Igniting a New Hunger: A Call to Radical Prayer and Fervent Faith

Thank you very much. Good morning—still morning, right? Just checking. Get lost in worship? I’m kidding. I want to piggyback off something Josh said—really, the Lord was speaking through him during worship. I hope you heard it. He said, “Whatever you’ve set down and have given to the Lord but have now taken back up again, the Lord says to you today, lay it back down.” Did you hear that during worship? It’s okay if you didn’t.

That’s why—whatever you’ve set down and have given to the Lord but have now taken back up again—the Lord says to you today to lay it back down. We’ll just let that one marinate.

I am a little undone today. I’m not sure how it’s all going to come out, but let’s put it in drive.

Today, you know, we’re in this time of fasting and prayer before the Lord, and it’s been burning on my heart for about a month about prayer and not just what it is—I mean, we can get into the specifics of the study of prayer, the different types of prayer, and all these different things. You know, those are all fantastic, wonderful, and available, but if you’re not praying, you will never attain them.

So as best I can today, I would like to literally almost beg you, plead with you, to open your heart to the Lord, to the moving of the Holy Spirit. Let Him teach you. Let Him prod you. I’m going to say some words that will definitely be challenging today, but they’re the words of the Lord that have been speaking to me, and I get to pass them along, as it were, to you.

I want to talk today about prayer and three aspects of it: the privilege of prayer, the practice of prayer, and the power of prayer.

If you could all turn—if you have your Bibles or devices—open up to Psalm 86. Actually, I think we have it on the slides as well. I’d like us all to read this together today, and if you wouldn’t mind standing with me while we read this.

I want to say this: I’m preaching on prayer, but really, this is an active lab, as it were. Whenever you talk about prayer—prayer is about doing. Prayer is about activating. Prayer is about stepping into and giving your devotion, time, energy, effort—whatever you can muster. It’s about giving, communicating, and pouring out your heart, soul, and life force to the Lord.

We’re going to pray through this Psalm together. We’re reading a Psalm—this is a Psalm of David, and David is praying and it’s recorded. So we’re reading it, yes, but we are actually praying it. You with me?

Psalm 86, let’s read together:

Incline your ear, O Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and needy. Preserve my life, for I am godly; save your servant who trusts in you—you are my God. Be gracious to me, O Lord, for to you do I cry all the day. Gladden the soul of your servant, for to you, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you. Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer; listen to my plea for grace. In the day of my trouble I call upon you, for you answer me. For you are great and do wondrous things; you alone are God. Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name.

Father, in the name of Jesus, we thank you for this time where we can present ourselves before you. Holy Spirit, we ask that you teach us now—that you impart unto us a new passion, a new fire, a new fervor, a new posture even before you, God, in prayer. Lord, I ask that you would teach us, but more so, Lord, not just knowledge. Knowledge does help and clarify, but Lord, I pray for an igniting today of our hearts. Drive us into our secret places, into our congregations, where two or three are gathered. Father, drive us passionately into the pursuit of you in prayer. Ignite us in this today, in Jesus’ name, amen.

Wow.

So we heard from the Lord last week. If you were here in service, there was a word given about the steadfast love of the Lord—that is, His everlasting kindness to us. Psalm 63 speaks to this, and so I felt like, starting today, we needed to still respond to what God told us last Sunday, because He said, “I will be steadfast; will you be steadfast?”

Psalm 63 says:
O God, you are my God; earnestly I will seek you. My soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name, I will lift up my hands.

Thank you, Lord, for your steadfast love.

I encourage you to continue responding to the Lord’s wooing of that steadfast love, and your response that is also steadfast to Him.Okay, the privilege of prayer: prayer is the privilege of speaking directly to God. It’s a privilege. Men and women were created by God with the ability to commune directly with Him. This precious privilege has been restored to us through the Gospel of Jesus Christ—that is, the birth, death, and resurrection of our Lord and Savior. This powerful privilege is revived and amplified within us through partnering with the Holy Spirit. Prayer is one of the most valuable expressions of thanksgiving, surrender, dependency, desperation, obedience, and resolute trust in the life of the believer.

The privilege of prayer came at an extreme cost. We sang about it today: a life was rejected so that you could be reconciled in prayer. A life was wounded so that you could have wholeness in prayer. A life greatly suffered so you could be satisfied in prayer. A life was emptied so you could have fullness in prayer. A life was cut off so that you could be reconnected in prayer. A life was pierced and punished so you could have peace in prayer. A life was poured out so that you could have power in prayer. A life was laid down so you could lift up your prayers.

Father, awaken us to the great and precious privilege it is to come to You in prayer. Lord, stir our hearts today. Break up the fallow ground of our hearts and restore us to the joy of our salvation. Grant to us a newfound hunger and passion to engage and persist in the magnificent privilege of prayer.

