In this sermon, the speaker reflects on the loving kindness and praise of the Lord, emphasizing the importance of acknowledging and sharing what God has done in our lives. The speaker shares a personal testimony and encourages others to testify about answered prayers and experiences with God. The sermon transitions from teaching to preaching, with the speaker expressing a sense of obligation to share what God has revealed to them. The speaker highlights the gift of life and the need to cherish and fulfill God's purpose for our lives, contrasting it with the emptiness and dissatisfaction of living according to worldly ways. The sermon also explores the attributes of the Trinity and encourages the congregation to attribute their experiences of God's power and cleansing to Him.

Pretty full and he said, I don't see how there's any time that I'll have for you. I said, okay, appreciate your moment and sorry to bother you. And I went back on to my room. I said, told the wife, I said, well, he doesn't have any time for me. And I said, but at least I followed through, at least I tried. You know, nothing worse than not trying, isn't there? You know, I see people that talk themselves out of just about anything. And they don't even make an effort to do it. And so next morning down in the breakfast line and he comes up behind me and grabs ahold of my arm. And he says, brother, he said, I've got lunch open. Why don't you and your wife and your children come be with me and my wife and we'll have a time to talk for that hour. And I said, well, tremendous, answer prayer, wonderful. So I spent the lunch time with them and a lot of dialogue back and forth. And he gave me some direction and some words and counsel and I greatly appreciated that. And the last words that he said to me was that he said, he said, I'm going to put you in my prayer notebook and I'm going to pray for you. Now, many of you are sitting here. You've heard those words before. I'm going to pray for you. And you knew that they never prayed for you. Good intentions. Yes. Good motive. Yes. But they never followed through with it. Judgment seat of Christ, the Ravenhill was talking about. I said, won't it be awful when the books are open and it said, you said you was going to pray for that person. How many times did you pray for them? Twice? Wouldn't that be awful in the accountability? So he said that. He said, I'm going to pray for you. And I said, oh, thank you, thank you. And here's a man, he sees thousands of people, conferences and things like that. And so I thought it was done. Well, four years went by and we was at the Southern Baptist Convention and he was at the book signing table with his daughter that they had just wrote a book. And so I looked at my wife. I said, let's go reintroduce ourselves. Because there's no possible way that he remembers us. Four years later. And so as I went up to him and my wife and children, we now had seven of the eight. So we had added a few on since that time. And I stuck out my hand to say to him, Mr. Hunt. And he said, Dan Bizer from West Virginia. And I know my mouth hit the floor. And he called my wife by name. And he called the first three kids by name. I was spellbound. I said, how did you do that? He said, do what? I said, how do you remember me? I'm up in the hills of West Virginia. I said, you know, how do you remember me when you meet thousands of people? He said, I told you I was going to pray for you every day. And I prayed for you every day. Well, my prayer life exploded with that concept. I call it specific intentionally prayer. You know, you can call terminology what you want. But I find for most people is that they like to pray, especially the church, likes to pray generally. They don't like to pray specifically. And they don't like to pray intentionally about specific things. They allow for their own self-conceptions to guide, lead, and direct them. I wanted to pull these verses here. I wanted to give you that account so that you understand a little bit about where I'm going to go. I'm not going to preach so much this afternoon as I'm going to teach a little bit. And then this evening I'm going to preach. But I wanted to share with you from that experience some of the things that God has been showing and revealing. Because it is, as I said this morning, is that I feel God has given me something that has benefited and blessed me. I feel obligated to share it with you that some of you might take it. Some of these things you probably are already doing, and that's tremendous. But I want us to be very scrutinizing of our prayer lives this afternoon. I want us to talk a little bit about where we're at and where we're going with our prayer lives. Because the reason that revival really has not come is because the church hasn't prayed for it. They haven't sought the face of God. They haven't labored in prayer. And so we read these accounts and Scriptures that tell us about things that we're supposed to be doing that we're not doing. And as Richard preached and said, the house of prayer is not the house of prayer. And one of the things in Broken Before the Throne that we've seen and experienced over the last several years is that pastors come into those conferences in times of confession. And I'm not going to deal with confession today. But in the times of confession is that pastors are saying, I have no prayer life. I have no Bible time. I have no alone time with God. Well, there's the answer to a lot of the problems, isn't it? And so it is that the pastor doesn't have a prayer life. Well, guess what the church doesn't have? They don't have a prayer life. And so the sin of prayerlessness is the root of all of this. And so I want to give you some of these things today that, as I said, that it's been a blessing to me and a help to me and I hope that it will be for you. I'd like to look first in Luke chapter 18. And we read this account of the diligence of prayer. We know these verses, and as we read this here, we begin reading in verse 1. And He spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray and not to faint. And there was in a city a judge which feared not God, neither regarded man. And there was a widow in that city, and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of my adversary. But he would not for a while, but afterwards he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man, yet because this widow troubles me, I will avenge her, lest by her continually coming she weary me. And the Lord said, Hear what this unjust judge says, And shall not God avenge his own elect which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, shall he find faith on the earth? Continually coming. And I ask a lot of times in conferences and the prayer times that we have, is to say personally to each of us here, what is your prayer life really like? You know, when I come off of that experience with T.W. and one of the things that he told me, he said, Get you a notebook, and he said, Begin to record the things that God says to you, he says, Because as much as you might think that your mind is good, he said, there's no way that you're going to remember everything. So he said, write it down and keep it. And so, I thought, do you have a good prayer life? The question if somebody was to ask me at that particular time, I would have said, Yes. I'm a praying man. I believe in prayer. I practice prayer. And so, let's see if the proof is in the pudding. Let's record our prayer times. Let's diligently seek for a moment is to say, How many hours, aside from the three hours that we was gathered here this morning, how many hours did you spend before you got here in the presence of the Lord? Now, it would be nice if I would be able to say to these guys that lead