Pastor Max's Teachings

Why Believers Must Pray - Prayer Burdens

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This message explains how many believers waste spiritual energy on distractions, emotional wounds, and issues that do not require their attention, while neglecting the matters God has placed on their hearts. Listen now to learn how to pray with wisdom, maturity, and sensitivity to the Holy Spirit 

SPEAKER_02

So we're on the topic of prayer still. We've been talking about prayer this entire time. We've looked at it from different angles, amen. And uh we're we're we're still tying it to marriage because that is the season that we're in. Amen. That's the season that we're in. God is interested in marriage, he loves marriage, it was made by him. Amen. Yeah, it was made by him. A lot of young men don't know, amen, that they are struggling financially because they haven't understood one of the blessings of marriage. Marriage is a protection, it protects you from financial vulnerability to the enemy. Praise God. So many young people come to me and say, you know, Pastor, I've got this opportunity, I've got this, and I want to do this, I want to do this with my life. And what God leads me to tell them is stop fornicating. And that they ask themselves, what does that what does one have to do with the other? But just go over the podcasts and it will teach you what I'm talking about now, amen. But that's not my topic for today. I'm specifically talking about prayer. Now I want you to stay locked in as much as you can. Not too much, but it will challenge you. But there'll be more information that you didn't know. Amen. New information, something fresh for you to practice. So I entitled today prayer burdens. So it's why a believer should pray, and then you bracket it or you hyphen it and you put prayer burdens. Okay. Now I said to you on Thursdays that uh spirit of prayer or the spirit of prayer is the same as a prayer burden. The spirit of prayer itself is not a spirit that prays and that comes upon you, and then you start praying. That's not what that is. The spirit of prayer comes as a burden, but we call it the spirit of prayer because the burden is spiritual. Do you understand that? So because you feel this push all right in your spirit to really give attention to something, and that push is in the spirit, so you can call that thing a spirit. Praise God. And at times, even carnal people, people that don't they don't even know how to pray. They may find at a at a time they feel an urge to pray. Amen. So, with that, I want to say first things first, that it's not everything you should pray about. Write that down. Not everything that you should be praying about. That's number one. Number two, it's important for you to know that not everything that irritates you or bothers you, you should also pray about. So you may have come up with this idea in your spirit that you know if something bothers me, it's something that I should pray about and give attention to. But that's not what the Bible advocates. It's not everything that irritates you that you should pray about. What you should pray about must be discerned. Because some things come to you as a distraction. So some situations arrive to distract you from what you really should be giving your prayer time to. It could be as something massive is going on in your life that's really bothering you. And God gives you discernment for you to pray about something very small in your eyes. Now, why am I teaching on prayer? Just quickly before I continue, because prayer allows you to walk in the frequency of the scripture. Amen. How do I come up to someone and say, by next year, in your account there'll be half a million? And by next year, that is exactly what happens. Because I have a prayer life. Amen. And I always say, you can doubt me now. Okay, you can doubt what I've done in the past, sorry, but I'm still alive, I can do it today. And I can still do it because I pray. And I pray about the right things, I don't pray about distractions. You have a great man of God in the Bible, all right? By Samuel. His name is Prophet Samuel. You know Prophet Samuel? Tap your neighbor on the leg if you find him sleeping. Because when we talk about prayer, that's why people want to sleep. Because the enemy doesn't want them to learn to pray. Yeah, I'm telling you, if you learn to pray, your life will change. If you pray properly, do you understand? I I I spoke here, I prayed here, and I said, you know, unwanted humor. There's a time where you shouldn't be laughing, you're laughing at things you should be taking serious. That means you're a fool. Yeah, that makes you a fool. We're talking about serious things, and you're giggling, you're finding humor in things that you should be taking very serious. That attributes you to being a fool in the Bible. Yeah, so take it very serious what I'm teaching you now. This would absolutely take your power life to the next level. Your power life to the next level. Where was I? What was I saying? Yeah, don't don't don't pray about distractions. Don't there's some things that you should not find yourself giving attention to at all. So there's a gentleman called Prophet Samuel in the Bible, right? That's where I was. So the prophet, God said, I do not want soul on that chair. Soul cannot be king anymore, soul has to go. The Bible says Prophet Samuel was so hurt by that. Why? Because he raised soul, soul was like a son to him, so there was an emotional attachment. And God said, I don't want him on the throne anymore, I've rejected him. The Bible says, Soul was a mourning. Are you listening? Maybe we should just go there because if I give you the narrative scripture, it just won't make sense. First Samuel chapter 16. Let's go there. Verse 1.

SPEAKER_00

Thank you, sir. 1 Samuel chapter 16. Thank you, sir. 1 Samuel chapter 16 says, Let our master now command your servants who are before you to seek out a man. Thank you, sir. 1 Samuel Chapter 16, verse 1 says, Now the Lord said to Samuel, How long will you mourn for Saul? Seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel. Fill your horn with oil and go. I am sending you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided myself a king among his sons.

