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And The Prayer Of Faith Will Heal The Sick, How Does That Happen, A Closer Look At James 5:15
Feb 20, 2025
The prayer of faith will heal the sick; how are we supposed to understand what James was saying in James 5:15
And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven.
Does it mean that when I pray and muster up faith in my prayer, the sick person I’m praying for will get well? If that’s the case, if the sick person does not get well as a result of my prayer, does that mean that I don’t or didn’t conjure up enough faith? These are things that have caused many people to discredit God’s work and create doubts. Sometimes people that don’t heal after being prayed for are told they didn’t receive recovery because of their lack of faith, and those accusing misquote scriptures to back up their claims. We really need to understand what James is conveying in this verse and to do that, let’s understand what faith means. According to Hebrews 11:1 faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we believe. So how do we acquire faith is the real question? I'll invite you to watch the presentation above in its entirety.
Scripture References:
James 5:15
Romans 10:17
John 5:1-9
Hebrews 11:1
John 14:19
John 11: 4,5,6 John 11: 24-27
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[Music]
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hello good morning guys uh today we are
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going to talk about
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james 5 15. again this is study by
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types.com
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and this is a passage that i believe a
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lot of people don't quite understand and
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it's been used a lot in churches
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especially when somebody's sick or
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somebody's struggling with something
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and the pastor and the elders get
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together and they quote on james 5 15
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and the scripture says uh if anyone is
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sick
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let him call the elders and let him
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anoint him with oil
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and the prayer offered in faith would
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make the sick person well
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the lord the lord will raise him up if
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they have sinned they will be forgiven
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and i've heard that verse and i've
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actually used it too i prayed and i said
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the lord you say it
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and the prayer offered in faith will
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make the sick person well
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and the question is this does it mean
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that when i pray
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a master of faith in my prayer the sick
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person i'm praying for will get well is
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that what that passage means
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and if that's the case if the sick
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person does not get well as a result of
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my prayer
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does that mean that i don't or didn't
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conjure up enough
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faith now these are things that have
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caused many people to discredit
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god's work and create doubt
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and sometimes people that don't heal
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after being prayed for
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are told you didn't get healed or you
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didn't recover because of your lack of
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faith
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and those accusing usually they misquote
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scriptures
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to back up their claims they they use
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the scripture of
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the the kid that was struggling
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and that was demon possessed and
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the disciples trying to pray for him and
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he didn't get healed and when jesus
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comes back from the mountain
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jesus tells his disciples uh
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he they asked him how come we can cast
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out the demons
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and and and jesus says to them it's
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because of your lack of faith
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or your own unbelief so they use that to
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back up their claim
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so my question is if we really need to
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understand what james is conveying
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in this verse and to do that let's
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understand what faith means
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that's the primary uh objective is first
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we need to understand what is the
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meaning
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of having faith or praying in faith so
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according to hebrews 11 1
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scripture says faith is being sure of
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what we hope for
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and certain of what we believe that's in
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the niv
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other versions say say differently uh
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so but i'm going to use the niv for the
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sake of on this video
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so the question is how do we acquire
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faith
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is a real question that's what we want
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to know and and we're going to dive into
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scriptures and understand what this all
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means to us
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so now romans 10
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17 says faith comes by hearing
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and hearing comes by the word of god
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so it gives the answer to the question
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how do we acquire faith
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faith comes by hearing and hearing by
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the word of god
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so faith is a gift from god
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it is produced by the powerful word of
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god
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so faith is not acquired it is received
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in other words you can't acquire faith
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by your own will
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or your own power it is a gift from god
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and it is god who works in us both to
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will
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and act according to his purpose that's
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what philippians 2 13 says
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so you can't speak things into existence
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because you and i are not god i can't
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speak anything into existence because i
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am not god
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only god can do that he is holy
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okay keep that in mind i'll say that one
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more time you cannot
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speak things into existence because you
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and i
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are not god you can't heal anyone
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by our own willpower or by quoting
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scriptures
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and thinking by muscling up some kind of
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faith in yourself
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you can do that remember peter once
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asked jesus master increase
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our faith and what jesus said to him
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jesus said
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if you had faith as little as a mustard
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seed
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you could say to this mountain move and
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he will obey you
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well basically jesus was trying to
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communicate to his disciples is this
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you don't even have a scintilla of faith
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in you
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because you can't produce faith on your
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own
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he was erasing any thinking in peter
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mind i might have led him to believe
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that he could produce faith
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on his own or by his own willpower you
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see jesus was shown to peter
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you can't produce faith because you
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don't even have a centilla of faith in
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you
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apart from me okay so i'll show you the
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proof in in john
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in john 5. so let's go to john 5
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and i'm going to show you why i'm saying
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it it's a very important passage that
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is dismissed sometimes and i think is
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important
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so the healing at the pool on the
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sabbath now i'll read
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only for like five like five verses the
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scripture says
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after this there was a feast of the jews
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and jesus went up to jerusalem
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now the reason jerusalem by the ship get
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a pool
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in aramaic called bethesda which has
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five roofed colonnades indeed lay a
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multitude of invalids
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blind lame and paralyzed one man
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was there who had been an invalid for 38
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years
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when jesus saw him lying there and knew
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that he had only been there a long time
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he said to him do you want to be healed
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and the sick man answered him sir i have
