← Dufresne Ministries Podcast
Dufresne Ministries Podcast
Praying For Loved Ones | Amy Siegel | Paducah, KY | JTH Crusades 2024 | Wednesday AM
01:08:01
Loading summary
Transcript26 lines
- [00:01]
A
Hi, I'm Nancy Dufresne. Welcome to our podcast channel. We know you'll be blessed by today's message.
- [00:08]
B
As my husband was just saying, we've. By the direction of the Holy Ghost and Pastor Nancy, we're ministering on prayer in the mornings. And that takes so many different forms. I mean, that subject is so vast, right?
- [00:27]
A
We.
- [00:28]
B
What is prayer? It's simply talking to God and that's supposed to be a part of our daily lives, right? So I believe we have a particular direction for this morning, and I believe it's gonna help many of us to lock in and be what we minister many times about, about being effective in prayer. James 5 tells us that the effective or effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. We know in the Amplified classic, many of us know this verse, you know, it says it makes that effective prayer makes tremendous power available, dynamic in its working. And we want our prayer life to be effective. What does that mean? It means when we go, you know, if my husband and I, we do a lot together. We do, we minister together, we have a family together, we're husband and wife, right? We go out together, we sometimes do business together. There's lots of things through these years that we've done together. Well, if our conversation was random, a lot of times we wouldn't be very effective, right? I need to be able to communicate to him and he needs to be able to communicate to me effectively, right. In order to produce results. And so we want to make sure that we are effective in all that we do. And thank God, he gave us a manual. He gave us an instruction book to help us be effective in our prayer life, in our communication with the Lord. And there's many different, different things that the Word. Many different subjects, many different types of prayers. We are to be praying in the Word. There's many different types of people we're to be praying for, right? We're to pray for our pastor, right. We're to pray for other ministers that are in those fivefold offices we see in the Scriptures. Paul would write and he'd say, pray for me. And he gave us certain things that he, he coveted the prayers of the, the churches very specifically, he asked for certain things that they would pray for for him. And then we see that, you know, we're, we can, we can pray for ourselves. There's things that we need to see and we need to know. So, you know, and Paul prayed for the churches and we have those prayers listed, the Ephesians prayers. There's Prayers all over the place that Paul gives us little nuggets of how to PR church members, other people, how pastors are to pray for their people. So we have that group. We know in First Timothy, it tells us that we're to pray for all men. Well, that's a big subject. That's a big group of people, all men. And he didn't just say pray for all men, but then he said, pray for kings, pray for those in authority. So he gets specific. So we have. We have different directions or different lists of ways to pray for these different groups of people. And in order to do these, we want to be effective. We want to be effective in our prayer life. And this morning, I believe by the Spirit's direction, we want to pray, or, excuse me, we want to minister on how to pray for our loved ones, our family, those. And don't get me wrong, I'm not just talking about your direct relatives necessarily, but those that you're connected to, your parents, your grandparents, aunts, uncles, church members that you've watched grow up in the things of God. And let's just say it this way, those that you have a heart tie, or could we say this an emotional tie to. And I'm not saying that in a bad way. I have two children. They're my kids. Right? Right. I have more than just a spiritual connection to them. Right. I birthed them, you know, and so there's more in my relationship with my children, with my husband, than just spiritual. And yet when it comes to prayer, that's supposed to be a spiritual thing, that's in a spiritual realm, and we have to be careful about taking our emotions with us into our prayer room. My husband just said. He said feelings are supposed to follow us. And as a pastor through the years, I've watched a lot of people go through a lot of different things. And there'll be times where they'll come up to me and say, pastor, you've got to pray for so and so, and your heart goes out to them because you know their. Well, let's just call it what it is. They're worried. They're in fear. And they'll come up and they'll say to me, I've been praying. I've been praying. I've been praying and praying and praying, and I need. I need your help. You got to pray, Pastor. You got to pray. And I understand. I mean, I understand because it's their kin. It's their heart tie. And yet to be