Have You Prayed About It? | Jentezen Franklin

0:00 Hello, this is Jensen Franklin, and thank you so much for joining us for this week's podcast. Our goal is to provide you with biblically-based teachings that will challenge, inspire, and equip you to live for Jesus. If you haven't already, I'd love for you to go ahead and subscribe today to this podcast so you can get the latest updates from us and you don't ever have to miss a new message. Let's go right into the service. Record it at Free Chapel. I believe it's going to bless you today. Come on, let's praise Him in this place, everybody. Lift Him up at every campus. Give God great praise. Give Him glory and honor. We magnify Your name, Lord. All be exalted in this place. We praise You, Lord.

0:55 We praise You. Bless Your name. Well, you look amazing this morning. We're so thankful for what God has been doing during this fast. How many of you are fasting and praying? Let me see your hand. And how many of you are on our Bible reading pattern? That's a great challenge also. Would you agree? I was trying to do my Bible reading last night. and the devil attacked. Sharice told me I need to help her with the Christmas cleanup. I was using my Bible as a defense, amen, and she pulled me out and said, you can, that'll be waiting on you. You're gonna get up there and get that tree down. And, uh, but you know what? I'm three chapters behind because of that. So you pray for me, but we just we're so excited about what God is doing we just had a glorious service in the nine o'clock it was beautiful it was incredible and God is in this place he's here for his people and we want to welcome all of you at all of our campuses we're so thankful for each and every one of you all of you online we welcome you we welcome all the prisons that are joining us live can we give a big warm welcome to the prisons, the six prisons that we're going into every week now.

2:28 We thank God for you. You really matter. You really have great value to God and to us. Well, it's wonderful to see you. Let's continue to enter into worship. You're in for a tremendous experience. I don't know exactly what else to call it, but we received an unexpected phone call about five or six days ago, maybe a week ago. And we didn't plan this. It's not arranged, prearranged. We are on this fast. And we received a contact. And they said, we know that this ministry loves Israel. We know that you stand and support Israel. And even as I speak, we're building a hospital in northern Israel that I'll go over and dedicate sometime next, this year, this year. It'll be dedicated this year, hopefully in April, somewhere around there.

3:23 And we have many other projects that we have done and are doing, even in Eshcol and Gaza, where the attack first was launched in October, two years ago, going on two years, the tragedy that happened. But two of the families that have hostages being held there, even as we speak, were flying on their way over from Israel to do a press around the country trying to keep the message of the hostages alive. There are still seven American hostages being held. There were 45, I hope I'm getting these numbers right, 45 American hostages killed. We don't hear anything much about that in the media. You don't hear anything.

4:16 45 U.S. citizens killed by Hamas. And then another seven are still being held hostage. And forget American or not, they're hostages. There are how many? 40? there are 98 hostages that are still being held in the hands of the terrorists even as we speak two of those families flew over and one of their requests was could they come to free chapel they know there's a church that's praying and fasting and they're here by divine appointment today and I want you to meet them and I want you to greet them and I want you to hear what they have to say for the next few moments and then I'm going to bring the message this morning. I want you to give our warm welcome to our friends from Israel. Would you give them a big, big, wonderful welcome?

5:16 Well, first of all, thank you for being here, and I hope you feel the love because this is a ministry and a church that loves Israel. And we don't just love the land of Israel. We love the people of Israel, the Jewish people. You have given us our faith. You have given us our Bible. Everything in it is Jewish roots. And so we don't have what we have without you. And we know the Bible says in Genesis 12 and verse 3, I will bless those that bless Israel.

6:11 I will curse those that curse Israel. And that's not just the land, that's the people. And that's why we love you and we care, we stand with you, and we want to hear your story. So welcome, give us your name. And we just met this morning when we got in, and immediately, Charisse and I and our family have fallen in love with these precious people. You know, a lot of times you think you're a schoolteacher, right? You're a schoolteacher, and I didn't ask you, what do you do for a living, Yarner? I'm a nurse. Yarden? A what? A nurse. A nurse. Oh, wonderful. Okay, so please introduce yourself and tell us what happened to you. First of all, I want to say thank you to everybody. I can feel your heart. I can feel your heart with us. And it means so much for me to know that there's people that aren't Jews that are with us. And we really, really need you.

7:09 So I'm Aviva Siegel. I'm Keith's wife. You can see him. on my shirt i was in gaza with my husband for 51 days so i saw everything felt everything and i want to take you there that you'll that you'll be able to feel a little bit of what i went through the worst the worst moments for me were when they tortured my husband and they tortured the girls with us. I'll never forget when they told the girls, young girls, to get into the shower, take their clothes off, while the Hamas terrorists just stared at them, and nobody has ever seen their body. I'll never forget Keith's face when they pushed him. Keith is 65 years old. He's an American. He's from North Carolina Chapel Hill, and he was brought up to love, and everybody, everybody loves Keith.

