Ron Dunn Podcast - The Key to Miracles

Episode Date: September 11, 2024

The work of the future is the work of prayer. Ron starts this series dealing with the prayer life of the believer. Some of Ron's messages were digitized from older materials and as such the quality of the audio may be poor. From the series Intercessory Prayer.

Along the front of the book, the author gives a brief biography of some men that had a great deal to do with the Christian foundation in Indonesia. One of these men was a Chinese evangelist, John Sung. He was such a mighty instrument of the Spirit of God for revival that he has been called the Wesley of God for revival that he has been called the Wesley of China. And as I was reading through this the other day, I came to a paragraph that struck me. Dr. Sung's last message to the church, which he gave shortly after his tour of Indonesia, was, the work of the future is to be the work of prayer. The work of the future is to be the work of prayer. The work of the future is to be the work of prayer.

And one thing that I'm discovering, I think a pattern that is being set nowadays in this present movement of Christianity and this spiritual awakening and resurgence that we're going through is that God's people are discovering lost secrets and they're rediscovering lost weapons. You remember the apostle Paul says our weapons are not carnal but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. And I've also discovered that when people fall in love with

Jesus and they get their eyes off of the trappings and all of the frills and the decorations of Christianity and religion, and they boil it all down and crystallize it to just one thing, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ, and they zero in on him, and their hearts are in tune with him, I discover also that they return to the simplicity of the New Testament and that the result of genuine revival is not more and more organization and not more and more programming and not getting heavier and heavier under the load of this and that, but it's throwing off some of these things and many of these things and getting down to the simplicity of New Testament Christianity.

And I praise the Lord for that. And I think this is what's happening in the lives of so many people. And it's my conviction that God's people are beginning again at long last to discover the weapon of prayer and to discover the rightful place that prayer has in the life of God's people. And I believe that Dr. John's Sung's statement was prophetic when he said, the work of the future will be the work of prayer. And this is a burden of my own heart. God has carried us a long way in this church and has done a great many things for us. Naturally, we'll die on the vine if we keep looking back to what God has done

instead of looking forward to what God is going to do. But I'm also equally convinced that what God is going to be doing in our church in the future, he's going to be doing it largely through the matter and the means of intercessory praying. If I had one prayer tonight that God would answer, it would be this. Lord, baptize us in a spirit of intercessory prayer. Immerse our people in a spirit of prayer. And bring us to our knees to intercede for those who need the Lord Jesus Christ. And I pray that God will begin to touch our hearts as he's already touched many of our hearts during the last months in this matter of praying. So we're beginning tonight where I think we ought to begin with the key to working miracles.

We're going to read verses 12, 13, 14 in John chapter 14. We have in this 12th verse one of the most oft-quoted verses in the New Testament and one of the least lived up to verses in the New Testament. Jesus says, Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do, shall he do also. And greater works than these shall he do, because I go to my Father. I've heard that verse quoted by a great many preachers

and at conventions and conferences. We've had this verse billboarded across the platforms and behind the speakers. He that believeth on me, the works that I do, he shall do also, and greater works than these shall he do, because I go to my Father. I submit to you that that is one of the most tremendous statements that ever fell from the lips of Jesus.

His last-minute instructions to his disciples, and he looks at that little ragged band of disciples, only 11 now because Judas has gone out to betray him. So Jesus speaks to those 11 remaining disciples, and they're not much by the world's standards. An out-of-work fisherman, a few of those, a former tax collector, and a few other amiable

non-entities that nobody in the world would recognize, and they couldn't get a loan at any bank no matter how loose the money was. And as far as the world is concerned, to place within the hands of these 11 grubby men must be the work of a man who's beside himself. And yet we find the Lord Jesus Christ turning over the work of a man who's beside himself. And yet we find the Lord Jesus Christ turning over the work of world redemption and turning over the fruits of Calvary into the hands of these 11 men.

