Teach us to pray part 1
By Apostle Joshua Selman

Pray in the spirit for a minute or two; bless him. Thank God from the depth of our hearts.

Now pray, "Spirit of the living God, I have come before you, open my eyes. Grant the eyes that can see."

Before you go on, let's take a minute or two to thank God. It says it's a good thing to give thanks to the Lord, that means it's a bad thing to be ungrateful, sometimes because of what God continues to do in this ministry, we can be caught up with this sense of familiarity. Yes, we know He's mighty. It's God. We know He turned someone's life around. It's God. But I want us to take up time and acknowledge Him just in one or two minutes.

Lord, we are not confused about the doer, and we are not ashamed to declare that without You, there is nothing that can be done. The Bible says without Him was not anything made.

Someone is being grateful. I look at my life, oh God, and I see the transitions, a testament of Your grace. Look what You've done, oh God.

Are you praying? You've turned my life around. You have caused me to be the head and not the tail. You have put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. The Bible says many will see and hear and put their trust in Him. You have turned my mourning into dancing, my sorrow into joy. You've taken away fear, taken away sorrow.

Lord, we thank You as individuals and as a family that You have so helped. We come before You with hearts full of thanksgiving. Thank you for the miracles, thank you for the testimonies, thank you for breakthroughs, thank you for illumination, thank you for salvation, thank you for impartations.

Hallelujah.

Father, we stand on behalf of Your precious people, and together we declare that we are grateful indeed. You are a good God. You have shown us Your mercy, You have shown us Your faithfulness, You have shown us Your grace. We are recipients of Your kindness, and Lord, we are not careful to say thank you tonight for the many things You have done in and through our lives. We owe You our lives; we owe You thanks. So, Father, we pray from grateful hearts that You accept this gratitude. Let creation know that You are the God behind every result. Let the nations know that these are not the doings of men. Only God can do these things, and so we return thanks.

And Lord, we pray, let it please You to continue doing wonders in this place. Indeed, You are the God that does wonders. Continue to open our eyes, continue to embrace us with levels and dimensions of the Spirit that will dumbfound principalities and powers. We thank You even for tonight. Thank You for encounters, thank You for transformation, thank You for light, thank You for empowerment, thank You for results in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen and amen. God bless you. Please be seated.

Hallelujah.

I really want to appreciate everyone, particularly those who are coming here for the first time and the many who are following us online. It's always a joy to converge like this. It's a time of learning; it's a time of growing. I made a vow and I made a covenant with my life and my destiny that I will never stop learning—never stop learning. For as long as I am alive and for as long as there's breath in my nostrils. I will never stop learning. I acknowledge that there are many things I do not know, and so while we celebrate the ones we know, we continue to contend for the ones we do not know.

When you become satisfied with where you are, then you have placed a peg on your growth. That means that you are telling God there is no need to take me higher than this. And because God gave man a will, He will honor you. Praise the Lord. There has to be a hunger, a hunger that, while it is being filled, another one is created, and you continue to rise from glory to glory, from glory to glory.

Let me encourage us again to continue to be very open and receptive to the Word of God. No man can be helped, listen to me, no man can be helped who hates or ignores the Word of God. The moment you ignore the Word of God, you have ignored the creative dimension of God, and that means nothing will ever be made in your life. Praise the Lord.

It is the Word that makes men; I commend you to the Word of His grace that is able to build you up and then to give you an inheritance among them that are sanctified.

When we gather like this, week in, week out, it is always an encounter with the Word of God, which contains a revelation of the ways of God. Micah chapter 4, when you read from verse 2 and 3, the Bible says that when the mountain of the Lord has been exalted, all the nations shall flow to it. They shall say, 'Come, let us go to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of Jacob.' He says, 'and He will teach us His ways.' We're not there just for entertainment. He will teach us His ways! And then, when we know His ways, we will walk in His paths.

He will teach us His ways! So one of the primary tools for transforming the saints is the teaching ministry. What does it mean to teach? To bring to comprehension, to open your mind to understand the dynamics of an operation, not just the awareness that it exists, but how it works. The greatest blessing you can have, maybe second to your salvation experience, is the opportunity to belong to a spiritual family where there is accurate communication of the ways of God.

That means that if you continue to submit to the truth that you hear, you are not the one who will lift yourself. The truths were designed to lift you. When you receive them and they become life, let me tell you, it may take time, but inevitably your life will be turned into a sign and a wonder. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord.

So, my excitement every time we come here is not just because we're coming to fellowship, as important as that is, but that every time we come under this grace, there will be an unfolding of a dimension.

Let me tell you this, you will be in great deception to believe that there is nothing else to learn and there is nothing else to study. It's a joke compared to the dimensions we need to get to. We are only a step out of the cave. There are so many things that we need to learn that make for victory. And then there are many things that we have known but have not become spirit and life. So there has to be a system of reiteration and emphasis, right? So that if you did not get it before, you can get it now.

Honestly, God sees my heart that my prayer all the time is that you understand these things that I teach and you pay attention to them and watch the lifting power of light. Forget about darkness; just focus on that light. It says that was the true light that lighted every man. There is a false light, religion. There is a false light, the doctrine of men. There is a false light, the perspective of men that comes from their pride. But there is the true light, and that light can light every man, not men of God; the light lightens every man. And He says you cannot light a candle and put it under emotion. If the candle is not lit, you can hide it somewhere, but the moment there is light upon that candle, you cannot hide it.

And he will teach us his way.

Every week, the Lord continues to clear confusion from our lives and our destinies. He continues to bring color to your life; He continues to, by His Word, give you a chance to life so that the privileges that I could not walk in, either by reason of yesterday or by reason of my background or the limitations of my territory, it is remedied when we feast upon the revelation of God's Word. We begin to learn His ways. You are not growing if what made you afraid yesterday still makes you afraid today. It means you are not growing. There is no light.

The Lord is my light and salvation; of whom shall I fear? Hallelujah.

Many times you will almost be pressured to doubt what you believe and doubt what you receive. Why? Because most times, it takes a while before the Word of God would manifest physically into the results that we desire. And that gap, Satan is a master at taking advantage of that gap to make you think that the Word of God is unfruitful. And so you have to trust the integrity of God first, that whether or not you have any physical evidence that shows that what you hold is true, trust the integrity of God.

The Word of God has been proven again and again and has been found to be faithful. When you find yourself doubting the Word of God, it is an attack. 'Forever, O Lord, Your Word is settled.' Hallelujah. Praise God.