8:11 He's such a special, special, gentle, loving person. I fell in love with Keith when I was 19 years old. It took me one second to fall in love with him. And we got married. We've got four children and five grandchildren that are waiting for Keith to come home. So I'll never forget when they pushed Keith and they broke his ribs and shot his hand. and while we were lying underneath the ground and in houses in Gaza, he used to beg them to lie down because he was in so much pain with his ribs being broken and they used to smile and say no. I'll never forget when they didn't bring us anything to eat and after 20 hours, the Hamas terrorists said, it takes a long time to make food.

9:06 and after 24 hours by them starving us and eating in front of us we each got a half a piece of pita and that was the moment that I started hiding pieces of pita for my husband that was getting very very thin and he's still in Gaza with Rumi your dead sister and we know that there's at least 50 of the hostages out of the 98 that are still alive that are waiting to get out of there. One of the times they took Keith and I underneath the ground and they just left us there. They left us there to die. I touched death. I said goodbye to the world when I looked at my husband and he said to me that he feels that he can't breathe.

9:59 He was like this. I was the same. And I was scared to look at him. because I was scared to look at my husband dead in front of me. And the first minute that they brought us out, luckily after more than a couple of days, I'll never forget breathing air, and I felt like I was born again. I saw the girls being touched by the Hamas because they did everything they wanted. And just think about a young girl that's never been touched. by a terrorist and had to smile five minutes after that happened and been brave to say that everything's okay while nothing was okay. One of the girls was beaten with sticks and guns and covered with a blanket just because they thought she was lying, but she wasn't.

11:01 I was with one of the boys that they handcuffed his hands and then the Hamas terrorist came and cut it off his hand. But you know what he did? He cut off part of his hand and smiled as if it was okay.

11:22 And one of the evenings, while I had to cover myself with the blanket, I was hot. I took my foot out the blanket. I was nearly killed for that and threatened that if I do it again, I'm going to be killed. And that's the amount of control that they had on us. We weren't allowed to move. We weren't allowed to talk. We were taking our oxygen away. We were starved. I lost 10 kilos in Gaza. When I came out, I could not walk by myself. I had to lean on somebody. And my Keith and Romy and the hostages and the girls that I was with are still in Gaza. So I'm not going to lose my hope. I'm going to shout for them to come home. And that's what I'm doing.

12:14 So I want you to use my words, and I want the good to win. We cannot let the evil win in the world. We've been born once, and Keith and the hostages and everybody in this world deserves to live, to love. And they deserve to come back to that. Thank you so much. And her and Keith's precious daughter is back in the green room with us. It's something about putting a face on more than a headline story.

13:09 There's something about hearing and meeting and the number 464 that you both have. What does that mean, 464? Keith and Naomi and you know I'm shaking when I say that I enguza for that amount of days and I know that I was there for seven weeks and two days and it was a lot I went through as a human being too much and I want Keith home just I want everybody to close their eyes just for one second imagine Keith coming home and his grandchildren jumping in the end, screaming, my grandfather's home with us. It's going to be the happiest moment of our lives and we deserve that.

14:03 And Romy deserves to come back to her den and to her family. Please, just let's have one more miracle, a big, huge one, yeah? Everybody together. and help us bring them home. Yadin, tell us your story. I don't know if you understand the meaning of a 63-year-old woman that stands right beside of me. She's not a normal person, as you can see. She is. You are. But she's been in hell, held by terrorists who just wanted to cause her harm, who almost killed her, who murdered 64 people of her small community.

15:10 And she's here. That's right. She's here. Aviva is the symbol of hope. It's the symbol of anything can happen and the good will win at the end. And the symbol that it could happen again, that it would happen again. Sorry, I'm always so emotional to talk about after Aviva. So my name is Yarden. I was blessed to be the oldest sister among five siblings. One of them is Romy. Romy is the third one. She's 24 years old.

16:04 She was kidnapped when she was 23. and on October 7th, all she wanted to do is just to go celebrate her life in the music festival, the Nova Music Festival. It's a festival that really, I don't know, describes Romy best. It's a festival of love and life, peace, prosperity, nature, dancing, friends, and all of that was taken away from her brutally unannounced in sunrise and she called me 10 minutes after the rocket started and she was asking for help it's not something that ormi does usually because she's very independent But she did, and for me it was like a red flag, warning sign that something is not okay.

17:09 But she told me several times during those four and a half hours of talking on the phone and trying to get away from the area, hiding inside bushes for two hours while terrorists are spraying all the area with bullets and RPG and rockets. She told me that she trusts me and that she knows I can help her.

