Mike Bickle emphasizes the church's eternal identity as a house of prayer, asserting that prayer is central to our existence as redeemed beings. He explains that the enemy actively seeks to hinder our prayer lives, which are essential for interacting with God and releasing His power into the world. Bickle highlights that both individually and collectively, the body of Christ is called to grow in prayer, as it is a reflection of our true identity and purpose. He draws on biblical examples, including the life of David and the early church, to illustrate the significance of prayer in God's eternal plan. Ultimately, Bickle calls for a culture of prayer within the church, urging believers to engage deeply with God through prayer as a vital aspect of their faith.

10 of our second semester on growing in prayer. So we've covered 20 sessions on prayer. And it's good to hear teaching on prayer but it doesn't do a lot if it doesn't get into our prayer life. And so the enemy wants to keep that from happening in my life and in your life. I'm not just saying that as just a warning, it's just a fact of life. The enemy is after this issue to shut down our life of prayer. Because nothing is more true to our identity than being a house of prayer. That's a big statement. Here in Isaiah chapter 56, Isaiah revealed the eternal identity of the redeemed. That we would function as a house of prayer. He said, my house, talking about the redeemed in this age and the age to come. God calls them a house of prayer. That's their eternal identity. That's not the whole of our identity. There's nothing more true to being a redeemed human than to grow in prayer. I'm going to say that again. There's nothing more authentic and true to being who God created us to be than to grow and to function and to operate in a spirit of prayer. There's nothing the enemy attacks more in our life than this issue. We were created in the image of God to interact with God. We were saved so that we could interact with God. That's what prayer is all about. That's our identity in this age and the age to come. Again there's nothing more truly human for a redeemed human than to operate and grow in this. But there's nothing the enemy is resisting more in your life or in my life. Jesus quoted Isaiah. He wanted to strongly affirm what God the Spirit said through Isaiah. In Matthew 21 he said, it is written, it is written, thus says the Lord, my people shall function as a house of prayer. Paragraph B, what does it mean to function as a house of prayer? For individuals and collectively as a family to operate in the spirit of prayer. That's what it means to be a house of prayer, that as individuals we grow in prayer and as a collective people. I'm talking about the body of Christ and the whole earth. Not talking about here locally only. To function as a house of prayer in a very simple definition, I've used this over the years. God speaks and he moves our heart. Then we speak the very thing back to God and it moves his heart. And then he opens his hand and releases his resource into the earthly realm. Let me say that again. To be a house of prayer God speaks his word to our heart. We're reading the written word that God the Holy Spirit impresses us. He speaks his word to our heart and it moves us. Wow! Revival's coming. Wow! There's a breakthrough in my life. Wow! God's going to do this. And it touches us and it moves us. God speaks his word. It moves our heart. We speak the word back and it moves his heart. And then the result of that? He opens his hand and releases his resource into the earthly realm. Now his resource is more than money. It's creative wisdom. It's unity. It's the power to walk in righteousness. It's favor. There are many, many different dimensions of his resource. Engaging in prayer is the primary means of releasing the power of God into the earthly realm. Why? Why did God ordain it this way? Because this isn't just, we're not just a house of prayer in this age. We're a house of prayer a billion years from now in the resurrection. Did you know that with a resurrected body you'll still live in prayer? You'll speak things to God that he put in your heart and it will release his resource into the earth even in the age to come. Prayer's not over when you meet the Lord. Prayer goes to a whole other level when you meet the Lord. Because Jesus even now is at the right hand of the Father functioning in intercession and prayer. I mean here he is fully God, fully man in a resurrected body. He's still functioning in prayer. Why is it that God's power is released most through prayer? Because that's our eternal identity. Again that's not the whole of our identity. We're his family. We're his bride. We're his sons and daughters, his children. We're the body of Christ. We're royal priesthood. But the reason that it releases his power because that is how he created the human spirit in order to function at his highest in this way. And again that's why the enemy is attacking it. Now paragraph C. When God names somebody, and in this case it's the whole of the body of Christ in history. When God names someone or a people, it indicates how they function in the spirit. All the names in the Word of God, when God gives a man or a woman a name, it is an indication of how they function in the spirit. And our greatest place of identity, our greatest place of power, our greatest place of honor, it's where we will experience the greatest honor, is in prayer, in the deep interaction with