Leon Fontaine - Prayer Determines Your Victories
Today, I want to talk about prayer and how that prayer determines your victories. It's something we continually forget about. As a young man, when I began to actually understand prayer, and I began to recognize that prayer precedes victories. Prayer produces victories. Prayer determines victories. But truthfully the way most people talk about prayer, when you watch most people pray, it was such a turn off. And to tell you the truth getting around church people pretty much destroyed any desire I had to pray because I didn't understand it. When I realized that if I didn't learn to pray, there was no way I was going to live the life of my dreams. I figured out real quick that if I didn't understand prayer, that I was going to be at the whim of every wind that blows, every storm that comes.
And so today I'm going to dive into this topic, and I pray that something stirs within you and that you will not leave your future up to God. I hear that all the time from lazy Christians. "Well, you know, God is in control". No. That's not what the Bible says. God is in control of many things. The universe, the timetable on the planet, etcetera, etcetera. But your individual life, you are in a co-relationship with God and you can't abandon your part in this future and in this relationship now. And so if you continue to do nothing with prayer, then you will live like every other person. Whichever way the wind blows is the way you go. Whichever way the storm is in finances. That's where your finances go. Whichever way the storm of sickness and disease blows, so will your life go. Whichever way relationships go, so will your relationship go.
But then there's men and women who rise up, who know who they are, and they pray, and they learn how to pray. And when they do, they determine with God. They determine their future. When people ask me, "What's this year going to be like"? I say every time. It is going to be the best year I've ever had. I'm going to see more happen. I'm going to have more favour. I'm going to walk in more of His blessing. I'm going to see things done for His kingdom. I'm going to see things in my family. I'm going to see, this is the declaration. Well, you know, it's a nice thought. It ain't a thought. It's a nice hope. It's not a hope. It is a declaration. It is a prayer that is determining my future.
We dive into this and I pray that someone's going to listen this. If I get one person to listen to this, and just change everything in your future and in your world. That would be a stunning impact on this planet. If you're not praying out loud, then you're not speaking to the elements, the situations, the people against you, the mountain, the problem. If you're not praying out loud. You say, "Leon, come on". Just wait. Hang in there. I'll show you something. You see, I kind of divide prayer from different cross sections. But here's one way I divide prayer. I pray silently within myself when I am communicating to God to learn, to know Him, to spend time meditating in His Word, to pray about direction and what I should do, to meditate and think about where I'm leading my family, the church, our school, the television stations, the things He's asked me to do.
I will pray silently within myself as I build my relationship with Him and as I get direction from Him. Because God has no problem with me closing my lips and spending time with Him. That's prayer! All right? That's prayer. It's fellowship. And fellowship is sharing life together. Prayer and fellowship like this is communing with Him, enjoying His presence. Its' me giving. He's giving. And together we do life together. That kind of prayer, you can pray silently and spend time with Him with your lips close. But then there is a second kind of prayer. And this is the prayer that changes the things that are around you.
This is the prayer that speaks to mountains. This is the prayer that must be spoken out loud, absolutely, necessary all the time. This is where you prophesy your future. This is where you declare things as done because it is a part of your inheritance. You're not begging, or even trying to command God. You are an heir of an inheritance and you need to learn to get that inheritance and to produce it in your life. And the very will of God is that you bear fruit and that your fruit would remain. The very will of God is that you would live a life more abundantly than anything this world has ever seen. A spoken word which is formed by the tongue seems to have incredible power. God has designed it this way.
The Bible teaches that all through it. Your tongue, the words that you speak out loud, is not the only. But listen, the words that you speak out loud can deceive your own heart or plant truth in your own heart. It has the power of life and death. And the Bible doesn't say your thoughts, but your thoughts do. It talks about the power of the tongue. The words that you speak. The things that are coming out of your mouth. It says the sounds. Jesus said it this way. He said, "The words that He spook were spirit and life". John 6:63, it says, "It is the Spirit who gives life. The flesh profits nothing".
