The prayer of Jabez

[Song: Battle Hymn of the Republic] [Intro Voice] Church and fellowships cannot be more spiritual than the individuals and families that constitute them. God greatly desires a godly home for you. These are words of restoration and instruction in righteousness from Family Life Ministry. May you be blessed as you listen. [Speaker 1] So that we can avoid the snares of evil. Another major point again last week is the fact that since sleep is a temporary death and death is a permanent sleep, then the believer must be careful. If he is asleep, he is not different from the person who is dead. He can be in the dark just like the sinner, like the godless. His life may not be different. And like we saw in the life of Esau last week, we saw that Esau was actually in the dark. He just lived his life so thoughtlessly. "What is birthright to me?" And we saw that eventually he thought it was just a joke, what happened that day. But actually that day, his inheritance was transferred. It was not the blessing of Isaac that transferred the blessing to Jacob. It was not. It was the foolishness of Esau that actually did the transaction. The blessing of Isaac was just a manifestation. It was a manifestation of a traded birthright. It only manifested. So we said some things that later manifest in our lives and we begin to cry to God for those things to unwind, we should be careful. There are examples in the scripture of where people did things thoughtlessly. And eventually when they wanted a turnaround, those things could not be turned around for them. Esau wept and cried, but what had been traded could not be given back to him. So let's be careful not to trade our inheritance, not to trade our purpose in life, not to trade it because before their final manifestation, sometimes before we get there, there are some junctions in our life where we have acted foolishly and thoughtlessly and in a way that they could not be remedied. But we also spoke about the mercies of God, that it is particularly so when we seem to take the goodness of God for granted. God will pardon. Let's be careful. Let's be careful. And we trust the Lord that the Lord will keep us. He will preserve us for our inheritance that He has prepared for us in the name of Jesus Christ. As we try to go into our focus for today, let us have a word of prayer. Almighty God, we are grateful unto You. We thank You for Your goodness. We thank You for Your mercies. We thank You for all who You are and all that You are to us. Lord, our God, we are committing this meeting into Your hands again and we are praying: Lord, attend to our gathering in Your mercies in the name of Jesus. Lord, cause our eyes to behold wondrous things out of Your laws in the name of Jesus. Lord, that we may see Jesus, that we may see Him in scriptures, that we may encounter Him by scripture, that Christ might be formed in us by scripture, that we may experience an inner transformation again from glory to another level of glory by the reason of this gathering in the name of Jesus. That darkness will give way for light and great light will appear in the name of Jesus. And anywhere, any area of our life where darkness persists or where darkness is, may we see great light in the name of Jesus. Thank You, Eternal Father. Blessed be Your Holy Name. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. We want to consider something very significant again today. Possibly like that of last week, we should be able, depending on how God helps us, we should be able to complete the discussion again for today. And if for any reason we could not finish it, then we will move on to look at the remaining next week. We want to look at, we want to consider the topic "The Prayer of Jabez." The prayer of Jabez. The prayer of Jabez. The prayer of Jabez. If you look at the man Jabez, I believe we are very familiar with the person called Jabez. The story of Jabez appeared in 1 Chronicles chapter four. That's where we have the story of Jabez. And today, we are considering the prayer of that man in Chronicles, 1 Chronicles chapter four. Let's go to 1 Chronicles chapter four. We will take it from around verse nine thereabouts. 1 Chronicles chapter four. Let me open my Bible. I'll be reading from the New King James Version. 1 Chronicles 4. We are considering the prayer of Jabez. I'll take my reading from verse nine. 1 Chronicles 4:9-10 Now Jabez was more honorable than his brothers, and his mother named him Jabez, saying, "Because I bore him in pain." And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, "Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!" So God granted him what he requested. I would like to read that same story from some other translation for the benefit of amplification, just to make it clearer. 1 Chronicles chapter four, I'll take my reading from verse nine. I'm reading the Amplified Translation. 