effective with God, we must learn to do things his way. And there's an approach to the throne that is necessary to be effective in his throne room. Turn with me, if you would, to First John, chapter five. Don't you love all the ways that God moves? We love the instruction of the Word just as much as we love the outpouring of His Spirit. And if we're keen, we can sense both at the same time. Right. He's here this morning. Praise God. First John, chapter 5, verse 14. And this is the confidence that we have in him that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him. Wow. Those two verses still rock my world. Those are incredible. I mean, those verses are either true or they're not true. And if they're not true, then we've got to throw the whole Scripture, we've got to throw the whole Bible out because His Word is true. Wow. This is the confidence that we have that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. So when we come before him, we need to know his will. The only thing is, when we're praying for other people, we don't always. We know God's general will for them. Well, it's his will that all be saved. I mean, we've got that one right? You know, if you've got nothing else, you can come to God and say, lord, it's your will that they be saved. Glory to God. You know, we need to find things that he has said about our family members, about others, about all men. And we need to come before him with his will. Praise God. Because we don't know the specific plans for others. As a mama, I might think I know the specific plans for my children, but guess what? I don't. I don't know everything. And so when we approach God to pray for those that we love, we need to go looking at God more than we go looking at our loved ones. Turn with me. Oh, this is going to be fun this morning. Y' all turn with me to Job, chapter one. And all the pastors get nervous. Job, chapter one. Thank you, Father. This is going to help us be accurate this morning, maybe tweak some things in our prayer life. Job, chapter one, verse one says there was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. And that man was perfect and upright and one that feared God and eschewed evil. So far, he's doing good, right? He's mature, he's upright. He loves God. He's Putting away evil. And there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters. His substance also was 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 4, 500 yoke of oxen and 500 she asses and a very great household. So that this man was the greatest of all the men of the East. That's a big business right there. And his sons went and feasted in their houses. So these are grown, grown men. They have their own houses, right? They feasted in their houses, every one his day, and sent and called for their sisters, and which is nice, to eat and drink with them. And it was so when the days of their feasting were gone about that Job sent and sanctified them and rose up early in the morning and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, it may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually. So we have a man who has 10 kids grown, and those kids are partying kids. They are enjoying Daddy's resources and wealth. They all have their own houses, it says. And they don't seem to be helping dad with the business. They seem to be enjoying their life, partying, having feasts, getting together, having a good time. And every time they get together, Job gets up the next morning and says, oh, we better sacrifice. Just in case. We've got to watch that phrase. Just in case. I better pray for so and so this morning. Just in case. What, what, what was he doing? He tells us a few, a few verses later, why he was doing all that he was doing. Look in, in chapter three, please. Of course we know. We know what happens in, in these next couple chapters. All kinds of disaster comes towards Job, right? He, his. His flocks are wiped out. His. His cattle's wiped out, all the houses are wiped out. And all of his kids are gone. They're killed. And in chapter three, verse 25, he says this. For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me. I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet. Yet trouble came. What's he saying? I prayed. I prayed that this wouldn't happen. I prayed over my kids every time they got together. I got up and I sacrificed for them. And yet all this happened. Not effective prayer. The enemy really doesn't care if you pray. As long as you're doing it ineffectively. Job was doing this every day, sacrificing every day. But he was doing it in fear. I said, our approach to God, to the throne room, it matters and if we're approaching him in fear, not fear of him, we're supposed to fear God. But in fear of what might happen to my kids, to my spouse, to my. To my family, to my mom, to my dad. To fear, fear, fear. It will affect your prayer life if we don't recognize it. There's so many things to pray for. Like we said, there's so many different types