Good evening. Welcome to the only believe broadcast. I'm your host, Evangelistic Lydia Bitten. And as always, it's a pleasure to come into your homes to share with you the good news that being the gospel.
I must tell you, it's been too long since I've been in the studio and I've already felt the presence of the Lord in this place. And I hope just by hearing my voice that you will hear that presence and feel that presence in your homes today. With all that is going on in the world, in our communities, we need prayer. We need to pray.
And not only do we just need to pray, we need God to answer. And today I just want to talk about prayer. Second Chronicles 714, If My People. If My People, who are called by My Name, shall humble themselves in pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways.
He says, then will I hear from heaven? I'll forgive their sins and heal their land if My people. Those of us who profess Him as Lord, if we will open our mouths and pray, it's praying time. It's praying time today.
I want to start out in James chapter five, verse 13 through 16. It says, is there any among you afflicted? Let him pray. Is any Mary let him sing Psalms?
Is any sick among him? Let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him, anointing him with all in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith, and the prayer of faith shall save the sick and the Lord shall raise them up. The prayer of faith, Hebrews 11-1 says that faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
I even said this coronavirus. You can't see it, but it seems that we have more faith in what the enemy brings than we do in our Father. I think sometimes just thinking in this moment that our problem is, is that we haven't made Jesus Christ our Father. If we trusted Him and depended on Him and leaned on Him and not our own understanding, things would change, things would be different in our communities, in our world.
You hear of every day on Facebook, social media, that this one's sick with cancer and that one's sick. All over the land, people are facing crises, depressions, suicide, but it seems to me as if the church is asleep. The Bible says that we need to come out of sleep, awake, oh ye sluggered. We have to come alive and pray to our Father.
Matthew says for us to go into our secret closet and our Father who hears in secret will reward you openly if you pray. Death ears will open, blind eyes will open, cancers will fall off bodies if we pray. But the first thing that we have to do, even before we pray, we have to say, Lord, I'm available. Not only am I available to you, but Lord, I surrender everything to you.
There is a cause. There is a cause for deliverance and healing and the cause is not monetary. It only requires time and laying before the Lord and pleading, being an intercessor for someone else. Don't you know that when you pray for somebody else, he'll intercede for you, but you must pray.
Verse 15 says, and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults one to another and pray for one another that ye may be healed. We have to pray and intercede for each other to be healed. 16 says that the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man of a valus much.
What makes me righteous? It is my profession, my confession in Christ that makes me righteous. It's not anything that I could purchase. It's not anything that I can do other than saying yes to him and his will and his ways.
Matthew 18 verses 23 through 35. It says, therefore the kingdom of heaven is likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants. And when he begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him 10,000 talents. But for as much as he had not to pay, his Lord commanded him to be sold in his wife and his children and all that he had and paid me to be made.
The servant therefore fell down and worshiped him, saying, Lord, how patience with me and I will pay thee all. Then the Lord of that servant was moved with compassion and loosed him and forgave him his dead. But the same servant went out and fell one of his fellow servants, which owed him 100 pence and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, pay me that thou always in his fellas, servants fell down in his feet and besought him, saying, how patience with me and I will pay thee all and he would not. But he went and cast him in the prison and packed cast him in the prison till he should pay the dead.
So when his fellow servants saw what was done, they were very sorry and came and told their Lord, all that was done. Then his Lord, after he had called him, said unto him, all thou wicked servant. I forgave thee all that dead because thou desirous me. Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow servant, even as I had pity on thee.
So many times the Lord has done so much for us and instead of us being grateful for what he's done, we turn our backs and we go and do the same things that the world is doing. The Bible says to come out from among them and be ye separate. We are not governed by the same system as the world if you are part of the new creation in Christ. Paul says that we are seated with Christ in heavenly places if I'm seated with Christ and I have the authority of heaven back in my affairs that I won't judge one that has been guilty of the same sins that I have and hold it against them.
But we have to decide who side are we on. I'm not fighting for Black Lives Matter. The only cause that I'm fighting for is the cause of Christ. He laid down his life.
He sent God sent his only son that whom so ever will, if we come to him, he promises to give us everlasting life. We have to love our fellow man, not render evil for evil. The Bible says that the Lord will repay those who fight against us. But it's not the physical wars that we're trying to go out and fight.
These are the principalities and powers in the air which cannot be defeated by going out and fighting with sticks and stones. It can't be burned down. It can't be taken away. Only what you do for Christ will last.
We need to love each other. As I've said so many times, even in this account right here, it says that the Lord or the Master, if you will, he had compassion on the guy that owed him because he came and he asked him. He was telling him, I'll repay you. Just give me a little time.
The battles that people are out in the streets fighting right now. If you spend a little time in your secret place, in your closet, on your face before God, things will change. They will turn out all right. He said that you're already victorious, already, not soon to be, not in the future, right now, that faith is right now.
