Mike Bickle emphasizes the critical role of intercessory prayer in the global missions movement, asserting that intercession is not a separate activity but central to the work of missionaries. He highlights the growing worldwide prayer movement and the necessity of night and day prayer to bring about justice and transformation in cities. Bickle calls for a new generation of intercessors, likening them to Anna from the Bible, who dedicated her life to prayer and intercession. He stresses that the effectiveness of evangelism and mercy deeds is significantly enhanced when supported by a strong prayer foundation. Ultimately, he encourages believers to embrace their calling as intercessors, as this is vital for the fulfillment of the Great Commission.

Father, we thank you in the name of Jesus for the Word of God, and Lord, I ask you to inspire. I ask you to call forth intercessors to a new place of dedication, a new place of anointing and authority. In the name of Jesus, Amen. Okay, Roman numeral one, the Holy Spirit is orchestrating a worldwide prayer movement. That is happening right now. It's a phenomena around the earth that is really distinct. It was a great blessing a couple years ago. We had Jack Hayford. He hosted a citywide meeting. We had about 50 churches involved, and he came to speak to us. I mean, anytime you can get a Jack Hayford to come to your city, most of you know that name. He is one of the premier statesmen in the body of Christ in America, from that mega church in Van Nuys, California that he's been a part of for so many years. And he came to our city, as far as I know, the only time. And we had, again, about 50 churches, and he opened up. I loved it. I mean, I just could have fallen off my chair in delight. He started something like this. It's not a quote, but it's the idea. This is how, I mean, it's nearly a quote. But he goes like this. He said, if any of you are paying attention, even a little bit. I thought, what's he going to say next? He said, if you're paying attention at all, it's obvious that worldwide, God is orchestrating a new global prayer movement. He goes, if you're even casually watching what's happening on the global landscape, you know that's at the very top of God's list. I said, Jack Hayford, I really like you. I believe that. But having a man as well-traveled as he is, as informed as he is, and his conclusion, with all the understanding he has, that that is probably one of the most discernible trends of the Holy Spirit. I mean, it's more than a trend. It's a movement. He's raising up a prayer movement right now. Now, of course, the folks that would come to a prayer conference, I mean, you're already, you know, a little different. Years ago, you couldn't get people to a prayer conference. Because I used to go to, I never had one, but I used to go to some prayer conferences, a little bit in the 80s, and I mean, if you had 100 people at a prayer conference, you know, you put it in your newsletter, it was a record. And now, prayer conferences are springing up all over the earth with record numbers. I mean, meaning the hunger and the response is only reflecting what God is doing. That's the point. Revelation 5, verse 8, it's one of the verses that we often quote here, because it's the verse that describes the elders around the throne with a harp and a bowl. And, of course, that's a term we use a lot. The harp speaks of worship. Around the throne, the elders have a harp. They have musical instruments in their hand. In heaven, music, musical instruments are a very, very important part of heaven. So, in one hand, they have a harp, they have the music instrument. In the other hand, they have a bowl full of prayer. So, there's intercession and there's worship. And they bring that before the throne. Now, that's not my point right now, to talk about the necessity, I mean, the value of merging worship with intercession. That's a big point on my heart, but that's not my point now. The point I want to focus on in chapter 5, verse 8 of the book of Revelation is that the bowls are full. I want you to notice that. Look at Revelation 5, 8, or here in the notes on letter C. The bowls of intercession are full before the Lord returns. So, one thing you know for sure, well, you know many things for sure, that are in the Word of God. Before Jesus returns, the fledgling prayer movement, it's growing, but it's still weak. It's still weak, it's much stronger than it was 10 years ago, but it's still weak. Before the Lord returns, the prayer movement in the earth will be at such a level, the bowls of prayer will be full in heaven. The bowls of prayer over this nation will be full. They're not full right now, but they're going to be. That one statement, the golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints, the word full is the guarantee that the prayer movement is going to succeed beyond any measure that many of us are even imagining. So, the Lord's stirring a number of you right now. You wouldn't be at this conference if you were not stirred by worship and intercession. The very stirring of your heart is the work of God preparing for the bowls to be full in this nation, or whatever nation God has you in. Now, the prayer movement has many facets to it. We're not imagining, in our little context here, that we can contain more than just a little bit of it. So, we have to become committed to becoming learners and students of all the different prayer and worship streams in the body of Christ. The diversity of what God is giving in this hour is far bigger than what any one ministry can contain. So, people come to me and say, Oh, did you hear what they're doing in Africa? Did you hear what they're doing in Asia? Did you hear what they're doing in South America? And I can be inspired, and I can learn from them. We can do a little bit, but I go, wait. God has not called every prayer meeting in the earth to have all 50 components of what God's giving in the body of Christ. I go, we're just little guys. We can only carry a little bit of it. But if we do a little, you do a little, they do a little, the whole counsel of God in the issue of prayer is brought forth before the Lord returns. So, as we present just what the Lord has given us here, we understand it's only a little bit of the fullness of what God's doing in the earth. And we understand we can't do it all, and we're not trying to do it all. We want to do our part. We want to do the part that God's mandated us, and we want to celebrate and be learners and cheerleaders for all the different models and expression of prayer. Because folks sometimes will come to us, and I love what they're saying. I love the affirmation. Sometimes they'll come and join us, and they'll say, oh, this is the best thing, you know, da-da-da-da-da-da-da. And I'll say, no, no, no, no, no, don't go there. Don't go there. It's the expression of worship intercession that registers with your heart and your calling. I go, there is no such thing as the best thing. There is no such thing as the most anointed. I go, this is what registers with who you are. I said, but let me tell you this. It's all over America. There are different expressions and different dimensions, and it registers with different callings and personalities. And