David Wilkerson was the Founding Pastor of Times Square Church in New York City. He was called to New York in 1958 to minister to gang members and drug addicts, as told in the best-selling book, The Cross and the Switchblade.
prayer that is pleasing unto the lord
now there’s a there’s a kind of praying
that is truly pleasing to the lord and
let me say this not all prayer that is
prayed today by christians is a pleasing
manner of prayer to him and with the
help of the holy spirit this morning
i i just pray that god will change your
thinking
about prayer and how you pray from now
on till jesus comes or until the lord
takes you home in a chariot
god speak to our hearts this morning
about the true uh prayer now i have no
intention this morning of complicating
prayer that’s been done
good enough by well-intentioned teachers
and preachers all over the world today
who who have uh so complicated prayer
into formulas and into strategies we
have people now that dress up in combat
uniforms and boots because they call
themselves prayer warriors so they’re
going to look the part i’m not making
fun of that but i’m saying there are so
many well-intentioned people that have
so complicated prayer i know people now
that go into the long prayer meetings
they they have prayer guides they have
whole books on what to do for to fill up
the four hours if you go to prayer just
trying to fill up time
you don’t even know what prayer is all
about
i am not going to to add to that i don’t
have a one two three four step uh
program for you this morning but what i
do believe i have are some thoughts on
prayer from the heart of god
that came
from the college of my knees
let me begin by saying right now i
believe most christians want to pray
they are convicted by their
prayerlessness
and they pray for a while but they soon
stop they can’t maintain a life of
prayer
and the reasons for that is because they
really don’t understand the purpose of
prayer they don’t understand the real
purpose of prayer until you understand
the purpose of prayer i think most of us
are praying in vain you have to
comprehend why god wants us to pray the
disciples said lord teach us to pray
they wouldn’t have said that unless they
wanted to learn and i believe most
sitting here listening to me this
morning want to learn how to pray you
would pray if you knew its purpose you
would pray if there was some knowledge
that god had given to you about the
eternal purpose of prayer
now how many christians i know pray only
out of a sense of obligation
they they say well i’m supposed to pray
the bible says i’m supposed to pray the
pastor keeps putting pressure on us to
pray others around us are supposed to
pray are praying i i have to pray that’s
the christian thing to do
folks what kind of a marriage would it
be if the wife uh
concerning intimacy thought it was only
her duty in fact there are some
grandmothers who taught their daughters
that uh intimacy with her husband was a
uh a very difficult duty
now i want you to listen to me very
closely now because the lord’s been
laying some things on my heart there are
people who pray only when there’s a
tragedy or when a crisis strikes and
then when the tragedy the crisis gone uh
they don’t pray anymore till the next
crisis
that you can never you will never
understand the importance of prayer
until you understand one foundational
truth
and all prayer i believe is built upon
this truth
it is not just for the good of man it’s
not just for my good that god wants me
to pray
it’s not just for my welfare not for me
to get relief not for me simply to get
something out of god to try to extract
something from god
the true meaning of prayer is for the
delight of the lord as well as for my
relief
unless those two go together you don’t
have a foundation upon which to build a
prayer life
it is not just for my good it is for the
delight of my lord
come
i mean how many of you are hearing this
right now it’s not just for my benefit
i’m not going to just go to god and and
intercede i’m not just going to ask him
for things for me but i’m going to see
his need as well as understand my need
now christians are very self-centered
when it comes to prayer because we go to
him only to unburden our troubles and
sorrows and get a supply of strength to
go on to the next battle and that’s good
it’s scriptural and it works and we’re
invited to come boldly to the throne of
grace
uh in all of our times of need
but prayer is not complete
now listen to me closely prayer is not
complete it is not prayer that’s most
pleasing to the lord
if we do not understand god’s need
you don’t go to prayer just to meet your
own need
god has a need
that is why he he does hardly anything i
i there’s nothing he can accomplish in
my life but through prayer
and why is it that god has tied himself
to this process of prayer
we seek relief
and god seeks fellowship
the lord seeks intimacy with us
now folks you are you have to understand
when you go into the presence of the
lord that the lord is waiting for you
the lord is looking for fellowship
now
actually the primary purpose of prayer
ought to be fellowship with the lord and
the one who prays
because
most of the things that we’re praying
about god’s already promised to do
we are praying about things that god
said we’re not to pray about he said
