Kenneth Copeland - Prayer Is Constant Communion With God
Let's go to the 12th chapter of the book of Romans. "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And don't be conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. For I say through the grace given unto me, every man among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly as God has dealt unto every man the measure of faith," every person, amen. Think soberly. Think about it.
Come on. The same substance, the same force that created this universe and the God of the universe is living on the inside of us. That makes us somebody out of nobody. Ask me how I know. But you have to yield and pretty well take yourself out of the equation and whatever he's blessed you with. Oh, there's so many times just sit down to have a meal and it just, I don't know. Just bless him all the time. Bless my food all the time. Bless this, bless that. Well, bless the Lord, oh my soul. And all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and forget not all of your benefits. You've delivered my life from destruction. You've forgiven me of all my iniquities and healed all of my diseases and you fill my mouth with good words that my youth is renewed like the eagle's.
Glory to God. So it is an awareness in prayer of his presence. There is somebody wrote a book, Practicing the Presence of God. Practice it. Just practice that, practice his presence. Now you hear people say, oh, God be with me. Well, I prayed that for a while and finally the Lord got tired of hearing it and he said, down inside me, "Don't you understand that I said I'll never leave you nor forsake you? And you're all telling that be with me". He said, "I was with you before you started and I'll be there when you get there". He said, "Praise me".
So I get in the cockpit, I don't pray that anymore. There was one man, he was a 747 captain and the weather was really raunchy. And it was snowing and it was a mess. And that's a big airplane. I mean, those big old engines. And his friend of mine was a flight engineer and he was sitting behind him. And he did not know that this captain had accepted Jesus as his Lord. And he grabbed those throttles and he said, "She's all yours, Jesus".
Do we have any helicopter pilots in here? Anyone flies helicopter? Don't you love it? Right up on top of those blades. The mechanism that holds those helicopter blades down is called the Jesus nut. That's what they call it. Because it holds the whole rig together. Even in helicopters, most people don't know that. The Jesus nut. Holding the whole rig together. Now, prayer is a constant communion. All the time. It's a constant communion. Every time, every leg we fly. I lay my hand on the airplane whether I'm flying or whether I'm in the cabin. Every flight. If I'm flying, I do it before we do anything. Before we turn the master switch on, before we start an engine or anything. I just stop.
Father, in the name of Jesus, I plead the blood of Jesus over this airplane. For protection against every evil spirit. Every evil person. Every wicked plan of the devil is bound and stopped and thwarted. Ministering spirits, lift us up in your hands lest we dash our foot against a stone and keep us in all of our ways according to the 91st Psalm. And bless our partners. Glory to God. Every trip, every leg. Don't fly without it. And if I'm in the helicopter, we use the helicopter service. And every time I get in that helicopter. And win those guys to the Lord. Amen.
Just have a big time. So, constant, continual communication with God about everything we do. Get in your car. Glory to God. I plead the blood over this car. It'll bump nobody. Nobody will bump it. When you dedicate your car to God. You haven't done that yet? And you're driving around in it? Oh, yeah. Lay your hands on it. Ministering spirits. And Hilton Sutton and his dad, Dad Sutton. I preached for him in Beaumont. And his dad, back when cars were really not much. And the old roads were rough. And he looked over there and his dad was... He was driving for him. He looked over there and he was just leaning back there with a smile on his face. And he just got through preaching. He was driving him in. And all of a sudden the Lord opened his eyes. He was hearing music. And all of a sudden the Lord opened his eyes and there were angels singing to him. "We'll work till Jesus comes. We'll work".
Those angels were singing to the man. Hallelujah. These things are real. And I was preaching in his church in Beaumont. And there were a lot of... There were a lot of Baptist people in that area that started coming. And this one man... He was usually right on the front row. And he was gone for a couple of days. And then when he came in he sat right back in the... He came in the back door and just sat back there. And he was sitting there looking at me. And suddenly he went... And I saw him and I thought... What do you suppose he saw? And he came up and he said... May I speak to you? I said yeah. This is what he said. And I was teaching on faith and prayer and so forth in that church. He said, "I really got mad at you. You just said something that just didn't fit my Baptist theology at all". He said, "I said I wasn't coming back. I don't want to hear that".
But he said the Lord wouldn't let me alone about it. And he said... The Lord finally said, go one more time. Alright, I'll go one more time. So he said, that's when I came in the back door. He said, "Copeland... The biggest man I have ever seen in my life". He said, he was right here right now. He said, he... He said, "You'd go along there and you'd stop and he'd whisper something in your ear. And man, you'd just take off". He said, "He looked like Mr. Clean. He's just huge". Don't ever forget that. Every one of you have angels. Jesus said, "These children's angels are ever before the face of my Father". Well, you don't lose your angel just because you grow up. You can get them in a situation where they can't do anything. Well, every time we get ready to go on vacation, one of these kids gets sick. That angel said, "Well, we're not going again this year. We were looking forward to it".
Well, alright. Thank you. The 103rd Psalm. Psalm 103. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, forget not all of His benefits, who giveth all thine iniquities, heals all your diseases, redeems your life from destruction, crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies, satisfies your mouth with good words, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's. Now... And... But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting, upon them that fear Him and His righteousness, unto children's children to keep His covenant, and those that remember His commandments to do them. And the Lord prepared His throne in the heavens, and His kingdom rules over all. The Lord... Bless the Lord, you His angels, that excel in strength, that do His commandments, hearkening unto the voice of His Word.
