The Church today struggles to see its prayers answered. We struggle to see God move in our lives and in our churches. Why is that? Has God changed, or are we missing something important in our prayer lives? Join Reverend Kenny Yates as he opens our eyes to the importance of desperate prayers in his message, Desperate For Jesus.
Psalms 122:6-7 Matthew 24:15-16 Matthew 24:32-34 Deuteronomy 30:3 Isaiah 43:6 Ezekiel 36:24 Matthew 14:13-14 Matthew 13:57 Matthew 14:13 Mark 6:32-34 Matthew 14:14 Hebrews 11:6 Isaiah 53:5 (KJV) Matthew 11:12 John 10:27 Matthew 14:16 1 Samuel 15:22b (NIV) Lamentations 2:18-19 Acts 12:1-5 Matthew 20:32-34
Desperate For Jesus
Jesus’ Reaction To The Desperation of People
13 Now when Jesus heard this, He withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by Himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed Him on foot from the towns. 14When He went ashore He saw a great crowd, and He had compassion on them and healed their sick.
Matthew 14:13-14
32 And they went away in the boat to a desolate place by themselves. 33 Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they ran there on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. 34 When He went ashore He saw a great crowd, and He had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And He began to teach them many things
Paul tells us to wield the Sword of the Spirit with all prayer and supplication, but what’s the difference? Does it matter if we know the difference between prayer and supplication? If prayer is asking or petitioning God, then is supplication asking God on behalf of other people? Join ArieRashelle as she searches through Scripture in order to fully understand the difference between prayer and supplication in her video, The Armor of God Pt. 4: What is Supplication?
Ephesians 6:17-20 Luke 22:39-44 Daniel 9 Numbers 23:19 Psalms 62:2 Psalms 94:22 Exodus 32:9-14 Genesis 6:6-8 1 Chronicles 21:13-17 Matthew 26:50-54 Genesis 41:32 Revelation 3:10 Revelation 3:15-16 James 4:4-8 James 5:16 (KJV) Proverbs 27:17 Ecclesiastes 4:12 Matthew 17:1 Matthew 26:37 Matthew 6:12 1 Peter 2:24 John 14:27 Matthew 6:11 Matthew 6:25-34 James 1:5 Isaiah 40:29-31
The Armor of God
What is Supplication?
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. 14 Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. 16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; 17 and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, 18 praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, 19 and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.
Prayer is a basic foundation in Christianity. We pray in order to commune with God and get to know Him better, but what if there is more to prayer? Many of us are confused on how to pray, and so we avoid it as much as possible, especially around other people. Why? What’s so special about prayer that makes us nervous or makes us want to avoid it altogether? What does it mean to pray? Join ArieRashelle as she searches through Scripture in order to find the answer to our question and more in her video, The Armor of God Pt. 3: What is Prayer?
Ephesians 6:17-20 Matthew 21:12-17 John 2:13-22 Hebrews 11:37-38 Revelation 6:12-17 John 10:1-21 Jeremiah 7:8-15 John 1:1-18 Revelation 19:10 James 4:1-8 Matthew 6:25-34 James 1:2-8 Matthew 7:24-27 Luke 6:46-49 Matthew 7:7-11 James 4:4-9 John 15:13-16 Psalms 37:3-5 Romans 12:2 2 Corinthians 3:18 Ezekiel 11:19-20 Ezekiel 36:26 1 Corinthians 3:17
The Armor of God
What is Prayer?
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. 14 Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. 16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; 17 and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, 18 praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, 19 and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.
4 Then he appointed a family of the Levites as ministers before the ark of the Lord, to invoke, to thank, and to praise the Lord, the God of Israel. ~ 1 Chronicles 16:4
Solomon said that a three-strand cord isn’t easily broken. In other words, when you put three key principles together, you aren’t easily overcome by the enemy. David set up a three-strand cord as well, and there was much peace, prosperity, and favor of the LORD during His reign.
