Prayer As A Partnership | Joining Forces with God 2 | Pastor John Greiner

In this energetic and conviction-driven message, Pastor John Greiner unpacks what it truly means to pray, not as a list of requests or a passive appeal to heaven, but as an active, covenant partnership with God. Drawing from Romans 8, 2 Corinthians, Ephesians 6, and the writings of John and James, he challenges believers to move beyond "baby faith" praying and step into their identity as able ministers of the New Covenant. Through personal stories, including a dramatic healing of his aunt in ICU and a Spirit-led encounter on a riverside trail, he illustrates how prayer can birth salvation, break spiritual blindness, and shift the course of nations. He closes with a stirring call to corporate, Spirit-led warfare prayer, reminding the church that God has already conquered the enemy and it is our job to enforce the terms of surrender.

Transcript

Miracle Atmosphere And Opening Prayer

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Pick up our Bibles. I want to get into the Word with you this morning. And the Holy Ghost is here. I mean, when the Holy Ghost is here, almost anything, and in fact, really anything is possible. All things are possible. Let's say this together. Say, Heavenly Father, thank you for this atmosphere for miracles this morning. The anointing is here. It's abundant in here. I tap into your presence. I have information that I need. Let it become revelation in my spirit so that my faith can grow, that I can overcome all the trouble, every obstacle. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Fellowship In The Light

SPEAKER_01 0:43

Let's turn in our Bibles, please. You can be seated 1 John chapter 1, Junior, how I can be dismissed. Miss Lori is going to be teaching you this morning. Probably already gone. I was late saying that. 1 John chapter 1. And then also find James chapter 5. We'll start with verse 3 here in 1 John. This is the same John, you know, that was on the Isle of Potmos that saw Jesus. And, you know, this is, behold, I make all things new. This is Revelation 21, 5 year. He's making all things new. And uh and so he says here in verse 3, that which we have seen and heard, declare we unto you, that you may also have fellowship with us. And truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. And then verse 7, but if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin. So you notice there that sometimes, and it's it's just how much fellowship, how much koinania we have with each other, whether we really get cleansed. Some people need to get a good cleansing. Because they're kind of lone rangers. You know what I mean by a lone ranger? They're kind of just by themselves and they and they give themselves permission to do things that are wrong and they don't realize it's wrong. And you know, and when you're not rubbing up against other people, when you're not around the household of God, you know, you you can have some traveling stains. What do you mean by that? Well, in the days of Jesus, they they had sandals, they had to walk through dirt, they had to walk through dung. That's why they washed their feet. Their feet needed washing. You know, we walking through this ungodly world, we're seeing things and hearing things we shouldn't hear and see. We need the blood of Jesus. And it has to be applied. How does it apply it? With your mouth. And so I'm just I'm encouraging us. I mean, we need fellowship one with another, and we need fellowship with God. Everybody see Cornania. All right, and then James chapter 5, verse 16, and the second part of that chapter, or verse, rather, the effectual, fervent prayer of the righteous man availeth much. But I like the amplified, the earnest, heartfelt, continued prayer of a righteous person breaks tremendous power available, dynamic, multifaceted in its working.

Prayer Means Joining Forces

SPEAKER_01 3:47

And so we wanted to go today on the second message: joining forces with God. Prayer, joining forces with God. That's what prayer is. And we got into that last week heavily about the Koinea. I mean, prayer, that's what prayer is. Prayer is not a laundry list of your requests, it's not a bunch of repetition, it's it's fellowship, it's praise, it's worship, it's gratitude, it's great, you know, being grateful. That's prayer. Prayer thanksgiving. See, let's not, when we start, a lot of times people just get on prayer, it's just all supplication. God do this for me, God do the other thing for me, God do this, God. And you start out in as a Christian, that's kind of that you've got a baby way of praying, but you know, you need to grow. And this this series of messages will help you grow and help you get God's perspective on how important prayer is. And so, as we talked about last week, you know, fellowship was interrupted when Adam sinned, but Jesus restored the broken fellowship with God. Now God can once again be a father, and he can have children that he's fellowshipping with. Now, I mean that's the God's desire is for you and he to have koinania. And that word koinania, that fellowship, is is it means partnership, participation, communication, contribution, distribution. Boy, I that kind of puts it in a little different light. It's not just hanging out. I mean, participation is not standing in the sidelines looking at everybody else. No, you get into the game, you get down on the field of battle along with your brothers and sisters, and you become an army unit. Amen. Armies of God. We're soldiers in the army of God, amen. And so uh it takes a contribution. It takes a, you know, if we want a distribution, we need to make a contribution. I'm not just talking about money, money's included, but it's your life. You're spending time with him. And we talked about in John chapter 15, Jesus said, uh, I'm the vine, you're the branches, and my father is the husbandman or the vine dresser. And we discovered in verse 7 that Jesus cannot bear fruit without us. And we can't bear fruit without him. I mean, the vine doesn't bear the fruit, the branches do. And we're the branches. So, what is fruit? What is the fruit that we're to bear? Asking whatever we will, and it shall be done. That's the definition of fruit. It's the definition of fruit is having your prayers make a difference. Are y'all with me now? So it's nothing less than joining forces, number one, with the Father, number two with each other, and then number three with me. You're joining forces with me because you're in this outfit. I mean, if you're in this outfit, you don't join forces with the colonel over here, over in the other place. You're joining forces with me. Actually, I'm a general. I mean, I promoted myself back. We had an all-night prayer meeting right uh, you know, God told me, you know, uh, tell the people to come on Wednesday night, next Wednesday night. It was Sunday morning. Announce that you're gonna have all night prayer next Wednesday night. I said, God, I can't, I hadn't talked to anybody, but I hadn't talked to Gladys, I hadn't talked to anybody. I don't even know if we really all night prayer. He said, tell them. I said, oh, okay. So I just announced that we're gonna have all night prayer on the following Wednesday night. That's when we were in the Seventh-day Adventist Church down in uh West Houston. And so uh Wednesday night comes and so I decided, well, you know, we we've got an army, and we hadn't, we hadn't, we're rattling sabers at Iraq and everything looking it's looking bad. So I just decided to dress up like Colonel, uh like General Schwarzkopf. I had my desert camos on, my army boots, I had my hat, I had my I had my brass, I had my five-star brass on my collar. Well, I didn't, you know, I'm just joking around, you know. Guess what? That was the night we invaded Iraq. By 7:30, we heard over the radio that our forces had landed, and there we were praying all night long. I'm talking about joining forces with God now. I'm talking about a church that has a history of doing more than just, you know, the pray for Sister Jones this week. You know, no, this prayer is big stuff, it's important stuff. So

