Pastor Ken…
Good morning, everyone. Welcome to everyone.
Rally cry…
And if there’s a rally cry in my spirit this morning, it’s the rally cry of the redeemed that we would “keep keeping on.” Right? Not back off. But lean in all the more so. Not out of a works mentality: “We have to,” or of a fear mentality but out of a mentality that we hear the sound of our Redeemer. We hear the sound and the call of our Savior. And He Himself is cheering us on with a smile this morning. “You got this, church, because I’ve got you. Keep going. Keep leaning in. Keep walking the walk. Keep engaging with My presence.”
Let not your heart be troubled…
He knows the end and it turns out well for you and for me. It’s not saying there won’t be days where we won’t be tempted to be discouraged or to yield to fear. But know this: You have the ability and the choice to say no to temptation, no to fear. Jesus said, “Let not your heart be troubled.” Whatever comes to try to grip your soul with a negative report or a contrary set of circumstances to what the Word of God says should be so in your life, you have the choice to say no.
Exercise your spiritual authority…
One of the fundamental aspects of prayer is that it is our invitation to exercise our spiritual authority. Our dominion. Spiritual authority is the right to rule within a given domain. Let me just throw that up by way of remembrance this morning. In your consciousness, you have the right to rule and to govern and to say what should be so and what should be not in your life and in your household. The enemy, without a doubt, is playing for keeps in this hour. And all the craziness that we see, and maybe all the challenges that you’re facing or the problems that came up yesterday, or the cheap shot of the enemy in some way in your life, that’s just an indication the enemy is freaking out behind the scenes, that the hordes of hell are really nervous because they know they’re at their end. And they know God’s end game, which is glory. The earth filled with the glory, like the waters cover the sea. So that’s why we do what we do every time we gather together. Every time you lift your hands and your heart and your voice to God, you are permitting the flow of heaven to continue to trickle and flow into the dimension of your life and world and family and households.
You’ve already been blessed, past tense…
Prayer is our opportunity to go out into the bigness of the Spirit of God, into the realm of the spirit, to grab hold of what could be and should be according to His Word, according to His divine intention for your life specifically. In other words, His rhema will for your life. Prayer is our opportunity to grab hold of that and bring it from the heavenly storehouses in the heavenly dimension, into the real now and now. That’s why the Bible says you’ve been blessed in Ephesians 1:3 with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly arena in Christ. You’ve already been blessed. Past tense. With every spiritual blessing, every bit of weaponry to succeed, to overcome, to triumph, to rise above the tide of the enemy. God has equipped you, equipped me.
The keys of the kingdom…
And sometimes prayer is as simple as saying “no” to the enemy. Jesus was very clear. The keys of the kingdom were to bind and to loose, to permit or to prevent. What are you saying about your situations today? What are you saying about your nation today? What are you saying about leadership in your city government, state government, those situations you’re aware of that God maybe in fact has put on your heart as an assignment to watch over?
Scripture implores us to “ask”…
God has called us in this hour as a people to be up on the walls of outpouring for a purpose… to say some things. As I said before, you were born into this earth. You were given spiritual authority. You have the right and the privilege to ask. Over and over, the narrative of scripture implores us, especially the New Testament, to ask. Why? Because God wants to do it. He is putting some things on our hearts this morning in prayer. He’s putting some things on your heart this morning, wherever you might be, whether it’s Australia or Afghanistan, in Europe, Sweden, England, the UK. Be aware that He’s dropping some things into your heart today. Not to just say, “Oh, that’s cool.” No, He’s dropping some things in the hearts of His people now that we would say what He’s saying.
It’s critical to get into His presence…
That’s why it’s so critical that we get into His presence and let His presence get into us. Because His presence comes to counsel us and coach us and impart to us the very thoughts and intents of our Heavenly Father. Not so we can just know them and just kind of selfishly keep them so that we would know the heart of God for this hour, that we would possess and have the heart of God for our loved ones and our churches and our communities and situations that we’re aware of around us. So that we would start to say and declare and step in. Intercession means to step in and get into the middle and the messiness of what’s going on, to contend for what should be right and what needs to be changed and what should be so.
God has chosen to work through human agency…
For whatever reason, God has chosen to work through human agency to bring about His plan into the earth. Once again, I believe it was John Wesley who said, “It seems that God can do nothing for mankind unless someone asks Him or invites Him to come and have His way.” The Holy Spirit is a perfect gentleman. We’ve heard that said before. In other words, He is a standby, the Bible reveals. He’s just standing by waiting for us to move, for us to say, for us to give Him a place to land on and do what He wants to do. And so just be conscious of that this morning.
God leaves a lot of it up to us…
I feel like this is very specific to someone or maybe all of us in different ways. He’s giving you some things to say so that you can say the same thing. He’s dropping some things into your heart to pray, to declare, to bind, to loose, to simply agree with Him in His heart and His intentionality. Because that’s what permits Him to operate and work. Brother Kenneth Hagin over the years, especially towards the end of his ministry had this reflection, one in particular. He said, “I’ve learned through the years that there’s a lot more that’s possible that God wants to do, but He leaves a lot of it up to us.” He’s already said what He wants to do. He’s already sent the promised down payment, a.k.a. the Holy Spirit. He’s already given you power in heaven and earth to exercise authority. He’s given you His name. He shed His blood. He’s made you acceptable and entirely pleasing. He’s crowned you with righteousness, equal to the righteousness that Jesus is crowned with. So that we could step in and do in this earth realm in our lives, in our homes to begin with what He prompts us to do.
