What did Jesus mean when he said to pray without ceasing? Bill Johnson teaches from multiple stories about the significance of praying at all times. The true substance of prayer is our relationship with God increasing, everything else is icing on the cake.
erica shall be saved why don’t you say
that with me america shall be saved
you know say it again
america shall be saved one more time
[Applause]
turn to your neighbor tell them to put
on their seat belt
[Applause]
for some it’s already too late
you know before we uh
get into the word
um
why don’t you stand we’ll just
you’ve been sitting for so long at least
two minutes
this is the home of christian aerobics
when jesus said walk and pray we felt he
was serious so we we keep you on your
feet you know
or was i watching praying i was watching
but never mind
um
how many of you have uh family members
that just need to get right with god
they just need to get rid of god
man that looks like just about everybody
in fact put your hands down is there
anyone who would say you know i can’t
think of one family member
that doesn’t i’m serious if they’re
we got one back here
that’s awesome we just have you guys
pray for all of us see
i you know there’s just uh there’s this
anointing for evangelism uh not just
altar calls actually
a
a spirit of evangelism
christ is really released and
and uh largely the women got whacked
with that one
and uh
and i makes me a little bit nervous in a
real good way
and uh
yeah yeah some of the powerful powerful
ministries of in history have been women
who laid their life down so
here’s what we’re going to do
um you know what
find out
find the name of at least one person
that needs to get right with god from
the person on your right the person on
your left
do that quickly then we’re going to pray
together
just just give them a name
at least one
[Applause]
[Applause]
[Applause]
okay you should have
you should have the entire family
history by now
[Applause]
okay let’s we’re gonna do this
i like to do uh symbolic or what we call
prophetic acts prophetic acts have the
power of prophecy but they’re natural
acts that have no
natural correlation to the answer
like when the prophet threw a stick in
the water and axe had swim swam it was a
prophetic act of obedience but god
responded and accomplished the
impossible
i want you to take
your hands as though you’re bringing
people before the lord
and i want you to bring at least one of
the individuals in your heart
and one
of your neighbors i want you to bring
that literally bring them before the
lord lift them before the lord say lord
i bring these to you
i declare forgiveness over them draw
them to you
i want you to pray for them just lift
your voices and pray
please do not pray quietly in your heart
let’s pray evangelistic prayers god we
join their name with the name jesus
right now
we join the name of john
with the name jesus right now
sally
brian to the name jesus
julie to the name jesus
draw them near god
draw them near
draw them near we bring them to you we
lift them before your god
we bring them before you god
save these friends these family members
save them lord
jesus at one point said whoever you
forgive i forgive so i want you to
declare your forgiveness over these
individuals
just declare no matter how bad they’ve
messed up we hold nothing against them
we declare the forgiveness of our own
heart and the forgiveness of the lord
over these people right now in jesus
mighty name
jesus mighty name amen
amen all right well why don’t you hug a
few necks and be seated
just go to bc
hug somebody
you know
[Applause]
ever since i was a child
i’ve always had a fear of someone under
my bed at night
so i went to a psychiatrist and told him
i’ve got problems
every time i go to bed i think there’s
someone under it i’m scared
i think i’m going crazy
he responded just put yourself in my
hands for one year said to shrink
come talk to me three times a week
we should be able to get rid of those
fears
how much do you charge he asked
eighty dollars per visit replied the
doctor
i’ll sleep on it he said i said
six months later the doctor met me on
the street
he asked why didn’t you come to see me
about those fears you were having
i responded well
80 bucks a visit three times a week for
a year is over twelve thousand dollars
my neighbor cured me for free
i was so happy to have saved all that
money i went and bought me a new pickup
truck
is that so the psychiatrist responded
with a bit of an attitude he said and
how may i ask did your neighbor cure you
i replied he told me to cut the legs off
the bed ain’t nobody under there now
[Applause]
[Applause]
oh goodness all right
all right
several weeks ago i i um during a
message i i took a little detour for a
few minutes
and talked to you about the high price
of prayerlessness
and of course i would never mean this to
be a shameful message or
some
you know some harsh exhortation
but instead an appeal
that we could live sober minded and
realize
jesus gives this overall commission
command and it has to do with the
relationship with him and it’s the
invitation to pray at all times pray
without ceasing
i personally like to think that the
prayer without ceasing is the substance
of prayer and the hour or whatever you
take is the icing on the cake the real
substance of prayer is the fact that it
is continuous fellowship with god
and prayerlessness has
effects on our lives
that is uh is very very sobering so what
i want you to do is i’m gonna i’ve got
six
stories i want to tell you not sure if i
have time for all of them but there are
six passages that we’ll read and if we
don’t i’ll just do it another time so
let’s go ahead and start with the first
one i want you to go to the gospel of
luke chapter 22.
