Original subtitles

good afternoon

I praise the Lord from my mother how

many of you already love her I was

getting ready for this and she said

Steven you need to tell them how to vote

in the next election and I said mom I

said mom this is not a political event

she said it's so important that they

hear it I said I'm not gonna mention any

candidates or any parties

she said well tell them to get their

Bible and go read all the party

platforms and compare it with the

scriptures and to vote according to what

God's Word says so in honor of my mother

I've told you I had a friend he came to

me and he said Stephen the closer I get

to the Lord the less impressed I am with

you and I said okay I can receive that

he said you keep talking about how God

can do exceedingly abundantly above all

we could ask her imagine he said you

didn't make that up that's in the Bible

I found that in the Bible I said I've

never said I made that up where did you

get that some of the people who work

with us they come and they say okay tell

us how you produce these movies and

we've had many filmmakers come down to

Albany they sit across from us across

the table and they say alright what's

the secret sauce you know that and we

say look we don't know what we're doing

but we are trusting an Almighty God and

so we're praying through every aspect of

the filmmaking we're asking the Lord to

guide one of my friends came and work

with us on war room and when he was done

he said they're telling the truth they

don't know what they're doing and they

do pray about every decision so I want

you to know that if you were to spend a

lot of time with us the less impressed

you would be with us and the more

impressed you would be with the God that

we serve

I want to show you a picture up on the

screen it was on the video and this is

of my mom and dad getting married and on

the right side of the screen

my grandfather my dad's dad was seven

feet tall and so I hugged his knees when

I was a kid and he was an alcoholic for

a good portion of my father's life but

he married a woman that became a praying

woman and our dad had a pray and mom who

had a big impact on his life my

grandfather my mom's mom as you heard on

the story was a praying woman as well

and she is impacting the nation's you

could say through prayers that she

prayed many years ago and as you saw in

this video I've got a prayin mom at home

now I want to show you a video I'm gonna

show you a picture of my family

this is my wife Jill and I on our six

kids and I've got behind me a very

supportive wife who prays for me and

supports me on my wedding ring

everywhere I go only engraved on the

inside it says First Samuel 14 seven and

it says you do what you've said in your

heart to do and I will come support you

with my heart and soul so some of you

like my wife may be in a situation where

you're thinking I've got girlfriends

that are out working in these jobs and

they're making the new iPhone and

they're making a lot of money over here

they're beating out the men and they're

becoming the CEOs and the presidents of

companies and I'm just a mom I want you

to know God has you exactly where he

wants you

[Applause]

