Living Hope Fellowship Church

 HOUSE OF PRAYER

Training Material

by Pastor Kevin Badgley

 HOUSE OF PRAYER

Preface

(prayer and the Holy Ghost)

          Matthew 21:13 says, “. . . My house shall be called the house of prayer. . . .”  Prayer brought you to God, and prayer will keep you in God.

          I make no apologies for the full and complete gospel.  When I say full gospel in this sermon I am not talking about a church affiliation; I am talking about believing the whole Bible.  There are so many benefits in it, and I’m not talking about the poor examples that you see in the church today, but according to the Word of God.

          Jude 1:20 says, “But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,”  Praying in the Holy Ghost is praying in tongues.  It is biblical.  It is scriptural.  It is commanded.  We have to pray in the Spirit!

HOUSE OF PRAYER

by Pastor Kevin Badgley

           Matthew 21:13 says, “. . . My house shall be called the house of prayer. . . .”

          Prayer is the key to everything.  Jesus said that we will be a house of prayer, or we will be a den of thieves.  If prayer is not made, thieves (devils) will come in.  The world can pray all they want to, but God doesn’t hear sinners.  When we get born again, we are obligated to pray.

          Prayer brought you to God, and prayer will keep you in God.  Jesus prayed much, and He prayed at inconvenient times.  He prayed all hours of the night.  He prayed early hours of the morning.  Paul said in 1 Thessalonians 5:17, “Pray without ceasing.”  If you pray without stopping you don’t have to worry about a schedule!  Jesus prayed without ceasing. 

          Jesus said in Luke 18:1, “And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;”  Then He told them about a woman petitioning an unjust judge.  She didn’t give up and he finally gave her what she wanted.  When you quit praying you faint! 

          When battles are bigger, prayers must increase.  James 5:16 says, “. . . The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”  Prayer is effectual by the Holy Ghost.  Fervent means you put all your heart and soul into it. 

          Matthew 7:7 says, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:”  Shall is an absolute, positive word.  Verse 8 says, “For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.”

          There are three classifications of prayer.  ASKING is done with your understanding.  It is a petition, asking for needs.  It is requesting protection.  It speaks about the souls of others or needs at hand.  SEEKING is Word study and fasting.  Word study is more than just for intellect; it is also obeying the Word of the Lord.  Then there is knocking.  KNOCKING is Holy Ghost prayer, which includes spiritual warfare and translation of the soul.

          I make no apologies for the full and complete gospel.  When I say full gospel in this sermon I am not talking about a church affiliation; I am talking about believing the whole Bible.  There are so many benefits in it, and I’m not talking about the poor examples that you see in the church today, but according to the Word of God.  Jesus said in John 4:48 that there was a class of people who say that except they see signs and wonders, they will not believe!  I am one of them.

          I believe that when we pray, God answers.  I believe that it is yes, or no, or wait.  To wait means that things aren’t like they should be yet for the yes to take place.  Some people take wait as a no, because wait is not in their vocabulary. 

          If everything in our heart is right with God, then the answer will be yes, because we won’t pray crossways of the Word.  As we petition the Lord, we will pray according to His will.  1 John 5:14 says, “And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:”

          1 John 5:15 says, “And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.”  Then we will have full confidence toward God, and our faith will link up with His Spirit, and it is a done deal.  We realize that the power of God must do it.

          There are many difficulties, there is sin in the camp, and sin in the world, and many are in need of a miracle.  Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”  However, if you are not a prayerful Christian, a lot of things can bring you down.  If you are going through a trial or trouble, and you aren’t in prayer, it can bring you down. 

          You will be a house of prayer, or you will be a den of thieves.  You are a habitation of God, or a habitation of the devil.  It is that way for the church and also for the world, but they have no defense against the enemy! 

          The first church was a victorious church.  It had difficulties, but the Spirit of God always settled its troubles.  The Holy Ghost was hard on liars, but they knew nobody was lying to them.  What you saw was real.  They didn’t have to question, “Was that God, the flesh, or the devil?” 

          We want to know things for sure.  We want God to be definitive and tangible.  We say, “Make it clear, Jesus!”  God isn’t the author of confusion, but we have to get out of our religiously correct mold.  You can never pray effectually unless you face the facts! 

          The first church, the God ordained church, was a “full gospel” church.  It was a tongue talking, Holy Ghost filled church!  They could knock - and make things open.  You cannot enact a miracle without prayer.  Needs cannot be met without it, and healing cannot come without it.  Understanding of the Word of God cannot come without prayer.  If you read the Word without praying, you could get a delusion.  Prayer is everything to the believer. 

          Paul said in Romans 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.”

