This message is one of the Times Square
Pulpit series.
It was recorded in the sanctuary of Times
Square Church in Manhattan, New York City.
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Father, I pray that your unction, your anointing
be upon me tonight to deliver this precious
word.
I pray that every spirit of the enemy,
every lying spirit, every prince of poverty, power
of darkness be cast out.
We take your authority and your dominion so
that the word can be ministered in life.
We thank you for your power, Jesus.
Break loose in the preaching of the word
tonight.
Lord, there are people who need to hear
this word.
There are people, Lord, who do not pray
whatsoever.
And they'll never move into the realm of
the miraculous until they learn to pray.
God convict us of our prayerlessness.
Holy Spirit, touch me tonight.
I need your touch.
I need your divine strength.
In the name of Jesus, amen.
Friends, I can't read the book of Acts
without feeling very much ashamed.
I'm ashamed that we don't live up to
what I read in this book.
Even the laymen like Stephen and Philip who
waited on tables were so full of the
glory of God.
They performed miracles.
They stirred entire cities.
And how does anybody read the book of
Acts without that wonder and amazement at how
they were able to get a hold of
God and He moved in such miraculous ways
in them and among them?
You read this book of Acts, it's so
thrilling.
You hear of angels appearing.
The angels come right into the jails, knock
off their chains, pick them up, and they
say, follow me, and they go walk right
through.
The gates open of their own accord.
The angel just walks toward them and the
gates open.
We hear of angels walking among them.
We hear of mighty visions, clear, detailed visions.
Cripples are healed and go leaping through the
temple.
Peter is so full of the Holy Ghost,
the Bible said the sick were brought out
in the streets, in their beds, in their
couches, so the shadow of Peter just touching
them, they might be healed.
That's found in Acts 5.15, if you
don't believe it, just in his shadow.
There was such faith and expectancy in the
city of Jerusalem.
The Bible says there were special miracles recorded
here.
And God brought special miracles by the hands
of Paul so that from his body were
brought unto the sick handkerchiefs and aprons, and
the diseases departed from them, and the evil
spirits went out of them.
Now, I've received in the mail from, quote,
healing evangelists, little pieces of paper designed like
a cloth.
I've had missionaries send me a pile of
dirt.
I mean, evangelists send me a pile of
blessed dirt.
There's every kind of gimmick.
This is not a gimmick, folks, in this
book of Acts.
I mean, this man had faith.
He prayed over those handkerchiefs and aprons and
they laid them out on some demon-possessed.
Those demons would flee.
There was something here in the book of
Acts that we've not discovered.
The houses in which they prayed were literally
shaken.
Now, I wouldn't want God to shake this
theater.
It's too old.
Literally, I don't know if it could stand
it, but they literally were shaken.
I mean, they were so miraculously under the
power of God they survived shipwreck and stonings.
Paul was once stoned and taken out of
the city for dead.
He gets up and walks away and holds
another revival meeting.
Now, even when they were stoned, like Stephen,
and were not rescued from it, it was
so miraculously stoning that the heavens opened and
Jesus appears standing before them all.
He sees an open heaven.
Now, why don't we live like that?
Why don't we see the book of Acts
coming to life?
I'm not talking about what we call miracle
services today.
I get these brochures and these posters, signs,
wonders, and miracles, come see the great man
of God.
I'm talking about a miraculous way of living.
Not just preaching, but a miraculous way of
living.
Friends, God hasn't changed.
We have.
God is more concerned, He's more willing to
give us today than He was then.
But there's an idea in the land today
that goes something like this.
We don't need this kind of thing today
because we're more educated today, we're a little
more intelligent, we have more revelation knowledge, and
they needed those miracles because God was establishing
the church.
And He had to have them to establish
the church.
What I want you to know, friends, if
they needed it then, we need it now
all the more.
We need it all the more.
If the establishment of the church needed the
power of the Holy Spirit and miracles, the
closing day of the church needs it even
more.
Do I have to remind you what we're
facing today?
Do we have to talk about the evil
men waxing worse and worse according to Scripture?
Sin abounding many times over, seducers being increased,
violence breaking out on all sides, hell has
enlarged its borders, demons have come forth like
a flood, there's apostasy, we're living in what
the Bible calls the great falling away.
We're in the middle of that right now,
the great falling away.
Satan and his angels are coming pretending to
be ministers of the gospel.
And folks, on the judgment day, it's going
to be interesting to find out how many
undiscerning Christians have been sending money and following
evangelists who have come as angels of light
to deceive, if it were possible, even the
elected chosen of God.
The Bible said that the devil will bring
forth preachers of the gospel who will be
appearing as angels of light, but they're angels
of darkness, they're under demon powers.
Abortion has filled the land with blood guiltness.
Parents are molesting their own little children.
The newspaper today said one child a day
is now being murdered through molestation.
Even the babies are being molested now.
Right out of the crib, our young people
are spinning out of control, cocaine and crack,
heroin, into our schools with devastation, turning 15
-year-old kids into killers and thieves.
There's all kinds of new diseases like herpes
and AIDS that my generation knew nothing about.
And folks, we need more of Jesus, we
need more of his power, we need more
of his miracles manifested among us today than
any time in history.
But we've not been willing to pay the
price.
The apostles knew the price and they gladly
paid it.
First of all, God moved miraculously in the
first church because they were given to prayer.
They had given themselves to prayer.
Now the book of Acts is actually about
holy men who knew how to move God
through prayer.
My message tonight is about prayer.
About prayer, I'm going to tell you right
up front.
Now whether it was in the upper room,
whether it was in prison, they prayed.
If they were in some secret hiding place
away from the authorities, they prayed.
If it was Simon's house in a street
called Straight, they prayed.
They prayed in the morning, they prayed at
the noon, they prayed all night, they prayed
without ceasing.
Cornelius, the Bible said, prayed always.
They prayed on rooftops, they prayed on seashores
and temples and deserts.
They prayed everywhere.
Unceasingly, the early church was a church of
prayer.
They spent hours and days shut in with
God until they received very, very clear direction
from God.
I'm amazed at the detailed guidance that the
children of God had in this first church.
What incredible specifics they got from God.
I want you to go to 9th chapter
of Acts.
You have the book of Acts open.
Go to the 9th chapter and I want
to show you something thrilling, how detailed, specific
God got with His people when they prayed.
9th chapter.
Let's begin reading at the 10th verse.
Acts 9, verse 10.
And there was a certain disciple of Damascus
named Ananias.
And to him said the Lord in a
vision, Ananias, and he said, Behold, I am
here, Lord.
And the Lord said unto him, Arise and
go into the street which is called Straight,
and inquire of the house of Judas, for
one called Saul of Tarsus, and behold, he
prayeth.
And hath seen in a vision a man
named Ananias coming in and putting his hand
on him that he might receive his sight.
I want to stop there for just a
minute, but I want you to listen to
the details.
Look what it says.
God says, first of all, go.
And then He names the very street.
It's called Straight.
Do you see that?
The street's called Straight.
He's directed to the very house.
He's told the name of the householder, Simon's
house.
Street called Straight.
And He's even told that there's someone there
by the name of Saul of Tarsus.
He's even given the name.
And also, God says, I've talked to him,
and he's seen you coming in laying hands
on him.
Now, how would you like to get directions
like that?
You know why?
And here's a newborn baby, Saul.
And God is saying to this young man,
to this young convert, he's just been saved
a few days.
In the Bible, why would God speak so
clearly to Saul, only three days old in
the Lord?
And He's saying, you go into Damascus, and
it'll be told you what to do.