The words, the message, the revelation, that I'm speaking to you, Jesus is saying. They're Spirit. They are life. They're not sense knowledge discerned. They're not figured out by eyes and ears. But there is a revelation. Something from the spirit of God. Later on in that same chapter, but Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, you know, where are we going to go"? Because Jesus asked him, "Are you guys leaving Me, too"? He says, "You have the words of eternal life". Why is it worded this way? He said, "Jesus, I'm not leaving You. You have the words of eternal life". There is something about spoken words that are powerful from the Old Testament to the New. This is a crucial, crucial thing. And if you aren't praying out loud, you are changing nothing.
Someone is saying right now, "Well, I pray with my mouth close". Good. That's fellowshipping and spending time with God. You could do that silently. But you cannot speak to mountains silently. The Gospel for example must be spoken to be understood. The Bible says all through it, that the importance of the spoken word. It's the spoken, In Romans 10:17, it says, "Faith comes by hearing and hearing the Word of God". Or another thing it saying here is, "Faith comes by hearing and understanding the message of Jesus". These words. So hearing is crucial. And when you understand that, you begin to recognize that there is a necessity for you to pray out loud, to declare His promises over each day, over your month, your family, your finances, your health, your body. And if you're not doing that, then you're not doing your part.
God has made a great salvation. God has given you an amazing inheritance. God has qualified you, blessed you, given you a gift of righteousness, made you as His Son Jesus. This prayer. This literally, this right to prayer is so stunning. That we are fools to not speak forth the prayers, the desires of our heart. In Romans 10:18, it says, "But I say, have they not heard? Yes indeed. Their sound has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world". He's talking about the Gospel. He's talking about the sounds because men are sharing it, women are preaching it, and people are hearing it. There is something about the vocal sounds and the hearing of those sounds that carry the spirit of life. That carries the message, the understanding, the revelation of this incredible world. The spirit world. What God is doing besides just this physical world and your five senses.
In James 1:26, it says, "If any man among you seems to be religious, you seems to have it together. But you don't bridle your tongue". It says, "You'll deceive your own heart". Now, when you put a bridle on a horse, you're not shutting down its tongue. You are directing its mouth and its entire body, James says. So we must control our tongue. We must not just shut if off. We have to speak to communicate. We have to speak to pray. We have to speak. And so we've got to control this tongue. We've got to get it speaking the Word of God.
In Ezequiel 37:1-10, is a stunning portion of Scripture. God takes Ezequiel to a valley and He has him looked, and this valley is filled with dry bones. They've been there for months. They've been there for years, inactive, no life, producing nothing, inanimate, a horrible sight. It's not filled with palm trees and springs and crowds of people laughing and running through the meadows. And moms and dads having picnics. It's dried, dead bones. No life. And He says to Ezequiel, "Can these bones live"? And Ezequiel says, "Only you know, God". There's so many people today, "Oh, it's up to God. Whatever God wants, He's going to do". Where in the Word do you get that? That's not even true when you doctrinally look at it in your life. So God turns to him and He says, "You speak to the dry bone".
He didn't say, "You think about the dry bone". He didn't say, "You wave at the dry bones". He didn't say, "You do a little dance in front of the dry bones". He said, "You speak to the dry bones and prophesy to them". So Ezequiel did. And this story stunning as, it says that these bones begin to come together and then tendons begin to hold them together and cartilage and ligaments and then muscles begin to become on the structure. And this is a process. It wasn't bang! There was a big pop of smoke and a whole valley full of people. It shares this process. And then they stood to their feet. Life was in the valley. People were alive ready to do something. And you need to know that there are things. Your future is going to be a bunch of inanimate, dead, dry bones compared to what God has for you. But you must prophesy to your future. It is simply another word of saying take the Word of God and His promises and speak it over your future. That is prayer.
