if you will, this evening with me and turn to John, the Gospel of John, in chapter number 15. John chapter number 15. And before we begin our message this evening, thank you, pastor, for allowing me to preach this evening. And thank you for the good messages I've heard while I have been home. And you, as a church, are blessed by the preaching of God's word here. And take full advantage of it. apply it. For the time will come and is now when people won't endure sound doctrine. So be faithful and be supporting. Amen. Well my wife and Anna's been home for a few weeks and had the opportunity to be here and check in with the family and with you all and then I had to stay. I wanted to stay because over the holidays our numbers go down and I didn't want to leave our man in charge with nobody there. It's discouraging for him and it got down to New Year's day Sunday morning it was me and another man and I was glad he came but he said he felt like I was preaching to him. I said I am every service and Gabriel he's the one I mentioned in the prayer letter this last month. So if you read the prayer letter, you're familiar with Gabriel, and God's working in his life and pray for his wife, Eva, her salvation. God's doing a work there in their life. And then I had another opportunity since the prayer, I wrote the prayer letter to talk to Miguel also. And he came in, he's the man that is demon possessed. He came into church, I was there just working, cleaning some things up again and he came in and I was actually studying at the time he came in and he comes up and he talks to me for a little bit and he says, he says, pastor, would you please read me the Bible? And so I took the Bible and began to read to him and you could see the more I read, the more nervous irritated he became. And finally, I got through a whole chapter. And then he finally left. And I just, it's the Word of God. It's not whatever I'm saying, it's the Word of God that has the power. And so pray for him that in due time, God would save his life, change him as well. And things are going well. Wednesday night, everybody, the last Wednesday night I was there, everybody was home. And with a smile and revived I tell them take their vacation and go ahead go away I said they're the only missionaries we have to their families and so by all means take the opportunity to be a witness to your family wherever you go, but be faithful and And so I encourage them to be able to do those things and I'll be here and we'll be fine. And anyway, we had a very sweet spirit the last Wednesday before I left. A good unity of the spirit as a church and as a church family. And I think we're finally back basically to where we were about three years ago when I was thinking that maybe it's about time God will bring in a man to take the work and then We had all those families move for work and so forth. We're about up to that level again as far as a church is concerned. So be praying for us. Our three prayer requests are still the same. Pray for a people and a place and a pastor. All right. And so very simple. Just keep remembering those and praying on that. So that's where we're at. We'll just trust the Lord. And I went to Mexico, I went to Magdalena to leave, okay? I didn't go to stay because I'm a missionary. And so I went to allow God to see a work started and then that work prosper and God call a man in and work myself out of a job and go on. And at the same time, I'm not trying to leave. I'll leave that up with the Lord. I'm not biting at the bit to leave, but I'll leave the first chance I get. All right. So just because that's what God has in my life. Where are we going when we leave? Well, I got some burdens and I got some open doors, but neither one of those necessarily constitute a call. And I don't really believe God's going to give me the call until He's completed the work where we're at, so I'm not really too awful worried about it. The field is the world, and I'll go any part of that field. So whatever the Lord has for us, we'll go. We have some druthers, we have some desires, but we'll leave those up with the Lord. And of course, I still have a very heavy burden for Australia and New Zealand. I'm not sure if it's in that order, but So if the Lord wants to send us that way then I'm sure he will open those doors, which some of them are already open But he'll make his will known and we will be happy in that will Serving the Lord. So that's kind of an update anybody have any questions. They want to ask real quick you had maybe some some question as the work of the ministry or so forth and so on I'd be more than happy to to answer that for you. All right? Anybody got anything against me? I'm serious. As far as I know, I don't have anything against anybody here. All right? But if you think I do, then let me know. All right? Right now. All right? And we'll get that right. I don't want to hinder the Holy Spirit of God. And if you think I have something against you, then let me know. And if anybody has something against me, well, that's fine. Let's get it right. I don't believe I have anything against anybody in my heart. Any questions? All right, John chapter number 15 this evening, if you will with me. Verse number one, you can stand with me if you can. I will trust the