Prayer Summary for March 9

Pastor Ken Olson shared…

This morning, I want to share a verse with you. Jude verse 20. “But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost.” I try to listen to a podcast every day of some good teaching. Sometimes I like to listen to some old-school stuff. On YouTube, there’s one called “prayer seminar” and I think it’s ‘03 Kenneth Hagin Prayer Seminar. I’ve heard him teach much on prayer through the years but I really enjoyed that message. He was reminding us of the essence and importance of praying in the Spirit, how profound and powerful it is and how supernatural it is. In fact, Pastor Lynne posted the other day about how praying in the Spirit is what connects us to the supernatural. We all know that but it’s good to be reminded of it.

When I think back of my own journey of life, there have been many times where time spent praying in the Spirit yielded… Most of the time that was in my prayer language but praying “in the Spirit” can also be praying in your understanding as well under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. But for me invariably, my place of prayer is that place praying in the spirit. And definitely for me even as a pastor, everything flows out of my prayer place. I can think back to even when I was younger. I’ll never forget when I was in high school… I was baptized in the Holy Spirit when I was 10 years old at a Lundstrom crusade in my home town. One night, I went forward and I received Jesus in my heart. I don’t even know how I got to the altar. All I remember was that I felt like I appeared before the stage before they were doing an altar call and I received Jesus. The next night they did an altar call for the baptism of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in other tongues. Once again, I found myself in front of the stage. I don’t know if I was transported or levitated or how I got there. I mean I was like 10 years old or something… I was there. I remember asking for that gift, the baptism of the Holy Spirit. I remember them talking to me about how the language would come out of my heart. In that moment, I didn’t pray in other tongues.

I remember going home. It was a hot summer night and we didn’t have air-conditioning in our house and I was upstairs. I remember lying in my bed and it was hot and I couldn’t sleep. I remembered what they said to me: “you may not pray now but when you get home and you hear a word in your heart, then just yield to that and let that come out of your mouth.” As a 10-year-old kid, I remember hearing that word. I uttered it and the moment I did that, I felt God breath on me literally. I am sure I had goose bumps. I remember praying in that prayer language for the first time just sensing and feeling God just “whoooo” go all over me. And I remember as a 10-year-old kid in my 10-year-old mind thinking “whoooh, this is really cool.”

That imprinted in me in an indelible way for the rest of my life. I will never forget it. I didn’t pray a lot as a kid but in high school I remember one day taking up a challenge that our pastor gave us to pray in the Spirit during the week. So as a sophomore or junior in high school, I did that for a whole week. I remember the following Sunday I went up to my pastor and said “You know what, I just prayed a little bit every day and I have to say I really noticed the difference practically and tangibly in my life by praying in the Spirit.” I suppose that’s why the apostle Paul said “I pray in the Spirit more than you all.” Is there a connection between that and the fact that he wrote almost two thirds of the New Testament? I am sure there is.

Prayer in the Spirit by the Spirit under the inspiration of the Spirit connects us to the supernatural. Nothing is impossible in that place of prayerfulness with Him. So for me, yes, like John G. Lake once said, “prayer especially praying in the Spirit is the making of my life.” I don’t know how people do it apart from a place of prayer. It has meant so much to me all through these years. It is what enables us to go over into the realm of God. It is what enables us to go into the Spirit and come back to the natural life that we live and experience what He has for us. I think it was Lake that said “I go way out into the Spirit and come back with a message.” In other words, he prayed out his messages; he heard the voice of God well before he actually discharged the ministry God had called him to accomplish. Very often when I am coming up against brick walls in my life, when doors aren’t opening and things aren’t moving as smoothly in God’s plan for my life, I know that it’s time for me to go to my place of prayer.

I think it was years ago Mark Brazee came and did some teachings. Back when we were in the old building, he talked about how we can be a half step behind in prayer and how when things in our lives get to be challenging, not progressing, that it can be that we are a bit behind in prayer. It’s not that it’s a work but that prayers place a divine holy calling where we synchronize ourselves with the plan of God. Jesus got up well before dawn to prayer, to seek the face of His Father so that when He went about His work and His ministry that following day or during the day it was like He had already been there. Of course He had. He had already heard what the Father wanted to do. He already saw what the Father wanted to do. Then it was just a matter of walking it out smoothly, peacefully and then in supernatural empowerment of God’s Spirit.

