But we'll go through these benefits of prayer here before we talk about the persistent prayer. But we talked about how it changes our focus. I mentioned that it's just easy to get caught up in the busyness of life when it comes to our walk with God. And this can also go for our time in the Bible as well. It's just easy to get caught up and We have to work every day to keep our focus there. And I know Pastor Dahl talked a little bit about that on Sunday afternoon, and that was a blessing, kind of things you can do to keep yourself focused on the Word. He talked about reading out loud to yourself, praying out loud. Those things will help to help keep you focused on that. But it's easy to get caught up even in good things, whether it's good or bad. It's not always bad things that grab our attention or grab our or pull our focus away. Sometimes it can be good things that just take time away from that. We just have to get our focus. And prayer is one of those things that can help change our focus. It directs our focus away from ourselves and our circumstances. directs it to God and the things of God. And we had a couple of verses there that we looked at. Then we looked at it draws us closer to God. Prayer is communication with God. Communication is required to build a relationship. And prayer is one way we can get to know God more closely, especially when we couple prayer with Bible reading, make that a part of our daily life, is reading the Bible and praying. And again, don't look at it and go, oh, I need to read 10 chapters in the Bible. I need to pray for an hour. No, read in our next study that we're going to start here after prayer is how to study the Bible. And we'll look at it spiritually, and we'll look at it practically as well, Lord willing, unless the Lord changes that. But that's where I feel like we'll go, starting here on Wednesdays. But when we couple those together, that's how we can get to know God. That's how we build the relationship. And God is there waiting for us. It says, when we draw nigh to Him, He will draw nigh to us. And then the last one we looked at a couple weeks ago now is it brings us into God's presence. And we know that we're able to boldly come to the throne of grace. that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in the time of need. But it's a blessing that we don't need a priest or a prophet to talk to God for us. The veil that closed off the Holy of Holies in the temple was torn. by God when Jesus Christ died on the cross and now we can go to God in prayer is how we can come into the presence of God and seek His face and cry out to Him in our time of need or just in our day life. Then number four, this will be a new one where we left off, but prayer is a way we can help others. The first verse I have there, is James 5.16. But two things you can do with prayer to help others is one is to pray for someone. And we talked about that, for whom should I pray? We should pray for each other. That's why we have the prayer list. And we pass those out, and we have names on there. We have requests with those names. But keep that list with your Bible. If you have a special Bible that you read from in the morning, put that prayer list with that Bible, and make that a part. OK, hey, I got done with my Bible reading, and I'm going to pray through this list. Again, it doesn't need to be a fancy prayer. It doesn't need to be a long prayer, but just Pray for lists. If you have a hard time remembering all the prayer requests, all the things that you have to pray for, and those things can add up, that list can grow. then use that prayer list. That's why the church provides it. Or if you don't want to use the prayer list, have a prayer notebook. Pastor Dahl talked about that on Sunday. I've seen his notebook. That notebook, his prayer notebook is very wore out. He goes to it every day. He's had it for, I think he said, 10 or 15 years. But I know if he met you, I know our church name is in there, and I'm sure our names are in there. I know mine is. Mine's been in there for eight or nine years now. but he writes those down and he adds to it, he circles things as he told us on Sunday, but have a list. Pray for someone. We can go to the throne of grace for someone. If I know Tim has a need, whether it's health, or a physical need, or a spiritual need, or something, and I know he's praying for something, maybe he shared it with me, or maybe it's just something that has been brought to my attention, I'm gonna pray for Tim. It's not to say, you know, Tim's not praying for it, so I will. No, I'm going to pray, and in that sense, I'm going to pray with him. We may not meet together and pray together on that request, but I'm going to pray for Tim. We ought to pray for one another. We're going to look at some verses. later when we jump to persistent prayer, that short study on that, and we'll look at some examples from the apostles, but if you read any of Paul's epistles, his letters to the churches, you'll find that he told them always, that he always prayed for them. Almost, I think, every single one of his epistles, whether it was at the end or towards the, I mean, in the beginning or towards the end, or even both the beginning and the end. He told those churches, hey, I pray for you. I thank God for you, and I make mention of you in every prayer of mine. But we ought to pray for other people. And we see that James 