Faith-fueled Prayer - Tapping Into God's Promises

00:00 - Speaker 1 The grass fades and withers, but His Word will remain forever. So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth. It shall not return to me void. In other words, God's words don't fall to the ground and he doesn't speak and it just bounces back with nothing. His Word is full of creative power. In fact, inherent in God's Word is the ability to fulfill itself. So if God said it, that settles it and you can take it to the bank. Amen. 00:26 - Speaker 2 Welcome to the City Light Church podcast. Thanks for joining us today as we look into God's Word and discover the hope and truth that he has for us. If you want to connect with City Light Church, feel free to visit us at citylightnyccom. That's citylightnyccom. Pastor Boyan Jancic and his team believe that the power of the Holy Spirit is already working in our hearts and minds. As you listen to today's teaching, remember that you are deeply loved by God, that you are surrounded by His grace and that he has a real hope and a future for you. That he has a real hope and a future for you. 01:05 - Speaker 1 Last week I was ministering on the power of faith, the force of faith, the substance, that's faith. I want to continue in that vein because I want to be like my hero, jesus Christ, who is the ultimate faith preacher, who went about everywhere declaring the kingdom, calling people to repentance, but, yes, teaching constantly about faith and how you receive everything by faith and how to grow in faith. It's your faith that goes into the invisible spirit realm and pulls down the promises of God to where you need them, right here on earth. It's your faith that's gonna get you through. Faith seizes the promises of God to where you need them, right here on earth. It's your faith that's going to get you through. Faith seizes the promises of God and we are a receiving church, amen. Not just a talking church, not just a praying church, because it's possible for a Christian to be praying and praying but not receiving. And so that's when we have to look at the man in the mirror and make a change. That's when we go, hey, something's wrong here. Prayers shouldn't just be this thing where we're talking to God and maybe, maybe, just maybe once in a while, like one out of 50, he answers. No, prayer should be answered constantly and consistently. Jesus said my father is glorified when you ask what you will and it's done for you when you have. In John 15, he's talking about prayer fruit. When you are fruitful in your prayer life, that means you're asking and receiving. Asking and receiving that's how the dynamic Christian life should be. God is actually glorified by that, amen. 02:48 Yet a lot of Christians are like those Christians that prayed for Peter. The most hilarious example in the Bible Peter's put in prison. Christians are praying for him to be supernaturally released from prison. He gets supernaturally released. Chains drop, he's released from prison. He goes to the prayer meeting where they're praying for him to get supernaturally released, and a little girl opens the door and goes hey, it's Peter. And you know what the rest of the group says? No, that's just his angel. What? In other words, they didn't even believe fully what they were asking for. The prayer got answered and they go it's an angel. That's like you're praying for breakthrough. It happens and you go oh, that was a coincidence. No, that's how it should be. Your prayers are getting answered, hallelujah. 03:35 So the better we get at digging into God's word, knowing God, knowing the person of Jesus, the better we get at receiving, and I want to, just today, lead you in some foundational, some fundamental truths that will help you receive when you pray. So let's begin with 1 John 5, verses 14 through 15. We're talking about the promises of God this morning. All the promises of God are yes and amen in Christ. The Bible says in Peter that we've been given these exceedingly great and precious promises. There's over 7,000 promises in the Bible that are for you, that show you the heart of God, the character of God, the nature of God, that when you know these promises, you have confidence when you pray, because God's will is revealed. 1 John 5.14 says this. Now, this is the confidence shout confidence. This is the confidence that we have in him. See, when you pray, you need to have confidence, you gotta have. But what's your confidence in? 04:46 A lot of people don't have confidence when they pray. Why not? Because they're wondering. I wonder what God thinks about this. Does he really want me to have this? I don't know, but if he gave you a promise that he wants you to have it, then the answer is yes and amen. And with over 7,000 promises, everything you're going through right now, you say, oh, it's 2025. Doesn't matter, everything you're going through right now is covered by the word of God. It's in there. You just got to be willing to go, dig in, search the promises of God and then claim them and apply them for yourself. If you're lacking confidence in prayer, it's because you don't have a promise from the word. 05:27 People don't doubt God's ability. They doubt his willingness. Last week we saw that with a leper in Matthew 8. He comes up to Jesus. I picture him stuttering, not confident. I mean, you know he wasn't confident. He wasn't even allowed to be that close to Jesus. He should have been at a leper colony. But he heard the crowd, he heard the miracles. And he comes up to Jesus and he says Lord, if, if, see that conditional, if the doubt, if you are willing, you can make me clean. He's not doubting Jesus' ability, he's doubting Jesus' willingness. And Jesus turns about and says I am willing, be thou made clean. So you need that kind of confidence and it only comes from the word of God, from a promise in his word that speaks to your special situation, your unique and particular situation. Now, this is the confidence that we