And he goes, and he's on his face.
And he's seeking God.
And God says to this baby convert, Saul,
I'm going to send a man to you,
and his name is Ananias.
Now, how would Saul know there's an Ananias
in the city?
This is in Damascus.
And you're going to see him coming.
And he's going to lay hands on you,
because Saul was blind at this time.
He said, he will lay hands on you,
and you will be healed, and he'll tell
you what to do.
He'll tell you.
He's going to give you directions.
So Saul goes into this room.
Now, why would God speak like that?
Well, look at verse 11.
The last four words.
Behold, he prayeth.
What was Saul doing those three days?
And three nights.
He was not eating.
He was not drinking.
He was fasting, and he was praying.
And here's how he got this detailed direction
from the Lord.
You know, this is so very important.
Look at verse 6.
Well, let's start at verse 4.
He fell to the earth and heard a
voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest
thou me?
And he said, who art thou, Lord?
Who art thou, Lord?
He even names him.
And the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom
thou persecutest.
Because Jesus said, if you persecute the church,
you're persecuting me.
Now, I'll tell you something.
Any time the devil persecutes any one of
you, he's persecuting Jesus because we're his body.
And he trembling.
Who are you, Lord?
And the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom
thou persecutest.
It's hard for thee to kick against the
pricks.
He trembling and astonished, he said, Lord, what
will you have me to do?
The Lord said to him, arise, go to
the city, that shall be told thee what
thou must do.
Arise and go.
Now, look at me, please.
The Holy Spirit, as soon as he was
saved, said, go pray.
That's the message.
Go pray.
Go seek my face.
Learn to wait on me.
Show me that you want more of me.
And I want you to know directions came,
no vision came until after he prayed.
And then the powerful vision of what he
was to do.
He learned at this time to lean on
the Lord, to get the leading of God.
Saul didn't need a counselor.
Now, there's nothing wrong with going to somebody
for counseling.
He needed no prophet to show him what
to do.
He needed no word, a special word.
I can't tell you how many hundreds and
hundreds of people have come to me saying,
I have a word for you.
Now, if it's from God, I thank him
for it.
Nine out of ten times, it's somebody who's
just very overzealous and wants God to bless
me or something, and they give me one.
Because in one day, I can get ten
different words conflicting one with another.
So either they made a mistake or God
did, and God doesn't make mistakes.
And I'm not putting that down.
But the Lord said, I will show him.
I'll show him.
I can picture a fundamentalist preacher coming in,
and Saul was on his face before God,
and he's weeping, and he's moaning, and he's
crying, Oh God, Jesus, reveal yourself in me,
not just to me.
Because later, Paul was to say, The Lord
revealed himself in me.
Not to me, but in me.
And there's a difference of having Jesus revealed
to you and in you.
And he's praying, Lord Jesus, reveal yourself in
me.
And here comes this fundamentalist preacher.
And he walks in there, and he sees
Saul weeping, and he takes him by the
shoulder, and he said, Young man, don't you
know that since you've been saved, there's a
dying world out there?
They're going to hell.
And you need to get out there because
God's plan for you after salvation is witnessing
evangelism.
Now, you know we believe in that.
But I know what Saul would have answered,
this preacher comes in, because you see, there's
some people believe that the only purpose of
God in saving Christians is to make witnesses
out of them.
Well, that is true.
We're all witnesses, but there's something comes before
that.
You better not go out and be a
witness until you do what Saul did.
You shut yourself in with God and learn
to hear his voice.
You learn to hear his guidance, so that
you don't need a counselor, you don't need
a prophet, you don't need anything but this
book and your bare knees.
Now, God does use people.
We're not putting that down, not at all.
But this fundamentalist, Paul, I'm sure Saul would
say, Is your name Ananias?
No, sir.
Well, then I'm waiting, sir, for a man
named Ananias because I had a vision.
He said, You had a what?
I had a vision.
He said, Well, while you're here having visions
and waiting on the Lord, souls are dying
out there.
I'm glad Saul wasn't saved in 1988 because
we would have gotten a hold of him
and we'd have turned him into a media
hype.
I mean, we'd have had him writing a
book, we'd have had posters, and we'd have
preachers all over America inviting him to their
church to tell this fantastic testimony.
I'm glad the Lord said, Go to Damascus
and hide.
Go and pray.
And I can just hear Saul say, Well,
brother, I can't help it.
I heard God.
I saw Jesus.
He appeared to me.
Can you imagine telling that to some people
today who believe the miracles are over?
I've seen Jesus.
Now, folks, this is all in the day
of grace.
This is all since the cross, the very
day in which you and I live.
And Saul just says, Brother, I can't help
it.
The Lord told me I had a vision.
I know the man's name.
I know what he's going to do when
he walks in here.
And I know he's going to lay hands
on me and my eyes are going to
be open.
Say what you will, I'm waiting.
Oh, thank God for that kind of a
convert.
Thank God for that kind of a backbone.
Can walk down to this altar, get saved,
and God says, Go home and pray.
Go home and get a hold of Jesus
until you know his voice.
Until nothing can shake you.
So that any preacher, any prophet, anybody can
come and say, Well, that's not the way
I see it.
You say, Well, I heard from Jesus.
He talks to me.
Does Jesus talk to you?
He talks to me.
Here comes...
He leaves before Ananias gets there.
Here comes a charismatic prosperity success teacher.
And he says, Brother Saul, I want to
give you an autographed copy of my latest
book, Covenant Rights.
And I'm not being facetious.
This is the way American people think.
It's stupid.
Saul, what are you weeping?
I heard about how God touched you.
You've been saved.
Thank God.
You don't have to cry anymore.
I would that you so prosper be in
hell.
Saul says, Well, dear brother, I don't know
what you're talking about.
Is your name Ananias?
No, it's not Ananias.
I'm waiting for Ananias.
God told me he's going to come in
here.
And this brother says, Hey, wait a minute.
You're just a baby Christian.
I've been walking with God for years.
And I've got revelation knowledge.
You need to sit down and listen.
Saul says, I don't know what you're talking
about, brother.
And I love you.
But I'm telling you, God came to me.
The Lord spoke to me.
I'm waiting for a man named Ananias.
He's going to walk in here.
And I'm going to see.
He's going to tell me what to do.
All I know, Saul can say, is that
Jesus talked to me.
He told me to wait.
Hallelujah.
And one moment later, here comes Ananias.
Can you imagine that moment?
Saul can't see.
But as soon as he walks in the
door, I know the Holy Spirit spoke to
Saul.
Here's your man.
And I can hear Saul say, Ananias.
And this brother says, Brother Saul.
The Lord had already given them the names.
And I can see Saul just raising, he's
kneeling, raising his hands.
Nodding, sticking his head out because he knows
what's coming.
And so Ananias walks right over.
And you know what Ananias says?
Because in a vision Ananias had heard, Go
thy way.
He's a chosen vessel unto me to bear
my name before the Gentiles and kings and
the children of Israel.
For I will show him how great things
he must suffer for my name's sake.
How unlike what's being preached today.
I'm going to show him that he's going
to suffer for my glory.
Ananias lays hands on him and says, Brother
Saul.
The Lord has shown me you're going to
suffer many things.
And I believe Ananias began to enumerate.
You're going to be shipwrecked.
You're going to be cast in prison.
You're going to have converts turn against you.
The whole world's going to turn against you.
You're going to be a testimony to the
church through all ages.
You're going to be a testimony of the
suffering power of the Lord Jesus Christ.
You're going to fill up the sufferings of
Jesus.