But notice what he says. He that believeth on me, the works that I do, he shall do also, and greater works than these shall he do. One translator translates that word works miracles. The miracles that I have wrought he shall do also.

And even greater miracles than thee shall he do. Well, to whom is this promise made? To the elite of the elect? No. To super saints? To a select few? Not at all.

He that believeth on me, that's you. And that's every boy and girl in this congregation tonight who knows Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. He that believeth on me, that's you. And that's every boy and girl in this congregation tonight who knows Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. He that believeth on me, Jesus makes a twofold promise. He says, if a man believes on me, he shall first of all equal the works that I do. Now, that'd be enough for me. If the promise stopped right there, that'd be enough to praise the Lord for, just to equal what

Jesus did, just to equal the work that he has done. That would be enough to praise the Lord for. Just to equal what Jesus did. Just to equal the work that he has done. That would be enough. But Jesus says, that's not enough. And greater works than these shall I do because I go to my Father. And so Jesus Christ said, anybody and everybody that believes on me, he shall not only equal the works that I do, but he shall exceed the works that I do. I want to say to you tonight that you have no right to be satisfied and content with your Christian experience if that verse is not true in your life. If that verse is not true in your life and in the life of this church, we have no right to be content with what God is doing through us.

And I've discovered that Baptists, along with nearly every other brand of Christian, has an easy out. We have to live with ourselves. We have to somehow have our conscience and somehow get rid of these guilt feelings that we're failing. And so what we do is we bring the lasting meaning of the word of God down to the level of our experience. And so through 2,000 years of Christian history, we've not even equaled the works of Jesus, much less exceeded the works of Jesus. And our experience has not in the least measured up to the promise of the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, how are we going to explain this? Well, we have to have some kind of explanation, so here's what we do.

We take the promise of Jesus and we lower it to the level of our experience, and we say, well, now, Jesus really didn't mean what he said here. He didn't say what he meant, and he didn't mean what he said. What Jesus had reference to here was building large organizations. And look at the Southern Baptist Convention today. Jesus started out with 12 and ended up with 11. Now, that's not a very good track record. Look at the Southern Baptist, 150 years old.

We number nearly 10 million tonight. That's what Jesus meant. Now, that's not what Jesus meant. Jesus wasn't referring to great organizations. The mafia has done that. They build a great organization. Just to say that building a great organization or building a great religious structure

fulfills the promise of Jesus is to miss the mark altogether. Jesus is saying that he that believes on me shall do the same things that I have done. He shall equal the works that I have done and he shall exceed the works that I have done. and he shall exceed the works that I have done. And I think tonight that most of us would have to lie, and most churches would have to lie, and most denominations would have to lie if they were to confess tonight that

this verse is true in their life. Well, I'll tell you what I want to know. I want to know why in the world the promise of Jesus isn't being fulfilled in my life. You know, I've just come to the place where I believe the Word of God. And I believe that when Jesus Christ promised that something was going to be, I believe that's the way he meant it to be. And if it's not that way in our life, then we're not what he intended us to be. And I don't think we ought to be satisfied with that. I pray that God will help us not to be satisfied with anything less than the black and white of

God's word. And Jesus promised, if you believe on me, you will equal the works that I do and you shall exceed the works that I do. And I want to know why this isn't true in my life. I think this is our promise. I think this is our possession. I think this is the right of every church to fulfill this promise right here that Jesus said. And that's what I want God to do in my life and that's what I want God to do in the life of this church. I want Him to uplift the level of our experience up to the high water mark of His promise.

And I'm not going to be satisfied until it's so in my own life. And I'm not going to be satisfied until it's so in the life of this church. And I know you're not. Jesus says, He that believeth on me, the works that I do, shall he do also, and greater works than these shall he do, because

I go to my Father, and that's where we stop. So a preacher quotes that verse, and we say, well, that means we're supposed to go out here and do greater things than Jesus did, so let's train ourselves and have a study course and do this and arm ourselves with all of these materials, and let's go out here and do greater things than he has done. And we fail. We fail miserably. And you know, the truth of the matter is, we just haven't done what Jesus told us to do.