of prayer. There's so many different places we need to add our prayers to, right? But this subject right here, it's kind of where the rubber meets the road. Because so many of us get caught, tripped up. Right here. We get caught up and we'll start to be like Job. And every day. Well, first of all, before I do anything else, I gotta pray for my kids because, oh, Lord knows they need it. I gotta pray for my sister. I gotta pray for so and so. I gotta pray for my aunt. Because, Lord, we're looking at the person's actions and their actions and attitudes are causing us to come and approach God with this negative bent. Because we see them. But this is the confidence that we have in him. If we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know he hears us, we know we have. Job. In chapter three, the amplified of verse 25 and 26, it says, for the thing which I greatly fear comes upon me. The thing which I greatly fear, present tense, comes, it comes upon me, and that of which I'm afraid befalls me. I was not, or am not at ease, nor had I, or have I rest, nor was I, or am I quiet. Yet trouble came, still comes upon me. Our attitude, our approach, our thinking. I so thankful for how Pastor Nancy's been ministering. Sunday night, Monday night, she said Monday night. We have to learn to recognize which voice is talking to us and where it's coming from. Because the enemy will hit your head. He will bombard your mind. And when we're looking at people and we're looking at their actions, the enemy's gonna be right there to say, you see they did that. You see they did that. They're in trouble now. God can never reach them now. How? You're gonna have to pray. You're gonna have to pray. You're gonna have to pray. You're gonna have to get up at 5am tomorrow and pray, pray, pray, pray, pray. And sometimes, you know, pastors, we're always trying to get the, you know, people just. Just pray, just pray, just pray. But if we're giving people direction, help in how to do that, then they'll come and say, pastor, I've been praying. I've been praying. I've been praying for so and so, and it's just nothing's happening. Praise the Lord. Everybody doing good today. When we approach God, we need to remember who we're approaching. He's God. We said we're going to be basic this week because most of us miss it in the basics. And here we are. News flash. He's God. He's really big. He's really good. He's really, really good. He sent his son into this world to pay for the sins of the entire world, and that includes those you love. And when I approach God, I don't approach them, just worried and in fear about what so and so has done. I approach him knowing I can have confidence that you're so good, that you so love this world. Praise God. That you, God, will do all that you can to awaken them to your plan, to awaken them to your goodness. You understand? When I got born again, I didn't even know that I needed to be born again. I didn't know what I was looking for. And yet God found me. He came and he kept showing himself to me. People kept coming across my path and saying, you know, God loves you. He's real. And they kept just here, there. I mean, I can look back throughout my life before I got born again and see how he was weaving.
- [24:18]
A
His.
- [24:19]
B
Goodness into my life to reveal himself to me. And so for a while now, when I go to pray for those that I love, I don't focus so much on their actions, the human actions. I have confidence in him, In his goodness, in who he said he is and that he can reach. Listen, I know some of y'. All, and if he can reach you. When I approach God and I see others going off the wrong way, I think about how he reached me. God, you found me. You revealed yourself to me. You are opened the eyes of my spirit so that I could see you. You caused the blinders that the enemy had put over my life to dissipate, to dissolve. And I saw you. And you're no respecter of persons. God, you sent your son for this whole world. And you love them more than I love them. And so I thank you. I thank you for the power of God working in their lives. I thank you that you reveal yourself to them. I thank you for the labors that go across their path and don't freak them out, but they're led by the Spirit and they say just the right thing at just the right Time and it lodges in their heart. Effective prayer. Effective prayer. Job sacrificed and prayed for his kids and he lost of them. It's a little sober. I understand. It says he was upright, he feared God. And just as a pastor, I am. It can hurt your heart to see people just do it wrong. Just continually be worried and in fear over those that they love and continually approach God in fear. So we need to be able to recognize this, that fear, not faith. And Hebrews 11 tells us that without faith, it's impossible to please him. For he who comes to God, what is that? He who approaches God. He who comes in their prayer life, two things. He must believe that he is. He.
- [28:23]
A
He.
