Yeah. All right, good evening. That's a little better. Welcome to Liberty Baptist Church tonight. If you can, let's all stand. We're going to sing higher ground. I'm pressing on the upward way, new heights I'm gaining every day. So praying as I'm onward bound, Lord plant my feet on higher ground. Lord lift me up and let me stand, my faith on heaven's table land. Higher plane than I have found, Lord, plant my feet on higher ground I want to scale the utmost height And catch a gleam of glory bright But still I'll pray till heaven I'm found Lord, lead me on to higher ground So lift me up and let me stand My faith on heaven's stable land A higher plane than I have found Lord, plant my feet on higher ground Good to see you back tonight. Let's go to the Lord's Word of Prayer. Father, bless us again tonight. Lord, we've had some good messages and good responses and folks saved. We pray, Lord, you'd bless again tonight. If there's anyone here lost, help them to get saved. For those of us who are saved, I pray, Lord, you'd stir us even more. In Jesus' name, amen. You may be seated. I'll mention tonight. I haven't the last couple nights because we've tried to get through the announcements as quick as possible, but anyone here for the first time? I didn't see any new faces that I didn't recognize, but I don't want to miss anyone. Anyone here for the first time? Alright, these are the prayer requests. Always pray for preacher and Cindy. Pray for Brother Perry's again. Thursday night, 645. Friday night, we won't have a youth activity. We was going to have a youth activity, but we've been at church all week. So I got thinking, well, most of us come, a lot of us come sewing in Tuesday. So the only night the kids might get home, my mom and dad might have a night at home would be Friday night. So we will not have a youth activity Friday. We'll have one, we'll start. That's probably true, but. But then Saturday bus visitation at 930 so when in a 1045 then back in our place for Sunday school and church now if you want to get books some of the books that's on the table will disappear tonight because he'll be taken especially when it comes to the grant the kids for the books for their kids and grandkids he's going to take those with him. again he'll leave a lot of the other stuff behind but if you're wanting to get stuff off the book table pick it up this evening because when he leaves he's heading from here to Corpus and then from there back to the Dallas area but he's going to take since he's driving he's going to take a lot of the books and stuff with him so if you want to get some of those books get those this evening And then again, also, if you're going to want to get the paper, he'll talk about that a little bit. The ladies have the stuff on the back table and the ushers do too. But again, I can tell you getting that monthly paper is a blessing to you and it can also be a big blessing to someone else, especially for $10. You're not going to find anything that's going to give them that much information and that many sermons and stuff. for $10. So that is a big, big help, big blessing to whoever you're sending it to. But again, don't forget to pray. I was watching the news today while I was eating the stuff on the Florida coast. Now, I don't know anyone that lives down that way, but I know some of you do, but keep so pray for the folks when I saw when I watched the day, it said 155 to 190 mile an hour winds as it as it hit the shore. So it was still pretty angry. So continue to pray for all the folks down there. All right, if you can, let's all stand one more time. We're gonna sing It Is Well. ♪ When peace like a river attended my way ♪ When sorrow like sea billows rolled Forever my life thou hast taught to say it is well, it is well with my soul, it is well. Grandpa, won't you tell us who all those folks are on that row with you? Good. Usher's, if you'll get them a visitor's card, we appreciate you coming. Normally on Wednesday night service, we'd have someone else preaching, but we have an evangelist this week. So brother Coral is with us. So if you, if you came to hear him, he is here. If you didn't come to hear him, he's still here, but we are, we're glad you guys came tonight. So they're going to, they're going to give you a visitor's card. Appreciate it. All right. And you may be seated. The Bible is God's letter sent to man, containing all his precepts and commands. To protect our lives from sin, Satan seeks to trap us in. And there's a father's love behind each stern demand. But every page I read just says I love you And what's on my mind I wanted you to know All my promises are true All you need to see you through And every page just whispers I Love you. It's the road map marking which way we should go. And the pitfalls that await along the road. It's the light to be our guide. If in our hearts we'll hide Father's strength to carry us through valleys low. But every page I read just says I love you. And what's on my mind I wanted you to know. All my promises are true All you need to see you through And every page just whispers I love you It's the sword to fight each battle that we meet. With the power all hell's forces can defeat. Inspired and preserved so that we can trust each word. It's a father's promise to protect and keep. It's forgiveness when I've failed to pass the test. When I'm weary, it can soothe my soul with rest. With faith in God, I must learn to lean on Him and trust. For my Father cares and He knows what is best. And every page I read just says I love you And what's on my mind I wanted you to know All my promises are true. All you need to see you through. And every page just whispers, I love you. I love you. It's been a blessing all week to have Mrs. Correll play and sing for us. And Brother Correll has been, again, this is his last night. For those of you that missed it, you can go on our live stream, YouTube, and see some of the message you might have missed. But again, I want you to grab your King James Bible, follow along. Again, Brother Correll will tell you some more about the book table and things