Phil Beach Jr. emphasizes the critical need for prayer in the life of believers, sharing his personal testimony of salvation and the transformative power of Jesus Christ. He highlights that prayer is not just a suggestion but a command from God, urging the congregation to pray without ceasing and to recognize their utter dependence on God for strength and guidance. Beach outlines various hindrances to effective prayer, such as unforgiveness and wrong motives, and encourages the church to rebuild the family altar of prayer to experience revival and healing. He passionately calls for a deeper commitment to prayer, asserting that it is the most powerful weapon against spiritual darkness.

Praise the lord what a joy to be here this evening And to worship the lord together He is altogether lovely He is faithful and true His name is highly exalted above every name So that at the name of jesus every knee shall bow And every tongue shall confess That he indeed Is lord amen Amen, it's a joy to be here as we were singing. I kept thinking back To when I was just a young teenager 17 years old And I was at a party And jesus christ came And saved me Delivered me from sin Translated Me out of the kingdom of darkness And placed me into the kingdom of his dear son Filled me with the spirit of god Gave me a brand new life How thankful? How thankful? I am for his saving grace And his saving power. Amen And I could remember shortly thereafter It's a real joy that mom and dad are here So glad to see them they too live in hackettstown where I come from and my wife and family so glad that they're with us tonight But I can remember beloved shortly after the lord. Jesus saved me that At the time we were all catholics and mom and dad Was a little concerned about what had happened And decided that perhaps a priest could talk some sense into me and so therefore I had come home. I believe it was from school one afternoon. I was a junior in high school and they came and indicated that they Wanted me to go for a ride with them And so I agreed and said sure and as we got into the car. I remember saying where are we going? And they said well, we've decided that we wanted you to talk to a priest And to explain to him what happened And I suppose that they were a little confused a little concerned uh Didn't understand why I had turned in such a radical direction to the lord. Jesus christ So as I as we were singing the these events became very very close to my heart So I felt prompted maybe perhaps i'll share a few moments and just just give glory to god And to testify to his saving power And his ability to snatch us from the kingdom of darkness and bring us into the kingdom of his Of his son the lord. Jesus christ. So here I was a young 17 year old very zealous for the lord Having been delivered from all of my sins And we're going to make a quick transfer here Okay Okay This goes here and this goes Testing one two three testing. How are we doing? All right Praise the lord. Thank you, brother. I appreciate that It really makes you feel right at home So it was a young 17 year old very zealous for the lord And there I was on my way to talk to a catholic priest to tell him What had happened, of course mom and dad had my best interest In mind, they couldn't understand why you know, uh My my religious upbringing wasn't sufficient So I can remember walking into the office of the priest and there he was sitting behind his desk smiling and mom and dad Sat down and I sat right across to him And i'll never forget the the the afternoon When he he probably made his first mistake And the priest looked at me and smiled and shook my hand and this is what he said. He said so So tell me phil what really happened? And I suppose that was the mistake he made Because at that time I proceeded to explain to him what happened to me I opened up my bible and actually read to him john chapter three The story about nicodemus and how jesus told this priest that he had to be born from above He had to be born from god And after explaining to him the testimony of the saving power of jesus christ in my life I can remember afterwards he looked He looked over to my mom and dad and he basically said shaking his head leave him alone He said, um, i've seen this happen from time to time He said and generally it lasts He said but he said but you should be encouraged at least It's the lord that he's really in tune with now and not some drug culture or some cult And then afterwards I can remember he said to me um Now that you're really committed to the lord He invited me to go to the seminary that he went to and consider becoming a catholic priest So praise the lord for his saving power there. Listen beloved. There is absolutely nothing Not even one thing That the saving power of jesus christ is not able to deliver you from tonight not even one thing There is nothing impossible with god. All things are possible to him that believes And this excites my soul tonight because we serve a god who is able to do Exceedingly abundantly above all that we could ever think or ask according to the mighty power That is working in us the same power that was working in the lord. Jesus christ when god raised him from the dead Lifted him up above every name And sent him down at his own right hand. That's the power that's available to us tonight We're going to be by the help of god's grace looking tonight Into what I believe to be One of the most important Subjects in the heart of god and in the word of god I believe that when the subject of prayer Becomes the interest of god's people And there is a sincere genuine seeking after the lord in prayer both individually and corporately That perhaps One of the greatest movements that ever could occur Begins to occur in the heart and lives of god's people. I want to if I could please just read A I don't generally do this, but I found it to be so profitable. I want to just read a quote From A man that the late leonard ravenhill Put in his book revival praying by leonard ravenhill