this we’re going to read a portion where
jesus is praying in the
garden
and this is where his sweat became
as drops of blood on his head the
anguish his own prayer
prayer time
was physically having an effect on him
where sweat became blood
i don’t think it was a watered or wine
type thing i think it was actually
such pressure was on him in prayer that
he physically
manifested blood as sweat on his
forehead
right before this
jesus and the disciples had a
conversation
and in this conversation jesus announced
to them that they were all going to fall
away and peter made of course the
statement they they they might but i
won’t
and then jesus said as a matter of fact
peter you’re going to deny me three
times
and this is the prayer meeting that
followed that warning that jesus gave
him
so if you look at this with me let’s go
right to verse 33 we’re going to jump in
the middle of the story
because of how much we have to read
tonight verse 43
then an angel appeared to him from
heaven strengthening him
and being in agony he prayed more
earnestly
then his sweat became like great drops
of blood falling to the ground
when he rose up from prayer and had come
to his disciples he found them sleeping
from sorrow
then he said to them why do you sleep
rise and pray
lest you enter into temptation
that is a stunning uh
moment to me in peter’s life
in that jesus announced to him
that he was about to deny him
and yet he gave him access to a strength
where jesus would have been wrong
he invited him into a time of prayer
where had he had pursued he never would
have entered into temptation
temptation is an interesting thing
because god never puts us in a position
to be tempted
the real issue of temptation
is that it’s the individual’s heart that
translates a circumstance and makes it a
temptation
an illustration that i give
fairly often is let’s just say brian and
i are going to a lunch and let’s just
say
he’s doing real good with the lord doing
well his finances are just in order he’s
just living in a great victory and i’m
living in great fear i just i just i’m
having a hard time i’m afraid i’m not
going to be able to pay my bills i’ve
got this anxiety fear thing going on so
we sit down at the restaurant
and right next to the salt and pepper
shaker
is a hundred dollar bill folded up but
the waitress doesn’t see it
when
she uh cleans the table
and brian excuses himself wants to go
watch the fellowship off of his hands
before we have uh have a meal together
and uh when he goes i spot the hundred
dollar bill
and it crosses my mind
i could take that because
she doesn’t even know it’s there
and then i resist the temptation i come
in that’s just totally wrong what am i
thinking i repent for even having the
thought
i don’t take it brian comes and sits
down he notices the 100 bill he calls
out the waitress by name hey sandy look
somebody gave you a really good tip it
never crossed his mind now neither of us
took the money but one of us was tempted
heart condition turned a circumstance
and made it a temptation
there are certain it’s almost like doors
on a stage there are circumstances in
life
and what prayerfulness does
is it gives you a discernment on the
nature of the door
you don’t even fall into the situation
you don’t even come to where you would
be exposed in your weak place because
prayerfulness prayerfulness has
heightened your awareness of what’s
behind the door
without the prayerfulness
you may open the door you may fall into
a temptation and you may successfully
hopefully resist the temptation but the
point is is you want to go through life
you don’t want to face things for which
you have no grace
it doesn’t mean you can’t muster up the
strength to say no to that
temptation of course you can we all have
a will and we can choose but what’s
tragic is some people because of
prayerlessness
live in a battle with circumstances they
never should have had to face
it it it um it depl it replenishes is
that the right replenishes it robs of
strength
it robs of creativity it robs of natural
healthy authentic expression of who we
are because we’re having to constantly
fight battles we were never designed to
fight
so he said pray
that you wouldn’t enter
you wouldn’t even go through the doorway
of what would be appealing to you
at some weak place in your own life
i remember years ago paul manwering was
he he used to be a
used to run a prison in the uk
and a highly decorated prison warden
and i remember what he would do when he
was working
with the prisoner
as
is he would remind himself
that he had the same potential to be
where they’re at that they had
and he would remind them
they had the same potential to be where
he was it’s all grace
and what prayerfulness does is it makes
us aware
of unseen things that are actually more
real than what is visible we’re not
talking about a land of make-believe
we’re not talking about the power of
suggestion and just getting us psyched
up so that we don’t fall into sin it’s
not that at all it’s that we’re actually
drawing upon a strength that is superior
to everything else we could possibly
muster up and prayerfulness
unclutters the eyes to see what is real
turn uh in your bibles to the book of
matthew chapter 44. this one
is um
is really stunning to me matthew chapter
5.
