Power in Prayer
This Weekly Prayer Summary was written by Esmi Lukman, from the CBC English Prayer Ministry Core Team, and edited by Brigitta Tedja
Watch the full sermon here
Pastor Paul opened his sermon with a remark about “a religious spirit” mentioned by Glen Duncan in his testimony. What is a religious spirit? Dr. C Peter Wagner stated, “The spirit of religion is an agent of Satan assigned to prevent change and to maintain the status quo by using religious devices.” Those devices could be a cross, a candle, or it could be when you come to Church and by coming to Church makes you a spiritual person, in fact, you just use the building as a religious device.
God is going to set you free from the religious spirit because the agenda of the religious spirit is to cause men or women to get disoriented about who Jesus is. Pastor Paul prayed for hunger to know Jesus, so we come to Church not for religion, but for a relationship with Jesus.
Continuing with the “Prayer and Fasting” series, Pastor Paul started his sermon from the book of Matthew 26:40-21 TPT “Later, he came back to his three disciples and found them all sound asleep. He awakened Peter and said to him, “Could you not stay awake with me for even one hour?”
This event happened 2000 years ago during the Passover Feast. At that time, Jesus was praying in Gethsemane and when Jesus prayed His disciples were asleep. The situation at that time is the same as our time right now. It is not enough just to do religious activities.
Jesus asked Peter, “Can you wake up and spend time with me for at least one hour?” This means Jesus was asking you, “Could you spend time with me, could you talk with me, could you build a relationship with me for at least one hour?” During the time when Jesus was praying in the garden of Gethsemane and when He was in a battle and he prayed and prayed, His sweat was like drops of blood. He was in mental anguish and His disciples were asleep.
The Holy Spirit is talking to every one of us to rise, wake up, and use our time wisely. Is God number 20 or number 10 in your life? What is your priority right now? You need to make time to pray. Use your Bible to pray and personalize the verses in the Bible.
Matthew 26:41-46 “Then Jesus said, ‘Keep alert and pray that you’ll be spared from this time of testing. Your spirit is eager enough, but your humanity is weak.’”
Too many people allow their feelings and emotions to control their spirit. To have feelings is good; you laugh when you experience joy, but the bad thing about feelings is when you allow it to control your spirit. Pastor shared that he also learned to control his feeling and to adjust his feelings to the truth. When he adjusted his feelings to truth, his feelings could no longer control his spirit.
The book of Nehemiah described the situation when the people worked to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem. They were tired, exhausted, were threatened, and were falsely accused. The people were physically and mentally tired as they worked very hard.
They worked with one hand and a sword in another hand, but Nehemiah spoke that the joy of the Lord is his strength amidst his tiredness. When you are weak and tired, do not get stuck in your feelings. Do not allow your feelings to control your spirit. Nehemiah was able to finish the work in 52 days and it was a miracle! If you want to experience miracles, begin by adjusting and submitting your feelings to the true word of God.
Pastor Paul detailed the meaning of Gethsemane; it is a place or occasion of great mental and spiritual suffering. This was a tough time for Jesus, but his disciples were asleep. Before Jesus won the cross, Jesus already defeated the enemy at the Garden of Gethsemane when He prayed.
In the book of Luke, the crowd asked Jesus for a sign. Jesus said in Luke 11:30 “For as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so also will the Son of Man be to this generation.” Today’s generation is the same as the generation back then—they both looked for a sign. In this passage, Jesus was referring to Jonah.
In the book of Jonah 1:4 NLT “But the Lord hurled a powerful wind over the sea, causing a violent storm that threatened to break the ship apart.”
In this context, the storm was from the Lord. Why? Because Jonah was disobedient at that time. Pastor Paul reminded us that the nature of life is stormy, whether you are in the storm, out of the storm, or whether you are going to the storm. There are 3 types of storms:
- Storms from the Lord
- Storms for the devil
- Storms that are man-made
Jonah 1:5-6 NLT “Fearing for their lives, the desperate sailors shouted to their gods for help and threw the cargo overboard to lighten the ship. But all this time Jonah was sound asleep down in the hold. So, the captain went down after him. “How can you sleep at a time like this? He shouted. “Get up and pray to your God! Maybe he will pay attention to us and spare our lives.”
It is not enough to allow ourselves to slumber because of complacency and when everything is good. It is time to get up! If you do not get up, something will happen for sure! Either God will wake you up or did you want to wait for tragedy, sickness, bankruptcy, or war breakouts to wake you up? We need to wake up, the Church needs to wake up! If we do not want to wake up, the unbelievers who do not believe in Jesus will wake us up because of their anguish. It is time for us to demonstrate the power of the Word of God and through our prayers.
Daniel Kolenda stated, “Everybody seems to want “revival”, thinking it is a pleasant and enjoyable experience but to be revived is to be shaken out of a state of slumber, to be jolted out of apathetic complacency, to be alarmed, awakened, and startled.”
Too many Churches praying for revival has a “Do Not Disturb” sign hanging on the door. A revival that fits neatly into a comfortable cradle is not revival at all. Instead of praying for revival, perhaps we should pray like Sir Francis Drake and say, “Disturb us, Lord!” Powerful prayer begins where complacency ends. There is power in prayer but powerful prayer begins when complacency ends. Ask yourselves if you are hanging a sign, “Do Not Disturb Me.” When you allow God to disturb you, you will be effective in the kingdom.