you are likely whether you know it or

not the most influential person in your

husband's life

and your prayers for him God has given

women this ability to discern how the

marriage is going a whole lot better

than the man how the kids are doing a

whole lot better than the man and he

reveals those things to you so you can

intercede on behalf of your husband and

your children like nobody else on the

face of the earth you are likely in

these formative years if your kids are

little like my kids are the most

influential person in your kids lives

John Wesley said and he was a very a

catalyst for one of the great awakenings

he said my mother taught me more

theology when I was little than I've

learned in all the other books and the

training that I've had over the years I

heard a story about st. Paul's Cathedral

being built and that this man walked up

and he sees these two workers working

and one of them is laying bricks and

he's grumbling and complaining and he's

working slow another guy is over here

and he's laying bricks and he's

whistling he's working hard he's keeping

to get attitude and man walks up to the

man who's complaining says what do you

do he says I'm laying bricks what does

it look like I'm doing

and he walks over to the man who's got a

good attitude he's whistling he said

what are you doing

he says I'm building a great Cathedral

both of them were doing the same thing

but one of them saw it from a bigger

perspective the enemy wants to tell you

you're washing dishes you're folding

another load of London just wash these

clothes yesterday you know you're

changing diapers with six kids we've

we've added up it's the into the tens of

thousands of diapers that my wife has

changed and I've told her sweetheart

you're not changing diapers you're

raging

raising world-changers

you're not preparing meals you're

training up leaders of the next

generation you're not stopping my our

kids from fighting and just spanking the

one that's the cause of the problem

you're raising up people that will help

take the gospel to the ends of the earth

you're building a great Cathedral so I

just want to affirm you the enemy wants

to step in and tell you that what you're

doing doesn't matter

and God has strategically positioned you

wherever you are

for his glory for such a time as this

we're gonna be looking at Nehemiah

chapter one this afternoon if you have

your Bible and encouraged you to turn

there because here's a guy who is a

layman he's a nobody he's in a foreign

land

he feels like what am I doing here I'm

away from my people I'm away from my

country do I have any value do I have

any importance and we're gonna talk

about how many amaya prayed

it's exciting to me to see what the Lord

is doing through prayer around the world

if you look in Scripture prayer is

always a priority of the mighty men and

women of God you look at the great

people in the Old Testament they were

always prayer warriors you look at

Jesus's life in all of his busyness he

would either get up early to pray or

stay up late to pray or send the crowd

away to pray you're not busier than

Jesus was but he would make sure that

prayer was a priority it's the only

thing his disciples asked him to teach

them how to do was to pray if you look

at the Sermon on the Mount he's training

them on how to pray and he's saying God

wants you to pray he answers prayer he's

commanding you to pray ask and you shall

receive seek and you will find knock and

the door will be open to you the analogy

in Scripture of Prayer is is not an

employer to an employee or even a master

to a servant it's of a father to his

children every time Jesus would talk

about prayer he'd say I want you to

think of God as your father a loving

good father who cares about you and he

wants to give

good things and so he says I want you to

ask for good things because your Father

in Heaven wants to give you those good

things and so Jesus is challenging his

disciples prioritised prayer prioritize

pray instead of fainting he goes into

the temple you're making the temple

about things other than prayer let's

pray in my house shall be called a house

of prayer if you look in the New

Testament the church prioritized prayer

and the Holy Spirit came and then it

says then they devoted themselves to

prayer as the New Testament church as a

result of prayer everything else took on

more power to it

the preaching is powerful when there's a

praying church behind the pastor brain

form the programs of the church are

effective when there's a praying people

behind the programs the promotional

efforts everything you're doing in your

church prayer is the wind and the sales

of those things and if you can

prioritize prayer first like the

scriptures say everything else in your

church will reap the benefits of that so

what do we see in first Timothy first of

all let there be prayers petitions

supplication Thanksgiving for all men

let that be first in priority what did

the Apostles say they said oK we've got

these women that are complaining upset

over here these widows that are being

neglected let's set up some people to

serve them and meet their needs but let

us keep prioritizing prayer in the

Ministry of the word if you read in

Romans 12 spoken to us as believers he

says devote yourselves to prayer in

Colossians 4 he says devote yourselves

to prayer so it's this constant message

throughout scripture throughout

Christian history the greatest

missionaries always devoted themselves

to prayer and before the Great

Awakenings the Lord would stir up his

church they would become burdened about

the the toxic condition of the culture

and the lukewarmness that was in the

church and they would be so burdened