you guys all still alive
that’s good i hate when people die in
the meeting it’s just
so depressing
matthew chapter 5 i have an interesting
verse here
in verse 43 i want you to look at it
with me
you have heard that it was said you
shall love your neighbor and hate your
enemy
but i say to you love your enemies
bless those who curse you
do good to those who hate you and pray
for those who spitefully use you and
persecute you
that you may be sons of your father in
heaven
let’s take that last phrase
pray
for those who persecute you spitefully
use you pray for them not against them
pray for them so that you will be a son
and or daughter of god
now are you thinking
there’s an exhortation to pray
i don’t believe he’s saying
pray for those who oppose you and then
you’ll be born again
we become sons and daughters of god
in our faith in christ that’s what
causes us to be born again what he’s
declaring over us
is that when you pray
when you exercise your right to come
before the almighty god and you actually
use it to pray on behalf of someone who
has opposed you
you’re praying for not against when you
do that
it becomes clear
to you and to the entire spirit realm
that you are a child of god
it becomes manifested why because you’re
using your authority to come before a
perfect father and you’re using to
actually pray be
for someone on behalf positively for
someone who has opposed you
your identity in christ becomes manifest
this is interesting because uh we don’t
have time for it tonight but this will
trigger something and some of you you
remember in romans 8 it says
that all of creation groans
that’s creation praying
all creation groans travailing waiting
for the sons and daughters of god to be
manifested
what is this saying
when you pray
for those who have opposed you you pray
for those who others would consider to
be your enemy and you pray for their
blessing you pray for their welfare you
pray as the perfect father would pray
then your identity becomes established
firm and revealed
see there are certain things that are
being withheld
of the purposes of god in the earth and
they’re being withheld as they will only
be released to a people that have become
manifested as the sons and daughters of
god
it is essential that we step into
identity and one of the clearest ways is
to pray for those who are opposed to you
there are realms in god there are realms
in
in manifestation of presence and kingdom
of power there are realms in god that he
has withheld
only willing to release them upon a
people
manifested as sons and daughters of god
so what does this do causes the domino
effect
it positions us correctly as identified
from heaven you say well i was
identified when you were born again
he said do this so that you’ll be
identified
as a son as a daughter of god something
happens in the unseen realm that doesn’t
happen another way
some of you were here when i i’ve done
uh teaching on communion
benny and i like to take communion every
day which means it’s most every day and
sometimes we do it together sometimes we
do it individually
i take supplies with me when i travel on
the road
and i was just in indonesia last week
and would take communion before the lord
and there are a number of things that i
do and i won’t take a long time
to mention this but when i hold the
bread i make confession by his stripes i
was healed and i pray for those who need
the miracle because the payment is in my
hand it’s the torn flesh of jesus that
was torn in the beating that he suffered
by the stripes of jesus i was healed is
what the scripture says
benny actually somebody a friend of hers
was dying had seven different diseases
and uh she was in the hospital and she
wrote benny and benny wrote her back a
text or email
and said take communion every day and
gave her some instruction and within i
don’t know how long i think it was
within a month all seven diseases were
gone she was completely healed
there’s something about coming before
the lord
with what he paid
for you and for me so
by his stripes i was healed but when i
take the cup i pray over every family
member i pray for
my son eric and his wife candace for
kennedy and salah i pray for brian and
jen and haley and taya braden moses
i pray for gabe and leah
my my daughter and son-in-law and i pray
for their four kids judah diego bella
and cruz and i pray over them each by
name and i pray that prayer out of
jeremiah 24 that i actually started
praying for my children before i found
it was in the bible when i found it it
was in the bible i thought it’s legal
it’s a legal prayer i got so happy
and i i’ve been praying for them since
they are very very little children god
give them a heart to know you it’s in
jeremiah 24. so i pray that over every
family member i pray that god would help
them to know his ways that he would they
would hear his voice each one god has no
grandchildren each one needs to be
summoned by the father to himself and so
i pray into that god let them hear and
know your voice to be summoned to you
when i’m through praying for my family
which i just i enjoy so much
just in fact what i do is i make
confession as i make a confession by his
stripes we are healed when i hold the
blood before the lord i make the
confession as for me and my house we
will serve the lord every single family
member we will serve you with purity
with power we will do so with passion
and great zeal we will withhold nothing
from you it’s the great privilege of
prayer