Romans 8 Confidence Under Pressure

SPEAKER_01 9:05

today, I want to get uh in Romans chapter 8, let's turn over there. And I want to impress upon you the fact that we are able ministers of the new covenant. And as such, when we're on God's side, you know, God's not just on our side, we're on his side. We can't expect him to be on our side if we're not on his side. So his side comes first. Get on God's side in the voting booth. Get on God's side in the political area, quit quit uh being for the enemy. Quit letting. You know, we have the power to bind and to loose, and that's a prayer. That's a prayer. And so we need to get familiar with that if you're not already. Romans 8, verse 31. What shall we say then to these things? Question mark. So what's he talking about? He's talking about everything in Romans up to that point, everything that he talked about. He's and he said that I'm trying to impart to you a foundation earlier in Romans. He's trying to build the church, uh, Paul is. And he's he wants to give them the truth, he wants to give them the word of God so that they can be strong. And then after this, he starts talking about Israel. He talks about, you know, that they're blinded to the gospel until the time of the Gentiles be fulfilled. In Romans 11, man, we we're living in those days right now. The time of the Gentiles is just about to be done. What do you mean? The last Gentile is gonna get saved, and then Jesus is coming to take the church off the face of the earth. And then he's gonna turn his full attention on Israel and on the Antichrist. But in the meantime, what do we do? We're supposed to bind the Antichrist, we're supposed to restrain him. Anyway, getting back to Romans, so what shall we say to these things? You've got to have something to say about the word of God. It can't, it's not just, you know, memory, it's not just your brain, it's your mouth, it's your confession and your heart. What shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? Yes. It's a question, Mark, but I answer yes, he is for us. Why? Because we're for him. He that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not also with him freely give us all things? Man, what a what a verse.

unknown 11:48

Thank you, thank you.