As mentioned, God initiated communication with us as His creation. He speaks; He’s a speaking God. He reveals Himself, and He listens—especially to His children. This great privilege of prayer is miraculous in and of itself. The very ability to speak directly to the Creator of the heavens and the earth is a profound privilege that, dare I say, we don’t regard as highly as we should. I know for many years of my life, I didn’t.

God has enabled us to get closer, more personal, and more intimate with Him—to discover Him, learn about Him, and fellowship or commune with Him. And not just with Him, but also with Jesus Christ our King and, of course, the beloved Holy Spirit.

Hebrews 4:14-16 speaks to us about this: “Since then we have a great High Priest who has passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who is in every sense tempted like we are, yet without sin. Let us then come with confidence to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

Hebrews 10:19-23 says, “Therefore, brothers, we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way that He has opened up for us through the veil—that is to say, through His flesh. And since we have a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse them from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us firmly hold the profession of our faith without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.”

Interesting thing to note here in these two verses—again, Josh, dead on it today, man—is the confidence we have in God because of what Christ has won. That’s the privileged part. We have this thing in society that everybody’s making a fuss about called privilege, and I want to talk to you about the only privilege that really matters: the one that was won for you on the cross. You didn’t do anything to earn it. You certainly weren’t born with it. But you can come under it by faith and through grace. Through the miraculous work of Jesus Christ on the cross, you can actually step into this place of confidence because you are now qualified, washed by the blood of Christ. You can step in. That’s that boldness the Bible talks about. You can boldly come before the throne of grace—not because you earned it, not because you were born with it, not because you’re great and successful and all these other things the world wants to measure us with, but because of a privilege that was purchased for you.

The heart of the message today is to understand that prayer isn’t just this rote, mundane, religious activity. It is the most quintessential expression of communication with the Spirit of God. That’s how we communicate with Him: through prayer. It’s so important that we understand and add a new level of reverence to our time of prayer with the Lord.

So this confidence we now have, this privilege we now have, we have to apprehend it. We have to take hold of it and step into our rightful place. I got a picture during worship that there’s a seat at the table. God’s prepared a place for you, but if you don’t sit at the table, you won’t receive. The Word of God says, “You have not because you ask not.” There are some things we’re looking to the Lord for, things we need from Him, but we don’t ask. We need to sit at the table.

So we have ownership here. We must cry out to God to renew the awe and the splendor of what it is to commune with the Holy Spirit—the holy, mighty, loving, all-powerful, glorious, miraculous, gracious, and merciful Father. We must confidently and with humility draw near in reverent prayer—prayers with a heart full of thanksgiving—to the place of fellowship that Christ has won for us. That is the privilege of prayer. If we don’t understand the privilege, then prayer becomes a chore. It becomes dry. It becomes lifeless because we’re now just doing a religious activity. We’re just saying words; we’re not having a conversation.

Have you ever been in a room with someone where you’re trying to speak to them, but they’re on their phone or watching a show? They say, “Oh yeah, yeah, I’m hearing you.” This is what we do to the Lord, right? If we don’t take a seat at the table, He’s gracious and merciful, and He goes, “Hey, how about a little time today?” He’s knocking at the door, and we go, “Oh hey, yeah, well, I’ve got all these other things I need to do.” A first offender right here—this guy.

Can I get that first quote, please? “The privilege of prayer. Prayer is our highest privilege, our gravest responsibility, and the greatest power God has put into our hands. Prayer, real prayer, is the noblest, the sublimest, the most stupendous act that any creature of God can perform.”

Now let’s talk about the practice of prayer. If we understand the privilege, then by faith, by our loving response, by being a devoted disciple of the Lord, we will step into that place of privilege and we will now practice prayer. I know the word “practice” sounds like a sport—not quite right. The practice of prayer is a lifestyle that is consistently devoted to communing with God. That’s simple. It is the essential nature of our relationship with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It’s not about eloquence; it’s about earnestness and diligence. That is what prayer is—it’s about consistently communing. Remember those two words: consistently commune.

Communing is more than just talking, right? Sometimes we casually talk to the Lord, and I don’t think that’s necessarily bad. Anytime you’re talking to the Lord is a good thing. But there’s something a little bit different when we step into this place that He’s provided for us. When we understand the privilege of where we’re at—“I did not get here on my own strength; all my righteousness is filthy rags; I did not earn my way into the audience with the King; He granted it”—and so when we step into prayer that way, you can’t help but utter thanksgivings to the Lord as you approach Him.

And that’s a quick tip: if you’re seeking to rev up and completely change your prayer life, that first moment before you start petitioning the Lord—before you start asking and putting requests before Him—you must thank Him. You must come to Him with thanksgiving and say, “The place I’m at right now, I didn’t earn on my own. I’m here but by Your grace. Thank You for this. Thank You for what was purchased for me so that I could even have this privilege, this honor, this ability. And now that I am here, Lord, I present myself before You.”