but as soon as i’m through praying for
my family
i i pray for
three people that are international
and two
that are not international
who have taken a position
to oppose me as an individual to write
against me to hold conferences against
me
and to do videos and write books that
sort of thing
and i bring their name to the lord you
see what they’re doing takes great zeal
and great courage do i think they’re
accurate no of course i don’t
but they are offering something to to
the lord
out of an offering of great courage and
great risk
they suffer for their decision
i don’t support the decision but i
support them
and so what i do is i bring their names
before the lord
and i ask the lord please cause them to
prosper
spirit soul and body
cause them and this is my the big thing
i pray for
is cause these men
cause them
all of their children and all of their
grandchildren to serve you with great
zeal and great joy
i want them to know the pleasure of
having children that serve god and
grandchildren i don’t want any of them
to fall away i don’t want any of them to
become complacent or cold-hearted and so
i bring them before the lord
see this is what jesus said he said when
you pray for those who spitefully use
you
when you pray for on behalf of in
support of those who persecute you
you are a son
what else is there
okay i’m going to be a son today i was
before i prayed but something becomes
pronounced and manifest
when i begin to pray out of earnestness
of my heart god cause these people to
prosper bless them i don’t pray that god
would change their minds i don’t pray oh
god expose the error of their way i
don’t pray any of those things you never
criticize a servant to its master
proverbs warns against criticizing a
servant to its master
that is forbidden territory
they are not my servant we had
situations go on here at bethel many
many many years ago and here in reading
and people would come to me they say
well what do you think about this and i
would tell them no one can force me to
have an opinion
i am unwilling to take mental energy and
put it into a situation for which i have
no responsibility you do not criticize a
servant to their master
and so jesus reveals in this passage
one of the greatest things we
that we need right now how many
believers are there in the world it’s an
extraordinary number of hundreds of
millions i wonder what would happen
to their posture
before kings
if they simply gave themselves to pray
for those who opposed
actually go to the book of james
you all right
yep me too and me too a little messed up
but i was messed up when i got up here
so
chris oh didn’t help at all with that
one
we we got a little little wreck down
there in the front row
second row third row
how many of you in the back row got a
little messed up too yeah that’s right
yeah
turn in your bibles to the book of james
and we’re going to look at just one
phrase out of one verse
um and and the reason the whole verse
the whole chapter obviously is always
worth studying
but i’m wanting to take a phrase because
that i i don’t want to be distracted by
the rest so
hopefully that’ll make sense to you
we’re gonna take verse two you lust and
do of chapter four james four verse two
you lust and do not have you murder and
covet and cannot con obtain
you fight and war
and here it is
you do not have
because you do not ask
say this with me you do not have
because you do not ask
say it with me now you do not have
because you do not ask say it again
you do not have
because you do not ask
prayerlessness creates lack
prayerlessness fuels lack prayerlessness
is is what
perilousness is what lack wants to
consume
when we face a need and there’s
prayerlessness
it actually fuels lack
instead of causes it to be solved and
disappear
you have not
because you ask not
so prayerlessness actually sustains
need
and lack
many people walk around waiting for god
to do something
and what i’ve been finding out and i’m a
slow and i do mean slow learner
i’ve been finding out most of the time
he’s waiting for me to do something
i mean how many understand we’re not
talking about
as you thank god for the meal god thank
you for the meal
and provide for us today amen
i’m not saying that prayer doesn’t work
but if you’ve got a big need you might
want to dig in a bit
you might want to dig in a bit
let the weightiness of what you’re
facing determine the weightiness of how
you pray
casual prayers get casual answers
if if you are willing to live off of
token answers then offer up token
prayers
but if you want heaven to move let your
heart be moved
he’ll move as far as you move
i’m not saying at all that he can’t
surpass anything that we do and cry and
lift up he’s god he can do whatever he
wants
but in his effort to raise us as sons
and daughters of god that can carry
responsibility into the earth
most of the time
he looks
for earnest response in us
to bring forth an earnest response from
him
i i hope that doesn’t sound like a works
thing because i don’t see it that way at
all
it’s just you know what
when you’re on the altar you can pray
earnestly
when you’re off the altar
considering the concept of the altar
you pray timidly
i heard recently
when you’re on the altar
[Laughter]
you can pray earnestly it’s when you’re
off the altar considering the concept of
sacrifice
that’s where we pray token prayers
amen bill that’s a really good point
why don’t you it’s too late luke chapter
8
i’m just teasing luke chapter 18.
luke chapter 18.
