Leon Fontaine - Prayer Is A Weapon
Interesting place in the Bible, let's just start with this one. Jesus is talking in John 16:23, and He tells His disciples something that they're kind of shock when He says, "All right, from now on you're not going to ask me for anything". And they're going, "What"? Because they asked Jesus for everything. Up to that point, "Jesus, could you heal this person. Jesus, we, we got no food here. Jesus, where do you want to go? Jesus, there's a storm". And so He says, "In that day you're going to ask me for nothing. But verily, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name, He is going to give it you. Hitherto you asked nothing in My name, ask, and you shall receive, that your joy may be full".
See, understand that as Christians, we're used to use in the name of Jesus. Oh, we use it all the time. But back then it was never used. They prayed to God. And the disciples always asked Jesus and He prayed to God, because Jesus had direct access. Jesus had a phenomenal ability to pray, and the power of God would flow off Him. People would get healed. He'd walk on water. He do all sorts of things. Ah, but here He is saying now, no. Now you just use My name. And as you go on to the teaching of the Word, you'll find out that the name of Jesus has been given to every born again believer as the power of attorney. When you have power of attorney, it means that it is just like the person you represent. Access to all assets, access to all their bank accounts, access to wherever they could sign their name with authority and power. You've got it. So Jesus is saying here right off the hop. That you and I now we go straight to God but we do it in Jesus' name.
And some people say, "Leon, isn't that important? You mean God's going to ignore me". No. I'm just showing you. There's an important truth here, because you're to pray to God. But when you pray to God, you are praying with everything that Jesus did on the cross for you. He took the curse of the law. He took your sin. He rose again, gave you a new nature in your heart. And so now that when you pray, it is like Jesus praying. In fact, the Bible says, we've talked about this before. As He is, Jesus, so are we in this world. You walk and talk as Jesus Himself. My, how religion has destroyed prayer. Where all prayer is today is some kind of psychological relief for a real messed up situation. We sure hope God's going to show up. Most people I listen to and many pastors I pray with around the world are praying Old Testament prayers. And they've never thought that the New Testament has changed prayer. It's radically changed prayer.
There is hardly any difference. Man, there's a massive difference between Old Testament praying and new covenant praying. Even Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are, they're not in the new covenant yet. They are Old Testament books. But they are what we would call transitional books between the old covenant to the new covenant. So first off, I just want to tell you. If you're into bugging and pleading with God or screaming at the devil. You're just not understanding new covenant. You will be frustrated. You might see little glimpses of miracles here and there. But you are to have every prayer answered when it is done according to God's will. Prayer was not to be a hit and miss. Let's just shoot a bunch of shots at the sky. Let's just hope one gets through. Prayer would be something that every time it works.
And so it's crucial that we know the principles of this new covenant. It was stunning to me when I actually learned this is what prayer was. And another key is we must understand. That to function and to walk in an increasing power on your prayer life because your power in your prayer life increases. Say, "Well, what do you mean? God likes me better"? No, because power doesn't come from heaven. It's very clear it comes out of you. Greater is He who is in heaven than he who is in the world. No. Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. So your heart's ability to release the torrents of living water are crucial. And as you grow in faith and as you grow in understanding prayer, praying for people, touching people, speaking to things. That anointing just grows on the inside of you. It's not an asking God from a permission perspective. It's like asking God like you're sitting at a table and saying, "Pass the peas, please". You're not asking them for permission to have peas. But they're passing you something that is within their reach.
So when you look at the Word, you have not because you ask not. The other definition, there's a couple of them is declare. You have not because you declare not, is just as accurate as saying you have not because you ask not. And when you put that in there, so of course you can ask. But you're not asking like, "Please, God, would You do something"? No, He says speak to mountains. You can't find them praying over people after the cross. All they did was speak in the name of Jesus. Demon possessed girl giving fortunes. Get out of there. Man with faith sitting in a service. Paul saw he had faith to be healed. Stand up. You see it. This is a difference between the Old Testament and the new that people don't want to touch. And pastors' feel like, "You can't preach that way Leon because that's, that's arrogant. That's like you're bossing God around". No! It's very clear that the inheritance.