So prayer is our ability to go out into the future. The Holy Spirit is known as the Spirit of the future, and He enables us to go out into our lives before we actually live it out and process the plan of God in prayer. Prayer is much like throwing a pebble into a pond. It creates ripples when you toss that pebble into the pond and those ripples spread out and touch every shore. Prayer touches every aspect, every part of our lives if we will yield ourselves over to the Spirit of prayer, praying much in the Holy Spirit by and under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Amen. He is able to grant us utterance and give us the ability to pray supernaturally well out into the future.

Years ago, my grandfather (who has since gone home to be with the Lord at 97 ½ years old) told me a story years ago about his grandmother. He said back when he was in his twenties, he liked to drink. He wasn’t saved. He had many brothers and sisters. He said, “There came a day when we all had to go upstairs and visit one last time our grandma.” Her name was Charlotta Casperson. She was an immigrant from Sweden and a praying woman. He told me that he did not want go up there. He knew what it meant that she was on her death bed and she was going to go home with Jesus and every one of the grandchildren and children had to go up and see her one last time and she was going to pray for them. My grandfather shared how he did not want to do that. He was a little rebellious at the time. He was young but he went up there and he knelt beside her bed. This is in the 1920s and she, my praying great, great grandmother, prayed for him and prayed for his salvation as well as every one of her children and grandchildren. Fast forward to 1970. My grandfather had worked for Honeywell for many years and lived a hard life, was an alcoholic, workaholic, and he is about to retire early. He got a report from the doctor that he had cirrhosis of the liver, cancer of the bladder and it didn’t look good. His life wasn’t turning out good.

One morning, he turned on the television and an old time evangelist by the name of Rex Humbard was on TV. My grandfather had no more hope; he didn’t know what to do. His life was at the end already and he was only in his early sixties. He knelt down at the instruction of that old time evangelist, put his hand on the television, and prayed a simple prayer of salvation and some pretty supernatural things happened that day. Long story short, within a week or two he went back to the doctor and got a complete bill of health! This is in his early sixties. He lived his retirement until ‘97 on fire for Jesus, always carrying tracks in his pocket, witnessing to people everywhere he went, recording Christian television on VH tapes, literally dozens of boxes of tapes.

He had a missionary friend. She was a missionary to Ghana in South America. He would single handedly gather up materials and clothing and Christian television on tape and they would package it in big containers and ship it overseas. He would be out on the streets sharing his faith with his other evangelist friends in St. Paul and North Minneapolis and lots of different places. He lived on fire, fully for God. Trust me. I watched him. I lived with him in my early college years. Point being in 1920 my great, great grandmother prayed that prayer in the Spirit under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and it wasn’t until 1970 that he accepted the Lord and then for his remaining years from his early 60s until 97, he lived fully on fire. He was a fire ball for Jesus, for God. Prayer touches every aspect of our lives. Prayer traverses time and space. Amen.

Even as we come here each morning, as you devote yourself to God throughout the day being aware of Him, remember we said that abiding simply means to cultivate a conscious awareness of Him all day long. It’s such a beautiful and sweet place to be and when we do that, I think we are going to be amazed. I am sure in this lifetime to some degree but so much more in the life to come at the effectiveness and the power and impact that we had because of our willingness and yieldedness to pray. Amen.

God created us to live, to thrive, to accomplish all that He has for us within the context of connection. John 15:7, that’s the sweet spot of not only being a follower of Jesus but the sweet spot of prayer. Even this morning as we are talking I had a crazy, busy night last night but I am just endeavoring to connect. “What are you saying, Father? What do you want to do here, Lord?” This is how He wants us to live every day. Amen.

