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5 Things That Are Secretly Crippling Your Prayer Life · Success by the Book

0:00
SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Success by the Book Podcast, the place where Christians who want to experience the extravagant goodness of God in all areas of their lives come from mentorship.
0:09
SPEAKER_00: I am your host, Dr.
0:10
SPEAKER_00: Inna, and I'll be unpacking the secrets I have learned from the Word of God over the last two decades.
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SPEAKER_00: Let's dive in.
0:17
SPEAKER_00: Today I'm going to show you.
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SPEAKER_00: I started off with seven, got to five, got to three, but I'm going to show you the top three ways people's prayer lives get crippled.
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SPEAKER_00: Okay.
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SPEAKER_00: And what that's going to do is after today, your prayer life is going to go up to a whole new level.
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SPEAKER_00: The kinds of results you're able to create from your prayer life will go up a whole new level.
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SPEAKER_00: And you will fall in love with spending time with God, spending time in prayer like you never have before, because it's something that will change your life on a daily basis.
0:53
SPEAKER_00: So we're going to get into this.
0:55
SPEAKER_00: And I'll tell you where this started for me.
0:57
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
0:58
SPEAKER_00: I um I don't like, I don't like being religious.
1:03
SPEAKER_00: And what I mean by religious is, you know, I have some things that I do, certain prayers that I pray, certain times I go for spiritual meetings and all of that, but it has no bearing on my real quote unquote real life, my everyday life, right?
1:18
SPEAKER_00: I don't care for religion.
1:20
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
1:20
SPEAKER_00: What I care for is a real relationship with the real God, where I have this beautiful relationship with him, and I'm able to succeed in all nine areas of my life with his help, with his wisdom.
1:35
SPEAKER_00: And I live this life that's pleasing to him, that advances his kingdom and all of those things.
1:40
SPEAKER_00: I want to have a rich life, okay?
1:44
SPEAKER_00: And a rich life in the way I look at it, a rich life is a life where you have a very deep walk with God.
1:51
SPEAKER_00: So you're rich spiritually, you live a life that manifests the blessing of God, right?
1:58
SPEAKER_00: So in all nine areas of your life, you're winning, you're God's mannequin.
2:02
SPEAKER_00: Your life is showing off how good God is.
2:05
SPEAKER_00: Like he's not a figment of anybody's imagination, he's real.
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SPEAKER_00: And if you walk with him, it will change your life, right?
2:11
SPEAKER_00: That's the second thing.
2:12
SPEAKER_00: And then the third thing is that I live this life that fulfills God's agenda for me.
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SPEAKER_00: Like I advance his kingdom.
2:21
SPEAKER_00: Um, the Bible says that the glory of a king is a large population.
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SPEAKER_00: So I advance his kingdom.
2:27
SPEAKER_00: Because of me, there's more people in his kingdom, more people know him.
2:30
SPEAKER_00: And when I show up before him, I can hear him say to me, Well done, thou good and faithful servant.
2:34
SPEAKER_00: I can say to him, Father, I glorified you on the earth by completing to the last detail what you assigned me to do.
2:40
SPEAKER_00: So if I'm rich in these three areas, in my mind, I'm rich.
2:44
SPEAKER_00: Deep walk with God, manifesting the blessing in all nine areas of my life, and I live in a life that aggressively advances the kingdom of God.
2:52
SPEAKER_00: And one of the most powerful things that will make this possible for you is your prayer life.
2:58
SPEAKER_00: So it's not a joke, it's not this thing we just do to be good Christians, it's not this thing we do to get spiritual brownie points.
3:06
SPEAKER_00: Prayer is a powerful tool that we use to create wealth in all areas of our lives.
3:13
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
3:14
SPEAKER_00: So I don't want to waste time praying in a way that's not going to be effective.
3:19
SPEAKER_00: I don't want to pray in such a way where I get brownie points for prayer, but doesn't show up in my life.
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SPEAKER_00: I don't want to pray in such a way that I'm not getting a deeper walk with God.
3:28
SPEAKER_00: I don't hear him better, his character is not rubbing off on me.
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SPEAKER_00: I don't want any of that.
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SPEAKER_00: I don't want to do prayer as a religious ritual.
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SPEAKER_00: I want to do it as a real relationship with the real God that affects every aspect of my life.
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SPEAKER_00: Okay.
3:46
SPEAKER_00: And so, because of that, I take a look to say, okay, what are the laws of prayer?
3:51
SPEAKER_00: What makes prayer work?
3:54
SPEAKER_00: Okay, what makes prayer work?
3:56
SPEAKER_00: What makes prayer effective?
3:58
SPEAKER_00: Um, Jesus, we know about him that he had this prayer life.
4:01
SPEAKER_00: The Bible talking about it in Mark 135 says, rising up a great while before dawn, he went to a solid, solitary place and then he prayed.
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SPEAKER_00: And throughout the life of Jesus, you hear him say, I don't, you know, I only say what the father says to say, I don't speak on my outhority, I only do what the father says to do, I don't do things on my own authority.
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SPEAKER_00: So he had this very rich, vibrant prayer life that affected his entire life.
4:25
SPEAKER_00: Okay, okay.
4:27
SPEAKER_00: So there are three sneaky things that if we allow them, they they reduce the impact of our prayer lives, right?
4:36
SPEAKER_00: And my goodness, if we're gonna pray, we want to get everything we can get from it, right?
4:41
SPEAKER_00: Okay, all right.
4:42
SPEAKER_00: So let me walk you through these three things.
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SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna take my time, that's why I dropped it from seven to five to three.
4:48
SPEAKER_00: We're just gonna focus and we're gonna look at these three things.
4:52
SPEAKER_00: And after today, we are never going to let these three things get in our way, okay?
4:57
SPEAKER_00: We are going to have these lives where we we pray and we pray like bosses.
5:02
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
5:03
SPEAKER_00: All right.
5:03
SPEAKER_00: So let's look at the first thing.
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SPEAKER_00: So the first, the first thing that will cripple our prayer lives, even if you're someone who prays a lot in the spirit, like who wants to pray a lot in the spirit and have something working against it?
5:18
SPEAKER_00: Now, don't get me wrong.
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SPEAKER_00: When you pray, even if you have some of these things in, they may not stop the result altogether, but they dampen the impact.
5:27
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so I don't want anybody walking away going, like, oh, I don't know if my prayers are working.
5:30
SPEAKER_00: Your prayers are working, okay?
5:32
SPEAKER_00: They're either working for you, working on you, working, they're working.
5:36
SPEAKER_00: But if I can get a 10x result, why would I get a 1x result?
5:39
SPEAKER_00: Right.
5:40
SPEAKER_00: So that's what we're talking about here.
5:41
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
5:41
SPEAKER_00: So even if you're someone who prays in the spirit, and you know when I pray in the spirit, I'm speaking mysteries, I'm doing all this stuff.
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SPEAKER_00: If these things are missing, you know, it's toning down the impact.
5:50
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
5:51
SPEAKER_00: So the first thing is no faith, is praying, but having no faith.
5:58
SPEAKER_00: And I'm I'm gonna take, I'm gonna take my time on this, okay?
6:01
SPEAKER_00: So let's go to Matthew, um, not Matthew, Mark chapter 11.
6:06
SPEAKER_00: Mark chapter 11.
6:07
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna read something for you here.
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SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna start from verse 22.
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SPEAKER_00: Okay, I'm reading from the New King James Version, my purple Bible.
6:16
SPEAKER_00: Love it.
6:17
SPEAKER_00: Okay, now it says, So Jesus, Mark 11, 22, so Jesus and answer answered and said to them, Have faith in God.
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SPEAKER_00: Okay, have faith in God.
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SPEAKER_00: Then he said in verse 23, for assuredly I say to you, whoever says to the mount this mountain, be removed and cast into the sea, and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.
6:49
SPEAKER_00: Now, notice in this, that having followed believing, believing first, having second.
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SPEAKER_00: Okay, okay, now in verse 24, it says, Therefore, I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray.
7:12
SPEAKER_00: So we're talking about prayer here.
7:14
SPEAKER_00: So, whatever, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.
7:22
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna read it again.
7:23
SPEAKER_00: Look, I want you to look at the sequence.
