Prayer - If My People | Linda Geevanathan

Okay, it's great to be here with you all this morning.

Uh, some faces I really recognize, some I know very well, um, and uh lots of new faces as well, which is exciting.

It's great.

Um, Matthew, I'm not gonna use the slides.

Matthew knows me.

He's done slides, he's uh done slides for me before.

He said when he saw it was my name, he thought, oh dear, here we go.

I'm gonna have to, I'm gonna have to follow her.

Um, but actually, I'm just I just there's such oh God is speaking.

God is really speaking.

I um changed my sermon this morning, and then at the prayer meeting, interestingly enough, Sonia and John brought part of my sermon through uh the the word of God, but also through St.

Augustine's confessions.

Was it the confessions you read from?

Yeah.

So it was, I just knew this is what I'm supposed to bring.

So I'm gonna ask you to open up your Bibles to Two Chronicles because we are at the start of a prayer week.

Two Chronicles 7:14.

Actually, I'm gonna I'm gonna read from 13.

This happens when you change your notes in the morning.

When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land, or send a plague among my people.

If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and I will forgive their sin and I will heal the land.

I will heal the land.

That's the word after I'd sent my slides to Neil on Friday.

That's the word I got almost afterwards, and I thought I haven't got time to change slides, I've got other things I've got to be doing.

If my people humble themselves and pray and seek my face, I will heal their land.

I will heal their land.

Let me ask you a question.

When the queen passed away, we I mean, she was a she was a great woman.

Do you remember the lines of people queuing up for hours and hours to get a glimpse of the queen, the dead queen, actually, the dead body of the queen.

I was I was saying to my housemate, because I was kind of ruminating on that, and I said, gosh, people just queued up for hours to see, to get one little glimpse of the dead queen's body, to say they've seen her.

Not face to face, but they've seen her body.

And she said, Lynn, I didn't do it for the queen, but if it was, she calls Taylor Swift Tay-Tay, if it was Tay Tay, I would definitely, Taylor Swift is a pop singer who my housemate loves.

If it was Taylor Swift, I would do it.

I would queue up for hours and I would look to see her.

Do you know something?

Thousands of years ago, to get to the temple, people had to pilgrimage.

Hours and hours walking, not with our great trainers and great um shoes in sandals to get to Jerusalem.

And then when they get to the temple, most of them, most of us would have been not allowed past the outer courts.

Gentiles were not allowed, anyone of non-Jewish background, not allowed past the outer courts.

And then if you were a Jewish woman, you were allowed into the next layer of the courts.

Then if you were a Jewish man, you were allowed into, I think it's the court of Israel, the next court.

Then, if you were a priest, you were allowed into the court of priests, then where the tabernacle is, the holy of holies.

The high priest, the only one once a year allowed to enter into the holy of holies.

And if there was even a shadow of sin, he was gone.

I was processing and I realized sometimes we take for granted our access to the Holy of Holies.

Would I cue up for hours for the queen?

Do they know that the king of kings and the creator of the universe is there for them?

Do we remember that?

Do we remember that unlike those people who lived thousands of years ago who had to do all sorts of cleansing rituals to even get to the outer courts, we have access, we have face-to-face encounters, opportunities with the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, the creator of all things, and we forget.

We forget, we take it for granted.

You know, if we want to see God move, we've got to go into the Holy of Holies.

The curtain is torn.

We've got to, like David says in the Psalms, delight, feast on him.

We've got to, we really do.

We take it for granted.

I wonder if I said to you, okay, let me use no one.

Well, the younger ones maybe knew Taylor Swift, but if I said Warren Buffett or Bill Gates was coming to Harpenden, do we know who they are?

Yes, they're coming to Harpenden, they're gonna be here, they're opening up for anyone who's interested, they're gonna spend time with you, they're gonna give you money towards your causes.

All you've got to do is turn up.

I wonder how many of us would turn up.

How many of us would turn up?

I would, I like Bill Gates a bit, like think he's and Warren Buffett actually, but how many of us would turn up to encounter someone who has something that we need?

Well, I wonder if I said to you, the King of Kings, the creator of all things, the lion and the lamb, the servant and the savior is here for you daily.

You are the temple, you have him in you.

How many of you would make the time to encounter him?

And you might look at me and say, Lynn, Linda, you don't know my season.

I've got a young child, I'm studying for my A levels, I'm busy with work in London.

You don't know my season.

And I'll say this to you: the seasons will change.

