people, there would be times that God allowed these people to become the king. They would get in the seat of being the king, and then all of a sudden, they would turn on God. Then you will hear where the Scripture would read something like this, “And he went not in the way of his father David.” And so, a few generations would go by with them not serving God, and then all of a sudden, one would rise up and say, “Hey, I saw what happened to those last jokers. So, I am going back to God.” Then God has to give that whole place an enema again and raises the people back up, and here comes another goofy king . . . who will not follow the ways of God. So, our job whether white or black, yellow man, it doesn’t matter, whatever color the president is, it is not our job to talk about him. It is our job, according to Scripture—I showed you that a long time ago during the protocol of prayer—to pray for them. But if we don’t know what to pray, then our prayers cannot get answered. So, Luke 10:19. [19] Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Who has the power? You do.
Secondly, go with me to II Corinthians 10:3-4. [3] For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:
[4] (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Alright, let us see what it says in the Amplified Bible. For, though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. See, you cannot go to the gun shop and get a gun and kill a demon. Look at verse 3 again. II Corinthians 10:3. [3] For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:
So, my problem is probably really not with me. It is with a spirit that is trying to operate in me. So, there is no sense in her throwing the lights, pots and pans and hitting me. It is that spirit. You have to deal with the spirit. Before I go to the next spot, we need to read the next verse again. II Corinthians 10:4. [4] (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Let us read this in the Amplified now. I need you to get this. Inasmuch as we refute . . . That means, I don’t care who says it—Dr. Phil, Oprah, your counselor, your psychiatrist . . . He says you are to refute it. In other words, I don’t even want to hear it. I was talking to this lady and they were getting into talking about yoga. I just told them that I don’t get into all that different type of meditation because you open up gateways and portholes in the spirit. And you give yourself access to the demonic. The lady was like, “Okay, he is just close-minded.”
Read that first part again of verse five. Inasmuch as we refute arguments. It is what it is. He meant what He said when He said it. Now, if I have a problem, I don’t have a problem with the pastor or the deacon or the leader or my husband or my wife, who decided to lock in on the Word. My problem is with the Author of the Word. It is His Word. So, now, it behooves me that, anything that doesn’t line up with that Word, in case you did not understand what He meant when He said, “Casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God.” Because you have a lot of people out here, especially in the time we are living in, that want to just take and water the Word of God down. See, the things we understand, we must understand that it was God who gave us the ability to understand them. And our mind is finite. In other words, that simply means, there is some more stuff that God would like to share with us, but our mental capacity is not ready to receive it all yet. Because I am still struggling over the small things. In one place Jesus broke down and told them, “You are gagging on a gnat, but you swallowed a camel.” What did He mean? He said, in other words, “You are choking over the little things that I have asked you to do, but this big thing, you act like it is not even there.” So, in the Amplified, He says, first off, we are to refute it. Stand boldly against it.
See, for though we walk after the flesh, we do not war in the flesh. So, when the argument comes in the house, the devil sent it. I have to have the wisdom to know that this spirit of confusion, separation, disunity, came from the devil. He is waging war everywhere he can. But because the average church goer is not exposed to this level of Word . . . The devil does not like churches like this. He does not mind you running around and shouting. He does not want you to get a revelation and some understanding. When you get revelation and understanding, your life starts changing. He wants you to hoop and holler. And you still live like hell. See, you had no real problem with certain issues with the enemy until your eyes came open. Until you got with somebody who told you, “You are not supposed to be sick.” Until someone told you, “You are not supposed to be poor.” You kind of knew it was miserable not being able to pay your bills and going through, but somebody told you that some folks got it, some folks don’t. No. We have all been bought with a price. That is a misunderstanding. Now it is something else. Now my eyes are opened.
The devil is not supposed to be up in my house causing confusion. I know—see, as believers, we have to develop perseverance. And I say—my definition of it, of spiritual perseverance—is the ability to withstand under pressure. The ability, the spiritual ability, to withstand, under pressure. If I do not persevere, I cannot have the promise. He says that after you have done the will of God, then you will inherit the promises. AFTER. We don’t want to work on the “after.” Doing the will of God. Sometimes, His will is to endure hardness as good soldiers. Knowing that many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers us out of them all. Go ahead and say it. I feel it all down in my bones. “Don’t judge me while I am going through.” Watch me when I come out. I am sure enough coming out! It is the wrong thing for you to judge me while I am in the middle of it, while I am fighting. See, the thing that you don’t know is that I am already equipped for this devil. We take it the wrong way. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death . . . so, there are some things that I just have to go through because I am warring in the spirit. This fight is not natural. This is over something spiritual. It is a place where God has called me, where God desires me to be, and when I get there in the spirit, it is going to cause overflow in the natural. When I get there in the spirit, it is going to cause overflow in the natural. God is trying to get me somewhere. Overflow in the natural.
You see what is on me, but you do not know what I went through to get what I got! You think you want some of this. Are you sure? Colossians 2:15. We are doing this to show you that you are in a battle. You might as well learn how to fight. Touch three people and tell them, “Let pastor teach you how to fight in the spirit.” I know you can throw down in the natural, but we are going to shift and we are going over here in the spirit, and we are coming out with some victories. I am going to get my stuff. I am going back to the enemy’s camp, and I am going to take what he stole. Everything. He is going to have to give it up sevenfold. I am going up in there. Hallelujah. Colossians 2:15. You hear me pray this, but I am going to show you where it is. See, this is not a past tense theme. The devil is just stupid. Yes, I said it, but I am not scared of the devil. I am not afraid of him or “Witchipoo,” the warlock, none of that. Colossians 2:15. [15] And having spoiled principalities and powers, He made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it. Did that hit you? OPENLY. It is already done! The devil knows you can whoop him. He just keeps showing up because he is crazy. You understand what I am talking about? Here is somebody who knows you can whoop him, but he just keeps showing up because he has already bluffed you so, until you are scared to fight. You are stronger than he is, you are smarter than he is, you have the glory of God on you, but you are scared to show up to fight. The same thing happened with David and them.
All the big, mighty men, the warriors, were up on the mountain, scared. Goliath is down there, over nine feet tall, talking and ranting and raving, and talking whatever he thinks he is big enough to talk. Told them, “Send three or four of you all down here.” Then, here comes a little thirteen-year-old boy who knew who he was. He gets up there, on assignment from his Daddy, thinking he is just supposed to bring them a little bread, wine, and cheese, bring them a little snack. He gets down there and hears all this noise, and says, “Hey, what are you all doing?” “No one is going to go down here and handle this?” Can’t you see him going and talking to his brothers? “Eleazar, you have been bouncing me off the walls at home.”
Staff Writer; Dr. Henry W. Roberts, II
Official website; http://www.powerintheword.org