SPEAKER_02

Did you hear that? Let me read it again. And the Lord said unto Samuel, How long will you mourn for soul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? Fill thine horn with oil and go. I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided me a king among his sons. This is this is interesting to me, very interesting, because the prophet was emotionally attached to King Saul, and God said, How long will you stay there for? How long will you give this thing attention? Get up and go. So, what that told me is there's some things that you must get up and move on. Why have you been crying about a breakup for this long? Are you that that you're you're it's as if you've been mourning for years? Oh, do you know what she did to me? Do you know what she did to me? Do you know what she put me through? She even stole from me. You know what God is saying to you? Who cares? I have to talk to the boys because some of the men are like women. Listen, you want to be effective in the things of the spirit, do not give attention to what God has not asked you to give attention to. Let me shock you. Yeah, Prophet Samuel. This was a genuine, probably one of the most powerful prophets in the entire Bible. The way he operated, not many operated like him. Okay? Because of his emotional attachment, look what happens. He's on his way, he gets to the house of Jesse and picks the wrong guy for king. But he's a prophet. Prophets are meant to get it right. If I tell you, God said it's supposed to be the correct thing. This guy, being a senior prophet, he gets to the house, sees five boys, and says, It's this guy. This is the guy that God has picked. God had to come down and say, Brother, that's not the that's not the right guy. Right after that one, he turns around and says, Surely, go and read. He says, Surely it must be this one. The Bible says the second one was handsome and tall. He says, Surely it must be this one. God says, it's not that one. The prophet got it wrong over four times because he gave his heart and his attention to the wrong thing. But put yourself in his shoes. Alright? That's something that he genuinely thought. Alright, it was valid. I have a relationship with Saul. I should be mourning over him. He was rejected by God. So what am I telling you? I'm saying you must discern what to give your attention to. Discern it. Just because something is affecting your emotions, it doesn't mean it deserves your attention. Okay, work is not going well. Should you go and fast for three days about it? Listen, if you if you fast when you shouldn't be fasting, all right. If you find yourself fasting when you shouldn't be, you'll be eating when you shouldn't be as well. I'll give you an example. The same guy we're talking about, soul. Yeah, I give I've given this example before. Soul sends Israel into war. But before that, he tells them to fast. That was the wrong time to fast. You know what happened? They lost the war. And and his son, his son looked and said, It's my dad that's troubling Israel. How can you call a fast and we're going to war? The Bible says the children of Israel were so weak, they were being smited, slaughtered. It was Jonathan, the son of the of the king, who took honey and ate it. And the Bible says he found strength in himself and began to fight. Do you understand that? So that man was so confused, giving his attention to the wrong thing, that he began to declare fast at the wrong time. There's a time to pray, and there's things you must pray about, and there's a time to fast and things you must fast about. Some things, no matter how big they are, don't deserve your fasting. That's a distraction. Amen. I told a guy many years ago, I said, God says that on your journey next week, all right, on the journey next week. I specifically did not give him the day because he was jobless. I said on your journey next week, you will bump into someone who will give you a very good job that you're not qualified for. Do you understand? I'm a prophet, so I can do stuff like that. So I gave him that word. You know what he did on the Wednesday, the day that he was supposed to, you know, get that job. He went into fasting the whole day. He fasted the job away. Is this message too much for you? On the day that was designated for him to be blessed, the guy decided to recuse himself and lock the door and stay inside. Just imagine on your wedding day, the day you're meant to unveil your face to your husband, that's the day you decide I will fast today. It's equivalent to what some of you do. We're waiting for you to walk down the aisle, sister, and you're fasting. You did a good thing at the wrong time. Can I show you something else?

SPEAKER_01

All right.

SPEAKER_02

Let's go to Matthew. Matthew chapter fourteen.

SPEAKER_00

Thank you, sir. Matthew chapter fourteen.

SPEAKER_02

Verse ten.

SPEAKER_00

Thank you, sir. Matthew chapter fourteen.

SPEAKER_02

Start from verse eight.

SPEAKER_00

Thank you, sir. From verse eight says, So she, having been prompted by her mother, said, Give me John the Baptist's head here on a platter. Verse nine. And the king was sorry, nevertheless, because of the oaths and because of those who sat with him, he commanded it to be given to her. So he sent and had John beheaded in prison. Verse eleven. And his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother. Verse twelve. Then his disciples came and took away the body and buried it, and went and told Jesus. Verse thirteen. When Jesus heard it, he departed from there by boat to a deserted place by himself. But when the multitudes heard it, they followed him on foot from the cities. Verse 14. And when Jesus went out, he saw a great multitude, and he was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick. Verse 15.

SPEAKER_03

Praise God.

