Prayer

Turn with me, if you will, to the Gospel of Luke in chapter 18. Luke chapter 18, and what I have on my mind this afternoon, and I'm going to try to tie it back in with, to some extent, with what I had yesterday. But I'm going to take up the subject of prayer.

I'm getting feedback up here, I need to be quieter. The subject of prayer is what I want to take up, if I can today, with the help of God. The importance of prayer, the power of prayer, the necessity of prayer.

I really appreciated our brother Portman's message this morning, and with what he laid before us this morning of the greatness of our God, if that doesn't make you desire God, I don't know what will. Desiring Him and getting to know Him, but how do we get to know anyone? So if I was to go back to the examples that I was giving yesterday of a relationship, of pursuing someone in a relationship, in a physical level, to get to know someone there has to be communication, and how do we communicate with God? If I moved into your house and never spoke to you, how much would you know of me? Or if you never spoke to me, how would you get to know me? So there has to be a communication level when it comes to prayer. And as we get to know one another, hopefully there's things, that there's a relationship that is formed.

But Luke chapter 18 and verse number 1 says this, and He spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray and not to faint. Men ought always to pray and not to faint. Now turn with me, if you will, to Acts chapter 1. Acts chapter 1 and verse number 14.

This is after Jesus had ascended back into glory, and they had returned back to Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, and they came to Jerusalem, which was a day's journey. And verse number 14 says, those that were there, it lists who was there. It was men and women.

It says they were in the upper room, and there abode Peter, James, and John, Andrew, Philip, so it names them, Judas' brothers. It says, and they all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication with the women, and Mary, the mother of Jesus, and with his brother. So they continued in prayer.

It wasn't a one-time act, but it was a continuing in prayer. He had just promised that the Holy Spirit would come, and here they are gathered together, and they're desiring to hear of Him, and to experience Him, and they're praying. Now, turn with me, if you will, over to 1 Thessalonians, in chapter 5. 1 Thessalonians, in chapter 5, and verse number 17.

1 Thessalonians 5 and 17, pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Quench not the spirit, despise not prophesying, prove all things.

Hold fast that which is good, abstain from all appearance of evil, and the very God of peace sanctify you wholly. And I pray, God, your whole spirit, and soul, and body, be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He that calleth you, who will also do it.

Brethren, pray for us. Now, turn just a little further to 1 Timothy. 1 Timothy, in chapter 2. 1 Timothy 2, and verse number 1. I exhort you, therefore, first of all, supplications, prayer, intercession, and giving of thanks be made for all men.

Now, drop down to verse number 8. I will, therefore, that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands without wrath and without doubting. And then one last one, back to Galatians chapter 6. Galatians chapter 6, and verse number 2. And this might tie in just a little bit with what our brother Portman has just brought before us at the end of his message. It says, bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

That's all we'll read. We'll no doubt make references to other portions of Scripture as we move along. But the thought of prayer is one of those things that I think if I asked anybody in the audience this morning, or this afternoon, excuse me, and if I asked anybody this afternoon, is prayer important, I don't think anybody here would shake their head no.

If I asked you, is there power found in prayer, I think we'd all say yes. If I asked you, is prayer a necessity and important, we'd all say yes. And then if we got right down to the nitty-gritty and I asked you, how good is your prayer life, that's when it changes, maybe.

And I'm looking at myself, first of all, so just because I'm giving this message, I have not obtained, I have not achieved the goal. Because we are required to pray always, men ought always to pray, to pray without ceasing. And there are some that, I know some individuals, and I understand, I think, what they're trying to get at, but they say, we try to live, I try to live my life in a prayerful way.

And that sounds good, and I understand, I think, what they're trying to get at, but there also has to be moments set aside for prayer. It's not just trying to live in a prayerful way, but there's time when we must get on our knees and we must pray. It's been said that one of the longest journeys can be the journey to our knees.

To get to that point where we understand our great dependence upon God, and if that we are to get through life in any form or way, as a Christian, we are wholly dependent upon Him. And the only way we can survive the day that lies ahead of us is with prayer. It was Martin Luther that said, I have so much to do, that I must first spend three hours in prayer.