And so I came to really, really first encourage us. I'm afraid for any believer that does not have an intentional value for the Word of God. That believer is not only a dangerous person to himself, he's going to be dangerous to others. Your security in this kingdom is your understanding of the Word of God. Your security in this kingdom, your immunity in this kingdom, is the fortification that knowledge provides. We must continually be passionate to know and to see, not just to be aware of the realities that exist in the kingdom but to see, to understand the dynamics of their operation.

With time, I can know what you have believed by the results that show. Let me tell you this: results, in the long run, do not lie. Results may not be a good basis for gauging your progress in a short time. Why? Because certain things will take time to prevail. But in the long run, when life gives you an appreciable period of time and the requisite level of results are not produced, then you do not have any excuse. Just because Jesus did not come back to life day one, it would be too fast on Him to feel that He was not the Resurrection and the Life. So be patient. If Jesus had not resurrected after one week, we'd be in trouble because we know that something is wrong. 'Destroy this temple, and I'll build it in three days.' One week maybe too long; one day maybe too short.

So somehow, find consolation in the fact that even if my life is not producing certain results, I will be patient, patient, patient. But then, if after a long period of time, my life also refuses to produce that result, go back and check what could be wrong. Hallelujah. If, at all, I have any fear in my life, it is this: I never want to hold on to something that, after many years, I will find out I was holding on to a lie. If, at all, I have any fear, it is this one thing; to hold on to something that I think is light and then, after so many years, discover that I've held on to shadows, rubbish, and nonsense. The Bible says to be careful lest what you call light be darkness. Why? Because there is a way that seems right unto a man, and the end thereof are the ways of death.

It's like students writing an exam. Everybody is boldly writing something on that paper, but the lecturer is the one who is going to mark, and he knows exactly what he's looking for. There are a few people who come out of an exam hall and start crying and say, 'I failed.' Usually, people come out and with boldness and confidence. Someone said, 'It is a piece of cake.' And so, we all wait.(Undefined)undefined

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wait, not for the students, not for their pride, not even for their fear. We wait for the lecturer when the results are pasted. Sometimes you will see someone who was quiet, didn't see anything, you would think he was afraid, and then you will come and see that person cleared everything. Then you will find a loud noise maker shouting around, making all kinds of claims. Not only will his results be written there, they will write "see me, " that means your issue.

Continue to vet your revelation. Listen, there is no revelation in the body of Christ today that is too big to be Christian. No revelation, I don't care from who and for how long. Every revelation, if it is of God, there should be no fear in venting it because it should be consistent with what you believe to know whether this is true or it's a lie. Don't run with lies, and after many years, you'll find out that you have wasted your time, built a church on nonsense, built a ministry on nonsense, built your own life on nonsense.

It is because of this He gave unto some apostles, and prophets, and evangelists, and pastors, and teachers for the equipping, not discussing equipping of the things. What does it mean to equip? To bring to your life the tools needed for the work. Equip comes from the word equipment. Is that true? You equip me when you supply the tools needed for the work. If I'm in the farm, and you bring me a syringe, and you bring me bandage, you did not equip me, you brought equipment but not for the work. What will I do with a syringe in a farm? What will I do with a bandage in a farm? So, to be equipped does not mean to coordinate any information to me. No, no, no. I must see where you are going first, and then by the intelligence of the Spirit, to know what will be needed for this journey.

Hallelujah! When we get to the farm, everybody brings out your tools. Some will bring seeds, some will bring their hope, and then someone will bring a hammler, he will bring a syringe. Both of them are not equipped for that good work. So, the Bible says to equip the saints so that the saints, now being equipped, will do the work of the ministry. It's one of the things we continue to do here that you are equipped by the Spirit of God. He grants us access to the blueprint. What are we becoming? What is the demand that will be placed on us? And when you know it, He begins to supply the various equipmen. You will need favor here, keep it. You will need the mercy of God here, keep it. You will need speed here, keep it. You will need to know how to engage in warfare, add it here. You will need to understand your identity in Christ, keep it here. Are you seeing the tools now? Yes. You will need to understand men, keep it here. You will need to understand the realm of the Spirit and how it operates, keep it here. When you have those things like a toolbox, it says, "Go. You will continue to receive other tools. But go." So when you stand, and there is a door, the Holy Spirit, who is guiding you, says, "Where is that hammer that I gave you before? Bring it out." He has broken the gates of brass and cut the bars of iron in sunder. You get to a place, and there is a door. "Where is that key that I gave you?" You pick it, and you open that door

When you do not excel, it is because you probably do not have the tools or you do not know how to use the tools effectively. Praise the Lord. Our military people continue to write that the federal government supplies more equipment. They have the know-how, but the equipment, the equipment, the equipment. We need to be equipped with the tools that will make for practical victory. And for as long as you continue to remain interested, God is never weary to supply these things.

Please listen to me. Do not stop learning. Do not stop passionately pursuing the knowledge of the ways of God. This is your victory. That knowledge, that light, that understanding. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord.

What I want to share with us tonight is very powerful. We'll be very fast, and the Lord Himself will open our eyes and grant us understanding.

Teach us to pray, part one.

Teach us to pray; we'll be examining a bit about the prayer ministry of the saints and the spiritual dynamics that make for effective prayer. We are exploring, by the Spirit of God, why the prayer life of many people continues to be full of activities but with very little spiritual impact. And it is very, very important. One of the dominion systems allocated for the saints is the capacity to legislate through prayer. And you will think that many disciples and many who submit themselves to different platforms understand prayer. But at the end of this series, you will find out that very few people truly understand prayer. May God grant us understanding.

Two Scriptures, Psalm 65 and verse 2.

"O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come." This is a very powerful revelation. That means not everyone can hear prayer. This man got this scripture by research. I'm sure that he experimented praying to different deities and watched carefully for the feedback. And he noted that there was one who seemed to always have the power to answer. And he says, "O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come. This is my recommendation. All flesh, " that means that I have read a sample of various people who have the capacity to hear prayers, and out of my research, this is my conclusion. "All flesh be directed to this one deity because through experience, we have seen that he sustains the ability to answer prayer."

Luke Chapter 11. The ministry of Jesus: the earthly ministry now. Every time I study scripture, I like to study the Gospels a lot. Not just because it's the interface between the old and the new, but because the Gospel is primarily the ethnic ministry of Jesus. And the Bible says to look up to Jesus. That means model your life and your convictions after that pattern.