sorry i have a gift of torment i just
it’s just this is what i do i torment
people i my love language is teasing so
i
you know if i didn’t tease you you could
walk out here wondering if i loved you
but
but there should be no question now
read chris read this this morning in uh
i don’t know one of our services
we only had 800 services this morning
he read this this morning
start uh with me with verse one it’s a
longer piece he spoke a parable to them
men ought to pray and not lose heart
so we’re talking about prayer that’s not
just
a petition prayer but it’s persistent in
its petition
he said there was in a certain city a
judge who did not fear god nor regarded
man
there was a widow in that city and she
came to him saying
get justice for me from my adversary. he
would not for a while but afterwards
said within himself though i do not fear
god nor regard man
yet because this widow troubles me i
will avenge her
lest by her continual coming she wear me
out
the lord said here with the unjust judge
said
and shall god
and shall god not avenge his own elect
who cry out to him day and night
though he bears along with them
i tell you that he will avenge them
speedily nevertheless when the son of
man returns will he really find faith on
the earth
this is interesting because we have on
one hand we the picture
is of a widow that just keeps banging on
the door of the judge
and then
jesus uses this illustration for
repeated day and night prayer
and then god says i’m going to answer
speedily
he obviously thinks of speedily
different than i do
he says i’m going to answer speedily and
i’m thinking man i’ve been banging on
this drawer for 15 days you know when is
this thing going to open he says i’m
going to answer speedly
and he does
there’s a tippy point tipping point in
prayer in which the answer is released
and the answer always comes quickly
but to get to that place where things
shift sometimes takes persistence
prayerlessness
actually allows circumstances
to be
um
uh
prayerlessness allows the absence of
breakthrough to become the norm
and generally we come to the conclusion
well i prayed and it just
god sovereignly did not answer
so the absence of an answer falls under
under the category that we call the
sovereignty of god
and yet jesus is saying persistence
would have got the breakthrough
so we’re talking now uh not just about a
prayer prayed
but a lifestyle of anchoring into
something now i mentioned this i’ve done
this teaching here uh several years back
and i mentioned it in our conference
this week and let me give you like the
two-minute version
jesus said that we’re not to use vain
repetition in prayer in other words
you’re not to repeat a prayer over and
over again
because he knows what you have need of
before you ask
in the very next chapter he says ask and
continue to ask the language there is a
a
verb that says you do this but you
continue doing it until this
breakthrough so in two chapters back to
back one says ask and don’t keep on
asking the other one says ask and
continue asking what’s the difference
come back next week and i’ll tell you no
what’s the difference when he said
don’t repeatedly lift up the prayer for
before me for something
he said for your father father knows
what you have need of before you ask
this is pertaining to basic needs for me
to say father would you provide food for
me today and for me to ask him every
five minutes is for me to question that
he’s actually a father
because it violates his nature and his
covenant to me as a father who is
committed to taking care of my my needs
the persistence in prayer has to do with
how we pray with our dreams
the persistence in prayer i i i’m
supposed to pray for what i have need of
god provide for us
our food today
i’m supposed to pray for these things
god i need to buy coats for my kids
before winter sets in
i’m supposed to pray for those things
but those are
basic human needs
you lift them up and then you celebrate
the fact that you serve a righteous and
perfect father
but when it comes to the unfolding of a
dream god i’ve got it in my heart to
have this business
oh god
this thing has been in me for so many
years
and you fast you get before the lord you
cry out for breakthrough and you contend
for this breakthrough why because
persistence and prayer changes you
and changes you to where you become a
person that can properly steward the
answer that you just prayed for
if he gives us much of what we asked for
when we asked for it would kill us
i mean literally it would kill us
why does god discipline his children
it’s so that his blessings don’t kill us
we ask for oak trees he gives us acorns
why
can you steward the answer
in its embryonic form
because in stewarding as it grows i
become a different person
my strength increases my resolve
increases my sense of priorities change
all of a sudden i have this willingness
to pay any price because i can see
something happening before my eyes
i change
with persistence and prayer
and so this exhortation for persistence
and prayer
is connected to breakthrough
and where there is not prayer
and especially the prayer of persistence
there’s the absence of breakthrough
all right we’re almost done
isn’t that fun
let’s uh let’s do two more we’ll do uh
luke 11.
let’s back up a few chapters
you guys all right
everybody’s still all right
i don’t know what i would do actually
i’ve had times where i’ve said are you
all right and somebody’s yelled out no
[Laughter]
i wasn’t sure what to do
the only thing that works for me is just
to ignore them
[Laughter]
now this this one is a little bit more
abstract but i but i um
if i could teach 20 minutes on this
which i’m not going to do i’m going to
take maybe three or four minutes five
minutes if i could teach 20 minutes on
this it would make a whole lot more
sense i’m just going to trust that you
can work with it if you can’t stick it
on a shelf
and see what happens in the future
luke 11
verse 24
when an unclean spirit goes out of a man
he goes through dry places
seeking rest
does anybody remember who the holy
spirit is inside of us
he’s in us as a river in john chapter 7.