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SPEAKER_00: Therefore, I say to you, whatever things you ask for when you pray.
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SPEAKER_00: So, number one, pray.
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SPEAKER_00: Believe that you receive them, number two, receive them, and you shall have them.
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SPEAKER_00: Three, then you have them.
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SPEAKER_00: The believing goes before the having.
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SPEAKER_00: So prayer is first, yes.
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SPEAKER_00: Second is believing, third is having.
7:46
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so what does that mean?
7:50
SPEAKER_00: Prayer, you know, we have to be able to hold the and okay.
7:57
SPEAKER_00: When I was a younger Christian, every time I would hear a principle in the word of God, I will say, I found the thing, and I found the thing, so I don't have to do all the other things.
8:07
SPEAKER_00: So when I hear a really good teaching on prayer, I was like, Oh, we're all in, we're gonna pray.
8:11
SPEAKER_00: Okay, but study your word.
8:12
SPEAKER_00: No, no, no, it's prayer, prayer, prayer, right?
8:14
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, I got it.
8:15
SPEAKER_00: The key is praying, and then I'll hear something else about studying the word, and then I start studying the word, and then I'm like, oh, um, the key is the word, and then I throw away prayer and I start praying.
8:27
SPEAKER_00: I start reading the word, reading the word.
8:28
SPEAKER_00: Okay, but pray, no, no, no, the key is reading the word.
8:31
SPEAKER_00: Then I learn about giving, and then I throw away prayer and throw away whatever.
8:34
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, I found the key, the key.
8:37
SPEAKER_00: And as I grew older as a Christian, I had to start developing the capacity to hold the and right, it's not prayer only, it's not the word only, it's not giving only, it's not obedience only, it's not you know, ministry only, it's not getting people saved only, it's there's the there's the and, right?
8:58
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so is prayer powerful?
9:01
SPEAKER_00: Yes, but no, no woman is powerful enough to have a baby by herself with no external involvement, right?
9:12
SPEAKER_00: Because there's an and so prayer is powerful and it needs faith to work.
9:19
SPEAKER_00: Faith is powerful and right, Green Tobay said we need to stop throwing away things.
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SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we need to hold the and okay.
9:28
SPEAKER_00: So it's prayer and faith.
9:31
SPEAKER_00: So it's not like, oh, I figured it out, it's faith.
9:34
SPEAKER_00: No, it's it's prayer, it's prayer and faith.
9:38
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so your prayer is powerful, your faith is powerful, and your prayer needs faith to work.
9:47
SPEAKER_00: So I pray for something and I add something to it, my believing, and then I have them.
9:55
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so don't turn off your faith because you're praying.
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SPEAKER_00: Both are needed now.
10:01
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so I want to I want to help you, because you may say, okay, then I can't pray because I don't have faith.
10:07
SPEAKER_00: No, that's not what that, that's not what that means at all.
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SPEAKER_00: Okay, you may be here and you're trusting God for healing, but you don't actually, you're just like, but I don't really believe it.
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SPEAKER_00: You may be trusting God for a spouse, and you might go, like, really, there are no guys anywhere, or there are no girls anywhere.
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SPEAKER_00: That like you may have all the you, you may, you may, it may be your business and you're praying for this thing, and you sound bold and great in prayer, and your tongues are like a machine gun, ta-ta-ta, right?
10:32
SPEAKER_00: But at the same time, you can't even imagine the amount you're talking about happened to you.
10:40
SPEAKER_00: Like you can't imagine it.
10:42
SPEAKER_00: Well, you're praying it, and you're talking a loud game, but you can't imagine it.
10:46
SPEAKER_00: Okay, here's the deal.
10:49
SPEAKER_00: If you can't bring yourself to pray in faith, use your prayer to generate faith.
10:56
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so let me explain what I mean by that.
10:59
SPEAKER_00: If I find myself trusting God for something and I'm scared and I can't see it, I can still use the prayer power to say, Lord, give me a revelation of this thing.
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SPEAKER_00: Lord, give me a vision of this thing, Lord, give me a picture of this thing.
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SPEAKER_00: Lord, I don't believe this stuff.
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SPEAKER_00: Like, stop pretending with God, stop pretending, stop pretending before God that you have faith when you don't.
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SPEAKER_00: Because He knows.
11:28
SPEAKER_00: He knows.
11:28
SPEAKER_00: So, for instance, you may say, I'm trusting God for healing.
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SPEAKER_00: I've read all these healing scriptures, and I kind of hope God will do something about it, right?
11:38
SPEAKER_00: Or you can say, Lord, I have these seven scriptures on healing.
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SPEAKER_00: I don't I don't understand any of them.
11:46
SPEAKER_00: I don't I can't, I don't have faith in it, I don't, I don't believe anything of them.
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SPEAKER_00: You can literally use the same prayer life and sit with him and say, Lord, give me, because it's his word, give me revelation of this scripture, give me an unshakable revelation of this scripture, that I my faith will be locked on it.
12:05
SPEAKER_00: Lord, open my eyes because the thing is, once you get it, you have it.
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SPEAKER_00: Right?
12:12
SPEAKER_00: Once you get it, you have it.
12:13
SPEAKER_00: Like, Lord, open my eyes to these scriptures, unlock these scriptures, Lord.
12:18
SPEAKER_00: That this will be this will be my the the subconscious picture I walk with, that I will know this like I know my name.
12:28
SPEAKER_00: You pray, right?
12:30
SPEAKER_00: It may be your trusting God for a spouse, and there's scriptures like that.
12:33
SPEAKER_00: You give you the desires of your heart, none shall lack their mate, all of those.
12:37
SPEAKER_00: You line those scriptures up and you say, Lord, where the way I am right now, I am terrified.
12:43
SPEAKER_00: Like I have solid pictures of me never being married, even though I'm here praying and all this stuff.
12:47
SPEAKER_00: Lord, give me a revelation.
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SPEAKER_00: Give me a revelation that you grant me the desires of my heart.
12:53
SPEAKER_00: Give me a revelation that Adam didn't even ask for a wife.
12:56
SPEAKER_00: You're the one who came up with this institution of marriage.
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SPEAKER_00: Like, like there's somebody for me.
13:01
SPEAKER_00: Open my eyes to see this.
13:03
SPEAKER_00: I'm just thinking, lack and scarcity.
13:05
SPEAKER_00: Open my eyes to see this.
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SPEAKER_00: Now, you're going to give your prayer for revelation, raw material.
13:13
SPEAKER_00: So, so prayer is one of one of them.
13:16
SPEAKER_00: The other thing you give it is the word, right?
13:18
SPEAKER_00: You so it's uh you saw me say list the scriptures, and you're like, Lord, open my eyes to these scriptures.
13:24
SPEAKER_00: You also gather testimonies of people, so you're trusting God for healing.
13:29
SPEAKER_00: There's so many people who are healing evangelism, just put it in front of you, and one after the other, you're watching it, you'll put it in front of that.
13:36
SPEAKER_00: So the Holy Spirit has a raw material to work on, right?
13:39
SPEAKER_00: So you take testimonies, right?
13:41
SPEAKER_00: It could be business testimonies, health testimonies, family testimonies, whatever those are, you put those in front of you, and then you also use your own imagination.
13:51
SPEAKER_00: Your imagination is a gift given to you by God to build your faith, right?
13:56
SPEAKER_00: And so if it's you, you're trusting, you're trusting God to be healed.
14:00
SPEAKER_00: What is something, what is something that you'll be able to do after that?
14:04
SPEAKER_00: Hold the picture of you doing that, right?
14:07
SPEAKER_00: You're afraid that you'll die young.
14:09
SPEAKER_00: Hold the picture of you at your 90th birthday party.
14:12
SPEAKER_00: You're afraid your business can't make X amount of money, can't have a certain kind of team.
14:17
SPEAKER_00: Your imagination, imagine you leading that team.
14:20
SPEAKER_00: It's your imagination is free.
14:21
SPEAKER_00: There's no imagination, police, right?
14:23
SPEAKER_00: There's no restrictions on your imagination.
14:25
SPEAKER_00: You imagine yourself.
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SPEAKER_00: You imagine yourself there, leading that kind of team, that amount in the bank, or your profit and loss statement and all of that.
