Divine Assignments

In this inspiring teaching, you’ll discover your vital role in opening the door for God’s power to move in the lives of those you love 💖
 💡 Learn how to partner with God’s plan
 🙏 Stand in faith for your family
 ✨ See how your obedience can help bring breakthrough and restoration

God has given you a purpose—and your faith can make an eternal difference!

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:14

Welcome to Faith for Your Family. My name is Michelle Steele, and I am honored to have this time with you today for us to get in the Word of God and strengthen our faith for the salvation, the freedom of our family members. I am excited for today's teaching because we have divine assignments in prayer. God has specific things that can be done and accomplished through the effectual, fervent prayer of the righteous people. And what a privilege that we can co-labor together with God, that God can use our prayers as open doors into the lives of our family members. We've been talking about having effective prayer. And this teaching comes from a series that we've done, Effective Prayer. It's a 12-part series. It has a study guide. It has videos that you can go on our YouTube channel at Life of Faith Church and you can watch those videos from where we've taught extensively on having effective prayer. It's also available in MP3 downloads. You can access all of that information at build uh, I'm sorry, lifeoffaith.net. And you can strengthen yourself in praying effective prayers. And that's what we want our time in the presence of God to be effective. We want to have accuracy so that when we're praying, we are making the necessary connections that can be made. We are utilizing the right tools out of the toolbox. Another tool that we have for you is this book, Intervention Prayers. And this is one that we specifically have in a devotional side, a devotional type format that you can go through it daily, and then you can go back through it again, and you can learn. You can have prayers exampled for you how to put that what you have just learned into effect in your prayer. But we want to accurately bring the power of God on the scene, and that's what we're learning about praying is that we are opening the door for the power of God, like that 911 phone call brings the intervention of the people who are skilled and equipped to help into the situation. Our prayers bring the power of God into the situation. Ephesians 6 talks about our stand against the power of the enemy. And it says in the in verse 12 and 13, we do not wrestle against flesh and blood. Now I want to emphasize the word against in this one text in verses 12 and 13. Let's let's kind of keep track of how many times the word against is brought to us. We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to having done all to stand. So you'll be able to withstand, and you could even add against, because when you're withstanding, it's against forces that are trying to push you off your position. So we see here that this wrestling is a spiritual wrestling. It is against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. The word against in the original language of the Greek New Testament, it says it's a face-to-face confrontation. It speaks of a close contact battle between two opponents. And it's not to make us intimidated or to make us afraid because the victory is in these verses. It says that we stand against and we are able to overcome all, to withstand and to stand and to overcome. That we can do this in a victorious way. So we're not doing this trying to get victory. We're doing this from a position where we've already been given the victory in Christ. But we are taking a stand against, to stop the forward momentum, the forward progress of the enemy, and to put into um effect the direction God wants us to be, the direction God wants for our loved ones' life. And so he says, we are standing against. If you were to back up to verse 11 of Ephesians 6, it says that you put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. And the word wiles means plan or scheme, especially a plan or scheme used to outwit an opponent or achieve a specific end. A plan or a scheme. This wiles of the enemy. We are not victim to them. What the enemy has planned for your loved one's life, you don't have to let it continue to play out. You can stand against it. You can put on the armor of God, you can take your position in Christ, and you can stand against what the enemy's trying to do in your loved one's life. And that's what our divine assignments in prayer are accomplishing. I said this in the previous two weeks lesson that we've been through, that the the uh minister John Wesley, a great general of the faith, he made the statement: it seems that God does nothing except in response to believing prayer. It seems that God does nothing except in response to believing prayer. This gives us an idea of our opening of the door, our inviting the presence of God in. God is willing to, he wants to, it's his desire to, but he needs entrance into the situation. We know that God in Genesis gave authority to mankind. Mankind, Adam, delegated his authority, he submitted his authority to Satan when he chose to act on Satan's words instead of acting on God's words. And Satan, in tempting Jesus, said, All authority has been given to me. And Jesus, since that time, has triumphed over him, and Jesus made a statement saying that all authority in heaven and in earth has been given unto him now. We are in Christ. And so in Christ, we've been delegated the authority to use his name, the authority to exercise his dominion and his power on the earth. And prayer is part of that delegation. Prayer is taking what we know to be the will of God and bringing the will of God into a position of authority over a situation. And so Jesus told us to pray God's will be done. Pray that God's will be done. So why would we need to pray it if it's just going to happen anyway, right? Why would Jesus tell us to pray that way if it was just going to