Prayer is being aware of what you’re saying…
So what are you standing for today? What are you believing for today? Prayer isn’t always on your knees in a prayer closet. It’s not always “gutting it out” in the spirit. It’s just being really aware of what you are saying. The body of your utterance and your words each and every day. Be aware of that. The enemy works to snare us with our words, to get us to say things like, “You know, I’m dying here.” Or “I just seem to be a poster child for Murphy’s Law or something.” The subtlety of your words is where the enemy works, to snare us to work in our lives, to prevent and to stop and to block things. Over and over, the Bible says that we’re to say what God is saying, what He said about us. Let the redeemed say so. Say what God has said should be so. Let the weak say, I am strong.
Your words frame your world…
Your words frame and build your world. Your words! You were created as a speaking spirit to speak and to shift the course of not only things in our lives, but as a body of believers, the course of world events and affairs. As your prayer life goes, as your word life goes, so goes your life. So be real intentional about your vocalization. Some of us are more positive. Some of us naturally are more wired to be more cynical maybe or analytical. Let your heart be imbibed with the heart of God in His presence. Let your heart and mind be washed and saturated and clean through the feeding and the meditation of His Word so that our souls even, our mind, will, and emotions would be synchronized with God’s transmission, with God’s thoughts, with God’s ways. So that we could give and yield our voice to Him.
Jesus commanded…
Jesus more often than not when He ministered in His earthly ministry regarding healing and physical situations in people’s lives, He didn’t do anything more than just command. He commanded the power of God to set a certain one free, to raise another from the dead, to deliver yet another from a bleeding disease, or whatever. Words! Death and life are in the power of your words. Yes, in your intentional praying, in your known language and in the spirit, but also just in the body of your language on a daily basis. What are you saying about situations? There must be a congruency in alignment with our prayers and just what we say in a conversation, for example. You can’t pray one thing and then go about your day and have coffee with your friend and just kind of throw up at the mouth about that situation.
We contend with our words…
I’m not saying you can’t be real in different instances with people you trust for a moment to process things. But generally speaking, God is mobilizing the church. So just know God can do more with just a word you’re speaking over a situation. We contend with our words. We fight with our words. You can feel one way. You can feel like, “I don’t have it today.” Or whatever. You can feel that way. You can feel like, “Ugh.” That’s okay. Because we don’t live by feelings. We don’t live by sight. We live by what we believe, right?
So especially in the midst of contrary circumstances and distracting feelings and a thought to give up in some way, you can step into the flow of heaven and say, “No! Today I’m getting up and I’m going God’s way. I’m going with God today.”
It’s okay if days we feel messed up and jacked up emotionally. I get it. I don’t diminish that. But we can still step into God’s flow and just trust that He’s there with us. He’s helping us. We can mobilize our words and just begin to declare over that situation. “This is the way it’s going to be. This is the way it’s going to go.” We can lift up people with our words. Paul the apostle said just lifting people up by mention of their name is an invitation for God to move and work in people’s hearts and lives and situations.
See the power of God being released to infuse a situation…
So there’s just so much more going on that the Holy Spirit is orchestrating even just through what we’re saying. Just something as simple as, “I am strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.” Just begin to say that if you’re feeling weak in some way, shape, or form. And just let your heart, your mind see and imagine yourself just receiving a download of strength. See your words as you speak them and the words as you pray them, words as you declare, as you bind, as you lose. Just see the power of God being released to infuse and to be injected into a situation and moving throughout the spirit realm to clear a pathway for God.
Well, what if nothing changes?
Well glory to God, if nothing changes in the moment or in a day or in a week. That’s okay. Again, we don’t live by what we see. We live by what we believe. The just shall live by believing and not by seeing. So I count that a privilege. Jesus said more blessed are those who believe yet don’t see. So what a privilege if the answer hasn’t manifested in some way, shape, or form in your life, that we can go another day just simply trusting in the intentionality, in the faithfulness, in the heart of God, in the promise of His Word. We can stand on His Word.
You’ve been inducted into the army of the Lion of Judah…
Let’s pick up our weaponry. Let’s pick up our resources and our implements of war. You’ve been inducted into the army of the Lion of the tribe of Judah to fight. Not a fight to defeat the enemy because he’s been defeated. He’s received his beatdown. We’re fighting a fight of faith. Fight the fight of faith! Lay hold on eternal life. That fight is a fight to believe. Faith is believing. It’s trusting.
So pick up your implements, your sword of the spirit, your shield of faith. Let your feet be shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace. Let your mind be saturated with His Word. Let your loins, the creative part of you, be strengthened with His Word and promises. Glory to God. Take hold of that sword once again and wield it. Become skillful with it.
Learn how to use the weapons of God…
Demons are sent fleeing from your household, from your body, from your soul, from your family, from situations in your church, your business. They are sent fleeing backwards when you lift up that sword and begin to learn how to wield it. The Word of God has not diminished in its importance. It is all the more so important. This is going to be an outstanding year 2023. But one thing that has definitely been a theme in our praying for months now is God is leading the church, leading us to a place of greater skillfulness and wisdom and discernment in our functioning, in the realm of God, in the realm of the Spirit to grow up, to mature.
Who must we be that we would be the embodiment of the presence of God…
Our call is to grow up into the fullness of the stature of Jesus. That’s what God thinks of you. He doesn’t think of you some pathetic case of a human. He made a great and profound investment in each and every one of us that we would rise. Yes, there may be some healing that needs to go on in our bodies, in our souls. And there’s some maturation that needs to happen. But you are someone. You have been crowned with His favor. You have been robed with His righteousness once again. You have been endowed with His consistent ever present love. The very presence and beautifulness of God the Holy Spirit was sent to live and dwell on the inside of you. Who must you be that all this and so much more was made possible? That we would be the embodiment of the presence of God on planet earth.