we’ll not even give thought about it
how much of our prayer time is spent
asking god for uh a better job and a
better apartment clothes and food and
all of these things when jesus said take
no thought for your life what you shall
eat or what you drink nor yet for your
body what you should put on
your heavenly father feeds the fowls of
the air they neither sown the reap are
you not more valued than they
your heavenly father knows you have need
of these things but seek first the
kingdom of god his righteousness all
these things shall be added unto you
take no thought for the moral
for your father knoweth what things you
have need of before you ask him
and what i hear from that the lord
saying you come to me and focus on my
righteousness or fellowship focus on
just getting to know me on intimacy i’m
just loving me and i’ll take care of all
your needs
don’t put your focus on material things
don’t put focus even on your healing of
your body all of these things i know
before you ask
i know everything you need i’ve had four
i have four children i said i’ve had i
have four children
and
a number of grandchildren eleven
i know what my true all my lifetime i’ve
known what my children wanted i’ve known
it
he knows what we need and we spent you
take you take the kind of petition out
of our prayer life that many of us pray
and there’d be nothing left there’d be
no prayer left because it is all asking
it’s all petition and there’s nothing
wrong with that but the lord said if you
want to really pray pleasing to me come
and focus on my knee come and focus on
fellowship with me come and focus on
intimacy i’ll take care of everything
else in your life and i’ve proven that
and i believe with all my heart
there are so few
christians
who know what it is to go in the
presence of the lord with delight
with delight
simply for the pleasure of his company
this is uh i’ve had a week
along with the lord in
prayer and this is where this message
was birthed
and i want you to
i’m just praying that i can get it out
to you the way the lord put it into my
heart i’m going to ask you a question is
prayer a burden to you
and do you pray out of a sense of
obligation
is it boring to you
is it more of a duty than it is a
pleasure
and and this let’s this idea of i’ve
done something we call prayer work
that work in labor you’ve got to labor
and pray you’ve got to work in prayer
why is it we don’t say that about the
one we love the most if you you are
happily married you love your mate do
you call intimacy do you call those
times alone work
i think we have it all wrong
the lord is saying why would you
consider it work to come into my
presence
i i would not want to be in a marriage
where uh a wife my wife would would say
uh
she would have this mindset that it was
a duty it was an obligation oh no i it
i have to have a time of intimacy
this it’s considered work considered an
obligation and there’s no delight in it
a man of a true
uh follower of jesus someone who really
loves the lord a man does not seek
intimacy from his wife simply to
alleviate his own needs
that is the most hideous thought
possible
and that either should think it’s a duty
or that it’s work but that time of
intimacy the man gets his real joy he
should get his real pleasure out of
the wife coming to him and saying uh and
he knows you don’t have to say anything
but he knows that she is there and it’s
a delight
it is not an obligation it’s not a duty
it’s a delight and his delight is seeing
her having pleasure in his company
that just
he says in his heart she really wants to
be with me i’m first i’m everything
it is not a
burden it is not boring it is not an
obligation it is not duty its delight
she’s not reluctant
she delights in him she desires him
above all others
and he reaches out in reciprocation
to her because
she is responding in the same manner now
we know the lord delights in us the
scripture says how fair and how pleasant
art thou oh love for delight song of
solomon
david said he delivered me because he
delighted in me
now i thank god that he taught me a long
time ago that he loves me and delights
in me he joys in his people he sings
over his people with delight this
scripture says
can you imagine the lord dancing
and
and and just
exuberant over his children
because of their love and because of his
fellowship
we know he delights in us but
do you delight in him the scripture says
delight thyself also in the lord and he
shall give thee the desires of thine
heart
the shooter might said i sat down under
his shadow with great delight
now i’ve always wanted my prayers to be
a delight to the lord and a delight to
me
i didn’t want it to ever become work or
a sense of duty or obligation or trying
to fill in time and say oh good god has
to bless my spend three hours in prayer
last night
as if god were obligated by the time i
put in he’s not obligated that way
he obligates himself to the delighted
heart
now this matter coming into his presence
with delight is not just glee or
exuberance no it’s it’s much more than
that it boils down this and this is what
the holy spirit told me delight in the
lord is simply this i would rather be
with jesus than anyone else on earth
i would rather be with him more than my
wife more than my husband more than my
family more than the president of the