SPEAKER_01 11:49

I mean, that verse right there is worth coming to church for. The Bible says in Isaiah, it pleased the Lord to bruise him. How could that be? Well, because he knew in the bruising we would get saved. He knew there'd be an end to the bruising. He knew there'd be an end to the hell. He knew he was gonna raise him. Some people are so short-sighted they can't even, you know, they're griping about the cost of gas. And here we are, we've got a president that's intervening on the world stage, and if he doesn't do that, we're gonna we're gonna have nuclear war. You talk about gas, you won't have a gas pump if these fools get a nuclear weapon. I mean, I don't care what gas costs. I mean, you know, it'll come back down. Who cares? God's got us all the money we need to fill our danks up. Anyway, all right, so how should it not also with him freely give all give us all things? Who shall and then ask a series of questions? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? Everybody say, I'm a I'm a God's elect. See, that's what he calls you. I'm God's elect. Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. How does he justify the blood? Not by our resume, not what all the good things we've done. It's the blood that makes us the elect. Who is he that condemneth? You need to know who's the can who the one is that condemns. It's not God, it's the devil. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died. Yea, rather that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession for us. Present-day ministry of Jesus. He's praying for you. We talked about him being beside us. Well, you know what? He's praying for you. I mean, what you talk about having some prayer group pray for you, talk about some prayer line calling the 800 number and having a Jesus is at the right end of the Father praying for you. Or you'd melt right now, you'd fall apart. You're always on his mind. I'm just reading what the Bible says. I didn't make this up. I mean, Jesus, you know, the word is the word. Who, again, shall separate us from the love of Christ? See? Who, who, who? The devil, the devil, the devil. You gotta know who your enemy is and how he works. He's working to separate you from the love of Christ. He can't do it if you don't let him. You can let him or not let him. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? Why is he saying all that? Because he suffered all those, as Paul did. And he didn't allow those things that he suffered, which basically was persecution. It was the Jewish people that hated his guts. We've got people on the in America right now that hate our guts that would kill us right now if they could. I'm not just talking about the devil, I'm talking about people who want to kill you. They're so inflamed. And so, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, or peril or sword, as it is written, for my sake we are killed all the day long. We're counted as sheep for the slaughter. He's quoting Psalm 44 there. And then he says, verse 37, no way! Nuh uh. No, it isn't gonna be like that. Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. Nothing. You gotta make up your mind, no matter what the devil throws at you, that he's your answer, Jesus is your answer, and he's defeated. The devil's defeated. He's gonna throw some things at you. And see if they'll stick, see if you can get you in the victimhood, get you complaining. Well, God, only why you let this happen. He didn't let anything happen. You let it happen if it happened. Let's take ownership of what happens. Because God, he's for us. He's done all this already. He rose from the dead for you. He's given us power. So, knowing all these things, what things? All the persecution, distresses, trouble, tribulation, peril, danger, sword. And all these things, what? We are more than conquerors through him who loved it. That means that we don't have to conquer it. He did it already. All we're doing is enforcing the terms of surrender. So he's the conqueror, and we're what? The benefits of his conquering, so then we're more than conquerors. We don't even have to get our hands dirty or bloody. He's already defeated the devil. He's stripped him of his power, made him irrelevant. If we only knew the truth. You know, some people talk more about the devil than they do God. The devil this, the devil that. No, I tell you, God is in charge, amen, over our lives. And so, nay, and all these things were more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I'm persuaded. See, this is the part where you come in. You have to be persuaded. Paul had to get to the place where he was persuaded. I want to remind you there was a time when he wasn't persuaded. He prayed, you know, when there was a thorn in the flesh given unto him. When he began to preach in Christ, when he began to preach the gospel. The Jews rose up in unison and they they persecuted him from city to city. One time they stoned him to death, and his staff went around him in a circle and raised him from the dead, and he went right back in the town where they stoned him. I mean, he he he he goes through in 2 Corinthians chapter 12 all the things that he suffered. And uh, and so he he can he can write about this. And but so he said, I prayed to the Lord three times that it might depart. Lord, let this pass from me. And you know what Jesus said? My grace is sufficient for thee. Basically, when you've come to the end of your rope, that's when I'll take care. See, it was my grace. See, God's grace is upon us to get us through any difficulty that we have. He's got a way of escape, no matter what you're going through. I don't care how bad, how tough, there is a way of escape. And so he had to get fully persuaded of what he's talking about here in Romans. If Paul had to get fully persuaded, guess what? You're gonna have to get fully persuaded by hearing the word of God and meditating on it and acting on it. So I'm persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers. See, he's talking about demons there. Nor things present, nor things to come. Some of the things the devil has in mind hadn't showed up yet. They're on their way. We don't fear it. We don't bring it on, devil, and we're ready. We're ready to beat you into the dirt. We're ready to step on your head. Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. I mean, when you get anchored in his love and how much he cares for you, how he's making intercession for you, how he's made a way of escape for you, you can go through fire. Some of you going through fire right now. Well, praise God. Just praise God in the midst of the fire. Don't praise God for the fire, praise God in the midst of the fire.

Every Believer Shares The Mission

SPEAKER_01 20:42

So we've all joined forces with God to carry out his plan of redemption for the world. We talked about the believer's ministry recently, and uh, and he expects the church to be engaged in spreading the gospel, not just the five-fold ministry, not just the evangelist, not just the apostle, not just the pastor, teacher, and all of that, the prophet. No, he wants every believer to spread the good news. That's our job. And so uh we're joined forces with God. I think about Mount Mark 16, they went everywhere, and the Lord working with them. See, the Lord's working with us. We have absolute oneness with the Father when we have koin and nea with Him. Oneness with Jesus. I mean, we're one with Him. I mean, we were baptized into the body of Christ when we got saved. The Holy Ghost. There's three baptisms baptism of the Holy Ghost, the baptism in water, and the baptism into the body of Christ. I mean, we're one with Christ. Oh, you're the only Jesus some people are gonna ever see. And so um And we have perfect fellowship and cooperation between us. Nothing can defeat us, nothing can separate us from his love. Absolute mastery over the devil and demon powers. No, and all these things were more than conquerors through him. God is working actively on our behalf, speaking up for us, fighting for us, supplying every need. See, you've got to get fully persuaded. You've got to get persuaded. I'm talking about prayer, joining forces of God, and that's that's the position you're at when you're doing your praying. You're not praying from a standpoint of my poor little me. Oh God, if you just hear me this one time, please help me. Oh God. You know, you can pray like that when you're a baby, but come on, let's grow up and step into the right frame of mind, God's perspective and how important it is for us to work with him in concert with him on the earth. Because he's not coming back down here. I still, these prayer meetings, they just still insist on having 2 Corinthians 7, I mean 2 Chronicles 7, 14. They just insist on praying that prayer. It's just, it might as well just be twiddle dee, twiddledum. There's no power in that. That's Old Testament. It doesn't have anything to do with America. It has nothing to do with our authority. God is not, Jesus is not going to come down and heal our land. He's not. Who's going to heal it? We are. If it's healed, we are. Hey, it might not happen. Oh, what are you saying? I'm saying it's up to the church. Nations rise and nations fall, and America can fall. It can fall this next election if we don't wake up and take our rightful place. I see signs. I see signs of awakening, but I mean, you know, we're not there yet. Working overtime. Amen?

