Prayer That Doesn’t Work? NO WAY!

John 14:13-14 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.

How many of you are aware of this verse? How many of you implement it or practice it? Today is your day to change the facts. To overcome your “back story”. If God can rewrite the story of Sarah, calling her a woman of faith (Hebrews 11), imagine what He can do with you in a better covenant.

Let me explain my reasoning for writing this. A few nights ago our American President made an invalid statement. A false statement if you will. (Many of you are thinking something different. Just wait.)

While speaking on the shootings in Oregon, he made this statement(By the way I verified the White House transcript.) … “our thoughts and prayers are not enough. It’s not enough.”

WHAT?

First let me say I did not vote for our President. BUT, I pray for him each week. With passion and fervor, “that the eyes of his understanding would be open”, that he would be safe, etc… (You may want to read my book on declarations and decrees and jump to the section on leaders. We are commanded by God to pray for these men and women, WHOEVER they may be.)

Yet, when he said what he said about prayer I found myself feeling ill. That something is required to be said. I wrote this yesterday.

I was praying and I heard, “let our yes be yeast”. (Matthew 5:37-perhaps it is “let your yeas be yeast”.)

We will never change the world without changing ourselves to a mindset that will cause us to reach others.

Yeast will never invade, never froth and never foam until the package is opened. You can quote the scriptures about a “little leaven(yeast) leavening the whole loaf” but until that jar or package of yeast is opened, nothing happens.

So now you are a package of yeast that has been opened! You need water. “For out of your bellies will flow rivers of living water.” (Or as my friend Jeremiah excitedly yelled in a tent meeting in the 90’s “out of your bellies will come livers of riving water!”) Time to tap in and release those rivers. But you still need sugar. Yeast without sugar will not work. Sweetness does.

Folks, let your yes be yeast.

• Be open.
• Be watered.
• Be sweetened.

Then you will froth and foam and change the world!

Your leaven will leaven and your bread will rise. Then you will feed the nations! They will come to you!

Later that morning I was in a leadership meeting and I said to someone, in lieu of this statement we must be united in one voice. Not AGAINST someone (Though I am sure someone will take it as that.)but FOR something. We need a voice to carry.

Psalm 107:28-30 Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. He made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed. Then they were glad that the waters were quiet, and he brought them to their desired haven.

Folks-we have encountered a storm AND prayer is the ANSWER!

What about these three scriptures?

Matthew 7:7 “Ask, and it will be given to you seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

Matthew 21:22 And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.”

Mark 11:24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

OUR PRAYERS DO SOMETHING. Here are 5 more just in case, that speak about our trust in the Lord,adding our faith(That He gave us!)

Mark 9:29 And he said to them, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.”

Acts 9:40 But Peter put them all outside, and knelt down and prayed; and turning to the body he said, “Tabitha, arise.” And she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter she sat up.

James 5:14-16 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another,that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

Always & With Thanksgiving

Ephesians 6:18 praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints,

Philippians 4:6-7 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

I struggled with the televised statement. As an old southern friend said to me, “I just don’t cotton up to that thinking.” It is not about gun control, police or politics. It IS about prayer.

And folks, it does not end there. James said, faith without works, is dead.

We are believers. (That does mean we believe.) People of faith created to move mountains. Mountains of injustice and pain, death and destruction.

I finished my book on I Heard God and one of the premises is to hear God for yourself, you family, your community and your nation. Want to change the government? Pray and get into place. Planned Parenthood? Pray and develop a viable alternative. War? Declare and be a people of peace. Peacemakers, if you will.

Let your yeast be “yes” to God, yes to His message and His kingdom.

Bishop Clarence McClendon said this in a meeting last month. (To Donald Trump) “In my church we don’t preach a message based on grievances and handouts. We believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ proclaims a Kingdom that has the ultimate power to lift any individual right out of the most impoverished circumstances. Gods Word can empower anyone with the wisdom and ability to rise above any obstacle and make it!” Now he and I perhaps do not see “eye to eye” about some pieces of the gospel, but I could get behind that statement.

Folks, let us stop deciding what we do not like. And declare and decree what we know to be God.

I am not being political here. If you think that, you missed it. I am declaring the kingdom. A Theocracy, not a democracy or even a republic.

Want your cities to be safe? Pray, walk, be infused in the culture of your community. Meet with college students, visit places and bring the light.

Many years ago, I was operational as a witch. People were fearful of me on some levels. A lot of Christians avoided me and avoided my places of business. But, there was one young man who came to me and talked to me about the gospel. He and his dad considered me a man worth saving. Ironically, I was saved in his community, in a grocery store in an encounter with Jesus. My life changed in “aisle 2”.

He was yeast!

Only yesterday I prayed for a young woman to have an encounter with God. I can pray for our President to have a similar encounter.

Prayer that doesn’t work? NO WAY!

Let your yes unto God be the yeast to infect a community, a state, a nation.