Psalm 109 and verse 1, hold not thy peace. Oh God of my praise for the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me. They have spoken against me with a lying tongue. They can pass me about also with words of hatred and fought against me without a cause for my love. They are my adversaries, but I give myself unto prayer. I give myself unto prayer. That's an interesting phrase, isn't it? Here he's talked for several verses here, and he goes on after this even to talk about how bad people have been treating him. This is a Psalm of David. And we know that David was persecuted. We know that David was unjustly pursued by Saul and by his own son, Absalom. And David, he was no stranger to not being treated in the right way and going through some things in his life that really he didn't deserve to go through, honestly. But he says here, in spite of all these things that people are doing to him, he said, I give myself unto prayer. I've known people, and you have too, that are given to different things, different pursuits in life. I've known people that were given to their work. I mean, there's nothing wrong with working hard. We need to work hard. By the way, the Bible still says, if a man will not work, neither should he eat. and try running on that platform as a politician and see how far you get. But I've read, I saw somewhere where they're talking about trying to make a, put a work requirement, attach that to welfare. I think that'd be a very good thing to do. But, but anyway, we ought to work hard, man. I'll tell you what, God is a God that is a God of work and he wants for us to work. But I've known people that have absolutely been so given to their work. They're just consumed. That's literally all they do. They live and breathe it. That's all they care about. 24 hours a day, seven days a week. That's just what they live for. I'm thinking now of a man I'd never call his name, but a guy we knew growing up and he had a good job. He made a really good hourly wage even in spite of without any kind of overtime or time and a half or anything like that. He would work all the overtime they would give him. I mean he'd work overtime double overtime when they needed somebody to work holidays He was fine with working at Christmas and I mean anything that he could get and I remember his wife had these beautiful rings I mean man, she had she just glistened, you know with these beautiful rings that she had but it's very sad one time She said I just wish they meant something I wish they meant something. In other words, I'd rather have my husband than all these things that he's buying for me and I never have him. And people sometimes are given to their work, they're given to money. I know people that were given to a hobby of some sort. There's certainly nothing at all wrong with fishing. hunting and I enjoy all I enjoy those things greatly but some people just absolutely live and breathe it I mean that's that that's their life they they live it some people are given to golf they live for that they they go to work because they have to but they just live they want to go golfing all the time and I enjoy it but I feel like one guy said he said man I don't golf more because the people that work at the golf course discriminate against me they don't mow the grass where I play and that's how I feel But anyway, I know that if I show up with five balls, I'm probably going to be out of balls by the time the round's over because I'm going to lose them. But anyway, some people are given to these different hobbies or different pursuits. But here, David says in verse 4, he says, I'm given to prayer. I give myself to prayer. He means I devote myself, I dedicate myself to this matter of prayer. And I want to speak to you just on that simple subject tonight, maybe just kind of a teaching message, but on the subject of giving to prayer. Given to prayer. I know this is not a subject that I'm really qualified to preach on, because I do pray, but I'm not given to prayer the way I should be, I'll just be honest with you. I don't have as much of a prayer life as I should have, I'm sure. And honestly, most of us tonight, this may be a subject where we feel like our toes are getting stepped on, and we certainly don't feel like raising a hand and hollering amen, because it's something like surgery, because most of us tonight, if we'd be honest about it, probably realize that we're a little bit lacking in this area of prayer. But I'll tell you, Jesus said, my father's house shall be called a house of singing. He actually didn't say that did he as important as singing is I love the singing but that's not what he said He didn't even say my father's house should be called a house of preaching Although God has chosen preaching as the mode to save those that believe the Bible says there's nothing in the world That a man can do physically of his own that that that can substitute for the preaching of God's Word He didn't say my house should be called a house of eating or fellowship Although I thank God that we do that from time to time, but Jesus said my father's house should be called in house of prayer And I'll tell you God has put a burden in my heart personally. I feel like that God has almost adjusted my focus on the need to pray more myself personally and honestly I would love for our church to be even more of a church of prayer. I believe we haven't even begun to see what God would like to do if we would give ourselves to prayer. First of all, think tonight about the mightiness of prayer. The Bible says in Acts 4 and verse 31, talking about the apostles in the early church, it says, And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost. I pray that specific prayer for our church, Lord, shake us so we can shake Murfreesboro. I'd love for God to turn us upside down so we can turn Murfreesboro upside