Leon Fontaine - Jesus: Your Direct Link To God
Over the years as I've studied the Word, learned to pray, saw the power of God in our lives. I begin to recognize that, people don't know how to pray. And if you pray things that aren't accurate, you increase your doubt. If you pray and there are no results, if you pray and, and you don't understand prayer. And so we have crazy teachings on prayer. I mean, it's unbelievable the amount of books on prayer that as I start reading through, I can just shotgun holes through all their doctrines with the Word because, the Bible teaches us when you begin to depend upon the arm of flesh. That, that's trouble.
See, here's what religion does. And I hate religion. Religion will only say you're forgiven. But now you better live a certain way, you've got to work a certain way, you've got to earn God, you've got to get stronger, you've got to get better. And then you know, hopefully God will work with you. No, that's not what salvation is. Salvation isn't just a forgiveness of sins. That's one thing. Jesus went to hell in our place, took the curse of the law for us, then He arose again so that you have a new nature. You have new life. You are filled with power. You're filled with God. And then He arose into heaven and He's at the right hand of the Father, there to make sure that you and I walk in this authority and power. But, religion will just make people feel like you're never good enough. Because, when we pray. Prayer was never designed to be some kind of novel way you deal with your psychological discomfort. Prayer was to make things happen.
In the early church, when they used the name of Jesus, things happened. When they used the name of Jesus, they were in awe of the name. The name was so incredible that, witch doctors and people involved in witchcraft would see the power of the name to drive an evil spirit off of a person. Or to heal a physical body, and even tried to buy it from the disciples because the name of Jesus had such power. Today, people don't know how to use the name. They use it as a salutation to their prayer. Like, you saying "sincerely, Leon". At the end of every one of your letters, they go "in Jesus' name". But it holds no power. Because they have not understood it, and it doesn't come from the heart. And if it doesn't come from the heart, then it's just a word.
And if you can just say well I used the name of Jesus and it didn't work. Well, the Bible doesn't teach spells and incantations. It teaches heart prayer. And when you find out how to pray from the heart, the Bible says mountains move. It says demons tremble. It says at the name of Jesus, every other knee bows. Knees of sickness, knees of disease. Knee of cancer. Everything bows its knee to the name of Jesus. I've recognized the power that's in the name of Jesus. Jesus Himself says I don't pray for you. He said, you will ask the Father now, not me. And He said, when you ask the Father, you will ask Him in My name, and He will give it to you. You see, prayer was designed for a born-again believer to access the power of God with the name.
Now, when lawyers read the New Covenant in the Bible, they will tell you that because you've been given the name to use, it's called the power of attorney. P-O-A. I've done that a number of times for friends and family. And it means that, when you have been given the power of attorney, everything they own, have, all authority they have in their businesses has been handed to me. And I have access to all of that, and to use it at my discretion for them. Did you know that prayer is not an emotional thing. I would watch people pray and they would cry and sob. And that's fine, there's times I've cried and sobbed when I've been praying.
But I want you to know something. Prayer is not powerful because it's emotional. Prayer is powerful because it's legal. Because at the right hand of Father God, is Jesus in His human body. The nail scars are still there. The thorn tracks all through His head and His brow are still there. The hole in His side is still there. The holes in His feet are still there. Because He lives and He is at the right hand of the Father as our intercessor. It doesn't mean He's praying. It means, He maintains the right and the authority that when you use His name, all power from heaven is yours. You say well is He trying to convince God? No, God knows He's there, and He can't wait to give you the kingdom. It's your Father's desire to give you the kingdom. He didn't have the authority to, because when He created Adam He gave mankind the authority, and we've talked about that. And so now, the name of Jesus spoken on the lips of a born-again believer, who knows who they are in Christ. It comes from the heart.
