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Hi, I'm Nancy Dufresne. Welcome to our podcast channel. We know you'll be blessed by today's message. I am so glad that you're joining us tonight, and I want you to know we're appreciating you taking the time to be with us. We miss seeing your face, but we're glad that you get to see our face. Get your Bible out, get a notebook, get your pen and paper, get your device, whatever you're going to use, and follow along with us and write notes and take some notes and things. I'm believing that we're going to have revelation by the spirit of God that's going to come into our hearts and it's going to elevate us and bring us to the next level in prayer. So before we go further into the teaching, let's pray. Father, I thank you so much for those that are watching. Father, I pray that every ear be a listening ear, that every eye be an open eye, that every heart be open and receptive to receive the revelation of. We're looking to you, Father, to cause my tongue to be as the pen of a ready writer, writing on the people's hearts, the truth of your word. And, Father, we're expecting that that which we hear will enhance our prayer life. Father, we want to better know how to respond to you, cooperate with you in this wonderful divine work of prayer. And we're so grateful for the privilege and I thank you, Father, for the life that comes in Jesus name. Amen. Before I get into my sermon, and I don't know how much of the service time tonight, I'll be doing this one thing, but there's some passages that I wanted to read to you out of Brother E.W. kenyon's book. This is taken from his book in his presence. Now, if you don't have any of Brother Kenyon's materials, my goodness, you need to get some. One minister after dad Hagin went home to be with the Lord, one minister had the presence of mind and had such an idea that I thought was so great. He went into dad Hagin's office there at the ministry headquarters, and he took pictures of his desk and pictures of what was around his desk. And he just wanted to see what was going on around Brother Hagin at the time of his homegoing. And he recognized that behind Brother Hagin's desk were a lineup of particular books, and on his desk were a lineup of some books, and they were E.W. kenyon books. So to realize that E.W. kenyon is somebody that dad Hagin fed on, and that fed Brother Hagin's spirit. Because, you know, you think about it, when you've walked with God as long as dad Hagin had, you're going to really need somebody that feeds you at a whole different level. And E.W. kenyon certainly was that. Dad Hagin made a statement about E.W. kenyon. He said he was 100 years ahead of his time in Revelation. And so in the past several weeks, I've been feeding, especially on some of his materials, and I wanted to read some excerpts from his book and take time to do that tonight before we get into the sermon over the next couple of nights. But I read this because it stirs us. You know, when you hear some things, it's good to know the principles of prayer. But if I could say this, to read some things of the place of prayer in the life of the believer keeps us stirred. And so I wanted to read some things about that written by E.W. kenyon. He makes these statements. He said, some have said that prayer is the greatest opportunity ever afforded to a man in Christ. If this is true, then you can understand why there would be enemies to stand in the way of a prayer life. Let me just say this. The devil hates your prayer life because he's the one who suffers from it the most. He's going to do everything he can to divert you, to distract you from an effective prayer life. And EW Kenyon goes on and says this. You can understand why the adversary would make it his business to see that the prayer life of an individual, the prayer life of a church, should be ineffective. Satan would not be a good general, he would not be a good strategist, unless the prayer life should be attacked and destroyed. So he's letting us know that the devil is not going to congratulate you for advancements you make. In fact, he'll do everything he can. He'll use everything in the natural. He'll use everything in the flesh to try to distract you things of the mind to try to distract you from an effective prayer life. Kenyon goes on and says this. A church is as powerful as its prayer life. The men and women who learn the secret of reaching the throne, getting the ear of God, they become dangerous to the hosts of darkness. Martin Luther's prayers gave birth to the Reformation. His knowledge and experience of the new birth would not have given birth to that mighty upheaval in Germany unless that man had had a prayer life. When John Knox cried, give me Scotland or I die, and when Martin Luther said, I Will not let go of you, God, until you give me Germany. God heard them, and God is as easily reached now as he ever was. It is not a problem of education, but it's a problem of us knowing our rights and privileges in Christ and then daring to enter the throne room facing God with the needs of the world gift. Kenyon goes on and brings it down to this individual basis. He said, every one of us has a place in the prayer life. God has no unused members. There isn't a useless member in the physical body. Now just think about it, your own body. There's not part of your body you don't need. Every single part of your body has a function and it has a place. And if that part isn't functioning, then what's going to happen is that body is going to be lacking. And so this is what E.W. kenyon states. There isn't a useless member in the physical body, neither is there a useless member in the spiritual body of Christ. God has planned with divine wisdom the body of Christ. And the moment that you are born into that body, you have a place in which to function. If anyone thinks that because of lack of training or because of a lack of this or lack of that, he hasn't a place, he is deluded by the enemy. You know, I want to share a