- [28:24]
B
He is not. I don't have to believe that, you know, you know, sister so and so, or aunt so and so. I don't have to worry about what they are doing or what they believe. I need to believe that he is who he said he is. And, and. And that he is a rewarder of those who diligently, diligently seek him, him, him, Him. It's all about Him. Philippians 4. Philippians 4. To pray effectively, we need to recognize. How we're approaching the Lord. Recognize. Are we coming because of fear? Are we coming because we're afraid of what might happen? Are we coming just in case they do something bad that I don't know about? And I've got a. Oh, cover them with the blood. That's exactly what Job was doing with his sacrifice. He was trying to cover him with the blood. Well, but he was in fear. We don't cover people with the blood in fear. Praise the Lord. Philippians 4, verse 6. We know this, and yet here we are. Be careful for nothing. Of course we know in more modern translations it will say, be anxious for nothing. Or we could say this. Be anxious for no one. Be anxious for no one. I'm not anxious about my kids. I'm not anxious about my church members. I'm not anxious about my extended relatives who are not yet saved. I can't approach God with anxiety.
- [31:00]
A
And.
- [31:00]
B
Expect to be effective. Be anxious for no one. But in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. Well, what are my requests supposed to be? Well, this is the confidence that we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, we know he hears us. And if we know he hears us, we know we have. Some of you all staring at me like, I don't know where she's going with this. We know we have. Now listen, God will never make anyone serve him. God will never make anyone get saved. Right? So when we come to God, we're approaching God and I'm looking at him and his goodness, and I'm saying, lord, I have confidence that you will do everything you can in revealing yourself to them. I understand it is up to them to make their own decision. But I just know how many times God showed up in my life before I ever even knew Him. I know how many times as a Christian, I was thinking wrong. I was thinking, still bound by things. And he revealed Himself to me. He showed up. My pastor gave me the words I needed. Something opened up in my life and I was able to step into more freedom and more light. This is the confidence we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will. What's his will? That the saints be enlightened. That they would see and know all that God has for them. We can pray these things in faith. His will. He's so good. I know he won't. He won't stop. No matter how rebellious someone will be, no matter how many times they buck against things, God's just that good. He's that good. He's that good. He's that good. And when we approach him in prayer, and I'm saying this because this is. He's been teaching me these things because there's certain people in my life that they've just rebelled again. They've kicked against the things of God for so long, my natural mind thinks, well, why even bother? Why bother praying for them?
- [34:06]
A
I mean.
- [34:09]
B
I've been praying. They're not going anywhere. Why? Because I'm looking at them. I grew up with them. I know what they think. I'm familiar with them. My emotions are connected to them. But God doesn't. He's not moved by emotion. He's moved by faith. And if I'm going to have faith, listen, faith comes from. By hearing from God. Romans 10:17. Faith comes when I hear from God. So I'm sorry, brother, I just can't have faith that you and your natural is going to do all the right things all the time. But I have faith in God, His Word, right? And so I can pray for you that the eyes of your heart would be enlightened, that you would see and know. Praise the Lord.
- [35:20]
A
Why?