like that. I try not to tell you about it, because I don't know a lot about it. But he'll talk about that for a little bit. Usher, we might need you for a minute. And then after that, we'll have the preaching. All right, amen. The only thing I'm gonna say about the book table tonight is, if you intend to get anything from the book table, please do that immediately following the service and then fellowship to your heart's content. I'm going to load some of that stuff up, put it in the vehicle. I'll be traveling tomorrow, and some of it goes, some of it stays. But especially the children's books and a few of the newer books, I'm going to have to go ahead and take those off the table and take them with me. So don't wait till I get it boxed and in the vehicle, and then come by and tell me you want it. Now, I won't say anything if you do that, but if you knew what I was thinking. You don't want me to think that way about you. Help me with my thought lane. And so that's the only announcement. There's a lot of material, a wide variety. And I've mentioned different things during the course of the week. This is the Revival Fires envelope and the paper comes out once a month. It is $18 a year and the first night of the meeting, I told folks if they would get an envelope and fill it out for themselves or if they want to send it to somebody, they don't have to live in this state. They can live anywhere in the continental US, and this postage is the same. I would do a $10, 12-month subscription, less than $1 a month, so 80-some cents a month. And I promise you, I spend more than that on the printing and the postage. So if I didn't have advertisers, I could not make that offer. They help to take up some of the slack. But if you'd like one of these envelopes, is there anybody that would like one? I know some of you got some off table. Some of you got them early. The ushers have them in hand. If you'd like an envelope, just slip a hand up. They'll get one to you back there. Anybody else would like one? One over here. You got a guy coming from your right there, sneaking up on your brother. Coming from the other angle. OK, anybody? There's one over there. Anybody else that needs one? If you could please turn those in tonight at the table and I will get you on the next month, we can get it on once we get the, but you'll get 12 months from whenever it starts, you'll get 12 papers. So try to get those to me, it'll speed things up instead of me getting them two weeks from now or whatever, okay? I want you to take your Bibles and turn them to Mark chapter 11. I want to say thank you to Brother Nichols, to the church, Brother Block, and for everybody that's been a blessing to my wife and I while we've been here. I appreciate your kindness, generosity, the southern hospitality, the good food. Amen, I've been eating good. That's really not a good thing. I don't need to eat that good, because when I eat that good, my belt starts changing where it buckles. And so I lost a notch while I was here. So I didn't gain one, I lost one. But anyway, it was fun getting there. And I wanna say thank you, thank you to the church. Mark chapter 11, verse 24. And I'm gonna let you go ahead and remain seated. You've been up and down for the singing. He said, therefore, I say unto you, what things so ever you desire, when you pray, believe that you receive them and ye shall have them. And I wanna talk to you for a little while tonight about this subject, when you pray. when you pray. Let's bow our heads together. Father, we love you. We thank you for the Word of God and thank you for the privilege to assemble. I pray, Spirit of God, that you'd fill and use me. I yield to you. I pray, Lord, you'd prepare hearts and bind the enemy off the service. We plead the blood of Christ on this place. Please head just about and minister to your people, Lord. If there'd be a lost one, save that one. And then for your people, may we get what we need to serve you more effectively. And we'll praise you and thank you for we ask it in Jesus' name, amen. I wanna draw your attention to the fact that he said, first of all, when you pray. He did not say if you pray, but when you pray. When do you pray? I mean, do you have a time when you get with God? He gives the basic elements of prayer, and we'll look at those in this passage, three basic elements. It begins in desire. All prayer is born in desire. Whatsoever you desire, when you pray, prayer is asking, it is petitioning God. It has to do with making requests. And then he said, if you believe, you're gonna receive those things. So faith comes into the picture and prayer without desire is prayerless praying. And prayer without faith is prayerless praying. It's powerless, it makes no difference. So he tells us the basic elements, but he said, when you pray, you know in Acts chapter 3 and verse 1 it tells us about Peter and John that they went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer being the ninth hour. There was actually a set time. That's three o'clock in the afternoon. That might be a rather odd time for us, but the fact is that there was an hour of prayer. There was a time designated. There was a place to go. When do you pray? He said, when you pray. Sometimes I think we talk a lot more about praying than we actually spend the time in the prayer closet before the throne of God. You know, I've often said, if some of you, if you prayed and got an answer, your friends and relatives would be shocked. And some of you, if you prayed and got an answer, you would be shocked. And some of you, if you ever prayed, God would be shocked. He hasn't heard from you in a long time. You know, in Jeremiah 2, in verse 32, the question is asked, can a maid forget her ornaments or a bride her attire? Yet my people have forgotten me days without number. They can't remember the last time they were in my presence in real, genuine prayer, crying out to God. God said the number one reason that we don't get prayers answered just because we don't pray. James 4 and verse 2 says, you have not because you ask not. Now, he does present another problem after that. He said, you ask and receive not because you ask amiss that you may consume it upon your lusts. But he said the primary problem is that we're perilous people. We talk about praying. Can you imagine in Ezekiel 22, verse 30 and 31, where it says, and God sought for a man, singular, one, that would make up the hedge and stand in the gap before him for the land. And he said, but I found none. How sad is that? God said, I could not find a single intercessor. He said, I wanted to be merciful. I just needed somebody to plead their case. I needed an intercessor to ask for mercy. I couldn't legislate mercy. Judgment was determined. I was willing, but I couldn't find an intercessor. But we need some in America today. You know, it might be a little more severe than we think. 