God. That's why growing in prayer is not something for folks that say, well I want to do this full time and with the rest of the people. No, this is the whole body of Christ forever is to grow in this subject. And this was not a subject, it's a reality. Paragraph D. It's important to say this. I can't say this enough. But the house of prayer in any city of the earth is the entire body of Christ. It's not just the prayer ministries of that city. It's the whole body of Christ. The house of prayer of Kansas City isn't IHOP. The house of prayer of Kansas City is a thousand plus congregations. Every born again believer is part of the house of prayer. I compare prayer ministries like IHOP, like we have a little cup of gasoline, we're just throwing it on the prayer fires that are already in the city, long before we were here. The Lord was wooing His people in prayer. In every city of the earth where there's a house of prayer, they're just a catalyst, they're a servant ministry. To throw a little cup of gasoline on the fire of prayer that's already been burning in that city, long before they existed, before that prayer ministry did, I mean. Roman numeral two. Let's look at the centrality. How central the very fact and the subject of prayer is in God's eternal plan. Paragraph A. Prayer and worship have always been at the center of His purpose. They are among the few things we do now and in the age to come. There's not that many things you do now and you do then. I want you to notice, as we go through a few examples, how central growing in prayer is to God's government. God's government means the way He releases His power. That's what I mean by His government. The way He rules and releases power. That's the subject of government. Number one, it starts around the throne of God. In eternity past, in the eternal sanctuary of Revelation chapter four, it goes, prayer and intercession, I mean prayer and worship go 24 hours a day. Night and day and it never ceases. That's the core. That's where this thing begins. Paragraph B. Human history began in a prayer meeting in the Garden of Eden. It was Adam walking with God in the cool of the day. Paragraph C. Israel as a nation, they began in a prayer meeting. I mean here they are. They're set free from Egypt. They go out into the wilderness. They're at Mount Sinai. The mountain is aflame of fire and it's the first corporate prayer meeting in history. There it is. God is talking. The people hear the voice of God and they're talking back to God and Moses is in between and the mountain is aflame. I mean it's the upper room fire of God on the day of Pentecost on a major level when the nation of Israel was born. They were born in a prayer room. Well, that's not really true. A prayer room but a prayer meeting with the fire of God. And what happened on the day of Pentecost in the upper room was a small version of what happened at Sinai. It's at that hour where God, one of the first things He ever spoke over Israel collectively as a nation, you'll be a kingdom of priests which means you'll grow in prayer. You'll interact with me in prayer. You'll pray for the people. You'll represent me to the people. That was one of the very first things God ever said to Israel as a nation. It related to their identity as a house of prayer. They would be a kingdom of priests. Then notice the very first assignment He gave Israel after they came out of Egypt. They're at the mountain. Moses goes up on the mountain. He goes, God says, I want you to go tell them to do something. The very first assignment. Tell them to build me a worship sanctuary so you can have prayer meetings in the wilderness is what He said. That was the first assignment. Paragraph D, we covered this in our last session. God's purpose for His people to be a house of prayer was seen in a premier way in the life of David or his reign as king. One of the first things David does after he becomes king is he develops a worship sanctuary. He gets the ark and he gets singers and musicians around the ark. He releases them full-time. He establishes the full-time occupation of the singer, the musician, the intercessor using our language today. He had 4,000 of them. Paragraph E. Then after that, David said, God commanded me to command all the leaders of Israel after me to do this. Why did David command all the leaders in Israel after him to do this? Because God commanded him. David said, it's not just because I'm into worship and prayer. God commanded me to command all the kings after me to uphold this, to make this central in the nation of Israel. Why did God command this? Why was He so urgent and ardent about David commanding the kings after him? Because from God's point of view, the people of God are a house of prayer. That's our identity. Again, there's nothing more true to our redeemed humanity than to function talking to God. Individually, talking to God together. Whether we're singing or speaking or hearing, it's that two-way interaction with the Lord. Top of page 2. Jesus began His public ministry where? In a prayer meeting out in the wilderness talking to God. And the devil's there. Jesus ended His public ministry before the cross in a prayer meeting in the Garden of Gethsemane. In between, for His three and a half year ministry, He spent long hours in prayer. Jesus emphasized prayer as the number one activity when He talked about the end times. We mentioned this a little bit last week. But when the greatest crisis in human history breaks out upon the