I heard a story from Keith Moore. He was ministering in South America a couple years ago, and he heard about this woman who used to be a mighty evangelist. She lived in one of the countries where he was ministering, and he heard about her and felt like he needed to go see her. She was on her death bed in the last stages of stomach cancer. She was just skin and bones lying in her bed. When he walked into the room, he did not recognize her. He could not hear her until he got right up to her and put his ear within inches of her mouth. She said “Brother Keith, I am so weak.” She began to share her situation. That was the best she could do was to whisper her condition to him. Well what is so interesting is as Keith heard her story and witnessed what was going on, he just checked his heart. He was abiding. He was connecting with his Heavenly Father. He heard the Lord whisper to him some instructions. Long story short, he preceded to just encourage her and remind her that the Bible says “let the weak say I am strong.” He began to minister to her that little verse, that little phrase. “Sister so and so let me remind you…” and she knew these things but, of course, when you have been through a battle, it can be difficult. He ministered to her through his place of abiding. He just let that flow through him. That’s all we are, just conduits of the Lord’s wisdom, His faith, and His plan. And that day for the next hour his determination, his deliberateness, his discipline to connect through prayer and in conversation with his Heavenly Father began to function, operate in a practical way in this woman’s life. Because all he did was begin to minister to her and lead her into just confessing “I receive strength. Let the weak say I am strong.” And, at first, it was all she could do to say “I receive strength.” But she persisted and after about 40 minutes, strength began to come to her voice. The volume of her voice picked up and she began to say “Let the weak say I am strong. I believe I receive strength from the Lord.” And she did that for well over an hour I think. About that time, color began to return to her face and things began to change physically. He could see that. He went on to do his ministry and came back to the states. A couple months later, he ran into another minister friend who knew her and said “hey, did you hear about sister so and so?” By the way, he also got her to confess “I have a veracious appetite” because she was also saying “I can’t keep anything down. I have no appetite.” So not only did he have her confess “I am strong” but also “I have a veracious appetite.” And this minister friend didn’t even know that Keith had ministered to her. He said, “have you heard about sister so and so? She was on her death bed but she is fully recovered and my goodness she has such a veracious appetite.”

I love that story. Let that encourage you. But, once again, in this life we are called to live and the ministry. Each of us are called to engage in whatever way God has ordained and anointed us to do so, even parenting and doing your job in the marketplace, whatever, it’s all meant to flow out of connection with Him and praying in the Spirit is one of the most important connections we have. It’s such a marvelous and precious gift. Amen. We won’t need tongues in heaven. They will cease according to Scripture. But in the here and now, you and I see through a glass darkly. In the here and now, we have a very finite and limited intellect. But, oh, there is one that has infiniteness in all that He is and all that He wants to do in our lives and we connect with His infiniteness, we connect with His all knowingness, His powerfulness through praying in the Spirit.

When I think down through my journey, I think of one time in my twenties when I didn’t have an answer for something and I just felt led… you see, the Lord will lead you to pray. “Well, duh, Ken.” But it’s true. There are special times when He will lead you to pray to prepare for perhaps a challenge, perhaps a promotion that is coming, perhaps a next stage or level of what He has for you. I like to say that God has been there, done that, bought the T-shirt, and come back. He knows the way forward in your life. Nothing is a shock. Nothing is a surprise to Him. Our prayerfulness, our devotion to Him, our connection to Him is our connection to the spirit of the future. He will show you things to come, John 16:13. He wants to. He will show you what you need to do to prepare for an economic situation like he did Brother Hagin in the early seventies. He told him to pay off his debts, get into a good financial situation because there was coming a recession in the early seventies. And he did and guess what? It was all good for him and his ministry. Amen. But the Lord had him praying for a season before he heard that.

And I can remember one time where I didn’t have an answer. I just knelt down in front of my couch in the lower level of my house and I began to pray for I guess it was an hour and when I got up I had just a tiny little thought that I could have and probably would have overlooked if I would have been distracted by the business of my life or just been a little more in the natural because we are this three-part being, right?

