Josh Herring - DEVELOPING A PRAYING SPIRIT

Psalms chapter 109 and Acts chapter 6. Psalms chapter 109:4. Acts chapter 6 verse 4. Psalm 109:4. Acts 6:4.

I heard that you're baptizing [music] two people after church tonight. That's the Lord doing stuff already. Thanking the Lord for that. [applause]

Psalm 109:4, for my love they are my adversaries, but I give myself unto prayer. Somebody say, I give myself unto prayer.

Acts chapter 6 and verse 4, very similar words, but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word. I just want to talk to you tonight, give you some stuff, more impartation. Um, and I'm just going to call it developing a praying spirit. Developing a praying spirit. Hopefully tonight you get something that will take your prayer life to another level. Uh, I'm going to throw a lot of stuff at you and hopefully you can grab on to something and and uh hopefully it'll change your life forever.

Lord Jesus, release the spirit of prayer in every home, every situation to come against every spirit [music] of anxiety, every spirit of worry and panic in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, everybody that's here tonight, let there be a piece of the Holy Ghost that comes in this room in Jesus name we pray. And somebody said, "Amen." You may be seated.

Now in the spirit world or that means the angels and demons in the spirit world the weapons that are used to fight each other are not swords and guns and bombs and knives and all these things. But the weapons in the spirit world are words. Words are the weapons in the spirit world. when angels when when Michael fought Lucifer for the body of Moses, it was a argument that broke out and Michael said, "I'm not even going to use a railing accusation. I'm just going to speak the Lord. Rebuke thee." And and the word fight broke out and Michael won. And uh when when Daniel was fasting, I talked about it Sunday morning in the Sunday school. The the angel said, "I'm come for your words." And the world was made by the word of God. He spoke and everything took place. He never cast out a devil with his hands. He always just spoke and the devils had to flee.

In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God and the word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory, the only begotten of the father. There's something about words that you speak that either have life or death. The Bible said life and death are in the power of your tongue. And so words, believe it or not, are the most powerful things you possess, especially in the spirit world. Heaven listens to words and hell listens to words. That's why that angel told Daniel, "I am come for your words." That's the most powerful thing you can do.

When intercessory prayer breaks out, I hold heard an old preacher say this one time. intercessory prayer is what arms the angels and gives them power as they're going forth into the heavens. As Daniel was interceding and praying, the warfare broke out. There's something about your words that he heaven wants and hell wants. And so when you begin to pray, you begin to speak words that go up toward the Lord.

Let me just stop right here for a second. If you wonder why you're trying to have power in the Holy Ghost and your words are not working, it could be that your other words are betraying the words you're using when you are in the battle. You cannot walk up to someone possessed and try to cast the devil out of them right after you just cuss somebody out on the highway coming to church. Yeah, it doesn't work. Your words were arming hell on the way to church. Your words were demonic and now all of a sudden you're in the presence of God and you're given all the That's why the word said you can't have bitter water and sweet water from the same fountain. Sooner or later your words will either betray you or agree with your spirit. And that's why when you constantly speak life AND SPEAK BLESSINGS AND SPEAK PEACE and speak strength, WHEN YOU ENCOUNTER THE ADVERSARY, YOU CAN SPEAK WITH AUTHORITY AGAINST WHAT HE'S BRINGING AGAINST YOU AND YOUR WORDS WILL ACTUALLY WORK. I WISH SOMEONE WOULD REALIZE YOU HAD YOU DO HAVE POWER TO CAST OUT DEVILS AND YOU DO HAVE POWER to heal the sick, but it's your WORDS THAT ARE CONSTANTLY COMING OUT OF YOUR MOUTH THAT WILL DETERMINE IF IT WORKS or not. [cheering and applause]

So weapons the spirit world are words. That's why when somebody says something negative about you on social media, it bothers you. Even though you would never they would never say it to your face. They would never get physical with you. But they will release that word. And someone says something negative about you AND SOMEONE CALLS YOU AND TELLS YOU. THOSE WORDS AFFECT YOU. WHY? CUZ YOUR HUMAN SPIRIT IS AFFECTED by words and YOU FEEL THE SHOCK OF THE WORD COMING AGAINST YOU. And so YOU FIGURE HOW WHY WOULD THEY SAY WHY DO THEY THINK THIS ABOUT ME? WHY WOULD THEY EVEN UTTER THOSE WORDS? WHY IS IT BOTHERING YOU? BECAUSE WORDS are weapons. So when you pray, you're releasing words into the atmosphere. It's like releasing bombs in the spirit. It's like sending missiles up. And the more the deeper you get into prayer, the stronger the prayers are, the more effective the words are.