planet, Jesus addressed this a number of times, several times. But the activity that He emphasized the most. Make sure you're watching. You're praying. You know, I've asked the Lord over the years. I mentioned this last week. But Lord, with all the needs and the crisis and the land in that hour of history, why wouldn't You tell Your people, give us a little more instruction in the written Word of God? I mean, the primary thing He says, make sure you're praying. You're watching. You know, you might have thought, He said, make sure you store up some water or make sure you do this. I mean, who knows what man would put on that list of what Jesus might or should have said. But He didn't. He said, make sure you grow in prayer. Make sure you're watching. Because if you're in that place, number one, you'll receive divine direction from the Lord. Number two, you'll have that sustaining courage. And number three, you're in that posture to release the power of God in the midst of the crisis. Paragraph G, the church, the early church, on the day of Pentecost, in the upper room, they were born in a prayer meeting. Again, the fire of God comes on 120. That was only a down payment of where this prayer ministry is going when the Lord meets His people. As He comes in flaming fire, and the whole sky is filled with fire. I mean, we had the fiery prayer meeting on Mount Sinai when Israel was born as a nation. We had the fiery prayer meeting in the upper room when the church was born. And the Spirit and the bride are crying out, and the Lord comes in answer to a global prayer movement. He doesn't come in a vacuum. He comes as the body of Christ worldwide in her bridal identity. Come, Lord Jesus. They're saying it from the nations, crying out from the nations. He comes in answer to a global prayer movement. Paragraph H. Prayer was one of the highest priorities of the responsibility and the job description of the New Testament leadership. Let's go to paragraph K. I mentioned this last week. Many new ministries all over the earth are springing up, little houses of prayer. Now, a lot of them are these prayer rooms I talked about last week are, you know, one person at a time praying in a prayer room. Most of them don't have music. But there, you know, a guy prays from 2 to 3, the next guy 3 to 4. But there's, you know, the numbers I'm getting from the folks that are studying the statistics, there's like 20,000 of them, and the majority of them have sprang up in the last 10 years. And many of them, not the majority of the 20,000, but hundreds and thousands probably even, are now adding music to them and going several hours a day with music. That's springing up all over the earth and the countries of the earth. That's a remarkable reality. Here's my point. My point is, it's central to what God's doing. It's not the only thing He's doing. He's preparing the church to walk in maturity. He's preparing the church to bring in the great harvest, to be salt and light, to impact their city and nation. And He's raising up the church in a culture of prayer. He's doing a number of these things, all dovetailing together. But it's very clear, one of the central things of these 3 or 4 things I just mentioned, is that they're all central, each of those are central, is that He's calling people, not just to start a house of prayer, far more than that, He's calling the body of Christ to a culture of prayer. But He's raising up houses of prayer to be catalytic in their area. Thousands of them. It's a remarkable reality. Again, most of them are small, with small numbers. One or two in the prayer room at a time, but 10 and 20 years ago they didn't exist. So it's a tremendous movement forward if you're taking a big picture point of view. Paragraph L, before Jesus returns, I've already mentioned it, the Holy Spirit will raise up the greatest prayer movement in history, the Spirit and the Bride. The church and her Bridal identity worldwide will be crying out, Come Lord Jesus! Come Lord Jesus! And the Lord's going to come in answer to that global cry. I mean of 1 or 2 billion believers around the world, some big number like that. Paragraph M, natural history. Natural history ends in context of a global prayer movement. The conflict at the end of the age is the house of prayer led by Jesus that prevails over the house of prayer led by the Antichrist. Read Revelation chapter 13. The Antichrist and Satan, they have one primary objective. I mean they've got several primary objectives. But one of the very center focuses is to raise up a worldwide worship movement to the Antichrist and Satan. It's a prayer movement that he's after. The Holy Spirit is raising up a prayer movement that will prevail over this one. He will have a state financed prayer movement. He will tie the economy of all the cities in the earth that He has His dominance in. He'll tie the economy to worshiping Him. The businesses of the earth that are connected with Him will be connected to the worship mandate that the Antichrist has. I mean this is a remarkable reality. The earth isn't moving towards atheism. The earth is moving towards a robust spirituality in the dark realm and in the light realm. But a robust spirituality is going to fill the earth. People will be deeply involved with Satan and worship. The people who hate Jesus. They're not going to kind of blend away and I mean fade away the humanity into a non-spiritual kind of condition. The earth will be profoundly spiritual. The people of the earth in