the Lord, like, what's the best instrument in the symphony? There's no such thing. You have to have all the different sections in the symphony for it to come forth. And so even before we start this conference, I just have to always say that. We are just really focused, zealous cheerleaders of any activity of the Spirit and any model of the Holy Spirit's blessing that's totally different than what we're doing because we know that at best, we can only contain a little bit of the vast God in our little dinky little human frames. And so we're committed as cheerleaders, all of us in the body of Christ, for whatever God's doing in intercession anywhere in the earth. Roman numeral two. I talk about the call of intercession as core, as central to the missions movement. And the reason I say that is that I have heard over the years that we call ourselves a missions base here. And we do that very strategically because intercession is essentially a missionary activity. It's what missionaries do. Not only missionaries. Well, in the sense every believer is a missionary in that one general sense. And the reason I say that is because I run into a traditional mindset of what a missionary is. And the traditional mindset of a missionary is somebody that moves to a foreign country and they go on the streets and preach or they go do some outreach thing. And what I want to say is this. That until intercession is understood as core to the missions movement, intercession isn't something on the other side of the kingdom that the missionaries don't do. It is the core reality of the worldwide missions movement is night and day prayer. It's not that missionaries evangelize and intercessors pray. Intercession is the key to evangelism because it changes the very spiritual atmosphere in which the evangelism is done. What God has joined together let no man separate. It is totally foreign to the Bible to think of missionaries as preachers and intercessors as something different. The scripture does not know anything about a missions movement that is not built on night and day prayer. Intercessors are missionaries. And the reason I'm saying this, we have to change our understanding and our language to line up with the word of God. Because in the years I've been doing this, I don't just even mean the last five years, been focused on intercession some years, I constantly run into well-meaning intercessors that say, you know, I used to be a missionary, now I'm an intercessor. I go, don't ever say something that off-base again. There's no such thing as the work of missions. It's not birthed the night and day prayer, at least from a biblical point of view. And the missions movement worldwide has grown accustomed to activity. And many places it becomes activism that's not rooted in prayer. And the Lord is zealous about correcting that paradigm worldwide. And so we're not going to rise up and criticize and say, bah humbug, that's not what we're doing. What we're saying is, we're not separating the ideas. It's critical that all intercessors understand it is fundamental to the nature of world missions to do night and day prayer. So I have here in A, I have three different dimensions of spiritual warfare. Three different dimensions of spiritual warfare that are necessary to restoring the church and finishing the Great Commission. And so this is a shift in some people's thinking. But it's critical we buy into this. Spiritual warfare or missions. Number one, preaching. Or you don't have to necessarily call it preaching. Preaching is involved. Telling others, speaking the gospel with our words. Speaking. The Bible makes it clear, we will never graduate from speaking the word. Number two, everybody knows that's missionaries. There's no problem with that. Everybody says, yeah, yeah, that's clear. Missions are the guys that get on a plane, go far away, go to a nation and speak about Jesus. I go, yes, but that's not all that missions do. Secondly, mercy deeds. If you speak and then you feed their body or build a hospital or teach them to read a literacy program, the words are far more effective if you add mercy deeds. That's self-evident. Everybody knows that sitting in this room. No one had to point that out. Preaching with mercy deeds is far more powerful than mercy deeds without preaching or preaching without mercy deeds. You put those two together, one will put 1,000 to flight, two will put 10,000. There's a synergism. However, throughout 2,000 years of church history, often the missions movement has stopped. Some missions movement are only deeds. Some missions movement is only preaching. And many missions movements join the two together, but that is not enough. Preaching with mercy deeds, phenomenal, biblical, necessary. But you put the prayer furnace in the middle of preaching with mercy deeds and you change the spiritual atmosphere for which the preaching and the mercy deeds are done. The sermon that reached one person with a prayer furnace behind it, the same weak words from the same weak preacher, instead of touching one, will be like a hammer that shatters the rock. It will have power and it will reach multitudes the same message will. Because the atmosphere will be charged with the power of God. The same cup of cold water that moved one person's heart to say, Jesus, you must be real. When the atmosphere, the spiritual atmosphere of the city is different, that same cup of cold water will move many people. Beloved God is joining together, preaching with mercy deeds, with night and day prayer. That's why when we begin this, it's just our little campaign. I'm saying, no, we are a mission space. When people first joined us, they go, I thought we were night and day prayer. I go, that is missionary work. They go, really? How can you do missionary work for China here without going to China? I go, I believe in going and preaching and I believe in going and doing mercy deeds. But we can, right here in our prayer room, we can change Shanghai. We can change the church in China from here in cooperation with other people there. But it's never a question of either or, it's both and. It's praying, preaching, and doing. It's the three together. It's praying, it's preaching, and it's doing. And so I want to challenge your mindset that missions is not missions from the biblical point of view. In fullness, again, I'm happy for everybody doing anything in the name of Jesus. So I'm not like looking at somebody and criticizing that they don't have all three dimensions, but we're aiming together in the body of Christ for all three dimensions brought together. Okay, let's look at Luke chapter 18. Turn to your Bibles to Luke chapter 18, verse 7 and 8. The requirement. Beloved, this is not an option. This verse rocked my life some years ago. The requirement. Here in the notes, Roman numeral 3, underline the word requirement, not suggestion, of night and day prayer for world missions. World missions will not succeed without night and day prayer. I've talked to more missionaries that are aggressive, and some of them are really locked into night and day prayer. Others have strategies of mobilizing people without prayer. And I want to say we cannot succeed to our full degree without prayer furnaces built in the cities of the