14:35
SPEAKER_00: You're single, imagine yourself being married.
14:37
SPEAKER_00: Please don't take somebody you like and put their name, put their picture there.
14:44
SPEAKER_00: Okay, but you can imagine yourself being married.
14:46
SPEAKER_00: Imagine yourself at your wedding, imagine your wedding day, imagine your kids.
14:50
SPEAKER_00: Like your imagination is free.
14:52
SPEAKER_00: And God said in Ephesians 3.20, now to him who's able to do exceeding abundantly above all you ask or imagine.
14:59
SPEAKER_00: Do you guys see this?
15:00
SPEAKER_00: So, what what are all the what is all this raw material?
15:03
SPEAKER_00: You're giving the holy, you're giving him prayer, giving him the word, you're giving him testimonials, you're giving him your imagination, you're giving him a vision board, you're giving him all of these things so that God has something to use to build your faith.
15:14
SPEAKER_00: Listen, guys, if you don't have faith, it's not a bad thing, just build it.
15:22
SPEAKER_00: If you don't have faith, don't pretend, build it.
15:26
SPEAKER_00: If you don't have faith, don't pretend, build it.
15:29
SPEAKER_00: So when we're praying these prayers and on the inside we're having palpitations, build the faith.
15:36
SPEAKER_00: And if it takes a minute, it's fine, build it.
15:38
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so if we um Abraham is called the father of faith, right?
15:43
SPEAKER_00: And God came to him in Genesis chapter 12, and he says, Oh, I'm gonna bless you, I'm gonna make you into a great nation, I'm gonna make your name great, I will bless those who bless you, I'll curse those who curse you, and you all the families of the earth will be blessed.
15:55
SPEAKER_00: God said that.
15:57
SPEAKER_00: And it by chapter 13, the Bible says that now Abraham was very rich in cattle, in silver, in gold, all of these things, but he didn't have any kids.
16:07
SPEAKER_00: And God came to him in chapter 13 and said, Hey guy, um so lift up your eyes and look.
16:16
SPEAKER_00: What is God doing?
16:17
SPEAKER_00: Helping him build his faith.
16:19
SPEAKER_00: He's like, Lift up your eyes and look for all the land you see, eastward, westward, northward, southward.
16:24
SPEAKER_00: I've given it to you and your descendants.
16:26
SPEAKER_00: Right?
16:27
SPEAKER_00: And then he said, And your descendants will be like the sand or the seashore, right?
16:31
SPEAKER_00: And he did that.
16:32
SPEAKER_00: What is he doing?
16:33
SPEAKER_00: Building his faith, but didn't take yet.
16:36
SPEAKER_00: So he comes back in verse 15, in chapter 15.
16:39
SPEAKER_00: And Abraham is like, you know, what is what is the good of all these blessings?
16:43
SPEAKER_00: You've made me so wealthy, but this servant in my house, Elias of Damascus, is going to be my heir.
16:49
SPEAKER_00: God's like, No, no, you're gonna have your own heir.
16:51
SPEAKER_00: Then he took him again and said, Okay, look at the stars, number them if you can.
16:56
SPEAKER_00: This is how many your children will be.
16:58
SPEAKER_00: God was building his faith.
17:00
SPEAKER_00: If there is something you're believing God for, but your faith is not quite there, don't be ashamed of the fact that your faith is not there.
17:08
SPEAKER_00: Build the faith.
17:10
SPEAKER_00: Build the faith.
17:12
SPEAKER_00: Pray and ask for revelation.
17:14
SPEAKER_00: Take the scriptures, put it in front of you, meditate on the scriptures.
17:17
SPEAKER_00: I've done many videos on how to meditate.
17:19
SPEAKER_00: You can pick the one of prescriptive meditation and watch that, right?
17:23
SPEAKER_00: You start meditating those scriptures, you start using your imagination, you start using vision boards, you start watching or reading testimonials, you're doing all this thing.
17:31
SPEAKER_00: What are you doing?
17:32
SPEAKER_00: Building your faith.
17:33
SPEAKER_00: Don't be ashamed, don't pretend, build your faith.
17:38
SPEAKER_00: If it's not there, don't pretend, right?
17:42
SPEAKER_00: Don't pretend because your prayer is more impactful when it's backed by faith.
17:50
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it can't even be resolved until there is faith.
17:56
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so the first thing that tries to cripple our prayer lives is no faith.
18:04
SPEAKER_00: And if there's no faith, God has given us the tools we need to build the faith.
18:09
SPEAKER_00: So it's our job to build the faith.
18:11
SPEAKER_00: Don't be afraid to do it.
18:13
SPEAKER_00: Tell yourself, self, I don't see how this can happen.
18:17
SPEAKER_00: Okay, I'm a believer, not a doubter.
18:19
SPEAKER_00: And you don't have to say it, right?
18:21
SPEAKER_00: But it's recognizing it like a good doctor.
18:24
SPEAKER_00: You make a diagnosis, there's no faith here, then you find the cure, right?
18:29
SPEAKER_00: Which are those things I've listed, and you start building it.
18:32
SPEAKER_00: But this is this is a picture I want you to have because sometimes we say faith, what is faith?
18:36
SPEAKER_00: Oh, I don't know what faith is, or faith is the substance of things hoped for, you know, the evidence of things not seen.
18:41
SPEAKER_00: We can quote it, but we don't really know what it is.
18:43
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
18:44
SPEAKER_00: Faith is having the picture of your preferred future as your dominant picture.
18:52
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so people say seeing is believing, and that's not for supposed to be for Christians because we're supposed to believe.
19:01
SPEAKER_00: I say seeing is believing, but not seeing on the outside, seeing on the inside.
19:07
SPEAKER_00: You bring yourself to the point where the picture you have when you think about your body, the the dominant picture inside is you, the healed by the stripes of Jesus.
19:19
SPEAKER_00: I'm healed, I'm whole.
19:22
SPEAKER_00: The dominant picture is God is my healer, he's my physician.
19:26
SPEAKER_00: And because he's my physician, no disease is impossible for him to heal.
19:31
SPEAKER_00: And so once you start seeing that you're in faith, so seeing internally is believing.
19:37
SPEAKER_00: Seeing is faith.
19:39
SPEAKER_00: Seeing is faith, and that's what makes you go against resistance without slowing down because you can see it, you've already seen it, it's already happened on the inside, okay?
19:54
SPEAKER_00: But now we are people, so the same prayer life, you're gonna use the same prayer life to trigger faith, right?
20:03
SPEAKER_00: One is that when we pray in the spirit, we're building ourselves up in our most holy faith.
20:07
SPEAKER_00: When we're praying in the spirit, we're unlocking our spiritual senses so we can pull revelation from the scripture, right?
20:13
SPEAKER_00: And then you're you're feeding your mind with testimonials, with the word, you know, with in imagination, with vision board, all of that stuff, so that you have the faith.
20:25
SPEAKER_00: And so now your prayers are like wild because there's nothing hindering it, right?
20:33
SPEAKER_00: Okay, we're getting it.
20:34
SPEAKER_00: This is good.
20:35
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so no, no faith, no faith.
20:40
SPEAKER_00: We need to add faith to our prayer.
20:45
SPEAKER_00: Add faith to our prayer, okay.
20:47
SPEAKER_00: Now, this means this is work.
20:50
SPEAKER_00: Do you guys see this?
20:51
SPEAKER_00: But if we believe God is gonna work for us, we need to be interested in working for ourselves too.
20:55
SPEAKER_00: Okay, okay, so number one is no faith.
20:58
SPEAKER_00: The second one, the second one is no action.
21:03
SPEAKER_00: Oh man.
21:05
SPEAKER_00: Okay, if you want to be a Christian who wins, who you know, the Bible says, Blessed be our Lord Jesus Christ, who causes us to triumph always.
21:14
SPEAKER_00: If you want to be a person who triumphs always, right?
21:18
SPEAKER_00: You gotta be a person of action.
21:20
SPEAKER_00: If you're gonna be the person for whom these promises in this book will be your reality, you're gonna have to be a person of action.
21:27
SPEAKER_00: If you want to be you, you're like you want to have your life so wild, like I want you to think about there are people whose their walk with God was so fascinating that it made it to the scriptures.