SPEAKER_02

Now the reason I gave you that scripture is because John the Baptist was killed and Jesus didn't pray. I think you missed that. John the Baptist was beheaded, and the Bible says Jesus in a nice way ran away. He left that city. He left and went to the desert. He did not say, I will go up against Herod. Herod will see pepper and fire today. Thunder. He didn't do that. He looked and said, My cousin has been killed. And he left the city. That's Jesus, the King, the person that we all serve. Praise God forevermore. When I was studying this, I realized that as a leader, as a as a husband, there are things I will see, a lot of different things I will see, and I must be discerned enough to be like this is brush, and I need to give this attention. Now you're in a time of marriage, okay? You are in the time of marriage. There are you're in the season of marriage, I should say. There are things you should already be burdened with in your heart to pray about regarding you and your tomorrow. There may be a pattern that you've seen at home, as you've seen the pattern with your parents, you're discerned enough. God has put that in your spirit. You're discerned enough to say, okay, I won't give that attention. That's distraction. But God says to you, pray about this side instead. Pray about this instead. There's a gentleman that I went up to who's very gentle, very calm, very calm person. And I went up to him, I whispered in his ear, I said, pray so that you don't kill your wife tomorrow out of anger. He looked at me shocked. He said, Me. I said, Yes, you. Do you think you can deceive me? I said, Yes, you. I said, I said to him, pray so that you don't strangle. I told him how. I said, so that you don't strangle her to death because of something she would do tomorrow. I said, pray. What was interesting is he didn't come back to church after that. Which also taught me that sometimes God doesn't give you the prayer burden because you don't have capacity yet. Jesus didn't tell Judas, he didn't look at Judas and say, You will betray me. But he told Peter. You understand that? He looked at Peter and said, You will betray me tomorrow. But Judas, who would have done worse, he didn't say anything, he left it because of capacity. Many of you I look and I pray for and I just say nothing because my help can offend you and God works with us the same way. He looks and says, If I help this person, I will I would I will I will scare them away. The help can become a thing that you fear. What's interesting is when Jesus told Peter, you will betray me, he tried to say, Me. I will never do that. You know why you must pray for your partner? Because you you are in a position, you and your partner are in positions where you haven't experienced everything in life yet. You haven't experienced the most high-pressured environments that will bring out the worst in you or the best in you. So to marry takes discernment, even you may pick someone because of the good character they have now, but when you put them in a high intense environment, another face comes out. Praise God. You don't want someone who will kill you because of your mistakes. Tell your neighbor, you don't want someone that will kill you because of your mistakes.

SPEAKER_03

Amen.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. So your first prayer point should be, Father, what burdens should I carry in prayer pertaining to myself and my partner? What burden should I carry? What should I overlook? And what should I pray about? I'm not moved by the circumstance, I'm moved by the spirit. That's important. I don't come off where I'm standing because something has happened. I come off where I'm standing because I'm led. It says, your words are a lamp to my feet. So I only move when I see what he wants me to see. You understand that? Yeah, I don't move because something has happened. Oh, I got a report from the hospital, and they said that there's a tumor growing in my brain. Okay. Alright, no problem. That's fine. But if the burden comes in my spirit, I feel the burden in me that no, this one you have to pray about. This is an arrow in your back. Then I shut off everything and I go into the place of prayer. There are some members that have left us. God said, Don't let that one out. You know what don't let that one out means? The enemy is sifting them out. You have to stand at the door and pray for them. So I've shut down everything and said, I'm going to pray for two days for this person. Yeah. Amen. And you got you got to have that wisdom. It's a mixture of discernment and Sophia. Do you understand? Sophia is divine intelligence. Divine intelligence. This this knowledge can only come from the Spirit of God. Only no one else. There was a pastor who was told that his son would have Down syndrome. He fasted for 17 days. And then God said, It is done. Amen.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

And there was another similar case that I heard from another pastor. And all he did was, Satan, get your hand off my child. That was the last he spoke of it. And he moved on. Now, does it mean one is more powerful than the other? No, it's what is required. The Spirit of God will tell you what is required. He is the one that will tell you. Give this more attention than this. Praise God. So many believers find themselves entertaining the wrong thing. The wrong thing. You see stubbornness in your partner, alright? And you don't like it, but it doesn't mean you must pray about it. Because that stubbornness could be used for the kingdom. And that stubbornness could save your life tomorrow.

unknown

Come on now.

SPEAKER_02

So say you break the camel's back, okay? You remove the stubbornness from her. She's no longer stubborn. And the day that stubbornness is to save your life.

SPEAKER_01

Amen.

SPEAKER_02

Let me show you what you should be giving attention to. Let's go to Chronicles, the book of Chronicles. Second Chronicles, please. Second Chronicles chapter thirteen.

SPEAKER_00

Thank you, sir. Second Chronicles Chapter thirteen.

SPEAKER_02

Chapter twelve, verse thirteen, sorry.