the hour when the Lord returns. Spiritual in the negative sense. Deeply engaged in worship and Satan and the power of Satan. And deeply engaged in the right and godly sense with Jesus and the worship movement. And again the whole body of Christ. No matter whatever assignment they have. Because the body of Christ all has assignments. In the marketplace, in the home, in all kinds of different ministries. But there will be a spirit of prayer and worship that will permeate those assignments. In the millennial kingdom. In the thousand year reign. One of the primary focus, I mean activities of the kings of the earth that is mentioned in Scripture. They'll be worshipers. Yes, they'll rule nations. Yes, they will know about economies. Yes, they'll know about social infrastructure. But one of the primary things emphasized in Scripture in that hour. They will worship the Lord. That will be part of their identity. That will be part of their responsibility. They'll carry themselves as worshipers. As the leaders of the nations of the earth in the millennial kingdom. Let's go to the top of page 3. I mean my point is this. The fact that we are a house of prayer. Again, I'm not talking about IHOP right now. I'm talking about the whole body of Christ. In all of history. Now that is our, one of our primary expressions of our eternal identity. We, God speaks and moves our heart. We speak and move His heart. Then He releases His resource into the earth. We're in this vibrant interaction with God as individuals and corporately. Even as spiritual families. This thread of reality is so clear when you take a big picture look at redemptive history. Well central to redemptive history is this man David called the man after God's own heart. And I just love, I'm so inspired over the years by this look into David's heart in Psalm 132. This is the man God called the man after my own heart. We find out Psalm 132 a little bit about what David carried in his heart even in his youth. It says this in verse 2. They're talking about how he, how David swore to the Lord. How David made a vow to the Holy One. And the vow or the oath he made to the Lord was this. Verse 3. He said surely I will not go up to my house. I will not go up to the comfort of my bed. I will not give sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids. Here it is. Until I find a place for the Lord. Until I find a place for the Lord. A dwelling place for the Mighty One. Then he cried out Lord arise to your dwelling place. Arise to your resting place. So at the very core of David's life. I mean at the center of his life he made this vow. Even as a young man. He made an oath. He said Lord I'm not going to make the comfort or the prosperity of my own house number one in my life. David had a prosperous house. Meaning his whole family. Not just the residence he lived in. He had a nice house as well I'm sure. As king of the nation. But when he meant his house he meant his whole family resource and family name and heritage. He goes I'll not give sleep to my eyes. I'll not concern myself with my own personal pleasure in a way greater than this. Here's the issue he said I've set my heart and vowed to. That you would have a place on the earth where your presence and your will would be manifest. Where the will of God and the presence of God would be released to the measure you've ordained for my generation. That was an oath that David made. He goes I long for you to be in a place where you're not striving with people but you're resting. Where the will of God is done the presence of God is manifest. Where people are interacting with God. Again to the measure God ordains for whatever generation of history that different ones have lived in. It's this oath that has been very powerful at the very heart of the missions movement. The heart of the worship movement is this oath to be radically devoted to the Lord. Lord we're going to interact with you and we're going to see a people that interact with you. I don't mean a people like a congregation or one ministry. That's not what I mean. I mean the people of God in the cities of the earth. The nations of the earth. In our region we want to see your people. Many facets. Many expressions. Dwelling. Embracing the will of God. Walking in the power of God. Where the worth and the fame of Jesus is being manifest. Paragraph D. Of course in David's generation that vow included putting singers and musicians. Thousands of them. Putting them in place. He had four thousand. There was more than that in training and the whole system and the infrastructure undoubtedly. David was contending for the purpose of God in his generation to be fully manifest. And he was contending for it in the spirit of prayer and worship. Beloved we want to be people that are contending together with others. Others in the body of Christ. Whatever part of the body of Christ God connects us with. We're contending in worship and prayer. Intercession with others and crying out that the will of God would break through in an unusual measure in our generation. I mean what David invested personally was so extravagant. I mean when I think of what it would cost in time and money and energy to have four thousand singers and musicians mobilized for night and day prayer coming forth out of the city of Jerusalem. Beloved that was extravagant. I mean just the administration and the costliness of that kind of interaction with God. I look at him and I look at that and I say Lord David was serious about