music, is to say, Why don't you all come lead us in sweet hour of prayer? I never sing that in our churches, unless we spend a sweet hour in prayer. First Sunday of every month, we cancel Sunday school classes out, and we congregate from children right on up. The babies are in the nursery, but from the children on up, we are gathered in the sanctuary for our hour of Sunday school, and we're praying and crying out to God. A house of prayer, a time of prayer, an intentional moment of prayer. And only on those particular Sundays, because I've realized and know the fact and the truth of most people's lives, is that even though they'd like to pray more, and know that they need to pray more, they don't pray more. Too busy, too much on our schedules, too many other things happening, and we don't become intentional about it. And so we miss out on that opportunity. So I began to record my prayer times. I wrote down the day, I wrote down the time frame, and I began to record for a month, to see how consistent I was in a 30 day period of a month. How consistent am I really? And you know, I come up at the end of that calendar month, is that I had a lot of missing days. I had a lot of inconsistency. I wasn't really crying out to God as I thought that I was, and that if I was asked in honesty, I thought that I was, but in evidence on the paper there, it wasn't happening. And so I began to change that. I mean, not just to become rigorous at it, as to say I'm fulfilling my religious responsibility, but because my heart was crying after God, and I knew by all the saints that I've read and shared with you over the last day and a half, is to tell you that there is no other secret in revival or prevailing with God than through prayer. It's got to be that we're based on this as crying out to God saying, this is my heart. This is my life. And I used, and I'll show it here in a few moments, but Samuel Chadwick probably said it best. He said a prayer life is a life that prays. And it is that as we're crying out for revival, is that you and I, with our hearts bent on the same purpose and desire, is to have a life of prayer. Psalm 109, I give myself unto prayer. And so we read this account here in Luke where he says, and it was continually, day and night, making the petition, making the request. And yet the saddest fact of all in North America is that the prayer movement, the prayer times have decreased and been canceled out. And it is that when you go into the times of families and their prayer times, they're known void. And when you go into the pastor study and into the leadership of the church and you go into their prayer times, God bless us as we get ready to go with this. And the holiness of God does not prevail. I'd like for you to look over here at Acts 12 and read this and then I'll begin with the prayer notebook. We read in this account here is that Herod, verse 1, the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church. So he killed James the brother of John with the sword, because he saw that it pleased the Jews. He proceeded further to take Peter also. Then were the days of unleavened bread. And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison. And he delivered him to four quaterians of soldiers to keep him, intending that after Easter to bring him forth to the people. Peter, therefore, was kept in the prison. But prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him. And R.A. Torrey writes it that the church was stretched outedly towards God. And when Herod would have brought him forth the same night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers bound with two chains, and the keepers before the door kept the prison. And behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him and a light shined in the prison. And he smote Peter on the side and he raised him up saying, Arise up quickly! And his chains fell off from his hands. The angel said unto him, Gird thyself and bind on thy sandals. And so he did. And he saith unto him, Cast thy garment about thee and follow me. And he went out and he followed him and he wist not that it was true which was done by the angel, but thought that he saw a vision. And when they were past the first and the second ward, they came unto the iron gate that leans unto the city, which opened to them of his own accord. And they went out. And as Peter knocked at the door of the gate, a damsel came to hearken, named Rhoda. And when she knew Peter's voice, she opened not the gate for gladness, but ran in and told how Peter stood before the gate. And they said unto her, Thou art mad. Have you ever been called crazy? But she constantly affirmed that it was even so. And then said they, It is his angel. But Peter continued knocking. And when they had opened the door and they saw him, they were astonished. But he beckoning unto them with the hand to hold their peace, declared unto them how the Lord brought him out of the prison. And he said, Go, show these things unto James and to the brethren. And he departed and went into another place. We see a beginning here of this with an answer to prayer. But it is that verse 5 that I read through. Prayer was made without ceasing. And I know that you would only be here on an afternoon like this because as we talk about revival coming to Victoria. Revival coming down upon the Revival Conference. Prayers have been offered up. There are groups and there are churches and there are people that have said, Oh, remember in prayer the Revival Conference. But prayer without ceasing? Where we're laboring in prayer is saying, oh God, as we heard some of the desperation and the tears and the prayer from the hearts this morning of those that are saying, we can't make it another six months without God. The desperation of the hour is so intense when prayer becomes without ceasing, that there's no break. It is a continual flow. They met in the upper room for ten days and they prayed without ceasing in fellowship with that. It was that continual yearning and longing. And God gave them what they was asking for. When they prayed for Peter's deliverance and they prayed for his being let out, they didn't pray in this manner probably, but God answered their prayers. He fulfilled. When is the last time that you're able to record as to say, I prayed without ceasing and look at God's answer to prayer. That is one of the greatest things in all the world is to hear how God has heard and answered prayer. The testimony of your heart is to say, I prayed and I prayed and I prayed. Because it's a blessing. It's one of those things that your joy is full. Your cup runneth over. As I go through this, I have eight sections in the prayer notebook that I'm going to just show to you and explain a little bit. And there's nothing mystical about it. There's nothing fancy about it, but it's just the way that I've laid it out and so I've been led to share it. That's what I'm going to do. But one of the sections that I pray for is my immediate family. I have a huge tribe. I have one wife and eight children. So my oldest is 17. My youngest is 6. So with four teenagers in my household, much prayer is needed. And it is that there's always something going on. There's always something in their life that's happening and so it requires specific, intentional prayer. I don't pray a general prayer saying God bless my family. I name them and I get specific with them about where they're at in their life and what God wants to do in their life. And I want to pray for them rightly. I don't want to ask amends. But we often, as a pastor, even though I pastor two churches, is that I'm not wealthy by any means. And so Richard shared the other night is to say when he was a child is that he didn't have anything growing up. And I heard