In this sermon, the speaker shares a powerful testimony of a man who was deeply impacted by the Spirit of God. The man had a life-changing encounter with God and was gloriously saved. The speaker emphasizes the importance of brokenness before God and the need for genuine prayer. He uses an analogy of a watermelon being crushed under a heavy weight to illustrate the complete transformation that can happen when we surrender to God.

You know, one of the things that I'm really concerned about, and I sense it here in Australia, is that so often we hear the same biblical truths year after year, and somehow it never sinks in, in our practical, everyday relationship with God. In fact, that's one of the reasons why we are spending so much time in prayer, because especially when we are dealing with prayer, these are things that take time. The kind of ministry that we are involved with, I've seen the last five or six years since we began to focus on prayer, and if I can encourage you tonight, when you begin to speak about prayer, or when you begin to commit yourself to prayer, it's one of the most difficult aspects of a Christian life. You say, why is it? Well, first of all, there's nothing spectacular about it. No one is going to come to you and pat you on your back and say, you know, isn't it tremendous that you're spending these extended times alone with God, because people are just not going to know about it. But those are times alone with God. But you know, when the prophet Isaiah said, they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint, the prophet Isaiah compared the life of prayer with the life of the eagle. And I don't know about the eagles here in Australia, but the African eagle, if you watch him in Africa, most of the times he's on his own. Most of the times you see him high up in the skies, and when we want to reach into the heights of God, brother and sister, as it relates to prayer, you will discover sometimes it's a lonely life. There are many times things that God would minister to you about that people will not understand. And sometimes you can't even share it with people, because they are so sacred, and they are so precious. And so one of the other reasons why prayer, you know, I've been in churches in the United States, and they would have 11,000 people in a Sunday morning. And you know how many people come to the prayer meeting on Wednesday night? About 350 people out of a church of 11,000. And one of the reasons why prayer is not something that people really want to do is because you can't separate the answer of prayer from that which God is doing in your own life. You see, when we are speaking about prayer, you and I can't say, you know, I want to pray about these things, but I'm not going to let God deal with me in my relationship with God. Oswald Chambers has written some wonderful books about prayer, and one of his books, when he spoke about prayer, he said, you know, if God is dealing with me in an aspect of my Christian life, and I get stuck in that area of my Christian life, and I don't allow Him to cleanse me, and to set me aside apart unto Him, and to work within my life, and to let the Spirit of God deal with me, and I would say, well, I'm just going to leave this area, and I'm going to jump into another area where God can work in my life. Oswald Chambers said, it doesn't work like that. He said, if I step out of the will of God, he said, God is going to go through a series of circumstances, and He's going to bring me right back to the place where I stepped out, so that He will be able to fulfill His plan, and His purposes in our lives. And brother and sister, you know, and I've known this when I came to Australia this time, and we're going to focus on prayer. I know that this is something that people say, you know, I'm not sure if I'm ready for that. God gave me a wonderful promise today in my choir time, when I was praying about these days, when Jesus said in the New Testament, that which I do now, you will not understand, but you will understand hereafter. And I want to encourage you tonight, maybe some of these things that we are considering and pondering upon, and maybe you feel, you know, this is really going deep. Brother and sister, you just sit here, take them in, let them soak and saturate into your life. Do you know what's going to happen? Six months down the road, or 12 months down the road, when things begin to clear up, and the little concept of truth will become real to your life, and you say, when did I hear that? Or, how is this happening in my relationship with God? And it will all suddenly come back to you as you walk with Christ, and you'll walk with Him. We mentioned that we have some material to you. I would love to read this to you, because it's related to what we are going to do tomorrow, and I'm sure it will be a blessing for you. Someone wrote this and said, I cannot say a hour, if I only live for myself in a spiritual watertight compartment in my relationship with God. I cannot say our Father, if I do not endure every day to act like His child. I cannot say you are in heaven, if I'm not laying up no treasure there. I cannot say, hallowed be thy name, if I'm not striving for a life of holiness. I cannot say, thy kingdom come, if I'm not doing all of my power to hasten that wonderful event. I cannot say, thy will be done, if I'm disobedient to His word. I cannot say, in earth as it is in heaven, if I do not serve Him here and now. I cannot say, give us this day our daily bread, if I'm dishonest or seeking things for myself. I cannot say, forgive us our debts, if I harbor any kind of a grudge against anyone. I cannot say, lead us not into temptation, if I deliberately place myself in the path of temptation. I cannot say, deliver us from evil, if I do not put on the total and complete armor of God. I cannot say, thine is the kingdom, if I do not give the king the loyalty due to him as a subject. I cannot attribute to God the power, if I fear what men may do or say. I cannot ascribe to God for glory, if I'm seeking honor just for myself. I cannot say forever, if the horizon of my Christian life is bounded completely by my own time in my relationship with God. I've got another sheet here, and I would like you to take this and take this with you in the days to come. I find this a tremendous blessing, and I refer to this as my spiritual checklist. It deals with my relationship to the world, my relationship to my house, my relationship to my work, my relationship to my quiet time, my relationship to my church and my fellowship, my relationship to my fellow believers, and my relationship to my wife, my relationship to my house. Do I live my life at home as an example to my family? Do those who know me the best believe in me the most? Do I honor and respect those who serve me daily? Do I criticize the church or other people in the presence of my children? Do I regard my possessions or my house as mine or as God's? My relationship to my work, am I known to be a Christian? Do other people see Christ in my life? Am I the cause of people ridiculing my church? Do I shy away from expressing my faith in the Lord at work? My relationship to my quiet time, what role does my quiet time play in my relationship with God? Do I make time for prayer and intercession on a consistent basis? Do I read and study the Word of God on a daily basis as there has been growth in my relationship with God during the last 12 months? Is my quiet time really a priority in my program for every day? How much of my quiet time is dealing with myself and how much is devoted to prayer? My relationship to my church, do I like going to my church? Do I prepare my heart and my mind for the message? Do I go to church simply to criticize? Do I go to listen to what the man says or am I listening just to the man? Do I pray for my pastor so that God will give him a message to preach and he will fearlessly make the ministry of the gospel known? My relationship to my rights as a Christian, have I abandoned my right to defend myself, my right to be understood, my right to possess things, my right to be treated with respect and to be respected? Have I abandoned my right to get recognition for that which I have done? Have I abandoned my right to feel offended and hurt in my relationship with God, my right to become angry? Have I abandoned my right to choose and to exercise my own choices, my right to pleasure and enjoyment, my right to my own finances? Have I abandoned them, my right to my own ambitions? Have I abandoned my right to comfort, my right to plan even my own future and have I abandoned my right to privacy? So we would like to encourage you to take these things and in your times alone at home, it will be great if we take time to do that. One of the things that we have been doing these days and you know I'm not sure if it has frightened some people, but one of the things that has been a great encouragement to me is these times that we have spent in prayer together. I think it's possible that you have never been in an Easter conference where we have spent so much time in prayer and we have tonight and our free sessions