And so when when you GET A PRAYER LIFE STARTED, SOMEONE ASKED ME, I get asked ALL THE TIME, WHY IS PRAYER SO HARD? I CAN DO IT IN CHURCH, BUT HOW COME I CAN'T DO IT EVERY SINGLE DAY? WELL, IN THE OLD TESTAMENT, IF YOU HAD A PRAYER LIFE, YOU HAD TO WORK to pray. YOU DIDN'T JUST SACRIFICE SOMETHING AND SAY, "GOD, HEAR ME." YOU HAD TO CARRY ROCKS, ROCK AFTER ROCK AFTER ROCK, BUILD AN ALTAR, GET SOME WOOD. YOU were sweaty. You were tired. THEN YOU HAD TO GO GET AN ANIMAL. THE ANIMAL GOD WANTED. KILL THE ANIMAL. BURN THE ANIMAL. THEN ASK GOD FOR SOMETHING. YOU WERE WORN OUT BY THE TIME YOU GOT TO YOUR REQUEST. THAT WAS HOW THE OLD TESTAMENT PRAYER WAS. We have uh everything perfectly set up now. I mean, you've got YOU GOT COMFY CHAIRS YOU CAN JUST SIT IN AND RELEASE EMPTY WORDS IF YOU WANT TO TO GOD. BUT I TELL YOU, PRAYER IS STILL WORK. I TELL PEOPLE LIKE THIS, SOME DAYS ARE ROCK DAYS. YOU DON'T FEEL LIKE YOUR PRAYER IS EVEN GETTING TO THE CEILING. YOU DON'T FEEL LIKE YOUR WORDS ARE EVEN THEY'RE ALMOST COMING BACK DOWN ON YOU. YOU DON'T FEEL ANYTHING. HAS ANYONE I'M GOING TO BE I'M just going to stop and pause. HAS ANYONE EVER FALLEN ASLEEP PRAYING BEFORE? I'mma wait till the liars raise their hands. And those that didn't raise their hands, you don't pray. Cuz if you've GOT A REAL PRAYER LIFE, YOU'VE FALLEN ASLEEP BEFORE. WELL, not me. Uh-huh. So, you just started in expert mode. SOME DAYS ARE ROCK DAYS. YOU'RE TIRED. YOU'RE DRAINED. YOU'RE WEARY. YOU'RE JUST TRYING TO DO YOUR BEST TO SHOW UP TO THE prayer meeting. Oh, God. I'm just going to read a few chapters before I pray. You get six seconds into the book of Job and you're asleep. It's a rock day. It It feels LIKE IT DIDN'T EVEN DO ANYTHING. YOU FORGOT WHAT YOU PRAYED 30 MINUTES AFTER YOU WERE DONE.

SOME DAYS ARE FLESH DAYS WHERE YOU'RE SACRIFICING FLESH ON THE ALTAR. YOU'RE NOT GETTING A BREAKTHROUGH, BUT YOU SURE ARE REPENTING. You ever had those days WHERE YOU JUST PRAY AND YOU'RE JUST TELLING GOD, "I'M SORRY for every single thing possible." Three people. Okay, we're going to preach about repentance Sunday. It's a thing you do daily. It's where YOU'RE NOT EVEN YOU'RE NOT EVEN TRYING TO ASK GOD FOR ANYTHING BECAUSE YOU KNOW, I shouldn't be asking for anything right now. I was a jerk yesterday. I said things I shouldn't have said. And you go to ask God and you start thinking of all the things So you just go into repentance. It's flesh day. You're a sacrifice. And some days are fire days. You get in the presence of God and presence of God is comes upon you and you feel him. You're weeping and you're breaking through. It's the altar. It's just different things. But don't quit your prayer life. It's because you have two or three rock days in a row.

>> I tell people this. IF YOUR PRAYER LIFE IS BASED on results AND NOT RELATIONSHIP, YOUR PRAYER LIFE WILL NOT LAST VERY LONG. BECAUSE IF IT'S ONLY BASED ON RESULTS, YOU HAVE TO HAVE ANSWERS OR YOU'LL STOP TALKING TO HIM. I'VE GOT NEWS FOR EVERYONE THAT THINKS THIS. GOD IS NOT SANTA. HE IS NOT SOMEONE YOU COME AND SIT ON HIS LAP AND TELL HIM YOUR LIST AND THEN WHEN YOU'RE DONE, YOU GO AND YOU GO ON YOUR MERRY WAY. GOD WILL DELAY ANSWERS AND BE SILENT TO TEST YOUR LOYALTY TO SEE ARE YOU GOING TO BE IN MY PRESENCE TOMORROW IF I DON'T ANSWER YOU TODAY IF I SAY NOTHING WILL YOU STILL CONTINUE TO TRY TO REACH ME [applause] YOU WANT BIBLE FOR IT MOSES FIRST EVER RECORDED GOES 40 DAYS ON DAY SEVEN THE BIBLE SAID GOD SPOKE TO HIM OUT OF THE CLOUD. THAT MEANS PASTOR CRAFT FOR 6 DAYS, EVEN THOUGH NO ONE'S EVER FASTED BEFORE, AND THIS GUY IS CHASING GOD LIKE NO ONE EVER HAS, GOD STARED HIM DOWN FOR 6 DAYS. See how serious you are. He's I mean, I'm not eating. 48 hours, 72 hours, 96 hours, 120 hours, 144 hours go by. God's still not. Some of us would HAVE TAPPED OUT WAY BEFORE THEN. HE'S NOT JUST FASTING. HE'S TRYING TO GET GOD. HE'S WAIT. HE'S LISTENING. HE'S TALKING. NOTHING'S HAPPENING. BUT SOMETIMES GOD TESTS YOU TO SEE HOW SERIOUS ARE YOU ABOUT PURSUING ME. IF YOU IF IF WE GET AN ATTITUDE BECAUSE I'VE PRAYED FOUR DAYS IN A ROW AND GOD DIDN'T GIVE ME A BREAKTHROUGH. GOD IS SIMPLY TESTING YOUR LOYALTY. HE'S TRYING TO DEVELOP THAT CHARACTER IN YOU OR ME THAT SAYS NO MATTER WHAT HE DOES OR DOESN'T DO, I'VE GOT TO BE IN HIS PRESENCE EVERY SINGLE DAY. IT'S THE MOST IMPORTANT THING. WHETHER HE GIVES ME WHAT I WANT OR HE DOESN'T GIVE ME WHAT I WANT, WHAT I NEED IS TRULY TO BE IN HIS PRESENCE. FOR IN HIS PRESENCE IS FULLNESS OF JOY AND AT HIS RIGHT HAND ARE PLEASURES FOREVER. [applause]

