Rodney Howard Browne

Every believer needs to develop a lifestyle of

prayer. The Word says, “Pray without ceasing” (First

Thessalonians 5:17). We need to realize that we can live

in the spirit of prayer, whereby we pray all the time. Our

heart can always be crying out to Him. Our thought life is

never far away from God.

 

I asked the Lord why some people never feel or

sense His touch in their lives. It’s because most of their

waking moments are caught up in the affairs of this life.

Their hearts are far from God.

 

Jude 20 says, “But ye, beloved, building up yourselves

on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy

Ghost.” It is important to pray in the Spirit and keep

yourself built up spiritually. Some would say; “I need to

get prayed up.” Don’t just get prayed up; stay prayed up.

Stay in the Spirit.

 

Different Rules for Different Prayers

 

We know that just as different sports have

different rules, so there are different kinds of prayer and

not all prayer has the same rules. For the believer who

would be used of God, there are two prayers especially

among all the others that need to be prayed.

 

The first is the prayer of consecration. Jesus

prayed this prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. It was a

prayer of consecrating His will to do the will of His

Father.

 

The second prayer is the prayer of repentance,

always keeping our hearts right with God. This is not on

the basis of sin consciousness, but out of our love for

Jesus. We would not want to do anything to hurt Him in

any way, shape, or fashion.

 

These two prayers are lacking in many lives. For

those who desire to have the anointing, a consecrated,

yielded, repentant heart will be used of God.

 

Is God a Captive in His Own Heavens?

 

There are those in the Church who think that to

see revival our prayer life must be directed towards the

devil in a warfare attitude. They believe we must wage

war on the devil in the heavens to release God so that He

can move freely. They act as if God is bound in the

heavenly realm, waiting desperately for a believer to

loose Him so that the plan and purpose of God can be

done on earth.

 

Honey, I Blew up the Devil and other Nintendo Games

 

This game of spiritual warfare is nothing more

than a spiritual Nintendo game played by baby Christians

who have no understanding that Jesus defeated the devil

two thousand years ago. He has sent the Holy Ghost to

empower the believer and to flow through that

individual’s life to enforce the devil’s defeat.

 

In this game, the devil is seen through the eyes of

the believer as very big and in control. God is having a

problem containing him. Believers, instead of preaching

the gospel, are in their closets waging war on the devil.

 

Many live in a fantasy world of spiritual warfare. It’s

probably the result of a bad dream and an overdose of

pizza with too much cheese.

 

This has permeated the Church, infiltrated the

worship, prayer, and study of the Word to such an extent

that when you go to some churches, you wonder who are

you going to worship. All they ever seem to do is talk

about the devil and pray about what he is doing. Even the

sermon and their heavenly language is directed toward

the devil.

 

By the end of the service, all the believers are

stamping their feet, binding and loosing in a frightened

frenzy. It reminds me of a bunch of kids who have been

told they are going to have to walk home in the dark past

a graveyard after they’ve just seen a horror movie.

 

Pulling Down Strongholds in the Mind or Heavenlies?

 

(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal,

but mighty through God, to the pulling down of strong

holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing

that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and

bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of

Christ (Second Corinthians 10:4,5). This speaks of a warfare

in the mind of man rather than in the heavenlies.

 

We have no account of Paul or anyone else -

including Jesus – indulging in these so-called warfare

practices. This practice is based on Daniel’s 21-day fast

while the angel was trying to get through. This, of course,

is Old Covenant. The Holy Ghost is here on earth now.

 

He came on the day of Pentecost and never left.

So rather than indulging in religious practices that

do not produce any fruit, let us turn to the proclamation

of the gospel linked to the demonstration of the power of

the Holy Ghost resulting in the establishment of the

kingdom of God. “The kingdom is not meat and drink;

but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost”

(Romans 14:17).

 

It is interesting to note that the greatest soul

winners in the world have never indulged in such

practices. They have spent their time in prayer,

fellowshipping with the Lord on a daily basis, and

ministering out of an overflow of that communion with

Him.

There was a man of the Pharisees,

named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:

The same came to Jesus by night,

and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that

thou art a teacher come from God: for no

man can do these miracles that thou

doest, except God be with him.

 

Jesus answered and said unto him,

Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a

man be born again, he cannot see the

kingdom of God.

 

Nicodemus saith unto him, How

can a man be born when his is old? Can

he enter a second time into his mother’s

womb and be born?