tomorrow and then Monday morning and I want us to pray again this evening. It's a marvelous blessing you know. I don't know if you realize this, but those of you who were with us this morning, I watched people as we were praying. Many of our hearts were broken as we were praying for our families. I trust tonight that you are serving God with a broken heart. You know people who are our neighbors who do not know Christ as their personal Savior. People in our country and the different states in which we find ourselves. Brother and sister, these people are lost and the longer I find myself here in Australia, it's only been six days since I left Janice and Monica, I become so conscious of the burden of God for this country. In fact you know I just marveled at the fact that as a Christian you are committed I trust to pray for your country and for your land. God can meet with these people you know. Last year when we were in Romania, I spoke at a conference for pastors and I did not know that the Friday night about 250 of these pastors came together from all over Romania and Saturday morning and Saturday afternoon we had this conference and I didn't know this Saturday morning because I spoke through a translator and I did not know this Saturday morning when a man walked in with a delegation of men with him. They were very nicely dressed and they were coming from the Romanian government. Communists fell apart 17 years ago in Romania and he was part of the government. He was an assistant minister to the prime minister of the land of Romania and Saturday morning when they walked in, I did not realize what was going on because I didn't understand the language, but the government asked us Saturday morning if this minister in the government would be able to come and take 10 minutes to speak to the pastors about the new bylaw that was coming into the country of Romania. And so the plan was that he would come with his delegation and then they were given 10 minutes to speak and then he will leave immediately after that. You know that previous night I was on my face before God for that Saturday morning, didn't know what was going to happen and I came into this meeting, the meeting started and then they invited this man and he got up and he spoke for the 10 minutes and I had to speak immediately after him. And for one reason or another that government minister and his delegation decided not to leave after 10 minutes and they sat for an hour and 15 minutes as I was speaking through a translator with a heart that was so broken for those pastors in the land of Romania. And right in that meeting the Spirit of God broke this man and at the end of the service when I asked these pastors and I said if you want to spend some time with God, come and find a place where you can pray or just find a place where you can kneel. And you know what? This government minister was the very first one broken on his knees before God and got wonderfully saved that Saturday morning. And brother and sister we have no idea what God is doing you know. And the president of Emmanuel University where we had this service came to me after the service and he was just overwhelmed. And Dr. Paul Gritsch hit me, he said to me you have no idea what happened this morning. And I said what do you mean? What happened? Well he said you don't know who that man was. I said no I didn't know. He said well he's a government minister responsible to the prime minister of a country every single week. And he said this morning God broke his heart and he got clearly through to Christ for salvation. Brother and sister we have no idea what God is able to do. And I trust this evening that you have not lost the vision in praying for people. You know this has happened to me three times in the last 12 years that God brought his people in. Eight years ago in my own homeland in South Africa we had services in a church in the eastern cape of the country. And there was a man that we prayed for for 19 years. You say what was his name? His name was P.W. Boca. You say who is that? That was the president of the country for 19 years. And for 19 years it was a burden in my heart to pray for this man. Been away from a country for a long time. And the Saturday night when I prayed for the pastor of this large church after we prayed together he turned to me and he said I need to give you a little indication about tomorrow morning. And I say what about tomorrow morning? He said well tomorrow morning the former president of the country, he used to be called Mr. Apartheid, he said the former president of the country will be in the morning service. And he was a brutal man you know. Whenever he had his speeches in the country he always had a little finger. And people just fear and revert and revere this man. And he said I need to tell you that he will be in the service tomorrow morning. He will sit right at the front. I just need to know. I just turned to the pastor and I said listen brother you don't understand. I said it's more important that God will be in the service. You know we make such a fuss of people. The pastor didn't know that we've been praying for that man for 19 years. On Sunday morning he came to the service and the minister said to me you know Gerard he only comes on Sunday morning you will never see him again. Only Sunday morning he comes with his bodyguards and with his wife and sometimes with some of his family. They're all medical in the medical field. And he said you know walk out of the service and he said you won't see them again. Well you know he didn't know that we were praying for 19 years. So you know what happened? He came Sunday morning and God began to deal with him. Sunday night he was back in the service. Monday night he was back in the service. But the minister said to me after Monday night he said well this has never happened again. I never told him that we prayed for this man for so many years. Tuesday night he was back in the service. And brother and sister you know it's a wonderful thing that God use inadequate people. And he hits a straight line with a crooked stick you know. And the Wednesday night I had a simple little message. Nothing spectacular about it. But I just poured out my heart and this man was sitting in every single service. And I need to tell you that prior to that for 15 years I did not speak in my own native language in public. And so the language had to come back. If you haven't spoken a language for so many years it's a big thing for a language to come back. But God was helping me. And that Wednesday night in the middle of the service I never looked at this man to be honest with you. In fact the Sunday morning when I realized he was sitting to my left I said to myself he's nothing else but a cabbage head. And I never looked at him. Because you know it intimidates you when these important people are in the services. And I never looked at this man. But you know what happened the Wednesday night. I was in the middle of my message brother and sister when the Spirit of God broke into that service. And as I was speaking I heard this breaking. It's like a thump. It's like shooting someone with a shotgun right between his eyes. And I just heard this oh. And I looked to my left and this man was crumbled over sitting like a child. Sobbing so loud that there was a hush in this church. And I watched people as God was breaking and men and women were broken before God. And I didn't know what to do you know. And I just turned to these people and I said to them I think it's time for us to go on our knees before God. Because the church was just an organized disorder of brokenness when the Spirit of God broke in. So you know what happened that night 11 o'clock that night. He was gloriously saved. He phoned the pastor after 11 o'clock and he said to the pastor I want to see this man. And the pastor said why? He said because God saved me tonight. And the pastor said what do you mean? He said I discovered my lost condition through these days. And he said I cried to God. And he said I got right through and I'm born of the Spirit of God. And the next morning I got a phone call that he wanted to see me. And he and his wife invited Janice and Monica to come to have lunch with him the next day. In fact you know the Lord convicted me because I said to Monica you know that's eight years ago and she was about 10-11 years old. And I said to her I said Monica I said if you ever behaved in your life it's going to be today. And she said what's going on dad? I said you're going to meet the president of the country. And she said why do I have to behave? I said because I prayed for him for 19 years. And I said you are my daughter. God really convicted me. I said Janice you know I said my darling I want you to put on your best dress. And God said where do I get into all of this stuff? You know what are you what are you up to? You know what happened brother and sister? I came into the house of this man. I mean here was a man who was president of the whole country for 19 years. And I walked into his house and he said I'm PW. And I said yep. I said I want to talk to you on your own. And you know God give you