this. This wasn't a kind of a summer inspiration that he had one time. He did it his entire adult life. He stayed with it. He engaged in it. Look at paragraph F. And I think it's important to understand this. That commitment of David to go all the way. To be the man of prayer. To create. To facilitate prayer. To inspire prayer. To help build it up in any way that he could in his generation. Now everyone isn't like David. Everyone didn't have the same ability to facilitate it. But in whatever measure of influence. You may only have influence over two people. But it's the principle that I'm talking about. David used his influence, his resource to facilitate people interacting with God in this deep interchange like this. Even in collective ways. And it was this zeal that David had. Paragraph F. That brought him a lot of reproach. He bore a stigma. I mean in Israel. Not outside of Israel. Inside of Israel. He bore a stigma in the believing community because of his zeal. Look what David says in Psalm 69. He says it's because for your sake I bore reproach. He goes it wasn't because I had some personal ambition to be king. And I kind of you know did all this political networking to make sure I was king. And people were mad at me because of my networking. He goes no. It was for your sake I bore this stigma. I became a stranger to my own brothers. My own brothers. David had seven older brothers. And they looked at him and said you're weird. I mean he said I was like a stranger. And that was negative. He means they're saying you know David you're not really like us. You're different. And we don't mean that in a flattering way. He says in verse 9. He breaks it down. He goes it was zeal for your house. I mean as a young man. He had zeal. You know I just imagine. I'm just kind of now just guessing that David dreamed of the day that would come where the people of God would worship and cry out to God. It was zeal for the house. For that house of God. And that's the place. The worship sanctuary. Of course the house of God is more than just the sanctuary where they worship. The house of God in one way is all the people of God. But he was actually talking even about the sanctuary. He goes zeal for your house. It's consumed me. It's eaten me up. One translation says consume me. Now notice look. And the reproaches of those that reproach God have fallen on me. He goes I love your house. And I'm going to put my time, my energy, I'm going to facilitate it in any way I can. In whatever way I can make it work. And my brothers are mocking me. And the very reproaches that you're reproached with God. Now they're reproaching me. They're accusing me like they accuse you. He said in verse 10. He gets real specific. He goes when I wept. When I chastened my soul with fasting. That became my reproach. They looked at me and they said stop it David. Dial down. Settle down. Draw back. He goes I made sackcloth my garment. I became a byword to them. They mocked me. And he went on in the next verse. He says the drunkards in the taverns. They sing their songs to mock me. About me. They sang songs about David in the taverns mocking him. He said it's because of my zeal for you. Now I've seen people under the banner of zeal for God. Do so many eccentric and bizarre off the wall things. They should not be doing in the name of zeal. I could spend an hour telling you examples of people. Who were exhibiting their flesh. And carrying on a religious spirit in the name of zeal. And they bore reproach. That's not what I'm talking about. I've got so many examples I could entertain you for a full hour on them. I'm talking about the real thing. Talking about with a humble spirit. With a responsible life. But refusing to back down. Pressing in. The culture saying stop. I mean in David's day it was the redeemed that were telling him to stop. He goes no. I'm consumed with zeal. And I'll bear the reproach. Let's go to the top of page 4. Well it's functioning as a house of prayer. Again I'm not talking about having a house of prayer ministry. You understand I'm talking about a global reality of the whole body of Christ. Functioning in their prayer identity. The house of prayer identity. The greatest crisis of human history is yet future. The greatest crisis of human history is down the road. We don't know how far. It could be a little bit further than we think. It could be a little sooner than we think. We don't know. We know the signs of the times that are written in the Bible. Many of them are escalating on a global level. But still it might be a little while. And it might not be a little while. We don't know. It may stretch out some decades. It may stretch out longer than that. It may not. Nobody knows. But I know this. That in that crisis when it comes to a full intensity. The solution for the planet is for the people of God to function as a house of prayer. Because in functioning in a house of prayer they'll be in the interaction with God. They'll get divine direction. They'll get His creative wisdom for their situation. Functioning as a house of prayer. That interaction. They will be supplied with courage instead of wilting and fear and all the crazy things you do when fear dominates your life. They'll be emboldened with courage and a supply of courage. An ongoing supply. And then in that place of interaction they'll be releasing the power of God in the place where the crisis is. Well it's not an accident. Nor is it surprising that David is the one. The man that built the