This is a quote by fj hugel Who has written some excellent books? This is what he says. It has often been said that prayer is the greatest force in the universe This is no exaggeration It will bear constant repetition in this atomic age When forces are being released that stagger the thought and imagination of man It is well to remember that prayer transcends all other forces I believe with all my heart that prayer is the most important Ingredient That needs to be implemented into our lives As the church of the lord jesus christ. So what we want to look at tonight God willing in tomorrow and sunday night Are three different aspects of prayer That we're going to discover in the word of god Tonight We want to focus upon discovering our need to pray Tomorrow night god willing we want to look at discovering a growing relationship with our father in heaven through prayer And then sunday night god willing We hope to be able to bring from the word of god the incredible Power That comes through prevailing prayer The incredible power that comes through prevailing prayer Hopefully by sunday night we will have laid a foundation And we will build upon that foundation so that when sunday night comes we will be prepared to be able to receive The word of god in such a capacity That will challenge us Beyond what we've ever been challenged before when we recognize the Power That is at our disposal through prayer And what prayer can actually do in our homes? With our children in our marriages in our assemblies as congregations unto the lord It will I hope Challenge us so deeply that after these series of meetings, we will have a brand new perspective On prayer that will cause us To hunger in a way where the lord's going to meet us in a brand new way I am asking the lord tonight to so Equip us and so stir our hearts so as to cause us and enable us to see This incredible opportunity that we have before us called prayer Prayer is not limited by geography. It is not limited by your education It is not limited by your age. It is not limited by anything prayer Will enable you to enter into the very holy of holies where god shows himself to be omnipotent and all-powerful Able to perform all that you ask him according to your will There is nothing that god will withhold from those who walk uprightly before him There is nothing that god will withhold from you and I Oh if we could catch the vision of prayer tonight, so that's what i'm asking the lord to do ignite in us a vision for prayer First thessalonians chapter 5 verse number 17 three words We've heard it probably many times many of you have probably read it This is going to be our theme for the next three nights god willing first Thessalonians chapter 5 verse number 17 The apostle paul writes us and says pray Without ceasing Pray without ceasing This is not a suggestion. This is a commandment This comes from the heart of god This comes to us from a man of god who considered himself to be in a warfare He considered himself to be chosen of the lord in a warfare. And in fact, he is giving this as a command Such as a commander would give to those who are in an army pray without ceasing Now when the scripture says pray without ceasing that word ceasing literally means no omission No omission So immediately we're confronted with a challenge from the word of god God A challenge that god has prepared to enable us to fulfill tonight A challenge that if we would get on our knees and pray over that scripture And ask the lord to teach us how to fulfill That scripture in our life as an individual person Then to implement it into our families And then to implement it into our corporate body of believers if we could just get a hold of these three words and pray until god begins to shine light And so incline us and so transform our heart and so direct us and so burden us And so enlighten us so as to enable us to truly believe That when god says pray without ceasing He means that there is a place that we can come to that has nothing to do with the posture of our body It has nothing to do with our actual physical location But it has to do with a condition of the inner being the inner heart whereby we are praying without omission There is a continual a continuous Continuous ascending of prayer from our spirit to god our father in heaven such an atmosphere beloved is Impregnated with the presence and power and faith that comes from god himself Such an atmosphere is unable to be conquered Such an atmosphere is unable To no defeat And this is what god is calling us as his people Into jesus said my house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations And we know that when jesus spoke of his house. He wasn't talking necessarily about buildings that are made with wooden stones But when he said my house, he was referring to the body of believers And that we as believers Are to come into a relationship with our father in so much that we can experience a continuous prayer going up to god prayer What a lovely word What a lovely thought conceived in the heart of god What a lovely privilege to be able to come to our heavenly father and to pray To him In john chapter 15 verse number 5 John chapter 15 verse number 5 as you're turning there. I want to make a statement I encourage you to listen carefully There are seven words In the new testament spoken by the lord himself Which sum up the subject of prayer answering the most important And frequently asked question Why should I pray if god is all-powerful? Seven words that jesus spoke Addresses this frequent question of why I should pray And I'd like to read you those seven words John chapter 15 verse number 5 B or the latter part listen carefully. This is from the king james version for without me ye can do nothing Now it is my firm belief and conviction That Our commitment and earnest faithfulness to a life of prayer hangs upon How well we have understood those seven words of jesus christ And i'll say that again John chapter 15 verse number 5 For without me ye can do