have in him that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. Keep that verse up there please. If we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 06:39 I have seen that scripture by religious people absolutely butchered. And you know religious people don't like answered prayer. They never get their prayers answered. They don't want you to get your prayers answered. And so when you talk about how good God is and how he answers prayer, or maybe you're frustrated that a certain prayer is taking time to manifest, they'll go well, you know, if you pray according to. You know sometimes what you want is not what God wants, but what God wants is better. So you just what. 07:09 There's always a way to spin this thing. I know what he wants because his word is his will. If he says in his word he wants me to prosper, that's what he wants. If it says in his word he wants all men everywhere to be saved, that's what he wants. If it says in his word he wants all men everywhere to be saved, that's what he wants. If he says in his word the gift of the Holy Ghost is for everyone, that's what he wants. If he says in his word by his stripes you were healed, that's what he wants. If he said in his word, he's the good shepherd, he will lead you. He will guide you, he will protect you, he will provide for you. That's what he wants, hallelujah. 07:49 So we got to get rid of this mamby-pamby, mickey Mouse Christianity where we're tiptoeing around God. Well, I don't know what you want, nevertheless, not my will, but your will be done. You have to know his will and his word is His will, hallelujah. So we're going to be receivers of His promises and we're going to be like a good son or a good daughter and say, dad, you said you got it. Listen, the scripture actually says that. God says that put me in remembrance. Listen, the scripture actually says that. God says that Put me in remembrance, put me in remembrance. You're going to the Father with a promise and you're putting him in remembrance of what he promised he would do, and he will back his word up every time. Hallelujah. Isaiah 55, 11. 08:43 So shall my word. God's word is holy, it's unbreakable. Heaven and earth will pass away, but his word will never pass away. The flowers grow old, the grass fades and withers, but his word will remain forever. So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth. It shall not return to me void. So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth, it shall not return to me void. In other words, god's words don't fall to the ground and he doesn't speak and it just bounces back with nothing. His word is full of creative power. In fact, inherent in God's word is the ability to fulfill itself. So if God said it, that settles it and you can take it to the bank. Amen. 09:29 You show me a person who receives in prayer consistently. I'll show you somebody who's in the word and bringing the word of God back to him in prayer. You show me somebody who's frustrated and not receiving in prayer. I'll show you somebody who's not in the word and the word is not alive in them and their prayer is more emotional. And so they talk to God about the problem, but never, ever, bring the word into the problem. 09:59 And there's a time, sometimes you know, you just want to talk to your best friend, jesus, so it takes on an emotional component. There's a place for that. But that's not the prayer of petition. That's not when you need a breakthrough. Look, I've had it rough sometimes and I go to the Lord and go, lord. This is tough right now. Lord, I need to feel your presence and I'm just talking to him like to a friend. That's wonderful, but that has to stop at some point. 10:28 And then, when you need a prayer, answer that's the prayer of petition. When you're asking him, approach him on the basis of his word. I'll demonstrate in just a little bit. It shall not return to me void, but it shall accomplish what I please and it shall prosper. God's word prospers. It creates this ground, that I'm standing on, this earth, that we live in, the universe that we behold, all created with the word of God. His word prospers. It will prosper in the thing for which I sent it. Amen, amen. Let's go to Jeremiah 1.12. Then the Lord said to me you have seen well, for I am ready to perform my word. The old King James says I watch over my word to perform it. Please note, he doesn't watch over my words to perform them. He watches over his word to perform it. The only time he watches over my words to perform my words is when I'm echoing his word and speaking his word Amen. 11:42 I feel like I hit a nerve there when I talked about emotional praying. If there's anything I love, I love hitting a nerve. That's what juices me up for a Sunday. He's your father, he loves you, but sometimes you got to know how to do business with God and just coming up to him weepy, defeated, or just talking. There's so much talking in prayer, too much sometimes. This is why, when we have 21 days of prayer and fasting I did I feel like one of the most unholy ghost things I could have done. 12:21 I set a two-minute limit on prayer. It's like Lord, please, can I do this? He said yeah, lord, I don't want to quench you. I'm sure if you move, somebody will go on, because if you let your average believer go on in prayer, good Lord, they'll go on for 15, 20 minutes. They'll start off and say, hey, pray for me, I need more water. I got half a bottle. Can you pray? Yes, water, okay. Then they're praying for missionaries in China. Five minutes later They'll go around the world six times and we all have to pretend we're not bored out of our mind, we all have to play nice and we all have to be like mm-hmm, mm-hmm, yes. Meanwhile we're all thinking the same thing. I don't with you anymore, because you're all over the map. 13:03 Is it any wonder people aren't getting their prayers answered when they're like that? In fact, Jesus talked about that himself. This isn't my theory. He said the pagans, the heathen, the unbelievers. They think they'll be heard for their much speaking, their many words. Don't be like them. Sometimes the most powerful prayers are the concise, short ones, but they're undergirded with the word 20. Second prayer full of the word of God beats a half hour, jibber jabber all over the place any day. Oh amen, good, I'm glad I hit that nerve. I didn't hit it in the first service so they didn't hear that, but you heard it. Is there anyone right now? I want to pray for you. You're going through a crisis right now. You need a miracle. Just raise your hand. All right, just come up here please. What is the issue? Financial? 