We are fundamentally a spirit created in the image of God, and it’s that part of us that is to connect with God. It’s that part of us that we receive and hear from God, but then we also have a soul, our mind, our will, our emotions, and this body. Our soulish realm and our physical realm can get in the way often times. If we are yielded more to that, we will not be tuned in like we ought to be and we will not receive what the Spirit of God is imparting. The Holy Spirit’s primary function on the earth and in our lives individually, daily is to reveal, transmit, and disclose the will of God, what the Spirit of God is saying to you, what He wants you to do today, how He wants you to do it. Isn’t that amazing? Keith Moore is this great minister of God, accomplished and well known around the world. It was just his simple devotion to just stay connected to the Father through prayer and through abiding with Him that really was the secret to him being used to transmit the life of God, the encouragement of God, the faith of God to that little ministry woman that saved her life. It wasn’t his great oration skills. It wasn’t his connections in the ministry world. It wasn’t his worldwide ministry but it was this right here. Amen.

So often, like that one particular day, I had a thought about that problem I had and because I was tuned in just enough… you see, there is a frequency that God is always transmitting on just like there are frequencies that you can tune in and hear sports and hear comedy and hear teaching and preaching. There is a frequency that God is broadcasting from, and it is up to us to tune into that frequency and be praying in the Holy Spirit, praying much in the Holy Spirit. Sometimes it’s not that we don’t pray, it’s just that maybe we are a half step behind in prayer and we just need to “fine tune.” We need to make a little tweak. Remember small tweaks can lead to big peaks. And so for me that day, I made a little tweak and I began to pray and that brought an alignment to my heart with the heart of God and put me in a place where I could just sense and hear that inward prompting of what to do. And I didn’t even at that moment probably recognize that was what I was supposed to do but I just acted on it and it turned out to be the solution to my problem.

Years later, I remember in the nineties, Pastor Lynne had just released her book entitled, “The Master Is Calling.” I was with her in California to help run her book table at the West Coast Believers Convention. I was in all the meetings and I would listen to Brother Copeland at night. He preached until 10 or 10:30 p.m. I would finish up listening to him and would run downstairs and get something to eat. Then I would go out to a parking structure adjacent to Disney Land and I would pray for like two hours a night. One night I prayed so long, I fell asleep and woke up to the lights of a security guard’s truck. But I did that for several days in a row praying in the Spirit. That was all week long every night. I would do the book table, grab something to eat, and pray till like one in the morning.

Then on Saturday morning, I decided to stay back from the meetings and just rest a little bit. It was like the last day of the meetings and I was just rejoicing in the Lord, singing in my hotel room and resting. That morning, the Lord showed up in a way I had not experienced at that point in my life and really not the same way since. He began to speak to me about my future and in very clear terms. So much so that it was like reality to me. It came with the Spirit of faith. I look back on that now and I won’t tell you all the details but it was a real profound moment in my life and I was in my mid-twenties and it set the stage for my future and some really amazing things would come to pass in the years ahead.

My point is that I availed myself to my prayer language and that place of prayer and it put me in connection with Him to hear His voice and what He was saying and it led to the beautiful future that He had planned for me. I will never forget that. So perhaps the Lord is speaking to you this morning. Just set aside a little extra time in the coming days to pray, just to give yourself to Him, just because you can, just because He lives, just because He shed His blood and washed you and made you as white as snow, made us as righteous sons and daughters and in His sight we are altogether lovely. We are beautiful and can do no wrong. In fact, He loves us as much as He loves Jesus and so we can come boldly to His throne and connect with Him. That’s a beautiful place to be and it’s in that place that the miraculous begins to happen. Miracles begin to pop. Things begin to change. Our lives move forward. The plan of God is advanced. Amen.

One more story, I think it was Charles Finney. He was the great revivalist of the 19th Century and he witnessed the salvation of countless thousands of people. I remember reading about him and how prayer was the secret to the effectiveness of his ministry. At any point in time, during his ministry when he would sense that he had lost the edge, that there wasn’t quite the fruitfulness that he knew God wanted to bring, he would always return to this place where the anointing came on him originally to preach the Gospel to the nation. He would go to this meadow where there was this old split rail fence and he would just get on his knees in the meadow out in the open and he would just pray until he sensed the anointing of God, the presence of God, the grace of God return in full force on his life and then he would go back to ministry.