So a prayer that lasts, a prayer life that lasts is a prayer life built on relationship. Whether you answer me or not, I'll be praying again tomorrow.

Two times here in the Bible, you see David and then in Acts, people giving themselves to prayer. There's a difference in praying and giving yourself to prayer. Giving yourself to prayer means prayer controls you. PRAYING MEANS YOU CONTROL the moment. WHEN YOU GIVE YOURSELF TO PRAYER, WHAT YOU ARE TELLING GOD IS WHENEVER YOU WANT ME TO STOP EVERYTHING AND START TALKING TO YOU, I'LL DROP EVERYTHING AND EVERYONE TO HAVE A CONVERSATION WITH YOU. THAT MEANS IF YOU WAKE ME UP AT 3:26 IN THE MORNING BECAUSE SOMEBODY IN INDIA NEEDS A BREAKTHROUGH AND THERE'S NO INTERCESSOR IN INDIA PRAYING, YOU CAN COUNT ON ME BECAUSE I'VE GIVEN MYSELF TO PRAYER. >> OH, quiet on that one right there. See, WE'RE REALLY GOOD AT PRAYING, BUT WE'RE NOT SO GREAT AT GIVING OURSEL TO prayer where prayer controls me. What does that mean? that throughout the day you're sending words up to heaven constantly. Prayer taking over us.

Four things I want to give you tonight that will help you develop a praying spirit.

Number one, you need a place where you pray daily. You need a place. You need a room that hell wouldn't dare go in. If there's one spot in the house where hell doesn't want to tread, it's that carpet over there where you lay down every morning and pray. You need a place. Now, as an evangelist, it's very funny because some you're in a different place all the time. So, when you have four kids in the hotel room, you get a new revelation of the bathroom. Yeah. It's it's it's the throne room. You're going before the throne and you feel really awkward, but you have to have a place where you meet God. Okay, let me show you. IN THE BIBLE, THERE WAS ONLY TWO people specifically that God called friend. Now, there was one time where he said, "You're all my friends." But but specifically two people in the Bible that God called friend. That was Abraham who was the friend of God and Judas who God called friend. This is why I'm not too high and I hope I don't hurt your feelings on the the song they were singing the last you know 20 years. I am a friend of God. Big deal. So was Judas. I didn't get any response on that. Sorry if you that's your favorite song. It's a it's a charismatic song. Sorry if it bothers you. Judas was a friend of God. He's dead and in hell. Abraham was the friend of God. Judas was the friend of God. Watch this. The only difference between Abraham and Judas, you can find it in Genesis 19 AND JOHN 18. GENESIS 19, ABRAHAM GOT UP AND WENT TO THE PLACE WHERE HE STOOD BEFORE THE LORD. THERE WAS A PLACE ABRAHAM prayed every day. IN JOHN 18, WHEN JESUS GOES TO THE GARDEN of the Bible said Jesus was goingham [screaming] HAD A PLACE OF PRAYER. Judas knew ONE GAINED EVERYTHING. ONE LOST EVERYTHING. ONE HIS SEED WAS LIKE THE SAND OF THE SEASHORE AND THE STARS OF THE HEAVEN AND THE OTHER DIED IN SUICIDE. BECAUSE IT DOESN'T MATTER IF YOU'RE A FRIEND OF GOD. WHAT [screaming] MATTERS IS, DO YOU MEET GOD ON A DAILY BASIS OR ARE YOU RIDING SOMEBODY ELSE'S PRAYER LIFE? CAN I JUST BE MYSELF RIGHT NOW? IT'S NOT ENOUGH IF YOUR SPOUSE HAS A PRAYER LIFE. YOU CANNOT RIDE A FAMILY MEMBER'S PRAYER LIFE INTO HEAVEN. BOY, IT'S QUIET. YOU CANNOT RIDE PASTOR'S PRAYER LIFE INTO [laughter] HEAVEN. YOU HAVE TO SHUT UP. YOU HAVE TO HAVE [screaming] YOUR OWN PLACE WHERE YOU MEET GOD EVERY SINGLE DAY. WHY? Because if you get in the mentality, I'm good enough. I'm doing fine. It's the Judas mentality. I'm close to him. He loves me. And you don't even realize you're already opening yourself up to things of the world. Judas knew about the place where Jesus always went and prayed. He knew where it was. He knew it, but he never went there himself. He heard the disciples say, "Teach us to pray." He knew how to pray, but he did not have a place of prayer. You need a place where you meet God. Well, I got a busy schedule. As Opa the Kilgore used to say, "Never let your location affect your consecration. Well, I got to drive 45 minutes every morning. That's the perfect place to pray. Make your car your altar. Well, I got to keep my eyes on the road. Well, I hope so. Can you still talk to God while you're driving? Well, I can't do two things at one time. Well, then listen to God. Prayer is a dialogue. You talking, God talking. God talking, you talking. That's why I tell people that some people aren't high on this. If you if you don't like this, okay, you know, pastor preaches against this, you obey him, not me. But some people think that if you read the Bible, it's not part of prayer. It's totally separate. I don't believe that cuz when I read the Bible, I'm trying to hear the voice of God about what I'm praying about. I'm genuinely trying to hear his voice. That's what his word is, his voice. In fact, if you're trying any other way to hear the voice of GOD RATHER THAN HAVING A A LIFE in the word of God, if you hear something FROM GOD AND IT CONTRADICTS THE WORD OF GOD, YOU DID NOT HEAR FROM GOD. WELL, OKAY. It's It's true BECAUSE BELIEVE IT OR NOT, HIS WORD IS HIS FINAL AUTHORITY. I DON'T CARE WHAT DREAM YOU HAD. IF THE DREAM DOES NOT ALIGN WITH THE WORD, DON'T TELL ME GOD WAS TALKING TO YOU IF IT CONTRADICTS WHAT HE SAID IN HIS WORD. THIS IS HOW HE TALKS TO US. [applause] Let me just say this. Well, I I I that's why I come to church. I got to get a word every service. If you have to have a word every service, it's because you're not in the word during the week. Mhm. Well, I hope he preaches to I'm going through a lot. If he doesn't preach toward me, I'm probably not coming back. So, that is saying I'm not walking with God. So, we have to have a relationship with the word.

