Hinder the Hinderer by Jodie Hughes

People good. Even he's a good cheerleader, isn't he? I love him. I don't mean that as a joke.

How is everyone? It's very nice to look out and see all your beautiful faces tonight. I have a lot of notes because I printed out the Bible so I didn't have to read it. Those of you who know me and have been coming, you know I've got this tiny little Bible and I really can't read it. I don't know why I still use it other than I love it at the moment, and it's the one I'm reading, so I'm underlining it. But tonight I printed it off, so hopefully I can read it.

I've been in the Word. I've been taking a deep dive, and I've had this word that is going to continue to bubble up out of me. But I just felt like the Lord wanted me to say some more of it tonight. For weeks, and to be fair, months—how far back do you want me to go? We'll see how far back I go—but for months I've had this sense in me of... I'm going to get into this real quick, but I just want to speak from my heart for a little second because I think we can all relate. We felt the seasonal shift as we stepped into 2024, and I think we felt a seasonal shift even since really July 4th.

Warfare. And I think if we are all honest, without wearing the religious face of when someone says 'How are you?' and you're like 'I'm blessed and favored of the Lord, amen,' and yes you are and it's true, but sometimes we need to be real enough to fight alongside each other for the real stuff going on in our life. Because we are blessed and highly favored of the Lord, but as family you stand with each other in the moments when you're not feeling so blessed and highly favored of the Lord, even though the truth is you are, right? Amen. And as we've stepped into this season in 2024, I want to be real with you: I felt the increase of warfare immediately, and I immediately knew God... yeah, yeah, here we go.

I didn't realize that I really had to extend my faith for breakthroughs I haven't had before. Is anyone relating to this? And I felt that since all year, 'Jodie, you're going to have to really press in.' And sometimes I've really pressed in, and other times honestly I've just been tired. Anyone else relate? Sometimes I'm like... this has been a prayer of mine: 'God, awaken the intercessors to pray for me right now, because I'm tired and I need someone to pray for me. Wake them up.' So if you've woken up and thought of me and prayed for me, praise God, you've been an answer to my prayer, because I actually have prayed for my intercessors to wake up.

And God's raising up intercessors and anointed intercessors in this hour, right? But I believe that He's also teaching us how to pray for each other more, and how to actually pray for each other. Sometimes I laugh at some of the posts on Facebook—people that post stuff... I'm just... I love that we're real. Sometimes we say things like 'I'm really sensing God saying to pray about this,' and I'm like, 'You pray about it! If God's talking to you about it, you pray about it. Don't just post it on Facebook unless you've actually prayed about it first, because all you're saying is 'I want someone else to pray about this, so I'm going to tell you what your orders are.' And I'm like... you ask others to pray, your request will be anointed because you have an authority to ask other people to pray for something because you've paid a price and prayed first.

Wow. When we say 'pray for revival in America,' it should come from 'I am praying for revival in America' and awaken an army, God, that prays for revival in this nation. And when a request comes out from someone who has an authority to give an altar call, to pray for America, you sense it in every fiber of your being because you know that person has paid a price and they're saying 'Join me in this.' And I want to tell you, there is a call going out right now to pray for breakthrough in each other's lives. Not just have empathy for something someone's going through—that's wonderful and we need it, so don't stop it, don't stop loving on each other, don't stop loving on the body of Christ, don't stop loving on our family, right? We need that more than ever too, so never hear what I'm not saying. But we've got to pray for each other. I mean, war at each other. I mean, stand in the gap. I mean, when God wakes us up at 3:33, don't just take a cool little photo and go 'God woke me up at 3:33.' It's probably standing for Jeremiah 33:3: 'Ask of Me and I will show you great and mighty things that you have never seen, that you don't know.' Pray for what God has woken you up for.

This is a preemptive kind of introduction to where this word has kind of been birthed. Because all year has been some of the greatest moments of our journey and honestly some of the hardest moments of our journey. And I've had to fight to stay in faith. Is this relating to anyone? And that is not a fight that is usual for me, being real. But this year more than any other time, I have had to fight to stay in faith.

Overpour it out. Fight for each other like we've never fought before. We are not just fighting for America; we are fighting for those people that God has placed you around. You're fighting for your families, you're fighting for your call, you're fighting for your promises, and you're fighting for the people and ministries, the church, that God has aligned you to. And in this season, none of us are going to stand triumphant without a people who fight for each other. This is not a season to stand alone; you'll fall alone. This is a season where we rise together because we fight for each other. And the Lord is saying, 'Fight, fight, fight.'