And then he said, Brother Saul.
Be healed.
And suddenly his eyes.
Well, look what the scripture says.
Ananias, verse 17, went in his way and
entered into the house.
And putting his hands on him said, Brother
Saul.
The Lord even Jesus that appeared unto thee
in the way is now camest.
He sent me that thou mightest receive thy
sight and be filled with the Holy Ghost.
And immediately there fell from his eyes as
it were scales.
And he received his sight forthwith and arose
and was baptized.
Hallelujah.
Well, you know what happened to him from
then on, don't you?
He suffered.
And he set an example for all of
us to follow the glory of Jesus.
Then there's a man called Peter.
Remember him?
Hallelujah.
He's praying on a rooftop one afternoon.
In fact, it was noon.
Thirty miles away at Caesarea, there's a man
by the name of Cornelius.
You'll find this in the next chapter.
It's chapter 10.
Just flip over to chapter 10.
All right.
They're 30 miles apart.
Caesarea is over here.
And here's a man by the name of
Cornelius.
The Bible says, look at verse 1.
There was a certain man in Caesarea called
Cornelius.
A centurion of the band called the Italian
Band.
A devout man and one that feared God
with all his house.
Which gave great alms to the people and
prayed to God.
How much?
Continually, always, he prayed to God.
He saw in a vision about the ninth
hour of the day, an angel of God
coming into him and saying, I'm Cornelius.
And when he looked on him, he was
afraid and said, what is it, Lord?
And he said in him, thy prayers and
thine alms are come up for memorial before
you.
Now look at the details.
Now send men to Joppa.
And call for one Simon, whose surname is
Peter.
He even gave him his surname.
He gave him his first name and he
gave him his surname.
Because there were two Simons there.
God said, I want you to get the
right one.
He was living, he was staying with Simon.
He said, his name is Simon.
Oh, by the way, his surname is Peter.
Look at the details.
He lodges with one Simon.
And he goes on to tell him, he's
a tanner.
You go down to this man, he's a
tanner, whose house is by the sea side.
And he shall tell thee what thou oughtest
to do.
And by the way, at the same time,
these men are on the way, God leads
Peter up on the rooftop.
In verse 9, you'll see it, On the
morrow as they were on their journey, Drew
and I, under the city, Peter went up
upon the housetop to pray about the sixth
hour.
Now, it was only 30 miles away, and
so they're getting close to Joppa.
And while these men are approaching the city,
the Holy Spirit just prompts Peter, go up
on the rooftop and pray.
And while they're approaching the city, he goes
up on the rooftop to pray about the
sixth hour.
It's noontime.
And he became very hungry and would have
eaten, but while they were made ready, he
fell into a trance.
And by the way, you look down to
verse 19.
Then Peter thought on the vision.
The Spirit said unto him, Behold, three men
seek thee.
Three men.
Look at the details again.
Isn't that wonderful?
He'd fallen into a trance.
It means he had a vision.
And while Peter thought on the vision, the
Spirit said unto him, Behold, three men seek
thee.
Go with them.
I've sent them.
Now, Peter, look this way, please.
Peter, you'll find out, goes down to the
house of Cornelius, this man who prayed always,
continually.
Now, think about this.
This man is a Gentile.
He doesn't have all of the background of
the apostles in Jerusalem.
But this man is seeing angels.
This man is getting such clear direction.
Send three men.
Send them up to Joppa.
Go to a man's house by the name
of Simon, and you'll know him because he's
a tanner.
He probably had a sign out there.
And he's by the seashore, by the way.
And he will tell you what to do.
It's incredible the direction that this man got.
And Peter, in the meantime, he's praying.
And the Lord says, There's three men going
to knock on the door.
Just about that time, there's a knock on
the door.
And I'm sure Peter could have called down
to his host and said, Let those three
men in.
And they look around, and he's up there.
No way he can see.
Let those three men in.
How does he know?
He's a praying man.
The Lord Jesus talks to Peter.
The Lord Jesus talks to Cornelius.
Hallelujah.
You see him going down.
You know the great story.
The revival broke out.
Peter comes on the scene, and he hears
the whole story over again.
Here comes Cornelius saying, I was praying, and
I saw an angel.
This angel appeared to me, and he told
me, Where you were, to your house number,
send three men, and you'd come, and you're
here.
And the glory of God came down, filled
him with the Holy Ghost, and the Gentiles
received the Gospel.
Hallelujah.
Look at, by the way, do you understand
that all through the book of Acts, if
you'll take time this next week and just
go through the book of Acts, stop and
look and be reminded how many times it
says, God said to them, or the Lord
said to them, the Holy Ghost said to
them, or the angel said to them.
All through the book, God speaking.
Heaven is speaking to His people.
Heaven was not closed.
They got the clear mind of God.
There was nothing flaky about it, nothing fuzzy
about it.
It was very practical, very detailed, very clear.
But it only came after much prayer.
Go to Acts 13, and I'll show you
we're talking about much prayer after much prayer.
Acts 13, verse 1, Now there was in
the church that was at Antioch certain prophets
and teachers, as Barnabas and Simeon, that was
called Niger and Lucius of Cyrene, and men
which had been brought up with Herod the
Tetrarch and Saul.
And they ministered to the Lord and fasted.
The Holy Ghost, as they ministered to the
Lord and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, there
it is again, the Holy Ghost said.
Folks, could you put your finger on that
a minute and then look to me?
Look up here.
Has the Holy Ghost ever talked to you?
I ask you again, has the Holy Ghost
ever talked to you?
Does He talk to you every day?
As they ministered to the Lord.
I don't think you're going to hear it
parked in front of your TV set.
I don't think you want your unsaved loved
ones to be saved If you come to
the pastors and say, pray for my unsaved
husband or my unsaved children, and you sit
there laughing with Cosman, you're going through Dynas
and Dallas and sitting in that flood of
filth.
You're not wanting God to save them.
As they ministered to the Lord and as
they fasted, the Holy Ghost spake.
And said, separate unto me Barnabas and Saul
for the work whereinto I have called them.
See, first of all, God speaks to them,
and then after God tells them what to
do, they pray again.
And when they'd fasted and prayed and laid
their hands on them, they sent them away.
And so they're being sent forth by the
Holy Ghost.
Hallelujah.
Sent forth by the Holy Ghost.
They fasted and prayed.
You know, there's another picture of Paul.
He's been captured by the Jews.
He's been in the temple and they capture
him and they're about to take him away
to the castle.
And if you go to Acts 22, Acts
22, I'll show you just one more vignette,
one more picture of this before we move
on.
Acts 22, verse 11.
Paul is rehearsing to the Jews what happened
to him.
Verse 11.
Acts 22, verse 11.
And when I could not see for the
glory of that light, he's talking about his
conversion, and being led by the hand of
them that were with me, I came to
Damascus.
And when Ananias, a devout man according to
the law, having a good report of all
the Jews which dwelt there, came unto me
and stood and said unto me, Brother Saul,
receive thy sight.
And the same hour I looked up upon
him.
And he said, The God of our fathers...
I want to show you three things that
God spoke to him.
God of our fathers has chosen thee that
thou shouldest know his...
what?
That thou shouldest know his will.
Secondly, and thou shalt see that just man.
That's a vision of Jesus.
And number three, and shouldest hear the voice
of his mouth.
For thou shalt be his witnesses unto all
men of what thou hast seen and heard.
Now I want you to look at verse
14.
And here's what the Holy Spirit is saying.
Here is God's plan for every convert, everyone
who comes to these altars.
Everyone who calls himself by the name of
Jesus.