So, number one, find a place to pray. Number two, find the time. meet God at the same time if you can the same. It doesn't mean the same minute, but try to find an a time frame where you meet God every day like Adam did when he walked in the cool of the garden. Try to find a time where you're talking to God. Now, some people, this this is not going to go very well, I can tell, but I'm just going to do it. Some people say it doesn't matter if YOU PRAY AT 5 IN THE MORNING OR 5 IN the evening. God hears both prayers. And you're right. And boy, you're not going to like me if you don't like early morning prayer. BECAUSE THERE'S ONE MAJOR difference in a 5 a.m. prayer or a 4:00 a.m. prayer and a 300 p.m. or 5:00 p.m. prayer. One major difference. One is sacrificial. Well, Y'ALL ARE TIGHT TONIGHT. ONE SAYS, "I HAVE TO GET UP FROM COMFORT." USUALLY, IF YOU'RE NOT WORKING A NIGHT SHIFT, YOU HAVE TO GET UP FROM THE COMFORT OF THE BED. WAKE YOURSELF UP, FORCE YOURSELF TO WAKE UP, GET ALERT, AND GO TALK TO GOD. WHILE THE OTHER PRAYER MEETING, I'm already awake. It's quiet. NOT TO MENTION, ANGELS ASCEND AND DESCEND AT THE BREAKING OF THE DAY. JUST GO ASK JACOB WHAT THAT'S ALL ABOUT. IN OTHER WORDS, ANGELS WHO TAKE YOUR PRAYERS UP BEFORE GOD, THEY'RE COMING DOWN AND GOING UP IN THE EARLY MORNING HOURS WHEN THE SUN IS RISING. THEY'RE COMING DOWN. SO, IT WOULD MAKE SENSE IF YOU WANT PRAYERS TO BE ANSWERED TO START PRAYING WHEN THE ANGELS ARE IN TRANSITION BECAUSE WHEN PRAYERS ARE GOING UP, THEY'RE TAKING THEM UP THAT MOMENT. [applause] JESUS OFTEN PRAYED THROUGHOUT THE NIGHT, EARLY INTO THE MORNING. WELL, I just don't believe all that. Well, you don't believe it. And this is going to be very tight because you don't get a feeling early in the morning. Well, I just break through in the afternoon. We all do. I break through at night easier. We all do. And don't stop praying at night. Don't stop praying in the afternoon. But don't abort getting up and meeting God. Vangan said one time, "ANY DAY YOU DO NOT GET UP AND TALK TO GOD first is a day you've given to hell immediately." One preacher SAID, "ANY DAY YOU DO NOT START IN PRAYER, YOU WILL have 100 unnecessary battles if you just conquered the first battle yourself."