those accounts growing up. My father had seven brothers and sisters and poor family. He said we had gravy three times a day and we was happy to have it. We didn't have anything in our home. We just barely made it through. And those were days in his life that he shares about. Well, in our day and age where we're increased with goods and we have access to everything, one of the reasons that we don't have George Mueller anymore is because it's too convenient to run to Walmart. It's too easy to go to Target. It's too easy to go to the convenience stores and we've got money in our pockets so we just go buy the stuff and we never bring it before God. And so one particular thing that we needed in our household which was just as small and minute to anybody sitting here, but normally my wife would say I'm going to go buy this and God forbid me. He said don't let her do that. You're going to pray about this. And so I told her. Now my wife is a blessed gift from God. She walks with me. She helps me. She goes along. As I say I'm going to go to a conference or I'm going to go meet this man or that man or this woman to talk about prayer and those things, she says go. She gives me her blessing. And she takes care of the eight kids. And I know some of you ladies are going to kick me in the shin afterwards as I say that's cruel and unusual punishment, but I thank God for her because I prayed since I was 14 years old that God would give me the right wife. Again, as I said, as I was a pastor's kid, I'd seen enough messed up marriages and enough unhappy people as to say if that's marriage, I don't want it. And I thought that I was going to be a Jeremiah all my days. So I prayed. God, if you're going to give me a wife, then give me the right one. And I had specific things that I was praying about. God didn't give me any of those specific things that I was praying about. He just gave me the right wife because He knows better than what we do. So I prayed for my wife. And God answered that. But there was that particular thing in our household that I needed to get. So as I told my wife, I said, you're not allowed to buy that. I've got to pray about that. So in October of 2008, I wrote in my prayer notebook, I need 12 of these. And I wrote it out. Put the date, put the specific request. And I prayed every day. Never told anybody. My wife didn't even understand exactly what was taking place at that time. But there was nothing of anybody else that knew but me and God. Christmas of 2009. We got some packages from our family and they had given us. And so my wife is sitting there. She's opening her presents on Christmas night. And as she tears apart the wrapping paper, and on the side of the box was not 8. It wasn't 10. It wasn't 14. It was exactly 12 of what I had been praying for. Now, I just didn't say, oh, isn't that nice? I sat there weeping because my joy was full. I had prayed for over a year for this specific request and only God knew about it. Nobody else knew. That's God in the midst. He works in this manner and as we are praying for revival, it is not frivolous. It's not vain to be specific with God. It is time for you to work, O Lord. It's your time, God. The nations have blasphemed Your name and the churches are in crumbling shape. You do it. Because He desires to do it. But He bursts within you a praying heart to pray without ceasing. To cry to God as the Scripture was given this morning. Morning, noon, and night. Lifting up a prayer to God. Now it is that, as I said, there are things that need to be specific. And so I want us to shift gears here a little bit as I have given you these verses so that you can remember them and just think about them a little bit. And on the screen, we're going to look at this now of some of the things that God has given to me. Because when I ask most people about their prayer life and to say how do you pray, it's not that this is the only way or the right way. And I pray that that would never ever come across in this. But it's just that what God has given to me. And so one of the things is that as you get ready to meet God, I think a lot of times as we come into a place like this is to say how are you going to meet God today? I listen. A lot of times I play piano at the church, so I'm playing the prelude, the opening there. But I'm listening to people's conversations as I'm playing. They're not getting ready to meet God. It's a vain conversation. It's the sporting events. It's the weather. It's the trivial things of life. Oh, what did you do last night? Oh, we went on a picnic. And we was on this and we was that. There is no interest in God. They're not preparing themselves to meet God. When you enter into your prayer time, how do you prepare yourself to meet God? It's like Ravenhill said, you're not going to be, hey, buddy, I'm here. You don't walk into holiness like that, do you? You prepare yourself. Now, I believe that position is very important. I believe that being prostrate or down on your knees is very key to approaching to God. Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess. We know those verses. But it is in worship of God. How can we be, as we're talking to friends one on one, standing shoulder to shoulder when God has said you're in My presence now? Well, God, if I'm in Your presence, then let me assume the right position. I'm going to get down to meet You. Bowed face down into the ground to say, God, here I am. Now it is that for this first one of worship here, mainly a lot of verses in the Bible, and again, many of you have these verses probably memorized and tucked away. And I quoted one last night that we kind of begin with here on the first slide that we can start. I have these things that kind of get me ready as I'm getting ready to pray. And I love some of the old saints that pray. And so if you want to write these down, feel free, and you can mark some of this stuff. But David Brainerd, 28 years old when he passed away, served the Indians. Great prayer life. One of the first books that I was encouraged to read as a young minister was the Life and Diary of David Brainerd that Edwards put together. And I read across that thing, and I read how he prayed and fervently zealous in his prayer, and he prayed without ceasing. And I said, no wonder he did what he did with his prayer life. So he says in this, Blessed be God that I might pray. You counted a blessing that you can pray? I counted a merciful gift because I know that there are a lot of people that sit in the churches today that have no desire to pray. And I am a creature just like them. And God could have passed over me and said, I'm not going to give you this desire. I'm not going to give you this opportunity. I could have been born in a time and a place that they didn't fear God, they didn't love God. My testimony matches Richard's in a great way. Two weeks old, raised in church all my life, saved at an early age, called into the ministry at 15, pastored from the time I was 18 on to the present. I've been submerged in the church also. But God didn't have to do that. He could have put me in a place that they didn't know God or didn't fear God. But He did. And it's a blessing. And I count it as such. Blessed be God that I might pray. We read in this account here, Nehemiah chapter 4, Remember the Lord who is great and terrible. Remember, think upon God now. I'm not thinking about me. I'm not thinking about my earthly situation here. I'm looking at God. I'm thinking about who He is. And it is a holy thing. I'm fear and trembling before Him. I'm on my knees. I'm laid out before Him. And I'm thinking about what He has done and what He is doing and what He wants to do. And my mind is there and I'm rejoicing in who He is. And Andrew Murray comes along and he