Why Believers Must Pray: Your Responsibility vs God's Responsibility Part 2

This episode explores prayer as the spiritual code that unlocks guarded doors in life. Through fasting, discernment, and consistent prayer, believers learn to confront unseen battles, gain vision, and pursue God’s purpose with precision. From marriage to personal growth, discover why targeted prayer, spiritual awareness, and perseverance are essential for walking successfully in God’s plan.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Yeah, we're discussing prayer at the moment. I was pondering on prayer earlier on and I realized I came to realize that um before I read the scripture um men ought to always pray. I kind of was digging and meditating on that a little bit more and then it brought certain school of thoughts, you know, to me. And those thoughts were that that people were praying before they became believers, and people were people were praying that are not believers at the moment. People who are not even religious pray. Amen. They pray. So religious people, non-religious people, even atheists, you may find doing some sort of a prayer, but their ones come out when they're in trouble. Amen. But you find that prayer is something that's actually innate. As a human being, you know there's a need for prayer. So when Jesus was saying men ought to always pray, he was talking about a system that's been put into you as a person, as a human, as a human being. And he's saying you must explore that system. But I also found that after I became a believer, prayer took a different meaning altogether. I discovered new things about prayer that I didn't know. I thought prayer was just talking to God. That was it. I have to talk to God. I have to talk to him and keep worshiping him and be on my on my on my knees and on my back and and it hurts and stuff. So this is the idea that I had, amen. But when I gave my life to Christ, it took a different meaning, and it should for you too. As you grow in the faith, prayer takes different meanings, and you get different interpretations of what prayer actually is, and the beauty of prayer changes, the color of prayer changes to you as you grow in the faith. Praise God. Prayer is a wonderful thing. One of the beauties of prayer is as I came to maturity, I found that God gives me codes of life. Okay? Codes. So I'll give you an example. Important doors that always have security. If you find a door without a lock, what it's guarding is nothing. Just an open door is not guarding anything. But if you find a door with a lock, it means there's some kind of value in that room or in that building. Are we in agreement? Now, if you find a door with multiple locks, it means there's more value in there. Pray. Now, if you find a door with multiple locks and a code, praise God forevermore. Now we're talking about things of extreme value, life-changing things, extreme value. Praise God, and in the realm of the spirit, it works the same. So there are certain doors you cannot walk through until you learn the codes. There's no such thing as burglary in the realm of the spirit, it doesn't exist. There's no loopholes in the realm of the spirit. So in the realm of the spirit, especially in the school of the Holy Spirit, these doors must be accessed through codes. Amen. That's why you must be concentrated when you pray. Because you may miss the codes. You must be concentrated. Be wise. Tell your neighbor, be wise. But if in the place of prayer the Lord says, Yeah, he says to you, My daughter, my son, I want you to do three days dry fasting. Okay. So you've been you've been asking him for something. And he says, the instruction comes from the church. We say do three days dry fasting. And you get in and you you finish on the second day. You say, Oh, it was tough, but I know God accepted it, you know, because uh I tried my best. Amen. Now, let me show you what that translates to in the spirit. Okay, imagine I walk to a door, and the and the code is no, it's not the wrong key, brother. Don't you know try to jump ahead. You know, you gotta calm down. You understand? Imagine you walk towards a door, okay? You get to the door, and the code is five five four four. You've done two days fasting, that's five, five, brother. You stopped. So if you go to the door and you put five, five and try and pull, what happens? That's not the full code. You were told fast for three days. Okay, I did two days and 23 hours. That's 554. You stopped, you