So in this practice, again, it’s not about eloquence, saying the perfect words, being loud, or being long-winded. It’s about earnestness—which means consistency—and a diligence, a determination to continually put yourself into that place of privilege.

Can I get that second quote, please? “No man is greater than his prayer life. The pastor who is not praying is playing. The people who are not praying are straying. We have many organizers but few agonizers; many players and payers, but few prayers; many singers but few clingers; lots of pastors, few wrestlers; many fears, few tears; much fashion, little passion; many interferers, few intercessors; many writers but few fighters. Failing here, we fail everywhere.”

I don’t know if any of you have heard of Brother Ravenhill—he’s the predecessor to David Wilkerson, a mighty man of prayer. So when I was reading that, I thought, “Oh God, is that not it?”Forbid I’m sorry a lot of what we see in the American church today is all about entertainment and comfort and it’s casual and we’re just strolling in kind of like “Yay, entertain me, teach me a little something, tickle my ears and let me walk out of here the exact same.” We have to come to this place like it says in Psalm 51, this place of a broken and contrite spirit, the place of knowing that I have to go before the throne of grace today not just because of my frailty but because that’s what He wants for me. You understand? Like, we’re not always driven to the place of prayer because of our needs. Sometimes we need to take our needs— I know we have needs. I had a lot of needs last year, me and my wife. I know we have needs, God knows these needs, but sometimes we need to take our agenda, our needs, and set it to the side and come before the Lord and say, “What do You need? What are You working on today? Holy Spirit, who are You touching today? How can I be a part of that? What should I pray? How?” We don’t even know how to pray.

Two years ago, I was invited by Pastor David Lien. I know I’ve said this a million times, but I have to tell you, the last two years have been like the most reviving, revolutionary years I’ve ever had in my Christian life. After 40 years of walking with the Lord, I thought I had it all figured out. I’m ready, send me, I’m ready, Pastor Pat, okay, let’s go, send me out. I’m ready, I’m ready, I’m ready. You know what the Lord said? “You’re not ready.” I’m standing there arrogantly before the Lord going, “What do you mean? I’ve given 40 years to You, where’s the fruit? Where’s my podium?” And He’s like, “If you’re looking for a podium, you’ll get it, but that’s all you’ll get.” He’s like, “If you’re looking for Me…” Okay, Lord. So David said, “Hey, let’s pray together.” I’m like, “Sure, whatever, that sounds good, I’m game. What day? What time?” He’s like, “Every day at lunch.” And I went, “No.” He texted me this, and I’m going, “What, noon? That’s like right when my day really starts to get some momentum.” Any of you like buzz through lunch because you’re like, “Finally, I’m good, I’m going!” That is the most crucial part of my day, it’s pivotal sometimes.

So my brother David was passionate about his prayer life, and that bled over into mine, which was existent but not passionate. In all that, like five seconds of time, the Lord had about ten questions for me. Here’s two of them: He said, “Are you really passionate for me?” And that was a real quick check at the prayer meter on empty. I was like, “Whoa, I’m not… Whoa, whoa.” Wait a minute. “I’m, whoa, God, I’m thinking this is about time invested, time in all the things I’m involved with, all these things I’ve done, like that accounts for something.” Which it kind of does, and it’s good. Faithfulness is, you know, the Lord loves faithfulness. I’m not, you know, throwing stones at that. But heart. Heart—where was my heart? And it was not on fire. I pray for my children, I pray for my wife, I pray for my day. Like, I’m praying, I’m saying things, but I’m not passionately before Him in that place of privilege.

So I had to repent, ladies and gentlemen. We have to get really familiar with this word, “repent.” We can no longer look at that word as a dirty word. That’s a lie from the enemy. Repentance is the greatest reward won for us at a precious cost so that we can actually, who were once turned our backs to the Lord, we can actually turn back to Him and walk towards Him. We can go sit back at the table, we can take that place of privilege. Repentance is so crucial. God is always calling us to repentance.Always, so I’m like, “Okay Lord, I repent. I’m not on fire for You. I’m not passionate in prayer.” Why? It’s like He revealed to me my lack. I’m starving to communicate with Him. So, thank you Pastor David. He invited me to do this, and I’m like, “Okay, great.” So, speed up through the story. I say, “Yes, Lord. I’ll go, I’ll start praying, and I’ll go every day at noon.” What did I just commit to, right? Doesn’t make sense. Got a lot of things to do. Got a lot of things I’m juggling. The Lord says, “Noon every day.”

