Mike Bickle emphasizes the vital connection between prayer and reading the Word of God, asserting that this practice is both simple and essential for spiritual growth. He shares his personal journey of discovering how to engage with Scripture in a conversational manner, which transformed his prayer life from a mundane task into a dynamic dialogue with God. Bickle highlights the importance of not just studying the Bible for knowledge but using it as a means to interact with the living Word, Jesus. He encourages believers to express gratitude and seek deeper understanding of God's promises and exhortations as they read. Ultimately, he asserts that this practice is foundational for a vibrant spiritual life.

One of the most simple of this entire series, but the most essential of this entire series. I call it a how to pray read the word. Very, very simple principle. Though as I've interacted with people over many years, many believers don't know to do this. And when I lay it out in five minutes, they go, oh wow, I never thought about that. That makes that so easy. But I want to say the next point. It's not only the simplest, but it's probably the most essential principle in our spiritual life. When I look back over 40 years, 40 plus years of embracing, of walking with the Lord, this one issue right here, I say boldly, I've said it many times, so I've thought about it many times, is clearly the most significant issue in my spiritual life is this one I'm sharing right here. We covered a little bit of this in part five in the first semester, just for a few moments, but I want to spend an entire session on it. Ian Bounds said something that is very accurate. And Ian Bounds, many of you would know his name. He's one of the most celebrated authors on prayer in the 20th century. Tremendous books on prayer. One of the giants in history in prayer, according to his contemporaries. And he wrote many books on it. He said the Word of God is the food by which prayer is nourished. My early journey when I was 17, 18 years old, I was wanting to be serious about growing in prayer, because my leaders told me, my youth leaders, that if you didn't grow in prayer, you're not going to get very far in the things of the Spirit. I read a number of biographies of missionaries and people that God used powerfully, and they all talked about prayer. But I didn't like prayer at all. Prayer was miserably boring to me. And this one issue right here, when I found how to mix the Word of God and prayer together, it made prayer easy and made prayer enjoyable. This one issue did. It's not the only issue, but it was the primary issue. It started in John chapter 5, verse 39. This was the verse. I remember the day. It was one of those lightning strike moments in my life. One of those moments I will never forget. You know, the hills are alive with the sound of music type verses. I mean, I was so excited when I read this verse, because it struck me. And the Holy Spirit was being very kind. He knew this would be one of my primary life verses. I'm 18 years old. I don't know this at this time. I was reading. I had my regular Bible time on a daily basis or near daily basis, but didn't like it at all. It was so boring. I was reading the Bible and praying, probably reading the Bible an hour a day and praying an hour a day, something like that, and felt like I was backsliding. I was feeling the presence of God less and less. And I thought, this is really bad. The biographies don't describe it this way. I am praying. Again, I set the clock an hour a day, and it was a miserable hour. I complained most of the time about why I have to pray. God, why are you running your kingdom this way? There's better ways to do this. I would explain to him. Then I would do my Bible study, and I was always confused. I mean, not always, but so many times I didn't know what I was reading about, and it didn't connect. So I was going through John chapter 5, just in my systematic reading. I read this verse. Jesus was correcting the Pharisees. He said this, you search the Bible. You search it. You study it night and day. For in the Scriptures, you think you have life. You think that you will experience the presence of God, the life of God. The life of God and the presence of God are interchangeable terms. He goes, the Scriptures point to me. The Scriptures are like a neon light, like a neon sign pointing. Go that direction. Talk to him. He says, verse 40, but you're unwilling to come to me. You're unwilling to interact with me. That's where the presence of God is, is interacting with me. Not reading the Bible, but talking to me. And as I read that, the light came on, I mean, in a moment. It was, again, one of the great moments of my spiritual life, even though I'm a young believer. I look back over 40 years. This is one of the great moments. I go, I'm searching the Scriptures. I mean, hour or day to me was radical. And