When Jesus walked upon the earth, notice that Jesus had extensive times of mentorship and the teaching of those who would later become His apostles. And the disciples continued to observe Jesus. They saw the kind of results that He got, and they noticed that every time before the results would come, He would communicate with the Father in a certain way before performing whatever He would have to do. They continued to note that progression that Jesus did not just blindly do things. Sometimes He would retreat and tell them He was communicating with Heaven, and then He would return, and they would see the results. So the disciples continued to take note of that. Remember that they were walking with Jesus, and they really wanted to be like Him, so they were studying everything that He was doing.

And in Luke Chapter 11, when this was after the lecture that happened in the house of Mary and Martha, remember; Martha was running around. This is Luke's gospel. Martha was running around, and Mary was sitting. And you know, He said, 'Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things. This is one thing that is needful – to sit at the feet of the master.' So, after all of that, we go to verse 11, and the Bible says Jesus now is beginning to teach on prayer.

So Jesus taught on prayer. Pay attention to anything Jesus taught on because that meant that it had a major role in the believer's work and in bringing victory.

Jesus, Luke chapter 11 and verse 1.

'And it came to pass that as He was praying in a certain place, ' so what was He doing in a certain place? So, we see that He was praying, and we see that there was a location. The Bible says when He ceased, that means when He finished, brought it to one end. One of His disciples said to Him, 'Lord, teach us to pray.' That means men can be taught to pray. Prayer as a ministry must be taught to be effective.

Many believers do not know that it is the teaching on prayer that makes prayer effective, not just praying. The understanding that spawns your action is where the victory is.

Our world today is full of people who believe that the only way to pray is just to talk and begin to shout. You will soon learn in this series that many people continue to shadow box. There is no accuracy. The disciple did not say we cannot pray. No, the problem here was not prayerlessness. The bible did not say, 'the disciples later came, they were there. He finished praying, and one of His disciples said to Him; he was within range. So, we are not discussing prayerlessness here. This is not a backsliding person saying, 'Lord, restore my prayer life.' This is not an issue of restoration. This is an issue of praying amiss. There is no result. And he said, 'Lord, we give up. We've been trying to copy you, but it's very clear we are not getting something. So, teach us to pray.'

So, prayer should be taught, not just conducted. Okay, everybody, open your mouth and pray should be taught. If all we continue to do is to say, 'Pray, pray, pray, everybody, pray, ' very soon we'll be tired like many believers.

Prayer meetings in many churches have the least attendance. Do you know why? It's a testimony. It's a report card. It's a track record. Thank God that's not the case with this ministry. Do you know why? Because prayer works. When prayer works, people will prove their commitment.

Many churches and many assemblies today are frustrated. Prayer meetings are, respectfully speaking, some of the most boring and pointless gatherings. People come, and you know they don't expect an answer. And while they are praying, different people are just conjuring versions of ways that they come up with to try to communicate. Some are not serious. Some are even typing because they feel it's more profitable. They are aware that it will not be answered. So, the disciples said, 'Teach us to pray.'

I thought Jesus would turn and say, 'No, you don't teach prayer. Pray, my friend!' Jesus is about to answer that question. Now, teach us to pray. Please go about verse one. Let's finish up verse one.

'As John taught his disciples.' Are you saying that John was a very, very, very good mentor? John taught the disciples. The disciples of John were not just great people for nothing. John did not just pray in the wilderness. He produced prayer warriors not just by praying but by the accurate teaching of the prayer ministry.

In many churches, they just say, 'If you want to join the prayer band, that means if you have passion for prayer.' Now, understand this. I'm not trying to be sarcastic. If you want to join the prayer band and then, you know, everybody who believes that he has some kind of zeal for spiritual things, they now join the prayer band and say, 'Well, I'm going to pray.' Everybody's waiting for the prayer point. We are going to ask the Lord to move anywhere, any manner, that even I don't even know. Just open your mouth, and you know, everybody is just praying. Honestly, listen, I know people are dissipating energy. I don't mean to be sarcastic, but stand from God's standpoint, and you are watching people praying, and you see someone praying, and just tell everybody, 'Stop, stop where you are. What were you doing?' And what do you mean, 'What were you doing?' They asked us to pray. I know, but what did you expect? What were you saying? You will be amazed to know how many people who did not have any idea of what they were doing. It was just an honor to a ritual, an energetic ritual.

Verse 2. And He said unto them. Jesus, now, I love Jesus. I really love Jesus. The way He mentors is powerful. The confidence, 'Teach us to pray.' Of course, you don't know how to pray. Sit down. Let me teach you. And Jesus is teaching now:

"When ye pray, " so they were already praying. So, He is not restoring their prayer life. He is rearranging the pattern to make sure it works. Are you following? Jesus did not say you guys don't even pray. He said, 'I know what you are asking for. You have been praying and praying, and this thing is not working, and now you are saying, "Teach us to pray, " even as John taught the people.' So, Jesus is now saying, "when ye pray, say.." "Say." This should be the content of your prayer. You want to understand this properly, you have to go to Matthew's account. I brought you here to see the 'Teach us to pray.'

Matthew Chapter 6, 5 now. And when thou prayest, so we are continuing now another person's account. Thou shalt not be as the hypocrites. What is the relationship between prayer and hypocrisy? Jesus is talking about prayer and now talking about hypocrisy. That when you pray, you can pray like hypocrites. So how do hypocrites behave? They love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets that they may be seen. Not that the prayer should be answered. So the hypocrisy there is the motif behind that. That is possible. A man can be praying, and what you are doing in the spirit is hypocrisy. You are more concerned about the testament of those seeing you than you are about the contact you make and the answer it produces. The Bible says, 'Whosoever hath used that state is a hypocrite.' they love to do it. So, hypocrites love to pray. But the Bible says that the motif behind their prayer is to receive some kind of self-respect from men. They are not interested in the prayer being answered. They are just concerned about having a testimony before men that 'My prayer life is not down.' And believe me, there are so many people who are victims of this. They are more concerned about you hearing them pray. They are more concerned about the respect and the honor that you give them by reason of your witnessing their prayer life. They are not concerned about the efficiency of the prayer. Their real reward and their real attraction is not the answer; it's not fellowship; it is the fact that they want men to know and to attest to the fact that you are prayerful.

Hallelujah. Verily, I say unto you, they have their reward. What is their reward? The uploads that they get from men. So when you see me pray all the time, for instance, and if somebody says, 'Does Joshua Selman pray?' Ah, the other day, you know that voice you were hearing, but as if it was a tractor that was cutting. For that is my reward. What is the reward? The respect that I receive, whether perceived or real. You have gotten your reward.

