Praying To See Things

All right, praise God.

I hope you've got your Bible close to you.

Why don't you pick it up?

I'm gonna get into the Word with you tonight.

Let's wave those Bibles around, make Jesus glad and the devil mad.

And let's say this together say, heavenly Father, I've tuned in tonight because I'm hungry and thirsty for more.

I am teachable, I am humble.

I realize that I don't know everything.

And so tonight, holy Spirit, shine your light on the Word of God.

Illuminate the Word to my spirit so that it becomes food for my faith and nourishment for my spirit.

In Jesus' name, amen.

Let's turn in our Bibles to the Gospel of John, chapter 16.

John 16 · chapter mention

John, chapter 16, and we'll start reading with verse seven this is Jesus.

John 16 · chapter mention

All that I'm reading is in red in my Bible.

So Jesus is speaking to his disciples on the night before he's crucified.

He's talking to them at length about the Holy Spirit.

And he said in verse seven nevertheless, I tell you the truth, it is expedient for you that I go away, for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you, but if I depart, I will send him unto you.

And verse 12, I have yet many things to say unto you, but you cannot bear them.

Now, how be it when he, the Spirit of Truth see, I, like what Jesus called the Holy Spirit, he called him the Spirit of Truth.

When he, the Spirit of Truth, has come, he will guide you into all truth, for he shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak, and he will show you things to come.

He shall glorify me, for he shall receive of mine and show it unto you.

All things that the Father hath are mine.

Therefore said I that he shall take of mine and shall show it unto you.

And so tonight I wanted to share a message entitled praying to see things.

Praying to see things.

You know, we've been talking about the power of prayer the last three weeks and Sunday morning, and we're preaching out of James, chapter five the effectual, fervent prayer of the righteous avails much, brings much power to bear, dynamic, and it's working.

And so another aspect that I haven't covered and of course prayer is a huge subject, but I wanted here on Wednesday night, to just a little bit more meat in this message.

You have to chill it a little bit and you have to meditate on the verses that you hear, but it's so important that we understand how to pray, to see things.

Jesus said it was to our advantage that he left and he didn't leave us orphaned.

John, chapter 14,.

John 14 · chapter mention

He said I'm not gonna leave you forlorn or leave you as orphans, but I'm gonna send the comforter.

Now the English word and the King James comforter.

That's a poor translation of the Greek word, paraclete.

It's a little bit more, I don't know.

Comforter always brings to mind patent, somebody on the head or hugging someone or that type of comfort, and of course it's included in that.

When we need that it's there.

But it's stronger than that.

It's the kind of help that when a person is tested beyond their breaking point and they don't break, they don't collapse.

See, that's the kind of help that the comforter, the paraclete, has to offer.

Another shade of meaning about the paraclete is the kind of encouragement that a general give his troops right before they go into battle.

When I think about that definition, I think about General Patton when he encouraged the troops right before D-Day.

You can ever forget that scene in that movie.

But that's the kind of you know, we're army soldiers in the army of the Lord and we have a general.

He's called the Holy Spirit, he lives on the inside of us and he's there to buoy us, to lift us up.

And of course, the word comforter there it includes the idea of counselor.

Really, the more direct interpretation of paraclete is helper.

So comforter, counselor, helper, intercessor, advocate, strengthener, standby, one called alongside the help, or he's called, and so we, really we haven't even plumbed the depths, the length and the breadth and the height of the Holy Spirit living on the inside of us, the one that fills us ideally we should be filled with him and the one who knows all and can do it all and I know he doesn't do everything.

He always has something for us to do.

That's why he's the helper.

He's not to do it himself, and so we always have a part to play.

In any situation that we see in front of us, no matter how big, no matter how severe, there's our part to play, and then there's his part to play.

So we do the possible, he does the impossible, we do the natural, he does the supernatural, and he's the one who will even tell us what that part is.

And so the spirit of truth here in verse 13, notice it says that he guides us into all truth.

You know one of my favorite verses that I pray often.

Psalm 25, verses four and five show me thy ways, o Lord, teach me thy paths, keep me in that, teach, lead me in that truth.

Teach me, for thou art the God of my salvation.

On thee do I wait all the day.

And so we need to be alert and able to see the path that God has laid out for us.

I mean there's no need for blind alleys and dead ends.

I mean he is.

If we learn how to pray to see things, to see the things he wants us to see, then you know, like a blind person, you know they go down, they're able.

You know they train them and they had this stick.

They go out in front of them.

You know they have a CNI dog and they have this stick and they walk down the street even though they can't see.

And that's after a lot of training and a lot of, you know, schooling for the school of the blind.

