If Two Shall Agree, continued

Praise the Lord, Beloved, and Greetings in the Name of the One who said, “Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” (Amos 3:3). The Author and Inspiration of 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” – Jesus said, “If two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them” (Matthew 18:19). Some have the opinion that God is too slow, or that He won’t answer our real desires for a long time. Saints, this sort of thinking is contrary to God’s Word – “If ye ask anything in my name, I will do it” (John 14:14).

Chosen Ones, the problem is not with God concerning the confinements of time or His desire to answer; the problem is the lack of faith that all of us suffer at times in our walk with God. This is where true prayer-partners are beneficial. They assist you when your faith is weak in some areas, and you are required to assist them when necessary.

Precious Ones, we know that Jesus won’t lie, and that He is true to every promise that He has made. Therefore, why are our prayers not answered when we ask? The answer is simple – we are not “asking in faith”. Simply put, when we ask, we don’t believe that God will answer immediately. A true prayer partner should assist us to have immediate faith in that area. James ministers to us when he says, “…ask in faith, nothing wavering [without even the shadow of a doubt]” (James 1:6). If we waver, the scripture issues a warning - “let not [the wavering] man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord” (James 1:7).

I will write more on this subject after the anniversary services.
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, “For your shame ye shall have double [blessings]; and for confusion they (God’s people) shall rejoice in their portion: therefore in their land they shall possess the double: everlasting joy shall be unto them” (Isaiah 61:7). The Author of these words is Jesus Christ, our Savior. It is in His Name that I greet you.

Beloved, in continuance of our theme, “If Two shall Agree” - Jesus was more busy than all of us, but He found the time to pray. There was not, and never will be, anyone on His spiritual level who could qualify as His prayer partner. Yet, He found time to pray alone in the Garden of Gethsemane (see Matthew 26: 36-45). God has ordained us to have prayer-partners on the same spiritual level to help us pray! That’s why Paul encourages us to “each esteem other[s] better than [our]selves (Philippians 2:3). However, even with a God - ordained prayer-partner, we still, in many cases, don’t take the time to pray about what we need and desire. Saints, I must remind you all that Matthew 18:19 applies only when “two shall agree on earth…”. Then, anything that they shall ask... shall be done for them…”

Chosen ones, prayer (especially group prayer and fellowship among the saints) is stronger than any atom bomb ever made. Consider Acts 12:1-10. The Apostle James had been killed, and Peter was bound in jail, but the group of saints at Jerusalem prayed to God for him “without ceasing”. They did not pray once or twice and stop, but the church did not stop praying until God knocked the chains off Peter, opened the iron gates of his prison, and brought him right to the place where they were praying. Peter’s success came through group prayer.

Precious ones, Sister Stretch (our Fasting Coordinator) has rotated us on a fast for the First Lady and myself and for the success of our anniversary services. We must all participate in order to achieve full success, and we must all keep praying until we see the results that we anticipate through the services. Let us not cease until our prayers are answered.

I will write more on this subject next week.
Until then, know this,
I’m extremely grateful that God has selected me to be your Pastor.
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 harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few” (Luke 10:2). The author of 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” - most people are pressed for time. They plan everything up to the last minute, then they try to squeeze prayer in. Therefore, they are continually on the run, constrained by their time schedules, until our Lord allows something to grip them. Then, these same people want God to deliver them immediately, even though they know that before their crisis, they didn’t exhibit the same emotion and urgency when it came to the commands of God.

Precious ones, a case in point is the story of a rich man and a poor man, Lazarus, who both died (see Luke 16:19-31). The rich man suffered the torments of hell, while Lazarus found a place of rest in paradise. The rich man wanted Abraham to just let Lazarus dip his finger in cold water and come all the way from paradise to cool his tongue. Yet, while he was alive, he didn’t have the time to even give Lazarus a sandwich as he lay starving right at his doorstep. How could some people expect so much when they have done so little? Chosen Ones, this is why our God, Jesus, ordained the principle of “two agreeing”. In the times when you fall short in observing the principles of God’s Kingdom, your prayer-partner should cover your slackness, and you should do the same for them. Paul said, “...submit yourselves...to every one that helpeth with us, and laboureth” (I Corinthians 16:16).

I will write more on this subject next week.
Until then, know this,
I love my fellow-laborers with all my heart,
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 inspired the words, “As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good until all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith” (Galatians 6:10). The Name of 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” - A love of slumber and sleep has gripped thousands. Their beds hold them until noon, after which they arise, pray for about five minutes, and expect God to honor their prayers. Yet, many of these same people can listen to the radio for hours, purely for entertainment purposes. Some can use the telephone for all day, just for gossip. Then, they have the nerve to say that they are short of time. We ought to squeeze every opportunity we can out of the few moments of life that our God has given us. One way to accomplish this is to think about others more than ourselves.

Chosen Ones, scripture records that Jesus said, “The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few” (Matthew 9:37). This teaches us that there are many who need to be persuaded to live for God, but there are not enough Christians who are willing to be unselfish and work together to see this goal come to reality. Notice that Jesus said “laborers” - not one laborer, but many. It is only when two or three or more Christians work together that they can win over a harvest of souls.

Precious ones, in other words, there are so many souls that need salvation that no one man or woman can reap this harvest alone. When Jesus gave me the name of our church, Anointed Harvest, I saw a vision of anointed vessels of all races, social classes and educational levels, working together to convince a dying world to repent and give their lives to Jesus. However, the vision never showed only one man or one woman working to accomplish this goal. Rather, two or three operating in one accord can accomplish anything in Christ.

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, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, hereafter ye shall see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man” (John 1:51). The only Man that the angels of God perpetually ascended and descended on was our God in the flesh – Jesus Christ. It is In His Name that I greet you.

Beloved, in continuance of our theme, “If Two Shall Agree” – there are many mothers and fathers who spend a lot of their time with their children. When the children need them (which is most of the time), prayer becomes only a side issue. Time is planned for everything except prayer, which is actually the most essential part of our day. Many parents only pray when disaster strikes. Then, they excitedly begin their search for Jesus. However, they often find that they have lost Him in the busy rush, just as Mary did when she went a few days journey without Jesus, supposing Him to have been in the crowd. It took her three days to find Him again (see John 11:17). Let me pause and say this – that’s why it’s beneficial to have two or three agreeing with you in prayer. When you get discouraged and the Lord takes more than a day or two to answer your prayer, your prayer-partners can encourage you to hold on and wait longer.

Precious Ones, let me encourage you to wait on God, because you will always find God at the very point where you left off praying. As examples, Daniel prayed for 21 days, but God answered right where he left off praying (Daniel 10:11-12). Paul prayed all night in stocks, and at midnight God was found right where he finished praying (Acts 16:25-30).

Chosen Ones, if you are surrounded by people who are in one accord with you, each person serves as a point of strength in your life at the time when you need them. When two or three come together touching and agreeing in one accord, the Lord gives a portion of enlightenment to each of you. When you all bring your sources of enlightenment together through the Holy Spirit, it fits like a puzzle. In other words, true Holy Spirit prayer partnership works like this – one may see the lesson that needs to be learned from your situation in the past, another may see it from the present perspective, and yet another may see it from the future angle. That’s what Paul meant when he wrote, “We [Christians] know [what God wants us to know about our lives] in part, and we prophesy [or preach and foretell the future for each other] in part” (I Corinthians 13:9).

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