There was a time in my life where, I really hadn't renewed my mind with the Word. I mean, I would say was renewing it, but it's never done. Because your five senses are always gathering negative data, you must always be praying and speaking the Word and meditating. There was a time in my life where, I begin to understand the cross. And, begin to, it was beginning to renew my mind and getting inside, but I couldn't get results. And it wasn't until I understood the heart, this deeper level that God's always talking about. God doesn't look at the man's outer. He looks at the heart. And that your heart must be established in grace. You see, the most important fight you are ever going to fight in your life, is the fight of faith. That's what Timothy says. 1 Timothy 6:12 fight the good fight of faith. It says here, lay a hold of life eternal, life, zoe life. To which you were summoned, and to which you confessed the good confession of faith before many witnesses.
I begin to understand that it wasn't just crucial to read the Word and speak it, but to spend time with Him. To allow the language of the heart, which is pictures and seeing the results. Letting the Word of God touch me and meditate and go in deeper until something inside begin to rise up. And then, I begin to see answers to prayer. I begin to see miracles take place in my life. And I want to challenge you. The name of Jesus was given to you, it's more than a swear word. It's more than a salutation. It's more than just something we say religiously, at the name of Jesus, incredible things happen. Now at the right hand of the Father is Jesus. And He is our intercessor. Does that mean He's praying? No, He said He wasn't. He said now you pray, but you use my name. He's the lawyer. He's the one standing to the right hand of the Father, and so that when, and it says that He's the high priest of our confession.
For those taking notes, Hebrews 3:1, 4:14, 10:19 all continue to say that Jesus Christ is the high priest of your confession. It doesn't say He's the high priest of your faith, it doesn't say He's the high priest of your emotions. It doesn't say He's the high priest of, it says He's the high priest of your confession. Did you know that any time you speak the Word of God and you say, in the name of Jesus, that God just smiles? Because He knows He's allowed to interrupt human plans with the power of God. Now. You can talk about me all you want. But Jesus is not the high priest of your confession about me. People can talk about you all they want, but Jesus is not the high priest of their confession about you. This powerful, incredible truth is that your confession of faith in Christ, rules and regulates your life. And then in prayer, you can begin to use this name to speak into circumstances. It just gets me excited, when I begin to realize that Jesus, at the right hand of the Father. He's like there as my intercessor.
Now that literally means barrister, lawyer. He's there to make sure that no one can ever say that Leon can't use the name of Jesus. And when they go, well he hasn't prayed enough. He hasn't given enough. He's had bad thoughts, he's done bad things. Guess what? Jesus says Leon's not the one that qualifies Leon, I qualify Leon. And he's qualified in the name of Jesus. And you get to use the name. People go oh I just don't know, I don't understand. Don't. That's just foolish. It's stupid. You've been given authority, you've been given an inheritance. You've been given a name, you've been given the power of attorney. To not find out what's behind the name is to live your life in bankruptcy emotionally, to live your life bankrupt physically. To live your life bankrupt and allow things to go on in your country and your life, your marriage, your family, your kids, and go wait a minute! What's behind the name?
Because as you find out what's behind the name, something happens to you. And I want to challenge you to stop using the name, any time you say Jesus from now on, just stop for a minute. And then, in Jesus name. And recognize that when you said in Jesus name, at the right hand of the Father, is Jesus with nail holes in His hand because of the sacrifice He paid. And the curse that He took. And He went to hell in your place. And He rose again to give you new life. And access to the name that He is giving you. When you begin to understand, every day you must learn to speak the Word of God. You see, speaking God's Word is prayer.
There's two things that prayer is. Prayer is you fellowshipping with God. Now I don't need to talk to do that. I'm often, people will see me kind of dazed out sometimes. I'm often just thinking as God is speaking to me about stuff. Teaching me something I should know or do or learning about people. And Him and I are communicating. I'm telling Him how I love Him, I'm asking Him questions. My mouth's not moving. He can be there. But now, it doesn't say, that Jesus is the high priest of my thoughts. Why is that? Because until words are spoken in this stratosphere, the enemy doesn't know what's going on in your heart. And until you speak words, it doesn't, when you speak words, angels listen, demons listen. Jesus even says the words that you speak, if you don't support Me, He's like I can't support you. He's talking about words. And so when you speak out loud, you are now speaking words that begin to affect your life, your nature, your health, your mind.