missed it. Maybe you have to explain to it. When we call for fasting and prayer, you're doing it your own way. It's in God accepts my efforts. But what you're missing, because what you're saying there is absolutely right, he does accept your efforts, but it doesn't get you what you asked for. What did you ask him for? The instruction came. He said, if you want what you're asking for, this is the code, brother. So that 554 may deal with specific things. Amen. And that's it, it stops there. But you didn't get what you asked for. So in the place of prayer, before even getting, before even applying what he's asking you to apply with those those codes, all right, you must understand the the significance of that place of prayer. It's not only I'm talking to God, God loves promotion, he loves to for his people to move forward. Now, the the enemy doesn't want you to go through that door, and by the way, that door of marriage is heavily guarded. Okay, but he doesn't want you to go through that door because he wants to keep you in that place where you keep transgressing the same way, and that's that specific transgression doesn't permit for you to prosper. So I was saying that um we are dealing with uh the the the marriage door, and there are codes to this door, and you have to know what the code is and you must punch it in exactly how it's prescribed for you to get through that door. Don't do things your way, don't do things your way. One of the beauties of prayer also is that he introduces you, the Lord Jesus brings you on a table, and that table he shows you this is this is exactly what the the enemy is planning for you, and the beauty of God is he says, What are you gonna do about it? I know the mentality we have is he shows you this is what they want to do. You say, Ah, God, what will you do about it? Well, you're expecting him to do something about it. He says, This is this is what they're planning. What are you going to do about it? Praise God. So when I'm asking you guys to pray in this prayer session, like just now, I said, Go into prayer. You see, time of prayer is not a time to be distracted. Prayer is that place is so sacred, it's not a time to be distracted at all. You will receive messages and codes to doors you didn't ask for. It could be as simple as wake up in the morning and worship. Just worship. Worship for five days straight. You do it, and there's a breakthrough. I'm gonna give you a scripture that will enlighten you in a second, amen. So we were in Zechariah chapter one, yeah. It's an interesting uh communication between Zachariah and the angel of God, but look at this. So verse 17 says, Cry yet, saying, Thus, thus saith the Lord of hosts, My cities through prosperity shall yet be spread abroad. I told you he wants you to prosper. God wants you to do well. Are you aware of that? He wants you to do well, yeah. And the Lord shall yet comfort Zion and shall yet choose Jerusalem. So the angel of the Lord is telling him all these things. He's saying, God has these beautiful plans for Jerusalem and Zion and Judah and all of these, you know, these tribes. And then we hit verse 18. Yeah, so that they're talking, so the angel of the Lord and and and Zechariah talking. He says, Then I lifted up my eyes and saw, and behold, four horns. So imagine he's discussing with the angel of the Lord, they're talking, and the angel of the Lord says, God wants to do this amazing thing with Judah and Israel and so and so and so and so. And interestingly, interestingly, the prophet, the angel of the Lord doesn't ask the prophet to look up, the prophet looks up himself. So mark that, okay? Mark that he says, then I lifted up mine eyes. It's a massive prophetic code there, but we'll get into it another time. So he says, I lifted up my eyes and saw, behold, four horns. Then I said unto the angel that talked with me, What are these? What are these? What are these? Did you know that that was prayer? I have an inclination that this might be too mature for you. Not every teaching, I'm gonna make you jump and all that. Amen. Praise God. So the prophet was walking with the angel, they're walking together, and he looks up and he sees four horns, and he says, What are these? So, it is your responsibility to scan your own life and ask God, what is going on? That is your responsibility. Don't turn around and say, God, alright, you know, and you start making things up. No, you turn around and say, God, I'm noticing this. What is this?