If my dad gives me an inheritance while he's alive and says, "Here's your inheritance". Every time I go access it. I'm not bossing him around. It been given to me. And that is through the Pauline epistles everywhere. That the inheritance has been given. So we're still sitting around bugging. And if you get too demonstrative, "Oh, you think. Who are you to boss God"? You don't even get it. It's a done deal. You know, 2 Peter chapter 1 teaches us here that we have been given all things that pertain to life already. And the way you access this is through the divine promises. You load the divine promises into your heart like you plug in shotguns in your gun and then you just go ahead and have some fun. That's what's so fantastic about the Bible. Meditate in the Word. Get it on the inside of you. Learn to walk and understand new covenant prayer. Otherwise you're stuck in an old covenant that no longer works.
This heart is crucial. And the heart is the very core. It is, it is the auto pilot for your life. And John, in your heart is like a tap. And as you learn to establish God's Word in your heart, as you learn to get to know Jesus, this tap gets bigger and bigger until you watch some of the things. Like Jesus, He was just walking through a crowd, and a woman with an issue of blood which back then would have gotten her stoned for walking in public. Grabs the hem of His garment and Jesus just goes, "Who touched me"? And the Bible says because power went out of him. Okay, I know you've heard this preached on a hundred times if you're Christian.
Let me give you a thought on this. Jesus didn't decide whether or not power went out of Him. Think about that for a minute. He didn't decide. She put a demand on the presence of God that was upon Him. Translations even say that. That she reached out and put a demanded. And then He says, "Who touched me"? Everybody was touching Him. But one put a demand on the power and understood faith and understood something. And it's, and as we're going from this transitional old covenant to this new covenant, we're beginning to get glimpses of something. That Jesus the Son of God. God Himself Emmanuel. God with us is walking the planet. And he was going to reach out and just touch Him and wham! The power of God flows without Him making a conscious decision, because it was just there for her to touch and to take.
The Bible says Peter shadow healed people. Now, there's no way it healed everybody because Jesus couldn't in His hometown heal people because they didn't honor Him. But people who came out, who knew how to touch God. They did it through the presence of God radiating off of Peter. We've got to understand that you as a born again believer can increase this sense of God. The power of God that flows from your life. So that when you speak words, they hit. I've listened to preachers preach when I go to conferences around the world, and some of them are wordsmiths. I mean, I'm writing down their nouns and verbs and adjectives and adverbs as they say them because they say them so incredible. And then another speaker will get up and speak in halting English because he's from Africa or he is from India. And as he speak, and the presence of God just fills this place because it's not the articulation of words that determines the presence of God.
The articulation of words can help open up the mind. I think we should all work at speaking well and doing what we do. But if you do not have the life of God. There's two kinds of life on the planet. Physical life and then the presence of God. The Zoe life of God. And this is where you and I need to learn to release this presence of God. Jesus says in John 14:12, He says, "Greater works than I do will you do". And then He says, "And you're going to have a helper do it with you". Who's this helper? Says can be Holy Spirit. I don't pray alone. I pray with the help of Holy Spirit. I don't speak to mountains alone. I speak with the help of Holy Spirit. God's not withdrawn or holding back. His eyes roamed to and fro over the earth, to find someone on whose behalf He can move quickly. But religion has made us look at God, "Well, I sure hope God answers that one". He's a reluctant God and people watch us pray, "Where's our God? We need help". As though, "How are we going to talk Him into it"?
They kind of go, "Oof, I don't know if I want to serve your God. Your God seems like pretty hard to get to do anything". And their doctors, "Why did God allow it"? And it's kind of like you running into somebody running a red light going, "Leon, why did you allow it"? I went, "Huh? I had nothing to do with that". So, He's our helper. In Psalms 30:5, it says, "Weeping may last a night but joy comes in the morning". And I want you to understand something. We're not in heaven yet, so we've got battles. We're not in heaven yet, and so there's going to be stuff. And there's a kingdom of darkness and there's a kingdom of light, and there's never been a demilitarized zone. It's always been killing and stealing and destroying. Sometimes you see it pop up in one country. Sometimes through this, sometimes through that. It can be through wars. It can be through viruses. It can be through evil leaders. It can be through a combination of them all. The kingdom of God has always been under attack.