John 3:1-4

 

People who try to understand the new birth

intellectually, are reasoning with their minds. Like

Nicodemus, they are trying to understand how we can be

born a second time. Some would say this born-again

experience is something new. No, it’s not. Jesus spoke

about it long ago.

 

Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I

say unto thee, Except a man be born of

water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter

into the kingdom of God.

 

That which is born of the flesh is

flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit

is spirit.

 

Marvel not that I said unto thee,

Ye must be born again.

 

The wind bloweth where it listeth,

and thou hearest the sound thereof, but

canst tell whence it cometh, and whither it

goeth: so is every one that is born of the

Spirit.

 

Nicodemus answered and said

unto him, How can these things be?

Jesus answered and said unto him,

Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest

not these things?

 

Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We

speak that we do know, and testify that

we have seen; and ye receive not our

witness.

 

If I have told you earthly things,

and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if

I tell you of heavenly things?

 

And no man hath ascended up to

heaven, but he that came down from

heaven, even the Son of man which is in

heaven.

 

And as Moses lifted up the serpent

in the wilderness, even so must the Son of

man be lifted up:

 

That whosoever believeth in him

should not perish, but have eternal life.

For God so loved the world, that

he gave his only begotten Son, that

whosoever believeth in him should not

perish, but have everlasting life.

For God sent not his Son into the

world to condemn the world; but that the

world through him might be saved.

 

He that believeth on him in not

condemned: but he that believeth not is

condemned already, because he hath not

believed in the name of the only begotten

Son of God.

 

And this is the condemnation, that

light is come into the world, and men

loved darkness rather than light, because

their deeds were evil.

 

For every one that doeth evil

hateth the light, neither cometh to the

light, lest his deeds should be reproved.

But he that doeth truth cometh to

the light, that his deeds may be made

manifest, that they are wrought in God.

John 3:5-21

 

When you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and

Savior, something takes place. There’s a literal change

made in you. That’s why I have difficulty believing that

some people are truly born again. I don’t see a change.

 

The scripture 1 Peter 1:23 says, “Being born again, not of

corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God,

which liveth and abideth for ever.”

 

When you come into contact with God, something

is going to happen in your life. There’s going to be a

radical change. Everyone will be able to look at you and

see the change, not because you wear a T-shirt saying,

“Honk if you love Jesus.” Not because you have a fish on

your forehead or you carry a big Bible. But they should

see, just by your presence, that something about you is

different. In other words, when you meet up with God, you

change. The new birth means change.

 

When you have an encounter with God your life is

going to change. Don’t tell me you’ve had an encounter

with God if you’re suing your Christian brother. I won’t

believe you. The Bible says that we know that we have

passed from death unto life because we love the brethren

(First Jon 3:14).

 

If someone is born again, you’re going to see it.

You’re going to hear it. Everything about that person will

be different. When they’re involved in sin, they’ll dress

like the world, they’ll talk like the world, they’ll hang out

with the world, they’ll mix with sinners and feel

comfortable there and the sinners will feel comfortable with

them too.

 

But when Jesus comes inside, He cleans the house

out. Your lifestyle will be affected. You start loving

people. Your marriage gets turned around. Your finances

get healed. Your sick bodies get healed. That’s what the

new birth does.

 

Was it just a mental prayer that you prayed and

said, “Jesus come into my life and forgive me of my sins”?

You did it because you didn’t want to go to hell. Or do you

know the time and the place when you had an encounter

with God and your life changed radically? Can you say, “I

was going in the wrong direction? I was heading for a lost

eternity and the Lord Jesus Christ came to me and I

accepted Him. I turned my back on sin in the world. I

repented and I chose to go the other way.”

 

If I stood on the interstate in the middle of the road

and a Mack truck came down the road at 65 miles an hour

and hit me head on, my friends and family would peel me

off the front grill of that truck. The first thing they’re going

to say to me is “Rodney, you’ve changed. You look

different, Rodney. You talk different. You walk different.

You’re not the same person we’ve known. What happened

to you?”

 

I had an encounter. I’m changed. I’m different.

Have you had a “Mack truck” experience that

revolutionized your life? Do you know the day the hour

that you crossed over from death unto life?

The Bible says we’ve been delivered out of the

kingdom of darkness and translated into the kingdom of

 

His dear Son (Colossians 1:13). There’s an actual

transition. Something takes place. And everyone can see

it. There’s something different about you.

But we have people in the church who say, “I’m a

born again bank robber, Brother Rodney. I rob banks part

time. Brother, I’m a born again Mafia hit man. I’m born

again and I deal cocaine on the side. I really feel I need to

support the church. I’m born again, Brother Rodney, and I

race horses on the side.”