You know, in John chapter 8, Jesus told us to continue in my word. And that's what we haven't done. We just stopped after verse 12. We didn't continue in the word. And I want you to notice what verse 13 begins with. It begins with a little word, A-N-D, and that's a conjunction which means that what goes in verse 13 is tied on to verse 12. Isn't that right? If a sentence begins with a word and a conjunction, it means that what you're going to talk about in that sentence is related to what

you talked about in the previous sentence. I know that much about English. And whatsoever you shall ask in my name, that will I do that the Father may be glorified in the Son. Right there is where we missed it. Here's what Jesus is saying. Jesus is saying, anybody that believes on me

and everybody that believes on me, the works that I do, he shall do also and greater work than these shall it do because i go to my father and whatsoever you shall ask in my name i will do it that the father may be glorified in the son and it sounded too good for the disciples to believe and so jesus repeats it in verse 14 if you shall ask anything in my name, I will do it. And that's how verse 12 was meant in God's divine order to be fulfilled. When Jesus Christ said that we would exceed his own works and miracles,

he did not mean that we would exceed them in the energy of our flesh or in the cleverness of our ideas or in the promotion of our religious system. He meant that we would do it when we lay claim to the mighty power of prayer, and whatsoever we ask in his name, he would do it that the Father may be glorified. And that's the secret of doing greater works. And that's the reason the church is falling far below what God intended her to be tonight. It's because they have relegated the power of prayer to a backseat in their church activity. God intended that the great work of world redemption, God intended

that the fuel for the church to move forward was to be prayer in Jesus' name. And I don't know of any two verses in all the Word of God that has come to mean as much to me as these two verses. These two promises, or this one promise in these two verses. And whatsoever you shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified

in the Son. If you shall ask anything in my name, I will do it. John 14, 14, you can remember that. John 14, 14, if you shall ask anything in my name, I will do it. John 14, 14, you can remember that. John 14, 14, if you shall ask anything in my name, I will do it. You live by that verse and you claim that promise. And as you claim it by faith and exercise it by faith, God will answer and God will do greater works in your life than he did in the life of Jesus. Of course, I turn over to the book of Acts and I find that promise fulfilled in the book of Acts. I find those early Christians doing two things, equaling the works of Jesus and exceeding the works of Jesus.

But I find something else in the book of Acts. I find a church committed to prayer. I find a church committed to prayer, a church that was powerful because they prayed. Now, you know what we've done in our day? We have mistaken influence for power. We have mistaken influence for power. The early church didn't have any influence, but they had a lot of power.

We've got a lot of influence, no power. And we have mistaken the two, and I want you to know tonight there is a difference between influence and power. The early church didn't have enough influence to keep Peter out of jail, but they had enough power to pray him out. We might have enough influence today

to get a few things, but we don't have power enough to get all things from the heavenly Father. The three Hebrew children over in that fiery furnace, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, they didn't have enough influence with the king to keep them out of that fiery furnace, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, they didn't have enough influence with the king to keep them out of the fiery furnace, but they had

enough power to be delivered from it. I don't know about you, but I'd much rather have power than influence. And what we have done, we have settled for influence. We try to get the work going by influence. We try to impress the world by influence. This is why we exalt heroes. Why, if you convert a movie star or a football hero or an ex-prize fighter or somebody, man, we just push them to the front and we exalt them.