- [35:20]
B
Because that's God's will. That's God's will. And he's that good to do his part. Praise the lord. So, Philippians 4:6. I'm actually going to read this to you in the Passion. It's not a, it's not a literal translation, but I do like sometimes how it reads. It says this. Don't be pulled in different directions or worried about a thing. I like that. Don't be pulled in different directions. Oh, so and so I gotta pray for them. Oh, I see what they're doing. We better go pray for them. Oh my gosh, my kids. I gotta go pray for them. Don't be pulled around like that. That's the enemy. That's the enemy. Bouncing you from person to person and oh my God. And then all of a sudden you're overwhelmed. I've gotta pray for, I've gotta pray for all men. Oh, I'm exhausted. Don't be pulled in different directions or worried about a thing. Be saturated in prayer throughout each day, offering your faith filled requests before God with overflowing gratitude. What are we saying? Everything we do with God is based on faith, including our prayer life. I understand we've been taught there is a prayer of faith where I find his will and I claim what I want or what I desire or what I need. And I understand there's other types of prayer as well, but all prayer requires faith. And we can't disconnect and say, okay, well, I prayed the prayer of faith for my need, but now I'm gonna pray for, you know, aunt so and so and so we're just gonna, oh, God, it work in her life. And we're just gonna flip over to emotion and not employ faith. Everything with God is a matter of our faith in him, in his will, in his word. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. So we want to be. I like how the passion says we want to be saturated in prayer throughout each day. What does that mean? Just be in his realm. Be more aware of him and his goodness. And when I have a conversation with, you know, a relative or, you know, I'm talking to one of my kids and I just, mm. Something pulls me in a certain direction and I think, oh, that's not quite. That's not God. I've got to be careful not to be pulled into an emotional flow of being worried and in fear and then think, oh, God, I gotta pray. No, when I'm full of him and living full of him and something comes up when I'm talking to someone, I can think, oh, we get to pray because, God, you're bigger than this. You're bigger than their bad decision. You're larger than their stupid mistake. You're better than how they're acting right now. And I sort of believe in your goodness towards them. And so I'm gonna yield myself to the Holy Ghost and we're gonna pray things out. Praise God. And you can come out of that prayer life with overflowing gratitude for his goodness. And you can listen for the next two weeks about so and so, talking your ear off about, I'm gonna do this and I'm gonna do that, and bless God, I'm gonna go. And you can get off the phone and say, oh, they think. They think they're gonna go in that direction. But I've already prayed. The Holy Ghost and I, we've already made power available to their life. And they're gonna walk. Everywhere they turn, they're gonna walk into him, they're going to walk into his plan. They're going to be slapped with his goodness. See how this, this changes how I pray? Effective. Effective. Because it's about him. Can we go to one more passage? Matthew, chapter nine, please? Hallelujah. Thank you, Father. I believe this will transform us. Help us as we. Because, I mean, we all have loved ones we all care for. We should care for one another, of course. But, you know, I don't know your kids the way you do, and you don't know my kids the way I do. And there's times where I'll pray for, you know, random people that just come up to me and I'll pray for, you know, sister so and so or this or that. But, you know, we're so connected to our immediate circle sometimes. Sometimes we allow these emotions to move us in the wrong direction. But Jesus, Jesus, in verse 35 of chapter 9, he says, it says, and Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. Praise God. He did it all. But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved. He was moved with fear, he was moved with worry. He was moved with grief. Jesus was moved. But it was with a God flow. What was it? Compassion. We said, we've got to learn to recognize what's moving us, what's talking to us. Fear bombards your mind. Worry bombards your mind. Compassion rises up from within. He saw the multitudes. I mean, listen, he had been preaching, he had been teaching. He had already been healing. He'd been doing everything a good preacher should be doing. He was doing everything a good pastor should be doing. And yet when he saw the multitudes, he was still moved. I'm not saying that your prayer life is just by rote. I'm going to quote six scriptures and say, lord, I expect you to do these things. Thank you. Thank you very much. And leave the room. This is communication with the Father. And it is. It's the effectual, fervent, heartfelt, continued prayer. Where's that heartfelt? That's compassion. There's times where I'll be going along and I'll just. I'll be in the grocery store or I'll pull into the. I don't really go to the grocery store much anymore, but I used to. And I'll just sit in the parking lot and watch people come in and go out, come in, go out. But I'm not just watching what they're wearing. I'm not looking at who they're talking to. I'm allowing my spirit to listen to the Holy Spirit. And I start to see their faces. And when I see dejection, I see that they're scattered. They're helpless, hopeless. Compassion comes up, Father, these people need to see you. They need to know you. And from that place I pray for my town. From that place I pray for my state. From that place I pray for all men. Moved with his compassion. Look at this. He said he was moved with compassion. Verse 36 on them, because they fainted and were scattered as sheep, having no shepherds. And he turned to his disciples and he said, the harvest, truly it's plenteous. But the laborers, they're few. So pray. Jesus had gone about teaching, preaching and healing. But when he was moved with compassion, he turned to his disciples and he said, pray, Pray, therefore pray. Praise God. Pray the Lord of the harvest that he would send forth laborers into the harvest. Father, thank you for those laborers. Thank you for that they go across Aunt so and so's path. Thank you that they open the eyes of uncle so and so. That my sister sees you and knows you because of those laborers that speak a word in. In due season. Compassion, not emotion, not fear, not worry, not begging God, not crying to God, but moved by God, moved with his compassion. Does that make sense? And from this place, if you keep reading, in chapter 10, verse 1, Jesus then turns around and commissions his disciples to go. And now all of a sudden, the laborers Jesus told them to pray for they become. So. Not only are we praying for laborers to come across our loved one's path, but we too are are laborers. And we are co laborers with Christ. We are joint laborers. We are working together and following the Spirit. And I might witness and be a blessing and a laborer to so and so who this person in another State is praying for their loved one, and I'm that laborer. And then someone else is a laborer to my loved one. And we all are working together to get the job done. Done. Effective, effective, effective. So important that we be effective in these things. Praise the Lord. Thank you.