5.16, it says, confess your faults one to another and pray for one another that you may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Our prayers, when we're right with God, we're meeting all the criteria that we need to meet so that our prayers are not hindered. then that's the prayer of the righteous man. When we have an effectual, fervent prayer, we've met those criteria. A lot can happen. If you read on in that passage, and we're going to read that here later, Lord willing, but he talks about Elijah's prayer when he prayed for it not to rain on the land, and it didn't rain. And then he prayed again that it would rain, and it rained. But our prayer is powerful because we have a powerful God. It's not me, it's not what I say or how I say it in my prayer. It has nothing to do with me when I get down and pray. It doesn't matter where I pray, how I pray, whether I lay flat on the floor, on my face, or whether I'm kneeling, whether I'm sitting, whether I'm standing. It says, the effectual prayer of a righteous man availeth much. When we're following all the blueprint that the Lord gave us on how to pray, and if we're praying in Jesus' name, if we're praying according to God's will, as the Bible tells us, then our prayer, the effectual prayer of a righteous man availeth much. In Colossians chapter one, verse number nine, I know we're gonna read this one, chapter one, verse number nine. This is one of Paul's letters to the Church of Colossians. It says, for this cause, we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you. and to desire that you might be filled with the knowledge of his will and all wisdom and spiritual understanding." So he tells them, hey, we don't cease to pray. Then he gives them a list of what he's praying for them to be filled with knowledge and wisdom, spiritual understanding. He says, that you might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, bearing fruit in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering, with joyfulness giving thanks unto the Father, which has made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in life." So there we see, hey, we don't cease to pray for Him, and here's what we pray for. He even gives them, writes them in that letter, here's the things that I'm praying for you. in your life. But when you pray for someone, let them know. You know, hey, you see them at church, you don't have to tell them, hey, I prayed that you'd get right with God. You know, I know your sin and I've been praying that you'd get rid of that sin. No, you don't need to do that. Even if you do know that maybe they have a sin. Maybe you saw them and you're praying for them. You know they struggle with something. Or whether it's just their health. You don't always have to, hey, I prayed for your health today. It's like, hey, good to see you, Brother Gail. I prayed for you. I prayed for your wife, Pat. That's an encouragement. Now don't tell someone that you prayed for them just as a way to say hi. If you tell someone you pray for them, then you ought to be praying for him. We don't want to do that. But tell people, Paul told every church that he wrote to that he prays for them. And us, we should tell our brothers and sisters in Christ, hey, I'm praying for you. That's an encouragement when someone comes by, hey, I prayed for you. You can even send them a text in the morning. Hey, you got done with your prayer time? Just send them a text. I do this from time to time. Just say, hey, I prayed for you this morning. Hope you're having a good day, thinking about you. And you just leave it. Just that can be encouragement. And again, going back to James, the effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. We are to pray for one another that we may be healed, as James tells us. Then number five, prayer brings God's peace in a world full of and just things going on around us, and we have things that go in and out of our lives, things that maybe upset us, things that stress us out, things that get us busy, and sometimes we find that maybe we lose some peace, or maybe we just have some burdens, we have some stress. 1 Peter 5, verse number 7, that's the first verse that I have up here, but it says, casting all your care upon Him, where He cares for you. We have a God that cares for us. We think sometimes, oh, God doesn't care about me. It's just little old me. Why would God care about me? I'm nobody. Well, God cares about the nobodies. God cares about everybody. And Peter here says, cast all your care upon Him. Take everything, everything that you're worried about, everything that you have going on that's stressing you out, that's a burden to you. It says, cast it on Him. Don't carry it to Him, just get it off. Get it off your chest, get it off your back. Casting all your care upon Him. Just cast it on Him. It says in Matthew chapter 11 and verse 28, he says, if you're heavy laden, you're burdened, you got something that's burdening down, that's heavy for you to carry, it says, hey, take my yoke upon you and learn of me. He says his yoke is easy. He's there to help us carry that load. But here, Peter says, casting all your care upon him. Just take it, hey, I'm taking that burden and I'm casting it to the Lord. Away from me. I'm casting it away from me so that it's God that's carrying that burden. It's God that's taking care of it. I'm believing in the truth that says God is in control