says, Blessed inner chamber, that secret quiet time that he always preached and talked in his books about where he said, Abide in me and I will abide in you. Be still before the Lord there. Blessed inner chamber where I may approach God through prayer, through the Word, through Christ and come into His presence boldly with that confidence there because of what He's offered to us. And the verse that I already gave you, Psalm 109, but I give myself unto prayer. It is a commitment. It is a surrender. I surrender all, all to Him I owe. I surrender. I'm surrendering my time. I'm surrendering my body. I am no longer my own. If I am crucified with Christ, I gave that up. And so here I am is to say, Lord, I give myself to what You've laid on my heart. I don't know how to pray. I don't know how to pray rightly a lot of times, but I'm giving myself unto that. And I let Him speak now. Next slide. We go here. McShane. Love Robert Murray McShane. Some people read after him and I read this. A glance of Christ will save, but it is the gazing at Christ that sanctifies. It is the hurried prayer life that moves right on through with their wish list, their desire ease of what they're crying out to God. But McShane says, no, you've got to be in His presence and gaze at His glory. Stay. Spend some time. We've got that old hymn. We'll sing that here probably tonight. Take time to be holy. Speak oft with thy Lord. Spend much time in secret. So it is that these men, they did it. They found it. Wesley gave his words of encouragement. Watch and pray. And again, for somebody that served for 53 years and traveled as many miles as he did and wrote as much as he did and preached as much as he did, and he would say is that four o'clock in the morning I must meet with my Lord. And if I've got a full agenda, I've got to spend a couple more hours there. Now there are great saints that I could go on praying. John Hyde, one of my great favorites that I love to read after. George Mueller that we've talked about. But these are just a few and Chadwick I already gave to you. Now it is that we look here at the Trinity and we begin to see the descriptions of who God is. We see the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit. Attributes run in the threes of them, but it is that I kind of just break them up so that I can go down through these things and I begin to rehearse them back to God as to say, Lord, this is who You are. And then I attribute what I've seen Him do. When I come, for example, I may have mentioned this morning about the power. Well, where have I seen God's power at? We sing that old song, there is power in the blood. And I'm able to testify. I've been cleansed. I've been set free. I've shared the answered prayer there. That's the power of God in answering prayers there. I give Him glory and praise for this. And I go down through these things and I'm making mention to Him about what He is and what He's done and what He wants to do in me and through me. Circumstances of my life, situations of other people that I'm praying for. Again, it is the power of the testimony that gives glory to God. Great things that He has done. These are Scriptures that tell us who God is. And I know it might be a little bit small to see some of these things, but this particular passage is the one that I quoted last night in Exodus 34 where God shows up to Moses. And Moses is off to the side there and God's presence passes by. And as he's passing by, it says, the name of God is declared unto him. And I rehearsed that. Again, I may not be able to always remember a verse in specific order. You say, well, by golly, if you memorized Psalm 119, you ought to be able to memorize a couple of these verses. But the old mind isn't what it used to be. So it's one of those things that I have it wrote out there so that if I miss it, then at least my eyes are seeing it and my mind's reflecting it. But I picture myself there. If he was in the presence of God right now, literally in the presence, you say, well, he's here. Well, if he's here, wouldn't we act different? Wouldn't we be down on our faces before him as we will be in the throne room? Won't we be broken, poured out, spilled out? When we hear those names, oh, praise His name that He's long-suffering. Praise His name that He's merciful and gracious. Praise His name that He's cleansing. We read down through the verses of the Scriptures because this is what God said to us. This is who He is. And we declare it. Next. Psalm 118. Thou art my God. Personal. Thou art my God. I will exalt You. I will give praise to You. I will lift You up. When David was singing that song in the angels there around the throne and they're giving praise to him and they're giving exultation to him about who he is and what he is, wouldn't you just love to see the glimpse of that? Wouldn't you just love to sit and say, Lord, as Paul wrote there, he said, I knew a man caught up to the third heaven and he saw sights and heard sounds and words that was beyond description, beyond pronunciation of those things. Wouldn't it have been wonderful to have a divine visitation like that where we are lifted up, raptured up into the presence of God? That's what revival does, isn't it? Takes us up to the third heaven. Moves us out of this carnality. Takes us out of the sin of wretchedness. And puts us in His presence. And there we abide. We exult Him. We give praise to Him. And this is the key as I pray. Do you desire to please God? I'm sure you do or you wouldn't be here. Does the church desire to please God? I can't answer that one. I believe that because you come to something like this on an afternoon is to say you desire to please God in your life. Your individual life. In Hebrews 11. Now Hebrews 11.1 is the definition of faith. I know you memorized this. Faith is the substance of things. One person knows. Hope for it. The evidence of things not seen. He goes on with this in faith. Now Hebrews 11.6 tells us. But without faith it is impossible to please Him. Do you have faith to please Him? I'm getting ready to pray in my prayer notebook. I'm getting ready to pray for my family. I'm getting ready to pray for my church family. I'm getting ready to pray for lost men and women. I'm getting ready to pray for marriages that are crumbling and separating. I'm getting ready to pray for a nation that hates God. I'm getting ready to pray for the bride that doesn't care about God. I want to please Him. And I can't please Him if I don't believe that He is a rewarder of them that will diligently seek Him. I want to please God. You answer the question. Do you want to please Him? Then you must believe that He is a rewarder of them that will diligently pray without ceasing. Give themselves continually unto prayer. Praying day and night. Morning, noon, and night. He is a rewarder of them that will diligently seek Him. Next. Isaiah 55. We go into this. Again, what is God able to do? It increases my faith. It encourages my heart. It encourages my prayer life. When I remember what God has said that He will do and is able to do. But I don't put anything of my importance here as to say it's about me. You know, I listen to people's prayers. And when we're in prayer groups and things like that, I'm listening to what pronoun they're using. How do they pray to God? And if it's me, myself, and I, they're three favorite people, it's a selfish prayer. It's not about God. And when I listen to people talk to God, they don't say, You, O Lord. They talk about God, Him. Third person. They're not talking to God. They're talking about God. Prayer is talking to God. It's first person. You. And so in this, He says, You. Your ways are higher than my ways. Personal pronouns. Your thoughts are higher than my thoughts. As high as