See the attitude there? Because a lot of times what we do is we say, I have so much to do, I will spend 30 seconds in prayer. I have so much to do that I don't have time to fit in prayer today, tomorrow I will pray. But Martin Luther understood the importance of prayer, and he said, I have so much to do, I will never accomplish what God has for me unless I spend three hours in prayer.

Because if we try to do anything outside of the will or the power of Almighty God, we have failed. And so we come to Him in prayer out of necessity. Prayer is vitally important to the Christian, and sometimes we might say, well, how do we pray? There was once a father, and he was trying to teach his young daughter how to pray.

And so every night when he'd tuck her into bed, he would pray with her. And he tried to lay out how to pray. And you might say, okay, so how do we pray? And he was trying to lay out from Luke chapter 11.

And there the disciples asked the Lord Jesus a question. And they said, teach us how to pray. Isn't that amazing? You would think if you walked with him and seen everything you did, that you would say, teach me how to do miracles.

Teach me how to cast out demons. Teach me how to walk on water. Well, Peter did ask that.

The Lord bid me to come to you in the water. But we'd ask for some great, but they had witnessed their Savior in prayer. And they understood the importance and the value of it.

And here was one, the very God of heaven, who had come and taken such a stoop. And yet he understood the importance of prayer. And he prayed.

Teach us how to pray. And so this father was trying to teach this young girl from the pattern of how to pray. Right? And so he said, you address him first as Father.

Our Father who art in heaven. Address him by his name. If you start a conversation with somebody, unless you're like me, and sometimes you forget names and you're bad with names, you usually try to start the conversation by addressing the individual.

How are you doing? Now, if I don't know your name, I'd be like, hey, good to see you. But if I know your name, it might be, hi, how are you doing? I'm going to pick on Jeremiah, I stayed with him. How are you doing, Jeremiah? You address him by name.

And so you come and you address him by name, but then there's a reverential aspect to it. Hallowed be thy name. It's not a flippantly, it's not, how are you doing, Jeremiah, buddy? It's, how are you? Hallowed be thy name.

There's a reverence when we come into his presence. And so he's trying to teach his young daughter, and he worked his way down through the prayer. And night after night, he prayed with her.

And then one night, he finally told her, okay, I think you understand enough. He tucked her into bed and he says, I'm going to go out and I want you to pray. And he stood outside the door, the door swung shut, and he sat, put his ear to the door and he listened.

And he heard A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, and she went through the alphabet. He didn't say anything that night. The next night, he tucked her into bed.

And he said, last night, I heard you when you prayed. Why did you just say the alphabet? And her response was this, I didn't know what to say, so I gave him the letters and let him make the words. There's a thought that's similar to that when we come to Exodus chapter 2. And the children of Israel had no doubt looked at the events that had taken place and they were looking.

They thought, in humanly speaking, that everything was in place because one of their own, Moses, had been taken in as Pharaoh's grandson, right? Here he is, he's in a place that when Pharaoh dies, maybe there's someone who will intercede on their behalf. But because of the events that had taken place and Moses having fled, it tells us that Pharaoh died. In the process of time, Pharaoh died and another took his place.

And what they thought maybe there was a way of escape out of bondage and out of slavery, they realized there was just another Pharaoh. And the response that you read that the children of Israel had, it said they groaned and they sighed. No words spoken, but groaning and sighing.

And then it says, but God heard their groans and their sighs. And he remembered the covenant that he had with them. There might be moments in your life when you don't know the words to say.

There might be times that you sit and you listen. I remember, I'm still a young man, but I remember sitting and listening to older, wiser men like Mr. Portman and Mr. Christofferson and Mr. Skates and the John Meekins of the world, right? Get up and pray. And you go, I want to pray like that.

You know what I've decided a while ago? I've given up trying to pray like that. I can't pray like that. I pray like David Yoder.

Can I encourage you, young men and women, pray in whatever capacity God has given you to pray. But pray. But pray.

Don't say, I can't pray like that, so I won't pray. Pray in whatever capacity God has given you, but pray. And there may be times, unless you have a better memory than me, when you will get done and you will sit down, whether it's on a Wednesday night when you are praying on behalf of others or on the Lord's Day when you've gotten up and you were enjoying something and you prayed and you sat down and you said, oh, I was going to say that.

And I totally forgot. Well, guess what? You can pray still. And you can still offer that to God because you're not praying to us.

You're praying to Him. And if you have to say it audibly in order for Him to hear, then how would the sisters ever pray? But pray. Pray.

