Sunday Sermon by Pastor Rajesh Mathew, 6 July 2025 

Genesis 49:19- "Gad, a troop shall overcome him: but he shall overcome at the last."

• This is the first Sunday of the month of July.
• Gad was the 7th son of Jacob. God gave a prophecy over his life, that a troop will come against you and overcome you sometimes but at the end you will overcome. No matter what the devil sends your way or what situations you face you are an overcomer through Jesus Christ.

The Holy Spirit said a few things about this month: 

• In 1 Kings 18 -– Elijah prayed on the Mount Carmel and asked his servant to look and see if there were any sign of clouds. He said the same thing 7 times. The servant saw nothing 6 times but the 7th time, he saw a cloud of the size of a hand. You may not have seen anything the last 6 months but God is saying that the rain of blessing will come over your life according to the prophecies he has said over you in the 7th month.

It may seem like a small thing (like a small cloud) but behind that will be a massive blessing! It may seem like a small opportunity or a small door opening but don’t belittle that, behind that is a big blessing in Jesus Name!

There is a blessing that will change the situation of your family, the standard of your children will shift because of this rain. It may seem small, but God has a big blessing behind that! 

Gad means fortunate in Hebrew. You are going to be very fortunate because of God’s grace. 

The Holy Spirit spoke to me of a mustard seed faith. 

Mustard size prayer and mountain size reward! 

Luke 17:5-6- In Luke 17:5-6, the apostles ask Jesus to increase their faith, and Jesus responds by saying that even faith the size of a mustard seed could move a mulberry tree.

• In the Bible, the prayer that Elijah prayed on the Mount Carmel had only 64 letters. But fire came down! Curse of the nation was broken, rain of blessing came. Jabez prayer asking for expansion of his territory had only 30 letters.
• Even if you feel like it’s a small prayer, a mustard seed prayer, a mighty blessing, it will beckon a mighty rain is behind it!

Your small prayer will bring mighty blessing, God is going to do this in this season of your life. 

God who does mighty things is behind your small prayer. Some people pray mountain sized prayers and see only mustard sized results. But for some others it’s the other way round, small prayers but mountain sized results!

There is going to be a shift in your spiritual life/ Prayer life. Your small prayers will carry a big power! 

James 5:17- "Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years." 

What is an effective prayer?

• Is it crying a lot in God’s presence? No, it isn’t. Effective prayer is asking God of something and seeing the result. If a mountain is in front of you, you can cry looking at it. That won’t take the mountain away. Save your tears.
• In the Old Testament the children of Israel went around the same mountain for 38 years. But saw no results. But in the New Testament, Jesus says don’t walk around your mountain, if your faith as small as a mustard seed, command it to be uprooted and it will! 
• They walked for years around the mountain but it did not move an inch, some people also say-slowly, slowly, slowly, I will conquer this mountain. Just like how you speak to a sycamore tree, if you speak to the mountain, it will uproot itself by its very roots. Jesus who speaks the truth and doesn’t lie and HE says speak to your mountain.

Your prayers must be to command, exercising your authority. 

• May there be a shift in your prayer life- from a passive to a commanding prayer. • Luke 17 talks about the Sycamore tree and it has a specialty. It has depth and deep roots. It can’t be uprooted easily. Some diseases, some debts, cancers have taken root in your life. If you pray mustard-sized faith-filled prayer, the deeply rooted curses, disease, affliction, lack will have to leave your life, in Jesus name. 
• Praying in tears or praying loudly is not effective prayer. 

Effective prayer is a prayer that can command. 

Your confidence is not in prayer but your confidence is in Jesus Christ 

• In John 6, we see Jesus doing a miracle that is written in all the gospels. There were only a few people that Jesus singled out for miracles- the bling man, the lame man, the ten lepers. But at the same time 5000 people were fed miraculously through multiplication of bread through a small prayer Jesus made. In one moment, the hunger of 5000 was addressed, their emptiness was addressed in a matter of moments. All Jesus said, ‘Father I thank you’. He blessed and broke that bread and multiplied it. 
• In certain families, may your unsaved family members will get baptised before this year ends. Some of you will see that happen.
• 5000 people included men, women and children.

John 6:28-29- The crowd asks Jesus what works they must do to perform God's works. Jesus responds that the work of God is to believe in the one he has sent, which is himself. 

• If someone had asked me that question, I would have said, stay in the Word, stay holy, stay under a Man of God. Some might say be faithful unto God. But Jesus said, just believe in Him who HE sent. 
• It is not in your prayer that the breakthroughs come, it is in the one that was sent by the Father. Believe in Jesus Christ, who He sent. 

Mathew 7:21-22- 21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and, in your name, perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ 

• Jesus is saying here ‘I never knew you’. He is not saying I did not know you only during the season of backsliding. He says, I never knew you! Can you imagine that? I never knew you in the first place. 
• I am not sure which Jesus you have believed in, if God has to look at you and say, I never knew you in the first place. You may say I was in church for 10 years, I preached, I cast out a demon too and after all this the Lord says, I never knew you! That shouldn’t be your portion. 
• Why? Because you need to know Who you have believed. It is not your prayer or your ministry. But if God can look at you say I know you, because you have believed Him who was sent By Me. Have a relationship with Jesus where you are assures that it is not only you knowing God but God knowing you. 
• God is taking some of you to that level of relationship with Jesus.

WHAT IS EFFECTIVE PRAYER?

