Pastor Ken…
Good morning, everyone.
Back to Adam’s original position…
Let me share a couple of thoughts here before we continue to pray this morning. I was reminded the other day that what Jesus did through His redemptive work for us, was meant to bring us back to a place… really back to Adam’s original position to restore us to a place of intimacy with our Creator and ability to exercise dominion in the earth realm.
Kenneth Hagin vision…
And as we were worshiping there, I was reminded when Kenneth Hagin shared a vision that he had, an experience with Jesus, in fact, where I believe he was on a football field of some sort. And as he was on that football field exposed and open. He saw coming toward him a great lion that was surely meant to devour him. And if I recall correctly, he didn’t really know what to do. He was kind of looking to the Lord in this vision. “What am I supposed to do? Why aren’t you here?” And, suddenly just blurted out, “Stop! in the name of Jesus.” He commanded that lion. And actually, I think what I’m recalling is the situation where it was actually a monkey or some sort of monkey entity. And he spoke to that entity who was harassing and distracting him. And if I remember correctly, he was trying to have a conversation with Jesus and he spoke to that monkey-like entity to “stop!”
Example of when Kenneth Hagin used his authority…
He also had another vision where he saw a lion as well. This was years ago before there was a whole lot of teaching on spiritual authority. But he spoke to that entity, and it fell to the ground like a sack of salt, as he said. And he was rather shocked. But then he took it a step further and said, “Now get up and get out of here!” And the thing left with this tail between its legs, like a sad whipped puppy. And at that moment, he did it because he was so frustrated that this enemy was harassing him and creating a distraction that he could not hear where Jesus was teaching him. And he wanted to hear what Jesus was saying.
Jesus said, “I could not have done anything about it…”
How many of you would agree you would want to hear what Jesus had to say if He was talking to you personally? Well, as he continued his conversation with the Lord, the Lord said to him in no uncertain terms, “If you had not done something about that entity that was harassing and distracting you, I could not have done anything about it.” And maybe many of us probably know that or maybe we’ve even heard that story, but that’s a good reminder on this Tuesday morning that there’s been such a price paid for us to be endowed with spiritual weaponry and spiritual arraignments. And as warriors, we talked yesterday about how pray-ers and believers ought to be warriors in this hour. Not kind of just getting by, but going on the offense, being aggressive in our faith and in our prayers.
We’re to always be praying in the spirit…
The Bible reminds us that we’re to pray always… praying always in the spirit… praying always, period. Right? Because prayer pushes back darkness. Prayer releases the hand of God. Prayer positions you and me to receive His fullness. Not just on a Tuesday morning in prayer, online, or in the chapel, but every day. Every moment of your day, there is a portal opened up. And His name is Jesus.
Jesus is the portal…
Jesus said, “I am the door. I am the way. I am the life. I am the truth. I am the portal to all that you need. And I’ve supplied all things that pertain to life and godliness.”
Your prayers, your words, are important…
But make no mistake about it, your words are important. Your prayers are important. Just like in Kenneth Hagin’s case, his words bound a demonic entity and in an hour where we’re seeing increasing evil activity, right? Or if you read Jonathan Cahn’s book, even the ancient gods of the ancient worlds are, once again, activated and even operating in America… if you can believe that.
We need to press down on the pedal of His “moreness…”
So as believers, we can’t function as we have functioned perhaps in the past or just get by or just have enough of God. We need to have all that God wants us to have. We need to press down on the pedal of His “moreness” now in all that He has for us and become a people not only wholly filled and flooded with Him, but also very aware and adept at using the implements of our warfare. To recognize that we hold the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. And when that Word is spoken, that Word carries a certain authority. That word stops entities. That Word routes sickness… the Word that you speak out of your heart by faith.
Receiving the gift of righteousness through Christ…
And so I’m preaching more than I wanted to here, but I thought this was interesting. I wanted to share this with you this morning. In Nancy Dufresne’s book, she shares in chapter two a passage from Romans 5:17. She says, “For if by one man’s offense, Adam’s sin, in other words… For by man’s offense, or Adam’s sin, death reigned by one much more they which have received abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness.” Somebody say righteousness. The Bible says in First Corinthians that He who knew no sin became sin that we might be made the rightness. You are right, in other words, before God. Righteousness of God in Him. It goes on to say, “Have received the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one Jesus Christ.”
You have the ability to reign in life…
If I read that correctly, it’s not saying, rain like the rain falling from the sky, but r e i g n… Reign like rule. You’re kings. You are a priest. You’re created in the lineage of Jesus. You’re a son, a daughter of the most high God created to not just get by, to not endure a pummeling on a daily basis by whatever harassing devil comes your way, or problem or self-defeating pattern of thought seems to rise up in you. You have the ability to set the course of your life. You have the ability to choose the right thoughts and right words. And for those thoughts and those words and those attitudes to work for you and not against you, for those thoughts and those words to be released in a spiritual dimension, an atmosphere around you to set the tone and the tenor of the atmosphere around you, to route and push back darkness.
Pray that it would be on earth as it is in heaven…
Your words have the ability even to reach into the spirit dimension, into heaven’s realm and pull or yank what is there here. And I always reference what Jesus taught us to pray. He said learn to pray that it would be on earth as it is in heaven. You have the ability to traverse both realms and to yank what is in heaven into this realm, for you and for yours. Hallelujah.
Each of us are to be a conduit of God Himself…
And God’s not seeing this just as a selfish thing so that we just increase more. But when you increase, those around you increase, the body of Christ increases. Each of us is a supply, not only to morning prayer, but a supply and a resource and a conduit of God Himself to atmospheres that you’re going to traverse through in the coming day, to relationships that you’ll engage in, to conversations that you’re going to have. Your words make a difference. Your prayers are prospering. Keep keeping on in your praying.