I was reminded of one of the greatest examples of prayer that we find in our Bible. And I was thinking of our Savior, and I've already mentioned how He understood the vital importance of prayer. And if you look through, if you want a simple but profound study, look through the Gospel of Luke and look at all the times that you have Jesus praying.

Luke is the only one who mentions Him praying at His baptism. Luke chapter 3 and verse 21, that says that as He came up out of the waters of baptism, He prayed. He was praying coming up out of the waters of baptism.

And I think part of why He was praying, He understood that from His baptism, He was going to go into a wilderness and He was going to be tempted. There was a trial coming. And He prayed.

You see Him praying in Luke chapter 5 and verse number 16. You see His humanity as people from all over came to Him, flocking to Him for healing. And He became so weary that He withdrew not to sleep but to pray.

Many times we are the opposite. I'm so tired, I can't pray tonight. But His strength lied not in His sleep but in prayer and communion with His God.

And so He withdrew not to sleep but to pray. Luke chapter 6 and 12, He says He prayed before the Sermon of the Mount, before He got up and before He delivered one of the greatest sermons that was ever delivered in all of Scripture. He prayed, preparing His heart and His mind for what He was about to do.

Luke chapter 9 and 18, He prayed alone after feeding the 5,000 and before the Mount of Transfiguration, He prayed. You drop down a little further in that same chapter and we are now on the Mount of Transfiguration, chapter 9, verses 28 and 29. And what was He doing when He was transfigured? He was praying.

Prayer changes lives. Prayer transforms lives. And our Lord Jesus, when He was transformed on the Mount of Transfiguration, He was praying.

He prayed and He taught them how to pray in Luke chapter 11 and verse 1, when they asked Him, how ought we to pray? Teach us to pray. And He taught them to pray. Chapter 22, verses 32 and verse 32, He prays for Peter before Peter's biggest trial.

He tells Peter, Satan desires to have you that he might sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for you. He prayed for others. We are to bear one another's burdens.

But then we come, and I think this is one of the greatest displays of prayer that we ever have. We come to the Garden of Gethsemane and He tells them, you pray so you don't enter into temptation. And He went a little ways off and He prayed.

See, He understood what lay ahead of Him. He understood the cross of Calvary lay ahead of Him. He understood what He was about to endure.

And in agony of soul, He is in prayer and He prays. I think the war of Calvary was won in that garden. Before He ever got to the cross, yes, He had to go to the cross and endure it.

But it says that in that garden as He prayed, what does it tell us? The angels came and they strengthened Him. And then it says He prayed the more earnestly. He had told Peter and the disciples to pray that you don't enter into temptation.

Don't wait to pray until you are in the middle of temptation to start praying. Part of the prayer when He said, teach us how to pray, part of that prayer says, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Preemptive prayer.

If you are not praying before, if you are not consistent in prayer before temptation, you will no doubt fail in prayer in the middle of your temptation, in the middle of your trial. Because it is not the norm for you. And He had told them to pray, so you enter not into temptation.

The disciples fell asleep. When Jesus was weary, when He was tired, He withdrew not to sleep, but to pray. Here the disciples are weary, but they don't pray, they sleep.

We can fast forward a few hours and what happens. A few hours in the future, we have Peter and he is being tested. And he failed.

He didn't pray. But we were reminded yesterday of a God of restoration. That when that rooster crowed three times, Peter then fled.

And he prayed. He prayed. And there was restoration that occurred.

So just simply if I can, working down through some of these portions of scripture that we have read. And we will begin at Acts chapter 1 and verse 14. We are just going to look at the importance of prayer and supplication.

There are many times in our lives where we slack off in our prayer lives. And it is easy to do so, maybe it is just because of the busyness of life that sets in. Or whatever the case may be, sometimes there are things that come into our life.

And we don't want to think about them and they are difficult. And because we don't want to think about them, we don't pray about them. Because if something is difficult and you don't want to think about it, you can't pray about it because then you have to think about it.

You can't pray about something without thinking about it. So sometimes we slack off in prayer because maybe we don't want to know the answer that God is about to give us. Or maybe there is a trial we are going through physically in our life.