Effective Prayer is a real trust and faith in the person of Jesus Christ 

• There are many tenses in the Bible. For example: Jesus says it is finished. It is a word that cannot be repeated. Greek "Tetelestai". It can’t be said again and again. 
• However, in Luke 17, The Word used there is while speaking to the Sycamore tree – you have to keep saying it. Let this tumour Go! You need to say it again and again because you ae keeping your faith in Christ. You are repeating it, your confidence must be so strong in the Lord that you keep repeating it till you see it uprooted never to return again! You exercise your faith and your authority till you see it manifest. 
• Keep repeating it - read that again and again, if things don’t change, do it again. If your heart doesn’t change after listening to the Word once, read it again and again! 

The Lord is moving some of you to that realm of faith. You will enter that realm of authority. WHAT YOU CAN ASK AND WHAT YOU CANNOT ASK GOD IN PRAYER 

1. Don’t ask for any spiritual blessing – Why? 

Ephesians 1:3- 3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.

• The day you were born again in Jesus Christ, you were blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. You only need to activate those spiritual blessings by faith. You are already blessed. 
• Imagine my child asking me for a chocolate gain and again despite me having given it to her.
• Either you should see the chocolate, or eat it or at least open that wrapper? Do you have that in your hands? Yes, you do! 

2. Don’t pray for being victorious 

• Children and adults don’t pray to be victorious because you are already victorious. Children just study for exams, don’t pray to be victorious in exams. You are already victorious through the victory Jesus won for us on the Cross. 
• Just activate that victory by faith. Glory to God. Just apply that victory. 
• The devil will not overpower you, he cannot. You are more than a conqueror through Jesus Christ. The victory that Jesus won for you is your victory! 

3. Don’t pray for your holiness 

Hebrews 10:14- "For by one offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified."

• Those who are being sanctified are perfected through his sacrifice. It is a work of the Spirit. • In the past, in certain Christian religions, people pray after the person is dead to go to heaven. I used to ask how much does one have to pray to ensure that the dead person gets the visa to go across to the Lord’s presence? No one knows! 
• While you are alive, be born again, know the Lord, receive Him as your Lord and build a relationship with Jesus Christ. Do this while you are alive and only then you can have the assurance to go to Him after you die. Receive the Lord, be touched by Him and walk with Him. 
• One lie of the devil is that he keeps telling you that you are not holy enough and hence you cannot move in authority. Some people are busy trying to become more and more holy- My question to them is how much will you need to try to become holy enough to become worthy of heaven? You will never be! You have to receive by faith that by the sacrifice of Jesus you have been perfected forever.

That’s why the Bible says, He who is holy let him continue to be holy. Revelation 21 says this

• At what stage do you convert from a sinner to a holy person? Sanctified means you are separated for God! That means you are set apart or God. It means you are living for God. Because I live in Jesus and I am walking in His finished work, I am set apart for God through the sacrifice of Jesus.
• If the Holy Spirit enlightens this truth within you, you cannot go back to walk in the flesh and in the world but you will begin to walk in the Spirit.
• When sin knocks at your door, you say, ‘No, I can’t go there, to that sin, because I already am separated unto God’. You cannot live like the world does.

God has set you apart as a vessel of Honour. If you are convinced deeply about this truth inside of you, you cannot move away from God. 

• But if you do not know this inside, your outwardly efforts are useless and then you will keep falling. But if you do know this inside you, you will walk out of that dirt and muck that you fall into.
• All my four children have fallen while trying to walk as kids and I have always run to them to pick them up. I have never shouted at them for falling! Your Heavenly Father is just the same When you walk in this truth, you may fall at times, but when you fall God will come running to you. He will pick you up, He will embrace you, that’s the Heavenly father! 

Our God is Holy, we are also Holy. If you are conscious of that holiness then you will walk holy, if you think you are filthy, you can only walk in filth. 

Charles Baudouin is a psycholanalyst- this is said about successful people—they impregnate their minds with thoughts of success- that’s the technique. There is a dominant thought within them! 

• Our thoughts will convert into prayers. That’s why the word say that even before you think a thought God knows it. Your thoughts are important.

Ephesians 3:20- Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us

• Therefore, your thoughts should tell you, I am Holy unto God, I am separated unto God. If you are thinking I am separated unto the Lord, I am forgiven, I am healed, I am Holy, I am redeemed, it is well with my soul, I am soaring like an eagle, I am more than a conqueror, I am the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ, I am healed by his stripes. Your thoughts should be impregnated with these words. Your thoughts should eb pregnant with these words.
• Boudine technique is a sleep technique- just before you go to sleep, what is the thought in your mind? The thoughts of your mind 5 minutes before you sleep is what will determine your life’s trajectory. 
• What are you thinking 5 minutes before you sleep and 5 minutes after you wake up! That is how your day will go. I will live in debt all the days of my life. Don’t walk like that. Don’t think like that.

Command thy mornings says the Book of Job. What you think determines your life 

• Before you go to sleep, plant the thoughts, plant meditations of God Word in your thought. Don’t watch a horror film and go to sleep.
• Don’t even forget GiGo- Garbage In Garbage Out! Especially when you wake up in the morning and how you sleep at night. Impregnate your thoughts with the Word of God. • If your head doesn’t change, your life won’t change. Let truth come inside of you. I see a big church, where thousands will come and be touched with Jesus. May this truth become a reality over Indian churches.

You need to now start commanding and praying. Not praying for hours without any results. 

• It was when Solomon was asleep that God appeared to him in his sleep and asked him, what do you need? Don’t go to sleep thinking how horrible your mother in law is! Impregnate your thoughts with the Word of God. Ask for big things, small prayer but that will bring mountain type of blessings. Glory to God! Ask XXXL things from God. If you look at the Bible you will find a lot of examples.