I preached a sermon on the topic of prayer almost four years ago. And some of today's sermon is, is, was part of that sermon as well. But I feel it's relevant right now. I feel where our church is right now is we're focused on prayer. And so I wanted to kind of follow what, what Nick, Pastor Nick has been preaching about and preach on prayer this morning.

A couple of months ago, some of our people felt God was leading them to spend more time in prayer. In many of his sermons, Pastor Nick lately has been preaching about prayer and mentioning prayer and talking about the, the, the results of true prayer. He's reminded us how much we need more prayer. More recently, prayer warriors have been gathering here in the church on Thursday nights, spending time in prayer, praying for our church and our community and people and, and salvation of people.

Some of you are part of the Bless Every Home initiative that Pastor Nick has been talking about. If you aren't familiar with that, I, I can explain that to you later, but you can get an app on your phone and, and, and it will show you your neighbors so that you can pray for your neighbors by name. Many of you participated in our recent 10 Days of Prayer and fasting. And, and I, I just know that if you did participate in that, you were blessed by that time and prayer again. Just, just last week, Pastor Nick again preached on prayer, preached on the Lord's Prayer.

A couple of weeks ago, Pastor Nick told us about how Emma, after watching the movie the War Room, she went into their hallway closet and cleared out a spot and made her own prayer closet. And she put the notes up on the wall, people she's praying for and things she's praying about.

I'm convinced that God is calling this church to prayer, to real, meaningful prayer. I think we're going to see results of the prayers that our people are praying on Wednesdays, on Thursday night, on times of prayer and fasting.

God wants to do a great work in this church. And if we will continue praying, if we will continue to allow him, he is going to do a work in this church and then he's going to do a work in our community through this church.

There's a plethora of books on prayer. There's books on how to pray, books on when to pray. There's books on how long you should pray, how often you should pray. There's books on answers to prayer, or sometimes when it seems we aren't receiving an answer.

There's intercessory prayer. There's prayer for healing, physical and mental and Emotional healing. There's prayer for forgiveness and there's scripture references for all of those aspects of prayer. Every author that has written a book about one of those aspects of prayer, I'm sure he has scripture to back it up. The scriptures are there for every aspect of prayer.

I'm sure that most of you have read one or more books on prayer. If you want some suggestions on books, you can see me or Pastor Nick when he's back. And we can suggest some books on prayer. Prayer is simply a conversation. Don't complicate it.

It's just talking with God and listening to God. Sometimes that conversation is short and sometimes it's long. Sometimes the conversation is one sided and sometimes it's a dialogue. Sometimes prayers are for us and sometimes our prayers are for something or someone else. Sometimes all we can utter in the middle of something is lord, help me.

And that's all we got time for or energy for. And he does, he helps. Prayer doesn't need to be lofty and formal. I suggest that prayer should be friendly and personal, just a normal conversation with our Father. No one can stand up here in 30 or 40 minutes or, or even a sermon series and cover everything there is about prayer.

Foreign it's not my intention to stand up here and cover all those aspects of prayer, but I do want to talk about a couple of areas of prayer. I'm by no means an expert on prayer. I've, I've read books on prayer. I understood some of what I read and I remember some of the, that my aim this morning is to encourage you to pray, to pray more, and to believe that your prayer will be answered.

I'll be referencing several verses this morning and, and, and for the sake of time, I'm, I'm not going to look up everyone, but if you want to, I can give you a list of those verses that, that I'll be talking about this morning.

Many of you know someone who could be called a prayer warrior. A prayer warrior is somebody who, you know, knows how to talk with God, to talk to God and to listen to God. A prayer warrior is someone whose priority is prayer, someone devoted to prayer.

Someone you just know has the ability to be focused and not distracted when they pray to God. A prayer warrior is someone who can gain an intimate audience with the Father, someone who does battle in the spiritual realm.

When we lived in Michigan, the church we were attending in that time, there was a prayer warrior in that church. She even had a, a prayer room in her basement. Now for you lifelong Floridians, you Don't know what a basement is. It's, it's a house under your house. Some people finished those basements.

Some of them were just utilitarian. But, but Berta May had a prayer room in her basement.

In that prayer room she had a comfortable chair and she had a lamp table beside, with a lamp, of course, it had a Bible on that lamp, on that table. And it, it had her notepad and, and it had her list of prayer requests.

She even had a small section of an altar that, that she had acquired and she had about a three foot wide section of altar in that basement, in her prayer room. She lived alone, she was a widow. And so she could spend much time in that prayer room and she did. She prayed a lot. There was a time when our church there was preparing for a revival.

And some of us, some of you can remember what a true revival is. Today's generation hasn't experienced true revival. And that's sad. For several weeks leading up to that revival, some of us held or attended what we called cottage prayer meetings. That's, that's just another word for kind of what they're doing here at this church on Thursday nights, just meeting for prayer.