Next verse. "But when thou pray..." that means since you taught me, you want to use my own formula now, it says, "when you pray enter into your closet." Now, the idea is not secrecy, please understand what Jesus is saying here. I will explain to you. It looks like He's just talking secrecy.

Please understand what Jesus is saying. Here, I will explain to you. It looks like He's just talking about secrecy because He said, 'Your Father, who sees you in secret.' But I'll explain something very powerful. It says, 'Enter into that closet.' The idea is not hiding from people; the idea is the purity of your motive. Your focus should not be centered on impressing the visualizations of men in your prayer, but that your Father, who sees... What is the purpose of this secrecy? So that you will not be seen to purify the sincerity of that activity. So, It is not so much about hiding away from people; it is the purity of the motive, the intent that is behind of your prayer. Do you get the idea now? So, it is not so much about hiding away from people; it is the purity of the motive, the intent that is behind your prayer. So, you don't think that Jesus is just saying, 'Just go and hide somewhere.' How do you now pray as a prayer band? How do you now pray as a church? The idea is not just secrect.

The spirit and the intent of what Jesus was saying here was that the secret place helps you. Because there is no point to prove; there's no human there now to be able to corrupt the purity of your desire. So, in that similitude, the secret place is not really just a place; it is a mindset. It is an understanding. You can carry the secret place to a public place of prayer. While you are praying, your concern is not really the accreditation of men but the purity of that fellowship.

Teach us to pray. 'And when thou hast shut the door, pray to your Father in secret, and your Father who is in secret will reward you openly.' Now, you understand what I explained here. Next verse, verse 7. 'But when you pray, ' now watch this. 'Use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do.' Now hold on, Jesus is not saying don't repeat prayers; He said there is a way the heathen do. You have to study this contextually. In ancient times, there was a way that the heathen prayed; they prayed during a lot of enchantments to idols. Jesus is not saying repition in prayer is wrong, he is saying there is a repetition that is in the similitude of how the heathen operate, because in those days, those who prayed to idols and the rest, they used magic books and they used all kinds of books that had activities of sorcery and all of that. So, they did not understand what they were saying. The miracle was not in the understanding; the miracle was in the ritual of the enchantment.

There are many cultures that still do it today. Many occultic groups today still do it. I watched a video where a place in Asia, I would not mention the name. I watched a video, not that they told me. Someone had, I think it was cancer, cancer of something. You could see the swelling. I mean, they were showing it. The visuals were there. And these guys are doctors, but they are also healers. They have their lab coats, but they also, you know, they have their way of using energy and all of the rest to heal. I watched it. It's not like they told me.

The person to go through the surgery was lying down there, and they did not perform any surgery in terms of any opening of the body and all of that. They started chanting something. They were chanting it, and they said chanting it fast, you know, repeating it for a very long time. Until they themselves were almost possessed by it. And while they were talking, right in the video, you would see the cancer just melting, going down like that. It was over. And they all clapped for themselves, hugged themselves.

Jesus is saying there is a way the heathen, when they are praying to an idol, an idol does not need your understanding. An idol just needs your motion and your alliance or allegiance to a ritual. Are you getting the point now? The heathen do not expect their god to speak; they don't expect all of those things. They chant a lot of things.

He said, 'When you pray, I have noticed that you have borrowed a prayer life from other hedonistic nations. So when you pray to God, you don't pray like you are praying to someone alive. You are victims of enchantments that are akin to magic books.

You notice in the book of Acts, one of the exploits of the apostles. There were books that were brought out. They were burnt. Some of those books were used for prayer. Till today, they still use it. There are many pseudo-Christian sects and many other occultic groups that make use of certain books where there are enchantments. They can tell you to chant this 90 times, chant this five times, chant this. And the person is just doing it.

So I'm trying to balance this because many people have erroneously said this to mean that the Bible, Jesus was teaching here that don't repeat any prayer. That means if you say, "Lord, I bless you, " that's all right. If you repeat it again or "Father, grant me this, " and you say it again, it is unbelief. That's not what the Bible is saying. Jesus himself, if that is the thought, he broke the rule because when Jesus was in Gethsemane, he prayed using the same word three times. So he certainly was not teaching here about repetition. Are you getting this now?

Remember, God is teaching us how to pray. So He's giving us the rules of engagement to understand the boundaries of effective prayer. Do not use vain repetition in the similitude of the heathen. And there is a reason why he says that.

Back to Matthew

When you pray, use not vain repetition. So notice what Jesus is saying now. Jesus has spoken about three things: teach us to pray, and Jesus says, "Sit down. When you pray, number one, do not be like the hypocrites." That's the first thing he's addressing in teaching you to pray, and then he describes his concept of hypocrisy. Are we together now? We have to observe the things that Jesus said to observe because in Matthew 28, he said, "Teaching them to observe everything that I have shown you, teach them. Pay attention to all the things I stress, stress it when you are teaching them. All the things that were minors, let it remain minus as you are teaching them. Teaching them to observe. Don't just bypass these things and go to "Our Father who art in heaven." Once you don't have the revelation that prayer becomes a powerless ritual.

Yes. Don't jump the steps. Number one, the first blockage he says is the propensity to be a hypocrite. And what is the hypocrisy? That your motive has not yet been purified. You are more concerned about the weakness of men, the accreditation that men have. And it is true because in the world that we live in, it's a wonderful thing to have a good report. A good report before men is a noble thing. However, with respect to your dealings with God, sometimes it is better to not have a good report before men and have a good report before God. But because of the way our civilization has been programmed, it looks more profitable to have a good report before men.

So, Jesus is saying that is the first thing you have to correct. The first challenge to a prayer life is not attack. He has not mentioned a demon here. He has not even mentioned Satan here. Can you imagine that he's already showing you the things that can waste your time when you pray under this condition, you were not praying.

So as I approach effective prayer, the first revelation is to be able to ward off the propensity for hypocrisy by ensuring that whether or not people look at me, I trust by the help of the Holy Spirit (We will learn that in the latter part of the series) to be able to look past the deception. Oh I'm praying now, someone will be there and say, 'Wow, look at this guy, I mean, just look at the way this guy is praying, it's been two hours and he's still going.'

