Leon Fontaine - The Foundations Of Prayer
Hey, everybody! It is so good to have you with us today. You know, I love teaching the Word because it is what sets people free. Truth sets people free and then you can live. If you're struggling, and your life has been plateaued for so long listen close to this and I wanna dive into something. We've been talking for a little while about the power of prayer and foundational teaching that must be understood if you're gonna walk in a consistency of experiencing God and of seeing the supernatural power of God flowing everywhere in your life all the time. So many Christians think that God's supernatural power, this miraculous ability that is so far beyond our own ability only works when we kind of pray it and we've gotta figure this out and then we go back to being mere mortals, mere humans but nothing can be further from the truth.
Now, today, I'm gonna do a fast review. I have been teaching on the fact that if you're gonna pray, you must pray from an understanding that you have a right to pray, the privilege to pray, the power to pray, the authority to pray, because of what Jesus has done for you. So if you wanna know really what almost the most important teaching to learn first as new believers is what Jesus did from the cross to the throne. So it is His death, His burial, His resurrection, and His ascension to the throne. Herein is where your sin is dealt with, the curse is dealt with, the old you is dead and gone. This is where you learn this. Then this new life as you rise up in the resurrection life of Jesus. You are a new creation. And then what authority do you have is taught when you look at, seated at the righthand of the Father where Jesus is seated there. All of this teaching is powerful and beautiful, and it really is what few Christians seem to understand. And so until you begin to experience the promises of God at the heart level, okay. You will not be able to see them move into your life.
Let me tell you a story. When I was 18 years old, I got a job at a hospital where I worked in central supply and then very quickly became the first paramedic program in the province here in Canada and one of the first groups of paramedics to a certain degree that practice on the streets. And so while I was going and working as the single, I began to see things that just shocked me. From a great little, I came from a great home, great family, great friends, great church. My life was wonderful. And I began to go to the back alleys in the seedy parts of life where stabbings and rapes and people dying in front of me, children dying in front of me, began to literally shock me at the heartache that this world had. And then it began to make me realize that I had been kind of protected from this.
And so I began to say, "Well, Jesus, You healed the sick, raised the dead. You walked into situations like storms, demonic attacks like a crazy man running out of the tombs and You seemed to walk in a daily supernatural power". And the Bible says as He is, so are we in this world. So as Jesus functions in this world, so we are, too. And here's what I began to do. I didn't know how to handle this. One day, I had a little girl died on me and it really troubled me. And I remember going back to, at my house and just to handle the heartache that I saw every day.
Now, most of my friends from that period of my life are divorced, many of them had addictions, many of marriages jaded on life, because they just saw so much heartache and pain. It's just seen daily, like I was seeing daily. So what I did, not even knowing what I was doing, I began to cry out to God. I was a Christian. I love Jesus. And I said, "Jesus, like how do I handle this"? And I, in the mornings before I got up, in order to stop the depression or this overwhelming sense of defeatedness. I would close my eyes and I would simply read about Jesus, okay. This is what I did. I would read about Jesus in the gospels and then I would simply see myself doing what Jesus did.
So as Jesus was walking along the seashore, I'd see, okay, let me see the sand as His feet walked through the sand, that I'm with Him. And as He talked from the boat to everyone on the seashore, I would literally just see myself right beside Jesus. As He reached out and touched a blind man, I would just see myself with Jesus reaching out and touching a blind man. I was doing this because as a young guy I could not handle the emotions that I was going through as an 18 and 19-year-old going through this. And what began to happen was interesting. I had begun to read some of the great books by Paul Yonggi Cho, The Fourth Dimension. This kind of eastern look at the promises of God where he began to talk about being pregnant with God's Word. That if you don't have it in your life, you could be pregnant with God's Word in your heart. And, you know, then so I began to, I'm reading this and that's what I began to do.
Now, a funny thing happened to me and I share more in our book, The Spirit Contemporary Life, which I really pray. If you haven't got a copy, go to Amazon and get a copy of that. It shares the stories and the miracles that will blow your mind of the dead being raised and the miracles that took place in the backs of ambulances and on boardrooms, etcetera. But as I began to just spend each morning. Now, what I would do was I would take about 30 minutes. And the reason I remember this so well is because we have this kind of leatherette or this mahoga-hide couch black with all these pin holes in it because it sticks to you. You've got kind of sweaty. And I remember going out on to the porch area of the house that I was living in, and I would lay on there and I would close my eyes and I would just imagine being with Jesus.
So as I read the Word, I would imagine the Word me being there with Him when He raised that widow's son out of the coffin. When He walked on the water and Peter walked on the water to Him. I was there walking on the water to Jesus. So I began to experience, without knowing I was doing, I began to experience the Bible at a heart level. Instead of just reading the promises and knowing what the Bible says which is mental assent. I began to experience these promises for me. I added myself into the Word. This became so personal to me that I began to think I can begin to pray for the sick. I began to believe that I could be so protected of a demon possessed man that can break chains run at the disciples and Jesus. He'd fall on his face right in front of Jesus, etcetera.