personal testimony with this statement that Kenyon makes that the devil wants to delude you into thinking that your place in prayer, your place in the body of Christ, is not as important or as needful as someone else's. When my husband and I got married, of course I was straight out of a denominational church. I had not been taught the things that I've gotten to be taught, of course, in the past decades. But I, he, my husband was my Bible school. So I made advancements. But I tell you, whenever we got married, I tell you I knew nothing. I had never even heard of Five Fold Ministry. Not only that, my husband was 20 years older than I was, so he had already been in the ministry almost 20 years by the time I married him. So you can understand how far behind I felt spiritually. I had not been taught the Word. I had never heard of the Five fold ministry. Not only the age difference put me behind just in the opportunity of development. And so I, I felt that I was so behind. And because of that, I approached my marriage and I approached my spiritual life like I was the one needing to be helped, being caught up. And so I had this sense of, you know, I don't have much to bring. I'm the one who has so much that I need. And I remember after a couple of years of marriage, I had a dream one night. And in that dream, I saw myself dying prematurely. And when I woke up from that dream, I knew that that wasn't the enemy, because, you know, the enemy can certainly give you a dream to try to frighten you. But I knew that that dream was from God, that he was showing me something, that if I kept going the way I was going, that the enemy would be able to shorten my life. And when I woke up, God began to talk to me about where I was missing it. And one of the primary things that he brought up to me was this. He said, you have approached the ministry and approached your spiritual life as one who needs to hurry up and catch up, but you have not in that sense, you've neglected that you have a supply to bring. You're just looking for the supply that you need instead of the supply that you're to bring. And so he said, because of that, you're not obeying me in the prayer life. And he said, your husband's ministry, for some things to be fulfilled, he has to have someone praying for him. And he said, and if you're not going to do it, I have someone else who will. Well, that's kind of a sobering thought. And so I saw that, because it wasn't that I was intentionally trying to leave out my part. I just thought because of my own spiritual immaturity, that my part was not to be on the forefront yet because I needed so much. Well, this is what E.W. kenyon states here. He said, if anyone thinks that because of lack of training or for lack of this or that, he hasn't a place, he's deluded by the enemy. See, the enemy was using my own lack of spiritual knowledge to, if I could say this, trip me up in my prayer life so that I would not take the steps and the strides that I needed to make. So EW King goes on and says this. With that place comes responsibility. And with responsibility comes a reward or demerit. If you do not take your place in the family of God, if you do not take your place in the body of Christ and in the church and begin to function, the body of Christ is weakened because of it. Until your business is to find your place and fill it, until you do, you will pay the price. I want you to know, my brother, my sister, that the price you pay for staying out of the will of God is expensive. You may pay it in sickness, in Loss of money or in unhappiness with your loved ones. For you cannot be the protected one, the cared for one, as long as you're standing outside of the Lord's will for take your place. Now, when Brother Kenyon made this statement, listen to what he says, that it's expensive to be outside the will of God. That you can pay for it in sickness, you can pay for it financially, you can pay for it with family members, loved ones. I had something else that happened to me years ago. This is probably about 30 years ago. I was having some nagging physical symptoms in my body. And one day the Spirit of God spoke to me, and he made this statement, if you will take time to pray, you will be healed. Now, I knew this. I knew that he wasn't referring to me taking time to pray about my physical situation. I knew he was talking to me about taking more time with him in prayer, to pray about others, to pray about the body of Christ, to pray about different needs. So when he said that to me, it still confused me because I thought, well, so you're basically saying to me that if I pray, I get healed. And it dawned on me because, you see, understand I was a spiritual baby. I didn't understand some things, but it dawned on me later. And I later realized that God had been dealing with me about spending time in prayer. And because I wasn't spending as much time as he was leading me to in prayer, I was neglecting that, and I was getting out of the will of God. And because I was out of the will of God, then the devil was able to attack my body. So I want you to see, this is what EW Kenyon is talking about. If we're not in the will of God in our prayer lives, that it is an open door for the enemy to attack us in other arenas. So when God said to me, if you will take time to pray, you'll be healed. What he was saying was not. It wasn't the act of praying that that healed me. It was me becoming obedient to the will of God to pray that brought the healing. And so that's what closed the door to the devil and closed the door to sickness. So it wasn't, like I said, the act of praying. It's not like we earn healing if we pray enough. But there is an obedience that we have to walk out in our prayer life. What is God dealing with us about? Are we praying for our local church? Are we praying for our pastor? Are we praying for the body of Christ? Because if we're not that disobedience in prayer becomes an open door to the enemy. And he can attack your finances, he can attack your family, he can