Lord in his leading and In the message tonight, and this is actually the message I was preparing when Miguel came in the church the other day, so I didn't know I was preparing this message, but this was the one God gave me. John chapter 15, Jesus said, verse number one, I am the true vine. And my father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away, and every branch that beareth fruit he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine, no more can ye except ye abide in me. Alright, so we're talking about bearing fruit, by abiding in the vine. I am the vine, verse 5, and ye are the branches. He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit, for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered, and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If ye abide in me, My words abide in you. Ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit. So shall ye be my disciples. God bless your word to our need. And Lord, may we be a people that brings forth food. In Jesus' name, amen. You may be seated. Thank you. verse number seven again says if you abide in me and my words abide in you you shall ask what you will and it shall be done unto you herein is my father glorified that you bear much fruit so shall you be my disciples now There's several fruit or types of fruit, I guess, that we could say that God wants us to bear. And I think most of the time, when we talk about fruit and bearing fruit, we think of winning others to Christ, but that's not the subject. I think that's applicable, but that's not the subject here. And then sometimes I think that when we talk about bearing fruit in our life, we are talking about, we many times think about fruit in the Christian life being, if you will, the fruit of the Spirit. And that's not the subject here. Now, it's good to have peace, joy, love, long-suffering, meekness, goodness, faith, temperance, all those fruit of the Spirit. Sometimes we think when we talk about the fruit of the Spirit or the fruit in a Christian life that we're thinking about an outward manifestation. of an inward possession, which is on the inside, ought to be shown on the outside. And that's a good deal, that's a good idea, but that's not the subject of the context that we're reading. If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, Jesus says, I am the true vine, ye are the branch. every branch that in me, verse two, that beareth not fruit, he taketh away, and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Verse four, abide in me, and I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except ye abide in the vine, no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, verse five, ye are the branches, he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. Without me you can do nothing. Verse 6, if a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch and is withered, and men gather them and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. Verse 7, if ye abide in me and my words abide in you, here's the subject of what fruit is. Ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit, so shall ye be my disciples. The subject, the fruit that is the subject of this context is praying. That's the word ask. All right. Let's look at it again. Verse number seven. If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what you will and it shall be done unto you. I'll preach the Lord allowing me again this evening on prayer, biblical praying. Now I've been praying for as long as I can remember and I've been trying to pray effectually and fervently as a righteous man for many years. I do not believe that I have been in the ministry since this church ordained and commissioned me back in 86 without trying to be a man of prayer. and to practice praying. But as much as I have tried to be a man of prayer and practice praying, I will say that a little bit over two years ago, I really began to try to practice praying. I have a list in my Bible and in my devotional book that I believe is eight pages long of daily praying that I try to go through. A lot of you are on that and I pray daily. The church as a whole is on that and I pray daily for you. Now, how many of us, I'm not asking you to raise your hand, but in your heart, can say that you have, of recent, experienced a bona fide answer to prayer. Now, My little brother, Philip, as you know, was diagnosed with severe stage four colon cancer eight months ago that had spread into his liver, into his bones, into his sacrum. And as of today, and I began praying, and I began fasting, and as of today, he is considered cancer-free. He was given 15% chance of living more than three months, eight months ago. And he's gone through a lot of procedures. And cancer-free is not the same as saying what you and I imagine is no threat of cancer in his life. 80% of all cancer patients will have reoccurring cancer, I believe is the statistic. And that's really kind of a bogus statistic, because they only count for like five years, I think it is. So it's not even a reality. And I've prayed daily. and have tried to play effectually for my little brother. And as much as I would like to say that God has answered my prayers and the prayers of a whole lot of other people, and on the top of that list I would put my