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We are called to pray for people, and to be a minister of the Spirit of God. Come spiritually prepared, and believe that God is with you - guide people’s attention to the Lord, not the prayer! There will be conflict before, during, and after ministry, and the battles will be within you. Believe God is with you, take risks, and reach out in prayer. Keeping your eyes on Jesus, and listening to the Holy Spirit, you will be able to minister healing and freedom, in Jesus name, to people.
I just want to just talk about ministering to people. Now, I notice I’m doing a lot of praying for people at night time. Partly that’s because people have this huge expectation some man of God will pray for them; and I understand that, you know; but the problem is if we continue to give in to that, then it minimises what you can do. So, I want to talk about a couple of things in ministry that can be of help for you.
There is always a spiritual warfare around ministry. It’s just recognising what it is, and then learning how to deal with it as it comes up. The first conflict is before you pray for the person. The second conflict is while you’re praying for them. The third conflict is after you’ve prayed for them. Get the picture? You’re ministering the Holy Spirit, there’s going to be some conflicts; and the battles are all inside you.
I want to just show you quickly how you can deal with them. If you want to become good at ministering the Spirit, you just have to practise. No practice, never become good. You’ve got to practise. You want to play the piano? Practise! If you look at the piano, ‘Ah I might get it wrong!’ You never play. You have to practise. So, it’s a humbling thing that we have people to practise with. We have to be willing to stretch out and take risks.
I’ll just show what I mean. I just need one person to volunteer. Here’s the first part. What if nothing happens? What to do? “Just stand there. Face me.” So, the first conflict is the willingness to position yourself to minister to people. So I’ve put myself in a place of being vulnerable now. I’m taking a risk. So, many people, the battle is just to get to that place. So, you have to make a decision. I’m called to be a minister of the Spirit, God is with me and I will step up and take risks. To take risk means: I’ll step out, looking for God to do something. So, every time I step out, I feel a little bit nervous. It never stops, because you’re becoming vulnerable each time you do it.
So, what can you do about that? You just make a decision, “I’m called to be a minister of the Spirit, and the way God teaches me, is by engaging with real people, with real problems. I will make myself available. Yes, I’ll do it.” You’ve just got to make that decision. If you don’t make the decision to put yourself where ministry is happening, you can read all the books but you never really learn. If you want to ride a bike, first, get on the bike. “Oh, I read so many books about how to ride a bike. I have so much information. I know all about the bike.” “Hey, did you ever get on one?” “No.” “Then you can’t ride a bike.” See, knowledge is different from experience. There are some things you can only learn it with experience.
So the first battle is to say: ‘yeah I’ll come and pray.’ Now, here’s the thing some of you are missing. When I take a meeting, there is an anointing released, and anyone who prays gets to tap in on that anointing. One of the best times to learn is when we have a big meeting, there’s a flow of power. That’s the easiest time to get to learn, because there’s an anointing present; and the only way, see I can lay hands on you, and I can release an impartation to you. This is what happens - 95% of the time, within 3 weeks it’s gone. You have to hold things on your life. You have to make it your own; and you make it your own by practice, you make it your own by meditation. You have to give yourself to ministering. So the first battle is this.
The second battle is, when I come to pray, I start to think “Oh”, all the pressure now to try and solve her problem. So what I’ll do is, I’ll just direct. “I want you to close your eyes, and just open your heart to Jesus. I want you to look to Him.” What I’ve done is I’ve got her attention on the Lord, not on me; and that just stops so much pressure. Now, if I focus on “Oh, what to do?” I become afraid, and I start to close up my spirit. So you have to set your attention towards the Lord. I just, as I close my eyes, I just begin to think about Jesus being very near to me. Of course, I’ve done that every day. I did it this morning. So when I close my eyes, I become very aware of Jesus near me and His presence is here. I can feel His presence straight away.
So, you have to do your homework in your personal life with God. Ministry is about bringing the life of God to people; and before I come to pray, there’s apprehension – what if nothing happens; what if I have feelings of inadequacy. Make a decision – I’m going to step up and trust God. When you come to pray, you may feel somewhat concerned, ‘maybe nothing will happen’. Push it aside and focus on the Lord. “Thank you Lord for Your presence is here; and I see You touching her right now.” What I did was I began to picture Jesus standing there, and life is flowing through me to touch her; and that’s exactly what happened.
