How about this? When the king was going to kill them all, he said: give me a chance, I want to save them all. Think about it. Think about it. Anyway that's just an aside - so persistent prayer, fervent effectual prayer of a righteous man releases great power! James 5:16, Luke 18:1, pray without ceasing. Don't give up, don't quit. Men ought always to pray, and not get weak. You hear that one? Actually I don't like the way Jesus said it: Men ought always to pray and not quit. He did, He said that, and Paul wrote it too: I will that men, men everywhere, pray with hands lifted up, free of wrath and anger. If you have a prayer meeting, there'd be a lot of women there. It's wonderful, filling in for the men who aren't there - just the thing. You want to win the battle, you've got to pray. Listen man, if you don't pray, how can you win? How can you be spiritual leader in your home? How can you stand and deal with demonic powers that infest your home life, if you don't get in the spirit and pray? We must be able to do that. If you don't know how, get along and get someone to teach you how. This coming few months we'll get people up and praying strong!
The last one, so you notice it's a two part thing - so up here is where it counted. If you haven't got it with God, you'll lose it on the ground. If you don't maintain strong, effective prayer, engagement with God, flow of the life of the spirit, you can't win in life. That is the message. Whenever his hands got tired and came down, whenever there was a weakening, a lessening of prayer pressure, that's when the battle went backwards, and so I like it on the ground there. Joshua defeated Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword, so finally it's the word of God, sword of the spirit's the word of God. The Bible's clear about that. So he defeated him with the sword. What does that mean? That means it requires faith. You can't get anything to shift supernaturally without faith. That means: I believe what God says about me in my circumstances. I will speak and proclaim and declare what God says about me in my circumstances. Then I'll act, and do what God says to do. He says: overcome evil with good - okay, I'll overcome evil with good. Just think about that.
If someone's done you evil, what's your first response? Overcome it with good! [Laughter] Shake your fist at them and grrr! Get angry, or some kind of thing like that - no! Overcome evil with good! Pray without ceasing! In everything give thanks! This is the life of faith. It's a great life that causes people to win in life. Hold the word of God. See today, how many of you are praying? How many of us are praying, and holding God's word over our personal life, over our family, over our marriage, over our finances, declaring: it shall be to me, according to God's word? I am blessed. There may be recession, but I am blessed. I'm a seed of Abraham, the blessings of God on my life, I am blessed when I come in and when I go out! I'm blessed in my marriage, blessed in my family, blessed in my work! Everything I put my hand to is blessed! I am a blessing to everyone today!
You've got to get it in your heart and get it in your mouth. That's what faith looks like. That's what faith talks like. That's what faith sounds like. You can always tell if someone's in faith. It looks like they're in faith, it sounds like they're in faith, and they do something that shows they're in faith, see? You can't believe and do nothing, you know. The demons do that, so join the crowd of demons, believe and do nothing. They believe and do nothing, can't be saved. You can't - see faith steps out. Faith acts on what God says, so on the one hand there was strong prayer, on the other hand there was a holding to the word, the promises, the destiny of God. You notice what it says in Joseph. Joseph had a dream. Joseph had a great destiny, but in all of it, he had to hold the word of God! When he's being sold as a slave, when he's standing naked on the slave block there, and they're casting bids for him, nevertheless it shall be done to me, according to what God said to me! When he's framed and put into jail for rape, a false charge of rape, nevertheless it shall be done to me, according to the word of God! When he's in the bottom of the prison, nevertheless, it shall be according to your word Oh God.
The Bible says the word of God tried him, and then his time came, and then he's out and you know what? It was just like God said, but he held that word over his life until his circumstance changed and aligned with what God said - faith!