- [48:44]
C
Praise him. Praise Him. Praise him. I love it. So we're. We are all released from ever worrying about our kids again. Amen. And seriously, there are some that, as we go to prayer today, you might need. We won't do this collectively, but you might need to personally consecrate in that area, right? And say, lord, I will never again worry whether it's kids or something else, but I'll never again worry about your kids. It's the greatest disservice you could do for them, right? Greatest disservice. Because it actually, instead of covering them, it exposes them, just like job. But James 5 actually says that we. It says, consider Job and consider the end of his thing of his life. How the Lord is very pitiful and merciful. So we're trusting in God. Amen. Good stuff today. Good stuff.
- [49:53]
A
I want to kind of add some things of what that was. So good.
- [49:56]
B
So good.
- [49:57]
A
So good. I was recently I was sent a manuscript of a precious minister, a book they wrote, and they wanted me to do a recommendation for it. And so it'll be coming out and you'll be able to get hold of it. I'm not going to pull the trigger on who that is. But they opened the writing of this book by telling how, because they're very skillful in prayer. And so there was somebody that they knew of, you get the idea, and the telling of it. It wasn't a relative, but. But it was someone close to them. And so this person had evidently was going through a great task, great struggle, great difficulty. So this minister said, I'm going to make them a prayer project, which is noble, right, it's scriptural. But they said they spent hours praying for them. They said they spent time praying for them. They said they even withdrew from some ministry responsibilities to pray for them and to counsel them, be with them, talk to them. They invested great amounts of time. So in the midst of this, of them doing this, one night they had a dream. And in the dream, they were in a hospital and they were looking through the window into an operating room. And Jesus had someone on the table and had nurses, like, assisting in this. And Jesus was in there. And when this person looked in the window, they saw that's that person. I'm praying for laying on the operating table. So they rushed into the operating room and stood by Jesus and offered themselves, I'm here to help you. And when they did, Jesus turned to them and said, leave, Leave. And they knew that he didn't really mean it that way and said, oh, I've come. No, I've come to help you. I've been lifting them up in prayer. And he said, leave. And so they thought, I'll just stand back in the room. You know, I left the table. And he said, and they, you know, they stood back. And then he said, leave. Not only that, get out of the room, leave the building. And they go, jesus, you don't understand. I have been making them a prayer project. He said, you have been in my way. I did not assign you to pray for them. You chose to pray for them. And you are in my way. What's this mean? Even with those people that you have an emotional connection to, that you're loved, you still have to be led. You can't decide, I'm the rescue. I'm the savior of this. My prayer life is the savior here. No, that's wrong. Because they were trying to step in and be the savior because they knew prayer. Just because you know prayer doesn't mean you're dismissed from being led. You have to be led. If God did not assign you, you cannot self assign. It's important. And so I know this. Can I tell you how God has had me to pray for my relatives? Can I tell you how he always had me praying for their situation before their situation arrived? Therefore, I wasn't praying for them based on their situation. I was praying for them because I was led and I did not even know it was them. And they hadn't even run into that circumstance yet. And I laid hold of the answer before the circumstance arose. If we're spirit led in praying for our family, we're in front of them and we're not doing cleanup. We're not the cleanup crew. We are to be the head and not the tail. That means in front of situations, not behind them. If you're watching somebody, behave. And then you go to prayer, pray. You're praying from behind. You're not praying from in front, you're praying from behind. And the spirit of God will keep you in front. And if you're behind, you're seeing too much. You're seeing all the things play out. You're seeing the highs and the lows. You're hearing all the drama that's involved around their situation. And it's going to Be very