attack your body, he can cause all kinds of difficulties simply because of disobedience. But when we pray, it's not that prayer earns things, but we begin to move into a place of obedience. And obedience to the will of God is always the safe place. It's the healed place. It's the place where you receive from God. So some may be having physical issues, you may be having marital issues, you may be having financial issues, you may be having issues with your children. And sometimes people are just. What they do is they take the Word and they take authority over the devil, which is right to do. But we have to go back and we have to examine ourselves and say, are we taking our place in the body of Christ in prayer? Are we taking our place with prayer for. For our local church? Are we taking our place and praying for our nation and praying for these other things? Because it's the will of God that every believer develop in their prayer life. And if they don't develop in their prayer life, then they're going to be in disobedience. And then of course, the devil can attack them. Going on with what E.W. kenyon said. Give yourself to meditation, prayer, and study of the Word. Don't allow anything to stand in the way of you finding your place. Life will not mean much to you outside the will of God. The big thing of life is to be in the will of God. There are only two ways of getting acquainted with God, and that's through the Word and through prayer. If you don't take time to pray, you're losing out. You can't say that you have no responsibility in the prayer life, because you do. To see a need is to have a call to pray. We can't plead that we have too much work to do because we can pray while we work. We can't put up the plea that we do not know how, because if we want to learn, we will. To disobey the prayer call is to disobey the call of the Father. The prayer responsibility today is the most important thing of our lives. Now think about that statement that he says that prayer responsibility is the most important thing of our lives. Dad Hagin made this statement and he said the greatest thing you can ever learn to do is pray. Because if you know how to pray, there's nothing you can't receive from God. Now think of that. If you know how to Pray there's nothing you can't receive, but also what a help you are to someone else who needs to know how to receive. Then Kenyon goes on and says this. Did you ever realize that there are men and women who are defeated and breaking down in their businesses, in their homes and their spiritual lives because we haven't prayed for them? We have been too occupied with our own pleasures, our own dreams, and men and women staggering under the burdens. We should help carry their breaking down. Do not let this simply awaken you for a moment, but let prayer become like you're eating or like your business or your home. If you are a mother or a wife and you live at home, there are certain duties which you perform every day for your family. But the greatest duty you will ever perform for your family will be the prayer duty. Prayer should be as natural as breathing and as enjoyable as eating. Well. We know we. We're glad to be breathing, and we know we enjoy our eating. And he said, prayer is to be every bit or more than that. To us, prayer should be as unconscious as our communication with each other. It should not be simply the child of need, but should be based on a spiritual fellowship with the Father and with the Master. So he's just saying this, that we have to be interested enough that we want to have fellowship with our Father. It's not just needs that compel us to talk to him, but it's a love for him and a desire to have fellowship, fellowship with him that we spend time with Him. So he says that. He says this, that our needs are not our own. In fellowship with him, our needs become his needs. For we are not our own. We are part of Him. Our body is not our own. The property we control is not our own. Our abilities are not our own. They are all his because we belong to Him. So we are laboring together with him and what we have considered personal needs. He has really made his needs. The work that we are doing is his work. So that the prayer is not what we have thought it was, but it is a fellowship. It's a sharing. It is a community interest between heaven and us. We are one in this, just as the vine and the branch are one. The branch cannot bear fruit alone and the vine cannot bear fruit without the branch. So prayer is simply talking it over with him, getting God's views, his will, his plans, and our carrying out those plans with his grace, his ability and his wisdom. Now, Kenyon goes on to state something so important. He said, habits are a children of our choice. We Are what we make ourselves. This prayer habit will be born of your own will. Notice this that people's prayer habits are reflection of how much they will to have a prayer life. This prayer habit is hard for some people to form. It should never be a duty. For just as we do not enjoy those who come and visit us Just because it's their duty, so it is with the Father. We want those who love us to come visit us because they can't help it. They want to be with us. Prayer is a visit with our Father. We should think of it as a rare opportunity. The names that are familiar in God's Westminster Abbey of the Church are the names of those who pray. Men and women who have climbed the mountains of usefulness in the struggle with circumstances through prayer. Jesus was a man of prayer. He taught prayer not as a slavish duty, but as a glorious privilege. The more that I study the life of Jesus, I'm convinced that he did not exercise his divine power in excess of what every child of God possesses today. So he's saying that Jesus did not conduct his life simply on this earth and conduct his prayer life simply on the basis of, well, he was the Son of God, so he could do things we couldn't. He was limited to the same flesh. He was limited to the same things that we're