1 Chronicles 4:9-10 Jabez was honorable above his brothers; but his mother named him Jabez (Sorrow-maker), saying, "Because I bore him in pain." Jabez cried to the Lord God of Israel saying, "Oh, that You would bless me and enlarge my border, and that Your hand might be with me, and You would keep me from evil so it might not hurt me!" And God granted his request. That's Amplified. Let me read that again in NLT. 1 Chronicles 4:9-10 There was a man named Jabez who was more honorable than any of his brothers. His mother named him Jabez because his birth had been so painful. He was the one who prayed to the God of Israel, "Oh, that You would bless me and expand my territory! Please be with me in all that I do, and keep me from all trouble and pain!" And God granted his request. We are looking at this story of Jabez. We are looking at the prayer of Jabez. And we are trusting the Lord to take instruction from this prayer. The reason why I read various translations is because there seems to be a contradiction in the verse nine. In the verse nine, the Bible says: "Now Jabez was more honorable than his brothers, and his mother named him Jabez saying because I bore him in pain." And Jabez called on the God of Israel. It looks as if there's a contradiction when you look at the story ordinarily. In the opening of the verse nine, the Bible says: "Now Jabez was more honorable than his brother." So if he was more honorable, he says: "But his mother named him Jabez because he bore him in pain." Now, meaning that ordinarily, it looks like the opening of the verse nine is looking at the verse ten. Do you understand me at all? What I'm saying is that when the Bible says "Jabez was more honorable than his brother," the Bible was saying that pointing to what happened after Jabez had prayed. Do you get what I'm trying to say? It was pointing to what happened after verse ten. Jabez was more honorable than his brother, but his mother named him sorrow-maker because of. So the "more honorable" was the conclusion of his story. When he was born, he was not more honorable. His brothers were more honorable than him. When he was born, things were not. The Bible was concluding about his life now. The way things were was that there was something within their family. Anytime they want to talk in their family, what would they call Jabez? What will he be called? The translation of his name is sorrow-maker. Maker of sorrow! Maybe they would have named the other brothers Grace, Mighty, Edgar, Excellent, Marvelous. Are you liking the point I'm trying to make? But for Jabez, the story of his life was different. And then again, I also want us to look in between that story. The Bible says: "Now Jabez was more honorable than his brother, and his mother named him Jabez because he bore him in pain." Now when the Bible says: "And Jabez called on the God of Israel," I believe Jabez would not be calling on the God of Israel when he was a baby. It appears, even though it's just two verses, it appears that when Jabez was named sorrow-maker, it appears from this story that as the boy was growing up, what was the story? Sorrow was following him. Because if the matter was about his childhood, there would have been no need to pray when he grew up. I don't know whether you're understanding me. There would have been no need to pray. So even though it looks as if being named child of sorrow, sorrow-maker, it looks like the sorrow and the shame continued with Jabez. It continued with his life on and on and on and on and on until he got to a point in his life that Jabez had to pray, had to call on the God of Israel. He had to call. So the sorrow... now when the Bible says "Jabez was more honorable than his brothers," it looks like when the mother named him child of sorrow, as events were going, his brothers were actually ahead of him. So it's like the Bible is only trying to make us see that the problem, the reason why at first things were not working well for him, was actually because something happened at his birth. The mother named him something, sorrow-maker, and so he kept on making sorrow, he kept on making sorrow. What was around him was sorrow, sorrow, sorrow, sorrow. And so he kept on making sorrow until he got to a point that he had to cry to God. And the Bible says the Lord heard him. So what was God waiting for before? He was waiting for that cry. He was waiting for that shout. Do you see what I'm trying to make you see is that whatsoever things are written in scripture, they are written for our learning, so that we can look at certain things and build our faith on the word of God. And like I said, I'm not saying that ministers, I'm not reducing the place of ministers, I'm not reducing the place of agreement prayer. There are different kinds of prayer. It's just that I am laying emphasis on the efficacy of the effectual fervent prayer of a man. Particularly a man who is working right. That is why you notice that between 15 and 17, he said, "If your brother offends you," you are not the type that hold things in your heart. You are not the type that does not relate to other brethren. You go and meet him, "this is not good." He said no, "I've not listened to you." You are a man of peace. You take two or three people again, let's go and resolve this thing. And he's not resolving it. You call the church, come and see. So you relate to them. You are connected to them. You relate to them, you have things with them. You are in the midst of believers. You have a walk. The brethren knows. That's why he first gave those things. He now said: "Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." Look at that scripture closely. What is coming first? What is coming first? Ordinarily, you know what I was expecting? "Whatever is bound in heaven shall be bound on earth. Whatever is loosed in heaven will be loosed on earth." Do you see the way it is written? "Whatever is bound on earth shall be bound in heaven. Whatever is loosed here will be loosed in heaven." I'm talking about, Jesus was talking, he was not talking about a group. He was talking about an individual. "I say to you," before he now talk about the group. "Whatsoever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven." So I want to ask: what if it is not bound on earth? It will not be bound in heaven. Are you following me at all? What if it is not loosed on earth? It will not be loosed in heaven. What I'm trying to say, please don't forget we are coming from the prayer of Jabez. Jabez got to a point in his life that Jabez particularly entered in unto God and say, "God, there is a matter in my life that need to be addressed." And Jabez began to pray. He cried unto the Lord. The Hebrew word there, when he says Jabez called on the God of Israel, the Hebrew word there, if you check the Hebrew word, is *qara*. *Qara* means to shout aloud. If you want to say it in Yoruba, *ki eniyan fi gbe ko fi pasi Olorun, Oluwa!