united states more than all world
leaders more than any counselor more
than any famous person i would rather be
with him
that is the light
i would rather
spend
time with him than with anybody else
now if you can’t say that you don’t know
the prayer that’s pleasing to his heart
if you cannot in every crisis say
i’ll be all right i’ve got to get to him
i’ll be all right as soon as i get to
him who do you go to when you’re in
trouble where do you go when you have a
christ who’s the first one you get in
touch with is it your husband you get on
the phone and call counselor some of us
don’t know any other voice than the
voice of a pastor or counselor or
husband or wife or a friend
don’t even know the voice of the lord
who do you go to
folks can you imagine what it must do to
the heart of the lord when he is there
waiting with all the resources
everything that we need to comfort and
strengthen and empower us and we run off
to somebody else are we sitting brood
right there in his company
we just sit there and we’ll not run to
him
folks this delight is something that god
recognized that’s something the lord
sees when you come to him
when everything
every day doesn’t have to be a crisis
but anytime you just
you say i’ve got to get away in fact if
you really delight in the lord
you will
uh
everything that hinders your coming is
going to bother you
you’re gonna say well i love people
but i gotta get away
i gotta spend time with him he’s waiting
and you’ll get lonely you’ll get heart
sick
if you i know i know what’s happened to
me if i go a day without the lord
without time alone with him in real
intimacy i get
launched him i get terribly lonesome
inside that because there’s a kind of
lonesomeness that no human being can
feel no one can touch that spot but
jesus nobody
i love my family but they can’t touch
what’s inside my heart i have to have
him i’ve got to run to him and when
jesus sees you want him more than
anybody else you go to him first
that is the delight
well i know a lot of people
uh
i’m getting hit on myself
he wants to know that you prefer him
above all else
that
is delight
now another thought on prayer
coming to him with delight does not mean
you cannot come to him with sadness and
grief
so many times i’ve come into his
presence i mean burdened and heavy with
grief and sadness in my heart
now remember my definition of delight in
the lord preferring to be with him above
all others that’s my explanation of
delighting in the lord
and this is
exemplified in the life of hannah you
remember hannah
who did it he did became the lord’s
presence and she came one time to the
temple
sad of heart and weeping with a
sorrowful spirit the bible said she was
in bitterness of soul and prayed unto
the lord and wept sore
her husband
shared
her with another wife by the name of
peninnah
and peninnah had given uh her husband uh
okay
a number of children especially men
children boy boy children
and she became an adversary to anna and
would harass her night and day the
scripture fact uh hannah said she
provoked me sore
she provoked me
hannah was dearly loved by her husband
but in her sorrow he couldn’t comfort
her he said am i not better to you than
10 sons
and i know in her heart she said you’re
not understanding i have a need that you
can’t meet folks that’s one of the
greatest lessons you can learn that no
human being can meet that need in you
that deep yearning that longing nobody
that’s why so many people get married
and divorced and remarried and remarried
they’re looking for somebody to meet
that need that’s why people run around
looking for some person some individual
they go to counselors and psychiatrists
and psychologists are trying to meet a
need there that only the lord can meet
nobody else can meet it
she testified to eli i’m a woman of
sorrowful spirit and i’ve poured out my
soul before the lord out of the
abundance of my sorrow and my grief have
i spoken here there too
she she was not afraid to come into his
presence with her sadness see we’ve been
so programmed
to come into the presence of the lord
with joy and gladness now the scripture
it makes many references to coming in is
present with joy and gladness but
there’s some people who will not come
into his presence because they’re sad
they’re downcast they’re going through a
trial they’re weeping and they’re broken
and it’s almost as if they’re saying
i’ll come into his presence but i don’t
want to offend him coming the way i am
i’ll wait till i’m happy i’ll wait till
i have joy and then i’ll come into his
presence
we’re so used to coming in with clapping
and with praising and happiness and joy
that the scripture makes it very very
clear
that he wants us to come even in our
saddest moments don’t hide from the lord
don’t run anywhere else go right into
his presence weep it out before the lord
tell him everything that you’re going
through let him have your sadness
the scripture says in this time of
brokenness eli said the lord will answer
your prayer
she went away and did he and her
countenance was no more sad
hallelujah and what strikes me is that
when i am overcome with grief and
sadness
there’s a tendency in all of us
to just shy away and say lord let me
work this out first and then i’ll come
to you i don’t want to bring it to you
now
that is so wrong
