Lifestyle of Faith – Part 9 Lawson and Aaron Perdue

  Friends, I’m so glad to have you with us today, and I’m gonna be teaching today about being consistent in your prayer life. We’re talking about the lifestyle of faith. And listen, there is more religion surrounding prayer than almost anything out there, but I’m gonna teach you how to pray effectively and pray powerfully. So stay tuned, you’re gonna be blessed by this broadcast. God bless you. Praise the Lord, friends, I’m glad you’re here with us today, and we’re sharing today on being consistent in our faith. And we’ve talked about a number of things. We’ve talked about being consistent in your confession of faith, your bold confession of Jesus, your bold confession of the Word, your bold confession of faith. We’ve talked about being consistent in your lifestyle of faith. We talked about Abraham in 50 years of faith in God. Then we talked about being consistent in giving and receiving. But today, we’re gonna talk about being consistent in prayer and praise. And the Bible actually says this in Colossians 4:2, it says, “Continue in prayer and watch in the same with thanksgiving.” And that is powerful. I think a lot of us, we fail to remember all the things that God has done in our life. And I remember one time years ago, we had a men’s fellowship. The leader of our men’s group at that time said, “What is on your heart, what is concern you?” And he handed out three by five cards, and he said, “Write that on this card and pray about it. Let’s pray about it.” So we did that day, and we agreed. And I stuck that card in a coat. We had men’s fellowship once a month on a Saturday morning. And you know what, I forgot about it. And the next month we came back, and the leader said, “Hey, what did you pray about last month?” And I just got this big smile, because God took care of that. It was completely dealt with, it was completely done. It was established, it was no problem. And it was really, really amazing. And I just thought about, a lot of times we pray, but we forget to remember what God’s done. And He says, “Continue in prayer and watch, watch God answer your prayers, watch in the same with thanksgiving.” And we’re gonna go to Luke Chapter 18, Aaron, verse 1-8. I’m gonna have you read Luke 18:1-8. And Jesus taught this parable that men should always pray and not faint. And so let’s learn from Jesus about praying and being consistent in prayer.

 

  So it says here in Luke 18, “Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart, saying, ‘There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God nor regard man. Now, there was a widow in that city, and she came to him saying, ‘Get justice for me from my adversary.’ And he would not for a while, but afterward, he said within himself, ‘Though I do not fear God nor regard man, yet because this widow troubles me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.’ Then the Lord said, ‘Hear what the unjust judge said, and shall God not avenge his own elect to cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?'”

 

  Amen, so Jesus relates faith, right? He’s talking about prayer, and He says, “Men should always pray and not faint.” But then He says, “When the Son of man comes, will He find faith on the earth?” So He connects faith and prayer. And I believe that all people of faith pray. I don’t believe that all prayers are prayers of faith. And so, for instance, if you’re just… And this is not talking about the amount that you pray, it’s talking about being consistent in prayer. When it talks about this first part, this widow in this city, it talks about this judge, it says this judge did not fear God. He was not a godly man, he was an unjust judge, and he did not respect people. He didn’t care about this woman, he didn’t fear God, it wasn’t about he respected his relationship with God. He was an unjust judge. But he just said, “Man, this woman is pestering me. I’m gonna help her to get her outta my hair.” But this is not us. We are chosen of God, we are children of God, we are the elect of God. And He says this right here, He said, “Shall not God,” in verse seven, “Avenge his own elect.” If you understand who God is and who you are, it’s gonna change how you pray. And God is our Father and we’re in His family, and that ought to change how we pray. Who prayed to Him? Go ahead, Aaron.

 

  Yeah, one thing about this parable that really speaks to me, is sometimes there’s a person in your life that maybe you feel they’re just really stopping God’s will for your life, they’re stopping God’s plan for my life, they’re stopping God’s destiny for my life. This person, it might be a boss that’s just withholding things from you that are due to you. Maybe it’s a spouse. Maybe you have someone in your family who’s not a believer and you feel like… God can actually work around people who are knotheads to bless you, anyways.

 

  In Romans, I think it’s chapter four verse three. No, it’s chapter three, Romans chapter three, maybe verse four. But it says this, “Shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?” And Paul’s answer to that is, “God forbid.”

 

  And a great example of this in scripture is actually the story of Abigail, who became one of King David’s wives.

 

  Yeah, great.

 

  And she was married to a complete knothead.

 

  Fool.