17:38 And that she's so grateful to be my sister. My sister was kidnapped after she was rescued by a wonderful man that wanted to save her life, but he couldn't. He did. She's alive, thank God. But he isn't. He was murdered. Her best friend was murdered. Romy was shot on her strong arm and dragged by her hair and then by her wounded hand by the terrorists and taken into Gaza. In the same deal that Aviva was released, Romy was supposed to be released as well. But on the day that she was supposed to be released, Hamas broke off the deal. and I told that earlier that I don't know why I got this job why this misfortune happened to my sister to our family but it has to mean something and I know that my sister is there alive like Aviva said with 50 other hostages that are still alive.

19:00 I know from stories that my sister is doing anything she can to survive and to help others around her survive. That they are making bonds as families, even though they didn't know each other before. And when I look at Aviva, I feel hopeful. And I have this necklace on me every day. That means in Hebrew, which it means hope. Because I know that hope dies last. And actually, it never dies. Hope is always here. And I know that my sister is carrying that hope with her. I know she trusts me. I know she relies on me and on us, the people of the free world, the people that believe in people, that believe in life, to do whatever it takes for the people we care about, to be released from this nightmare.

20:09 And I want to ask you to keep that hope, to keep praying for them like you do, to keep on being active as I know you do as you are leading everyone here to continue like united these two forces of prayers and work together. to be vocal for them.

20:39 My sister's voice is unheard. I need your help. Please reach out to your elected officials or throughout social media. Your elected officials are brave enough to say that the hostages need to come out as soon as possible. They need your support. They need your backup to say to them, you're in the right path. Continue. We got your back. We all need this circle of trust, circle of togetherness. And I just want to thank you because I'm looking at your eyes and you're so focused and so open to hear.

21:28 And this is all we need, right? to people to hear us and to not feel alone and to join forces together against evil because we can only eliminate darkness with a lot of light. So powerful. So, so powerful. I think it's amazing. My wife mentioned down there to me on the front row, She said, they have you at the end of the first service, right, as we were praying over you. You said before we prayed and remember, I couldn't believe my ears. You said, remember to pray for the hostages. not only the hostages, but for the people in Palestine and their children and the people.

22:30 You prayed for your enemies. You prayed, and I know the people are not your enemies. It's these evil terrorists and leaders. It's not a nationality. It is leadership that is evil, the personification of evil. But that so touched us that you would pray for the very people that God loves all. That God loves, that they just want to live. So powerful.

23:03 And when I hear you both talk, I don't hear bitterness. I don't hear angry. I don't hear hatred. I hear hope, faith, and love. And that is a miracle. and you have supernatural strength. I don't know how you're doing what you do. And I ask her in the green room, do you have nightmares? She's seen rapes. She's seen stabbing. She's seen murders. She's seen it all. You cannot imagine the trauma. And yet here she sits in front of thousands of people and hundreds of thousands online and potentially millions through TV that will see this. and you're shining bright and you're doing all that you can do and that matters. It really, really matters and we will never forget. We will never forget your loved ones and all the hostages and our wonderful friends in Israel.

24:02 You are not alone. We will never forget. Would you stand all over this room and would you just tell these people how much you love them and then we're going to pray for them. Thank you. Thank you. Would you stretch your hand this way all over the room? and we're going to pray for Romy and Keith and all of the hostages and their families.

24:48 God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God who delivered Esther and the Jewish people from destruction and annihilation. the God who delivered Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace and Daniel from the lion's den, the God who defeated the giant that David fought, the God who defeated the armies that came against Israel and even watched them drown in the sea, we pray to you in this room today, And we ask you to bless and help set these captives free. Move God mightily as this change happens in our nation, in the administration. I pray for open new roads and inroads of negotiations. We pray for the future Secretary of State, Ron DeSantis, that you would help him.

25:48 That he would work diligently to make this happen. that you would touch President Trump and God, you would cause him to have the ability somehow through your help to bring these hostages home and of course, hold up the prime minister, prime minister, not Nahu, keep him Lord and lead he and his cabinet in Israel. And God, we pray, we pray, we pray for the captives to be set free as we're fasting as a church, as we're praying, as we're believing, just like Esther said, fast three days and I'll go in. And if we perish, we perish, but we're going to believe for a miracle. And they got a miracle and God, we pray for a miracle of life and freedom for these hostages in the mighty name of the Lord. We ask it all and we believe you for it. Oh God, deliver and set free and comfort these who are weary and these who are heartbroken and these who have shed so many tears comfort them and their families as only you can do oh great god of comfort we ask it all in your mighty name yeshua amen and amen amen we love you we are praying for you and we are praying for israel god bless you We will never forget, and we will call your family members out in prayer until we see them in your arms again.

27:25 If you're in agreement with that, let them know one more time. Thank you. All around the world, those of you watching online, send in the emoji of hand claps and prayers. We're with you. God bless you. I want to share with you while you were praying I closed my eyes and I just saw the minute that Romy would hug my parents our parents and then I saw Keith with you and your see your children and your grandchildren and I saw all the meetings all the hugs and I believe in miracles. I so much believe in miracles. Aviva is a miracle. The snow you've had two days ago is a miracle. And we would have a late Christmas Hanukkah miracle. I wish soon enough.