I'm trying to experience God, and I can't. Verse 40, it connected. You're not coming to me. You're not talking to me, is how it came to my understanding. And the Holy Spirit was leading me here. You're not talking to me, the Lord was saying, when you're reading the Scripture. Never crossed my mind to talk to him when I read the Scripture. I didn't think of the written word leading me into conversation with the living word. That never crossed my mind. But right there, it became so clear. And I began to talk to him. I mean, right then. And I felt his presence. And I don't know that it will be that way the first time somebody does it, but I just felt the presence of the Lord, like, for an hour. I was so excited. I just said, you know, again, the hills are alive. I was so excited and filled with anticipation. I said, God, this is remarkable. I mean, reading the Bible might end up being doable. I mean, it might be doable. This is really big news. Now, prayer, we wasn't at the prayer level yet, but I didn't really realize this was really a beginning of my prayer life. I mean, of prayer becoming enjoyable. Paragraph C, the premise, it's not enough just to study the Bible for facts about God. We're meant to talk to God when we read it. We're meant to come to him. That's the key phrase. He's not talking about just come to me for forgiveness. He means come and interact with me in an ongoing way. Paragraph C, the Bible study is meant to create an active dialogue with you and God. The Bible is the conversation material. That was one of my big problems. I didn't know what to say. You know, after I went through, you know, thank you, God, for arms and legs. Thank you, I have food. All the people in the world starving. Thank you for this. Help me do that, and I thought, my, 59 minutes to go. I mean, that's funny, but that was miserable back there. I didn't know what to say. Paragraph D, I want to say it again. The Bible is the conversation material for our prayer life. It's what makes prayer enjoyable. It's what makes prayer easy. E. M. Bounds, the quote we started with, the word of God is the food. It's the fuel that makes prayer enjoyable and gives power. Not just power, it makes it doable. It nourishes our prayer life. Paragraph E, coming to Jesus. Again, I'll say it again. He's not saying just come to me and believe me for forgiveness. I mean, that's involved in coming to Jesus, but he's talking about far more than that right here to the Pharisees. He's saying, I'm the source. I'm the fountain. Interacting with me is the way to life or the presence of God. Paragraph F, right then, that day, I began my prayer, my journey into approaching the Bible, switching from a purely study mode to a conversation mode. And when my Bible time shifted from a pure study mode to a dialogue, I'm talking to him, I'm dialoguing with him, changed my life. And I don't mean the next day everything that was hard was easy. That's not what I mean. I meant all of a sudden Bible study and then prayer, I mean, because I was talking to him, it took me a while to figure out that was actually praying, was the beginning of it becoming enjoyable. I began my journey into what I call pray reading the word. I could feel his presence. Not all the time, but much, much more than before. Paragraph G, I love saying this. I started with this statement. I'll say it again. When I look back over 40 years, the single most significant activity is this. It's the simplest, but the most essential. In terms of my spiritual life, when I look back over 40 years, and there's 10 or 15 things I would say that are important, but this is absolutely number one in the list. Paragraph H, Jesus said so much in one verse. John 15 verse 7, so much in one verse. He gave the two conditions, and then he gave the promise. Condition number one, if you abide in me, and I like to put the word there, if you talk to me. Abiding in Christ is more than talking with Christ, but it begins there, and that's the primary activity. That's not all of abiding. We looked at that in the first semester, a whole session on what it means to abide in Christ. If you'll talk to me, if you abide in me, that's where it begins, and my word lives in you, meaning you interact with me according to my word. You cause the word of God to be part of the conversation with me, it will become alive in you. Then the promise. Ask what you desire will be done, and one of the reasons you ask anything you want, and it's done, because the things you want are changed in the process. When I talk to him, abide in him, and then his word grows in me, it changes my desires, it forms my emotions in a different way, then I actually pray in far greater sensitivity and unity with the Holy Spirit. Jesus literally meant this. You get into that trajectory, that path of talking to me and my word living in you, meaning you're talking to me about the word, and the word's