i i recently had a a time of unexplained
sadness there’s no no real reason for it
it was not uh
uh
what do you call
uh you know the blues
or depression it was just uh sadness did
anybody here ever get a
time of just sadness you don’t
understand it now
and i couldn’t understand it and i i
tried i was going to go the lord in
prayer and i
said now lord
if you’ll just wait this might think if
you’ll just wait
until this evening
i’ll be okay
then i’ll pray
and holy spirit led me
to go to the old testament about
nehemiah and i hadn’t seen it before and
i read this and it just broke me down
began to weep in the presence of the
lord and say thank you lord and i had a
great time
and in a few hours he took it all away
but i had to come to him with sadness
nehemiah was a cup bear for king
artaxerxes and he tasted the wine before
he would give it to the king first of
all to see if it was poisoned he would
die first
and also to bring the quality wines uh
to his table
he’d become a very trusted servant to
this king
but he’d heard a report nehemiah heard a
report from his brother hanana
about the ruined conditions of jerusalem
and he said to uh nehemiah the walls are
torn down the city’s in ruins the people
are
are in terrible straits and and it’s
disintegrating it’s getting worse every
day and it just tore his heart we had a
love for judah and for jerusalem
and it carried over into his life a
sadness gripped nehemiah and he comes to
the king one day and it came to pass
this is nehemiah speaking i took up the
wine and i gave it unto the king now up
to this time i had never been sad in his
presence i’d never been sad
and when when i read those words sad in
his presence
it just hit me lord that’s me right now
sad in your presence
the king asked why is thy countenance
sad seeing thou are not sick this is
nothing but sorrow of heart then i was
very sore afraid and the reason he was
afraid because you dare not by decree
come into king’s presence especially if
you were in the king’s court you dared
not come in with anything but a smile
you could have your head chopped off
and now he’s very afraid because he
knows the decree
and rather than
the king chop his head off he was moved
with compassion
and the scripture makes it very clear if
you read the story
that nehemiah’s given a leave of absence
he’s given letters of credit the king’s
treasure’s open to him and he gets the
desire of his heart and he is told to go
to jerusalem and rebuild the temple and
the walls
now let me here’s the point
and this all these things are written
for our benefit the scripture said upon
whom the ends of the world have come
they’re all patterns for us this whole
story is about us
if if a man of god can go into the
presence of a pagan king
and find
compassion
and have every need met
and the burden lifted
so that he comes out of that king’s
presence with every need supplied
how much more will king jesus
supply your need take away your burden
when you come sad in his presence
hallelujah
i looked at that and said lord he’s a
pagan king
and he has compassion
you are ever loving every merciful i
come into your courts with this burden i
come to you broke and i come to you cast
down i come with sadness
but folks you still delight in the lord
because in your sadness remember my
definition of sadness is coming to him
first preferring him above all others
you still come with delight
even though you don’t feel happy you
don’t feel joyful the real meaning of
delight is that i go to him first i
prefer his company the pleasure of his
company
[Music]
hallelujah
now if we’re going to learn to pray
pleasing unto the lord
we’ve got to learn to pray through
that’s my next thought
now praying through is a term that was
coined by early pentecostals
to them it simply meant you stay on your
knees till you’re assured you have the
answer you just stay there till you
believe that you have the answer and
others
uh talked about
this term of praying through is
keep coming back to the lord and coming
back and coming back until you get your
answer that is
praying through
they call it persevering in prayer in
fact when i was a boy camp meeting
everybody prayed um they get up and
testify i’m going to lay hold of the
horns on the altar not let go until god
answers but folks that’s not what i see
in in the spirit
about
praying through the lord
has really changed my concept what it
means to pray through
now some of you talk about praying
through but let me try to explain what
i’ve seen in the spirit prayer actually
is not complete in fact until you pray
it through
many prayers are wasted they’re aborted
they’re lost because they’ve not been
carried
through
now i’m telling you you can delight in
the lord you can go to him and he can
lift your spirit he can satisfy your
heart he empowers you and you feel like
you’re ready to face every crisis and
everything else but what happens when
you leave that secret place of communion
you are not on your knees now you are
not
shot in with god at this time what
happens when you leave that hallowed
place of intimacy and you go back to a
situation that hasn’t changed
the same devil is there the same
problems are there the same emptiness
and
everything that brought about your sad
condition is still there waiting to
pounce on you again and bring you down