21:41
SPEAKER_00: It's so fascinating that it made it to the scriptures.
21:44
SPEAKER_00: If you want to be that kind of person, your default setting is massive action.
21:49
SPEAKER_00: So somebody walked up to me yesterday.
21:51
SPEAKER_00: We had um we had a leadership retreat at church.
21:54
SPEAKER_00: It was so amazing.
21:56
SPEAKER_00: We learned so many things.
21:58
SPEAKER_00: Like these things have the potential to.
22:00
SPEAKER_00: Turn our lives right side up, like completely.
22:02
SPEAKER_00: And so this person walked up to me and said, Hey, you know, like, you know, I'm look, you know, they talked a lot about all these things, and I want you to be my mentor and all of these things.
22:11
SPEAKER_00: And I looked at her as like, oh, this child has no idea what she's asking for.
22:16
SPEAKER_00: Okay, she has no clue what she's asking for.
22:19
SPEAKER_00: And then she was like, Oh, you know, that she was thinking about joining the worship team.
22:23
SPEAKER_00: Now, mind you, this was like it was 10 p.m.
22:28
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
22:29
SPEAKER_00: So she says, I was thinking of joining the worship team.
22:32
SPEAKER_00: I was like, the worship team.
22:34
SPEAKER_00: I said, Why didn't you join the worship team?
22:35
SPEAKER_00: I didn't even wait for her to answer the question.
22:37
SPEAKER_00: I took her by her hand, took her straight to the worship team, took her to the worship, the director of the worship team, who's my who happens to be my brother.
22:44
SPEAKER_00: I said, Oh my goodness, I want you to, I want you to meet Obi.
22:48
SPEAKER_00: Obi is the is the director of the worship team.
22:50
SPEAKER_00: I want you to, and I told her, I told him, I want you to meet her.
22:53
SPEAKER_00: She has been meaning to join the worship team.
22:55
SPEAKER_00: And I figured we just solved this tonight.
22:57
SPEAKER_00: She's like, You mean like right now?
22:59
SPEAKER_00: I said, Yeah, right now.
23:00
SPEAKER_00: Right now.
23:01
SPEAKER_00: I said, because we can make the we can make this decision and move forward six months from now, or we can do this right now.
23:10
SPEAKER_00: Right?
23:10
SPEAKER_00: But if you want to be the person who has this life that goes at this speed, right now is the answer.
23:16
SPEAKER_00: So 10 p.m.
23:17
SPEAKER_00: yesterday, she joined the worship team.
23:20
SPEAKER_00: Another person walked up to me and said, Oh my goodness, thank you so much for the sacrifice you and Pastor Steve made to make this meeting possible and all of those things.
23:29
SPEAKER_00: And I looked at her, I said, That's wonderful.
23:32
SPEAKER_00: I said, Do you lead a small group?
23:35
SPEAKER_00: She says, No.
23:38
SPEAKER_00: But she's in a small group.
23:39
SPEAKER_00: I said, When are you going to start your small group?
23:42
SPEAKER_00: And she says, I'm thinking about sometime before the end of the year.
23:48
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, ma'am, ma'am, this is this is the eighth month of the year.
23:53
SPEAKER_00: We are definitely not waiting till the end of the year.
23:55
SPEAKER_00: I said, with all you got this weekend, with all you've got since you have in the church, do you have what it takes to lead a small group?
24:03
SPEAKER_00: She's like, Yeah.
24:04
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, ma'am, I'm gonna need, I'm gonna need to know about your meeting two weeks from now.
24:09
SPEAKER_00: And she's like, can we negotiate?
24:12
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, sure.
24:14
SPEAKER_00: Because I already negotiated.
24:16
SPEAKER_00: My I was gonna tell you next week.
24:17
SPEAKER_00: And I was nice, and I gave you two weeks.
24:19
SPEAKER_00: So if you want to go one week, let's do it.
24:21
SPEAKER_00: She's like, nah, I'll take the two weeks.
24:23
SPEAKER_00: What is this?
24:24
SPEAKER_00: Massive action.
24:26
SPEAKER_00: Because if we are not people who can take massive action, God will give us an instruction.
24:32
SPEAKER_00: We will obey one year from now.
24:35
SPEAKER_00: We could have 12 years in one, but we have one year in 10 years because we're doing things too slow.
24:44
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
24:46
SPEAKER_00: Why is this important?
24:51
SPEAKER_00: You guys laughing?
24:52
SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm hardcore.
24:53
SPEAKER_00: I said they're like, What are you doing?
24:54
SPEAKER_00: I said, This is my default setting.
24:57
SPEAKER_00: These are just people say hi to me.
25:00
SPEAKER_00: This is my default setting.
25:01
SPEAKER_00: It is what it is.
25:02
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so here's the deal.
25:06
SPEAKER_00: God made you in his image and after his likeness.
25:12
SPEAKER_00: You are not this victim that he's here to help.
25:16
SPEAKER_00: You are not this um person that he's gonna have to take along your entire life.
25:24
SPEAKER_00: He made you in his image and his likeness because he wants to collaborate with you.
25:30
SPEAKER_00: He wants to work with you, he wants to get things done with you.
25:35
SPEAKER_00: He has no intention of treating you like a newborn from now to all eternity.
25:42
SPEAKER_00: God calls us sons of God, people who are capable, who have competence, who can take the father's business, who can go out there and kill something and drag it home.
25:53
SPEAKER_00: That's God's impression of you.
25:55
SPEAKER_00: That's God's impression of me.
25:57
SPEAKER_00: I'm saying this because a lot of times when you pray, God is not going to give you a finished product, He's going to give you raw material, and your action will make it a finished product.
26:12
SPEAKER_00: Your action is required for the answer of most of your prayers.
26:21
SPEAKER_00: Your action is required.
26:23
SPEAKER_00: So if you're not a person giving to action, you uh you just keep aborting and aborting and aborting the answers to your prayers because you don't add the part you need to add, which is your action.
26:35
SPEAKER_00: So, okay, let me read a few scriptures here.
26:38
SPEAKER_00: Okay, it has been a moment since I read Deuteronomy 2.24 for you guys, one of my favorite scriptures.
26:43
SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna start from there, okay?
26:45
SPEAKER_00: Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy 2.24.
26:49
SPEAKER_00: This is what it says.
26:52
SPEAKER_00: Now, God is talking to his people, he has promised them the promised land.
26:57
SPEAKER_00: Okay, he has promised them the promised land, they're almost there, and God is like, okay, he gives them an instruction.
27:04
SPEAKER_00: He says, Rise.
27:07
SPEAKER_00: Hello, rise is a verb.
27:09
SPEAKER_00: So in answer to prayer, if God says rise and you sit, you're aboard in it.
27:14
SPEAKER_00: He says, Rise, take your journey, and cross over the river Arnon.
27:21
SPEAKER_00: Look, I have given into your hand Sihon the Amorite, King of Heshbon, and his land.
27:29
SPEAKER_00: I've given it to you.
27:32
SPEAKER_00: So we what we usually say is, What?
27:36
SPEAKER_00: God has given it to me.
27:37
SPEAKER_00: We will go on social media, we'll post about the land God has given us.
27:41
SPEAKER_00: We will go to a church, we will say, Pray.
27:43
SPEAKER_00: I have a testimony.
27:44
SPEAKER_00: You grab the microphone, praise the Lord.
27:48
SPEAKER_00: Look at what the Lord has done.
27:49
SPEAKER_00: And God is like, I ain't done talking.
27:52
SPEAKER_00: I ain't done.
27:55
SPEAKER_00: He said, I have given you the land, I've given it into your hand.
27:59
SPEAKER_00: Now that I've given what that means is I have guaranteed the victory.
28:03
SPEAKER_00: Then he said, Begin to possess it and engage him in battle.
28:09
SPEAKER_00: Lord, you gave it to me.
28:10
SPEAKER_00: Why do I have to fight a battle?
28:12
SPEAKER_00: Because God likes to collaborate with you.
28:16
SPEAKER_00: God likes to collaborate with you.
28:19
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
28:20
SPEAKER_00: From now on, when he tells us what to do, we recognize that many times the instruction is the answer.
28:28
SPEAKER_00: The instruction is the answer.