house of prayer in his generation in that unique way. With the singers and the musicians. The 4,000 of them. David prophesied about the end time crisis. Now this crisis has some application throughout church history. But it comes to a crescendo in the generation the Lord returns. And David said in verse 1. We've gone over Psalm 2 many times but we'll just spend 60 seconds on it or so. He goes, why are the nations raging? Beloved, it's going to go beyond reproach and stigma. The nations will rage against the leadership of Jesus. Much more than mock. The kings of the earth and the leaders of society will use their resource against the Lord and against His Christ. Far more than mocking. Far more than a few laws where they take away our tax status. Some folks think, oh they might take away our tax status. I said I think that's a given. I mean eventually those things are probably going to happen. I said that's the least of our concerns. Do you believe where this thing is going? I said let's not worry and start negotiating how to couch and kind of keep ourselves from really being bold because we're afraid we're going to lose our tax status. Beloved, the kings of the earth will be raging. And they'll have financial resources and legal systems and military authority over their armies. They will have so much authority to operate against the Lord and His Christ. In verse 3, they want to drive the Word of God out of culture, the influence of the Word. They see the Word of God as bonds that enslave them. If we can get rid of the Word of God, we'll be liberated as humans. We'll be finally set free into our human potential. They see the Word of God as slavery, as bonds and chains. So they want to cast it off. We see this thing emerging right now, but here's the part I want to look at. Verse 7, David by the spirit of prophecy, he looks at the response of the Lord, of the Messiah, of Jesus. At that time, a thousand years B.C., he didn't know His name was Jesus, but he saw the Messiah. By the spirit of God, by the spirit of prophecy. What is the Messiah doing in the hour of the crisis? He's asking the Father in intercession for His authority over the nations to be loosed. As the head of the church, He's leading His people in unity with Him. Father, release my inheritance, my rightful authority over the nations. Jesus is pictured in the drama in the place of intercession. Beloved, talking about central. Prayer is central. I mean, Jesus could have been pictured in any kind of way here. Many, many different ways that would be biblical and wholesome and helpful. But by the spirit of God, He was pictured in the place of intercession. And we know from the New Testament perspective, He's leading His church as the head of the body in prayer. And He's causing His people to cry out for His authority to be released in a greater way that's seen and known in the natural world. Paragraph B. Well, in the great Psalm 2 crisis, kings of the earth, leaders of society, seeking to cast the Word of God out of the culture with rage and using their resource. We want the name and the influence of Jesus gone from the nations. And Jesus is interacting in intercession. We know from Joel, the book of Joel, what God wants us, His people, to do in the hour of crisis. This is, of course, true throughout history. But in the hour of the greatest time of crisis, which is yet down the road. And again, we don't know how far down the road. It could be a ways down the road. But we don't know. But it's true even before the crisis comes to a full pitch. There's plenty of crisis now in order to engage in the way that Joel says. Here's what Joel says in the midst of the crisis. People of God, here's what you need to do. Function as the house of prayer. That's what he's saying in essence. End the crisis. Don't run for the hills. Don't cower in compromise. Function as the house of prayer in wholeheartedness, crying out to God. Use your place in covenant with God. And when there is no human remedy, bring God into the situation. Through your covenant relationship, the body of Christ and this place, this dignity we have. He calls us the house of prayer. That's what Joel 2 is really saying. Function as the house of prayer. He says, turn to me. Fasting, prayer, mourning. Turn away from your sin. Read the whole passage in context. Return to me. Because prayer meetings without a wholeheartedness towards God at the heart level, prayer meetings without sincerely seeking to connect with God, that's just religion. That's just a religious exercise. God's not into prayer meetings. He's into sincere interaction with his heart in prayer meetings. So he says, turn to me. He goes, it's about relationship. It's you and me together. He's saying to the whole body of Christ. It's us together talking, interacting. Shut some things off. Turn your attention away from some things. Talk to me. Settle some issues. Settle the compromises. Prioritize interacting with me and I will break in in power. He says, turn to the Lord, verse 13. And here's our confidence. Here's why we can turn to him. He's very gracious. He's very merciful. Look at this. He has great kindness. Here's a setting where there's a national crisis coming to Israel. That's the context. Because of their sin. And the Lord's saying, you'll turn? I will be very kind to you. Beloved, this is amazing. I mean, Israel was in deep sin when this passage was written. The Lord says, you can be sure. If you turn to me, I will respond to my people with