growing in you. It's shifting the way you think and the way you feel. It really will change your prayer life dramatically. It'll change the things you pray about. This is one of the most powerful verses. Again, two conditions. Abide in me and my word abides in you. That's one of the two conditions. The promise, your desires will change, is the implication, and you'll have answered prayer, a significant increase of answered prayer. Top of page two. This is so simple. I think of two categories of scripture when I think of the subject of prayer reading the Word. Two broad categories related to this subject. There are promises in the Bible that are meant to believe, and there are exhortations to obey. Now there's more categories of the Bible than those two, but those related to this subject, those are the two broad categories. Promises to believe, exhortations to obey. Paragraph B. Let's look at the first category. Promises to believe. When we come across a Bible verse that you're supposed to believe, God loves you. God forgives you. God promises to provide for you. God promises to direct your steps, to not leave you in aimless wandering. He says, I will direct you. Those are promises meant to believe. What do you do when you see one of those promises? Got the choir joining me there. I think it was a delayed response to my Hills Are Alive song that I sang earlier. Number two. When I read a promise to believe, I do two things. I encourage you to do two things. Very, very simple. If you do it, good things will happen in your spiritual life. Verse three. The two things are thank God for that truth, and the second thing is to ask God for more insight on it. Think, well that's simple enough, but it's so simple anyone can do it, but almost nobody does it. That's a guess, but it's probably a right, an accurate guess. Paragraph three. For instance, let's take, I'll use one of my favorite verses in the Bible, John 15, 9. In John 15, verse 9, there's a promise to believe and there's an exhortation to obey in this verse. So I'll take it because it's got one of each of categories. As the Father loved me, Jesus said, I've loved you. That's the promise. Here's the exhortation. Abide in my love. So when we read a promise, we pause, we turn it into a declaration of thanksgiving. It's so simple. I'll read the verse. It says, Father loved me, I love you. You pause. You love me. Father loves you. When's the last time you spoke directly to the Lord and said, thank you that you love me? Thank you. He says, my presence is with you. I read that verse, I say, thank you. Your presence is with me. It's a dialogue piece. It's a piece of dialogue. It's the material for talking. He goes, don't just underline it and put it on Facebook and tell your friends. That's good. I'd certainly do that. But talk to me about that promise. I'm a real person. This is something I've said to you about my heart. Respond to me. Then after I say thank you, very simple, I say, show me more. Lord, show me the intensity you have for me. Or if it's, I have forgiven you. Thank you, Jesus. You pause. You forgive me. Thank you. Not this you did way back when. Thank you that daily I receive forgiveness. Show me. Give me greater insight on how this feels to you. What this means to me. Show me more about this simple truth called you forgive me. I mean, it could be provision. I will provide for you. I will meet your needs. Show me more about what this means and let me see it. I will direct you. I will protect you. I mean, whatever the promise is. I mean, just, you know, every few verses you're going to run into one of those promises and you pause. You don't just underline it or note it. You pause and you talk to the man who said it or it said about. His name is Jesus. Fully God and fully man. Paragraph C. Let's go to the second category of Bible verses related to the subject. Exhortations to obey. When you read an exhortation to obey, don't just say, pause and turn it into a very short little conversation. I mean, it could go long but it didn't have to go long. Many, many conversations. I mean, many, many exhortations in the Bible that were meant to obey. Related to our time, our money, our speech, our attitudes, etc., etc. I mean, the list goes on and on. Let's go back to the verse that we looked at a moment ago. John 15 verse 9. The first part of the verse is a promise to believe. I love you in the intensity that my Father loves me. But there's an exhortation to obey. Now he says, I'm telling you to do something. Abide in the love. There's several dimensions of this that we are to obey. There's several implications of how we obey. Abiding in the love. One of the meanings of abide in the love, he's saying live in it. To abide in it means live. Focus on it. Dwell on it. Study this truth out is another way to apply it to this. Search it out. He means more than just search it out. He means live it out