 

  Nabal, who was a complete fool. And Nabal, even though David and his army had protected him, and protected his workers, Nabal didn’t wanna give anything that was due to them. He was an unjust person. And Abigail actually intervened, and just kind of circumvented Nabal, and took provisions to David and his men, and said, “Please,” fell down and begged and prayed. Like, “Don’t give us what we deserve, show show mercy on us.” And God really took care of Abigail. Nabal ended up dying, and she married David. And God can work around people who are unjust.

 

  Yes.

 

  So keeping faithful, keep trusting God, and He’ll take care of you.

 

  One aspect you talked about, if you at a job and you feel like… Don’t get mad, talk bad about your boss, and run them down, that is unprofessional, that is ungodly. You know what you need to do? You need to just pray and believe God. And if God can’t promote you, and work this problem out where you’re at, God will promote you somewhere else. And God does that, so just keep your eyes on Jesus. And if you don’t like where you’re working, maybe it’s time for you to go somewhere else, but don’t be a whiner, and complainer, and griping about the boss.

 

  Mhm, amen.

 

  That’s ungodly. And the Bible actually talks about it. You can read 1 Timothy chapter six, the first few verses. And basically, it says that we need to have an attitude of humility and respect towards those that we work for. And you can read Ephesians chapter six, it talks about that in the first few verses. Colossians chapter four, the first few verses talks about, you know what, “Employers, treat your employees right, but employers, do right towards your boss,” praise God. And it works in both sides. But when you think about this, it’s not because of the amount that we pray. If it was because we prayed a lot, the Muslims, the Buddhists, the Hindus, they pray circles around Christians in most cases. It’s not about how much you pray, and it’s not about how many people, it’s not about having a prayer chain of a thousand people, or getting five or 10,000 people together to pray. When Jesus was in the most critical situations, He put a bunch of people out. He took three people; Peter, James and John, His closest three, and He went in there and raised the dead and different things. Jesus did not make a big show about this.

 

  Yeah, I went to secular universities for my education. And I went to Carnegie Mellon University for my undergrad and Rice University for my master’s and doctorate. And I would try to connect with other believers there on campus, I would try to go to Bible studies, and even different denominational believers. But I would usually avoid prayer meetings just ’cause you really see people’s theology, and just this kind of begging, and woe is me type of stuff come out in how people pray.

 

  It’s terrible. And really, I like that you talk about when we pray, we should be people who praise God.

 

  Yeah.

 

  You should praise God. And if you’re petitioning, if you’re asking, do a sandwich prayer, where you thank God, you ask, and then you thank God again.

 

  Amen, makes your prayers work better.

 

  And I was talking to someone yesterday who was asking me, “How can I pray?” And I just said, “You’re a spirit filled believer.” She’s recently baptized in the Holy Spirit and kind of started out praying in tongues. I said, “You need to pray in tongues more.”

 

  Yeah.

 

  And I said, “That’ll just help your prayer life really flow.”

 

  And it’ll help your faith. The Bible actually talks about this in Jude verse 20 and 21. It says, “Building up your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost.” Verse 21 says, “Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of God to eternal life.” And you know what, the reason that praying in tongues is so powerful is because Paul says, “When I pray in the spirit, my understanding is unfruitful.”

 

  And he said, “I thank God that I pray in tongues more than you all.”

 

  Yeah.

 

  So if the Apostle Paul is praying in tongues quite a bit, I think we should as well.

 

  He wrote about half of the New Testament, and he got the revelation of grace by the Spirit. He wasn’t there receiving from Jesus actively in Jesus’ ministry. And yet, he’s the one who wrote a lot of the New Testament revelation that we have, and it’s included in the canon of the scriptures. And so that’s the benefit of praying the Holy Spirit, it’ll bring revelation to you.

 

  Yeah, and if you’ve never prayed in tongues before, maybe some of you have, maybe you haven’t, but this is actually a very powerful gift that God has made available to every believer. So Jesus actually said, “Once I go, this is the promise from the Father that I’m gonna send.”

 

  Amen.

 

  I like that He said, “It’s the promise.” It’s not just a promise, but He called it the promise. I know it’s a big deal to be baptized in the Holy Spirit, to pray in tongues. And it’s from the Father, our Father only has good gifts for His children. And this is a good gift.

 

  Amen.

 

  If you haven’t received that gift yet as a believer, you can ask God for it, and I believe He’ll give it to you. So if you’d like to receive that gift of being baptized in the Holy Spirit, praying in tongues, call us and we’d be happy to pray for you. I believe that you can call right now and just ask to receive that, we’ll pray with you, and I believe that you’ll receive it even right now.