I'm going to get off my notes, but I'm in the Holy Ghost. I'm going to say some stuff here. Every morning when you wake up, when I wake up, there are three potential dimensions, three levels of warfare you can be in. When you and I wake up in the morning, THE FIRST THING WE'VE GOT TO CONQUER, the first warfare is our self, the flesh battle. That's why early morning prayer is so powerful because you're crucifying yourself. And so WHEN WHEN YOU GET UP AND THE THE FIRST WAR YOU HAVE IS NOT WITH THE DEVIL. It's not with the spirit world. It's with you. PAUL SAID, "I PUT MY FLESH UNDER SUBJECTION." OKAY? YOU DON'T NOW, WHEN YOU CONQUER, YOU let me just help YOU HERE. YOU DON'T GO FROM CONQUERING FLESH TO INSTANTLY BEING IN THE SPIRIT WORLD. THERE'S THERE'S THERE'S A LAYER OF WARFARE BETWEEN between the flesh war and spiritual warfare. AND THAT IS CALLED THE WORLD. And when you DEAL WITH YOU, THE NEXT LAYER YOU DEAL WITH IN YOUR DAY IS THE WORLD. IT'S QUIET TONIGHT. THAT'S WHY YOU'LL PRAY AND I'LL JUST I'LL USE SOMETHING RANDOM AND SOMEONE WILL SAY CUT YOU OFF IN TRAFFIC AND YOU GET UPSET AND THINK, "WELL, I JUST PRAYED AND CONQUERED ME AN HOUR AGO." But the devil knows I can push you right back into the flesh >> if the world gets your attention. >> That second glance Oh, I got you there. That adultery spirit that pulling you right back in the flesh. It's quiet. You can't have dominion over the spirit world if you're living in the flesh. WE WRESTLE NOT AGAINST FLESH AND BLOOD BUT AGAINST PRINCIP. IF YOU'RE WRESTLING YOUR FLESH, YOU'RE DISQUALIFIED FROM WRESTLING SPIRITS BECAUSE SPIRITUAL AUTHORITY DOES NOT WORK IN THE FLESH. IT WORKS IN the spirit. YOU CANNOT CAST OUT THE DEVIL IN YOUR FLESH. WELL, I command you to leave. Well, who are you? Well, I've got the Holy Ghost. Yes, but you ought to know who's talking through you because in your flesh, YOU'RE NOT GOING TO DO ANYTHING. BUT PAUL SAID, "IN MY FLESH DWELLETH [screaming] NO GOOD THING." SO, the trick of hell is to use the world to keep you in the flesh. That hell wants the world to keep me in the flesh. Why? Because if we get in the spirit, we're on his turf. Now, if we're on a prayer drive around Buxy, we're on his turf. Now, but if we're in the flesh fighting our in our home AND ARGUING AND STRIFE and contention and distracted, we're not even bothering him. He's kept us in the low realm of warfare. Does this make sense to everybody right now? I hope I'm helping you because we're going somewhere. I'm I'm I'm trusting you can go into these waters.

So that time of prayer, well, I don't if I can do it. Here's how you can do it. Make it a vow. God, I will get up before you. If I have to set 43 alarms all over the house, all over the neighborhood, I'm going to do it. If I have to call the fire department and say, "Please bring the biggest fire truck at 4:30 and blow it in my yard." I'm going to do it. Why? because I have to meet you. Well, I can't do it. You can if you repprioritize it. The reason why you feel like you can't is because it's not important enough. But I'd rather make it important when I when I'm able than wait till I'm in the middle OF THE DEVIL ATTACKING me to all of a sudden need A PRAYER LIFE. HAVE YOU EVER NOTICED SOME PEOPLE ONLY come to church when there's crisis in their life? When there's chaos? WHEN THEIR MARRIAGE IS ON THE ROCKS? WHEN THEIR KIDS GOING CRAZY, ALL OF A SUDDEN THEY'RE IN CHURCH AND THEN a few weeks later after it all CALMS DOWN, YOU CAN'T FIND THEM. YOU KNOW WHY? BECAUSE THEY ONLY GET SPIRITUAL WHEN THEY GET ATTACKED. David knew one thing ABOUT WARFARE. I'D RATHER HIT THE GIANT WITH A ROCK FROM A DISTANCE THAN TRY TO WRESTLE HIM BECAUSE IF I CAN WOUND HIM, WOW. BEFORE HE GETS UP ON ME. [snorts] I CAN DEFEAT HIM WHEN I'M CLOSE TO HIM. BUT I'M NOT GOING TO WAIT FOR ALL HELL TO BREAK LOOSE in my life before I throw my ROCK IN PRAYER. I'M GOING TO SHUT UP. I'M GOING TO GET IN THE SPIRIT AND WALK WITH GOD AND THROW THE ROCK NOW SO I CAN DEFEAT THE GIANT I SEE ON THE HORIZON. [applause] Does that make sense?

Have a place. Have a time.

Number three, find the channel of prayer. Find the channel of prayer. Four types of prayer in the in the New Testament. Prayer, thanksgiving, supplication, intercession. I've preached several messages on all four subjects, but let me just say this in a nutshell. Prayer is of these four that Paul mentioned. Prayer is the most unemotional cha channel of praying. It's you talking to God, God talking to you, very unemotional, very uh those moments where you're just it just comes out of you. Lord, I love you and you and and you just you start talking to him about whatever that's prayer.