courage to deal with these people. And he said where do you want to talk to me? I said well let's go to your office. And we went and sat in his office. I sat in front of him. I said you know sir? I said I only have one question for you. And he said what is the question? I said I prayed for you for 19 years. And I need to know what happened on Wednesday night. And don't forget this man you know just died a number of months ago. He just sat there and the tears began to stream down his cheeks. And he said I got saved. And I found Christ. You know what happened to him? He gave his testimony to 15,000 people in a stadium in South Africa. He invited Nelson Mandela to come to his house and they became close friends. Nelson Mandela has never given his life to Christ by the way. But he invited him and three times he spoke to him about the Lord Jesus Christ. Told him and I spoke to him three weeks before he died. He came to hear me preach every time when I was in the country. And never forget every time when he would come and preach he would sit right there at the front. And there is a moment in my little message when the tears just began to stream down his cheeks. And I would say to him P.W. what is it? And he would say well you know just I'm so reminded of that night when God saved me and came into my life. His wife is a very bright Christian. And I spoke to him three weeks before he died. And when we were on the phone to each other I spoke to him. So how are you doing on your walk with God? And every time what he's saying to me I can't wait I want to go to heaven. Try to put things right as much as you can on the apartheid system in South Africa. So brother and sister you know I trust that you've got a burden. I trust that you have the burden for Australia. I'm not an Australian you know. But I need to tell you God has broken my heart for this country. And I need to tell you tonight God doesn't send revival to this country. I mean we are in deep trouble already spiritually. And we've been in deep trouble for a long time you know. And God is not going to send revival to our country to this land of Australia. I don't know what's going to happen to the Christian church you know. So what are we longing for? We're longing for churches not full of people. But we're longing for churches that will be full of people that will be full of God. And so there's no shortcut to this thing you know. No shortcut. It's going to cost us absolutely everything. And I trust that you've not lost the vision for the God is able to send revival. You say your country? I tell you God has been working in my country. I shared this afternoon with a group that we were talking about the things of God. This year in August we are in a church of white people in South Africa. And you know how many would be there on that conference? Twelve thousand people. And so they are hungry and they are thirsty for God to send revival. And I long to see the day when we would have many, many Christians in this land of Australia who have stopped playing around and got serious of God. And apply the biblical truth of His word into their heart. You see I don't think I can tell you anything this weekend that you haven't heard before. You know what's the problem? We've never put those things into practice. It's never become part of our lives you know. There's nothing new that I can tell you brother and sister. But you know what's the problem? There's the possibility that we've heard them so many times that it doesn't have an effect upon us anymore. And so what is it? We need to come to the place where we say God I want to put into practice that which you are saying to me so that it can become part of my life. If God is telling us that He's able to cleanse us from all conscious sin, I need to be able to experience it. If God is telling us in His word I can live a spirit-filled life, I need to be able to experience it. If God is telling us in His word that He can give us a spirit of prayer, I need to experience it. If God is telling us that He's able to send revivals, I need to pray for revival. If God is telling us that we become soul winners, I need to win souls for Christ. If God is telling us that His word needs to become part of my life, I need to let the spirit of God take God's word and become part of my life. You say why is it? Because that's what He's saying to us in His word. And you know what's the problem? We know so much about the scripture, but the scripture's whole heart knows anything about us. So that's why we're emphasizing on prayer. Turn around and find four or five people and we're going to spend some time in prayer together. So let's do that. Find three or four or five people and we're going to pray. Heavenly Father we want to thank you again this evening for just a tremendous encouragement that a day like this has been to us. We want to thank you that there is a sense in which God has come to us this day and there's been moments when the presence of God has become so real in this building, when our hearts and many of our hearts have been broken, when somehow you brought upon us a sense of the burden of God. And Father, we faced our responsibility and we thank you this evening that our responsibility simply became the tremendous response to the ability of God and that you have given unto us that kind of response in our hearts to be able to recognize that God is able to come and is able to do far above that which we can even think, that which we can consider or contemplate in our relationships with you. Thank you that you have said unto us in your word that greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. And Father, when you burden us to pray, then we know in our hearts that we are not just in the center of God's plan for our lives, but we know that we are busy with kingdom work. And we realize this night that prayer is not necessarily a weapon, but somehow do we discover that prayer is a battlefield and the casualties are high and the bullets are flying and sometimes we find ourselves being discouraged and sometimes it has such an effect upon us because it seems if hell itself sometimes wants to break loose upon our lives when we are committed to seek the face of God in prayer. Father, we thank you tonight that there are times when you take us into these deep aspects of what intercessory prayer is all about. And as you are taking us into these areas that we feel so overwhelmed and we feel so weak. And Father, we feel so inadequate and we became so insignificant. Lord, I was reminded today of this theological school where we found ourselves last year with that 800 students and how one of those students came after one of the sessions and said my heart is so burdened for the school that I sometimes feel everything is going to burst open in my relationship with God. My life is going to break apart because of the immensity of the burden of God. And Father, I was thinking today what will happen here in this beautiful land of Australia is somehow the Spirit of God will get a hold of us, your people, and bring to us the reality of God's burden. And you will begin to wake us up in the middle of the night and suddenly the burden of God will begin to prevail upon us. And we will find ourselves for hours and days in the life and the ministry of prayer and fasting systematically asking you to help us to dissect the burden of God and for us to be able to pray this thing through to you. Father, I really believe in my heart that you are not interested in numbers, but Father, you are interested in the manifestation and the penetration and you are interested in the meaning and the purity and the cleansing of the Spirit of God and the application of the efficacy of the blood of Christ in every aspect of our relationships with you. And God, I don't know what it's going to take for you to come to us as your people in this Adelaide Valley and so immensely break our hearts that you will begin to help us to pray through for revival. God, I know what it's going to cost us if we're not going to do it, but I want to ask you tonight that as your Word so often said to us that the preparation of the ground belongeth to God. And Father, I pray tonight in Jesus' name that you will make us willing to be willing as we contemplate the depth and the price and the perseverance of abandoning ourselves to God and become sold out to the life of Christ and for you to set us apart unto a life and a ministry of intercessory prayer. Lord, we know that there are times when you do answer prayer and the answer is delayed. As you said in the book of Daniel and other passages in the Bible, God answered prayer and yet it didn't happen because there was something that you needed to do in our lives. Tonight I pray that you will deal with us in a very drastic and in a very specific way. Father, when we pray this prayer, I know it's not easy to pray these kind of prayers, but I want to put myself, Father, afresh on the altar for you because we have only this one life to live and only that which is done for Christ is going to last. And Father God, if it is not possible for us to trust you in this little Easter convention