We don't have to, we don't have to walk.

Maneuver in the spirit, that way we can see God, the Holy Spirit is there to show us and to lead us into all truth and it says here, in the way of him, he makes known the future under us, and that doesn't mean that we're prophets, but many times he can show us glimpses of the future and to help us along the way.

So we won't be stumbling the Moffitt's translation.

He takes what belongs to Jesus and discloses I like that word.

He discloses it to us.

Hallelujah, he's the great show.

And tell God, you know he shows it and he tells it.

And so what belongs to Jesus?

He said everything the Father has his mind.

And so everything that Jesus shows us, everything the Holy Spirit, the spirit of truth shows us, belongs to us too.

If we can see it, it's ours.

That's why he shows it to us.

If you can see it, it's yours.

Why don't you say that out loud?

If I can see it, it belongs to me.

So that's the key of praying Now.

I've been talking about stressing that on Sunday mornings, about asking you shall receive, seeking you shall find.

It's finding out what belongs to you.

Well, these prayers are necessary so that you can find out what belongs to you, because he'll show it.

He'll literally show it to you.

And so let's look at Matthew 16, I wanna show, give you these verses here.

Talking about praying to see things.

We're seeing all kind of crazy things.

You watch television news.

You see what the enemy wants you to see.

I mean, they're in the situation now where they're altering videos, they're changing, they're taking video tapes of people and changing what they're saying and editing so slick, and there's animation has advanced at such a high degree that they're able to just create facts that are not facts.

Now, you just listen.

We need the Holy Spirit.

All right, matthew, chapter 16.

Matthew 16 · chapter mention

I'm still fumbling around here.

There it is.

I knew you were in my Bible.

So Jesus here in Matthew 16, verse 13,.

Matthew 16:13

He was in the coasts of Capernaum, caesarea, philippi, rather, and he asked his disciples who do men say that I, the Son of man am?

And they said some say you're John the Baptist, some say you're Elijah, others say you're Jeremiah or you're one of the prophets.

And he said unto them now, this is a pop quiz.

See, jesus has given them a pop quiz and thank God, they had one student that got it right.

They said who do you say that I am?

See, he set them up.

He set them up.

What's the world say about me?

What do you say about me?

See, there better be a difference, because you're not getting the true story about who Jesus is right now from anybody except the Holy Spirit living inside the church.

Who do you say I am?

And Simon Peter answered and said thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.

And Jesus answered and said unto him blessed art thou, simon Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto you, but my Father, which is in heaven.

And I say also unto thee that thou art Peter.

In the word Peter, Cephas means little stone.

Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church".

Now, you know, I was raised Catholic and the Catholics used this verse to say that Peter was the first pope.

Upon this rock.

I will build my church on the pope Peter.

Well, that's not what that verse is saying.

It's not talking about a pope, it's talking about revelation.

Peter had revelation that Jesus was the son of God, or the Christ, the son of the living God.

He said your eyeballs didn't tell you that, your ears didn't tell you that, your five senses didn't tell you that revelation, knowledge told you that God showed you that, and upon the rock of revelation I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Revelation, or in other words, the spirit of seeing and knowing.

See again.

The Holy Spirit will show you, he will lead you, he will show you.

He will speak not of Himself, he will speak what he hears.

He's the show and tell part of God and it's revelation.

I mean, the Holy Spirit is the revelator.

Praise God, and that's the rock upon which the church is built.

And I tell you, the gates of hell cannot prevail.

The devil can undo what you already know.

The devil, he'll try, he'll try to talk you out of what God shows you through the Holy Spirit.

But just hold your guns and don't give in and don't give up, praise God.

And so the gates of hell shall not prevail.

And so what the spirit of truth reveals to you is the beginning of faith.

You know, we've been saying this faith begins where the will of God is known, and that's the whole issue of the Holy Spirit.

He's working to show you what the will is, what God will is.

He'll show you the picture, he'll show you, He'll speak it and He'll show it, and that's where your faith begins.

Without that, you don't really know right.

Without revelation, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God, or understood, or the word.

Hearing, really, more accurately, is understanding, or we could say the spirit of seeing and knowing.

That is the author of your faith, and so the devil can't stop it from coming to pass if you don't quit, if you don't give up.

And I'll just keep going back to remind you what Smith Wigglesworth would say.

He said this often.

He said his experience is that most Christians give up while the answer's still on the way they quit.

You know, god has shown them something.

They stood in faith.

It was a yes.

They believe they've received, and then they just, you know they gave up before it showed up.

You shall have.

You know, there's a timeframe between the amen and the.

There it is, and that's that period of time.

Sometimes it takes a while.