You've been chosen.
That you should know his will.
Do you understand it's not God's best?
It's not in his plan at all that
you go about not knowing his will.
That you should know his will for your
life.
That you should see that just one.
You should see a vision of Jesus.
Jesus should become ever dearer to you.
He's not first, he's everything.
I say it over and over again.
And thou shouldest hear the voice, it says
of his mouth, from his mouth.
Not second hand.
That you hear his voice directly.
He speaks directly from his mouth.
Brother, sister, if we don't have a church
that learns to hear from his mouth.
If we don't have a church that's able
to shut themselves in and hear and discern
the voice of the Lord.
You're going to be torn by every wind
and wave of doctrine.
You're going to be cast around, used and
misused the rest of your Christian experience.
Hallelujah.
God's people today could receive the very same
clear word from God.
If there was the same intensity to seek
his face in prayer.
I'm going to say it again.
We could have the same thing today if
we would pray like they did.
With the same intensity.
Do you know that Christians seldom pray today?
Do you know that preachers seldom pray today?
Because we've been taught to take everything by
faith.
Now listen, we preach faith here.
Brother Victor is just about to conclude a
marvelous six weeks on the true meaning of
faith.
The meaning of true faith.
We believe in repentance.
We believe in study of the word of
God.
We believe in walking by faith.
But not to the exclusion of prayer.
Not to the exclusion of prayer.
Obedience, repentance, the word of God, faith and
prayer are all a part of the same
thing.
Same cloth.
But it goes like this.
Why should we pray?
Why plead with God when he's already promised
it?
If he knows what we need, the scripture
says, before we even ask, why should we
ask?
And there are some people that teach today,
and I know it, I've heard it.
For us to ask God for something he's
already promised is unbelief, they say.
If you go and ask God more than
one time, they say it's unbelief.
The second time is unbelief.
Because if you believed him the first time,
you wouldn't have asked the second time.
And that's wrong.
I'm going to show you conclusively from the
word of God that that's not true.
Not true at all.
Do you remember Abraham?
Abraham had the promise of becoming a mighty
nation.
He had that promise locked up securely in
his bosom.
God had already made him this promise.
Listen to it.
For all the land which thou seest, to
thee will I give it, and I will
make thy seed as the dust of the
earth.
God had promised to bless everyone who blessed
him and curse everybody who cursed him.
Abraham also had great faith.
So much so that God counted it to
him for righteousness.
The scripture says, and Abraham believed in the
Lord, and he counted it to him for
righteousness.
Now look, here's a man of God.
He's secure in the promises, full of faith,
yet he runs time and time again to
the altar to pray.
I'm going to read it to you.
Genesis 12, 8, don't turn there.
And he removed from fence unto a mountain
on the east side of Bethel.
And there he built an altar unto the
Lord and called upon the name of the
Lord.
Why is he calling on the name of
the Lord when the promises are already secured?
Why, when God has already said, I count
his faith as righteousness, why is he still
weeping at the altar?
Again, it says in chapter 13, verse 1
and 4.
This is after he came out of Egypt,
after the great famine.
And Abram went up out of Egypt.
And he was very rich, very rich in
cattle and silver and gold.
And he journeyed even to Bethel, unto the
place of the altar.
And there Abram called on the name of
the Lord.
This man has the promises, he has the
faith, yet he's clinging to the promises.
Because Abraham, Abram and Abraham, as God changed
his name to, he valued his communion with
God more than all the blessings of God.
And friends, this is the true meaning of
prayer.
And that's why God wants us to keep
asking for what he's already promised.
It's not that he needs that, but we
need that.
We need that Holy Ghost discipline.
Because when you get alone with God, you're
changing.
You keep changing.
Every time you shut the door and pray
in secret, you are changing.
It's impossible for any Christian to be shut
in with God and not be changed by
it.
And the longer you're shut in with him,
the more important he becomes, and the less
important the answer becomes.
Until finally, you're so enraptured with him, you
say, Oh yes, I forgot what I came
for.
Oh, that's the way it's been coming, that's
how it's been coming in my life.
Oh, I thank God for it.
There was a time when I was a
child, in prayer, and I would go and
say, Lord, Lord, you must, you have to
do it.
Now I say, I must have you, Lord.
I must see you.
Hallelujah.
And by the way, by the time, probably
50% of those things you prayed for
dissolved, because when you're close to Jesus, he
so purifies your desires, you look at it
and say, that was flesh.
You didn't know it until you got in
his holy presence and God was remaking you
by prayer.
Either way, when you pray, you win.
You either don't want it, or you get
it.
But you know, we are atheists in this
matter of prayer compared to the early church.
We're atheists.
Many today look upon secret prayer as hard
work, that it's boring, and they do it
only occasionally, and mostly when they're shamed into
it.
I'm tired of shaming people into prayer.
I don't believe that's going to work.
If it doesn't work by love, it's not
going to work by shame.
Can you imagine a husband and a wife
living in the same house, and they don't
talk to each other, except when they're in
public, she starts talking to him.
That's public prayer, coming to the house of
God.
You're going to talk to him now that
you're in the house of God, and you're
going to neglect him days on end when
you're at home with him?
Prayer, hidden secret prayer, is the mightiest weapon
God's given his church, but it's neglected, it's
disdained, it's seldom used.
By the way, do you remember the prophet
Elijah up on the mountain?
And the Bible says that, in fact I'm
going to show in just a minute, how
he was a man of like passion, and
he went up on the mountain, and he
prayed that the heavens would be opened.
He'd already prayed it shut for three years,
and now he's praying it open.
And he already had the promise that the
rain was coming, and he goes up on
the hilltop with his servant, and God has
already given the promise that heavens are going
to be opened.
And he prays, and nothing happens.
Nothing happens at all.
So he sends his servant the second time,
and he says, see if you see anything
on the horizon.
Even a cloud, just the size of man's
hand, that's all I'm looking for, just, I
know it's coming, but I just need that
one little cloud.
He comes back and he says, Elijah, there's
nothing there, nothing there.
I mean, not a cloud in the sky.
Are you sure it's going to rain?
Yes, it's going to rain.
And he bows his head between his knees
again, and he says, oh God, you promised
rain.
About the third time, we'd have quit.
We'd have said, prayer doesn't work for me.
It doesn't work for me.
Or we'd get angry at God, and say,
I prayed once, I prayed twice, I even
prayed three times, and God didn't hear me.
God didn't hear me.
You know, he went back the fifth time,
he went back the sixth time, and finally
the seventh time he goes back, and his
servant comes back rather excited.
All it is, is a little tiny cloud
the size of man's hand.
Elijah said, no, that's a storm.
That's a storm coming.
God told me.
And I'll tell you, he got so excited
he ran down, told Ahab was sitting there
making fun of him.
He said, you'd better get going, you're going
to get wet.
There's a storm coming.
And that old man ran 17 miles ahead
of the chariot.
You talk about a Holy Ghost jogger, he
jogged ahead of that chariot.
He outran the chariot.
Hallelujah.
Remember Moses up in the mountain?
God had already told him, you're going to
kill all the Amalekites, you're going to have
a battle against them, and you're not even
going to have to struggle, I'm going to
defeat them for you.
He sends Joshua down the valley to fight
the Amalekites, he goes up on the hill.
He already has the promise, he's got the
faith, you know Abraham, this meek man, had
the faith.
If God said you're going to have victory,
why is he up on the hill, with
both hands raised, crying out to God, and
his hands get tied, so Aaron on one
side, Harold on the other, holding up his
hands, seeking God in intercession, even though he
had the promise, even though he had the
faith.