unknown 15:44

That's right.

SPEAKER_01 15:45

You talk with him, you say, God, what is this? Give me light on this. I want to know what this is. Nothing in your personal life should go unanswered. Nothing. Go when you do your three days fasting, go in and ask him, What is that? Why am I not married? And and I feel like um, I I am a bit more concerned than you are about yourself. Why are you single? Are you that bad? Are you listening to what I'm saying to you? Why are you single? And and I said it earlier, don't say, Oh no, Pastor, we're in preparations. I have someone, you don't have anybody. You don't have anybody. Look on your finger. You and those who have not met anybody, you're in the same boat. You sleep alone at night at night. Do you not sleep alone at night? Yeah, yeah, you're all the same. So the question I'm asking you now is why are you single? Why are you not married? And the question I'm asking you, you should be asking God. Lift up your eyes, like the prophet did. So the lifting up of the eyes is realizing that this is this isn't correct. This isn't correct. This isn't correct. I'm I'm young, I'm good looking, I'm buoyant, I'm driven, I've got all this stuff. Why am I single? There should be a cue. Your own people are coming in driplets every four four years. They're coming in driplets. That is not how it's supposed to be. No, no, no, no, no. Brother, sister, hey now. Listen now. The Lord can hide you for a season to refine you. Do you understand that? But that refining, He wants people to see and marvel at His glory on you. So you get refined and you come out and you get put your displayed like a diamond, you know, that's been refined. You get put on the window, and you people can see you, and people come and inquire, how much is this diamond? Do you understand that? Why are you getting no inquiries? Not one person the whole year has inquired about you. Listen, it would it wouldn't be so alarming if I knew that you're in the place of refinement, but you're not anymore. You're on the window and people are walking past you. This comes with discernment. Say I must marry. And it is true. No, no, I'm telling you that. I'm telling you that it is true that not marriage is not for everyone, but God will tell me if He sends me a child in this house or a son or a daughter where marriage is not for them, he will tell me. I will know, I will see them and say, This one is not to marry. Amen. And that will be the code for them. This is the beauty of prayer. Let me give you an illustration. There is a there was a gentleman who he was he for for about 20 years he would open his church, and then people will gather, it will hit a certain number, then it will scatter. Everything will scatter. That happened like multiple times over the 20 years. Finally, he gave up. He said, I've been doing this for 20 years, I'll gather people, and they will come, and they'll hit three, four hundred, then they'll scatter. Amen. Even when he tries to stop it from going bigger than 400, they will come more than that, then they will scatter. So uh in his mind, you know, he was troubled, very troubled. So he went to um the mountain in Nigeria to pray. And as he got to the mountain, there's some real spiritual men there on both sides. You'll find charlatans there, and you find um genuine men of God there. Yeah, so you you you find all kinds of people there. So he he bumped into a so-called prophet. Okay, and I say so-called because that's what the guy called himself. A prophet, yeah, self-proclaimed, I should say, rather. And the prophet said to him, This is your your situation. He he told the prophet, this this is what has been going on. And the prophet said to him, Oh, your wife is the problem, she's from the river. He said, Yeah, your wife is from the river, she's scattering everything. Praise God. So, of course, now he he went and he um he said he chased his wife away and said, I don't want you. In my life for 20 years, we've been frustrating everything, and things have been scattering. Praise God forevermore. So as he did that, he over some time bumped into another prophet. Alright. And he said to the he told the prophet, the prophet asked him, Are you married? He said not anymore. He said, Why? Then he recounted the story. He said, 20 years I've been trying to do ministry and everything was scattered. Constantly. The prophet said to him, Did you pray about this matter? He said, Uh I would go to the mountain and I would in I inquired of this matter. But when I go in the mountain, I'll pray about something else. Like there were other things that were more urgent. And the prophet said to him, Your wife is not from the river. He said, Your problem is you thought that God called you to open a church, but he didn't. He called you to open an intercession group. But it cost the man twenty years. If he had just prayed and said, God, what is this? I'm teaching you this now because I don't want you to waste your time. 20 you see how patient God is. Remember, God is patient, yes, in time, but even the fact that he's outside of time makes it even easier to be patient. Because he's not naturally experiencing what we are experiencing. But it is true that God is patient because Jesus came on earth and demonstrated that. But he's outside of time. So he 20 years to him could be half half an hour. But 20 years for you is taxing. Do you know what you can do in 20 years? You can marry, you can have children, you can become a billionaire, you can change the world in 20 years.

SPEAKER_00 24:33

Am I boring you? 20 years.