So people who have learned to pray. People who know who they are. It's nothing new. Joy is in our future. Why? Because joy always comes in the morning. It doesn't say weeping last for a night. Oh, for a lot of you. It cannot be forever. But they'd be a few of you to have some joy in the morning. No. It says you're going through something. And by the way, we're going to have hurts. Like you're going to lose your great grandparents one day. Then you're going to lose your grandparents one day. Then you're going to lose your parents one day. Then you're going to lose your siblings one day because nobody lives forever. So we can't live in this Pollyanna world that kind of goes, "Everything's going to be fine. Just ignore everything. Everything's going to be fine". No. We want to know what's going on so I can speak to it. And if it's not a part of the promises of God, then I'm not accepting it, and I'm going to continue to speak to it.
Now in James 1:19, it give us another key to prayer. 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 to get angry. For man's anger does not promote the righteousness that God wishes and requires". The problem with anger is that anger clouds the mind and wisdom is speaking to you. Proverbs says wisdom cries aloud in the streets, in the concourses of business, in the palaces of power, in your home, your bedroom, your office. Wisdom is crying aloud. Another words, it is yours instantly to solve every problem. In Ecclesiastes 10 teaches us, that a wise poor man is better than a king with a big army. I want wisdom. But some Christians they get angry and mad. They stomp their feet and curse the darkness. Why don't you just get some wisdom? And then why don't we pray? Why don't we speak to mountains?
We have to make decisions as Christians. So that we're not just walking around feeling like, "Well, I don't know what we can do". We should be praying. Praying is a stunning ability to release the power of God. It says in John chapter 7 that out of your innermost being will flow rivers of living water. One version it says torrents of gushing water. It's talking about this stunning. Well, Leon, I don't see that much. Yeah, me neither. You walk and go around thinking. Well, pray. Come on! Get up and speak the Word. Well, yeah. And you'll teach people. Then you'll ask them a month later. Have you done any of the teaching on prayer? Well, you know, I've been a little bit busy. Dude, that's pride. You see no reason to pray to God. You'll just do it yourself. It's pride. And so prayer is crucial. Our attitude needs to be. We don't need to get angry. We don't need to try to use the arm of flesh to make things happen. And the Bible teaches us how to overcome evil with good.
Any person you're dealing with, the Bible says you're not dealing with him because that's a flesh and blood body. You're dealing with the power that is behind it. And behind everything is either the dark kingdom or the kingdom of light. How do you know which? Because Jesus said His kingdom always gives life and more abundantly. Life and health, life and finance, life and business, life for everything. But the thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy. So anything that steals from you, kills or destroys you. The kingdom of darkness is behind it. You can go, "Well, that person". I didn't say the person's doing it to you. They could be a naive person doing something that's hurting you. So get up and bind the spirit that's behind it. We've got to recognize this. If we don't, we'll just go on thinking that nothing can be changed.
1 Thessalonians 5:16, let's just skip ahead a few here. It says, "Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you". Why? Because He's already given you the victory. So you're supposed to rejoice. We don't use the word rejoice in our society. But it literally means choose joy and make it happen. "Well, I just don't feel it. Like I don't feel authentic". He's not saying, "Are you happy"? Happiness comes from happenings. He's saying be joyful, rejoice. Which means you find a prayer closet or somewhere and just say, "God, You're good and I love You and I praise You. You're the alpha, the omega, the beginning, the end. You are Jesus. The King of kings and Lord of lords. And I'm praising You, and my body's going to praise You". You rejoice. If you practice that, you begin to release the presence of God on you, your family, your home, on everything around you. Then it says pray without ceasing.
Someone asked me, "Pastor Leon, how much do you pray every day"? I say, "Well, I dialed them up years ago and I just never hung up". What does that mean? I'm always in touch. Oh, there's different kinds of prayer I'll do. I might find quiet time prayer and shut everything off. Other times whether I'm walking through a crowd, reading a crowd. God, anything You want me to do here. Talking, preaching, whatever I'm doing. I'm just staying. I'm just staying dialed up. I'm not hanging up. And so that's an important part. Later on in 1 Thessalonians in verses 19 and 20, it says, "Don't quench the spirit". Wow. So you can quench the spirit of God in you. You can't quench Him in my life. But you can quench Him in your life. It's just a warning. And that there's a whole topic there that needs to be looked at and studied and recognized that you could be quenching. You could be blaming God but you could be quenching the spirit of God in your life.