We say, man, this is great. It doesn't take any more of God's power to save a movie star as it does to save a little junior nine-year-old boy. It's the same God, the same power. So what's the matter? We're impressed with influence. We want influence. We think we've got to have influence if we're going to move ahead in the world. Let's make an impact for God, but we have to do it by influence. We've mistaken influence

for power. And what Jesus promised here is not so much influence, but he promises power. If you shall ask anything in my name, that will I do. All right, four things about this promise of prayer. First of all, whatsoever you shall ask is the measure of our praying. The measure of our praying is this, whatsoever you shall ask. Jesus words it a different way in verse 14, if you shall ask anything. Let me give you a good exercise. Go through the New Testament, in particular, the promises of Jesus relating to prayer, and find how many times the promise of prayer is rounded out with the word whatsoever. Mark 11, 24, and whatsoever things ye desire, and whatsoever things ye desire, when ye pray pray believe that you receive them and ye shall

have them whatsoever is the measure of our praying that means that there is no limit to what i can ask god for there is absolutely no limit whatsoever is a concern in the life of a man is a concern in the heart of god whatsoever is needed to do what God has called me to do whatsoever is the measure of our praise. I hear somebody say, well, preacher, there is a limit to what we can ask for. And to a great many people,

that's a big limit. It has to be according to the will of God. And I'll agree with you there. 1 John chapter 5 says that if we shall ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And God will not answer any petition that is not according to his will.

Now, most of us see that as a great limiting factor. Many of us look upon prayer as a limited measure and a limited means because it has to be according to his will. Well, now listen. You're looking at it wrong. You wouldn't want it if it wasn't according to his will. Well, now listen. You're looking at it wrong. You wouldn't want it if it wasn't according to His will, would you?

Would you? This thing you're praying for, this thing you're asking for, this thing you're desiring, if you discover it's not according to God's will, you still don't want it, do you? You see, when you look at it

this way, like, I don't want anything that's not God's will. i don't want anything it's not god's will i don't want anything it isn't god's will there's no limit to my prayer there is absolutely no limit to my prayer this thing you're praying for this thing you're desiring this thing you're seeking if you were to discover tonight that it was not god's will for you to have that would you not want it any longer say thank you lord that's all right't need it. I don't want anything that isn't your will. There's no limit there. Isn't this whatever a father wants from his child? What do you think it would do to the heart of a father if his son came up and said, Dad, this thing I'm wanting, I've discovered that you don't want

me to have it, so I don't want it either. Just to know that my Father doesn't want me to have it is enough for me. I don't want anything that my Father doesn't want me to have. Our wills are one. Our hearts are one. Isn't that what would bless the heart of any parent? Isn't that what we all want? Isn't that what we all desire? That's what God wants from us. One heart. My heart and God's heart beating as one. My will and His will identical, beating as one. Whatever will and his will identical beating as one. Whatever God wants, that's what I want. And if God doesn't want it for me, I don't want it. I don't want it. If it's not in the will of God for me, I do not want it. So that lifts all the limits and all the barriers to this whatsoever measure of our prayer. And you just can't measure

that because that's immeasurable. Whatever, whatever in the will of God for you, you can ask in Jesus' name and the promise of God is, I will do it. So that's the first one. Whatsoever is the measure of our praise. If we had the time tonight, there's 50 or 100 of you that could stand up and give us those whatsoever. You could say, this is what God has done for me. God gave me physical healing as it promised in James chapter 5. God delivered me from financial difficulty as it promises in Matthew chapter 6 and Philippians chapter 4. God saved someone in answer to my prayer as it says in Romans chapter 10 and verse 1. And many of you tonight could stand up and give testimonies

that you have prayed for, not just secular things, but sacred things, and not just sacred things, but secular things, things that just run the gamut of a human being's need, and God has met that need

and answered that prayer. And we need not to limit God. We need not to limit God. One of the greatest sins that we're committing today is limiting God, putting a barrier around God. There's no limit to what God. One of the greatest things that we're committing today is limiting God, putting a barrier around God. There's no limit to what God can do. There is absolutely no limit to what God can do. I've read that verse a thousand times in Mark chapter 10, where Jesus says,

with God, all things are possible. And I've read that, and I've looked at my own life filled with impossibilities, and I've played the same little game that others have played. I've lowered that promise down to the level of my experience. I've looked at my life filled with impossibilities, and I've seen the discrepancy between my own life and the promise of Jesus. Listen, Jesus said, with God, all things are possible. With God, all things are possible, and nothing shall be impossible to him that believeth. You read Matthew chapter 17

where he speaks about the command of faith and if anybody has the faith besides the grain of a mustard seed, he can say to that mountain, be you moved into the sea and it shall be moved into the sea. I'm going to preach on that verse one of these days when the Lord lets me.