28:23 Maybe this week. Amen. She said in the first service, one of the best things that happened was when the president-elect made the statement about the hostages and not about the other issues, that the focus is now on the hostages that he said, if you don't release them, there'll be ramifications. And that's important, that the focus be on the hostages. How many of you will pray every day during this fast that God, we're gonna believe that we're gonna see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living and we're rejoicing with you by faith. You know, when you said, I see that, Our Bible says that faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen yet, but you will see it by faith. And we're with you on that. We see it.

29:18 God bless you. Thank you. I just want to say that I feel the power, the power of the world standing with you, and the good should win. The evil, we should just let it go away, and the good should win in this world. Thank you so much for your hearts. God bless you. God bless you. Let them know you love them. Incredible. Bless them all. If you have your Bibles, I'd like for you to open them to the book of Psalms 109. And when I say nine, I think of my mother who is 89. She turned 89 this week.

30:14 She's sitting on the second row. Mom, you're 89 years old. Stand up. Show your good-looking self off. isn't she something else that remain standing mom show that crowd over there how good you look you never know god bless you we love you so much and appreciate you more than we can say and she's a character i tell you she's still pretty bossy if you have your bibles i want you to open them with me to the book of psalms 109. I'm not going to preach long this morning, but I do have 30 minutes. So praise the Lord. Whether you know it or not, I have 30 minutes. I'll go quick. I'll go quick. But we don't come out here for regular services during the fast. And I love that God has interrupted regular scheduled programming and brought two people from Israel to impact us out of all the churches they could have been at in their short visit.

31:17 They'll go hit some media. You'll probably see them on the news, we hope, and then they'll go straight back to Israel. But God, I believe he brought them here during this fast for such a time as this. I don't believe in accidents. I believe in purpose and the power of God. Psalms 109, Psalms 109 verse 2 For the mouth of the wicked, the mouth of the deceitful have opened against me. They have spoken they, they, they. They have spoken against me with a lying tongue. They have also surrounded me with the words of hatred and fallen against me without a cause in return for my love. They are my accusers. Then get this, but I all you've heard about is they, they, they. but I give myself to prayer.

32:15 Thus they have rewarded me evil for good. And then I want you to notice verse 20. Let this be the Lord's reward to my accusers. And you have to back up and read all those previous verses before that verse to see the reward of the Lord on the enemies. when one man, David, was surrounded with enemies and they were lying and they were trying to destroy him, threatening to kill him. They were plotting. They were scheming. They, they, they, they. I did good to them. They did evil to me. And then he said, they, they, they, they, and then the narrative changes. but I will give myself to prayer. I'm preaching today on have you prayed about it?

33:12 Have you prayed about it? My dream for this message would be that when you leave this room, what anybody else, any other name, any other circumstance in your life will be pushed aside. Any other crisis, any other thing that makes your heart tremble in fear, any other thing that torments you with worry, any addiction that someone you love is being held, not physically as a hostage, but spiritually by addiction or bondage. And when you think of it, you feel so helpless. I want, by the time we get to the end of this message, all of that stuff to be pushed to the side. They will not matter what they are doing, what they are saying, what they are scheming.

34:06 I can't control what anybody else does, what they do, what they say. But I, but I will give myself to prayer. The issue is not what they did. The issue is not what they continue to do. If you're praying for somebody to be set free, the issue is not what they continue to do. The issue is but I. You'll know what my response is. I will give myself not to worrying about them, not to being frustrated about them. I will give myself to prayer. they lied, but I'm going to pray. They hurt, but I'm going to pray. I cannot be responsible.

35:02 I am never, never ceased to be amazed at what people can do, how evil people can be. Did you hear? she told in the nine o'clock service how that if they wanted the how that they if if the if the terrorists wanted to hurt someone they would just start beating them you never knew at any moment she said they would she's a six she was a 62 year 65 year old woman and she said they would come and stand on me they would stand on top of me and just carry on their conversations and stand on top of me and I'm trying to breathe. They would rate that they would stab with knives and torture with knives. You cannot control they all the time. And if you allow it, that will destroy all that is any good in your life. What do you do when you can't control they is you say, but I will give myself to prayer.

36:09 The phrase I give myself to prayer translates literally in the Hebrew language, but I am prayer. I'm prayer. I'm prayer. In other words, I'm not frustration. I'm prayer. I'm not fear of the future. I'm prayer. I'm not addicted. I'm prayer. I'm not a failure. I'm prayer. Prayer is not something I do. Prayer is something that I am. It's impossible to be in prayer and be bitter.

