hello hello hello I miss us

my goodness gracious this is like the

longest fast ever this is like this is

worse than fasting food fasting hugs it

should be illegal in fact I’m through

fasting hugs so if if that bothers you

stay away from me because I will grab

you and hug you so all of our online

family you know we’ve got folks

gathering in homes right now all over

the Reading area which is just the

coolest thing ever

so glad to hear that and then our

international community we’re just we’re

glad we’re just glad glad to be able to

call your friends glad to be able to

call your family I I know that when

there’s like a pandemic I mean this is

the it’s serious it’s a real disease and

I don’t want to ever make light of that

but I do try to find things to laugh at

in the middle of everything and so if

that is annoying to you plug your ears

do something go la la la la la while I

read to you a few funny things Chris put

this on his I’ll blame him he put this

on his Instagram page

I used to spin the toilet paper roll

like I was on the wheel of fortune now I

turn it like I’m cracking a safe that’s

a good word right there yes it is I

think the corona virus is turning me

into a dog I’m roaming around the house

all day looking for food told know every

time I get too close to a stranger and I

get really excited about going for car

rides oh goodness I love this one too I

ate 11 times today and took 5 naps and

it’s still today ok thoughts and prayers

go out to all the married men who spent

months telling their wives I’ll do that

when I have time

all right let’s let’s get started how we

doing for time we’re doing good I want

you to open open your Bibles please just

second 2 chronicles chapter 7 it’s a

very familiar passage which I’m thankful

for there are just some portions of

scripture that should stand out more

than others because there seem to be

things that the Lord is really breathing

on and and I feel it’s so strong on this

passage right now

in ways that are really hard for me to

describe I’ve been looking forward to

today I’ve it’s been an unusually busy

season for us as a staff you would think

with this slowdown that there would

actually be a slowdown but I didn’t

notice it if it came it it went past me

it’s been an unusually busy time but

thankfully Benny and I were able to take

some vacation time this month and that

was just real wonderful the letdown of

course is not being with you but I

we did have some wonderful time to rest

and and just enjoy being home so we’re

we’re glad for that for for the last

several weeks I don’t know exactly how

long but for the last at least two weeks

maybe three or four I’ve been waking up

morning after morning often not every

morning but morning after morning

sometimes in the middle of the night

quoting this verse you know sometimes

you find divine moments because you use

you’re saying something that you didn’t

come from here didn’t come it wasn’t a

premeditated statement it was just

something that came up from here just

that volcanic eruption and I’ve been

finding this happen to me over and over

again in recent weeks and it’s this

passage second Chronicles 7:14 we’ll

read the whole verse and then I’m going

to take you through it we’re going to

talk about it verse 14 if my people who

are called by my name will humble

themselves and pray and seek my face and

turn from their wicked ways then I will

hear from heaven and will forgive their

sin

and heal their land let’s read it again

if my people who are called by my name

will humble themselves and pray and seek

my face and turn from their wicked ways

then I will hear from heaven and will

forgive their sin and heal their land

for probably 40 years or so of my life

this has been a a standout passage I

remember as a as a young man attending

conferences at Jack Hayford Church in

Van Nuys California I remember one in

particular where the entire event was

about prayer and intercession and

speakers would speak and oftentimes this

passage would be used as as a real

driving force to bring healing to the

land to bring healing to hundred-plus

nations represented by our viewing

audience but specifically for the state

of California for the nation the United

States that we bear a responsibility for

and it’s not only in the heart of God

it’s in the history of God to bring

healing when there has been great

devastation when there’s been great

disaster morally naturally natural

disasters that sort of thing

Wars whatever the Lord has a habit of

bringing healing and bringing

restoration and and doing a work that

only he could do and but it is it is

instigated by the people that he shared

his name with she says if my people it’s

not it’s funny to me sometimes that as

Christians we get angry for unbelievers

acting like unbelievers and I I’m not

sure where to go with that but just I’ll

leave that where it is the Lord puts the

weight of responsibility for

transformation on the shoulder of his

own people he didn’t say when the

nation’s turn to me he didn’t say one

those who

were struggle with addictions when they