that God would call them to their knees

and they would begin to pray and it

wasn't just a sermon series over a

weekend the Lord would call them to long

term devotion to prayer he would say

let's prioritize God

self in prayer above any of the work of

men and I believe he's doing that right

now in our country and I believe he's

doing that in the body of Christ all

over the world we saw with war room now

that the movies gone internationally

we're hearing stories of other countries

in Mexico there were 12 elderly women

who went to see the movie and then they

started a 24 hour prayer network in

their cities in Argentina there's

churches that have been meeting and

they've been praying pastors across

America have been preaching on the

priority of Prayer 71 churches in Ohio

recently met together for a prayer boot

camp saying we need to train our people

in prayer there's a Texas prison that

has focused in on prayer and in this one

unit in the prison and by the way across

America the recidivism rate for

prisoners is about 70% that means when

they get out about 70 percent end up

back in prison but this one unit in

Texas they have begun to pray for one

another and the recidivism in that

specific unit has dropped down to 7% 93%

are staying out of prison because

they're praying for one another ium

bounds said prayer moves the hand that

moves the world it can accomplish what

God can accomplish there is no greater

privilege for you and I anyone to be

able to personally talk to God and speak

into the ears of the Almighty it's a

beautiful mysterious jaw-dropping

opportunity that we have every day and

if we think of what God did to enable us

to do it that Jesus died tore the veil

from top to bottom opened up the way so

the you and I through his blood can

approach the Holy of Holies of God to

come before a loving good Heavenly

Father who's ready and able to meet any

of our needs at any time so I wanted to

talk with you today about preparing to

pray tonight and I want to challenge you

if you would ask the Lord to make you a

prayer warrior that you would begin to

pray for your children

and I want to share with you a little

bit about how our mom prays for us and I

want to share with you how Scripture

challenges us to pray for other people

the first thing is prayer begins by

being in Christ definitely knowing Jesus

as your Lord and Savior knowing Christ

is the secret to answered prayer when he

said I am the way the truth and the life

no one comes to the Father except

through me he wasn't being prideful he

was being truthful there is one mediator

between us and God

someone who's equal to God and equal to

man who can come between and bring us

together the man Christ Jesus first

Timothy says Ephesians 3 says we have

boldness and access through faith in Him

so if you have religion but you don't

have a relationship with God God is not

obligated to answer your prayers in fact

scripture communicates God is not

obligated he could answer the prayer of

a lost person if he wants to but the

Bible says the unrighteous their prayers

are not pleasing to the Lord and so lost

people praying to God if they don't have

a relationship with him it's basically

talking to a stranger and someone who is

not obligated to answer their prayers

and so prayer begins with a relationship

with Jesus and so when I was talking to

Nancy about this conference and I said

how many people here are believers she

said well I don't know you know many of

them I believe are believers but it's

been interesting to me Billy Graham says

a large percentage of the church is made

up of people who think they're saved and

they're not and we're so many

denominations and different

denominations emphasize different

aspects of the gospel but if we're not

careful we can think that because we

prayed a prayer or we joined a church or

were christened as a baby or a baptized

at some point in our life or we cried

while we were at summer camp that now we

know Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior

and so in the year 2000 I went through a

personal crisis I was serving in

ministry I was doing youth ministry and

the Lord took that year to Humble me and

grind me to powder in a lot of ways and

I begin to even though I've led many

people to Christ I begin to question my

own salvation and I discovered something

in the Bible that just blew

mind did you know that God has given us

a book in the Bible that can help us

know and discern if we're really saved

or not does anybody know what that book

is there's a book in the Bible that God

has given us and it is the litmus test

for salvation last week I was meeting

with a guy who is going into ministry

he's going into youth ministry and we're

talking about his relationship with the

Lord and he struggled with pornography

and I said let me ask you a question I

said are you sure you're saved

and he said yeah I think so yeah you

know and he started and I said do you

ever doubt your salvation and he said

actually yes I do and if you ask people

you know hey do you know Christ are you

a hundred percent sure you know a lot of

people we have that pad ready answer

well in the year 2000 I was ready with

that pad answer but the Lord began to

open my eyes and ask me the question you

need to put on the helmet of salvation

because you're not a hundred percent

sure you're saved because Romans 6 says

if you know you're saved then you can

reckon yourself dead indeed unto sin but

alive unto God through Jesus Christ if

you're gonna fight the enemy you got to

put on that helmet of salvation as part

of the armor and you're standing in your

identity in Christ if you're doubting