Did you know that when you pray for the other things, even when you just pray God's Word every day. There is this residual effect, even if you're not praying for yourself. There is this residual effect of peace and joy and power that just stays with you. As you just maintain a life of prayer, meaning, you can fellowship with God but then every day, you're declaring this is what I declare, why are you declaring that Leon? Because every day, my five senses are gathering data from the physical world. And in the physical world there is always problems. There's always situations. If it's not health, it's mental. If it's not mental, it's marital. If it's not marital, it's kids. If it's not kids, it's grandkids. If it's not grandkids, it's your neighbour. If it's not your neighbour, it's the government. If it's not the government, and behind all of this. Paul said, we don't fight flesh and blood. Behind everything that kills, steals, and destroys, is principalities and powers.
Jesus said in John 10:10, that the thief steals, kills, and destroys. Any time something is being killed, stolen, destroyed. The enemy is behind it. And people say well you see demons everywhere. No I don't, but I'm smart enough to know there's another world. Even scientists believe in dimensions. Well there's another dimension, and it's called the spirit world. And I've learned that the name of Jesus is the most powerful name in that spirit world. And that every spirit positive and negative, both black and white. Both darkness and light. All bow to the name of Jesus. I'm not worried about witch doctors and witchcraft and satanism or anything else, because everything. There is no name higher in that spirit realm than the name of Jesus. And so when we pray about governments, when we pray about leaders. When you pray about sickness, when you pray about disease. You need to know that behind it is always the kingdom of darkness, pushing, pushing, pushing.
So why do I speak the Word of God every day? Because He is the high priest of my confession. So each of us individually must speak the Word. Each of us must understand that the name Jesus, must come from a deep understanding that registers at the heart level. And when you do, that name provides power. Don't ever speak His name again in a flippant way. Just make a decision. If you ask my family, and say does Leon ever talk negative? Now, I am so far from perfect. There's one thing Sal and I worked on our whole lives. Was our tongues. Because Jesus is the high priest of my confession. So I don't want to mess up, and just say stupid words. Say well Leon, it doesn't matter. Matthew 12, he said by your words you'll be justified. By your words you'll be condemned. He said that your words are being listened to by the angels of God. When you begin to understand the power of praying. The power of even just, conversation. You'll find that very rarely do I begin to make negative statements in frustration.
When I get frustrated, I try to walk out and just get away because then my mouth can just go blah! And I don't want those words in my stratosphere. I don't want those words spoken. And when you understand prayer, the Bible says, and teaches us that God is light. Right? Did you know that Bible says prayer is like lightning? Isn't that interesting? Prayer is like lightning. In Psalms 141, it talks about when we pray that it's like incense rising before God. And then, Revelations 8:3-5, an interesting picture's shown in heaven and I'll explain it to you. It says that before the throne of God, an angel has a bowl. And in the bowl is the prayers of the saints. Hm. And they stand before the throne of God, and fire comes into the bowl, mixing with the prayers of the saints. And then it says like lightning, shew! It just begins to go. What's going on?
Well, when we use the Word of God, and the name of Jesus, as a human being on this planet, the resources of heaven come together with the words and the prayers that you speak. And the Bible says, it's like lightning. Just wham, wham. We've got to understand that there's an earthly realm. And we need to strategize, train people, move forward, find people's gifts, get them in the right spot. In your family, your career, in your business. In government, we need gifted people going places and we need to administrate companies. We need to manage countries. But after you've looked after all the physical realm, the Bible says and teaches thoroughly, that behind every problem you will find the dark kingdom. And so because of that, you prepare the earthly realm through systems and structures and leadership and management, but you also prepare the spirit realm, and the name of Jesus takes authority where the enemy's trying to come in like a flood and push. No wonder the Bible says let God arise, His enemies be scattered.
Where does God arise? This is prophetic of the day and age we live in today. He arises in His church. He arises in you and I. Jesus said, I will build my church, and He says the gates of hell will not prevail against it. So we can be quite certain, that regardless of what we're going through and where we're going. That to pray, and to use the name of Jesus, that in the spirit realm, whatever's going on behind we don't have to understand. All we know is that I begin to declare the Bible says that my children serve Jesus and that they are safe and blessed. The Bible says our body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, and nothing's going to hurt it or touch it. The Bible declares. Jesus said, it is written. It is written. It is, why did He have to do that? You think He'd just snap His fingers and the devil would disappear. He was walking the planet as a human being, and He needed to use the Word.