1 Samuel 12 and verse 23, Samuel's talking to some rebellious Jews and he said, God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you. He said, if I cease to pray for you, it would be a sinful thing. You know, we sing sweet hour of prayer, sweet hour of prayer that calls me from a world of care and bids me at my father's throne, make all my wants and wishes known. And God's truth is if we sung what we were doing, we'd sing fleeting moment of prayer, fleeting moment of prayer that disrupts my worldly care. We're so busy trying to handle it ourselves in the flesh, we are so preoccupied with the temporal things of life, we're consumed with that to the point that we are not in the prayer closet like we desperately need to be. I assure you, Satan fears you more on your knees than any other time. He certainly fights soul winning, and that's a situation that really cuts into his influence, but not as much as our prayer lives if we pray with power, praying in the Spirit of God. But when should I pray? Well, I can tell you this. There's not a bad time to pray, and when you start examining the Bible and what God says about prayer, it's pretty clear. There's no bad time to pray, and any time is a good time. When you're in trouble, Everybody's gonna pray when they're in trouble. And God said, I don't forbid that. Psalm 50 and verse 15, and call upon me in the day of trouble. I will answer thee and thou shall glorify me. Hey, everything is to be the glory of God. Whether therefore you eat or you drink or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God. I think that might include praying. to the glory of God. Yes, my need may be met, but God needs to be glorified in the process. The psalmist said in Psalm 61 and verse 2, when I'm overwhelmed, he said, I will call unto thee from the ends of the earth when I'm overwhelmed. You know, there are times, really, and I think he talks about it in Romans chapter 8 when the Spirit of God groans for us. There are times when you're so overwhelmed, you can't even find the verbiage. You don't know what to ask. You're not even sure how to pray and can't seem to muster the words to make the request, but you come with a broken heart. In Psalm 51 verse 17, the Bible says, the broken heart thou will not despise. God does not, cannot despise the broken heart. I guess I'm supposed to pray when I've sinned. Proverbs 28, verse 13, that's pretty regular. I know I'm not doing as good as some of you. I sin. And I know some of you never sin, I can tell by looking at you. But Proverbs 28, verse 13, he said, whoso covereth this sin shall not prosper, but he that confesseth and forsaketh it shall find mercy with God. You know, in 1 John 1, verse 9, he said, if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness. I confess in my prayer clause that I come to God and confess my sin. To confess doesn't mean I say, God, I have this disease. I am helpless and it's somebody else's fault. You know the word for confess is the word homo lageo. It means I say the same thing about it God says about it. God calls it wicked, calls it sin. I name it, I own it, and I ask God for forgiveness for it. But what I like about 1 John 1 and verse 9, he said if I would confess my sins, he'd forgive my sin and then He would cleanse me of all unrighteousness. I don't know what you think that means, but I think that means if I'll confess what I know is wrong with me, God will cleanse me of what I don't know is wrong with me. If I come with a sincere heart and confess, I'm supposed to pray when I need revival, and that's daily. 2 Chronicles 7 verse 14 of my people. which are called by my name would humble themselves and pray and seek my hand. Oh, excuse me, I didn't mean to quote the NIV. Seek my face. and turn from their wicked ways, then will I forgive their sin and I will heal their land. I'm supposed to cry out to God and I'm seeking His face, His person, His approval, communion with God and to please God for Him to countenance what I'm doing in a favorable way. And then I'm supposed to be praying when other people are in need. You probably don't know anybody in need though, right? Can't hardly think anybody to pray for. No lost people that you're aware of and no people in need, no sick people and no folks going through marital problems. The Bible says in Hebrews 4 and verse 16 that we are to come boldly under the throne of grace. that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. You know, last time I checked if what I'm getting is to help, I'm assisting somebody else if I'm helping. The primary thing in view in Hebrews 4 and verse 16 is intercessory prayer, getting grace for somebody else. Like the man who's begging bread at midnight because a man came to him, a traveler came to him, he had nothing to set before him. So he's begging bread at midnight, but he's not begging it for himself, he's begging it for the other man. You know, the Bible tells us when to pray. He said in 1 Timothy chapter 2 and verse 1, I exhort therefore that first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings, and all that are in authority, that ye may live a quiet and peaceable life. But he said, first of all, hey, you know what first of all means, don't you? It means first of all. It means nothing else precedes it. How many days have you gotten