the enemy is looking for dry places
[Applause]
those who fail to connect with the flow
of presence
become a dry place
and it’s completely unnecessary
you see what a christian uh i think it
was john wimber that said uh
that
why would a christian want a demon they
make horrible pets so
i always thought that was a pretty good
answer
but i remind you the apostle paul in
ephesians 4 warned the church the most
mature church of all the letters
received he warned them don’t give place
to the devils not demon possession it’s
a place of influence
which by the way in the old testament
when the enemies of israel
gained influence in the city to buy i
think it was tobiah ended up moving into
the temple
where they kept the money
if you want to know where the enemy
wants to live in your temple
he wants to live
where
the generosity lifestyle i’m not just
talking about offerings and money i’m
talking about the way you look at people
the way you look at human need the way
you look at the power of your words to
invest in someone
is that it’s that seat of generosity
that reveals we are like the father for
god so loved the world that he gave
and the enemy actually moved in took out
all
the possessions that were to belong in
the temple and set up residence in this
temple
it’s crazy
all right back to verse 24. i said i was
going to teach on this for three or four
minutes make that five or six all right
let’s try to get through this quickly
when the unclean spirit goes out of a
man he goes through dry places seeking
rest
finding none he says i will return to my
house from which i came
when he comes he finds it swept and put
in order he goes and he takes with him
seven other spirits that are more wicked
than himself
and they enter and dwell there the last
state of that man is worse than the
first
this is a very fascinating story it does
refer to a human being but it also how
many remember when the lord would speak
of the house of david david was a man
but he wasn’t talking about his physical
house
right the house of david he’s talking
about the family line the house of
israel an entire nation so there are
times where the scripture talks about
the house of a man and the implications
are much more far-reaching than just a
human being and possessing his own
physical body
prayerlessness
creates vacancy
in the heart of the person
this house was clean and swept
and when the owner of the house didn’t
put furniture in the house
in the place of where the enemy
occupied it was left vacant
i could take you through church history
and i can show you where denominations
and groups of people that were once
powerhouses of the gospel
slackened off and ended up with vacant
places that the enemy they once opposed
came back seven times worse
groups known for holiness
became the seed bed
of
vast expressions of immorality and
ungodliness
the very place is occupied and i don’t
say that in as a as a criticism or
or somehow to put people down i’m just
saying listen this is how the enemy
works and prayerlessness
is a vacancy because there’s furniture
that’s supposed to belong there in the
house of my heart
prayer is one of the
couches and if i if i remove the couch
there’s a vacant spot and wherever
there’s a vacant spot the enemy wants to
fill it
all right one more
one more one more why don’t you go to
first samuel
chapter 12.
let’s get a little old testament action
in this
we could probably get about a hundred
things on this list but i
i had uh
three or four of them written down and i
i wanted to add a couple today for our
our little talk
first samuel chapter 12.
this is kind of a sobering moment with
samuel and saul
he gives him a warning verse 21 he says
do not turn aside then you’d go after
empty things which cannot profit or
deliver
they are nothing the lord will not
forsake his people
for his great name’s sake because it has
pleased the lord to make
you his people
verse 23 moreover as for me
far be it from me that i should sin
against the lord in ceasing to pray for
you
now i don’t know i’ve read this verse
for you know
a long time
and it’s been one of those that has just
stood out to me concerning the
responsibility that we have for one
another the responsibility that we have
for leaders
etc but something hit me today when i
was looking at this passage
far be it from me that i should sin
against the lord by ceasing to pray
i i don’t know i i i don’t understand it
i’m just i’m marked by it as all
i i can’t teach on it well but i’m
impacted by the fact that he says it’s
almost like here’s a sinful act against
the lord but there wasn’t a sinful act
there was the stopping of a righteous
act
it almost looks like he’s saying you
know when you do this witchcraft do you
do this that this this junk that junk
you’re sinning against the lord but for
the prophet who knows what it is to bear
responsibility before god he said it
would be a sin
against god
for him
not to pray
i’m just here to encourage you that’s
all
prayerfulness
is a gift
that we can carry throughout the day
i loved blocks of time with refined
focus don’t misunderstand me
it’s been
a huge part of my life my goodness when
i was a young man
and was single
i mean both ends of the day with
extended periods of time
as a pastor in weaverville i remember
just walking the city walking in the
woods walking through the church i i
walk when i pray because i don’t get
sleepy when i walk you know
and i’m able to get a little bit more
militant aggressive
it’s just it’s just better for me i i i
