Leon Fontaine - Ask and Receive
I was concluding a service one time. When we're done, people were just turned around, started to file out, and this guy starts walking down the aisle towards me. Very methodically, dressed in black, and white makeup on his face, long black hair down his back, and just walking towards me. And so I just waited for him. And he gets in front of me and he says, "Do you know who I am"? I said, "Yeah, you're the guy who thinks you're going to kill me". He says, "Think, I know". And I just started to laugh. I said, "You know," I said, "The God that I serve is so powerful, and His presence is here. Angels are here. And the pathetic fallen angel that you serve, because you serve the devil and you", yep, yep. I said, "Can't touch me". And he looks at me and he didn't know what to think about that. To then he says, "Well, I've got a little daughter at home. Would you pray for her"? And I said, "Sure".
Like this move from killing me to pray for my daughter. And by the way, we were having threats from him, didn't know who it was. We've been having threats on my life and him and some other guys. Blah, blah, blah. And so it was kind of interesting to have, and I'd never met him before. I just knew as he's walking who this guy was, just knew by the Spirit of God. So I say, "What's wrong with your daughter"? He said, "She can't walk. She was born with malformed ankle bones". I forget exactly what situation was. So I said, "Oh, I absolutely pray for her". I said, "Where is she"? Well, she's at home. I got to drive home and get her. I say, "Go home and get her. I'll wait". So he goes home and gets her and brings her in. This beautiful little girl. She could stand. So he stands her on her feet by this chair. I just prayed a simple prayer and just spoke to those ankles. She just got up and walked across the room right in front of him.
There was about hundred people that were left over from the service were kind of hanging around who watched this miracle. And he had been a believer. He was in a church that didn't know how to teach prayer. And so prayer was Old Testament prayer. Bugging, begging, pleading, trying to get God to do something. And that he'd been hurt so bad by things in his life that, you know, that didn't happen. That he thought, "Well, they keep talking. If the devil's this powerful. God can't do anything about it. Then I'm serving the devil". And he went out and studied everything he could on Satanism, witchcraft. I mean, sacrifices. The story is really bizarre. But anyway, what I want to say is not knowing how to pray is an absolute problem. To not be able to pray is to live in a world where there is a dark kingdom and a light kingdom and not even know the weapon that's been given to you. Not even know how to put the armour on that Jesus wore and now shares with all of us.
And as I travel and I listen and I speak at conferences and born again pastors will pray. They pray Old Testament prayers which do not work. And the odd time that you happen to hit is wonderful. But even a clock that's batteries are dead is right twice a day. And so prayer should be answered. Everything you pray should be answered. Everything. The Bible does not say, "Ah, pray and we'll try to get a few prayers answered". No. It's very clear. And so today, I'm going to just share some keys with you about prayer. And I think these are crucial. I think they are a great reminder. For some of you, you might not have heard them before. But we need to know how to pray.
There are two kinds of prayers basically. There are old covenant prayers which is the way they prayed all through the Old Testament and Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. Then new covenant prayers start in the book of Acts because Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, although they are New Testament books are transitional books from the old covenant into the new. And in the new covenant, there is a new way to pray. In the book of John, Jesus says to His disciples John 16:23, He says this to him. He says, "Now in this day, that day," He says, "You're not going to ask me for anything". And they're kind of go, "What"? He says, "Verily, I'm saying to you whatever you ask the Father in My name. He will give it to you. Hitherto you've asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full". There is nothing in the teaching of new covenant prayer that ever suggests God is going to say no. All you need to do is to know His will. And then you need to know how to deliver.
And that's what I want to talk about today, because religion which I hate. Because religion in a negative sense. I mean, manmade rules people keep writing and judging one another. And writing books on why there's no miracles? And why God doesn't answer prayer? And they bring out all the Old Testament legalistic issues which destroys people's faith and ability in a new covenant prayer. And so here it's saying this. Did you know that until Jesus said this in John 16, there had never been a prayer prayed that ended with in Jesus name. Never been one. They, Jesus talked to God, and the disciples asked Jesus. So Jesus, we got some people to feed. He do a miracle. Jesus, we got a guy here who's needs to be healed. Jesus would do a miracle. But now He's saying to them, there's coming a time, because He was leaving the planet. He said very quickly here, "You're not going to ask me for anything". He said, "But you yourself are going to go straight to the Father. And you're going to use My name Jesus".