dad, medicine can also claim. to have cured my brother. And so somebody who does not believe in God can say, well, you can say what you want, but reality, chemotherapy, radiation, surgery, diet, good practice, those are responsible. I don't know. How many of us can say God has specifically answered this prayer, nobody else can claim it? I want to see that in my life. Where only God can get the glory. Nobody else can take it. The reason we don't see that, if I can get right down to the nitty gritty, is unbelief. I want to share tonight some very simple thoughts on praying, and we'll let the Holy Spirit of God take it from there. But we need to be a people of prayer. We need to be a people of prayer. I'm not going to try to take a scripture and expositorily teach on prayer tonight, but I'm going to just take some passages of the Word of God that have really, really been brought home in my life on prayer and some thoughts along the line of praying and try to challenge you tonight and challenge me one more time to really pray. To really pray in such a way that God really answers. To really pray in such a way that when God really answers that nobody else can really take the credit for it. It's God. It's kind of like missionaries. I is one. So I'm going to use that illustration. We call what we practice in our circle faith missions. But I would take exception to a high percentage of mission work in our circle as being genuinely faith missions. To some degree, yes, I don't have a salary. The church doesn't set my salary. Every month churches of like precious faith send money, and if they don't send money, I don't have any money. You may call that living by faith, and to some degree it is. But a high percentage of missionaries that even our church support, missionaries that I know personally, when they have a need, more often than not, they take the need to their churches instead of taking the need to the Lord. And that is not faith missions. Ask, and ye shall receive. Yes, that's a biblical verse, but it's not, Ask the church, and ye shall receive. It's, Ask the Lord. and ye shall receive. And I'm sure that most church, most missionaries would say, well, we put the need out there and God's people heard, heard from the Lord. And we now have our, uh, what we had need of. And I would take exception to the fact that it probably even wasn't a need at a church recently asked me, uh, recently Thursday morning, but Harris, do you have any needs? I've got a ton of things I'm praying for. And I could have pulled out my prayer list and said, well, you know, matter of fact. And I said, no, I don't have any needs. I had a church some 10 years ago. Um, when we left to go to Magdalena, we had a missions conference to go to and I didn't know the church, they didn't know me, and we went, we had a great missions conference, and the pastor came up to me during the missions conference, he said, now Brother Harris, he says at the end of the conference we're going to raise a special love offering, and towards any need that you have as a ministry or as a family, and so I didn't get an opportunity to tell you that, you're not aware of that, so I want to let you know, and so I'll come back by another couple days, and I want you to give me a need and so I thought about and I prayed about it and and He came back by and asked me okay pastor Harris, so brother Harris. What do you think and I said? I don't have a need and I said, I'm going to start a new work. I have no idea what's up. I don't have a printing need. I don't have this need. I don't have, I said, so I prayed about it. I said, I believe what, what you need to do is you need to go ahead and take my portion and give it to the other missionaries that already have needs. Cause I don't have a need. And so he said, okay. And, uh, so the end of the week, they took their, extra love offering and They gave every missionary $1,500. Well, look what I just lost out on That wasn't on top of the love offering He came up to me. He says brother Harris. He says I'm afraid about that as well. He says I Just can't accept not giving you anything He says so you're going to get the same amount that we're giving any other of our missionaries and when God gives you a need you use it We left And less than 80 miles later, my truck gave me a $1,500 need. To which I told the Lord, Lord, this is not my money and this is not how I would spend it if it was my money, but I thank you that I have it. I called the pastor and said, this is what happened. He says, amen, I'm glad I gave you the money. I want to give you some very simple ideas that I'm going to take the word of God and show you that they're not my ideas, that they are biblical principles to apply in prayer. Number one, let's go to the book of Matthew, and we're going to be mainly here in the New Testament, and just going to show you some verses that I'm sure you're very familiar with, and we'll kind of go through them very quickly. In Matthew chapter number seven, and verse number seven, Jesus teaching his disciples, he says to them, and this is a very familiar verse, ask and it shall be given you. seek and ye shall find knock and it shall be opened unto you and then he says in verse 8 for everyone that asketh receiveth and he that seeketh