But huh, huh?

If you want a life transformed, a life of freedom and power, you have got to be hungry to get into the holy of holies.

We don't have to pilgrimage, we don't have to stay in the outer courts, we are welcome in.

Welcome in.

You and me.

It is a hallelujah, it is a hallelujah.

The king of kings wants to know you more, he wants to, and you know, I was chatting to my cousin earlier and earlier in the week, actually, and and we were just saying, even when she was feeding the children, she would just pray in tongues, sing worship.

In those moments, you can find the moments.

It's not about religion, it's about relationship, and we have no excuse because nobody has to walk thousands of miles to get there, and nobody who chooses to put their trust in Jesus is separated from the King of Kings.

When we were worshiping, when we were worshiping just now, I had because it is it's dead bones to life.

And everyone in this room has, if you know Jesus as your savior, you have eternal life.

There is no doubt about that.

But when we were worshiping, what I felt was I was reminded of the father and his two sons: the prodigal who walked away, messed up, living with addiction and desperation, who found his way back home.

But the one who stood out to me was actually the older son, the one who religiously did all the right things, but forgot to enjoy his relationship with Abba Father.

You know, and I just feel like church, arise, awake, let's speak to our spiritual dead bones, let's call them to rise up, let's be hungry again because we do not know when we are going to meet him face to face, and we want as much of him as we can get in our lives.

Why?

Our world is desperate.

Our world is desperate.

If we are saying this God changes our lives, but hey, come and meet him on a Sunday, that's when I meet him.

Oh, yeah, the rest of the week, no, no, no.

Just Sundays.

You know, I have um in this country, I have six um nephews and nieces, niece and niece, and uh, when they were little, I would have them for sleepovers.

The older four, uh, when the younger two were old enough, I realized I had to split them up into two, threes.

Too much, too much.

But you know, we would bake and we would chat and we would have a teddy bear's picnic, and we would at 7:30, I would say, time for our midnight snacks, and we would eat the snacks.

The only one who ever questioned me was Isaac.

He was like, Auntie Lynn, how are we having how come it's so light outside and we're having it's midnight and we're having our snacks?

I was like, Isaac, these are the midnight snacks, and we are all going to bed after the snacks.

Um, but literally, I know my nephews.

I and my niece.

I love my nephews and my niece.

I am intentional about texting them, praying for them, and really just building with them where I can.

And to be honest, that's just my nephews and my niece.

Like God, Yahweh, Jehovah.

Like, we don't want to be older brothers, we don't want to miss out on whatever God has for us.

Wake up, arise.

It's not enough to get fed on a Sunday, it's not enough to have great head knowledge about the King of Kings.

You and I need to be listening, we need to be relation, relating.

Let's make up words as well as we go.

Love that, but we need more than just religion.

That's what the older brother had, and he missed out on a beautiful, joyous relationship with his father because it started becoming about what others had.

Hang on, he's getting the party.

You're giving him more of mine.

No, and it shows the wrong heart.

The heart wasn't to engage with his father, it was to make sure he had everything he was meant to have.

We don't want to be that church.

We don't want to be that.

That is not the calling on us prophetic people.

We bring life into places where there are dead bones, but we have got to be a people of life.

We speak freedom because we are full of the Spirit of God, and where the Spirit is, there is freedom.

You know, you're if you've been walking with Jesus for 30, 40, 50 years, five years, there is always more.

When my oh, I just want to say a massive thank you to all to you all, because when my mum had a heart attack last year, it was probably one of the most difficult times.

Thank you for praying for us.

Thank you very much.

We appreciated it.

But when she had the heart attack and I thought she was gonna die, it brought up so much stuff.

It really did.

Disgusting stuff of worry, of panic, of anxiety.

And I realized this is a moment with God.

As someone who has followed him over 30 years, am I gonna let him bring the freedom or am I gonna choose to pretend I'm perfect?

Older brother syndrome, I look good, you know, and but I could see it, and I was like, I had to talk to people in my church and get prayer.

Then earlier this year, probably about Jan Pebb time, I was in a meeting and I felt God say, Linda, I want you to go to the front and I want you to start a song.

Jesus, we enthrone you.

And I was like, I can't sing.

Uh, not going to happen.

So I went to the front.

John, the church leader, who's my friend, I kind of nudged him and I said, John, I think God wants me to start this song.

I'm not going to, but can you?

Because we need to sing it, really.