Now, what Jesus accomplished on the cross and not just the cross. People get, people just stay at the cross. You don't want to stay at the cross because, you know, the cross is where your sins are forgiven. But there's more to the new covenant than just forgiven sins. Wouldn't it be awful to have your sins forgiven but no power to quit doing them. So He dies for your sin. He goes to hell and He takes the curse that goes with having sin. Then He rises again with new life as the first born. Why is the Bible call Him the first born? Because we're all after that now. And so He rises a first born and He rise, He rises up with power and triumph over all the power of the enemy. And He gives to you and I this ability to be born again. Which means you have a new nature. Now, that's why when we say in the name of Jesus, you don't have to go fix your life up to perfect before you pray. Because what qualifies the prayer you just prayed was in Jesus name.
Now, if you pray without Jesus name. When you go, "God could you do this, please"? He's talking to somebody who's not perfect. And so the enemy will mess with your head. He'll say, "Well, you had a bad thought. You didn't do this. You were mad and you shouted your kids. You cut the guy off. You didn't let him in". He's just going. But the ability to know that when I go to Father God and I say, "In the name of Jesus". It is His qualifications, His power. What he has between Jesus and God, this covenant. That's why you can't even mess it up. The agreement is not between you and God. The agreement's between Jesus and God. You get to come in on it. Adam lost his agreement with God. Jesus, when He died on the cross has done this for us, and so you can't mess it up. You can't give it away. Someone can't come along and do what Adam did and have all his unborn children died the second he disobeyed God in the garden. Because it is between Jesus as a human being who came in an earthly body and between God the Father.
Another key that's really crucial is your heart must be established in grace. The Bible teaches that very clearly. That you have a heart that you must guard. You have a heart that Jesus teaches in Mark 4, that you must put the Word into. And as you learn the principles of this new covenant, you'll know how to pray effectively. And so the, your heart established in grace is crucial. John 14:1, says, "Don't let your heart be troubled". Now, if you're watching too much news, if you're watching too much stuff. You say, "I just want to be informed". That's cool. You can catch the news at the end of the day. But to watch stuff all day, that is what the enemy is doing, all the negative, all the garbage. You will have a root of fear that begins to rise up in your life. And you won't know why. You can speak the Word, confess the Word, do whatever you want. But it won't work because the heart is impacted by three gates that come into it.
The first gate is the things that you hear. The second gate is the things that you see. And the third gate is the things that you say. Those three gates, if you continually do not guard those gates, and you listen to whatever you want, look at whatever you want, say whatever you want. You will have a heart that has planted weeds in it. Your heart, it will grow whatever you put into it. If you subject your heart to constant negativity. You can say, "I don't believe it". It doesn't matter. Your heart needs to be guarded. It grows. It's like a womb. When man and a woman get married, they love each other. They come together. He protects her. Protects that womb. They together protect that womb. That is their entire future is that womb. So it's true for your heart. It is the womb of your future. It is the auto pilot of your life. And so it must be established in grace. And you must make sure that the gateways that feed it anything else are controlled. Which is the renewing of your mind, guarding your heart Proverbs 4:19-24. The Bible is so clear on these things.
Jesus in John 14:12-18 gives another key, and He blows the doors off of prayer. He says, "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, you are going to do also, greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father". Now, people say, "How can you do greater works than Jesus. This is just a poetic thing". Well, the greater works are getting people born again. Because while He walked the planet, He couldn't do that with them. He hadn't died for them yet. And so He'd heal people. He would cast out devil. He would feed people. And He's saying, "You can do these things". Now, either the Bible is a big lie or every born again believer can do the works of Jesus. It's like parenting. When you parent, teach your kids whatever you want. They're going to just be you. They're going to be like you, attitude like you. They're going to handle fear like you. They're going to handle authority like you. They're going to treat people like you. They're going to be arrogant or humble like you. They are a little mimic.
And so when He saw that none of the existing Jews back then could make the Old Testament work. And He said, "You've made every disciple you've got a worst person from hell than you are". And so Jesus modeled what it was to look like. And so we look at Jesus and we have it modeled as to how and what we should do. But religion has destroyed this incredible beautiful power that is in prayer. Prayer is one of the greatest honours. Prayer doesn't just make things happen. Prayer is an open invitation to come visit, come communicate. And when you pray, the Word of God says that He'll give you a helper in John 14, and that's the Holy Spirit. The disciples knew He was leaving. He said, "I'm going to send you another helper. This helper helps you in everything in life". And when you learn to stay in His Word and feed on the bread of life which is God's Word.