Of course, after you’ve ministered, then sometimes doubts can come. You wonder about ‘was it good enough’. Just stop. Stop it. Don’t go analysing. You just did what you could; you just ask the person: ‘was this helpful?’ What can we learn, and learn next time, new things. It’s a journey of learning.
“Just come. She’s asleep. Here we go. Just come. Alright then. So, just close your eyes.” You must centre people’s attention on Jesus. Otherwise they put a demand on you, and you’ll start to feel manipulated to try and make something happen, rather than leaning on the Holy Spirit. Now, when you’re praying for people (you’ve done your counsel), when it comes to praying, depend on the Holy Spirit. Always depend on Him. So, I just set my mind listening for Him, what He wants to do; and I become conscious on whether the anointing is settling on her. If I feel a wall and a block, you’ll feel like no flow, there’s something happening I don’t know about. So, I just need to ask the Lord – “What is it Lord?” Then, power of God.
Sometimes there are blocks in ministering to people. If there’s a block, sometimes I can just overcome it with just a power surge, but most times, you need to stop and ask the Lord what the problem is. It could be a control spirit over the person. It could be unbelief. “In Jesus’ name, I bind that control spirit, I bind the unbelief. Loose her now.” Often then, power will start to flow. Or, there may be an issue in the heart that you have not yet addressed. You just need to say “Hey, I don’t feel the flow of the Spirit, let’s talk about that. Is there something that we’ve missed? Let’s ask the Lord to show us what’s missing” You close your eyes, and you get them to close their eyes – “Let’s ask the Lord: Lord, show us what it is we need to deal with.” Interact with the person.
[Practise Exercises]
We need to just have a chance to pray with people now, and I’ve run out of time so much, I’ve got so many things I want to do. I would love to get you praying for one another. Then we’ll have an alter call at the end, and we’ll just have to believe for God to touch you, wherever you need to be touched. This is what we’ll do. I’ll get you into groups of 3, and I want you just to get the feel of ministering power to one another. We just need say, 3 people – 1, 2, 3, just come. Stand there. Ok.
So, it’s very simple – just step-by-step. This is the purpose of this. I want you to get used to releasing power. Now, we release power usually with a word of command. It’s from within. The steps we’ll take are very simple. “You’re the catcher. Eyes open. Be ready to catch.” Sometimes people fall over “Ahh”. Sometimes they go “Oh!” So, be alert. So, you have your eyes closed. Just ask now – ‘Can I practise on you?’ ‘Yes please’. Be encouraging! Just stop here.
Jesus cultivated an environment for ministry. When the people were not responsive, little power flowed. If that happened with Jesus, then it will happen with you. In some places, He took the person out of the town to pray for them, because the atmosphere of unbelief was so strong. Sometimes He put people out of the room, because the atmosphere of faith was not there. It is important to set up the ministry; to create expectation for God to do something.
Alright, so again now, you are going to minister the power of the Spirit to this lady. We ask again. ‘Can I practise on you?’ ‘Yes.’ I like a big smile. Ok then.” So, the lady receiving, just close your eyes and focus on the Lord. In a moment, the power of God will touch your life. I want you to close your eyes, and I want you just to begin to picture Jesus standing, and He’s just where I’m standing, just with you now. God is with you. Begin to pray in tongues. Activate the flow of the Spirit. Become aware that God is with you. God is with you. Then on the count of 3, we’re just going to release the power of God. So when we come to 3, rise up inside, and release the power of God. Just speak the word “Power!” 1, 2, 3, “Power”.
Alright then, I just want to change around. You catch; and you be here. That’s right. What I want you to do, ask her again, same question: ‘Can I practise on you?’ “Yeah you can’. Close your eyes, and just begin to pray. Pray in tongues. When you’re praying in tongues, God’s spirit is flowing in you; as you begin to feel his presence in you now. That’s right. Don’t focus on praying, just focus on… There it is.
Now, same person praying - two different experiences. Don’t worry about that. It’s ok. Now, there was somewhat of a difference in the ability of the people being prayed for to receive. That’s what makes the difference - it’s the person receiving. So always, there has to be faith. Ministry has nothing passive in it. You’ve got to be 'believing God actively for something to happen. Amen.