14:05 - Speaker 2 breakthrough, financial breakthrough. 14:07 - Speaker 1 Financial breakthrough. Okay, does anybody have any scriptures? He needs financial breakthrough. Now I can pray and go. Oh Father, you know your son here. He needs some money because this earth, you know it runs on money Can't wait to get to heaven because in heaven we don't need money. But, oh God, we're you know it runs on money. Can't wait to get to heaven because in heaven we don't need money. But, oh God, we're on earth. Still we need money. No, we're going to go in with the promises of God. 14:33 So who's got some promises of God that have to do with finances? Tell me one, shout it out. An uppercut at the end. The blessing of the Lord makes one rich and he adds no sorrow to it. Who else? He loads us daily with benefits. Anybody else? Hallelujah, my God. That's a preaching voice, no microphone, just right from the back, just like that. 15:13 Praise God. Okay, we got three promises of God. Now stretch your hands towards him and we're going to pray. Father, in the name of Jesus, we come to you with your word. Your word says that Jesus, who was rich, was made poor so that we could be made very rich. Your word says, lord, that you load us down daily with benefits and the word of God. Lord, a promise to us is that your blessing will make us rich and, unlike the heathen, you don't add any sorrow to it. So we pray for our brother right now and we stand on your word. We stand on your promises that the mighty anointing of the Holy Ghost will come upon him and bring breakthrough. Breakthrough, move his environment around, change circumstances, open doors, multiplication. In Jesus' name, hallelujah, hallelujah, amen. 16:22 Who else I want to pray for you? And I said who has a crisis? Because if it's a real crisis, you don't care that I'm doing it in public, you know, when it's a so-so crisis, I don't want to be out there open in front of everyone. But when you're hanging by a thread, there are times, I don't care, I'll run out naked. I don't care, just help me, lord. I don't care, I'll run out naked. I don't care, just help me, lord. I don't care how. Who here? Yes, come on, amen. What's happening? Anxiety and a lot of family issues. 16:57 - Speaker 2 Okay, how old are you, sweetie 17. 16:59 - Speaker 1 You know I came to Jesus at 16 because of family issues. Know, I came to Jesus at 16 because of family issues. That's why I came to him. I didn't really want heaven. At 16, 17, you're not really thinking about heaven so much. I just my family life was a mess and uh, and when he held me, the preacher held me to baptize me. What do you want the Lord to do for you? I just said my, my family, my family. You know it was not good and the Lord came and he made it good. He filled the family my mom, my dad with love and there's a breakthrough for you. Amen, all right. Family anxiety Thank you for coming up. We're going to see this thing turn around for coming up. We're going to see this thing turn around. Family, give me some anxiety ones. I got the ones for family Because we see whole houses getting saved in the Bible. 17:51 Noah's Ark wasn't for Noah, it was for his whole house. The Philippian jailer said what must I do to be saved? The response was believe on the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your whole house. When God comes to rescue, he rescues the whole house, my parents. I had to hide the fact that I was getting baptized. I had to hide you know, some kids hide the fact they're doing drugs. I had to hide the fact that I was going to church because they were so against me going to church and then when I got saved, like dominoes they just fell, one right after the other, because the Lord comes and rescues the house, but for fear. Do you know how many promises there are concerning fear in the Bible? I said there's 7,000 promises in the word specifically for fear 365. 18:34 You know what the Lord is saying January 1st, fear not. Second, fear not. January 3rd, fear not. You got one. For every day of the year I've had anxiety. It makes no sense. In fact I'll even lower my voice a little bit, as I'm. So you know, when I had anxiety I couldn't even be around loud. I had anxiety. I was on a movie I couldn't watch. I was on a plane. I couldn't watch a movie. It was a war movie and like 10 seconds I'm like I can't even see guns going off because I'd be ducking in the airplane seat. So I know the spirit. But the Bible says he has not given you a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and a sound mind Over and over again. He says fear not. And then he says because? Do you know what's on the other end of the because? He says fear not because I am with you. The number one reason not to fear is because he's with you. Now what's? 19:28 your name, nicole nicole, stretch your hands towards nicole. You've you've received jesus as your lord and savior. Yeah, say that out loud, say Lord Jesus. 