limited to. But he just drew on divine ability. So he's saying, just as Jesus drew on divine ability, we have the same right to draw on divinability. The difference is that Jesus knew what belonged to him and Jesus knew his rights. We do not know what belongs to us as we ought. Not knowing what is ours, we cannot use our rights. So when Jesus cast out demons, when he healed the sick, when he worked miracles, he used authority that he has now delegated to the church. So he's saying this. When we look at Jesus prayer life and Jesus ministry, We can say we have available to us the same things. It's a thing of knowing our rights. I want to read to you something that God said to dad Seymour. Now, dad Seymour was the man who was at the helm of the Azusa Street Revival. That was in the early part of the 1900s. God said to dad Seymour, he said, pray more. There are better things to be had in the spiritual life, but they must be sought out with faith and prayer. Notice this. They have to be sought out. The spirit of God said to me probably about 15 years ago, he said, there are revelations that belong to this era, but you will have to labor in prayer to receive them. Now Listen, that wording. He didn't say you have to labor in prayer to earn them. He said you have to labor in prayer to receive them. What's he mean? The more we pray, the more we get in position or we come into a position where we can hear what he's speaking to us. We can see what he's trying to show to us. And this is what God was saying to dad Seymour. And he said, there are better things to be had in the spiritual life, but they must be sought out with faith and prayer. So for us to fulfill what God has in this era as the body of Christ, it's not just up to pastors or ministers. It's up to the body of Christ to pray for the revelations that belong to this era to come. Now think about it. In the Azusa street revival, the revelation that God was emphasizing was the infilling of the whole Holy Ghost. Because men prayed and moved into that revelation. It changed the earth. I mean, the entire world heard that message. That message was carried to every nation. And that was because people prayed and learned. What was God wanting to emphasize in that hour? Well, in our era, it's the same thing. God is wanting to emphasize some things, and we have to make sure that we are receiving the revelations of what he wants to emphasize in this era. Because we're in a last day era. We have to have these revelations so that we can move with God into what this era holds. Because Jesus is coming back. And what we do in the last days determines and plays a role in his return. Now, Dr. Lester Sumrall, he wrote in his book, he said prayer is actually the council chamber where divine commands are issued, where the believer receives solutions to his problems and receives the divine infilling of divine energy. Every outstanding person of God in history has been a person of prayer. It is not possible to possess great dominion without constantly returning to the Master to receive instructions from him. Now listen to that. It's not possible to possess great dominion without constantly returning to the Master to receive instructions from him. Yes, authority belongs to us. Yes, dominion belongs to us. But it's in his presence and in prayer that we become. That's one way we become skillful. Of course, we have to know the word to make us skillful. But I tell you what you have to know. Through fellowship, you. You begin to learn your skill. Remember what Jesus said about his own earthly ministry. He said, I only hear. I only say what I hear my Father say. Well, when did he hear it in his time of fellowship? He said, I only do what I see my father do. So when did he see it? In his time of prayer, in his time of private fellowship with the Father. And this is what Dr. Sarmal is pointing out. There's a dominion, there's an authority that belongs to. To us. But we won't know how to properly execute that and fully without hearing from the Father and seeing the things that he's showing us. And that comes because we constantly spend time going back to the Father in prayer. Then Dr. Sumrall went on and made this statement. He said, the act of praying generates omnipotence. Continual communion with the commander assures victory. Now, this is a man who walked with God and I mean, had such a raw faith that was such a help and assist in the body of Christ and made an impact on this world. And he says, we have to spend time with our commander to get our commands. So I wanted to read some of those statements to stir you. I wanted you to realize that prayer is not just something we do because we have an emergency, emergency in life. It's something that is a privilege that's offered to every one of God's people. Now, I want to go on and share a few things that God began dealing with me about a couple of weeks ago in light of this. And God began speaking to me about one word, and it's called this word time. He said to me, we can only develop spiritually as we give proper time to spiritual things. So this is what, over the next couple of nights that we're going to be ministering about because God began dealing with me how important it is that we take the time to develop, to give to our spiritual lives. Because the more time we give, the more we'll develop spiritually. The less time we give, the less spiritual development we have. So time is the determining factor. It's not God that's the determining factor. It's how interested are we in developing our prayer life and developing spiritually and developing our faith in learning the flow of the Spirit, in learning how to follow the Spirit. We have to give time to these spiritual things. And this is what God began dealing with me about. He pointed out and reminded me of something that happened with dad Hagin's life. There was a time that dad Hagin had been on the road for a season. Of course, dad Hagin would be gone for months at a time in traveling, and he would only be home for a