          What is the full Gospel of Christ?  It is to be saved, and then stay until you are endued with power from on high!  It gives you power over all the power of the enemy that is contrary to the Word, contrary to health, and contrary to a sound mind.

          Get saved AND fully changed.  If the Spirit of God is going to rule over your soul, let Him also rule over your mind and body.  If He is going to take control of your destiny, let Him take care of this life as well. 

          The money changers got in the church because of a lack of prayer.  He had to run them out.  He said in Matthew 21:13, “And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.”   

          The Christian’s life, witness, testimony, spirit, and mind are supposed to be prayerful.  Many scoff when somebody says they are going to pray about a situation, but that is the most powerful thing that you can do about it!  People have lost faith in that, which is ridiculous!  It is like losing faith in faith.  Prayer is an act of faith. 

          Jude 1:20 says, “But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,”  I’m going to be real clear with you - this is praying in tongues.  It is biblical.  It is scriptural.  It is commanded.  To go at it another way is to climb up some other way.  John 10:1 says, “. . . He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.”

          John 4:23 says, “But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.”  God is a Spirit, and you cannot worship Him carnally.  God is worshiped first and foremost in the Spirit! 

          I don’t say that God isn’t at other meetings, but God seeks out full gospel meetings, because that is where people worship Him in Spirit and in truth.  You cannot worship in Spirit without having the Holy Ghost.  The Spirit of Christ saves you, but the Holy Ghost gives you power. 

          Jesus said in John 14:20, “At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.”  If Jesus is in you, that is salvation.  Where it says, “I am in my Father” and “ye in me” that is the baptism of the Holy Ghost. 

          Paul gave us a commandment in Galatians 5:16 - “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.”  You cannot walk in the Spirit without the baptism of the Holy Ghost.  Walking in the Spirit has nothing to do with sentimentality.  You may tell me that you have been thinking about me all day, but that didn’t do me a bit of good.  If you have been praying for me all day, that is another matter. 

          Paul said in Colossians 2:5, “For though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order, and the stedfastness of your faith in Christ.”  If anybody says that they were there in the spirit, then I would say to them to bring their body along!

          Being somewhere in the spirit means just what it says.  It is symbolic.  It is literal.  God wrote His Word literally and those who think symbolically and religiously will miss it.  In Luke 10:21 Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, “I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. . . .” 

          Children take everything literally.  Jesus said that you can’t enter the deep things of God, literally the kingdom of heaven, except that you receive them as a child.  (See Luke 18:17.) 

          Jesus said one day to the Sadducees that they did err (that means they got it wrong).  Matthew 22:29, “Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God.”  We also err when we don’t know the scriptures or when we don’t know the power of God.  That power is the baptism of the Holy Ghost. 

          Jesus said in Luke 6:40, “The disciple is not above his master: but every one that is perfect shall be as his master.” 

          John 14:12 says, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also. . . .”

          Jesus rejoiced and thanked the Father that He revealed things to the disciples who were ignorant and unlearned men. Peter, James, and John did exploits for God.  The religious leaders (seminary graduates) couldn’t heal the man at the gate Beautiful. 

          Most seminaries teach that it isn’t necessary to have the baptism of the Holy Ghost, and it makes schisms in the church body.  A compromised gospel never glorifies God.  God doesn’t want a lukewarm gospel. 

          It gives our heavenly Father good pleasure to give us the Kingdom (see Luke 12:32).  Roman 14:17 says, “For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.”  The Kingdom of God is not in the natural, but it is righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost!

          When you ask, you do it with your natural understanding.  You seek God with fasting, Word study, and obedience to the His Word.  Knocking is done only by the baptism of the Holy Ghost, and in that you will find spiritual warfare and translation of the believer. 

          John 16:13 says, “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.”  What the Holy Ghost hears, He speaks.  How does He do that?  When you pray in the Spirit, He speaks it out of you. 

          I’m being very definitive.  This is not symbolic.  People who talk to you symbolically can deceive you.  There is no way that you can mistake things when people talk to you literally, like I am right now.  I want you to know exactly what the Word of God says!  You have to accept it or reject it. 

          John 16:13 says that the Spirit of truth will not speak of himself.  He doesn’t have his own opinion.  The Spirit of truth will translate through you what the Father is thinking.  It says that He will show you things to come.

          In John 16:14-15 Jesus said, “He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.  All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.”  The Holy Ghost takes of Jesus, from the Father, and brings it to you.  As you pray and yield to God, it begins to come out.

          I Corinthians 14:13 says, “Wherefore let him that speaketh in an unknown tongue pray that he may interpret.”  However, you can’t interpret something that isn’t prayed!  No understanding of interpretation can come except that prayer in tongues is made first. 