19:41 Lord Jesus, you're my Lord and Savior. You're my Lord and Savior. I put all my faith and trust in you. I put all my faith and trust in you. In the name of Jesus, we pray for Nicole. Release the anointing of God upon her and we cancel Satan's plans over her life, this tormenting spirit of anxiety and fear. We break it in Jesus' name, command her mind to go into harmony and balance Even her chemicals within her body. Be balanced. In Jesus' name, I even feel to just pray for strength to put the phone down. That's scrolling. That increases anxiety, not decreases it. But the Lord, the God of peace, comes around you, removes that anxiety right off of you, and we speak that household blessing upon you that the peace of God, nicole, the love of God, will supernaturally flood your home In Jesus' name. Amen, amen. Those of you, sisters, mark Nicole, surround her love, her minister to her. We're going to see you get far in the things of God. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. 21:07 Now imagine if this is how, whenever something came up, you prayed over your own life. This is how I cover my wife, my kids. This is how I pray for you. I don't come in with a bunch of emotional talk. It's got to be the word. The word Because he watches over his word. The word Because he watches over his word to perform it. We have these exceeding, great and precious promises John 15, 7. 21:40 If you've been a part of our 21 days of prayer and fasting, you know this is our foundational verse. Jesus said if you abide in me and my words abide in you, you will ask what you desire and it shall be done for you. What's it? Conditional on? His word, abiding in you. So little word, little faith, little answers to prayer. Big word in you, big faith, big answers to prayer. So what's the hang-up? I found the hang-up typically is people don't want to dig into the scriptures and they don't want to do the work daily of memorizing the scriptures and bringing these scriptures up and putting the Lord in remembrance of them. It's really mind-boggling. Some people are just like that. They can hear testimony after testimony of God answering prayers and a voice in their head says oh, that's just them, oh, that's a coincidence, oh, they're just special, they're favored by God. And if not you, though, your lot is just to suffer and get one out of 30 of your prayers answered. It's not, it's not. His word makes all the difference. Have his words abide in you and you will ask what you desire and it shall be done for you. 1 Timothy 1.18. Hallelujah, paul is writing young pastor Timothy. He says this charge I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them, by what the prophecies, timothy had a legacy of faith. His mother had faith. The scripture says that His grandmother had faith. 23:32 And Paul is saying, with these promises of God, these prophetic words, and when it says prophetic words, the prophetic, because there's so much pathetic and not prophetic going on today. People, you know I say prophetic and some people don't mention prophetic because you know I was going to the restroom and some guy stopped me and gave me a word. And no, that guy ushers, escort him out wherever he is. We don't tolerate that guy. No, parking lot profits, no, on the way to the bathroom profits. I'm talking about a real prophetic word and, by the way, most of the prophetic words you'll receive in your life that actually matter will be direct from the Lord to you. All the words that actually were life-changing for me, destiny-changing words, big events. The Lord spoke them to me and then later, somebody with a prophetic gift would come and they would confirm it. But the prophetic should always be confirmation, not information, amen. So there's these prophetic words that Timothy had. We don't know what they were, but it was most likely having to do with the gift on his life, the calling on his life, the way that church that he's pastoring is supposed to go. 24:41 Paul says that with these prophetic words, by them, you may wage the good warfare. King James says fight the good, fight, hallelujah. So what are the promises of God for? They're so that you can keep fighting. That's so you can remind the Lord and remind yourself, because often what tends to happen is, after the Lord speaks something glorious to you, the opposite can happen. You're like what Is the Lord torturing me? No, he gave you the word because he actually saw the opposite was going to happen. So he gave you the word, so you can use that word, that prophetic promise, to get you through. Hallelujah, you all with me. 25:36 There is the logos. That means I feel like whenever I do a Greek word, half the people check out oh, you've got Greek on me, it's all Greek to me. But this is important. You have to distinguish. There is the logos. That's the written word of God. That's important, so important, vital, in fact. If something doesn't line up with the written word of God, throw it away, discard it. The written logos, the word of God, is vital. That's when you read in the scripture as a promise, like we just did when we prayed for those two people, you can take those promises to the bank. 26:12 But then, on top of the logos, is the rhema. Ooh, the rhema. The rhema is not what God said, which is still valid, but not what he said 2,000 years ago. It's what he's saying right now. It's when he breathes on the word for your particular situation right now. In fact, when Jesus said that we should not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God, that's what the rhema is. It's the now proceeding forth word of God, amen. So there's several scriptures talking about finances, several that I've stood on for many, many years. One of them, I put on our offering envelope. Let them shout for joy and be glad that favor my righteous cause. Let them say continually let the Lord be magnified, who takes pleasure in the prosperity of his servant. 