short time. So when he would come home off the road, there was always a lot of catching up to do. So to speak with Ministry business with things at home that had to be taken care of with personal business. And so you can understand that when he would come home off the road, there was a lot of pull and demand on him. And he came home from one particular road trip, and when he did, he was just going, you know, about his day, doing things that needed to be taken care of of his personal life there at home. And he had this spiritual occurrence that kept happening. And what it was, was he kept having the sense of being physically thrown from a vehicle. And you may say, well, I don't understand that. Well, these things are spiritual. And sometimes when you sense something with your spirit, you can actually feel some things that you actually pick up the feel in your body, but it's really something that is happening spiritually. And brother Hagin kept having the sense of being thrown from a vehicle and he didn't know what it was about. And so he sensed that for a number of days. Well, after he had been at home for a few days, his calendar, he had to get back on the road. So Mom Hagin was going to join him on the road. And they got in the car to start their next road trip. And so dad Hagin turned to mom and said, put on your seatbelt. And she said to him, now see, you know, years ago, I don't know if you remember this, nobody wore seatbelts. I mean, you couldn't even find your seatbelt. It was tight, tucked back down between the seats somewhere. You didn't know what that thing was. It was just something that was in the way and you push it down in the seat cushion to get it out of the way. And I mean, it was not a law. People seldom wore seatbelts. So it was an unusual thing for dad Hagin to say to her, put on your seatbelt. Because do you remember as kids what your seatbelt was? You were standing next to your mom and your mom would put up your arm to put up her arm to hold back. That was your seatbelt. When she, she came up to a stoplight, she just put out her arm and hold you back. And that was our seatbelt growing up. So whenever dad said to Mom Hagin, put on your seatbelt, she didn't understand that. So she said, well, we don't wear seatbelts. Why do you want me to put on my seatbelt? And he said, I keep having the sensation of being thrown from a vehicle. And I don't know what that's about. So since I don't know what that's about, just put on your seatbelt. So they put on their seatbelts, they drove to their place, place where they were going to preach. And they were there several days. And after they were there several days preaching, Brother Hagin got a phone call from home. And the phone call was this. And said his son actually called him and said, dad. He said, your niece, who was dad Hagin's sister, it was her daughter, was just in a car accident and she was thrown from a car and killed. And so of course, when dad Hagin, when he heard that, he recognized that's what I was picking up. I was sensing someone being thrown from a vehicle. And he said, I didn't know what it was. And so of course they didn't know if it was them or someone else. So they just took precautions and put on their own seatbelt. But here it was, it was his own niece that she was thrown from a vehicle and she was killed. And she was a young woman. I mean, I think she was in her late 20s and she had a couple of young children at home. So here now, children have lost their mother, A man's lost his wife, this family's lost this relative. And the spirit of God spoke to dad Hagin and he made this statement. He said the reason he said, my spirit was leading you to deal with that situation, to try to abort that accident from happening. But he said, but because you did not give yourself enough time in the spirit, you missed that leading of the spirit. Now notice the wording here. Because you didn't give yourself enough time in the spirit, you missed the leading of the spirit. Now you understand, dad Hagin sensed this act of being thrown from a car. He sensed that. But God said he still missed the leading of the spirit. Just sensing something does not mean victory. Just sensing something doesn't mean something is going to change. That needs to change. And notice dad Hagin. God said to dad Hagin, the reason you missed that leading of the spirit is because you did not give yourself enough time in the spirit. Now since he was saying you're not giving yourself enough time, what should dad Hagin have done to giving himself time? Dad Hagin said, when I sensed that, I should have just gone aside and I should have just started praying in the spirit and asked God, I'm sensing this. What is this about? How can I address it? How can I deal with it? And he said, because I was busy doing the things that were a natural responsibility on me. He says, I did not take that time. And he said, because he didn't take that time of course, a family member was lost and what the effect of that. Now, see, this is what EW Ken was talking to us about, that how much is lost when we don't take our place? Because God will use each of us and one another to help protect someone else, to help pray for someone else, to speak into the life of someone else. And if we're not occupying the place of prayer, someone else's life who calls for that or needs that is going to be robbed of that if we're not taking our place. So that's why I wanted us to hear, and I took so much time in reading some of these things by E.W. kenyon because it drives home to us the importance and the need of us taking our place, not just occupying a chair in a church service. Yes, it's important to show up for church. Yes, we need to be there. But we're there so we can better learn how to take our place in the body of Christ and in that local church family. And so spiritual things take time. And God said to dad Hagin, you miss that leaving of the Spirit because you did not give yourself enough time in the Spirit. So notice this. There are times