And we go, you know, if I can just kind of forget about it, I can act like my life is going along normally and I can't pray. But God did not give us prayer to place a burden upon us, but to remove a burden from us. And He says, if you come to Me and give it to Me in prayer, God takes that burden then and He removes it from us.

He says, My yoke is easy and My burden is light, so you give Me your burden and you take Mine. He didn't place prayer upon us as a burden, as something that we must do because it is a necessity as far as pleasing Him, but it is a necessity in our walk with Him. And so sometimes we think out of sight, out of mind.

But when we come to Him in prayer, He is a God who hears and answers prayer. When it comes to prayer, it ought to be something that we enjoy doing. I think our Savior enjoyed doing it.

When He was here on earth, when He needed time to recharge, time with His God, time with His Father in heaven, He would slip away to pray. And there's things we do in the same thing in our life, when things are going difficult, and there's difficulties in our life where we just need a moment to recharge. There's things that we slip away to do because it recharges our batteries, as we would say.

So, you might slip away from your yard work to go golfing or fishing or just to go out on the boat. Women might slip away to go shopping or get a cup of coffee with friends, just to slip away. But when it came to our Savior, He didn't slip away to the things of this world.

He slipped away to His Father, because in Him, He found rest. In communion with His Father, He found strength, He found peace, He found joy, and He had a desire to hear from Him. And if our Savior understood the importance of prayer to His Heavenly Father, how much more ought we to pray to our Heavenly Father? To be in prayer.

And it doesn't mean that we have to wax elegant. It might just be a simple word sometimes. It might be a lack of words we feel like.

But learn to pray. It's awkward at first. It was awkward for me at first.

But sometimes, depending on where we were working, I'd have an hour or two drive. And yes, I didn't feel the whole time praying. But in your car, in your truck, wherever you are, pray out loud.

Pray to God. Cry out to Him. And ask Him to reveal Himself to you.

Ask Him to make Himself known to you. Get to know Him in prayer, in communion with God. Prayer is important when we come to Galatians chapter 6. It tells us that we are to bear one another's burdens.

And our brother Portman has already touched on this, so I'm not going to go into a whole lot more detail than what he has already done. But it is vitally important that we bear one another's burdens. But here's what I would say.

How can we do that unless we know your burden? Sometimes we're hesitant to make our needs known. Because we think it just shows our weakness. Well, congratulations, you now understand what prayer is for.

Because we're weak. How can I pray for you when you're going through something if I don't know what to pray for? How can I pray intelligently if I don't know what you're going through? To bear one another's burdens. And there's power in prayer.

And you will never tell me that there is not power in prayer. Because I've experienced it in my life personally. When loved ones are going through things and you don't know how the end is going to shake out.

And it looks daunting. And God answers in a reckless way. There's power in prayer.

You know, I heard a story and I think it fits with this. There was once a church who moved into a strip mall area. And they moved in and they set up their church.

And it wasn't a couple months later that the building adjacent to it, it was connected, a nightclub moved in. Not ideal. The church started to pray that the nightclub would move away.

That it would go out of business. It would disappear. Lightning hit the nightclub.

Burned it down. The nightclub took the church to court. And said, because they found out they were praying that the nightclub would go away.

And they said, you were praying that God would remove it. He removed it. It's your fault.

And the church's response in court was, it's not our fault. It had nothing to do with us. And the judge sat up there and he said, I don't know what to do in this situation.

Because here we have a nightclub owner that believes in the power of prayer. And we have a church that doesn't. So what do we do? There's power in prayer.

I can tell you of a man that we would know from history. That as a young boy he sat in the loft of a church when a man from Africa came over to Scotland. And that man felt, that preacher as he had come had felt the need to give a call for missionaries to go.

And when he showed up at that church on a rainy night in Scotland, there was barely anybody there. And he wasn't sure if he should give the call, but he gave it. And there was a young seven-year-old boy sitting up in the balcony who heard the call.

And that man's name was David Livingstone. And David Livingstone came down and spoke to that man. He said, I'm going to go.

What do I need to do? So he encouraged him, if you're actually going to go and be a help, go to medical school. Become a doctor and then go. And David Livingstone did.

David Livingstone went over to Africa. And there was one night as he was laboring over there that he found out that the local chief had made it known that he was coming to the compound where David Livingstone and his family and his servants were living. And he was going to kill everyone there.