And one day, I'll never forget the very first miracle that I saw. I went into a situation where a little baby needed surgery. And one of the things we did back then was we would relieve the people on the maternity ward because often wasn't that many babies there. There was only one there at this time who was just been born and was scheduled for surgery because of problems with the bowel. Food was not going through. This baby's in pain and screaming. It's getting ready for surgery. It was her time for a coffee break, so I had to spend 20 minutes with it. She says, "She's just gonna cry like this. Leon just don't do anything, just stand there until I get back for my coffee break".
I remember going in there looking at this baby just screaming and crying red in the face. And I remember walking over and just touching its forehead and just saying, "Behold, in the name of Jesus". And I saw it stopped crying. And so I went, "Oh, maybe that's okay. Maybe it does sleep in between this". And so I was just, you know, it's breathing and it's fine. And I kind of standing in the doorway waiting for the nurse to come back and this nurse is walking back. And then probably about 20 to 30 yards from the maternity door she sees me standing and she starts to run, and she runs at me. What's going on? Well, baby is not crying. And I thought, "Maybe it died or something". But it was sleeping. What's going on? It can't even sleep and it's in so much pain whatever it was dealing with. And later on, I found out that they had done a preoperative assessment on the child and decided it did not need surgery. And that was my first look at the presence of God and the power of God could flow through me.
Until you experience God's promises as being true, okay? It's not going to affect your heart. And if it doesn't affect your heart, then it's not flowing into your physical world or even into the areas of your mind with peace and with joy and so this is crucial. It's just crucial that when you read the Word, when you read a great teaching, when you're listening to this message right now.
You know, so many people say, "Well, it works for Leon or it works for whoever you respect as a teacher, whoever you're watching". You just have this sense of they can do it, while me there's something wrong with me. I can't really do it. Well, until you deal with that attitude and go, "No, I am the child of the King. Jesus died for me". You know, until you pick up your cross. What does that mean? That literally means dying to the old you and every imagination you have of who you are. Defeated, weak, not able to do things. Until you died of that, you will not be able to walk in the things that God has for you because your identity is crucial for you to get your faith to work.
If you do not see yourself as a new creation. Everyone says that, but what does that mean? That means the old Leon is dead. Died on the cross with Jesus. That means that when Jesus died, and He took the curse of sickness, diseases, and death for sin, okay? That He took the wrath of God, okay? There's no wrath left for Leon for God to give me because Jesus took that. Another verse says that everything I ever did wrong was written. The writ against me. The writing against me which be the prosecutor, you know, against me. It was nailed to the cross and completely paid for my entire life. When you get this revelation that Jesus paid for all my sins past and future, and that the curse, the punishment, Jesus took it. You fall so in love with Jesus and your identity begins to be I'm righteous.
Here's what people struggle because they think they have to be good enough for God to use them. But righteousness according to Romans 5:21 or 17 is a gift. The gift of righteousness. So there's a big difference between faith righteousness, just believing you're righteous because of Jesus and then works righteousness, you working at your righteousness. And so as you begin to go into God's Word, this identity as to who, who are you? I'm a brand-new creation. Everything's passed away that has to do with the curse, punishment, God's wrath, hell, all the rest Jesus dealt with. And now, not only is my past sin gone because a lot of people think, "Well, you know, my sins are forgiven, and I get to go to heaven when I die". But they don't think that Jesus quite did enough for me to actually live in His power.
When Jesus walked the planet, He was able to get the miraculous to walk in peace, to walk protected. No one took His life it says in John 10, until He lay it down. And it says the same thing for us in Psalm 91 the last verse that we actually are delivered our lives until we're satisfied. I mean, it's amazing when you begin to identify with Christ and that, that I'm not this guy. That I identify with Jesus, His death, His burial, His resurrection. I mean, His ascendency to the righthand of the Father at the throne of God. This is He decides who I am. My identity comes from Jesus. That is so wonderful because wherever Leon isn't quite enough or however I've been trained to, whether I'm not good at.
You know, when I'm weak, He is strong. That's where this verse becomes, it becomes so alive for me. It's not enough to you believers who understand confessing the promises. It's not enough to just confess the promises. It actually has hurt many people because they confess the promises from a place of need, from a place of I've gotta become something, from a place of barely get by. And until you begin to experience, this is mine. This is my inheritance. Jesus qualified me through His behavior that all of these blessings are mine. All the promises are yes and amen. He has given me all things that pertain to my life now and in the future. It's all been already given to me.
In fact, people are shock when I say, "God does not decide miracles". This blows people's minds because they've been begging, bugging, pleading, interceding, binding devils, coming against the bright skies. You know, all of these things to get these promises to manifest in their life. Yet, they've already been given. And the process that we are simply to do is to establish your heart in grace, to take your heart and to establish. Now, guard it with all diligence for out of it flows the forces of life. Matthew 12, a good man from the good deposits, the good treasure of his heart just brings forth good things into this physical world. An evil man brings forth evil things from the heart. So as a born-again believer, you've gotta guard your heart from fear, anger, lust because the presence of God within you.