nothing seven words in the new testament And our commitment to an earnest faithfulness in a life of prayer hangs upon And is in direct proportion to our ability to truly understand and comprehend these words how if we truly Truly understood the words of jesus when he said for without me ye can do nothing And that word nothing is very emphatic in the greek. It actually means not even one thing There's an emphasis there Not even one thing For without me ye can do nothing not Praise the lord we lost our Uh clip. Oh, there it is. It's still on here Maybe i'll try and fix it Excuse me for just one moment Be thinking about that not even one thing Okay, and we're going to see how We really don't believe that Because there's many things That we are currently doing And right now I confess that without the lord's help. I can't even get this microphone clipped on so you see how in reality We really are dependent upon him. There we go Okay All right. Well, praise the lord. I hope it's it's back on now. All right, but without me you can do nothing Not even one thing Now Now before we discuss a little bit How These seven words of jesus have not really Sunken deeply enough into the heart of the church in this late hour that we're living in I'd like to show you an interesting truth in the word of god Jesus spoke seven words to You and I as believers and in those seven words we find the truth That is sufficient enough if we really get a hold of it to really really motivate us and teach us to pray Now jesus himself In john chapter 5 verse 19 Spoke seven words And these seven words Reveal to us The reason why jesus was so incredibly successful in his prayer life Do you know that the son of god was the model? prayer That the scriptures speak over and over again of him praying Getting up early in the morning before everyone else did And praying do you know the scriptures tell us that before he chose his apostles, do you know what he did the night before? He spent the night in prayer When jesus had to come to the dreadful cup Of gethsemane the scripture says he went and prayed and prayed and prayed oftentimes after his meetings When multitudes were fed and multitudes were healed and the scripture indicates that he had spent many hours praying The scriptures tell us that afterwards jesus went and hid himself went into a mountain and prayed alone to god his father So jesus prayed quite frequently So the reason why jesus could pray so frequently and the reason why jesus was so successful Was because the lord jesus had a revelation That we need As a man though. It was god. He was a man and as a man. He had a revelation that literally enabled him To live a life of prayer without ceasing seven words Jesus spoke seven words to you and I and now he speaks seven words concerning himself john 519a listen the son Can do nothing of himself He tells us for ye can do nothing Except By me And now he says regarding himself the son can do nothing of himself Beloved Such a confession from the lips of the son of god indicates his Absolute utter dependence upon his father in heaven Such a confession from the lips of our blessed savior. Jesus christ Indicates that he had been so trained and so taught from his mother's womb so Nurtured by the word of god and so in tune with his father that when he came to adulthood And he was ready for his public ministry. He had been so trained that he recognized that the whole success of his ministry hung upon his ability to depend wholly upon his father in heaven for all of his Enabling all of his strength all of his wisdom and all of his power He learned a life of utter dependence upon god And now lastly We're going to find that not only did the lord jesus speak these words seven to us to teach us That we need him. Not only did jesus speak seven words about himself indicating That he was utterly dependent upon the father, but the apostle paul In second corinthians chapter three verse number five Utters five words or seven words. Excuse me utters seven words And by these words we see the same revelation Was working deeply in the life of paul second corinthians chapter three verse number five a Listen closely king james Not That we are sufficient Of ourselves Such a confession from the lips of paul indicates That he had been brought to the place where he recognized That there was no sufficiency in himself No help in himself. He had No competence to fulfill the call and ministry that god had given him in himself that is he recognized he was totally Dependent upon the working and power of god in him and through him And beloved may I say to you that As you progress on in your christian walk, I don't know where you're at I don't know where you've begun But one thing I do know for certain and that is this Your success in prayer Will not be based upon how well you might be able to memorize the things that I share with you tonight Nor will they be in how many books you read on prayer or on how many sermons you hear on prayer? but your success In entering into the kind of prayer life that god is calling his church to enter in hangs upon And is in direct relation to The awakening that comes to your soul and your heart and your spirit From the dealing of god in your life and from the word of god working in you showing you That truly Without him you can do nothing Not even one thing Do we believe that tonight This is the foundation to all prayer And I have found in my own experience And in the lives of those that i've had the privilege to serve over these past 20 years That a person's ability to truly pray Grows when their ability in themself Vanishes I become strong in god When I become weak in myself I prevail in prayer When I am conquered in myself through the lord jesus christ The great prayer warriors of scripture and the great prayer warriors of generations past Have all been characterized by one outstanding feature beloved They were brought to the place by the word of god working in their life and by the hand of god working in their life that