get free didn’t say when the marriages

are healed he didn’t he didn’t say any

of that stuff he just said if my people

the ones that I gave my name to think

about that for a minute the ones I gave

my name to it’s extraordinary because

Jesus said he said you will ask the

Father in my name you’re gonna use my my

name you’ll ask the Father in my name

and anything you ask for will be done

for you then he says wherever two or

three of you are gathered in my name I’m

there in the midst then he says wherever

two or three of you agree as to touching

anything in my name it shall be done for

you so the the weight of responsibility

for transformational expressions of God

rest on the shoulders of those to whom

he has given his name I’m giving you a

name now use it to bring change I’ve

given you my name one of the most

beautiful things that has happened in

this strange season is four months has

been we’ve been reduced to our point of

strength which is the two or three

gathering in his name as many of you are

doing in homes the family unit the two

or three gathered in his name the

government of heaven rests upon the

shoulders of the two or three gathered

in his name there’s responsibility we

are not here taking up space

keeping busy until we die or Jesus

returns we are here with a

transformational assignment on earth as

it is in heaven and please notice that

that expression is linked to

prayer that we pray because we’ve been

given his name if my people who are

called by my name I believe that the

most important Ministry of all

ministries is prayer worship and prayer

is the premier assignment that we’ve

been given

I’m personally thankful that in in

recent weeks the Lord’s been refreshing

me in what used to be a much greater

strength than it has been in the

busyness of recent years no excuse

whatsoever but there is a strength being

restored to my own soul oh the place of

Prayer

it’s from our knees that we have the

greatest effect on the world around us

it’s from our knees it’s from our place

of prayer of intercession that we become

actual partners with God God’s not

looking for people who know how to stay

busy he’s looking for people who know

how to represent his heart and I’m not

going to represent in action what I’ve

not found in prayer it’s the connection

of the heart of God that gives me the

authority to represent him with absolute

confidence in action prayer without

action is incomplete in the same way

that faith without works is dead we have

been called to a lifestyle of prayer and

I hope and pray that everyone listening

everybody who is here can feel the that

particular stream deepening in your own

soul as I I believe the Lord is to be

honest it’s trying to get us to repent

our way back into a place of righteous

influence

God has called us to and that is from

the place of Prayer he says if my people

the ones that gave my name to will

humble themselves Chris one of the first

words we had in the beginning of this

unusual season Chris brought and he made

a statement I think something like this

the way forward humility is the way

forward humility is the way forward

perfect and timely word humility is the

way forward at a time when it’s easy to

be hurt and offended and angry and

zealous and withdraw and do all the

stupid things that we as humans know how

to do humility is the way forward and so

the Lord said if my people the ones that

I gave my name to those are the ones who

have actual responsibility I think was

John Wesley who said that God does

nothing in the affairs of men except in

response to prayer that’s something that

I have actually believed and tried to

live aware of as that statement for the

last forty some years is that God looks

for partnership without him we can’t

without us he won’t there’s another

statement that I’ve heard through the

years without him we can’t without us he

won’t and so that place of Prayer is a

place of coming into a place of

agreement with the heart and the mind of

God to exercise his authority in the

earth so that his will is done here as

it is in heaven

there is the prayer there it is the the

contract the the the request that has

made I guess I’ve also made a statement

of this a couple of weeks ago that it

really moved me he said that something

like this the key to enter answers to

prayer says 98% of answers to prayer is

from abiding in Christ it’s living in

the conscious presence of the Almighty

God that is the strength of the

answers to prayer is the two or three

gathered in my name I’m there so the

whole issue of the breakthroughs in the

earth come out of living in that

awareness that awareness of the presence

of God with me and upon me to make a

difference in the world around me that

is the connection for answers to prayer

and so he says if my people who are

called by my name will humble themselves

and pray and pray it’s foolish to be

given such a transformational tool such

as prayer and not using it’s foolish to

face an impossible situation

everybody knows how to lift up a panic

prayer I’m not opposed to that I’m glad