“Come up again. Just come. I need a catcher. ‘Can I take your hand? Can I practise on you?’ Ok. That’s good.” Remember – creating a positive environment is crucial. You’re the leaders. You need to be expecting God to do something. So, when you’re ministering, build expectation. In a few moments, God is going to touch your life. The power of God will come on you. I can see already the anointing’s coming on her. Holy Spirit come, touch, now. I rose up inside, and released the power of God.
“Come. You come too. Give me your hand. Stand behind her. Thank You Lord. There we go. Close your eyes. I want you to look up. God wants to touch you. God wants to pour His Spirit out on you. There. Now, you notice: I was speaking something. I was declaring something.
“Come. Just come. There we go. Isn’t that nice? Amen. Praise the Lord. Give me your hand. Close your eyes and look up to the Lord. God wants to touch you, wants to touch you like He touched the others, wants to touch you with His power. I want you, just for a moment now, just see your heart like two big doors just opening up. “Now!” Touch her right now.
Now, I was preparing her to receive. How did I prepare her to receive? I wonder if any of you noticed what I did. I’ll show you what I did. First, I got two experiences, where she saw God moving. Testimonies will do the same thing – share stories of God moving. Secondly, I got her to open her heart. I used a picture to help her open her heart. Then, I just prayed more strongly. Then something happened. So always, we have to learn how to build faith for things happen!
“Just come along here. 1, 2, 3. You’re the minister, you’re receiving, you’re catching. Ready? ‘Can I practise on you?’ That’s good. You can almost tell this is going to work. I want you to just imagine God is just as near as I am. The Spirit of God is filling you, just release the power of God right now. There it is. 1, 2, 3. Ok. Very good. You feel the power flow?” Don’t be timid. Don’t be shy. Come on, get bold! “Thank you Lord. Close your eyes, look up to the Lord; thank You Lord for Your presence. Touch her right now in Jesus’ mighty name.”
Ok it’s your turn. I want to get you into groups of 3. I want you all of have an opportunity to pray for someone. Ok? So, find an area or space you can practise. Get into groups of 3. If you haven’t got 3, put your hand up. Ok. We’re ready. One person catching – eyes open, one person receiving the prayer. Ok, person ministering – we want to do it just step-by-step.
Step 1 – “Can I practise on you?” “Yes yes yes”
Step 2 – Person receiving – close your eyes, open up your heart. God is going to touch you. Person ministering – begin to pray in tongues, quietly praying, begin to picture God’s power flowing. On the count of 3, release the power of God. Just blow on the person, or speak the word ‘power’.
Ready? 1, 2, 3. “Power!” Oh. That’s good. Very good. Try again. This time, take their hand – “Can I practise on you?” “Oh, yes. Do your best.” Are you ready? Person receiving – close their eyes. Person praying – listen to me. I want you to see this. As you begin to pray in tongues, begin to imagine Jesus. He’s full of joy; smiling; very happy; and we’re going to release that joy. The joy you can see, you’re going to release it into people.
Ready? 1, 2, 3. “Joy!” Woah. Very good. Change around; or try again. Ok. “Can I practise on you?” “Yes, yes, yes. Do your best.” Ok. Close your eyes if you’re receiving. Person praying, begin to meditate on Jesus. Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus. Begin to see Him. He’s full of joy. That joy is inside you. You’re going to release it. 1, 2, 3. “Joy!” Wow. Very good. Alright.
Now, listen again. Jesus said: “Out of your inner-most being, from within you, will flow rivers of living water.” Now, here’s the question: where does the flow come from? From in you. You must let go your heart to the person. You must let go of what God’s given you. You can’t sort of just stand like this: “Blah blah blah”. What’s happening is this –you’re saying ‘keep away from me. I’m going to pray from a distance.’ You can’t minister from a distance. You have to release what you have.
Just hold her. Ready. So you arise in your spirit, “hoo”, release the power of God. It’s like what God has given you, you give to them. The word ‘spirit’ is the word ‘breath’. That’s why I was getting you to breathe, or to speak. Hold her. That’s right. Come stand here. Lift your hands up. “Ooh power of God touch her”. Now, you notice I let something go from inside. There’s a power flow from within. There’s nothing passive about ministry. Got her? Ready? Just lift your hands up.