Okay, so we start praying. We start to practice prayer, and I’ve got to tell you, it was really great, really wonderful, and I started to run out of things to pray for at about the two-week mark. And you know what? That third week, I went in, we meet up down before the Lord. Got a little familiar spot. I’m trying to wear a hole in the rug and leave a little legacy. And, uh, it’s a little… it’s a little hat tip to many, many great revivalists who spent hours, days, years in prayer, and because of their faithfulness, the Lord, you know, moved, and they were in the timing of the Lord because they were in concert with Him out of that communion.

So, I go, “Lord, I don’t really have anything to pray today.” And He’s like, “I’m so glad your list is done. Now we can get to work.” Because, as I’m going to read in a second, I had to learn, I had to learn how to pray. See, we think we know how to pray because we know how to talk, but we have to learn how to pray.

Okay, now this word “practice”—I know, again, it’s a strange word, but here’s what the word “practice” means in its most simple form: the application of what you believe. That’s what you practice. You could say worship, kind of close, but the things that you believe, the things you’re passionate about, you practice them. You endeavor to get better. You endeavor to go deeper. You endeavor to be around it more. The Lord speaks to us in this, or He speaks to us about this in Matthew 6. He’s talking to His disciples, and He tells them, “You know, when you practice your alms, right? When you’re giving to the poor, do it in secret.” He’s teaching them a principle. It’s not about making yourself a spectacle. That’s not what prayer is. That’s not what prophecy is. That’s not what giving is. What He says to do is, from your heart, you give in secret so that your Father sees in secret and He rewards you, and He rewards you openly at times.

Then Matthew 6, Jesus says, “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.” The Lord was blaring that to me when I was like, “Where’s my podium?” And He’s like, “There you go, little wood box, all yours, but I don’t come with it.” So it is in our prayers. Verse 6 says, “But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.”

Now this doesn’t mean that we don’t ask Him, because we go, “Well, He knows what I need, so why do I need to ask Him?” That’s like saying to a child, like, they’re hungry but they don’t say the words. So, how do I know? When we’re going to communicate about feeding you, with our Father, it is the same. He knows what we need, but we still need to ask, one, because He tells us to, two, because that’s the nature of our relationship. We talk, communicate to each other.

Luke 11: Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when He finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray as John taught his disciples.” And He said to them, “When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Um, give us this day… this is Luke 11, so it’s a little different than Matthew. I know, um, in case you’re like, “Hey, you missed a spot.” Um, “Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us, and lead us not into temptation.”

Now, I wanted to preface those scriptures because the practice, the application of what we believe, is so important to practice prayer. I heard it spoken to this way: as a holy habit, it’s something you do habitually that is a holy act before the Lord. Right? Sometimes we’re like, “Holiness, gosh, how am I going to do that?” Consistently, bring yourself into the place of privilege before the Lord, and you are doing your holy duty or part of it.

So, here’s the first tip in the practice of prayer: ask the Lord to teach you to pray. Okay, there was something different about Jesus’s prayer life, and even though the disciples had walked with Him for three years and had seen Him pray, and they themselves, I’m sure, prayed—they were Jewish boys, Jewish young men—there was something distinctly different about how Jesus prayed, and so they said, “Lord, teach us to pray.” They didn’t say, “Lord, teach us to preach. Lord, teach us how to, uh, be productive and successful in life. Teach us how to, you know, do all these other great things.” They said, “Lord, teach us to pray. How does That work when you communicate with the Father because we hear thunderings sometimes, they actually heard the voice, certain disciples. So, we need to be taught of the Lord, and Jesus then took the time to teach them. Now, I’m not going to go over the Lord’s prayer today; we’ve gone over that a lot. If you need to dip into that, you can, I’m sure you can find those resources really quickly. But the point of what I want to make is when the Lord teaches you to pray, you will be praying with power, and you’ll be praying accurately because you’ll be praying according to His will. Amen? So important.

Another interesting note is that the disciples put a demand on Christ. Now, by demand, I don’t mean command. Those are two different kinds of ideas. Command means I tell you to do something. Demand means I’m asking, requesting, needing something from you. So, the disciples, we see that they put a demand on their instructor, on their Master. They were truly in this privileged position of being taught. Is this making sense? As disciples of the Lord Jesus, we need to remain in this place of education, if you will. But we need to be in a teachable position before the Lord, thinking we’ve got it all figured out after 40, 60, 70, whatever the years are. We actually need to come back to the basic thing, which is, “Lord, I present myself before You. I don’t know what I don’t know. I don’t even know how to pray about this situation.”

I started praying about the fires the other day, and I just started rattling off stuff that was right out of my heart. Now, is that bad? No. It’s good. It’s a great place to start. But then I paused and went, “Wait, Lord, what do You want me to pray about the fires?” You know what He said? “Pray for the rulers. Pray for those who are in government. Pray for those who are the First Responders. Pray for those who are navigating the governance of the state. Pray for them.” You know, I’m like, “Drop rain from Heaven, God. Like, pour it out. Like, snuff it out. Like, put it…” You know, my heart’s just kind of starting to spin up, and the Lord’s like, “Let’s go over here. Pray for those rulers.” And that is literally a Biblical command. He doesn’t say criticize them, hello? Check in myself. He doesn’t say criticize them. He doesn’t say reprimand them. He doesn’t say anything negative. He says, “Pray for them.”