down for the Lord. And according to that biblical pattern, the truth is the way that we get shaken for God, the way we get fired up for God, the way we get our batteries charged is not just through singing and not just through preaching and not just through handshaking, but through this matter of prayer. When they had prayed, the place was shaken. Prayer equals power. You know, so many people will tell other people their problems, and I'm glad that we can cast our cares upon other people and bear one another's burdens. I'm thankful. That's part of being part of the church, getting to share those prayer requests on Wednesday night at different times. But, you know, there's a lot of people that share things with other people, but they share them with other people more than they share them with God. And so many times we may tend to, people may tend to post stuff on social media, you know, and put out there what a hard time they're having or some cryptic messages a lot of people do trying to hint, you know, so people will pick up on the fact that they're having a hard time. And it's people that can't honestly do anything about it, but there's a God that can work whatever miracle is needed if we just take that to Him. And I thank God that we have this awesome mode of prayer, this tool, this weapon of prayer. Abraham prayed and he was called the friend of God and saw God do some amazing things. Moses prayed and as Moses prayed, he saw God turn the water to blood and he saw God bring all those plagues and he saw God part the Red Sea and he saw God send manna from heaven and water from the rock and all those miracles. Joshua prayed and he saw God part the Jordan River and bring the walls of Jericho tumbling down. Gideon prayed and he saw God take 300 men without a sword or a spear or a bow and arrow with just a trumpet in one hand and a pitcher with a light in the other hand and shouting the sword of the Lord and of Gideon and he saw God defeat 300 men. or used 300 men to defeat tens of thousands. Samson prayed and he saw God work miracles and bring that place down. And the last act that he had was praying to God and more Philistines were killed in his death than in his life. Hannah prayed and God blessed her with a son miraculously. Samuel prayed and God blessed the nation of Israel. David prayed and God brought the giant Goliath down. Elijah prayed and God sent fire from heaven. Job prayed and God saw him through and gave him twice as much as he had before. Elisha prayed and saw God raise the dead. Hezekiah and Isaiah joined together and prayed and saw an angel kill 185,000 Assyrians in one night. Jehoshaphat prayed and God worked a miracle and brought water for all the people when there was no water and defeated the enemies of God. Nehemiah prayed and God defeated Sanballat and Tobiah and all these enemies of the work of Christ. And God worked a miracle because Nehemiah prayed. Esther prayed and Mordecai prayed and God Turned that whole thing around as we talked about in Sunday school today. And God allowed that Haman to be hung on his own gallows. Daniel prayed and God shut the lion's mouth. Jonah, even backslidden, prayed in the belly of a well. And God gave him a second chance and sent him out there to preach and brought about a great revival. Oh my, the apostles prayed and God healed crippled people. And God sent revival and saved 3,000 souls on the day of Pentecost. By the way, Jesus, our ultimate example, Jesus was a man of prayer. And if these people in the Bible saw God do what they could not do through prayer, how much more could you and I see happen if we would just pray the way that God wants us to? If we'd be given to prayer, oh, I've seen God answer prayer. And I'm no prayer warrior at all, but I've seen God answer big prayers. I've seen things. Boy, I even here I prayed and I've seen God do things that I could never do and I've seen God change Change somebody's heart that I'm telling you I thought what in the world's gonna happen there I prayed and I tried to leave it in God's hands and I'm telling you I've seen God just absolutely work a miracle and change somebody's heart I have seen God and then I've seen God do little things things that would seem insignificant to you Almost I would almost be embarrassed to even tell you what I prayed about some things it almost seems silly But if it's big to you and if it's big to me, it's big to God I've seen God here and answer prayer my brother Jason McNeese was here I was eating with him one day and he told me about his brother Dean McNeese is also a preacher he travels quite a bit kind of well-known in the southern states and and but his brother pastored a church in Florida while brother Jason was in college and he said He said, we would have a Saturday night prayer meeting. And he said, the rules were simple. He said, you show up, you take your shoes off. I guess they probably got that from Moses and Joshua, where he said, take your shoes off, you're on holy ground. And he said, you take your shoes off. He said, we just walk inside there. And he said, the rule was, you just pray till you're done, then you left. He said, we walk in there on Saturday night. He said, sometimes we pray for 45 minutes or so, and we leave. He said, sometimes we go ahead and pray, and we just keep praying. We just keep praying and boy God would move in. He said we pray till 10 o'clock at night sometimes. He said he got to where in that little church it got to where we honestly believe that it was impossible for a lost person to come in those doors and not get saved. He said people just began to get saved right and left. He said, one Sunday, there was a guy we'd been praying for for a long time. He was the dad, I believe, of a guy in the church. And he said, we've been claiming him in prayer. And he said, it was during that time we'd