difficult for, for you to distance yourself from what you're seeing. So maybe at situations like that, unless God tells you you're the one, don't try to be the Holy Ghost in that situation. Don't try to be the Savior. Sometimes the best way you can pray for someone who you see things around them falling apart is God. I am too close to this. So I ask you to employ somebody who has no emotional connection to that. Because if I touch it, I know where I'm going to go. Because very few are able to pray unattached. Many aren't advanced enough, they're not spiritual enough, and they're going to get duped and pulled into praying from the cleanup position and sitting instead of the lead position. So just don't assume because you saw a family member situation seemingly fall apart that you're the assignment, that you're the assigned one. Don't assume that. I'm saying, be led. You may be. God may have you to do it, but don't assume you're always it. Don't assume you're always it. Be led. Be led. I had prayed for one, two, three family members. Two of them out of death and another one. All the situations around that. And I had total, just, total victory in that thing. But because I prayed it from in front before these things happened, I had no idea it was my family members. I was praying for someone. I've seen car wrecks and prayed. I had no idea it was loved ones in the car wreck. God just showed it to me before it happened. And we were able to rescue that, change that from the in front position and to pray effectively. The more effective we are, we're in front of, we're not behind. And if you're just seeing how people behave and people live and then you're praying, you're already behind the eight ball. You're already behind the eight ball because Holy Ghost movement will put someone in front of that, in front of that. I have prayed a couple of times for. I remember on Ed's side, I would in prayer, I would pray out things. And these people ended up dying abruptly, suddenly. And the things I prayed out were the last things they said before they died. And what was that? My mind had no idea I was praying for them. Why? Because God doesn't want you troubled by what troubles others. God sees it all. His eyes behold the good and the bad. Your eyes can't handle that. If you start beholding the good and the bad, it affects you. So he will employ you without affecting you. That he does that by putting you in front of situations so that you're not just watching things implode in some. In your families and then go, oh, I'm gonna pray for them. Then watch something else. And, oh, I'm gonna pray for them. You're already off the. You're already out of the flow because you're being led by this realm. How they're behaving, what they're saying, what they're doing. So there is such a thing as. As we pray for our families, we should be in front if we're following the Holy Spirit, ghost. If something does implode, maybe don't assume you're the one who's to bring that up. Maybe you've already brought that up and you didn't know it was them. I prayed out. Five years before my husband left, I prayed this out. I heard myself saying this in English. Angels of heaven escorting them to heaven and the spirit of grief will not come near the family prayed that out. I didn't know then it was about my own family. It was about my own situation. But I was in front of it. And then when it happened, we did not have the same effect of it because it was already dealt with. Skill deals with it before. Divine skill. Divine skill does not deal with things afterwards. Divine skill is in front. But if. So what I'm saying is, if you see something imploding, maybe you've already dealt with that and didn't know it. And then if it's too much on your soul, ask God to employ someone who is totally unaffected soulishly by that situation. Why? So that you don't get in his way. So that you don't get in his way. Dad Hagin used to say this to us. He said, you're probably not the one that needs to be ministering to your family because they're not going to listen to you. He's talking about saying something. He's not talking about praying there. He's talking about saying something to someone. You're probably not the one, you know. Brother Copeland talks about how his mother prayed for him for years because he was, you know, he was on the way to hell and showed no signs of recovery. And it was after she prayed for him daily for years. And finally she said she threw down her Bible one day and said, God, I'm done praying for him. If he goes to hell, it's your fault. And