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Are you aware of the fact that we have been asked by the president to give special prayer beginning today and from today through July 4th when we have our celebration of 250 years? And this this request is a request for prayer that we would be people of prayer. And so I want to read to you from this proclamation. This is a presidential proclamation, and there is a quote here from George Washington. So let me read this to you. When the second Continental Congress voted in favor of independence, General George Washington issued general orders to his army. In words that have echoed throughout history, he wrote, The fate of unborn millions will now depend under God on the courage and conduct of this army. Let us therefore rely upon the goodness of the cause and the aid of the supreme being, in whose hands victory is, to animate and encourage us to great and noble actions. Glory to God. The fate of unborn millions. I would say we are in that number. Our liberties and freedom and what we've experienced in our lives as Americans is because of the faith and the willingness to stand that those in the very beginning and the inception of our country were willing to take, the things that they were willing to do. Above all, this year we pray and endeavor that the triumph of the American spirit and the glorious truths expressed in our Declaration of Independence will shine more radiantly than ever before. And so this request for us to pray, what an honor. That we are invited to pray for our nation. That by one who is an elected official and God honors the office. You don't have to like the person. There have been presidents that weren't my favorite presidents, but I honor the office that they're standing in. And I honor the office because God is the one who has given that office its authority and that office its honor. And so to honor God, I honor the office. And to have one stand in that office and acknowledge God is good. But to have them say, we want to dedicate our nation back to God, that's a whole nother story. Because that is specifically inviting God's interaction, God's protection. God, he's not being put out like he was put out of schools. Saying you can't talk about God in schools, you can't pray in schools, and he was put out, and because he was put out, his protection was put out. But now we have someone in an elected position asking that we rededicate. And today is there is a a full program that starts at, I think, almost 11 o'clock, probably right now, starting at in Washington, D.C. called rededicate 250. And and this um this day marks that rededication, and he's asking the people of God. He's asking the you the Americans, the citizens of this country to pray and ask God's blessing on the next 250 years. To thank God. And so the the first part of the uh program today, they are looking back and they're remarking on all that God has already done. Doesn't that sound like the way Jehoshaphat prayed? You know, when Jehoshaphat and so I I'm I I had intended to do something different today, but during prayer the Lord redirected me. And so we're just gonna stay along this way because I want you to see your part, and I want you to be equipped for your part. I want you to bring a supply to this praying for your nation, and I want you to uh know that heaven sees a responsibility in the life of every believer. Heaven hasn't exempted you from your part, heaven hasn't disqualified you or said, you know, it's not that important. Heaven has said your prayer is important, your prayer is important, your prayer is important, what you bring to God is of great value to the outcome of how things play out. And so before I move any further, let me read this as well. This was from 1776, and this was from um the day they they deck they declared May 17th today. This was in May in 1776, they proclaimed this day as a day of humiliation or humbling yourself, fasting and prayer. And so this is a quote from the Second Continental Congress proclamation, that he would be, that he would be graciously pleased to bless all his people in this in this country, in these colonies, with health and plenty, and grant that a spirit of incorruptible patriotism and of pure undefiled religion may universally prevail, and this continent be speedily restored to the blessings of peace and liberty, and enabled to transmit them inviolate to the latest posterity. And it is recommended to Christians of all denominations to assemble for public worship and to abstain from servile labor on this said day. So this day was a set-apart day from 1776 as the day for us to humble ourselves before God and seek Him for His blessing on our country. You know, the United States of America is not the intent of the freedom to worship was not so that people could worship false gods. The intent was so that we should we could worship God without being restricted in our worship to God. Not that everybody would have the freedom, the intent, the intent was not that everybody would have the freedom to serve whoever they wanted to serve, it was to worship God. This is one nation under God. So the intent of the freedom of liberty, the freedom to worship, the liberty to worship, that intent was that no one would restrict us from worshiping the true God. God, because that's why they left where they were. They were being restricted from honoring God. They were being uh held in bondage under uh the false religion. And so they came here to get free of that. So the intent was never for us to embrace true embrace doctrines or embrace religions that violate the word of God. In that freedom of religion, that's where it has gone. And and as people who know the Lord, as people who are equipped with the name that is above every name, we've got to hold back the darkness. We are not here as the militant church trying to get victory. We are not here as a church that is um struggling, fighting in an attempt to get victory. We are the triumphant church. Jesus is Lord, but we are equipped to enforce that. We are the enforcers, so we are to stand our ground, we are to exercise authority over darkness, and darkness, including false religions, should not gain strongholds in our cities, in our nation. Amen. But it's not gonna happen just because we own Bibles, it's not gonna happen just because Jesus is Lord, it's it's gonna be because we're enforcing his lordship, because we're we are taking the authority in the realm where we are, and we're exercising our authority here because he has given us the name, he has delegated his word to us and said, go into all the nations, preach the gospel. Now, prayer. If you remember when I've taught on prayer, and it's in my book, intervention prayers, but when I've taught on the intercession, the word intercession means to go between. Jesus is the intercessor, he has completed the work of going between us and God to connect us to God, and he has gone between us and Satan to disconnect us from the power of Satan. And so Jesus is the intercessor, and the work of intercession is complete, and the prayer of intercession applies the work. The prayer of intercession enforces the work. So when you intercede for someone, or when you intercede for your