* That's the kind of thing. He got to a point in his life and he said, "Ah, Baba, ko le continue bayii, Oluwa!" It's something... that's the word. I'm not saying when we don't shout God don't hear. But that is the word that was used. He actually cried. He got to a point, "Ah, is this how I'm going to end? Where is the God of Israel?" And he shouted, he cried aloud to that God. And the Bible says the Lord heard him. So what was God waiting for before? He was waiting for that cry. He was waiting for that shout. Do you see what I'm trying to make you see is that whatsoever things are written in scripture, they are written for our learning, so that we can look at certain things and build our faith on the word of God. And like I said, I'm not saying that ministers, I'm not reducing the place of ministers, I'm not reducing the place of agreement prayer. There are different kinds of prayer. It's just that I am laying emphasis on the efficacy of the effectual fervent prayer of a man. Particularly a man who is working right. That is why you notice that between 15 and 17, he said, "If your brother offends you," you are not the type that hold things in your heart. You are not the type that does not relate to other brethren. You go and meet him, "this is not good." He said no, "I've not listened to you." You are a man of peace. You take two or three people again, let's go and resolve this thing. And he's not resolving it. You call the church, "come and see," so you're not just on your own. You relate to them. You are connected to them. You relate to them, you have things with them. You are in the midst of believers. You have a walk. The brethren knows. That's why he first gave those things. He now said: "Assuredly I say to you, I assure you, I assure you, I assure you, I assure you that anything, anything, bind it on earth, heaven too will bind. Go ahead and loose it. Walk with God. Realize it. See something and then go ahead and loose it, as if heaven will not loose." And do you find a similar thing in the Lord's prayer? You find a similar thing in the Lord's prayer? Our Father, who art in heaven, who was teaching us to pray that way? The same Jesus. Hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be what? Done where? On earth as it is in heaven. What are you to pray for? Do you see that that thing, as the will of God is done in heaven, it cannot be done on earth until there are people who can do what? Who can pray. But I'm addressing you and your life. How do you perceive? This is our focus this evening. How do you perceive your personal prayer life? How do you see it? Do you have so much doubt about your prayer life? Do you have so much doubt about yourself? How do you rate yourself? "God will not hear, let's just pray." Already you have defeated the prayer. Already you have put yourself in a situation where your prayer will not cross above your ceiling. You're not coming with the correct understanding. Jesus said, "I assure you," it was Jesus that was speaking. "I assure you, if you bind on earth, heaven will bind. If you loose, heaven will loose." And I want to ask you: what is the situation of your life? That's what you should be asking yourself. Not "can God by me revert the situation or change a circumstance?" That should not be what you should be thinking about. What you should be thinking about is to connect all of these things together. The battle between the Israelites and the Amalekites, who commanded it? Who commanded that battle? Who asked Israel to engage them in that war? God. When Moses was praying, what was Moses praying? He was praying on something that God had asked them to do. Is that not? And as he prayed, we discover it looks like as if after God gave instruction for them to fight it, God needed Moses to raise up his hand for the victory to be completed. Am I showing you something at all? I'm showing you something very, very quickly. That is why you notice that Jesus was addressing a principle before he come to assuredly when you pray. Two things I want you to see: when you look at John, 1 John 5, he said "this is the confidence that we have towards Him, that we know that we have whatsoever we ask because..." let's read that scripture. It's not really about... yes, there is belief, but there is something he pointed out in that place. Look at 1 John 5:14-15 again. "And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will..." Have you seen what I'm trying to point out? Have you seen it? The same principle here again. The same principle is very, very obvious here. What is the principle here? That that which God wills for our life, if we don't pray it, they cannot happen. Are you seeing the meeting point there again? That