Ezequiel prophesied, declared the Word of the Lord to these dry bones and they came together with life. Maybe if all you do is bug and pray to God whenever something doesn't go right. Maybe the problem is you're actually not praying. You're just complaining. Because according to the Word of God, Mark 11:23-24, it says, there's a mountain. Now, a mountain was a problem. A mountain, how do you climb over it? How do you get around it? How do you get your beast of burden and your camels and your donkeys and your kids? A mountain is an impassable obstacle. There's a problem in your life. It's stopping you, your relationships, your family, your health. And it says, "You speak to it".
Now, I tell you something. I rarely spend more than 15 minutes in prayer at a time. But then I rarely go longer than 15 minutes without prayer. I just hang with Him, and when something comes up and I know His will. I'm not sitting around begging, bugging, and pleading. I know that He has handed me an inheritance. He has given me His promises. He has given me the gift of righteousness because of His Son. His grace is upon me. That He wants me to come boldly into His presence without an inferiority complex, without this condemnation and this guilt for things I didn't, or I did or didn't do in my past. He wants me to be boldly go and speak.
And so I just speak. I speak to this church. I speak to the unsaved people who need Christ. I speak to finances. I speak to physical bodies. I declare the things that I desire. Prayer speaks to mountains and it believes that what it desires is yours already. So declare it. Speak it as already a done deal because it is. When you understand what prayer is, and the joy of getting up every morning and just speaking for it, prophesying. You are a prophet, a self-fulfilling prophet. And if you haven't been praying, your negative whining is still determining your future. The reason it's wrong. It's because it destroys your future. Close your mouth when you're in the mood to complain. Which is usually when you first get up in the morning, and believe. You see, when you begin to declare, when you begin to speak prayer, when you begin to decide what it is you desire and then recognize. The things you desire, if they're godly, is already done. Then you rejoice.
In Psalm 75:9 and 10, it says, "But I will declare and rejoice forever. I'm going to sing praises to the God. All the horns of the ungodly will I cut off says the Lord, but the horns of the uncompromisingly righteous shall be exalted". The word "horns" in the Old Testament King James. It means power. But my power is from God and it is flowing. He's singing and declaring His strength is in God. That he has nothing to worry about. In Psalm 73:28, "But it is good for me to draw near to God. I have put my trust in the Lord God, that I may declare all thy works". Why do you need to declare God's works? Because when you begin to prophesy to the, your future. You begin to declare, "Because of Jesus we walk in health in my family. Because of Jesus we walk in the blessing and the favour of God. Because of Jesus we have victory over sin. Because of what God has done".
And you begin to declare and thank Him and praise Him. That is powerful, effective prayer because you are declaring and praising Him and thanking Him because in your heart it's done. It is something that you see that Jesus has won. There's an interesting teaching in God's Word that you have an inheritance. We all hear this and you are an heir. Well, if you're an heir and you have an inheritance. That will and that last testament doesn't go into effect till somebody dies. So when the Bible says you're an heir, then if they're not dead, it's not yours. So if you want some of that from your uncle or father, you're going to ask for it. It's not yours. He's not dead yet. But when the man dies, it's given to you. Nobody is running around trying to figure out how to get something they've been given. So when Jesus died in your place, it put into effect His will. And it was that everything is freely given to you.
Now, He arose again which is, that's pretty crazy and that's pretty wonderful. That's pretty amazing. It's a whole another revelation of this new life. But the will and the inheritance that He left you is yours. And the way Peter teaches us to participate in that is to know the precious promises and to begin to declare them. I am encouraging you today recognize this. That if you're going to pray with your mouth close, you can meditate and enjoy the Word, fellowship with God. Let Holy Spirit teach you things. You're sharing and enjoying His presence with your mouth close. Just you and your heart, your mind communion with God. But if you're going to change things. Then get your mouth open and begin to pray and begin to speak.