the heavens are above the earth, so are your ways higher than my ways and your thoughts than my thoughts. There's no misunderstanding in my concept, in my heart, where God's at. He is above me. High and lifted up. I don't want to bring Him down to my level. I want to ascend up to His level. And who shall ascend to the hill of the Lord? Who shall go up? He that has clean hands and a pure heart. These verses now as we go through here is the power of God. In Jeremiah 32, verse 17, O Lord God, behold, Thou has made the heavens and the earth. Back to my descriptions of God. He's Creator of all things. He spoke it into existence back there in Genesis where He has the power to create. O Lord God, behold, Thou has made the heavens and the earth by Thy great power and Thy stretched out hand. I envision in my mind for God when we're praying for revival, stretch out your hand, O God, and say, Let it be so. Let it be granted. And power proceeds out of His throne. It proceeds from Him. For He is power. And then in Jeremiah 32, verse 27, He answers that. Behold, I... personal pronoun... I am the Lord. Is there anything too hard for me? Numbers 11, verse 23. Is there anything too hard for God? The prayer of intercession that Richard was preaching on this morning in Genesis 18 where Abraham was speaking. Is there anything too hard for me? For God? Answer the question. You're getting ready to pray for the sick. You're getting ready to pray for the lost. You're getting ready to pray for circumstances and situations that are beyond man's control. Do you believe that He has power to do it? Do you believe that He is able to do it? There's nothing too hard for you, O God. Oh, well, now Lord, they're just so contrary against the Gospel. I don't know whether we'll ever see them in church or not. They don't believe that... They believe it's too hard for God. I'd pray for this, but... Anytime you've got that but comma in a sentence, it's already filled that they don't believe that God is able to do it. And there are many people praying for a revival that don't believe God is able to do it. They're praying for it. They're saying a prayer. But they don't believe these verses. They don't believe the Word of God. You settle in your mind and your heart. You, O God, have said it. And you will do it. Next. Genesis 18 I gave to you. John 15. If you abide in Me, My words abide in you. You will ask what you will, and it shall be done. And then we go down into this with Daniel 2. The great prayer life of Daniel. I go over this constantly because there's a phrase in this here is that blessed be the name of God with this. Because he comes down into that because he says he's the one that changes the times and the seasons. He removes kings and he sets up kings. He does all these things because he's God. And I'm praying and I'm believing this in my heart that God is the instrument working in the lives and the affairs of the nations of the world. There's no mystery to Him. And Daniel knows this because he goes on to say this. And this is when he had talked to Nebuchadnezzar and told him the mystery of the dream here. And he says, And God is the one that reveals the deep and the secret things. I want to be in the presence of God so that my ears hear the deep and secret things that He wishes to reveal. That in the darkness of this world I see His light. For He is light, and I rejoice in that. I'm just worshiping. You see, I'm not asking for anything. I'm not praying over anyone. I'm just worshiping and adoring Him. Next. Zechariah chapter 12. Again, The power and the work of God. You are the Lord which stretch forth the heavens. And I envision that. I love looking at a sky. I love the stars. I love the seasons. I love to watch. I'm a crazy man in West Virginia when the rainbows come out. I got pictures of rainbows because I marvel because God who created all things stretched forth the heavens and He forms the earth. And I love mountains. And I love oceans. And I love beaches. And I love this earth that He's created because it reveals and tells me who He is. And He is the one that stretched forth His hands to make all these things and He forms the spirit of man within them. I am what I am by the grace of God. A gift. He gave us a gift in this life, didn't He? And I've heard those and I've seen those that said I'm so miserable and I'm so much in pain and I'm just going to throw this gift away. Life. I've seen those that have lived in their lives 60, 70, 80, 90 years and they've squandered all their life. I've seen those who are trying to do it the world's way and they're spinning wheels and they're just there's no contentment, there's no happiness, there's no joy and they're just going through motions. They're missing life. And these verses remind me why I'm here. I'm not here of my own accord, of my own agenda. God has a purpose. And I want to do it. He formed the spirit that is within me as a gift and I need to cherish that and to make it what He wants it to be. Next. The help me verses. I categorize these things. I shared with you last night I wrote these verses when I see something in the Scriptures that's consistent so all the words in the Bible that says help I've got them underlined in the Bible reference. I'm my own Bible gateway searcher so to say. So it's one of those things. But I write these things out because as I said you realize how many times people that I'm ministering to and people in my family and people in my own personal self is that I need to lift up a cry to God for help and that I have these promises from God that says I will help you. Let's go through these verses here. Most of these you probably already have. In Psalm 12, this is my prayer of the motion of the church. Help Lord, for the godly man ceases and the faithful fail from among the sons of men. Is that not what we see in the church? The godly man has ceased? Somebody says, you know, are you godly? Are you holy? Are you faithful? And we start naming all of our inconsistencies and we start naming all of our sins and our mistakes and all those things that is an offense to him. Who else to cry out to God but to say Lord help? Is there any balm in Gilead? Is he not the great physician that's able to come and to heal the sores? Sure he is. I'm crying out to him to help. Next one there is Psalm 38, 21, Psalm 119. I don't know why I would have Psalm 119 there. Help thou me. Consistent throughout Scripture there of the prayers and pleadings here. In Isaiah chapter 50 verse 7, For the Lord God will help me. Is that not a promise? Is that not a directive from God that he said to those that are crying out, Help me! It's our Phoenician woman that cried out, Help Lord! And he said, What? Nope, not going to do it. I will help you, saith the Lord. What is the great petition that you ask of God this morning? What is it that you were praying over as you got up? You know, for most people sitting in the churches that one spouse is saved and the other one is lost and they come and they're crying out, Lord please save my husband. I've got wives that come to the altar and they're crying out, Lord help me! Help my husband to be saved. What better anchor to hold on to as for God to say, I will help you. Parents that are saying our children have gone astray. We brought them up in fear of God and in the house of the Lord and the world's got their crooks in them and have squandered them out into the world and they're agonizing and they're tearful and they're crying to God, Lord help, my children are lost and perishing and I want them to be saved. Isaiah 50, I will help you, saith the Lord. Is that not an anchor for the children of God crying out for such huge petitions? We're getting ready to pray and ask for these things. I want to believe