28:30
SPEAKER_00: If God gave you an instruction, please read my lips.
28:34
SPEAKER_00: The instruction is the answer.
28:36
SPEAKER_00: He is done.
28:37
SPEAKER_00: He will help you carry out the instruction, but he's not going to do it for you.
28:42
SPEAKER_00: The instruction is the answer.
28:44
SPEAKER_00: The instruction is the answer.
28:46
SPEAKER_00: We're looking for finished products.
28:48
SPEAKER_00: The instruction is the answer.
28:51
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
28:52
SPEAKER_00: Rise, take your journey, cross over the river Arnon.
28:55
SPEAKER_00: Look, I have given it to your hand, Sihon the Amorite, the king of Hesbron, and his land.
29:00
SPEAKER_00: Begin to possess it and engage him in battle.
29:04
SPEAKER_00: So we are people who engage in battle.
29:07
SPEAKER_00: We are people who take the answer.
29:09
SPEAKER_00: We are the people who get up from our prayer closets and we go out there and kill something and drag it home.
29:18
SPEAKER_00: So we understand, right?
29:20
SPEAKER_00: We're able to hold the hand.
29:21
SPEAKER_00: You guys remember that?
29:22
SPEAKER_00: So we hold the prayer and the faith, and we hold the prayer and the faith and the action.
29:27
SPEAKER_00: I mean, the Bible does say that faith without works is dead, right?
29:31
SPEAKER_00: So they're all connected.
29:34
SPEAKER_00: They're all connected.
29:35
SPEAKER_00: But when God gives us insight, this is what needs to happen, we throw speed and volume behind that instruction and get it done.
29:46
SPEAKER_00: And get it done.
29:47
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
29:48
SPEAKER_00: Let me read a few more because I want to show you.
29:50
SPEAKER_00: It's all over the is all over the Bible.
29:53
SPEAKER_00: All over the Bible.
29:54
SPEAKER_00: And when God tells you an instruction, you don't do the instruction, you're aborting the process, but now we know, so we won't do that anymore.
30:01
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
30:01
SPEAKER_00: Mark chapter three.
30:03
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so let's look at this.
30:05
SPEAKER_00: Even many of the this the the miracles of Jesus, they were all instruction, not all of them, many of them were instructions.
30:13
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so let me give you um an example.
30:16
SPEAKER_00: So Mark chapter three, let me read from verse one.
30:20
SPEAKER_00: And he entered the synagogue again, and a man was there who had a withered hand.
30:25
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so he had a hand that was practically dead.
30:27
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
30:28
SPEAKER_00: So they watched him closely whether he would heal him on the Sabbath so that they might accuse him.
30:33
SPEAKER_00: And he said to the man who with the withered hand, step forward.
30:36
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
30:37
SPEAKER_00: And he said to them, Is it lawful to um on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save a life or to kill?
30:44
SPEAKER_00: But they kept silent.
30:45
SPEAKER_00: So that's it for a different conversation.
30:48
SPEAKER_00: And when he had looked around them with anger, being grieved by the hardness of his heart, he said to the man, stretch out your hand.
30:54
SPEAKER_00: And let me say this.
30:55
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes the instructions, you'll be like, Lord, I don't know how they do it up there, but down here, what you're asking me to do, I cannot do.
31:03
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
31:04
SPEAKER_00: He told the man with the withered hand, he said, Stretch forth your hand.
31:10
SPEAKER_00: Stretch forth your hand.
31:11
SPEAKER_00: And if the guy did not stretch forth his hand, please tell me in the comments, would he have been healed?
31:22
SPEAKER_00: Would he have been healed?
31:23
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is here.
31:25
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is willing to heal him.
31:27
SPEAKER_00: But what is the answer?
31:28
SPEAKER_00: An instruction, stretch forth your hand.
31:31
SPEAKER_00: An instruction that he shouldn't be able to do.
31:34
SPEAKER_00: But as he stretched forth his hand, his hand was restored as whole as the other.
31:43
SPEAKER_00: Right?
31:43
SPEAKER_00: And so it's in obeying the instruction that the manifestation of what he was believing for happened.
31:50
SPEAKER_00: When God telleth thee a thing, thou shalt do it.
31:55
SPEAKER_00: I'm just saying it in King James, okay?
31:58
SPEAKER_00: So it sounds weightier.
32:01
SPEAKER_00: Right?
32:02
SPEAKER_00: But it's our job to do.
32:03
SPEAKER_00: When we don't do, we're aborting the process.
32:06
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
32:06
SPEAKER_00: Let me let me read one.
32:08
SPEAKER_00: Let me read one more.
32:09
SPEAKER_00: Let me read one more.
32:11
SPEAKER_00: John chapter 21.
32:13
SPEAKER_00: John chapter 21.
32:15
SPEAKER_00: Um, okay, so the background of this is that Jesus had died, um, but they did not know that he resurrected.
32:24
SPEAKER_00: They had not they had not seen him yet.
32:26
SPEAKER_00: So Peter says, you know, I don't know what's going on here.
32:29
SPEAKER_00: I'm going fishing.
32:30
SPEAKER_00: So the other disciples said, We'll go with you.
32:32
SPEAKER_00: So they went fishing.
32:34
SPEAKER_00: And they went to go catch fish.
32:36
SPEAKER_00: They toiled all night and they caught nothing.
32:38
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
32:38
SPEAKER_00: So I want you to imagine this.
32:40
SPEAKER_00: They toiled all night.
32:42
SPEAKER_00: And they're probably praying to Yahweh, right?
32:44
SPEAKER_00: To give them some fish or something, right?
32:47
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
32:48
SPEAKER_00: But look at the answer to their prayer.
32:51
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
32:52
SPEAKER_00: So let me start from verse 3.
32:55
SPEAKER_00: So John 21 from verse 3.
32:57
SPEAKER_00: Simon Peter said to them, I'm going fishing.
32:59
SPEAKER_00: They said to him, We are going with you also.
33:01
SPEAKER_00: They went out and immediately got into the boat, and that night they caught nothing.
33:06
SPEAKER_00: So they caught nothing.
33:08
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
33:09
SPEAKER_00: But when the morning had now come, Jesus stood on the shore, yet the disciples did not know it was Jesus.
33:15
SPEAKER_00: Verse 5.
33:15
SPEAKER_00: Then Jesus said to them, Children, have you any food?
33:18
SPEAKER_00: They answered him, No.
33:20
SPEAKER_00: Verse 6.
33:21
SPEAKER_00: And he said to them, Cast the nets on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.
33:28
SPEAKER_00: So the answer was not fish.
33:32
SPEAKER_00: The answer was an instruction.
33:35
SPEAKER_00: Cast your net on the right side of the boat.
33:38
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
33:39
SPEAKER_00: So they cast it and they were not able to draw it in because of the multitude of fish.
33:43
SPEAKER_00: And so if you look at verse 11, it says, Simon Peter went up and dragged the net to land full of large fish, not just any kind of fish, large fish, 153.
33:55
SPEAKER_00: And although there are so many, the net was not broken.
33:57
SPEAKER_00: So they had this really big harvest that happened because they obeyed an instruction, cast the net on the right side of the boat.
34:07
SPEAKER_00: So, which brings me to two very powerful things.
34:10
SPEAKER_00: One is you have to um be this person who starts paying attention to instructions from God.
34:21
SPEAKER_00: You start paying attention to instructions from God.
34:26
SPEAKER_00: And when you get these instructions, you follow the instructions with massive action.
34:33
SPEAKER_00: A lot of times the answer is an instruction.
34:38
SPEAKER_00: And if you disobeyed the instruction, then you abort the process.
34:44
SPEAKER_00: So, question for you If Jesus said, cast your net to the right side of the boat, and they did not cast their net, would they have caught any fish?
34:52
SPEAKER_00: Would they have had the breakthrough that was already available to them?
34:55
SPEAKER_00: Would they have had their prayers from that night as they were toiling answered?
34:59
SPEAKER_00: And the answer is no.
35:03
SPEAKER_00: No, not at all.
35:05
SPEAKER_00: So we're people who obey.
35:07
SPEAKER_00: So I I've told this story before, but I think I'm gonna tell it one more time because you'll see how all of these things play together.