halfway through and hadn't prayed? Look, folks, you can always get one thing a day done. If you start with prayer, you'll get the most important thing done. I'm not telling you that nothing else is important. I'm telling you God labels it as the top priority first of all. And if I put it in the preeminent spot, if it truly is first of all, then I'll never miss a day of praying. I may miss something else. But I can always get at least one thing a day done. So if I start with prayer and that's all get done, it'd be better if I get everything else done and miss my prayer time. Amen. You know, he tells us we're to pray about everything. Philippians four and verse six, be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication. He said, I'm supposed to pray about everything, not sit and fret and worry about anything, but I am to pray about everything committed to the Lord in prayer. And then he tells us in Luke 18, verse one, Manot, always to pray and not to faint. There's something he points out here. If I pray like I should, and I'm constantly in touch with God, I'm in touch with the power source, the life source, I'm connected, I won't faint. Now, if you walked in that back door and I hit you in the head with a ball bat, you did not faint. I knocked you out. But if you experience pain or see blood, you gave up consciousness to keep from dealing with an undesirable circumstance. And God said in this world there are plenty of undesirable circumstances. I need to stay connected all the time. And he tells us a very similar thing in 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 17. He said, pray without ceasing. You say, preacher, I don't do anything but pray. I don't eat, don't sleep, don't work, just pray. That's not what he said. He said, pray without ceasing. If you check the book of Nehemiah out, you'll find that Nehemiah all day long prayed extemporaneously. Little short prayers, he'd cry out to God about needs. I used to illustrate this as for cell phones, of course, when I talked about that particular subject, pray without ceasing, I said, you know, you need to make the connection in the morning. You ever seen one of them phones that has the horn on it that you sit on your shoulder? So you can do something else while you're on the phone. You can do it with speakerphone now. You didn't have that back then. What you need to do is get God on the line in the morning and shoulder the phone the rest of the day. While you do everything else you do, you stay in communion with God, stay on the line with God, don't break the connection with God. In light of these commands and exhortations that pertain to prayer, how's your prayer life? You don't have to convince me anything. I'm asking you to examine yourself. How you doing? I mean, it sounds to me like that the earmark, he said, my house shall be called the house of prayer. He was more concerned about their lack of prayer than he was about the other stuff they were doing there. He said, you've turned it into a den of thieves. He said, you're selling sheep at five times the price because they're approved animals. And then the money exchange is outrageous. You're literally robbing the people in the process of them coming to sacrifice. And he said, that's not what my house is about. My house should be called the house of prayer. The earmark of the house of God is the house of prayer. I wonder when people think about you, do they think about a prayer warrior? When they think about this church, do they think about prayer? I'm just asking. You know, the chemistry of prayer is what's laid out in this verse, and God makes it so simple. He did say, ìWhatever you desire, when you pray, that's the request.î So it begins in desire, and that desire produces a genuine plea or request. And then I have to believe God, have faith. Faith is dependency upon God. and expectancy from God to the point that the word of God is enough to settle it for me. I lay hold of the promise and trust God with it. But he said, if I'm missing one of these elements, I'm really not praying effectively, powerfully. So he said, whatever you desire, Real prayer is born in desire and it's not just me wanting something. You know, most of the time we're trying to impose our desires on God. But Psalm 37 and verse four says, delight thyself also in the Lord and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. That doesn't mean I delight in the Lord and he gives me everything I want. What it means is that while I delayed in the Lord, he imparts the right desire. He gives me the right desire. And then I pray according to a desire that God gave me. It originated with him. I got it from him while I was worshiping and communing with God, delighting in his person. So let me ask a question. If I'm praying with a desire that was first born in the heart of God and given me why I communed with him, do you think maybe he could honor that one? Yeah, in Proverbs 18 verse 1, he said, through desire, a man having separated himself, seeketh and intermeddleth with all wisdom. He said, if I really want something bad enough, I'll be willing to separate from anything that's standing in the way, anything that's a hindrance, if I really desire that. You know, I don't know, we have lost loved ones and we're not even willing to get separated from the world so we have power in prayer. Reason there's not much separation today because not much holy desire. Look, you realize just about anything you want, if you want it bad enough, you'll figure out a way to get it. Through desire, a man having separated himself, see, look, suppose a young man wants the hand of a certain young woman in marriage. He doesn't just separate from all the bad girls. He separates from the rest of the good girls. Well, what's so bad about her? Suppose he said, honey, I wanna marry you, but I'd like to keep this girlfriend on the side. Now, don't worry, she's a good girl. She's not so bad. How's that gonna work? That ain't gonna work. Doesn't work with God either. Lord, I want to have a relationship with you, but I want to hang on to some of this carnal