findeth to him that knocketh it shall be opened ask and it shall be given you for everyone that asketh receiveth remember that and then let's go over to the book of john chapter number 15 john chapter number 15 and let's read in verse number 16 John 15 16 Jesus says you have not chosen me but I have chosen you and ordained you that you should go forth and bring forth fruit and that your fruit should remain there's a colon there that whatsoever ye ask of the father in my name he may give it you whatsoever ye ask of the father in my name Now whatsoever. That's a pretty encompassing word. 1st John chapter 5 verse number 14. The Holy Spirit says. And this is the confidence. That we have in him. That if we ask. Any. Thing. according to his will he heareth us and if we know that he hears us or hear us whatsoever we ask we know that we have the petitions that we desire of him then let me show you another very interesting verse 2nd Corinthians chapter number 1 2nd Corinthians chapter number 1 The other day, my wife was talking to God, and I was eavesdropping. You ever done that? You say, how does that work? She was reading her Bible, and I was sitting next to her. So while she was reading the Bible, I was reading it too. And I overheard what God was saying to her. Amen? That's pretty special. I like that. 2 Corinthians chapter 1, verse number 20. Listen to this. For all the promises, how many? All the promises of God in him, in Christ, are what? Yay, what does that mean? Yes. All the promises of God in Christ are yes, and in him, amen. What's that mean? So be it. All the promises of God in Christ are what? Yes, are any of them no? They're all what? They're all yes. And in him, so be it. Unto the glory of God by us. Now, Back in our text, in John chapter 15, we found, herein is my Father glorified. All right, so the same idea of 2 Corinthians 1.20, under the glory of God by us, herein is my Father glorified, that your prayers are answered. Prayer, any prayer, and big prayer especially, glorifies God and gives the believer the things he needs. And I am persuaded that if I had more faith and power and prayer, I would need less finance. Interesting concept as a missionary, I'm talking as a missionary, that if I had more power in prayer, I don't have to worry about how much support I got. When we left in 1989 to go to New Zealand, we had about $1,300 a month support. At that time, they, whoever they are, recommended that you had a minimum of $3,500 a month to go to New Zealand. We went with 1,300. A pastor locally, heard that I was going. And so he called and asked if I would come and talk to him. And so I went and graciously went and talked to him. I respected him. And he said, Brother Harris, I hear you're going to New Zealand. And I said, yes. He says, how much support do you have? I said, $1,300. He said, they said, they say that you need $3,500 a month. I said, I understand that. He says, how in the world do you expect to go with $1,300 a month? And I told him, I said, pastor, I don't know what God's going to do, but I know this is when God has given us to go and we're going. And I said, pulling something out of the air, you know, God could give us a house for half the cost of what everybody else is paying. And you want to guess what God did? Three times in New Zealand. Every house we had in New Zealand, we paid $180 a week, which was about half, incredibly, of what every other missionary was paying. Now, I'm not saying we had it easy. Man, that was scraping. But God is able. Now, here's my point. Again, 1 Corinthians 1, or 2 Corinthians 1.20, all the promises of God in him are yea. Number one is this, the point is the design of our daily praying. You know what the design of our daily praying is? Is to be answered. I'm sorry, that was too profound, wasn't it? You really thought I was going to give you something there. The design of our daily praying, the design of praying biblically is all the promises of God in him are yes. Now just take that idea that you have from some doctor who done it that didn't do it. All right, that says that biblical praying can be answered in one of three ways. Yes, no, and wait a while. And take it away, throw it away, because biblically I can prove to you that biblical praying, the answer is always yes. You cannot know the will of God and pray in the will of God and get a no. All the promises of God in him are yea and amen. Now we know James says, ye ask and have not that you may consume it upon your own lust. But I'm talking about knowing the will of God and praying in the will of God. And I'm here to tell you by the authority of the word of God, the answer is yes. The answer is yes. All the promises of God in him are yay. I'm sorry. How else do you read that verse? Whatsoever, anything that we ask in his name, the Bible says we have it. He heard us, and if He hears us, we have it. So number one, the design of our daily praying is to be answered. Just, we need to accept that. We need to understand that. We need to go to God in prayer, understanding that the design of our daily praying is so God can be glorified by answering our prayer. and get out of the idea that I'm going to try it and I'm going to see and I'm going well I hope and you know we all have our fingers crossed and