35:13
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
35:14
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna show you, I'm gonna show you, you're gonna see this.
35:16
SPEAKER_00: It's just gonna be so good.
35:17
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so I've told you guys the story many times of when I um um, you know, my so this was my third year in this company.
35:28
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
35:29
SPEAKER_00: Was it the third year?
35:30
SPEAKER_00: It was the second year in this company.
35:32
SPEAKER_00: So the first year, I did$120,000.
35:37
SPEAKER_00: Okay, that first year, first real year in business.
35:41
SPEAKER_00: And then God said, I want you to do a million.
35:44
SPEAKER_00: I was like, Lord, I don't, I don't know what they do up there, but down here, people don't go from$120,000 to a million.
35:52
SPEAKER_00: That's that's that the well, actually, no, he we did$120,000 the following year.
35:57
SPEAKER_00: We did$260,000.
35:58
SPEAKER_00: Then he said, Go to a million.
36:00
SPEAKER_00: So I'm like, we don't go from 260 to a million, like that's that's not the way we do things here.
36:07
SPEAKER_00: And I don't know if you've ever argued with God before, but I promise you you didn't win, right?
36:11
SPEAKER_00: So so eventually I got with the program, but then I could not for the life of me see a pathway.
36:19
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, I don't know how to take this thing to a million.
36:22
SPEAKER_00: I've done the math, I've run everything, I can't see it.
36:25
SPEAKER_00: So you see, there was prayer, but there's no faith, right?
36:29
SPEAKER_00: Because I wasn't seeing and believing, right?
36:32
SPEAKER_00: And there was no action because I didn't know what action to take.
36:36
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you guys seeing that?
36:37
SPEAKER_00: So these two things were missing.
36:39
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so I now said, okay, I, you know, I've told the story.
36:44
SPEAKER_00: I went to an event, and at the event, a lady was like, you know, they approached us to buy our business for nine figures, but we decided not to do it because we think we can get there on our own, because we are doing an easy million a month.
36:58
SPEAKER_00: So I remember thinking, I said, easy million a month, and I'm claiming a million a year is impossible.
37:06
SPEAKER_00: Like that something is not the math, it's not mathing.
37:09
SPEAKER_00: There's an issue here.
37:10
SPEAKER_00: And so this was at Miami.
37:12
SPEAKER_00: So I went to, I I, you know, I said I made a decision.
37:15
SPEAKER_00: I was like, I'm just gonna go pray.
37:18
SPEAKER_00: I'm just gonna go go to the beach and I'm gonna pray and I'm gonna stay there till I get the answer.
37:23
SPEAKER_00: What was I looking for?
37:25
SPEAKER_00: I was looking for faith.
37:28
SPEAKER_00: Do you see what I mean?
37:29
SPEAKER_00: So now I was going to pray, not to say, Lord, give me a million-dollar business, but to say, Lord, how do I do this?
37:37
SPEAKER_00: Like, give me the picture, give me something, right?
37:40
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
37:41
SPEAKER_00: So, so you guys remember I was talking, we talked about building faith.
37:44
SPEAKER_00: Don't be afraid.
37:45
SPEAKER_00: If it's not there, you can use your prayer life to generate.
37:48
SPEAKER_00: So, anyway, so I so I go to the I go to the beach, which is just, you know, from my hotel, a two-minute walk from my hotel, and I start praying and praying.
37:57
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, Lord, open my eyes, show me.
37:59
SPEAKER_00: I can't imagine, I can't imagine how to do this.
38:02
SPEAKER_00: I can't even see myself doing it.
38:04
SPEAKER_00: Open my eyes, show me, help me.
38:06
SPEAKER_00: So I'm praying, praying, praying, praying.
38:09
SPEAKER_00: And then in the first hour, he says, at that time, the program that I ran for that for that company was$6,500 a year.
38:19
SPEAKER_00: He was like, change your prices to$10,000.
38:21
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, I can't change my prices to$10,000.
38:24
SPEAKER_00: Like, why would somebody pay$10,000?
38:26
SPEAKER_00: Now, granted, I'm paying$43 grand for my own education, right?
38:30
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, I I I and I said, Lord, I can't charge that because I have I'm not sold on it.
38:38
SPEAKER_00: And if I'm not sold on it, I can't sell anybody on it, right?
38:41
SPEAKER_00: Because it would be conflict.
38:42
SPEAKER_00: Like, once you're not sold, you can't sell.
38:44
SPEAKER_00: So I had an action.
38:47
SPEAKER_00: What was the action?
38:49
SPEAKER_00: It was change your prices to$10,000.
38:51
SPEAKER_00: Do you guys see that?
38:52
SPEAKER_00: So I had the prayer.
38:53
SPEAKER_00: Now he had given me action, but I didn't have the faith to take the action.
38:59
SPEAKER_00: So I had by revelation, I knew the action, but I didn't have the faith for the action.
39:03
SPEAKER_00: So I go the second hour.
39:05
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, Lord, how how do I confidently charge that much?
39:09
SPEAKER_00: So I go the second hour, I go the third hour.
39:13
SPEAKER_00: At the end of the third hour, then he asked me a question.
39:17
SPEAKER_00: He says, How much do I charge you to work with me?
39:20
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, What do you mean?
39:22
SPEAKER_00: Do you charge us to work with you?
39:24
SPEAKER_00: And I thought about it, it's like, well, if he's asking me, he does.
39:26
SPEAKER_00: And I thought about it, it's like, oh, wait, wait, wait.
39:30
SPEAKER_00: He did, he said, if you will follow me, you must take up your cross, right?
39:36
SPEAKER_00: And follow me.
39:37
SPEAKER_00: I was like, Wow, you charge us our whole lives.
39:41
SPEAKER_00: Like, we have to give up our lives to serve you.
39:45
SPEAKER_00: He said, Okay, so I charge you your entire life for you to work with me.
39:52
SPEAKER_00: The people who work with you, you're only charging them ten thousand dollars.
39:58
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, wait a whole minute.
40:01
SPEAKER_00: I was like, that is the steepest discount in the history of discounts, right?
40:06
SPEAKER_00: So God charges our entire life.
40:08
SPEAKER_00: I charge only$10,000.
40:10
SPEAKER_00: I'm helping these people build all these million-dollar businesses.
40:13
SPEAKER_00: I was like, you know what?
40:16
SPEAKER_00: But what happened with that conversation?
40:19
SPEAKER_00: Because I because one of the things that was driving this fear of charging that is like, you know, it's like high ticket and all that stuff.
40:26
SPEAKER_00: He's like, I charge high ticket.
40:28
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, what do you mean you charge high ticket?
40:29
SPEAKER_00: It's like how much does it cost to work with me?
40:31
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, my entire life.
40:33
SPEAKER_00: I charge high ticket.
40:34
SPEAKER_00: You only charge$10,000.
40:36
SPEAKER_00: So when he said that, this is my revelation, right?
40:39
SPEAKER_00: What did that do?
40:40
SPEAKER_00: That now gave me the faith.
40:42
SPEAKER_00: So I had the faith and I had the action.
40:46
SPEAKER_00: So I was done.
40:48
SPEAKER_00: So I walked back to my hotel room, changed the prices to$10,000, had a um invited people to come work with me, right?
40:56
SPEAKER_00: About a month after that, we had 42 people join.
40:59
SPEAKER_00: That's already 420,000.
41:00
SPEAKER_00: That's almost half of the million that he wanted me to make that year.
41:03
SPEAKER_00: Do you guys see that?
41:05
SPEAKER_00: So I could have just been praying, oh Lord, help me, and I'm afraid and I don't know what to do, and I don't, you know, and all this stuff.
41:12
SPEAKER_00: Or I could use that prayer to build the faith.
41:15
SPEAKER_00: I can use that prayer to download the actions and all of those things.
41:18
SPEAKER_00: So I have the prayer, the faith, the action.
41:20
SPEAKER_00: I have the and and I take this and and I go create a wild result that just doesn't make any sense.
41:27
SPEAKER_00: Do you guys see that?
41:28
SPEAKER_00: So the faith, the action, the prayer, everything is working together.
41:32
SPEAKER_00: If you do not have faith, don't pretend, build it.
41:37
SPEAKER_00: If you do not know the next step to take, don't pretend, find it.