stuff, some of this worldly stuff. I don't want to part with it. It's not that bad. unites at fifty nine verse one he said your sins of separate when you're you and your god your neck when he's made it so that he will not hear our problem is we just don't have the desire but god says is essential for us to walk with him second chronicle seven fourteen adverse quote a little while ago if my people which are called my name would humble themselves i mean to quit point fingers everybody else and admit on the problem and seek God's face, not his hand. It'll be a wonderful thing. You know, there's not a parent that does not enjoy doing things for their children. But every now and then, you'd like for them to just talk to you because of who you are, not because of what you can do. Huh? You think God doesn't want that? He delights to meet our needs. And in Psalm 65 and verse 2, he declares that he is the God singularly that hears prayer, because he's the only true and living God. There is no other that can hear prayer, and God delights to hear and answer prayer. Every now and then, he'd like for us just to commune with him. Bible tells us Adam and Eve walked with God in the cool of the day. It wasn't what about what they could get from him. It was about communion with him. Enoch walked with God and was not, for God took him. Noah walked with God in his generation. Abraham's a friend of God. These people had communion with a holy God, spent time with him. And in Psalm 27, verse 4 of the psalmist said, one thing have I desired. And that will I seek after. Watch what he says. And I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. He said, I want to be an earshot. I want to be able to see his glory. I want to be able to commune. And I want to be able to converse with God. I want to be able to inquire. He said this is the one thing the top priority. What thing of I desire. No wonder God described David as a man after his own heart. And even a man of that caliber is capable of sin. We learned that demo. So don't ever think you're above sin. I don't care who you are what title you hold how long you've been saved what you've done for God. If David, a man after God's own heart, by declaration of Acts chapter 13 and verse 22, if he could sin in his status, you and I certainly better sit up and take notice and protect ourselves. Psalm 73 verse 25 and 26, once again he said, whom have I in heaven but thee? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee. So he's talking about desiring God. wanting to commune with God. My flesh and my heart faileth, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. And we worry too much about what we have and don't have. Can I tell you tonight, if you're born again Christian, you have the Lord Jesus Christ home in heaven, you're saved, you're rich. Doesn't matter, we're only gonna be here a short time. You may deal with some hardship in this world, some heartache, some troubles, but what we have in Christ, if he's our portion and he is and should be in our mindset. But if you remember in Moses day, in Exodus chapter 32, Moses is in the mount getting the 10 commandments. And the people turned aside, I mean, just a short time. He never got back with the commandments before they turned aside and began to worship golden calf. And God sent him down, verses five and six, he said, get you down to your people. Told Moses, they're not my people, they're yours. going down there. They were marked for judgment. And Moses was interceding for them and had he not interceded for them, Psalm 103 said that God had determined he was going to destroy them had not Moses, his chosen, interceded for them, pled their case, been an intercessor. All of them weren't spared, but those who would repent were spared. He said, I'll tell you what, I'm not going to spare all of them, but he said, you go through the camp, preach this message. Who is on the Lord's side? Well, don't you know everybody said they were? But in Exodus 32 and verse 29, He said, the lip service won't cut it. He said, consecrate yourselves this day to the Lord, every man, even upon his son, upon his brother. He said, you're going to be the instrument of judgment in this case. You strap sword on and go through the camp without discretion. Don't tell me you're on my side. Amen. I'm glad we don't live in that era. The fact is, you come to chapter 33, the very next chapter, God had promised Moses and Israel that he would give them the promised land, they would get their inheritance, that he would give them victory over their enemies, and that they would have his personal presence. But next is 33, God told Moses, he said, I'm not gonna go up with you. He said, I sent an angel. He said, you're still going to get the land that I promised you. You're still going to defeat the enemies. I'm going to give you victory. I'm going to give you the land. But I'm not going up among you. He said, this is a rebellious people. And he said, if I go up among you, I'll consume them. Not going to do it. In Exodus 33 and verse 15, Moses said unto God, if thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence. What he was telling God was, your blessing's not enough. I don't just want what you can do, I want you. Not just the blessing, not just the land, not just the victory. I want your presence, and if you're not going to give us your presence, don't send us up there. You know, the great intercessor Abraham is described in James 2 and verse 23 as the friend of God. And we know about Abraham's intercession for Sodom. I don't know if you ever paid any attention to it, but when he interceded for Sodom, God did not set a single quota. It was Abraham on every occasion said, Lord, if you're 50, 45, 40, 30, 20, 10, and everything Abraham asked for, he got. You realize the only problem was he stopped short. I really believe with all of my heart, if Abraham had said, God, if you can't find any righteous, will you spare it for my sake? I believe that he got the same answer. because God wasn't doing it for a quota. He was honoring the request of his friend, Abraham, who had communed