Why?
Because God's making something out of us.
Hallelujah.
He's making prayer warriors out of us.
Glory be to Jesus.
Hallelujah.
Well, let's go on.
I've got so much I want to talk
about.
Why don't you go to James, the fifth
chapter.
James, the fifth chapter.
Still with me?
Chapter five, James chapter five, verse six, well
let's start verse 13.
Is any among you afflicted?
Let him what?
Let him pray.
We don't do that.
We go to get somebody to lay hands
on us and do the job for us.
And there's a place where you're going to
see it in just a minute.
But you're not going to go to the
elders and tell them first you pray.
You're going to call for the elders and
you'll see that, and they'll anoint you with
oil, but first, any among you afflicted?
It doesn't say get on the telephone right
away and call the elders, does it?
It doesn't say go to church and go
to the altar and have them pray for
you first, does it?
Let him pray.
Is that in your Bible?
Let him pray.
Is any merry?
Let him sing songs.
Is any sick among you?
Let him call for the elders of the
church and let them pray over him, anointing
him with oil in the name of the
Lord.
And the prayer of faith shall save the
sick, and the Lord shall raise him up,
and if he has committed sins, they shall
be forgiven him.
Confess your faults one to another and pray
one to another.
Pray one for another that you may be
healed.
The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man
availeth much.
You know what that means?
That unceasing, non-ending prayer of a righteous
man availeth much.
And Elias, which is Elijah, was a man
subject to like passions as we are.
You know what that means, subject to like
passions?
I'm reading from the King James.
That means he's a human being who's subjected
to the same fears, the same anxieties, the
same pressures of life as you and I
are.
He's an ordinary man just like you and
I, the scripture says.
And he prayed earnestly that it might not
rain, and it rained not on the earth
by the space of three years and six
months.
And he prayed again, and the heaven gave
rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.
Now look at me please, if you will.
Here's a man of like passion.
He prays earnestly, and he keeps praying seven
times, and he says, I will not give
up.
I will not give up.
I don't want to tell you something, friends.
Right here now, God's going to test you
in the days ahead.
You'll say, well, Brother Wilkins, I've learned to
pray.
But have you learned to persevere in prayer?
Have you learned to stay with it?
Not even expecting the answer, yes, but the
answer's not the thing, but persevering.
It's called laying hold of God.
Laying hold of God.
Bob was preaching along that line this morning.
It's the same thing that Jacob said when
he wrestled.
It's called wrestling with the Lord.
Jacob wrestled all night, and he said, I'll
not let you go until you bless me,
until you ask me.
I'll not let you go.
Friday night in prayer meeting, there was a
young man up here, a young convert, and
he was praying.
He said, Oh, Jesus, I just wish you
were alive today so I could reach out
and get a hold of you, and if
I got a hold of you, I'd never
let you go.
I'd call that persevering, wouldn't you?
But you see, there's a waiting.
Sometimes our prayers are so delayed that that's
only to conform us to the image of
the Lord Jesus Christ.
Hallelujah.
Now, the prophets have foretold that in the
last days, calamities are going to fall.
In fact, the Bible calls it a day
of indignation.
We're going to talk about that word in
just a moment.
And God's going to call forth a holy
remnant to be shut up in prayer with
Him.
Now, this holy remnant revival that God has
already started in the land is going to
have to understand it and pick it up
very quickly in the Spirit.
That God has called us not only to
repentance and obedience and faith, He's called us
to prayer.
He's called us to prayer.
You know, Daniel was a man of the
Word, and he began to study the Word
of God as he was studying the book
of Jeremiah.
In fact, he was in the 29th chapter.
I want you to go to Jeremiah, and
I'm going to show you what Daniel saw.
Jeremiah, the 29th chapter.
Jeremiah 29.
While you're turning there, the 29th chapter, I
want to read to you what Daniel saw,
what he went through.
You don't have to go to that, but
Daniel 9, beginning of the 2nd verse.
It says, I, Daniel, understood by books.
Now, when he's talking about books, he's talking
about the book of Jeremiah and also the
book of Deuteronomy.
The 4th chapter of Deuteronomy and the 29th
chapter of Jeremiah.
You see, Daniel had the same prophets that
we have.
He had these books.
The number, he said, I was reading Jeremiah
and Deuteronomy, and the number of the years
whereof the word of the Lord came to
Jeremiah the prophet, that he would encompass 70
years in the desolation of Jerusalem.
And I set my face unto the Lord
God to seek by prayer and supplication with
fasting and sackcloth and ashes.
Now, what did Jeremiah see?
Look at verse 10.
Jeremiah 29.10. And one day, Daniel, the
prophet, was reading from Jeremiah.
And here's what he read.
For thus saith the Lord, after 70 years
be accomplished at Babylon, I will visit you
and perform my good word toward you in
causing you to return to this place.
For I know the thoughts that I think
toward you, saith the Lord, are thoughts of
peace and not of evil to give you
and expect it in.
That means hope for you at your latter
time, at the latter end.
Now, folks, look this way for just a
minute.
You must catch this in your mind.
Listen to it very closely.
Jeremiah looked at the calendar, and suddenly it
hit him.
We have been in captivity 70 years.
It's accomplished.
God says at the end of 70 years,
according to Jeremiah, the desolation is going to
end.
And hope begins to flood his heart.
But instead of rejoicing over this grand promise,
Daniel falls on his face and he begins
to weep because he sees the next verse.
Then shall you call upon me, and you
shall go and pray unto me, and I
will hearken unto you, and you shall seek
me and find me, when ye shall search
for me with all your heart, and I
will be found of you, saith the Lord,
and I will turn away your captivity, and
I will gather you from all the nations.
And suddenly he says, wait a minute, even
though God promised it's not going to happen
unless we fulfill these verses.
And he goes to Deuteronomy, the fourth chapter.
You don't have to turn there, but I'll
just read it to you.
Deuteronomy 429.
In fact, this is where Jeremiah got it.
But if thou from your captivity thou shalt
seek the Lord thy God, this is the
end of side one, you may now turn
to him, if
thou seek him with all thy heart and
with all thy soul.
Now folks, look this way, please.
What God is saying to us is awesome.
Not because I'm preaching, because God's trying to
say something to us right now.
Listen to it prophetically.
Jeremiah's on his face, he's fasting, he has
sackcloth on his back, he's torn his clothes.
You know, we would have grabbed that promise
and run.
We're saying, bless God, by faith, it's all
over, it's ours, and we'd have gone shouting
down the street.
But Daniel says, no, God says, and if
in that day, and if in that day
and you see it, you shall call upon
me, you shall go and pray to me,
I'll hearken.
You'll seek me and you'll find me.
When you shall search for me with all
your heart, and I will be found of
you, saith the Lord, and I will turn
you away from your captivity.
I'll make this promise come to pass, if
you'll seek me with all your heart, your
mind, your soul, and your strength.
Hallelujah.
And this is the condition, you'll seek me,
you'll call upon me, you'll go and pray
unto me, then I will hearken unto you.
Now, in prayer about this message, the Holy
Spirit came upon me, and just as sure
as Daniel can go into Jeremiah and find
out where his day is, where his generation
is in history, in God's time clock, do
you know that you and I don't need
someone coming up on stage calling himself a
prophet to tell us what's going to happen.
You go to the book, just like Daniel
did, and you find your place in history.
And I found it.
And I want you to go to it.
I want you to go to Isaiah 26.
The Holy Spirit showed me where the church
is today, right now.
And I'm doing just like Daniel did.