41:42
SPEAKER_00: You wait on God, you read books, you talk to mentors.
41:46
SPEAKER_00: I will, I was at an event.
41:47
SPEAKER_00: You're doing all these things.
41:48
SPEAKER_00: What are you doing?
41:49
SPEAKER_00: You're searching with God for the pathway.
41:52
SPEAKER_00: Don't pretend, don't pretend.
41:55
SPEAKER_00: You can pray for things, but you can also pray for intelligence, you can pray for impartation of faith, you can pray for the spirit of wisdom, revelation, understanding, you can pray for vision, you can pray for all of these things.
42:08
SPEAKER_00: Don't pretend if there's something you don't have, acquire it.
42:14
SPEAKER_00: Our prayers are so powerful.
42:17
SPEAKER_00: God said to old testament people, he said this in Psalm 32, verse 8, Old Testament people with no Holy Spirit living on the inside of them.
42:24
SPEAKER_00: He said, I will guide you.
42:26
SPEAKER_00: This is a new living translation.
42:28
SPEAKER_00: I will guide you along the best pathway for your life.
42:32
SPEAKER_00: I will advise you.
42:33
SPEAKER_00: I will watch over you.
42:35
SPEAKER_00: If God says he will guide you along the best pathway for your life, it makes sense to sit out in his presence and go, like, okay, Lord, what is the best pathway?
42:44
SPEAKER_00: What is the best pathway?
42:46
SPEAKER_00: Please don't pretend when you don't got it, you don't got it.
42:50
SPEAKER_00: You wait in his presence and you get it.
42:54
SPEAKER_00: You get it, you get it.
42:56
SPEAKER_00: We're never at a loss when you're like, oh man, I can't even bring myself to believe.
43:00
SPEAKER_00: Stay there, take the word, say, unlock this word to me.
43:05
SPEAKER_00: Okay, okay.
43:06
SPEAKER_00: So let me give you number three.
43:07
SPEAKER_00: So, what are the things that cripple our prayer?
43:09
SPEAKER_00: No faith, no action.
43:11
SPEAKER_00: The third one, no obedience.
43:13
SPEAKER_00: Please hear me when I say this.
43:14
SPEAKER_00: This is important.
43:16
SPEAKER_00: See, there God said in his word, he said, I have exalted my word above all my name.
43:29
SPEAKER_00: I have exalted my word above all my name.
43:34
SPEAKER_00: What does this mean?
43:35
SPEAKER_00: God's word, he made himself subject to his word.
43:42
SPEAKER_00: God made his word is that powerful.
43:49
SPEAKER_00: What that means is when you violate the word of God, like you choose to violate the word of God, and you're expecting prayer to Produce a result in your area of disobedience, you are in deception, it will not work.
44:10
SPEAKER_00: Okay, now let me start off by reading scriptures, and I'll tell you a story.
44:13
SPEAKER_00: Okay, okay.
44:15
SPEAKER_00: So let's go back to Mark 11.
44:18
SPEAKER_00: Very powerful scripture on prayer.
44:22
SPEAKER_00: Look at this.
44:23
SPEAKER_00: It says, verse 22.
44:24
SPEAKER_00: That's where we read from.
44:26
SPEAKER_00: So Jesus answered and said to them, Have faith in God.
44:28
SPEAKER_00: For surely I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, be removed and be cast into the sea, and does not doubt in heart, but believes those things which he says will be done, you will have whatsoever he says.
44:37
SPEAKER_00: Amazing.
44:38
SPEAKER_00: Then in verse 24, it says, Therefore I say to you, Whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them and you will have them.
44:46
SPEAKER_00: Amazing.
44:47
SPEAKER_00: Prayer is powerful.
44:49
SPEAKER_00: Very next verse, and and meaning, I'm not done saying what I was saying.
44:56
SPEAKER_00: This is not a new train of thought.
44:58
SPEAKER_00: He said, and and whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him that your father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.
45:11
SPEAKER_00: But if you do not forgive, neither will your father in heaven forgive your trespasses.
45:16
SPEAKER_00: And so if you're there and you got beef with God because you no longer have access to forgiveness, who's gonna answer your prayer?
45:25
SPEAKER_00: So when you're like, I can never forgive that person, what you're saying is, I no longer want answers to prayer.
45:32
SPEAKER_00: I'm done with this answer to prayer business, I'm done with all these miracles and all this progress.
45:36
SPEAKER_00: I don't like it.
45:37
SPEAKER_00: I want to sit and have my life completely, completely upside down because I don't want to obey the word of God.
45:44
SPEAKER_00: I don't want to obey God, I don't want to forgive.
45:46
SPEAKER_00: I ain't doing that.
45:47
SPEAKER_00: I'd rather be upset with this person.
45:50
SPEAKER_00: There is nobody that important.
45:53
SPEAKER_00: There is nobody important enough for me to have failure in all nine areas of my life.
45:58
SPEAKER_00: You're not that is not that serious.
45:59
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna forgive you.
46:01
SPEAKER_00: I love you.
46:04
SPEAKER_00: Okay, now for emphasis, let's go to Luke chapter 11.
46:08
SPEAKER_00: Because Jesus didn't mention this just once.
46:10
SPEAKER_00: He talked about it a number of times.
46:12
SPEAKER_00: Luke chapter 11.
46:15
SPEAKER_00: Um, what we call the Lord's Prayer.
46:18
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so he said to them, When you pray, say, Our Father in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
46:28
SPEAKER_00: Give us day by day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
46:37
SPEAKER_00: You get forgiveness when you give forgiveness.
46:41
SPEAKER_00: So when you say, I know the word of God says this, but the but marks the beginning of your pain and suffering.
46:50
SPEAKER_00: Now I'm not talking about mistakes we make as we're growing as Christians, right?
46:54
SPEAKER_00: You're a Christian, it's like a one-year-old, right?
46:57
SPEAKER_00: So one year old will take some steps, they fall.
46:59
SPEAKER_00: That's not the issue.
47:00
SPEAKER_00: This is you willfully deciding, I know the word of God says this, but uh-uh.
47:05
SPEAKER_00: Uh-uh.
47:06
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so God talks about walking in love, God talks about forgiveness, He talked, He talks about a lot of things in His Word.
47:14
SPEAKER_00: We have to choose to be obedient Christians, which is is crazy to say because Christian means Christ-like and Christ was obedient.
47:23
SPEAKER_00: So we shouldn't need to say obedient Christian.
47:25
SPEAKER_00: That's like saying wet water.
47:27
SPEAKER_00: Water is wet.
47:28
SPEAKER_00: Christians are obedient, right?
47:30
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
47:31
SPEAKER_00: So I'll give you a practical example.
47:35
SPEAKER_00: So somebody walked up to me in church, and she says, I really want to talk to you.
47:41
SPEAKER_00: I need some advice, and I want you to pray for me because the grace for financial increase is on your life.
47:49
SPEAKER_00: Is that okay?
47:51
SPEAKER_00: And it's like, I really would love a time to meet with you.
47:56
SPEAKER_00: So I did what I always do.
47:59
SPEAKER_00: I look, I'm like, is this conversation going to be profitable?
48:06
SPEAKER_00: By profitable, I mean, would it create results in their lives, making it worth my time?
48:14
SPEAKER_00: So I asked one question because I know prayer does not work without obedience.
48:20
SPEAKER_00: I said, Do you tithe?
48:26
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so this person went from being able to speak very fluently to now becoming a stutter, right?
48:32
SPEAKER_00: Uh so uh actually I'm not consistent in tithing, and I know what that means.
48:46
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, okay, when is the last time you tithe?
48:51
SPEAKER_00: You paid your tithe, and she was like, maybe six months ago, right?
48:58
SPEAKER_00: Okay, why did I ask that question?
49:00
SPEAKER_00: Because if I sit with her for 30 minutes and I pray for her, lay hands, lay leg, lay hands till she's bald, I know there's no financial increase coming to her.
49:14
SPEAKER_00: Why?
49:15
SPEAKER_00: Because the Bible wrote about that.
49:19
SPEAKER_00: Okay, let me read to you what the Bible says about stuff like that.
49:25
SPEAKER_00: This is what it said.
