When You Pray (Pt.3) (376) – November 14 2026

This week we slow down and spend time together with you, in the worship and awe of Jesus. We read from Scripture the Lord’s numerous assurances of His presence, protection and benefits for those who keep their eyes on Him.

This program covers the following Scriptures from the Amplified Classic version (AMPC): 1 John 2:27, 1 Peter 5:7, Isaiah 41:10-11, Hebrews 13:5-6, Deuteronomy 31:8, Numbers 6:24-26, Hebrews 12:1-3.

Transcript

(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai.)

Hello, this is Pastor Marc with the Touch of God program, and I have been spending time with the Lord right before I record this to you, and I really feel that this week it is a moment to reflect and ponder about Jesus and spend some time during this next 30 minutes or so, thinking about him, thanking him, worshipping him in our hearts. I pray it is not me, but the Holy Spirit speaking and teaching you through me today. Whose are you today? Are you Jesus’s? Are you his son or daughter today? If you made the decision for Jesus to be your Lord, out of your heart and therefore your mouth you are probably confessing Jesus to others and acknowledging and pondering how good God is and how he saved you from the pit.

Oh, how precious you are to him today, brother and sister, more than you can possibly imagine. Are you facing him today or are you facing slightly away from him? Are you ashamed of something today that you sinned against him and maybe you can’t forgive yourself, but you have to forgive yourself because the Lord is waiting for you to confess that thing, that moment, that shortcoming to him, that his word in 1 John 1 verse 9 may take effect in you immediately, where it says if we confess our sins, he is faithful to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness. He wants to cleanse you of all the sin, all that’s troubling your heart.

He wants to heal you. He wants to deliver you. He is waiting patiently.

Ask the Lord often, Lord, search my heart and all that is in me and get rid of anything not of you. Convict me to give up the weeds in my heart that the devil deceived me to plant and water and keep on watering. Oh Lord, let me put these weeds on your throne that they may be burned up by your holy fire.

Burn me free from these things, Lord, that have plagued me for too long. Lord, by your grace and mercy do I even become chastised by you because you love me. Oh Lord, we are blessed you have the heart that you do.

You could have been a different God, but no, you are the Father of all that gives light, in the shining of whom there can be no variation, rising or setting, or shadow cast by your turning as in an eclipse. So today, I would love for you to just sit and rest and ponder Jesus and the Father as the Holy Spirit brings you comfort and truth. In 1 John chapter 2 verse 27 it says, But as for you, the anointing, the sacred appointment, the unction, which you receive from him, abides permanently in you.

So then you have no need that anyone should instruct you. It is not supposed to be me teaching you from my mind. It is supposed to be the Lord using my vocal cords to teach you by the Holy Spirit through my mind of Christ.

And verse 27 continues here, it says, But just as his anointing teaches you concerning everything and is true and is no falsehood, so you must abide in, live in, never depart from him, being rooted in him, knit to him, just as his anointing has taught you to do. Wow, this week I am feeling the need for us, even during this program, to slow down and contemplate and ponder the face of our Lord Jesus. The beauty of radio, you and I are in our secret place.

You are not in a place surrounded by others. Maybe you are in your home or somewhere in your village, your town, or in your beautiful countryside and the land that the Lord has blessed you with. But you’re not amongst crowds.

It is okay for you to turn off the sound of your phone for just 30 minutes and just seek the Lord. You don’t even have to listen to me. I would rather you seek Jesus than seek this radio program.

But if you want to continue listening, then do spend some time with the Lord by yourself later on. Oh, how the Lord never gives up on you and I. He persists, molding our hearts one fiber at a time for as long as we allow him and keep our faces towards him. Oh, the pull of the distractions of this life.

Let us throw our hand towards it and say, get out of my life, you distraction. I am turning from you and I am turning to the one who paid for my life with his, my Lord Jesus. So let us sit back, take a deep breath and reflect on Jesus.

Look to him. You are precious to the Lord, you see. If you were not precious to him, if he did not love you, he never would have given his only begotten son Jesus for you.

So you were worth it. You are worth it. Never quit.

Just make sure your eyes are back on Jesus, the one with the open arms right in front of you, the one wanting all of your burdens. 1 Peter 5, verse 7, it says, casting the whole of your care, all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns once and for all on him, for he cares for you affectionately and cares about you watchfully. I want you to ponder this verse in 1 Peter 5, verse 7. It’s the adjectives.

It’s the words that bring out the depth of what the Lord is trying to show you here about his heart for you. He cares for you affectionately and cares about you watchfully. How good is Jesus? How good is our Lord? He cares for us.

He wants us to be closer to him and to seek him with all of our hearts, not most of our hearts, not a little bit of our hearts, but all of it. He wants all of it. He’s a jealous God and not in a bad way.

He’s jealous in a good way because he cherishes you and he doesn’t want you to perish. He wants to have the relationship with you that he suffered so greatly for you to have with him that you may no longer be distant to him and no longer be separated from him, but be in lockstep following him one step at a time, being in communion with him, being in union with him. So let’s cast all of our anxieties, all of our worries, all of our cares because the Lord is faithful.