You know, when you look at the, the story in the Old Testament of manna. And how that they called it bread from heaven. And how that Jesus today is your bread from heaven. When you're hungry, there's nothing like my mom used to make 42 loaves of bread every Saturday 'cause there were five boys and lunches. And we all liked it for breakfast and we all like it to for bedtime. We went through bread like crazy. Man, when she baked bread and those loaves were out. You know, how they come out of a rack and they're cooling on the cover. Oh, my, try to keep us away from that bread. And butter would melt all over it and I, oh, my. Jesus is the bread of life. He's not the liverwurst of life unless you love liverwurst. He's not like the spinach of life but I mean, spinach is pretty good. But the bread of life. I mean, there's just, the savory. Everybody seems to love bread. And when you feed on God's Word, it brings nourishment to you. It gives you, it makes you even more sensitive to the things of God. Holy Spirit is He's your helper. He'll always show you things to come. He'll always be with you.
And when you look at the word comforter, there are about seven things that that Greek word means. That He is there as your intercessor. He's there as your intermediary. He is there as someone to comfort you. He is there to show you and to reveal things to you. He is there to give you such power. It's Holy Spirit that raise Jesus' body out of the tomb and He's in you. Can He heal you? Absolutely! The problem is today everyone prays an Old Testament prayer which is always asking God. "Ah, God, wherever You are up there. Could You help me"? What you're doing that for? If you're born again, the power doesn't come from up there. It doesn't say greater is He who is in heaven than he who is in the world. It says, "Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world". And it says repeatedly the power of the Holy Spirit flows out of your innermost being like torrents, rivers of gushing water. This power. You can talk about a lot of power but just trying to stop a river. Holy Spirit is our helper.
We were designed to pray in such a way that it was always answered. And I want you to get that in your heart. That I don't pray, you know, and hope that one-tenth of my prayers. I'm doing good one-fifteenth of my prayers' worked now. You need to just believe, that everything I pray according to the will of God in the name of Jesus. That this is mine. And Holy Spirit's going to help you with that. You know, another key to prayer in Psalms 30:5. It talks about weeping only lasts for the night. But joy comes in the morning. I want to talk about that. You see, we don't live in a perfect. We're not in heaven yet. And you're going to feel pain. You're going to know storms. Leon, I just believe it. That no, that's not going to happen. Well, I agree. I do, too. But you know that your great grandparents are going to pass away at some point. And then your grandparents are going to pass away. And then your parents are going to pass away. And then one of you in marriage will pass away. And then your siblings will pass away.
Leon, it's horrid. It's called life. Thank God for heaven. And then in the midst of all that, there's all the other stuff. People lying about you, backstabbing, stealing. We live in a real world. And this world is not heaven yet. So, Leon, are you, you get me depressed. No, you need to understand. That is why you need to learn to pray. Because prayer is this stunning amazing ability to have the power of heaven before you're there. Another thing about prayer is to remember, don't let anger into your life. James 1:19, it says, "Understand this, my beloved brethren. Let every man be quick to hear, a ready listener, slow to speak, slow to take offense, and slow to get angry. For a man's anger does not promote the righteousness that God wishes for and requires".
Don't let anger rise up in you. You be at peace. It's a key. I have learned over the years of pastoring and leading and all the different things that goes on. That to stay at peace. When things go bad and people are lying and cheating and betraying. Betrayals are the worst because the people who are close to you that do something that betray you, and you feel broken. You feel hurt or you feel angry. Don't go there. Forgive instantly. Well, he doesn't deserve forgiveness. Forgiveness is not for him. It's for you. The best gift you give yourself is to forgive that turkey. It's not going to do a thing for him. But it sets you free to hear God, sets you free to hear wisdom. It sets you free to walk in the blessing and the favor of God. And so we have to understand that this New Testament prayer is crucial. That we have the right attitude. That we understand where power comes from.