49:28
SPEAKER_00: It says Malachi chapter 3, verse 8, will a man rob God, like steal from God, yet you have robbed me.
49:41
SPEAKER_00: But you say, in what way have we robbed you?
49:43
SPEAKER_00: In tithes and offerings.
49:46
SPEAKER_00: You are cursed with the curse, for you have robbed me, even this whole nation.
49:52
SPEAKER_00: If God Almighty has put laws in place where people who don't like, how am I gonna help you?
50:00
SPEAKER_00: I'm not that powerful.
50:02
SPEAKER_00: Okay, well, look at this.
50:04
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so bring all the tithe into the storehouse that there may be food in my house, and try me now in this, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out such a blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it.
50:16
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 11.
50:18
SPEAKER_00: And I, God, will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, so that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground, nor shall your vine field to bear fruits for you in the field, says the Lord of hosts.
50:31
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so there is an entity called the devourer that re that tries to destroy the finances of people.
50:40
SPEAKER_00: God said, Bring your tithe, I, God, will rebuke the devourer.
50:45
SPEAKER_00: He didn't say, My servants will rebuke the devourer.
50:49
SPEAKER_00: He didn't delegate that to me, he kept that for himself.
50:52
SPEAKER_00: So when you rob God, right, and you're praying for financial increase when there's already a law in place.
51:01
SPEAKER_00: Like when you don't tithe, Mr.
51:03
SPEAKER_00: Dee Dee is after you.
51:04
SPEAKER_00: And the person who binds Mr.
51:06
SPEAKER_00: Dee Dee and rebukes Mr.
51:07
SPEAKER_00: Didi is God.
51:09
SPEAKER_00: I know there's no conversation I can have to help you.
51:12
SPEAKER_00: I know there's no prayer I can pray because I wasn't given authority for Didi.
51:18
SPEAKER_00: God kept the authority for Didi.
51:21
SPEAKER_00: So the disobedience cripples the prayer.
51:27
SPEAKER_00: If you got it, say I got it.
51:29
SPEAKER_00: Do you see what I'm saying?
51:30
SPEAKER_00: So when when I meet someone and say, I can never forgive, I see someone who is given to bitterness and malice and all that.
51:36
SPEAKER_00: There's no point.
51:38
SPEAKER_00: The prayer is not going anywhere.
51:41
SPEAKER_00: Because they've set themselves up and they're operating a law.
51:44
SPEAKER_00: Like, I can forgive and be forgiven, or I cannot forgive and not be forgiven.
51:49
SPEAKER_00: And they have decided I don't want to be forgiven.
51:53
SPEAKER_00: Who's gonna answer that prayer?
51:55
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
51:58
SPEAKER_00: Do you see what I'm saying?
51:59
SPEAKER_00: So I'm saying this to say, be an obedient Christian.
52:04
SPEAKER_00: And again, if you find yourself struggling, take yourself to the place of prayer and say, Lord, your word says this.
52:11
SPEAKER_00: It is hard for me to do this.
52:13
SPEAKER_00: Help me.
52:15
SPEAKER_00: If you can't do it, you can use your prayer.
52:20
SPEAKER_00: Listen, the Bible says this in Philippians 2 13.
52:23
SPEAKER_00: It says in the New Living Translation, what it says is, it is for it is God working in you, giving you the desire, one, and the power to do what pleases him.
52:33
SPEAKER_00: So if you find yourself struggling to please him, struggling to be obedient, you can literally take yourself to him and say, Lord, install in me the desire to obey this word, the desire to do this thing.
52:48
SPEAKER_00: I had to do this, I was telling one of my mentees, I had to do this with loving people.
52:52
SPEAKER_00: Why do you think I always give the example of I don't do people?
52:55
SPEAKER_00: Because that was me.
52:56
SPEAKER_00: I didn't do people.
52:57
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, that this is looking like a you problem.
53:00
SPEAKER_00: You don't want to fix your life.
53:01
SPEAKER_00: Fine, go do whatever you want to do.
53:03
SPEAKER_00: I didn't have patience with people, I didn't like people, I didn't want to be bothered by people.
53:07
SPEAKER_00: I was fine all by myself.
53:10
SPEAKER_00: But then the Bible says, if you love me, obey my commandments.
53:15
SPEAKER_00: And the primary commandment is love the Lord your God with all your strength, all your might.
53:19
SPEAKER_00: And then the second one is love your neighbor as yourself.
53:21
SPEAKER_00: Like love is a great commandment.
53:23
SPEAKER_00: Love who?
53:24
SPEAKER_00: Not cars, not houses, people.
53:28
SPEAKER_00: I couldn't do that.
53:30
SPEAKER_00: And I went to God and said, Lord, I don't I don't like your people.
53:35
SPEAKER_00: So I need you to help me because the seed of love is on the inside of me.
53:40
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit is in me.
53:42
SPEAKER_00: My spirit has been recreated.
53:44
SPEAKER_00: Your love, which means I'm love, give me the desire to love your people.
53:48
SPEAKER_00: Put your love like, let me see people through your lens, let me love them like you would.
53:55
SPEAKER_00: Right?
53:55
SPEAKER_00: So instead of trying to look for a way to explain away your disobedience, you take that thing to God and you're like, Lord, you know, kind of hard for me to do this.
54:06
SPEAKER_00: I'ma I'ma need some installations.
54:10
SPEAKER_00: And if you do it, you'll honor it.
54:13
SPEAKER_00: Do you guys see that?
54:14
SPEAKER_00: So it's not just pray, give me stuff, give me stuff.
54:16
SPEAKER_00: Oh, it's not working, I'm afraid.
54:18
SPEAKER_00: Oh, this stuff.
54:18
SPEAKER_00: I don't know, no.
54:20
SPEAKER_00: Pray or build faith.
54:22
SPEAKER_00: Pray, but download the action.
54:24
SPEAKER_00: Take some of them you don't need to download, you know what needs to happen.
54:28
SPEAKER_00: Pray and be obedient.
54:30
SPEAKER_00: Be obedience.
54:31
SPEAKER_00: What does the Bible say?
54:32
SPEAKER_00: This is Psalm 37, 4.
54:34
SPEAKER_00: It says, Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will grant you the desires of your heart.
54:38
SPEAKER_00: If you're this obedient person, some of the things you won't even get around to praying for them because God will give you the desires of your heart.
54:47
SPEAKER_00: So, what do I want you to do?
54:49
SPEAKER_00: Be a person of prayer, be a powerful person of prayer.
54:52
SPEAKER_00: If you're not on a rise and shine, come join us on a rise and shine.
54:55
SPEAKER_00: We pray every morning.
54:56
SPEAKER_00: We pray at 6 a.m.
54:57
SPEAKER_00: Eastern every morning, dcgeorgia.org forward slash prayer.
55:00
SPEAKER_00: If you used to come once in a wow, make it an everyday thing.
55:04
SPEAKER_00: You come, you come every day, invite other people to come join you.
55:07
SPEAKER_00: We come, we pray, we study the word, we meditate on the word, we're obeying, we're taking action, we're doing all of we do all of these things.
55:14
SPEAKER_00: But come pray.
55:15
SPEAKER_00: But as you pray, build your faith.
55:18
SPEAKER_00: As you pray, take massive action, massive strategic action, like you know, God-driven action.
55:23
SPEAKER_00: As you pray, become this obedient Christian.
55:26
SPEAKER_00: When you do this, then you're firing on all cylinders, and what will end up happening is exponential progress, and you now have a life that is a sign and a wonder.
55:37
SPEAKER_00: But if we won't this, we won't obey, we're crippling our faith.
55:41
SPEAKER_00: If we won't take action, we're crippling our faith.
55:43
SPEAKER_00: We won't build faith, we're crippling our faith, we're crippling our prayer, not anymore.
55:47
SPEAKER_00: We're people who pray and have faith and build faith and take massive action and our obedience.
55:58
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
55:59
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so that's what I got for you guys.
56:01
SPEAKER_00: If this has helped you in any way, I would love for you to join the movement and share this episode with your friends, family, and the Christians in your world.
56:09
SPEAKER_00: By doing this simple thing, you could be changing the trajectory of someone's lives, their family, and their community.
56:15
SPEAKER_00: That makes you a world changer and they will love you forever.