that we may sense something. But just because we sense something does not mean we got victory in that situation. Just because we can sense a change coming. I know in my own life and in our own ministry, I. I have sense we're coming up to a change in ministry. We're coming up to a new, you know, a new level or a new phase of ministry. And I can sense that. But just sensing it doesn't mean that you're going to make the transition into what you sense. When we sense change, we have to make sure that what we do is take time in the Spirit to pray that out. Because if we don't pray that out, what we sense, sense may not come to pass. Now, see, dad Hagin's sense, being thrown from a car. God wanted to stop and abort that sense. He wanted to stop and abort that event from happening. But because he did not take time to pray about it, then it wasn't dealt with properly. We can sense things to happen in our family. We can sense that we need to start a business. We can sense that we may need to take a step of faith. But if we don't take time and pray, pray those things out, we can miss moving into what we sense God is offering us. And so it's so important that we take time because it can cost us much. In dad Hagin's situation, It costs the life of a relative. It can cost us financially. It can cost us in our fellowship with our children. It can cost all kinds of things when we don't take our place. We have to give time. And then I'll close with this. Years ago, I was laying in bed praying just before I was falling off to sleep one night. And I had been praying in the spirit maybe about 30 minutes or so. And at the end of that time, well, just while I was praying in the spirit, I had what dad Hagin would call a mini vision. M I N I a mini vision. It's not like a full blown played out vision. It's just you get a glimpse of something. And in this glimpse of a vision, I was watching. I was outside of a house, I didn't recognize the house. And in the driveway was a silver suv. And I saw a toddler come out of the house and walk behind that silver suv. Well, I didn't recognize the toddler. In fact, I couldn't really distinguish the face. I just saw the form of a toddler. I knew that this toddler was about one year old. And you go, how do you know that? Well, when you're in the spirit, you just know things without being told it. It just is part of the revelation you receive. And this toddler, I knew he was around one year old, he was real unsteady in his walk. And he walked out of the house. And then I saw. And he went behind that silver SUV and he was crouched down playing and something. Playing with something behind that silver suv. And then in this same scenario that I saw play out, I saw a man come out of the house, get in the silver suv, not knowing the child was there, get in the car and back over the child. Now at that point, it stopped. I just saw the silver SUV backing up. I didn't see the silver SUV hit the child. And I so appreciate that when God shows something, he does, he doesn't show us something that troubles us or he shows it in a way that it's not going to trouble us. He didn't show me the actual accident. I just saw that car's backing up. And I assumed that that's what was going to happen. So when I saw that, I didn't just say, wow, I saw that. No, I was taking time in the spirit. Now listen, people will think, well, you saw that because you're a preacher. I didn't see that because I'm a preacher. I saw that because I was taking time to pray in the spirit. If you take time to pray in the Spirit. You'll see things that you wouldn't have seen if you hadn't prayed in the Spirit. And so when I saw that, I didn't just keep praying in the Spirit, I knew that has to be dealt with. So I know this. Nobody told me this. I just had the sense, take authority over that. God didn't. I didn't hear a voice say, take authority over. I just knew that God was showing it to me so I would do something. When God shows you something, he's not just showing you something so you can say you saw it. He's showing you something so you'll do something. Remember what Jesus said. He said, I only do what I see. My Father do notice. When he saw something, he did it. He didn't just say, I saw it. He acted. He carried through. He did what he saw. And so when I saw that situation that that child was going to be run over by that car, I did something. I didn't just tell my husband, hey, I just saw something. No, I did something. And what I did was this. I didn't start praying in tongues. I started taking authority in English, in my known language. And I said, satan, you take your hands off the life of that child. Death, you take your hands off the life of that child. And I call for the angels of heaven to be around that child. To protect and keep him, to bear him up in their hands, lest he dash his foot against a stone. And that's what I just said. And I said in the name of Jesus. And that's basically what I said. I used my authority. And after I did that, then I prayed a short time in the Spirit. Now, the reason I prayed a short time in the spirit was not to deal with that situation. I prayed a short time in the spirit to see if there's anything more that God would have me do. Now understand this. He that speaks in an unknown tongue speaks not unto men, but unto God. For no man understandeth howbeit the Spirit. He speaketh. Mysteries is what the Word tells us. Notice this, that when you're speaking in tongues, you're not speaking to the devil. You're speaking to God. So if I would, in seeing that vision, if I would have just thought, well, I'm just going to pray in the spirit about that. I couldn't have dealt with the devil by speaking in tongues. That's not how you deal with the devil. You deal with the devil with your authority. You speak to him. You speak the word of God to him in authority. Jesus said, he Said that, you know, you take your authority. He said, you tread upon serpents and upon scorpions and over all the power of the enemy. You have to do something, you have