You know my experience, especially with money, because healing is from you and God.

Healing is not in the hands of the doctor, healing is not in the hands of anyone.

Healing belongs to you.

Healing is a covenant right, and so healing is on its way.

As soon as you believe, you receive, as soon as you speak, it it's on the way.

But now money's a different matter, because money does not come from heaven.

Money is on the earth.

All of our provision that we need as far as finances is on the earth, and so it's in the hands many times of ungodly men.

And so sometimes you know, when you're believing God for finances and they're held up, don't blame God.

Sometimes God has to speak to more than one person.

Sometimes he speaks to one person, they won't obey him.

Sometimes an angel will influence another one and they're so lost and they're so bound up in their own situation that they won't turn loose.

And sometimes it takes a while to find a willing participant, because the Bible says giving shall be given unto you.

Good measure, press down second, together, running over, shall men give unto your bosom.

So it's up to men.

I used to pray this all the time.

I'll loose my angels to go find the men that have something for me.

Hey, vith, I mean, you know.

And so sometimes it takes more than one trip to find the person that's willing.

Are you with me now?

So don't give up.

Let's turn in our Bibles of 2 Corinthians 4.

Hallelujah, praying to see things.

To see things.

Like I said, this is meat.

You'll have to chew on this, especially if you've never heard anything like this before.

We have lots of viewers that are watching this.

Some people come back and watch it a little while, and if you go to just a main line denominational church, you could choke on this message because you haven't heard anything like this Even in your Sunday school, if you have one.

2 Corinthians, chapter 4, verse 17.

2 Corinthians 4:17

This is Paul talking, and he said for our light affliction, which is but for a moment, works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we look not at the things which are seen, in other words, with your natural eye.

I mean, when I think about Paul, he had a lot of affliction.

I mean he was beat with rods three times.

He had I don't know how many stripes, five times 39 lashes, how many says 195 lashes a night and a day in the deep that he spent.

I think about all the trouble that he had.

And he said his light affliction, he called it a light affliction.

He said it's just lasting for a moment.

He said it works in us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we look not at the things which are seen the natural sight but we look at the things which are not seen, for the things which are seen are temporal or temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal, and that is what the Holy Spirit wants to show you.

He wants to show you the eternal things.

He wants to show you things in the spirit that he has heard belongs to you.

Jesus said it and now he's showing it.

See, he's the show, and tell God.

He wants to show you what belongs to you, how much easier it is for you to pray when you know what belongs to you and you've seen it or you've heard it.

Not in the flesh, not with your natural hearing and natural vision.

So, in other words, stop depending on your senses.

We've said this many times, we'll say it again Reason is the voice of the mind.

Your mind will try to reason everything out.

Well, it's not a good time to believe in for a car.

Used cars are really expensive right now.

I heard that they're real.

It's gone up in price and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

All these re oh houses.

I need a house, but oh, houses are so they're in short supply.

They're expensive.

Listen when God says it.

You can put it in the bank, it doesn't matter what the market is.

Reason is the voice of the mind.

Feelings are the voice of the flesh.

So let's get over into the spirit realm.

Let's quit looking and seeing in the natural.

I mean, your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which you have of God, and you're not your own.

You've been bought with a price.

1 Corinthians, chapter 6.

1 Corinthians 6 · chapter mention

So let the Holy Spirit show you what he sees.

You know, your spirit has eyes, has spiritual eyes.

Your spirit has ears, spiritual ears.

I could go on and tell you that your spirit has, you know, a sense of touch, because you touch God with your spirit.

Yeah, so you know, all your five senses are just a reflection of what your spirit has.

I mean, would your body have a superior set of senses to your spirit?

No, your spirit is sharply able to navigate in the spirit realm as comfortable as your flesh does in the natural realm.

I want to say that again, your spirit is able to be built up to navigate in the spirit realm just as effectively as your flesh can navigate in the natural realm.

Amen.

And so how would I do that?

Well, praying in other tongues is the best way.

1 Corinthians, chapter 14.

1 Corinthians 14 · chapter mention

I mean, pray much in other tongues.

I sound like a broken record.

But 1 Corinthians 14, verse 1.

1 Corinthians 14:1

Follow after Agape and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that you may prophesy For he that speaks in an unknown tongue speaks not unto men, but unto God, for no man understandeth him.

How be it in the spirit he speaketh mysteries?

He speaketh mysteries when you pray in other tongues.

Now it's talking about prophecy and it says instead of just praying in tongues in public all the time, it's more effective to prophesy to speak for God in a known language.

But I want you to see something about praying in other tongues, like in your personal prayer life.

You're not speaking it.