A cottage prayer meeting is not a time for fellowship or to eat snacks or to chit chat or to gossip. At our prayer meetings, we, we might share a few faith verses of scripture, maybe a few specific prayer requests. And then we prayed.

We chose to pray out loud at, at our cottage prayer meeting, we took turns praying there. Was it just you, you felt okay, it's my turn to pray. Sometimes we'd take a second or third turn at praying as, as something or someone came to our mind.

I think there's value in praying out loud. I think it enables the rest of us in that prayer room to think of something or someone that we might not have thought of. And, and it's, and it's, it enables you to agree in prayer.

Praying out loud might inspire another person to pray for something or someone that they wouldn't have thought about. At those prayer meetings. We would, we would have specific requests. We prayed for the evangelist. We prayed for the salvation of unsaved that might be attending those services.

We prayed for the Christians who had, who had wandered away from God and, and needed to be revived and come back to reignite their passion for God and His Word. We prayed that people would come to the revival. We didn't gather to listen to prayer. We met to pray. As much as I would like to be, I, I don't consider myself a Prayer warrior.

As much as I like to conquer it, sometimes I'm too easily distracted. Although it was truly a blessing to participate in those times of prayer, I think I received more by other people's prayers than by my own. I can still remember wanting to take my turn praying before Berta May prayed. I wanted to pray my simple prayer before she prayed the house down. And she did.

When she prayed, you just knew that she was connected to her Lord. I just knew that. When she made a request, Jesus leaned over to God and he said, this is Berta May. Listen up. We saw answers to prayer at that revival.

In his great book on prayer, E.M. bound said, what Christianity needs today above all else is men and women who can in prayer put God to the test and can prove his promises. God's faithful. His promises are true. God will forever hear and answer.

Prayer may not be the answer that we're looking for, but it's his answer. He's the same yesterday, today and forever. He doesn't change. And he's always answered prayer. So he will continue to answer prayer.

It's God's unchangeable and irrepealable law. To answer prayer, we need to believe that God can and will answer our prayers. Prayer is absolutely dependent on faith, believing that God will do what he said he will do. Hebrews 1:6 tells us, now without faith it's impossible to please him.

For he for the one who approaches God first must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. Faith grows by reading and meditating on the word of God. The Apostle Paul said in Colossians 5:16 or 3:16, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. As the word of Christ becomes indwelling in us, we become transformed. The result is that we become praying Christians.

Maybe some of you have known or witnessed people who pray Scripture in their prayers. They incorporate the promises in their prayers. Many of the Psalms are prayers that can be prayed. Even now. We need to pray with the mindset of God answering our prayers.

We need to believe that he is going to answer our prayers. In Mark 11:22, Jesus said to the disciples, have faith in God. I tell you the truth. If someone says to this mountain, be lifted up and thrown into the sea, and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. For this reason I tell you, whatever you ask for, believe that you have received it and it will be yours.

When you pray, when you lift your request to God, do you see the answers in your faith? Do you see God answering those prayers? Either his promises are true today or Jesus was a liar. Don't answer out loud, but do you believe without any doubt when you pray? Do you believe that you will receive an answer?

Faith is not of the mind, it's of the heart. Faith sees the answer as though it has happened. Faith is knowing. Faith is not just hoping, it's believing. I can't say that I've mastered this faith, but I'm still working on it.

I struggle sometimes in my understanding of faith. It's always been my sincere desire to be a man of faith and I'm still working on it. The enemy will try to discourage us. The scripture we just read a minute ago tells us to believe that you will receive it. Receive it in your spirit.

Start thanking God for the answers to your prayer.

To be an effective prayer warrior and to expect answers to our prayers, we need to make sure our personal relationship with God is what he desires us to have. We need to be in a right standing with God.

In James 5:16 we're told that the prayer of a righteous person has great effectiveness. Is my life. Am I right with God?

Is the Lord Jesus Christ being abundantly satisfied in my life? I must make sure that that my human flesh is is kept in perfect submission to God, allowing Him to work in and through me. Am I living at such a level of human dependence on Jesus that His life is being exhibited in what I do and what I say? If an answer doesn't seem to come, we should check our relationship with God and to others. Have you been asking God for a blessing while refusing to pay a debt or to forgive someone else or to make God a priority in your finances?

Have you been obedient in your giving? Have I refused to forgive someone? Am I holding a grudge? Have I been unkind to someone? How's my relationship to my spouse or my children or a co worker or a neighbor?

Have I been irritable and cross but still expect spiritual blessings?

We must make sure our daily life exhibits Christ. If and when God points out some area in my life that needs his attention, I must deal with it immediately so that it doesn't stand in the way of my prayers.