And as you do, you are walking literally. The Bible give you the picture of, you are in the throne room of God with no sense of condemnation, no sense of shame, no sense of I don't deserve this, because you're recognizing He has placed His love on you. He cares about you. This whole world is about the human race. He's in love with you and I. And you begin to declare what the Word says, what He has promised you, what He has given you, and this prayer is fantastic. Daily. Every time you think about it. Whenever I'm going through something. You know, when there's nobody around. I'll just start declaring the Word. It just feel so good to do it. It just feels amazing to get up and declare. As a grandpa now when I'm by myself and there's no one around to talk to, "Father, I want to thank You right now that my generation serve God. And as for me and my house, we serve the Lord! I thank You right now that I teach my children generation after generation the goodness of God".
And I begin to declare over my kids, my grandkids and generations down the line. Or I might just start talking about finances. Father, I want to thank You the blessing of the Lord and makes me rich and He adds no sorrow to it. I want to thank You right now, that Father, You said the generous their world gets bigger. I want to thank You right now. And I just begin to speak and talk, it feels so good to do this because I am prophesying my future. Speaking forth the desires of my heart that Jesus has won for us. My challenge to you is what are you waiting for? It's simple. It's powerful. It's potent. It's amazing.
Get rid of all the old religious ideas of prayer, and get up and receive and believe the inheritance that was given to you upon His death. Get up and declare and speak to your future. I thought today I'm going to show you a prayer that King David preached or prayed. And it's quite something when you look at it. It's in Psalm 64, "God, listen to my complaint. I am afraid of my enemies, protect my life from them. Hide me from those who plan wicked things, the secret plans, the conspiracies of the wicked, from that gang, that group who does evil. They sharpen their tongues like swords, and they shoot, and they aim bitter words like arrows. From their hiding places they shoot at innocent blameless people. They shoot suddenly and they are not afraid. They encourage each other to do wrong. They talk about setting traps, thinking or saying no one's going to see them. They plan wicked things and say, 'We have a perfect plan.'"
The mind of human beings is hard to understand. But God will shoot them with arrows. They will suddenly be struck down. Their own words, their tongues will be used against them and make them stumble. All who see them will shake their heads in amazement at their downfall. Then everyone will fear God. They will tell what God has done, and they will learn from reflect on what he has done. Good righteous people will be happy in the Lord, will find protection and refuge. So praise the Lord. What a powerful prayer to pray. You need to take this Psalm and pray it every day. Find a version as modern English and just begin to declare. That every mouth that comes against you. Any kind of wicked that goes on and the business against you and government against you. Governments around the world. Whatever schemes or plans of evil people, God's going to put it to not and their own lying stuff is going to come against them. And whereas for us, we rise up rejoicing, blessing in the favour and the blessing. It's an amazing prayer.
Today, I want to say this to you. If you're not praying this way, then your future is being determined by others, not you and God. He's given you inheritance. He's qualified you for every promise. He gave you a gift of righteousness. There's no reason anymore to act, "Oh, gosh, golly, gee. Can I really do that"? Come on. Get in the Word and grow up and begin to pray like a mature follower of Jesus Christ. Recognize you're a covenant new person. Rise up as a new covenant son and daughter. Take the authority that has been invested in you and all that had to happen to get it to you, with Jesus death, burial, resurrection. Rise up and let's go do great exploits for God.
Father, in Jesus name. I pray for every person listening to this message. Touch them I pray. Let them know that Father, we have an inheritance. This inheritance is so incredible. We've been given authority. And because Jesus is the head and we are the body. That we walk out all the authority that He has. As He is, so are we in this world. Father wake up Your church. I pray here at Springs, that every person around this planet, Father, who's listening right now. I pray they begin to get up, rise up and declare and to speak as true sons of God who are on this planet to declare the direction it should go. Father, I pray, wake up this men and women for You. In Jesus' name.
If you're watching right now, and you don't know Jesus Christ as your Saviour. As you have been listening to the Word of God. God's Word causes something to stir on the inside of you. It's faith. It's this hope. That there's something real. That God is there. That's right. Now is the time to invite Him in. If you like to do that, just say this. Say just say, "Jesus, thank You for dying in my place. Come into my heart. I give You my life. From today and on, I'm following You. In Jesus' name. Amen"! Welcome to the family of God. It's powerful.