they learned to Distrust themselves and their own wisdom and their own competence and their own ability and their own Organizational skills, whatever it might be and they were brought to the place where they keenly were aware That unless they were in touch with god and stayed in touch with god and walked with god and prayed to god And received from the lord every day. They would Inevitably fail in accomplishing what god wanted them to do It is essential if the church is going to catch a revelation of the kind of prayer that god wants us to enter into it's essential that we Discover that we come to this awakening that we can do nothing And it is to this end That the holy spirit is working in all of our lives What are you going through right now beloved? What is it that's pressing upon you that is reminding you of your weakness? That is reminding you of of of your inability to get a hold of that thing and just take care of it What is it beloved? Have you prayed? Oh god, why is this thing in my life? What is happening lord? Why is this happening? Could it be that god is using that very thing in your life right now? in order to Make you more aware of your need for him and bring you into a posture of greater dependence upon the power of his work And the strength of his might that comes as we commune with him in prayer and in his word Could it be that that's why god has heard your prayer But hasn't answered it the way you wanted him to oh sure god is sovereign god is all powerful God could have answered your prayer two years ago when you prayed it But perhaps if he did you never would have come to the self-knowledge that you possess today and that is oh god Unless I get a touch from you Unless unless god I get something from your heart unless you strengthen me and touch me Oh god, I cannot go on lord. I can't go on lord. I i'm i'm so dependent upon you lord This thing working in my life has shown me how weak I am and how powerless I am Praise god for such a thing if that's happening in your life today Praise god for such a thing That's a glorious place to be in that's a glorious place to be in all hell fears Such a place that any saint would enter into all hell trembles At the thought of the church awakening to the fact that without christ we can do nothing and then as a result Begin to come before god in humility And in meekness and in weakness and and say oh god I renounce my efforts and I renounce my wisdom and I renounce all of the effort that I have had lord In my flesh and I come to you lord and I pray that you'll clothe me with your strength And you'll teach me to depend upon the power of your word Oh god such a place beloved will cause us to rise in the power of god Revival will come to the church when we come to the place where we realize that without christ we can do nothing What is it that god has to do to bring us to that place? Whatever it is. I don't know about you beloved, but i'm praying that god will do it Because there's a Desperation growing in the hearts of many people and the desperation is this god unless you do something Unless you move by your power unless you reveal the power of your son in our lives and in our church Lord, we cannot go on We cannot go on lord and such a heart cry of desperation Is what moved god to raise up moses to deliver israel out of bondage such a heart cry desperation Is what is characterized throughout all the book of judges every time the nation fell and got chastened of the lord They began to cry out and they got desperate and god raised up another judge And it's only until you and I get to the place where we are desperate before god We are so desperate we're willing to give anything up that we might come to know him in a deep way That we might enter into a true life of prayer before him Yes, beloved. This is what god is offering before the church in 1998 a new beginning The year of jubilee is what we believe god wants to do in the church Is Prayer is the most powerful weapon that a believer has against the forces of hell the most feared practice of all the hosts of hell And the most fought against spiritual discipline by every demon in hell prayer any place where prayerlessness prevails You can be sure that the devil is behind it Any place there is prayerlessness prevailing. You can be sure that the powers of darkness are behind it Everything god does in the church today is in response to prayer And everything that is not happening in the church that should be Is the direct result of prayerless hearts? All the hellish problems plaguing the church today our families Our contentions our divisions along with the rampant curse of divorce Has its root cause In a house called by god's name that is prayerless Prayerlessness is a fatal disease And unless we are healed from it, it will kill us spiritually destroy us morally And devastate us As a people called by god Listen beloved Most christians spend less than 10 minutes a day in prayer Most christians spend more time watching the evening news than praying on their knees For souls to be delivered from eternal darkness and damnation Most christians spend more time in the enjoyment of hobbies than in the labor of prayer Spend more time talking of prayer Than praying itself spend more time talking about problems Surrounding them rather than praying to god about those problems Most preachers preach more about prayer than they pray And all too often Authors write volumes on prayer But are prayerless Prayerlessness I believe Is a sin That we as god's people must confront Must confess to god and must be healed of Before we look beloved Into the awesome subject of prayer We have to address A very important Issue First of all, we've seen that jesus Said without me you can do nothing. Remember those seven words Secondly, we saw the son of god himself saying The son can do nothing of himself Remember those seven words And then we read from the very lips of paul the apostle himself saying Not that we are sufficient Of ourselves remember those seven