Every Time, Our Power Is in Prayer – Episode #640

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Every Time, Our Power Is in Prayer
Episode #640
3-10-2019

With Martha Kilpatrick and hosted by John Enslow
Special Guest: Joan Wentzel, Jennifer Wentzel

This is the continuation of a series of podcasts started in Episode #637.
It is a great temptation to get involved with someone else’s will, working to persuade or convince them, when the real power is in prayer. Every time.

Joan:
I was just going to say the marvelous gift of a child is they know they can’t do anything. They don’t try. Their whole life is one big receiving. A little child asks, and asks, and asks shamelessly. There’s not a problem. I see the only problem is, is my adult. Wherever I think I’m sufficient, I am in big trouble. Deficit is not a problem. It’s sufficiency that keeps me from the Lord, keeps Him from giving, keeps me from receiving. My sufficiency is my terrible pride and terrible block to Him. A little child doesn’t have that.

Martha:
So if we could learn this, that we have everything, that His divine power has given us everything for life and godliness. There’s no limit except in our unbelief and in our old man.

And then the way is obedience. And I illustrate this with the story that I love. I think this is marvelous, very succinct explanation of the exchanged life. A young Russian man was born again with, under Major Ian Thomas’ ministry in Britain. His growth was so amazing that he was pressured to tell his spiritual secret but he always declined because it was too precious. Finally he felt he could share. “First God called me and His presence was so precious that I said to God, at every call I would obey Him. And I yielded and yielded and yielded, until I realized that I was simply clothed with another power altogether and I realized that God took me, tongue, thoughts, and everything and I was not myself but it was Christ working through me.”

Isn’t that interesting that the very things we’ve been talking about, tongue, thoughts, and everything, was what was conquered through his obedience, through his surrender; yielding, and yielding, and yielding. I love the word ‘yield’ because it means you let Him have the right of way. You let Him go first.

Jennifer:
Alternatively yield is also what is asked when there’s a fight. “Do you yield?” So if you’re grappling with someone, if you’re sparring with someone, if you’re fighting with them, as I often fight with God over things…

Martha:
Really?! Wow (laughs).

Jennifer:
I know, it’s shocking! (Laughter) But the thing is, do you yield? Or as little kids say, “Say uncle!”

Martha:
Wow.

Jennifer:
Which is “I give, I give up!”

Martha:
Thanks, thanks, Jennifer.

Jennifer:
Well, for me it’s, you know, it would be nice if it was just simple surrender and yielding the way to God. But mostly it’s my arms twisted behind my back, He’s like, “Seriously, you done yet?” “Uncle, uncle!”

Martha:
So what are, what are we going through this for? What is the, what is the end result? What is, what is our purpose on this lot, in this life, and on this world, and at this time? 1 Peter 4:7 (TPT) “Since we are approaching the end of all things, be intentional, purposeful, and self-controlled so that you can be given to prayer.

Our dear friend Wanda wrote me that the word, her word for the year was ‘intentional.’ And I said, “Ok, I’m going to pray for you to be intentional.” And then I got interested in that word and then I ran across by accident this verse in the Passion translation says, and it’s chilling. Listen! “Since we are approaching the end of all things, be intentional, purposeful.” About what? “And self-controlled so that you can be given to prayer.” We are called… We can do nothing, we can be nothing, we can achieve nothing, we can build nothing. We are called to pray. That is our work. That is our, not anything else, prayer. Prayer is getting God into this world, into this situation. And we have that power.
John’s always telling me, “Ok, go pray about that! It’s prayer that makes it happen.” And that’s so exciting. If we could understand that our work is prayer and that we have to be focused toward that end. Praying to pray is the main thing.

John:
What I say is that, that your, your greatest power is not in your words to convince or to whatever…

Martha:
Beg!

John:
Beg, encourage, you know, whatever. Chastise. Whatever it is those… That’s not, that’s not what your greatest power is. Your greatest power is in your prayer.