1. Invoke (to invoke the Name of the LORD. To bless. Jesus gave us the authority to use His mighty name.) 2. To give thanks 3. And to praise the LORD
Normally, the first thing that is listed, or the first thing that is done, is the most dominant or the most important. The first thing David did was call on the name of the LORD. We were given a promise from the time of Joel that all who call on the name of the LORD would be saved. Jesus promised that God would hear those who call on the name of the LORD.
After this, David gave thanks. This is important because we enter God’s gates with thanksgiving. In other words, after God has heard our cry and we’ve gotten His attention, we begin the process of entering His presence through thanksgiving.
Finally, David had them praise the LORD. Because you enter His gates with thanksgiving, and you enter His courts with praise. In other words, we enter God’s presence through praise. This three-strand cord opens the door to the presence of the LORD. It worked for David during his time on this earth, and it still works for us today.
Peace. Love. Go Forth and Invoke, Thank, and Praise.
3 The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the Lord; Make straight in the desert A highway for our God.” ~ Isaiah 40:3NKJV
2,000 years ago, John the Baptist proudly went before the LORD, preparing a way for Him. When Jesus came, He brought with Him salvation, healing, peace, and life. Today, the world is getting darker and darker. It’s time we took up the mantle. The darkness is so thick that even the Church has begun to accept that this is just the way it is, but even though Sodom and Gomorrah’s sin was great and plenty, God was willing to spare the nation and all the wicked for just 10 righteous men for the sake of Abraham’s request.
Too often, we, Christians, accept defeat. We accept that things are just the way they are, and there’s nothing we can do to change it. But our voice is greater than even that of John the Baptist, for when we don’t know what to say, the Spirit speaks on our behalf. He speaks for us and through us. The time for silence is no more. Now is the time to prepare the way for the LORD and cry out like a voice in the wilderness.
We have the very Spirit of God Himself dwelling in us. Prepare the way with His light as it shines through us, piercing this present darkness. Prepare the way for the LORD and His Holy Spirit to melt the heart of the people who hear you speaking the Truth. The LORD hasn’t returned yet. There’s still time to change the course of the world. There’s still time to cry, just a little while longer, Jesus, so that we might get our loved ones in. There’s still time to shine the light in the darkness and prepare the way for the LORD to work in the lives of people. No one is too small or unimportant to do something. It only takes one straw to break the camel’s back. It only takes one pebble to start an avalanche. Only one domino to know over all the dominoes. So, use your voice while you still can to proclaim righteousness, speak Truth, and expose the darkness.
Throughout Scripture, there are stories of spiritual warfare and how answered prayers can be held up by these spirits. Paul even writes that our battle isn’t against flesh and blood but against spiritual beings around us and in the heavenly places. So, if our battle is against the spirit realm, how do we fight the spirit realm if we are in the physical? How can we get our prayers answered? Join ArieRashelle as she searches through Scripture for the answers to these questions and more in her video, Territorial Spirits Pt. 2: Getting Prayers Answered.
Daniel 10:12-14 Genesis 30:24-30 Hosea 10:3-4 Romans 10:17 Romans 12:3 Daniel 10:2-3 Psalms 69:10 1 Corinthians 9:27 2 Corinthians 11:27 Luke 18:1-8
Getting Prayers Answered
Evidence of Territorial Spirits
12 Then he said to me, “Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and humbled yourself before your God, your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words. 13 The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days, but Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I was left there with the kings of Persia,14 and came to make you understand what is to happen to your people in the latter days. For the vision is for days yet to come.”
Daniel 10:12-14
1 They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes. 2 And when Jesus had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met Him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit.3 He lived among the tombs. And no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain, 4 for he had often been bound with shackles and chains, but he wrenched the chains apart, and he broke the shackles in pieces. No one had the strength to subdue him. 5 Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones. 6 And when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and fell down before Him.
7 And crying out with a loud voice, he said, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.” 8 For He was saying to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!” 9 And Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” He replied, “My name is Legion, for we are many.” 10 And he begged Him earnestly not to send them out of the country.11 Now a great herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, 12 and they begged him, saying, “Send us to the pigs; let us enter them.” 13 So He gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out and entered the pigs; and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the sea.