words the foundation upon which prayer is built Hangs upon those seven words those three sets of seven We've seen prayerlessness prevails in society and in many churches today But before we look at prayer Look into Some of the aspects of prayer We have to deal with an issue tonight and that is this Some things that hinder our prayer hindrances of prayer If you have a notebook if you have a pencil if you have a pen jot these down I'm praying the holy spirit Will give us genuine humility And genuine meekness tonight And courage by his spirit to be honest with ourselves before god because if we truly want To walk along this road of prayer and end up sunday night I have such anticipation in my spirit For our sunday service not that these are any Less significant, but I have such anticipation Because of I know the lord's heart and I know what he wants to give us I know what he wants to offer to us the unlimited Power That can come to us through prayer But I know to get there We have to we have to go the right way And this is where it starts Dealing with the hindrances of prayer We want to deal with a few tonight, okay First of all, I'd like to invite you to turn your bibles to first peter chapter three First peter chapter three We're going to take this exciting subject of prayer And by the word of god, we're going to bring it right down to where we live Is that all right to start there? Okay, now I want to make a statement We do have some families here. I want to make a statement. All right I want you to listen carefully Did you know The effectiveness of your prayer Is I'm going to address husband and wives now The effectiveness of your prayer to god hangs upon how you treat one another Did you know that? Remember what we're dealing with hindrances of prayer first peter chapter three Beginning in verse one likewise ye wives be in subjection to your own husbands That if any obey not the word they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives While they behold your chase conversation coupled with fear Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair and of wearing of gold or of putting on of apparel But let it be the hidden man of the heart And that which is not corruptible even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit Which is in the sight of god great price For after this manner in the old time the holy women also Who trusted in god? adorned themselves Being in subjection unto their own husbands Even as sarah obeyed abraham calling him lord whose daughters He are as long as you do well and are not afraid with any amazement likewise ye husbands Dwell with them that is your wives according to knowledge giving honor unto the wife As unto the weaker vessel And as being heirs together of the grace of god that your prayers be not hindered a great hindrance to prayer today rendering many prayers nearly powerless before god and nearly powerless in affecting the works of darkness in the church and in the world today one of the greatest hindrances to prayer in the church today is the wrong kinds of relationships that are going on in marriage today We've got to take this lofty subject of prayer And bring it right down to our families and to our relationships with husband and wife and children How do you treat men your wife with honor Tenderness With love with compassion Wives how do you treat your husband? Matthew chapter 5 verse 23 Matthew chapter 5 verse number 23 Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar and there Rememberest that thy brother hath all against thee Leave there thy gift before the altar and go thy way first Be reconciled to thy brother and then come and offer thy gift Beloved It is essential That we understand If we are going to be successful In our prayer lives before god must honor their wives And they must keep their hearts tender toward one another We cannot ignore The things that we say to one another and then If in fact the things we say to one another are not edifying Are not upbuilding and are hurtful the comments we make The speech we speak We cannot do that and then just simply Pretend that it's not happening and then go to god in prayer and expect to be able to have an audience in heaven We can't do it We must rebuild the family altar If we are going to come into the good and into the fullness of the kind of prayer That the lord jesus christ wants us to engage in we must rebuild the family altar We must repent Of those things In our lives Against one another if there's anything there We must pray for humility and meekness and gentleness We must pray for the grace to say I am. Sorry I was wrong I'm sorry I'm sorry That was a harsh word I shouldn't have said it let's pray We've neglected these things And then we wonder why our prayer life is dwindling I'm, sorry, forgive me. Let's pray together Let's pray together Would you pray for me? I Realize that The lord tells me sweetheart that i'm to love you like he loves the church and i'm to honor you like he honors the church and I see I fail in a lot of ways. Would you pray for me? Because I realize that this is a fault in my life And I believe if you pray for me god will answer your prayer Beloved That's revolutionary That'll change your marriage that'll change your family That'll change everything about your home When the prayer altar is built back up again, and you meet daily there to pray Prayers will remain hindered as long as the family Remains In a broken down state Because of failure to confess sin and to pray with open clean pure hearts one with another Jesus loves to see humility in our lives And meekness We must rebuild the family altar of prayer We must come together as husband and wives and pray together We must come together as families and pray together We must pray for our children We must pray together as a family We must bring back into our family the altar of prayer and make it one of the most Important family things that we do together once again There's a lot of talk about families getting back together