SPEAKER_00

Thank you, sir. Second Chronicles Chapter twelve from verse thirteen says Thus King Rehoboam strengthened himself in Jerusalem and reigned. Now Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the Lord had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel to put his name there. His mother's name was Namah and Ammonitas. Verse 14. And he did evil because he did not prepare his heart to seek the Lord. Verse 15. The Acts of Rehoboam, first and last, are they not written in the book of Shemiah the prophet, and of Ida the seer, concerning genealogies? And there were wars between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all their days.

SPEAKER_02

Amen. Now some of you may have missed it, some may have caught it, but the Bible says, Verse 14, and he did evil because his he prepared not his heart to seek the Lord. As a husband, you know that you're gonna lead a house tomorrow. Where you should be giving your attention in prayer is not God, send me a good wife. No, it's God, make me a good husband. You don't like that, do you? Before you are praying for God to send you a good wife, pray for you to be a good husband. The Bible tells us that Solomon, when he was leading, when he was so young, he was tender, 16, 17, he was to lead the entire Israel. He prayed a prayer and said, God, you've given me all these people to lead, give me the wisdom to lead them. He didn't say, You've given me all these people to lead, make them good towards me. No, he said, He said, Make me wise enough to lead them. You're gonna run a household, brother. You're a husband. Alright, maybe maybe you don't understand what a husband is. In Ephesians chapter uh 5 and 6, it speaks about husband. Okay, and the Greek word used there is translated to the husband being the master. You're the master of your home, you have the last say. For you to have that much authority and not corrupt the house, you have to be a good, godly, pure-hearted person. God has given you so much authority, but he's expecting you to come back to him with that authority and ask for guidance. How do I know? Because that king didn't do it, but God didn't pull him up on it. The Bible says he was to lead these people and he did so much evil, so it means God allowed him to do the evil. God let him do evil. So all the men here who are to lead households, if you want to be a terrible husband, guess what? God will let you, he will allow you to be a terrible, a very bad husband. And then on come judgment day, he will pull you up and say, But you had a responsibility to seek my wisdom. Read that part again, read verse 14. What does it say?

SPEAKER_00

Thank you, sir. Second Chronicles chapter 12 from verse 14 says, And he did evil because he did not prepare his heart to seek the Lord.

SPEAKER_02

He did evil because he did not prepare his heart to seek the Lord. Can I go deeper with that? Yes, sir. Okay, sometimes evil doesn't look evil. Sometimes evil doesn't look evil. It doesn't. God says to David, do not number Israel. Don't do a census. You know what a census is? He does the census, God says that's evil. So as her husband, it could be as little as your wife asks, Can I go to this event? And you say, Yes, you can. Out of being kind, God looks and says, That was an evil thing you did. God is not from Nigeria, God is not from Congo, God is not Jamaican, He's not from Zimbabwe. Don't you understand? Our cultures are not his cultures. So what is evil to God must be studied. Yeah. When he says, train up your child in the ways of the Lord, you must study what is the way of the Lord. You could say, Oh, my children are they're young, I can put earrings in their ear. God says that is an evil thing you've done. Yes. Some of you are walking in this thing and you don't know that God is looking and saying, That's not what I want.

SPEAKER_03

Praise God.

SPEAKER_02

Did I hurt your feelings? I have to tell you the truth, isn't it? God is so much interested in how you dress, so much interested in how you look, so much interested in how you carry yourself. Amen. He's so much interested in all of that stuff. So as a good father, even the school that my children will go to, I have to seek his will for that. If I send my kids to St. Joseph's and they're meant to go to St. Andrew's, I've done an evil thing in the sight of God, and I will answer for it when the time comes. The message I'm teaching you now is one of maturity, it's not one for you to shout about. I can make you shout if I want. Amen. I got jokes for days, but um, this is not that time. It's not that time. Amen. It's really not that time, it's for you to learn. You need to come out of him mature. Yeah, we have mature, not boys, men. Yeah, this king, the Bible says his heart was not prepared. That's a big key if you want to lead a house. You must pray that God prep listen as a married man. I have to lean for this one. As a married man, yeah, the madness you will see in your home. And it's madness to us as men, the madness you will see in your home, God has to prepare you for it. Then you will sit sometimes and say, Ah, no one told me this. No one was supposed to tell you. Only God was supposed to prepare you for such a thing.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Only God. And if you didn't know about it, you didn't ask. I'm a firm believer that marriage makes men of boys. Did you understand that? If you're a boy and you go into marriage, you become a man instantly. Yeah. Because God has to prepare your heart to be a father in everything. Write this down. Father's bear. Write that down. Father's bear. You see a father, yeah? A father, if his daughter slaps him, he will look and walk away. Some of you are like, not my father. Not my father, I'll be dead. Your dad is from wherever your country is from. God is not from there. A father, where as in God, do you know how many times we bite the hand that feed us? How many times have you bitten God's hand? And he just went, ah, he firmed it and said, That's my child. I love them. Praise God forevermore. So in marriage, as a as a as a man, you you have to bear a lot. Hence why your heart has to be prepared for it. God Himself will prepare your heart to be able to take on everyone's burdens. Violation, you take it. Burden, you take it. Responsibility, you take it, accountability, you take it. Mistakes, you take it. That's a father. This is something that God has been and is continuously ministering to me. So many of you, young men, you keep calling me about marriage. I want to get married, I want to get married. What you're asking for is to be a man. And you must know to be a man is simply even not enough. You have to be a man of God. Because bearing is the first side of it. Do you understand? But bearing it the way God wants you to is the second side of it. Say after me, Lord Jesus, prepare my heart. Prepare my heart. Say prepare my heart. Blessing, read from thirteen to sixteen, please.