he sometimes answers those but

transformational praying is more like

giving birth Paul actually talked about

that he used the he used the concept of

giving birth to illustrate prayer he was

referring to one of his associates and

he said he is praying he is laboring in

prayer the word labor as physical labor

of a woman laboring in prayer until

Christ is formed in you was the phrase

he used it’s a it’s a different kind of

a praying it’s it’s it’s digging in I

know the heart of God I know the will of

God and I know there’s opposition

I don’t know necessarily what the

problem is I just know I have nothing

better to do with my life than to abide

in him until the presence of God his own

faith becomes my faith and I learned in

prayer to petition God but also to

represent him as I make decrees to

standing opposition

I understand something like 25 26

percent of Christians vote that’s insane

the moral cesspool that has grown in

many of the nations of the world

watching this broadcast that moral

cesspool has developed and grown on our

watch and the lamest excuse invented by

the devil himself is that I only have

one vote my vote doesn’t really matter

devil made that one up to disengage the

most powerful influential people on the

planet because there’s no such thing as

a act of obedience that is powerless

there’s no such thing there’s no such I

don’t care if you’re taking a sandwich

out of your grocery store to the

homeless man in front of the store it is

an act of obedience there releases

presence and power I don’t care if it’s

the phone call to your neighbor that you

haven’t seen and you heard that they

were sick and you’re finding out what’s

happening every act of obedience of a

believer releases presence and power the

glory comes manifest in the atmosphere

of obedience the simplest act of

physical obedience and the thought that

I could do something responsible for my

nation and vote for my city and to be

powerless is an absolute insult to the

power of the gospel that he has given us

his name he’s given us his name a single

act of obedience of the Lord just do

your best

pray vote values not personalities and

let’s see if we can make a difference I

know he’s not talking about voting in

here but I am

it’s it’s honestly our responsibility is

to pray you know there’s a lot of people

moan and groan they call it intercession

and but do nothing outside of that to

make a difference in your own culture

and we’ve been called to make a

difference it’s our responsibility to

make a difference if my people who are

called by my name will humble themselves

and pray and seek my face the face of

God is what we are invited to pursue

think about that for a minute because

the scripture gives that warning anyone

who sees his face dies so it’s a great

invitation come and die and I tell you

what every time we come before the face

of the Lord something dies that

shouldn’t have been alive the Lord

invites us into this ongoing interaction

with a countenance of a perfect father

so when he says seek my face he’s not

saying seek my hand I I’ve I’ve tried to

make a strong point for the last

probably 20 years that Jesus never

scolded anyone for seeking his hand

blind Bartimaeus wanted to see Jesus

didn’t say are you supposed to seek to

know me he didn’t he gave him healing in

his eyes you know the wonder of the dead

relative they you know Jesus brought

through his hands the power of God to

establish kingdom he’s never scolded

anyone for seeking his hand is blessing

I think it’s a responsibility we have

but forgiveness doesn’t come from his

hand comes from his face from the

countenance it’s the father who welcomes

and that’s what’s needed right now is a

group of people that get recalibrated to

the face somehow seeing the eyes of a

loving father recalibrates every value

in my soul things that were important

ten minutes ago are no longer important

things that plague me or worried me or

frustrated me suddenly they don’t have

the bite that they once had why because

there’s something about the countenance

it just absorbs every offence or

distraction that I carry in my heart it

just gets absorbed in this face of a

loving father and it says if my people

the ones I gave my name to if they would

just humble themselves

seek my face turn from their wicked ways

there is a picture given old and new

Testament that to seek the face of God

automatically implies turning from

something I must turn from the inferior

to seek the face of God you can’t drag

both values into one act he is the all

or nothing god he is the he is he likes

being first and King I mean he is that’s

him Everitt everything is about putting

him first so here he says seek my face

turn from your wicked ways in Hebrews 6

it says turning from dead works faith

towards God it’s this turning from unto

and one of the things that I’m so

thankful for about the Lord is he

welcomes us into his presence regardless

of the condition of our heart he can be

bitter it can be mad you can be

indifferent it can be you know careless

it doesn’t matter where you’re at he