your salvation if there's still a little

bit of a doubt on the back of your mind

then you're not believing who you are in

Jesus Christ and with him as your father

and if you're doubting your salvation

you're not gonna be sharing your faith

with other people you're not gonna be

living in the joy of your salvation and

you're gonna be struggling and so

whether it be sin in your life and

you're a believer that's causing you to

doubt whether it be you made a

commitment to Christ but you never

followed that up with obedience and

baptism or you've never been discipled I

don't know but I want to share with you

right now we're just gonna pause this

message for a minute and we're gonna

take just a moment I'm gonna give you a

gift that God gave me in the year 2000

and that gift is the book of first John

first John gives us seven tests of our

salvation and I'm gonna give them to you

tonight or this afternoon because you're

not gonna be able to pray effectively

tonight if Jesus Christ is not your Lord

and Savior and so I want to give you

this gift many of you are like man

sure I know where I am I'm good you know

I love the Lord this is a good thing and

I want to give you these seven things so

that you can share them with other

people who are struggling with their

salvation but some of you as a result of

this and when I shared it with this

young man he began to cry at the end of

reading through those verses in first

John he said I'm saved he said I know

the Lord and he knows me and I said it

wasn't me that revealed it to you it

wasn't you that convinced yourself it

was the Word of God who said very

clearly to you do you know the Lord and

he knows you and that you've got sin in

your life but you know the Lord and he

knows you when I discovered these

passages of Scripture it was like the

light bulb went on for me and I began to

cry I was like I know the Lord and he

knows me but I believe many people would

discover that they don't know the Lord

so let me give you these things jesus

said not everyone who says to me Lord

Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven he

warned the Pharisees you think that you

know God but you don't he said many

people will say to me Lord did we not

prophesy in your name drive out demons

in your name and I will announce to them

depart from me I never knew you the

Apostle Paul says test yourselves in 2nd

Corinthians 13 he says test yourselves

to see if you're in the faith examine

yourselves or do you not recognize this

about yourselves that Jesus is in you

unless indeed you fail the test so if

you think you're going to heaven and you

have a relationship with God because

you're a good person or you walk denial

or you pray to prayer or you were

baptized or christened and if your faith

is in those things then you should be

very concerned according to first John

because first John never mentions a

ritual or a summer camp you know tearful

any anything like that it talks about

proofs of salvation that show up when

Christ changes your life if you were to

be put on trial for being a Christian

with the evidence of your life compared

to the Word of God reveal that you know

Christ or you don't

genuine salvation is like a wedding it's

a commitment that results in a loving

relationship

it's like planning a vineyard a lot of

fruit shows up afterwards do you

remember those Polaroid cameras that we

used to play with back when we were you

you take the picture and then this

little white picture pops out and if you

look at it it's just gray there's

nothing there and you wait a few minutes

later or about 60 seconds later and then

the image that it took begins to show up

well the bible communicates that

salvation when you believe in jesus

ephesians 1 says he seals you with the

holy spirit of promise you were dead and

he makes you alive you were buried with

christ and you're raised with Christ

that he saves you when you place your

faith in him but sometimes we don't feel

any different in that moment but if it's

true salvation the image of Christ

sharks showing up in your life over time

the fruit begins to be undeniable you

cannot make God your father and Jesus

your Lord and being dwelt about the Holy

Spirit and it not change you second

Corinthians 5:17 says if anyone is in

Christ they're a new creation the old is

gone behold the new has come so in 1st

John I'm going to give you 7 evidences

that the Bible gives us of salvation

true salvation and I want you to test

your salvation with these and my hope is

that some of you the light bulb will go

on and you'll say I know the Lord and he

knows me and I'm never gonna doubt again

and I'm gonna pray within my identity of

Christ and I'm gonna start acting like

Who I am in Jesus and I'm gonna put on

the helmet of salvation some of you when

you hear these things you may say when I

look at this I realize I don't know the

Lord I have religion but not a

relationship and I've got good news for

you today is the day of your salvation

that you can believe on the Lord Jesus

Christ and be saved

evidence number 1 obedience obedience

and really it's a lifestyle of obedience

Christians make mistakes yes but the

direction and habits of a true believer

changed towards obeying Jesus now

obedience is not the route of salvation

but

is the fruit of salvation and first John

- it says this listen to this by this we

know that we have come to know him if we

keep his Commandments

the one who says I have come to know him

and does not keep his Commandments is a

liar and the truth is not in him but

whoever keeps his word in him the love

of God has truly been perfected by this

we know that we are in him the one who

says he abides in him ought himself to