everything get that that's all superstition it ought not to be named the design of daily praying is to hear God say yes and I can guarantee you biblically that's what God will say praying in the will of God number two Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Matthew. I'll use that as a simple verse to show you this number two point. The number two point is the dynamics of our diligent provider. And by that, I mean this, the dynamics of our diligent provider. Who is our provider? Again, it's not the churches, it's not, you know, the man in our church that has the funds and is liberal and is giving, that's not him. Our daily provider is God. The dynamics of our diligent provider is that God is all-powerful. I think it's in Habakkuk. I'm not sure. I'm reading in Habakkuk. It might be the book before that. But God says, I own the cattle on all the hills and God owns the hills. And if I were hungry, I wouldn't tell you. I don't need to tell you. I own it. And I don't know what the need is in your life, or I don't know what the desire is in your life, and I don't know what the want is in your life, but I want to tell you this, God is able. 2 Corinthians chapter number 8, God says, and God is able. You say, able to do what? I don't know. What is it you need? And God is able. You say, well, you know, and I like that verse in Acts chapter number 26, I think it is, I've got it written down here somewhere, but Paul has given his testimony, he says, and why should it be thought strange unto you that God should, and then he's talking about Jesus being raised from the dead, that God should be raised from the dead, that God should raise the dead, but let me just stop short of raising the dead and let's just say, why should it be thought strange unto you that God should? I'll tell you why, because we don't see it, that's why. But once we start and begin to see the omnipotent power of our God, the dynamics of our diligent provider, and I put the word diligent in there because God is diligent. He's not slack. Concerning his promises and all the promises of God are what are yay and amen And so we find the dynamics and I want you to understand that God is able III just don't know whether Harris is because you know, I have this or I have that What's that to God? There's absolutely nothing that can come in our life that God is not able to And we kind of segregate God into sections where God can work and God may work and God won't work. Get those out. Because everything is possible with God. We may say that, but in reality we don't believe that. It's time we start believing it. But then not only the design of our daily praying is to be answered and the dynamics of our diligent provider is that he is omnipotent, that he can do anything. I think probably number three, let's go back to Matthew chapter 7 and verse number 11. After saying, ask and it shall be given you for everyone that asketh receiveth. He goes on and he says, let me give you an illustration. What man is there of you whom if his son asked bread, will he give him a stone? Now, why would he not give him a stone? If his son is hungry and he asked bread, why would he not give him a stone? What father would not give his son, verse 10, or if he asked a fish, will he give him a serpent? Now, why wouldn't the dad give the kid a snake when the kid said, dad, could you give me a fish? Sure, take this rattlesnake. Why wouldn't he do that? One simple reason. Why wouldn't he do that? He loves him. Ah, is that what he's saying? If ye then being evil, And even being evil, we wouldn't do that. Know how to give good gifts unto your children. How much more shall your Father, which is in heaven, give good things to them that ask Him? And so, I've got other verses. My time's running. Let me give you the verses. If you're writing them down, you can look them up. John 15, 7 and 8, which is our text verse. Psalm 89, verse number 10. And Psalm 84, verse number 11. And you can look those up, and you can see the reality of this. Psalm 84, 11. No good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly. Psalm... What was that? 84, 11. And Psalm 81, 10. I don't have that one written down. Right here. But how much more? Several years ago, I was praying and, and God had gave me that verse and I was getting my day going and starting to, you know, get ready and I was standing in front of my mirror and I said, how much more? Shall he give? If ye being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more? I was looking in the mirror and I said, okay, God, how much more? And God said to me, I ask first, I ask you, huh? And that's exactly right. God says, how much more? If you're evil and you love your son and you're going to give him the good things, how much more am I willing to give you? So number three is the desire of our divine parent. Jesus said, when you pray, pray thus, our father. Jesus said, approach your father with this, Abba father. And the word Abba Father in our English language simply means to be a little one that goes up and says, Daddy. Is to approach them in that simple childlike faith. Well, Daddy will give it to me. Of course, Daddy will. Why? Because God, the nature of God is, God is love. And the very nature of God, because God is love, is to give. Get