Prayer Summary for Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Pastor Ray shared…

Yesterday, Miss Annie shared some things about ISIS and how she felt helpless, thinking “Are my prayers really working?” It reminded me of something that Annie ministered to me before I went to France. Before our trip to France, I was in my office and I was feeling like a “big, fat nothing.” Nothing! “You’re nothing. You have nothing. You are nothing.” Okay, I know it was the Devil but I told Miss Annie what I was feeling. She said to me, “You are nothing because He is something.” Ha!

But I’m going to read to you what she sent to me. She said, “Did someone really tell you that you are nothing? The Holy Ghost wants to encourage you and to let you know that in Him you are everything He is.”

I love that. In Him, we are everything He is. We are nothing, but in Him, we’re everything.

“And you have everything you need to bring Him to the world. The mighty King lives in us. The lion of Judah lives in you. The crucified Lamb lives in you and His gentleness and condescension make you great! So there!”

So we are nothing but we are something in Him. Then she said, “In Christ, the anointed one and His anointing, you can do all things. How many? We can do all things! I can of my own self do nothing. It is the Father who dwells within me. He does the works. John 5:30. Therefore if I must boast I will boast of the things that show my weakness. 2 Corinthians 11:30. For when I’m weak, then am I strong. 2 Corinthians 12:10. Your soul makes its boast in the Lord. The humble will hear of it and they will be glad.”

That’s just a little encouragement based on what the Word says about us. If we go by what we think or what somebody said about us, we could be in trouble.

Thank you for coming every day to the chapel. We come because of Him and we come to do the work for Him. Work on whatever situation He wants us to work on. I’ve gone through some different things about praying in other tongues. I feel like the Lord is bringing more emphasis on praying in tongues, or praying in the spirit and not so much trying to figure things out because we cannot. There are so many things we can’t figure out. We don’t know the answers but He does.

I loved it when brother Reggie came and delivered a similar message. I like what he said at the end of the first service on Sunday. “This is what the Lord had me to bring to you, this church.” He spoke about praying in other tongues, being filled with the Spirit. And like he said, if we’re going to minister to others, we first need to be filled up to overflowing daily.

One of my favorite books of brother Hagin is, Tongues Beyond the Upper Room. The Pentecost is still happening. The book of Acts is still unfolding. People are getting saved everywhere. Chapter nine is “Paul Gave Prominence to Speaking in Tongues.”

[excerpt begins]
Much ignorance exists in the Church today about the value of speaking with other tongues. Many Christians don’t know a thing about the subject. Others know that tongues are the initial evidence of the baptism in the Holy Ghost, but they don’t understand the many other scriptural purposes for speaking in tongues.

We’re going to discuss at length the many reasons God gave us this supernatural gift to benefit and bless us. But first, I want to ask this question: what value did the Apostle Paul put on speaking in tongues?

As you study Paul’s Epistles, you find that he wrote much about the subject of tongues, and apparently he practiced what he preached. After all, he declared to the Corinthian church. “I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than ye all (1Cor. 14:18)!

A well-known Christian leader once wrote a negative letter regarding tongues to one of his “star” converts who had gotten filled with the Holy Ghost. I was allowed to read excerpts of that letter. In his letter, this Christian leader stated that Paul took a very dim view of speaking in tongues and that the apostle tried to discourage and forbid the Corinthians from speaking in tongues. And although this man never gave chapter or verse for his statement, he tried to prove his point by claiming that Paul said, “I’d rather speak five words with my own understanding than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue.”

Did Paul Take a Dim View of Tongues?

But Paul didn’t say that. That Christian leader took part of a verse out of context to make it say what he wanted it to say. Let’s see what Paul really said. First, he made the statement we already mentioned: “I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than ye all (1 Cor. 14:18).

Let’s say you got up one morning and declared at the breakfast table: “This is the day that the Lord has made. It’s a good day, and I thank God for it!” You’re making a positive statement, but according to this fellow, you would be taking a very dim view of the day!

That doesn’t make much sense, does it? Yet this Bible scholar followed the same kind of logic when he said Paul took a dim view of tongues. After all, Paul said he thanked God that he spoke with tongues more than the entire church at Corinth.

If Paul spoke with tongues more than this Corinthian bunch did, then he must have done a tremendous amount of speaking in tongues. As you read the rest of chapter 14, you’ll find that speaking in tongues was about all the Corinthians wanted to do. Paul even had to correct the church in Corinth along that line because many of the people were speaking with tongues in the wrong place in worship, and in the wrong manner. [end quote]

Paul then describes some things that were going on. He made the point that he was talking about in services. For an example, let’s say brother Reggie comes and gets up to minister the Word and everyone in the sanctuary just started speaking in other tongues. That would be out of line. It’s not a prayer service. It’s a service and there’s a leader of the service.