nation, when you intercede for your community, when you intercede for your school system, when you intercede, you are applying the going-between. Usually when you're interceding for someone, it's for someone who has they're not in a position to intercede for themselves. So when they came to Abram and said, Abram, your nephew Lot has been taken captive. And not only not only Lot, but the whole city. Those who had been taken captive had no weapons. They had no strength, they had no ability to free themselves, without the intercession of Abram, Abraham, Abram before his name was changed, without the intercession of Abram, they would not have had any hope because they had lost their ability to defend themselves when they were defeated. And now they were captives, they were weaponless, they were they were in able, unable to resist what their captors had had done to them. So Abram took his covenant with God, and he, with 318 men, did what five kingdoms could not do. He defeated the adversary and recovered the not only the people but all their stuff. How did he do that? He had a covenant with God, and his covenant with God enabled him to uh access the power of God on and bring into hallelujah, bring into his situation that power, the power supply of God. And when we look at our work of our our work of praying and applying that intercessory prayer, a lot of times we only spend that focus on that connecting with God's side, that connecting with God. Father, I I come to you and I'm praying for the eyes of their understanding to be enlightened. Father, show them the love that you have toward them. And you're you're going to God. But the work of intercession is a two-directional work. And so the that work of applying that victory over the enemy has to take place by a born-again, word of God-filled believer on the earth. You are the ones who are representing Jesus on the earth. And so the work in that prayer, that vehicle of prayer, in standing against the enemy and taking authority and drawing the line in the sand and pushing him back and saying, no, that's not happening here. Hallelujah. What's making the difference between the states that uh have opened their law books, their constitutions wide open for abortion, and those who have said, no, no, no, you're not bringing that in here. No, no, no. What's the difference? The people of faith. The people of faith. There are people who have stood their ground and taken steps to not just in the natural, not just, and and both natural and spiritual steps to enforce the will of God. We honor God as a life giver. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Glory to God. And so for that to be enforced, it will require that those who know their God be strong and do exploits. Those who know their God stand their ground and make that breaking of the enemy and his control over regions, his working in situations. Is anybody else really done with the deception? Doesn't the deception just do something to you spiritually? Because we know God is a God of truth. His word is truth. And for deception to be so widespread that fraud is able to become such a an issue. But he's only doing what he's able to get away with. Glory to God. So you and I. We are carriers of truth. We are vessels of light. We carry God Himself. Greater is He who is in me than He who is in the world. So you and I need to, you know, Brother Hagin said, it's always proper to pray for boldness. Acts chapter 4, it said, grant unto your servants boldness. He said, it's always proper to pray for boldness. So we need to pray some boldness on ourselves. Lord, give me boldness. Give me boldness about those things that your word is established on. Give me boldness in prayer. Give me boldness. Not to have arguments with people, but for us to raise up a standard against the adversary. For us to take our position in prayer. For us to go to the throne and get the help that we need for the situation and go in between what the enemy's doing in that situation and cancel his authority, break his, unravel his deception. Hallelujah. So let's build our faith about that a little bit today. How about that? How about we look a little bit at this ability in prayer? You know, I think it would it would benefit us to begin in 2 Chronicles 2. I'm sorry, 2 Chronicles 7, 14. 2 Chronicles 7. And I'll actually begin in verse 11. Then Solomon finished the house of the Lord and the king's house and all that came into Solomon's heart to make in the house of the Lord, and in his own house he prosperously effected. And the Lord appeared to Solomon by night and said unto him, I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place to myself for a house of sacrifice. If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people, if my people which are called by my name shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Hallelujah. Well, we know that pestilence, destruction would be because they had, in disobedience, opened the door for the curse and blew a hole in the blessing protection. For those things to have happened, for them to experience those kind of things, that we're talking about the blessings not working and the curses got in. That's what happened when the snakes, the venomous snakes, came into the camp of the children of Israel. It wasn't as much God sending snakes in. The snakes were always there, but they had never gained access before because there had been a blessing wall. There had been a protection wall. But when they began to complain, their complaining broke down the wall and they knew it, and they repented. They came to Moses and said, We have sinned. They knew this is happening because we have sinned and God can't bless the sin. And so we're we're repenting. What do we do now about the snakes in the camp? And God brought a redemption for them. For them to look at the judgment of the snake receiving judgment on the pole. And so glory to God for his mercy. He's saying, in this, in a situation where you see that the curse is getting in, it's because there is a lack of the blessing. There is a a a uh the walls of the blessing have been pulled down. The the you know when they would say shields up in and in Star Trek, and then they the the they would receive enemy fire, but it would be deflected by the shields, right? We we've got we've got a shield of the blessing. We've got a shield. It says that his favor is round about us like a shield. Glory to God. It's like a blessing wall. What happened in Goshen was different than what happened in Egypt. The the plagues that were coming on Egypt, they weren't experiencing those. Why? Because there was a blessing. God had made a difference. Glory to God. And he, yes, he can protect us individually in situations, but there are some things that we as a nation may be experiencing individually because there are areas in our nation where the blessing wall had been deflected, where the blessing wall had been violated, and the curses is operating. I go into again some of the things that certain states have allowed, and and and things that people have made legal that violate the word. Hallelujah. So because we experience things on that scale because of what's happening in our nation, there may be things that flow down and