as well. But I'll stop and I'll read this verse. Abide in my love and I'll, paragraph 3, there's two things I do when I run into an exhortation to obey. Number four, you make a simple declaration. I'll do it. And then you ask God for power to help you. It's just so simple. So you read that verse and you say, does the Father love me so I've loved you? Now we're at the exhortation part. Abide in my love. Jesus, I set my heart to focus on this subject, this truth. I set my heart to search this thing out. That's a bit, that's a part of abiding in it is to focus on it. Dwell on it. Search it out. And when I stop and I tell him, I say, Lord, I'm going to set my heart never to move on past this truth. Help me. Let me see it. Give me power to abide in this. So I set my heart and make a sweet resolution to obey in that area. It can be something about bridling your speech. So you read a verse and about our speech needs to be under his control. There's many, many verses and say, Lord, I commit. I stop and say, Lord, I set my heart to obey this. It's not enough to just go, heavy verse. That's better than nothing, but that's not connecting it. Hmm. Heavy verse. And then you tell somebody that's a heavy verse. That's, that's again, that's way better than nothing, but that's not going to connect your heart. You're not going to feel the power of it in any kind of ongoing way. But when you take the verse, don't complain. Take the verse, show gratitude. Those are all parts of our speech. Take the verse, don't speak about other people in a negative way. I mean, there's a biblical process to go through, but don't do it outside that process. I read a verse like that and I'll say, Lord, yes, I set my heart. Yes, Lord. You don't have to be real wordy. I mean, he's a lot smarter than you. He gets it all. But it's just that pausing, connecting with him and actually getting this into the conversation. The first part of the exhortation to obey, you commit to do it. But again, it's more than, hmm. It's more than, oh, but you talk to the man, him directly. And then you say, help me. Holy Spirit, help me. Help me to walk this out. Remind me, motivate me, empower me in the day to day. You don't have to spend a long time on it, but a moment or two, I mean, 30 seconds to three minutes on a verse. Didn't have to be an hour. Then you read the next verse and it's neither a promise or an exhortation. Maybe it's just a, you know, a biblical fact. And then Jesus went to Galilee. I don't think you do anything with that. You think, I could. He went to Galilee. Okay. I mean, you can ask the Lord to show you insights about that. I mean, there's ways to do that as well. But I mean, so you don't lose the simplicity. It's the exhortations to obey and the promises to believe. You pause and have a one or two minute, a three minute interchange. Doesn't have to be three minutes. It's remarkable. So when it's a promise to believe, say, thank you and show me more. When it's an exhortation to obey, I set my heart, yes, help me to obey, motivate me, remind me, empower my emotions. Let me feel more motivation for this Lord. Help me to want to want this. That's a legitimate prayer. Lord, I want to want to want this more. He says, good. I'll help you. I'll help you on everything if you ask me. Paragraph six, very important exhortation that is so needed today. I mean, it's needed all through history, but really needed today in this pornified culture that the world is finding itself being saturated and defiled with. Job 31. I heard this in my youth from, you know, I was 16 years old. I went to a seminar and saw Job 31. Some guy taught on it and I went, wow. Job 31. Job said, I made a covenant with my eyes. I won't look on anything that will incite lust in my heart. Bob Sorge has a most simple but profound book on this. Covenant of the Eyes. I highly recommend it. But I had that on my, I mean, I read the verse, but I put it on my daily prayer list because some of the things I put on my daily prayer list and others I would just pray them when I ran into it. But I would take that prayer and I was 16, 17, 18 and all the years since, but I mean, that's when I was really needing to lock my heart into this reality. I said, Lord, I say yes. I set my heart to obey this. I say yes. Now I say, Lord, help me. And again, it's not going to have to be an hour prayer, just a few moments. And it realigns your heart over and over and over. This one verse can radically change your life or the absence of it can allow your life to be led into great trouble. Great trouble. And I don't just mean some deep sexual addiction. I mean trouble long before it gets to that point. That is real trouble, but I mean there's a lot of things that defile and quench our spiritual lives, that hinder our relationships, that set us on a wrong pathway with other people just by not obeying this one verse. There's many dimensions of negative, of