what God has said because He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him and believe. Matthew 15, Lord help. Simple prayer. Next. I'll continue down through these here with the direction here on these but Isaiah 41, verse 10, another promise there. Fear thou not for I am with you. Be not dismayed for I am thy God. You're my God, Lord, because I've surrendered myself to you. I'm praying and I will help you. I'll go on down through these. Next slide. Isaiah 63, 7. Now here's where explosion happens to me when I begin to consider what God has done and what He is doing. I will mention the loving kindness of the Lord and the praises of the Lord according to all that He has done. What has God done in your life? I rehearse just a small portion of testimony of saying, look what God has done. I love listening to people that stand and testify saying, I've seen God do this. I've seen this answered prayer. I will mention the loving kindness of the Lord and pray. I lift them up to Him. Look what you've done, oh God. You are God. You're wonderful. How in the world is there no reason why people are depressed and discouraged and in melancholy when their eyes aren't fixed on who He is, but on who they are? Because if I've got my eyes on Him and I see this splendor and this glory about who He is and that Scripture I gave in Luke 2.20 for devotion last night, the angels rejoice. Can you not look upon the Christ child and not be rejoicing? Then why are we down in the mouth? Why are we sad and remorseful of the things of our life today? It's because we've got our eyes and our focus on the wrong things. I can't help but be rejoicing in God when I'm in my prayer time because I consider all the mighty things that He's done. I've got that old hymn, count your many blessings, name them one by one. So I give an assignment to my church. I say take an 8 1⁄2 by 11 piece of paper and I say don't write big, write small. I said fill the front and on the back with all the blessings that God has given to you in your life. And I've got people that try that and they'll sit down and they'll fill 20 things, 30 things and they'll say I can't think of anything else. These are the same ones that get discouraged and they get depressed and they get off track because they've got their eyes focused on the wrong things. But I've got some that are rejoicing in the Lord and they sit there and they might live in sorrow, they might live in trials and tribulations, but they're always rejoicing. The joy of the Lord is my strength because they've got their eyes focused on the right thing. In Deuteronomy 32, declaration of him. Go on to the next one. Psalm 73, Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is none on earth that I desire but besides you. Again, I'm praying and saying unto my Lord and my God these things. I'm just worshiping. 12.2, to me, this is the whole crux of it. Looking unto Jesus. I've just got to ask myself what am I really looking at? Now do I not get discouraged? Do I not lose track? Sure I do when I get my eyes off Jesus. And as I'm praying, I don't want to be focused on anything else round about me. I want to be looking at Him. One of the reasons that we're called broken before the throne is because this very verse here is to me the essence of it all. You know, I'm not praying at a great distance from God. I'm in the throne room. I'm before Him. I see the throne. I see it where it's at. I see the four beasts that are flying there. I see the 24 elders. I see stairs that lead up because He's high and lifted up. It's not down on my level. It's up. And underneath, there is a river that flows from it. I see all the description there in Revelation and I am marveled by it. And there again, what's round about the throne? A rainbow. Beautiful rainbow. So I look at Hebrews 12 and I anchor there. Next. 1 Samuel 12 to consider. Consider these things. Here again. Encouragement to the heart and to the life. For those that are discouraged and downcast, consider what? How great things that He has done. Maybe it is that you are discouraged. Maybe it is that you have lost sight of these things. Prayer lives. When you don't see answers to prayer, you become weary about it. You just want to give up on it. The testimony of George Muller and the list of souls that he had prayed for all of his life. Sixty-three years he prayed for these individuals and he saw all but the last two saved when it came time for him to die. And at his funeral and shortly after that, his death, is that both of those last two were saved. Consider how great things that He has done. Great answers to prayer. His mercy. His blessings. His provisions. His divine appointments. All those things. Next. Isaiah 58 Then shall the light break forth as the morning and the hell shall spring forth speedily. We look at these verses here as we go down through it. I am not going to go through all of these but I just want you to understand is that again, I have seventeen pages of worship. And this is how I begin with God. I am not asking for anything. I am just declaring unto God who He is. So I will give you a moment as some of you are writing so you can get those scriptures down. Go on to the next. 2 Chronicles 25 verse 38 2 Chronicles 30 verse 27 Job chapter 37 verse 14 I have a section of those in Job here coming up on the next slide as well. Stand still and consider the wondrous works of God. Next. 1 Peter 1 verse 5 We who are kept by the power there is power again power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in that last time. And then we go down in Acts 2 at the very last one there. Acts 2 verse 36 Therefore let all of the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this same Jesus whom you crucified both Lord and Christ and I pray that you are my Lord and my Christ. Doubting Thomas when he appeared there and he says at that point there and he says Thomas you wanted to touch me here I am and he fell down and he worshipped him and he said my Lord and my God. There is adoration right there. Next. Continue on with these verses. Prayers that are getting ready to be offered up. One right after another. Next. Now Psalm 4 verse 3 there. This is one that we are going to get ready for in our prayer time. But know this that the Lord has set apart him that is godly. Now I just got done praying back in the help. Help Lord. Psalm 12 1 Help Lord for the godly man ceases. But here he says he that is godly God sets apart. And then the action that is to be taken here. The Lord will hear when I call unto him. That is answering prayer. I am lifting up my voice to him. My godliness, my sin and my transgression is not separated between me and my God. But I am allowed to ask of him. And now he is going to hear me. And then verse 4. Stand in awe. David used that in his prayer this morning. He uses the word awesome for nothing else but the declaration of who God is. And in a society where they talk about oh that was awesome, this is awesome. And they have no idea that the reverence of that word is for God and God alone. Stand in awe of who he is. Be still. Commune with your own heart upon your bed and be still. Next. Continues on here with just verses. One right after another. Deuteronomy 4. Exodus 15. Next. I know it's going hurriedly but my time is clipping away so it's like I'm going to put this thing in fast gear. We was in third gear, now we're in fourth. Y'all drive clutches? Acts 6.48. Next. I pray over this one Luke 24. Their eyes were holding that they should not know him. Isn't that an awful thing to think? Is that there are those who sit in a church and they hear the glorious gospel message but they're blind and they cannot see? I'm getting ready to pray for lost people. I'm getting ready to pray for