it out of your mind that God is stingy, that God is... What's the other English word we say? Coto in Spanish is tight. You know, we have this idea, this mentality that if we really have a need, we can go to God in prayer. Absolutely. But wait a minute. You don't have to have just the need to go to God in prayer. The Bible says He'll give you the desire of your heart. I have desires of my heart, and they're in the future somewhere. God's going to give them to me. I know He is. You say, how do you know? Because He promised me, and all the promises of God are yes. Have you ever thought about just asking? Because if you don't ask, you won't receive. Ask and you shall receive. And so we find the desire of our divine parent. And then we think about praying, think about this desire of our divine parent. God wants to give. But if we aren't asking, he's not going to give. When we come to him in a childlike faith and say, Daddy, would you give me this? If it's a good thing, no good thing. Will he withhold? I can finance stuff and I can go to the bank like the rest of you, but you know what? I would rather have God give it to me. The best way for a Christian to get anything is what? Ask. How come we don't get it? Because we finance it. Because we figure it out. We do this, we do that, but we never ask. But I'm telling you, open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it. I have a practice every morning. My family has gotten used to it, I'm sure. But they'll come, they'll look at me, and I got my mouth wide open. You say, what are you doing that for? It's practice. Yeah, but God was saying that allegorically. So? God didn't put a coin in a fish's mouth. I figured it's good for my jaw anyway. That helps people wonder about me. I like to keep people on their toes. Number four, the design of our daily praying is to be answered. The dynamics of our diligent provider. You know, I never, I've never doubted that God is able. I've never doubted that, but I've always doubted that God is wanting. I have a real problem with believing that God really wants to give me. I have a problem just believing that God loves me so much that he wants to give me. Just because I ask, just because I'm his child. that I can freely come to a God that loves me. I've never doubted his power. It's never been a question, can God? Absolutely. Will God? I don't know. But God says yes. The desire of our divine parent number four. Let's look at Mark chapter 11. I really, really plan to be real short tonight. I didn't already I already didn't do that mark chapter 11 and verse number 24 Jesus says therefore now when you find a therefore in the Bible you've heard this you need to find out what it's there for Verse 23, for verily I say unto you, that whosoever shall say unto this mountain, be thou removed and be thou cast into the sea, and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass, he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, what things soever ye desire, that's another big, open, broad, undefined, unlimited, It's just amazing. Want to see it again? What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. Now listen, number four is the detriment of our deterred prayers. What is the detriment of deterring our prayers? And the answer is very simple. Unbelief and shall not doubt look at Romans chapter 4. I I was talking to God earlier today, and he told me this So I thought I'd share it with you You say how did he speak to you right here? It's in Romans chapter 4 Somebody says you mean God talks to you audibly to which the response is oh, no. No, it's it's much louder than that and Amen? Romans chapter 4, verse number 20 is talking about Abraham. Look at this. In verse number 20, Romans chapter 4, he staggered not at the promise of God. What are the promises of God? All the promises of God are what? Yes, and amen, so be it. He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God. And how does God get glory? By answering our prayer and being fully persuaded. What he had promised, he was able to perform. Listen, the determent of our deterred prayers are that it's not that God doesn't want to answer them and it's not that the answer isn't yes, it's that we don't have faith to believe God. It's the deterring of all of those prayers that weren't answered. Well, I tried that and it never came to be. Search your heart and find out in the heart of your hearts whether or not you had the faith to just believe God. He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God. Verse 19 says, And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about a hundred years old, neither the deadness of Sarah's wombs, he staggered not at the promise. Well, it's just not possible anymore. With God all things are possible. Well, that's kind of, that's passed me by. Uh-uh. Not with God. Well, you just don't understand how these things work. I don't. But I know how God works. And all the promises of God are yes. To the glory of God and amen. And so the determinant or detriment of our deterred prayers is simply our unbelief. And we need to quit blaming God and calling him a liar because he's not. And if we don't have an answered prayer in our life, it's because of me. It's not because of. Find out what God, and we're going to see