He doesn’t have to help us. It is his good pleasure to help us, but he expects us not to worry because what is not of faith is sin. So that means anxiety and worry is sin because if we’re worrying about something, it’s basically saying, Lord, I have to fight for this one by myself because I don’t know that you’ll come through for me.

But has he ever let you down? He has never let me down. He has never let you down and he never will because of his nature and his love for you. Isaiah chapter 41, verse 10 and 11.

Verse 10 says, Fear not, there is nothing to fear. Now, if you believe there is something to fear, then that is a lie and it is not the truth of the word of God because it says, fear not, there is nothing to fear. You see, if there was something appropriate for you to fear that the Lord said, you know, this one thing, it’s okay to fear, then it would be okay to fear that one thing.

But the Lord has not said that. He’s saying, fear not, there is nothing to fear. That means your biggest worry, you need to give it to Jesus because it’s his burden to work through, not yours, because he cares for you affectionately and cares about you watchfully.

Verse 10 in Isaiah 41 continues, For I am with you, do not look around you in terror and be dismayed, for I am your God. Now, let’s pause here. Is Jesus your Lord? If he is, he is your God.

But we know from Exodus chapter 20, verse 3, where the Lord says, you shall have no other gods before me, that’s a lowercase g for gods, that it’s possible to have other gods before our Lord God that we know now. So, he wants all these other distractions and idols to be gone from your life and my life. And he wants him to be our only God, our only Lord.

The verse goes on to say, I will strengthen and harden you to difficulties. Yes, I will help you. Yes, I will hold you up and retain you with my victorious right hand of rightness and justice.

So, we see here that the Lord is going to strengthen you, and he does strengthen you and harden you to difficulties. He’s able to do that. The core requirement is that you must have Jesus as your Lord.

He will not force himself upon you and force himself to be your Lord. But one day before him, we will all have our knees bowed before him, whether we want our knees to bow down before him or not. As you seek the Lord, he will strengthen you.

As you abide in him, he will abide in you. For you can do nothing without him, nothing good, nothing righteous without the power of the Holy Spirit and the grace of God propelling you forward step by step as you follow him every day. Verse 11, it says, Behold, all they who are enraged and inflamed against you shall be put to shame and confounded.

They who strive against you shall be as nothing and shall perish. Now, you may have some enemies. Remember, Jesus wants us to love our enemies.

But we see here in the Old Testament that the Lord is encouraging the children of Israel that their enemies shall be as nothing and shall perish. Now, the Lord has not changed. He is the same yesterday, today and forever.

And it is possible for souls to perish. The Lord does not want anyone to perish, but there will be those that will perish and will not inherit the kingdom of God. He does not want anyone to perish.

But you see, it is also important for the Lord to protect you from evil. And so you see that anyone who strives against you cannot be of the Lord. They cannot be children of God.

They cannot be a brother or sister in Christ, because there should not be any striving against you and I who are born again and children of the Lord. Those who claim to be Christians, some of them may not be. That’s why we will know them by their fruit.

Hebrews chapter 13 verse 5 and 6. Let your character or moral disposition be free from love of money, including Greece, avarice, lust, and craving for earthly possessions, and be satisfied with your present circumstances and with what you have. For he God himself has said, I will not in any way fail you, nor give you up, nor leave you without support. I will not, I will not, I will not in any degree leave you helpless, nor forsake, nor let you down, relax my hold on you, assuredly not.

He’s never going to leave you helpless, nor forsake you, nor let you down, nor relax his hold on you. All you have to do is stay focused on the Lord and to not depart from him, not deviate from the path. And if you slip, we need to just pick ourselves up and turn back to the Lord, repent of our wrongdoings and our wickedness and say, Lord, please forgive us.

Please forgive me for this. Lord, I want to, I want to walk with you and seek him, seek him with all your heart and you will find him. Call upon him and he will answer and he will show you things that you do not know.

Hebrews chapter 13 verse 6 says, So we take comfort and are encouraged and confidently and boldly say, the Lord is my helper. I will not be seized with alarm. I will not fear or dread or be terrified.

What can man do to me? Make a note of that verse, especially if you are afraid of certain people or afraid of repercussions or concerned about how someone’s going to answer, be praying for their soul and know they cannot do anything to you if the Lord is your helper and if Jesus is that Lord in your life. For he is your protector. He is your Lord.

No weapon formed against you shall prosper. It may feel like it’s prospering, but it shall not prosper because the word of God says it shall not. But you have to abide in the shadow of the almighty to be protected from the things that are trying to come at you from outside the shadow.

If you’re outside his shadow, you’re exposed to the elements of the rain and the enemy. Deuteronomy chapter 31 verse 8, it says, It is the Lord who goes before you. He will march with you.

He will not fail you or let you go or forsake you. Let there be no cowardice or flinching, but fear not, neither become broken in spirit, depressed, dismayed and unnerved with alarm. So here he is speaking by the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit bringing inspiration to the writer of Deuteronomy and what to write for us to read that the Lord is the one that goes before you.