SPEAKER_00

Thank you, sir. Second Chronicles chapter twelve, from verse thirteen, says, Thus King Rehoboam strengthened himself in Jerusalem and reigned. Now Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the Lord had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel to put his name there.

SPEAKER_02

Okay, now I want you to jump to Second Chronicles chapter thirty-two, verse twenty-five.

SPEAKER_00

Thank you, sir. Second Chronicles chapter thirty-two from verse thirty-five says, So Hezekiah rested with his fathers, and they buried him in the upper tombs of the sons of David, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem honored him.

SPEAKER_02

Second Chronicles, Chapter 32, verse 25.

SPEAKER_00

Thank you, sir. Second Chronicles Chapter 32, from verse 25, says, But Hezekiah did not repay according to the favor shown him, for his heart was lifted up. Therefore, wrath was looming over him and over Judah and Jerusalem.

SPEAKER_02

Twenty-six.

SPEAKER_00

Then Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart, he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of the Lord did not come upon them in the days of Hezekiah.

SPEAKER_02

Okay, so now look, can I give you some wisdom there? Look at this, yeah. This is very, very interesting. And I'm not sure why God has done it this way, but this is the way he's done it, so we're gonna flow with it. It says, But Hezekiah rendered not again according to the benefit done unto him. So he found much favor with God, for his heart was lifted up, so he was prideful. Yeah. Therefore, there was wrath upon him and upon Judah and Jerusalem. Now, my my question is: if I am Jerusalem and Judah, why am I getting in trouble for what that guy is doing? No, no, no. Listen, the Bible says that God was angry at Judah and Jerusalem. Because Hezekiah, King Hezekiah's heart was lifted up, he was too prideful. So the Lord began to minister to me that God can turn against children and the mothers for what the fathers are doing. Now, let me take you back to prayer burdens. As a man, you are praying that God will give you the right heart and prepare you for leadership. As a woman, you are praying that God will prepare your husband for leadership. As a woman, as a wife, don't pray about yourself first, pray about your husband. And as the husband, pray about the husband. You didn't catch that. The wife is praying for God to prepare the husband's heart for leadership. The husband is also praying for God to prepare his heart for leadership. Because if that man makes the wrong turn, the entire family is gone with him. And God will not say the husband has done evil, God will say the family has done evil. Because of the father's mistakes, some families have been written off. God was supposed to raise prophets in that place, but he didn't because of what the fathers have done.

SPEAKER_03

Praise God forevermore.

SPEAKER_02

Now, from your perspective, you might say this is not fair. This is not fair. But one thing I've also learned from being in the realm of marriage is that fairness shouldn't be what you are looking out for, peace is what you should be looking out for. You want your husband to be at peace with God. That makes him trustworthy. Imagine having a man that you can go to and you say, What is God saying? And he tells you this is where God wants us to go. Stop giving your attention on things that do not matter about his looks. Oh, you've been praying since you've thought about marriages that he should have a beard or not. That he should be tall. You're just distracted. You're giving your prayer attention to things that do not matter. Can I can I tell you something? Do you know do you know that do you know how King David looked? Do you know that David was short? Blue-eyed, short, very short guy. In comparison to all his brothers, he looked different. You wouldn't look at him and think this is a king. And David wasn't a fighter. Do you understand? He wasn't a fighter, but that short man led to the entire Israel and ended up being the greatest king alive. Don't look at the physical appearance. Women, your prayers can beautify your husband. You're too quiet. I cancel out that spirit of lust. Because nowadays what you are calling attraction is lust. You're just a lustful person. Oh, I love long hair. What is long hair gonna do for you? Tell us. Tell us what high hair on the head is gonna do for you and your children tomorrow. No, tell us. Enlighten us in case we don't know. Tell us. What's a beard gonna do for you tomorrow? Oh, Pastor, I can stroke it. So that's so that's what your life has amounted to. That's all you're thinking about. So all the days of your life you're thinking about, I want a beard to stroke. You're not thinking we're gonna build a house together, we're gonna raise men of God, women of God. For you, it's a beard that I must pull. Pastor, he must be fair skinned, he must be darker skinned. The darker the berry.

SPEAKER_03

Have you heard that one?