within two weeks, he was saved. Because why? She got out of his way. She got out of his way. See, love won't put you In God's way. I love my family. That won't put you in God's way if you're being led by the spirit. Too many times people are using their love for someone to get in God's way. Praise the Lord. So being spirit led means don't assume you're the one God is going to use. Because listen, he wants their help more than you want their help. And not only that, he wants it quicker than you want it to be quick. But if we get in his way, we delay his help in their life. Amen. My husband used to say this to different ones that would come around him. He'd say, you're not the Holy Ghost. When they would say something, you need to do this and you need to do that. He'd say, you're not the Holy Ghost. And you have to realize in this thing of prayer because we think because we're skillful, that we are most needed. And that can get into pride in your prayer life. I know how to pray, bless God. But that doesn't mean God called on you. That's pride. When we become skillful in these things of God and these things of the spirit, we should not attach our own self assignment to it. We still need to be led. Skill needs to be led. Not decide we're the Holy Ghost because we have skill. Or the Holy Ghost wants me because I'm skillful. Jesus wanted that one person out of the building because they said they walked out of the room and looked through the window on the way out and just stood there and Jesus turned and said, get out of the building. Yeah. Off property. Off property. Off property. Amen. So praise the Lord. So if something, if you find something's weighing on your soul about somebody, then pray a certain way and say, God ask you to employ someone who will be unaffected soulishly by this. And what things ever you desire when you pray, believe you receive it, believe he does it. Amen. Does that help you too? Yeah. Yeah. Praise the Lord. No, y' all got to do what y' all gotta do.
- [64:11]
C
I liked what you were doing.
- [64:12]
B
Yeah, seriously.
- [64:13]
A
Well, I liked what y' all are.
- [64:18]
B
Praise the Lord.
- [64:19]
C
You know, you can. You can care about people without taking the care.
- [64:23]
B
Wonderful.
- [64:24]
C
And it can sound, it can sound rough or harsh sometimes, but other people's problems. Problems are not your problem. Not my problem. Not my problem. Say it with me. Come on. Not my problem. Not my problem. Not my problem. I so appreciate what was said about being led. And really you could say it this way, being proactive rather than being Reactive, staying ahead of things. Things instead of coming behind. I'd like to just take baby 10 minutes and actually practice. Pray. Is that okay? Just. Just for a few minutes and then we'll. I mean, it's only 11:30. What else are you going to do? Just take a short time here. Yeah. Matter of fact, let's pray this together. I want. I'll lead us in a prayer, just kind of along the lines of what was ministered today and have you repeat that. Let your heart agree with it. Would you do that? Pray this with me, Father. God, thank you that you're God and that I'm not. You're so good, you're so merciful. You're so big. And Father, there's people in my life, folk I love, folk I care for. But I won't carry the care that doesn't belong to me. Thank you, Father, for sending laborers to them. Those that they'll listen to, those who can plant real seeds that'll bring a harvest. And we thank you for your goodness manifesting in their lives. Thank you in advance for the great testimonies that will hear, for the great results that will see. And Father, I purpose to not worry. Not one minute, not one, one second. To not worry about situations, people, problems. I say by faith, you're big enough to send laborers. You're big enough to do what you do. And truly, it's not my problem. So thank you, Father, that you're the answer for all my problems. And I believe it, and I receive it, and I walk in peace and I walk in joy and divine quiet. In Jesus name, Amen. Amen. You believe that today, you believe it. Thank you, Lord. Thank him if you believe it. Thank you, Lord. It's done. Thank you that it's done. Thank you that it's done. Thank you that it's done. Speaking of being done, I think we're done.
- [67:44]
A
We trust you've enjoyed this message. Visit us@DefrainMinistries.org to learn of our upcoming meetings, share your testimony, become a partner or visit our online store. This program has been made possible by the friends and partners of Dufresne Ministries.