Many books or chapters in books have been written addressing how long we should pray or or how often we should pray first. Thessalonians 5:17 tells us to pray without ceasing. Now that doesn't mean we pray 24 7. But I think it means we need to be in an attitude of prayer and ready to pray as we're driving down the road and, and see a need or it's, it's real easy to see the homeless here in this town. Pray for them.

We've sung this song before. Here. This is the air I breathe. Your holy presence living in me. This is my daily bread, your very word spoken to me.

Our breathing continues without us even thinking about it. And, and what a blessing it would be if we can get there in our prayer life to where even though we don't look up and close our eyes in prayer, we, we can, we can live a life. An attitude of prayer always ready to pray. We must not get weary in praying. Prayer is not an exercise.

It's it's a life.

Remember the story of the widow who came to the ungodly judge with her request? For a while, he refused to grant her request. Then he finally gave her what she asked for. Even though he disregarded her and God, he still would grant her her request. Because of her persistence, he gave in just to get rid of her.

That story is in Luke chapter 18. Jesus ends that story by saying, hear what the unjust judge says. Shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him? I tell you, he will avenge them. In the preface to that parable, Jesus said that men ought to always pray and not faint.

Don't get weary in your praying. Do you just sort of sometimes mention requests to God or do you impress him with an urgency as if it was important to you? In a similar parable to that, Jesus told of a man who went at midnight to a friend's house asking for some bread for some guests that came to his place. Chances are that that friend was probably a baker. Not just any old buddy would would have bread at night.

But chances are he was going to a baker asking for bread. That friend didn't answer the door at first, but the man kept knocking until his request was granted. Persistence in prayer Urgency in prayer how bad do you want the answer? Abraham prayed repeatedly for the salvation of Sodom and Gomorrah. Jacob wrestled all night with the angel.

Moses prayed for 40 days and 40 nights to stop the wrath of God against Israel. Elijah repeated his prayer seven times before the rain clouds appeared, and Jesus prayed his prayer three times in the Garden of Gethsemane. Along with being persistent and maintaining an urgency in our prayers, we should be specific in our requests. You wouldn't go to a restaurant and and tell the waiter or waitress, bring me some meat and a potato. Now you would be specific.

Bring me prime rib medium well. Bring me a baked potato with butter and sour cream and bacon bits and even chives. That was funny. You tell them exactly what you want. And you need to be that way with God.

Tell him. Tell him what you want. Don't. He knows, but he wants to hear specifically what we want. Don't just say, lord, help me today.

We, we can do that. But why not say, lord, help me in all of my actions today and all of my thoughts and all of my words. Help me to be an example of you to those around me. Guide me in my conversations. Help me to be an encourager, equip me and enable me and help me in everything you want me to be.

Foreign let's look at another aspect of prayer. In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, when you pray, go into your room, close the door, and pray to your father in secret. That doesn't mean we can't pray in public. That doesn't mean I can't pray with someone on the spot. It doesn't mean I can't pray while driving as long as I keep my eyes open.

And it doesn't mean we can't pray over the phone with someone. When someone calls you or even texts you and say, pray for me, go ahead, pray for him. Then don't, don't put it off. Don't wait for some other time. Pray with them.

Pray for them. I think it means that when I intend to do prayer battle, when, when, when I want to, to be that prayer warrior, when I set out to pray in urgency, that's when I need to make sure that I block out all the distractions and turn off my phone and spend some time with just me and the Lord.

There may be many, many times throughout the day when, when we pray whenever we want and whatever we might be doing, sometimes it's, it's just that Lord, help me that I mentioned. But there should be quiet times of prayer, focused times of prayer, urgent prayer. I knew a person in Michigan who, who had a set time every day for prayer. And that's okay. It's okay to schedule it, to find the right time.

But she would go into her bedroom and shut the door and she wouldn't accept phone calls. That's okay. But if you were visiting her at that time of the day, she'd ask you to leave. It's my time to pray. And even her family couldn't interrupt her for anything during her prayer time.

And I think maybe that worked for her, but I think it's a little regimented. I think we can adjust our quiet times in prayer, but we need to have them none the same. Nonetheless, in this day and age, we might get called out of our prayer closet. We need to make an effort to spend time alone with God. But sometimes life happens.

Remember what I said in the beginning. Prayer is just talking to God and listening to God. It's a conversation. He's a personal God and He wants to talk to us as we would talk to anyone else, our friend or anyone else. Be yourself before God.

Present him with your problems or your struggles or your requests and just talk to him and then listen to Him.

Conversation is a two way process.

Consider this. Prayer is not a means of getting things we want. The purpose of prayer is that we get to know God better, know Him Himself.