SPEAKER_02

It doesn't even make sense. If the berry is too dark, it's gone off. That's actually what it actually is. Amen. Let's not live our lives based on such quotes that are not in the Bible, amen. It's not in the scripture. Let's not live our lives based on those things. Praise God. You're a young person, alright. You know, I'm giving you this so you can make the correct decisions from now moving forward. If you're a middle-aged person, then I'm teaching you so you don't make the same mistake you made before. Amen. Yeah. Do not make the same errors. Do not marry four looks. I like the tall. I want to look up to my man. Why don't you start looking up to him mentally first? I've heard it so many times. I want to tip-toe when I hug him. Use that energy that you're using to tippitoe in prayer. And pray for his heart. Because that tall man that makes you tippy-toe can finish you. Yeah. He can finish you if he's not a man after God's heart. He can finish you. I'm telling you. He can finish you in your entire lineage. God doesn't want wrong marriages in this ministry. He doesn't want that. He wants you putting the prayer deposits at the right place. So that it's a sweet smell, you know? The prayers go up to God and God is impressed. He says, This is acceptable unto me. This such a prayer is acceptable. Now I've taught you before that the things in the kingdom of God start with desire, isn't it? So as I'm talking to you, I'm imparting the desire for you to want to be a man of God. A man after God's heart. Parents are delivering their children to you. For you to do what? They're delivering their daughter to you. A man is going to take his daughter and hand over the girl to you. For you to do what? Destroy her life? Destroy her life? Praise God. Men say after me, I have a responsibility. Say it louder. I have a responsibility to lead a house. And lead that house to the cross. I cannot put my own interests first. I must put the interests of God first. Praise God. Say that, sit down. And the ladies, I want you to repeat after me, say, in the name of the Lord Jesus, God is giving me a prayer burden. To pray for the heart of my husband. That he will not lead me astray. That he will lead me to the cross. That he will be a man after God's heart. I will sow for it. I will raise altars for it. I will pray for it. I will fast for it. I will intercede for it. In the name of the Lord Jesus. Amen. Notwithstanding, Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart, both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. So that the wrath of the Lord came not upon them in the days of Hezekiah. It didn't say in the days of Judah or Jerusalem, in the days of Hezekiah. Do you understand? One of the secrets I want to give to the women, before you say yes to a man, check if he has a good heart. And a good heart doesn't mean kind. Because a lot of you women fall in love with kind men. And then you're bamboozled later because he's just not kind afterwards, is he? But I'm saying look at the material his heart is made of. Don't just say yes to anybody. Because all your decisions, all your desires will have to be submitted through him. He will have to give the green light for it. And he has to be like that because if things go wrong in the house, God will hold him accountable. Amen. Even if you're here and you say, I don't want to marry, God has marriage in the plan for you. Even if you don't want it, he hasn't in the plan for you.

SPEAKER_03

Praise God.

SPEAKER_02

Many years ago, at that time, everybody was getting married. There were weddings week after week after week after. And you find after three, four months, divorce here, divorce there, divorce there, divorce here. And you found that these young people got married because they had things in common. That was what brought them together, things that they had in common. Praise God. So if you're in a relationship now, you have a girlfriend, alright, in which you don't see that type of future with do her a favor and walk away. If you're in such a union as a man, and you yourself, you know you're not you're not a good guy. You're just a disgusting, terrible man. Yeah. Or you know yourself that you're just a boy. You're still you're not a man, you're a boy. Let that girl go. Do yourself a favor. When you marry, you become a father. A father. A father. You let things go. Bear. Say it with me. Bear. I will bear. I will bear them. I have to bear it. Amen. You have to bear. And it's challenging because you're bearing and teaching at the same time. So you bear the pain of whatever it is, and then your response to that is to teach. Praise God. Now I can't go into the rest of the message because that's for married people. Amen. But we are going to pray. Amen. We're gonna pray. What are we praying for? The men, you're praying about your heart. The women, you're praying about their heart. That God will give you a man that has the material to be a husband. A good husband. Can we do that? Now, this is a prayer of supplication, not intercession. Okay? Now, in a prayer of supplication, what you're doing is you're making an earnest request. And when making these earnest requests, your posture matters. So some of you will lift your hands and talk to God, others will lie on the floor and talk to God. So it's an earnest request that God for the men, you're asking him to change your heart. To give you the heart that you need to lead, the woman that you're saying that you will lead. And for the women, you're also praying for your man as well. Can we do that? We're gonna spend 15 minutes praying. Do you understand? This is a church, we pray. Do you understand? So if you didn't expect it, expect it. Praying a lot more. The more the sun comes out, the more prayer we'll do. Yeah. So for the men, I want you to say in your prayer, God, give me the heart to bear my wife. You know, give give give me the heart that I need. I don't want to be like King Hezekiah. Do you understand? I don't want to be like that. I don't only lift it up in pride. I want the heart to bear my wife and my children. Stand up, let's pray. Lift your hand and bless him right now. Just bless him, and then I'll lead you into that prayer. Bless him. Bless him. Bless him. This the place shouldn't be this quiet. You should be talking to God. Talk to him. The teaching will resume after this prayer. Talk to him, talk to him, talk to him. Say, Father, make me a man worth following.