this, find out the will of God and ask. And the answer is yes. And when you know the answer is yes, guess what? It's a lot easier to pray. I already know what the answer is. Well, you got a lot of faith. No, I already know what the answer is. I'm not going to stagger. God promised it. That's good enough. Number five, let's go to Romans chapter eight. We're here in chapter four. So let's look at Romans chapter eight, verse number 26. The Bible says, likewise, the spirit also help with our infirmities for we know not what we should pray for as we ought. but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And then John chapter number 16 and you can find this in John 14 as well but John chapter number 16 and verse number 13 let me read this to you the Bible says how be it when he the Spirit of truth is come he will guide you he will guide you into All truth. For he shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak, and he will show you things to come. He will guide you into all truth. You say, OK, what's the catch? There's no catch. When we pray in the will of God, the answer is yes. Oh, well, I see. Back in the 80s, there was a Burger King commercial. I might have used this one time already here. Some of you will remember it, and some of you won't even have a clue. They used to have a commercial, a Burger King commercial, a little song that says, "'We do it like you do it, when you do it like we do it at Burger King.'" Now, think about that. That makes a whole lot of sense. We do it like you do it, when you do it like we do it. So, if you do it like we do it, we do it like you do it. How can they get away with that? And there's a lot of times where we think that's the catch 22 in praying. If we do it like he does it, then he'll do it like we do it. And you know, and you just got to hold your head just right. No, no. The Bible says that the Holy Spirit will lead us into all truth. Let me go over to 2 Timothy chapter number 2 Timothy, chapter 2, and let me read one verse here, and I've only got one more point, okay? I'm almost done, one more point. 2 Timothy, chapter 2, and verse number 13. Of course, I haven't given you this one yet, but the Bible says, if we believe not, yet he abideth faithful, he, God, cannot deny himself. Now get that, God cannot deny himself. Now, number five, the point is this, the director of our dedicated praying. We ought to be led by the spirit. And God says he will lead you in all truth. And, so get this, God has promised that the Holy Spirit will lead me in all truth, which would have to include praying, right? Right. And so if I'm being led by the Holy Spirit of God in my praying, and on all my prayer requests, I have a verse. Well, what do you have a verse for? Because I want to make sure it's God, not me. And so if God gives me, there's times when I'm reading the Bible and God will give me a prayer request. And I'll say, oh, well, I'll put that down. Now, if God gave you a prayer request to pray for, what do you think the answer is? And if you have a prayer request that you're taken to the throne of grace and you're saying, God, I want to make sure this is in your will, will you confirm that this is your will? And God says, yes, that's my will. What do you think the answer is? All the promises of God are yes. And so either let God direct your praying and giving you prayer requests, or as you pray, say, God, not my will, but thy will be done. because that's part of the model prayer that God gave us, and be directed by the Holy Spirit of God in our praying. And get this, who is the Holy Spirit? He is the third person of the Godhead. All right, which means that He is God. Now get this, He, God, cannot deny Himself. And if the Holy Spirit says, pray this, guess what God's going to say? Yes, because he cannot deny himself. And if the Holy Spirit of God has led you through the Son of God to pray to the Father God, guess what the answer is? How many times is it going to be yes? Every time. Well, you know, but what about this? No, it doesn't matter about anything because he's God. And if he gives you the prayer request, the answer is yes. And all you have to do is pray. And God says, I'll give you the faith to pray. If you'll just even ask me for the faith. And by the way, if you ask God for faith, guess what the answer is? Yes. All the promises of God are yes. And amen. unto His glory. The director of our dedicated praying is the Holy Spirit. And the reason we don't pray and have our prayers answered is because we're not praying biblically, because we're not being led by the Spirit to pray. We're being led by the flesh. Now, don't misunderstand me. I believe that you can pray about anything because God said so. And I believe you can pray about everything because God said so. But I'm just saying that we need to be led by the spirit when we pray about everything and anything and whatsoever and all those things that God says. Now, Luke chapter 11, this is my last point. Luke chapter 11, 1st Thessalonians chapter 5, verse 17, Paul says, pray without ceasing. Luke chapter 11, verse 1, And it came to pass that as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray. A little bit further on in the gospel of Luke, Chapter 18, verse 1, He spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray and not to faint. And so point number six is this, the duty of our diligence in praying. Men ought always to pray and not to faint. Now, I have this prayer list that I have added to and been praying for over two years. And there's very few things on this list that I can say that's something that God answered and nobody else can take credit for. But cast not therefore away your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. This is the confidence that we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us. And if he hears us, we have the petition that we desire of him. Cast not therefore away your confidence. Hebrews said, for ye have need of patience, that after ye have done the will of God, you might receive the promise. Brother Snell used Hebrews chapter 11 verse number six this morning in our Sunday school. Faith is a substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not yet seen. Chapter verse one, verse six is, um, for without faith, it is impossible to please God. For he that cometh to God must believe that he is. How many of you believe God is? Amen. But wait a minute. That's not where it stopped. It didn't stop there. must believe that God is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. Too many of us have stopped in the first part of the verse. God is, I believe that God, but we do not believe that God is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. But God said, faith is believing that God is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. The duty of our diligent praying is to pray. We must pray, Luke 22, The pastor mentioned this this morning, that the Lord Jesus Christ prayed once and then we went back and the Bible said he prayed more earnestly. The word earnestly means intensely. And then we must pray more effectually, the fervent prayer of a righteous man, the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Again, let me review this and then I'll sum it up. The design of our daily praying is what? Is to be answered. God wants you to pray and the answer is yes. Just keep praying. But I haven't seen it. Just keep praying. The dynamics of our diligent provider is that he can do anything. He's not limited. The desire of our divine parent is, God is love. And if ye being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more? Shall your father give good things? Why aren't you asking for it? Well, it's not really a need. Didn't say anything about just needs. In fact, it said even a lot more. It said the desires of your heart. The determent of our prayers is that we just don't believe. But the Bible makes it plain that God is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. The director of our dedicated praying is just be led by the Spirit. You shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. You let God lead you in your praying and you won't pray for wrong things. In fact, there might be some things that are wrong to pray for in the flesh, but are right to pray for in the Spirit. Now try to figure that one out. I guarantee you it's right though, that you can pray in your flesh, ask in your flesh all day long, God's never going to hear you, but as soon as you get in the spirit and ask for it, God says, well, why didn't you ask earlier? And the duty is of our diligent praying, the director, and then the duty of our diligent praying, be praying. Now, what's the proof of prayer? I told you I have eight pages. The majority of it, I have no proof. that God answers prayer. And I told you about my brother, and I told you that to tell you this. That is not necessarily proof that God answers prayer. It could be proof that medicine is tremendous in our day. That's what those unbelieving doctors is going to tell you. You can say, well, it's God. Okay. Who do I believe? What's the proof of biblical praying? Hebrews tells us, these all died never having received the promise. They never did get it. But did that negate the promise of God? The Savior still came, and that's what they were talking about in that verse. The proof of prayer is the promise of God. And I tell our people, I said, you say, well, pastor, how long should I pray for? Well, that's easy. Until God answers your prayer. Because the answer is yes. Just be patient. and keep praying, and don't doubt, and don't let Satan crawl in there and give you some doubt. Just believe God. The proof to praying is God's promise. And then the person, the proof of prayer, not only the promise of God, but the proof of prayer is the person of God. He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him, and God cannot lie. And so I'm telling you, even though I've spent two years praying and a lot of those prayer requests I've been praying have not even been answered. Well, what's that prove? God said to me one time when I was asking about that, God said to me, my times are in thy hand. Oh, okay, God. Well, let's leave them there, then. And I'll just keep praying that men ought always to pray and not to faint because all the promises of God are yea and amen under the glory of God. I'll tell you what the proof of prayer is. God promised. And the person of God, his very nature, will not allow him to lie or to turn back. God, thank you for being a God that answers our prayer.