So, you rise in your spirit, and it’s going to release the power. “Power. Touch her Lord right now.” Oh. It’s alright. God’s touching her. It’s just sometimes it’s more visible than others. So if I was just to come a little closer. “Thank you Lord. The power of touching Lord, right now”. Now, the problem is one of receiving. It’s not one of giving, because if I just go like this: “Power - touch her right now.” You see the whole group goes down. So this is an issue of receiving. I just need to help her receive.
“I want you to just close your eyes and relax. God loves you. He does love you so very much. I want you to just see it’s like you’ve got two big doors on your heart, and I want you to just open them up so you can receive. So you’re used to giving to everyone else, but not used to receiving. Jesus wants you to receive as well. Just in a moment now, I want you to open up your heart, like you’re opening a door”. “Whooh - touch her”.
Now, what was the difference? The difference was the heart positioning to receive; and as I started to pray I was asking: “Lord what is the problem”. I felt the Lord drop into my heart: “She gives out to everyone else, but doesn’t find it easy to receive for herself”. So then what I encouraged her to do, was to picture her heart like it had two big doors on it, and opening them up. As she began to do that, the Spirit of God began to move into her. It’s all to do with preparation; and some people just never fall over anyway, so don’t worry about it - it’s not about falling over. I’m just trying to teach you the dynamics of flowing with the Spirit.
“Did you feel the difference that time? Yeah. You felt God start to touch you? And it’s true - you work and serve a lot, and give out to everyone else. When you give out to everyone else, it’s often that after a while, you don’t think there’s anything for you. God does love you. Close your eyes again. He loves you. See Him just standing before you; and He loves you. Father, in Jesus’ name, I break the spirit of rejection. I break every ungodly belief: that I’m of no value, and my life doesn’t count. I break it now in Jesus’ name. Lord, release Your presence. Touch her Lord.”
So the root problem was rejection. Even when nothing happened, I was still asking God: what’s happening? Get the idea? Learning? Alright then, so let’s do it again. Let’s pray one more time. Are we ready? Find someone to practise on. “Power! Power!” Ok we’re ready. “Can I practise on you?” “Ok. Yes. Do your best.” Just listen to me very carefully. Listen to me.
Now, I’m speaking to the people receiving. If you believe in your heart that there’s nothing for you, nothing will happen. If you look at the person praying for you, and think they’re not very anointed, nothing will happen for you. You have to realise this – that even if the person is not highly anointed, it doesn’t matter - your faith can release the gifting in their life. Jesus said: “If they receive you, they’ll receive Me.” So if you’re standing there right now, and someone has got hold of your hands, just as you close your eyes, imagine that’s Jesus there; and open your heart to receive. That’s right. See Him, smiling, loving you.
Now, if you’re ministering. Just release the power of God right now. 1, 2, 3. Power. It’s all about the heart begin aware. Try again. She’s unconscious - try someone else. Change around. Person receiving, close your eyes. What’s happening over there? That’s a spirit. One person pray in tongues, the other person command it out. Speak straight into the spirit. Ok. We’re ready. Person receiving, close your eyes. Jesus is about to minister to you. Person ministering, begin to see Jesus reaching out to this person. On the count of 3, rise up and release joy. 1, 2, 3. Joy!
See? It worked. Try once more. Just change around. Power! “Can I practise? Can I practise on you?” Person receiving, close your eyes. Woah. Catch her. Careful. We’re ready. Person ministering, begin to pray in tongues. See God’s Spirit working through you, then release the power of God. 1, 2, 3. Power! Alright then.
“Now, just stop. You’re trying to do it from your head, not your heart. Try one more time. I want you to close your eyes and open your heart; and see Jesus is with you. His power is flowing through you. Just see it. Focus on Him, not on the girl. Focus on Him. Now we’re going to release the power that’s inside you. 1, 2, 3. Power! See what happened that time? See? Quite different - from inside; before, it was up here. You were looking at her, and you were outside, not inside.”
Ok. Turn around then. Change over. Ready? Ok here we go. Look at that. Come. So now, I showed you a method – 1, 2, 3; but the anointing of the Spirit is like a river. So, don’t be strained or artificial. Try to be very natural.
Now, you notice this – I encourage you to pray without putting your hand on them, so you would resist the tendency or temptation to push them. If you put your hand like that, you’ll start to think “I need to help God. I push.”
I’m trying to teach you to arise from your spirit and to flow from your spirit. When you are flowing from your spirit, you won’t need to push; you just touch, and the presence of God just comes. So, it’s not the method, it’s the flow.
