FWC Prayer Class 2

Pray to open up

Review what we learned last week

Ask John to share his story

touch on what brad brought up last week about kids. praying for kids with issues like anxiety is different bc the enemy is using their spiritual gift against them. talk about this.

The reason we started out talking about identity is because we want to avoid having a performance-based identity.

If you teach people to heal the sick and partner with the Holy Spirit without teaching them identity, then they have a performance-based identity.

But if you teach them to do that and teach them who they are, then they’ll understand they’re supposed to walk in power because of who their Father is.

The reason why you can heal the sick, and work other miracles is because of who you are in Christ.

Jesus didn’t say “pray for healing,” He said “heal the sick.”

You were born to torment the tormentor!

to do that....

Believe what you are praying

The theology we believe effects the power we carry.

There are some people that do not believe in healing, and they will never heal anyone.

There are some people who do not believe in spiritual gifts, so they will never receive those gifts

There are some people that do not acknowledge the spirit realm, and those people will not be effective at spiritual warfare.

There are some people that do not believe in being filled with the Holy Spirit, and those people will never be Spirit filled or fill anyone else.

There are some people that believe their prayers don’t have the same power as their pastors, and with that mindset, they wont.

If you want to be effective in ministry prayer you must believe that your prayers carry power.

There are so many people that, when they pray for people, they do not have a genuine faith that something is actually going to happen. They pray empty prayers that will not be effective, because they do not even believe that their prayers re possible.

If someone comes up to you for prayer and you lack faith that God will move, then find someone else to pray for that person. Or offer up a general prayer.

This is normal for the believer and I think almost everyone will struggle with this at some point.

For example: Stone example, I lacked faith for immediate healing.

(A few weeks ago, a guy I was praying for broke his collar bone and wanted prayer that it would heal faster than the doctors said it would. Normally I would have been like okay we are gonna pray that God heals this right now. But in that very moment I lacked faith that God would heal him instantly. So I invited the Holy Spirit and waited while I tried to work it out in my head, and still I struggled to have genuine faith. So instead I decided to pray for a speedy recovery and that it would heal faster than doctors thought it would.)

but then a few weeks ago… tell story about blood woman and how i had faith.

If you lack faith it’s not something to be shameful about. Every believer struggles with this at one point or another.

It is something that you need to ask God to change your heart posture and worldview on.

Side note: I have found the: Ask God to change heart posture and worldview prayer extremely effective for addicts and when someone wants to change something about themself. can use that in prayer with people

Bottom line is: If you want to be effective in prayer, then you must believe that what you are praying is going to happen.

There is no magical formula for praying, but here are some examples of prayer you could pray. You should try to make these prayers your own, and just use these as examples to get started.

Have them turn to prayer examples in packet

- Salvation:

If someone wants to make the decision to follow Jesus, then you can lead them through their first prayer. You need to make sure that before you pray with them, they have a sincere heart to follow Jesus and understand what this decision means.

You should make this prayer your own, but here is an example of what it could be:

Sample Prayer: “Sorry for living my life apart from you... Thank you for dying on the cross so that I can be forgiven. I believe that you are the son of God. Please come into my life and save me from my sins.”

Have them repeat after you. This prayer needs to include 4 things:

Sorry

Thank you

I Believe

Please

We ask that you practice this prayer before your first time serving and memorize those 4 things.

- Person Dealing With Unforgiveness

Form of emotional and spiritual healing.

Invite the Holy Spirit, then have them repeat after you: Jesus, I choose to forgive ______ for (doing this to me) ______. I no longer hold judgement against them for doing what they did to me.

Check in with them and see how they feel after forgiving that person.

If not better, are there other people that you need to forgive? More things you need to forgive the last person of? Repeat process.

You want to cancel the assignments of the enemy in these areas of life where they held unforegiveness.

Talk about what an assignment is

Assignments

“In Jesus name I cancel all assignments put on you by the enemy. Jesus we ask you to replace this empty space where unforgivness once lived to now be filled with your love and your forgiveness.”

“In Jesus name, I send away any spiritual powers or spirits that have oppressed (name) this person due to their unforgiveness. We cancel all assignments in the spiritual realm and we ask for grace to flow to this person in this issue of their life.”

If something breaks off of a person, or you cancel an assignment, you need to replace it with something or...

Matthew 12:43–45 ESV

“When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none. Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order. Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So also will it be with this evil generation.”

So to prevent the unclean spirit from coming back, we need to fill the space that was left when the spirit fell off them. So you can just ask Jesus to replace it with his love, goodness, gentleness, or any attribute of God or fruit of the Spirit.

You can also memorize scriptures and pray those over people.

Say: I pray 2 Thessalonians 3:5 over you.. “May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ.”

Say: I pray Romans 15:13 over you.. “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”

- Heart Posture

I have found this prayer to be extremely effective.

Ask God to align their worldview with His.

Ask God to change their mindset.

Praying for a change in someones character (Explain deeper)

Often when someone wants to change something about themself, or struggle with something like anxiety, self-control, restlessness, you will that they actually lack fruits of the Spirit.

Fruits of the Spirit all rise and fall together.

They are all rooted in love.

If someone has anxiety, then they lack the fruit of peace, since this is rooted in love, you need to pray for love to increase, not just peace.

You can read over the other ones in the packet on your own

Next week is going to be all about physical healing so we’ll get into that then.

How to hear God’s voice

God is always speaking, but many of us are not in tune with His voice.