with him. Oh, let me remind you what Jesus said about friendship to him. In John 15, 14, he said, you're my friends if you do whatsoever I command you. If I'm gonna be the friend of God, he's always right, he's in charge. So I just need to go ahead and do what he says and honor him in every sense of the word. You know, David, in Psalm 42 in verse 1, it says, as the heart panteth after the water brook, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. That's the heart. He's talking about a deer there, not the human heart. It's H-A-R-T. As the heart panteth after the water brook, so panteth my soul after the O God. David said, I'm out of breath in pursuit of God. I desire his person. I desire his fellowship. I don't just want the answer. There are things I need and things I desire, but nothing more than him. You know, the Bible has a number of passages that deal with that same concept. The model prayer in Matthew 6, 9, and 10, he said, our father, which has to do with our relationship, gotta be in the family before he's my father. Gotta be born again. He said, hallowed be thy name, and that has to do with him getting the glory out of everything we're gonna do here. Thy kingdom come, desire for him to govern and rule. And then he said that thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. You know, it's always done in heaven, not always done in earth. It will be one of these days. But right now, I mean, do you realize that every country in the world is governed by the sorriest people on the planet in this day and hour? Honestly. I mean, we're in the last days before the coming of Christ, but honestly, if you look at it, every country in the world, including ours, I mean, some of the sorriest human beings, most vile people on the planet are making decisions that affect huge populaces all over the world. And that can be expected in the last days. The Bible tells us God looks upon the heart and honors the desire of the heart, not just the movement of the lips. You know, 1 Samuel 16 and verse 7, when Samuel saw Eliab, David's older brother, he assumed this is the one. He's tall, dark, and handsome. He's going to be the next king. God said, don't look on his outward appearance. He said, I don't look on men like you do. He said, man looks on the outward appearance and God looketh on the heart. So it doesn't imply that God doesn't care about the outside. I hear people trying to interpret that verse to mean that God's disinterested in the outside. He has plenty to say about that. He is definitely not disinterested in the outside. He wants the outside right and the inside right. You know, in Matthew 23, same people that do that, like take Matthew 23, where Jesus rebuked the scribes and Pharisees. He said, you wash the outside of the cup and platter, but within it's full of extortion and excess. And then what did he say? He said, wash first that which is within, that the outside may be clean also. He wants me clean on the inside and the outside. But God sees far deeper than lip movement and what I say. And he makes an interesting statement in Psalm 10, verse 17. He said, Lord, thou hast heard the desire of the righteous. Thou wilt prepare their heart. Thou wilt cause thine ear to hear. God first hears the desire of the righteous. And then he prepares the heart of the righteous. Do you know a lot of stuff that we desire if God gave me the answer when I start desiring it, I wouldn't know what to do with it. God has to prepare me for the answer. So sometimes they come quick and sometimes they come slow. Psalm 145 verse 19, he will fulfill the desire of them that fear him. He also will hear their cry it will save them. Remember that great verse in 1 John 5 where he said if we ask anything according to his will he heareth us and if we know that he hear us we know we have the things that we A desire of him. Well, certainly I made verbal requests. But he said there's more to it than me just saying it. I mean, honest, I don't sit around criticizing people's prayers. I don't criticize sermons, prayers, Sunday school lesson. I don't care how somebody does, they sound true to the Bible, I'm for them. But I hear people and they're just quoting somebody else they heard say something. Why don't you make a request sometime? Maybe he is your father. Why don't you come to him and ask him for something? Is there anything you really desire? Something you're burdened about? Something that just burns in your soul? Something you really care about and you want and you yearn for? You know, when my children were small, they wanted everything they saw. Can I have one of them? No. Can I have one of them? No. Can I have one of them? No. But every now and then, there was something that was not bad for them to have, and they really wanted it. And I knew when they really wanted it, and I knew when it wouldn't harm them to have it. And if they really wanted it, then it wouldn't harm them to have it, they got it. I didn't give them everything they asked for. They asked for everything. About like us in our prayer time, oh God, make everything easy and fun and pleasurable and don't let it hurt. Make me rich and prosperous and handsome, too late. So he said, whatever ye desire, it begins in desire, and then he said, ask or pray. Whatever ye desire, when ye pray. John R. Wright popularized this statement, prayer is asking, And he said it's asking and receiving, but that's what 1 John 5, 14 says, the verse I just quoted you. It's not just asking, it's not speaking into the air, it's praying according to the will of God with holy desire in a manner that I get a hearing and I will get the answer. Remember the verse I quoted earlier, you have not because you ask not. Folks, too many days get by us. when we have not prayed. Too many days we get to noon when the squeaky wheel has our attention, and everything in life clamors for your attention, and we have not made requests before the throne of God. You know, Matthew 26 and verse 40, the Bible tells us that Jesus had told the disciples, watch and pray with me, and he went a stone's throw away from them. And