happen whether we prayed it or not? And so there are things that are happening in your life today that may not be the will of God. And so you don't need to settle for them. There may be things happening in your family, in your loved one's life, that are not the will of God. You can look at the Bible and you can see this is not what God said. This is not what God wants. God wants them to be in peace, that they're tormented with this. God wants them to have a long, satisfying life, but their life is being cut short by the decisions that they're making. You can look and see things that are not the will of God. And so what do you do? Well, you bring the power of God on the scene. The effectual, fervent prayer of the righteous makes tremendous power available. And so, Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 18, we want to look at that power today. We want to see how we can make that power. It says, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit, praying with all prayer and supplication in the spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. This verse, Ephesians 6.18, this verse comes after describing all of the armor of God that we are to be wearing. We're to put on the armor of God. We said, if you put on the armor of God, you'll be able to withstand all the wiles. You'll be able to overcome all the wiles, the plans, the schemes of the enemy. And so we we can go through the armor of God and we can see how all of them are protections. All of the armor of God. We've got the armor over this the helmet of salvation to protect our mind. We've got the breastplate of righteousness to protect our spiritual organs, our heart. We've got the belt of truth, we've got the shoes of peace, we've got all of this armor. And then we've got the sword of the spirit, which is a not only a protection, but it is also the weapon that gives us the ability to move forward, that gives us the ability to take ground. And then he says, praying. Now that you've got all this armor on, here's what you do. Here's the activity for an armor-dressed believer, praying and watching, praying and watching. And we spent a couple of weeks, the last two weeks, talking about the watching. And so this watching is where we are finding our divine assignments, these assignments that God has given us, that He gives specific things for us to watch over, specific things for us to be in charge of, that He needs somebody who is got the vigilance that has it on their radar, that's looking at that situation and seeing what needs to be prayed out, what needs to be covered, what needs to be called for in that situation. And so I want to look at a specific example in Daniel. And I I love Daniel. I love the story of Daniel. I look forward to meeting Daniel when we get when we all get to heaven, right? So in Daniel, we see someone who God had watching over in a national level, watching over the plan of God for his people, for his nation. And we see in verse 3, for example, how Daniel responded. He says, I set my face unto the Lord my God to seek by prayer and supplications, to seek. So what was he doing in prayer? He was looking, he was he was searching, he was inquiring, he was desiring to have a specific outcome. So he's seeking by prayer and supplications with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. And so the fasting, the sackcloth and the ashes refer to his demeanor, his position, his humbling himself, that that I'm depending on you, Lord, I'm looking to you, I'm I'm lowering myself to your will, to your plan. But his activity is seeking. So when we are in the New Testament are praying with all prayer and supplication, there are things that we can take the verses right out of the page and know what should be happening. We we can know what the will of God is for the situation and we can call for those things, we can demand for those things, we can require those things. And I'm using a definition that you might recognize uh from the amplified translation. If you've ever heard where it says that you would ask for uh in the book of John, for example, the amplified would say that you would require, that the that you would require this. And so we're not requiring of the Lord, like, Lord, you got to give it to me, but we're saying, Father, according to your word, according to your word, we're requiring this. So Daniel was, he we as in the New Testament, we can look at and we can see things that we know to be the will of God, and we can require or call for those things. But then there are things that we need more direction, we need understanding, we need for God to show us what what it is gonna take to change our loved ones' mind. What's it gonna take? What do I need to pray out to open the door for the power of God to that that will convince them? Because God knows what will convince them, God knows what will reach them, He knows what it's gonna take, and He knows the process or the steps. So there are some things that we're going to be seeking, God. We're gonna be looking, we're gonna be inquiring. Lord, I need you to show me. And then we have an example in Daniel chapter 9, where uh verse 20, uh God begins to respond to his seeking. It says in verse 20, while I was speaking and praying and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God for the holy mountain of my God. Yes, while I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision of the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation, and he informed me and talked with me and said, Oh Daniel, I am now come forth to give you skill and understanding. At the beginning of your supplications, the commandment came forth, and I am come to show you, for you are greatly beloved. Therefore, understand the matter and consider the vision. So he receives this visitation from this angel, but interesting that he said, I am come to give you the skill and the understanding. And I started coming the moment, the beginning of your praying. I started, I came at the beginning of your supplications. God commanded me to come. And so