Pastor Dustin…
Are you excited to be here this morning? My name is Dustin. I’m the youth pastor here at Living Word on behalf of our senior pastors, Mac and Lynne Hammond. I want to welcome you and thank you for being here.
I always like to just start with praying in the Spirit. I’ve noticed more and more lately it seems like I don’t even know where to start when I pray. I don’t know if you can relate to that at all. So this morning, let’s just start by praying in the Spirit. I have some things that I’d like to pray about. I think it would be good to spend some time praying for the elections and for our country, but we’ll just endeavor to be led. And I believe that if we’re all faithful to pray out and to declare what we believe the Lord’s giving us, then we’ll accomplish everything that we’re supposed to this morning.
I love how the Lord puts it all together, right? It doesn’t always make sense to your mind right away. I remember early on when I was an intern here, I would pray in the mornings with Pastor Kent. And I would usually be back there. He would be up here. He didn’t have a microphone, but he would be walking around and there would be times where I would feel led to pray something out. So just in the back of the room, I would just pray things out in my understanding, and I would hear what he’s praying. And it sounded totally different, so then I would think, “Oh, I must have missed it.” But then by the end of the prayer time, it was like it all just came together in such a beautiful way. And there were times that I would say something in the back of the room, I knew he couldn’t hear me and then he would like say the next part up here, but I could hear him. Cause he’s praying a little bit louder than I was. And you can just see how the Lord works it all together.
So the important thing isn’t that we understand it all. The important thing is just that we’re obedient and we step out in faith and do what we believe He’s telling us to do. So let’s just begin.
Prayed…
Father, we thank you for the opportunity that we have to gather together corporately.
Father, we thank you for this election on every level for school boards, for local governments, and for people running for mayor, people running for senate, the governor’s races.
We thank you for raising people up all across this nation who will be led by you.
We thank you, Father, that when people step into the ballot box, they would be convicted in their hearts as they go to vote.
We pray that your Spirit would lead them and guide them and impress on them even when they get down to the judges.
Hindrances, be removed in Jesus’ name!
Plans being exposed and truth being revealed in Jesus’ name.
We hold the blood of Jesus up and we thank you, Father, for a peaceful election. A great calm, a great peace.
And we hold the blood of Jesus up against any assignment from the enemy to cause division or strife or disunity.
We loose angels, ministering spirits, to go out and prepare the way.
We pray about candidates who will cooperate with your Spirit to step into office and they would work with you to establish your kingdom here on this earth.
Because we understand that we are about kingdom business.
We understand that our lives are not our own, we’ve been bought with a price.
We understand that our purpose in being here is to work with you to establish your kingdom in this earth, to bring people into harmony with you to worship you.
So we thank you, Father, for removing any attempt of the enemy, any plan, any strategy, any schemes… we rebuke that in the name of Jesus.
We thank you, Father, for revival sweeping across this nation… reformation and revival… a return to the Word of God and a return to a move of the Spirit.
Believers everywhere returning back to biblical Christianity, allowing the Word of God to be the final authority in their lives, hungry to learn and grow in the Word.
Missionaries being sent forth…believers will rise up and take their places… and understand the role that they have to play in this thing.
And they would get up out of their slumber and out of their apathy and they would join themselves to the body and contribute… no more sitting out, no more watching from the sidelines.
Sister Barb…
Paul had a calling even as Saul… and he thought he was doing the will of God. But God stopped him in the midst of his moving in the earth. And Paul was blinded. And as he sought the Lord, and the Lord sent one to remove those blinders from his eyes. He sent one to remove those scales from his eyes so he could see his true purpose in the earth, so he could come into an understanding of the fullness of his calling in the earth. And as I was sitting there, I said, “Okay, Lord, yes, you send those people to remove the blinders, to pray for those that would be blinded to their purpose and their calling.” And the Holy Ghost said, “You do it!” I said, “Okay.” So we’re going to do that today.
Prayer for blinders to be removed…
In the name of Jesus, Father, we speak to those that are blinded by their own purpose in the earth… blinded by their own will… their old plans. We pray for those today, Father, believers and unbelievers… those that are walking in the way that they’re not supposed to walk, that are doing the things that they’re not supposed to do and they’re just not seeing it, Father God.
So we speak to that today in the name of Jesus. We command that blindness to be removed from you now. We command vision to come to you.
We command that purpose of God to come to you now, to be revealed to you now, your eyes to be open to your calling and your purpose in the earth.