God wills things for our life, but yes, what is He waiting for? What is He waiting for? That you should bind on earth and what will happen? Heaven will bind. What is heaven waiting for? That you should loose on earth and what will happen? Heaven will loose. And I want to ask you, what did Jesus say exactly? He gave us the keys of the kingdom so that we can do what? We can bind and we can do what? And we can loose. I see Jesus assuring your heart. I see Jesus telling you that assuredly... the matter of assuredly was coming because something was addressed. He was addressing the matter of living rightly, living correctly. Because if you look at the earlier part of Matthew, he have spoken about if you want to offer your offering to God and remember that your brother has something against you, drop your offering, reconcile with your brother. He was talking about the need for us to walk in love, for us to walk in light, to live correctly. Am I very clear? That was the matter he just addressed. If your brother hurt you, don't carry offenses and grief in your heart, don't regard iniquity in your heart and you want to pray. But if you don't regard iniquity in your heart, if there is no darkness in your heart, and you will notice this same matter, this same matter of iniquity, even the Apostle Peter addressed it when he was talking about husband and wife, when he said "wives submit, husband love, live with knowledge so that your prayers can be answered." You hope remember that thing in 1 Peter chapter 3? It's the same principle Jesus was addressing here. He first addressed the matter of living correctly. You need to live correctly. He said, if you live correctly, and the same matter was what James was addressing when James said "the effectual fervent prayer," not of righteous people, but of a... it's the same matter, it's this same principle. When he said it availeth much, what he's saying is that when a man who has been walking with God, a man who live right, when these people, when they stand to bind on earth, heaven will bind also alongside. It availeth much. I am not underplaying the place of agreement prayer, group prayer, prayer of ministers, prayer of pastors, prayer of men of spiritual fathers. No, no, I'm not ruling that out at all. But we are just addressing a matter. We are addressing a matter about Jabez's prayer, that there is a principle that is coming out of that prayer. And that principle that you are seeing in Jabez, I'm trying to show you that it was a, it was a age-long principle. That if you look at the order here, I was thinking it will be whatsoever has been binded in heaven, if you bind on earth. No, that was not the direction. The direction was that "I assure you, if you bind on earth, it will also be in heaven." The only thing, you know, the only thing we need to be asking ourselves, the only thing you need to be looking at in your life is how is my walk with God. That's what you should be looking at. Because if you really understand the principle that Jesus is showing forth in this place, he's showing us a very strong principle. Now, look at it. Let me connect it this way. I was talking about what is... the question you should be asking yourself is "what is the situation of my life?" That's what you should be asking yourself, and not "can God by me revert the prayer or change a circumstance? Can God by me do something?" That should not be what you should be thinking about. What you should be thinking about is to connect all of these things together. The battle between the Israelites and the Amalekites, who commanded it? Who commanded that battle? Who asked Israel to engage them in that war? God. When Moses was praying, what was Moses praying? He was praying on something that God had asked them to do. Is that not? And as he prayed, we discover it looks like as if after God gave instruction for them to fight it, God needed Moses to raise up his hand for the victory to be completed. Am I showing you something at all? I'm showing you something very, very quickly. That is why you notice that Jesus was addressing a principle before he come to assuredly when you pray. I'm showing you a principle that if Jabez did not cry, he actually cried. He got to a point, "Ah, is this how I'm going to end?" and he cried aloud to that God. And the Bible says the Lord heard him. So what was God waiting for before? He was waiting for that cry. He was waiting for that shout. You see, whatever things are written in scripture, they are written for our learning, so that we can look at certain things and build our faith on the word of God. And like I said, I'm not saying that ministers... I'm not reducing the place of ministers. I'm not reducing the place of agreement prayer. There are different kinds of prayer. It's just that I am laying emphasis on the efficacy of the effectual fervent prayer of a man. Particularly a man who is working right. That is why you notice that between 15 and 17, he said "if your brother offend you." You are not the type that hold things in your heart. You are not the type that does not relate to other brethren. You go and meet him. It's not good. He said no, "I've not listened to you." You are a man of peace. You take two or three people again. Let's go and resolve this thing. And he's not resolving it. You call the church, come and see. So you relate to them. You are connected to them. You relate to them. You have things with them. You are in the midst of believers. You have a walk. The brethren knows. That's