walk in the same manner as he walked

before we know Christ were walking in a

direction away from God we're living in

perpetual sin and every once in a while

will stumble and do the right thing you

know but after we repent and we place

our faith in Jesus he doesn't change us

from rules on the outside religion

externalized he transforms us from the

inside and he changes our nature and so

there's this new desire to obey God that

the Holy Spirit brings and so let me ask

you a question when it comes to not any

specific moment because you can look at

your life and say well I didn't know by

God there and I didn't obey God that

time and I didn't know Baig out here but

if you look at the fifty thousand foot

view of your life after you made a

decision for Christ did you see a result

in increasing obedience to the commands

of God when you hear the word of God is

there in your heart I need to obey that

I want to obey that lord help me to obey

that and then you begin to see more

obedience not that you get it always

right James 3 says we stumble in many

ways believers stumble in many ways but

you have a heart that wants to obey God

because that's the first evidence the

scripture gives of your salvation a lost

person does not obey the Lord they have

no desire to really but a believer their

nature has changed from the inside out

and first John says this is how we know

him obedience here's the second one a

confession of Jesus as God's Son now the

world believes that Jesus is a good

teacher he's a prophet you know he's a

good example and cults may even

communicate that Jesus is a prophet or a

good example but the Bible communicates

that a believer believes he's more than

just a man or a good example he is God's

Son He is God in the

watch this first John 2:22 who is the

liar but the one who denies that Jesus

is the christ this is the antichrist the

one who denies the father and the son

whoever denies the son does not have the

father the one who confesses the son has

the father also jesus said whoever

confesses me before men I will confess

before the Father so who do you say

Jesus is because if you say he is God in

the flesh he is the son of God that is

an evidence of your salvation because it

takes the Holy Spirit to reveal that

truth to your heart evidence number

three repentance of sin ongoing

repentance of sin how does a Christian

respond to the commands of Christ

obedience how does a Christian respond

to sin repentance listen to this verse

Jesus said I tell you unless you repent

you will also likewise perish Luke

that's Luke 13:3 when it comes to sin

true believers will turn away from sin

but false believers will not first John

3:9 no one who is born of God will

continue to sin because God's seed

remains in him he cannot go on sinning

because he has been born of God this is

how we know who the children of God are

and who the children of the devil are

again it's a 50,000 foot view a lost

person they may feel guilty in their

conscience for some of the things that

they do but when it comes to sin there's

not a perpetual turning away from it

repenting of it when I sin the Holy

Spirit is convicting me I don't like it

in my life there's some sins we can

repent of quickly some kind of hang on

you know that we're struggling with

throughout our lives part of that

sanctification process but a true

Christian is turning away from sin at

first John says that's how we know one

of the evidences that you truly know

Christ is that ongoing repentance of sin

I need to get it out of my life

evidence number four the discipline of

God your father the discipline of God

your father first John 3:1 behold what

manner of love the father has given us

that we should be called children of God

Hebrews 12 says God deals with you as

sons for what son is there whom the

father does not discipline but if you

are without discipline of which all have

become partakers then you're

illegitimate children and you're not

sons the discipline of when I am when my

kids come over and they invite their

friends over if they do something wrong

I may spank my kids and send their

friends home now why don't I discipline

the other kid well he's not my kid he's

not my son God says that when it comes

to his children when you get out of line

and you're living in sin he loves you

and so he begins to discipline you so

there's evidence of that he said one of

the ways you can know if you're a

believer is the discipline of the Father

shows up in your life when you get out

of line number five genuine love for

other believers first John 3:14 we know

that we have passed out of death into

life because we love the Brethren he who

does not love abides and death everyone

who hates his brother is a murderer you

know that no murderer has eternal life

abiding in him one of the things the

Holy Spirit does when he comes in your

heart Romans 5 says he pours out the

agape love of God into your heart and

God begins to give you the fruit of the

Spirit love joy and peace and His Spirit

gives you a love for other believers

even your enemies and that's one of the

evidences that agape a love that comes

from God is an evidence of your

salvation so let me ask you a question

when it comes to other believers are you

always just not wanting to be around

them it's Church of burden for you or is

God giving you this love for other

believers because first John says that

is one of the evidences of your

salvation number six the presence of the

Holy Spirit the presence of the Holy

Spirit first John 3:24 this is how we

know that he lives in us we know it by

the spirit he gave us if you're a true

believer then God's Spirit will testify

with your spirit that you're a child of