to come and do a work in our midst and in our hearts, how dare we even consider to be able to trust God for the conferences and the days to come. And we want to say to thee tonight, we want to trust you to do a deep work in every one of our lives. God, we want to trust you this evening that not one single one that has been in these gatherings since Thursday night and yesterday and our times together and the sessions today and these three gatherings tomorrow and Monday morning in our little closing gathering, God that not one of us would be able to leave this place or even just daily visitors would be able to come into this gathering and not meet with God in a fresh and in a deep way. And we know this night that when we pray these kind of prayers, that we are praying within the realm and reality and the center of the will of God, because you have said unto us, as my Father has sent me, so do I want to send you. And so this is the burden God of our hearts that you need to work and we want to make ourselves available. We want to lay our lives on the altar for you so that God the Holy Spirit will be able to work in every aspect of our life. Lord, I became so conscious today that virtually every one of us, if not all, we have sat through Easter convention after Easter convention. Many of us responded to invitations. Many of us came to the altar. Many of us trusted God. Many of us surrendered our lives to you. And the moment when we drove away from the stand, that we take everything back from the altar and there was the possibility that there was no change. And so we know this Saturday night, if anything lasting is going to happen in our relationships with you, it is going to come because of intercessory prayer. And our God and our Father, we cry to you this evening, that somehow this will be a different camp. And as we go back in the coming weeks and the months, that the depth of the dealings and the voice of God will so resonate it in every aspect of our relationship with you, that there will be a change that will be there for time and for eternity. And God, I'm so grateful this Saturday night that when we are asking you these things, that this is not the work of man. This is not a message or a sermon or any kind of a teaching, but this is the work of God the Holy Spirit. And we want to pray in Jesus' name, that He will take these biblical concepts and that He will burn them into our souls. And that the Spirit of God will come and fertilize these areas of our lives, so that it will bring forth life in our relationships with you. God, I was so struck today, because as you walk on this campground, it is bone dry. As we look around this area, these hills, it is as dry as can come. And yet when we look upon this field, it is so green and it's so beautiful. And when we saw these sprinklers today, that became the secret of the grass growing on this field. And God, we need the sprinklers of the Spirit of God. We need the Spirit of God to come and water the world, so that the land would become fertile and that we would become men and women of intercessory prayer. We thank you this evening, for these marvelous times of prayer. God, I said to you many times today, if I just were in this little trailer of David and his wife, and if I was somewhere in the mountains of a farm, and just had days on my own, it would have been tremendous to climb underneath the burden of every single family that has been at this camp, and to systematically agonize and prevail and through into the presence of God. And so we thank you that you answer prayer. We pray as we take these few closing moments of this evening to ponder upon your word again. Just breathe upon the Scripture, so that it will become part of our lives. We ask you in Jesus' name. Amen. I want you just to turn around if you will, and we just want to take a few minutes of your time. We know the evening is on, and we have been here for an hour and about 15 minutes or so in our times of prayer together, but just turn with me if you will. You don't have to open those passages, but open your Bible, and then I just want to take a few more minutes to spoke to you on as you began to study this understanding of prayer this morning. Tomorrow in our times together, I want us to concentrate on the New Testament as it relates to prayer, and then on Monday morning, we want to bring this little time, these days that we have been together as it were, to an end. So this morning we began to consider the Old Testament as it relates to prayer. One of the things that I want to mention to you that we want you to remember is that when we study those Old Testament prayers, we cannot just study those prayers in their essence or in themselves, but we need to be reminded that when we study those Old Testament prayers, that we need to discover the revelation of God to those who pray those prayers. We need to discover that the revelation of God brought them to an encounter with God, where they had an experience with God, and when we discover the revelation of God to those people that pray to the Old Testament, those saints, and we discover their encounter, the consequences of those two things that happened to them brought them to the place where they wanted to do something for God. And brother and sister, there is no distinction between the Old Testament to that degree and where we are today. When God gives us a revelation of Himself, the consequences of God's revelation to us always brings us to a place where God meets with us in our relationship with Him. And when you discover the combination of the revelation and an encounter, we want to do something for God. And when we began to do something for God, it calls us or it brings us to the place where we began to discover the will of God as it relates to prayer. And when you and I pray according to the will of God, the answer is always yes, because it's based upon the way that He reveals Himself to us, it's based upon our experience of God, it's based upon the fact that we are involved in what He is doing, and as a result of that, it brings us into a life in the ministry of intercessory prayer. Now let me mention to you this, when you go to the prayers of the New Testament, you will discover the same kind of performance that is taking place in those New Testament prayers. I want us tonight, because we mentioned this morning that we wanted to look at four aspects of what Old Testament prayer is all about. And one of those things that I want to mention to you is the work and the ministry of God, the Holy Spirit, as it relates to prayer. And we did say this morning that prayer is initiated by God. God was the one that came to have fellowship with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. How did He come to do that? God came to do that in the realm of His Spirit. That's why the Lord Jesus said to the women at the well, in the fourth chapter of the Gospel of John, He said, God is the Spirit, and those that worship God must worship Him in spirit, and they must worship Him in truth. Now when we began to study the work and the ministry of the Holy Spirit, brother and sister, as it relates to prayer, you will discover that in the Old Testament, God is saying unto us in the prophecy of Zachariah, He said, in those days I will pour out upon them the Spirit of Grace and the Spirit of Supplication. Then you remember when you and I come into the New Testament, the Lord Jesus said in the fourth chapter of the Gospel of John, and you remember, John the Baptist came in the first chapter of the Gospel of John, and he made this observation when he saw the Lord Jesus Christ, and he said the moment when he saw Him, he said, Behold the Lamb of God which beareth away, or taketh away the sin of the world. And then at the baptism of Christ, he saw the Spirit of God descending upon Christ in the form of a dove. And then he made this observation about the Lord Jesus, and he said that when He will come, He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. But brother and sister, when the Holy Spirit came upon Christ, you will discover that the Spirit of God came upon Him in the form of a dove. And the dove in the Bible is speaking to us about purity, it is speaking to us about passion, it is speaking to us about peace, and it is speaking to us about power. And the Gospel of Luke which is giving unto us almost 60% more prayer information than Matthew and Mark's Gospel together, with when it comes to this understanding of the Holy Spirit of God as it relates to prayer, is the only one of the four Gospels that is saying unto us that when the Lord Jesus was baptized, and when the Holy Spirit of God came upon Christ, the Bible says He was praying. And so when you study the life of Christ as it relates to the Holy Spirit, you will discover my brother and sister, that Christ lived in a spirit of prayer. That's why Mark in his Gospel said in the New Testament about the Lord Jesus, he said, early in the morning, deep in the night, Christ went into a solitary place and there He prayed. If you study that passage in the Greek language, and Dr. Campbell Morgan made this observation, and this is