27:04 But in May of 2023, not too long ago I was puttering about in my kitchen and many of you know, I've been in Bitcoin for a number of years Not the OGs from 2009 or 2013, but 2019. And in May of 2023, it was the bear market. Still Nobody was talking about Bitcoin. You may not know this, but Bitcoin usually operates in four-year cycles. So we had a major breakout high in 2013. Many of you probably only heard about Bitcoin in 2017, when it had another major breakout high. Then, in 2021, most of the world started to really take notice. At 2023, nobody even wanted to talk about it Because it had gone down and it wasn't in the news. If it was in the news, it was a headline saying Bitcoin is dead. 27:58 I'm puttering around the kitchen and I had been praying, but I wasn't praying. When I was puttering around the kitchen, I don't think I was even thinking about Bitcoin, but this plan just got downloaded into my heart in about five seconds. It just crystallized and what I felt to do which I hadn't done before was purchase stock options in a company called MicroStrategy. Today, it's just strategy. This is just two years ago. Not even we didn't even hit two years Purchase far out options two and a half years out, and the reason why I felt like the Lord was coming to me. Why I got so excited was it was the bear market. 28:42 What does that mean? That's when you buy. If you want to make wealth, you don't buy when everybody's talking about it. If your Uber driver's talking about a particular stock, don't buy it. Your doorman is talking about Bitcoin. That's when you sell. You don't actually ever sell Bitcoin, but you know what I mean. No, you don't sell Bitcoin. It's the most finite asset, the most precious asset on earth. You don't sell it. I've never sold actual Bitcoin, but these options and stock shares with companies that are correlated and tied to Bitcoin, like MicroStrategy. It's the single biggest corporate holder of Bitcoin and moves right alongside with Bitcoin. So I was at a place. We were at a place in our life where we didn't have much money left. We had the Bitcoin, but we're not selling that. We put a down payment on a house this is from the big bull market of 2020, 2021. And we had a little chunk left and I went all in. I mean all in? I mean I didn't have next month's mortgage. I went all in. 29:41 I don't by the way, this is not financial advice and I'd never done some. I'd never right, emily, I'd never done something so reckless before. But I just sensed and I did some napkin math, right, I said, look, if Bitcoin does what I believe it's going to do, in two years' time, this will be a 5,000% increase. Now, that's not too shabby. People will do anything these days for 9% annual and at 9% you're not even beating the money printer Because of the money printer. Inflation is at 9%. They'll lie and tell you it's 4 or 5 or 6%. It's not, it's closer to 9. Every year, our dollar is devalued by 9%. Your purchasing power next year will be 9% if it's all in the US dollar. Yes, I am preaching a sermon. Still Bear with me. So I go all in. You know what happens immediately after I'm down by 50%. Now I did the napkin math. And what if Bitcoin does this? What will strategy do to my options? And it was 5,000%. And I went to the Lord about it and I said, lord, I mean, I started giggling when I saw the numbers Because it turned into millions of dollars On paper and I'm like Lord, could this be? And I hear in my spirit it will be so, just like it will be. So I'm like, oh no, no, no, no, that's just me, because I want this to be so, so bad. It's the voice in my head. I'm like I can't play these kinds of games. This is my life that's on the line. And now I'm 50% down. Lord, will this really happen? And I hear it will be just like that. It will be so. Every day I come to him, I hear it will be so. Now let me tell you something I'd never heard. Sometimes you hear silence from the Lord. I'd asked him in 2020, 2021, hey, lord, will Bitcoin go to 400,000? Silence. I didn't hear enough, just silence. I'm like, lord, come on. All I need is a thumbs up from you. All I need is a word, nothing. But this time I hear it will be so. It will be so Over and over again. It will be so In September, I'm down by 50%. Then came October. It's October, but the Bitcoiners call it uptober because every single time in October, for whatever reason, bitcoin tends to go up. Mark your calendars. October's half a year away. You'll remember this, by the way, in October of 25. You will Watch Not financial advice, by the way, because in order for my math to work, I bought MicroStrategy when it was at $300. The stock would then have to go to over $5,000. When have you ever seen a stock do that, that kind of increase? I mean, it's happened, but it's very, very rare. And it did exactly that. It beat Tesla, it beat Nvidia, it beat. And it did exactly that. It beat Tesla, it beat Nvidia, it beat Netflix, it beat Facebook, it beat Google, it beat Apple. It beat every single one of those and went in a span of a year and a half from $300 to over $5,400. If you check the chart right now, you'll see the high was 540. Because it got up so high they did a 10 for 1 split Changed my life forever. 33:06 What's the point of this? 33:14 The point of me telling you this is that you have to get the now rhema word of God, the promise for yourself, and you do that by spending time with him, worshiping him, getting his word inside of you, getting comfortable with hearing his voice, and sometimes you will miss it. 33:27 This is just how it goes. Sometimes you will think it's his voice and it's not. It shouldn't happen often, but the older you get in the Lord, the more mature you get, especially if you're willing to be humble and confess when you miss it and go back to the drawing board. You know there are people they'll just miss it for 20 years and never, ever think, hmm, maybe I should adjust my strategy of hearing from the Lord. But then there are the mature ones that go okay, last time I thought it was God. It wasn't God why? Oh, that's right, I was emotional, I rushed into it. You know what I noticed? Whenever I thought it was God and it wasn't, it was because I was getting my info from up here. But God doesn't live in your brain. He's not the holy cranium, he's not the holy frontal cortex. You know, he's the Holy Spirit and he lives in your spirit. 