religious Pharisees. And this is the prayer that I've got to believe and ask of God that he would open their eyes so that they might see. Next. Deuteronomy 3.24. Oh Lord God, thou hast begun to show thy servant thy greatness. I'm 41 years old. I'm not seeing a lot of the things that I've heard from Richard talk and share and Gareth has shared and talked and these other T.W. Hunt and these other guys that are in their 70s and 80s that have seen great things. I'm 41 years old and I've only just begun to see the great things of God. It causes me to rejoice. But I know he's not done. I'll hold on to that Deuteronomy 3. I'm able to stand before you and to say look how God answered prayer and look how God has worked and look how God has moved and we rejoice in that. But he has only just begun to show what he's able to do and is willing to do. How much more is there? Infinite. He who is infinite is able to do these things. Next. Jeremiah 33. This is the declaration. He is the Lord. He is righteous. I want to be righteous. Not robed in my righteousness but robed in his righteousness. And so he is the one that I'm declaring. You are right in all of your ways. No errors or mistakes in your life. You are righteous, O Lord. Next. God is faithful. I don't know how many times I sing that song. God sometimes that even though I may not have the best of voices to sing with, I do know the old hymns. The reason that I play piano, and I shared with the church yesterday, is because my father being a pastor cannot sing a lick. And he can't play the piano. And he married a wife that the Baptist preacher's wife was always supposed to play the piano. Well, my mom can't sing and she can't play the piano either. So my father said, if we have children, then every one of those children will be able to play the piano. So that when he was in these churches that they go and they wouldn't have anybody that could sing and they didn't have anybody that could play, he'd at least say, my children are going to play. And my father did cruel and unusual punishment to us on Sunday night evening services. Here I am, a young teenager, learning how to play the piano and dad would get up in front of the congregation and he said, now we're going to have, pick your favorite hymn tonight and Dan's going to play it. Whether I knew it or not, it didn't matter. No wonder I'm scarred and problems in my life like this. But I love those old hymns. Great is thy faithfulness. God is faithful. And sometimes God says to me, just sing. Just sing to me. And I sing. Nobody else is listening, thank goodness. It's just me and the Lord. And I sing these verses of these things. In Isaiah 57, 15, oh, how many times we've quoted this one already, huh? He who is high and lifted up, whose name is holy, who abides with him that is of a broken heart, a contrite heart, pouring themselves out. Next. Luke 1, 49. For he that is mighty hath done to me great things, and holy is his name. This is the anchor of it. Holy is his name. This matches with that that we had just read in Isaiah 57. Last one, coming down to the close of these on worship. Next. Malachi 3. For I am the Lord, I change not, ineffable. He is consistent. Carries on with this. Now that's the worship section. I say I have eight sections, and I'm not going to be, the other sections are not near as long, but I spend the bulk of my time in prayer where I'm just worshiping him. And I go down through these verses and through these sayings of these old saints, and they remind me who I'm talking to and what I'm talking about. It's unto him. It's about him. Yes, I have needs. Yes, I have desires. Yes, I'm sure you do too. But it's not about me. It's about him. And revival praying is not about us. It's about him. Lifting him up. Glorifying him. Seeking him. Calling upon him. So, worship is not about man. It is about God. So these are verses that I just wanted to share with you and some of the things in development. Let's go on to the next slide here. This is at the close. William Law, he had a unique prayer life in the way that he was set up. He said, Do not begin to ask for anything. Do not begin to pray until in your heart and your mind that you are fixed on what you're going to ask for. He was very specific and intentional and pointed in his prayer life as he went forward. Of course, these guys are considered mystics and you might think that word is a taboo, but it's not. It's a blessing for these guys. Toes are the sum of Christianity. One thing, to know him and to love him. And Andrew Murray, alone with God will make one holy for God. I want to be alone with God because I want to be holy for God in this. Next. Spurgeon, the happiest state of a Christian is the holiest state. Importunity from Andrew Murray. Next. Spurgeon, Good Rutherford, Samuel Rutherford once said, I have tasted of Christ's own manna and have put my mouth out of taste for the brown bread of this world. What do you taste? Do you have a hankering for this world or for the things of God? Murray, you have nothing, but he has everything. Next. The second thing, now that was the first, worship. Now the next thing that I go into is the different terminology for this and spirit-filled life, the second blessing, the power of the Holy Spirit, these things. This is key because when we're praying for revival here, isn't revival when the power of the Holy Spirit moves? But if we've grieved and resisted and quenched the Holy Spirit, we're fighting an endless battle with that. And it is as I go into this here with these verses that I'm praying for the Holy Spirit's power. I'm praying for the anointing of the Holy Spirit. I want to be filled with the Holy Spirit. I don't want to walk with my cup half full or half empty, however you want to look at it. I want to pray that God does what He wants to do which is to make us filled with His presence. Ephesians 5, 18, be you filled with the Holy Spirit. But he uses that scripture in Luke 11, verse 3. I'm going to come up here on the screen in a moment. Luke 11, 3, If you being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more does your heavenly Father, who sits in heaven, desire to give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him? And I ask this question, how many people have asked for the Holy Spirit? I find so very few Christians in churches today that have any inclination or desire to have the Holy Spirit a part of their life. In Acts 5, 32 there, and this is the whole thing, who does the Holy Spirit come to? To those that are obedient unto Him. Obedience is key to this because if I'm disobedient, then I'm grieving and quenching and resisting the Holy Spirit. Next, flesh must die in order for the Spirit to prevail. Less of the flesh is more of the Spirit, more of the flesh less of the Spirit. Things that I simply wrote down about some of the things that I expect from the filling of the Holy Spirit, they sold one. I love reading the biography of praying John Hyde. And those of you that know his story and testimony was that as he had been in India for 18 years, he prayed and he labored for the filling of the Holy Spirit in his life, and he received it. He got it. He was filled. And at the close of his ministry there, God moved him to say, give me one soul per day. And he recorded in his diary that at the end of that year, there were over 400 people that accepted Jesus Christ. The next year he came to the Silcock Convention and he prayed again, God give me, if you gave me 400 souls last year, give me twice as many this year. And he prayed for two souls a day over the next year. And at the close of that year, he had over 800 souls that he had recorded that had received Christ and walking in newness of the Spirit. And it was in the third year that he