You know, that's not talking about prayer, by the way. Not doesn't have a thing to do with prayer. That man's not talking to God. He's talking to the mountain. He's commanding the mountain of hindrance, the mountain of obstacle, the mountain of difficulty to get out of the way. And to the man that takes God at his word, he has the command of faith and he can talk to mountains and they'll listen to him. Whatsoever, listen, we've never tapped the resources of God. We've only touched the hem of the garment. Whatsoever is the measure. And notice the next thing.

In my name is the means of our effective praise. Jesus said, in whatsoever you shall ask, in my name, that will I do. Verse 14, if you shall ask anything, in my name, I will do it. Now, what does it mean to pray in the name of Jesus? I want to give you tonight two personal experiences that I had that taught me what it meant to pray in the name of Jesus. Experience number one happened last summer. I came to the time to pray, the time I had set aside to pray.

And that day had been one of those hectic days where I hadn't had time to do much visiting. I hadn't had time to spend any moments with the Word of God. And really, I came to the Lord that night on my knees feeling like I'd bombed out that day. That's exactly how I felt. I came with a guilt complex. I came half apologetic.

And my opening words to the Lord were, Lord, I just don't have any right to come to you and pray tonight because I haven't done this and I haven't done that and I haven't done this. Notice what I said. I don't have any right to come to you tonight in prayer because of what I've done or what I haven't done. And the Lord seemed to speak within me and say, well, let's suppose, let's just suppose that today had been different and you had read hours

on your knees out of the Word of God and you'd led about 10 people to the Lord Jesus Christ and it had just been a day of tremendous victory. Would you then come to me in prayer with this same hesitancy and reluctance? And I thought to myself, no, man, I feel like, oh, I can really pray now. Look what I've done. And the Lord said to me, that's praying in your own name. That's praying in your own name. That's coming to me in your own name. That's coming to me on the basis of what you have done or what you have failed to do. Don't you know that if you spend 24 hours a day on your knees before the Word of God,

that doesn't make you a bit more qualified to pray than if you had not opened the book all day? You don't come to me in your name, and I don't hear you because of what you are, because of what you've done. You come to me in the name of Jesus, and He's the only right you have to pray. Jesus.

And that taught me a great lesson. And I think for the first time I realized how horrible and terrifying it would be to stand before the judgment seat of Christ and the great white throne judgment of God without Jesus. Stand there in my own name. You try that sometimes.

You go to God sometimes and walk prayer and you say, Lord, I come to you tonight in my own name and I'm asking for my sake and I'm asking in my own name and this is what I've done

and this is the life that I've lived and this is the marriage that I've racked up and Lord, I want you to hear my prayer tonight because of what I am and because of what I've done.

You'll never experience a more desolate feeling than that. No, you come in the name of Jesus. And that's the reason some of you aren't praying. Now, let's just be honest. Nobody here tonight but you and me. Let's just be honest. That's why some of you don't pray because every time you go to Jesus in prayer, you go with a feeling of guilt because you don't think you've measured up that day. Is that right? You know that's right. You don't pray because you don't feel like praying. You lost your temper today.

You said something you shouldn't have said, or you failed to do something you should have done, and so you feel like you don't have any right to pray. Listen, you've been praying in your own name. What you do or what you don't do doesn't make you a bit more qualified to come to God. The only access you have to the Heavenly Father is through Jesus Christ, and he remains the same. The second thing that happened that taught me what it meant to pray in the name of Jesus happened several years ago when we went to Greenwood, Arkansas for a summer vacation. And we went, what is

that, Telford County or Sebastian County? Sebastian County Fair. If you've never been to the Sebastian County Fair, you ain't lived. And we went to the county fair. The county fair. My brother and his wife and his little daughter, my wife and myself and our three children,

we went to the fair. And the first thing we did was we bought a whole bunch of tickets. Ten cents a ride. So I bought a long roll of tickets. And you know, you can spend a lot of money in a short amount of time on those things. So here's the routine.