Good. Oh, I can feel the… I can feel the on that one. Can you feel it? People are like, “I want to tell you a really, really quick but really serious account.” We’re in this time of prayer, Pastor David was there, and as we’re praying… Now, we’ve gotten to like week… You know, we’ve gotten to like month three, month four, and it completely changed at week three when the Lord said, “Can I have the agenda, please?” And we surrendered the agenda, and here’s what the Lord did. He said, “Why don’t you pray for this today? Why don’t you read this scripture and then pray into that scripture and just stay focused on that? Why don’t you pull up this verse and then pray for that?” And we would… We were in the spirit, and the spirit would say, “David, pray this. Jerbi, pray this. Jim, pray this. Jonathan Foley, pray this.” Pastor Pat was there at times. And it’s like what we see in worship a lot of times, where there’s like a prophetic word and then a prophetic utterance, and then an instrument plays a song. And there’s just this beautiful symphony going on of these different things that the spirit is conducting. He does that in our prayer life, often times.

Now speaking corporately too, we bring all of our own agendas and we’re trying to make that get off the ground, and we’re a little fractured. So, we started to learn, okay… stop, teach us how to pray on this. Holy Spirit, teach us what to say. We don’t even know what to pray for. Give us the words, give us the focus, give us the scriptures. How do we approach this? God loves that. God loves that. When we come to Him with all of our education and we’re preaching to God and we’re telling Him all about how His word works and when He should do things, that is commanding God. That is not putting a demand on Him. Demand is very different. It’s critical. We are supposed to put a demand on Heaven. Did you know this? We’re supposed to call up and say, “Lord Jesus, Your kingdom come.” That is a demand. Not we’re not commanding God, but we are saying, “Bring Your Kingdom to Earth. Establish Your rule and Your reign in my heart today and in all that I touch today.” That is pulling on Heaven. That is putting a demand on His resources, a demand on His provision, a demand on His grace. That is our privileged place. That’s right. We’re not strangers anymore. We’re actually sons and daughters, heirs, who can boldly come before His throne of grace and what? Obtain, take hold of mercy. Of course, He extends it because we come in in the right posture.

So we’re praying. I come in and the Lord… Spirit of God is leading us into this prayer, and it’s going really, really great. The Lord highlights somebody to us. We start praying for this individual, and then the Lord stops me. He says, “There’s something else I want to show you to pray for. But before I show you, you need to repent.” And I’m going, “Huh? What?” And then He says, “You have ought with this person.” But this is how gracious our Father is. “I want you to do this, son. I want you to do this, church. I want you to do this, daughter of Mine. I want you to reach into this situation with My hand, as the Holy Spirit pushes you into the situation through prayer, and I want you to help pull that brand out of the fire. But I can’t use your hand until you release what you’re holding on to in your bitterness and your resentment and your indifference.” And I was like, “Oh, okay, let it go.” He showed us what to pray for. We prayed for that, and it turned a situation around in 6 weeks. I’m not saying it’s because of our prayer. I’m saying it’s because we were privileged enough to partner with the Lord, who is already doing something. He clued us into His work because we wanted to be involved, because we’re passionate about prayer and knowing the mind and the heart of God. We’re not trying to accomplish things per se. Does this make sense? We’re not going in there to go, “God, do this and do that,” and, you know, instead it’s, “What are You doing? How can I be a part of it? What…”Must I change within myself that You would let me in deeper, that You would let me into the mystery of what You’re doing right now? What do I need to change? How do I need to approach You? What do I need to let go of? We have to ask the Lord for hunger. If you’re not hungry, if you’re dry, if you don’t have a prayer life or your prayer life feels like the heavens are brass, I’m saying things and I can’t reach the L, whatever that looks like, the only way to get hungry is to ask for it. It’s not about determination, like, “Okay, every single day at 6:00 a.m., I’m getting up. I swear I’m going to get up and I’m going to…” That’s in our own strength. I’ve done that a million times. How long does that last? Not very long.

Sometimes we have to come to the Lord and say, “Lord, make me a more faithful steward of this privilege. Help me step into this.” Then, you’ve got to take a real good look and say this out of my own heart, my own life—exactly what I was presented with for the last two years that we’ve been praying in this way. “Lord, what do I need to set aside?” Because guess what? Noon gets busy again. Noon puts a demand on me again. There’s all sorts of projects and this and that and all sorts of emergencies and stuff pops up, and all of a sudden, you know, my brother can’t make it to prayer and it’s just going to be me. So, I’m like, I’ll just wait for my guy, and I did that for two days. And the Lord said, “What did you commit to? Did you commit to only praying when he goes, or did you commit to me?” Man, okay, Lord.