And that needs to come out of you. It's all in here. Anyway, so they're involved in your prayer life. The joy of the Lord. All over the Psalms. So now... Turn with me in the prayer petition now. We read that in 1 John 5, turn to 1 Samuel 1:27. Let's start reading with the 24th verse. 23rd, "Elkanah, her husband, said to her, Do what seems good, tarry until you weaned him, only the Lord establishes His Word. So the woman abode, and gave her son suck until she weaned him. When she was, she took him up with her with three bullocks," and so forth and so on.
Now, the God of Israel, excuse me, "Now, Hannah spoke in her heart, only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she had been drunk. Eli wasn't real sharp. He had some problems. Eli said to her, How long will you be drunk? She said, No. No, my Lord, I'm a woman of a sorrowful spirit. I drink neither wine nor strong drink, but have poured out my soul to the Lord. Count not thine handmaid, or a daughter of Belial, who bore out of the abundance, and so forth. Eli said, Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant you your petition".
So she has a petition. "She said, Let your handmaid find grace in your sight. So the woman went her way, and did eat, and her countenance was no more. They rose up in the morning early, and worshipped before the Lord, and returned, and came to the house of Ramah. And Elkanah knew Hannah his wife, and the Lord remembered her. Therefore it came to pass, when time about Hannah had conceived, she bore a son. And she called his name Samuel, saying, Because I have asked for the Lord". Then the twenty-seventh verse, "The Lord hath given me my petition, which I ask".
She asked exactly what she wanted. She wanted a son. Samuel. My, the prophet of prophets. I mean, just this man. How powerful. And he was, it started when he was just a young boy. I mean, she just took him to the priest, and just gave him to him. And he heard the voice of the Lord early on. Hannah put a petition before the Lord for a son. That's amazing, isn't it? She didn't want a baby. She wanted a son. She named him Samuel. Oh, my. The one that anointed David his king. Isn't that amazing? So now, we see petition is very definite. What is the petition about? And why? What's the purpose of it? Is it about family? Is it about unsaved loved ones? Send laborers across their path with the word of their salvation.
That's a petition before God. And I prayed that petition. You know, Jesus said the laborers are few. Send laborers into the field. So I prayed that with a young man. He said, "My brother is unsaved. And he just won't listen. And I'd like for you to agree with me". I said, "Well, yeah, sure, I'll agree with you. But let's just put a petition before the Lord". You see, the prayer of agreement is... that is a holy thing. And both of you have to agree and both of you ask any two of you agree together as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them and my father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst. To carry out the agreement. And he said, whatever you bind will be bound in heaven. Whatever you lose will be loosed in heaven. That's a holy agreement.
Willie, do you agree? Well, I sure hope so. You're not in agreement. You haven't agreed. We're going down there at that Convention Center in Fort Worth and somebody has to sign all those contracts for all that money. And the money will be, well, you know, boys, we sure hope so. That's no agreement. An agreement is a covenant. You will have this certain amount of money and you will have it here at a certain amount of time. Sign them. Jesus said these signs will follow those that believe. These signs, they're his signature. I wish I was smart enough but Rick Renner did that. Amen.
You know, if you do what a wise man does everybody thinks you're wise. I just follow Rick real close. And then text him or something and tell him I sure thought that was good. I told him, I said, "I'm going to give you credit for that for a while". That petition, the Lord has given me my petition, which I ask of him. Therefore also I have lent him to the Lord. The word there is actually return. I have returned him to the Lord as long as he lives. He will be lent to the Lord. And he worshiped the Lord. Petition. The petition prayer. Powerful thing. Just powerful. Write it down. Okay. Well. Anything we pray according to his will.
Well, all right. Let's go to the book of John. In this 14th chapter. Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe in me. Okay, what are you going to do with that? You can't bounce around here. We're building a petition here. I can't let my heart be troubled. Yeah, but I'm so worried about, well, you're going to have to deal with that. Well, I'm not going to go into any war with you. You have to deal with that. Because worry is fear based. Not faith based. The 10th chapter of 2nd Corinthians. "Now I, Paul, myself, beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ. Who in presence am base among you, but being absent, I'm bold. I beseech you that I may be bold when I'm present".
Look at the third verse. "For we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. Casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. And bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ". So deal with it. Bring that thought in and put it in jail. Just jail it up. You don't tell me what to think. This is my mind. And I have the mind of Christ. So now, "I do not let my heart be troubled. I believe in God. I believe also in you. Whatsoever you shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in my name, I'll do it".
Well, what about over here in 15.7? Hmm. If you abide in me and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will and it'll be done unto you. Are you writing these down on your petition? Huh? Then you go back to the Word of Faith. Whatsoever thing I desire, whatsoever thing I desire, whatsoever thing I desire, when I pray, I believe I receive it. And when I stand praying, I forgive if I have ought against any that my Father in heaven forgive me my trespasses. I'm building my petition. John 16.23. Whatsoever you ask the Father in my name, he'll give it you. Ask and you may receive that your joy may be made full. All of these are petition prayers. And you establish that petition and put it before the Lord.