SPEAKER_01

I want to hear you praying. I want to hear you praying.

SPEAKER_02

Pray and ask God to give you the heart to bear your partner. Tell him. And did it oh shit, did they be kidding, Satanabasati? I want to see the men lifting up their hands and praying and talking to God earnestly. From your heart, earnestly. In the name of the Lord Jesus, I just want to show you this thing in the Bible. That was a good prayer. That was a nice prayer. Amen. Those who pray genuinely, the work has begun. But this type of prayer is not a one-time prayer. It should be something you're praying constantly. That God change my heart. Change the quality of my heart. Praise God. Because we want good husbands. Amen. We want good husbands in the sight of God. Now, this is for those who see themselves as good wives or want to be good wives. I want to read your scripture. First Kings chapter 21, verse 25.

SPEAKER_00

Thank you, sir. First Kings chapter 21 from verse 25 says, But there was no one like Ahab who sold himself to do wickedness in the sight of the Lord, because Jezebel his wife stirred him up.

SPEAKER_02

Did you read that? Can I let me read that for you? But there was none like unto Ahab which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up. Do you know that your husband can have an inclination to do evil and you stop him? You're too quiet there. Yeah, because you love blaming the men. You want to blame the husbands. But there's a role you play. The Bible says Jezebel stirred him up in evil. You know what that is? To stir someone up in evil? You provoke them. You provoke them in this thing. You entice them into evil, into doing evil, into acting against God. And Jezebel, I have no doubt in my my mind that she in her mind thought that the advice she was giving was the correct advice. Not knowing that the advice she was giving was leading Ahab astray. It's like Eve. Eve saw the fruit, she said, This is good for food. That sounds nice. This is good for food. So let's all eat it. God said, Do not. Eve said, it's good for food. You have to know, women, you have to know when your counsel is ungodly. You have to know when you're just being a woman. Be able to discern that. Do you understand? Yeah. One of the young men here was giving mightily, yeah? Activating his giving. He's giving, he's giving. And then the woman that he's to marry starts saying, you know, do you think that uh your giving is wise? Shouldn't you start saving? He came to me with this information. I said, from her perspective, I understand that it sounds she's being a woman. Let's plan, let's start saving for our future. But she didn't know that that advice was demonic. And if he had listened, and after that period, he was reluctant to give. Not knowing that in our kingdom we get richer by giving. That's why I give so much. And I do not remember the last time I had nothing. I don't remember that. Amen. I do not remember the last time I lacked. I give I give a lot. I think I give more than everyone here. Yeah? In my opinion. But I still have more than everyone. Because God keeps honoring me. Do you understand? Giving is one of the principles in the kingdom that you must be aggressive about. When you see someone in need, run and help. You go and give, you attend to them. But his wife came in and said, Are you sure we should uh shouldn't we plan? If you read the book of Genesis, chapter 16, there's another woman there that does something strange. She tells her husband, God said, We're gonna have children, go and sleep with the maid. Go and sleep with our housemaid. Maybe that's what God meant. Did you know that Islam was born from there? The mother of Islam is Hagar. Hagar is the mother of all Muslims. Hagar. And the father of Muslims is Ishmael. Ishmael was born of a woman's advice. Wrong advice. Nevertheless, because it was Abraham's son, God blessed Ishmael anyway. God said, Ishmael will be rich. Lo and behold, we have the Muslims who are very wealthy. Yeah, because they're Abraham's children, just like us. Because they came from him, they are blessed. Are you listening? So you as a woman, you have the power, the influence to nudge your husband in the right direction. Not to give him dark counsel. And sometimes that means not telling him things. Because you know, if I tell him this thing, it's gonna derail him. I'll tell him after, I'll tell him later. How many wives, because of the advice, have led their men into the hand of the devil straight in?

SPEAKER_03

Praise God.