again. That's good There's a lot of talk about families needing to spend time together because everybody's running in different directions That's good But I believe the most important thing and the thing that would please the lord the most is that families starting with individual relationship with god husband and wife relationship and parents and children relationships If the emphasis would be on the most important thing We can do as a family is not go to the park or not go out And sight see or not go to a restaurant, but the most important thing we can do as a family Is come together and bow down before a holy god and pray for one another the most important thing that we can do as a family is bond together through mutual crying out to god Oh my lord, what a what a revolution that would produce in the church of jesus christ What a black eye that would give the works of the devil what a black eye that would give Yes, it would I want to challenge you tonight by the grace of god beloved As you continue to come and listen and after this Pursue yourself listen to the pastor talk about prayer May I challenge you to make it a priority? to write this scripture first peter chapter three verse number seven down somewhere and Regularly pray and ask god to help you Keep your relationship with husband and wife and children pure And holy before god So that your prayers Would not be hindered I believe that a lot of Destructive things that are going on in the family today is the direct result of prayerless or prayers that are not effective Because there is issues of sin and contention and walls And harsh things that have been said that have allowed the fester that have not been dealt with This is my experience as a pastor dealing with people And as we Fail to deal with these things and we just try and go on with life sooner or later These things begin to render our prayers ineffective. They begin to take the toll on us mentally emotionally physically and before we know it the devil has got more and more power to come in and Destroy our home all because there is a failure to give god glory As as joshua said to achan by confessing our sin That's what joshua said to achan Give god glory and confess your sin We can't put these things under the carpet anymore Number two Mark chapter 11 verse 25 Hindrances to prayer If we're going to by the grace of god determine that we're going to become prayer warriors These things need to be dealt with or our prayer Will be rendered of little or of no effect Mark chapter 11 Verse number 22 and jesus answering saith unto them have faith in god or I like the youngs literal translation of the bible. It says have faith of god Have faith of god For verily I say unto you that whosoever shall say unto this mountain be thou removed and be Cast into the sea and shall not doubt in his heart But shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass. He shall have whatever he saith Therefore I say unto you that whatsoever things you desire when you pray believe that you receive them And you shall have them listen carefully verse 25 And when ye stand praying forgive if you have all against any that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses For if you do not forgive neither will your father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses Number two a great hindrance to prayer is unforgiveness Do you have unforgiveness in your heart tonight Has somebody wronged you or hurt you Or disappointed you Had you your expectations on somebody and they dreadfully let you down And you allowed a little root of bitterness To be planted in your heart You knew it was there But you didn't deal with it and over the weeks and months and years that little root of bitterness turned into unforgiveness And now unforgiveness has got a root in your heart Oh beloved tonight Unforgiveness Unforgiveness Will greatly hinder your prayers to god But thank god That there's a solution to unforgiveness And that solution Is to forgive you say but I can't forgive this person You You're basing that statement Most likely on how you feel And as long as you link forgiveness to how you feel you probably won't forgive them Forgiveness is not a feeling it's a command And as a command It is not something we do because we feel like it it's something we do because We love god and they who love me keep my commandments Forgiveness is a choice I will forgive you Because god's word says to forgive. I know it's the right thing to do Everything in me doesn't want to because i've been so deeply hurt or deeply disappointed But I will not make my decision To forgive based on how I feel but i'll make it based on the word of god And the power of god's spirit in me to enable me to obey god's word And when you choose to forgive That person that is wronged against you and you choose to confess with your mouth before god lord I forgive this person At that moment god accepts that transaction Even though you wake up the next morning and you still might feel those feelings of unforgiveness You reaffirm the fact that on this day this time this moment this place before god by faith I forgave that person devil I don't care how I feel God's word is what counts and i've done it and I stand on the word of god If you will do that by faith, god will free you from Unforgiveness and release your spirit You know the story about corrie ten boone, don't you? And how she confronted the man who was responsible for the death of her sister And how when she confronted this man face to face She testifies that she had dreadful feelings Of unforgiveness in her and she had feelings of bitterness She did not want to see this person She did not want to be near this person Beloved if she would have allowed her will to be affected by how she felt she would have chosen Not to forgive this man and would have been consumed with unforgiveness But instead The holy spirit came to her and enabled her against the way she felt To say I forgive you in the person and in the name of jesus christ and