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PRAYING IN THE SPIRIT SERIES
PRAYING FORTH YOUR
MINISTRY AND SPIRITUAL GIFTS
In this
message, the Holy Spirit impresses me to teach on prayer regarding your gifts
and your calling. By calling it is in regard to the ministry that God has for
you to do, whether it is full time or non full-time. List whatever you are sure of and whatever you are not sure of,
just write in a description the type of ministry that you have a leaning or
inclination to. The most important thing is to have a desire to move
into those areas of ministry. If you are a prophet teacher, just list down
prophet teacher. If you are a Christian entrepreneur, just list down Christian
entrepreneur. Just be as specific as you
can. You can tell it from the desires
God has placed in your life. Desires are very important!
The
second part is the gifts of the Spirit. You are to list down the specific gifts
of the H.S. that you have a yearning and a desire to move into. The reason we want you to list it before the
teaching is so that you could reflect on your thoughts after the teaching.
We
are going to see the connection between prayer and the ministry, prayer and the
gifts of the Holy Spirit operating in our life. It is important to consider the
fact that before God does anything through your life,
He will work through your desire. He will place His desire in your life. So
whenever God wants to do something, He always places a desire. For example if
God calls you to be a missionary, the desire will be there somehow at a certain
point in your life. Even when at first you don’t have true desire, later as the
time comes closer and closer to move into that area, the desire for that will
increase. What we are saying here is that no ministry or no gifts can flow
through your life without desire. God implants His desire into our life. That
is like a seed of a ministry or a gift.
The
opposite of it is not true. That is it’s not true that all our desires maybe
godly or maybe in line with what God has for us. It’s true only one way. All
cats are animals but not all animals are cats. So it’s not what I call true
both ways. It’s only true in one way. In the same way every work of God, every
ministry of God, every gift of God that is to function through your life will
always have a desire. The opposite of that is not true. Not all desires may be
from Him.
When
I was one year as a Christian, I had this tremendous desire to be a prophet.
And apparently I found that it was not only true of me. However I found out
after 5 years that it was not the will of God for me to be a prophet. So I
discovered that some of our desires might not be the Lord. Some of our desires come from influence from
the people around us, or from the things we have read or perceived.
So
these are some influences that influence our desire. Not all desires are from the Lord. However, before God does anything He has to
work through our desires. If God were to
remove desire from our life and ask us to do something, we will merely do it
out of duty without love, and without zeal. That’s why God deals with us from
the inside out. When God wants you to do something, He will always place a
seed. Your ministry in 5 years time, in 10 years time now is the seed of desire
in your life. The gifts of the Spirit
that God wants you to operate in is now a seed of a desire in your life. That is an established truth in the word of
God.
Now
desire can only be birth forth through prayer.
Desire can only grow to its full process and completion through
prayer. Therefore when God has placed a
desire in a person’s life to be for example a prophet, and if that person
neglects to pray, the person may live and die without entering a prophet
office. There are many people who go to
heaven, who desire to do certain things but it never took place. But yet there
are others who desired and did it. In
heaven we are not rewarded for what we desire but we are rewarded for what we
did.
The
Lord Jesus told Kenneth Hagin that if he had not
spent the time waiting on Him in the word, he may never enter the phases in his
ministry. It was fifteen years in the
ministry before he went into the first phase. For fifteen years he was in the
permissive will of God. He was praying
because he was dissatisfied with what he was doing. He felt wrong where he was
doing. He felt he should have been in
the field all the time. He went into
prayer and entered into the first phase of the ministry after 15 years. The
Lord told him in that first vision in his book that there are many of his
ministers who lived and died without even entering the first phase.
Desire alone is not enough, but it is the
beginning. Desire must be combined with
prayer in order for it to explode in your life to reality. Even between the
various phases that God has planned for us, at the end of each phase there will
come a new direction to a new desire.
As you nurse it in prayer, it will birth forth another ministry. In the
gifts of the Spirit, it operates the same way.
As God intends to operate a gift in your life, these come first a desire
to operate in it. And as the desire
increases and it combines with prayer, an explosion takes place and it manifest
in your life.