And what you need has already been provided at Calvary. Oh, come on, somebody. But we must get on our knees, on our face before a living God. Oh, hallelujah.
But he said back to what he said, he said, should not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow servant, even as I had pity on thee. And it said in his Lord was wroth and delivered him to the tormentors till he should have paid all that was due him. It says, so likewise, shall my heavenly Father do also unto you. If ye from your hearts forgive not everyone, his brother, their trespasses, are you going to continue to live in the past?
The prophets of old, if you read the Bible, they died, have not received the promise. Oh, come on, they died, have not received the promise of the Messiah. The Bible says that, but we have been given precious promises. What promise?
The promise that he would never leave us nor forsake us. The promise that he's soon to come and that we will reign with him as kings and priests. The Bible says that the heaven and herbs as we know them will pass away. But the only thing that will stand is his word.
He says that his word will never pass away. But how will they know his word if we don't tell them? We are to be a testimony to the goodness of God. You know where you've been, what you've done, and the Lord had mercy and compassion on you, shouldn't you do it to somebody else?
We're always, as I always say, we're always on both sides of the conversation, trying to tell somebody else how they feel. Get your own heart right, and everything outside of you will begin to change. Colossians 3, 13 says, for bearing one another and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you. So also do ye.
Just as Christ has forgiven you, forgive others. Let go of petty silly stuff. It's time for the church to stand. If you don't stand for something, you will fall for anything.
We're believing everything that the media's saying, but what are the people of God say? What are we saying? 1 John 1, 19 says, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. What does this have to do with prayer?
Because if we get our own hearts right, and he judges us faithful, he'll change this world, but we have to be found faithful and righteous for the cause of Christ. Mark chapter 11, 24 through 26 says, therefore I say unto you, what things so ever you desire when you pray, believe that ye receive them and ye shall have them. And when ye stand praying, forgive, if you have all against any, that your Father also, which is in heaven, may forgive you your trespasses, that your heavenly Father will forgive you of your trespasses. Let's work on getting self-right, and then we can help somebody else.
Matthew 5 verse 23 says, therefore, if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there remembers that thy brother hath all against thee, lead thy gift at the altar, first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift. If you have unforgiveness today, get that thing right, because first of all, he won't hear you when you pray, if you have unforgiveness in your heart. 25 says, agree with thy adversary quickly, while thou art in the way with him, lest at any time the adversary deliver you to the judge, and the judge deliver you to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. So many people are walking around in prison in their mind, because they're holding on to stuff that they need to let go of, praying for each other without fail.
Romans 12, 19 through 21 says, dearly beloveding, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place under wrath. For it is written, vengeance is mine, I will repay, sayeth the Lord, therefore, if thy enemy hunger feed him, if he thirst give him drink, for in so doing thou shalt reap hot coals on his head, be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. You need to tell somebody, be not overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good. Luke 18 and one says, and he spake a parable under them to this end that men ought always pray, and not fame.
We have to always pray and not fame. What is prayer? Prayer is simply communication with God. It's not for you to go in your room and have your laundry list of what you want God to do for you.
It's going into that secret place, and just being available. Wouldn't you like to just be in your prayer room and God show up and just download into you mysteries? Download his word to give you a prophecy, to give you words of knowledge, to give you discernment. We need the gifts of the Spirit in these times.
Do you know that there's coming a time where we're not gonna be able to go freely? All we're gonna have is our prayers. So you better start praying and communicating with the Father so that you'll be able to pray. Just like Philip was translated, you may have to be translated to go for somebody to get their healing in another land, another country.
You don't know what he's gonna use you for, but you've gotta be on your knees and ready for battle to fight these principalities and powers in the air. Our weapons are not carnal, meaning you're not gonna be able to fight these battles with your flesh, it's spirit. And he said that his spirit would not always strive with man in that man is flesh. But when I said yes to him, I had a kingdom change.
And so I'm backed by heaven. My authority comes from the throne room, but I've gotta go to it in prayer. What do you seek today? What do you want God to do for you?
Whatever you desire when you pray, it says believe. He wants to act on your behalf, but you've got to move, on your knees. We got to be ready to pray. The prayer of faith will save the sick, but Lydia won't be getting them up, it'll be him.
Who are you believing for? That sick one in your room, wherever you are right now, call their name, there is no distance in prayer, and he hears you right where you are. Just say, Lord, help, heal, so and so. Whoever is standing in need of that miracle, we have a miracle working God who wants to do it for you today.
And all you have to do is believe. Not only that he's able, but that he's doing it now. Your confession has to be that he's already done it. It's already been paid for at Calvary for you and for me.
Will you believe God today? But most importantly, will you pray? Will you pray? The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man, it does avail much.
Only believe, trust and obey is the song says, there is no other way. This has been only believed. God bless, pray, pray, pray.