SPEAKER_01 24:51

You have a responsibility. Lift up your eyes, lift up your head and ask God, what is this? What is this? Why am I single? Now some would say Pastor, they've been they've actually there's a lot of interest. Alright, but I'm the one sending them away. Let me enlighten you for a second. Let me enlighten you. Just because men give you attention, that's not interest. Okay. Women don't know this. I'll come to the men in a second, but women don't know this. They think attention is interest. So I'm informing you. Don't mistake attention. Okay? For interest. Let me enlighten you a bit more. Have you walked have you ever walked into a food store and you read the menu and you saw things you didn't like? But you gave it your attention. You saw a drink you didn't like, you even read the drink, you said, no. And since we're talking about marriage, the way men are, alright, you'll get their they will they will they will give you their attention to get what they want, and then they move on. And by the way, they know in their hearts they're not staying there. So do not mistake attention for interest. I'm talking about interest. I'm talking about men lining up to ask for your hand. As in they are ready to do anything for your hand, for you to what it is, is it's I'm gonna take you on as a responsibility. That's where the honor comes in. Because as men, as anyways, wise men don't like spending. It's the boys who spend, wise men save. I'm hurting your feelings, anyways. The Bible tells us this if you're wise, you will save, just like the ants save. And the Bible says you save for a rainy day. But I don't want to focus on that right now. Amen. That's for the Iron Man Conference. Those men that have an itch, an itch to spend. You have you have to scratch. 2,000 comes in, 2000 has gone out. 500 has come in, 500 has gone out. You have to scratch. You have to scratch. Yeah. You see, the latest thing for you, you have to have that latest thing. Then the new season comes out. I have to have that latest thing again. Those are the boys. So what I was saying earlier is that as men, men don't like to spend, men save and they give their finances a mission, money on a mission. You understand? So if a man is a man, this is not a boy, he's a man. He arrives in your life and says, I want to take you on as a financial responsibility. That is interest. And don't mistake financial attention for financial interest. It comes is a lot to it. Amen. There's a lot to it. So if you look at verse nineteen here, the angel of the Lord starts telling him what those four horns are. He explains that there was a dilemma. There was there was he said that these four horns are not allowing Jerusalem, Judah, Israel for it to rise its head. So to rise up. Now, in case you didn't know, I'm gonna give you just a quick um fun fact about combat sports. Yeah, when when you're when you're you're going up against someone, especially when you're grappling, yeah, you control the person by his head and neck. If I hold your head down, you cannot do anything. You can try once I got your head in my hand and I hold it like that, you can't do anything. Those who really know how to know how to fight will tell you this is one of a very serious law, especially in close combat. You come close, I put you down, I hold your head down, you're not moving, you're not going anywhere. These evil spirits, that's what they were doing. The Bible says that they were not allowing Israel's head to rise. So the problem there is Israel is not allowed to see first. So when we're in close combat, if I hold your head down, you can't you're not a threat to me because you can't see. Do you understand that? Israel couldn't behold, couldn't see, and if you can't see, you have no vision. If you have no vision, you perish. That's the responsibility of these demons. So it's very interesting that the prophet lifted up his head and saw the four horns whilst Israel's head was being held down. You get that, and if you jump to verse, jump to verse uh chapter two from verse one, it says, I lifted mine eyes again and looked and saw a man with a measuring line in his hand. You you you have a responsibility. Your responsibility is to see those areas in your life that are not going forward and be concerned about it. I should not be more concerned about your personal life than you yourself. I'm still on the women, I'm gonna come to the men in a second, but as a woman, you should you should not be running after men for their interest in you. What what what I've never seen a Rolex watch call my name. If if a Rolex watch calls my name, that watch is illegal. Yeah, I should I can sanction such a watch. It's it's not allowed to be on earth. First of all, you're not allowed to be on earth if you're calling my name. Second of all, I will assume you're a toy. This is a toy. How can you're not a role? How can a Rolex speak? You should be sanctioned. I should place embargoes on you, spiritual embargoes. So, likewise, why should a woman chase a man for his interest in her? You should be sanctioned. Multiple embargoes should be placed on you. You need to go back to the drawing board. You've besmirched your image. You know what would cause a woman to run after a man desperate. Desperate because you got no interests. So you start doing things outside of character. So lift up your head and lift up your eyes. As I'm teaching you, I want you to scan your life, the areas in which you're concerned, and write them down. Because this year we will pray. And the type of prayer we'll pray is the prayer of Lord, I'm very concerned about this. I've taught you warfare. That's one thing. I'm not teaching you warfare right now. This isn't warfare. This is not warfare. I'm teaching you how to pray with a purpose. Prayer with a purpose. You're praying, and the prayers are uh strategic. The prayers are hitting their targets, you're launching them and they're hitting their