as she did that she was spared from the The evil pernicious effects of bitterness and unforgiveness and she learned a great great lesson that she's passed on to multitudes Is forgiveness is a choice Choose tonight If anybody Has wounded you and you're struggling with feelings of unforgiveness Choose tonight to forgive that person in the person of jesus christ And stand firm on that decision Based on the word god And your heart Will remain pure before the lord And you'll be free from the snare that comes And the hindrance that comes from unforgiveness Number three james chapter four another hindrance in prayer James Chapter four Chapter four Beginning in verse one From whence comes wars and fightings among you come they not hence even of your lusts that war in your members Ye lust and have not ye kill and desire to have and cannot obtain Ye fight in war and you have not because ye ask not verse three You ask and receive not Because you ask Amiss That you may consume it upon your lusts a third hindrance to prayer Is wrong motive in prayer Beloved the only way that our motives can be made pure as we pray Is if we allow ourselves to be constantly washed And constantly cleansed and constantly bathed by the good pure word of god the good word of god cleanses And purifies and reveals our motives and enables us To have before god a heart of pure motive The word of god is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword And it searches out and goes into the depths of our being And reveals the very intentions and thoughts and motives of our heart We don't even know Oftentimes the motives of our heart And that is why it is Essential that we crave after and desire The good sincere milk of the word of god that we might grow thereby thy word Have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee Let the word of christ richly dwell in you paul tells us The word of god can cleanse our motives can give us good motives so that we can ask with confidence before god We can ask with confidence before god So first of all we have First peter chapter three relationships Bad relationships can greatly hinder our prayers beloved secondly We have unforgiveness Unforgiveness in our heart can greatly hinder our effective prayers thirdly we have Wrong motives Wrong motives can affect and hinder our prayer life before god Number four james five Verse 16 Confess your faults one to another and pray one for another that you may be healed The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much Our need to confess our faults one to another Is one that is constantly before us And failure when it's necessary To confess our faults to one another can greatly hinder our prayer life before the lord Again to confess our faults one to another requires humility It requires it requires meekness. It requires gentleness It requires a quality That we don't have inherent within our natural selves Because naturally none of us like to admit when we're wrong when we need to confess our faults one to another Beloved these are qualities That the lord must work in us If we are to go into the heights and the depths of the kind of prayer That god wants us to enter into One more One more tonight Matthew chapter 17 Verse 14 And when they were come to the multitude there came to him a certain man kneeling down to him and saying lord Have mercy on my son for he is lunatic And sore vexed for oftentimes he falleth into the fire and oft into the water And I brought him to thy disciples and they could not cure him Then jesus answered and said oh faithless and perverse generation How long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you bring him here to me? And jesus rebuked the devil and he departed out of him and the child was cured from that very hour Then came the disciples to jesus apart and said why could not we cast him out? Listen closely And jesus said to them because of your unbelief Prevarily I say unto you if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed You shall say unto this mountain remove fence to yonder place and it shall remove and nothing Shall be impossible unto you because of your Unbelief hindrance in prayer Unbelief Now the question that we should ask What do we do about unbelief how can we deal with the unbelief in our life? Beloved I am persuaded that the unbelief that prevails in our lives today directly stems From our failure To meditate And think upon the word of god day and night Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of god Sunday night we're going to see That there is absolutely nothing that god will deny you in prayer If in fact god's words are living and abiding and controlling your heart Unbelief Can only be remedied and healed by a diligent pursuit after god Hiding his word in our heart And daily praying that we might be filled and refilled and filled and refilled with the precious holy spirit of god For faith also comes through the holy spirit It's one of the fruit of the spirit And one of the gifts of the spirit so unbelief can be traced back to A failure to hear A failure To search a failure to get god's word in our hearts Faith only comes by the word of god So we have five hindrances to prayer tonight I feel that That's all I'd like to bring as far as More of the preaching of prayer from the word And that tonight during our time of prayer following our service We could believe the lord tonight To begin the process of healing us and delivering us from any of these hindrances That he may have shown us Are in our lives tonight So that the slate can be clean We can experience the joy of release And we can prepare our hearts and prepare our minds to move on with god Oh beloved. Yes. I love to preach and declare Oh the glories of prayer and the truth of prayer and I like to get excited about the things of god and preach but oh beloved We have to make sure that we keep things in balance and we need to talk Heart to heart sometimes about these kinds of things So having seen The hindrances of prayer And giving god