what he said, he said it can also be translated, many times early in the morning, many times deep in the night, many times Christ went into a secret place, and He said many, many times He prayed. And so you will discover this spirit of prayer, the Holy Spirit as it relates to prayer, within the life and the ministry of the Lord Jesus. Again the Gospel of Luke, you remember in the ninth chapter of Luke's Gospel, at the Mount of Transfiguration. Now Matthew chapter 17 refers to that brother and sister, Mark chapter 9 referred to the Mount of Transfiguration. They don't say anything to us about prayer, but you know what happened in the ninth chapter of the Gospel of Luke? When Luke mentioned about the Mount of Transfiguration, he is the only one of those four Gospels that when he referred to that, he referred to that and he said Christ was praying. And as He was praying, He was transformed into His glorified state. Now the Lord Jesus Christ came, and you know tomorrow I want us to explore some of those passages in the New Testament, but you remember in Luke chapter 11, when one of those early disciples came to Jesus, and he said to Him, because Jesus was praying at a certain place, and he came to the Lord Jesus, and he said to the Lord Jesus, he said, Lord will teach us to pray. And the Lord Jesus came, brother and sister, and what did He do? He began to teach those early disciples how to pray. And then in Luke chapter 11, as He was doing that, He came to the 13th verse, and this is what He said, He said to them in the previous verses, ask and it shall be given unto you. He said unto them, seek and you shall find. He said unto them, knock and it shall be opened unto you. And you will discover that we are speaking about three different dimensions of prayer, because asking is not the same as seeking. Seeking is not the same as knocking, and knocking is not the same as asking. And when you study that statement, you will discover that it's in the prescient imperative mood. You say, what does that mean? It means that Jesus turned to those early disciples, and this is what He said to them. He said, I want you to keep on asking. He said, I want you to keep on seeking. And He said, I want you to keep on knocking. Now listen to this. The moment after He said that, He made a statement to those early disciples. And brother and sister, this is what He said to them. He said, if you then who are evil know how to give good teachings unto your children, He said, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those that ask Him? I wonder if I would be allowed to share with you something about that passage. You know what I discovered? It's wonderful in its construction and in its tense structure in the New Testament. You say, Gerard, what did the Lord Jesus actually say? You know what He said, brother and sister? He said, if you then who are evil, and may I just expound to you this statement. When Jesus said, if you then who are evil, He was not speaking about men and women who were saturated with the sins of depravity, but brother and sister, He was speaking about men and women who were conscious of their infirmities. Men and women who do not know how to pray. Men and women who do not know what it should mean to see God. And He said, if you who are so inadequate and insignificant, and if you who are so saturated with infirmities and with weaknesses, He said, if you give unto your children that which is good, He said, and here comes the structure of the Greek language. And I wanted to try and get this. This is what Jesus said. He said, how much more shall your heavenly Father, and it's present imperative move, He said, how much more shall your heavenly Father keep on giving the Holy Spirit to those that keep on asking Him. And I wonder tonight if you would allow me to ask you, as you develop or cultivate the life in the ministry of intercessory prayer, and maybe you sit through these days and say, you know, I'm not sure if I really understand where you are coming from. But brother and sister, you just pray about these things. And you just allow them to become part of your life. And you come to this moment in your relationship with God, where you say, God, I want you to teach me how I need to ask you to give unto me, in my relationship with God, a spirit of prayer. How you want to explain to me, what does it mean to cultivate a life in the ministry of intercessory prayer, where I do not become like the little girl who used to pray, and she would say, I so often say my prayers, but she said, do I really pray? I think of that marvelous statement in the little epistle of Jude. Do you remember what he said in the 24th verse? He said, praying within the realm of the Holy Spirit. You see, brother and sister, when we are praying in the realm of the Holy Spirit, that's why the Apostle Paul said in Ephesians chapter 6, you remember what happened in the epistle to the Ephesians? We are speaking about the Himalayas of the New Testament epistles. And in the epistle to the Ephesians, in every single one of those chapters, there are two references to the Holy Spirit of God. Why did the Apostle Paul do that, brother and sister? Because you remember when he came to Ephesus in Acts chapter 19, he turned to those disciples in Ephesus, and he said to them, have you received the Holy Spirit since you believed? And they turned to the Apostle Paul, and they said to him, we did not even know that there was the Holy Spirit. And you remember how the Apostle Paul prayed for them, and the Spirit of God came upon him. And when he wrote to the church at Ephesus, he said to them in the first chapter, you were sealed of that Holy Spirit of promise, which became the earnest of your inheritance. He said to them in the second chapter, he said, you have been quickened by the Spirit of God. He said to them in the fourth chapter, grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby you are sealed unto the day of redemption. He said to them in the fifth chapter, be not drunk with wine, wherefore there is an excess, that he said to them, be full to the spirit. And in the sixth chapter, brother and sister, what did he do? He gave unto them the armor of God. And do you know what he really said to them? He said, when you take the armor of God, you find yourself being equipped with the fullness of the Spirit of God, the helmet of salvation. Why do we have to take that off? Because the darts are the evil one. You see, those thoughts of evil that we try to find a place of resting in our minds. And you see, when you have the helmet of salvation, you will be able to prevent those darts to come into your mind. You see, when we speak about temptation, brother and sister, where does temptation come to? Temptation comes to the realm of my mind. I cannot be tempted to something that I do not know anything about. You say, what happens when temptation comes? Temptation comes to the realm of my mind, and from the realm of my mind, it comes to my heart and my emotions. And once it has come to my heart and my emotions, it comes to my world. You say, Gerard, when does temptation become sin? When I yield to temptation. That is why James made a statement in his epistle. He said, when sin conceived, it brings forth death. And ah, when Paul came and he gave us the armor of God, it is the fullness of God's Spirit, brother and sister, the helmet of salvation, the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, the shield of faith, the loins girded with truth, the bread plate of righteousness that protects my heart, the loins which is the strongest part of the body, the feet being shut for the preparation of the gospel. And Paul said, this is the fullness of God's Spirit. And suddenly he would come. And do you know what he is saying to us? The only way that you are going to go forward, this is what he said. He said, with all prayer and supplication, how? In the realm of the Spirit of God. Do you know why you may be sitting here tonight and you have never grown in your relationship with God? It is because you know what? You are just like little David. Right there in the Old Testament. And when he said, I am going to fight the giant Goliath, and Saul came to him and said, do you really want to do this? And he said, yes, I am going to do that. And ah, brother and sister, they tried to give him the armor of Saul. And he could not handle it, you see. And many of us, you know, we talk about the armor of God. I am sure, speaker after speaker after speaker who has been at this Easter Convention, they have come and they hammer the issue of holiness of heart and life and purity and the fullness of the Spirit of God. And you sat and you responded. You said, God, I am trusting you. I want you to cleanse me. I want you to fill me with your Spirit. And I want to take on the armor of God. And yet, brother and sister, you have never given a step forward. You say, why not? He said, with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit. You say, what is it? It is the Holy Spirit of God. And I do not want you to misunderstand me tonight. I do not care what you say about sanctification. But if you are not going