that we endure, we encounter hardships, we encounter difficulties, we encounter things because of the that blessing. Well, what can we do to help bring that that strength back to the blessing? We pray. We pray. He said, if you will humble yourself and pray and seek my faith. So it's not complaining about it, not complaining about the law, not complaining about what's happening, not rioting, but it's praying. It's praying, it's going and saying, God, you're the one who can turn this around. This is happening because people have treated you this way, and people have pushed you out of this, and people have thumbed their nose up at you in this situation, but I don't thumb my nose up at you. I'm your child, I'm your righteous, and I'm asking you to have mercy upon my nation. I'm asking you to have mercy upon my city. I'm asking you, Lord, for your peace to protect. Hallelujah. So he said, if they, if my people will pray, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their ways, their wicked ways, I will heal, I will hear, I will forgive, and I will heal their land. Praise God. This is a promise. Now I want to look at 2 Chronicles 20 because when Jehoshaphat he was in a situation that was not because they had sinned, Jehoshaphat was in this situation because there's an adversary. The enemy had surrounded him. He had an enemy who wanted to destroy him. And so this enemy in 2 Chronicles chapter 20 had surrounded the city on three different sides. They had no recourse, they had no ability to fight against them. But I want you to hear how he seeks God. In 2 Chronicles 20 and verse 6, he said, O Lord God of our fathers, are not thou God in heaven, and rulest not thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen? And in your hand, is there not power and might so that none is able to withstand you? Glory to God. Glory to God. He is acknowledging God, he's acknowledging God's power, he's acknowledging God's ability in this situation. He didn't come to God to tell God about the trouble. He didn't come to and rehearse the adversary. He'll get to the adversary, but first let's talk about you, God. First, let's talk about how great you are. You are all that. You are above only. You are God all by yourself. There's nobody who compares to you. Your strength is untouchable. Your arm is able to save us. So he's acknowledging God. He is strengthening himself in God's ability. Verse 7, he said, Are not thou our God who did drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel and gave it to the seed of Abraham, your friend, forever? Now he's rehearsing what God's done in the past. You are the God who brought us out of Egypt. You're the God who drove out the inhabitants of this land in the beginning. You're God who created the heaven and the earth. He's rehearsing God's previous achievements. And in verse 9, he said, If, verse 8, and they dwelt therein and have built you a sanctuary therein for your name, saying, If when evil comes upon us, as the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, if we stand before this house and in your presence, for your name is in this house, and if we cry unto you in our affliction, you will hear and help. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Was God doing anything about Jehoshaphat's problem five minutes before he made this prayer? We don't have any evidence that God was doing anything. He hadn't been invited. He hadn't been remember. Behold, I give you authority. Have dominion. You have dominion. You have dominion. I'm giving you the authority to have dominion. So God's not forcing his will in every situation. And that is a big problem in the lives of too many Christians, is they think, well, if God wants it, he'll make it happen. And so there's a lot of coasting when and when there should be somebody driving the car. But they're just letting it coast. Well, if God wants me to, if God wants it to happen, he'll make it happen. Because there is a false idea of the sovereignty of God. And here's just a precursor. Pastor Calwell's newest book that's not out yet, but I've had the privilege of helping him with. It is so good. And he talks about, it's called Cut It Straight. And it's talking about rightly dividing the word of truth. And he talks about in there this idea of sovereignty. That people think God is sovereign, so you never know what God's going to do. God's just going to do whatever he wants to do in the situation. And if God wants to do it, he'll do it. And he said, that's not the word sovereign is not in the Bible. And the word, the idea of sovereignty, yes, God is sovereign in that he is all powerful, but God has established how he will operate on the earth. God has established how things work on the earth. He's established limitations. And so the example that Pastor Caldwell gives in his book is the Allied commander Eisenhower, when he was, this is before he became president, when he was the commander in World War II, he was the commander not only of the United States forces, but he also oversaw and had to orchestrate what took place in the other Allied forces that were joined with the United States. And he said, the only way I will take the position is if you make me the one who is the supreme commander so that I will be able to make the decisions in every capacity. So he was sovereign, but nobody said, Eisenhower, you never know what Eisenhower's gonna do. Eisenhower followed the rules of war. There were systems in place, and all of his decisions had to be made within that, the limitations, if you will. God has established his word and he won't violate his word for anything. You will, you are able to know what God will do through his word. God will do exactly what he said he would do. So when we have this idea that, well, you know, if God wants it, that's not a scriptural way because there are a lot of things happening in the earth today that God never wanted. He didn't want it, he didn't order it, he didn't orchestrate it, it wasn't him. And I have to say, Pastor Caldwell is the first person that brought to me the understanding that God didn't need to do, God didn't, God did not have Jacob's, Joseph's brothers, throw him in the pit and try to kill him. God did not have Potiphar's wife accuse him of raping her or trying to rape her. God did not need evil things to have positioned Joseph in the position he put him in. God could have done that without. God was faithful to him and brought him through every one of those situations and exalted him above every one of those problems, but those problems happened because people were jealous and people weren't getting their way. It was the evil of the influences of the evil and the people's flesh that put Joseph in that in those hardships. God did not do the hardships in order to move Joseph into that position. It was the supernatural ability of God that God would could take him from the prison to the palace, but God didn't put him in the prison to get him to the palace. And you see the mindset? And so a lot of people they're they're praying with crooked ideas. And because they're praying with crooked ideas, they're not praying straight arrow prayers. Arrows that an arrow prayer is a prayer that hits the target. But if it's crooked, it's