SPEAKER_02

Another one, Job's wife, she said, curse God and die. Yeah, Job went through terrible things because of God. And you know what? You know what Job's wife said? She said, What kind of God is it that this that was serving? Curse him and die. Job was wise enough. Oh, clap for Job. Job was wise. Job said, Job said, So this is how you are. Job said, This is how you are. So when God was blessing us, you wanted to be with him. Now he has decided to leave us for a minute. You want me to curse him. Does that make me loyal? So that means I'm only with God when he's good to me. When God decides to turn his back on me for a minute, I'm now cursing him. That's what his wife advised him to do. Some women are strange. Her husband said that a certain thing should not be done in the house. Amen. A certain thing should not be done in the house. And her first son did that thing. And it made the husband very angry. He found out it was done in the house, and he said, Who did this thing in the house that I you know expressed that I don't want this thing done in this house? The wife came forward and said, I did it. She protected the son. She knew that the son was the arrow into the future for the man. She didn't want to break their relationship. So she took the bullet. She said, I did it. That is wisdom. That's wisdom. Not a woman who's throwing her kids under the bus. You're too quiet. Maybe I should move on from this. I'm not growing foolish women here. We're not building foolish women here. We're building women of God who will advise their husbands properly. You're bold enough to tell your husband when he's wrong, and you're giving him scriptures to back it up. Sometimes that's what it takes. Don't just yap. Talking, talking, talking, talking. No, open the Bible. Open the Bible, give him a scripture and say, read this. What does this say? Tell him, meditate on that. Come back to me. Amen. Your power is in influence. You're not his manager, you're not his boss. You're there to influence him. Influence is soft. You get that? Yeah, influence is soft. So you open the Bible and you show him and say, This is this is this is not recommended. If you're wise here and you have a partner who's maybe you've you've noticed that he's stepping out on you and cheating a lot. Yeah, getting angry and smashing things and getting all of that brings you nowhere. You actually look like a mad person. Like you have cognitive problems. You know, do you understand? You don't do that. You know what you do, especially if you believe this is a man after God's heart. Open the Bible and show him what the Bible says. Lemuel. Who knows who Lemuel is? Yeah. Right. His mother was telling him, Do not give your energy to women, they will turn you into fools. I was telling my wife a couple of days ago, I was reading the Bible, and I saw when David called for Bathsheba the first time. When she came before him, she said, My king, how are you? She prostrated, she called him king. When he got her pregnant and she came back, she said, David. Yeah, she entered the palace and said, David, I'm pregnant. Where was King? Yeah. Before they slept together, my king. After they slept, oh yeah, David, you got me pregnant. Sexual sin will turn a king into a fool.

SPEAKER_04

No sir. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Open the Bible and show him. Say, look, this is a wise, the wisest man in the Bible. His mom is telling him, Do not give your energy to women. They will turn your kingliness into foolishness. Find one woman, invest in that one woman, and stay with that one woman. That's how you build. Not sleeping around like a clown. Do you understand that? You see, when you talk to a man that way, you're not angry at him. You say, Because I love you, I want to show you something. Bam! You push the Bible to him. Say, read. Let's read together. If he really honors God, he has the fear of God in his heart, he'll be shaking whilst reading it. And trust me, it's even better if he says to you, I'll read it later. That means you finished it. He's taken in the message. He's already in his brain, he's already taken. I'll read it later. That means that you've you you caught him, you got him. Amen. So God wants women of God who will advise their husbands, counsel their husbands properly. Your husband comes to you or your partner comes to you with a strange idea to do fraud. You have to you have to assess him. You look at you, are you you know where did this where did this idea come from? Is this a wise thing to do? This is where you want to lead our family into fraud? To be a fraudulent uh family? Some I know some of you are doing fraud, that's why you're quiet. Praise God forever. This is our second and last prayer point. You're gonna pray. This is now women. So the men, now you pray for them. Pray that God will give the your wife the voice of reason, the voice of wisdom. Do you understand? Men, do you know why it's important for you to do that? Because if your wife has the voice of wisdom, she will also not misadvise your sons. You understand that? Yeah, what you are receiving as a foolish and stupid advice from her, she'll give to your children. Didn't you read about Jacob and Esau? The mom, it's the mom that planned everything. The mom said to the younger one, Don't worry, I'll make the food you go to your dad, deceive your dad. It was the mother. So a woman isn't just don't just when you're picking a woman, don't just pick a woman for you, pick for your children. Is this the kind of things you want your children to and by the way? Your children are not you, you can resist because you have some some sort of wisdom. You'll say, This advice is wrong. Your kids will say, Yes, mom. They will just take it on board. Do you understand? You see, when when I'm gone for a long time, yeah, and I come back, before I come back, my kids, my wife calls me, and my children are saying, Thank you, daddy, thank you. I'm saying, What are you thanking me for again? And this one says, Thank you for this car, thank you for this, thank you for the food, thank you for the and then I realize she's telling them, Is your dad is providing all of this? No, some wives will turn around and say, See, your daddy's not here, it's me that's doing everything. Your dad has left me lonely, sowing seeds of discord between you and your children. But when you pick by the spirit, all right, and that woman develops wisdom, she starts, she talks well of you to your children. Even if you two are not seeing eye to eye, she will talk well of you to your children. That is a good woman. And what I'm saying is relevant. Some of you have grown up in homes where your mom has trashed your dad. And to trash you, she even say you're just like your dad. Am I speaking or am I not speaking? You wanna bring you wanna come up in a home like that? You wanna make a home like that for your kids? Tap your neighbor and say, be wise. Thank you for listening to Pastor Max's teachings. Make sure to subscribe and for more information, find us at Faith and Victory Wallet.