Sandy and I had this take place in our lives. Years ago, my brother-in-law got filled with the Holy Ghost. And we had no clue about it. He had some other young friends. They were going to a different church. They all spoke in other tongues and when they’d come over to visit, he’d bring them over with him and they’d come in and … this freaked us out. They’d speak in tongues like, “Okay I’m going to say Hi to Amanda…” (speaking in tongues) That’s what they would do! We were like, “What is with these people!” It was an “out of order” kind of deal. They were charged up about it. They were filled, but it was out of order. So that’s what Paul was talking about. In the services, he’d rather speak five English words than just tongues. What if Pastor Mac has a service and all he did is speak in other tongues. Then we all leave. You get the picture. I want to read one more paragraph.

[excerpt beings]
The Word of God is so simple and plain! Some folks have made a mountain out of a molehill, claiming that Paul was teaching the Church that believers shouldn’t speak with tongues at all. Paul wasn’t teaching any such thing. His wish and desire was that every believer would speak with other tongues (1 Cor. 14:5). He thanked God that he spoke in tongues more than anyone else because he understood the full scope and value of this supernatural gift. [end quote]

There’s a lot in there about praying in other tongues. I know I’m speaking to the choir but we can all use this gift more than what we’re doing right now.

My mother-in-law is in a nursing home and Sandy can’t go visit her. It’s been almost four weeks since she’s seen her mom. I go visit her but I’m not her daughter. Yesterday, I was going to go over there and Sandy said, “When you go in there, just pray with her but pray in other tongues for a while,” because she’s at the end of her time and it’s really … have you been to nursing homes? Especially where it’s extreme care needed.

So when I went to see her I was like, “Let’s pray a little.” She was sitting in her wheelchair. She took my hand and I just prayed English first and then laid hands on her and started speaking in other tongues believing that it would be the full will of God that I was praying over her like that. That’s the way we need to always see it. We can actually pray in other tongues without even really thinking about it. But if I was talking in my English language to someone, I’d have to think about what I’m saying. I wouldn’t just rattle off a bunch of English words, but I’d speak and listen and then speak back. You know what I’m saying? So it’s important to remember Who we’re talking to when we’re speaking in other tongues. Alright?

Let’s worship the Lord, welcoming His presence today.

Prayed…

Holy Spirit, we welcome Your presence. In our own selves, we acknowledge that we are nothing. We recognize that but in You, we are everything. You made us who we are. You created each one of us individually but you created us to connect to other members of the living body. Thank You, Holy Spirit, for Your presence this morning. Increase within us. Fill us. Refresh us this morning with momentum, with power, with revelation, with understanding. Fill us to overflowing that it won’t be just about us, but it’ll be about others that we are called to lift up and pray forth. The best days are the days that are out front and yet to come.

The best days are yet to come for each one of us, we’ve come from different days, different times, different dates and connections, different relationships, different paths, but we’ve all come to this place to be filled to overflowing and walk out into the days that are ahead. Every single one of us. And connect with the plan and recognize it’s Your hand.

Annie led group in worship…

Continued praying…

By faith, today we take our seat in heavenly places with You
We call those things that are not as though they were
Call some things to stop now in Jesus’ name
We lay out the blood before us in Jesus’ name
We plead the blood of Jesus there

Pastor Ray interjected…

This came up in my heart again this morning. As we were lifting Him up, I saw Jesus come and lay out a blanket before us. It was like a picnic on a beautiful, sun shiny day. And the grass was green. The scene was beautiful. He laid that blanket out for us and everything that He brought was so good. The comforter has come to bring comfort and peace to us to bring down static, so to speak, or whatever it might be in our lives that needs to simmer down. And it’s the anointing that clears it out so we can go through our days. The manifestation of the Holy Spirit as the comforter is like a fresh beautiful day and a blanket laid out for us just to relax and rest. Our rest is in Him. He had brought everything we need. It’s already supplied by the blood of the Lamb. We receive it and we sit on it and take our rest. We rest in the Lord!

Continued praying…

We come to You, Lord, to receive assignments in Jesus
Mantles to carry out the assignments
We prepare for these ways
Real stable now… stability and fixed
Trusting in Your will and ways
Transitions and changes and turns
We plead the blood over these transitions
The changes are part of the master plan
Processing, receiving, understanding, illumination and clarity
Lining it up now
A clearing
One way—one way!
Connections—we connect with God’s assignments
We pray over them
Direct them
Holy, holy, it is holy
It’s a pure way
New assignments and steps
Our hearts set
Abiding in it
The light, the light… a light and a life
Upward, upward, upward… lifted… upward, upward, upward in alignment… concerning the assignments
Orders, orders
We yield to the orders
Stay on it, stay on it
Mandates
It’s set up… it’s been set up… it has been prepared
We give out preparation… assignments
We command things to line up there
And well oiled… it’s an oil… oil… ho, ho, ha, ha

Annie led in worship…

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