If Two Shall Agree, continued

Praise the Lord, beloved, and Greetings in the Name of the One who said, “Let there be light: and there was light” (Genesis 1:3). His Name is Jesus, the only God of this earth. It is in his Name that I greet you.

Beloved, in continuance of our theme, “If Two Shall Agree” - there are three things that crowd prayer out of our lives. (1) Lack of love for God -- When we blame God for all of our mishaps (or even some of them), and we are cold and indifferent toward Him, it’s hard to pray alone, much less with someone else. It’s already a struggle with our flesh to pray, even with the right attitude. Our knees will tire quickly. Sometimes we are tempted to pray after everything else is done. If our attitude is wrong, it becomes contagious and throws everybody else’s attitude into confusion and frustration. (2) Laziness crowds prayer results out of our lives. If we are not careful, we will find reasons to shorten our prayer time to just a minute or two because of our occupations, long nights, need for rest, etc. So far, all of these excuses can be remedied by obeying this simple scriptural principle - “Present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service” (Romans 12:1).

Precious ones, remember that your paycheck can’t buy your ticket to heaven. If you only knew what God had in store for your obedience in prayer, not only would you encourage someone else, but your results will come faster because of your level of faith. This thought is a perfect segue to reason number three: (3) A lack of expectation. Many Christians have problems with this one, if not all of us! We pray, but then we don’t expect the prayer to be answered immediately, and in some cases, we don’t believe that God will answer our prayers at all on certain issues!

Chosen ones, again, the scripture has a remedy for this - “ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you” (John 15:7). If you believe and obey this doctrinal principle, your faith will be an asset to the group and not a liability. Then, when two or three of you pray with love, diligence and expectation, you all will be dangerous to Satan and to his kingdom of doubters! Beloved, encourage someone else with this letter. Get a couple of extra copies and share these principles with them.

I will write more on this subject next week.
Until then, know this,
I love you all so very much,
In His Love,
Pastor William L. McCoy

If Two Shall Agree, continued

Praise the Lord, Beloved, and Greetings in the Name of the One who said, “The earth is the LORD'S, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein” (Psalm 24:1). The one who inspired these words is none other than our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. It is in His Name that I greet you.

Beloved, in continuance of our theme, “If Two Shall Agree” - Many of our brothers and sisters in Christ don’t spend enough time with God to know His voice from any other. Thus, they’re often deceived by Satan, and left in confusion. This is why God ordained “two or three” to come together and pray (Matthew 18:19-20). There are deceiving methods of Satan that can get past one praying saint, but when “two or three” saints’ prayer agenda is on one accord, it is next to impossible for Satan to infiltrate the group with his deceiving ways.

Precious Ones, God did away with the solo prophetic ministries of Moses, Elijah, Elisha and Samuel during the time of the prophets Zechariah, Haggai and Malachi. All three of these men prophesied during the time of the reformation of Israel’s captivity. There was only a two-month space of time between the prophesies of Haggai and Zechariah (see Haggai 1:1 and Zechariah 1:1). God ordained this new structure to teach us that it is better to have support from others who share your desires and vision than to walk alone in prayer!

Chosen Ones, we don’t have, and never will have all the answers to life’s problems. There is only One who has “all power in heaven and in earth” (Matthew 28:18), and that is Jesus our God. Jesus ordained His children to have strengths in certain areas to support others who have weaknesses in those same areas, and vice versa. What do you think Paul meant when he said, “We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves” (Romans 15:1)? He meant that when two or three pray about an issue, your weakness is okay because someone else in the group is strong in that area, and their weaknesses are okay because they are covered by your strength in another area. You get it - we are helpers one of another. As Solomon puts it, “Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they [or one should] fall, the [other] one will lift up his fellow; But woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up” (Ecclesiastes 4:9-10).

I will write more on this subject next week.
Until then, know this,
I love you all with the sincerest amount of love I can give,
In His Love,
Pastor William L. McCoy

If Two Shall Agree, continued

Praise the Lord, Beloved, and Greetings in the Name of the One who said through the mouth of the psalmist, “God [has the ability to] anoint thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows” (Psalm 45:7). The God who inspired these words is none other than our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. It is in His Name that I greet you.

Beloved, in continuance of our theme, “If Two Shall Agree” - If you remember, I ended last week’s letter with a discussion on the subject of partnership prayer and the successful result of this institution as ordained by God. How do we know that God ordains partnership prayer (prayer for your brother or your sister apart from your personal prayers)? Let us reexamine the scripture. “Be kindly [oh-oh] affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour [and how does God view love to be with honor?] preferring one another” (Romans 12:10).

Chosen Ones, all of this means that when prayer is offered up in accordance with the methods commanded by our God, it changes things. It lifts heavy burdens, heals sick bodies, and tunes you in to heaven’s wavelength. In the words of scripture, “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land” (II Chronicles 7:14).

Precious Ones, every prayer acquaints us with God. We cannot know God apart from prayer. Job said, “Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace” (Job 22:21). However, peace does not come in the form of a “Lone Ranger” mentality. We are commanded in scripture to “follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14). This means that we can’t get to heaven without each other.

I will write more on this subject next week.
Until then, know this,
I love you all SO very much,
In His Love,
Pastor William L. McCoy

If Two Shall Agree, continued

Praise the Lord, Beloved, and Greetings in the Name of the One who asked “Lovest thou me?”, then followed His question with a requirement, “Feed my sheep” (John 21:17). The name of the one who said these words to Peter is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It is in His Name that I greet you.

Beloved, in continuance of our theme, “If Two Shall Agree” - Jesus encouraged us to pray, talked to us in parables, and spent many nights praying in the mountains to show us by example the value of prayer. Yet, we have not learned that the secret of success in this Christian warfare is prayer, more prayer, and much prayer - especially with a prayer partner. Must I remind you that prayer is the only spiritual exercise that we are required by scripture to do all day and every day? Did you forget about the scripture that says, “Pray without ceasing” (I Thessalonians 5:17)? Or did you forget the words of Luke when he wrote that Jesus “spake a parable unto this end, that men ought always pray, and not faint” (Luke 18:1)? Do you remember the scripture that advocated team prayer partners and highlighted the successful results of team prayer partnership? Here it is - “Confess your faults one to another, and pray for one another, that ye may be healed”. This is one result of prayer. Another result is that “the effectual fervent prayer of the righteous man availeth much” (James 5:16).

Chosen ones, many have the wrong conception about praying, especially with someone else! Many seem to think that prayer is supposed to change God, but that is far from the truth. True partnership prayer is supposed to change you! That’s why Jesus sent His disciples out two by two - to show them and us that we cannot make it by ourselves. We all need to be among the sanctified. That is where our inheritance is. Partnership prayer transforms you from someone who thinks only about yourself to someone who constantly considers the needs of others.

I will write more on this subject next week.
Until then, know this,
I love you all SO very much,
In His Love,
Pastor William L. McCoy