to develop and cultivate a personal life of prayer and fellowship with God, you will never get anywhere in the sanctified life. Never. You say, why do you say that? Well, it is what God is saying to us in His Word. Let me take you to another marvelous passage and our time is gone. Let me take you to another marvelous passage in Romans chapter 8. Do you remember Romans chapter 8, brother and sister? What an incredible passage of Scripture. The first seven chapters of the Epistle to the Romans, hardly any reference to the Holy Spirit of God. Hardly any reference. He spoke about the Spirit of holiness. He spoke about the Spirit in another context. Not a word about the Holy Spirit. And suddenly when you and I come into Romans chapter 8, here comes the Holy Spirit of God. Listen to what the Apostle Paul said. He said, There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but what do they do? They walk after the Spirit. Why are they doing that? Because shall the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus have set them free from the law of sin and death? Because for what the law could not do, and it was death for sin, God sending His only Son, and the likeness of sinful sin. And he said, He condemns sin. You say, what happens? You know what happens? There is no condemnation, brother and sister. I wonder tonight if you sit here in this gathering and you are under condemnation. There is no condemnation, you see. The Holy Spirit of God never condemns you. You say, Gerard, what is it? He condemns us, but He never condemns us. And I said, there is no condemnation. Why is it, brother and sister? Do you know why it is? Because a new law has come into operation. You say, what law is it? It is the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. That is why Jesus said in Matthew chapter 5, He said, I did not come to destroy the law. He said, I came to perform the law. He said, when the law of the Spirit of life will come into operation in your relationship, God, He said, what is going to happen is that your righteousness will exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees in the south. Because the law of the Spirit of life is going to be, and here James came in his little epistle, and you know what he did? He spoke of the law of perfect liberty. People often ask in North America, they say, can you explain to us what you are trying to say about the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus? And brother and sister, the easiest way to explain to the Americans, because some of them are as dumb as donkeys and others are not, but the easiest way to explain, you know what I would say to you? I say, listen, let me explain to you something. It is like sitting in a 747 jumbo jet, and you are at the tarmac, you are coming out of the airport, you have gone through security, and as you have gone through security, you find yourself in what is it? 340 tons of steel and metal and aluminum, and engine and wire and whatever it is, and gallons of jet fuel, and you find what is it? 450 or 430 people boarding this plane with all their luggage and the 747, and then there is a moment when they bring this massive piece of equipment in, and they push this thing back. Do you ever want to ask yourself, why did they push it back? Because it doesn't have a reverse. So there is no way to go back, you know? You can't be like the little Irishman who wanted to go from from Belfast in the north of Ireland to Londonderry or down to the south of Ireland, and he just had a few pounds, and he needed a car, and someone came to him and said to him, what are you going to do? He said, I need to buy a very cheap car, and I want to go from one place to the other, and so he found a garage man, and he said, you know, I only have a few pounds, and I want to buy this car, and he said, I just want to go down, and he said, I said, go down in the garage, and he said, I've got the right car for you, and he said, what do you mean? He said, you can buy this, it's very cheap, but it doesn't have reverse, and so the little Irishman said, you know, that's no problem, because I don't have any intention of coming back anyway. You know, it's not like that, brother and sister, but have you ever asked yourself, why they would push this plane back, and then they push it back, and they start those massive four Rolls Royce engines, and you and I shouldn't explain, you know, we say to ourselves, what's going to happen, and when they start those engines, the 747 began to move down, and as it's moving down, it goes for, what's it, three or five kilometers, and it's going right there to the end of the tarmac, and there is a moment when this thing turns, and it's almost like the Albany lady and her husband, when they saw the first train, and she turned to her husband, and she said, what do you think, and when he saw this train, he said to his wife, he said, my dear, this thing will never ever move, and she said, well, let's see what happens, and they started this train, and he began to move, and as it was going down, she said to him, what do you think, he said, my dear, this thing is never ever going to stop again. No, brother and sister, you know, when that 747 is on the tarmac, and those four engines came into operation, and you and I would sit there, and we are waiting to see what is going to happen, and then there is a moment when the tower gives the indication, and they said, you are allowed to take off, and you and I sit in that plane, and those engines began to roar, and we thought, where is this guy going to take us, and it goes faster, five miles an hour, 20 miles an hour, 50, 70, 90, 120, and we are flying down that runway, and brother and sister, what is preventing that plane from rising? It is the law. You say, Gerard, what law is it? It is the law of gravity, it prevents 350 tons of steel, and metal, and aluminum, it prevents it from taking off, but brother and sister, something is happening, those massive Rolls-Royce engines, you know what happens to them? They are so powerful, and as that engine roars down that, that, that runway, there is a moment when the pilot lifts the nose, and you and I sit in this plane, and as we sit in this plane, those massive engines began to lift it up in the air. I tell you, I don't like flying, you know, and it is an incredible experience, every time for me when the machine takes off, I just sing all the blood of Jesus, and I hold my wife's hand, she said to me once, why are you holding my hand? Are you afraid to die? And I said, no, but I am concerned the is going to happen, you know, and brother and sister, you know what happens, this thing takes off, and you know, that pilot with the force of those engines, it is not the pilot, it is the engines. What does he do with that plane? He pushes it up 39,000 feet in the air. You say, what has happened? Another law has come into operation. You say, Gerard, which law? It is the law of aerodynamics, brother and sister. You say, what did it do? It overpowered the law of gravity, you see, and so you are out there in the air for, what is it, 12, 14, I sat in one of these 777s for 16 hours, flying from Vancouver to Sydney, and for 16 hours, we were what, 35,000 feet in the air, and you know, it is not like the elderly man and his wife who sat in this plane with two engines, and they heard the thumping of the sound, and the captain came on, and he said, I just need to tell you that we have lost one of our engines, and I don't want you to be concerned, because we have another engine here, and we are going to make it. And she turned to her husband and said, my dear, if we lose the other engine, we are going to be up here all night. No, no, it doesn't work like that, you know, it doesn't work. He said, what did he say? That massive power is keeping her right in the air, what is it, 16 hours. Why? It is the law of the Spirit of Life and Christ. Can I ask you tonight in your Christian life, what is happening? Are you crippled? Are you flying, brother and sister? Is the law of the Spirit of Life in operation? Let me close, you say, how does it relate to prayer? Let me explain to you, because in Romans chapter 80, the Apostle Paul made this unbelievable statement, and this is what he said, he said, the Spirit, and forgive me for saying this, but in our King James Version of the Bible, which I love and treasure and memorize, but there has been something that, something was not correctly translated from the Greek language. You say, how do you dare that? But the old man who is speaking to me said, you know, if the King James Version of the Bible is good enough for the Apostle Paul, it is good enough for me. I didn't say that, but brother and sister, there was a little statement, and he said, the Spirit itself intercedes for us, and when you go to the structure of the language, it was the person of the Holy Spirit. Now this is what he does, he said, the Spirit himself helping out, helpeth our infirmities. So why is he helping our infirmities? Because the Bible says, we do not know how to pray, and the Bible says, we do not know what to pray. So you and I do not know how to pray, and we do not