 

  Amen. Aaron, there’s a man, I think he’s over 80 years old, and this man was not a believer, but his daughter started coming here to our church a couple years ago, and he came on a Christmas Eve, and he said, “You’re changing what I think about God.” And then he came at another service and he received Jesus. I prayed with him as a savior. Well, his daughter brought him back, he lives 50 or 60 miles outta town, but she brought him back to church Sunday again. He told me before church, “I wanna receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit today.” And I said, “Well, I could have my prayer team pray for you.” He said, “no, I want you to pray for me.” So I prayed for him, and he just received like that. It was just so easy. You know what, he came to hear and to receive, and he received, amen. Just not long ago, we had a Wednesday night service, and there was a man that came. He had a denominational background, and he came to receive the Holy Spirit. And you and Heather got up there together and ministered, and five people came, and they all received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. And this is a powerful gift, and it’s available to you. And so, we’re gonna have a break in a minute. You can call on the break, you can give prayer, amen. And we have a lot of people in this church that received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. And when I received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, it changed my life. And this is just one good way to pray and stay in the realm of faith while we’re praying. And we’re gonna come back after a short break. But in this break, they’re gonna share a couple good things. But we’re gonna talk about how you mix prayer, when we come back, with thanksgiving and with praise. And how that makes you much more effective in your prayer. So stay tuned, we’re gonna be back right after this break, and you’ll be blessed as we continue to share the Word of the God. Blessings. Friends, I’ve been teaching with two of my greatest friends, Andrew Wommack and Jesse Duplantis. And we taught with Andrew on the revelation of grace, and then with Jesse on insights to faith. You don’t want to miss this great teaching. That is the heart of the gospel, grace, what Jesus has done. And faith, our positive response to it. Blessings. The Word of God will work for you. It doesn’t matter where you’re from, it doesn’t matter where you came from. Glory to God, it matters what you believe. And you need to begin to believe what God said about you. Because anywhere in the world that people will believe the Bible, they can prosper. And He said, “You have a revelation of it, so I want you to teach it,” hallelujah. Praise the Lord, friends. We’ve been talking about being consistent in prayer. And you know what, it’s not because of the amount that you pray, it’s not because you have a whole multitude of people on your prayer chain, it’s not because we have this great group crying out to God. I mean, there’s some examples that in Old Testament. Here’s the problem, a lot of people’s prayers are more like Old Testament than New Testament. And we need to realize that, man, at the cross, at the death and resurrection of Jesus, everything changed. Primarily that just 50 days after the resurrection, Jesus sent the Holy Spirit. We talked about, before the break, receiving the baptism of Holy Spirit with praying in tongues. Somebody asked me the other day, a very renowned Christian leader asked me. And they were raised in a Pentecostal denomination that taught you had to tarry to receive the Holy Spirit. They tarried at the Day of Pentecost. But you don’t have to tarry, since the Holy Spirit’s been given. The Holy Spirit hadn’t been given. God was waiting for the day of Pentecost, when all these Jewish people would be gathered together in Israel to celebrate the Feast of Pentecost. And that’s when He poured out the Holy Spirit. And many, many people got saved and baptized in the Holy Spirit. And then they took that experience of salvation and baptism of the Holy Spirit back to the countries and the communities where they lived. Praise God. So that’s why they tarried on the Day of Pentecost. But since Pentecost, there’s never been an example of tarrying to receive the Holy Spirit.

 

  I know some people–

 

  You should tarry after you receive the Holy Spirit.

 

  Yeah, some people have taught that. I know even at the Azuza Street Revivals, like John G, they kind of thought you had to tarry to receive the Holy Spirit. So that kinda thinking–

 

  That’s taught in a lot of older Pentecostal.

 

  Yeah, still.

 