When you speak the Word, it looses all the angelic force of heaven. When you speak the Word, it pushes back all of the forces of darkness. You don't have to know them all by name, you don't have to figure out which demons are at which side of the river. And all the intercessory stuff we've seen for years that didn't work. You rise up and declare the Word of God and the promises of God, and when you do, incredible things take place. Peter and John, it's one of the first miracles after the day of Pentecost, in Acts 3. Were walking by a man at the gate beautiful. By Solomon's portico where the temple is in Israel. And, he'd been laid there every day. That means the disciples have been walking past him for three years. That means Jesus had bene walking past him for three years. And he was still there.
Interesting, Jesus never stopped. Interesting the disciples never stopped. But all of a sudden, he hollers out, alms for the poor. And Peter says silver and gold have I none, but what I've got I'm going to give you. And the man put his hand out to get something. And Peter said, what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. And he grabbed him by the right hand, and that name being spoken from the heart of Peter, hit that man. Something went woomph on the inside of his spirit, his heart, and faith just leapt. And it says the crack, snap, pop, like Rice Krispies. His ankle bones in his feet became straight. And he begin to rejoice and joined him in the temple.
We need to understand that prayer can't become some monotonous, pleading, begging, bugging. That's not prayer. Jesus on the cross has already provided the thing that we need. And so we are to declare the Word as finished. And when we pray, we pray and declare the Jesus paid for it, and He won it, and I declare. I do this every day. Every time I've got the Bible in front of me, even just quietly under my breath. I'll begin to say the Word says this. That's mine in Jesus' name. The Word, I'll read a promise. That's mine in Jesus' name. When we pray, we are persistent. We do not stop speaking the Word, we do not stop declaring the Word. Goliath and every enemy in the Bible would always exaggerate and talk. I'm going to kill you all, we're going to feed your body to the birds and David yeah, yeah, I'm going to cut your head off in about three minutes, and you're done. And he did.
Why do we listen to the negative stuff that flows out of even innocent and good people, just don't know, they're just full of fear. Whether it's news or politicians or whatever, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. When you take those words into heart. It's like cheap underwear, it creeps up on you. And what do you need to do? You need to take the Word each day, to continue to declare. Why? Does God need to hear it? No. Your mind needs to be renewed. Your heart needs to b established in grace so that you rise up and what you're doing is you're bathing in peace. You're showering in joy. You're walking in power as you speak His Word every day.
Religion wants you to think you have to earn it. But I've got news for you. As you speak His Word, something in you changes. The Word plants in your heart, and as those crops begin to come up, you begin to see fruit. Now the word 'fruit' just means results. You begin to see results in your health. Results in your relationships. Results in who you're reaching for Christ. And as we get up and do what God's called us to do in our nation, which is to speak of the Gospel in a Spirit Contemporary way. To share what He's done, how much He loves people, cares about people. And when we pray, the Bible says, in one of the beautiful Old Testament stories is in Ezekiel when he says, prophesy to those dry bones. Command them to live. Can they live? And he says only you know, God. You can do it. And God said no, I said you speak to it.
The prophet turns, and he begins to declare these bones live. And then this beautiful picture of the power of our words in prayer. It says these bones begin to clatter together. And the sinews begin to come on the bones as life begin to come until he saw this great army. He's showing you and I, He needs you and I to declare His Word. Speak His promises. Knowing that it's a done deal. There's nothing left for you to do but to enforce the victory of Calvary. There's nothing left for you to do but to enforce the victory. He died in your place, He took your sin, He went to hell and He took the curse. He arose again, and He swapped, He gave you His nature. His power. He's in me, I'm in Him. And He's at the right hand of the Father making sure, every time I use the name, the power of God flows behind it. Oh, if you'd just understand the beauty, the power, the opportunity you have been given. To pray.