know what to pray. And here comes the Scriptures, and it says, the Spirit himself helps our infirmities. Now what is he doing? He is interceding for us. He is helping our infirmities. How is he interceding for us? And the word intercession in Latin is this word we mentioned the other day, is intera cegra, he is stepping in between, and as he steps in between, he is taking the responsibility. So the Spirit of God is interceding for us, with groanings that cannot be uttered. It is a marvelous word, it is the word stanachmos in the Greek language. And so he is interceding for us with groanings, and what is he doing brother and sister? Why did we say earlier on this night, to one another, you cannot separate the answer of prayer from that which God is doing in your own life. The Spirit of God is interceding for us. What is he doing? He is searching our hearts you know. He is bringing me in line with the will of God. Brother and sister, you cannot pray in the will of God if you are not in the will of God yourself. You cannot anticipate the conviction of sin upon the unbeliever if you don't know the conviction of God's Spirit upon your own relationship. And so what is the Spirit of God? He is interceding for us. He is searching our hearts. And what is he doing? He is interceding for us according to the will of God. Can I ask you tonight, as in that times in your life, you know, someone came to me, and I know God has been touching our lives in different ways, and someone came to me, I think it was this morning, that someone came to me and said, you know, yesterday afternoon, God was so dealing with me, and my heart was just thumping, and I just felt so broken up in the presence of God. Brother and sister, the Spirit of God comes, and you know what? He searched our hearts. He is interceding for us. You see, we are not on our own, you know. That's why in one of our times of prayer, we go to that passage in Hebrews chapter 4, when he said, we do not have a high priest that cannot be touched by the feeling of our infirmities, but one who was tempted in all points like us we are, and yet without sin. Then here comes the writer to read, he said, let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace and let's watch, so that we might be able to receive mercy and grace. Listen, you are not on your own, you know. Can I ask you this night, have you made room for God the Holy Spirit? You know, there is this amazing concept of theology floating around today in what is supposed to be the Christian world, and people would say, you know, if you pray in the Spirit, there is this manifestation, and they would come to you with all these kinds of philosophies of what they are saying, praying in the Spirit, and I was speaking at a conference of pastors outside of the city of Seattle a number of years ago, and at this conference of pastors, I didn't realize that there were pastors at this conference who came from this aspect of theology, that when they speak about praying in the Spirit, I mean, it's manifestation after manifestation, and they don't know what they are doing, and I was speaking at this conference, and in that session, there was an unbelievable sense of the presence of God, just resting upon the Word of God, and after that first session, I said to these pastors, I said, I said, it's obvious that God is in our midst, and I said, I'm going to ask you to find a place in your own, and I was not speaking on prayer of revival, in fact, I was speaking about biblical exposition, and I said to them, I want you to spend some time in your own, and I wanted to get a place, because my heart was so broken and affected, when one of those men came to me, and he was from one of these wild understandings of the Holy Spirit, that has got nothing to do with Scripture, and he turned to me, and he said, now I need to ask you a question, and I said, what is it? He said, you will not be able to preach like that, with such an incredible sense of unction, if you are not involved in this manifestation, and I turned to him, I said, what do you mean? He said, how many hours do you practice this manifestation every day? And I just looked him in the eyes, I said, not one minute. He said, what are you telling me? He said, you can't preach like that. I said, I don't think you know what you are speaking about. In fact, I said, you know, you should really spend time alone with God, because that's what I want to do. And then he turned to me, and he said to me, listen, let me confront you with a passage of Scripture. I said, what is it? He said, the Apostle Paul said, I pray in the Spirit, and I pray with the understanding. He said, when Paul said, I pray in the Spirit, he was involved in this manifestation. And I just turned to him, I said, you know, I don't think you know what you're talking about. He said, what do you mean? I said, when you pray in this manifestation, you don't even know what you are praying. I said, I've seen witch doctors in Africa doing this. I've seen the Jehovah Witnesses doing this. I've seen the Mormons doing this. I said, but can I tell you something? He said, you pray in the Spirit, and you pray in the understanding. I said, you know what happens to me every single day of my life? And he looked at me in astonishment. He said, well, you don't, you just tell me you don't have this manifestation. I said, you don't need it, you know. He said, what do you mean? I said, listen, I get on my knees before God. And I said, when you come to grips with the doctrine of repentance and the life of the believer and humiliating yourself before God, I said, I come into the presence of God, and I pray with my understanding, and I bring myself to God, and I recognize my need for God. And I said, I pray with my understanding. And I said, then the Spirit of God comes, and the Spirit of God feeds my understanding according to the will of God. And I said, I found myself praying in the realm of the Spirit. He said, what are you praying? And I said, I pray in English when I do that. I said, because God, through His Word, is feeding my understanding as it relates to my relationship with God, and leads me into a spirit of intercessory prayer. I said, tonight I want to ask you, do you know the secret of praying in the realm of God, the Holy Spirit? If you make room for the Spirit of God, brother and sister, leading you according to the will of God, discovering the will of God. We're going to look at this tomorrow. It is so sweet to discover the will of God. I said to Robert, yesterday or today, I can't remember, because of a mission that I'm involved in. I said, you know, I have such a burden to pray for you and Karen, and I want to explore the will of God for their lives. The will of God for the husband. How do you discover it? You discover it in the Scriptures. And when you discover it in the Scriptures, you pray according to the will of God. The will of God for people who do not know Christ. What is the will of God? Well, God wants them to come to Christ, you know. So I'm praying for their salvation. The will of God for the church. What is His will? The Apostle Paul said, Christ loved the church, and He gave Himself for it. Why did He do that? So that He might sanctify it through the watching of the Word. It's the will of God for the church to be sanctified. Brother and sister, if you discover praying according to the will of God, it's one of the most sweetest things in the Christian life. Let me close. Maybe you're tired. Maybe you didn't understand the word that I'm trying to say to you. You just pray about it, and it will come back. But let me close. You know this statement in Romans chapter 8? I love this statement. He said, The Holy Spirit help our infirmities. Brother and sister, it's an amazing statement. There was a man with the name of Bisa. You say, who is Bisa? Bisa was a contemporary of John Calvin. When I was in Edinburgh in Scotland, I had the joy of traveling in the British Isles, but I also had the privilege of teaching at a Bible college on and off when I was in and out of the school. And one of the places where I did research work was at a place called New College in Edinburgh. And I would go to the library, and I would do some research work in the library, because it was such an extensive library. And I discovered in that library that they had the chair of John Calvin in that library in Edinburgh. And I went, and I sat in his chair one day, and you know he didn't do a thing to me. Not a thing. But you know John Calvin had a contemporary, and his name was Bisa. And you say, who is Bisa? Bisa was an incredible man who had an ability to take the Greek New Testament, and relate it to classical Greek, and to be able to illustrate out of that, and give us practical illustrations. And so this is what he said about this passage, and I want you to get this. He said, when the Apostle Paul said, the Spirit of God help our infirmities, he said that word in the Greek New Testament, it's a wonderful word, but I'll insist, he said that word has got a beautiful picture around that word. And Bisa said, this is the picture that comes out of the classical Greek. He said, he