harm that happen by not obeying that verse. But I mean, there's no super saints. So you can't obey it just out of just on your own strength, but you talk to him about it. You say, Lord, I say yes. You talk to a person, a real person, and Holy Spirit help me. And that gets a part of your dialogue. And I tell you, He will help you. He will help everyone who asks Him to help. Nobody can do this without help, do any of this stuff without help. Top of page three. Well, I told you this is very simple. Exhortations to obey. You see, you resolve to obey and you ask for help. Exhortations, promises to believe. You say, thank you. And you fill in the blanks of what you're thanking Him, that particular truth, and say, show me more. It will change your life. That simple little exchange will change your life. Paragraph Roman numeral three, the benefits of pre-reading the Word. Hosea 14. Hosea taught on the value of taking words with us to God when we go to prayer. Look what he says in Hosea 14 verse two. He goes, take words with you when you return to the Lord. And he's talking about when you're giving your heart to the Lord. Doesn't mean you have to be backslidden before this is a verse applies to you. But take words with you when you're giving your heart daily. When you're returning your heart in a realignment, take words with you when you do it. Say to Him, and he gave three or four categories. And you can read the verses a little bit after it as well. Ask Him for forgiveness. Take away my iniquity. He says, when you take words, ask Him to forgive you this day, your transgressions. Then ask Him to receive you graciously. This is the words of Hosea. That's the whole realm of the grace of God. And offer the sacrifice of your lips. Express your words of love and trust and commitment and gratitude, obedience. Offer those words to Him. And instead of just making a big list to go down, I do have a prayer list. Again, I go through the fellowship prayer, those 10 different prayers in the acronym fellowship that we've gone through before. But you don't have necessarily a prayer list of all the gratitude and thanksgiving. But just as you, I mean, you might. I mean, I recommend it. If that strikes your heart, go for it. But just as you read the Bible, every couple verses is going to be a verse on one of these. Every, you know, 5 or 10 verses you're going to run into an occasion to stop and offer the sacrifice of your lips. In other words, the offering, the sacrifice means the gift. Because the sacrifice, it was the offering of yourself, the gift of your love by the words, by saying these to the Lord. I found that when you articulate with very simple phrases, you don't have to be sophisticated. You articulate your love. You articulate your gratitude. You articulate, I thank you that you said you would provide for me. That simple articulation of your trust in His leadership, the Spirit will touch you. As simple as it is, this is abiding in Christ. Paragraph B, John said, but the anointing which you have received from Jesus, it abides in you. The anointing that was on Him is on you. You don't need anyone to teach you. But as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things. Now Paul's not, I mean John the Apostle, he's not against anointed Bible teachers. That's in the Bible. He was one. He is saying, you don't need another person to convince you of the truth. That's what he's saying. The anointing in you will convince you of that truth. If you will fellowship with the Spirit, talk to the Spirit, people, you know, go to another person and say, you know, convince me that's what this means. And that's honest and okay to do that. But John was saying, again, he's not anti-Bible teachers because Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors, Teachers, those are the gifts of the Holy Spirit to the body of Christ. He's not saying neglect the teaching ministry. But he goes, understand the ability to be convinced is bigger than you having someone to talk you into it and explain it all to you. There's an anointing that's in you that will convince you and teach you these things if you'll interact with Him. And it's really the convincing, it's the marking of your heart that John's talking about. Now what happens, look at paragraph B, when you pray the Word, you and the Holy Spirit are flowing together. When you pray the Word, when you say the Word back, I mean, John 15, 9, the verse we looked at, Jesus, you love me in the way the Father loves you. Jesus, thank you that you love me. Show me more. That's praying the Word. I mean, that's that simple. What will happen is that you will say things about God loving you by saying, you'll be saying thank you for it. All of a sudden you'll say, you know, in the same way, the intensity, with the depth of joy the Father loves you, you'll go, oh, the depth of joy, oh, I never thought about that. It'll come right