why he first gave those things. He now said, "I assure you, I assure you, I assure you, I assure you that anything, anything, bind it on earth, heaven too will bind. Go ahead and loose it. Walk with God. Realize it. See something and then go ahead and loose it, as if heaven will not loose." And do you find a similar thing in the Lord's prayer? Give me a similar thing in the Lord's prayer. Our Father, who art in heaven, who was teaching us to pray that way? The same Jesus. Hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be what? Done where? On earth as it is in heaven. What are you to pray for? Do you see that that thing, as the will of God is done in heaven, it cannot be done on earth until there are people who can do what? Who can pray. But I'm addressing you and your life. How do you perceive? This is our focus this evening. How do you perceive your personal prayer life? How do you see it? Do you have so much doubt about your prayer life? Do you have so much doubt about yourself? How do you rate yourself? Already you have defeated the prayer. Already you have put yourself in a situation where your prayer will not cross above your ceiling. You're not coming with the correct understanding. Jesus said, "I assure you," it was Jesus that was speaking. "I assure you, if you bind on earth, heaven will bind. If you loose, heaven will loose." I see Jesus assuring your heart. I see Jesus telling you that assuredly... the matter of assuredly was coming because something was addressed. He was addressing the matter of living rightly, living correctly. Because if you look at the earlier part of Matthew, he have spoken about if you want to offer your offering to God and remember that your brother has something against you, drop your offering, reconcile with your brother. He was talking about the need for us to walk in love, for us to walk in light, to live correctly. Am I very clear? That was the matter he just addressed. If your brother hurt you, don't carry offenses and grief in your heart, don't regard iniquity in your heart and you want to pray. But if you don't regard iniquity in your heart, if there is no darkness in your heart, and you will notice this same matter, this same matter of iniquity, even the Apostle Peter addressed it when he was talking about husband and wife, when he said "wives submit, husband love, live with knowledge so that your prayers can be answered." You hope remember that thing in 1 Peter chapter 3? It's the same principle Jesus was addressing here. He first addressed the matter of living correctly. You need to live correctly. He said, if you live correctly, and the same matter was what James was addressing when James said "the effectual fervent prayer," not of righteous people, but of a... it's the same matter, it's this same principle. When he said it availeth much, what he's saying is that when a man who has been walking with God, a man who live right, when these people, when they stand to bind on earth, heaven will bind also alongside. It availeth much. I am not underplaying the place of agreement prayer, group prayer, prayer of ministers, prayer of pastors, prayer of men of spiritual fathers. No, no, I'm not ruling that out at all. But we are just addressing a matter. We are addressing a matter about Jabez's prayer, that there is a principle that is coming out of that prayer. And that principle that you are seeing in Jabez, I'm trying to show you that it was a, it was a age-long principle. That if you look at the order here, I was thinking it will be whatsoever has been binded in heaven, if you bind on earth. No, that was not the direction. The direction was that "I assure you, if you bind on earth, it will also be in heaven." The only thing we need to be asking ourselves, the only thing you need to be looking at in your life is how is my walk with God. That's what you should be looking at. Because if you really understand the principle that Jesus is showing forth in this place, he's showing us a very strong principle. Now, look at it. Let me connect it this way. I was talking about what is... the question you should be asking yourself is "how is my walk with God?" That's what you should be looking at, and not "can God by me revert the situation or change a circumstance?" That should not be what you should be thinking about. What you should be thinking about is to connect all of these things together. The battle that they were fighting, or the battle between the Israelites and the Amalekites, who commanded it? Who commanded that battle? Who asked Israel to engage them in that war? God. When Moses was praying, what was Moses praying? He was praying on something that God had asked them to do. Is that not? And as he prayed, we discover it looks like as if after God gave instruction for them to fight it, God needed Moses to raise up his hand for the victory to be completed. Am I showing you something at all? I'm showing you something very, very quickly. That is why you notice that Jesus was addressing a principle before he come to assuredly when you pray. Two things I want you to see: when you look at John, 1 John 5, he said "this is the confidence that we have towards Him, that we know that we have whatsoever we ask because..." let's read that scripture. It's not really about... yes, there is belief, but there is something he pointed out in that place. There is something I want you to see in that place. Please let us see 1 John. 1 John chapter 5. 1 John 5. Look at 1 John 5:14-15. Are we there? 