And he just looked at me and then he led us in that song.

But afterwards, he came up to me and he said, Uh, Lynn, do you realize you were just disobedient to what God asked you to do?

And I was like, No, I wasn't.

I just asked you to lead us in the song.

No, you actually said, I God said, do it.

I am not going to do it.

Could you do it?

And I said, Oh me, strudeldoodles.

I remember I just said to him, Strudle doodles, do I need more prayer?

He was like, Yes, I think you do.

And uh, and so then I made, I had a freedom appointment, and the freedom, 30 plus years of loving Jesus.

There's always more layers.

Always when we think we have made it and we're perfect, I'll be looking at Jesus.

I'll be looking at Jesus.

And so I just don't want us to miss out on the love of the Father, on communion with the Father, because the older brother did.

He did all the right things, he knew it all here, but he didn't know it here.

The joy of the sin forgiven, the joy of the open arms into the father, freedom.

Because actually, he didn't have to pretend to be perfect, he just knew he was broken and rotten and he needed God.

He needed more of God.

Uh, Neil, you meant to give me the five minutes warning.

I'm like, okay, okay.

So I'm literally um totally going.

I um had a I had a moment, you know, in before the summer, just before the summer, summer term, I started reading a book about a guy called George Muller.

Put your hand up if you know George Muller or heard of George Muller.

Yeah.

So George Muller was in this country, in Bristol, started orphanages, and in his lifetime saw 10,000 orphans housed, fed, educated, released into adulthood.

He had 50,000 prayers, because he journaled, answered with a yes.

So I like to think how many prayers he actually prayed, because sometimes God says wait, and sometimes he says no.

And so I just thought, wow, this guy has persevered asking God.

But the thing that got me, and I and I said it to my my cousin and my sister, I said, um, it's the title of the biography.

George Muller delighted in God.

That's the book title.

Forget it.

I literally sat and looked at that title.

I don't know, for the for days, because if there's anything I would like to be known for, not being a great auntie, sister, cousin, anything like that, or even a great spiritual mum.

Linda delighted in God.

That is an incredible statement.

This man was a man of faith and a man of prayer, not because he was some wonderful guy, he knew his God.

He made time to go into the holy of holies, he had relationship, he knew, you know, his life was not easy.

He uh struggled with severe illness through his 20s and 30s, he still delighted in God.

He saw one of his children grow to adulthood.

He still delighted in God.

He would at times have prayed and prayed, and even a couple of days before the bills were due, there was no money and there was no food, and there were hundreds of orphans, and there were people working in those orphanages who needed money.

Can you imagine the pressure?

Can you imagine the weight?

There's nothing, but he delighted in his God, and because of that, he knew.

So, church, let's speak to the dead bones inside us, any areas, any areas.

Interestingly, we've just had a week of prayer and fasting.

And I was with a friend of mine, Tony, and he said, He suddenly, I was in my head having a conversation with God.

God said to me, Linda, I need you to pray for revival in our nation again.

And I remember saying, God, I don't think I can.

I don't know if I can because hope deferred makes a heart sick.

And I remember I stood there and I was like, I'm not sure in my head, I'm not sure if I can.

I it's painful because I haven't seen what I really expected.

Darkness, light shining in darkness, lives transform more and more and more than just a few.

Like, God, I'm not sure.

And then Tony says, You know, I felt God say to me, put the nets down again to pray for salvations, to see lives saved, brought into the kingdom.

And then he said, But I didn't know if I could because I said to God, my heart is hope deferred, makes the heart sick, and that part of my heart feels sick.

And I was like, Okay, Holy Spirit, right?

Okay, so I was like, right, Tony and I need prayer, everyone, because I've had the same word about the heart being sick, about interceding for our nation.

But I want to I want to encourage you, we are not older brothers here.

Let's not be, let's be real, let's get those things in the heart dealt with.

Let's be a people of freedom.

Why?

Why?

Because our nation needs a move of God, and it's not just by him moving through his spirit, it's us.

We've got to be willing to go out there full of the spirit, sharing the word of God, loving our neighbors, bringing light into darkness, and we won't do it if we take for granted that we have access to the Holy of Holies, the King of Kings, if we forget that we have run into the arms of the Father instead of done all the right things, but lost our passion and our spark.

And so I want to ask you, tell you, encourage you, arise, awake, church, arise, awake.

This is not a religious thing.

This is the bride of Christ being all she is called to be.