I was in prayer, and I was reading
the book, and I found what God is
saying to His church in these last days.
Isaiah 26.
Alright, do you have it open on your
lap?
I've never believed God was a prophet, but
I know God told me to prophesy.
And I want you to listen very closely
now.
I want God, by His Spirit, to make
this very, very real to our hearts.
Even Deuteronomy, the fourth chapter, verse 29, the
one that I quoted was for Daniel's time,
but verse 30 and 31 was not for
Daniel's time, because it said it's for the
latter end.
And that latter end message was that we're
to seek God with all of our heart,
and soul, and mind, and strength.
The same thing would happen even in the
latter days.
But now I want you to look.
Verse, chapter 26.
First of all, God tells us, listen now,
God tells us that His goodness being shown
to our nation has not brought about repentance.
Verse 10.
Isaiah 26, verse 10.
Let favor be shown to the wicked, yet
will he not learn righteousness.
In the land of uprightness will he deal
unjustly, and will not behold the majesty of
the Lord.
Now look at me, please.
Here's what God is saying.
I blessed America.
I blessed this nation.
I made it an upright people to start
with it.
They were Puritans that came to start this
whole thing.
God said, I blessed you.
And the Bible said the goodness of the
Lord is meant to bring about repentance.
The goodness of the Lord is poured out
on the people that they may be led
to repentance.
God doesn't want to send judgment.
He prefers that people repent under His hand
of goodness.
But America's turned against it.
The Scripture said this favor was shown.
They've not learned righteousness.
And in the land of uprightness they deal
unjustly.
They will not behold the majesty of the
Lord.
They will not give credit to God for
anything.
Alright?
So God is going to send swift judgments.
Verse 9.
With my soul have I desired thee in
the night.
In other words, there's going to be a
praying people that recognize that the night of
indignation has come.
And in this night of indignation, yea, with
my spirit within me will I seek thee
early.
For when thy judgments are in the earth,
the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.
Do you see that?
Alright?
God is going to have a people that
are aware that judgment is at the door.
Verse 9 makes it very clear.
This is a night of judgment.
And God's people are going to have this
urgency.
The spirit within them says seek the Lord
because the judgments are coming on the land.
It doesn't say that they will accept the
lessons, but God says I'm going to teach
them.
They're going to learn that I am majestic.
That I'm a holy God.
They're going to learn it.
Alright?
In the midst of all of this judgment
that's coming, God's going to raise up a
travailing remnant.
Go to verse 17.
Like as a woman with child, that draweth
near the time of her delivery, is in
pain, and crawth out in her pangs, so
have we been in thy sight, O Lord.
We have been with child.
We have been in pain.
We have as it were brought forth wind.
We have not brought any deliverance in the
earth, neither have the inhabitants of the world
fallen.
That dead men shall live, together with my
dead body shall they arise.
Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust,
for the dew is as the dew of
herbs, and the earth shall cast out the
dead.
Now, listen.
You may not know it.
You may not understand it fully yet, but
I hope God will open it to you.
You know he's talking about you and me
right now.
These three verses I read to you apply
to 1988 right now here in Times Square
Church.
It has to do with America.
It has to do with our nation.
It has to do with the holy remnant.
You know that there are hundreds of you
here tonight represent this woman with child.
You had something inside of you.
I don't know when it happened.
Did it happen a year ago, two years
ago?
When did God start stirring you?
When did something happen to you where you
said, Look, there's got to be more.
Jesus is coming.
Judgment is coming.
What am I doing playing games?
What am I doing with toys?
I'm talking about adult toys.
Why am I fooling around with materialism?
And God began to stir your heart.
I don't know whether it was a year
ago, two years ago, but there was something
like coming up inside a pregnancy, so to
speak.
There was something rising in you.
There was a hunger.
There was a thirst.
There were birth pangs.
How many know what I'm talking about?
You got hungry.
You weren't getting it.
All you got, there were birth pangs.
And you were conveying it.
You said, I want more.
I want God.
There's got to be.
And you start hearing a message of holiness
and separation.
Walking with God.
You heard the demands of His love.
And you began to respond.
Because you say, up to this time, I
came to the birth, but all I gave
birth to was wind.
All I heard were winds and waves of
doctrine.
I didn't bring anything forth.
There was nothing there.
I tried.
I wept.
I sought.
I went from church to church.
I went everywhere looking for something.
There was something coming alive I wanted.
I had to have a release.
And folks, God has that kind of people
all over this country.
He has them in China.
He has them in Africa.
He's bringing them in to prevail.
There's a prevailing inside.
It has nothing to do with this church
having the only gospel.
I've not for one moment believed this is
the only church in New York preaching the
gospel.
Not at all.
Never have and never will.
But I believe all over this city, God
is sending the Holy Ghost with a candle,
and He's going up and down the streets
to find everybody that's in soul travail.
Everybody said, I've had enough.
I don't want to sit and be tickled
in my ears anymore.
I don't want to play games.
I want to get seriously God.
The time of her delivery, she's in pain,
and she cries out of her pangs.
That's what we've been, O Lord, it says.
You're in pain.
But something happened.
Hallelujah.
You were near dead, weren't you?
But the dead, verse 19, the dead men
shall live.
Glory to God.
Aren't you glad for the day the Holy
Ghost got a hold of you, and He
led you, whether it's here or wherever you
had your eyes open, that the Lord led
you?
And you walked in, and suddenly, suddenly it
wasn't the wind anymore.
A wild darkness.
There was resurrection life.
Resurrection life.
You got convicted of your sins.
And you were told you can't go to
heaven like that.
And you were told you go to hell,
even talking in tongues if you don't get
straight.
The dead men shall live.
And the dew is as the dew of
herbs.
And I looked at it, oh, that's a
wonderful...
You ought to see what it says in
the original Hebrew.
It says, translated it says, there's going to
fall on me a glory, a glory born
out of supernatural light.
You came, and you saw the light.
God started turning on the lights of truth,
and holiness, and righteousness, and suddenly every day
there was fresh dew.
The glory of the Lord Jesus began to
fall like the dew of the herbs, the
Scripture says.
Have you got that dew falling on you
right now?
Oh, that dew comes every morning, then every
day it's fresh, and it's alive.
When you're walking in the Spirit, every day's
a new day.
There's some new revelation, some new truth comes
from the hand of God, hallelujah.
Like dew from heaven.
Glory to God.
These who are resurrected from spiritual death are
called to the prayer chamber.
Look at the next verse, verse 20.
You're called to the prayer chamber when the
dew hits you.
Come, my people, come, my people.
Where?
Enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy
doors behind thee.
That sounds like something Jesus said, doesn't it?
When you pray, enter into the closet and
shut the door.
The Father seeth in secret, so reward thee
openly.
Hide thyself, as it were, for a little
moment, until the indignation be overpassed.
For behold, the Lord cometh out of his
place to punish the inhabitants of the earth
for their iniquity.
The earth also shall disclose her blood and
shall no more cover her slain.
Now look this way, beloved.
God is forewarning us here.
He said there's going to be a day
of indignation.
Come quickly.
And that indignation in Hebrew means enraged fury.
White hot anger against sin.
And I believe that the Lord is already
stirring himself right now.
And I believe he's mounted his white horse.
And I believe he's coming against this generation
with quick judgment.
The Bible said the earth will disclose her
blood and shall no more cover her slain.
You know what God's going to do?
He's going to open up the bowels of
the earth.
He's going to pour out a stream of
blood.
The blood of innocent children.
A hundred million slain babies.