out of your mouth. You'll just say it accidentally. You'll just be elaborating on it. And you'll get more insight in the Word in that mode than any other way. I mean, I'm an avid student of other teachers of the body of Christ. I love to receive teaching. I have a quite extensive library that I've developed over 40 years. I read books from all facets, all different parts of the body of Christ, from all different centuries. And I love the teaching anointing that's been deposited in the body of Christ through history. And today, not just the past ones, but today, a lot of teachers. I love it. But at the end of the day, it's the Holy Spirit as I'm even taking a new insight that convinces and marks my heart. And I'll say things back to the Holy Spirit while I'm just doing this prayer reading kind of interaction. I'll say things, and I never thought that about that verse. I go, oh. I mean, it's the Holy Spirit, but it's, I'm just, it's just very, I call it supernaturally natural. You're just talking, and I mean, a lot of things I'll say to the Lord, they don't move me. They move the Lord. They don't move me. But every now and then, I'll say something moves me too. I go, wow, Lord. And I've learned many years ago. I mean, 40 years ago, I started bringing a notebook with me into my prayer time. And I might only get one or two phrases. I might get a paragraph or two. I might not get much. But I have it there because when I say it to the Lord, it ends up every now and then, but more than just a little bit, I'll say it in a way that's brand new to me. And it's the Holy Spirit in you, actually, given as you're talking to Him. He'll give you more. I call it, it's, you have a, He gives you tailor-made teaching to your personality, to your calling and your life circumstance. It will be tailor-made. It will come from your own words, actually. But while you're talking to Him and He's inspiring you and He's teaching you. I tell you, I just don't like going to a prayer time. I do it sometimes, but usually I don't without a notepad, without some way to capture some phrases. Because usually I get a phrase or two or three or four and sometimes a lot more. Sometimes I'll get into a flow and just that passage will open up. And other times it won't. I'll say something real kind of weird just to get your attention, but it's actually true, but I'm going to say it in a weird way. My favorite teacher in the body of Christ is me. And the same is true of you. And I'm saying that just to get your attention. What I mean is, it's really the Holy Spirit when you're talking to Him with an open Bible and you're writing it. When the 40 years come and go, you will get more insight from your own pen or from your own journaling than anyone else. When all the 40 years come and go. 50 years, 70 years, you will have received more from your own words with God than any other person. You'll end up being your favorite teacher when it's all said and done. Because it's not really you. It's the anointing of the Spirit in a tailor-made way, marking your heart according to your personality, according to your calling, your gifting, your life circumstance. And the Holy Spirit really likes you and He gets you better than you get you. He really understands you better than you do. And I have a lot of favorite teachers in the body of Christ, but when I look back over 40 years, I've received more by those little phrases. When I add them all up, of course, I'm with me the most of anyone else. I mean, some of it's just, you know, the math of being, you know, you're with yourself. But I'm telling you, there is an anointing. There is a teacher that lives inside of you and there's a written book right in front of you and there's the living Word. You go for it. Don't wait for somebody to lay it all out. I mean, get teaching. I'm, again, I've been teaching for years and I still study. I mean, zealously, I study the teachings from other people because I want to learn from the teaching anointing that's been manifest through the grace of God in the body of Christ. Paragraph C, just like when I talked about fellowshiping with the Spirit, it's the same idea. When you're talking to the Lord, talk slowly to him. Meaning, don't preach a sermon. Don't kick into a rapid-fire gear. Thank you, Lord. You love me like the Father loves you. Pause. I mean, again, don't kick into a rapid-fire mode right there. Just like, thank you. Pause. I encourage you, speak slowly. Speak softly. Don't get your soul so stirred up. Actually, you'll receive more by dialing down, doing less. Speak short little phrases to him. You'll, again, those phrases will just, a lot of times, nothing special happens. Nothing that gets my attention or marks me or nothing that's new. But enough times over the years, I'm really convinced on the value of this. It's really called abiding in Christ. And paragraph D, take time to journal it. Capture the