Let’s look into 1 Cor.12: 31 But earnestly
desire the best gifts. Now at first that looks like a contradiction for in
verse 28 it says God has appointed.
So the initiative is God. God appoints the different ministries. What about the gifts? Verse11 But one and the
same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He
wills. Based on verse 11 and verse 28,
one-verse talks about the ministry gifts the other talks about the nine
gifts. It looks as if its
God who does what He likes, it is God who initiate the process. It’s God who
appoints. The Holy Spirit works, as He
will. There is nothing we have to do except
yield. That’s only half the picture. If
that is true, what’s the point of desiring? Since God does it, as He wills not
as we will, doesn’t that seem like a contradiction at first? On one side it is saying God works, as He
will. It’s God who does it not us. Then He turns around and said you desire.
What happens if I desire something that God doesn’t want me to have? I can’t
have it either. But the point He is
making is the point I have made. That there are things that we can desire that
is out of God’s will that will never take place anyway. On the other hand it doesn’t rule out the
fact that before God can work there must be a desire and it always starts with
desire.
Even Mark 11:24 talks about desire. What things so ever that you desire when
you pray. Obviously desire has to do with prayer. Desire is connected to prayer. Prayer births the desire into the ministry or
gift that was in seed form earlier. Paul knew this truth. Therefore Paul shared
with the Corinthians how God who does His part.
But if we don’t do our part by allowing God to work His desire through
our life, you may live and die without manifesting. Let me tell you a lot of Christians today are
not living dedicated enough life.
The amount of time spent with God, with the Word
and in fellowship with whatever fellowship they came from, is so minimal that
it is only maintaining their Christian life.
They can live on that way for ten more years. They will never go any further. They are living only on bare minimum. They
were wondering if God wants to do it, let Him do it. No. In ten years time you
will still remain the same. It takes
desire and prayers to birth those things out in your life. It was because of a tremendous desire that
God has placed my heart and life that drove me on when I was one year old as a
Christian. I was so hungry for God. I
would get up early in the morning at 4 am and cry out before the Lord. I was
hungry for reality and we gathered together in the early hours of the morning.
We prayed, we travailed and there were many times I got up earlier than the
other Christians who were praying together with me. At least there were two
others. Then all together we will pray on the top of the flat. There is an open
area and we will kneel down on the hard cement floor. But it was the desire that drove me to do
extra. It was the desire that drove me to pray more.
If I had lived the average Christian life, I
would have prayed half an hour daily, read the Bible one chapter a day and I
would never be where I am today. I would have been an accountant and a chess
player. I would not have entered the ministry. God only spoke to me after a
long session of those kinds of meetings in the morning. When one of those early morning,
there came such a presence of God that I said, "Lord, if I don’t do
anything about that I am very uncomfortable." It was in one of those
mornings when God’s presence just filled the whole place. I wept and wept for
hours. I knew I must go into ministry. Why didn’t God speak to me there? God probably
did. There are too many times when God is speaking so many things that we
cannot hear until we hear Him in the closet. Even in the seminary I was not the average
student. I was not satisfied with what I learn in the classes. It gives me some
knowledge. But the hunger in my heart
was not there. I felt that I was not
receiving the training I should. Thank
God, we have a beachfront seminary. I used to climb the rock near the beach
looking for the best place to be alone with God. It was a desire to carry on, a desire that
must be acted upon. There were many
times I would sit on those rocks and prayed.
Every time I finish my schoolwork, I would rush down to the beach and then
I would go to the rocks and prayed constantly. The desire grew every time I
hear about a man of God with the anointing and power of God on their lives. I
heard some of their tapes. There were many times I hang out in the late night
–12 mid-night wandering up and down in the seminary. I was too hungry for God.
I took my little cassette recorder and I played tapes. I remember William
Branham's tape called “When love projects.” I heard the tape for the third time
because I knew there was the power of God on his life. As I hear it, the tears ran down my eyes. It
was one o’clock in the morning. But it was all these constant cries to God,
desire combine with prayer that birthed forth some of the things God began to
do.