earth. It's a worthy investment of our time. It's a worthy investment of our money. It's a worthy focus for Bible schools. The task of world missions cannot be done without the requirement of night and day prayer. It's one of the most neglected verses in the missions movement right here, Luke chapter 18. Most of you know the parable. Let's get right to verse 7 and 8 and give the lesson, the point of the parable, without going through the parable. Most of you are familiar with the parable anyway. Jesus answers. Verse 7 and 8. He gives the point of the parable of the widow and the unrighteous judge. And in verse 7 and 8, I'm reading from the New King James. Jesus says, Shall not God avenge His own elect who cry out to Him night and day? It's a question mark. He said, I tell you, He will avenge them speedily. He will avenge them speedily. Now, the word of the new King James, avenge them. And I like the New American Standard translation better on this verse. It says justice. The word avenge or vengeance can ease... Many Bible translations put the word justice. God will release speedy justice when the people cry night and day. Another word you could put, as I have in the notes here, is the word judgment. The Lord is saying this. When the prayers are night and day, I will avenge My people. That's one way of saying it. Another way, when the prayers are night and day, I will release justice on My people. Another way, when the prayers are night and day, I will release judgment for My people. So whether you use the word vengeance, justice, or judgment, it's the identical same idea. But the point I want to focus on, the requirement, the requirement for speedy vengeance or speedy justice is not the suggestion, but it is the reality of night and day prayer. Quote Jesus. I'm quoting the Son of God Himself. Now let's look at the notes here in B. I have this sentence here. It says the two sides of justice or the two sides of vengeance. There is a positive side of God's justice and there is a negative side of God's justice. The negative side is what most people think. When most people think vengeance, judgment, justice, they almost always limit it to the negative dimension. And the negative dimension of justice is God's punishment on rebellion. We think if we pray night and day, God will punish rebellion. We think, okay. But judgment and justice and vengeance does not only have a negative side, it has a positive side. Look at number two. There is a redemption, a deliverance side. It's when God makes wrong things right that's called justice. When God makes wrong things right, that's the positive side of justice. It's restoration. It's redemption. It's deliverance. It's breakthrough. It's divine intervention. Let's turn to page four. Let's look at examples of justice in the positive sense. When God's judgment is positive, when God's justice is positive, when God's vengeance is positive, and those are all synonymous ideas in the context of Luke chapter 18, verse 7 and 8. Paragraph 3a. Healing is God's judgment on sickness. Every time a sick body is healed, that's God's justice breaking out into the natural realm. He's making a wrong thing right. Every time a blind eye is opened, that's God's justice, God's deliverance, God's vengeance on blindness, on sickness. So when Jesus said, they cry out night and day, I will release justice. You could have said this. I mean, you could interpret it this way. If they cry out night and day, I will release divine healing. Because divine healing is one dimension of the positive side of justice. Yes, the negative side of justice is punishment on rebellion, but the positive side of justice is making wrong things right. Another B definition or example, I mean, example better than definition, or another application of justice is revival. When, not if, when a hundred thousand people get saved in the city, we had a visitation from the Lord in 1983, an angelic visitation, and I am taking this to the very last day I have breath on the earth. And the angel of the Lord spoke and said that it is in God's heart to release 300,000 converts in this city. And I believe that a city of 1.5 million, 300,000 converts, we're going to see that kind of number in cities of 1.5 million all over the earth. St. Louis, right down the road, it's 3 million. It's twice the size of Kansas City, the metro area. And it's not like 300,000 is the exact number for every city of 1.5 million. I'm not saying that. But I believe, I believe in God for 600,000 converts in St. Louis. I mean, the numbers will be stunning of what's coming. The numbers will be stunning when God releases revival in your city. And hundreds of thousands, if you live in a major city, if you live in a smaller city, it could be tens of thousands. That is God's judgment on unbelief and darkness. And the Lord says, I will release speedy justice. In your mind, don't just think healings. Think thousands of converts. Think God's judgment on unbelief and darkness in your city. The Lord said, if you cry out night and day, I will release speedy justice. Another application, expression of justice. And there's a number. I'm not trying to give them all. Unity. Unity is God's judgment on the spirit of division. The body of Christ in most cities are so fractured and broken and divided. Not all cities. There's been some real breakthroughs in key cities around the earth. But the normative is for division. Beloved, God plans to bring judgment on division. You know what that looks like? Unified churches in cities. And I don't just mean the Baptists like the Baptists or the Methodists like the Methodists. I mean something more than that. The body of Christ. There's a thousand congregations in Kansas City. More than that. From heaven, though God honors many, I mean, undoubtedly, the vast majority. There's probably a couple of them in there that the Lord says, I don't even know who they are. But the vast majority of the people who name the name of the Lord, the Lord looks down and He sees in our city, like your city, He sees one people in that geographic area. The name on the building doesn't have to be, the names can be different on the building. That doesn't matter. I don't think that offends God that the names are different on the building. That's not a problem. It's the spirit that separates. That's the problem. And the Lord, when the Lord releases a judgment on Kansas City, He's going to release judgment on division. That means a unified church in the Kansas City area or in the city you're from. Another one, we'll give one more, holiness. Holiness is God's judgment on bondage to darkness. We need the justice of God to break in and free believers from pornography, from alcohol, from drug abuse. It's all over the church. From bitterness, from greed, from anger. We need the justice of God that liberates the heart. Jesus said this from Luke 18. It's one of the premier verses in the Bible on the breakthrough of God. Jesus said, I'm going to give you the breakthrough. I'm going to punish rebellion. Yes, you can be sure I will punish rebellion. And you can be sure I will bring redemption where there's brokenness. But I'm only going to do it on the basis of night and day prayer. So look at your city. You can, it's not a hundred percent. It's