of whatever I go through. It says, for He careth for you. What a wonderful truth and a reminder that is, that God cares for us. The Almighty God who created the entire universe. Every tree, every plant, every animal, every human being. You think of the galaxy, all the stars, the planets. everything, the God who did all of that, the Almighty, Omniscient, Omnipresent, all of the attributes and characteristics that we can give of God, that God cares for me and I can take my burdens to Him because He cares for me and He'll carry them for me and I can cast them to Him and trust in Him. Philippians chapter 4 and verse number 6 tells us be careful for nothing But in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. He says, don't worry about anything. That's what that phrase, be careful for nothing. He says, hey, don't worry about the things that are going on in your life. Don't worry. Don't fret about it. What are you to do instead? It says, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, thanking God in our prayer and supplication, for what we're going through, what he's doing in our lives, what he has done, what he does each and every day. Because it's easy to focus on, oh, I got this burden. God doesn't love me anymore. And we forget all the things that God has done for us and is doing for us every single day, even in the day that we're carrying that burden. But he says, let your requests be made known unto God. And then what does he say in verse number seven? In the peace of God. So after we go to God in prayer and we stop worrying, he says, in the peace of God which passes all understanding. That's a peace that no man can give you, no therapist can give you, no medicine can give you. It says, the peace that passes all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Another way to look at that as well is that word keep. the meaning of that word is not just keep it like I'm going to keep this tablet here, but it has to do with the Roman soldiers that we know Paul would have been very familiar with it, being a Roman citizen and living in a time where Rome ruled where he lived, but those soldiers would keep a building, keep a location. They would guard it and not let anyone in. Those soldiers, those centurions were trained. They had a shield and they would lock those shields together. They could make a wall. They could even make a ramp that people could, that the other soldiers could get up over a wall as they would hold those, lock those shields together. But just like that, the peace of God will keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Lastly, prayer brings about change. We looked at that in James chapter 5. I don't know if I have the wrong, I might have the wrong verse on this one or the last one, because I know I had wrong, they weren't matching. But I think it's 16 through 18 is the correct passage. If you wrote down the other ones, I think I had 6 through 8. But it says, confess your faults one to another and pray for one another that you may be healed. The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Elias, that's Elijah, was a man subject to like passions as we are and he prayed earnestly, earnestly that it might not rain and it rained so that earnestly he didn't give up. He prayed earnestly, put his soul, his heart into it that it might not rain and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years. and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit." And notice something about that, not only was he giving us an example of the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man, but what does it say about Elijah? How does it introduce us to Elijah in this passage? Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are. He was just like each one of us. Now, yes, we look at that. Elijah was special. He was a prophet. There's a lot in the Bible written about Elijah. There's miracles done. But he was a man subject to like passions as we are. And I have it all turned up from the week, or from Monday. And I forgot that it was one, so forgive me on that. But he was just like us, like passions, like temptations, same kind of man as each one of us. And he prayed. So I said, the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Elijah, that he prayed earnestly, was answered, and it brought forth change. You want to see change in your life? You want to see change in your family? You want to see change in your church, your community, your town, your state, your country? You want to see change? The way to bring about change, that change comes from God, but the way to bring about change is not Barack Obama as he ran to bring hope and change. Hope and change can't be brought by the President of the United States. It can't be brought by any man. It's God who brings change. And that change that God can bring about or can start is brought by our prayer. When we come boldly to the throne of grace, prayer brings about change. I don't know where I put my water. I had a water. Oh, it's up on the cabinet there. But prayer brings about change. And I'm going to switch slideshows here. Give me one second. We're going to go. So on that note, we're going to go to. I want to look for just a moment. I don't believe this will be long, but I want to look at the idea of persistent prayer. And I'll try to go get through this here in the next few minutes. But I want to look at, and this is kind of