34:18 And so learn how to distinguish from the voice up here to the still small voice, the gentle yet powerful, whisper in your spirit and do not disqualify yourself from hearing from God. You are his sheep, you hear his voice. That's what Jesus said in John, chapter 10. My sheep hear my voice. Hallelujah. Just say right now, that's for me, that's for me. Yes, it is God. You qualify to hear from the Lord. Hallelujah, hallelujah. Let's go to 1 Kings 18, verse 1. 34:51 When I was down 50% and then it happened again in a few months because Bitcoin will make you throw up 16 times, right, chris, it'll make you wake up with night sweats before it rewards you, she'd wake up and I, you know, I literally was driven to the ground rolling around the floor with the Lord, lord, because I wanted to sound like I can't take the stress anymore. So what kept me going? With the promise of God and the prophetic word, I was able to wage a good warfare. You know, if you're going to make real money, there's institutions that want to shake you out. There's other entities. They will do everything. They'll manipulate stock prices, manipulate the markets, everything just to shake you out of your position. You want to be like a pit bull and get lockjaw, and you can only do that and stay with it. If you got a word from the Lord Hallelujah and it came to pass after many days, is this helping anyone, because it's so quiet in here? All right, all right here, all right. 36:12 And it came to pass after many days that the Lord excuse me that the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year saying go present yourself to Ahab and I will send rain on the earth. It hadn't rained in years. In fact, god said to Elijah go speak, that there will be a drought. And what did Elijah do? He just echoed the word of God. See, god needs his ambassadors on earth to speak his word. And Elijah called for a drought. And there was one for years. Now God is saying I'm sending rain again. That's my word to you, elijah, that's my promise to you People. They haven't seen rain in so long. They forgot what rain looks like. That might be what your life looks like right now. I haven't seen the blessing of God in so long. I forgot what it looks like. Wait for that word. With the word of God, you can do anything. Go present yourself to Ahab and I will send rain on the. Now let's just fast forward to verse 41. 37:13 Then Elijah said to Ahab Was there a cloud in the sky? No, was there rain? No, there really wasn't. There was no rain. Was there a cloud in the sky? No, was there rain? No, there really wasn't. There was no rain In the desert, just that sun. 37:37 But Elijah heard the sound of the abundance of rain. Where did he hear it? With his natural ears? No, on the inside of his spirit. I wonder what you're hearing in your spirit. 37:44 If you're not hearing anything in your spirit, you've got to change some things. You cannot be staring at your phone screen 12 hours a day and expect to hear from the Lord. And it also doesn't mean that you have to be in some study with a candle going and six books and the Bible open. No, you just need to get into a place of rest. You go into the subway, take your phone and chuck it somewhere deep in your book bag or handbag and just you know. I remember when I got saved in the 90s and sometimes you'd see 10-15 people in a subway car and I knew exactly what they were doing. They'd be doing the Jesus meditation. Thank you, jesus. Anybody remember that they were Christians? And now everybody's looking at a phone. They'd be digging into that place, in the secret place. That's where you hear from the Lord, that's where you hear from heaven. Go eat and drink, for there is the sound of abundance of rain. 38:33 So Ahab went up to eat and drink, and Elijah went up to the top of Carmel. Then he bowed down on the ground and put his face between his knees. By the way, in many ancient cultures, including that Middle Eastern culture, that was a birthing position. So Elijah's down and he's in a birthing position. What's he birthing? He's birthing the promise of God. When you get a promise from God and you got 7,000 of them in the holy word of God and then you can be with Jesus and hear his spoken rhema promise to you, that's him speaking specifically to your situation. Because there's no scripture verse many scripture verses on God bringing prosperity, but no scripture verse saying, hey, buy MSTR options and make sure they're out two years. But I filled myself up with the written word concerning prosperity yielded to the Holy Spirit to carve out an intimate relationship with him. And then, when the time was right, that's what I heard A now spoken word hey, this prosperity I'm bringing you, here's one of the channels I'm going to do it through. Do this? Can I just go back to that previous verse? I want to make sure. Okay, thank you. Verse 43. 39:46 And said to his servant go up now, look toward the sea. So he went up and looked and said there is nothing. So Elijah is praying. He got a word. What does the word say? Rain is coming. Is there any rain? Not even a cloud in the sky. Thanks, you got that. Okay, bruno, sorry I can't sing so you didn't catch that from. Not even a cloud in the sky. Some jokes land, some not so much. Not even a cloud in the sky. But the word of the Lord is I'm sending rain. He tells his servant go and check. He's in that birthing position. Go, look over the cliff. Is there anything? Not even a cloud, not even a cloud. Then it came to pass verse 44, the seventh time that he said there is a cloud, but it's itty-bitty, it's insignificant, as small as a man's hand, rising out of the sea. Then Elijah said oh, this is it. Go up. Say to Ahab, prepare your chariot and go down before the rain stops you. Now it happened verse 45, in the meantime, that the sky became black, with clouds and wind, and there was a heavy rain, the first rain in years. So Ahab rode away and went to Jezreel. 