We'd go through it. I'd stand at the gate and here would come the children. I'd peel off a ticket, get it. Peel off a ticket, get it. Well, we were standing at, I believe it was the Schultz of World or something like that. And so I was standing there, had the roll of tickets in my hand. And here comes one of the children, pull off a ticket, hand it to him.

Here comes another girl, pull off a ticket, hand it to her. Here comes one of the boys, pull off a ticket, hand it to him. Here comes another boy, pull off a ticket, hand it to him. And all of a sudden, right behind one of my children comes up a young man I've never seen before. He holds out his hand, expecting to receive a ticket. I've pulled back. I'm not about to separate from one of my ten-cent tickets. The boy, I don't know. I've never seen that boy in my life, and yet he steps up with all the boldness and audacity of one of my own children expecting to receive something from me. He's not my child. I don't know him. He has no claim on me. There's no reason why I should pay his way. He has no

right to ask me for anything. And then one of my sons says, he's my friend. I told him he'd give me a ticket. Boy, he made a friend quick. He'd just been there ten minutes and already made a friend. He said, I told him my daddy would give him a ticket. You know what I did? He lost the ticket, gave it to him. Why? That boy was asking something from me in my son's name. And the only reason I gave a ticket to that boy was not out of mercy and not out of the goodness of my heart, not because he needed it, but for my boy's sake. I wasn't going to embarrass him, and he had given his word that his dad, he had pledged his word that his dad would give him a ticket, and I wasn't about to embarrass my child. So for

my boy's sake, I gave him a ticket. Oh, listen, that's what it means to go in the name of Jesus. Jesus Christ has said to me, Hey, my Father will give you anything you need. You just ask. You just ask him and you tell him I have something. And you ask him in my name and my Father will give you anything that you need.

When I go to the Heavenly Father and I ask him in my name and my father will give you anything that you need. When I go to the heavenly father and I ask him for something, the heavenly father is not about to break the word of his son. He is not about to dishonor the word of his only son. And so because his son has made me the promise, the heavenly father peels off the ticket and gives it to me.

Praise the Lord. That's praying in the name of Jesus. I make out my petition, what I need, and I sign the name of Jesus at the bottom. And I say, Heavenly Father, in Jesus' name, for Jesus' sake, Jesus said you'd give this to me.

And I come tonight asking in his name. And notice the promise. And whatsoever you shall ask, in my name, I'll do it. I'll do it. Oh, there's the means of prayer. You come not in your own goodness goodness God's not going to answer prayer

because you need it or because you want it he's going to answer it because Jesus has pledged his word to me and he's sealed it in the blood of Calvary I have all bolded tonight to come to the throne of God and ask for what I need

and the promise of Jesus says my father will give you everything you need. And in my name is the means of praise. Notice in the next place, I will do it is the might of our praise. That is the power of prayer. Jesus said, I will do it. I wish I could really fathom that statement tonight.

Jesus said, you shall ask anything in my name, I will do it. Now I begin to see what Jesus meant when he said, we'll do greater works. It's not me doing it after all. It's Jesus doing it through me in answer to prayer.

It's Jesus doing it through me in answer to prayer. Jesus didn't say it through me and answer the prayer. Jesus didn't say, you get out on your knees and pray hard and pray hard and pray hard and then see if you're able to do it. He said, you ask anything in my name, I'll do it. And I want to use your body to do it through, but I'll do it. My prayer puts Jesus to work. While I'm praying, Jesus is asking. I'll do it. I had someone come up to me in a revival meeting. And they said, oh, I wish you could go to my hometown for a revival. I said, why is that? Oh, because my brother lives there and they're away from God. And I just wish you could go to my town and preach a revival in my town

so that you could go and visit my brother. Maybe you could lead him to Jesus. But I told him something better than that. I read him this verse, and I said, Listen, how would you like for Jesus to pay a visit to your hometown? How would you like for Jesus to pay a visit to your brother? And he'll do it. He says, If you ask anything in my name, I'll do it.