Able Ministers Work With God

SPEAKER_01 24:03

Let's look at 2 Corinthians chapter 3. This idea of being able ministers. I mean, you know, we're not weak worms of the dust. We're not little beggars, little vagabonds. In verse 4. And such trust have we through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God. Our sufficiency is of God. In other words, your ability is of God. I mean, you're not insufficient. You don't have a lack. You don't have a gap. You're in him. You're one with him. You fellowship with him, and his ability is your ability. How shall he not also with him freely give us all things? See that? All right, and then a couple of pages to the right, 2 Corinthians chapter 6. Verse 1. We then as workers together with him. See, we're workers together with him. See, he's not separate. This whole idea of God come down and heal our land. I mean, there's no revelation of the New Testament in that prayer. That's what the Jews prayed when they were punished for idolatry and they were taken off to Babylon, and now they wanted, you know, they they the prophet gave that cry. Let's pray for the healing of our land. It was out of their disobedience and their backslidden place. It it has nothing to do with where we are. The church of Jesus Christ, we're one with God. He's not coming down here to heal the land. I keep getting over that. I mean, I don't. It angers me to see it. Come on, wake up, church. We've got a better covenant than Israel. Are y'all with me now? I'm stepping on toes. Fine. I'll heal pray for healing. Come on down here. Anoint you with oil. Okay. 1 Corinthians chapter 3. Verse 9. Getting anything out of this? I'm getting revved up. I'm shifting gears up here. We're workers together with God. Here it is again. Verse 9. For we are laborers together with God. You are God's husbandry. You are God's building. You are God's husbandry. My margin says tillage. Remember, you know, Jesus said, I'm the vine, you're the branches, and my father is the husbandman. See, it's very similar. It's very similar. We're God's garden. We're growing in his garden, and he's tending us. And what is he tending us to do? Bear fruit. And what is the fruit? Anything we ask is done. See, that tells us our prayer lives should be impactful. Our prayer lives should matter. Our prayer lives should change nations. Our prayer lives should drive away the spirit of Antichrist. Are y'all with me now? And certainly our own personal lives. I mean, we should have more success. You know, James says you have not because you ask not. You ask and have not received because you ask amiss. Everybody's praying 2 Chronicles 7.14, they're asking amiss. So it's just might as well just have a quilting bee. Let's have a garage sale. Forget it. I mean, you're not doing anything.

unknown 28:07

Come on.

SPEAKER_01 28:08

Oh, Pastor, that's so hard. I'm sorry. I'm so tired of it. I'm tired of this. They just persist. It's unbelief. To think God is going to do everything. No, God has already done everything. And He's given us the authority to execute it. Are y'all with me now? So we have God's ability. We're not limited. We're joined to the omnipotent one. Psalm 108, 13. Let's look at that one. Boy, I love this verse. You read Psalms every day? You should. It's the language of praise. Through God, we do valiantly. Let me see. Let me quote it right. Psalm 108.13. Through God we shall do valiantly, for he it is that shall tread down our enemies. Well, how does he do that? Through your feet. See, we're walking on the enemy. See, he's treading through your feet. That's how one you are with God. Whenever we defeat the devil, it's him in us doing it. By himself, it's not gonna happen. By himself, it's not gonna happen. He's looking for faith-filled partners, contributors, communicators. Are y'all with me now? And so uh everybody say I'm an able minister. See, we're able because he's able in us. Able ministers of the new covenant. So uh joining forces with God makes tremendous power available to three uh groups of people I'll talk about.

Praying For The Lost First

SPEAKER_01 30:00

First, the lost, second, the sick and the oppressed, and number two, the nation and Israel. So uh joining forces with God makes tremendous power available for the lost. In 2 Corinthians chapter 4, why are people lost? It tells you exactly why. And uh you need to know why. You know, well, they're lost because they do evil things. No, that's not why they're lost. The evil comes from this other thing. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 3. But if our gospel, our good news be hid, it is hid to them that are lost. See, they they the gospel is hid to them. That's why they're that's why they're lost. They're not lost because of the sin, they're lost because the gospel hadn't gotten to them. And what hindered it? In whom the God of this age has blinded the minds of them who believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ should shine in unto them. They're walking in darkness. The devil and and not just the devil, but the spirit of this age. All that floating mass of woke, LGBTQ, all of the things that we're seeing in our society that's part of the spirit of this age. Tallerico is an antichrist spirit. If I've ever heard one, seen one. He is absolutely demonized. He's a pawn, he's a fraud. They just gave him the words to say, I don't even know if he believes what he says.

unknown 31:45

No, he doesn't even know.