Someone else come. When you’re speaking to demons, you don’t flick them off like you’re swatting a fly. That’s not how you get rid of a demon. You have to use words. The words we speak are spirit. You need to speak to the demon.
Where is the demon located? In here, or around there? Ask the Lord to show you where. He may want you to put your hand on them. You must speak with force from inside. You must believe what you say will come to pass. Jesus said “Have the faith of God, speak to the mountain: be removed.” You must believe what you say will happen. So, we need to speak words we mean. So, it’ll be: “Loose!”, and you can see power flow. If we were doing deliverance, the demon would feel that. “Loose!”
Speaking those commands, the demon is forced up to the surface. They can tell whether you believe in what you’re saying. It’s not just saying empty words; its saying words filled with faith. “I believe that as I speak, something will happen; and if I take care I believe that when I speak ‘Power!’ that power will flow.” So, you need to believe when you speak, something will happen. Now, we just want to have a chance just to pray for people; and we covered so many areas, we just have to believe that God will do something.
So, if you had areas of generational curse, idolatry, spiritism, or sexual sin, some traumas, say: “God I need You to touch me. I know I need to be set free.” Please make your way to the front. Just make rows. First row receive, second row catch.
Let just worship the Lord. So, I look and I see lots of people. I can think one or two ways: “Oh, so many people - sigh”; or I can think like this: “every time I pray, I get stronger, because I’m exercising my authority.” So, you could get stronger too, if some of you helped in the praying. So if you’re not receiving prayer, maybe you’d like to come up, and be involved in just in doing some of the praying.
Now, remember what we said. Just prepare the environment. Now, what you didn’t realise, when I was getting you praying for one another, I was also preparing the environment; getting you to open up, getting you to relax, getting you to open to the Holy Spirit.
There’s no way that we can pray in detail for any person. I just have to believe that when I lay hands on you, the power of God will come on you; and you need to believe that too. Even though I don’t know everything that’s happening in your life, that God’s power will come on you. So, prepare your heart. Talk to Jesus now, about the issue you want the breakthrough. Be specific. Don’t come up saying: ‘well, whatever God wants to do, He can do.’ It’s just religious - it doesn’t work. Jesus asked the blind man: “what do you want?”
You need to tell Jesus what you want; where you want your breakthrough. Is it a generational thing? Is it something to do with spiritism? Is it some torment in your mind? Is it some traumatic experience? Is it some sexual sin? Is it some heart attitude? What is it that’s the problem? Just bring it before the Lord right now. Is it a fear? Is it some area that holds you back? Is it shame? Is it rejection? Have you been under the control of people so long, you feel deeply angry and rejected? Is there some picture that comes to mind? Talk to the Lord right now.
If there’s sin, ask Him to forgive you. If there’s someone you need to forgive, speak words of forgiveness. Come on. Let’s do that right now. Just speak with the Lord. Speak with Him. “Jesus, I’m so sorry. There’s been this sin in my life. I just come to You. I ask You to forgive me.” Talk to Him about what it is. Some addiction; some bondage. Talk to Him. He loves you. He forgives you. So you release forgiveness. Just release forgiveness to people who have hurt you, betrayed you. Release forgiveness.
Now what I’m going to do is this. I’ll lead you in a prayer. It’s a fairly general prayer, but you’ll know the part that works for you. After we’ve finished praying the prayer, just reach out and worship Jesus. The moment someone lays hands on you, stop praying. Just, if there’re spirits inside, cough them out. Just let go of what’s inside. Let go of what’s bottled up inside. Are we ready now?
“Father I come to You in Jesus’ name. I confess Jesus Christ is my Saviour and Lord. I’m redeemed by the blood of Jesus from every curse, every evil spirit, all the power of sin. I belong to Jesus. I renounce generational curses. I renounce agreements with evil spirits. I renounce ungodly soul ties. Lord I ask You to set me free. I forgive those who’ve hurt me; and I reach out to You Jesus, to set me free now. Satan go from my life. Now! In Jesus’ name.” Ok. Let’s begin to worship the Lord. Thank you Lord.
“In the name of Lord Jesus Christ, I take authority now. I break generational curses. I command spirits of idolatry, witchcraft, spirits of divination, bitterness, hatred, sexual spirits, unclean spirits, I command you to go. I come against spirits of shock and trauma. Go! Go! Go!”