been praying on those Saturday nights. And we believed if he would just come, that he would get saved. And one day, he walked in. And he said, man, he said, when he walked in, we thought, here he comes. He's going to get saved. And he said, the singers got up and sang. And the preacher got up and preached. And he gave the invitation. And he said, nothing happened. The guy didn't respond. And he said, we were thinking, what in the world is going on? And he said, all of a sudden, he said, I just had such a burden. He said, I got up out of my seat, and I walked over to a hay bale that was sitting over there. And he said, I knelt down beside that hay bale, and I just began to pray and call that guy's name out and said, oh, God, save him. Oh, God, save him. And he said, in the middle of that prayer, all of a sudden, the burden was just lifted. And he said, I got up and when I got up, I looked around and that man was on the altar weeping. And he said, I looked over and there was some other men that had had the exact same idea that I had. And he said they had gone somewhere and they were praying at the same time. I'm telling you what, folks, that man got saved and God sent revival because of one thing only, because of prayer. Brother Mickey Carter pastored for 50 years down at Landmark Baptist Church. The church is still a powerhouse church and doing amazing things there in Haines City, Florida. I remember him talking about when he first went there, he said they didn't have a whole lot of people coming. Boy, they wanted God to move. And he said, the men would just show up on Saturday night and we'd start praying. And he said we would just pray and we would pray and we would pray and God just began to break loose and do some amazing things and now that church has reached literally hundreds and thousands of people for Christ. Brother Bobby Robertson pastored for 50 something maybe 60 years the great Gospel Light Baptist Church there in Walkertown. I remember hearing him tell and by the way here's a man didn't even have a high school diploma I think he had maybe a fifth or sixth grade education and just country is cornbread man I mean he didn't have He didn't have all the things going for him that other people do, but he said, I'll tell you what. He said, we would show up on Saturday night. And he said, as the men would get together, he said, we just pray and we just keep on praying. They weren't trying to work anything up. They just knew they were in the presence of God. And he said, sometimes the sun would start coming up and we'd prayed all night. I don't expect for us to do that. I know all of us that come, we have homes and different things like that, but I'll tell you what, we ought to be open for God to do whatever God wants to do. And God has simply moved down through the years and down through the centuries all because of prayer. You see, prayer is, prayer, I read this some years ago, and it's so true. Sometimes we believe that prayer prepares us for the great work. And we say, oh man, we got a big Sunday coming up, or I've got a big decision. I got a big interview for a job. I got a big doctor's appointment, or whatever it might be. And we think prayer prepares us for that. But this is so true. Prayer doesn't prepare us for the great work. Prayer is the great work. Prayer is the force that moves the hand of an almighty, miracle-working God. And oh, as the song says, oh what peace we often forfeit, oh what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer. I just wonder the miracles that we miss out on because we hope for things and we wish for things and maybe even ask somebody else for things, but we don't go to the one that we can get things from that invites us and says, come, hey, listen, come and make your requests known unto me. George Truett was a great preacher years ago. In the early days of his ministry, he went to preach in Alabama. While he was down there, he had preached in this revival service on the verse, if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of our Father which is in heaven. He got done preaching, he stepped down in the aisle, and this older lady came up to him, and she came up, and she said, sir, she said, do you believe what you preach tonight? He said, well, yes, ma'am, it's in the Bible. Of course I believe it. She said, no, I mean, do you really believe what you preach tonight? And he said, well, yes, ma'am. It's in the Bible. I believe it. She said, OK, good. I've been waiting for somebody that believed it. She said, here's what it is. She said, my husband is a captain on a boat on the river. And he will not get saved. But if what you preach tonight is true, then if we agree in prayer, God can save him. Will you agree with me in prayer? And just the way she said it, Brother Dale, he almost was just kind of stunned for a second. He just kind of stood there. Instead of answering her right away, another man that was in the church stepped up and he said, ma'am, I'll join in prayer with you. And they both knelt right there in the aisle. And he said, they just prayed just a simple childlike prayer. And both of them saying, oh God, would you please save this lady's husband? Well, imagine the next day the joy that was in that place when the very next morning that man walked in the house of God and knelt and asked Jesus to save him. Just because of prayer. Childlike prayer. Two on earth agreeing. Brother Lee Roberson told about Ernest Reveal. They call him Pappy Reveal. He was in charge of the Evansville Rescue Mission. And in fact, I believe we went there and sang years ago when I was a young teenager. But anyway, in Evansville, Indiana. And it had been in business for a long time. They'd seen thousands of souls saved and lives changed by the grace of God. And this guy, Pappy Reveal, he was the one in charge of it. And Brother