keeps on to ask the picture of a little man standing in front of a tree. And this little man look at this tree, and he wants to cut this tree down, but he just don't just want to cut the tree down. He wants to cut this tree down, and he wants to take the branches off, and then he wants to move this tree in its entirety, and he wants to move it from one place to the other. Now he's just a small little fellow, he's got an axe, and he's got a saw, and so he began to tap away on this tree. And brother and sister ask, he was doing that very some moment when he dropped this tree, and when the tree fell onto the ground, he was so excited about this, and he started, and he began to cut the branches off, and there was a moment when he moved all the branches, and he looked at this tree, and now he said, I want to move this tree, but I don't have the ability. I do not have a strength. I may be with the help of someone who would be able to lift it up from the end where it's light, but I cannot move. And then Bisa said, someone else comes along. This one is coming along to help, and he's standing there, and he's saying to this little man, so what is the issue? And he said, well I dropped the tree, I cut the branches off, and now what I want to do, I want to move the tree to this point, but he said, I don't have the strength, and the power, and the ability to do that. And this other person is so strong, turned to this little man, and he said, I'm going to help you, and we're going to do that. And the little man turned to him and said, how are we going to do it? And he said, I'm a lot stronger than you. What I want you to do is to come to the light end of the tree, not the place where you cut it off, but right here at the other end. And he said, I want you to help me, and what we are going to do, we are going to lift this tree up as high as we can. And he said, I want you to hold it, and he said, you don't have to hold it on its own, because I am going to help you all the way. And he said, so what will you do? He said, just watch it, just hold it. I need you, and I'm going to help you. And when this strong person came to the place where he was almost just around the middle, or a little bit further, he said to this little man, are you still there? And he said, yes I am. And the little man said, I can't move it, I can't do anything. He said, I'm here to help. And then he said to the little man, now what I want you to do, I want you very slowly to let go. And as you let go, I'm going to find the balance of what this tree is about. Now I can't do it without you. You're going to hold the balance on that side, but when I come to the place where I can balance it, I'm going to take this tree into my arms. And we are going to move forward. And he said, you're going to help me, and we're going to do it. That's what it means, brethren. You and I do not know how to pray, but you know, when we make room for the Spirit of God, you know what happens to us? Hours become like minutes. You say, why Gerard? Because the burden of God comes. And you know what happens when the burden of God comes? The burden of God brings brokenness. You say, when brokenness comes, what happens to you? Brokenness brings cleansing. And when God cleanses us, brethren and sisters, the Spirit of God who is resident becomes present in our relationship with God. And when the Spirit of God becomes present, you know what happens to us? The Spirit of God brings to us a spirit of prayer. And when the spirit of prayer comes, you know what happens? The spirit of prayer leads us to the will of God in prayer. And when the spirit of prayer leads us to the will of God in prayer, you know what happens? The will of God in prayer is surrounded to the promises of God in prayer. So what is it? It's praying in the Spirit. I could have think that I down in British Columbia. And you know, this man is an amazing man. He's a godly man. But his income every year is 60 million Canadian dollars. You say, why is he my friend? No, I've never asked him for money and I will not do that. You say, why is he my friend? Because he heard me speak in a church, quite a large church. And he came to me after the service and he said, I've never heard this in my life before in Canada. And I said to him, where have you been all your life? He said, well, no one is speaking about these things in my country. And he said, would you mind if I spend time with you? And I turned to him and I said, absolutely. I mean, this is years ago, years ago. And so he said to me, let's have lunch and we have lunch. I mean, he's a very simple man. You wouldn't think that he is a man whose income is 60 million Canadian dollars every year. I mean, he just come from his house, old trousers and a shirt and we spent some. And so we are accountable to one another. And I met with him. And one day we had lunch together. I've never asked him for money and I will never do that. But I did tell you something, when we stepped out in faith and we started with absolutely nothing. He phoned me up one day and he said to me, I've been praying for you every day. I heard you resigned from the faith mission. And he said, you need a place to stay. And we met for lunch. And so as we met for lunch, he gave me a white envelope. And he said to me, we prayed about this and this is something for a house. And I thought it was a thousand dollars. And I said, thank you so much, Ted. And he told me, he said, I think you should open it. And I said, why? He said, because I want you to realize what we've done. And I opened it, it's $50,000, you know. By the way, I love his white envelopes, you know. Well, you know what happened? He sent me out for lunch one day. He said, would you come with me? And I said, why? He said, I wanted to show you one of our factories. They are making steel presses. And he took me to the one factory. And when we came to the factory, he showed me a press that they were building for Germany. And we look at this thing and he said to me, Gerard, he said, this thing weighs 1,250 tons. I said, you've got to be kidding. He said, absolutely. I said, how do you get it to Germany? He said, once we build it, he said, we take it apart and we ship it over to Germany. And then he said, let me show you something. And he pressed a button. And when he pressed the button, I didn't know that, there were two plates of steel. And when he pressed the button, this one plate of steel was there. And then there was this other plate of steel. And then on top of this was, I don't know, brother and sister, how many tons of weight. I mean, this thing was 1,250 tons. And so when he pressed this button, it began to lift it. And when he lifted to about maybe 24 inches, he said, now Gerard, do you see this? And I look, he said, don't put your head in because if the button comes down, there's nothing of your left. And I look, he said, just stand away. And brother and sister, it was like a mirror. I mean, it was just clean. It was these two plates of steel. They are, were absolutely perfect. And I said, why are you showing this? He said, I want to explain to you something. He said, if you go into the city of Vancouver and you find the largest watermelon that you can find in Canada and you bring that watermelon to me and you and I lifted it up and we put it on this plate of steel and as we stand looking at it, and he said, I pressed this button. He said, and I let the weight come down upon this watermelon. He said, as it will come down and come down, he said, Gerard, by the time we brought all the weight down and we leave it there for a while. And he said, I pressed the button and we lifted up again. He said, when you and I were looking, he said, there will be absolutely nothing. I said, you've got to be kidding. He said, absolutely nothing. He said, you see these two plates of steel has been so prepared and so worked over and so manufactured that nothing would be able to stand between it. I said, not even the color. He said, virtually probably nothing. Brother and sister, I sit there and God broke my heart, you know, and I was crying like a child. And he said, what's going on with you, Gerard? I said, take, when the Spirit of God brings the burden of God upon you, there's not going to be anything left of a self-life. Nothing. So what is it? It's the life of prayer. The weight. Do you ever ask God to give you a burden? A burden? A burden for your own relationship with Him. A burden for your family. A burden for our children. A burden for our nation. A burden for our neighbors. A burden, brother and sister. Don't ask God to give you a burden if you're not prepared to become slashed in the greatness of Him. Heavenly Father, we thank you tonight. It has been wonderful to spend these times. We only have been a little handful of people, and yet, what a great encouragement to come to grips with these great truths of your Word. We want to ask you again tonight that somehow it will just find a resting place in every aspect of our relationships with you. Give us broken hearts, we pray, so that our hearts will be broken for the things that breaks the heart of God. We ask you in Jesus' name. Amen.