SPEAKER_01 31:47

No, he doesn't know. Beto said, oh, he's even greater than me. Well, you weren't nothing, Beto. Beto, God. Another invented person. They invent them. They have a factory somewhere and they invent these people. We're laughing, but you know what? If he becomes senator of, you know, if he becomes senator, it's gonna be bad. We've already got Muslims in there, we've got people, we've got, we've got communists in there, we've got people that are really, they're bad people. Why is that? Because we didn't do anything. Let's just face the music. That's what this church is all about. This church, God lit my fire years and years and years ago. Share some of that tonight. But we're making a difference, but we're there's a gap. We're gonna have to close the gap between now and November the 3rd. We're gonna have to close the gap. That's our job. Well, that's politics. Well, you know, this is where we live. This is the greatest country on the face of the earth. It is it is the shining beacon. Nobody, I mean, people die to get here. People die to get out of other places, and they die to get here. Pretty good place, I'd say. All right, so uh their minds are blinded because of the spirit of this age. I think about Galatians 4.19. Paul, you know, started the church in Galatians, and they were they were Jewish. Most of the early church was Jewish and they converted. And they got off base and they started going back to Judaism. He started going back and denying salvation by grace alone. They started trying to keep the law. He said, I can't believe you're doing that. I stand in doubt of you. I I, you know, my little children of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you. That's what he said. He said, I gotta start over. I've got to travail in birth. I got to give birth to you all over again. Because you've gone over here and polluted yourselves with the idea that you can earn your way to heaven through all these sacrifices. That's over with. Christ is the end of the law for righteousness. The law was imputed righteousness only for the old covenant. And once Jesus came and died and rose from the dead, there's no more sacrifice for sin. There's no more animal sacrifice that does you any good whatsoever. So he's saying, I've got to travail. See, what is that? Prayer. I think about a woman giving birth. I'm glad it's women and not me. But I mean, when you give birth, it's it's your whole body. I mean, if you give natural childbirth, I mean your whole body's involved, and I mean it is not fun. I mean, it's not a picnic. And I mean, your body's got to deform and let that little thing get, that little alien get out of you and pop out on the other side, and all your bones move, your tissue moves, everything moves, you're screaming, hollering. Some of you can relate to that, a lot of them, you know. I I was far on the other side of the hospital. In those years, they didn't let men anywhere near. So I was delivered from the joyous occasion. But I saw the after effect. Saw the after effect. And see, that's kind of the way it is. In other words, you know, we can, in prayer, we can birth things. There's a birthing. You know, the kind of praying we need to do for the lost is many times is birthing. It's, yes, we're going to break the power of the devil that's blinded the minds of our children or our siblings or our parents or our loved ones or our friends. That's the first thing on the list. You bind the devil. Devil, I break your power to blind their minds. Father, I pray the Lord of the harvest to send laborers in their path. Now that's part of the job. But the rest of the job now then is we've got to pray in the Holy Ghost. And we don't pray God's blessing all over our children. Oh, God, give him a new job. Oh, my son, he needs a new. No, he needs to get saved. Quit praying the blessing over it.

unknown 36:23

Hallelujah.

SPEAKER_01 36:26

He needs to get saved. I mean, what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul? Get busy praying in the Holy Ghost and giving birth to that new birth that's going to happen. Then you can pray the blessing of God on it. Well, he asked me to pray. Son, I'm praying for you to get saved. I, you know, I don't know who this is for, but I mean, we're wasting time getting away from God's word and getting away from God's perspective. I mean, we've got this power. It's amazing. I've seen it work. Everybody say it's working in my family. It's working in my friends. Years ago, I tell the story.

A Healing That Sparked Salvation

SPEAKER_01 37:16

I hadn't been going to Lakewood maybe a couple of years. I mean, I'm still pretty new. But my aunt Eunice had a bad case of pneumonia, had to go to the emergency room, and they put her in ICU. And her oxygen level fell, and she was in bad shape. And we heard about it. And so my sister and brother-in-law, Gladys and I, we all, after Lakewood Church, after that morning service, we went by the Herma Hospital to go see if I could go in and pray for her. And uh she's the wife of my Uncle Eddie, and my dad's one of my dad's older brothers. I said, Uncle Eddie, I'm just here to pray for Aunt Eunice. I just want to come lay hands on her and believe God to, you know, heal her. And my my attitude was, I will not let her die because I don't know if she's saved.

unknown 38:09

There you go.