Lee Roberson, he said, he taught me so much about trusting the Lord and about prayer. He said, whenever he talked to God, it sounded like God was just sitting in the chair right in front of him. He said I was in his office one day and he said he was sitting there and he leaned back in his chair and he said on the desk there were there were bills that the Evansville rescue mission owed and they were just scattered all across his desk and this was many many years ago and those bills amounted to $500 that would be way more in our economy but $500 and he said as I sat there he said he said Papi revealed leaned back in his chair and he said Lord He said, I don't owe anybody anything. My bills are paid. He said, Lord, these are your bills, not mine. And if you don't pay these bills, there's going to be an awful stink around town. He said, I was shocked. But he said, at 10 o'clock, Pappy Reveal went to the mailbox and opened the mailbox and pulled out an envelope, opened it, and there was a $500 check in the mail. You say, oh, but God couldn't answer that prayer because it was already mailed before he even prayed. Oh, yeah, my Bible says that we have a God that even while we're speaking, he already hears. He knows what we need before we even ask. You say, so why should we ask? Because all the joy. Jesus said, ask and you shall receive that your joy may be full. DL Moody, a great preacher back in the 1800s. He was having a big crusade during the World's Fair in Chicago. From what I've heard, he would draw an even bigger crowd than the events did at the World's Fair in Chicago. He was preaching and doing a work for God, and he needed $3,000 that day. In the 1800s, that's an enormous sum. And so he knelt as he was going out the door. He didn't have time to go out and raise the money and try to contact people and ask them for money. So he literally knelt down as he was going out the door. He said, Lord, You know I'm doing your work. I'm trying to tell people about you. I need $3,000 today, Lord. Please give it to me. Thank you. Amen. Got his hat, took off, walked out the door. He went and he was getting ready to preach. The service was starting. And this lady came walking down, tried to walk down the aisle to get to him when one of the ushers blocked her and said, ma'am, you can't come any closer. The meeting's about to start. So she went back and came down another aisle, and that usher told her the same thing. Said, ma'am, I'm sorry you cannot go on the platform. It's about to start. She would not be denied. She came and walked around, and there was a door that led out onto the platform. And so that usher thought she was one of the singers on the program for the day. So he just let her out, and she came walking straight up to D.L. Moody, put an envelope in his hand, and walked back out. He said, thank you, ma'am. Just kind of crumpled it, put it in his pocket, went on and preached the word of God. Well, he was sitting there at lunch that day, and all of a sudden it hit him. He remembered what had happened. He reached in his pocket and pulled out an envelope, and I probably don't even have to tell you what was in there. A $3,000 check. Come to find out, there was a lady that I've read that was R.G. Letourneau, the famous earth mover. He became a millionaire. But anyway, his wife woke up that morning and just felt a burden. She said, D.L. Moody's down there preaching the word of God. I bet that he needs a lot of money. So she pulled out her checkbook and wrote a check for $1,000. As soon as she wrote it, she felt like the Lord impressed upon her heart and said, that's not enough. He's going to need more than that. So she ripped that check up and wrote one for $2,000. Then it's like the Lord said, no, he's going to need more than that. So she ripped that one up and wrote one for $3,000. She called her maid and said, hey, go put this in the mail. And as the maid was going out, she said, hang on a second. He may need that today. He won't get that till tomorrow if you mail it. Here, you just take it right down there today. And he needed $3,000 that day and got $3,000 that day for one reason, because he prayed. By the way, the Bible still says you have not because you ask not. And I wonder how many needs go unmet, how many blessings we never experience simply because we just don't pray. It's amazing to me that prayer is free to us. Yes, it costs us some time. It's a sacrifice of time and energy. But prayer is work. Prayer is work. I think most of us don't spend more time in prayer because honestly, it's not as easy to do as it is to do some other things. We have to focus our time. We have to focus our attention. And it literally is work to get in prayer to God. But oh my, there is no greater work than the work of prayer, the mightiness of prayer. Then number two, think with me tonight, if you would, about the method of prayer. In Luke 11, in verse one, the disciples were with Jesus. And it says here, 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, as John also taught his disciples. Jesus was the greatest teacher that's ever been. But we don't find where the disciples ever said, Lord, teach us to teach. He was the greatest preacher that's ever lived. But we don't find where the disciples said, Lord, teach us to preach. Teach us, Lord, to raise the dead. Teach us to make crippled legs walk. We don't find where they ask that. But there was something about the prayer life of our Lord that the disciples crave to pray like Jesus did. They said, Lord, teach us to pray. I think a lot of people know they should pray more, but they just honestly don't really know how to pray. They don't know really how to go about it, how to pray effectually. And there's no possible way that we could cover it in just one message tonight. And by the way, I'm no expert on this at all. I can't do that. All