He saying, 'Be careful, ' because that is commendable, but it can inspire that person to rise, and you can be a victim of your own action. Because the time will come when you will reduce yourself from the real contact with His presence because you want people to see. The scribes and the Pharisees, that's the first thing we are correcting. The desire to be seen and accredited as a prayerful person for the sake of personal applauds from men. The Bible says, 'You have your reward there.'

Then the second thing that God is dealing with now is the entire closet. You see, the idea still got resting on that point. I told you that the idea is not just to be enclosed in a place. Although, listen, although to be honest with you, if all of your prayer is public, you don't know much about prayer. Are we together? Because the real encounters that will happen to you literally will happen in the secret when you are alone with God. Everybody, say, "Alone with God." Yes.

When it has to do with prayer ministry, there are dimensions of prayer where it is not husband or wife. It is not father and children. It is not pastor and members. Are we still together? It is not colleagues. It is not even prayer group members or church members or department members. There are dimensions in prayer like Jacob where you have to be alone. There are certain things God cannot come in to reveal when you are corporate. You have to be alone. But whether you are alone or you are outside, you must carry the idea of a secret life. That means that when we are praying here as a congregation, we lift up our voices, and we begin to pray. In your mind, you must be able to pray with the assumption that you are alone with God. Not just that we are corporately together because there is a level of self-consciousness that will rob you from receiving from God. There are people, for instance, the awareness that someone is looking at them. You just remember that maybe this person likes me. Or let me not waste my chance now while I'm praying. You see that this is what Jesus is trying to stop when you assume you're in the closet. You're not concerned whether your trousers are going down or whether your shoe is coming out. The focus is that I am communicating with the God of all flesh, to Him that answers prayer. This simple reason is why many people have not received the baptism of the Holy Spirit because they carry their beauty into the experience. They carry their masculinity into the experience. How do I now start praying in tongues? I'm in high school in the UK, and now when I start doing this, will I look fine? Will I not look fine? Am I going to disgrace my countenance? Jesus said, if you don't carry that mindset of secrecy while you pray, you will be too self-conscious to make spiritual contact.

And then the third thing He's addressing is vain repetition in the similitude of the hidden. Now look at this: The Bible is not a magic book. The name of Jesus is not a magic term. You see that there is power in the name because of the person whose name it is, not because of the name itself. There is an owner to that name, and that owner is alive. BMW is not a car. BMW is a company. They produce cars. So, that signature there, you can trace a real person who is the owner of that company. Jesus is not just an enchanted name that has power in it. No, at the back of that name is a real person. And if you just focus on the name as a magic ritual and do not focus on the person, you are behaving like the heathen.

This is why, for many years, I shared with you my experience: "In Jesus' name, in Jesus' name." And this weekend, demons did not leave me because the revelation of the person behind the name, I wasn't really interested. I just know that, "In Jesus' name." Ask the sons of Sceva. "We are joining you by Jesus whom Paul preaches." And the demon said, "Nonsense. That's not how it works. Jesus we know, Paul we know. Who are you?" And the demon pounced on them. The Bible says, Stripped them naked, beat them, and drove them out.

Imagine a prayer team going into a room. Alright, let's go, a delegation. And they enter, and you hear silence for a long time. You are wondering. You are seeing lots of things going on. Motion. And you think, "My God." You can imagine what the devil is going through. And the next thing you see a door open forcefully, and you see adults running naked, all beaten by one person. Do you know what reproach that testimony is to the name of the Lord?

Let me tell you, if it happened in the days of the sons of Sceva, it can still happen today. Because those demons have not left yet. They are around. What if the demons that beat that guy are the ones oppressing your family?

Use not vain repetitions as the heathen do, for they think so. It's talking mindset here. The vain repetition is a mindset issue, for they think that they shall be heard. Not for the power and the potency but for their much speaking. Their mindset is pegged at the volume of the speech and not the power that is back of what they are saying. Not the truthfulness of the communication, but the volume.

So he's addressing hypocrisy, he's addressing that life that makes you self-conscious, that you are not able to focus. And number three, he's addressing the issue of vain repetition. The power in prayer is not in the enchantment. The power in prayer is in... Well, let me not go ahead of myself.

Be not like them. Why? This is the revelation that exempts you from that kind of life. For your heavenly father knows it. What things ye have need of before you ask him? Wait, keep this scripture; it's a very dangerous scripture. That means your heavenly father is aware. So why will he allow you to still pray? Don't just drum this talk. If my heavenly father knows that I need rent, oh God, why frustrate me to pray before you send rent? Why frustrate me to do these things? Are you seeing that now? Your heavenly father knows what you have need of before you ask him.

This can mean many things. Number one, this can mean that prayer is not limited to petitions alone. Your heavenly father knows the needs you have, but he's more interested in fellowship. So he will still allow you to come. He can grant you the answer without you coming, but that will rob him of an opportunity for fellowship. So he will allow you to come in prayer. Prayer will do many things. It automatically tells you that the purpose of prayer is not just a system for needs to be met. Your heavenly father knows that you have this need before you ask him.

Number two, it also validates the pattern of God. What is the pattern of God? The pattern of God is that he gave man a will, and the moment God gave man a will, it became scripturally incorrect for God to veto the will of man and supply anything, even at the expense of your eternal salvation. He allows you to choose. At the expense of your eternal doom, he will still not force salvation on you.

Now, after this manner, the mentor Jesus, it is a prayer like this. No, he would have brought a lot of error. He said, after this manner. What is manner? The pattern. It is not copying the recitation, but in this thing we call the Lord's prayer, like a ladder, there is a pattern discerned by the spirit. The pattern. And use it in your prayer, and it will make your prayer as effective as my own. He did not say copy the words, 'Our Father, who art in heaven.' No, that's not what Jesus was saying. Of course, I believe there is an advantage just putting it like that, the way it is. But the idea was not for you to recite. You become like the hypocrites again. He's saying, after this manner. So let's study it now. That means in this description is a hidden code. A code of operation that reveals the sequence of effective prayer."

Let me pause there a bit and just share a few things as a background. I wrote a few things here that I don't want us to miss. Number one, I wrote here that prayer is part of the priestly ministry of all saints, all believers. Prayer is part of the priestly ministry. If you're writing, you may want to write it down, that prayer is part of the priestly ministry. So when the Bible says we have been made kings and priests, there is the priesthood ministry of the church, and that part of the priesthood ministry of the church is to offer that incense of prayer. So all believers are called to pray. There might be individual people who, by reason of their calling and election, have been graced to function in certain dimensions of the prayer ministry. However, all believers are called and mandated, as a priestly ministry, to pray.