It's a call for victory, but it is a call to action. And I know we all know that, but it's really easy in the body of Christ to compartmentalize things and agree with truth without doing truth. It's a time to do truth, not just agree with it. If we believe and agree that we need to pray for each other, then we need to pray for each other, not just go 'That's a great idea.' If we believe God's saying that we need to extend our faith for breakthroughs we haven't had before, then we need to actively extend our faith for breakthroughs we haven't had before.

For increases, we need to increase. The good news is that God is increasing us, and the good news is that it's a season of victory, not a season of defeat. You see, we are not just anointed... so I say all the time, it's one of my favorite verses in Isaiah 53... it will come back to me in Jesus' name. But where we talk about how the weapons are failing... what's the verse? 'No weapon formed against me shall prosper.' Thank you, Tina. This is why we need each other.

Failing. But I want you to maybe think about it this way. See, it's not just a season where the weapons formed against us are failing. This is a season where you are anointed to conquer, and you're anointed for victory. So when the Bible talks to us in Isaiah 54:17 about 'no weapon formed against us shall prosper,' and I've said this before many times, it doesn't mean weapons won't come against us; it means they won't prosper. It means they're going to fail. It doesn't mean that stuff doesn't happen in our lives. And sometimes I think we need to hear that because we feel shame or we feel something's wrong with us when stuff happens.

That takes you out. It means that the weapons formed against you are failing. It also means this: we're not in a season where we are anointed just to endure the season. We're in a season where we are anointed to conquer this season. We're not in a season where we're just anointed to endure the resistance that has increased. We're in a season where you are anointed to push back and break off the resistance that has increased. Are you hearing this?

Are increasing, and God has anointed you for victory, not just to endure. All to say, all this season, a lot of the time—and sometimes I have done this well and I'll give myself a gold star, and sometimes I failed miserably and I've literally just had to look at my own report card before the Lord and go 'I need some improvement here.' Anyone else feel like that?

All year I felt a lot like the Lord has said, 'Increase your faith, Jodie.' And I said this to Lexi because she wrote something on her Facebook earlier that was really good, and she said... I just feel... you can tell me if I'm quoting you right, Lexi, but she said... carry the power like a sword, a sharp double-edged sword that comes from the anointing of the Lord to cut off that which isn't God and to release that which is. Amen. I just want to say this: like I was saying, all year I've just felt that thing in me of 'keep your mouth shut until you know what God's saying.' Doesn't mean we don't talk to each other; that's not what I'm talking about. I'm just saying that sometimes in the body of Christ, when warfare goes up, we need to go down and hear what God is saying and pray for each other. Because sometimes what we need from each other is just... I don't really know what God's saying, I just know He's good. That's a word enough, right? I just know He loves you, and I just know He's not done yet. So I'm going to pray that. And sometimes that's all we need to know. I think in our prophetic communities—and there's nothing wrong with this, lean in for the sharp edge, the sharp cutting edge of the Word—but until you have the sharp cutting edge of the Word, we know enough from His Word to know that we can pray God's best over someone's life. We don't need a specific word other than 'God loves you, He's chosen you, He has good things for your life, and I'm going to stand on that.'

Ourselves, pray God's heart over our situations. Amen. God is increasing our faith, and He's doing it through really simple, old-fashioned ways: pray, read His Word, hear what He's saying. And He's reminding us that we are anointed to not just endure this season, but conquer in this season. Amen. I just want to pray, and then we're going to keep going.

Father, we thank You that You've called us, You've anointed us. And tonight, God, I ask You to pour out Your presence over us afresh again. We ask for fresh oil, God, because yesterday's oil was wonderful, but we need fresh oil today. And God, I ask You for a fresh outbreak of breakthrough today. God, I thank You that You are moving today, and I ask You for the Spirit of Breakthrough to break out in this house tonight. Father, and I ask You to—in fact, I decree, Father, alongside Your Word—that You are the God of Breakthrough, and that You see our situations and You see what we're walking through. And we speak breakthrough into every situation where we need the God of Breakthrough to show up. We stand together right now because where there is unity, there is commanded blessing.