The next line says, "Despise not prophesyings". Let's end on this one. Despise not prophesyings. What is prophesying? "Well, Leon, that's when you go to church somewhere and find somebody's going to tell you who you are and what you're going to do". That's pretty overrated. No, prophesying is declaring the Word of God over your life out loud. That's what prophesying is. If you go to Ezekiel 37:1-10, God picks up Ezekiel the prophet and brings him into a valley full of dry bones. And He says, "Ezekiel, can these bones live"? It's a horrible sight because these were men who once had lives. Now these bones are bleached and vultures have ripped them off. And it's just a sign of absolute death to all dreams. Every dream, every one of them had is gone. It's finished. It's done. It's a valley of dead dreams.
And Ezekiel trying to be spiritual says, "Oh, only you know God. Oh, you can do anything God". And you think God would just do it for him, to prove to him how great He was but He didn't. He said, "Ezekiel, you prophesy to these bones. You tell that bones to come together. You tell this, the muscles and tendons to come on the bone. You tell the skin to come over. You tell the breath of life to come into this army". And it wasn't until Ezekiel spoke and prophesied to those bones. That's when it happened. These incredible Old Testament synopsis everywhere are showing you and I pictures of this new covenant of the day that we live in today. That if the church is not going to pray, there's no one that's bringing about the dream of God. There's no one that's bringing about your dream for your family, your business, your marriage, your home, your country, your city, your province, you.
Well, what we're going to do? Get up and pray. Well, I've been asking God. It doesn't say ask God. It says speak to mountains, prophesy the dead dreams, prophesy the dead countries, prophesy the dead leaders, prophesy the wrong leaders. You know, Ecclesiastes 10 says there's an evil in the world. That when fools are in leadership and gifted people sit underneath them. That you're going to pay the price. That's why we pray for leaders. We don't want foolish people who don't understand leadership or God. So we pray for all leaders. So that we can say, "God, touch them. Speak to them. Wherever they're not listening to You, move them out and put one right in because leaders have a big impact on our lives". You, you. Yes, you need to be every day just, for now until you learn more and more. Just practice the way Jesus prayed when He dealt with the enemy. He just said, "It is written". Anytime you find a scripture in the Bible that touches you. You'll go, "Look at this". Just read it out loud and go, "It is written". And then start reading the verses and that's mine in Jesus' name.
So I got to say to start. Find promises on healing, find promises on nation. There's promises for nations and cities and people, righteous leaders. There's promises for health. There's promises for protection. If you've lost your career, there's promises. He never goes backwards. He only goes up. It's going to be better. Trust Him. Declare it. My life just gets better. The light just grows brighter. God in my life makes everything that I do. Everything I put my hand to prospers and comes to pass. Every promise I find. I simply speak it from the perspective of, "It is written, and this is mine in Jesus' name". You say, "Leon, you can't boss God around like that". I'm not bossing God around. He's already given it to me. And He's saying, "You speak to the mountains. You speak to the dry bones. You speak to the tree. You speak to your body. You speak to the future". Declare, prophesy the Word of the Lord.
I hope that as you hear God's Word, something on the inside of you begins to grow and be strong. When you hear the Word of God, it should never make you fearful. God's Word and His Spirit will never make you worried or anxious. If you read or hear a preacher that it causes anxiety and fear and worry. It's the wrong spirit. Even if he's quoting and reading the Word, his doctrine might even be okay. But it's the spirit that is behind it. The Bible says we don't have a spirit of fear. We have a spirit of power, a spirit of love, a spirit of a sound mind.
And this is the beauty of when you begin to know the new covenant, you'd better understand that it is all anchored around this teaching of His death, His burial, His resurrection, and He's seated at the right hand of the Father. As you hear His Word, it's going to change you. And you're going to be realized that not only is there a legal side to my following Christ. His legal authority I now have, but also Christ is in me. Which means there's an authority, that there's a power that flows out of me. I pray that you keep following and learning and growing. If you don't know Christ as your Saviour, pray this powerful prayer that only you can pray for yourself right now. It goes like this. Just say:
Jesus, I choose to trust You. I'm going to follow You. I choose to make You my Lord, my Saviour. Come into my heart, my life. From today and on, I'm following You. Teach me Your ways. In Jesus' name, amen.