going through. It's still, I would consider it still part of our, if W is a prayer, and I know persistent prayer is not a W. There's no W in that. But it does go along with what we've been looking at the last several weeks was the importance of prayer. And then we looked at the benefits of prayer. But I want to look at persistent prayer. And we ended that. And I thought this was fitting that we ended with Elijah and that bringing about change and him praying earnestly for it not to rain and then that it would rain. But I want to look at, more specifically with that persistent prayer, but the necessity of constant, persistent, sleepless, overcoming prayer. The times where we just, we need to seek God's face, and we saw that, we heard about that this weekend, but there are times where we just need to seek God's face. We need to go to the throne of grace, and sometimes we need to stay there with God in prayer until we get an answer. do my best to just stay behind the pulpit and that's going to be very hard for me. I messed with that and messed it all up. But sometimes there are times in our lives where we need that constant, persistent, sleepless, overcoming prayer. And we talked about the different things we can call prayer, the different kinds of prayer, seeking God's face, crying out to God, those things where we, but there are times where we just need to get a hold of God. And sometimes we just, And sometimes with that persistent, that's why I have constant and persistent on there, is we just, sometimes we just need to pray for something and pray for it again and pray for it again and pray for it every day. And just keep praying and keep praying and keep praying. Pray for it throughout the day. And I think I've given this example weeks ago, earlier on, but a couple in the church in Idaho that we were a part of, Well, the lady for, I think it was over 50 years, prayed for her husband to get saved. It's a long time. Every day she prayed for her husband to get saved. And one day he came to church and got saved. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. And he talks, in that passage there, talks about Elijah earnestly praying. But there's a necessity for the constant and persistent of constant, persistent, sleepless, overcoming prayer. And I wanna give, and you see the first point there, why is there a necessity for this? Other than, and we've talked about this, and this is kind of a given, other than having needs that we need met, like we pray for Pat Spurgeon every day, and we ought to, as a church family, pray for Pat Spurgeon every day. And there are those needs, but for us as individuals, the first reason there's a necessity for this constant, persistent, sleepless, overcoming prayer is that there is a devil. And the devil is real, Satan is real. 1 Peter chapter five and verse number eight says, be sober, so be serious, be on your guard, be sober, be vigilant, Because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, describes us what he's going to be like as a roaring lion. He's like a lion in the jungle, hunting, looking for his prey. Says that's a roaring lion, walketh about. seeking whom he may devour. He's looking for us. Now he knows he can't take away our home in heaven that we've been given when we trust Jesus Christ as our Savior, when we're saved, but he can ruin our life. He can ruin our testimony. to our relatives, to our friends, our co-workers, our community. He can destroy a church when he can get a hold of someone's heart and bring that evil spirit in. When he can get a hold of a family, individuals, he can ruin a family. He knows he can get, and he seeks, he walks around as a roaring lion. He's looking, seeking whom He may devour. He's looking for that Christian. He's looking for that husband and that father whom He can devour, that family He can destroy. He's looking for that wife. He's looking for that marriage he can devour. He's looking for that servant of God that he can devour. And I can give you a list of Christians, of pastors, and evangelists, and missionaries that I know of. That lion that this verse talks about, the devil devoured them. They weren't sober, they weren't vigilant. They let up their guard. They let sin in and Satan was able to ruin the ministry that they had. Churches have been ruined because of this. There's a necessity for this persistent prayer. The devil is cunning. He knows how to get us. He knows our weaknesses. I think I've used this example before. It's like, you know, we live up here where everybody fishes. You know, I fish, we have a cottage up in Lando Lakes. My family and I, I've been fishing there since I could hold a pole. I started with a cane pole and I would just catch bluegill. and moved up to a casting pole and everything with a reel. But I've learned through my life. I've probably gone up there most of the years of my life. I've learned that lake. I know all the spots. I know what fish is where. I know what lure to use to get that certain kind of fish in our lake. I know what even, hey, at night this lure works better, in the day this one works better. I know all of the tricks. I know how to get each and every one of them. If I want to go up and get bass, I'll get my lure that I know, and I have several lures that work for those bass up there. If I want to get a northern pike, I know what lures will work. If I want to get a crappie, I don't really use