So, I wanted to tell you that account because as we go into prayer and we don’t know what to pray or how to pray, or if we’re getting through even, we have to know that we are partnering with the Holy Spirit to get into these deeper places. Right? In John 14, Jesus is talking to His disciples, and He’s telling them all about the Holy Spirit, and He’s needing to depart. His work is complete, He’s going to be at the right hand of the Father, interceding, ever interceding for us on our behalf, our High Priest. And so He leaves, and right before He leaves, He says, “I’m going to leave another Helper, another Teacher with you just like Me, and He will lead you into all truth. He will actually train you on how to do things, and He will bring to remembrance all that I have told you.”

So, our job, ladies and gentlemen, is as we go into this privileged place of prayer, is to seek the Holy Spirit’s guidance. How often do we enter into prayer and we’re not talking to the Holy Spirit? We’re just in there saying our agenda and our list and our whatevers. Again, not to degrade those, those are important. God even spoke to them. The Father knows the needs that you have. He knows every single one, the ones you know intimately are blaring in front of your face, and the ones that are kind of in the background that you kind of forgot about. He knows about all of the needs. What He’s most concerned about is, are you going to step into the place of privilege that was purchased by the Precious Blood of the Risen Savior? Are you going to remain there? Are you going to go to that place every day for whatever the duration? And are you going to step into what God has called you to do?

We’ll get into the scripture in a minute, but in Thessalonians, it says, “This is the will of God.” That is His will for you to step into that privileged place of prayer. Romans 8:26 says, “The Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes with us, or excuse me, for us, with groanings too deep for words. And He who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.” Whoa.

You want to pray according to the will of God? How many here want to pray according to the will of God? I don’t see enough hands. You should have two hands. How many want to pray according to the will of God? Okay, you know how to do that? Romans 8. Partner with the Holy Spirit. ‘Cause who knows the will of God? He does.

Pastor Jonathan, I mean, there’s been a lot of bull’s eyes lately. I really love it when he said, “You know, we’re going to fast,” and I know everybody kind of gasped, and we’re like, “Well, that kind of seems undefined and where are we going?” And, “No, no,” he nailed it. Nailed it in this time of prayer and fasting. You know what the challenge is? Is, are you going to step in the privileged place, and are you going to partner with the Holy Spirit who will tell you what to do? Anything other than that is our own works, is our own effort, is our own striving. But when you partner with the Holy Spirit, I’m telling you, it never is dry, dull, or mundane. I’m serious. I’m living in like… I don’t know, so after that we did 3 weeks about atThe three-month mark into prayer and now, all the way fast forward 2 years later since that three-month mark, it’s never been dry—never. It’s exciting. I’m like, I have an alarm set, and before the alarm goes off, I’m like, “I’m off to prayer!” I can feel it. It’s 11:50, and what do you know? I’m texting the guys: “Hey, are we praying today? Who can make it? Who can’t? I’ll be there.” Now, do we freak out and go into a religious hissy fit if we don’t go? No. But here’s the check: where was my heart postured towards that today? Maybe you’re out of town, maybe someone’s sick, maybe there’s truly an emergency and a hardship, and we couldn’t go that day. Does that break apart everything that we committed to? No. You know why? ‘Cause the very next day, we’re back in there. We missed a week, we’ve missed a few days here and there, but I tell you, the majority of the days in the last two years, we’ve been in this privileged place. And like I said, for 41 years, it just—it hasn’t been like that—not for me personally. And God’s poured out, He’s merciful, He’s gracious, He gives to us, He knows what we need, He provides. He’s so wonderful, He’s so loving, He’s so patient for us to get to that place where we go, “Lord, I want to be more fervent for You. I want to be on fire for You. I want to feel that…”

Like, you know, we’re fasting and your body is like, “I really need carbs right now.” I really, like, I’m starting to feel that. You know, the Snickers commercial coming on—that’s what it feels like now in prayer, right? Dave, Jim, does it not feel like that? You’re like, “Man, I haven’t prayed. We haven’t prayed today. We haven’t prayed today.” It’s been a couple days, or I’ve been out of town. I get back, and I’m like, “First thing I’m thinking is, yes, I’m home. We get to go back to prayer. We get to go back and get in the chapel.”