I think it was Pastor Lynne who said that God didn’t create us to live in this middle ground. He created us as followers of Him, as pray-ers to live fully given over to Him, to live as far away from the old life and as far into the new life as we possibly can. That we weren’t just redeemed from something, we were redeemed to something. Amen. So I just challenge you guys today as pray-ers, as followers of Jesus, let’s get over as far as we can with Him. Let’s give ourselves to that place of prayer, not only here in the morning but throughout the day. Whisper to Him at your job. “Lord, I just yield my heart to You. I worship You this morning. I magnify You this day. What are you saying to me?” Something as simple as “I love You, Jesus; thank You for Your presence in my life. What a privilege, what an honor to have the God of the universe abiding within us.” There is so much potential, so much power so much possibility that can be released into our world, into our circumstances, into churches, into our cities, into nations if the Church will rise up and pray. It was Finney’s commitment to not do what God had called Him to do unless he had been in the face of his Heavenly Father. Because that’s our source of true empowerment, He’s our sources for life and for everything. Amen. The Bible says that we are to pray in the Spirit, build yourself up in your most holy faith praying in the Holy Ghost. Amen. Amen.

Prayed…

Thank You, Father, for the precious gift of Your Holy Spirit
Honoring You this morning with our lives
Stepping into this realm of the Spirit, lifting our hearts to You
Honoring You for Your faithfulness
Thank You, for sending Your Holy Spirit to indwell us to comfort and council us
Seeking for Your strengthening and direction
It’s what You have done for us—we open our hearts to receive a fresh download
Apart from You, we can do nothing
Breathe on us a new desire to yield over to that place of prayer You ordained for us to live from
Thank You, Jesus—bless the Lord
Declaring a release into this election cycle—move the boundaries
Come alive—resurrection there, Lord
Praying for an infusion of Light to the Church and to those leaders today
Reviving—calling those things that are dormant to come to life
Come out of the coma—sounding the alarm now
Wake up pray-ers—it’s time released now
Even in that one nation there
Move the fog out of the way—all that obscures
In the place of prominence, for all to see
English, English
Raise up the awareness—recalibrate
We lift up the combination
Open up the mysteries—the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of You
Help us to discern that by the Spirit
The best course of action
We call you to a new assignment

Pastor Paul shared…

I saw this in a dream before I woke up this morning. It’s in line with what you are saying for the Lord to open the eyes of the body of Christ. Right now with the elections and how they are going, you can see that there is an anti-establishment going on and I am going to mention his name, Trump. He seems to be the highlight of the anti-establishment and you can see Romney coming out and trying to disparage him and cut him down. They spent 48 million dollars in advertising trying to cut him off. You can see the people of the country are not following their mantra. But what I saw that really alarmed me is that the Lord showed me that when the country is in an emergency, the kind of rules or protocol that is necessary when the county is at peace is no longer in affect when the country is in an emergency. You know authority comes in and you don’t even listen to… For example, when you are driving on the road and an ambulance is coming in, the rules of the road change. The ambulance has the right of way. Now this is where we are right now. The rules and ways of the political norm have to change because the country is in an emergency. So those rules that would apply, even obeying orders or obeying the protocol like the establishment wants, no longer apply.

So the Church needs to pray for Trump because what I saw and it disheartened me… I see they are trying to cut him off literally cut him off. So we as the Church need to pray for him because what I saw was not good and when I woke up, the Lord told me that this is a country that likes to eat its seed of men when they are born for such a time as this. He told me about Abraham Lincoln, and He told me about Marin Luther King Jr. and J. F. Kennedy, men of God that God puts as seed in the earth for such a time as this. This is a country that likes to eat its seed. So we need to pray against that.