not like it's an exact science. But I can tell you this. You can measure with some accuracy, not entirely, the next decade of your city by where the prayer movement is in your city right now. You look at the prayer movement in your city, you go, oh. Because the prayer movement in your city today is not an exact measurement, but it's an indication of what's going to happen in the next decade in the spirit in your city. Here's my point. When that connected with my understanding some years ago, it made me passionate. It made me ravenous. Ravenous. I mean, I could not live without a 24-hour prayer house in this city because I said, if the future of Kansas City, if the indication is related to the prayer ministry in our city, it's not like I have to understand the whole prayer ministry. There's prayer ministries all over the city I don't know anything about. There's faithful intercessors tucked away in a closet in a basement that are anointed of God that I never heard of that God still hears. So I can't measure the prayer movement of our city. It's certainly not limited to my experience and my information, but I want to tell you this. The last 20 years that I've been in this city, a little over 20 years, I said, Lord, the prayer movement in Kansas City is so low. It's higher than it used to be, you know, in the 80s and 90s. It's grown from where it was in the 60s and 70s and I honor that. But I want to be a realist. I don't want to just be an optimist like, oh, praise God, isn't everything getting better? I want to be a realist. And I look soberly at the condition of the house of prayer, and I don't mean our thing at all. I'm talking about the condition of the prayer life of the church of Kansas City. And I went, oh, it pained me. Not just because it was low, because it is absolutely related to the future of what will happen in the next 10 years in our city. So here's what I want you to do. I want you to look at your city. I want you to look at our nation. And if you're looking with real eyes of reality, not starry-eyed optimism, not muddy-eyed pessimism, but wide-eyed realism, if you're looking at the prayer ministry in America, it's definitely growing. It's definitely growing. But, beloved, it's still very, very weak. But it's growing stronger. We're still in ICU as a nation. The church in America is still in the ICU unit. But at least we're not on death row right now. I believe we've increased in 10 or 20 years. Clearly, the prayer movement has gone forward, but we're still in ICU on all kinds of life support systems. We're still not in a place where we are a threat to the onslaught of darkness, but we're going to be. The Lord's going to get us out of the ICU unit. He's going to get us on a good, healthy diet, on a workout program, and we are going to be a giant awakened from our slumber. We'll be the fiercest opposition to the powers of darkness before this thing's over. Though I really believe that. It's not going to mysteriously happen one day while the church of America continues its spiritual couch potatoes, hoping somebody else does it. And it's not going to happen by getting off the couch. I think the body of Christ in our nation is mostly addicted to potato chips on a remote control on a couch with all kinds of doctrines that reinforce their comfort, pleasure, and spiritual sloth. There's seminars all over America that will reinforce pleasure, comfort, and spiritual sloth. And the image I have of most of church in America on a couch with a remote control with bags of potato chips and a bunch of coke, not even diet coke, just coke. You know, kind of confessing the sovereignty of God. God will do it. God will do it. The Lord says, I will do it, but I will do it with your cooperation. And if I have to turn the lights out myself to get you off the couch, I will. That's what the book of Revelation is about. The Lord is going to turn the lights off. We were worried about Y2K. There's a global Y2K. It's in the book of Revelation called The Seals, The Trumpets, and The Bowls of Wrath. He's going to unplug some things and he's going to get the church off the couch and go, oh, wow, okay, let's do it. Although the truth is, I think the church is going to be up and going before even then. I really do. Though I feel very optimistic, I feel boldness in my spirit. I feel, I mean, boldness in terms of confidence. I go, oh, man, what a time to be alive. This is truly our finest hour. But, beloved, I am not in my optimism and confidence. I am not living in some unreality that suddenly God is going to end up, after all, being an American. He's not an American. He is the King of Heaven. He's not going to become an American, a 21st century American. The church is going to become like the King of Heaven. It's going to go the other way around. And I want to say this strongly, not because I'm in, you know, I'm fully in the prayer movement, because that's what I do. It's my 24-hour day occupation or whatever. I mean, it's my full-time occupation. So I'm not for this because I'm in IHOP. I'm in IHOP because I'm for this. I left my ministry because I saw this and made a radical change in my life. I looked at our city. And I said, Lord, this is depressing. I know the bowls are going to be full. And I know the next decade of a city is related to its present prayer ministry. Again, it's not a perfect science that you can measure exactly because there's always divine surprises. But as a rule, wherever the prayer ministry in your city is now, it is going to set at least the pace for the next five or ten years in your city. And I said, I am utterly pained over the lethargic, powerless prayer ministry in the church. Although there could be some exceptions. Again, tucked away in a basement, tucked some little godly lady in a closet with her best friend crying out. I mean, there's always those annas tucked away. But I'm talking about we need tens of thousands of fiery intercessors in the city and in the major cities of the earth. The Lord's answer is, I am going to get the church out of the couch potato status in America. I'm going to get them off the couch and out of their spiritual sloth. And all these deceptive doctrines that are reinforcing the culture of pleasure and entertainment in the church with the smile of God and promises of prosperity. I believe in prosperity. But prosperity has been significantly redefined for a 21st century culture of pleasure and entertainment. The very holy I mean, holy invitation of prosperity has been significantly redefined by Americans. It does not move the government of heaven at all. They are holding with their definition, not the American definition. Prosperity is biblical, but our view of it is really off in my point of view. I'm talking about the general view of prosperity in our nation in the kingdom of God. It's mostly about pleasure and comfort. And prosperity is real, it's coming, economic prosperity, but it's about funding the Great Commission, the prayer movement, and the fame of the name of Jesus. Not about getting bigger and better in my own little operation. I don't mean bigger and better is always wrong. That's not what I'm saying. But I'm saying the spirit of where our nation is is in significant deception related to the doctrine of