I
know one thing, if I have the first half of Mk.11: 24 I would not have moved
on. Whatsoever
things you desire when you pray.
You have to add the second half.
Prayer is the only key to birth forth all the things that God has sown
as a seed in your life. It is prayer.
And I don’t know how any minister in these days can birth forth the seeds that
God has planted in their lives unless they close themselves in the closet for 1,2,3,4,5,6 months.
Even
William Braham started his ministry when after many years he said he doesn’t
understand this manifestation that was trying to come. Then one day he told his
wife, he took just a tub of water and he said, " If
I don’t get the answer from God about these strange things that are happening
in my life I am not coming back again.
This is good-bye!" The wife cried, he cried. He couldn’t stand it anymore. He went right
into the jungle. And it was there that
the angel appeared to him and started a tremendous ministry. God may have
placed desires in your life. But unless
it is combined and birth forth with prayer, you may live and die with just the
seed. The seed needs to be planted, nurtured, watered in the right environment,
and then it will bear fruit. The seed is not enough. The seed in itself is
life, no doubt. But the seed in itself
needs other condition to grow. In too
many lives it is not growing because there is not enough time in prayer. The marvelous thing is that prayers are
symbolized as watering of the seeds.
Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy. See prayer is symbolized as
working on the seed that God has sown in your life.
In
1 Cor. 14:1, Pursue love and desire spiritual
gifts or the things of the Spirit. But especially that you may prophesy. He
says desire after the things of God. Every ministry and every gift that God
wants to work in your life comes forth as a result of birthing through prayer
and nurturing through prayer. You would probably have noticed this: when you
give time to overnight prayer and long session of prayer, a lot of the things
in your spiritual life seem accelerated.
Where before your Christian life was travelling
at 10 miles per hour, now you seem to be travelling
at 40/55 M.P.H. There is a lot of acceleration that takes place when you give
time to prayer. I am not just talking about the ministry. You could be called
to be a Christian entrepreneur. God may
have predestined that you be a multi-millionaire for Christ in several years
time. The fact is if you have continued
as a normal Christian 20 years may pass and it still never come
even though it was God’s will. But when we pray it accelerated the process to
its normal speed that God has planned for our life to move in.
I
pity those who are called who never know the value of prayer. You literally
cannot live without it. If in the
ministry you don’t want to pray, you may as well leave the ministry. These are strong words. But you might as well leave the ministry
because you will never be able to birth forth what the Spirit wants you to birth
forth. You can’t exist without prayer in the ministry. In the non-full-time ministry, you could live
what the world call the nominal Christian life.
But it’s not normal for God, because it can never come forth to the
fullness that God wants and desires.
Let’s
look on to 2 Kings 2:9-10, `And so it was, when they had crossed over, that
Elijah said to Elisha, ”Ask! What may I do for you
before I am taken away?” Elisha said,
“Please let a double portion of your spirit be upon me.” So he said,”You
have asked a hard thing.” Things of the spirit have a price. "Nevertheless
if you see me when I am taken away from you, it shall be so for you; but if
not, it shall not be so."’ This
is Elisha who was following Elijah for about 10 years. When you live 10 years closely with a person,
you know their attitudes and you could almost read their thoughts. You know
what their moves are. And he understands about the anointing. And I believe
that when he met Elijah, Elijah was famous, Elisha was a
nobody but Elijah was somebody in 1 Kings 19 when they met. He is the one who went to the king and the
king sent announcement over looking for him. In those three and a half years
when there was no rain, the king was looking for him. They looked everywhere.
Elijah was famous, well known. He was the instrument to bring about the
destruction of all the prophets of Baal.
He ran away, but after 40 days he reached a mountain. God spoke to him
and told him to go and get Elisha.