God Romans 8 says but what does God's

Spirit do well John 16 says he's going

to convict you of sin he will also John

14 says he's gonna reveal to you the

Word of God so when you're reading the

word of God the Holy Spirit is helping

you to understand what you're reading

and then there's the the fruit of the

Spirit the love and joy and peace that

comes from the Holy Spirit is showing up

in your life so is the Holy Spirit's

evidence in your heart and in your life

that's not something you can fake but is

the Holy Spirit saying you know the Lord

is the Holy Spirit convicting you of sin

is the Holy Spirit revealing the Word of

God if you don't know Christ then you're

not that convicted when you sin and

you're not though the Bible is a mystery

to you it's it's hard for you to grasp

you know or read it because it's like

there's a veil over your eyes when

you're reading it and then the love and

joy and peace of Christ is not really

flowing in and through your life number

seven trust in Jesus alone for salvation

this is not about the identity in Christ

this is about what you're trusting for

salvation if your faith is in your

church if your faith is in your goodness

if your faith is in a ritual that you

made you're the only person really

mentioned there your faith is in you and

the Apostle Paul said in Philippians

three he said I had a better spiritual

resume than anyone but when I saw what

Jesus could do for me and I saw how his

death on the cross could pay for my sin

and I saw that rather than my own

righteousness me trying to earn my way

into heaven I saw that Christ could give

me God's righteousness and prepare me

for heaven the Apostle Paul in

Philippians 3 said I have let go of

trusting in myself and my faith is

totally in Jesus alone for salvation he

said now I have a righteousness that

comes from God not for myself and I am

found in him so first John says first

John 5:12 he who has the son has life he

who does not have the son does not have

life I write these things to you who

believe in the name of the Son of God so

that you may know that you have eternal

life seven things these are signs

of a changed life their litmus tests we

can - we can take all of these things

are not really normal and they're almost

impossible to fake long-term the world

the flesh and the devil are against us

having these things in our lives they're

pushing us in the opposite direction but

if you look at your life over the past

few months and years from a 50,000 foot

view do you see genuine love for other

believers

do you see repentance of sin do you see

obedience to God

do you see the discipline of the father

do you see the evidence of the holy

spirit do you see a confession openly of

Christ as God and His Lord a genuine

trust in his death on the cross for

salvation because if these things are in

you then I've got really good news for

you you know Jesus and he knows you but

if you look at these things and you say

I don't see the evidence of the Holy

Spirit I don't have a genuine love for

other believers I am NOT repenting of

sin there is no obedience in my heart

there is no trust fully in Jesus's death

on the cross as payment for salvation

then I've got good news for you - really

good news that the Lord is offering you

something far better than what you're

trusting and he is inviting you to turn

from your sins and to call upon Jesus

Christ the Son of God and trust him

alone for salvation and the Bible says

whosoever will call upon the name of the

Lord will be saved

says if you confess with your mouth that

Jesus is the Lord and you believe in

your heart they got raised it from the

dead then you can be saved and right

where you're sitting right now you can

say Lord I'm no longer trusting my

religion my ability my church my rituals

I'm trusting in Christ and right where

you are you can believe in Jesus and He

will change you from the inside out and

after that

mama you will see these freaks showing

up in your life in the days to come at

the end of this session in the back of

the room there's a their prayer rooms

and there are women who are back there

ready to pray with anyone who would like

for someone to to walk with them and to

pray with them through that decision

with that in mind I wanted to talk about

getting our hearts ready for praying in

Nehemiah chapter 1 the words of Nehemiah

the son of whatever that says it came to

pass in the month of just love in the

twentieth year as I was in Shushan the

Citadel that Hannah and I one of my

brethren came with men from Judah and I

asked them concerning the Jews who had

escaped who had survived the captivity

concerning Jerusalem and they said to me

the survivors are left from the

captivity so you find out the walls in

Jerusalem are broken down that are

burned with fire look at verse 4 so it

was when I heard these words i sat down

and I wept

I'm mourned for many days I was fasting

and praying before God I'm blown away at

Nehemiah's response the tenderness of

his heart in this moment and so he

begins to pray in verse 5 I pray Lord

God of heaven o great and awesome God

you who keep your covenant mercy with

those who love you and observe your

Commandments please let your ear be

attentive and your eyes open that you

may hear the prayer of your servant

which I pray before you now day and

night he's not giving up he's laying a

hold of the Lord for the children of

Israel your servants and I confess the

sins of the children of Israel which we

have sinned against you both my father's

house and he makes it personal and I

have sinned against you we have acted

very correctly against you we've not

kept the commandments the statutes nor