  You see, the Bible actually says that God will give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him in Luke chapter 11. And you just ask, and believe, and then receive it. And when I received the baptism of Holy Spirit, it was in a Bible study of Andrew Wommack’s in 1978, in Lamar, Colorado, it was in my aunt’s apartment. And Andrew taught, and then after he taught, he gave this altar call, and he said, “Every one of you who wants to receive the baptism of Holy Spirit come forward.” And all the, probably 10, 15 people gathered up there to receive the baptism of Holy Spirit. And then he said, “Everybody here in this Bible study, in this room, that already baptized in the Holy Spirit, you gather around them and pray for them.” Well, I decided after these other people all had surrounded them that I wanted to receive this, so I went and got in the very back of the group. And then when Andrew prayed with them, I just lifted my hands toward heaven, and I just opened my mouth and I started speaking in tongues. And did you know what, that was over 45 years ago, and I’m still speaking in tongues, amen. I have never lost it, amen. And Paul actually said this, he said in 1 Corinthians 14, “I will pray with my spirit, I will pray with my understanding, I will sing with the Spirit, I will sing with my understanding.” So praying in the Spirit, just like I will to pray in the understanding, I just start praying in the Spirit. I just start speaking in tongues. I just open my mouth and start. The Holy Spirit gives me the words and I pronounce ’em. It says in Acts 2:4, “They laid hands on them and all of them spoke with other tongues as the Spirit gave them the utterance.” The Spirit gives you the words to speak, but you gotta speak ’em out. The Holy Spirit’s a gentleman, the Holy Spirit will not take your tongue, and move it up and down, and make you say. That’s witchcraft and control. But you are in charge of the gifts, just like prophecy. The Bible says, “The prophet, the prophet has power over the gift of prophecy.” You don’t have to just do something. Amen, but you do it by, “I will pray with my spirit, I will pray with my understanding.” Just like if I will to sing, I will to sing, and I just start singing and glorifying the Lord. And if I will to sing in the Spirit that same way. And so you ought to be filled with the Holy Ghost. If you aren’t, you should call in and you should receive this. But it’s a powerful gift. But I wanna go to Matthew chapter seven and read a few verses that Jesus taught about prayer. And in Matthew 7:7-11, He says, “Ask and it shall be given to you. Seek and you shall find. Knock and it shall be open. For everyone who asks, receives. And everyone who seeks, finds. And to him who knocks, it is opened.” So when you actually read this in the Greek, it says, “Ask and keep on asking, and seek and keep on seeking, and knock and keep on knocking.” It’s in the present continual tense. So, and this word ask, one meaning of this word, it’s the Greek word aiteo, and it means this, it means to make a demand based on a right. You can make a demand based on a right. And so what it means is ask. And you say, “Everyone who asks receives,” and receive. And then keep asking for more. And seek and find, and keep seeking for more. And knock, and the door will be opened, and keep knocking on more doors. God has more things for you to do. God has more for you to believe for. Never quit growing in the realm of faith. When I built our last church here in Colorado Springs at 720 Elkton Drive, shortly after I did it, Andrew Wommack came after I paid it off. We got in it and paid it off in about a year, maybe a little bit longer. But Andrew Wommack came and preached and said, “Now, Lawson,” he said, “Don’t sit on your laurels. You keep believing God, God has more. Jesse Duplantis came within a month after Andrew and said the exact same thing. You never just stall out in the realm of faith. And we need to keep believing God for more. And so when we look at this, it’s just like, ask and receive, and keep asking, keep growing in your faith. I’m believing God today for more than I’ve ever believed Him for in my life. I’m moving forward. Never stall out in your relationship with God. And He says, “Everyone who asks receives, everyone who seeks fines, everyone who knocks, it will be open. What man is there who will of his son ask bread and he’ll give him a stone?” Do you give your son death for life, or non-sustenance? No, if your son asks you, you give it to him. Why? He says, “Or if he asks for a fish, life, will you give him death, a serpent, something that’s gonna kill him?” He says, “No, if you being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more will your Father in heaven?” God is my Father and I’m in His family. And this is why prayer works, because we’re in His family. Hallelujah, Jesus said, “Pray our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be your name, your will be…” We know His will from His Word. “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Hallelujah. And when you know who God is, God’s nature is consistent with His name. He is our provider, He is our healer. He is our deliverer and protector. He is our peace and our provision. He is our sanctifier, He is the Lord our righteousness, and He is the Lord who’s there. That’s who God is. And when you understand who God is and then who you are, that you’re child of God. Paul says this in Ephesians four, three, excuse me. You wanna know how to pray right in the New Testament, read Paul’s prayer. Ephesians one, Ephesians three, Philippians chapter one, Colossians chapter one, pray those prayers. And he says, “Unto the Father in heaven, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth His name.” God is my Father, and I’m in His family. Man, prayer isn’t some difficult thing, it’s as easy as breathing. Praise God, hallelujah. I like what you said, when you need to keep asking and making a demand based upon a right, you need to know your rights as a believer.

 

  Amen.

 

  You need to know what has been purchased for you.

 

  Amen.

 

  As an American citizen, you have certain rights as an American citizen.

 

  Hallelujah.