I know is what the Bible has to say about some things. But did you know some of the best-selling books are books on prayer? Because people want to know how to pray. Well, the Bible tells us how we can pray. And I just want to cover just a very few things here very quickly. First of all, prayer should be first. Matthew 6.33 says, That just means prayer should come before everything else. You ever heard somebody say, well, when all else fails, try prayer. Can you imagine if we did prayer first how few things would fail? We wouldn't have to see all the other things fail if we pray first. I mean, we can get to the place where we are in such a mode of prayer, a life of prayer. We are given to prayer so much that prayer just comes naturally. I'm talking about when you're driving down the road and you see an ambulance and the sirens scream and it goes by, first thing that comes to your mind is, Lord, please help whoever that is that needs help. You drive by and you see somebody by the side of the road and their car is bashed in and you say, oh, God, please. Even drive down the road and you see a car broke down. It's jacked up. You say, Lord, whoever owns that car, please help them. I'm telling you, what that is is prayer just immediately, first thing that comes to mind. What about it when bad things happen and trials come? Is the first thing that comes to our mind, oh, my, what can I do to deal with this? Is the first thing that comes to our mind, who can I tell about this? Or is the first thing that comes to our mind, Lord, I sure need your help? It ought to be the first thing that comes immediately. In the first part of the day, it ought to be the first thing. Listen to what somebody wrote here. It's so true. I met God in the morning when the day was at its best. And his presence came like sunrise, like a glory in my breast. All day long, his presence lingered. All day long, he stayed with me. And we sailed with perfect calmness over a very troubled sea. Other ships were blown and battered. Other ships were sore distressed. But the winds that seemed to drive them brought me to a peace and rest. Then I thought of other mornings with a keen remorse of mind, when I too had loosed the moorings with the presents left behind. Now I think I know the secret learned from many a troubled way. You must meet him in the morning if you want him through the day." I tell you what, when you wake up in the morning, the first thought that comes to our mind, I don't know about you, when I wake up in the morning, my alarm goes off, my first thought, I feel like grabbing my shotgun and pumping it and blowing that thing to smithereens. I don't like getting up. But truly, the first thing that ought to come to our mind, as soon as we open our eyes, Lord, thank you for another day Lord, thank you for keeping us through the night Lord. Help me to serve you today I need your help all through the day help me to live for you and Lord, please walk with me throughout this day I'll tell you what first thing we ought to do just be in a mode of prayer prayer should be first Nehemiah That's how he was when the king asked Nehemiah. Hey, you look sad. What can I do for you immediately? Nehemiah just said I saw I prayed to the God of heaven and First thing that came to his mind, instant prayer. I told our Sunday school class, we're living in the day of instant, instant coffee, instant potatoes, disgusting. Anyway, all these instant things, but the truth is we need some instant prayer. Instant prayer, immediately going to the Lord. By the way, Jesus, it says that the prayer life of our Savior, he rose up a great while before day and went into a solitary place and there prayed. Prayer ought to come first. Immediately that ought to be the first thing that we do is to pray and then prayer should be foreshadowed by praise Psalm 100 in verse 4 says enter into his presence with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise You know some people's prayer life never hardly gets anywhere They feel like they're stuck in the mud because the first thing they do is when they need something they immediately just say Oh God, please give me this God. Give me that God. Give me this. Give me that Oh God, I need this Oh God, I need that and yes true Prayer is asking and receiving. Dr. John R. Rice wrote that great book. It is getting things from God. But the truth of the matter is, we're going to have a rough time getting into a mode of prayer if we just treat God like a vending machine. Just walk up, punch the button, and expect something to pop out. We've got to get into a mode of where we are in the presence of God. One of the things that I'm a little bit mad at Jason McNeese about is that story he told about how you can butter up your parents, you know, get them to do anything you want. My kids already put that to the test. The other night, they wanted something, man. They wanted me to bring something home. And so they called me up, and I knew something was up. Sure enough, as soon as I answered the phone, Dad, you're the best dad in the world. My, you're so amazing, Dad. They just heard that message, you know? I said, thank you for the encouragement. I appreciate that. And so they kind of handed it around. I was like, thank you, thank you. I appreciate you saying that. Faith said, hang up the phone. It ain't working. But anyway. You know what happened? I didn't tell them I was doing it, but you know what I showed up at the house with? What they were wanting. But the truth of the matter is, you think about it. We come in the presence of God, and we begin to ask Him for things right off the bat. Can you imagine if we came to God and just said, oh Lord, thank you for keeping me through the night. Lord, thank you for waking me up this morning. Thank you, Lord, for saving my soul. for sending your only begotten son to die on the cross and raising him from the dead. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for living to make intercession for me and preparing a place for me in heaven. Lord, thank you so much for sending the Holy Spirit. Thank you for the word of God for inspiring it and preserving it for me. Lord, thank you for my family. Thank you for my health. Thank you for that I can see and hear. Thank you for a roof over my head and food to eat and clothes to wear and shoes on my feet. I tell you, I'm about to get excited right now. Lord, thank you for freedom. and all the things that God has given. I'll tell you what, count your many blessings. It'll surprise you what the Lord has done. And when you begin to thank God, all of a sudden you realize, if he's already done all that for me, he probably wants to do some other stuff too. But then we begin to praise God, not just thank him for what he's done. Oh, we begin to say, oh God, I praise you. You're the creator of the universe. You're the king of kings and Lord of lords and God of gods. You're the alpha and omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. You're the rose of Sharon, the lily of the valley, the bright and morning star, the fairest of 10,000. Oh God, you're wonderful, counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting father and the prince of peace. You're Jehovah, you're Messiah, you're redeemer. You're the friend that's sticking closer than a brother. Hey, you're the great physician. You're all powerful, all knowing and ever present. You're merciful and gracious and slow to anger. I'll tell you what, you begin to praise God. God's gonna begin to move in that room. And when we enter into his presence with thanksgiving and praise, it's amazing how the prayers just begin to flow. They just begin to flow. It ought to be foreshadowed with prayer, foreshadowed by praise and thanksgiving. But then also, boy, here's one that I don't enjoy preaching because I don't enjoy doing. And I don't think you do either. But prayer should be with fasting. This is something that hardly ever people preach on, especially Baptist preachers. But in Mark chapter 9, we find where there was a man who had a demon-possessed son. And he begged the disciples to cast that demon out, and they couldn't do it. And as they were not able to do it, Jesus comes down off the Mount of Transfiguration. When he comes, he performs the miracle, and he casts him out. And in Mark 9, 28, it says, and when he was come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, why could not we cast him out? And he said unto them, this kind can come forth by nothing but by prayer and fasting. There are some burdens that are so heavy. There are some miracles that are so needed. There are some needs that are so great that there's really only one way to get it. We want God to answer that prayer and we crave for God to answer that prayer more than we even want our physical food. Now believe me, It's very well known that I enjoy eating. I don't enjoy fasting. And I don't fast for long periods of time, but I do try to fast often, especially before big days and before things like that. And I have seen God do through prayer and fasting what nothing else would do. I've seen God come through and move on hearts and work miracles and save souls and change lives. And I truly honestly believe that it's just because of that prayer and fasting. And really the way to do it is whenever you begin to get hungry, just say, Oh Lord, I sure am hungry for food right now. Especially you walk by and you see some food and you're like, Oh man, that looks so good. That smells so good. We say, Lord, I'm hungry for food right now, but I'm far more hungry for you to whatever you're praying about than I am hungry for that food. I'll tell you what when you begin to pray and fast and you begin to get a hold of something It's not that we're trying to do go on some kind of a hunger strike It's not like we're trying to pressure or threaten or blackmail God I'm gonna starve myself to you. Give me what I'm asking. That's not how it is What it is is prayer shows God we mean business and prayer does something in us Because it's good for us to deny this old flesh and say, God, I care more about what I can get from you than I care about what I can get from that food. Prayer should be with fasting. But then prayer should be with fervency. Jesus, right before Gethsemane, nobody's ever prayed as fervently as Jesus. As Jesus there is in the garden of Gethsemane, the Bible says he sweat, as it were, great drops of blood. He was so fervent in his prayer, so earnest in his prayer. Hey, listen, the Bible says in Matthew chapter 6 and in verse number 6, the Bible says, Actually, I'll get to that just a second But the Bible says that Jesus Christ went up into a mountain to pray and continued all night in prayer to God Folks, I'll be honest with you. I've been in one or two all-night prayer meetings at a church somewhere They but it was like from 10 o'clock to 3 o'clock or something like that 10 to 5 maybe and I'll tell you what It's easier for me even to fast and pray that is to pray all night Jesus was a real man I'm telling you, he goes out there on the mountain. It doesn't say he took anything with him, didn't take any blankets, didn't take any pillow. I mean, he just literally went out there on that cold mountainside and just sat there or knelt there or laid there all night and prayed to God. Those pictures you see of Jesus looking like some kind of fruit loop, man, they couldn't be farther from the truth. Jesus Christ was more of a man than any of us could even realize. He goes out there all night. You talk about fervent. Fervent the prayers of our Savior's amazing. We ought to pray with fervency. So so many Christians just Lord rub it up dub Thank you for the ground Lord down