36:50 So you're either going to give yourself to bitterness or you're going to give yourself to prayer. That's what these women just did. you're either going to give yourself to grief the rest of your life and and and being a scarred marred person or you're going to give yourself to prayer and say I give myself to prayer and the only thing that I can do is control me and if I pray God can heal and if I pray God can deliver. And if I pray, God gives hope. And if I pray, God gives comfort to those that mourn because he's a good God and he knows how to take care of his creation. you've got to get in prayer about it. You've got to get to the place that if you're in trouble, you get into prayer about it.

37:47 If you're in a trial, you better not just be in a trial. You better be in prayer about it. You better not just have a need for a physical situation remedied. You better be in prayer about it. Don't just go to the treatments. Be in prayer about it. Don't just be in a bad marriage. Be in prayer about it. Pray about it. Don't just have a child who is addicted to alcohol. Pray about it. I am not worry. I'm prayer. Hallelujah. I am not discouraged. I am not defeated. I am not depressed. And I am not disappointment. I'm prayer. And if anybody has ever disappointed me, I'm not mad at them. I'm going to pray until I see what God showed me they are. Come on, somebody.

38:41 Clap your hands and believe God. I will pray about this. I'm not giving up. I'm prayer. I'm not throwing in the towel. I'm not backing up. I'm prayer. Don't just be in a valley.

39:04 But since you're in it and everybody is sooner or later, you're either going into one. That's why you're not in it yet, but you're going into one. You're either in one or you're coming out of one. And when you get out of it, you're going to go into another one. Doesn't that make you feel good? That's called life.

39:26 But you better not just be in a trial and be in trouble and be in need. but be in prayer. I want you to understand that if you're in a financial crisis, you need to be in prayer about it. You need to be praying and fasting about it. Hallelujah. I love the fact that there's a whole church that's fasting and praying right now. And if the snow broke you, and if you had a Big Mac attack and you messed up, pray right now and say, Lord, forgive me and jump right back on the wagon. We just pulled the reins back. Get back on. I said get back on. I mean what I'm saying. I'm telling you right now that we're called to pray and fast. And if you're fasting and you're not praying, you're just on a serious diet. When you make a choice to pray, you are deciding what you give your emotions to, what you give yourself to.

40:31 When you decide to pray, you're saying, I'm choosing to give myself to God and give this circumstance that I cannot do anything about them, so I'm going to give it to God. As for me, I give myself to prayer. Don't you dare give yourself to bitterness when you can give yourself to prayer. Don't you dare give yourself to revenge when you can give yourself to prayer. Don't you dare give yourself to hopelessness and suicide and cutting yourself when you can give yourself to prayer. Don't you dare give yourself to alcoholism the rest of your life or vaping and smoking weed every day of your life, numbing your brain when you can give yourself to prayer. And the shackles can be broken off of you.

41:25 And you can be limitless in your potential and purpose. And God can restore to you the years that Satan has stolen and ruined. if you will pray, don't give yourself to failure. Give yourself to prayer and God will make something beautiful out of what is left. Somebody give him a shout of praise in the overflow. I'm not divorce, I'm prayer.

42:01 I'm not labels society puts on me, dysfunctional family, I'm prayer. Hallelujah. Turn to somebody beside you and say, have you prayed about this? Have you really prayed about this? You see, I'm afraid a lot of Christians' default is to give yourself to frustration instead of giving yourself to prayer. To give yourself to anger and rage instead of giving yourself to brokenness and intimacy with God that changes you. That changes your whole attitude. that changes. Folks, you just don't get out of every little crisis just like that. You have to walk through some things. Sometimes they last for decades.

42:58 And what do you do? Do you give yourself to that? A wound, a victim the rest of your life? I am not a victim. I'm prayer. I refuse those titles. I am not a sexual abuse survivor. It's what some of you need to say. You need to say, I am prayer. I refuse all of the baggage from the past in Jesus' mighty name. And it's not mind over matter. It's the word over what hell has tried to do. And the word is more powerful.

43:41 They tried to destroy you with it. but all things are working together for your good when you turn it into prayer. You know that you never will give yourself to prayer as long as it's about everything else, as long as it's about everything else and everybody else. But life is going to happen.

44:16 Life is going to happen. tragedies are going to happen trials and setbacks in life are going to happen fast all you want to fast you're still going to go through stuff pray all you can pray so go on and understand Jesus taught this lesson it rains upon the just and the unjust trouble comes to everybody the issue is not what happened to you the issue is what's going to happen to what happened to you prayer is where I go to deal with what life has dealt me.

45:06 When life deals you something and a tragedy happens and somebody is killed or a bad doctor's report or a financial contract gets canceled and it changes your life and everything's different or you go through or you get cheated on or whatever we can stay up here and name all day long, trials and crisis and things that people are walking through. And when it happens to you, my point in this message is prayer is where I go to deal with what has been dealt to me. and the only way to keep it from getting in your heart is to get it in your knees, and if it gets in your knees, then it will stay out of your heart.