Matthew, Chapter 21, and verse 13: Jesus Himself, after flogging people from the temple. Remember when Jesus made a whip and flogged all the people? When He drove all of them out and turned the exchanges and turned everything, released all the doves and the cattle to go away. He said, "My house shall be called the house of prayer." So God wants His house to be called the house of prayer, the house where there is access to commune with the Father. My house shall be a place where communication with heaven should not be difficult.

A house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves or robbers. So God Himself wants His house to be called the house of prayer.

Why pray? Take note; I want to give you six reasons. I think we have to do this before we go into the dynamics of the patterns of prayer. Even if we can't finish it, we'll take it off in the next part. It's important for us to understand.

Why do we have to pray?

Number one, in this kingdom, we pray first because it is a command. Believers are commanded to pray.

There's a little Bible study now, Luke chapter 18 and verse one. Please write it down. And then, 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 17. Remember we are taught to pray, so there is we are receiving the teaching now so that our prayer will be effective. Prayer is a command for believers.

Luke 18 and verse 1: "And he spoke a parable unto them unto this end, that men, not some men, men, once you are a man, you are mandated in this kingdom to pray." He speaks a parable that men ought always to pray and not to faint.

1 Thessalonians chapter 5 and verse 17: "He says pray without ceasing." That does not mean pray from morning till night. You will live an ineffective life. It means be consistent in your prayer life. Pray without ceasing. Pray without ceasing. Don't go on break and resume after five months. Be consistent in your prayer life.

The second reason why we need to pray is that it is one of the strategies for fellowship with the Father. It is not the only platform, but it is one of the platforms. Many people think that prayer is the only way to fellowship with the Father—no, no, but it is one of the major strategies for fellowship.

1 Corinthians chapter 14 verse 2. Paul is teaching here, and he's teaching the church in Corinth about prayer. And he said: "For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue, speaketh not unto men, " not unto men, not unto men. This is not the gift of tongues, are we together, like a ministry, one of the nine gifts. No, he is saying he speaketh not unto men, but unto God. For no man understands. Howbeit in the spirit, he speaketh mysteries." So it's very important. It is one of the strategies for fellowship, for communion. It was Paul that was praying, and he said, 'The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.' Remember he said, 'The love of God, ' and then he said, 'The communion.' That's where we get the word 'koinonia' from, the communion of the Holy Spirit. Be with you always. The communion means the sharing together. It means intimacy. It means intercourse. It means the participation of the Spirit. The oneness that comes through fellowship is praying that it remains with the saints because it is only with God that all things are possible. And so, whatever makes you lose your connection and rob you of an opportunity for intimacy has also destroyed your potential for efficiency. It is one of the strategies for fellowship.

Number three, why do we pray? Please, never forget this. God is making our prayer lives fruitful. Why do we pray? Number three, it is a platform for growth and transformation. The growth process of the believer was so designed that prayer will play a major part in your growth. That means believers that don't pray cannot grow effectively. In fact, they cannot even grow. It is a platform for growth and transformation.

Luke chapter nine, from verse 28 to 29.

And it came to pass about eight days after these sayings, he took Peter and John and James and went up the mountain to do what? Not to rest, to pray. And as he prayed, what happened? The fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment became white and glittery. That glory and that transformation came as a result of prayer. So when you pray, it is a system allocated for your growth and for your transformation.

1 Corinthians chapter 14 and verse 4. That's the second verse you will write under that point.

"He that speaketh in an unknown tongue, edifieth himself." The word 'edify' there is an architectural term. It means that he builds up himself. That means that you build up yourself akin to an exercise. Imagine someone who is working out every day and just making sure that he's fit and healthy. This is what he's saying, that he that prays in an unknown tongue, he that prays, now it edifies himself. So it's a system for growth.

Jude has only one chapter, and we read verse 20. He says, "But ye, beloved." If you are not beloved, that scripture is not for you. "But ye, beloved, building up yourselves." Building up yourselves. Building up yourselves on your most holy faith by praying. By praying, you build up yourself on your most holy faith. What does it mean? You are growing and increasing in discernment. You are growing and in your faculties of interacting with the realm of the spirit are being heightened and fine-tuned in the place of prayer. One of the classic signs of prayerlessness is a lack of discernment. You know immediately that a man's prayer life is dead when your discernment is dead.

What is discernment? The faculty of perception, the faculty of spiritual perception, the ability to be able to perceive the impulses of the realm of the spirit, to perceive danger, to perceive joy, to perceive the activity of angels. Now, all of these things—remember, look up, please.

*I've taught you here that man can, I use you, please. Come, doctor, come, come, Jake, stand here, watch this.*

Man is spirit. That man lives in a body. Man is not spirit like a separate entity, soul like a separate entity, then body like a separate entity. That teaching is not very accurate. Are we together? Man is a spirit primarily.

That means his sphere of reality is the realm of the spirit. This spirit cannot interact with the earth realm because, based on the law of territory, it must have a material body that is consistent with that ecosystem to be able to walk.

So this spirit, if it finds its way to the earth, it will move the same way demons are moving. So God made this spirit a legal occupant in the earth by giving it a material body. But there was a challenge, and God needed to solve it.

Why? Because the earth realm and the realm of the spirit, they are all part of God's kingdom. But the dimensional nature of your operation makes it impossible for spirit to operate and body to come there. You cannot switch them. So there is an issue now. The spirit cannot relate with the body because there is a disparity in the realms. And so God decided to create a bridge, the faculty that connects the spirit and the body. He called it a mind.

That mind consists of will, emotions, and intellect. Those faculties were put as the bridge that the spirit will use to interact with the body, and the bridge that the body will use to execute the impulses of the spirit. Now, watch this: When you call man's soul, what you mean is the spirit in partnership with this faculty of consciousness. That's what is called the soul.

If a man dies, you don't see three people coming out, or two people in the air going to either heaven or hell, and then you see a body lying down there. No, there is no record of that in Scripture. Jesus gave up the ghost. Not many ghosts, only one spirit left that body, and only one spirit returned.

The realm of the spirit controls the physical realm. The Bible tells us that the things that appear, paraphrasing, came from the things which do not appear. Remember, I never said the things that are not real; they just are unreal from this dimension. That means that man, being spirit and dwelling in a body, has an advantage of the duality of realms. That dual nature is what makes the body receive impulses that it cannot explain. So when you stand and suddenly there is a heaviness in your heart, you don't even know why. There's no joy again; it's as if the spirit man is perceiving something from the realm of the spirit. And then, because it is connected to the mind, to the body, it's trying to transmute that. But because your prayer life is down, look up, please. The fortitude to receive that perception so that the body can execute what the spirit is saying is not there.