That their eyes would be open to the opportunities that you bring… that their eyes would be open to the doors that are open to them by your Spirit.
It’s time for everyone to be moving in plan of God, to be walking in their purpose, to be in their place… that anointed place of the Holy Spirit where they function to perfection … supplying to others, supplying to the body… perfectly, perfectly formed and fitted together as one.
Receiving that life flow, Father, that life flow of the body, receiving that life flow of the Holy Spirit.
All that frustration, Father, removed by your Spirit… like they keep coming up against a wall and can’t seem to get through that thing. In the name of Jesus, today, breakthrough for you by the Holy Spirit. Breakthrough, Breakthrough. Hearing, hearing, hearing the voice of God, hearing that direction of the Spirit today in Jesus’ name.
Receiving that direction that is needed in this hour, in this time.
Thank you, Father, for the covering of the Holy Spirit. Thank you for the covering of the blood of Jesus Christ. Thank you for the angels that you’ve assigned to each one, every person, every human being in the earth… you’ve assigned angels, ministering spirits to assist them in their purpose and calling … to bear them up, clear things out the pathway… to cause things to come to them… those things that are necessary … fully supplied in the name of Jesus.
Pastor Dustin…
Physical healings. Physical healings. But it’s not just physical healings. It’s like a mental, emotional, a wholeness…
You know how sometimes you’re praying for somebody and it’s like there’s so many different things that they’re giving you a list of all of these different things going on in their life, and then the presence and power of God touches them. And it’s like you don’t even know what was all healed and corrected. But they’re changed. They’re new, they’re whole. And it’s like if you were to try to take it on symptom by symptom, you won’t even know where to begin. The list would be a hundred pages long.
But God is our creator, and He knows us better than we know ourselves. And if He created us, He can heal us. The original manufacturer is going to be the best repair man.
So healing that’s sweeping across the nation and it’s knitting hearts together. It’s dealing with offense. It’s dealing with bitterness. It’s dealing with unforgiveness.
It’s moments where the presence of God touches people… like Paul going to Tarsus … Paul riding on his donkey and Jesus interrupted his life. And put scales on his eyes and then took the scales off of his eyes and it changed everything in his life.
A touch from God that changed everything. That’s what we’re believing for, for this nation. A touch from God that changes everything. Something that no person can take credit for, only God can be glorified. We can only shout to Him and praise Him and thank Him because we know that it’s nothing that we did ourselves. It’s nothing that we were capable of doing ourselves. It was a move of God, and He gets all the credit for it.
And we thank you that America fulfills its purpose. We know that there’s a purpose for this country, just like every country. We pray, Father, that America fulfills its purpose, the purpose that you’ve given to it.
We know that’s going to happen. When the people that live in it fulfill their purpose. We’re not looking for just the land, the buildings to fulfill her purpose. We’re talking about the people fulfilling their purpose.
Pastor Dustin shared about conversation with Pastor Lynne…
I was talking with Pastor Lynne on Wednesday night and she was telling me about how years ago, 1984, 87 or something like that… there was this part of Minneapolis where it was really, really bad area. I’m paraphrasing. And so they leased a building or rented a building and they would go in that building. There was no electricity. She said they’d have flashlights, and they would just pray and pray and pray and pray. And she said that part of this city just changed. There was prosperity, crime went down. Can you imagine if we as believers did that all over in our cities, in our communities? We took time and we got serious about it. And we actually gave ourselves over to praying in the Spirit and allowing Him to lead us.
And then she started talking about the church plants and she said, “When we plant these churches, we’re going to teach people how to pray because we’re believing that what God was able to do through us here in this city at that time. He’s going to do in these other nations. He’s going to raise up pray-ers who are going to pray and it’s going to change the economy of the country. It’s going to change the social structure of the country. It’s going to change the political climate in the country.
I was just thinking of that as we were praying. There are natural things that we need to do, but we need to be faithful to pray as He’s leading us and directing us. And really yielding yourself over to the Spirit of God. And if you have to groan and travail and weep … I’m not saying you got to work yourself up into a lather to accomplish something, but I’m just saying give yourself over it. Yield to Him.
When was the last time you cried over your city? When was the last time you really got on your knees and you stood on the Word of God and you just declared and prophesied over your city, over your local leaders, and over your state? It makes a difference. It changes things. It changes atmospheres.
So even after we leave this place, ask the Lord what is it that you need to pray about. And then spend time praying in the Spirit and allow Him to lead you and direct your words and give you utterance. Allow Him to lead you and start taking care of business in your prayer closet.