Elisha
was a nobody, a greenhorn, a dark horse. And believe
that the very day, in fact God already told Elijah that Elisha is called to be
a prophet in 1 King 19. That very day
when Elijah came took his mantle and just came by and threw it to Elisha, from
that time onward I am sure Elisha would have the desire. I believe towards the last point God through
Elijah was testing out Elisha. Sees Elijah must have known the Lord. What the
Lord was going to do. He said those
words with a purpose. When
they went through various places as you can see 2 Kg. 2. In verse 1 they were in Gilgal. Then in verse 3 they were in
What
was happening in his life? There was a strong desire. Anybody with a weak desire would have failed
the first test. But he had a
desire. He desired for what was on
Elijah and he won’t let go until Elijah tells him the secret. Went to next place at
Look
at it very carefully. In chapter 2 after
he promised that in verse 11, it happened as they continue on and talk. Suddenly a chariot of fire appeared and
separated the two of them. Elijah went
up by whirlwind into heaven. Elisha saw
it. ”My father, my
father!” He cried, “ the chariot of
Many people miss out on a lot of thing when
they don’t give in to desire. When God
works it always have a desire. Remember the desire is
only the first process of his ministry and gift. It can die at that stage with
the world. Seeing nothing. We need to learn to convert that first stage
of desire into something real that can be birthed forth.
Let
me tell a story of Kathryn Khulman again. Her ministry
was birthed with her desire. You read her biography and you will read this,
that when she attended healing services by the man of God that she knew in
those days, she saw the long line of healing. When she saw it and she saw
people who came in sick and went out sick, she saw a lot of things going on
that she felt was wrong. Every night she went back and
cried. See she had a desire although she
could not comprehend her desire yet.
She knew something was wrong. It
was her desire that told her something was wrong. It was a desire to perform it
better than what she saw. It was a
desire to perform it like she read in the Bible Jesus did. She knew surely the
healing ministry couldn’t be that.
Remember it was Kathryn Khulman who changed
the whole healing method that we have today. You look at tapes today by A.A. Alen or by some of the older preachers,
you will find all of them mentioned the same method of having long lines for
prayer. It was Kathryn Khulman who came and literally
changed the whole method of ministering.
Her methodology was based on her desire. She wept before the Lord. In her biography she said she was like Mary
in the Bible who said, "Where had they placed my Lord? Where is the Lord
in all these things?" It cannot be
the Lord’s perfect method for ministering. The desire birthed forth one of the
most powerful ministry that we had ever seen in this century. See it takes
desire mixed with prayer to bring that kind of mininstry
to pass.
Let’s show the connection here. In Acts
13:1-3, now in the church that was at Antioch there were certain prophets
and teachers- Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius
of Cyrene, Manaen who had been brought up by Herod
the tetrarch and Saul. As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy
Spirit said, `Now separate to Me, Barnabas and Saul for the works to which I
have called them. Look at verse 2, `As they ministered to the Lord and fasted’, we all know that
fasting for them always connect with prayer, that the Holy Spirit spoke. Paul
was now about 10 years as a Christian. He was called in Acts 9 and in Acts 9
Ananias who laid hands on him was told by Jesus that Paul was called with a
special calling. But it took a prayer
meeting to birth forth the call. It
takes a prayer meeting to birth forth the call that God has on your life. It’s
in the prayer meetings that some of the most important transaction takes place
in the spirit. Prayer meetings are the
spiritual supermarket where all transaction takes place. Sunday service is just a showroom. The
transactions all take place in the closet.
That is why people has it upside down. They see the things wrongly. It’s the prayer!
Even
Robert Liardon says prayer is walking in the realm of
the Spirit. These are a lot of things we
have not received yet. I remember Robert Liardon went
to heaven and there was a certain place in heaven where there are a lot of
arms, legs, eyes and all kinds of things.
He says what are these? The Lord says that these are for those who don’t
have arms, don’t have eyes and these are His creative miracles. When one day
someone who comes to a service who doesn’t has a hand
and praises the Lord the hand comes. But the angels of the Lord escorting him
to the place said that a lot of these are unclaimed. Why are they unclaimed? . A lot of desire but not enough prayer.
We have to realize that desire must be combined with prayer. The ministry that
God has called you must be combined with prayer in order for it to be birthed
forth. All the things that the Bible
talks about in all those ministries have been birth in prayer.