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no one to put me into the pool when the
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water is stirred up
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and while i'm going another steps down
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before me
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and jesus said to him get up take up
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your bed
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and walk and at once the man was healed
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and he took up his bed and walked now
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let's go back
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now here's the question you have to ask
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yourself this
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specific question was that man healed
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by his faith or was he healed by the
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word of god
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coming from god himself in the person of
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jesus
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the point is this you see that
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faith is a result of god's own work and
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word
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jesus spoke the word and the man got up
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and walked
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so the healing had absolutely
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zero to do with that man because jesus
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asked him do you want to be healed
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he didn't say yes i believe in you heal
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me jesus spoke the word
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and this man was healed so faith
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comes by hearing and hearing by the word
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of god jesus spoke the word
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and the healing took place so what james
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is saying
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in this is this like the prayer of faith
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is a prayer that god himself has
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ordained
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in you to pray i'm going to repeat that
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again
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the prayer of faith that james
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is referring to in his scripture is
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the prayer that god himself has ordained
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you to pray or in you to pray it is not
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a prayer that you've concocted yourself
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it is a prayer that comes from the heart
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of god
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through you to achieve god's own purpose
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for god's own glory
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it is not a matter of you commanding
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anything into existence but rather
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your willing submission to do the will
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of god
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whether by life death sickness
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healing etc right
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i'm going to repeat that again it is not
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a matter of you commanding
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anything into existence but rather
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your willing submission to do the will
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of god
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whether by life by sickness
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by healing or by whatever god ordains
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this is very important so the prayer of
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faith
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finds his origin in the mind of god this
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is why john said in first john 5
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14 and 15 this is the confidence
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we have in approaching god that if we
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ask
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anything according to his will he hears
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us and if we know that he hears us
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whatever we ask we know that we have we
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have what we've asked
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of him so we've already established that
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faith
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comes by hearing and hearing by the word
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of god so it is god who decides
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whether to produce that faith in us to
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ask for things that run
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parallel to his purpose and will so the
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will of the lord will
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always glorify the lord and let's take
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the example of
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lazarus in john 11.
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was sick and his sisters send a
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messenger to jesus
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and they say the man your friend that
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you love is sick
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so basically the implication is come to
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heal
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him that's the implication right but
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it was more glorifying to god that
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lazarus died and rises from the dead
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than from him to be healed from his
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disease
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okay his sisters like
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mary and martha their theology needed to
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be corrected in accordance with the will
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of god
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and i'm going to point out a couple of
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things a couple of misconceptions that
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both sisters heard about the person of
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jesus
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and he was going to correct that with
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the death and rising from the dead from
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la
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of lazarus okay so let's let's let's
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look at that real quick
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so the sisters they sent to him and
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saying lord
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he whom you love is ill but when jesus
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heard it he said
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this illness does not lead to death
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it is for the glory of god so that the
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son of god may be glorified
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through it okay now verse five is very
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important
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and i i put something in right there for
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you for you now scripture says now jesus
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loved martha and her sister in lazarus
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so when he heard that lazarus was ill
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he stayed two days longer in the place
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where he was
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jesus love for those three people led
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him to stay
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longer you see that in our mind we're
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thinking that is twisted
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how can you love someone and let them
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die in jesus mind
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because i love him i love them i'm gonna
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allow
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lazarus to die because i have a greater
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purpose in mind
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you see how we we always have to be
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in line with the will of god because
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jesus knew that there was a greater
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purpose
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he says this illness does not lead to
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death
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okay it does not end in death but for
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the glory of god so let's see what
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happens
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now mary and martha basically wanted
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jesus to come
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possibly lay his hand on lazarus to heal
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him like they've seen him do it and one
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thing they forgot
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a fundamental thing is this like jesus
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didn't have to be
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there to heal lazarus remember
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all jesus had to do was say the word and
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lazarus could be healed
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and i don't think mary and martha
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realized that remember what jesus said
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to the roman centurion
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he said to him he commanded him for his
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faith he says i have not seen such great
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faith in israel
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right mary and martha didn't unders they
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did not understand the power
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of the word of god in jesus they wanted
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jesus to come so that lazarus wouldn't
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be dead because mary said
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later on if you had been here
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lazarus would not have died didn't
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jesus didn't have to be there all he had
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to do was speak the word and lazarus
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would be healed but didn't understand
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the power of the word of god
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so jesus used lazarus death
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to accomplish that he was greater for
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god's glory
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for lazarus to be dead because there was
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something that the lord was teaching
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them
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we don't always understand it as people
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okay
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now jesus loved mary martin lazarus
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so he delayed his coming in order to
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correct their theology
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he could have easily healed lazarus but