can kneel and pray but i can also snore
so
i
sleep is kind of like the kingdom of god
it’s at hand it’s always right there
it’s it’s a beautiful thing it’s always
it’s always ever present
and i i i practice falling asleep in the
presence i really do i practice it
i do
how many of you have prayed you
determined to pray and you fell asleep
yeah how many of you how many of you
felt bad after you fell asleep god man i
just can’t seem to stay awake i i get
that i i’ve done that a lot
but you know when my kids would fall
asleep in my arms i never once got mad
at them
[Applause]
i actually held them hoping they would
[Music]
[Laughter]
so there is a spot for the earnestness
in prayer position yourself physically
to remain
earnest
and if you’re sleepy get up and walk i
mean just let’s be practical get up and
walk
if you’re not kneel before the lord do
whatever
but when you go to bed at night
remember you’re praying without ceasing
i use i don’t know if i if i still do
this because i’m i’m sleeping but i used
to
brian actually captured the lyrics of
solomon
in one of his songs years ago
although i sleep yet my heart is awake
that’s significant now we’ll wrap it up
with this but i want you to catch this
thought god appeared to solomon in a
dream
solomon made
a life-altering decision in his sleep
[Music]
god trusted him in his resolve to the
will of god so completely that he
allowed solomon to answer him in his
sleep
and solomon was the one who penned these
words though i sleep my body is shut
down resting my heart is awake
and i i i used to wake myself up praying
i didn’t wake up to pray i’d be praying
while i was sleeping
i took a trip with chris years ago chris
came with me to colorado to do this
white wine thing
and i would i would just pray throughout
throughout the night not knowing it i
was sleeping but my heart was exploding
with cries to god what you want to do is
you want to you’ll you’ll have you’ll
have a better day if you have a better
night and you’ll have a better night
if you engage with him
not over difficult matters
take care of that while you’re wide
awake
i made the mistake last night of
stirring up difficult matters
and lost a bunch of sleep as a result
it doesn’t happen much but it it
happened last night
and i just i just broke one of those
rules that i know better on
you don’t bring up the difficult things
in the middle of the night
you know
it’ll probably still be there tomorrow
so engage with him tomorrow but the
point is is we have this lifestyle of
continuous fellowship with him
ongoing prayer
pray without ceasing
and that is the luxury of this
relationship is that i live before him
in heavenly places before a perfect
father who hears me
i don’t think you have to have long
prayers to get big answers
but i do think you have to have earnest
prayers to give big answers
if you study the book of nehemiah you’ll
find a series of prayers that he prayed
that were only one sentence long
the prayers of nehemiah just look at the
prayers nehemiah one sentence long
but when you’re dug into an issue
and this
request
is not just a passive thing to ease your
conscience that you have now prayed but
you’ve actually dug in
regarding a matter and you lift up that
prayer there are times where one
sentence
brings the breakthrough
so we don’t earn breakthroughs in the
sense of i’ve got to pray for this one
thing for five hours then i know
there’ll be a breakthrough i had a
friend that he he was uh just contending
with the lord over something he said
he said i’m just gonna
i’m just gonna i’m gonna spend the
entire night before the lord praying for
this matter
as soon as he knelt down the lord
answered it and just kind of ruined his
whole night
and he was so shocked but you know
that’s what you do you dig in
and if he brings it quick then you
say thank you
[Applause]
thank you so much
i would have just i’d rather have slept
so this is great news i will now sleep
but here’s this issue
of
failing
this is scripture so i i want to be
careful that i don’t trigger the wrong
message in you
but if i’ve been given an assignment
to pray
and i don’t
it’s as though i did something against
god
the absence the withdrawing from an
assignment is an aggressive posture
against
so why don’t you stand let’s pray
at least in weaverville we used to do
prayer meetings a lot
i we had them for
years
six every morning or five i think five
days a week
and then every friday night
we started with this perimeter started
at 11 at night
because i wanted people to have time
with their families i just want them to
miss sleep not family time
just this
hardcore
in-your-face kind of prayer stuff
and there were times there was a number
of folks there and for a number of years
there were times where nobody showed up
i remember chris one time he led the
prayer meeting for me i was out of town
nobody showed up for that particular
week so he took the microphone and he
was just praying loudly all these he’s
the only one in the room but he’s going
for it you know as though there was a
crowd of thousands i love that
and i love the corporate prayer
gathering i i hope i’m hoping our
schedules are so challenging
our use of facilities is so challenging
i’m hoping at some point we can have a
facility that’s just for corporate
prayer gatherings
it’s if you if you saw
we have a hundred events a year here
constant demand on
every room in the building
and it’s just one of the greatest
challenges and what frustrates me is one