gonna go wonky, gonna end up off target. And so they're they're praying things like, Lord, get a hold of my grandson, even if you have to wrap him around a telephone pole. God doesn't need to wrap anybody around a telephone pole to open the eyes of their understanding. And if a person prays that prayer, now they've just opened the door for the enemy. Because the enemy will step in there and take that, and God will get all the blame for it. Yep, God did it. God got his attention finally. I walked into, I was doing a radio program years ago, and the people who were on the radio program right before me, dear sweet uh uh uh man of God, and he he had suffered a heart attack, and he had recovered, and this was his first day back in the radio station to do his broadcast. And I I walked over to say, I'm so glad to see you. You look great, you praise God for your recovery, and the first words out of his mouth, he said, Well, God just had to get my attention and get me to slow down a little bit, so he gave me a heart attack. And before I caught myself, I should have bit my tongue, but it came out so fast I just caught myself afterward and had to just kind of backpedal a little bit. But I I said, How can you say that about our father? It just, I mean, just my initial reaction just came stumbling out of my mouth. How can you say that about our father? And then I kind of tried to soften it a little bit because he was my elder and I didn't want to disrespect him. But I but it was such a shock for me to hear that from him. It was such a shock that anyone would say that about God, that God gave them a heart attack. What? No, God doesn't have any to give. The thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy. That that person was in their doctrine, in their teaching, they had accepted something that took John 10.10 and and and rearranged it. John 10.10 says it's the thief who comes to steal and to kill and to destroy. So if it falls in that category, scripture has identified who's the author of it. It's not God. God's not doing that. Yes. And so God was the one who restored. God was the one who brought them out of it. God was the one who kept them from dying in that. And so there was a a little boy in England, Arkansas, who his father liked to listen to the CB radio. He liked to listen to the the actually they had the little monitor in their house that they could hear and pick up whenever the um fire department went out. And so the dad, he would put the little boy in the car and they would go watch the firemen put fires out. And one day the little boy, he he said, Daddy, why is this big red truck going around town starting fires? The little boy in his mind, in his mind, every time he saw the fire, he saw the red truck. It was the red truck responsible for these fires. And then we get the fun of watching him start the fire, put the fire out. He said, Why is this red truck going around starting fires all over town? And that's what the way that see that mindset. God put me in the hospital so I could witness to this person in the hospital bed next to me. No, you could have walked in here on your in your health and in your strength and witnessed to that. But he didn't have to put you in there for that. But God used, he ministered through you in there. He touched you through there, right? But it wasn't God who put you there for that to happen. And so the mindset causes crooked praying. And crooked praying opens the door for the enemy. There was a woman who said to Charles Capps, she said, I want to I want to see my husband saved. And I've been praying, and I told the Lord that even if we have to lose everything in our business for God to get his attention, and he said, Sister, God doesn't have to wipe you out financially to get your husband's attention. But you know what? Their business went bankrupt. And her husband turned to the Lord and got saved. And so God got the blame for the bankruptcy. And God got the blame for them losing everything. Because wrong teaching. Because in her mind, in her mind, the only sacrifice necessary was the one Jesus made. She didn't have to sacrifice her finances for the salvation of her husband. Jesus' sacrifice was enough. But the praying, wrong praying, opens the door for the enemy. The enemy will get into wrong praying. He'll take advantage of that. He's looking for words to work with. And words in prayer are words nonetheless. Just because you started that prayer saying Father in Jesus' name doesn't mean the enemy is not going to be listening. And seeing if there's anything he can get in on. And so Jesus is the high priest of our confession. Is that correct? He's the high priest. And so he's receiving our words of faith. He's receiving the words that we declare. When we say, I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge, my fortress, my God. In him will I trust. Surely he shall deliver me. Then I'm saying that, and then his deliverance is now officially on record as a legal flow in my life. Why? Because I've said, I have made the Lord my refuge. I trust God. I make him my refuge. And he said, because you've said this, he'll deliver you from the snare of the fowler, noise some pestilence, a thousand will fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand. Now I know we pray it that whole way from us. I will say of the Lord, He's my refuge, my fortress, my God, and surely he will deliver me from the snare of the fowler. We pray it that way. But if you stop, it says, Because you've said this, he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler. It's the high priest having received your words in prayer, received your declaration as you stood before the throne of God and said, Father, I come in Jesus' name and I'm trusting you. He's received those words and he's telling you, I will rebuke the devourer for your sake. I will protect you. The snare of the fowler won't get you, the noise and pestilence won't get you. And then the next part of Psalm 91, God the Father says, Because you've made me. Because you so he so God is bringing his declaration of keeping power to you. Hallelujah. But it started with your words. So fear-filled prayers. The enemy likes to work with those. Prayers that are not established on the word. The devil did not ask Eve what God said because he wanted to know what God said. The devil didn't want to know what God said. He wanted to know what Eve thought God said. He was asking the question to locate her. Where is she? Is she established on the word or not? Because he's looking for how to attach. My attack is going to be based on that area of weakness where the word's concerned. And so when she said, the Lord said, we can't even touch it. You can't find that in the Bible. You back up one chapter to Genesis chapter 2 when God said, He said, cultivate the garden. Keep it. Guard it. How are you going to cultivate the garden and I can't touch it? Well, Lord, you're going to I can't touch this tree. How am I going to cultivate that tree? How am I going to guard this tree? I can't touch the tree. He didn't say don't touch it. He said, don't eat the fruit of it. So she had added something to the word that wasn't in the word. Oh, now he knows. Now he knows where she stands. Not on