lay me down to sleep pray the Lord my soul to keep I should die before I'm wait Give my shotgun uncle Jake. I mean he's little these little repeated prayers and stuff. Hey, listen, that's not gonna get it We've got to get fervent in prayer with God. Let God know that we mean business. I should be with fervency. Just a couple more here. Prayer should be far away. And by that, I don't mean just you need to drive 100 miles away from home. I just mean we ought to go apart and get somewhere by ourselves with God. The Bible says that, that's what I was going to read to you, Matthew chapter 6 and verse 5. And when thou prayest, Jesus said, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are. For they love to pray, standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. I might be nitpicking a little bit here, but have you ever been somewhere and you heard somebody pray and it's like, oh man, you don't want to judge, but it's like, I think they're really wanting people to hear this. I mean, I've been some, I've been places before. It's like, brother, so-and-so, would you pray? Oh God, God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, God of the universe. I'm talking about, oh God, we need to hear from you. Oh God. And I mean, they're going, it's like, sir, he didn't ask you to preach. He just asked you to pray, you know? He's talking about here about the Pharisees and the hypocrite man They wanted everybody to hear them and they were so into what people thought about him Jesus said this is the kind of prayer you need to do in verse 6 But thou when thou prayest enter into thy closet now closet doesn't literally mean a closed closet it could be that it just means a place alone with God and When thou has shut thy door pray to thy father which is in secret and thy father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly Nothing wrong, we actually have public prayers here. We ask people to pray over the offering, pray to introduce the service or begin the service and end the service. Those are not just rituals. We want God to bless. We want God to answer those prayers. But the truth of the matter is, the main praying that we do should not be in front of other people. The main praying we do ought to be alone with God somewhere. It could be in your car. Could be in your bedroom, could be in your closet, could be out in the woods somewhere. By the way, if you have somewhere to go where you can just walk out in the woods, I'll tell you, there's something about being out in God's creation where you just feel closer to the Lord. Man, I'll tell you, just getting alone with God. Alone with God. Most Christians have no idea. They're so far removed from that. They breathe a prayer, Lord, please bless today. Help me today, Lord. Get in their car and go. And that's about all the praying they do. As a matter of fact, most of us would probably be embarrassed if we had to speak up and grab the microphone tonight and tell everybody else in the church how much time we had prayed in the last 24 hours. I'll tell you why we'd probably be a little bit embarrassed. but so many things that God could do in our lives, in our homes, in our church, in our country, so many things God could do if we'd find somewhere alone. And the best times in the morning, but even before we go to bed at night, just somewhere away from everything, shut off the phone, shut off the TV, shut off the computer, and just get away by yourself, alone with God. I'm telling you, there is no substitute for it on planet Earth, being alone with God. Then lastly, prayer doesn't have to be fancy. Prayer doesn't have to be fancy. I mentioned earlier these people pray these massive flowery prayers, you know, and thinking about every word they've ever read and heard in the dictionary the rest of their lives, in their lives up to that point. No, prayer doesn't have to be fancy. You know what prayer is? People somehow think it's some kind of a big mystical thing. No, prayer is just simply talking to God. The Bible says that God talked with Moses as a man talks to his friend. And that's what it is. I can come up here to RJ and say, hey, RJ, how you doing, buddy? Did you have a good day today? Man, it's good. What'd you do today? Eight? Hey man, that's good right there. Did you have a good day today, Micah? Good to see you, bud. Did you have a good day, Zach? And after church, I love it when people come by, we just get to talk about things. Did you know you can talk to God just like you talk to your friend? By the way, he's the friend that sticketh closer than a brother. And if it's important to you and me, it's important to God. Billy Sunday, that great evangelist, they said one characteristic, one trademark that he had, he saw a quarter of a million people walk the sawdust trail and get saved. And they said that one of the things he had was he'd be in there somewhere in the bathroom, he'd be in there shaving. And it sounded like somebody else was in the room, like he was holding a conversation with them. And he was. But there was no human being in there but him. They said he'd be in there shaving. You can just hear him in there. Oh, God, we got this meeting today. Oh, Lord, we need your help today. Oh, God, there's gonna be people there that need you. Lord, give me power to preach. God, please bring the right people. Lord, they need you. He's just in there talking to God just like he would talk to his friend because he was his friend. Oh, my. So many of us don't have that close relationship with God just because we don't pray. What a privilege it is to pray. Then I'm done with this. We've seen tonight the mightiness of prayer, the method of prayer. And then here's the meaning of prayer. Mark three in verse number 14. Mark 3, 14. Prayer, obviously, is getting stuff from God. That is, thank God that we can talk to Him. We