You can think of his voice like a radio wave, you have to figure out how to tune into the same frequency as him.

God wants to talk to everybody.

If you have not heard the Lord speaking to you within the last 24 hours, then you have missed His voice, because He has been speaking to you.

Hearing God’s voice can be a learning process. We all have to learn how God speaks to us in our own way.

Once you learn how He speaks to you, you can actually practice hearing His voice. When you do this He will help you grow in new fun ways to hear His voice.

You practice by stepping out in faith and getting feedback. This can be very uncomfortable for many people.

Ways God speaks to us:

1. Visions

Visions of the Mind occur when the Lord “projects” images and pictures onto the “screen” of our imagination.

Visions often appear like hieroglyphics—pictures that require interpretation. So as the Holy Spirit speaks to us through these pictures and images of the mind, we must turn around and ask Him what the pictures mean.

Biblical Basis Acts 2:17-18 “ ‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy.”

2. God’s Still Small Voice

At times, the Lord speaks to us in a still small voice from within our spirit.

Often we look past the power of God’s whispers and even ignore these inklings when we expect to rather hear a booming, audible voice.

God’s still small voice can be heard as a passing thought, sudden impression, or internal “sense” of something that God is saying.

Biblical Basis: We see this illustrated in 1 Kings 19:11-13. In this account, God is not in the strong wind or the earthquake, but rather He is in the gentle blowing.

1 Kings 19:11-13 “And he said, “Go out and stand on the mount before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper. And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a voice to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?””

3. Creation

Creation itself is a voice from the Lord that speaks to us in many ways, specifically by echoing to us the truth about who God is.

In Psalm 19:1-2 The mountains speak of His strength, the rivers of His provision and the flowers of His beauty.

Another way creation speaks to us is when God causes nature to do things that are actually prophetic acts.

For example, say you are praying for someone and suddenly a bluejay lands in the window,

A blue jay is a very territorial bird. They will fight anything, no matter how big the opponent. They are fearless and very protective.

It could be very possible God is speaking to us through nature by what that animal may represent, or through how that animal acts.

4. Scriptures

The Lord can speak to us in our daily reading of the Bible by highlighting a verse or story that speaks to us about our present circumstances.

This can happen when a single word or specific verse jumps off of the page at you.

It is important to know that God will not take a Scripture verse out of context. It is vital for us to have a basic knowledge of the context of the Scriptures so we understand the full counsel of God.

God will never violate His Word or change its meaning when revealing something to us.

It also cannot be in disagreement with the foundation of God’s revealed nature and character.

2 Timothy 3:16-17 “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”

5. Impressions (Discerning of Spirits)

This is the main way how God speaks to me

Many prophetic people experience discernment through impressions without even realizing it.

Oftentimes, we can sense an evil spirit on someone just by sitting down next to a troubled person.

The evil spirit that is harassing them will begin to trouble us in the same manner. For instance, if a spirit of fear troubles a person and I get close to that person, in terms of location, I begin to feel fearful as well.

If we do not realize our prophetic ability and discernment in this area, it’s easy for the enemy to use it and make us think we have anxiety, or even bipolar.

It’s imperative to treat these impressions as information that the Lord is sharing with us instead of a burden we have to constantly live under the weight of. Since this is something I have had to carry, I can tell you first hand that this mindset is crucial to avoid thinking you are depressed or have anxiety.

When you grow in this gift, God can get really creative on how He talks to you.

Example of growth in Hearing God’s voice: I have practiced this and asked God to bring me deeper.

Talk about my unique gift of discerning with smells. I’ll get a really strong odor that other people do not smell. Often when I get one I’ll ask other people in the room of they smell it too or if it’s just me.

Example demons smell like sulfer, and i’ve smelt it in our church services before.

Spirit of death smells like cleaning supplies, hospital smell, Ive smelt that on many people. (things like Abortions and suicide attempts attract spirit of death)

Christians often carry the smell of different types of flowers

I’ve asked God what certain people in my small group smell like to Him, I’ve gotten white chocolate, cotton candy, sunflower seeds, and I have to ask the Holy Spirit why, and then I can form a prophetic word around that.

These are not the only ways God speaks to people, it is just a list of a few. If you want to hear God’s voice better then it is as simple as asking Him to reveal how to hear His voice.

Simply pray “God show me how you speak to me, and let me hear your voice”

Prophecy

Everyone believer has the ability to prophecy.

1 Corinthians 14:1 ESV

Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy.

Prophecy in its simplest form is hearing from the Holy Spirit and repeating what was said.

1 Corinthians 14:31 ESV

For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all be encouraged,

Last week when we did the “Whats in a name” activation, you got a taste of how to prophecy over someone.

1 Corinthians 14:3 ESV

On the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation.

To give a prophetic word it must be strengthening, encouraging, or comforting.

We all can give prophetic words in our own way, and this is something you will have to figure out over time.

The goal of prophecy is to call out the treasure in people. How does God see this person? What would God tell this person if He were face to face with them?

Prophecy must be rooted in love for people. If you do not love people, then you will not prophecy from the Spirit.

If you would not give the word to yourself, do not give it to anyone else.

We must always strive to being out the best in people.

Prophecy is basically just saying God’s thoughts about a person out loud.

Be clear and Kind. Our words, tone of voice, and body language need to reflect the heart of the father.

If the word is for boldness, then be bold giving the word, if it’s for peace, then be peaceful giving the word.

Bible Character Activation

if you have time have them get into groups of 3 or four and pray for each other with eyes open. go around and watch