 

  Even Paul, he was a Roman citizen and he knew his rights as a Roman citizen.

 

  Yeah, got arrested five months.

 

  “You can’t just arrest me and beat me for no reason.” He was born a Roman citizen. And a soldier then piped up and said, “Well, I purchased my citizenship.” And your citizenship in the kingdom of heaven, it’s actually a double citizenship. You’re born again into–

 

  Into the kingdom of God.

 

  Into this kingdom. And it’s also purchased for you with the shedding of Jesus’ blood. So you’re a doubly appointed citizen on this–

 

  Amen.

 

  So your rights are doubly secure. Your rights to–

 

  The things of God, the promises of God. All the promises of God in Christ are yes and amen.

 

  But you have to know your rights, you have to know what belongs to you.

 

  Amen. Aaron, when I was a kid, we lived in a trailer park in Pinrose, and my neighbor boy came over and stole my big, yellow, steel Tonka truck out from under my trailer and put it his under his trailer. And I went over, and you know what, I got it back. And you know what, Jesus came to get back everything the devil stole from us in the fall. Amen, everything that Adam lost, Jesus came to get it back. And when you know that, when you know your covenant rights as a believer, you can pray and get some things back. Hallelujah.

 

  You need to, yeah, not just roll over and play dead. If the enemy tries to steal something from you, you go and get it.

 

  That’s the problem with this sovereignty teaching, people have just sucked it up, and just, “Whatever will be, will be. We’re just hanging in there hoping to God we make it.” And every problem that comes, they account to God. You know what, we are in a different covenant. This is not Job, we are not in the Old Testament. And did you know Job’s problems did not come from God? If you read it, and at the end of Job’s life, Job got twice as much as he had before. But we are in a better covenant, established on better promises, and Jesus made it better in His death and resurrection. So we need to start believing God, and quit just accepting every lie, accepting every… Some people, man, they just think any sickness that comes, this is from God. Well, that’s like saying, somebody committed adultery, “And God made me do it.” God didn’t make you do it. Your sickness and your sin were paid for by the same blood, on the same cross, at the same time. Amen, Jesus paid for your forgiveness and your healing at the same time. He paid for your peace, and He paid, praise God, for your prosperity at the same time. And you need to believe all the promises of God. All the promises of God in Christ are yes and amen. Hallelujah.

 

  That’s awesome.

 

  Glory to God, cheers us up, mayor.

 

  That’s good, that’s good.

 

  Well, so many people, they think, “Well, this is faith in God.” Faith isn’t just accepting everything, faith is standing and believing. We’ve been given weapons. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but they’re mighty through God to the casting down of strongholds. Strongholds aren’t demonic places, strongholds are fortified places in our mind. The devil takes advantage of us many times because we don’t think right. And when we start believing the Word of God and believing the promises, we can go get back what the devil stole. Amen, and that’s how we ought to pray, we ought to pray prayers of faith. We ought to speak the promises and believe the promises. Amen, read Paul’s prayers. And put your name in there and start praying. Ephesians one, Ephesians three, Philippians one, and Colossians one, and see what happens. You know what, I love Paul’s prayers because they’re, he’s not negative, they’re not focused on need, they’re not focused on lack, they’re not focused on fear. You know what they’re focused on, who God is, what God’s called you to do, who Christ is, and what Jesus Christ has invested in you so you can get done what God called you to do. Amen, and if you start praying like that, you know what, you’ll start receiving like that. Too many people are going and praying, and come back look like they’ve been eating oats out of a half inch gas pipe, look like they are defeated. The Bible says, “There’s joy in the presence of the Lord.” And you need to pray and get in the presence of God, and thank God for what He promised you, and see those promises come to pass. If you need prayer today, I have trained prayer ministers waiting to pray for you right now. So give us a call, blessings.

 

  Faith isn’t just a momentary thought or a burst of emotion, it’s a lifestyle of trusting in God and His unfailing Word. Take a step of faith, and trust in God’s plan for your life. Faith is a journey, so enjoy the trip. We’d like to bless you with a digital copy of the teaching “Lifestyle of Faith,” a $20 value free of charge. Download it today at CharisChristianCenter.com.

 

  Friends, I certainly hope that you’ve enjoyed the program today, and it’s ministering to you to move into that which God has for you. And I wanna say a great big thank you to all of our partners for helping us share this gospel across the United States and across the world. It’s because of our partners that we can take this message of grace and faith around the world. If you would like to join our partners and receive that blessing, give us a call today. Blessings.

 

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