SPEAKER_01 38:10

I'm not gonna let her die because I don't know if she's saved. Because I mean, I grew up and Catholic and all that, and we were around all these people, and my one uncle was a Baptist deacon. I knew they were saved, I knew they were serving God, but this uncle, they're good people, but they don't go to church. They don't talk about the Lord, they don't, I mean, you know, they're just kind of just regular people. So I didn't know if she's saved. So I wasn't gonna let her die. She's 70 years old. And so that's my attitude. I'm gonna end in there, I'm getting her healed, and then she can get saved. And so uh she wouldn't let me see her. She said, I she don't want to let she don't want anybody to see her like this. I thought, oh God. Okay, well just let her know we're praying. So we did pray, you know, but she wouldn't let me in there. So the next day, I go back up. God wouldn't let me alone, see. God wouldn't let me alone. So I went back up there. I heard that she'd gotten in a coma. So I went in and said, Uncle Eddie, she's not gonna know that I'm in there. Let me in there. I need to pray for her. I'm telling you, I need to lay my hands on her in Jesus' name. I believe God will heal her. And he kind of hem-hawed around and said, Okay, all right. And uh, and so his oldest daughter, my cousin, went in there with me. She's Episcopalian. And I could hardly find any place to lay my hands, she's the tubes everywhere. So the her had kidney failure, multiple organ failures, so the dialysis was taking the medication out of her, so she's running a race. I mean, you know, the dialysis is removing the medication, the medication is trying to get rid of the she's losing badly. See, her brain waves almost flat, almost. Her feet were curled up. They had to put tennis shoes on her feet. She's in such a deep coma. She looks like she's dead to me. She's yellow. And they're breathing for her. So I come in there and I went through the hallway and all the family's outside praying in her funeral. Well, you know, next week this, next week that. I'm going through all this unbelief. Going in, and the sisters got unbelief with me. I didn't have enough sense then to tell her to leave. But she was with me. And so I just leaned over and said, Aunt Eunice, this is John Walter. I go by both names at that part of the family, you know, southern people. They both named. So John Walter is what I was known by. It's John Walter. I'm going to lay hands on you in Jesus' name. He's going to heal you today. And I said, and she said, You think she can hear me? I said, Her spirit heard me. See, it's so good to know that somebody's spirit is not dead. Somebody's spirit's not deaf. Her brain is in a coma, but her spirit is not. And so I lay, I just, I found a place on her leg. I laid my hands on her in the name of Jesus. I prayed in tongues first. And she said, What's that? I said, I'm praying in tongues. I'm just getting ready to lay hands on her. And so then I, you know, I had to just kind of rev myself. I mean, I had to get all that off of me. All that unbelief and all that darkness that I had to walk through. And so I laid my hands on her, and when I did, it was like they had the paddles on her. She went whoop like that. She jumped up out of the bed, you know, like six inches. And I thought my cousin was gonna die through the window. She, oh, what was that? I said, that's a healing power of God. It's your mother. Two weeks later, she wheeled out of the hospital. She lived another eight years. And her and her husband got to be members of Central Baptist Church and started going to church every week. I'm talking about prayers for the lost. See, I mean, you know, God can bring a demonstration of all of this at one time. And lost people can get saved.

Travail And Spirit Led Intercession

SPEAKER_01 42:19

Are y'all getting anything out of this today?

SPEAKER_00 42:21

Come on.

SPEAKER_01 42:25

This travail, what is that travail? Well, it's only happened to me maybe a handful of times in 40 years. So it's not something that I operate in very often, but I yield to it from time to time. It's in the Bible. It's in Romans 8, uh Romans 8.26. And it's in here, you know, at uh Galatians. One morning we uh went to a full gospel advance. They don't believe in retreating. So we go to a full gospel advance, full gospel businessmen, and at Mo Ranch up in the hill country on the Guadalupe River. We had Friday night service, and then Saturday morning I got up really early before daylight, and I was walking down this pathway next to the river, praying in the Holy Ghost, praying in tongues. And I'd been walking about 10, 15 minutes, and suddenly I just felt this heaviness hit me. I had to fall on my knees right next to the river, and I began to just sob. I began to just from the depth, just like I was, it was just like really weird. I just don't act like that. I didn't even do that when my dad died. I mean, I just I was just crying and from the very depths, and just all I could do was, oh God, and just cry and cry. I couldn't pray really in English. I I prayed in tongues, but then mostly it was crying and sighing and groaning. And after about 10 minutes, it kind of lifted off of me, and I got