Supplication is dasis in Greek, which means needs. So when you are shifting the subject from talking to God to talking to God about your problem, that's called supplication. Now it's very important that you bring your needs to God. David said, I think it was like eight times in Psalms, he made a statement about the voice of his supplication. Meaning your need is not enough. You have to voice your need. Does that make sense? God knew about this disciples in the storm. He would have passed them by, the Bible said, had they not cried out. Because the need is not enough. The need has to have a voice. That's why when Esther and all of her people were sentenced to die, her cousin Morai Moray said, "Will you go before the king and make supplication for us?" That's what he said. Meaning, we've got the need. You've got the voice. Our need does nothing if you do not voice it before the king.

Now, let me give you a little little little a little uh pattern of prayer here. The Bible said prayer, supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. Right? So, this brings me to the third channel of prayer, thanksgiving. This is so awesome. prayer, talking to God, supplication, bringing up the need. Usually, I'll just use myself. WHEN I START BRINGING up my need, I START REQUESTING HELP. I go from prayer, supplication to requesting. I think most of us are guilty of that. When we start talking about the subject that's bothering us, we start asking, "God, are you going to come through? God, are you going to make a way? What are you going to do, God? God, please come through. We start requesting. But Paul said, prayer, supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be made known. He said, here's a pattern. You want a prayer answered. When you're TALKING ABOUT YOUR NEED, DON'T GO FROM YOUR NEED TO YOUR REQUEST. STOP WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT AND START THANKING GOD [screaming] BEFORE YOU ASK GOD. BECAUSE IF YOU CAN EVER START TO THANK HIM, WELL, I FEEL THE HOLY GHOST BEFORE YOU ASK HIM, IT CHALLENGES HIM TO MOVE BECAUSE IT'S HARD FOR HIM TO RESIST THANKSGIVING. OH, it's quiet right now. I feel THE HOLY GHOST, THOUGH. If you really WANT THE ANSWER, DON'T GET UPSET WHILE I'M BEGGING HIM TO COME THROUGH. SATAN IS A BEGGAR. HE BEGS GOD EVERY DAY FOR STUFF. YOU'RE NOT A BEGGAR. YOU ARE A BELIEVER. AND YOU'VE GOT A RIGHT TO THANK HIM THAT HE'S GOING TO MAKE A WAY. YOU'VE GOT A RIGHT TO THANK HIM FOR WHAT HE'S ALREADY DONE. YOU'VE GOT A RIGHT TO PRAISE HIM THAT BECAUSE YOU KNOW WHAT HE CAN DO. [applause] It works. Unfortunately, Thanksgiving is the most untapped channel of the four among Pentecostals. We are really good at prayer, really good at supplication. We tap at intercession pretty good. But thanksgiving, we thank him for 5 seconds after we begged him for 5 years. We got it honestly. Children of Israel, 430 years in bondage, crying, crying, help. He gets them out. They sing one song. Three days later, "We need some water. We need some food. Let's go back to Egypt." Murmuring, complaining, because they didn't tap into thanksgiving. It's quiet. What if we learn to thank him at the same level we were asking him? Uh, no. You can I give you the answer? You'll see a lot more answers because when you live in a state of thanksgiving, which by the way, thanksgiving kills entitlement. That's what this younger generation needs more than anything is thanksgiving because it kills a spirit of entitlement where I deserve it. Give me, give, give me. My name is Jimmy. Let me tell you, you don't deserve anything. The mercy of God is what saved all of us. We don't deserve to be in this room right now. But God was gracious enough. [applause] It's hard to be bitter and to be thankful at THE SAME TIME. IT'S HARD TO BE ANGRY AND BE THANKFUL AT THE SAME TIME. IT'S HARD TO BE ENTITLED AND BE THANKFUL AT THE SAME TIME. IT'S HARD TO THINK YOU DESERVE THE PLATFORM AND BE THANKFUL AT THE SAME TIME. can't pursue honor and humility at the same time. So, thanksgiving is a very untapped champ.