can ask Him for things, and He will answer, and He will give us those things that we ask for when it's His will. But really, I believe here's the whole purpose of prayer. In Mark 3, verse 14, Jesus here, by the way, in the verses before this, in another place where it's talking about this thing, before He chose these 12 disciples, it says He went out into that mountain and continued all night in prayer to God. He knew how important that decision was. But it says in Mark 3, 14, And he ordained 12 that they should be with him. Man, that impacted me. Yes, it says that he might send them forth to preach and have power to heal sicknesses and to cast out devil. He had them for all these purposes. But the greatest privilege of being a Christian is not the things we get to do for God. The greatest privilege as a Christian is getting to be with God, just getting to spend time with him. fact I heard a preacher just this past week he said I'll tell you he said every night he said years ago I promised God I'd try to take some time just to get on my knees by my bed and just spend some time with him and he said sometimes I just come before the Lord and I just say Lord I'm not here to ask you for anything Lord I just want you to know how much I love you and I thank you for what you've already done for me you've been so good to me Well, I'll tell you what, just entering into the presence of God. And I'll tell you what, one of the greatest privilege of being a Christian is not having to bear all those burdens and those things that get us down and hoping that somebody else will listen or hoping that somebody else will comment or something. Oh, no, the greatest privilege is just knowing that we get to actually be in the presence of the one that holds the world in his hand through prayer, through prayer. Boy, Adam had been in the presence of God, walked with God. Elijah had been in the presence of God. He had been with God out there by Cherith, by himself. David had been with God. Somebody said, you know why David wasn't scared of Goliath? The Israelites were all out there looking at Goliath. They were terrified. David had been out there on the mountainside looking at God and Goliath didn't look that big to him. He'd been with God. Think about this. We get to have the Bible. We have an advantage some of these Bible characters didn't even have. We get to know God through his word. But think about this. Before there ever was a Bible, how in the world did Joseph make it through all those trials? He didn't have a Bible to read Romans 828. Yet he's a physical embodiment of it. How did he make it through? He knew God through prayer. God was with him. Job, how did Job make it? People believe that Job was the first book of the Bible, actually, in chronological order. How did he make it through all that stuff and not give up on God and turn against God and see God give him twice as much as he had before? He knew God, not through the Bible, but through prayer. Noah didn't have a Bible, but he knew God through prayer. Abraham didn't have a Bible, but he knew God through prayer. Oh, how we can enter into the presence of God. I just wanted to tell you this brief thing here will be done tonight. J. Wilbur Chapman was the mentor of Billy Sunday. And he was a preacher. And J. Wilbur Chapman was holding some meetings over in England. And he said, in one of those missions, he said, we were having real small crowds. And he said, somebody came and told me, he said, nothing was really happening. God wasn't really saving souls or anything. And he said, somebody came and told me, he said, there's an American preacher that's going to pray for you. His name is John Hyde. And he said, right after I heard that he was praying for me, he said that night, that place was packed out and 50 men walked the aisle and got saved. He said, I told that man, I sent word to that man. I said, I want you to come and pray for me. And so he was in his hotel room and he said, John Hyde came to the door and he maybe knocked the door or whatever. He opened the door and walked on in. He said, when he came in, he just fell on his knees. And he said, when he fell on his knees, he didn't say a word for five minutes. He said, just total silence. But he said, I could hear my heart pounding. He said, hot tears began to flow down my cheeks, because I could just feel that I was in the presence of God. He said, after five minutes, John Hyde said, oh, God. And then he was quiet for five more minutes. Then he said, after that five more minutes, when he knew he was in the presence of God, he said, he began to pour forth petitions for me like I had never heard in my life. He said, after I got up off my knees, he said, I knew what real prayer was. How does that stack up to the kind of prayer life that you and I have? Well, I'll tell you what. I don't think any of us have any idea the miracles we could see God work if we would truly be given to prayer. This is not some shouting message, more of teaching, I guess. Oh, how God has put a burden on my heart. I want to be more of a man of prayer. I want our church to be a church of prayer. Oh, the mightiness of prayer. If we just enter into the presence of God and know what it's like to really talk to God and get a hold of God, and the meaning of prayer is just to be in God's presence. I'll tell you what, people can tell when we haven't been in God's presence, I believe. But you can tell when somebody has been. There's just something about them. Moses had been in God's presence. He came down off the mountain. There was a glow on his face. We may not have that physical glow, but how many of you, don't raise your hand, how many of you have been around somebody and you say, boy, they've been in God's presence? They've got a glow about them. Oh, it'll make a difference in our lives. Are we given to pray?