Now, as you renew your mind with the Word and it begins to just drop and settle into your heart. Your heart gets established and you must be able to see and to personalize God's Word. People would often ask me like, "What's a real key to strong faith"? Here's something that I hope will help you. It's not so much believing God can heal. The devil believes God can heal. He believes God does heal. He had seen it happen everywhere. Well, then, what is great faith? It is literally this believing that He'll do it for you. This ability to receive the promises of God and this new identity that you are in Christ and it's all been done for you. It blows your mind because it's so simple, it's so beautiful, it's so powerful. Jesus said, "My yoke is easy, and My burden is light".
When you begin to learn and grow, and you'll need to do it every day the rest of your life learning about what Jesus did from His cross, from when He ascended to the throne. All the teachings in between there which is what the new covenant is built upon, to learn those things all through the epistles and to learn them in the minor and the major prophets. This is where you begin to anchor your faith. I begin to believe this that I wasn't anchoring my faith in could God heal, but I was anchoring them in the character and the nature of God. I had to believe that the character and the nature of God was good. That it was love. You see, the world and the church doesn't believe that. They believed God is an angry God.
I remember years ago, a preacher famous messages, you know, a sinner falling in the hands of an angry God. Well, once you give your life to Jesus Christ, you know, you don't have to worry about any of that. But the anger and all of that, so my, as I begin to read and see what Jesus had done and realized God sent Him to represent me and the human race, to take my sin, to make it possible for me even before I go to the place called heaven. To have within me this the kingdom of God is within me. Which means His peace, His joy, and the healing power and the protection power of God is all within me. It's all in me and that it would continually radiate from me and in the middle of a hurting, mess up world, full of pain and suffering. And we're gonna experience a lot of that pain but to go on suffering and it's not a part of what is for us. By that I simply mean suffering with no peace, suffering with no joy, suffering with sickness when Jesus took it on the cross.
There's a lot of things that the church has not begun to really understand. I began to look the character of God, the names of God, who God is, what does He want from me. Like promises that say the blessing of the Lord maketh rich and adds no sorrow to it. So God's blessing helps every area of your life succeed and sorrow is not a part of this training. God is not such a bad teacher He needs to hurt you. You know, someone's go, "God's gonna get your attention sometimes". I'm not gonna take my kid's hand and put it in the fire and burn it to get his attention to be cautious around fire. Okay? My child loves me and trust me and so I would teach them and show them this and they trust that they didn't.
As you begin to trust the nature of God and His character, all of a sudden, you'll be read things in the Bible that someone would try to take out of context and you just kind of laugh and go, "Dude, that's not my God's character. That's not His nature. So that doesn't make sense". And so as we begin to fellowship with God and get into His Word. We see a God that is so good. You know, years ago when the churches, some men began to preach God is a good God. And this is only in the last, you know, like 70 years. Maybe 50 years ago, that people will be God is a good God. They banned them from most of the churches and the church fought against this message that God is a good God. Yet now in almost all denominations, it is taught God is a good God. For some reason things get slow when it comes to religion.
So religion is always about man trying to please an angry God. Man trying to please a God that has to come in and do things. But yet, once you look at Jesus what He's done for you. You now can continually look to Jesus. There's an old song that I think is beautiful. It says, " Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look full in His wonderful face, And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, In the light of His glory and His grace". There's so much doctrine packed into that. What is His grace? What is His glory? And Peter experienced this. He said to Jesus if it's you, call me. Jesus said come Peter. He looked at Jesus and began to walk on the water to Jesus. Then the waves began to, you know, he began to pay attention to them and he got his eyes off of Jesus and he began to be awake of his five senses feeling the spray of the salt sea, feeling the wind whipping his hair, seeing the size of these waves.
All of his five senses began to bring in all of this fear and he began to sink. And he cried out, "Jesus"! And Jesus reached out and grabbed him. He didn't carry him back to the boat. Peter got his eyes back on Jesus and he walked on the water back to the boat with Jesus. There's an example of how quickly you can be focused on Jesus. Now, how do you use that story for me and what he has done for Leon? How that he is, you know, I'm a brand-new creation. So the old Leon died and all my sin died. And Jesus took my sin, took my punishment and He resurrected with a new life for me and so, etcetera, a new authority for me. And so as I look at Jesus through the scripture Holy Spirit continually magnifying. Jesus becomes bigger and bigger in my mind, in my heart, and He becomes real.
You know, the Bibles says oh, magnify the Lord in Psalm 34. Well, you can't make God bigger, but you can make God bigger in you. Or you can make the fear bigger in you, the problem bigger in you. When you go to the Word and you see who Jesus is, what He has done for you. You begin to see the character of God. Jesus came to this planet for a lot of wonderful thing. One of them was to show us what God was really like. And when you look at how Jesus treated people, that's what God is really like. I pray these messages. Tune in all the time here. Tell your friends about it. And let's get a look at who Jesus is and who you are and let's begin to pray from these strengths of knowing these truths.