to take your authority over. He says, I give you power, I give you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy. Praying in tongues is not how you take your authority. Thank God for praying in tongues. Praying in tongues has its place, but it will not take the place of us exercising our authority. If I would have just prayed in tongues, the outcome would have been different for that child. But I took my authority. I had the sense, well, like I said, after I took my authority regarding that child, I prayed in the spirit to see is there anything else I need to do regarding this situation. So I did. After I prayed in the spirit, I didn't sense anything else. So I just went off to sleep and thanked the Father for his divine help in that situation. I had the sense because most of the time when you're praying for somebody else or something else, you won't know the outcome of that. You won't ever hear about that again. But I had the sense on the inside of me that I was going to hear a report about this. This. Well, a few months later, about three months later, I was telling our congregation about this, that I had seen and was teaching about how to deal with things like this. And while I, while I did, a young lady stood up and interrupted me in the service and she said, pastor Nancy, may I tell you something? And I said, certainly. And she said, I attend this church on a midweek service service. Because she said, I attend another church on, you know, I'm a member of another church that I attend on Sundays, but it's too far for me to drive there in midweek. So I come here to your church during the midweek service. And she said, I am the babysitter for my pastor's grandchildren. And she said, just last month we were having a Christmas party at my pastor's home. His grandchildren was there, his grandchildren were there, and we were all there together as a staff. And she said, we didn't know it, but his one year old grandchild walked out of the front of the house and walked into the driveway, was behind a silver suv. She said a staff member left that party early, did not realize that that child was outside because it was dark. It wasn't the daytime, it was dark, did not see that child, got in that silver suv, backed up and realized that he backed over something and he didn't Know what it was. He didn't know if it was a garden tool, maybe a shovel or something. And so he realizes because it's dark outside, he won't be able to see what it is that he backed over. So he again pulled forward over that child. So now that car backed over him. Then he pulled forward over the child as well, second time. And when he got out of the car and went back behind his car to see what was there, he saw the pastor's grandson laying there, realized he had run over this child. And when he saw that child, that child had tread marks across its abdomen, across its legs. Do you understand? The weight of a vehicle on a one year old's body. And that child completely jumped up with no harm, no pain, no after effects, and ran in and showed everybody his trademarks. Think of that. I mean, the power of God is so great. Our ability to be a co laborer with God in prayer is just one of the greatest blessings. But if I would have just, if I would have just prayed in the Spirit, I wouldn't have given myself. I wouldn't have taken the right step to deal with that. It was praying in the spirit by taking time to pray in the Spirit that got me into a position where I could see what God was wanting to show. See, God was wanting to stop that situation. He was wanting to stop that tragedy. He was want because no doubt that child would have been killed. God wanted to intervene, but he had to find somebody who was listening. Someone available to him. Him. How do we make ourselves available? We give him time. And this is what God was dealing with me so much about, giving him time. Giving time in the Spirit to develop, giving time to our prayer life, giving time to our time in the Word. Because without time, we'll never occupy the place that God wants us to occupy in the things of the Spirit or the things that are available. You know, so much of the time people wonder why God doesn't step in and stop things from happening. But we have to remember the authority has been given to us as the church. And we have the same authority that Jesus had on the earth, that we have his name. You know, he said to us, he said, behold, I give you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy. And nothing shall by any means hurt you. Notice nothing will hurt you when you're treading on serpents and scorpions, when you're using your authority. But if you don't use your authority, things can intrude into your life. Things can get into your life that aren't supposed to be there. So he also told us, he said, I give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven, and whatsoever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. Whatsoever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Heaven. So basically what he's telling us is heaven will back you up. If you bind something, heaven's power will back you up. If you lose something, heaven's power will back you up. And this is where many people misunderstand tragedies and heartbreaks because they're expecting God to step in to stop these things from happening. And he's expecting us to use our authority because he doesn't have the same authority that he's given given to us. Now we're the ones with the authority. You know what Psalms 115 and verse 16 says, Heaven is the Lord's heaven, but the earth he's given to the children of men. So he's telling us, Jesus had the authority, he gave it to us. Now it's up to us. And if we don't use that authority rightly, then things will happen that shouldn't happen and that God didn't want to happen. So, so as we take time in the spirit and as we take time to develop our prayer life, we begin to become skillful at cooperating with God in prayer and in the use of our authority. You know, I was telling