          If there is no prayer going on in the church, there can be no understanding of the things of God within it!  You can talk about Jesus and praise Him, but you will not understand spiritual matters!  You won’t know the deep things of the Scriptures. 

          Have you ever walked in somewhere and seen a crippled child all twisted up?  You can’t imagine the amount of maintenance and dedication a parent must commit to him.  That is not God’s will!  That is not a special person, that is an attack of the devil that should be cast out, and that person should be healed!  The Spirit of God will tell you what it is and how to release them from it.  You have to be full gospel to know that and do that.  Some ministries never even mention the Holy Ghost, but 1 Thessalonians 5:19 says, “Quench not the Spirit.” 

          What was the final thing that put them over the edge, when they stoned Stephen (1^st Christian martyr) to death?  In Acts 7:51 Stephen said, “Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.”

          The Bible says in Acts 6:9-10, “Then there arose certain of the synagogue, which is called the synagogue of the Libertines, and Cyrenians, and Alexandrians, and of them of Cilicia and of Asia, disputing with Stephen.  And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake.”

          That is what got him in trouble, and that is what got him killed.  He could read your mail by the discerning of the Spirit (one of the gifts of the Spirit found in 1 Corinthians).  You can’t have the gifts of the Spirit operational without the baptism of the Holy Ghost.  People who operate in such things without the Holy Ghost have a spirit of divination from the devil.  It can operate in tongues that are not from God.  It is the same thing as fortune tellers. 

          A lot of times when people get stressed, they quit praying.  David said in Psalm 77:4, “Thou holdest mine eyes waking: I am so troubled that I cannot speak.  You can get into depression where you don’t want to talk to anybody, and you don’t want to visit anybody, including God, and that is exactly when you need to! 

          We can quench the Spirit of the Lord by just not letting Him manifest the truth.  When we have a need, the Holy Ghost is there saying, “I can change the situation!”  When we begin to pray in the Spirit, He will change it.  I want God in the equation.     

          The Holy Ghost is real, and I am endued with power from on high!  Jesus said in John 14:16, “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;” 

          He also said in John 14:26, “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”  In other words, the Holy Ghost will take of the things of God, and demonstrate them to you.  He will interpret them to you. 

          In John 16:15 Jesus said, “All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.”   Jesus takes of the Father and passes it to the child of God through the Holy Ghost.   I am talking about the method and operation of the baptism of the Holy Ghost in a believer. 

          God’s perfect will is that you prosper and be in health even as your soul prospers.  It is God’s will that we have power over all the power of the enemy.  Then we won’t have a place for fear in our lives!  You can know it in your head, but if your heart’s not right, repent. 

          Prayer changes your heart.  It starts that way whenever you get born again.  The Spirit of the Lord is there, and it drops down in your heart and quickens the faith that He gives every man.  He says, You must be born again.  Your life is a wreck, and you know it.  Now is the time.  Receive me.  So, what do you do?  You say, “God, Do something!  Change my life.  I receive you, Lord, and I renounce the works of sin.  God, can you wash me and make me brand new?”  God says, YES!            You were praying.  Prayer is talking to God.  You may say that you don’t know how to pray.  When you have the baptism of the Holy Ghost, and you pray in tongues, you won’t find one mistake in that prayer.  You won’t find one preconceived notion in that prayer.  You won’t find one mispronounced word in that prayer, because that prayer is perfect. 

          We don’t even know how to pray as we ought, but thank God, He gives us the baptism of the Holy Ghost.  All we need to do is cut loose, and let Him pray in us!  We can’t obey that command that says to pray without ceasing without the Holy Ghost.  We think too much.  We are supposed to be praying.  I am convinced that people talk more than they pray.  Prayer changes us. 

          The theme of our church is Jeremiah 33:3.  “Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.”  That means prayer.  God gets us into a place where we don’t know what to do, but if we pray, He will show us what to do.  God is taking us across the Red Sea.  God is taking us places that He had to make, and He is still making a way.  God is able, and He is our provider!  We may not know where our next meal is coming from!  We don’t know how we are going to get through the next day, but God has a way already lined up, and He will show us things to come!         

          James 5:13 says “Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. . . .”  A lot of us are afflicted, because we have been murmuring and complaining instead of praying.  God loves us, touches us, and purifies our hearts by faith through the Holy Ghost.  We are walking impossibilities, so we need to be in prayer. 

          If you are filled with the Holy Ghost, you have the ability to talk in tongues.  Now, if you don’t have the gift of tongues, you won’t be able to talk, at will, any time you want to, but the initial evidence is praying in tongues. 

          Cornelius was a member of the Italian band of soldiers, and he feared God.  When Paul began to preach to him and those he had gathered together, the Holy Ghost fell on them, and he heard them speak with tongues.  Acts 10:47 says, “Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we?”  He knew by hearing the tongues that they had received the Holy Ghost. 