prosperity. You might say that and one guy goes, prosperity is of God. I go, absolutely. But the biblical definition of it is of God, not the other. So I look at our nation and oh man, the prayer the prayer waters are getting deeper. They're still thin. We're still in ICU. We really still are in ICU. Right now when the church prays, mostly, not entirely, mostly though, I'm just being straightforward. It's not politically correct, but I believe it's biblically accurate. In Acts 19, I mean, what am I going to say next? In Acts 19, the demon came to the seven sons of Sceva to try to cast out this demon. This demon came out and said, Jesus we know, Paul we know, who are you? Just beat these guys up. I'm going to say something that's not, I'm not going to say it precisely right. Right now, mostly, not entirely, mostly, the demon principalities look at the Church of America and they go, Jesus we know, Paul we know, the book of Acts church we know, we know the underground church in China, but who are you guys? And I mean, it's making some impact. We are increasing, but it's barely moving the powers and principalities. It's moving, but barely. You know why? Because the church is living so much in unity with the darkness of the demons they're trying to drive out. You cannot live in unity with demons and go to prayer meetings and ask the demons to move. They go, you've got to be kidding. You're the one that's inviting us by the way you live. I'm in a prayer meeting. I always go to Friday night prayer meeting. You can't go to Friday night prayer meeting, shout for 30 minutes or an hour, and drive out the demons we invite in by our lifestyle the other six days. And I believe that the demons are saying the great powerful powers and principalities in the demonic realm. They're saying, Jesus we know, Paul we know, we know the book of Acts, we definitely know the underground church in China, and we know some others, but who are you guys in America? You are inviting us more than repelling us. The man-pleasing doctrines filling the pulpits, ear-tickling sermons, spirit of sloth, the perverse doctrines of prosperity, immorality, pride, spiritual superficiality. But a few prayer meetings are growing. I see us. We're out of the death chambers, but we're still in ICU. We're not strong enough to even get a workout machine yet. But we're going to be. This thing is waking up. This church in America is waking up. It's slow. But it's not going to be automatic. It's not just, well God said it, I believe it, that settles it. God says, I said it, you better believe it. Now I'm going to, I'm going to wake you up, and then it will be settled. Like, ooh, we forgot one step. God settles it. God said it. That settles it. He's going to wake me up, and I believe it. There you go. There's an extra step. But beloved, we're not those, we're not those that want to be taken and thrown against the wall to be woken up. We're saying, we're weak, we're spiritually immature, we love you God, we're sincere. We don't want to have to be shaken to the core. We want to wake up because the Word of God has touched our spirits. We want to wake up on our own because we love you. Beloved, I'm watching houses of prayer spring up all over. They're little, they're weak, they're barely surviving, but beloved, there are a whole lot more of them today than there was five years ago. And it's good. And I'm encouraged. But I'm not so encouraged that I'm not sober about the need to get urgency into the intercessors. I mean, most of the folks I know that said yes to intercession still got a big stronghold, a big foot of their life still in darkness playing around with all kinds of superficial, on the edges compromises in their life. I mean, the ones that said yes to intercession, they said, I believe it. I'm a house of prayer. I'm going all the way. They're still dabbling in darkness a good portion of the seven days of their life. But it's still better than it used to be. It really is. You guys can't figure it out if I'm encouraged, discouraged, or just, you know, a little confused. I'm encouraged. I'm encouraged. We're not. We're not in death, in the chamber of death, but we're still in ICU. And we're going to get out of ICU. And then we're going to get healthy. Then we're going to change our diet. The body of Christ in America is about to regurgitate this last 20 to 30 years of sweetness that we've lived on. We've just been eating sugar for near 30 years as the church in this nation. Nearly. Not entirely. But nearly. We're going to start working out. Working out is called fasting, prayer, humility, self-denial, bearing the cross, taking a stand, pressing into God's heart. That's what I mean by working out. Doing that workout daily. Sermon on the Mount. God says, I will release justice to the earth. Oh, I love it. I will punish darkness and I will release healing, holiness, revival, unity. When I hear the cry from the cities of night and day prayer, I will break in with justice as the Lord. Look at C. On the notes here. Page 4. I call Jesus the ultimate social reformer. The King of Justice. He was the first social reformer ever who his main platform, his main political platform, if I can call it that. He got up and they said, Okay, Jesus, you say you got the answer to reform the earth, that you're a king. Okay, what's your, what's your big platform? What are you basing your campaign on? He said, Well, here's the deal. Night and day prayer is critical. There has never been a social reformer who stressed night and day prayer as key to reformation. All the great social reformation movements of history. Not one of those guys got up and said, If you fast and pray a lot, that's critical. Jesus might have, they might have raised their eyebrows at him and said, You're a little bit fanatical. But he could have said, I know for a fact when the prayers go night and day, the justice will break forth from heaven and societies will be reformed. But not before this. Not before this. He requires it. So I want you to look at your city. And, of course, 99% of us in this room, we look at our city, the prayer ministry of our city, and we go, I don't want to look at that. That makes my heart hurt. And the Lord might say something like, That's the point. I want your heart to hurt a little bit. Because the next 5 or 10 years in your city is dynamically related to the spirit, the health of the prayer movement in your city right now. Again, God has surprises all the time. You never know when suddenly God's going to come. But as a rule, the next 5 or 10 years in this city, again, it's related to the health of the prayer movement right now in this city. That's not that great a news for me right now. I look at that and go, Oh, Lord, please do this suddenly. You never know when God, He does this suddenly when you least expect it. Now, let's not look at your city. Let's look at your life now. Let's not look at how well the city is moving that you're from. I want to talk about your personal life. Are you doing it? Well, not as much as I want. If the city did it, I'd do it more. If everybody else did it, I'd do it more. You know, the truth is, that's actually true. You would do it more if the city did it. I find that when people come and they join in with what