solid ground. No, no, no. You shall not surely die. Why? Because she doesn't have a solid basis of truth. I can deceive her. And the Bible, First Timothy says, Eve was deceived. Adam was in disobedience, but Eve was deceived. How did she get deceived? She accepted the lie. There was absolutely no resistance in her conversation at all. It was almost friendly. You expect to see her invite him in for tea. You want a cup of coffee? Come on in. I got some banana bread. You know, it's she's she's having a conversation like this is a uh a casual, not a problem for us to be having this conversation. While there's someone there lying about God, lying about the character of God. God doesn't want you to have, oh girl, you if you have what a fruit of that tree, you're going to know something. God don't want you to know it. He's trying to keep that from you. That's the lie the enemy tells those teenagers. Your parents just don't want you to have fun. That's why they won't let you stay out till two o'clock in the morning. That's why they want you home at midnight. They are trying to ruin your social life. See the character, it's about don't trust him. He's trying to, he's trying to keep when God had already given them access to his own knowledge. You can walk with me and ask me anything, I'll tell you. There was nothing that he would have withheld from them. Glory to God. But he didn't want them to experience the evil that was attached to that tree. I would have much preferred that my children would have just taken me at my word. Don't drink alcohol. There's nothing in it for you. I can protect you from putting your face in a place your face was never intended to be, if you'll just listen to my words. I can protect you from that hangover. I can protect you from that DUI. I can protect you from that. If you'll just listen to me, you never have to experience being cuffed and stuffed. If you'll listen to me. You've got access to, they could have known anything. Glory to God. So the deception, what the enemy is able to use to deceive people, that deception came in because she entertained that lie. There was no resistance, but there was an entertaining of it. She allowed the thoughts to continue in her mind. And so the weapons of our warfare are mighty through God. What do we do with our weapons? We take thoughts captive. We cast down imaginations. We pull down strongholds. Those are violent. Those are active. Those are things that are resistant. That idea has no place in my thinking. I'm pulling that down. That picture, that's what an imagination is, has no business playing a video in my head. I'm not letting it. Hallelujah. Why? Because my spirit can produce things. I can put the word in and I can produce things out of the kingdom soil of my heart. But I can also pull worry in and I can produce a harvest of worry. I can produce a harvest of anxiety. I can produce a harvest of fear. If I'm putting the wrong fuel in, if I'm putting the wrong ingredients in, I'm going to come out with something that's not worth living. With a result I don't want. And so understanding God's ways provides a protection and provides a clear path for us. Understanding that God has given us authority. And there are some things that are happening personally in your life, maybe in your family, that you have been maybe waiting for God to do something about. And God's saying, But I gave you authority. You're the one who has to do something. Anyone ever read the book I believe in visions? Oh no, I'm sorry. The Believer's Authority by Kenneth Hagen. The Believer's Authority. And you remember how he had this vision. It's in both books, I believe. He had this vision, and Jesus was trying to talk to him. And he's standing there, and Jesus is trying to talk to him, and this little, he said it looked like an imp, a little, a little demon monkey looking thing that came walking over and started going, yakity yak, yak, yak, yakity yak, yak, yak, yakity yak, yak, yak. And he as he did out of his mouth, this this dark cloud, like a fog, and he said, I couldn't hear what Jesus was saying, and I couldn't see him clearly because this fog was filling up the area where we were standing, and the this demon, and he thought, Jesus, why aren't you doing something about that demon? Why aren't you telling him to shut up? And he yakkity yak, yak, yak, yakity, yak, yak, yak, yakity yak, yak. And he said, Finally, I said, in Jesus' name, stop that. And immediately that little demon stopped and and the smoke cleared, and and he said, Jesus said, if you had not done something, I could not. And he said, I know I heard you wrong. I heard you wrong, Jesus. You did not say you could not. He said, You said you would not, right? He said, No, if you had not done something, I could not. And he began to, and that's where he, the whole book, The Believer's Authority, how he explained, I gave you authority. I gave you authority. You're the one on the earth today who has the authority over the enemy. And if you don't do something, it's not going to get done. If you don't take authority, it's not going to be taken. And so that's that mindset, that deception that people think, well, if God wanted it to happen, there are things happening, God doesn't want it. He's not the one who's failed to take authority. He's not the one who's failed to dominate the situation. A lack of knowledge, maybe? My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge, Hosea says. Right? Whether it's a lack of knowledge or whether people are waiting on God and God is saying, I've given you the power. The power's in your hand, the ball's in your court. You're the one who has to exercise authority here. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. So was God, my question again that got me off on that whole rabbit trail, was God doing anything in Jehoshaphat's situation five minutes before? Was God involved? He hadn't been invited to be involved. This was between Jehoshaphat and the enemy. This was between Judah and the enemy, the people of God and the enemy. But they initiated the invitation for God. Now God can be involved. And now God responds. Because they've acted on his word, they're asking him, they're seeking him, they're calling, and he will hear and he will help, and he does. He does. He said, This battle is not yours. I'll fight it for you. And they took God at his word to the point that they didn't even send out the armed forces. They sent out the praisers. Glory to God. Why? Because God said we won't need to fight. So that's why we've made this decision. We're just going to go ahead and praise him. Why? Because we trust him. Believe on the Lord, so shall you be established. Believe on his prophet, so shall you prosper. And that's what they did. They believed the word of the Lord that came through the prophet. They believed the word of the Lord that they would not have to fight. And so they didn't send out the armed forces. They sent out the praisers. And as they began to sing, when the song started, the victory was initiated. Hallelujah. Because their faith was in that worship. We have faith that we don't need to send out the archers. We don't need to send out the Calvary. We just need to send out thank you, thank you, Lord. And