 

I used to think every Christian had angels’ wings

and halos. One day I looked and saw the halo wasn’t there.

It was two little horns coming out of their head. Some

Christians have the symbol of the fish, but they should put

a shark on their car, not a fish. Just when you thought it

was safe to go back to church!

 

Christians are ripping each other off. Sometimes

I’d rather go to a sinner in business because at least I know

I can shout at him if he does a bad job. If you go to the

Christian and he does a bad job, you are expected to pay the

money and walk in love. At lease with the sinner you can

say, “You Philistine, thou hast not done the job correctly.”

 

When sinners can come to church and feel like it’s a

great place and sit there week after week and never give

their lives to Jesus, you know that church is a compromise.

When sinners walk in the door, they should be affected

immediately. They should sense the presence of God and

they should be convicted – not condemned – and should

want to repent.

Good News of Great Joy

But the angel said to them, Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people. 11 For to you is born this day in the town of David a Savior, Who is Christ (the Messiah) the Lord!
Luke 2:10-11 AMP

There was great joy at Jesus’ birth—not just because a cute, little baby was born, but because of all He was destined to do for mankind, in His death, burial, and resurrection!

You have loved righteousness [You have delighted in integrity, virtue, and uprightness in purpose, thought, and action] and You have hated lawlessness (injustice and iniquity). Therefore God, [even] Your God (Godhead), has anointed You with the oil of exultant joy and gladness above and beyond Your companions.  Hebrews 1:9 AMP

In Psalms 45:6-7, a prophetic word is given concerning the Messiah, which Paul quotes here in Hebrews. Jesus was anointed with the oil of joy and gladness above and beyond His companions because He loved righteousness and hated iniquity. Joy was His reward. True joy—the joy every human heart is so hungry for—is only available to the heart that is submitted to Almighty God! Jesus is God, Himself, but still, He submitted Himself to the will of the Father. His obedience was absolutely necessary for the fulfillment of the Father’s plan of salvation for mankind, however, Jesus did not obey because He had no choice or because He was forced to; He obeyed because He chose to, and therefore, He was anointed with the reward of great joy.

Therefore then, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses [who have borne testimony to the Truth], let us strip off and throw aside every encumbrance (unnecessary weight) and that sin which so readily (deftly and cleverly) clings to and entangles us, and let us run with patient endurance and steady and active persistence the appointed course of the race that is set before us, 2 Looking away [from all that will distract] to Jesus, Who is the Leader and the Source of our faith [giving the first incentive for our belief] and is also its Finisher [bringing it to maturity and perfection]. He, for the joy [of obtaining the prize] that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising and ignoring the shame, and is now seated at the right hand of the throne of God.  Hebrews 12:1-2 AMP

The good news is that Jesus never yielded to the temptations of sin, or His own flesh, or His own will or desire—He endured the cross, ignoring the shame, because of His expectation of the joy that would follow as a result of His great sacrifice. Jesus knew the terrible things He would have to endure and still He committed Himself to do everything that was required of Him, without complaint or argument. This was the course of His appointed race. You and I also have an appointed race. It is not an easy race—it is very tough, at times—but there is a joy-reward that lies before us when we obey God and run our assigned course. There is no reward for disobedience—there is no blessing in choosing our own way— we are blessed when we choose to go God’s way for our lives!

Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. 1 Peter 1:8 KJV

Now to Him Who is able to keep you without stumbling or slipping or falling, and to present [you] unblemished (blameless and faultless) before the presence of His glory in triumphant joy and exultation [with unspeakable, ecstatic delight].  Jude 24 AMP

Let us rejoice and shout for joy [exulting and triumphant]! Let us celebrate and ascribe to Him glory and honor, for the marriage of the Lamb [at last] has come, and His bride has prepared herself.  Revelation 19:7 AMP

The Good News for the believer is that there is joy unspeakable and full of glory—wonderful, triumphant joy and exultation (unspeakable, ecstatic delight)—waiting for us in the presence of the Lord. If we, the Bride of Christ, prepare ourselves for heaven, by obeying the heavenly call, we will live to join the lavish, joy-filled, heavenly celebration that has been prepared for us—the Marriage Supper of the Lamb!

You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy, at Your right hand there are pleasures forevermore. Psalms 16:11 AMP

From life’s first cry to final breath—and on into eternity—if we remain in God’s presence, we will continue on in His joy.