Martha:
And I’m so grateful you say that, John, because I get it out of kilter. I’m so intent sometimes on being able to persuade and that’s the… That’s not the greatest power. It doesn’t say here…

John:
I actually… I could say, “Yeah, you don’t need to do that! Don’t even tell, just go pray.” Because I know when your, your prayers are put forth, I know that the Father answers and it’s dynamic. It’s a dynamic answer.

Martha:
And it’s easy.

John:
And it’s easy…

Martha:
Oh, it’s so easy.

John:
…and it, and it saves your soul and it saves your life.

Martha:
My involvement!

John:
And your involvement.

Martha:
And my… Yeah.

John:
Because when you get entangled with trying to convince someone in the flesh or in the soul, you get slimed.

Martha:
And I, I think I tell this story in the Tape of the Month (The End Time Hope) but it’s such an incredible story. I have a friend I love dearly. She’s not in my life but I have just such a love for her. And she asked me to pray for her daughter who had a severe legal problem. Not criminal but there was a severe legal problem. And, an injustice. And I got a promise. I don’t remember the promise. I could go look it up. Just scripture! And I gave it to my friend and three years, some two or three years went by as the legal grinding of the courts. She wrote me to say that justice had been done fully for this gal. And she thanked me for all of us praying. And I wrote her back and said, “You know, I want you to know two things. One is I loved your daughter; sight unseen, unknown. God gave me love for her and out of that love came the promise. And the promise, when the promise came really all I did was stand that, that… It was done. There was no striving. Now there is striving in prayer. There is real war and real striving; agony, weeping in prayer. But that was, that was an example of praying the promise. And when you, when you get the promise, you simply stand. And that’s not hard to do.

John:
You went back to #5 (Ephesians 6:23-24), which is love joined with faith.

Martha:
Yeah, that’s right.

John:
You had love that joined with the faith that your prayers were going to be answered and they were.

Martha:
Um hmm. And I told her that. I told her that story of sowing love and reaping faith.

John:
That’s incredible!

Martha:
Isn’t that incredible?

John:
It is incredible!

Martha:
Thank You, Jesus, it only took me fifty years to learn it (laughs). So, okay. But there’s an ultimate purpose. Number 9, “The Purpose of Life is Worship.” “Lord, teach me how You want me to live. Do this so that I will depend on You, my Faithful God. Give me a heart that doesn’t want anything more than to worship You” (Psalm 86:11). And I don’t know this translation, NIRV.

John:
It’s the New International Reader Version.

Martha:
Oh, thank you. So there it is! That’s what we want to come to. That’s there’s nothing to our lives but worship. Billy Graham said… They said, “How do you spend your time?” “I just spend my time telling Him how much I love Him.” Oh! So there’s our little… These things we’re going to be on. And there’ll be other scriptures that come. Everybody will have their own story of it.
But we are going to be of one mind based on these steps that you are calling a ladder so brilliantly. And the steps of the Shepherd! Oh, my goodness, He has to lead the sheep one step. Literally three steps forward and four backward. Right, John? It’s hard to make sheep take steps! It’s not even one at the time. But that’s a great analogy because it speaks of the patience that we have to have with ourselves and that He has with us.
And that it’s one… He said to me one time, “Martha, how, what, how do you eat?” And I went, “One spoon at the time.” He said, “Okay. Don’t pour the whole story down people’s throats and make them choke! One, you live one step at the time. One revelation at the time. One verse at the time. Don’t give people more than they can take.” And… So there we have it. “Give me a heart that doesn’t want anything more than to worship You.” That would be quite a heart, wouldn’t it?

Every Time, Our Power Is in Prayer – Episode #640 – Shulamite Podcast

It is a great temptation to get involved with someone else’s will, working to persuade or convince them, when the real power is in prayer. Every time. Do you find yourself fencing with the will of another rather than listening for the Word to pray?