this story in a meeting sometime back about that I just told you about that child that was unhurt when it was run over by that silver suv. After telling that, a lady came up to me and she said, pastor Nancy, I wish I would have heard that story a month ago. And I said, why is that? She said, three weeks ago we buried my three year old nephew. And I said, tell me what happened. And she said three about, she said about three weeks ago she said that just a day or so before the accident happened, she said, I had a dream and I saw him drown. And she said, so when I saw that, I just started praying in the spirit. And she said, in the next day or two, he drowned. And I didn't understand why he drowned because God showed that to me. And I prayed in the spirit and I said, the reason is, is because you didn't deal with it in the spirit. The scriptural way. The scriptural way is you take authority over the devil. The Bible says resist the devil and he will flee. It doesn't say pray in tongues and the devil will flee. It says, as we quoted, Jesus said, I give you power or authority to tread on serpents and scorpions. When something tries to bite, that's a serpent and scorpion. They try to bite, they try to sting, they try to harm our lives. The thing that works against them is our authority, not praying in tongues. That's not the function of praying in tongues. We're to use our authority. And so she said, well, I prayed in tongues, and the child still drowned. And she says, if I would have known what I heard you teach, she said, my nephew would still be alive. And I go, you know, I understand that we have to be taught. I remember the testimony of a pastor. He had staff members and his own daughter that were on their private ministry plane. They were not on a commercial flight. It was a private plane. And the pilot had made an error at takeoff. And he realized that it was something that he couldn't recover from. And he turned around to the passengers. There were about six staff members and then the pastor's daughter that was on the plane. And he turned around to them and he said, the plane is going down. He said, y' all need to pray. Well, there was only. The only person that survived was the co pilot. And the co pilot later told the story. He said, when the pilot told us, we're going down, you need to pray. He said, everybody in the plane started praying in the spirit. Every staff member, all of them started praying in tongues. He said, I started taking authority, and he was the only one that lived. See, this is what we have to learn. And as we grow in our knowledge of the Word, when we grow in our skill in prayer and we understand the different roles we are to take in prayer, the different kinds of prayer to apply at different situations, then we're effective. Part of how we learn that, of course, we learn it through the Word, but we also become skillful with it as we take time to pray. And so we see that praying in tongues is so important and so valuable, but we have to apply it the right way. And I realized this. The more time I give to praying in the Spirit, to praying in other tongues, the more things I see, the more things God is able to show me. It's not because a praying earns it. It's because praying in the Spirit will position. Position me to see some things. But once I see some things, I'm to take my authority and deal with the things that I see. Now, as I said, the more we pray in tongues, the further we will go in the spirit. You know, if I go to preach in a particular city and a pastor says to me, you know, I would like to show you some sites around our city. And I say, great, I would love to see do some sightseeing in your city. And I say, you know, I've got 20 minutes to do that. Then he can take me 10 minutes in one direction and 10 minutes back. And in 10 minutes I'm not going to see very much. But if I will take more time, if I say, you know what, I've got six hours that I can take to go do some sightseeing, then I can go three hours one way and three hours back. I'm going to see more. Why? Because I, I took more time to see things. And it's the same thing. The more time we give God, the more time we give to things in the Spirit, the more he can show us. It takes time to develop and we have to give time to develop and grow in these things, these spiritual things. You know, if you find someone who's a world class athlete, you find someone who's a musician, a carpenter, electrician, an artist, anyone who rises to the top in their profession, anyone who becomes skillful, they became skillful for one reason. They gave time to developing that skill. Spiritual things, we have to take time to develop. It takes time to learn how to pray. It takes time to get full of the Word. It takes time to study the Word. Takes time for our faith to grow. It takes time. Time to renew our mind. It takes time. All these things call for us to invest time for them to develop. Because someone with a talent that is undeveloped is a useless talent. Someone with an authority that we're not developed and how to exercise that authority won't benefit anyone. We have benefits and we have privileges in Christ. But we must take time to learn how to be skillful with us and develop in what has been entrusted to us. Again. I'm so glad you've joined us tonight. I want to pray with you before we dismiss. Father, we're so grateful for the privilege to come together around your Word and to learn some things and be reminded of these very foundational truths that help us be effective in the prayer life. We thank you for light. We thank you for revelation. And we're reaching for more. Father, we're hungry and we say that we'll go with you you further into the greatness of your plan. And everybody said, amen. God bless you. We'll see you in the morning. We trust you've enjoyed this message. Visit us at defrainministries.org to learn of our upcoming meetings. Share your testimony. Become a partner or visit our online store. 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