came back and he said, now God give me three times as many. And it was during that period of time that his health collapsed and he started to head back to the United States. But he saw great things done because of the filling of the Holy Spirit, the power of the Holy Spirit. And what we see today is the absence of the Holy Spirit. The reason is no holiness in the midst of the people. Next, Genesis where Abraham gets that declaration, you are now the blessed of the Lord. Genesis 5, 24, again the obedience of this, and Enoch walked with God. Where else is there going to be a spirit-filled life than one that is walking with God? So I'm getting ready to ask and to pray, how's my walk? How am I walking with God? Do I go out in the cool of the evening and walk with Him? Do I meet Him wherever I might be, walking in the presence of the Spirit? I inquire of Him each day, but the question is, what does He require of me? It's obedience and truth. Next, Spirit is given to them that wait for it. And there is a section of verses here that is about waiting upon God. Isaiah 30, 15, Psalm 62, 1, Psalm 62, 5, Psalm 130, verse 5, Wait upon the Lord. Over and over, the consistency of that message there. Again, the word study, wait. He that believeth on me, as the Scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. When the Spirit comes, there is fruit. What we hear today from people sitting in the churches is to say, Oh, I'm a Christian, I'm a Christian, but they have no fruit, they have no overflow with this. The absence of the Holy Spirit. Next, this is a quote from Andrew Murray. If only God would show us the right conception of what the influence would be on a life spent not in thought or imagination or effort. That's the church. Trying every which way that they can. Wouldn't it be wonderful to see the power of the Holy Spirit to those who are wholly waiting upon it? I see the church trying everything that they can today, except for the one thing that's most needful. Waiting upon God. I'm a Southern Baptist minister. I call to all the leadership of the Southern Baptist Convention. President Johnny Hunt, right on down to the Executive Committee and every one of them said, they're getting ready to vote on this Great Commission Resurgency. I said, why don't we just get before God and humble ourselves and ask for His blessings? And I get platitudes. Thank you for your heart, brother. Really appreciate you. Keep banging the drum. We've got it under control. And they won't do it. They won't do it. There is no other answer but God. And if we don't get a hold of God, it's never going to come. It's not about a conference like these in a revival. It's about getting a hold of God. God getting a hold of us. It must have the Holy Spirit. Nothing else. Next. You can tell Andrew Murray and Spurgeon are quite good favorites of mine. We need to pray intensely and persistently that the need for the power of the Holy Spirit may be deeply felt and a strong faith may be roused in the hearts of many to claim and to expect His mighty working. In Ezekiel 22, 14, the promise, I, the Lord, have said it, and I'll do it. Next. This is personal things here, so I'll just move on. Move on. Of course, you might want to see those personal things, wouldn't you? How can I do anything unless you abide in me through the Holy Spirit? Again, I date things when God speaks them to me. The presence, the power, the person of the Holy Spirit. How needful. And I'm going to make that last one there a T-shirt, so if you want to buy that, $9.95, you can put it on a bumper sticker. I have not obtained because I have not maintained, but if I maintain, I shall obtain. Next. Murray. Next. Amy Carmichael, her great poetic way of her life. I hope that most of you have read her works and know who she is. Next. Jude, verse 20. Praying in the Holy Ghost. Boy, isn't there a difference between somebody praying in their own power and somebody praying in the Holy Ghost. I love it. Chadwick. This is the difference between saying prayers and praying in prayer. In a verse in 2006 that God gave me, in Haggai 2, from this day forth I will bless you. Next. Promise. Spurgeon's morning and evening devotional there, 2 Samuel 23, 5. He hath made with me an everlasting covenant. Jeremiah 35, God is able to keep such a promise. Fullness of God, descriptions of God's power, revivals. Richard, I keep using you, I'm sorry, but when you said in 72 the revival came, you said the fullness of God was in the sanctuary. That's revival. That's what we're praying for. Largeness of heart, incline my heart, enlarge my heart. There's the verses for those. Next. Listen to the leading of the Holy Spirit. If you quench, resist it, and grieve the Holy Spirit, you have nothing to listen to, except for man's voice. Why are so many people deceived? Why are so many people saying, oh, if our preachers would just preach the truth, if they would just preach in power, is because the men of God are lacking the power of the Holy Spirit in their lives. Next. Presence and manifestation of the presence are not the same. Two different things here. He is manifest, he's here, but his manifest presence is completely different. Next. Tozer again. This is about being joyful and happy in the presence of God because they've been made holy. They're not happy because they're not holy. Next. Next. John Wesley's prayer. Lord, I am no longer my own but Yours. I need to pray this, and I pray it with honesty, not just repetition of words. Put me to what You will. Rank me with whom You will. Let me be employed by You or laid aside by You. Are You willing to be exalted or to be abased, to be all things or to be nothing? Let me have all things, let me have nothing. I freely and heartily yield all things to Your pleasure and disposal. And now, O glorious and blessed God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, You are mine and I am Yours. So be it. Amen. Next. Psalm 119. Again. A little prayer. I come through when I quote it. Deal bountifully with me. Is His coffers not full, as the old saying goes, in heaven? Is He not able to pour us out blessings beyond our receiving? Then deal bountifully with me, O Lord. And make shame, for God has not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness. Next. Oh, for more divine holiness of life. Is that Your desire? Revival makes us whole. We walk in holiness. We live holiness. We need to pray for holiness. Next. Next. I should quote Tozer's there. You are only as filled as much as you want to be. What is your desire? Most Christians don't desire it, so they don't ask for it, so they're not filled. They're walking in the flush. Our desire, I would think, this afternoon, is that we would say there's nothing else but to be filled by the Holy Spirit. And these are verses that was given to me at the end of last year there that we brought into Broken Before the Throne. And before I even begin to ask, God is already beginning to answer. God's setting things into motion for the things of His desire. Next. R.A. Torrey. Prayer was made without ceasing, which I just brought to you. All right. Next. Let everyone who longs for these blessings of the Spirit take these four little sayings as steps. I must be filled. I may be filled. I would be filled. I will be filled. Absolute. Absolute. Next. Last. Yeah. All right. Well, I've given you two of the eight aspects of the prayer notebook. My heart, how I pray. You see, most of them are just scriptures. It is that to spend time before God crying out to Him because He wants to work. He wants to do. I've got to be right. I can't come into His presence with a half attitude of who He is or what He is. But when I'm praying for revival and asking for these things to be done, it's to pray rightly.