truths. I mean, I'm talking about a few phrases, a paragraph or two. I'm not talking about writing 10 pages every time you have a prayer time. I mean, if it comes, go for it. I'm not against that at all, but I'm just, I don't want you to feel like you have to do this really intensive thing to do it right. I mean, just a few phrases here and there. A few paragraphs here and there, and sometimes it's a lot more, and sometimes it's less. You will develop your language of your own heart. The language of your own heart in talking to God, you'll develop it in those times. And you're journaling it. You're capturing your own, the language of your heart, because you'll say new things that you've never heard before. I mean, they're simple little things like, Lord, you have joy. You delight in loving me. There's little things like that, but they mark you. I mean, the reason I'm giving just a simple little example like that, so you don't imagine it has to be some profound, brand new thought no one ever thought. I don't care if it's new or original. I just want a fresh marking on my heart. I don't care how simple it is. Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. That, I'll go with that. If I feel it, I want to feel the power of it, just a little bit. Well, I want to feel more if I can. Roman number four. Well, my favorite facet of prayer reading the Word is the descriptions of Jesus. Of course, they're in the Gospels. They're in the epistles. I mean, in the letters of Paul and Peter and James. But I love Revelation 1, 2, and 3. There are 30 distinct descriptions about Jesus in Revelation 1 to 3, 30 of them that I've identified. You might come up with a different number the way you categorize them, but it's a goldmine. I mean, the Gospels, again, the letters of the apostles, the epistles, those are the same as well. But just as just Revelation 1 to 3, 30 different facets of Jesus, our magnificent obsession. I use an acronym called ARK, A-R-K, and I pray through these 30 descriptions. I don't limit it to those three chapters. I use it in the Psalms. It works in the Psalms real good as well. But you remember, the book of Revelation is called what? What's the first verse? The revelation of Jesus. The book of Revelation isn't mostly His plan for the end times. The book of Revelation is more about the man behind the plan. It's a revelation of Jesus, not just His plans. His plans are there, but there's a heart behind the plans. There's a splendor and a glory behind the man who's planning it. I like the word ARK. I use that because I think of the Ark of the Covenant. That's where the presence of God dwelt in the Old Testament, the Ark of the Covenant. And I think of Noah's Ark, the Ark of Safety in the Flood. So I like little acronyms so that when I'm ... I've got a couple of them. The Fellowship, the Trust, and the Ark. Those are the three I use all the time. The Trust with the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit, looked at that. And just by talking to Jesus, in this simple little acronym, I can ... It says here in Proverbs, the name of the Lord is a strong tower. The righteous run into it. They're safe. And what I mean by safe, not just safe from somebody harming us physically, but your heart is empowered and boldened. It's resolute to obey. It's confident in His leadership. The name of the Lord makes your heart have safe responses to Him. You create a whole atmosphere in your inner life that's safe. Spiritual safety is in it. And it's related to engaging with the Lord around His name. So paragraph B, the A stands for agreement. The R stands for revelation or insight. And the K, keep the prophecy. Because that's a phrase that Jesus said in the book of Revelation. It's mentioned three times actually. Let's look at this a little bit more. Agreement. Hey, what ... It's the same thing as saying thank you, Jesus, when, you know, Jesus says, you know, when it's I love you, thank you that you love me. It's the acknowledgement. It's the same principle as that. We simply agree with who He is. According to a verse, He says, I'm the faithful witness. We just pause a moment and say, thank you. I agree. You are the ... Thank you and I agree. I use that synonymously. And as I say thank you, you are the faithful witness. I agree with who you are. You are the one who always spoke the truth no matter what it cost you. Thank you. And I just take a moment and I do the thank you or the agreement, which is synonymous. Then paragraph D, I ask Him, show me more. I use revelation just so the acronym works, but it's show me more. Show me more. You're the faithful witness. Show me more about who you are as a faithful witness. And then K, keep the prophecy. Again, several times in the book of Revelation, we're told to keep the prophecy, three different times. And to keep the prophecy means to respond to it in a practical way. Apply it, apply the