Look at Acts 1 and 2. Birthing
prayer. Do you know that the
ministry of the 12 apostles that Jesus chose was birthed in prayer? Luke 6, it
was born in an overnight prayer. Part of the reason we have taught previously
was that he prayed the whole night to seek direction from God. But we realize
that Jesus' prayer was also a birthing process? Not only for revelation, it was birthing. He
births forth in the Spirit and then He brought forth in the natural. Prayer is
where new life comes. Prayer meetings
are the spiritual labor wards. There’s
where all the babies come into the world.
There’s where new life comes.
It’s in a prayer meeting where new ministries are born that has formerly
been just a desire or a hope. Its in a prayer meeting
that the new gift of the Holy Spirit is received that later manifests in the
natural. How powerful we realize
spending time with God is. That prayer and the ministries are directly
connected. This is what happens as you
pray. As you pray you start off with a desire that God has planted. You combine that desire with prayer. Through prayer the desire builds until what
I call assurance.
Assurance is where the leaves began to come
out of the ground. The seed i.e.
implanted in your spirit is invisible. Just as you have planted a seed into the
ground, it cannot be seen. But a day comes when the seed continue to receive
the right conditions and it comes out.
Wrong conditions you don’t see anything else. God may have planted a
seed in your life but the conditions are not right, you won’t ever come out. A
seed has to have sunshine, water, and nutrition. Nutrition is the Word of God.
Water is prayer. Sunshine is fellowship with God. God may have placed a seed in
your life. You feel it. You realize that the first part of a life of a seed is
the water. It is water of prayer that loosen that
part. When the seed first start its life. There is
enough nutrition inside there to start the process first. Then through time,
you need to bring in the word at a certain point. As we are concentrating on prayer, it’s where
the birthing process comes and it’s the water that you add to the seed plenty
of it. It’s in prayer that your ministry
is being birth forth. It’s in prayer
that the gifts of the Spirit are being birthed forth in your life.
From desire when it birthed forth the leaves
started coming from the surface. You know the plant is doing O.K. when the
assurance comes. You may have a desire but no assurance. You may desire to be a
prophet who function 10 times in the anointing, the Kenneth Hagin function but you don’t have the assurance. As long as
you don’t have an assurance, you can forget about it.
Then
where do I get that assurance? Combine
desire with prayer that’s where the assurance can come. As assurance is built in one area after
another, you began to see the leaves, the flowers and the fruit forming
later. It’s very important to have the
assurance. Even Mk.11: 24 say, What
things so ever you desire when you pray, believe that you receive, that’s
the assurance part. A lot of people have the first part – what things so ever
you desire. Keep on trying and they never got it. What things so ever you
desire have to be combined with prayer.
Why is prayer necessary? Prayer is also a
filter that removes the wrong desires. The more you pray in the Spirit, the
more the wrong desires get filtered out of your life and only the right desire
come forth. Let me tell you why it’s important to filter out. Any wrong desire
that you don’t filter out can get conceived by living under constant temptation
and yieldedness to the lifestyle of the devil and his
ways. So any desire that you allow to remain in your life and increase and grow
that is not of God will also conceive if you feed it in the flesh. James tells us that when desire has conceived
under temptation it is sin. And in prayer, a lot of wrong things get burned out
in the presence of God.
As
you pray in the things of the Spirit you say, is it right to pray for those
things that God want me to do like my ministry and all these things. Yes.
There’s a time and a purpose for all things. Will God answer? Yes, when you ask
anything in line with His will you will get an answer. You will get the same answer that Solomon
gets because when He asked Solomon, `What do you
want?’ Solomon asked for something that helps him to do God’s work better. See
Solomon was called to be a king and he asked for something that helps him to do
the kingship better. He says, "Lord I am a king and a judge for Your people. I need wisdom." You have not because you
ask not. We have to ask, we have to
desire, and we have to prevail for those things that God has inclined for us.
If you have a desire for certain things and you have not spent enough time
praying over those desires, that’s the reason why the assurance never come.
Should the assurance come? You will be
able to see the result in the other meetings as you minister in the Lord.
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