Pastor Paul shared a testimony when he allowed the Holy Spirit to interrupt him and prayed for a lady at the gym over 15 years ago. She asked Pastor Paul to pray for her daughter’s baby who was diagnosed with an abnormal head size due to the mother being a heavy smoker. After Pastor Paul prayed for her, the baby was born normal and without any brain condition. In a recent meeting with her, she shared that her granddaughter is a healthy 15-year-old girl. When you allow God to disturb you, miracles can happen because the spirit that raised Jesus from the dead is in you.
Pastor Paul also shared about Daniel Kolenda, the successor of Reinhard Bonnke. Reinhard Bonnke was a missionary to Africa and 79 million people received Jesus through his ministry. He passed the ministry to Daniel Kolenda when Daniel was only 28 years old. Do you want to be used by God? Just say “YES!”
“Complacency is a blight that saps energy, dulls attitudes, and causes a drain on the brain. The first symptom is satisfaction with things as they are. The second is a rejection of things as they might be.”
“’Good enough’” becomes today’s watchword and tomorrow’s standard. Complacency makes people fear the unknown, mistrust the untried, and abhor the new. Like water, complacent people follow the easiest course – downhill. They draw false strength from looking back.”
The book of 2 Samuel 11:1 stated, “In the spring of the year when kings normally go out to war.” This is spring for us right now, and the situation we are living in is very critical, do not allow complacency to take hold. Do not allow the good things (good job, good business, good health, good family) to cause you to become lukewarm.
Act 12: 1-5 NLT “About that time King Herod Agrippa began to persecute some believers in the Church. He had the apostle James (John’s brother) killed with a sword. When Herod saw how much this please the Jewish people, he also arrested Peter. (This took place during the Passover celebration). Then he imprisoned him, placing him under the guard of four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring Peter out for public trial after the Passover. But while Peter was in prison, the church prayed very earnestly for him.”
This tragedy truly shocked the Church, then they prayed earnestly. Earnestly means sincere and with intense conviction. Do not wait until tragedy comes. Learn from the First Century Church. The character of God does not change, but His activities are unpredictable. God is a good God but do not take him for granted.
Continuing with verse 16, Peter miraculously escaped from the prison. The chains were broken, and the jail door was open but there was one more door that did not open to Peter when he met to see his people. They did not open the door for him and that door is the door of unbelief. There is power in prayer but sometimes unbelief can sneak into our brains. The enemy of faith is sight. Whatever we see, hear, and watch can contaminate our spirit.
In the book of Matthew 17:14-20 it states, “And when they had to come to the multitude, a man came to Him, kneeling down to Him and saying, “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and suffers severely; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water. So, I brought him to Your disciples, but they could not cure him” Then Jesus answered and said, “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him here to Me. And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and the child was cured of that very hour. Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” So, Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief: for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, “Move from here to there” and it will; and nothing will be impossible for you. However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”
Pastor Paul closed his sermon with the following remarks. The disciples asked Jesus how to cast out demons, and Jesus answered how to cast out unbelief. The disciples were concerned about the demon in the boy, but Jesus was concerned about the unbelief in His disciples. When we fast, the Holy Spirit wants to deal with our pride, stubborn minds, selfish ambitions, and unbelief. This kind of "unbelief" does not go except through prayer and fasting. We must fight the unbelief.
Prayer Points:
Let’s all wake up from our SPIRITUAL SLUMBER!
As we are awakened, let us build a HOUSE OF PRAYER! Starting with our own family and then our Church family, this house shall be called a House of Prayer.
Ask the Lord for a gift of discernment, this is valuable in times of uncertainty.
We need to engage in prayers fervently as we put on the armor of God, we are clothed with readiness to face the challenges and battles in this season.
Be the Salt & Light:
Pray for California:
AB2223 hearing is on April 19th, 2022 4PM PT. While there are many people that planned to go to Sacramento to lobby the lawmakers, we need to support them through our prayers.
Pray that the protest/lobby will go smoothly and peacefully.
Pray for effective lobbying strategies for the coordinators.
Pray that this event will not be infiltrated by bad actors.
Pray for good weather in Sacramento.
Pray that the lawmakers will heed to the Holy Spirit conviction and the people’s voice to bring an end to AB2223.
Pray that all those who cannot go to Sacramento in-person will pray where ever they are. The believers need to stand UNITED.
Pray for America:
On May 23rd, 2022, Biden administration plans to end Title 42 which has played a role in limiting the number of migrants coming in from our southern border. When Title 42 is ended, CBP expect there will be an increase in the number of migrants coming in from the southern border:
Pray for wisdom upon our leaders to enact and enforce a just and lawful immigration policy.
Pray for our CBP (Custom & Border Patrol) agents to not be overwhelm by this increase and their safety.
Inflation, supply chain disruption, threats of global food crisis are still very much in the forefront of our lives. Pray for wisdom on our leaders to come up with policies that will get these issues under control.
Pray for a de-escalation of the North Korean nuclear missile activities.
Pray for Ukraine:
There have been reports of mass civilian casualties in Ukraine, including children, by Russian’s armies.
Pray for God to release the spirit of truth upon the region to counter any false propagandas.
Continue to declare peace upon this region.
Pray that the international communities keep the pressure on Russia to end this war.
Pray for the Russian people to rise up and put pressure on their leaders to end this war.
Let us demonstrate the power of God through our prayers!