1 John 5:14-15 And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him. Have you seen what I'm trying to point out? Have you seen it? The same principle here again. The same principle is very, very obvious here. What is the principle here? That that which God wills for our lives, if we don't pray it, they cannot happen. Are you seeing the meeting point there again? That God wills things for our lives, but yes, what is He waiting for? What is He waiting for? That you should do what on earth? You should bind on earth. And what will happen? Heaven will bind. What is heaven waiting for? That you should do what? Loose on earth. And what will happen? Heaven will loose. And I want to ask you: what did Jesus say exactly? He gave us the keys of the kingdom so that we can do what? We can bind and we can do what? And we can loose. Is that not what Jesus said? Talking about the risen Christ? He said, "upon this rock," referring to Himself, "Christ, I will build My church. I give you the keys of the kingdom that whatsoever you bind shall be bound." There is something I'm just trying to show you something about the prayer of Jabez. Just two verses of his scripture, but it is bringing out something for us. It's making us see something very solid. It's showing us a principle. That if Jabez did not cry... the Hebrew word there, when he says Jabez called on the God of Israel, the Hebrew word there, if you check the Hebrew word, is *qara*. *Qara* means to shout aloud. If you want to say it in Yoruba, *ki eniyan fi gbe ko fi pasi Olorun, Oluwa!* That's the kind of thing. He got to a point in his life and he said, "Ah, Baba, ko le continue bayii, Oluwa!" That's the kind of thing. That's the word. He actually cried. He got to a point, "Ah, is this how I'm going to end? Where is the God of Israel?" And he shouted, he cried aloud to that God. And the Bible says the Lord heard him. So what was God waiting for before? He was waiting for that cry. He was waiting for that shout. Whatever things are written in scripture, they are written for our learning. So that we can look at certain things and build our faith on the word of God. And I want us to leave this place looking at this prayer of Jabez again. What is it that is there? What is it that has persisted? What is it that you are struggling with? What is it that looks like... you know last week, the Holy Ghost just bring this word again afresh to my heart. Not as if I don't know it, but I've always known that scripture, Luke 1:37. You know what is in Luke 1:37? With God, all things are possible. Many was wondering, how will it be? How will it be? How will it be? We will get to that scripture later in the course of this discussion. The Angel said, "except if God is not involved." With God, all things are possible. And I declare to us that one with God is majority. My prayer is this as we close for this evening, is that may it not happen to us that we would have failed on our knee and so when we come to the point of standing, because we have failed on our knee, we could not stand to take what belongs to us when we get to the place of standing. May it not happen to us that way. Because if you don't win the battle you ought to win on your knee, the battle you ought to cry, you ought to say assuredly, I bind this thing. If you don't win those battles on your knee, by the time you come to taking your possession, sorry, we did not bind so heaven too did not bind. You did not loose. Heaven too did not loose. Remember, He gave us the keys of the kingdom so that we can bind and we can loose. Let's talk to the Lord this evening. I want you to talk to the Lord. How do you perceive your personal prayer life? How do you see it? Do you have so much doubt about your prayer life? Do you have so much doubt about yourself? How do you rate yourself? I want you to be asking yourself, and not "can God by me revert a situation or change a circumstance?" Can God by me do something? That should not be what you should be thinking about. What you should be thinking about is to have a correct inner life. Let us develop ourselves. Let's have correct inner life. Oh Lord, we pray You will help us. Lord, You will help us. Lord, You will help us. Every scale that our situation, the enemy, the world has placed on our eyes, such that we are not seeing our personal prayer life the way we ought to see it, every satanic projection and imagination that has made us to look at ourselves as mediocre, as people whose prayer cannot handle situations, as people that cannot decree and change circumstances, as people that cannot give a command and heaven will respond, every thing that make us to look at ourselves, to perceive as ourselves as grasshoppers, Lord, I stand against that mentality. I refuse the operation. I say, Lord, let every scale drop from our eyes, drop from our mind in the name of Jesus. Lord, may we see ourselves as You see us. Cause us, oh Lord, to rediscover ourselves. Help us, oh Lord. Help our heart, help our mind to discover who we are in the name of Jesus. Thank You, Father. Oh, blessed be Your Holy Name, our God. In Jesus' most holy name, we pray. Amen. Let's share the grace together. [Music: Battle Hymn of the Republic] [Intro Voice] Church and fellowships cannot be more spiritual than the individuals and families that constitute them. God greatly desires a godly home for you. These are words of restoration and instruction in righteousness from Family Life Ministry. May you be blessed as you listen. [Song fades out]