Prayer doesn't change things as much as it changes us. And then sometimes we change things. We've looked at some of the aspects of prayer this morning and there's one more that I want to look at. And then I want to end the service with. With something that I hope is meaningful for most of you.

I want to talk a few minutes about prayer for the lost, the unsaved. This includes those who have never accepted salvation and those who once believed in Jesus and had a relationship with him, but for some reason chose to walk away from Him. Sometimes this prayer is called intercessory prayer. One definition of an intercessor is someone who intervenes on behalf of another, especially by prayer. It's pretty safe to say that almost everyone in this audience or listening online has someone in your family who is unsaved and for whom you are praying.

We know that every human being since Adam is in need of God's redemption and that is made possible by Jesus dying on the cross. We also know that everyone must decide for themselves if they will accept that salvation. No one can decide for them. No one can force them to. But Jesus said, unless you repent, you will perish.

We're told in 2nd Peter 3. 9 that God is long suffering towards us. He's not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. I think that it might be easier for the person who has never heard about the gospel or or never been preached to. It's easier for them sometimes to accept salvation than that person who once had a relationship and chose to walk away.

We hear about other countries where people are hearing the gospel for the first time and they're being Saved by the hundreds and by the thousands.

I've talked about a few aspects of prayer and faith and praying in urgency. Like I said a minute ago, most if not all of you are praying for the salvation of someone, especially in your family. That prayer should be that kind of prayer that you pray with all urgency. Are you just mentioning that person in prayer in passing, or are you travailing in prayer? Are you believing God will answer or just hoping he'll answer?

Do you not realize that God says in his words that it is his will that everyone would be saved? I ask you, how important is their salvation to you? Have you sacrificed for their salvation? How much urgent prayer have you prayed? Maybe like me, you've prayed that someone would, would witness to them.

Maybe, maybe they're in another city or state and, and your prayer is that someone will come their way that, that can witness to them in, in such a way that, that they'll listen and that they will return to God or accept salvation.

I suggest to you that, that if you're praying that prayer, you need to realize that you may be the person that someone else is praying that, that you would witness to their loved ones. I felt ever since I was scheduled to preach today that this is what God wanted me to preach and to do. I'm also confident that he has led me to end this service in a way that I hope is meaningful for many of you. You should all have pens and 3 by 5 index cards in the pocket in front of you or nearby. I'd like to suggest that, that you take that card and a pen and write down, let's hold it to family members.

Do you have a brother, a sister, a parent, a spouse, someone who is unsaved that you are praying for? Just put their name down on that card. It can be just a first name. God knows who they are and what we're going to do. In a few minutes, Elaine is going to come and, and sing a couple songs and continue praying while you write those names down on that card and bring them up to this prayer chest here in the front.

There's a lock on it. It's going to. We're not going to publish the names. We're not going to put them in our weekly prayer chain. But they'll be in the box, they'll be in Pastor Nick's office.

And what I want you to do, if, if you're adding a name to that prayer box that you're already praying for, that you would realize that there's this many more requests in there and that when you pray for your request, would you lift up the other requests as well? And that way we can know that, that there's dozens of people praying with us for our prayer request.

If you're contributing to the prayer request, you're committing to be available to be the answer to one of those requests and to be willing to witness to someone around you.

And you're also affirming that you're going to spend urgent time in prayer. It, it, it may not be every day that, that you are in your prayer closet, but pray with an urgency and pray, expecting, pray, believing for answers to these prayers. And I hope that, that if one of your prayers are answered, you would let us know at some time in the future and, and give witness to that answer to prayer.

If you're watching online, you can still participate in this. You can write a name down on a piece of paper and, and, or, or you can text it to our church. That prayer line is 833-339-7926. You can text us that prayer request and, and say it's for the prayer box so that we know that it's not going out on our regular prayer chain. And if you're watching this later in the week as a recording, you can still do it.

You can put that name in an envelope and put it in your Bible. And as you're praying, as you're having your devotions, you see that envelope and you're praying for your family member, you can join us and the names that have been put in this prayer chest.

I want to go to prayer now for these requests. And then just a couple of closing remarks.

Father, thank you for loving us so much that you planned a way of salvation, a way of us as sinners being made righteous in your sight. Thank you for sending your son to suffer and die on the cross for each one of us. And for those names that are now in this prayer chest, I pray that each one of them would sense their need for salvation if it's through someone else witnessing to them. I pray that you would speak through that person. Sometimes they need to hear it just the right way and from the right person.

I pray that you would have your hand in that. And use us, Lord.

Use us to share the gospel freely, to look for opportunities to share the gospel.

Thank you, Lord.

Thank you for prayer.

Thank you for being available anytime.

Thank you for listening. Thank you for caring.

Thank you for loving.