I'll give you an instance. The spirit of death can be roaming around the family. And now, because in the realm of the spirit, there are no secrets, I hope you know, um, there are secrets, but what I mean is that nothing is hidden, really. There are secrets even in the spirit, but nothing is hidden.

When the spirit of death is roaming around, your spirit is perceiving it. Your spirit knows. The spirit of death knows. If you came out of your body in the realm of the spirit, you will no longer be in a vision. "Ah death, what are you doing here?" And it says: "I've been here. I'm not just coming; I've been there." But because the body was unfruitful. So when you begin to pray, what happens is that there is a rearranging because the way the flesh works, it attempts to subjugate the spirit to a point where it cannot gain that acceptance. This is where the advantage of things like fasting and so on and so forth can come in. All of this, we're going to discuss, but generally, this man, the spirit of death is loitering around his vicinity, and he's moving around because he's deadened in the flesh, his organs of perceiving.

Imagine in the physical that you cannot hear, hello, you cannot smell, you cannot see, you cannot sense. Are you alive? You are not alive, because I can be killing you, and you are not aware. The only thing you may just know is that you are fainting, and then you're going to come and die because the ability is not there. I can be talking to you, supplying information, you cannot hear. The same way there are physical senses, there are also spiritual senses. And in these spiritual senses, the same way you have blindness, you can have spiritual blindness, deafness, you can have spiritual deafness.

The same way your body. I don't know the name of that the sickness, where people don't feel when you touch them—you can have that same thing between the realm of the spirit. So even if the Holy Spirit is saying, "Mr. man, you are not there at all, " I'm explaining to you that when you begin to pray, what is happening is that there is a fine-tuning, the spirit, your spirit man begins to gain acceptance, and you can stand and just sense and know. And because your organs of interaction with the realm of the spirit are heightened, you, the Holy Spirit is at liberty based on the strength of your spirit man to use whatever faculty he pleases to reveal to you what to do. So he can use your hearing, and you hear. He can use your seeing; you will see a vision. He can use the knowing in your heart, and you come with perception. He can even move you into his will. The more you pray, you are giving the Holy Spirit the versatility of options to be able to communicate the will of God to you. Are you getting what the scripture is saying now? That means that people who don't pray, imagine that this guy is blind spiritually, deaf on one ear spiritually. Are we together? Cannot sense anything. Look at the little allowance the Holy Ghost has to communicate destiny things to him. So you can have a dream, but because you are spiritually blind, you will see nonsense. You will get up from that dream and write things that were not really what was revealed because the problem is blindness. Remember, Paul was blind but was still seeing; He was in a vision.

When you understand this, prayer is no longer about giving me bread. You are saying, "Holy Spirit, you are at the mercy of my faculties of interaction. Your possibilities are limited by the space I give you." Could it be that if you were prayerful and you became sensitive, you would have been able know, not just something dangerous, you would have been able to know?

Let me tell you this, when you become very sensitive, the Holy Spirit, depending on the gravity of what is communicating, he can use multiple channels to strengthen your conviction.

Prayer is no longer about giving me bread. You are saying, "Holy Spirit, you are at the mercy of my faculties of interaction. Your possibilities are limited by the space I give you."

Let me tell you this: when you become very sensitive, the Holy Spirit, depending on the gravity of what is communicating, he can use multiple channels to strengthen your conviction. Very powerful what I'm sharing with you.

We pray because it is a platform for growth and transformation. I will never forget how Koinonia started. We were already doing ministry and doing a lot of things, but I just knew that for some reason, the season was about to come to a close, and another season would start. Perception! That's what happens, and it's not enough to perceive. You can perceive, and what you perceive is untruthful to you because you don't know what it is, and you don't know what to do about it.

I remember that time. I just got up one morning, happy, blessing the Lord for the day, and suddenly, the Lord just summoned me. Go for a retreat immediately, I just packed my things. People, you are not seeing me again. The Lord is calling me. Now, what if I got there, and God said, "I don't know why you are here? Who asked you? me?

I pray for you sincerely. May God have many options.

On how to communicate His intents to you. Oh dear Holy Spirit, grant us grace. Let's see what we can do. I will be showing you from this teaching that if you are blind spiritually and suddenly, without growth and renewal, Satan can give you an aberration of vision and show you something. Listen, a faculty that God is not used to leading you with. He will never use it on sensitive matters of your life. This is one way you know you are under attack already.

Let me give you an example. Watch this. Do you know that I will be showing you, as we continue, that every believer, based on your personalized work with God, God has studied you. And for every season, there is a primary channel of spiritual communication, the most accurate that God has found based on your renewal. When you change seasons and you grow, you will readjust. So there are people who God has found out that, based on His work with them, dreams are the most powerful way of releasing the fullness of His will. And then they believe in it because it's one thing for God to release an impulse to a channel, but if your reception is wrong, you will corrupt the purposes of God. It's hard work, what the Holy Ghost does in men. So He has to keep trying. That's why there are many times it's like you heard something, but you are not clear. God is testing those faculties and seeing your response.

"It's as if I heard something, " and you are not serious about it, and God said, "No, if we walk with these guys, hearing something is going to be wrong. Let's go back to the dream house. It's better to fight the warfare they are fighting, the dream." Are you now seeing why a dream was used for Joseph?

Now watch this, any believers have not been used to God speaking in a certain way, and then when it now comes to major decisions in their lives, the devil will now use a method. The way you kill the bear, the way you kill the lion is how you will also kill Goliath. When Saul gave him another arsenal, David said, "I'm not used to this. I was not trained with this." How you were trained is how you will fight the battle.

So when God trains you, listen, please. This series is very powerful. Listen. God trains you and finds out that the way you are, the environment you came from, the unbelief there is too great, the strongest point, until you marry and leave that environment, a dream remains the most valid way of communicating. Your hearing will always be in error because the environment cannot allow you to grow that way. God will limit Himself to that thing. You will find out that 90 percent of your hearing will be nonsense. So when we have a responsibility as believers to study the various channels of spiritual communication versus our believing them and the results. Over time, if you study this, you can know that when God says release your best arsenal to hear me, you know what to release.

There are people that, yes, it's like a magnet. That is, if God speaks, even if God speaks from a distance, they will hear. They have sharpened their ears. But if God shows them anything, they will not see. So God will limit His walking to their ears.