You're speaking to God and you're not speaking to an audience.

The audience is God, and so you're praying in other tongues and the Bible says, when you pray in other tongues, that you speak mysteries.

That's the Greek word mysterion, and it means hidden things, secrets, things not obvious to the understanding or to the five senses, a hidden purpose or a hidden counsel.

Why is it hidden?

It's hidden not from you, it's hidden for you.

You know if it's just laying on top of the earth, jesus said you know if the word is just laying on top of the ground, it's not planted in your heart.

What happens?

Birds of the air come and steal it and they'll eat it.

And that's the way revelation is.

If revelation is laying around like dirty clothes you forget to pick up and you've got clothes here and clothes there and you took off a shirt, you took off your shoes and that, but there's laying all over the house.

You know what's gonna happen.

Well, it might get stepped on, it might get thrown away.

I mean it might get dirty.

I mean, listen, there are things that God has hidden for you, for you to discover, for the Holy Spirit to disclose.

Praise God, he wants to disclose these things.

They're not hidden from you, they're hidden for you.

So when you speak those divine mysteries, you're edifying your spirit.

Verse four, chapter 14, verse four he that speaks in an unknown tongue edifies himself.

Who's himself?

Your spirit, that's you, the real, you is a spirit and you are edified.

When you speak in other tongues, you're built up.

Your spirit gets dominant over your flesh and over your mind.

The trouble with most Christians they don't spend any time much at all spraying in other tongues, except in emergency.

They get into emergency tongues, you know.

But that's not, that's just.

Again, we need to mature.

We need to grow up in our prayer life and learn how to spend more time praying in other tongues on purpose.

And well, you know.

But it says my understanding is unfruitful.

Yeah, your brain tissue might be unfruitful, but your spirit is edified.

You're speaking divine mysteries and sooner or later you're gonna edify and get your spirit so built up that it's easier for the eyes of your spirit to see what the spirit is showing you.

That makes sense.

Well, it makes spirit sense, amen.

And so when you begin to pray in other tongues, it opens your eyes.

And hold your place there and go over to Ephesians, because we pray Ephesians.

I pray this prayer every day.

Ephesians, chapter one.

I'll just read the first part of this prayer, verse 16,.

I cease not to give thanks for you making mention of you and my prayers that the God of our Lord, jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation and the knowledge of God.

The eyes of your understanding being enlightened, amplified, says, be flooded with light.

So there it is, your eyes of your spirit.

I mean when you pray much in other tongues, when you get filled with the Holy Ghost, speak into yourself in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing, making melody in your heart to the Lord.

When you do that you sharpen your spirit and spiritual senses, your five senses.

You can sharpen your eye.

You know there's all kinds of exercises you can do for your eyes and for your nose, your smell and your taste and all of that kind of thing.

But your spirit has senses that are developed when you pray much in other tongues and you're gonna become more sensitive to spirit things.

Glory to God.

And now you're seeing that which is unseen.

You're hearing what belongs to you.

Now You're hearing on another level.

You're not listening to the world's diatribe, you're not listening to all the negative.

I mean the negative in this earth is just at a fever pitch and we must flee into our prayer closet and get along with God and pray much in other tongues until our spirit can hear and see what the spirit of truth is showing us Hallelujah.

And so again I remind you, it says whatever you see in the spirit belongs to you.

If it belongs to Christ, it belongs to you because you're in Him.

So bring it forth.

How do you bring that forth?

Once you see it and once you hear it, through faith and patience, you begin to speak it, you begin to agree with it and you begin to know what is yours, what belongs to you, and also it can alert you to who you are and alert you to who you need to be praying for.

I mean, sometimes I was encouraging the church along these lines how we need to mature in our prayer life and be available and we need to be available.

Maturity demands availability.

I didn't get to say that Sunday.

I mean I had it written down in my notes and of course, as you know, if you were here Sunday morning my notes kind of flew out the door.

I don't want to say that because the Holy Spirit gave me that little saying there Maturity demands availability.

Everybody say it out loud Maturity demands availability.

So, as a mature Christian, when you pray much in other tongues, be sensitive that it's not all about me, my four and no more.

But sometimes God can use you when you're available, to plug you in and you can be interceding.

You can be praying, you can be asking for things for people and making mention of them in your prayers and your prayers available.

Much Praying to see things.

I trust that this helped you.

Let's just lift our hands, father.

We just seal up this word tonight.

We thank you, father.

It's going all over the world.

People are listening and people are being challenged and they're answering the challenge to grow up in their prayer and Holy Spirit, the spirit of truth.

I thank you that you're showing people what belongs to them and they're possessing it In Jesus' name, amen, amen.