And the Bible teaches us very clearly that you and I are to speak to things. In fact, as you learn the Word, you find something you like. Just go ah. Read it out loud and say, "It is written. I claim that one in Jesus name". Oh, here's another really good one. Look at this. Read it out loud. No, it's written. I claim that one in Jesus name. That's prayer. That's one of the prayers. It's praying the Word and declaring it is yours. Prayer that's not spoken out loud isn't heard by angels and demons. Well, I thought everybody can read your mind. No. Nobody can except God. That's why with your mouth closed you can talk to God. You know, you and Him can communicate. Satan can't read your mind. You're a divine being. By that I mean, you're made in the likeness and the image of God.
So it's important that we speak out loud our prayers if we want something to happen on this planet. And so my challenges to you, is the Bible says very clearly in Thessalonians. It says, "Rejoice ever more, pray without ceasing in everything give thanks". What are you doing? You're creating an atmosphere. When, why am I rejoicing? I got problems. You're rejoicing because God's going to see it through them all. Why am I praying without ceasing? Because prayer doesn't mean you're begging. Prayer means you're declaring the will of God in that situation. Well, why am I giving thanks? There's nothing happening. But you're giving thanks because you're absolutely know. This can't stay. Joy is coming. Joy is coming.
It doesn't say, "Weeping lasts for a night, and joy, well, a few of you. The rest of you poor suckers are just weeping, weeping, weeping, weeping". And that's why even people think Christianity is. It's just, you know, He's going to give us the strength to weep through this world of woe, and walk through this world of woe. One fine day I'm going to get a cabin in heaven but down here. Read your Bible. Who are you listening to? So we're supposed to be rejoicing. But then it says later in 1 Thessalonians 5, quench not the spirit. What? Quench not the spirit. Don't allow stuff to come into your life that brings fear and worry. Don't allow things to come into your life that, you know. Stay in His Word and feed on His Word. So that the strength of God is in you, in your mind, in your emotions, in your spirit.
And then we're amending, it says, don't despise, prophesy. I know that God can give you a word through a prophet. And that's cool and He does that today. But the primary way He will lead you is by His Spirit in your spirit. People are running all over the world trying to find a prophet to give me a word, you know. Probably about one out of the ten have been right for the prophesy that was spoken to my life, because everyone's been so excited about. He's just trying to direct people. Yes, they're real. But that's not what this is talking about. It's talking about you prophesying to your future.
I'll give you an example in Ezekiel chapter 37 God picks up Ezekiel. The prophet brings him to a valley of dry bones. It's horrible. There's bodies everywhere. The meat has been eaten off by vultures and it's men dead. It's a valley of dead dreams. It's a valley of nothing. It's a valley of no hope. It's a valley where these men had dreams but bones. And He says to Ezekiel, "Can these bones live"? Ezekiel's trying to be religious. O, only you know God. Only You could. But God's not biting. He says to Ezekiel, "You prophesy to these bones". And when God tells you to do something, you do it. And God said, "You tell the bones to come together. Tell the flesh and sinew to come on the bones. Tell the skin to come on the bones and command the winds to come and bring life into those bodies".
And he did. And the Bible says that a clattering was heard across as the bones began to come together. What is this a beautiful parable of? It's a beautiful parable saying in your future. Maybe there's dead dream. Maybe there's things that aren't working. Maybe there's things you didn't get to see fulfilled in your life. You got a choice. You bow down to a bunch of dry bones in a valley going, "Well, I guess this is life". Or you get up and you prophesy what your future is going to be. Well, I just don't know what it's going to be. Exactly! Go to the Word and prophesy what the Word's promised you. It promises you long life. Well, you know, the Bible says actually when it's your time to go, it's your time. No, doesn't. Psalms 91 the last verse says with long life I will satisfy you, and show you My salvation.
As we learn the Word of God, I am so excited about the Bible, so pumped about the Bible, and I just start speaking the Bible. Long life, my children are going to be like olive plants around my family. Generations of our kids are going to serve God and know Him in a special way. Know Him and know His blessing and His protection. I thank You right now, that any leader that's going to govern my life. They're either going to lead us and continue to give us the freedom You've given me, or I command them taken out in Jesus name. There becomes such a sense on you that Jesus died to give me a life that the dark side is trying to take away. So whatever's going on, whatever's changed, whatever you may have lost. You got a choice. Grieve the loss and go down a notch, or prophesy to your future and declare the best is still ahead.