          The Holy Ghost is your lifeline.  It is your key to power over all the power of the devil.  God wanted us saved, and He wants us to have power over all the power of the enemy.  When someone says that you can say and do the things that Jesus did without the Holy Ghost, then you suddenly have become greater than Jesus.  That is a doctrine of the devil.

          You need to read Romans about the change that God gives to Christians when they are filled with the Spirit.  Romans 8:1 says, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”  A lot of people only quote the first part of this Scripture.  In other words, they say that they are born again, so they can’t backslide.  However, the remainder of it says, “. . . who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”  That Spirit is the Holy Ghost! 

          If you are not living in the Spirit, you are under the law!  That is why you can’t live the life.  That is why you need to get filled with the Spirit, so you can just get out of the way!  It is not, “thou shalt, or thou shalt not” so much anymore, because when you get filled with the Spirit you rejoice to do God’s will!  God’s chastisements are not grievous, and you thank Him when He rebukes you.  You are thankful, because you needed to know how to pray right! 

          Romans 8:5 says, “For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.”  What are you after today?  Is it money, security, power, love, health, strength, or education?            If you are after the Lord, you will get Him.  If you are after the flesh, you will get the flesh.  Yet, we try to get the Spirit to give us the things of the flesh, and that is called religion! 

          That is what James 4:1 meant when it said, “From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?”  The problem is between your ears and in your heart.  What is it that you are wrestling with?  The wars, fighting, and lust come from the carnal mind that overrides the mind of Christ in the believer, because we mind the flesh more than we mind the spirit!  The Spirit says to get up and pray.  The Spirit says to stay up and pray.  The Spirit says to fast and pray.  The mind says anything but that, because your flesh and Satan are buddies!  Devilish thoughts are unbelieving, selfish, fearful, and rebellious. 

          To disavow the full gospel of Jesus is rebellion.  Why would you want to run with a rebel?  The Bible says in Proverbs 10:13, “In the lips of him that hath understanding wisdom is found: but a rod is for the back of him that is void of understanding.”  The rod, in other words, means sickness, disease, strife, and judgment is going to come! 

          To mind means to obey.  To mind means, also, to be preoccupied with.  If you are after the flesh, that is what you are going to be preoccupied with.  If you are after the Spirit of God, that is what you are going to be preoccupied with. 

          Romans 12:1-2 says, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.  And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”

          Isaiah 26:3 says, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.”  How can you be in perfect peace in today’s society if you don’t keep your mind stayed on God?  How can you keep your mind stayed on Him when your mind has to be occupied at work, or at school, or with daily activities?  You can pray in the Spirit (in other words, pray in tongues) while you are washing dishes, driving a car, cultivating beans, or whatever your daily task.  It bypasses the mental capacities.  Thank God for that one.  The Holy Ghost prays precisely in line with God and makes intercession for the saints.  (See Romans 8:27.) 

          Romans 8:11 says, “But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.”  

          Romans 8:13 says, “For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.”  The Bible says that the wages of sin is death.  If you are filled with the Spirit, and you know to do good, and you do it not, to you it is sin.  You can be saved, and filled with the Holy Ghost, and still sin!  You can get sick and die, because you rebel against the Word. 

          If you do not obey the Lord in the operation of the full gospel, you will have the same kind of witness as one who doesn’t believe in the full gospel.  Romans 8:13 tells us if we live after the flesh, we will die.  In prayer, we have to kill the deeds of the body so we can live. 

          God will quicken our mortal bodies by His Spirit.  He makes us alive.  That means revival.  What you couldn’t do, now you can do.  What you didn’t believe, now you believe.  I believe for stuff I didn’t even know about before, because I called unto Him, and He answered and showed these things to me. 

          Romans 8:14 says, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.”  The last day church will not rapture without the baptism of the Holy Ghost.  It is not going to happen!  If you don’t have the Spirit how can you hear Him? 

          Some say I am putting pressure on them to be filled with the Spirit, but I’m telling you exactly what the Word of God says.  God is putting the pressure on you.  Ephesians 5:18 says, “And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;”  Let’s be filled with the Spirit, the Holy Ghost, as God commands.

CONTACT INFORMATION:

PASTOR KEVIN BADGLEY

LIVING HOPE FELLOWSHIP, P. O. BOX 111, GRAND CHAIN, IL  62941

CHURCH / FAX (618) 634-2541

E-mail 

livinghopefellowship@lazernetwireless.net

These condensed Bible studies have been published to help new Christians in their new walk with the Lord.  Kevin Badgley, the author, is the pastor of Living Hope Fellowship Church.

This is a Living Hope Fellowship publication.

 © Living Hope Fellowship, Inc.