says come but you can’t leave the same

way you came that’s that’s the whole

deal you can’t you can’t expect I’m

gonna bring all this baggage and I’m

going to come in and then I’m gonna

leave the same way that’s not how it

works we come in before him and we just

get refined in the journey that’s part

of the whole process is that I come to

seek his face and things get

recalibrated in this in this journey it

may be a five-minute journey it may be

an all-day long journey but it’s this

journey where I engage once again to the

face of God that reveals the heart of

God that automatically engages me into

my reason for being

you said if my people who are called by

my name will humble themselves and pray

and seek the countenance of this

wonderful father I’ve been reading the

last couple days again Psalm 67 which is

personally a favorite of mine and in

verse 1 and 2 of that great song verse 1

says Lord bless me which I love that

prayer I’m into that kind of praying

anytime bless me and cause your

countenance to shine upon me countenance

is a word for favor

it’s the loving favor of a father it’s

it’s the Brian and Jen that just adopted

another little boy and and we we got to

have him at our home again last night

and and it’s just you don’t have you

know a parent will make faces to an

infant that they would never even make

in the mirror to themselves while they

were alone I mean you say things you

make noises you do all kinds of stuff to

this little tiny infant they you don’t

even know you’re doing it just seems to

come out of you as you as you and I’ve

been told that children are actually

infants are trained in a lifestyle of

joy through the countenance of their

caregiver and so it’s that face and so

here we are we seek the face of the

Almighty God this perfect father who

welcomes us welcomes us we come with

baggage we leave clean and powerful

would come with issues we leave

confident he is settling the issues and

he says you seek my face you turn from

your wicked ways then I will hear that’s

an amazing statement because the Bible

tells us he doesn’t always hear I don’t

know if you know that or not but the

Bible says scripture says if I regard

iniquity in my heart God will not hear

me if I come conscious

of sin and I’m unwilling to repent so

here he welcomes us he says turn from

your wicked ways seek my face then I

will hear from heaven forgive their sin

this is amazing to me forgive their sin

personal blessing and heal their land

corporate influence the personal

breakthrough becomes a transformational

influence in the land

sometimes I think people avoid times of

prayer because they think it will take

hours and you know sometimes I’ve been

in moments of Prayer were you just lose

track of time

those are glorious glorious moments but

history has been shaped by people who

prayed simple prayers but they were all

in all in the history of our nation were

celebrating Independence weekend history

of our nation has been shaped by the

prayers of a general in an army where it

looked like they would certainly lose

and they just took the knee and they

prayed a simple prayer and everything

changed

simple prayer a president a governor

different ones who just simply take the

knee and pray acknowledge the Almighty

God this is something that we have the

privilege of doing throughout the day

it’s not just the two-hour block of time

it’s the five minutes of surrender here

it’s the ten minutes of praise and

exalting him there it’s it’s that riddle

throughout my day I never want to escape

the fact I carry his name and I carry it

for a reason I’m here to make a

difference and then the abiding presence

of God I’ve been finding that that the

prayer meeting never stops and never

stops it started while I was sleeping

I found myself praying if my people for

a call by my name I wouldn’t wake up

friend upright get up in the morning I

would grab my Bible sit out on my deck

it would continue and continue

throughout the day it just it doesn’t

stop because the abiding presence of the

mighty God is upon me as a testimony to

me that you here son to make a

difference learn to pray out of abiding

learn to pray out of the presence learn

to touch to tap into the heart of God

express that in prayer and decree and

let’s do what we’re supposed to do make

a difference in the earth this is what

we are assigned to do this is who we are

were people that have been given his

name

this will seem very elementary to you as

it is but this next statement is one

that I think is forgotten often and it’s

this we battle not against flesh and

blood

we battle not against flesh and blood

that’s not our problem and to fight

effectively in the war we were born into

requires a strength that is found only

on our knees it’s only on her knees

I’m going to assume that you’ve been

experiencing this as I have I would have

been embarrassed to admit it but it

feels like more and more

I am being delivered from the prayer

life that wants to convince God of doing

what I want him to do I never would have

thought that it would ever be a desire