targets. I told you, don't fall for you. See those people that say, I will teach you a powerful prayer. There's no such thing, there's no such thing as a powerful prayer, there's only powerful people. Yeah, powerful prayer is um is I'm teaching you incantations, it's a spell. Yeah, so you have no spirit, spiritual life, you have no spiritual life at all. And I tell you, say these words, this is a powerful prayer. There's no powerful prayer, there's powerful people, people that understand who they are in Christ and have learned how to channel their prayers, you know, to hit targets, and you channel your prayer to hit targets if you pray in line with purpose. Everybody here must marry. Each and every single one of you have different things holding up that area, and you must discover that thing. God, you will lift up your eyes and you may see one horn. Whatever you see, you have to ask him, What does that mean? Because God will not tell you straight away. Others may see a man holding a line in his hand, a measuring stick, just like the prophet saw, and again, you have to ask the same question as the other person. What is it am I looking at there? What is that? Some of you may be praying and you see an oak tree. You go and ask God, you write it down. I saw an oak tree, go and ask him, What am I looking at? I remember there was a lady who I I approached. I saw a tree next to her. I thought, what I had to ask the Spirit of God, what's this tree? The Lord says, This is the tree that they worship. There back home, yeah, in Abiyakuta. It's one of the prophecies I will never forget. Abiyakuta. Is that how you say it? I'm not Nigerian, so maybe I'm saying it wrong. Abiyakuta. Yeah, yeah. God said that tree her mom worshipped, her grandma worshipped, the higher one worshipped. It was on and on and on. I said, Oh, really? I said, What's this tree? Oh, they used to take us there when we were kids. The tree they would tell us that the gods are on this. I said, My day, your marriage is there. She asked, So, do I have to go back to that tree? I said, No, see why you have to consistently communicate with God. You found the tree, now you're thinking, Should I go back and plead on the tree? Should I burn the tree? You get yourself in trouble. No, you you you see you saw the tree. You ask, What is this tree? It's the tree your ancestors worshipped. What do I do with the tree? What would you have me do, sir? That's how you talk to God. Is this too much all for you? You tell him, What would you have me do, your majesty? What would you like me to do about this thing that you've shown me? Because I don't know what to do. But I'm ready to do whatever it is you're asking me to do. I'm ready to do it. Praise God. That's on the far side. Now, a thing that could be holding up your entire marriage area could be your character. You could be sleeping and you wake up and uh you remember a dream you had, and you're wearing dirty rags. Your clothes are dirty all the time in your dreams. Those are signs that you are a dark person. You cannot be you know what it is to have a husband or a wife? You're you're too dark to have a husband. Praise God. Many have been given the grace, all right, to to have someone who has asked for their hand. The grace has been given and it fell apart. So, in my opinion, it is better for you not to have anyone you're talking to at all than have someone you're talking to for and for it to fall apart. And in my opinion, it's better to not marry than to marry and divorce. Because the traumas that come with divorce. Has anyone here married before? So raise your hand if you've married. Did you divorce mom? No? Sorry? You have you haven't divorced. You married long time. Let's clap for her. 27 years. Praise God forever. I'm gonna show you one more thing. Thank you, Holy Spirit. Then the rest I'll show you on uh on uh on Sunday. This is the last thing. Write this down. When you pray, you discover that you must pray and you must continue praying even when you think you know what to do. You have to know that God has created this world and the journey with him in sections. So you may be praying for what to do, but why must you continue praying if he's giving you the answer on what to do? So that what you carry out may be successful. There's always something to pray about. There should never be a time where you're not praying. So God may say, Do your fasting. Do you know that you can pray that your fasting goes successful? You can lift up your fasting time in the place of prayer before you enter the fast. So you're praying, Father. What uni should I go to? And you see in a vision, you see the Midlands. Alright. And then you see a name or you hear it in your spirit. Okay, I should go there, no problem. Now you put it in prayer that you're going there, that my time there should be sacred. Because many have gone where God has asked them to go and they came back corrupt. Just because God asked you to go there doesn't mean that everything will work out well. Somebody should have told Adam and Eve that. Because it wasn't the devil that placed them in the garden, it was God. God said, Be here in Eden, and that's exactly where they messed up. Is that too much for you? So just because God said you are to be with this person, it doesn't mean that you must relax and just do nothing. Because you are to, if God says be with this person, put that union in prayer. Many, many people failed this part, so their marriages fail. Oh, I had a vision, God put us together so no man can put us asunder. Say it now. No man can do what? Yeah. And they say it on the aisle with all the flowers and the thing. Spend all that money. But the back end. There was no investment in the back end. None of them were on their knees saying, Father, you put us together. This thing must happen. And it's not, it's not, I'm not talking about the marriage ceremony must happen. I'm talking about the success of the marriage.