He will march with you. Someone who marches with you. Remember, the Lord is a God of war.

He’s a God of order. And those in the military, they march. They’re in uniform.

They are ready for war. They are always ready. And they protect the citizens of their country.

The Lord is your rear guard. In Numbers chapter 6, verse 24 to 26, I would love to pray this over you. It says, The Lord bless you and watch God and keep you.

The Lord make his face to shine upon and enlighten you and be gracious, kind, merciful and giving favor to you. The Lord lift up his approving countenance upon you and give you peace, tranquility of heart and life continually. Please receive that for yourself.

Please know that the Lord loves to bless you. In fact, we know already that he has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places. And you say, well, I can’t reach that high.

You’re already in heavenly places in Jesus, in Christ. Jesus is sitting at the right hand of the Father. And when you are born again, you are in Christ and he is in you.

So guess where you are. You may be physically on the earth, but you’re spiritually in heavenly places. You’re in both places.

And so is Jesus. Jesus is not just on the right hand of the Father. He’s in you upon the earth, trying to flow through you in speech and deeds and miracle signs and wonders for the person in front of you that doesn’t yet know Jesus, but really does need Jesus.

You are a witness to them. The Lord wants to use you, but he wants you to be confident in him so that he can use you more effectively. He wants you to receive everything he has for you.

That includes the baptism of the Holy Spirit with evidence of speaking in tongues, the heavenly prayer language that the Lord has blessed us to receive. And all we have to do is ask and we shall receive, because we have not, because we ask not. And we know from Acts chapter 2 where the Lord had positioned those 120 in the upper room to wait in Jerusalem for the Holy Spirit so that they could then go out in the power of the Lord.

The Lord wants you to receive his Holy Spirit in the fullness and the baptism of the Holy Spirit. And the evidence that you have received that is that you start speaking in unknown tongues, out of your belly shall flow rivers of living waters. So all you have to do is ask the Lord, Lord, I want you to baptize me in your Holy Spirit with evidence of speaking in tongues.

And now Lord, I thank you. I believe that I have received the baptism of your Holy Spirit. And do not doubt that you just received the baptism of the Holy Spirit if this is what you’re saying right now.

And get in touch with us if you like and we can walk you through what that all means. But baptism of the Holy Spirit, it’s incredible. When you speak in tongues, you are praying out God’s perfect will.

You are more sensitive in the Spirit. You will become more bolder and confident. Look at Peter denying Jesus three times before he got baptized in the Holy Spirit.

And afterwards, he was bold on those streets of Jerusalem. The Lord will also use you to speak in tongues where someone else will be able to give the interpretation to edify the body of Christ. We don’t have time to discuss all of that today, but all you have to do is ask the Lord.

Hebrews chapter 12 verse 1 says, 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. Verse 2 says, 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. Verse 3, Just think of him who endured from sinners such grievous opposition and bitter hostility against himself. Reckon up and consider it all in comparison with your trials, so that you may not grow weary or exhausted, losing heart and relaxing and fainting in your minds.

So, you and I can be confident that when we go through a trial, and it is painful, it is tough, and we start to say, Lord, can you deliver me please from this? The Lord wants you to know that he’s with you in the storm, he’s with you in the trial, and he will give you the grace and the strength to go through it. Your key is to never take your eyes off of him. He will help you through it.

He will supernaturally bring you out the other side, if you walk with him and continue to have him as your Lord in your life. And we can also see here in verse 3, that our trial is smaller than a grain of sand on all the ocean shores, compared to what the Lord had to endure such grievous opposition and bitter hostility from the sinners against himself. So, the Lord has showed us he has gone through far worse than we ever could, but he is with us through our trial that is a grain of sand.

It may not feel like a grain of sand, but the Lord is with us. So, we’ll end in prayer. Lord Jesus, I thank you so much for these precious souls listening today, that you may continue to give them strength.

As they turn more towards you and seek you in a deeper way, you are there to satisfy their hunger and their thirst for righteousness. Lord Jesus, I thank you for speaking into the hearts and minds of those listening. As they turn down the volume of their life and they wait for that still small voice of yours, that they can then hear more clearly, the more they are seeking you and the more time they read your word.

Thank you, Lord, that your word is spirit, your word is life. You are the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father but by you. Thank you, Lord, for being our Lord today.

Thank you for sacrificing yourself so much, especially at the whipping post and on that cross. Lord, I thank you that you are open-armed and want to bring us the truth, to set us free, and you want to take our burdens from us. So, Lord, help us give you all that should not be on our backs, so that we may be able to have confidence and boldness by your Holy Spirit, to be obedient to your call, to preach the gospel, to all creation, without doubt, but in pure faith, trusting in you, working through us.

In your name, Jesus, we love you and we pray. Amen. All right, if you would like us to pray for you, we would love to hear from you.

Simply pull up our website, touchofgod.world, touchofgod.world, and tap on the button that says send prayer requests. And until next week, you have a blessed week. Amen.