once again suddenly under its power
now here’s what i mean by praying
through
what you get from the lord when you’re
shut in with him
the strength encouragement the
empowerment
must see you through the trial that’s
just ahead
if you don’t get it in prayer what did
you get if it doesn’t see you through
the problem
is it an aborted prayer
if it does not see you through is it a
completed prayer
praying through is
waiting for the completion of your
prayer until it’s totally completed many
of us have never seen completed prayers
we’ve seen half answered prayers
it’s not been completed
see you can be shutting with the lord in
the mount of transfiguration
and you can glory in that and delight in
his presence
and then you come down
to the valley and the demoniacs are
waiting and the crisis is there and
problem after problem confusion after
confusion
what good is it if you get the glory on
the mountain it won’t see you through
the battle what you get in the secret
closet the victory you get in the secret
closet has to give you victory on the
battlefield
i don’t want to pray
for
an overwhelming blessing of power and
anointing from god i don’t want a
tremendous surge of assurance from the
lord in the secret closet and that’s
what you get when you’re studying with
the lord you get peace the first thing
he tells is don’t be afraid i’m with you
and he settles your spirit and he brings
joy he brings peace and you walk out
with that glory on your face
but folks what about the next day what
about the child because most of times
prayer doesn’t change
situations or circumstances it changes
you and puts you above the circumstances
and some of you get discouraged because
you haven’t prayed your circumstances uh
to change you you believe god for that
now sometimes he does but many times you
go from that wonderful mountaintop
experience of intimacy with jesus and go
right into a battle
all the demon powers of hell raid
against you
but folks it’s not a finished prayer
it’s not a completed prayer until you
get through until you’re through the
problem through the crisis you come out
on the other side in triumph
god fully intends that what we get with
human intimacy
is going to supply us with everything we
need for the battle and folks if you’re
not intimate with the lord and you’re
not seeking him in a way pleasing to him
how do you fight the enemy how do you
face your trials i could not i can’t
face anything without running to him and
getting my soul
uh
fired up and getting the peace and the
joy and the rest of god in my soul
i don’t know what even christians do
who don’t know how to pray according to
his mind
i confess that at this point i have
failed miserably in the past
i’ve known great times of ecstasy
i know what it is to get lonely for
jesus even after
uh
24 hours
and have to run to him
to
have that
wonderful intimacy with him
and i know what it is to run to him with
heaviness and sorrow and tears flowing
and i’ve experienced that awesome touch
that you get and you come out with
relief
but then when i face a crisis the next
day or the next week
seems to evaporate
come on now
i think the reason is getting so quiet
here i’m touching somebody’s nerve
[Music]
oh you had such power when you prayed
you had such an anointing came to church
you were blessed the glory of the lord
was here and then you went right out the
door and all the demon powers of hell
are out there waiting
you went home and your husband screamed
at you and yelled that to you everything
went wrong you went to work on monday
and everything went crazy
and where is that joy where is that
peace where is that rest that you got in
intimacy with jesus
your prayer hasn’t been braided through
because your prayers not prayed through
till you’ve lived it through
now what is the end purpose of prayer is
it just to give you ecstasy is it just
to give you rest and peace
no folks it’s got to be a grief to the
heavenly father it’s got to be a grief
to the heart of the lord that he gives
us everything we need
that tends to godliness and
righteousness everything we need for
life is in him and he gives it to us in
that time of intimacy he builds us up
and it must grieve his heart that we
don’t see it that way that somehow
between this glory and the crisis we
lose
everything that we have got and gained
in intimacy and prayer with the lord so
how do you keep it what what do you do
to maintain the victory so that your
prayer is prayed through to to a
triumphant uh conclusion
what is it going to take it folks i i
really prayed about this because uh
christians everywhere are hurting
uh
we we get
30 to 40 000 letters a month
from our mailing list there are over 700
000 people on our mailing list to get
these messages
and folks i’ve never we’ve never
heard what we hear now
of the hurting of the people
there are christians that are so lonely
they can hardly see themselves through a
day
they have they are
just suffocating
with a loneliness that is incredible
especially during holidays
there are other christians that write to
us and and it’s probably representative
right here this one our own congregation
here going through all kinds of marital
problems and family problems hurting
pastors that are are grace stricken
of what’s happening in their
congregations many of them write to us
that they they’ve had people rise up