that's what they did. So God's invitation was initiated in this prayer. Hallelujah. God's invitation into the situation is required. He is a gentleman. And he's not going to force himself into your family without your invitation. But oh my goodness, he's faithful. If you invite him, he's gonna show up. He will show up. He's never late to the party. Right? He loves to be invited. He will show up and he will do what he said he would do. Praise God. So we've seen here this instruction that he has given in 2 Chronicles 7, acted upon here in 2 Chronicles 20, and it was resulted in with the victory of God. I want to also look at Daniel chapter 9. Daniel chapter 9. Because Daniel was praying on this larger scale that we're looking at. Not just for him personally, not just for his family personally, but to pray for their nation. And he asks for mercy and for God's forgiveness. And there are prayers that you can pray, even though you haven't been the one that has violated God's word. But as an American, you know, there are things that my country has done, or as a whole. When we only identify with our individual relationship, we miss a lot of how God has a more panoramic responsibility. If you were to take, for instance, a general of the United States Army, and he has a toddler. And that toddler knows daddy who puts the syrup on the pancakes for him. That toddler knows daddy who gives him gives him piggyback rides. He knows his daddy who who you know tucks him into bed and and and and he knows him individually, how he supplies for him, how he plays with him, how he interacts with him individually. But then that toddler grows up a little bit and he goes out in one of the processions where the general is standing with all of the entire group of people that he is responsible for under his care. And he sees rows and rows and rows of soldiers and colonels and all the different uh whatever people there who are his colleagues, people there who are his subordinates, people there who are following his command and his instruction, and he sees his father in a totally different perspective. And when you and I only interact with God from that individual way, we miss the fact that he is the God of all creation. We miss the fact that Jesus is the King of Kings and the Lord of lords and the bigger picture of the responsibility of this world. The responsibility not of just the world as we know it, but from ages past and ages to come. He's God. Jesus is Lord. And this responsibility that he has, and the command that he has, and my place in this command that he has, then calls me into a recognition of what is my part, how do I play in this, how do I interact in this situation? So that panoramic picture is important for us to see this role that we have. Those visions were not for Brother Hagin. They were to Brother Hagen, but they were for us. We're the ones who are to benefit from the light that was revealed to him and for the things that he saw in that. And and yes, definitely, we take anything that anybody sees, any vision that you hear of heaven, any vision that you hear someone has had a supernatural, we want the word to back it up. And we've got the Holy Spirit in us to help us have clarity so that we're not deceived. So the Holy Spirit witnesses with our spirit. But we want to take these things that are brought in supernatural experiences that others had enough transparency and boldness to share with us. And we want to apply them and learn from them. And one of the things that, and this is from the book, The Triumphant Church. If you don't have a copy of The Triumphant Church, I encourage you because I would suggest that you read it regularly. His daughter once remarked, Sister Pat once remarked that she reads it every year. I have not read it yet this year, but I have in the past been reading it annually just as that encouragement. But this year I'm on a uh it's in my to-do list. It's uh I'm working on a uh I'm reading through all of Brother Capps' books in the order he wrote them right now. So uh that that was my assignment at the beginning. So I'm about halfway through his works, and and then I'll come back to the Triumphant Church. But there's a lot in this book about walking in the Spirit, walking in the victory you have in Christ, about exercising authority over the enemy in a stable, solid, doctrinal way. And one of the things that he brings out, and it's towards the end of the book, and he's talking about praying scripturally to thwart the kingdom of darkness, it's in that um chapter, and I want to read this section where he relates from the vision that he uh received in 1979, 1970, and then a second one in 1979. So he said, I had two very similar and unusual spiritual experiences, one in 1970 and the other in 1979, that showed me how real our responsibility is to pray for our nation and for the world. In both visions, I saw three huge black frog-like creatures coming up out of the Atlantic Ocean. They looked like huge frogs, except they were much larger, about the size of whales. In the first vision in 1970, I saw these dark beings come up out of the Atlantic and they seemed to leap all the way across the land. In the second vision in 1979, I again saw three frog-like creatures, and one of those creatures came up out of the water and looked like it was about to land on our shores. You need to know how to interpret spiritual visions because these creatures came out of the ocean, doesn't mean they came up out of a literal ocean. From Genesis to Revelation, seas or waters often symbolize a multitude of people. So these dark creatures were coming out of the multitude of people. In the first vision, I knew that the three frog-like creatures leaping across our country meant that three strategic, three strategies of the devil, forgive me, would arise out of the multitude of people against our nation. Three strategies of the devil would arise out of the multitudes of people against our nation. The first strategy of Satan would be riots and disturbances. The second would be political upheaval. And then he puts in parentheses watergate, as it turned out. And the third was problems in the economic sector of our nation. These evil strategies from the enemy don't arise from the Christian population. They come from the masses of those walking in darkness because sinners are held in bondage and dominated by the devil in the kingdom of darkness. In the second vision in 1979, Jesus said to me, Do you have your seatbelt on? So nobody be falling out their seat, putting on the brakes. Okay? Are you ready? Jesus said to me, if the Christians of this nation had done what I told them to do in my word and had prayed for the leaders of their country, they could have kept those evil spirits you saw in 1970 from operating in this nation. I know, that's how I feel. Have mercy, Lord. He said, if the Christians had done what my word said, done what I told them to do in my word, they could have stopped that from happening. And then he said, none of those upheavals would have occurred in your nation, and you would not have had the political, social, and economic disturbances in this nation. And the president would never have made the mistakes he made. If the Christians had prayed