And that night they closed and boarded up the best that they could, the compound that they were in. As the chief and the tribe gathered outside, David Livingstone inside, not sure what to do, he was praying. And he said they went through the whole night and nothing happened.

And it happened that throughout the course of his time there that this chief actually became saved. And some of the villagers. And so one day Mr. Livingstone asked this village chief, he said, that night you were going to come to kill me.

Why didn't you? He said, there was guards. What do you mean why didn't I? He said, there was 39 giants all around your compound with swords. He said, no there weren't.

He said, we didn't have weapons in there. No, he goes, we were going to kill you. There was 39 giants around your compound.

We saw. David Livingstone didn't understand. He went back years later to that same church that he heard the call from to give another call to the mission field.

And he told that story. An older gentleman came up to him afterward and said, can you tell us what night that was? David Livingstone kept a diary. And he went back and he found the night.

The old man said, come with me. And they walked over. And that little church where they were part of would take note of who was there and what was going on in each night.

And on that night in Scotland, thousands of miles away, 39 people had gathered with the desire to pray for the safety of David Livingstone. There's power in prayer. And I know I'm sitting and looking at a whole row of young men here.

But there's women here that are more powerful and passionate in their prayers than I probably ever will be. I found it interesting that when it came to Esther, she was the one that led the nation in prayer. She said to Mordecai, three days we will fast.

Me and my maid servants will, but you and all of Israel do the same. And they prayed. She initiated.

When it comes to Peter, when he's in prison, when he comes out of the prison, he went to the house of who? Mary, the mother of John. They gathered at a woman's house to pray. Sometimes behind the scenes, there's women who are the heartbeat of God's assembly.

That are powerful in prayer. And can I encourage the women that are here today? Oh, do not stop praying. Because there's power in prayer in bearing one another's burdens.

Luke chapter 18, we were reminded that men ought always to pray and not to faint or not to lose heart. I mentioned it last night at the hymn sing, but not everybody that was there last night or not everybody that's here today was there last night. But I want to make this known, and I think sometimes we all need to be reminded of this.

Prayer is not a spiritual gift. So don't sit and say, I can't pray. Because I don't have the gift of prayer.

You will not find prayer as a gift in the Bible. But it is a requirement that men ought always to pray. When it says men, it doesn't mean males.

It means all. Men ought always to pray and not to faint. It is not a gift, but everyone is commanded to pray.

I believe personally that a Christian is only as strong as their prayer life. I think when you find a weak Christian, you find a Christian that doesn't spend a lot of time in prayer. I think when you find a person who spends a lot of time in prayer, you generally will find a strong Christian.

But that goes a step beyond. If there is an assembly that is strong in prayer, that assembly will also be strong in the things of God. So corporate prayer is important.

Individual prayer is important. And we must all acknowledge, if we're being honest with ourselves, that we would say that in Him we live and move and have our being. And if I asked you to breathe in and to breathe out, and asked you where does that breath come from, you would say it came from God.

So we can't breathe without Him. But we think we can live without Him. Don't try to live without Him, but go to Him in prayer and the desire to know Him.

In 1 Timothy 2, in verse 8, there we have another command given. It says, I will therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands without wrath and without doubting. Verse number 1, I exhort therefore, first of all, that supplication and prayer and intercession and giving of thanks be made for all men or by all men.

If you're in a bigger assembly, you might not be able to do it all the time. And I believe it was the first time I ever heard it brought out this way. I believe it was Mr. Orsak.

I never got the privilege of meeting him in person, but I listened to his recordings. And he would take this portion of Scripture, and the way he explained it, it hit home to me. I think everybody here would say it would be wrong for a sister to get up and worship publicly, or to get up in a Wednesday night prayer meeting and pray.

But based off of this, he says that all men are to pray. He would say it's equally as wrong for men to never pray. To men to remain silent in their seats, because it's the responsibility of all men to pray.

So I took that as an exhortation. I'll just leave that there. Do with that what you will.

But I think there's something to that. That there is a responsibility that we have to pray. But verse number 8, it says, I will therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting.

And this would give us a prerequisite when it comes to prayer, that there are things that are required, that there must be holy hands when it comes to prayer. Scripture would remind us that the fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. We would all acknowledge none of us are righteous in our own standing.