a special lure for them. They're easy to catch. just find their school and throw the lure and catch one on the back. They usually are easy to. But I know all those fish. I know where to go. I know when they're out. I know when those bass like to hide under the lily pads. And when I put that popper right there, I know they're going to be attracted to that. I know it's going to trick them. And I know they're going to go for it. But he's cunning. And sometimes also with fishing, something that's true about the devil is he never rests. I know there's times my wife knows I'll go out on that boat and I'll sit there forever. I think if my family wasn't in the cabin and I've gone up there, I've gone up to our cottage by myself. I know there was one year I was up there for almost a week by myself and I loved it. I just sat on the boat and fished and fished. I'll just sit on the boat, and most guys don't, but right in the middle of the day when the sun, I'm getting the sun burnt and not catching any fish, but I just love it. And sometimes, we talked about using those poppers at the lily pad, using that special kind of lure. It takes some patience to sit there, and you just watch it and watch it, and then you pull it. reel it in and sometimes William knows getting the bluegill up there you have to sit there and you have to be patient and watch that bobber and you have to wait for that fish to get that worm but the devil never rests he never gives up he's not he doesn't get tired oh i'm gonna i'm gonna stop i'm gonna stop now i'm gonna i'm gonna give up trying to get brother jack to to try to trip him up or or ensnare him He never rests. He's a lion, a real lion. I think they sleep over 20 hours a day, a male lion. But this lion here that Peter tells us about in 1 Peter 5.8, this is a lion that walketh about seeking whom he may devour, but he never rests. And we need to have that persistent prayer. He is continually plotting the Christian's downfall. If we relax in prayer, if we relax in Bible reading, if we relax in our walk with God, He will succeed in ensnaring us. And Ephesians, and I'm not gonna read the whole passage just for sake of time. I took too long on the other part earlier. But Ephesians chapter six, we all know what's in Ephesians chapter six. The armor of God, we're told to, it tells us what kind of a battle we fight. It's not against flesh and blood. It's a spiritual warfare. It's talking about spiritual warfare. It tells us to put on, to stand in the power of his might, to put on the armor of God. But you know what it ends with after all the armor? It ends with prayer. And I wanna read, if you'd turn to Ephesians chapter six, and you probably know this verse pretty well. Ephesians chapter six, verse number 18. So 17 ends the armor of God. He ends with the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. Then there's a colon. So we're told earlier, hey, we're to stand there, we're to stand, it tells us, hey, put on the whole armor of God, be strong in the Lord and the power of his might. And there's a colon after the last piece of the armor. What does he say? Praying always, with all prayer. and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance, and supplication for all saints. Look at all the alls in that verse, because you can even say that always, we can give that a meaning of praying at all times, with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance, so persistent prayer, having some perseverance in our prayer, and supplication for all saints. we must add persistent prayer or all else will be in vain. Number two, so we've looked at there is a devil, number two, and I only have three points, but number two is it is God's appointed way of obtaining what we need. James chapter four and verse number two, we see a phrase there that many of us are familiar with. It says he have not because ye ask not. There's things that we need. We're told also, and I believe this is in James, if any of you lack wisdom, well, where do we go? We're to ask God for it? We're to go to God? How many of us lack wisdom today? All of us should raise our hands, both hands. All of us lack wisdom. So he says, if any of you lack wisdom, well, who's he talking to? It's a rhetorical question. It's all of us. But ye have not because ye ask not. This phrase is key to the poverty and powerlessness of the average Christian today, the neglect of prayer. Then we wonder, hey, why isn't anything happening? Why is God not blessing me? Why can't I figure this out? Why can't I understand anything in the Bible when I read it? You have not because ye ask not. You're not praying for it. Why do I progress so little in my Christian life? The neglect of prayer. Why do we see so little fruit from our labors? The neglect of prayer. Why do we as churches see so little headway against unbelief and error and sin and worldliness? The neglect of prayer. Why don't I see victory in my life? Why don't I see victory in my marriage? Why don't I see victory in my family? Why don't I see God doing something? Why don't I see my kids growing? Why don't I see my marriage being strengthened? Why don't I see anything happening in my life? and the neglect of prayer. Ye have not, because ye ask not. And sometimes with that neglect, maybe we prayed for something once or twice or three times. We prayed for it for a week and, okay, God didn't answer. I'm gonna give up now. I