That means I can go to the Lord Jesus Christ and I can say, Lord Jesus, there's this lost person a thousand miles away around the globe. Lord Jesus, they're lost. Would you go visit them and speak to them? And suddenly Jesus Christ is coming at the door. My prayer can circle the globe

and I can send Jesus to any place on the face of God's earth and get things done. He said that you shall ask anything in my name. I will do it. Jesus is still working. And Jesus said all power in heaven and earth is given unto me.

I can put that power to work just by prayer, just by asking. That's the might of prayer. And I want you to know tonight that that person that you cannot talk to, that person who stubbornly resists any witness that you try to give to them,

you can tonight go home and say, Father, would you knock on the door of their heart and just trouble them and make them to know they're lost and just speak to them about Jesus. Jesus said, if you shall ask anything in my name, I will do it. I will do it.

And lastly, that the Father may be glorified in the Son is the motive of our prayer. That the Father may be glorified in the Son. Y'all remember, Y'all remember last summer when we sold pancakes? We raised $2,000. We still needed $2,000 more

and we decided that what the Lord really wanted was for us to pray it down. I told that story somewhere in a revival meeting when I was preaching on prayer, and I said, we just decided that we weren't going to use any more means like that to raise money, that God had promised he would meet our needs, and it's foolish for us to go around here selling pancakes when my Heavenly Father owns all the cattle in a thousand hills, and the earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof, and all the silver and gold are his,

and he said, what you need, ask for it, and I'll give it to you. So we prayed. Somebody said, well, what if you had prayed and God hadn't given you the next $2,000? What would you have done then? I said, we wouldn't have gone. Because that would have been a sign we didn't need to do. What we don't need, we don't receive. If God didn't give it to us, it means we didn't need it. He didn't want us to go.

But, you know, as I think about that, you know, we got $2,000 for selling pancakes. Who did we thank? Well, we had to thank a few people for giving us a discount on pancake mix. We thanked the people who set up the tables. We thanked the people who sold tickets. We thanked the people who cooked the pancakes and all that. You know, just thanked everybody for all that they did.

Thanked people for buying pancake tickets when they didn't want to eat pancakes in the first place. And then we got scriptural. And we prayed and God answered. Now who do we thank? We just thank the Lord. Don't have to go around thanking this person and thanking this company

and begging favors from this thing. And maybe we can get a discount from this place. We just praise the Lord. He answered our needs. That's the motive of praise. Listen, there's only one thing God wants, and that's He wants to be glorified in His Son. That's all God's interested in.

He just wants to be glorified, and He's glorified when we allow Him to work through prayer. When you and I do it in our energy of our own flesh, we get the glory and we get the credit. When God does it

through answering our prayer and through the availability of our lives, he gets the glory. This is why Jesus prescribed it this way and whatsoever you shall ask, in my name,

I'll do it. Why? That the Father may be glorified in his Son. I'm not going to share my glory with anybody. That the Father may be glorified in the Son. And as I pray, as I lay claim to the promise of God,

and I pray, and Jesus works, and the miracle happens, the Father is glorified. The Father is glorified. The Father is glorified. And that makes me happy and it ought to make you happy. Is this promise true in your life tonight? Does your

level of experience come up to the level of God's promise? If it doesn't, then you'll be satisfied. You'll be satisfied. Say't be satisfied. Say with the Apostle Paul, whatever it takes, whatever it takes, I'm going to have everything God wants me to have. I'm going to make certain that every promise of God is literally fulfilled in my own life.

Now let's pray together.