implications of the different verses in the book of Revelation. Apply it to your life in a practical way. Paragraph F, when I think of keeping the prophecy, top of page four, because again it's a concept three times in the book of Revelation. It tells you keep this prophecy. How do you keep it? You obey the commands that are implied. You obey it. You say it. There are truths to say that are revealed in that book. And it's all the whole Bible actually. But when you say and take a stand for what the Lord stands for in that book, it's politically incorrect. I mean, it's not going to win you a popularity contest if you say it. A lot of people get real silent about those truths. I mean, if they're not clear, that's fine to be silent when you're not clear. But I mean, some things are just clear and we find, oh no, our temptation not to say it. And then we pray it. We ask the Lord for strength to say it and obey it and walk it out. So when I think of keeping the prophecy, obey it, say it, and pray it. I like little things like that because it helps me remember them. It's more than two or three. I mean, that acronym fellowship 10, man, that took me a while to get that one. That's 10. Let's get a few examples of this. The reason I'm giving this to you, this will really help you engage with Jesus, not just in Revelation, but there's just no place more concentrated than Revelation 1, 2, 3. I mean, it's just pure revelation of Jesus. And it's Jesus revealing Jesus. I mean, it's remarkable. Like I'll give an example. I'll just give one example here and you could read it. And I got a bit more on the internet on this subject if you want to read more on it. And I got it in the Growing in Prayer book as well. Paragraph G, Jesus said, I mean, the scripture says, Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn. So paragraph 1, you're the faithful witness. I agree. I thank you. You are the faithful witness. I thank you, Jesus. You always tell the truth. I trust what you say because you're reliable. You took a stand for truth and it cost you so much to stand for truth. Thank you. You are truth. You never backed down when it was costly. In paragraph B, I say, Lord, reveal more. Show me yourself as the faithful witness. And then paragraph C, I commit. Now I'm going to keep the prophecy. I want to be a faithful witness. I want to speak the truth. I want to speak up for the truth. No matter what it cost. I want to be an extension of that dimension of the grace of God, of being a witness of the truth regardless how unpopular it is. That's a practical way to pray that verse. Paragraph 2. The next example will end with this. You're the firstborn from the dead. Now being the firstborn from the dead, firstborn means he's in the preeminent position. The firstborn means the heir, the preeminent one. When it says he's the firstborn among the dead, it means he is the preeminent one in the whole realm of the resurrection. Of all that are raised from the dead and everything related to the resurrection, he's the source. He's the chief. He was the first man to be raised from the dead with the resurrected body. He's predominant over the whole realm of the spirit in the resurrection. That's what that verse means. I mean it's a big big statement. I like to pause and say thank you. You are the firstborn. You are the preeminent one over the realm of the resurrection. There's so many implications to that I don't want to go into right now. You're supreme over everything, death itself. I like to stop and agree and thank him for that. I love the feeling of talking to him, thanking him about the related to these truths. Then I say show me more, paragraph B. Then paragraph C. I want to respond to it in my practical life. I want to serve you as the preeminent one. You're the firstborn. You're the preeminent one, not me. My ministry is to make you known, not to make me known. I'm happy to use my story to encourage other people to connect to him. But I don't want to tell my story so people connect to me. I want to tell my story so people go, well if he can, I can. I may not know I can if he can. That's why you tell your story. But I say Lord you're the firstborn. I want to lead people to you. You're preeminence and etc etc. There's many ways to apply it. Amen. Again this is the most simple truth. But I don't know of a truth more essential to your spiritual life. We're going to take just about four or five minutes. I'm going to put the clock on. We'll take five and I'd like you to stand everybody to participate in this and get in groups of three to five and just say one point that you want to do different or you're challenged by and why. Just take 45 seconds a piece. Let's get in groups of three to five and even if you don't know the people with you, just get in a circle and do it. We'll put a clock up on the wall and then we'll go to a coffee break for 15 minutes. Say one verse, I mean one