we're doing here, they had, many of them, had a dream of living a life of prayer and their prayer life doubles and triples just by being around people who pray. But still, I'm not, though I love IHOP with a passion, I talk to IHOP very candidly. I talk to our staff on a regular basis, real candidly. I go, guys, you are the greatest people on the planet, but we're not near as deep as some of us imagine we are. We're still pretty weak and we're still pretty immature, but we're a lot further than we used to be and most of the people that jumped in, actually they double and triple their prayer life. That's awesome. The downside is their prayer life was so low that even double and tripling it isn't that great yet. But I'm happy because we're going forward. And I'm watching this at IHOP and again, IHOP doesn't matter. This is not the name or the organization. It's not the model. None of that. I don't care about that. When I mean IHOP, I'm almost always, I'm talking about the prayer movement in a city no matter what the name of it is. When I look at the prayer movements of the cities, you know, Southern California, New York, the prayer movements in Florida. Florida needs a history in prayer for the last 10 years. They need it today. You can't get a history today in the last 10 years. And I don't mean that what's happening today is because there isn't one in the last 10 years or a minimal one. That's not my point. But my point is when tragedy strikes and things are shaking everywhere, we can't get a 10 year prayer history because tragedy hits. We get a 10 year prayer history by doing 10 years of prayer. Things will shake in many places. I'm not picking on Florida. Things will shake everywhere. Scripture says that everything that can be shaken will. And many, many places people will say, Oh, that we would have got serious 10 years ago. But there are going to be a number of cities in America. I believe a number of them. 10, 20, 30, 40, 50. I don't know. But hopefully a bunch more who are going to say, You know what, Lord? We've been pressing into this thing the last 5 or 10 years. But we start today. Let's not worry about yesterday. Let's start today. Look at the next passage. I'm just going to go a couple more minutes and I'm not going to go real long. I've already gone quite a while. Roman numeral 4. Isaiah 62, 6. If you don't have the notes, go ahead and look at that. Isaiah 62, 6. Here's the Lord's promise. Now this promise is actually in context to the second coming of Christ. If you understand Isaiah 60, 61, 62, in its context, what did the Lord mean when He gave this promise? He's talking about the time frame related to the second coming. Just before and just after actually. He said this. And I believe we're in that time frame now. I believe there are people in this room that will see the coming of the Lord with their eyes. I've said this for some years that we may be 50 years out or we may be 5 years out. I don't know. For 5 or 50, I think we're closer to 50 than 5. But nobody in heaven really cares about my opinion on this point. They like me up there but they don't really care about my opinion. I don't get a vote on that. They go, hey, we really like you but your vote didn't count. Not on that one. I think we have some decades. I really do. Because I know this. The Lord's not coming until the prayer ministry is hot. And it's not hot. It's hot in a few places in Asia. It's hot in a few places in Africa. A few places in South America. Few, not a lot, but a few. It's definitely increasing. One of the great signs of the times is the prayer movement. Because the bowls have to be full before He returns. So someone says He might come any day. I go, absolutely. He is not coming any day. I promise you that. They go, that's a little bold, a little arrogant. I go, no, no, no. Until the prayer movement is fully on fire, He will not come. Because He comes when the Spirit and the bride cry come globally under the anointing in unity. And the church globally is not crying come and they have very little understanding globally of Jesus as a bridegroom. One of the great signs of the times, the indications of the Lord's return, is that the church is crying out, Come Lord! There's an anointing of intercession all over the body of Christ. And though the intercession is clearly growing, it is not at all something prevailing in a dominant way worldwide. It's definitely increasing. But it's not a dominant anointing that is being embraced by the whole church yet. Until the, Revelation 22, 17, until the bride, the church says, Come! That's intercession. Until they're crying, Come! In unity globally. I mean the vast majority. He's not coming. He's not coming in a vacuum. He's coming in response to a people on the earth crying out, Come! So they said, Well, it's a little bold for you to say He's not coming any day, any hour. I said, No, He would break the Scripture if He did. He will only come when globally they cry, Come! And He will only come when the cry, Come! is rooted in a bridal revelation. A bridal identity. And though clearly the message of the bride of Christ is increasing. You can see it everywhere. But it's increased like from 1% to 2%. I mean it's doubled in the last 10 years. But it's still vast majority of the church has no understanding of bridal identity and no anointing of intercession. So I want to submit this to you. He's not coming until a church with a bridal identity is hot in intercession. And then He will come in answer to a people not in a vacuum but to a people. And He will bring justice when He comes. And it will be night and day crying out. Prayer furnaces will be burning night and day across the earth. There's no greater place to invest your time, your energy, your money, your strength than in the prayer ministry in your city or in the nations of the earth. I mean it's again it's breaking out everywhere. But it's still it's still little but I love it because it's clearly distinctly stronger than it was 10 years ago and I love it. Jesus said I mean the Lord said in Isaiah 62 I have set watchmen on your wall O Jerusalem they will never hold their peace night and day. They're going to cry out these watchmen are intercessors. God is right now setting watchmen on the wall the wall of intercession. The reason you're at this conference many of you are in the process of being set in place by God with an anointing of intercession and a bridal identity. God said oh this is one of my favorite verses in the whole Bible it's that word set. Lord says I'm going to take these people that have no idea about intercession and I'm going to set them. I'm going to sovereignly put them in the place and give them a revelation and an authority of intercession and they're going to move things in the spirit and justice will be released to the earth. These set watchmen we're weak and broken people except the grace of God strengthens us and even in the grace of God I have areas in my life I say Lord strengthen me and help me. So I'm not talking about these superheroes I'm talking about weak and broken people under the anointing just like you. People like us. What's happening in your life right now? God is in the process of setting you on the wall. Some of you are going to be released into