You know that every drop of their blood
has been siphoned into a huge dam, a
reservoir that God has been saving.
And in this last day of indignation, he's
going to open up the floodgates.
He's going to resurrect at every little tiny
bone.
And I want you to know that when
the indignation of God starts on America, and
when there's an economic breakdown and a total
collapse, those who have discerning ears are going
to hear the rattle of a million, million
little bones.
God's going to shake and rattle every bone
to America.
Every little blood corpuscle that's been shed of
those little babies that are shed.
They're going to see the moon turn to
blood and it's going to be a reflection
of that sea of blood that the Lord
has saved.
And every drop of blood will come as
judgment on America.
He's going to open up the bowels of
the earth.
I tell you folks, if the blood of
King cries out from the earth for vengeance,
can you imagine what this sea, this ocean
of baby blood, is going to cry out
judgment against America?
And where are we going to be when
this happens?
Shut in with God, the Scripture says, in
a secret chamber of prayer.
Do you know there's a flood coming?
Don't go there, it's Revelation 12, 15-17.
And the serpent cast out of his mouth
water as a flood after the woman.
You just heard of the woman right here
in verse 17.
The overcomers.
He's going to send a flood against the
woman that he might cause her to be
carried away by the flood.
And the dragon was angry with the woman
and went to make war with the remnant
of her seed, which keep the commandments of
God and have the testimonies of Jesus Christ.
Do you know what that is?
That's a flood of filth coming against the
house of God, coming against God's people.
And do you know what that television set
is in your house?
It's a flood gate.
And when you turn it on, you open
the flood gate, and your mind is being
flooded with all the filth out of the
pits of hell.
And the Bible says you're going to be
carried away with the flood.
You're going to be carried away because the
Scripture says the devil knows his time is
short, and he's been cast down on the
earth having great wrath.
And he's angry.
He knows more than some sleeping Christians know.
He knows that the coming of the Lord
is near.
He knows something is happening.
He doesn't know the time, but he knows
something is happening, because he sees all heaven
going in motion.
And you turn that on and you open
the flood gate?
Isn't it amazing God's people don't have time
to pray, and they have time to sit
for hours and watch something that God has
cursed?
How do you come to God's house?
I wish this could be the last time
I say anything about it.
And I'm not hung up on television.
This idea of everybody have to get it
out of their house.
Now, I tell you this, I'm going to
tell you honestly.
I'm going to say it at the risk
of 50% of you never coming back.
And I say it in love.
Not in anger, but I say it in
love.
The time has come.
We're so close to the coming of the
Lord, so close to that indignation, that wrath
of God against sin.
You think he's going to judge these porno
shops down here, and not judge you for
sitting in your home watching porno?
And that's what Dallas and Dynasty and all
these soaps are?
They're porno.
It's nothing but pornography.
You're sitting there.
Don't talk to us about Jimmy Swaggart.
What are you doing in your house with
your television set?
And I'm telling you the day has come,
and listen close.
The day has come, the day has come
that you cannot walk in the spirit.
You cannot be a man or woman of
prayer.
You cannot be a man or woman of
holiness and righteousness and sit there anymore and
watch that film.
You can't do it.
God says no.
God can't.
Bless you.
He won't do it.
No clapping, no clapping.
Listen.
He's going to take the anointing away from
your household.
Because even though God is screaming it lovingly
in your ears, you say, no, I don't
see it that way, and you walk in
and you open up the floodgates.
That's the very eye of Satan, and that
stuff just flows through your home.
It's going to taint your children.
It's going to ruin your family.
It's going to ruin your marriage because it's
going to get worse and worse and worse.
Even the commercials are getting worse.
Oh, boy.
Well, I'm going to wrap it up here
in just a minute.
Revelation 6, 17, there's a question to ask.
For the great day of His wrath has
come.
Who shall be able to stand?
Well, I'll tell you who's going to be
able to stand.
Those who are praying.
Those who are walking in righteousness.
Wherefore, take unto you the whole armor of
God, that ye may be able to withstand
in the evil day, and having done all,
to stand.
Now unto Him that's able to keep you
from falling, and to present you faultless before
His presence of glory, with exceeding great joy.
I'm going to close in just a moment.
But I can't close without saying something to
you.
And here's what God is...
Here's why He's saying, come into the chamber.
Here's why He's saying, if you don't start
praying, turn off your idols, get away from
all that foolishness, and give me your heart,
begin to pray.
Folks, getting rid of your television set doesn't
save anybody.
What it does is remove the barrier and
give you time to pray.
If you don't use that time to pray,
you're going to get bored and get mad
at me.
And I'll tell you what you'll do, you'll
get rid of a 15 inch and go
buy a 21.
Alright, listen, before I close.
Do you know that the Bible said that
Satan...
I just read it, there's going to be
a flood coming.
And I was almost late getting the car
to come tonight.
Gwen said, aren't you finished yet?
And it was because God was saying something
to me at the last moment.
So, here it is before I close.
There's coming a time, very soon, when all
of us are going to be swamped, unexpectedly,
by a flood.
It'll come to your life, you won't expect
it.
You'll be praying, seeking the Lord, you'll be
rejoicing and basking in the light.
And all of a sudden, there'll be a
fear hit you.
You're just being swamped by the flood of
the enemy.
Suddenly, unexpected, a sudden flood.
Suddenly, you don't understand it, but there's a
fear that's gripped you.
A fear.
It could be depression, the blues.
Suddenly, you don't know where it came from.
You can't think of anything you're worried about,
or anything that caused it.
But suddenly, the enemy is upon you like
a flood.
There it is.
You love the Lord, you're walking in His
righteousness, you're walking by faith, and suddenly, you're
just flooded.
You're flooded.
Now, I want you to know that the
Holy Spirit took Jesus in the wilderness, but
He was tempted by the devil.
If the devil can come right into the
life of Jesus and tempt Him, can you
imagine what he's going to do to us?
We're going to go through temptation.
It's going to hit us.
There are times when I've been so close
to Jesus, and the very next day, something
will happen.
The devil will provoke me somehow, and I'll
lose my temper.
I lose it.
Then I go to my secret closet and
say, Oh, God, how could that happen?
And I realize it didn't come from me.
The enemy was provoking me.
There was something there, yes, but God solved
the victory.
It was a flood.
The flood's going to come.
But folks, when that flood comes, don't panic.
Don't panic.
Run to the chamber.
Run to the secret closet.
Get a hold of God.
And say, Lord, that's not from me.
That's from the flood.
The devil's trying to swamp me.
And I'm going to tell you something.
You're going to have it tomorrow.
You're going to have it this week.
Now, I want you to remember what I'm
saying.
In fact, I'm going to give you a
Scripture to go to.
And this is my last.
Go to Psalm 142.
When the flood comes, just go to Psalm
142 and throw it at the devil.
And then we're going to close.
Hallelujah.
Didn't Jesus cast Scriptures at the devil?
Didn't he?
Did the devil run?
All right.
Here's your stones.
I mean, here's the Word of God.
Psalm 142, only seven verses.
You're going to read them all.
Just follow me.
I cried unto the Lord with my voice.
I didn't pray silent.
I cried out, man.
With my voice unto the Lord did I
make my supplication.
I poured out my complaint.
That means sorrows before him.
I showed before him all my trouble.
When my spirit was overwhelmed with me.
That's the flood.
Overwhelmed within me, then thou knewest my path.
In the way wherein I have walked, have
they privily laid a snare for me?
In other words, the devil has laid a
trap for me.
This has tried to get me discouraged and
to quit walking in his righteousness.