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verse 4 tells us why jesus delayed this
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illness does not lead to death if it is
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for the glory of god so that the son of
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god
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may be glorified through it the glory of
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god
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understanding that jesus was the
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resurrection and the reason
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for the resurrection it leads me to my
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next uh
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point which is martha
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she also had a little bit of
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misconception that needed to be
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corrected
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jesus said to her your brother will rise
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again
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and martha said to him i know that he
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will rise again in the resurrection on
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the last day
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and jesus said to her i am the
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resurrection
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and the life whoever believes in me
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though he die
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yes shall he live and everyone who lives
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and believes in me shall never die
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do you believe this and she said to him
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yes lord
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i believe that you are the christ the
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son of god who is coming into the world
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see martha needed to understand just
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like all of us that the only reason why
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lazarus arrives again on the last day
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was jesus
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because he said somewhere because i live
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you'll also live
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john 14 19. so the people needed to know
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that the resurrection was only possible
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because of the author
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of the resurrection who was standing
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right in front of them
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that is jesus had jesus simply healed
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lazarus and prevented his death the
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glory of god would have
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never been revealed in that way martha
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would have never understood what
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that the reason for the resurrection is
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the lord jesus
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so the people would have of course
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rejoiced but god's greater purpose
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would have been concealed from their
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eyes
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it's only through the death of lazarus
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that it could have been revealed
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you see that so it was more important
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for lazarus
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to die and rise from the dead because he
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was that was going to
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really show the glory of god and martha
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needed to understand that jesus was the
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reason
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for the resurrection because he told
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i am the resurrection you see that
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so so what's the takeaway
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what's the big takeaway from all this
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chapter now the prayer of faith
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is the prayer that god himself through
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his spirit in us
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leads us to pray and that's the only
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prayer that brings about god's own
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purpose
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we don't determine by some kind of
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self-authority
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whether someone gets healed or not the
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holy spirit
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is the one one second guys
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like i was saying we don't determine by
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some kind of self
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authority whether someone gets healed or
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not
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the holy spirit is the one who moves us
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to pray according to the will of god
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so we are told in romans 8 that we don't
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even know how to pray or what to pray
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for
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because our flesh which is the old
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sinful nature
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is constant is constantly inemitting
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against the friends of god
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so our prayers is to ask god to move us
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through his spirit to pray the will of
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god and i'll leave you with romans 8 uh
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verse 26 and 27 likewise this spirit
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helps us in our weakness for we do not
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know what to pray
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or as we ought to but the spirit himself
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intercedes
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for us with groanings too deep
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forward and he will search his heart
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knows what is the mind
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of the spirit because the spirit and the
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seed
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for the saints according to the will of
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god
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this is how we pray this is how we pray
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we pray by the spirit of god all things
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are possible
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only through the spirit of god so we
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don't
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call things into existence we don't
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command
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sickness or diseases to leave people we
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don't have control over
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any of that it is only through
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faith if god leads you to pray for
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healing
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then you pray for that healing and that
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healing will take place so that god may
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get the glory
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i don't come and i don't say well i have
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the authority to cast something out i
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can't do that i'm not god god is holy
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he's god is in a category
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of him in himself like we are not we
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don't have that power
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but god allows us by using us by
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through his spirit to to accomplish his
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purposes
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so our job is to willingly submit to his
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authority and come and say lord we don't
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know what to pray for how
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we need to pray for this person but we
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believe that
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because your spirit is gracious and
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because your spirit
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will lead us into all the truth we
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believe that we're going to pray
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according to your spirit and we give
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ourselves to the lord
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and he renews our mind so that we can
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pray in accordance with his will
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so we enter the flow of the will of god
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in the sense that
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we position ourselves in a way where we
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can receive his words
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and pray according to his word for that
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person we are praying for
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ourselves basically it's almost like
17:19
uh going to the floor of a river you
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can't go against it
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because it's going to push you but you
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enter into the current and it pushes you
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and basically that's the we can't resist
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the will of god so we have to ask
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god is this what you want me to pray
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and sometimes we don't know so we just
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pray
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and and then just like romans 8 says the
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spirit himself and the seeds for us
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we've grown too deep for word and
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god understand those groans when we
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don't even know what to pray for
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and god uses that and accomplishes his
17:48
purposes
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so i will encourage you not to be to
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lose heart because sometimes we don't
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know what to pray for
17:54
but god is good and you not let us be
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tempted
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or we try beyond our ability you make a
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way of escape so
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when we don't know what to pray for pray
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still and ask god
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to pray with your spirit and pray with
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your mind so that you can be aligned
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with this will
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okay have a wonderful day and i hope to
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see you next time for another study
18:14
thank you
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