this thing full time. That's why we call them full time missionaries. We call them intercessory missionaries. Look at Luke I'm going to end with this verse. Look at Luke chapter 2 verse 37. Luke chapter 2 well let's look at 36 to 38. Look at the whole thing. Luke chapter 2 verse 36 Now there was one Anna a prophetess Luke chapter 2 verse 36 The daughter of Phenuel of the tribe of Asher she was of a great age. She lived with her husband seven years from her virginity. This woman was a widow of about 84 years. She did not depart from the temple or you could put the house of prayer that's what it was in her context but she ministered to God with fasting and prayer day and night night and day. She started in her mid 20s she's now in her mid 80s. This is amazing isn't it? From her mid 20s to her mid 80s. Verse 38 And coming in that instant she gave thanks to the Lord and she spoke of Jesus to all who look for redemption in Jerusalem. Verse 38 She spoke of Jesus to all in Jerusalem who came by the temple because she was always at the temple. The first evangelist in the New Testament is the woman Anna. She spoke of Jesus she spoke of Him to all. The baby Jesus the infant is in the temple she sees Him and she goes I've been talking about Him to everybody. Now notice the first evangelist verse 38 she is an intercessor verse 37 Anna is the premier example in the New Testament days in the early church I mean in the you know ancient first century. She is the premier example of the promise I just read in Isaiah 62. Isaiah 62 God said I'm going to set watchmen on the wall. 700 years later Isaiah wrote that about 700 B.C. 700 years later this lady is on the wall in Jerusalem for 60 years in intercession. I'm sure the Lord looked down at her and said Anna do you realize that you're fulfilling Isaiah 62 6 do you even know that you're written up in the Bible? I bet when Anna stood before the Lord she goes man I never even connected the dots I didn't even know I was one of those Isaiah 62 6 people well think about it Anna you can see her and the Lord talking how many years have you been doing this? Anna says 60 Lord says no no I saw you when you started even before you were widowed I'd say about 70 Lord's editing process is so nice He's so much nicer than we are she goes wow He goes you did that 60 to 70 years Anna I set you there Anna why do you think your heart couldn't let go of this thing? I don't know every time I wanted to quit my heart just every time I was ready to quit something inside of me just kept me going let me tell you Anna you were a set watchman that I promised and I believe as Anna was critical at the first coming of Christ Anna was critical her prayers were were not just nice they were important in the purpose of God at the first coming we're asking the Lord not from here for sure I mean just sovereignly to raise up a million full time Annas in the earth before the second coming because as this Anna and she undoubtedly had a couple little fire of God friends couple of them old ladies you know praise God you know they I mean they would have struck terror in the corridors of hell these three or four little Jewish women I mean crying out with the faith in their heart I mean they didn't it wasn't even the new covenant yet this little guy I just picture of all about four or six Jesus come you know devil come out or I'm coming in after you and we're going to throw you out personally I can just picture these little gals I'm sure that's not what they said that's crazy but anyway beloved I believe with all of my heart as Anna and her little group of friends it doesn't say she had it but that's just the Lord's way I'm sure she wouldn't all by herself 60 years in fasting and prayer as critical as Anna was at the first coming the Anna anointing the Anna calling is critical at the second coming and it's an arbitrary number I'm not claiming to have this by revelation I said Lord a million that's just a good number to start with I think the number is bigger than that and I don't mean from here someone said you're going to raise up a million I go no no not us we're just little little weak little peanut people you know God loves us we love God no not from here just sovereignly raise up a million intercessors Lord a million I don't mean that go to the Thursday morning prayer meeting that's not what I'm talking about I'm talking about a million who do it full time full time intercession is my full time occupation I pastored for 25 years I pastored to 3,000 member church the Lord said resign it lay it down go I raised my own support like a missionary like they do all over the world missionaries have done that for years and there's 400 of us now we're gathered together and there's houses of prayer raising up everywhere like missionaries they raise their own support they do preaching mercy deeds and night and day prayer we're just the beginning of the beginning some of them call them IHOPs some of them call them something else we couldn't care less what they call them as long as they do it when I mean Anna's I don't mean someone who goes to the Thursday morning prayer meeting or the Friday night when I'm talking about people who do it hours a day five and six and seven days a week for years that's what I mean by Anna's I am an Anna the Lord told me years ago your primary calling is intercession and though I pastored for some years I told the people from the very first sermon after I pastored 18 more years by the very first sermon that I started the church I told them I am an intercessor first and I quoted Isaiah 8 I mean Isaiah 62 this very verse and I quoted Luke 18 I said one of these days I'm going to do that first and the church grew from 5 to 10 to 100 to 3,000 people and the Lord says you're done with it now go do what I've called you to do lay it aside and go do 24 hour prayer I believe God's calling Anna's some of you are in businesses some of you in the marketplace some of you in ministries some of you whatever it is the greatest privilege in my life to have laid that down to go do this absolute the smartest thing I've ever done in my life I love it number one though it's hard but in the economy of heaven there's nothing more powerful than the night and day prayer to affect the shift in the spirit of things of human history there's a shift in the spirit going to be affected by night and day prayer now the problem that some of you are having it's a good problem is that you are Anna's you're Anna's but you don't have language for it this Anna calling is not limited to it's male men or women young or old it's a calling it's an anointing it's an Anna calling it's an Anna anointing to do it full time it's a full time thing I believe there's an anointing you don't have to do it full time but the Anna's will do it full time before it's over and I'm asking God for a million and then make it two million then ten million whatever the numbers I don't care about the numbers but it's vast all over the earth full time Anna's calling out for the second coming now the Anna's aren't the only ones that will pray because God's gonna the Anna's are a catalyst God wants the whole church of Kansas City praying but I'm asking God for five thousand Anna's full time in the city to be a catalyst like