46:02 The more you say, I give myself to pray about it, the less it will get in your heart. Bitterness will get in your heart. Revenge will get in your heart Hatred will get in your heart Unforgiveness will get in your heart Offense will get in your heart And he said, you cannot control that. They lied. They hurt. They did this. They did that. But I am responsible for me. I will give myself to prayer.

46:42 If it's on your knees, it can't get in your heart. Some of you are still reeling from what happened. And you need to serve an eviction notice to that grievance. And let it know you're not going to be my partner in life. But I'm going to give you to prayer. I'm going to give myself that every time I hear you whisper the wound and the hurt, I'm going to pray about it until God takes something really ugly and turns it into something really beautiful. because that's what he does. offense, listen to me carefully, offense is an event, but being offended is a choice. Jesus said, every person will be offended.

47:41 Every person, offense, Jesus said it like this, offense must come. Part of God's process of making you a mature Christian will be people will be put in your life, specifically released to unjustly hurt you and offend you and do you wrong. And in those seasons of being offended, you're in the most serious test season, testing, that is determining whether God gets to take what was meant for your evil and turn it for good in your response. Because offense is a moment, but being offended from the offense is a choice. well I don't understand what am I supposed to do just pray about it no I'm gonna really make you fast and pray about it and if that don't work do it again and if that because my Jesus said if you seek you will find if you knock it will be opened unto you And blessed are they that hunger and thirst for they shall be filled.

49:05 So yeah. Yeah, that's your, that's welcome to being a Christian. just pray about it. Yeah, turn it into prayer. And you know what's happening? You're becoming like Jesus. You know the one they beat. He said, Father, forgive them. You know the one they slapped and he turned the other cheek. You know the one, you know that guy that even today he's already forgiven you. Sins of omission and commission Attitudes eating that Big Mac? Everybody shout, I refuse to give myself to offense. Say it. I refuse to give myself to offense when I can give myself to prayer. Say it again.

50:01 I refuse to give myself to offense when I can give myself to prayer. Why would I not give myself to prayer if I've only got two choices? I'll pray. See, Psalms 109 is scary because this is Old Covenant. This is the Old Testament. Therefore, he was a God of vengeance because some of the most severe curses in all the Old Testament are found right after the statement of they, they, they, did this, did that, did that to God's servant, David. And David said, my only defense will be, but I will give myself to prayer. And that's why I read verse 21st, let this be the Lord's reward to my accusers. Okay, now what happens is there's a list of cursings that starts with verse six and goes all the way through pretty much the rest of the chapter.

51:01 And it even says, verse 27, that they may know that this is your hand, that you, Lord, have done it. Let them curse, let them be cursed, but you bless. Let them curse, but you bless. They arise, let them be ashamed, but let your servant rejoice. Let my accusers be clothed with shame. And what I want you to see is the curses. I want you to listen. See, we want to handle they. We want vengeance. But when you say, I'll pray, God will deal with your enemies if you'll deal with the enemies. that's what fasting and prayer is all about it's really you're not forcing God twisting his arm when you're fasting you're not making him do nothing but what you're doing when you're fasting is you're dealing with the enemies their enemy Thank you.

52:14 the offenses, the unforgiveness, the selfishness, the anger, the rage, the evil speaking, the ugly attitudes, the defiled spirits and souls, the uncleanness, the things in me that are just not like Jesus, the attitudes that are just not like Jesus, the spirit that is just not like Jesus. And he says, if you will give yourself the prayer, I'll empty you of all those things.

52:56 And then I'll deal, I'll pronounce curses, but not, you have, when you know you've really prayed through about it, when you don't want bad things to happen to them. I'm going to tell you, I've had some enemies. I've had some people who've tried to destroy me. with lies. I have. That's just a fact. And I'm not going to get up here and bleed all over you. But I'm just telling you, I could tell you stories you wouldn't believe. But I can truly say, when I think of those people, I truly do not want bad things to happen to them. Because I know that God, if he starts that business, I'm next in line. there will be not any greasy spot left in this room right here it'll be nothing but ashes so let's don't go with let's give them what they deserve because that means the air the boovering comes right back at you the moment you if you don't give mercy you don't get mercy if you don't give forgiveness you don't get forgiveness so whatever you want you send out and you get it back that's it that's jesus said it any minute one thing that's reading this bible you know all these chapters a day one thing and it's all jesus words is i i thought he does not play around listen to these sermons you bunch of snakes and vipers and divide and get yourself in hell fire and they let them be consumed with hell fire.

54:37 And I'm like, dear God, I didn't know you were that mean Jesus, but he's not mean. I've read my Bible through many times, but I'm just telling you, it hit me, boy. We better do right with this thing called forgiveness. So vengeance against God's people doesn't come to your enemies until you fight on your knees. If you're still fighting them, then you are not ready for God's vengeance to deal with them. You worry about I, and God will deal with them when you get pure in spirit. and say, I don't, God, I feel compassion for them. Now, just help them.