the way God told them in his word to pray, the way Jesus said in his word to pray, if the Christians of this nation had prayed the way I said in my word, the president wouldn't have made the mistakes he made. The social, economic, political upheaval would not have happened. Why? Because their prayers would have stopped it. Their prayers would have stopped the force that was behind it. See, what we see happening with riots, and we see people happening with with uh assassination attempts, and we see things happening, that's there's there's something influencing that. There's something behind that. That's not just people being bad people. That's the enemy using their willingness to submit to him, their willingness to focus on what they're focusing on. You get somebody that goes out and does serial murders, they've they've meditated on a lot to get to that point. Child pornography, at the level that it's at, at any level, is level, but to be where it's at, people have been given their mind to it unrestrained, for it to get to the point that people are raping babies. How does that happen? People yield to it. People yield to it, and if they yield to it, then the enemy is gonna take them as far as he can take them. He'll take the murderer as far as he can take them, he'll take the the political scene as far as he can take it. He's gonna go because there's no restraint. We are the restraint. You're the salt, you're the light, you're the one in charge. If you don't want it happening in your city, if you don't want it happening in your neighborhood, if you don't want it happening, begin to call out. God, I'm calling for the mercy of God, I'm calling for the grace of God, I'm calling for the light of God. I'm praying for, he said, you are to pray for your nation so that you can lead a quiet and peaceable and godly life. Well, I want a godly life. Well, then get to praying. Get to praying because if we don't pray and they put all these laws into effect that snub the nose at God and say, we don't care that God's the life giver, we're gonna we're gonna abort all the way up until they are nine months ready to give birth. Let's just abortion on demand. What does that do to God, who is the giver of life? Slap in his face. So we don't want that, we don't want his face to be slapped. We don't want him to be dishonored. So what do we do? Pray against that. And the Lord told us, and if you remember, it's on the the word that the Lord gave us for this year, he said that that we need to maintain that resistance against the abortion because it's an area that they're gonna keep, they're gonna come back. We were able to stop them in Arkansas last year, but they're gonna come back. They were trying to get it in a constitution in so that could not be changed, trying to write it into the Constitution, and they were able to cut them off because they didn't have enough, uh, they didn't do their petition right. But they'll come back, and so we better be ready to raise up a standard. So, have mercy. He says, none of the upheavals would have occurred in your nation. You would not have had the political, social, and economic disturbances in this nation, and the president never would have made the mistakes he made. Now, Brother Hagin said, Jesus said this. In fact, I'm holding the church responsible for the president's mistakes. And Brother Hagin said, When I heard Jesus say it that, I cried out, My God, and I began to weep. Jesus continued, Yes, the church is responsible before God Almighty. I know when you tell that to some Christians, they will laugh. But you wait until they stand before my judgment seat and see if they laugh when they are the ones who will receive the judgment. Jesus was saying that Christians could have stopped those evil strategies of the devil by taking their place in prayer based on the word of God. Christians have authority on the earth in Jesus' name. And if Christians had prayed for those in authority, America would not have had the riots or the political and economic upheavals we experienced in our nation in the 1970s. In the vision in 1979, I saw those other frogs about to land on our shores again. And Jesus said to me, You can see that three similar evil strategies of the devil are about to happen again in this nation. First, unless Christians pray, there will arise another time of riots, tumults, and disturbances across the nation coming from different causes than the disturbances of the early 70s. Second, he said, something is about to happen to your president that should not and will not happen if Christians will pray and take authority over the devil's strategies and bind his works in my name. Christians pray, take authority over the devil's strategies and bind his works in my name. And third, unless Christians pray, there is something about to happen that will bring further trouble in the economic scene and the financial structure of this nation. Jesus concluded, once again, Christians can stop all three of these strategies of the devil against this nation. They can stop the upheaval through riots, tumults, and disturbances in the social structure. They can stop the upheaval and the activity of the devil in the political scene of this nation, and they can stop the devil from disrupting the financial scene of their nation. Many Christians did pray, and the plan of the enemy was greatly averted and thwarted. Because Christians stood in their place of authority in Jesus' name and began to pray and exercise their authority over the devil. God intervened on our behalf. And our president is asking us to pray for our nation. To rededicate our nation to God. What an invitation. What an invitation to God. That we we are rededicating this nation to you, not to Muhammad, not to whoever your God is. He didn't say that. This is an invitation to the only true God. Hallelujah. Let's read Daniel 9. I'm going to read verse 2. In the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood by books the number of the years whereof the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish 70 years in the desolation of Jerusalem. And I set my face unto the Lord God to seek by prayer and supplications with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. So he saw in the word, but he didn't see it in play in this in the scene of his nation. He said, I saw it in the books, and I began to seek God about what should have been working in our nation, where we should have been in the plan of God. And so his prayer, he said, I prayed unto the Lord my God, and I made confession, and I said, O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him and to them that keep his commandments. We have sinned and committed iniquity and have done wickedly and have rebelled. Did Daniel sin? He didn't, but he's saying, Overall, I'm standing. God is the God of cities. You remember, brother uh Pastor Calwell wrote the story, wrote the book, Saving Our Cities? And he he identified God as the God of cities, Jesus of Nazareth, Paul, Saul of Tarsus. He identified people by their cities. God is a God of cities. He's a God of the of our country. He's recognized. And so when I'm praying, there are many of my interactions with him that are from an individual where I'm praying about myself. But he's saying, if my people will come and they'll pray on behalf of their nation, or they'll pray on behalf of the city, or they'll pray on behalf of their community, then for their sake, I'll move in that community. For their sake, I'll move in that city. For their sake, I'll move in that country. Why? Because they've given me a legal invitation to come. And so that's what I want us to do today. I want us to give God a legal invitation. And so he said that we need to stop the strategies of the enemy. Stop the strategies of the enemy. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. That we do that with our authority. Taking authority. Glory to God. I'm gonna read it exactly how he said it again so I can find it here. He said. Stop the evil strategies of the enemy. On the social, the political, and the financial scene. There were three in 1970, three in 1979, and I would say the enemy hasn't changed his tactics. He's pretty much got the same weapons he's been using. Those are the weapons he uses. That deception in the political scene, that deception in the economic scene, and that deception in the social structure. So glory to God. Would you stand with me on your feet and let's take authority today? I want you to lift your voices. I'm gonna lift my voice and I'm gonna lead us, but I want you to lift your voice, and I want you to pray out of that which the Holy Spirit has spoken through through me today to you. What landed in you, begin to speak out and pray for God to move in this city and dedicate back to Him, our nation. Father, we come in the name that is above every name and we lift up the name of Jesus over the city of Little Rock, over the communities we dwell in, over this United States of America. And Father, our president has requested our prayers. Our president has requested that we join with other believers in this nation and that we give to you the proper place, dedicating the United States of America as your nation. This is your nation. We dedicate our country to you. We dedicate this city to you, this community to you, to your plans, to your purposes, not for the enemy to do what he desires, not for him to have his way, but Father, for your kingdom purposes and your kingdom plans to have dominance. And so we exercise authority against the deception the enemy has used in the social structure of the United States of America. We bind that deception from operating. We cancel the strategies of the enemy. We come against everything that he's put in place and we demolish it in the name of Jesus. We command those plans to fall to the ground unfulfilled, unfueled, lose all congruency in the name of Jesus. Father, we take authority over what is in the political system, the working of the enemy in the political system, the deception, the lies, the blasphemy. We bind it in the name of Jesus and we command every strategy that the enemy has constructed to unravel, to become undone in the name of Jesus. Lord, for the financial system of the United States of America, we bind what the enemy has done and desires to do. We bind that strategy. And Father, we ask for your blessing to have dominance in every area. In every area. Bless our land. We ask you for your blessing upon the United States of America. We ask for your blessing upon our president. Father, we as the body of Christ here at the Life of Faith Church in Little Rock, Arkansas, we lift up our president, our vice president, all of those who are serving in his cabinet. And we ask you, Father, for the fear of the Lord to be prevalent in their hearts. Father, we stand in agreement with heaven's purposes concerning this nation. We stand, Father, and pray for those who you've placed in leadership. We pray that they be under your rule and your authority, that they would seek your righteousness and justice for this nation. We welcome and embrace the fear of the Lord as the standard for all righteous rule. We repent for the ways in which we've bowed to the fear of man. And Father, we ask that you cleanse our hearts and renew our minds that we walk in the light of your truth. We ask that our leaders would delight in the fear of the Lord in order to walk in the power of your might and the wisdom of your ways. May righteousness and faithfulness be the portion of our leaders, so that they would render righteous judgments according to your word. We ask that our leaders would show no fear towards the evil that assails them, but rather overcome it with a zeal and passion for your word, which brings life and liberty to all. May our leaders love your word and seek your wisdom diligently, remaining open and teachable to godly counsel and heaven's wisdom. We thank you that our leaders, our president, our governor, Lord, those who are senators over the state of Arkansas, congressmen in the state of Arkansas, that they would remain teachable and to godly counsel and open to heaven's wisdom. We thank you that their heart is in your hands and you will direct their hearts according to your will and purpose. Grant our leaders increased grace and blessing as they heed your voice and obey your word. We declare over our president, our vice president, his cabinet. We declare over our governor, our senators, our congressmen, our mayor, that they will have true judgments by the Spirit and not according to man. We declare they will possess heaven's knowledge with shrewdness of mind in making right decisions for the good of the people. Fill their mouths with good things so that they speak what's true and right. We pray that they would use their God-given authority to execute justice and establish righteousness in this land for the sake of your glory and your kingdom. We declare that our leaders will rule in the midst of their enemies, not backing down or wavering due to threats or intimidation. Father, we pray for our leaders to remain allies to the nation of Israel, that our country would be a country who stands with Israel. Father, that the lies and the deception and the antisemitism, Father, that sets people against your word, according to Genesis chapter 12, those lies would not prevail. Those lies would not have any workings in the lives of your people. We thank you for it in Jesus' name. We pray for your protection over our leaders, that you keep them safe from the enemy's snares and free from the accusers' traps. By your great hand, Lord, deal with those who oppose righteousness and justice so that all men may know it is you alone who is true. We thank you for it in the name of Jesus. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Glory to God. Glory to God. So continue. Especially at the request of uh up till July the 4th, which is when we celebrate this 250 years as a nation. Let's continue to pray with a concentrated effort on those areas. And I encourage you, this book will help you. This book will help you know the ability that that sometimes it gets left on the table. And we don't want to leave it unused. We want to take all that God has made ours and put it, employ it, put it to work. Amen. Praise God. Well, did I do everything I was supposed to do today? Did you receive something today from the Lord? I know I've been blessed. Thank y'all for being here today. We hope to see you.