up. Wipe my face, and I thought, man, what was that? Was that travail? And so I kept walking. By that time it's daylight, and this young, this other guy's meeting me on the trail. He's a tall and thin guy. So I stopped to introduce myself. And uh we traded names. Where are you from? I'm from Houston. I I live in Houston now, but I'm from Utopia. I said, Utopia? Yeah, I've been to Utopia. I know where Utopia is. My brother lives, and my brother was with me on that trip. He lives uh down the road in Vanderpool. Yeah, I've been to Utopia lots of times. I said, uh, well, you you're in, you know, you moved back to Utopia. He said, yeah, I moved to Houston, but uh I'm in the carpet cleaning business, and and one night God burned my house down and burned up my truck. And I had to move back and get my job back at the at the post office in Utopia. I'm back at the post office now, but and so I just, when he said that, it's like he spit in my face, you know, said God burned his ass down. I knew better than that. It matters where you go to church, it matters what you hear, it matters what you gotta know the difference between the devil and God. Well, God allowed my church, my house to be. No, he didn't allow anything. The devil did it. And so that's just what I said. I mean, you know, I just not real tactful. I said, God didn't burn your house down, the devil burned your house down. And it was like I hit him right in the mouth. I mean, it just, you know, he went back like that, his eyes bugged out like this. And he's looking at me, but not looking at me, you know, and he was, oh, and I thought he was gonna take a swing at me. I I kind of got braced and tried a duck, you know. He went, oh, you're right. I said, Well, thank God you. I'm talking about travail, birth, this man. And later that morning he got saved in the service. I I could have led him to the Lord right then, but I mean, I'm learning. I'm learning how to how to operate this. That night he came up for the baptism, and I got to minister to him, and I mean, I've never had anybody. I thought the guy was gonna jump through the ceiling. I mean, he started shouting, hollering in Chinese or something. I mean, it sounded like Chinese to me. He got the Holy Ghost just like that. Come on, lift your hand right now. Praying for the lost makes tremendous power available. Praying for the sick and are oppressed. See, same thing with my aunt. I mean, as far as I was concerned, she was lost. I'm not sure she was probably backslid now, but on my side, I prayed like she was lost. And uh let's look at Romans 8.26. We pray Romans 8.26 routinely in this church. Verse 26, 8. Likewise, the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities. For we know not what we should pray for as we ought. But the Spirit, that is the Holy Spirit itself or himself, maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. So groanings can be travail, it can be just basically speaking in other tongues. It doesn't have to be groanings. Sometimes you do groan, sometimes you run out of your prayer language, and sometimes all you can do is just depends on what it is you're praying about. But you're when you yield to the Holy Ghost, He can use your mouth to say the things that need to be said about anything or anybody. Your brain doesn't know how to pray. Your brain, you might try to reason that, well, I'm gonna pray this, that, and the other for my child and get them a raise. No, pray in the spirit for them. He knows how. I'm not saying you curse your children, I'm saying let's make the most important thing the most important thing. Are y'all with me now? So the spirit himself helpeth our infirmities, feebleness of mind and our body is infirmity. We're feeble in our mind because we don't know. Don't know how to pray. We're feeble in that area about praying for someone or something. We don't know how to approach it. I can't tell you how many times we pray about what to pray about. I just routinely pray about what to pray about. I don't just launch off. I start praying about what to pray about. Because the Holy Ghost needs, He He knows what's needful right now. Sometimes it's time sensitive. I mean, that young man that I met on the pathway that morning, it was time sensitive. I had to be yielded to the Holy Ghost and get on my knees and and groan and travail and birth something, and it happened. So, uh, he helpeth our infirmities. He takes hold together with against. The Holy Ghost takes hold together with you against this weakness of you not knowing. And now you're gonna pray the perfect will of God. You're gonna pray exactly what needs to be prayed. Are y'all getting a hold of this now? I mean, this is something you've got to have in your life. It's gotta be, this is how you pray for your house. This is how you pray for your children, your children, your wife, your spouse. Everybody say, I'm an able minister. See, God counts you an able minister. We're workers together with Him. The Holy Ghost is working with you. He's laboring, he's not doing it all by himself. You're not doing it all by yourself, it's a partnership. There's a participation, there's a contribution, there's a fellowship. Praise God. And then lastly, for the nation and for Israel.