I looked on my right hand and behold,
there was no man that would know me.
Refuge failed me.
No man cared for my soul.
So I cried unto the Lord.
I cried unto the Lord.
I said, thou art my refuge and my
portion in the land of the living.
Attend unto my cry, for I am brought
very low.
Deliver me from my persecutors, for they are
stronger than I.
Bring my soul out of prison, that I
may praise thy name.
The righteous shall compass me about, for thou
shalt deal bountifully with me.
Hallelujah.
You will deal bountifully with me, Lord.
You're going to answer prayer.
Hallelujah.
Now, the truth is, some of you are
in that flood right now.
You've been swamped.
You don't even know what's happening.
The devil is just trying to do everything
to discourage you, doing everything to try to
get you to turn your back on him,
and to say that prayer doesn't work.
It doesn't pay to walk so hard and
strictly close to the Lord.
But you know those are lies of Satan.
Let's pray.
Oh, Jesus, tonight, send your Holy Spirit.
Send your Holy Spirit, Lord.
The flood is coming.
And you've called us into the secret chamber.
Come away and pray.
God, you must have a praying people this
last day who will go into their secret
closet and lay before you and wait to
hear your voice.
Lord, we need guidance.
We need to know which way to go.
We don't know how to go out and
come in.
We don't know what to do in these
last days.
We're going to have to know your voice,
Lord.
We're going to have to hear you.
We're going to have to be walking close
to you, Lord, because you want to speak.
You want to give us clear, clear direction
in these last days.
Clear direction.
Send your Holy Spirit, Father, the service tonight.
Send the Holy Spirit, I pray.
In Jesus' name.
All right.
Folks, would you look this way just one
moment.
I wish there was a way I could
convey to you what I feel in my
heart from the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit
calling us to prayer.
In the last two weeks, I've had a
burden for prayer, a burden of the Lord
upon me.
It's not enough to come Tuesday or Friday
night just to prayer meeting.
No, you've got to have that intimacy with
Jesus.
Folks, if you don't have it, you're not
going to make it.
You're going to be carried away with the
flood.
You're going to be carried away.
Some of you are already carried away.
Are you sitting here tonight having been carried
away?
You say, Brother Wilkinson, I want the Lord
to touch me.
I want every backslider, everyone cold in heart,
every one of you right now being flooded
by the devil, just being flooded in your
life.
You want God to deliver you tonight.
Step out of your seat and come and
stand at the front.
You gentlemen that are kneeling here, if you
will just sit on your seat until later,
and then we will be able to have
you intercede.
We'll find a place up in the balcony.
Go right down to the middle stairs and
come down either aisle.
Right now, if the Holy Ghost is convicted,
if He's speaking to your heart right now,
He's saying, lay down your idols.
Lay down your sins.
Lay down your compromise.
Get honest with me.
Up in the balcony, that's fine.
There are numbers in that balcony moving.
God bless you.
We have the balcony almost full tonight.
God bless you.
Thank you, Jesus.
All right, having hated your sin, now let's
call on His name.
That's what He says.
Call upon me in day of trouble, and
I'll answer.
Do you want to raise your hand?
One hand, two hands?
Whatever it takes.
I want you to pray with me right
now.
I want you to repeat these words.
Listen, these words won't save you, but if
your heart's in it, He said, out of
the abundance of your heart, your mouth speaks.
Some of you don't know how to pray.
Even the disciples had to ask Jesus to
teach them to pray.
I'm going to ask you to pray this
sincerely right out of your heart, and if
you'll pray it sincerely, the Holy Spirit will
answer and touch you right now, and God
will change it.
Pray this with me.
Jesus, I need a touch, and I need
it tonight.
I do hate my sins.
I hate everything unlike you that has gripped
my life, and I lay it down.
I confess it.
I forsake it by faith.
Come, Lord Jesus, cleanse me with your precious
blood.
Forgive me.
I believe you.
I believe you answer my prayer, and you're
with me right now.
Now, Jesus, put it in my heart to
pray, to seek your face, to hear from
you, to get to know your voice.
I believe you'll speak to me, Jesus, if
I'll just wait on you.
Now, just thank him in your own words.
Thank him right now.
Thank him, Lord Jesus.
I thank you, Lord Jesus.
I thank you, Lord Jesus, right now.
I thank you, and I praise you.
Give you glory.
Audience, will you stand?
Everybody in the house stand, if you will,
please.
What are you singing?
Huh?
All right.
Let's sing that.
They that wait upon the Lord shall renew
their strength.
They that wait upon the Lord shall renew
their strength.
Praise the Lord, You
that are up here tonight, right now, God
wants you to have faith now, to release
your faith.
Say, Lord, I believe you.
You know something?
It seems like it wouldn't work just to
come up here for a few moments.
Yes, it does work, because God is in
this house.
God is in this place, the Holy Spirit's
here, and He's touching you, and He's healing
you.
I want everyone here that's been living in
sin, you have something that's been crushing you
down, you want to be delivered, I want
you to come through the crowd backstage, we're
going to pray with you.
All those that have been bound by sin,
I want you to come right now, make
your way right out of the crowd, and
over here, we don't need to know what
it is, we're not going to announce it
in public or anything else, it's between you
and the Lord, I want you to come
up the stage over this way, because it's
back here, or you can go around the
curtain, right this way, please, follow these that
are coming up, say, I want to be
delivered tonight, I've got to be delivered.
We need our personal counselors coming, those who
counseled this morning, I need you to come
back and help us, please.
Come this way.
All upon your name and intercede, Lord.
Turn us to prayer, Lord Jesus, that we
become a praying people, a praying people, Lord
Jesus.
That we would become a praying people, Lord
Jesus.
Let's just worship him in his presence.
Lord, we thank you for your presence tonight.
Thank you for your presence, Jesus.
Lord, teach us to pray.
Teach us to wait on you and pray
and seek your face.
Teach us, O Lord.
Glory to God.
Manifest yourself in our midst.
Manifest yourself.
Hallelujah.
I want us to sing again, soon and
very soon, we're going to see the King.
Folks, I believe that.
Soon, very, very soon, we're going to see
the King.
I want to be shut in with him
when it happens.
I want to be shut in with Jesus.
I want to be on my bones, my
knee bones, calling on his name.
Hallelujah.
How many are ready to go?
Are you ready to go?
Hallelujah.
How many have been resurrected from the dead?
Raise your hand.
You've got all the wind and wave of
false doctrine?
Now, resurrected from the dead.
Let's sing, soon and very soon, we shall
see, we're going to see the King.
Sing it.
Soon and very soon, we are going to
see the King.
Soon, very soon, we are going to see
the King.
Soon and very soon, we are going to
see the King.
Hallelujah, hallelujah.
We're going to see the King.
Soon, and very soon, we are going to
see the King.
Soon, and very soon, we are going to
see the King.
Hallelujah, hallelujah, we're going to see the King.
No more dying there, we are going to
see the King.
No more cry of death, we are going
to see the King Hallelujah,
Hallelujah, we're going to see the King Hallelujah,
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Glory Glory, Glory, Glory, Glory Glory,
Glory, Glory, Glory Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah You know
the best part?
No more dying there We are going to
see the King No more, no more dying
there We are going to see the King
Oh, no more dying there We are going
to see the King Hallelujah, Hallelujah, we're going
to see the King No more dying, no
more dying there We are going to see
the King No more dying there We are
going to see the King Oh, no more
dying there We are going to see the
King Hallelujah, Hallelujah, we're going to see the
King Oh, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah Glory
to Jesus, Glory to Jesus