Untitled Sermon

*PRAY*

Giving honor to God, his son Christ Jesus, and his completed work on the cross. I honor the work of the Holy Spirit who continues to transform me to be more like Jesus.

I honor our Pastor, Pastor Margie B Geathers and our founder the late Charles E Williams and Sister Willimas. All the Elders, Evangelist, minister. I honor all the saints of God. I honor and give respect to my husband Dea. Wilbert Jones. To my mom, Mother Thomas, to God be the glory for touching her body one more time. Our God is a faithful God.

Song: Zion is Calling me to a higher place of praise.

Ephesians 6:10-

10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.

11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;

15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;

16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.

17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;

I like to read verse 18 in the New Living Translation because it seems to hit different for me.

NLT

18 Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.

This week of prayer and consecration was transforming for me. It reiterated to me that there is an urgency for us as believers to be fervent, consistent, and persistent in our prayer life. No longer passive. No longer is it acceptable to miss your morning devotions. Bishop SY Younger has a praise break and he said Me and the Devil had a tussle BUT I won. There are some of us and I said US, that have a tussle with the blankets every morning. Holy Spirit wakes you up in enough time to meet with him before work or your daily task that day and you lay there and sometimes, we rationalize…. Imma lay here 10 more minutes. Or, I’m just too tired this morning, the Lord understand, I’m not going to get anything out of the prayer because I’m going to be half sleep. Or I’m just going to lay here and pray.

In this life we have Choices and decisions. The state that we’re in right now whether good bad or indifferent is based on decisions that we made.

The truth is Christ is waiting on us, He desires our fellowship and companionship.

There is a classic devotional booklet “My Heart Christs Home” written by Robert Boyd Munger back in 1951.

It’s a story of a man who invited Jesus Christ into his heart and he shows Christ around the house of his heart. Inviting him to settle down and be at home. He welcomes him room by room. They start out by visiting the library of his mind. They peer into the dining room of his appetites and desires. They go to the workshop where his talents and skills were kept. But the room that stood out to me was the living room or the drawing room it was intimate and comfortable with a fireplace and overstuffed chairs and Christ says He is pleased with the room and let’s come here often. Its secluded and quiet and we can fellowship together. At first the young man is excited to be meeting with Jesus every day. Jesus promises I will be here every morning early. Every morning they would take a book of the bible and read together and fellowship. But little by little under the pressures of life the time began to shorten, and he would begin to miss two or three days in a row. One morning when he was in a hurry, as he passed by the living room, the door was slightly open and as he looks in, he sees the Lord sitting there waiting. He asks for forgiveness and ask…Have you been here all these mornings. He responds yes, I told you I would be here every morning. In the story the Lord tells him the trouble with you is this: You have been thinking of the quiet time, the Bible study and prayer time as a factor in your own spiritual progress but you have forgotten that this time means something to me also. He reminded him that He loved him and redeemed him at a great cost.

It becomes a WIN, WIN situation Not only does he want to be with us and waits for us. when we dig into prayer it strengthens our inner man. Ephesians 3:16

16 That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man.

.

Paul is telling us in Verse 12 of our scripture tthat.

We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

We all can see the handwriting on the wall. Spiritual wickedness in our nation is at an all-time high. Our families and friends, our neighbors and coworkers, our hair stylist, mail carriers and bus drivers, our dry cleaners owners and bank tellers that have not answered the question What will you do with Jesus? Who have not made the decision to give their heart to Christ are living in bondage and have been blinded by principalities, powers, and the rulers of the darkness of this world. These forces have power but they are not all-powerful. Our God has given us adequate power. Acts 1:8 says you shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and In all Judea, and in Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth

There are many people that we know who are under the enemies influence and when we strengthen our inner man through prayer we can affectively be about the Kings business.

The Kings Business requires Urgency.

Pray until something Happens.

The psalmist said:

Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle.

9 Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.

10 Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory. Selah.

Isaiah 56:7B; for my house shall be called an house of prayer for all people

The Kings Business requires Urgency.

The bible says, that The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” And our strongest position for doing business for the King and seeking the lost is that we PRAY until something happens. Passionately praying and interceding until chains are broken, yolks are destroyed, and deliverance takes place.

In verses 10-17 of Ephesians Paul prepares us for battle by giving the armor that we’ll need for battle however it’s in verse 18 that he gives us direction

18 Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere

If we want to see fulfillment of the great commission our vision has to line up with Isaiah 56:7 for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all people.

James 5:6 says

16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

The NLT says the earnest prayer of the righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.

Prayer will attack sin. Just like prayer attacks sin in our lives. Sin will attack our prayer life. It will cause us not to pray. If we’re not persistent and quick to go to our secret place sin will squeeze prayer out of our lives. So even when there may be struggles, we must take it to the Lord in prayer.

Prayer attacks our flesh therefore our flesh will attack our prayer life. Sometimes we’re not motivated. We must be determined to pray and strengthen our inner man.

Prayer attacks bad circumstances and therefore bad circumstances will attack our prayer life. Sometimes we pray for something, and God doesn’t answer our prayer the way we thought he would, and we get discouraged. We give up on our prayer. The song writer said don’t give on God because He won’t give up on you…. Jesus was in the garden of gethsemane and prayed 3 times asking His Father if it is possible let this cup pass from me, nevertheless not as I will but as your will. We must trust and pray.

Prayer attacks being passive, therefore being passive will attack our prayer life. We must pray with persistence. When we pray and things don’t change right away, we give up. We pray for our health or our children, and they seem to get worse, and we stop praying. We miscarry our petition. We must carry that prayer until it births an answer. We must hold on to our prayer.

We must PUSH in prayer. We must pray until something happens.

The Kings Business requires Urgency.

Therefore, Pray until something Happens

We must teach until something happens.

We must preach until something happens.

We must love until something happens.

We must practice our faith until something happens.

The bible says

4 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

Gods house shall be called a house of prayer.

Where you can come empty and leave full

You can come sick and leave healed.

You can come in broken and leave restored.

We often sing the song

Don’t stop praying

The Lord is nigh

Don’t stop praying

He’ll hear your cry

The Lord has promised

And His word is true

Don’t stop praying

He’ll answer you.

The Kings Business requires Urgency.

Therefore,Pray until something Happens