here I am with the understanding that you're seeking. So the moment that you begin to pray, things began to change. God begins to work on his end, even though you may not see it, even though you may not have the complete understanding yet. God's his hand goes to work. He begins to put things into motion. He begins to put things into play from the moment that you start your praying. And so that's why we want to be diligent. That's why we want to be praying always. It said in Ephesians 6, always. And that means that I'm keeping the phone line open, I'm keeping the communication line like that person in the grocery store or walking through the Walmart and they've got their earbuds in and they're on the phone and they're having a conversation, but they're going on with their responsibilities and with their their day. And you can you can continue throughout your day in that constant communication with the Lord, and you're keeping the wheels moving, on you're keeping the line open for God to continually bring situations and circumstances and light and and change into that. So he said, I've come to give you skill and understanding. And I think that's something we need to want a little bit more. We want skill in our praying, we want skill in what we're doing. We don't want to be. I remember coming to a place where I felt like every time I got into praying for my love, a certain situation in one of my children's lives, I felt like I'm stuck in the mud. I feel like, you know, somebody who has gotten off over into a ditch, and every time I hit the gas, I'm giving it all my energy. But I'm just slinging mud. I'm not moving. I'm I'm I'm not moving from this place, this rut that I'm stuck in. And and when you sense, I know that there is that faith aspect of our praying that we don't need evidences to know that what our praying is working. But there is a spiritual sense that I'm I'm I'm hitting on all cylinders or I'm not. There's a spiritual recognition for you to know if you're stuck in a rut slinging mud, like a person who has slid down into a ditch and they can't get out. In those times, that's when you need to do what Daniel did was he that that fasting, fasting doesn't make God listen to you better. It makes you hear him better. Fasting doesn't move God as much as it changes and conditions you for the movement of God in that situation. So fasting is to help you be more accurate, to for you to hear more clearly what God wants to say. And so he was doing things with the fasting, the sackcloth and the ashes. He was doing things to to tune out the world and tune in more to God. And that's one of the things that we need to be more diligent about. How much of the world has your attention? How much of your attention does the world have? Let me ask it that way. How much of your attention does God have versus Facebook, Instagram, whatever your social media of choice is? How much of your attention does God have your undivided attention? Can He speak clearly to you? Are you got your eyes on the radar of what it is you're watching in prayer about? Because part of the answer coming is in my seeking of it. So he said, at the beginning of your supplications, the commandment came forth, and I am come to show you, for you are greatly beloved, therefore understand the matter and consider the vision. And then in verse 12, and I've got this from the God's Word translation, for in verse 12, the angel said to him, Don't be afraid, Daniel. God has heard everything that you said ever since the first day you decided decided to humble yourself in front of your God so that you could learn to understand things. God has heard everything you said. He's heard everything you said from the first day you decided to humble yourself in front of your God so that you could learn to understand things and And then the angel said, I have come in response to your prayer. I have come in response to your prayer. I want you to hear God say that to you today. I have come in response to your prayer. If you've been praying, that's what God wants you to know today. I'm moving in response to your prayer. If you haven't been praying, you can start right now. You can start today. You can start immediately. And God will respond. God will send the angelic assistants. He will begin to send the laborers across the path. He will begin to send the light into the darkness. He'll begin to send the situation, the answer to the situation, to the situation. In the moment that you start to pray, God will hear everything you pray and he will respond immediately. I want to encourage you today to bring your request to your loving Heavenly Father who desires to move on your behalf. Ask him boldly to open the eyes of your loved one's understanding. Ask him boldly to bring labors across their path. Ask him boldly to rescue them from the darkness that has been gripping their mind, from the destruction that's been ruining their life. Ask God to move that situation. And he will. It will establish your faith in God's will to intervene in your loved one's life. Every day, you're equipped with guided prayers and faith-filled confessions to help you activate the truth you've received. The personal testimonies of God's miraculous deliverance will inspire you to know that God is willing and ready to intervene and rescue your loved one from destruction. Get your copy of Intervention Prayers, powerful prayers to rescue and restore your family. You can call 501-400-8797 or visit lifeoffaith.net. Regardless of what you see playing out in the lives of your loved ones, even if reports tell you things are getting worse, you can stand strong in faith. Go to our website, lifeoffaith.net, or call 501-400-8797 to get your copy of intervention prayers today. We share teaching and preaching that builds your faith and speaks to real life challenges right where you are. Our heart is to help produce spiritual life that empowers you to overcome life's adversity and succeed in God's purpose for you. Subscribe, turn on notifications, and let your faith be strengthened.