There are others. Look at prophets in the Bible. There were others who were seers. There were others who were not just hearing alone, and they were not just seeing. But these were people who God will make them act what He wants to do, physical acting, so that they cannot doubt it. A prophet was asked to lie down on one side of the bed for one year. A prophet was made to marry a prostitute called Gomer to act out the harlotry of the nation of Israel. You cannot doubt that one now.

This is part of what prayer does to you. We've not started dealing with the patterns of prayer. We're just examining why you should pray.

The way God will tell you wear this shirt today. He cannot use the same thing to say, "Relocate to the U.S." The gravity of it. If I don't wear the shirt that God wants me to wear today, the consequence will not be as grave as God saying, "My destiny's in the U.S., and I'm in Nigeria." So, He will not use the same channel. He needs to use the channel that sends the strongest signal so you can receive.

One of the hardest things for the saints is to know when seasons end. Let me tell you, the proof of real stamina in prayer and in the spirit is the ability to discern when seasons end. It's a very difficult thing. That's why many ministries cannot grow, because to know when you need to shift, to know when you need to relocate, to know when you need to start the TV ministry, your spiritual maturity is not tested in word of knowledge and prophecy. The ability to know that you have gotten to a crossroad in the spirit. I tell you, can start another journey for 10 years. You can be accurate in life and a ministry, and you just veer off. That's how you see someone who says, "I'm a prophet today, tomorrow, " and then he's confused.

This duality of realms is where the confusion is because the way the realm of the spirit works, sit down for a few minutes. We're going to pray. The way the realm of the spirit works, and the way the physical realm works is not at the same frequency. Watch this. There are times if your spirit is healthy and it's in partnership with the Holy Spirit, there are times that Satan, who is the master of the flesh realm, will create emergency in the head realm. But when you check in the realm of the spirit, your spirit man is at peace, and he said, "Forget it. Nothing is really going on." If you don't know this, you will panic over everything. So when your spirit is strong, even when there are all kinds of things, you cross-check. Once the spirit is not betting anything, no matter what is happening here, you ignore it. This is why many people are stable.

Satan knows that this faculty that connects you has a serious issue there. So he will play with water in the physical realm, and all of a sudden, when that is happening, you are just seeing everything shaking. And then the spirit of here is trying to manipulate you. But when your spirit is strong, you know how to cross-check.

When there is an emergency in the realm of the spirit, sometimes there can be absolute peace in the earth. And so you find out that God is telling you, "Start running." And you say, "Go." But there is peace here. He said, "Run! Run! There is trouble." And suddenly, the cloud of darkness just comes to cover people.

See, I tell you why many people do not pray. It is not your fault; it is the ritual. This is what I'm trying to correct. I have watched this for many years. Many believers pray, and they do not achieve much in prayer because they do not understand the scope, the boundaries, not the importance of effective prayer.

There are people today who have gone to the grave simply because they did not strengthen the capacity to function in these dual dimensions. That which is spiritual, that which is of the spirit, is of the spirit. Is spirit, and that which is of the earth is everything.

Way before your boss starts to threaten you, the realm of the spirit has spoken the signal. Why? Because it's already seen the formation of evil spirits. It is the manifestation of the patterns that kept your father down. And six months before your boss starts acting out, the Holy Ghost is already sending a signal. But because you had the dream but you didn't understand what, I know that I wrote an exam, but I did not finish the exam. What did it mean? You don't know. And because your faculty of interaction is not there, you just sit down. It's not about an exam. These are ways they are speaking of the spirit.

Let me tell you this. One of the hardest assignments of the Holy Spirit is to transfer the will of God from the heart of the Father to the mind of the saints; It is difficult. That's why when God finds one man who is aligned, you better stay out of the life and the way of that man. He will clear you, for he knows how hard it is.

Jesus, your Jesus is looking at the disciples, and they are wondering why he's looking at them. And he sees Satan looking for a particular disciple to enter. Jesus is asking them a question: "Who do men say that I am?" And they are all laughing, no discernment. And yet Satan just came quietly and hijacked Peter's faculty, and Jesus is still watching. And the Peter himself is happy. "Oh, you will now go to the cross." And Jesus looks and says, "Get behind me, Satan." And Peter looks at me, "Satan." He said, "Peter, let me tell you the drama that has been happening that you are not even aware of. All the while I was looking at you, something was happening in the realm of the spirit. Satan continued to desire to sift you like wheat." He says, "It is my prayer that saved you. I have prayed for you that you faint not." He said, and went down and converted, "Strengthen your brethren."

There are many believers that pray, but they are not transformed because they don't know what happens. You have tears in the spirit. You have eyes in the spirit. You have faculties of interaction.

Respectfully speaking, people like Kenneth E. Hagen thought, of course, knowledge, revelation is progressive. Our fathers like Kenneth E. Hagen thought that we have five spiritual senses, just like we have five physical senses. Well, that may be to us at the time the revelation came, but there are no five spiritual senses. We have many spiritual senses that do not easily have physical expressions. That's why all of them will be grouped and would just manifest as the same thing. You would think you are having the same experience. When I was praying yesterday, my hands were hot. When I was praying today, my hands were hot. Your body interpreted it as heat, but there were two different things. It's just because your body is now limited. It cannot express every impulse of the spirit. Hallelujah.

Pray in tongues for one minute, and then I continue. Find somewhere. This is a very serious series, especially in the days that we live in.

1:34:25 - 1:35:17: Only you can satisfy me.

That's what the Bible says, "Let him that has an ear." That means it is possible that you don't have that ear. Son of man what seest thou?" He said, "An almond tree." He said, "You have seen correctly. You can see wrongly." Please pay attention. We're going to pray. A platform for growth.

Number four. Why do we pray? According to Scripture, number four, prayer is a platform for warfare and intercession. Take note, please. Prayer is a platform for warfare and intercession. Don't worry. Wherever you can stand, just find somewhere and stand. A platform for warfare and intercession. Give us Acts chapter 12. Let's study the early church. It's a long reading, but the verse of emphasis will be verse five, and then we continue.

Prayer is a platform for warfare. Now, when I say warfare... especially in Africa, warfare means many things to many people. There are people who believe that warfare is some carnal confrontation of spirits in the flesh that is an ever-continuous process without victory. I don't believe that. And then others also believe that the concept of warfare is just some kind of Christian talk that does not exist. I also don't believe that. There is a healthy balance concerning the subject of warfare that must be communicated.