he cometh unto his disciples and findeth them asleep and saith unto Peter, what? Could you not watch with me one hour? You got 24 hours in a day, you spend hours and hours. doing stuff that doesn't matter and you couldn't devote one hour to watch him with me? Well, don't get too put out with Peter. Most of us find ourselves in the same boat, if we're honest, that our prayer never does seem to come around. We sing about it, we talk about it, we tell people we'll pray for them, and then fail to do it. You know, the Bible tells us about Jesus, our perfect example. Yes, He's our Savior, but He's also the perfect example. In Mark 1, verse 35, the Bible said, in the morning. rising a great while before day. He went out and departed into a solitary place and there prayed. Did you get the statements in the morning? A great while before day. This is for the lines formed for healing. This is before the disciples started asking questions. This is before needs were presented. I'm not gonna tell you what time to pray and I'm not gonna tell you how long to pray, but I will say this much. If you wait until the business part of the day, you're probably not gonna pray. You're not gonna have time. There's too much demand. Too many things that demand your attention. If you're gonna have prayer life, you're gonna have to set a time. You're gonna have to do it in the middle of the night, early in the morning. You have to do it sometime when it's not the business part of the day. Because once that part of the day begins, you don't get a chance. You know, I love it because it tells us about Cornelius. This is a saved, or excuse me, a lost Gentile at the point when he's praying. And so this is a guy, we know that God here is not sinners. We pray, we're supposed to pray our Father and this guy's never been born again. He gets born again in the chapter. But the Bible tells us in Acts 10, verse four, that an angel came and said, thy prayers and thy alms are come up for a memorial before God. God said, I can't answer your prayer, but he said, I see your heart, so I'm gonna send you a soul winner. I'm gonna make sure you get the gospel so you can get saved, because I wanna be able to answer your prayer. Your heart's in this but you're not in the family. So God sent an angel to tell Cornelius to call his family and friends together and he sent Peter to give him the gospel of Jesus Christ so that the man could get saved so that God could hear his prayer. I certainly believe that was not only because of his request but because of the condition of his heart when he cried out. He truly wanted some things and only God could supply And God could not answer his prayer in his present state, but he could send the soul winner. You know, Matthew 7, 7, 8, he said, ask, and ye shall receive. Seek, and ye shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For everyone that asketh, receiveth. He that seeketh, findeth. To him that knocketh, it shall be opened. That sounds pretty positive to me. Jeremiah 33, verse three, calling to me, and I will answer thee and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not. In James 5, verse 16, he said, the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. I'm gonna have to make requests, ask, present my case, make my plea, come to God with my request. You know, If I needed something when I was a boy, I didn't say, Papa, Daddy, Papa, Daddy, Papa, Daddy, I need something. I didn't call his name 14 times. I said, Dad, I need some money for this. Can you help me with it? I actually made a request. And if he thought it was a worthy request, And I'd hang around, he'd usually go ahead and honor the request. And if he didn't think it was worth it, he wouldn't do it. I'm just telling you, I don't need to quote all the names of the Old Testament people, Jehoshaphat and all the fat guys. I don't need to do that. I need to come to God with an actual request and make a plea. And then he said, believe. Boy, faith is a real issue. In James 5 and verse 15, he said the prayer of faith shall save the sick. Well, not only save the sick, the prayer of faith is the only prayer that God's going to honor. Yes, there must be desire, and yes, there must be a request, but it must be the prayer of faith. In Hebrews 11 and verse six, the Bible said, without faith, it is impossible to please God. Why? For he that cometh to God must first believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Do you believe He is or are you talking into the air? Do you believe He's a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him? Do you believe 2 Corinthians 1 and verse 20 that all the promises of God in Him are yea and in Him, amen? Believe that stuff? Faith is not mystical, it is practical. When you look at Hebrews chapter 11, it tells us, by faith, Abel offered. By faith, Noah built. By faith, Abraham left. By faith, Moses forsook. Wait a minute, I thought it was faith. Yeah, well faith produces something. Amen. Faith is not passive, it's active, it's not mystical, it's practical. And God wants me to trust him. And when Paul told Philemon, he said, prepare me, verse 22, prepare me also a lodging, for I trust it through your prayers. I shall be given unto you. He said, I want you to ask for my deliverance, but he said, don't waste your time asking for my deliverance if you're not gonna prepare me a lodging. It's not the prayer of faith. The prayer of faith prepares for the answer in anticipation. That's Bible. So it takes both time and discipline to pray and to have a prayer time to spend time with God, but I need to pray the prayer of faith. You remember everything in the Christian life is based on faith. For God so loved the world, He gave His only begotten Son, whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For by grace are you saved through faith, that not of yourselves, the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Two of the most famous verses in the Bible. John 3, 16, Ephesians 2, 8. So it's pretty clear, everything's built on faith. 