But the righteousness of God has been imputed unto us. But there is still the responsibility to keep our life pure to the best of our ability. And like the old Baptist preacher Leonard Ravenhill once said, he said a sinning man will stop praying, but a praying man will stop sinning.

So be earnest in prayer. And I think maybe to give us a little context as to how to have holy hands. And with this I'll close.

In 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, how do we have holy hands? How do we achieve this? How can we fulfill this responsibility? 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, and verse number 17 says, Pray without ceasing. But then he goes on and he says, In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. That's difficult to do sometimes when you're going through difficulties in trial to give thanks for it.

I remember when I ran my thumb through a table saw about five years ago, the first thought I had was not, oh I'm thankful. It wasn't, I'll be honest with you. There's things that happen and we might not be thankful for them in the moment.

But God asks that in all things we give thanks. How do we do this? Why would we do this? It should be that when things are going well we pray and give thanks to God for His blessings. But when going through trials we pray.

And we thank God for walking with us through the trial. And revealing more and more of Himself day to day as we go through trial. He then tells us in verse number 19 to quench not the spirit.

Do not allow sin to come into our life and put out the fire of God in our lives. Do not quench the spirit of God. Verse 20, despise not prophesying.

Be willing to be taught, be willing to learn the things of God. Then verse 21, prove all things. Hold fast to that which is good.

Abstain from all appearance of evil. Prove all things and hold fast to that which is good. Can I put this out there? It's just simply this.

Test everything that you hear. Not everything that you hear that sounds good is right. And not everything that you hear that you don't like is wrong either.

There's two sides of that coin. You might hear things that sound really good in the moment. But test it against the word of God.

But then also, there might be things that you hear and because it's convicting you go, I don't think that's right. There's also times that we need to self-reflect and to look within ourselves and to acknowledge maybe that there is wrong and there is sin in our life that needs to be dealt with. Then he tells us to abstain from every form of evil.

I'm not going to list anything here. Because you know what happens whenever a preacher lists something? Everybody listening goes, okay, check, check, check, check. I don't need any of those.

I'm good. Each and every one of us individually should go, and as James tells us that we ought to look in a glass and see what manner of man we are. Whatever God is convicting you of, I don't care how big or small it is in your life, abstain from it if God is asking you to give it up.

But then I like the way he finishes this. He goes down and he says, May the very God of peace sanctify you wholly, and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless into the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he that calleth you who will also do it, which tells us God hears and answers prayer.

And then the Apostle Paul asks for something. So I'm just going to get personal here for just a moment. You guys, I think everybody here is aware that me and my wife have been newly commended to the work of the Lord.

And I think if Paul asked for it, I think it's only fitting that I can ask for the same thing. Brethren, pray for us. We need prayer.

Without prayer, we're going to mess up. Shoot, we're going to mess up whether you pray or not, probably, because of human nature. But we need prayer.

And there's power in prayer. I thought of it as I was thinking of this message today, and I think I mentioned it to Jeremiah and to Sterling maybe last night at the hymn singing, and they said they never heard the song. And it's a newer song, but I think it has beautiful words.

And it was written in the regard of fathers and the importance of them stepping up in the role of their families. But I think you could use it for everyone. So I'm just going to quote some of the words of this hymn.

The title of it is Courageous. This is the first verse. We were made to be courageous.

We were made to lead the way. We could be the generation that finally breaks the chains. We need warriors on the front lines standing unafraid.

But now we're watchers on the sidelines while our families slip away. Where are you, men of courage? But I could say men and women of courage. We were made for so much more.

Let the pounding of our hearts cry, we will serve the Lord. And then this is the chorus. Actually, I'm going to read all the verses first and then the chorus.

This is our resolution, our answer to the call. We will love our wives and children and refuse to let them fall. We will reignite the passion that we bury deep inside.

May the watchers become warriors, and may the men of God arise. And the chorus goes like this. We were made to be courageous, and we're taking back the fight.

We were made to be courageous, and it starts with us tonight. The only way we'll ever stand is on our knees with lifted hands. Lord, make us courageous.

One of the great revivals of our time that ever started was because of a man by the name of John Wesley, who wore holds in his floor at the side of his bed before he ever preached, and he labored in prayer. If you think my gift is not to preach the gospel, pray for those who do. And I would say that your prayer is every bit as strong or important or maybe more so than anything I will ever say from a platform.

Brethren and sisters, pray for us.