41:09 What is the promise of God to you? Only you know there's 7,000 of them you can receive from the scriptures Spending time with him. He will then specifically give you a promise for your life for 2025. How many of you, by a show of hands, you have a promise from the Lord for 2025? Let me see your hands. Look at the hands around here. So what should your posture be? Should you just be like cool, I got a promise, let me chill and wait, cause you know God's promise, it always comes to pass. Ah, wrong, it actually doesn't. The word of God and the promise of God must be hastened. When you receive a word from the Lord, he's showing you what he wants to do. He's showing you the potential of what can happen, but it doesn't mean that it will automatically happen. Why do you think Elijah was praying? If it automatically happens, the word of the Lord? 42:00 When it came to Elijah saying it's going to rain, elijah would have been like cool, it's going to rain, let's go home. No, he immediately started hastening the word of the Lord by praying and repeating the promise of God back to him. You said it's going to rain, and why? How do we know he was doing that? Because he said I hear, I hear the sound of the abundance of rain. There was no physical rain. He heard that sound of the abundance of rain. There was no physical rain. He heard that sound. See, I was down 50%. I had a mortgage bill coming in. I didn't know what I was going to do, but I heard the sound of the abundance of 5,000%. I heard that and I clung. I said no, this is going to happen, hallelujah. Thank you, jesus. Verse 46. 42:48 Then the hand of the Lord came upon Elijah and he girded up his loins and ran ahead of Ahab. I don't know why I included that, but it's there All right. I think I had my point without the visual of him girding up his loins. Always fun to imagine that, right, hallelujah. But actually it is. You know, because rich people didn't do that, because it's a humiliating thing. To gird up your loins means you. You know, you had those weird flowy robe things the men wore, and so you'd have to gird it up when you ran, but then you would have to expose your ankles and calves, which in Middle Eastern Hebrew culture was a no-no. Why am I even talking about that Because it paints a beautiful picture, because we know that, with the prodigal son, the father came running towards the son, which means he would have had to gird up his robes and humiliate himself to run towards his son, and it shows the humiliation God endured when he became man and ran towards us. 43:47 Hallelujah, matthew 16. This is my final passage and then we're going to receive communion. Matthew 16, verse 13. What do you hear in your spirit? Do you hear the sound of the abundance of rain? Do you hear a promise for 2025? A promise for your family, a promise for your future? He's got something to say. 44:21 Just look through the scriptures, just in the Gospel of John, in the Gospel of John, just Gospel of John, chapter 14 and chapter 16, and circle every time that Jesus says the Holy Spirit will speak. Over and over again, jesus says the Holy Spirit will speak to you, he will speak to you, he will show you things to come. He will not speak of his own authority, but whatever the Father gives him that, he will speak, he will speak, he will speak, he will speak, he will speak. He will speak Because he's not quiet, he's not a mute, and he cares about you. He takes an intimate interest in you. If we're not listening it doesn't mean he's not speaking. 44:57 When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples saying who do men say that I the son of man am? So they said some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, others Jeremiah or one of the prophets. And then the ultimate question every single one of us has to answer. He says but who do you say that I am? And Simon Peter. He answered and said you are the Christ, the son of the living God. And said you are the Christ, the son of the living God. And Jesus said to him blessed are you, simon Barjona, for flesh and blood has not what revealed. That's the Greek word apocalypto. 45:36 A lot of us think apocalypse means destruction or end times. No, it means the revelation. Specifically, it means the peeling back of the curtain, because we're all walking around like this and then God peels away the curtain and we can see. And Peter was like this, and God peeled the curtain and he saw that Jesus is the Messiah. Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father, who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church. What rock Catholics will say Peter was the rock. No, on this rock of revelation that I am the Christ, the son of the living God, on this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it, and I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. He said I will give you the keys. 46:41 This is connected to the revelation, or the promise, or God speaking the prophetic word. I hope what you're getting out of this message is not just the importance of studying God's promises, but of having a close communion with the Lord so you hear him for yourself, and that is available to everyone. And let me tell you something I'm a holiness preacher. I preach holiness, but I believe I preach it the right way, in that you cannot try to be holy, it's all by God's grace and you must yield to the Holy Spirit. But I just want to say this to some people you think that if you're trapped in sin, you actually have stopped listening to God, because you don't think you qualify to hear him, because you're in sin, and there were times when I was trapped in sin and that's when I heard God the best, the loudest, the clearest, because that's how he is he comes to you when you're in trouble. So if you're living a messed up life right now and you're trapped in sin and you keep rejecting God's love because you feel like you don't deserve it, you need to stop that, because God will reach down to you in the mud and pick you up and he will speak to you. How else are you going to get up out of the