Armor Up For Corporate Prayer

SPEAKER_01 50:15

Look at Ephesians chapter 6. Are y'all getting anything out of this today? Verse 10. Finally, my brother. See there, you see that word finally. What's it talking about? It's wrapping up the book of Ephesians. Everything he said in the book of Ephesians. Now he's putting the cap on it. You better leave knowing these next verses. Finally, my brethren. Be strong in the Lord. See, not in you, not in your strength. Be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. That word power is the Greek word kratos. Really, I guess the best definition of it is resurrection power. It's it's authority and supernatural and dunamis together. It's just another level, a greater. Be strong in that. Be strong in that power. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles, the military strategies of the devil. Everybody say, stand against. See, some of our praying needs to be against. I'm going to talk about tonight the cry against. We pray too much positive. We pray too much in the positive. We pray too much for God to do something instead of taking our place of authority and coming against things. I double dog dare you to come back tonight. I know most of you won't, but I double dog dare you. All day long, you're going to hear, Pastor, I he double dog dared me. I better go back. You need what I'm going to give you tonight. You need it. We need it. It needs to be released again. I preached it many times, but it needs to be released again. We're in a tough spot in this country. And you know, the things that we prayed during power hour prayer, you know, we had power hour prayer on Sunday nights a lot through 2021, 2022 after Biden stole the election. I mean, we prayed on Sunday nights. I mean, the Holy Ghost would give us utterance to speak things. I remember one time he said, he put in my heart, upset their apple cart. It's hilarious, you know. I had to look it up. You know, it's an old idiom. Up, you know, back when they used to sell apples on the street, you know, in this old car, you know, upset it and all the apples go flying. I mean, they we've upset, listen, our prayers are being answered right now. They're being exposed. All this corruption. Treason. They should be lined up in a firing squad. All the way from Obama, all the way down, the whole Comey, all of them. Biden doesn't even know his name, so it's forget it about him. Come tonight. I mean, I'm listening I'm I don't make a lot of demands, but you need to come tonight. It well, I don't normally make an exception. It won't hurt you, it'll help you. Alright, enough of that. So uh, what do you need? You need the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the military strategies of the devil. He's he's trying to take this country out before the harvest. If this country falls, the harvest will suffer, and Jesus is not going to come back on time. He's gonna have to delay. Or do you get it? I want him to come. I want to harvest like God. God wants the harvest. He has long patience for it, but he wants it. And I want it. Do you want it? For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. That's our demon powers. High-level demon powers. They operate in the heavenlies just above the earth, in the in the atmosphere. All this UFO business. I don't believe in any of it. I don't believe there's any being anywhere else. They're just finding weirdness that the devil has produced. He's a supernatural enemy. He works in the supernatural. His manifestations can be supernatural. They can fool people. I'm not going to be fooled. God didn't tell me to go to Mars and get people saved. Go to Pluto next week. There I said it. Wherefore, because of this, again, see, it tells you again, take upon you the whole armor of God. Said it the second time. Double enunciation of God. It must be important. And then he talks about what it is. That you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand. So that tells me that there's going to be a battle in faith in our prayer life. We're going to have to stand for something, withstand some pressures against us. That's what we're doing. You've got to know how to do it. We can't play twiddly dink, twiddle diddle-dumb. 2 Chronicles 7, 14, yang yen, yang yang. You're not doing anything. Let's get into Ephesians. This is what we ought to be praying. Take upon you the whole armor of God. You may be to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand, stand therefore. You've got the idea that we ought to be standing. Having your loins gird about with truth, having on the breastplate of righteousness, your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith we're able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. Rhema word. The word there is Rhema, God breathed word. When you're in prayer, God can breathe a word for you to speak in your own understanding. Now you're praying in the Spirit, you're being spirit-led in the utterance. It's good to pray in tongues, but now we need to learn how to speak the right words under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. Upset their apple cart was one example. I've got several that he gave me when we were praying on Sunday nights. We would, I'm telling you, I remember in 2009 on a Wednesday night, after Obama got elected, they were about to vote on Obamacare. What an abomination. What an abomination. I said, what an abomination. We prayed against it. And I saw all these dominoes falling. You know, you ever see this presentation where they knock one domino and it goes like 30 minutes, you know. That's what I saw. Well, you know, they passed it the next day. It didn't look like our prayers did any good. Hey, we're living right now. Right now, these things, their dominoes are falling, they're getting exposed. Are y'all getting this? I mean, we think it's gonna happen today, tomorrow, next week, next month. It might be 20 years, but when we've stood, having done all to stand, amen. I have to stand for this nation, stand for Israel. Boy, Israel is under attack. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, the Rhema of God. That's the only offensive weapon, is the word, the Rhema word. That's where you stick the devil. If you don't have that, all you are on defense then. You're just backing up on defense, and you're just okay, I'm gonna quell that dart, I'm gonna let that one bounce off my shield, that's bounced off my head. No, let's get the sword and go. Stick him in the gizzard. Everybody say gizzard. I like, I like the I like the sound of that word. All right. So be strong in the Lord and the power of his might, kratos, mighty power. Praying with all, and then it goes on, praying always, verse 18, praying. Says the armor is for prayer. The armor is for koinonia. Because when you take on the armor, you're taking on the power and the protection that you must have when you get out into the spirit realm to deal with these demonic powers. We should not be doing this on an individual basis. We ought to be doing this as a church. We ought to be doing this under the covering of the pastor in your fellowship with me to lead you. Whether it's me or my ones that I've delegated. We've got associate pastors that have the same anointing. So it says, verse 18, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. So there's watching in prayer. Everybody say watching in prayer. What does that mean? Well, because you pray, God can show you things. When you pray, God can reveal things while you're praying, and now you know what he knows about this thing, and now you can find out how he wants you to attack it. Because if you see it, you have authority to change it. It's so quiet in here. I mean, are y'all getting this? I just believe that this is an impartation that's gonna change your prayer life, it's gonna cause you to want to join in with us more on a corporate basis. We're gonna have to attack these things as a church more than just individually. Yeah, we can pray for those in authority and all that, and what Timothy said, pray for your those in authority and so forth. We ought to do that on an individual basis. But what I'm talking about, when you're confronting the spirit of Antichrist like what we do, it takes agreement and prayer. Yes, a corporate anointing. Are y'all with me now? So he said, praying always, and one one verse, one uh translation says, with all manner of prayer in the spirit. Sometimes we praise, sometimes we just shout. Tonight I'm gonna talk about crying out. That's when you raise your voice.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:53

You don't pray this kind of prayer, Heavenly Father, we beseech thee that by thy vouchsafe to keep us from the evil one. No, you raise your voice, Jesus!

SPEAKER_01 1:02:12

You know, when the apostles they were threatened, told not to teach and preach in that name anymore. They they went to their own company, they had a prayer meeting, and when they lifted up their voice, it wasn't a quiet prayer meeting. I mean it was loud. Well, you're not heard by your volume. Well, but but the volume uh translates from your spirit and how earnest are you? It's the earnestness there and amplified. Earnest means you are intent, you are not willing. You know, it's just like the brother Smith Wigglesworth. He said, you know, most people just don't get mad enough at the devil. They just kind of just, you know, say, get away, get away now. And he talks about this lady that was going to go catch the bus, and she had little Fifi, her little poodle, followed her out the door. And Fifi just was following her down the block. She says, No, Fifi, go back now. Go, you can't go with mama, go back. And she just kept walking, and Fifi kept walking right behind her. No, now, Fifi, now go on, but obey me now. Go back home. No, go on. And then finally, you know, Fifi didn't obey her. She said, go back home. And Fifi turned around and sometimes we gotta, you know, when I when I bind the devil, I slam my foot on my hand on the desk or wherever I'm praying. I just go, in the name of Jesus, cease and desist. I don't know if this is helping you, but I'm getting happy. Praise God. Everybody say I'm an able minister. See, we can make a difference in this country, we can make a difference in Israel. The whole point of this is to prepare, the bride is making herself ready for the coming of the Lord. Jesus is coming. The bridegroom is coming for a bride that is adorned. And part of this adornment is the fruit of asking or demanding whatever we will, and what we will is what God wills, because we're in concert with Him, and it's done. That's what He's coming for. So we're making ourselves ready in this way. Praise God. Joining forces with God makes tremendous power available in our world. Come on, lift your hands and receive today. Hallelujah. Glory to God. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Lord. Everybody say tremendous power.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:35

Hallelujah.