The fourth one is intercessory prayer, which I could go all night on with that. Intercessory prayer is the spirit of God praying through. It's the only time you're guaranteed God will answer the prayer every single time you pray. Because it's not you praying, it's not me praying. It's God praying through me or through you. And so intercession, it's the most it's it's the most powerful prayer. It's the most difficult place to get to in prayer because intercession requires selflessness. Because God cannot choose you to intercede if you hate the subject or the person he needs you to pray for. If you're a racist and someone across town is hurting and God's searching through Buxy looking for an intercessor, guess whose house he's not going to come to? Yours. It's quiet, but it's right because he cannot you cannot tap into the spirit. You cannot be selfless because it requires God's spirit going through you with a love that you don't have the capacity to release. It's quiet, but it's true. Intercessors do their best work alone. Intercessors do not need music in the background to pray. Intercessors will war when no one's around. Intercessors don't need a crowd watching them at 4:15 in the morning. They get up and they talk to God. Intercessors have weight in a service. There's intercessors in this room right now. And I could feel your heavy spirit pulling this service down because you're discouraged. Some people have no weight in the spirit world. And and it's nothing I don't mean that to be mean, but when I when I walk into a service, some people have they don't have a walk with God. They have they're weightless in the spirit world. They don't they're they don't really control a service or an atmosphere because they're so flighty and weak. But some people have some serious authority and they have a prayer life. And when they're depressed and they're discouraged, you walk and you can feel the atmosphere down because people that normally have fire, faith, and authority and power are weakened and discouraged and hearing the voice of the adversary. So you have to get them back up to release that prayer that they always release because they carry weight. Billy Cole's wife, Shirley Cole, who was probably one of the greatest intercessors ever lived. I got to go to her house before she died. And I was talking to her and she showed me the spot where she prayed on the floor for six days. Yeah, I said that right. Six days. She said, "I only got up to use the restroom." The last crusade in Ethiopia when I think it was like 65,000 people got the Holy Ghost or whatever it was that last service. She said, "I got up when I got the call about the altar call would happen, but I prayed six days for that altar call to happen." That is another level. Some people can't pray six minutes, 6 hours, that's a dream. Six days, impossible. This is what she told me herself. I said, "What's the number one secret to intercessory prayer?" Well, just I'm just I'm just I want to know this stuff. what what is the number one signal that intercession is on you and it's not just a normal prayer meeting? Oh, she said, "Oh, that's easy." I said, "What is it?" She said, "Depression." I said, "Depression." She said, "Depression is always the signal intercession is near. But most people are so carnal, they want to shake off the depression, they don't realize it's a weight or a burden from God to pray. Well, it's quiet tonight. What happens when you get depressed? Well, I need to change my outfit. I need to scroll on my phone. I need to go eat something. I need to shake it off. [snorts] Don't ask God for a burden then because a burden will show up in the form of discouragement. It's heavy. But some of the greatest prayer meetings you'll ever tap into are intercessory prayer meetings.

Number four, I'll leave it long. I could go all night on that. Number four, find your windows to pray in the day. Find windows to pray. What does that mean? Bible said Daniel when he heard the decree that they were going to throw him in the lines and if he prayed, open his windows and prayed three times a day as he did a four time. Meaning before they ever had this decree, Daniel prayed three times a day. Okay? Before there was ever a lion's den in Daniel's peripheral, there was three times a day he prayed. And when they said, "You're going to die if you pray, bro." He said, "I'd rather keep my prayer life than my actual life." Think about that. What do you mean find your windows? Find ways to pray. Find ways to get multiple prayer meetings in daily. Here's how your prayer life goes from five minutes to 15 minutes a day. 15 minutes to an hour. An hour to two hours. Well, I just don't have time. How many windows are open on your phone right now? Well, y'all are making me work tonight. It's all right. I'm going to be your Sunday. Remember this. How? Well, I just don't have time. Your phone says otherwise. If you can be on the phone four to six hours a day, but you don't have four to six minutes to pray, something else is controlling your mind.

One of my friends showed me what he did and it changed my life. I said, "What what are you doing to pray longer?" He said, "Man, I just tried something crazy." I said, "What'd you do?" He said, "I got some graph paper out and I put on the bottom of the graph paper one all the way to 30 for 30 days in the month. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, all the way down the bottom line to 30. And then on the left side of the paper going up of it one hour, two hours, three hours, four hours, five hours. I said, "Okay." He said, "And every day when I prayed, I would pray throughout the day and I would clock it and I would have to put a dot on the graph paper to let me know how much time I really was praying." Well, it's not about the time. I can tell you don't pray very long. Only somebody would say, "Well, it's not about the time." Doesn't pray very long. But ask Jesus what he felt about that because Jesus said multiple times, "Could you not watch and pray with me at least one hour?" It's quiet tonight, guys. All right, let's dig it out. So he said, "When I did it, it forced me to recognize that I wasn't praying like I thought I was." Have you ever told somebody, "I'm praying for you." and never actually prayed for them. Oh, what do I preach on lying Sunday? Four or five people. Hey, praying for you. No, you're not. But you say you are because it's it's like it's almost like releasing a blessing. We probably should say I'm I release a blessing to you because we're actually when I I'm praying for you, we really don't do it all the time. We think we are or we go the praying for you and you're like, man, I really didn't pray for him. Lord, bless him in Jesus name. Yeah. Check the box. Thank you. Like, you weren't praying, bro. You think God really heard that? You prayed longer for your food 30 minutes ago. Well, this is getting real tonight. So, he said it forced me to see what I was thinking I was doing and what I was actually doing. And my prayer life went through the roof. So I tried it for a year and wouldn't you know my prayer life doubled and tripled because I did I didn't want what was a good day before now became a bad day because I was transform transforming my mind thinking about prayer was more important than other things and I was going to have to put a dot on the paper but that many oh that's Oh, well, I prayed an hour today. 37 minutes is not an hour. I know this is y'all are not laughing, but I'm having fun up here. I don't care how mad you get. 23 minutes is not an hour. 12 minutes is not an hour. Stop letting your flesh off the hook. Make yourself stay in that vein of prayer.