mud and then say I qualify to hear him? Yeah, so do you have those keys still, chris? We found out. 47:59 I was testing out different sets of keys Because you got this one that looks like it opens up the vault to a 17th century bank. Look at this. I don't know keys. I was looking for a good keychain with lots and lots of jingle, jangly keys, because many, many Christians in the spirit. They're walking around with a key set like this and they're expert, professional, promise receivers, but not promise users, not promise realizers, and they have a collection of keys that they've never, ever used. Words that God has spoken to them, promises that God gave them prophetic words. They'll be like. You know, they love to talk about it. 48:47 Oh, I got, ooh, this key. I got this key back in 2006. I was at a life group and the Lord spoke to me and told me that he was going to increase me and give me a career path. I love this key. Have you ever used that key? No, have you ever applied the key? No, did the key manifest? No, but I love it. It means a lot to me. 49:06 And then there's this key. I got this key. Ooh, this key is from 1997. I was in a revival service and God told me I was going to the nations. Have you won a soul since then? No, I never won any person, but I got this promise. You know, do you think about it often? No, I just kind of. You know, I keep it in my key, set in my pocket. 49:28 If you don't, amen or oh me. First of all, when God speaks to you and promises something to you, I would advise you to be very, very, extremely selective about who you share that information with, if anyone at all other than your husband or wife. Too many people they blab it to everybody and if you blab it, you lose it. It's the truth. Why would you want the enemy to know? In fact, a lot of times people blab it because they don't believe it and they're hoping someone else will believe it. When they blab it to them and encourage them. And they're not, they're believing for their own thing. It's true, they don't have the faith capacity now to take on your key. Set You're responsible with your promises and don't go talking to everybody about them. 50:15 I didn't come here in September of 23 and go well, I'm 50% down on my life savings. But God spoke to me. No, I kept quiet. I cried in quiet amen, only for my wife to see, and then I rejoiced in public amen, for everyone to see, and that's how it ought to be. After the manifestation. Thank you, chris. 50:46 So what are you going to do with the keys? Use them. How do you use them? Speak the promises back to God, stand on the promises, put him in remembrance and, even if it looks like you're 50% down and the exact opposite of the promises have happened, you hang on to the promise because that's why you got it to fight the good fight. Let's all receive communion. Come on, hallelujah Worship team, come on up. We're going to receive communion, as we do once a month and we're receiving communion and releasing our faith to hear God's word like never before, both the logos and the rhema, both his written word and the promises that he speaks uniquely and directly to our hearts. Hang on to the communion elements and we'll all receive them together. Thank you, jesus. Thank you Jesus. Thank you Jesus. Thank you Lord. Thank you, jesus, that your body was broken for us. Thank you, jesus, that your blood was shed for us. 52:00 As I was drifting off to sleep last night, I felt the Lord come to me and remind me of Paul in Corinthians, talking about how he was taken up to the third heaven, how he said whether I was in the body or out of the body, I don't know. He had such an amazing God encounter and I just felt like the Lord reminded me and tell me to get on you, because he got on me and just remind you of the realms of God. This earthly realm is nothing, but there are realms of God that you can go to right now, while on earth. You don't have to wait to heaven. Are you hearing me? Church For him. 52:39 I mean, imagine you're sleeping in your bed and all of a sudden you just feel the anointing all over your body. Your body begins to shake. You're having a God encounter and you're sleeping in your bed and all of a sudden, you just feel the anointing all over your body. Your body begins to shake and you're having a God encounter and you're seeing him. That's what he wants to do. That's what he wants to do that you would experience his love, the kind that can't just be intellectually known, can't just be intellectually known, but must be experienced. 53:10 Lord, what do you have in store for us? I believe it's good. What do you have in store for our people, lord? Knock some people out of their bed at night, lord, may they be on the subway or going to work, and just break down as you put your hand upon them and hear the audible voice of God. Open yourself up to the supernatural. Open yourself up to the realms of God, the surprises of God. Lord Jesus, we love you and we partake of communion knowing we partake of Christ. Death, sin and Satan have been defeated. You have given us life eternal. We thank you for it. Say this all of my sins are taken away by the blood of Jesus. I believe that I receive all of the benefits of the finished work of Jesus Christ. Now go ahead and partake of the body of Jesus and partake and drink of the blood of Jesus. 54:14 - Speaker 2 This is the City Light Church podcast. If you've missed any part of today's message or if you would like to find out more about Pastor Boyan Jancic and City Light Church. To find out more about Pastor Boyan Jancic and City Light Church, visit us at citylightnyccom. That's citylightnyccom. Feel free to visit us online or in person anytime. We would love to connect with you. We pray that you have been encouraged today, that you have been reminded how much God loves you and that you are surrounded by grace. Thank you for listening. Make sure that you subscribe to City Light Church Podcast wherever you find your favorite podcasts worldwide.