From the very beginning, the Devil has been tempting humanity with the same ways he still tempts us with today. He entices us with the lie that sin won’t lead to death. That sin isn’t a big deal. The Devil evil twists Scripture in order to get us to fall prey to his schemes. Many believe that as long as our sin isn’t too great, then we can still make it into Heaven. Join Reverend Kenny Yates as he opens our eyes to the dangers of playing with sin regardless of how small we think it is in his message, Playing With Sin.
28 But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.
Matthew 5:28-30
7 You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? 8 This persuasion is not from him who calls you. 9 A little leaven leavens the whole lump.
Galatians 5:7-9
The Only Way
16 For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him. 18 Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
John 3:16-18
37 Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” 38 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to Himself.”
Acts 2:37-39
9 And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 being strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. 13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
When it comes to prayer, is prayer only for God, or can Christians also pray to the Saints who have gone on before us? Does the Bible even cover this topic? Is this a grey area in Scriptures, or is the Bible clear on prayer? Join ArieRashelle as she searches through the Scriptures to find the answer to the question, ‘Can Christians Pray To The Saints?’
Revelation 6:9-11 Psalms 106:28-29 1 Samuel 28 Isaiah 8:19 1 Timothy 2:5-6 John 14:6 1 Corinthians 15:51-53 1 Corinthians 3:16 Galatians 2:20 John 15:4 John 15:9 1 John 4:8 John 15:16 John 14:14 Romans 8:26-28 Romans 8:34
More on ‘Can Christians Pray To The Saints?’
We oftentimes find it difficult to let go of sins simply because it is tradition. When something is passed down from generation to generation, it becomes a generational curse. It becomes a stronghold in the lives of our descendants. Look at what Jesus accuses the Pharisees of doing:
Matthew 15:1-9
1 Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, 2 “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat.” 3 He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?
4 For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ 5 But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or his mother, “What you would have gained from me is given to God,” 6 he need not honor his father.’ So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God. 7 You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said:
8 “‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; 9 in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’”
Explanation
The Pharisees were living in sin and teaching others to live in sin all because of tradition. Tradition is one of the most dangerous weapons the Devil has in his arsenal. Don’t let that trip you up. Study the Scriptures for yourself to see if what is being taught to you is true or not, don’t just take someone’s word for it. Be like the Bereans who would go and look to see if what Paul was teaching them was true. If the Bereans took the time to double-check the greatest apostle who ever lived, we can take the time to double-check our pastors and teachers of our day and age. Seek the discernment of the Holy Spirit so that you may recognize false prophets in your lives. So that you can recognize wolves in sheep clothing. And so that you can recognize the goats living among you.
We hear stories of men and women in the Bible, praying and seeing results. Elijah prayed effectual fervent prayers, and the heavens did not rain. Moses prayed, and God had mercy on the Children of Israel. David prayed and was a man after God’s own heart. The Bible is filled with extraordinary prayer warriors. We hear testimonies of men and women like Kathryn Kuhlman, Derek Prince, Smith Wigglesworth; all these men and women have incredible testimonies of seeing miraculous miracles taking place after they prayed. We hear these stories, but do we see these results in our time? Does God still answer prayers?
Why do we no longer see the results that the early Church saw? Or the results of testimonies like Kathryn Kuhlman, Derek Prince, or Smith Wigglesworth? Why aren’t our prayers being answered like Jesus promised? Join Reverend Kenny Yates as he brings a powerful message explaining the key to “Effectual Fervent Prayers” of a righteous man.
James 5:16b Psalms 50:16 Proverbs 28:9 Proverbs 21:27 Malachi 1:8, 14–2:2 Matthew 10:37–39 Mark 1:35 Luke 22:31–32 Proverbs 15:8 1 Samuel 12:23 1 Timothy 2:1-2 1 Timothy 2:8 Psalms 109:4
Effectual Fervent Prayers
17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. 18 Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.
James 5:17-18
Answered prayers aren’t just for the past. They are for now. God answers the effectual fervent prayers of His children. He answers faith filled prayers.
19 Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” 20 He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”
Matthew 17:19-20
5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” 6 And the Lord said, “If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.