great mercy. Great kindness. And look at this. I'll relent. I'll cause the harm that's coming to be delayed, to be reduced, to be removed. I mean, there's different ways that the Lord relents from the harm. Different measures. Sometimes it's delayed. Sometimes it's greatly minimized. It would have been way worse if the people of God had cried. Sometimes it's completely removed. The harm doesn't come or it's completely lifted. Verse 14, the prophet Joel says, who knows? You don't know the measure or the timing or the way God would relent. You don't know how He's going to do it. Is He going to do it this hour, next hour, in the next decade, this decade, this way, that way, this region of the earth, that region of the earth? You don't really know. You know He's a God who relents. Relents means He changes what was coming, what was about to be released, the harm. He causes it to be reversed. Because you don't know exactly how or when. But you know this. He's a God that relents. And what's in His heart is to leave a blessing behind Him. I mean, we have a God that we're in covenant with. That when crisis comes, He goes, I am so kind, my desire is to turn the disaster zone into a place of blessing, a revival center, if you want to use those terms. Verse 15, He says, blow the trumpet. Blow the trumpet. In other words, make this message known. That's what I'm doing right now. That's what you do. You don't need a pulpit to blow the trumpet. You can do it in Facebook. You can do it in one-on-one fellowship. I mean, you blow the trumpet, it doesn't necessarily mean you've got a thousand people listening to you. You might only have two people listening to you, but you're blowing the trumpet in your way. You're sounding the alarm. Trouble is at hand, and there is an answer. When they blew the trumpet, they said, trouble is coming. And when they blew the trumpet, they said, gather together the people of God and cry out. So the trumpet, they blew the trumpet to gather the people to cry out to God, and they blew the trumpet when the army, the enemy army was approaching. So they blew the trumpet on two occasions. Well, actually a few more occasions than that. Verse 15, blow the trumpet, make it known. Call a solemn assembly. Call a fast. There are times you add fasting to the prayer meeting. We don't have our confidence in fasting, we have our confidence in Jesus. But fasting and our weakness and our brokenness, it sets us in a place in the grace of God where our hearts are tenderized. We receive more at the heart level. We receive more and we receive it faster. Verse 28, the prophet says, and after this, it shall come to pass afterwards. After you blow the trumpet. After you repent. After you cry out to me. Read the whole passage. Afterwards, my spirit activity will increase. It's not just a one time outpouring. He's saying my spirit will move in a greater dimension. That's the practical application for this. Let's look at paragraph D. God relents. He desires to leave a blessing behind. If His people will cry out to Him. Not a one time prayer meeting, although I believe in one time prayer meetings. And that's what Joel was talking about there. It might have been a couple days or I don't know the setting there exactly how they did it. But it's the principle. God wants His people to function in their true eternal identity as a house of prayer. That's what we do in this age. That's what we do in the age to come. Again, Adam, the human race was born in a garden in context to a prayer meeting. Adam's walking in the cool of the day. Israel's born in a mountain flame of fire in a prayer meeting. Book of Acts was born in a prayer meeting. Jesus birthed His ministry in the prayer meeting. He's going to return to a global prayer meeting. The kings of the earth and all the redeemed in eternity will continue in prayer. This thing is core to who we are as humans, redeemed humans. There's nothing more true to who we are than this. It's not the calling of that guy over there. I've heard this over the years. Well, I'm not really called to the prayer thing. I go, wow. Actually, I understand and I hug them and I bless them. They're discouraged and I don't give them a sermon. But once they get encouraged and they say, OK, what do you think? Of course you're called to prayer. That doesn't mean you're called to do it as your job. But everyone is called to prayer. Are you kidding? It's not your duty. It is our glory. It's how it operates. It's how humanity operates at its highest. It's how the power of God is released. It's the interchange with the glorious God. I go, of course you're called to prayer. You don't have to tell them that the first time they tell you they're not. They normally got something else on their mind. It'll rub up on them a little bit. You don't have to tell everybody everything you know every time you talk to them. Well, let's end it with this, 2 Chronicles 7 14. If my people who are called by my name, they'll humble themselves that they'll seek my faith. Pray, turn, but pray too. Not just turn, but turn and pray. Not just pray, pray and turn. Do both. God says, I will hear. It's my nature to hear. It's the nature of my people to pray. That's the nature of the relationship and the healing. Restorative power will be released in families, individuals, businesses, churches, cities. Healing will flow. But you've got to do it my way because I'm a God of relationship. I want to interact with you. Amen and amen. Let's stand before the Lord.