One day a curtain will be pulled back to show you all that your prayers wrought…
Don’t let the enemy discourage or distract or detour you in the thinking, “Well, this is just a bunch of hot air.” No, no, no, no, no. We can see and sense and see the fruit and results of our faith and our prayers, but there’s coming a day where a great curtain’s going to be pulled back and you’re going to just see just how much impact, just how much fruitfulness you were able to accomplish in your life and journey. Just little ole you… just a little old me. You’ll be able to see, “Oh my! There are people in this heaven realm that got there because someone prayed, because someone was at their post calling out, contending for what was right, speaking out and declaring the justice of God, praying for leaders, praying for pastors, praying that they themselves would be strong where they felt weak so that they could go another day.”
There’s somebody giving thanks for you, cheering you on
Do you know even right now people are giving God glory in heaven’s ranks and realm because someone, perhaps you, prayed? There’s somebody giving thanks for you, cheering you on today that’s gone before you because you prayed. Because you decided to show up on God’s radar screen. Because you decided to yield to the Spirit of God and begin to speak out in another tongue. And as a result, you became built up. As a result, you prayed out the perfect will of God. As a result, you converse with the God of heaven and He was able to transact His purpose in a life, in a community, in a church, in a situation. Come on now!
There’s an accelerator to push down on in God’s purposes…
This is supposed to be a prayer meeting. But I’m just stirring you this morning. I’ve see myself as a coach. I want to “coach you up.” The Holy Spirit is our divine mentor, and He is cheering us on and coaching us on now to victory. We’re not done. We’re on! We’re stepping perhaps into the final leg of our race. But make no mistake about it, there’s much to be done. There’s an accelerator to push down on in God’s purposes. And He wants to accomplish much. But He needs us to align and synchronize and go with Him in the spirit and in our daily journey. It’s significant that you prioritize spiritual disciplines, that you take the time to give Him your affection and your love, that you offer Him your heart. It’s significant!
God is in the business of redeeming and repurposing brokenness…
It’s even significant that you offer Him your brokenness and what’s missing and what’s not working, and where you’re troubled. Just turn that over to Him. Because as a result, He’ll take that and create something even more beautiful. He’s in the business of redeeming and repurposing brokenness in our lives and in this world. So even just the prayer of consecration or surrender is powerful in the spirit.
We’re not called to live by seeing, but by believing…
Don’t let what you see determine what you think or what you believe. Jesus, once again, I remind us often and said we’re called to live not by seeing, but by believing. And we believe in His inherent Word, and we believe in the instruction and the leadership of God the Holy Spirit. And so I just want to just kind of stir you in that this morning. Glory to God.
Jesus’ victory is our victory…
So Nancy Dufresne goes on to say, “Everything that Jesus did, He did for our benefit, for the benefit of the church.” Whoo! Do you recognize that this morning? “For God’s people. Jesus defeated the enemy in our behalf for our benefit. His victory is our victory.” Come on now! Take hold of His victory this morning. You may not feel like it and it may not look like it. Somebody may have misinformed you, even a Christian, but you don’t have to go with what they say. Let’s go with what God has said. And He says, His victory is your victory, right? That He’s the one that’s able to cause you to triumph.
One day DoorDash deliveries of the Holy Spirit will show up on your doorstep…
I just encourage you in that today. For those of you that are new in the faith perhaps, sometimes it’s just taking one day at a time and just stirring yourself up one day at a time, right? Informing yourself with His Word, spending some time in prayer, continuing to follow Him. But then one day begins to add up and before long, you produce a spiritual momentum. And before long, you start seeing (as we prayed about that prophesied earlier) DoorDash deliveries of the Holy Spirit that show up on your doorstep. And you hear the doorbell and there it is! The breakthrough! Or there it is! You realize you’re free in your heart for the first time in your whole life. And there it is! The answer. A loved one comes to Christ. And there it is! The dream that you prayed and you saw is forming before your eyes. And there it is! Revival in the land. And there it is! All that God had said…
We’re called to live from a deeper place…
Come on now! We’re called to be a people who live from a deeper place, from the place on the inside, from a GPS if you will, from a Google Maps that is orchestrated and coded by the Spirit Himself. Don’t get it mixed up. The devil will not have the last say in our land, in our church, in your life, in your family. Be tenacious. Be determined. Go on the offense. Perhaps that is the invitation of the hour for the church. It’s time to go on the offense. Just like Brother Hagin learned. Jesus Himself said to Brother Hagin, “If you hadn’t done anything about that, I could not have.” And He gave him four or five scriptures to build a doctrinal case as to why that was true. And one of them, you all know it, is simply found in James 4. And it says, “Therefore submit.” The implied subject is you. You submit to God. You turn yourself into Him. It says, “Resist the devil and he will flee from you.”
Wherever the touch of darkness appears in your life, we can resist and we can go on the offense. Even in a dark season, you can go on the offense and begin to rejoice or rejoice in your heart and actually begin to laugh in the midst of chaos and destruction and confusion.
Okay, I’m not going to get to this here this morning, but that’s what the Spirit of God is saying. Do you realize exactly what you’ve been given? Do you realize what you possess and why we hold a position of prayer?
And that’s not just for Lynne Hammond or some great orator in a pulpit. Each and every one of us are a king and a priest, crowned with the rightness of God, assigned to this earth realm at this present moment, in this generation to make a difference, to shape history, to route enemies, to establish the kingdom of God. Starting with your relationship with Him and the words that you choose to speak each day.
Is anybody getting anything out of this?