55:30 And sometimes you have to say, help them, but keep the wall up so that I don't have to deal with them because I'll never trust them again. But help them. You say, that's not forgiveness. No, that's wisdom. That's wisdom. Sometimes, very special situations. All right. I'm almost done. I'm almost done. Got five minutes.

55:59 God will take care of your enemies if you'll take care of your spirit in prayer and be right and be sweet. and when you're down, pray, and when you're disappointed, pray, and when you're lied on, pray, and when you're surrounded, pray. We want to fix everything and settle the score. I extended friendship, David said. They became my enemy. I did good, they rendered me evil. I was kind and good to them, and they persecuted me without a cause. You can't give yourself to logic and revenge and give yourself the prayer at the same time. There is no reasoning how and why people do the cruel things that they do and they say.

57:01 So at some point, you can't reason and figure them out and figure it out. And that's when you are to give it to God in prayer. All you do is create more questions. All you're doing, and the Bible said in the book of Matthew 18, that if you don't give it to God in prayer and you hold on to that, that he will turn you over, quote, to the tormentors. That's a Bible verse. and you will be tormented in your life physically, spiritually, mentally, emotionally. You will be turned over to tormenting spirits. that's why I can say you don't have to be bipolar. You can be prayer.

58:01 You don't have to be split personalities and full of anxiety and panic and fear. You can be prayer. It's too heavy. It's too ugly. Therefore, when you say, I give myself this week to pray about everything that they have said or doing, every crisis in your family, every challenge in your life, every issue, I'm not going to let it be about that. I give myself to prayer. And every time it comes up, I'll pray about it.

58:43 I am prayer. I'm not there yet about some things, but I'm preaching it. We're all on a journey. Jesus drunk the cup in the Garden of Gethsemane of every addiction, every bitterness, every sin. And as he was drinking it, he took every addiction, every, every one of them, he took it into his body until his sweat became drops of blood. And he said, I am not addiction. I'm prayer. And I'm praying for them in this garden. They are not addiction. They are prayer. Now, I close with this. 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 15, 16, et cetera. 15 and 16.

59:31 Here's the remedy. Here it is. Here's the remedy. Here's how you, how do you become prayer? How can you say I'm prayer? How can you just pray about this and pray about this and pray about this? Well, I prayed about it. Nothing happened. The woman in the Bible, she kept knocking at the midnight hour. And the guy inside said, I'm not going to answer your prayer. Everybody's in the bed and we put all the food up. Bam, bam, bam, bam. And the more that she said no, no, the more that he said no, no, no, she's bam, bam, bam, bam, bam. And finally, the Bible said in the middle of the night, he gets up, walks down, gets not three pieces. He asked for three loaves, took all that he had, took every piece of bread he had in the house, and took it to the front door, opened it, and said, take everything. And Jesus said in that parable, this man had no intention of giving it, but because she kept on knocking, her importunity kept on knocking.

1:00:38 So, yes, keep on praying. Now, go back to 1 Thessalonians. See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone. Boy, I'm glad he put that in there because everybody wants a clause right there, right? Evil for evil, but to anyone. These women have a right. If we rationalize, they have a right to hate those people. see that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good, both for yourselves and for all. That's why when she said at the end of the nine o'clock service, pray for the people in Palestine and their children. And then here it is, folks. Listen to this.

1:01:34 This can set you free right now. Not when things get better. Not when y'all make up. Not when everything's better. When they finally come and whatever you think's got to happen, it's got to happen. This is how. Here it is. Three quick steps. Easy steps. Rejoice always. Rejoin. Get up. It's a choice. It's a choice. Every day is a choice. Get up. Rejoice. Put some praise on. Put some worship on. Go to the Word of God. Spend some time with the Lord. Read His words, their life. Isn't this book life? Isn't it amazing? Just sit and read it. Go outside. I know it's been cold and stuff, but get out. Get out. Do some prayer walks. get out and read your Bible. Sit out and listen to the birds chirp while you're reading your Bible. Walt, listen to the squirrel messing around over there in the leaves. Read your Bible. You'll feel alive. God will speak to you. Rejoice always. Here it is. Pray without ceasing. In other words, if that's going on, just say, well, that's not me. Just because there's crisis there and there's a problem there, and there's a fence there, and that one's talking, and that one's lying. And just because this one's an addict, and that, and that, and that, that's not me. That's not who I am.