Here's the last point. Prayer is like a river. Okay? The the water I want you TO SEE THE WATER IN A RIVER LIKE like the spirit of God. You get in the river every morning. You get in that river and it starts flowing. It starts flowing and the current STARTS RISING GETTING FASTER AND FASTER. That's your breakthrough. That's when we normally stop. Well, that was power. Wow. And we get out of the river. But if you stay in the river, the rapids will slow down almost to a standstill. But guess what? There's just as much water in the standill as there was in the rapid. Meaning, after the breakthrough, don't just tap out. Get your Bible out. Start listening for his voice. Get a journal. If I could ever tell you anything about prayer life, get a journal. Don't ever go to prayer again without a pen and a piece of paper or whatever you normally journal. Have something to write it down. Cuz when six months from now when you're going through something, you could look back at the verse that God gave you or the thing you wrote down in prayer and realize God spoke this to me six months ago. Preacher, this is awful. This is a lot of qu This is stuff that I I asked God on the way. I don't want this altar call to be to where we shout it down and we and I don't want that tonight. I want this to go to your house so that the altar call starts at home and your prayer life goes to another level. Try doing a prayer for 30 days and and come back and tell me how many hours you pray versus how many hours you were praying before. You'll realize, wow, I can spend more time with God than I actually have been doing.

Let's stand right now. I'm going to let some of you that give me that mad look go home. Your prayer life determines a lot of things and your relationship with God determines a lot of things. And sometimes things could be different. Things I could perceive them differently had I been praying. I can tell you right off the bat that when I do good praying in the morning versus when I just struggle and and don't put any effort into it, my days go completely different. They do. There's something about putting God first. There's something about saying, "This day I submit to you." Every morning I wake up, first thing I say is, "This is the day the Lord hath made. I'll rejoice and be glad in it." The next thing I pray is the seven prayers of submission. I submit myself to the word of God. I submit myself to the name of Jesus. I submit myself to the blood. I submit myself to the Holy Ghost. I submit myself to his angels. I submit myself to his will. I submit myself to my pastor every morning. first thing I say. Then I renew my vows every morning. Vows I make to God that are personal. I renew this vow to you, God. This is for you today. Then I go into praise, thanksgiving, and then repentance. You can you can form, you know, tabernacle prayer. I do that a lot. That works. Lord's prayer, armor of God prayer. I could teach series on this stuff. This h this is awesome stuff that you can walk in. But the most important thing you've got to learn about prayer is just being sincere. Just be real. Just be sincere. Just be serious. Just mean what you're saying. Just Just try to show up. God is organized. Plan your prayer meeting. You're meeting a king tomorrow morning. Do you realize that? I I'm just going to say that again. You have an appointment with a king tomorrow morning. >> How serious are you taking the appointment of the Holy Ghost right now? How serious am I taking the appointment? Am I skipping the appointment with the king? Please tell me what's more. What's what's the greater appointment of my day than that?

Lord Jesus, release a praying spirit on every man and every woman in this room. Release it, God, on people that are hungry. This is what you told me to do tonight, and I'm doing it. And so God, I pray in the name of the Lord Jesus, that whoever wants it, because I know some in here do and I know some do not. And God, I can feel the ones that do and I can see the ones that do not. I'm asking you for the ones that do that you would begin to visit them like you've never visited them. That you would speak to them like you've never spoken to them. that the word of God would be so full of light that verses would leap off the page to their lives that they'd have encounters with you and your angels that you would block the spirits attacking their home and their mind and their family. I pray in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ that there'd be a discipline that would develop and a hunger and a pursuit of you that's more important than any human's opinion around. I pray God that our eyes would not be on people but our eyes would be on you. That we would not depend on somebody else's prayer life or lack of prayer life but that we would develop our own.

Would you begin to pray right now? Would you lift up your voice and ask God to take you deeper in the river? Would you ask God to let you linger in prayer? Teach me to pray longer. If you can make it 45 minutes, you can make it 50. If you can make it 25 minutes, you can make it 30. There's something about lingering. It's hovering. It's trying to get loose. It's trying to get loose. The elders will tell you this is how you do it. You just go in prayer. You pray until he releases you. >> Let's go deeper, shall we?

I come against the COVID attack on this church in the name of the Lord Jesus. I come against the spirit of death and the spirit of fear in Jesus name. Take authority against that right now. God, I speak health into every lung and every into every nostril. I come against every headache in Jesus name. People watching online, I come against that headache right now. for fever break right now in the name of the Lord Jesus. I want you to look around and see someone that you know that's normally here. It's not here right now. Someone that would stand out to you. I want you to begin to call their name out to the Lord. I don't even know what the reason that they wouldn't be here, but why don't you call their name out right now? Speak healing. Speak life. Speak strength into their bodies. Come on. Get that prayer life. Get that prayer life that hell fears. That prayer life that hell is worried about. That prayer life that gets God's attention. I've taken a Wednesday night and I've thrown as many or a lot of things tonight at you. And I hope something sticks. And whatever sticks, use it, apply it, develop it, attach it, walk in it, because your prayer life will never be the same again.