the ordinances which you've commanded

your servant Moses so he confesses then

he says remember I pray the word that

you commanded your servant Moses saying

now he's quoting Deuteronomy 28 right

here if you were unfaithful I will

scatter you

among the nation's now he shifts to

Deuteronomy 30 he says but if you return

to me and keep my Commandments and you

do them though some of you were cast out

to the farthest part of the heavens yet

I will gather them from there and bring

them to the place which I have chosen as

a dwelling for my name so Nehemiah lays

a hold of the Word of God and then he

says now these are your servants and

these are your people whom you've

redeemed by your great power by your

strong hand oh Lord I pray please let

your ear be attentive to the prayer of

your servant and to the prayer of your

servants who desire to fear your name

and let your servant prosper this day I

pray and grant him mercy in the sight of

this man for I was the king's cup bearer

now the King Artaxerxes is the same king

who had turned Ezra down and shut down

the rebuilding of the wall a few years

later Nehemiah is approaching that same

king in brokenness he's praying

strategically and as you know the rest

of the book that king not only gives him

permission to leave but gives him all

the resources to go back and he rebuilds

the wall they restore Jerusalem revival

breaks out and God restores a nation

through one man who was willing to

humble himself before God and pray and

obey the Lord so as we talk about prayer

you know the movie war room talked about

prayer but one thing that consistently

you will see in Scripture is that prayer

is always book ended with two things

repentance before we pray because we're

not ready to pray effectively if we

don't repent first but then when we do

pray we pray in faith we claim the Word

of God we base it upon the character of

God and then when we are done praying we

obey whatever the Lord tells us to do

repentance pray obey I did a study one

time of the New Testament and I was like

what does the Bible say about what makes

our prayers more effective or what

hinders our prayers from being effective

one of them is whether

not you know Christ but a second one was

even as a believer there's a few things

that will hinder you from being able to

pray effectively let me share with you a

few of those one of them is sin that you

refuse to repent of David said if I

cherished sin in my heart God will not

hear my prayers so let me ask you is

there anything in your life that you

refuse to repent of and give over to the

Lord because that is hindering your

prayers from being effective secondly

bitterness in your heart Jesus

repeatedly says when he talks about

forgiveness if you don't forgive others

God will not forgive you and in Mark 11

he said this he says when you stand

praying if you have anything against

anyone go ahead and forgive him right

now and then pray in faith believing

that God will answer your prayers so

Jesus pointed out he said don't wait for

them to repent go ahead and forgive him

you know we live in a world of sinners

and we are sinners and we were gonna

have people sin against us our whole

lives and if there's anyone who has

sinned against you and hurt you and

we've all experienced that but you have

chosen to not forgive them if tonight

when we pray you still have not forgiven

them you may want to just sit in the

back and watch everyone else pray

because it will hinder your prayers from

being effective before God the Bible

says and Jesus said it if you have

anything against anyone go ahead and

forgive them why don't you forgive them

because God is their judge

why do you forgive them because

bitterness only hurts you it does not

hurt the person you're angry with why do

you forgive them because it gives place

to the devil it says in Ephesians 4 that

our unforgiveness gives the devil

permission into our minds that he begins

to accuse other people in our minds and

we get angry and if you have bitterness

in your life that is one of the key

reasons why your spiritual life is a

desert right now why is not a joy why

the Word of God isn't you're not getting

thing out of it while your prayer life

feels like it's just bouncing off the

ceiling bitterness

rise up your spiritual life so if you

want to pray effectively the Bible

communicates know Christ forgive if you

have anything against anyone and then

any hidden sin that's in your life floor

don't want to get it right with you but

secondly scriptures communicate that if

you are right with the Lord know

unconfessed sin no bitterness in your

life then you can begin to pray

strategically effectively and I want to

give you four things real quick on how

to pray 1 pray offensively pray

offensively it's when you're asking for

all the good stuff when you pray don't

hold back ask for the moon when we're

praying for the movies we're praying

over the cinematography and the lighting

and the story lord give us characters

that are funny and give us touching

scenes and give us truths that will

change lives and the Lord take the

movies to the ends of the earth when

we're praying for our kids Lord raise up

our children to be mighty warriors for

you surround them with godly friends

keep them away from the wrong friends

Lord would you give them good books and

good teachers and good mentors and good

spouses one day and we just ask and ask

and ask and keep on asking God is not

intimidated by any requests he can do

more than we can ask or imagine and I

can imagine a lot so did you know God

wants you to ask daring bold good

prayers so when you're praying for your

family and your pastor and your church

and the election and yourself and