the opportunity to eliminate them out of our life We can begin as a family To pray and pray and keep praying And expect god to meet us in a most marvelous and remarkable way remember a church Is never any stronger In its prayer life than are the individual families in it A church is never any stronger in its prayer life than are the individual Members and families in it Let's take tonight This message this foundational message that I share tonight, this is the foundation let's take it tonight And let's bring it to our home if every person in here Would commit by the grace of god to take this message of prayer And allow god to search your heart and see if there's any of these hindrances in your life Let him heal you tonight and take prayer and start implementing it in your house tonight I promise you by the authority of god's word That in no time at all You will begin to see a change take place in your life and in the lives of people that you're living with in your house It would happen Do you believe that tonight? Do you believe that tonight? Let's Sing that song if we could tonight create in me a clean heart oh god And renew a right spirit in me I want to simply give everyone an opportunity as we're singing that song To allow the word of god and the holy spirit to search your heart And if there is anything that he would show you along the lines of these hindrances to prayer I would invite you along with the lord to confess To him make things right tonight Allow him to eliminate these hindrances So that we might be able to delve into this subject of prayer tomorrow night And truly truly go forward 100 amen Because I believe prayer can change anything. Amen If you want special prayer Come forward we'll pray for you Father i'm asking That through the power of thy word and through the power of jesus christ You would Minister to us lord tonight and you would bring healing by your word and by your spirit to us tonight lord Deliver us lord for many of these hindrances Relationships in the family Make them right tonight lord. I pray any unforgiveness lord. Let us be healed from it Wrong motives lord Unbelief whatever it might be lord Minister healing as we sing this song Do a deep work lord in us and prepare us For the invitation that you're giving to your whole church today To move out In a life of prayer That could revolutionize our lives in our church and make an impact on society that we've never seen before Everyone together. Let's sing If you want special prayer come Let's let the lord do it Create in me a clean heart And renew a right spirit within me Oh And renew a right spirit Pass me not away from thy presence Take not thy holy spirit Unto me The joy of thy salvation Thank you lord Thank you lord jesus Thank you for the power of healing lord glory to god Restore unto me Thank you lord, thank you lord for thy word thank you for thy presence lord Thank you Thank you lord for the healing power Thank you for the faith that you have created through thy word lord bring healing lord Release us from unforgiveness Release us lord Pray us lord. Yes lord. Hallelujah that god Lord yes, lord. Yes, lord 216 216 in our hymnals there. Let's sing this lovely song 216 Hallelujah The lord is bringing healing to many of us beloved Sing this song and let's let him bring complete healing tonight 216 let it be our prayer Search me Oh god And know my heart today Hey Know my thoughts I pray Some wicked Me From every sin and set Me free I praise the lord For cleansing me from sin Oh Thy word And Make me pure with it Fill me With With shame Red my desire By thy name Lord take my life Get holy Your heart Oh Yes, lord hallelujah hallelujah lord yes lord my god Yes lord sweet victory beloved number four Holy ghost Revival comes from thee Yes, lord send Revival Start the work in me Thy My word declares Thou will supply our need Fourth verse one more time Oh Thank you lord for the power of thy word Thank you for the healing lord. Thank you for the deliverance lord Thank you. Lord. We praise you lord We praise you lord in jesus mighty name Jesus mighty name. Thank you Thank you lord praise the lord. Thank you lord praise the lord Thank you lord Oh Great great is the lord great is the lord Hallelujah to god all beloved He's all together lovely and faithful. Is he not? Hallelujah hallelujah Praise the lord Praise the lord I believe that god's word and god's spirit is bringing healing bringing deliverance I believe that as the lord ministers to us and just brings a deep word into our spirits that The powers of darkness will be driven back Yes, I believe that I believe marriages will be healed as the altar of prayer is once again Erected and built within the home Yes, I I believe that god is able to do this Father I pray that you'll heal tonight Any and every marriage lord that is suffering By thy word lord, I pray for those that are not here lord Send your word and heal the marriage lord Father, we pray that you'll drive back the powers of darkness that are infiltrating our families That you will once again lord place it within the hearts of the family To build the altar of prayer and meet before god every day lord I know that the powers of darkness will be driven back I know harsh words will be Substituted with kind words and feelings of bitterness and unforgiveness will be substituted with the love and forgiveness of god and impatience and and anger all my will disappear as the Patience and meekness and long-suffering Of jesus christ begins to fill our homes once again Lord i'm asking for the healing of marriages in this church Lord, i'm asking that you would restore and heal lord. I'm praying that you'll release All who are holding unforgiveness and bitterness lord toward anything or anyone? That lord you'll make the way in the heart for a mighty influx of thy spirit and a mighty renewal of prayer That we might see thy glory in our lives this year We thank you lord for thy work committed into thy hands For the perfecting Of thy work in our lives lord, we pray