2 Peter chapter one, verse four and five, he said, add to your faith. He didn't say replace it, he said add to it. It remains intact. It's foundational. Everything rests upon faith in the Christian life. But in Matthew chapter 9, verse 27 through 29, if you remember, the Bible tells us some blind men were crying out. And in verse 27, they said, have mercy on us, oh Lord, have mercy. And he asked them, what will ye that I should do? And they said, we may receive our sight. And the first thing he asked them, verse 28, believe ye that I am able to do this? That's a big deal. I mean, the fact that we don't prepare for an answer usually means we're not expecting one, huh? Believe ye that I am able to do this. And they said, yeah, Lord. And then he said, according to your faith, be it unto you. So can I say something to you tonight? According to your faith, be it unto you. How is your prayer life doing? I'm not talking about you praying in generalities and claiming every good thing that happens. I'm talking about you praying specific prayers where you know God actually did something supernatural. How's it gone? According to your faith! Be it unto you! You know, in Acts 12, verse 16, Peter's in jail. scheduled for public execution the next day. James is already being killed with a sword. The Bible said that, in verse 5, that prayer was made of the church unto God without ceasing for Him. They were praying specifically for Him, and prayer was made of the church, the collective body, without ceasing. I mean, they came together and begged God. They were into the night, late into the night, and God answered their prayer. But the interesting thing is in verse 16 of Acts chapter 12, when Peter showed up and knocked at the gate, Rhoda came to the gate and ran back in and said, it's Peter, God has answered our prayers. They said, honey, be quiet now, you're messing up. No, no, I'm telling you, it's Peter. Well, it couldn't be Peter. He's in jail. What do you think we're praying about? That's what I'm wondering. Just what are we praying about when we're expecting anything to happen? We don't expect anything supernatural to happen. You know, the Bible says that when he showed up at the gate and they came to the gate at Rhodes Beckoning, the Bible says they were astonished. confounded in shock and disbelief. Folks, could I say to you, I shouldn't be shocked if God does answer prayer. I should be shocked if God doesn't answer prayer. In Mark 16, 14, Jesus appeared unto the disciples. I'm going to get myself a sip of water. He appeared unto the disciples and upbraided them for their unbelief and hardness of heart. I wonder what he'd do to us. Huh? He upbraided them for their unbelief. Now these weren't bad guys. These were disciples. But they weren't anticipating anything supernatural. God wants me to have a real prayer life, and it begins in holy desire that I got from him. Then there's gotta be a request based on that desire. And there must be faith which anticipates an answer. You know, in Acts 27, verse 25, in verse 20, Paul already said, when all hope that we should be saved is then taken away. He says, hopeless, I'm gonna die here. When all hope that we should be saved is then taken away. But in verse 27, after a night in prayer, He said, wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer, for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me. He spent a night in prayer. God gave him peace about this thing. And if you remember in Matthew chapter 14, won't take time to turn there and read the text, but the Bible tells us that Jesus sent the disciples into a storm. He should have checked the weather report, huh? You think he didn't know? He sent them into a storm. And then the Bible says he prayed for them while they were in the storm. And then the Bible says he came to them in the storm. And then the Bible says he taught them some things in the storm that they could have learned nowhere else. Then it tells us he got them safely to the other side. But that's not the part I want you to deal with in your mind. When Jesus came walking on the water, And Peter saw him, they were afraid when they saw him. And he said, be not afraid, it is I. Peter said, Lord, if it be thou. Bid me come unto thee on the water. And Jesus said, come. And I've heard people preach old sermons criticizing Peter for getting out of the boat. But Jesus did say come. Peter requested to do the impossible and the Lord Jesus granted the request and Peter stepped out of the boat and the Bible says he began to walk on the water. Yeah, well he sunk. Yeah, I know. Did you read the context? It says when he saw the winds boisterous, he was afraid. and began to sink. As long as he kept his focus on the Savior instead of the storm, as long as he was living by faith instead of fear, he could do the impossible. But as soon as he stopped trusting and started fearing and worrying, he began to sink. The truth is, when you pray, when do you pray? No bad time. But you really ought to have a set time to pray, a prayer time, a prayer life, something you have established. And you ought to do it in a time when it's not going to get disrupted. I'm not going to try to tell you what that time is. There isn't a hard and fast rule where you have to do it at this time of day for this many hours. I mean, yeah. But I will say, you need a set time. And you need a time that's not going to get disrupted. You can figure out when that is for you. But then you're gonna have to pray with desire, and you're gonna have to commune with God to get the desire. Focus on Him, not just on what you want. You're gonna have to make legitimate requests, and you're gonna have to do it in faith. When do you pray? When do you pray? I want us to bow our heads for just a moment. I wonder tonight with their heads bowed and eyes closed, how many folks say, preacher, I'm saved and I know for sure that I'm saved. Born again, I know it for sure if you can honestly say that. Slip your hand up good and high. All right, God bless you. Put them back down. I wonder if there's somebody that'd say, preacher, I do not know if I die to go to heaven. Not sure I'm saved, but I have a desire to be saved.