of the greatest cries in my heart is the
corporate prayer meeting
i love agreement and prayer
i guess what i’d like to see
all of us take home
is just this increased
mantle
for prayer
there was actually
there’s actually one particular
so i see if i can find this there’s one
particular
part of this story
i did forget one
i’ll just mention it to you quickly
because it’s it’s just bizarre
this is old testament as well i knew
there was one to do with the presence
it’s a it’s a strange thing it’s this
one phrase is mentioned
maybe
seven or eight times in one chapter and
it was this whole deal they had built uh
the temple of solomon
and the lord was instructing people
listen when you when you get into a
battle when you get into a conflict when
you get in this situation of that
pray towards this house
and that that phrase toward this house
pray and we don’t pray towards buildings
and the lord himself would say there
isn’t a building you can make that i
could inhabit
you know completely and yet he created
this
this system of thought where people
would actually face jerusalem and pray
towards jerusalem why not as a religious
ritual why not because it’s a certain uh
you know it’s east it’s it’s it has a
certain direction a geographical
direction
it’s because god was there
the point is
prayerlessness
accentuates the absence of the awareness
of the presence of god
prayerfulness
heightens
our awareness of presence
it’s not just praying for the big things
it’s the continuous fellowship
it’s that keeps me connected to presence
ongoing presence so that when an urgent
thing comes up
we’re there where instant nc is in
season enough i remember back in the 70s
this guy
was was telling us um
his upstairs uh
bathroom
uh it took forever to get hot water
because the hot water was at the other
end of the house and
it would he’d just have to you know all
this water would go through just trying
to wait for hot water to come and so he
said i found out that if i turned it on
just a little tiny bit at night before i
went to bed it would just just slowly
drip and it would keep hot water ready
so that when i got up the next morning i
would turn it on instantly hot water
that’s what praying in tongues
throughout your day does
that’s that’s what that’s what
that’s what praying in tongue does
that’s what praying ongoing throughout
your day just keeps you connected to
ever-present hot water i’m ready to act
now
all right let’s grab a hand we’re gonna
pray
we’re going to pray for the
prayerfulness
the prayerfulness of christ
to be restored to us as people
the prayerfulness of christ
to be restored to us as people
tell them what you want
ask him to do it to you for you
i’m going to pray over you in a moment
but you pray right now for yourself pray
for the ones on your right and left pray
prayerfulness
prayerfulness
the prayerfulness of jesus
the prayerfulness of christ
the ongoing awareness of presence
the ongoing awareness
of the person of the holy spirit
expand us god in this next season
that there’ll be dramatic increase in
expansion
in our awareness of your presence of
your heartbeat
declare over the one on your right and
left prayerfulness just declare the
prayerfulness of christ is upon you the
prayerfulness of christ say it with
authority the prayerfulness of christ is
upon you the prayerfulness of christ is
upon you
the prayerfulness of christ is upon you
now just hold your hands before the lord
i’m going to pray for you lens father i
do ask that you would release as a gift
over every person
you know what folks i’ve never prayed
for this in my life the prayerfulness of
christ
there’s something in that phrase that’s
supposed to take us into this next
season lord i do pray the prayerfulness
of christ
the unbroken fellowship throughout the
day
between jesus and the father
and the spirit of god who is upon him i
asked for the prayerfulness of christ to
rest upon us
and that we would embark together on
this relational journey in a dimension
that is so new
so exciting so impacting
on every part of our life i pray this
for the honor of the name jesus
everybody said amen amen amen
[Applause]
hi hi ah there we are wow it feels like
such a significant night tonight how
many of you are feeling that in the room
such a timely word just it felt like
every single person that word was for
we’re going to do a fire tunnel tonight
so we’re going to have the ministry team
come up so just while the ministry team
are coming forward
just take a moment
it feels like we’re in such a
significant night i just really want to
encourage you sometimes we’re going to
go through a far tunnel tonight we often
do fire tunnels here i want you tonight
i feel like there’s a grace in the room
to go through the fire tunnel like it’s
your first time don’t get familiar with
the fire tonight come through the the
fight i’m expecting god to radically
touch you there’s just anointing in the
air it’s something in the air tonight so
ministry team are going to come forward
we’re going to have two tunnels
you’ll come down the central aisle and
there’ll be a tunnel to your my my left
and a tunnel to my right
and i will have somebody wonderful from
staff
this handsome man joel power you will
split at his right and left so getting
to form two lines down the central aisle
two lines down the central aisle
and then we’ll have a fire tunnel on my
left
and a fire tunnel on my right staff if
you can just help make sure those
tunnels
are ready to go
i really feel it though there’s just
something