She is, you are beautiful, you are powerful, you change context and situations just by bringing the holy of holies into those spaces with you.

Not everyone can say that.

You can, but do we remember?

Do we remember?

Sometimes we act like the outer courts is where we are happy being.

And the real I I said this to Sons in the week because I thought, am I being harsh?

It can't just be Sundays.

It can't.

Your relationship with the King of Kings has got to start with you and him, not the amazing people who lead us.

You and him.

And I just wonder this, because I thought this was the end of the prayer week.

I'm a bit like D Neil did tell me, but I got it all wrong in my head, and I thought I was the end.

Sons was like, no, no, it's this week, Lynn.

You're kicking it off.

But let me tell, let me ask you a question.

Guys, Bill Gates will be here this week.

Would you turn up for gifts for more of him?

Some of you are like, no way.

Well, if it was my housemate, I'd be like, Taylor Swift will be here this week.

Would you turn up?

But let me ask you this.

You've got someone better than Bill Gates, you've got someone greater than Taylor Swift.

You get to engage and come face to face with the King of Kings.

King of Kings, Lord of Lords is going to be there.

Do you want an encounter with the king, or do you want to live despite the new covenant as old covenant people staying out in the outer courts?

What is it that excites you?

What ignites your passion?

Because I can't imagine anything more incredible than coming face to face with Jesus.

I can't.

I can't.

I really genuinely want to encourage us.

Be hungry.

It's funny.

I just looked at Julie and I earlier in the a couple of weeks ago, maybe I saw on Instagram a picture of Julie and Steve walking around Q Gardens, getting time with each other.

And I was, as I was praying for this church this week, their friends of mine, praying for them, but I felt like I felt like Jesus said, Linda, that's what I want with you and me.

Time.

Walk Q Gardens with each other, but with me.

Sit and have a coffee with me.

Listen to me.

We've got enough head knowledge.

And we do need to know the word of God, trust me.

We really do.

It's rooted in that.

But it's got to be something ignited here, otherwise, we are older sons, and he doesn't want that.

He doesn't want that.

Oh, keep going.

Neil's like, I'm like, have I really got am I okay?

I'm trusting my cousin here.

Um prodigals.

He wants the prodigals, he wants the older brothers, he wants us because we have a world that needs Jesus, a nation and the nations that need Jesus.

And he's gonna start with you.

He's gonna start with nobody here is discounted, not because of age, not because of uh economic status, not because of ethnicity, not for disability.

God does not discount anyone, but he says, he says, humble yourself, call on my name, pray and seek my face, and turn from your sin.

Like high priests, the one time a year, if there was any sin, they would just go, they'd be in they'd be killed because they're entering the holy of holies, and we take it for granted.

I'm not saying we're perfect or perfectionism, but I'm saying be aware, be aware of what God wants from us.

Why?

Because if we turn from our wicked ways, if we seek Him, if we pray, He will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

Our land is so polarized, our nation is so struggling and in despair.

They need to see the king of kings in your schools, in your workplaces, in university, in your families and streets that don't know him.

We are not in some kind of cocoon.

We need to be taking him.

And there's two.

You just want to delight on the face of God.

But when we delight on the in the fa inight in God, there's an action that happens.

We can't keep it in, it can't stay in us.

We want to just burst it out.

And I'm not saying we're gonna hit people over the heads with our Bibles or anything like that.

That's not how, that's not how it works.

We love them, we share joy with them, we bring hope into their despair, we pray for them.

Every season, nobody is discounted, but we've got to choose not to be the older son or not the prodigal.

We've got to choose, Abba Father, your arms are open wide for me.

I want more of you.

We've got to realize the blessing of the holy of holies that we are allowed to enter into.

Um, I I just want to, you know what?

It's it's always an invitation.

It's always an invitation.

Older brother, prodigal son, Abba Father is giving an invitation for anybody who is hungry, anybody who wants more of him, anyone who knows there needs to be life to dead bones somewhere in their heart.

More, because it's not enough to be far away from him living in sin, or even one foot in each camp.

I'm gonna dabble with these things in sin, but but really I'll turn up on a Sunday and I'll do the right thing, or to be the older brother.

You do all the right things, you say all the right things, but you've forgotten your absolute delight and love in the Father.

And it's all become what you're doing doing the right things, looking for your own inheritance, caring about yourself rather than him and the things around him.

So stand up where you're if if that word applies to you, can I encourage you to stand up?