against them some people they trusted
the most just rise up against them and
betray them
it’s so bad i can’t add to that hurt
that burden
what do i do and the lord said what what
what is needed
is a word from the lord
on how
to go to him in prayer become intimate
and receive the power and the authority
to go through it
a word from the lord folks you know i
can’t stand here and say why aren’t you
in victory
why aren’t you praying
why are you sad
be happy
what terrible people you are
because you shouldn’t after all these
years you shouldn’t be so downcast you
ought to have victory in your life i
can’t do that
because sometimes i get downcast and i
get sad
i’m not going to be a phony as a
preacher
now this just mashed potatoes and gravy
all home cooking
i want to i want to get this out
to you
i said lord what do i do
that i can maintain victory take the
victory from the prayer closet right
through my battle come through the other
side
and then on the other side just a time
of intimacy of praise and worship and
thanksgiving for the greatness of god in
his keeping saving delivering power
first of all
listen
listen
that’s the word he gave me most
christians don’t listen to god they go
to talk
they go to talk you go through this
bible you you look at any man that god
has ever used and he had learned to stay
in god’s presence till he heard his word
till he heard his voice
there’ll be a word behind just saying
this is the way walk you in it when you
go to the right hand or to the left
there’ll be a word behind you
now i’m going to tell you not i want you
to hear it the lord wants to talk to
every one of us he wants to talk to the
children
like the little girl who was dying of
leukemia
and
she was near death’s door and she was
having a terrible time
even thinking the concept of death
and uh
the
mother came in the room the next day and
she was all aglow and happy
mother said what happened she said he
said an angel came to me
and said that
i i was going to take a trip and god
came took my hand took me to a beautiful
garden walked me through the garden said
you’re coming here tomorrow
it said took all the thing god spoke to
that little child god spoke said
tomorrow you’re going to be with me took
all the pain out of her heart and she
left
she was with the lord the next day with
joy in her heart
god can speak to children he can speak
to anybody who will give him quality
time but see we go into his presence
demanding we go into his presence in a
hurried spirit
oh the one thing that god wants more
than anything else is quiet quality time
it’s not it’s not the length of time
even but it’s getting your soul stealed
in his presence and saying now speak to
me lord i’m going to ask you
when you got intimate with jesus when
you were siding with him did you get
your directions
did he tell you what to do when to do
and how to do it
i know their people don’t believe that
but my bible says my sheep know my voice
they hear when i call
i don’t do anything anymore i haven’t
done in a long time i don’t do anything
now until i get along with him and say
jesus that nobody on this earth can tell
me what to do you’re the only one who
knows all things you’re the only one who
knows the way through this and i’m
staying here till you tell me what to do
i won’t do anything until you speak to
my heart
that is the kind of praying
that is the kind of praying through
where you stop
and you hear his voice and he says now
you’ve got to make this thing right
you’ve got to make restitution here
you’ve got to make this call
or you just stand still till next week
i’ll tell you what to do a week from now
don’t get in a hurry i want you to sit
for a week and just trust me
he will speak to you he will give you
direction
folks the devil cannot come in and
invade that private time when you are
really preferring him above all others
and delighting in him in that way and
you’re trusting him in faith and then
folks after he speaks to you just get
this word out stay right there on your
knees stay in with him and get this book
and say holy spirit where do you first
of all
you should have a time when you read
through the book systematically you go
right to the book and mark it but then
you go alone with the lord and say lord
speak to me through your word speak to
me through your word
he’ll say psalm 33
and i go to psalm 33 and and by the way
what is psalm 33 here
by the word of the lord
the heavens were made and all the host
of them by the breath of his mouth let
all the earth fear the lord let all the
inhabitants of the world stand in all of
him for he spake and it was done he
commanded it stood still the lord
bringeth the counsel the heathen to
nothing he maketh the device of the
people of none effect behold the eye of
the lord is upon them that fear him upon
them that hope in his mercy to deliver
their soul from death to keep them alive
and famine our soul waited for the lord
he’s our help and our shield
hallelujah
see he just spoke
he’s given us the lesson
honestly
thank you jesus
our hearts shall rejoice in him because
we’ve trusted in his holy name
hallelujah
listen to him
you see he’s going to give you direction
we’ll tell you how to get through your
crisis and this is the problem we have
failed because we didn’t stay to get our