of mine but I can tell sometimes that

the frustration of prayer comes from

that and the whole issue about effective

prayer is it begins in surrender it’s

not that great things aren’t supposed to

happen we’re designed to make a

difference in the course of history

we’re shaped for that I made a statement

here some years ago that you can’t find

your significance until you have found

your insignificance sometimes it’s just

that place of going low and surrender

where you were you you are not confident

of yesterday I don’t need

self-confidence I need God confidence

and I I don’t want to you know I don’t

want to speak bad about being

self-confident but I’ve had it it’s

disappointing it’s disappointing

self-confidence is no greater than self

and it’s very unimpressive prayer is

engaging with the unlimited strength and

the unlimited heart of compassion of a

perfect father

it’s that countenance of a father this

says son now now pray this now do this

now call this person now give this away

now do that it’s it’s that it comes out

of it comes out of this the countenance

of a father who can guide you with his

eyes he looks at you in a certain way in

you you just know this is this is not my

responsibility it’s it’s the abandonment

to the heart of God

it’s the abandonment to the will of God

then suddenly find ourselves praying

simplest prayer

that move heaven and earth because they

come out of abiding they come out of

surrender they come out of the

acknowledgement that goddess with me

goddess with me not just as a

theological statement I sense the might

the beauty the wonder of the Almighty

God was now resting upon me because he

has assigned me to do something I remind

you

Jesus stood in Luke 4 before he had done

any miracles and he said the Spirit of

the Lord God is upon me and then he

declared why the Spirit of the Lord God

is upon me and then he announced why it

wasn’t arrogance see in abiding presence

and abiding presence there is courage to

declare truth regardless of what it

sounds like to somebody else it’s not

permission to be offensive it’s just the

Spirit of the Lord God is upon me to

open the eyes of the blind to proclaim

the favorable year of the Lord and he

had not done any of those things I’d

like to suggest to you that in that

abiding presence comes that God

confidence we were all designed for the

God confidence that they can look at a

situation and say no that will not be

happening

on my shift no no that will not be

happening that disease you know we draw

the line no further no the destruction

of that family line no that ends today

it’s not a careless prayer it’s

something that comes from the abiding

presence of digging your heels in saying

I know the heart of God I know the mind

of God and I know why I am here I am

here with

purpose and it is to bring an end to

that that that will no longer happen I

want you to stand if you what I’m gonna

wrap this up I know I’ve got more time

left but I’m gonna end it in a moment

anyway all of you there at home you can

stand if you want those of you in your

car like I said it earlier don’t stamp

if you’re in your car don’t stand please

I I was about to say I feel like

commissioning for prayer taking place

but it’s different than a commissioning

it’s an invitation it’s a summons it’s a

summons come into the courts of the King

I gave you my name for a reason come

into the courts the king

learn to recognize my countenance pick

up my heartbeat because it’s in that

abiding partnership my purposes are

accomplished in the earth father I pray

that you would increase that that global

sense of summons the summoning from a

perfect father to come and to pray and

to make a difference in the earth I’m

asking for everybody in this room

everybody watching online give us the

grace for this season

to not fight against flesh and blood to

not mistake people for the enemy give us

the redemptive touch the eyes of a

perfect father the loving heart of a

father help us to represent you well I

want to end with this I know that any

time we have as many people as we have

gathered on Bethel TV YouTube the

various forms formats there’s always a

high probability that there are people

watching they don’t have a personal

relationship with Jesus you don’t know

what it is

to truly be forgiven by God

and welcomed into his family I want to

say this is your moment now is the

moment whoever calls upon the name of

the Lord Jesus Christ there’s no other

name whoever calls upon the name of the

Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved

wherever you are in fact if you’re

watching a Bethel to be or YouTube any

of those formats please you can write

right now on your comment and and get

the help of a pastor one of our team

that will pray with you I pray for that

right now that there will be

transformation of people’s lives all

over the world through this beautiful

and wonderful gospel amen now how many

of you say amen to the invitation to not

fight with flesh and blood but instead

abide and see answers amen amen amen

all right bless you thank you

[Applause]