1:02:59 I'm prayer. That just tells me I have a heavenly Father who loves me so much that I can bring all of my burdens, and all of my cares, and all of my fears, and all of my worries, and all of my wounds, and all of my hurts and all of my failures, my failures. And I can pray without ceasing. Then listen to the beautiful words, verse 8. In everything give thanks. Why? Everybody say these words out loud. For this is the will of God. Well, I just want to know what I'm supposed to do because they've done this and they've done that. I just gave you the perfect, absolute will of God right where you are right now. Got a bad doctor's report. Got financial needs. Got this, got that. Family in disarray, marriage in trouble. In everything, give thanks. Rejoice always.

1:03:55 Pray without ceasing. And in everything, give thanks. This is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Not when you get better. not when everything's right, because only 3% of our lives is without bad times for the most part. Somebody did an actual survey, and about 3% of our life, we got all the money we need, or, you know, got everything, everything's buzzing along real good. It's a good, good, I love life. And about 97, isn't that a picker-upper? About 97% of the time, we got something major somewhere brewing or going on or coming. And so you got to make a choice to rejoice always.

1:04:49 And I don't panic. Pray without ceasing. I'll just take it to my knees so it doesn't get in my heart. Fear doesn't get in my heart. Worry doesn't get in my heart. Torment doesn't get in my heart. Fear of death doesn't get in my heart. Disease doesn't get in my heart. I know what the doctor said is real, but I'll take it to my knees. I read the other day on the Internet, somebody put out, you know, you don't believe this stuff, but somebody said, I'm dying of cancer. And there's like tens of thousands of people who are sending things saying, we're praying for Pat. One of them said, his daughters have confirmed. His wife, they had a picture.

1:05:29 I'm not dying of cancer. But the thought hit me, if I were, what would I do? I would rejoice always. I would pray without ceasing, and I would give thanks to God that I'm not dead yet. And I don't want to live when he's through with me. I'm ready to go home. If he's done with me, if I can't do any good for his glory, take me home.

1:06:03 I'm good. I've had a good life. Hallelujah. Now what's the devil do with somebody like that? Come here, Eddie. His sister had a major health attack. She's been in and out in a coma for a year, seven months. He gets up here. He rejoices always. Never ceases to pray. He gives thanks to God on the good days, the bad days. For this is the will of God for Etienne. you didn't choose this you would never choose this this is the will of god and there's no quick fix there's no snap your finger and everything's different this is the will of god see we god is in the process a miracle is in motion when you're praising and you're rejoicing and you're giving yourself to pray about it and you're being thankful truly grateful to god he's and you're saying he's still a good God.

1:07:15 He hasn't answered everything. I don't get it. Why doesn't he do something? You know, I don't know, but I know what the will of God is for me and for you and for everybody out there going through it. So keep on rejoicing. And if you can't do it, get you a praise partner. Call them up. Say, I need you to, I'm having one of those bad days, but I am not depression. I'm praise. I'm God's song and dance man. I'm praise. I'm thankful. And I'm prayerful. And I'll never stop. Because this is the will of God for me. Not just on sunshiny, powerful miracle days, but on the worst days of my life. This is the will of God for me.

1:08:12 Now, what can Satan do to somebody who has that mentality? That if something bad happens to you and all you do is say, well, praise the Lord. I'm going to pray about it. I'm heartbroken. It's going to be hard. But he'll give me grace one day at a time. and I'll be grateful because I've still got people that love me, and he's still providing, and I've never seen the righteous forsaken or his seed begging for bread. He just keeps making a way, and he makes a way where there is no way.

1:08:56 He's faithful, and when I get so low, He sends somebody or something or something or a view of a tree that's got ice in it. And I hear God in it, the crackling of the ice sometimes or the leaves moving. And there's a sweet, sweet spirit that'll say, you're going to make it. I'm working my will. And when I get done with this, you'll understand who I am one day. Even if you don't see it in this life, you'll see it on the other side, because I'm a good God. I said, he's a good God. Stand up on your feet and give him all the praise you can as loud as you can at every campus and every overflow. Wherever you're watching this, in a hospital, in a bedroom, in a house, in a lonely apartment with nothing but boxes from a divorce, you praise him.

1:10:02 You're not a failure. You are prayer and you pray and God will come. God will hear your cry. You're not pitiful. You're powerful when you begin to pray. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Let's get still and quiet now. This is serious stuff. Still and quiet. No moving, please. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. I'll just wait. Just another moment. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Holy Spirit. Everybody lift your hands and pray in the Holy Spirit all over this room. Hallelujah.

1:10:52 Hallelujah. Have your way, God. We worship you. We praise you. We adore you. God, we pray right now. everybody get the Lord's Prayer on your lips and raise your hands and pray the Lord's Prayer and if you don't know it open your eyes and it'll be on the screen but right now pray the Lord's Prayer because that's who we are I'm not gonna worry about they I'm pushing that I'm pushing circumstances I'm pushing sickness I'm pushing bad reports I'm pushing struggling business aside but as for me I give myself to pray about it. Let's pray everybody. Our Father which art in heaven,