direction we didn’t stay to get the word
from the lord
now some of you are here this morning
and i’m speaking prophetically now you
have to hear from god there’s nobody on
the face of this earth is going to see
you through the problem you face nobody
and i want you to hear this in the
spirit i know i’m speaking prophetically
you are here this morning you may be
here for the first time and he’s
speaking to your heart and you hear it
now in the spirit don’t hear it from me
hear it from the holy spirit you have
got to get to him and stay there in his
presence until he alone gives you your
direction until he tells you the way
through when to act how to act who to
call what to do
he will give you explicit direction
and if he doesn’t give you direction
he’ll tell you to hold steel and he’ll
give you the peace to maintain that
stillness until the victory comes until
the answer comes there are some things
he can’t do right now because situations
are not ripe but as soon as they are
ripe in his time and his way it will not
be one minute too late or one minute
early it will be right in holy ghost
timing
so when you go to pray now
you say oh lord i come now not just to
have my
needs met i come now lord to meet your
need i know
listen
god created adam and came down and
fellowshipped with him every day he
wanted it he needed we were made for
fellowship with the lord
do you
do you love to be with him
i’ve got to close enough what in the
world
how how can anybody say they know how to
pray or have even attempted to pray if
if there’s not something in your heart
that every day draws you wooz you
there’s no love if you don’t have that
drawing to the lord if you’re not
i’m not talking about a two-minute
five-minute little prayer i’m talking
about shutting the whole world out i
said oh lord
you’re my everything
that’s the way i praise the lord and
lord knows this lord did nothing i want
in this world
not his fame not its money
not its recognition not its pleasures
i don’t want any of that jesus
because you’ve become the whole delight
of my soul i prefer your company
i just enjoy your company
hallelujah
when you get in the car what do you do
you begin to sing you begin to worship
you begin to enjoy his company
hallelujah when everybody around you
there’s busyness and you’ve got company
you’ve got all kinds of things going
what do you do the heart if you really
love me reaching out you can’t wait i
just wait and then then finally you say
to everybody i’m sorry i’ve got to leave
you for a moment don’t tell them you’re
going to prayer that would be boasting
just just escape
just vanish
get alone
with him
hallelujah
do you prefer him above all others
god help us to enjoy completed prayers
really praying through
will you stand
now this message won’t make you shout
but it ought to change your life
it ought to affect your life from here
on out
and when you go to prayer say lord i i
come for your pleasure i come to meet
you hallelujah this is for your pleasure
it’s a joy
i god helping me now i know the bible
said they labored in prayer
but they there was a delight in what
they were doing
i prefer not to use that word because
the connotation today
is obligation and duty
hallelujah now some of you up and back
in the main floor
you’ve been praying
you’ve been seeking the lord
god wants you to add
this one thing
lord i’m going to stop talking
every time i come i’m going to talk to
you but when i’ve talked out my heart
i’m going to quit talking i’m going to
quit speaking i’m just going to sit
silent and say speak my lord speak to my
heart
hallelujah folks god wants to speak to
everyone in this church everyone in this
choir
he wants you to be able to know you
shouldn’t have to go to somebody you
shouldn’t have to come to me you
shouldn’t have to come to any pastor you
shouldn’t have to go to any counselor
counselors are for those who
honestly i’m going to tell you straight
out for those who have not yet learned
his voice
there’s nothing wrong with counselors
that’s fine because there are new
converts there are people not yet
learned and that’s good and they will
learn and eventually they won’t need
counselors
i don’t go to a counselor
every time i’ve gone to council i’ve got
the wrong advice
because people tell me what they think i
want to hear
they tell me something that might
abort the work of god in my heart
no you go to him he will speak to you
you know some of you
you’re here
this morning and you’re cold in heart
you have not been drawn to the lord you
you are i’m going to tell you straight
out you’re cold
you’re cold you’re not even lukewarm
you’re cold
i want you to come down this aisle
and shake off that coldness and say
jesus you draw me to yourself now
if you if you have a spirit of
loneliness on you if you’ve got a spirit
of depression or anything else that’s
just bombarding you you bring it to the
lord now and say lord i’m gonna i’m
gonna listen to you you’re gonna tell me
how to get out of my loneliness you’re
gonna tell me what to do and how to do
it
folks don’t go to the christian
bookstore and get a half dozen books on
how to fight loneliness
save your money
go to jesus say lord what do i do and he
said the first thing i’m going to give
you all the grace you need to see it
through he’ll pour grace into you
this is the conclusion of the message