a gas station throwing a little bit of gas on the intercessory fires of the church of the city IHOP isn't the prayer ministry of the city we're a gas station to throw a little gas on the church of Kansas City's prayer ministry IHOP's are catalysts they're not the whole church the whole ministry of a prayer of a church people ask me that all the time because I guess they're all confused they go wow what's it like carrying the burden for the church in your city I go we don't there's thousands of intercessors that don't even know about us we don't know about them I go we're just a catalyst it's important but we're not the whole deal there's no prayer ministry is the whole deal I said you don't even need to go down that dumb little path just we're a catalyst we're helping out we're fanning the flame that's already got started in prayer now some of you are called to be Anna's and you're pastoring others of you call to be Anna's you're in business others you call to be Anna's you're every walk of life you know I don't want to go down the 25 list of walks of life but you're Anna's and here's the problem you've tried every ministry of the church but you're a square peg in a round hole Anna's are diligent you know fiery servants and they try this they try they try everything but their spirit they're called to night and day prayer and they're a square peg in a round hole and what the Lord is doing to the Anna's they are so frustrated because there's something they were created for they have no outlet for it well the guy says I gave you the Wednesday night meeting down in the basement you get the whole church basement both of you I mean what else more do you want I gave you the keys threw you some crackers I mean what else do you want you have the church basement on Wednesday night you both make it nearly every week the Lord's gonna take the prayer movement out of the church basement on Wednesday night wherever and he's gonna put it in the stadiums of the cities I you mark my word it's gonna happen it's not gonna just be the I mean we got Billy Graham coming next month and we're totally excited we're praying for it but it's not gonna as glorious as that is and we love this it's not just the Billy Graham crusades we're gonna see the night and day fasting prayer solemn assemblies in the stadiums that's what's happening in Africa South America that's what the call did under Lou Engel and and Cheyenne and others they went to seven different stadiums and had you know 40 50 60,000 in Washington DC they had 400,000 and New York 70 80,000 just the fast and pray and worship the thing is going to the stadiums it's a bunch of you in this room Uranus Lord says I'm gonna I'm gonna release you to do this thing full-time maybe it won't be for five years I don't know but your anus and you're you're a square peg trying to fit it around hole your spirits frustrated because you know that you know that you know this is what your destiny is some of you may be 20 some of you may be 80 some men some women male female old young it's a calling and an anointing and it's real and justice will not be released until the anus are released in the cities of the earth amen we're gonna end with that let's stand I'm gonna I'm gonna ask any of you in this room you say you know what it's in my heart to do this thing full-time I'm not doing it full-time I don't know when I don't know where I don't know how I don't have a clue about that if there's no way in the natural but it's in my heart I would love to do this full time there's 24 hour per thing in the city God sends me to that's in your heart I would like you to come and stand up on these lines here we're gonna pray for you if you would like prayer just from all over the room the Anna calling the anointing against some of you may be 20 we got 15 year old anus we got some young men and women around here that are 14 15 they are as serious about night and day prayer like aren't they cute they're not cute they're serious it's real they're not cute it's real I tell you the devil is more focused on the youth movement emerging in the earth that's serious about fasting and prayer he does not like this at all it's trouble because night and day prayer is what's gonna lose justice in the earth nothing besides that it will I mean other things will work with it but it will not happen without night and day prayers what I'm trying to say let me say it right this justice will not come without night and day prayer won't just come out of the air in a vacuum it will come related to night and day prayer let's just lift our hands do what you want to do but just get in a posture of receiving for the Lord father father I ask you I have the ministry to worship team come on out although they might have slipped out cuz I know they're gonna be back at 7 so maybe they're or any anybody any I hop worship leader come on up here even if you're not leading the team because I think the team slipped out to get ready to come back tonight father I ask you right now I ask you to release I ask you to release a word of confirmation to their spirit even in this three-day conference tonight in a dream next week next month I asked for a clear word that the devil cannot steal from their spirit ever ever Lord you gave me a clear word some years ago and by the grace of God somehow it did the devil could not get it and it stayed true I ask you for a word that cannot be stolen thank you I ask you for a word of clarity that this is their calling that no power of darkness can steal it and no religious spirit of the church can talk them out of it I ask you to release it Lord to now I'm gonna ask the rules of our conferences are if you've been trained back home in ministry time we just take your word for it because we have plenty of leaders anyway so if anything weird happens we 99% catch it so if you're if you're not part of Kansas the thing here but you've been trained in praying for people back home and you want to help us you're invited whether it's our conferences here or when you visited I hop and we say ministry team you're on it if you're loved Jesus born-again believer love Jesus you've been trained on how to pray for the sick etc or ministry altar whatever you call it then come on and help us because what the Holy Spirit does more with the church praise for the church when when when a human being that loves Jesus born-again lays the hand on another human being the Holy Spirit gives more if we do that so I want to invite you to come on up and help me if you would yeah just a bunch of you don't even wait for me to call you just come stand in front of them one thing I ask you to do when you pray stand in front of them not behind them and just kind of give a background stand in front of them so they can actually hear you and just say Lord release your hand you don't have to say some fancy prayer the Holy Spirit's not impressed I mean he's a lot smarter than us so he's not going wow what a prayer just pray Lord help help Lord touch him nothing fancy just Lord touch him Lord release your power right now release your power release the cry of the Anna into their spirit I ask you Lord now Lord release an anointing I'll ask you to release an anointing release an authority an authority in the name of Jesus