guess God doesn't want to answer it. Now, he'll make it clear. God always answers prayer. He doesn't always say yes to our prayers. An answer doesn't mean yes. And sometimes, we talked about this, but sometimes the answer we're looking for is yes, or maybe we want to know, but we know the answer we want, So if we don't hear that answer, we just think, oh, God's not answering our prayer, and we're missing his answer, because we're only, our ear is only in tune to hearing a yes, or a no, or whatever it is we want God to say to us. But it's the neglect of prayer. It's the key to the poverty and powerlessness of the average Christian today, the average church today. It's a neglect of prayer as individuals, as churches. This is why we don't see God doing anything. That phrase, you have not because you ask not. It's a neglect of prayer, but it's God's appointed way of obtaining what we need. It says we can go boldly to the throne of grace, to receive grace, to help in the time of need. You have not because you ask that. We neglect prayer. We give up on prayer. There's a necessity for constant, persistent, sleepless... Overcoming prayer. It's really seeking God's face whether that's for we just had a revival services We prayed for revival. We we have needs whether it's physical spiritual family marriage or whatever it is fill in the blank We give up as Christians, and I'm guilty of it as well. We give up on on praying for that so easily or we just don't pray for it because it's not important to us and If it was important to us, we'd pray for it. If prayer was important to us, at the end of the day, we'd do that. I believe it's Romans chapter 8 or 7. It teaches us that at the end of the day, we do what we want to do. We can say, oh, the devil made me do it. I think every kid has probably said that. I know I said it to my parents. I'd get, oh, I know I did. I have memories of telling my parents that. I'd get in trouble. I did something, stole candy or something. We never had candy in the house. I would steal crackers or something, pudding, and I would throw it away in the bathroom, thinking no one would see the look in the trash in the bathroom. I always got caught. I know I told him, my parents would probably confirm it. I told him, the devil made me do it. It wasn't my fault. Don't spank me. It was the devil. The devil made me do it. There may have been that temptation. The devil may have been like, hey, you're hungry. Take that. But in the end of the day, we do what we want to do. If we want to be in church, we'll be in church if we want to. If we want to pray, we'll pray. If we want to read our Bible, We'll read our Bible. At the end of the day, we do what we want to do. If we want to miss church, we'll miss church. Whether it's something good or something bad, at the end of the day, we do what we want. That's mankind. So that's where we have to walk with God. We have to know God. We have to know the way that he's laid out for us. Know his word. Have a relationship with him so that it can change my desires, my mind, my heart. so that the things that I now want to do line up with this book. They line up with what God wants me to do, where my desires towards God, where, hey, if you be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, that's where my desires, that's where my eyes are going to be, then those are the things that I'm gonna want to do. and then lastly here and uh... quickly and i'm not going to uh... read although i have a a lot of verses uh... but the apostles example the apostles regarded prayers the most important business of their lives. And I want to read a passage in Acts chapter 6. I want to read a few verses there, and I'm not going to read... The other verses I had were some examples from Paul's letters, and I made mention of those, but you can go to those. The beginning of Ephesians, Colossians, Thessalonians, both letters to Timothy. We know another example I have is Daniel praying three times a day, even when there was a decree that he wasn't to pray. But Acts chapter six, verse number one, it says, in those days when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration. Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them and said, it is not reason that we should leave. the Word of God and serve tables. This is when they got to set up deacons. Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom ye may appoint over this business. But what do they say? What do the apostles say? But we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word. They gave themselves continually to prayer. And we know, looking, studying the book of Acts as we have been on Sunday mornings and looking at the apostles, prayer was important to them. They prayed all the time, prayed for the filling of the Holy Spirit. Prayer was a part of their daily life. And we, taking that example that the apostles set, need to make prayer the most important business of our lives, our walk with God. We can even go study through the gospels and look at the example of Jesus Christ's prayer life. But there's even great men outside the Bible that have all had things that set them apart, but in one way they have all been alike. When God does something great in a church, in a ministry, in a man's life or through a man's life, there's always one thing that has led to it and it'd be a different story for each person. But they were men of prayer.