whatever go ahead and ask some people

like well I don't know if it's God's

will or not he can figure that out you

hit the ball in his court you hid it in

his court and let him answer the way he

wants to many times the Lord may say yes

but I'm gonna answer that in a week or a

month or a year you just keep on praying

and hitting in his court

Lord nevertheless not my will but yours

be done but I'm gonna I don't want it to

be because I didn't ask James for says

you don't have because you don't ask I

think God is in heaven and in scripture

communicates this he's got so many good

things he doesn't want to withhold any

good thing from you and he says come on

come on come on ask me ask me now what

if Jesus showed up in a jury

tonight into you personally and he says

here's a pad of paper here's a pen

everything you asked me for I'm gonna

say yes to would you pray any

differently than you do right now

because how much you pray really reveals

how much your trust in God in your

circumstances if you knew that he was

gonna say yes would you just say oh just

bless me Lord

no prayer requests kind of like we do in

Sunday school or small group nothing I'm

good or would you be flipping it out

like I would say here's how I'm gonna

pray for my church and my pastor here's

I'm gonna pray for my community here's

I'm gonna pray for my marriage you're

gonna pray for my children and I'm just

flipping pages and I'm just gonna go

until I wear that out so you got anymore

notepads I can fill up that's how God

wants you to pray don't let it be

because you didn't ask ask the good

things you have a good good God he can

handle any requests and if he looks

through it he says well that's a selfish

request okay he can handle that so when

we're praying tonight if you know Jesus

you can pray in his name which means

you're not praying based upon your

identity you're praying and praying

based on his identity you're not praying

based upon your authority you're praying

based upon his authority you're not

praying based upon what you have done or

your righteousness your brain you're

praying based upon what he has done and

his righteousness and if your heart is

right with the Lord you've confessed

your sins and you've forgiven other

people then get busy praying and ask for

the moon get specific and don't hold

back and leave that with the Lord and

let those prayers be in his hands you

will see in Scripture

sometimes God answers a prayer

immediately sometimes he'll answer a

prayer the next day the next week

sometimes his perfect timing is to wait

for years he's got that all figured out

but don't let delays discourage you from

praying don't let yesterday's seemingly

unanswered prayers stop you from praying

in faith today and if you're struggling

with praying and trusting God in faith

if you're like when I'm praying

I have a hard time really believing that

God will answer then Philippians 4 says

you need to spend some time in

Thanksgiving before you do the

supplication because here's what happens

if you'll spend time and with

Thanksgiving you're looking in the

rearview mirror of your life and you're

seeing nothing but the faithfulness of

God in your past and you begin to say

lord thank you that you carried me here

and thank you that you brought good out

of that and thank you that you worked in

here and thank you that you provided

there and thank you for this thank you

for that and spend some time thinking

the Lord and it will give you that

running head start to then look at the

future with the requests that you have

and pray in faith believing God can do

the same thing in the days ahead so with

that in mind let's pray together right

now and ask let's ask the Lord to

prepare our hearts to in unity like

Nehemiah to have tender hearts before

the Lord to repent of any sin to pray in

faith and lastly that when we leave this

place we need to obey whatever God tells

us to do because you might be who God

uses to answer the requests that you're

praying you might be the nehemiah you

might be the Esther who says pray for

three days and then you approach the

king you might be the one so we need to

repent we pray in faith asking the Lord

for whatever's on our hearts Jesus says

if you abide in me and my words abide in

you ask for your heart's desire and it

will be done for you not just for what

you need John 15:7 says if you get right

with the Lord asked for your heart's

desire he says that blows my mind that

he would even say that and then when we

leave we're gonna obey what God tells us

to do this world would never be the same

if women just in this room and who are

watching over the internet would get

right with the Lord pray in faith and

then obey what God tells them to do

let's ask him for right now father in

Jesus name Lord we pray Lord that you

would reveal to each person

whether they know you truly or not

secondly Lord I pray that you would

search us O God and know our hearts we

don't want there to be anything that

displeases you that grieves your spirit

that hinders us from praying effectively

to a holy God Lord search our hearts and

then grant us repentance forgive us Lord

forgive our nation Lord for our

wickedness and lord I pray that you by

your Holy Spirit would inspire each of

us to pray in faith tonight in unity

tens of thousands of women all around

the world praying at the same time by

faith approaching a willing loving

Heavenly Father and then lord I pray

that you would reveal how you want us to

obey you and that you would give us the

Grace and the strength by your Holy

Spirit when we go home every day to walk

in faith and obey and we pray this in

Jesus name the strong Son of God

you