SPEAKER_00 45:23

That's right, that's right, that's right. Amen.

SPEAKER_01 45:27

I'll close on this here. I'll close on this. Because God is giving me so much wisdom in this area. I'll close on this. Anything that you're anything that you invest in for a long time, you must pray for a longer time. If I'm going into something and I know this thing will take 50 years from me, I must be ready to pray for 60 years. Do you think I will pray for three days fasting and I'll be praying, I'll be doing prayer thons if I'm traveling to Belgium for one day. That prayer will last me maybe an hour. I'll go into prayer for an hour, come out, Belgium, here I come, and I'll come back out successful. But if I'm going into something for 20 years, no, no, no, no, no. I must be strategic with my prayers about this thing. I set prayers up specifically for this thing, I attack this thing, I drill this thing. Are you are you listening? And I don't stop drilling. There's no time to get tired, there's no time to complain. My hands are hurting. I'm drilling. No, no, no, no. I want everybody here married. But I can't do the praying alone.

SPEAKER_02 47:06

I can't. You have to set yourself up. Set yourself up.

SPEAKER_01 47:20

I remember I talked about this some months ago, maybe last year. She was her health was failing her. And I taught a tiny segment on this. Tiny segment. And the segment was set the time aside and pray if you're concerned about something. Do you remember I talked about that? I said, just put just put five, ten minutes aside. Every morning she'll wake up and drill. She's drilling. I was so proud of your testimony that I sat there like a proud father. She said, I woke up in the morning, I set a timer, I prayed. Next day, I wake up again, I prayed. She didn't look at the uh expense of it, she didn't look at the results, she focused on the prayer time. Say, wake up in the morning, five minutes aside, I'm praying specifically about my health because I'm concerned about this thing. You don't know what's going through the mind of your partner. Today they can promise you things. Tomorrow, they can leave. Marriage is not a game. You don't know what your what's going through the mind of your partner. You don't know what's going through their mind. The enemy could be flooding them, flooding them. There are some doors that you will not be allowed to go into without having someone that's holding your hand. You don't qualify. There are some meetings. Let's talk about on earth. There are some meetings on earth. Literally, the title of the conference is marriage. And you're entering as a single person, they will ask you at the door, Are you married? Where's your where's your partner? Oh no, I came as a single because I want to learn. Oh yeah, go back. You can come back for the singles conference. That's on earth. In the spirit, there are some doors you can't enter without a wife. I'm telling you. Some of those giftings are reserved for married people. So rise. Do you hear me? Rise, lift up your head. Lift up your head. I'm gonna give you an extra minute to write down the things that you're concerned about, and we have to drill. Drill. You write these things down and drill. Don't worry about what the enemy has planned for you. That's not your concern. You leave that to him, that's his business. You write down what you're concerned about, and you lift up your head and see. And say, God, what would you have me do about this? I've dealt, I'm I've you know, I've a bunch of young couples here. I've had one side of the union coming to me saying, Pastor, I know we're preparing the marriage, but I don't want it anymore. Oh, why? I've discovered her character, I'm not interested. And I'm having now to do you know a separate counseling session to convince the guy to go back in where he originally invested in. I've had others come to me and say, I found someone, I saw someone better. That's not normal. That's not normal. Are you bored?

SPEAKER_02 51:20

Can we pray? Thank you for listening to Pastor Max's teachings. Make sure to subscribe and for more information, find us at Faith and Victory Wallace.