Pastor Paul prayed…

Heavenly Father, I give You glory and magnify You because You have opened our eyes to see what the Spirit is indicating. You are giving us the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of You to see how You are leading Your body and how You are leading Your Church so we will not be blindsided or caught off guard. I am asking in the name of Jesus that You will send Your angels and ministering spirits and protection about your candidates who You have chosen to be able to return the United States of America to the glory that You have established for the country in the name of Jesus. Father, that no one under the guise of an agenda will rise up and try and sway judgment or take away the natural way the Church of God should work and the people of God should work. I pray they will fail in their enterprises in the name of Jesus; that You turn their council to foolishness. They will not sit in the heart of the children of men. They will not sit in the heart of the citizens of this country. They will not be able to establish their own agenda but the agenda of the most high God will prevail in the name of Jesus! We will prevail in the name of Jesus! We will prevail in the name of Jesus! Father, that he will minister and he will speak and they will speak to the hearts of men. He will speak to the people to galvanize the people, to unify the people, to be able to minister in such a way that Your plan, Your will, Your purpose will be established in the earth in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

I am asking that every agenda of the establishment will fail concerning this country in the name of Jesus. Your glory will be revealed. Your purpose will be revealed. The purpose for which You have raised Your candidate. I am asking You that Your purpose will be fulfilled. I am asking for protection Father. I am asking Lord of Heaven that You will galvanize Your forces to protect him in the air, when he is speaking, when he is ministering, when he is opening his mouth, protect him in the name of Jesus. I am asking that Your glory would be revealed through the man you have chosen to lead this country, that this country would not go backwards! This country will not eat its seed in the ground in the name of Jesus.

Oh Lord of heaven, we are in a time of emergency so emergency rules prevail and the rules of engagement change so I am asking that the Church of Christ would realize the time we are in, realize the situation at hand, would realize we are born for such a time as this and the rules of engagement have to change. That, Lord of Glory, there will be prayer, fervent prayer, there will be waiting, fervent waiting, there will be fasting, fervent fasting so, Lord of Glory, Your purpose is revealed, Your purpose is established, Your purpose is known, Your purpose is embraced, Your purpose becomes comforting, becomes edifying, becomes an exhortation, becomes a revolution, becomes a time when the children of God rise up and enter into their own in the name of Jesus. Let it be, Father.

Oh, King of Glory, thank You for the release of Your ministering spirits. Thank You for the release of Your angels. Thank You for the release of the men of wisdom and the women of wisdom, those who are able to sway the judgment in Your favor. Thank You for bringing them out of the nook and cranny, from the byway, from the highway and establishing them in the name of Jesus. Thank You Father. It is when the Church is grieved that things change. So let the Church be grieved with the status quo. Let them rise up in Your name, in the name of Jesus.

If you realize the two candidates that are leading on the conservative side, they are both anti-establishment candidates. That’s to tell you something. Father, let us be dull to those things that are contrary to life but be sensitive to the things that are according to life and let the Church arise and let everyone come out and vote because if the Church should vote, Father, we know we have this thing. So, I am asking You to bring them out. Bring them out in droves in the name of Jesus. Thank You, Father. We bless You and magnify Your name. No longer will we be called a country that eats its seed born for such a time but a country that preserves its seed in the name of Jesus so they would be sown into the earth for the purpose for which You have called them in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Continued praying…

Praising You for Your plan being executed in this election
Pleading the blood over every decision, announcement, all the places and ways behind the scenes
Order and alignment to it all in Jesus’ name
Bringing forth the will of God—releasing the ingredient needed
Coming to light in Jesus’ name
Silencing all the contrary voices
Pushing back the strategies of the enemy concerning this nation
Light and divine orchestrations for what need to happen now
Information coming forth—clarity by and of the Spirit in Jesus’ name
Recalibrate us to what we are to stand for
Come up, America!
We declare it is going Your way, Lord
We lift up the eye
The fullness of Your plan, fully executed from this nation
The Gospel going out
One heart, one mind, and one Spirit over the body
Every member in full function and harmony with the finished work of Jesus
Unity—Let us hear the voice of the Spirit
It’s a sound of triumph!
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
We magnify You and bless You, Lord
Thanking You for victory this morning
That You are watching over Your Word to preform it this day
We give You all the honor and glory—You are worthy
Thank You for this great opportunity of walking with You today
Yielding and cultivating a consciousness of You, more and more
Connecting with You all day, every day
Declaring a blessing over you all—life and help in just the right way
Thank You, Father, for what You have done here this morning
We Thank You and agree on this in Jesus’ name, amen

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