Number two, in the practice of prayer, we need to ask the Lord for hunger and a passion. You have to ask Him. It’s just that way. It’s not going to magically show up. You don’t drift into holiness. I saw that quote somewhere. You don’t just kind of, like, end up in the throne room. I feel like Lost in Space, right? “Danger, Will Robinson, danger!” That’s for my golden age. Alright? You don’t just kind of happenstance get in there. It’s an intentional, consistent place that you bring yourself to. Right? The practice of prayer: dedicate daily time to give your life to holy habits. Step into the place of privilege. Ask the Lord to teach you how to pray. Ask the Lord for a hunger and a passion, and persist in your practice. If you miss a day, get back to it the next day. Recommit. That’s simple. It’s not complicated, right?

Sometimes we’re like, “Well, I haven’t been in the Word, and I haven’t done this, and I haven’t done that.” The Lord’s Prayer doesn’t say any of that. It says worship Him, repent, request. If you get it close to that order, I’m sure the Lord will. Colossians 4:2 says, “Continue steadfastly in prayer.” There’s that word again—steadfast. Continue steadfast in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. That is the key. Thank the Lord for the privilege every day. If you thank Him, it will direct your heart in the situation.

And lastly, with the practice of prayer: pray about everything all the time, right? Philippians 4:6—here comes a couple rapid-fire scriptures. “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.” Romans 12:2: “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.” Ephesians 6:18: “Praying at all times in the Spirit,” that’s in your heavenly language too, “with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for who? The saints.”

That’s what Pastor Shelly was just talking about. You know what the Lord showed me? The biggest thing about the place of prayer wasn’t about my agenda. It was about everything that was on His heart, which was everybody else. So, Lord, who are we praying for today? What people, what people group, what… is it the Mentime? Is it the young people? Is it the high schools? Who are we praying for? And He highlights every time. He goes, “This one. Go after this.” He gives a target. And of course, 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18: “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, giving thanks in all circumstances. For this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

Often, we want to know what the will of God is for my life. “What’s the will of God? Where am I going? What’s my calling? What’s my this? What’s my that?” Well, I hope you get this first thing first: the will of God is for you to rejoice always, pray without ceasing, giving thanks in all circumstances.

Now, lastly, let’s touch down on the power of prayer. This is really simple. John Healey, would you mind playing a little bit? Thank you, sir. Can I get that last quote, please? I’m going to say this first and I’ll read this quote: The power of prayer is the privilege to partner with the One who is all powerful. Great song choice today, Josh. That was such a coincidence. The power of prayer. Right, in the world they talk about the power of prayer, thinking that just by saying these words, it’s the words that are going to do something. It’s not about the words. It’s about who—you’re speaking to. If you are speaking from this privileged place of prayer, if you are speaking to the One who is all powerful, the One who has, in the Godhead, now I’m speaking of, like, God the Father—He’s infinitely powerful. God the Son, Jesus Christ—all power and authority has been given to Him. Then you have the Holy Spirit—He’s the Spirit of power and might. So, if you want to pray with power You need to join up with the team. David Pawson says there are always four persons present when we pray: when we pray, we pray to God through Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit. That is how our prayer should look, right? That will lead you quickly into the place of intercession for people because the Holy Spirit will say, “Pray for them. Pray in this way. Pray these things. Nothing more, nothing less. Pray that.” And now we find ourselves partnering with the will of God and His purposes. The power of prayer comes in our yielding to the leading of the Holy Spirit and our willingness to live according to the word of God. The power of prayer is stepping into our God-given role as the royal priesthood, trusting Him with all of our heart, remaining steadfast in our devotion to Him, and pleading in intercession for the lives of those who have turned their backs to Him or do not know Him.

1 Peter 2:9 says, “But you are a chosen people.” Before I read that, multiple people today, as we were preparing for service, said, “God’s going to do something about our identity today,” and here it is. If you have that question in your heart, “Lord, who am I to You? Who am I in You?” 1 Peter 2:9 says, “You are a chosen people. The Lord picked you. You are a royal priesthood. You’re no longer a beggar, abandoned. You’re no longer separate from God. You’re no longer a child of the world. You are now part of a royal kingdom, and you have a royal position.” Hallelujah! [Applause] Hallelujah! We are a royal priesthood. Jesus as our high priest… Did you know you’re all priests? What do priests do? They make sacrifice, right? We are a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light. We partner with Jesus Christ, our high priest, to release His kingdom here on earth, to establish and enforce His lordship. That’s who we are called to be.

So with that, I would like to take a moment. I’d like to invite you, if you feel like your prayer life has been dry, has been dormant, if you don’t have that hunger, if you don’t have that passion, or if you’re just like, “I just need God to touch me and change me,” I would really like you to come up here to the front. It’s not for me; you’re presenting yourself to the Lord because He’s the one that you are going to pray to. And I’m going to pray for us corporately, but I believe the Lord wants to touch and ignite lives today and set us on fire for Him to passionately pursue Him in our prayer life. Thank you, Lord, and go ahead and just start praying in the spirit.

Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Father God. Thank you, Lord. So I’d like to just guide us a little bit here as we come into this place before the Lord. First, as we come before the Lord, as it says to us in James 5, it says we need to confess our faults. So to just keep this simple, let’s take a moment and confess our faults to the Lord. We can confess the places of apathy, confess the places of laziness, busyness, idleness—places where we just didn’t believe anymore. Maybe we’ve gone through a difficult circumstance and we didn’t get an answer from the Lord like we thought He should have, and His word says this. And what happened? We’re starting to indict Him on His faithfulness. We need a moment to repent, and I truly believe that the Lord will pour out His Spirit upon us today. Let’s just take a moment.

Thank you, Lord. So, Father, we just present ourselves before You now, Lord, and we ask—we ask, oh God, that You would forgive us, Lord God, that You would cleanse us, Father, You would wash away, oh God, our impurities, the places, oh God, in our heart where we resist You. Oh God, forgive us, oh Lord. Father, we turn to You, oh God, and we say, “Lord, create in us a clean heart and renew a steadfast spirit within us. Lord, restore to us the joy of our salvation, oh God,” and receive us, oh Lord, as we come before You humbly, as we humble ourselves, oh God. We need You, Lord. We are so in need of You, God, to move on our lives. We thank You that Your mercies are Renewed every morning, we need You to pour out Your grace upon us, oh God. Father, we pray, Lord, even I implore You, Lord, I ask, oh God, that You would touch us now by Your Holy Fire. Father, that You would release to us a hunger and a passion, Lord, a thirst, oh God, to come before You into that privileged place that You have so beautifully, miraculously, and at great cost once secured for us. Lord, we ask that You would change, oh God, the dryness and what seems like a root, even boring at times, tradition. Father, that You would change our hearts to know that we are so blessed to be able to come before You and to speak with You, God, to seek Your face, to learn Your ways, to knock on the doors of Heaven. Lord, to be fervently and effectually after You, oh God. Change our hearts, Lord, radically. Do something in us today, oh God. We cry out, oh God. We cry out, oh God, that You would move, oh Lord. Move upon us now, oh God. Change our perspective, Lord, in the name of Jesus. We thank You, we praise You, Lord God. Thank You for the great privilege. Cause us to be fervent in the practice, and Lord, release to us the power as we partner with Your Holy Spirit and Your purposes in this world, in the lives of individuals. Lord, show us the lives we need to pursue in prayer. We know You will answer. We know You always hear. Teach us, Lord, to be more obedient to Your responses. Open our hearts to Your Word. Cause us, Lord, in all our ways, to acknowledge You, and Lord God, direct our steps. We pray this in the precious name of Jesus, Lord, we thank You.

Lord, thank You, Lord.

Let’s press in a little more, pray a little more fervently here. It’s kind of like stepping on the gas pedal. Bring your heart to it, your passion to it. Thank You, Father. God, I just sent an anointing. I don’t know how this is all going to work, but I’m just going to follow the Holy Spirit. Yeah, if you’re hungry, if you want that hunger, I feel like there’s an impartation for you, and so I’m going to invite Pastors Shelly, Pastor Apostle Pat, Seline—we’re just going to lay hands.

Laying on of hands doesn’t always require a prayer, but we’re just going to impart by the Holy Spirit to you that hunger. In the name of Jesus, a new hunger, God, a new hunger, God, new hunger, Jesus’ name, a new hunger, God, a new hunger. Oh God, a new hunger. Passion, oh God, passion, oh God, passion, oh God. Yes, thank You, Father God. Thank You, Lord. New passion, oh God, a new passion in Jesus’ name. Jesus’ name. New passion, Lord, a new fire, oh God. Let Your fire touch Your son, oh God. Touch Your son, oh God. Thank You, Father God. Thank You, Father God. The new fire, oh God, a new passion, oh God, a new fervency, a new fervency, God, new boldness, oh Lord, to ask bigger, to ask bigger, to press, to press in more. Thank You for this, Lord Jesus. Thank You, Lord Jesus. Thank You, Father. Ignite this man like never before, Lord. Ignite him to a new level, God. Yes, Lord, a new passion, a new fire in this man, oh God, a new fire, oh God, to take him over. Thank You, Father God. New passion and a new fire, oh Lord, over these two. In the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus. A new passion, new fire. New passion, a new fire, a new passion and a new fire. Thank You, Father. Thank You, Father God. Thank You, Lord Jesus. A new passion and a new fire, oh God. A new passion and a new fire, oh God. Oh stir this man, oh God. Stir him, Lord. Yes. Thank You, Lord. Stir, stir, stir. Thank You, Lord. Thank You, Lord. I stir the gift within you. I stir the gift within you. Prophesy the word of the Lord, step into it. Thank You, Father. Thank You, Father. Whatever you like.

Thank You, Lord. You know, before we leave this place, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that we are here in a time of prayer because we.