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in over 25 years of prayer ministry I

have never seen anything happen like

what is happening around the world in

our day whether you know it or not

you're living in the midst of the

greatest prayer movement as far as we

can tell in the history of the church

more people praying in greater numbers

with greater power than ever before I've

been privileged to serve the last 14

years as chairman of the board for the

National Day of Prayer in the United

States this year we saw over 49,000

different prayer events with millions of

us gathering to pray what the exciting

about that is there are a lot of

Christians in other nations who are

committing to pray for us here in the

United States for which we are so very

very grateful this year we've seen so

many things happen don't have time to

tell those as we gathered in Washington

DC in July and together 16 we saw over

300,000 young people gather on our

National Mall to seek the Lord and to

pray I just came from Dallas yesterday I

think it was yesterday

and we were there with Tony Evans and

the gathering it was extraordinary

gathering of Christian leaders and

pastors coming together to seek the Lord

to repent so much of what I saw an

experience there I am seeing here with

you and it's continuing on now I want to

tell you I believe that there's

something that is fueling this there is

a holy desperation that is sweeping

across this nation there is an awareness

that we're in trouble there is a sense

of crisis in this nation now it doesn't

matter where I go it doesn't matter who

I talked to everybody believes we're in

crisis it does depend on who you talk to

as to what the crisis is

some people believe that the crisis has

to do with with international issues

with terrorism and the threat of war and

certainly that's a very very real crisis

for others the crisis has to do with the

economy trillions of dollars of debt and

no real way to pay that back in the fear

of economic collapse for others the

crisis has to do with issues of morality

and ethics in the sense of a nation that

is increasingly turning its back on God

for others the crisis has to do with

issues of justice and of equality and

fairness some of your going can I vote

for all of the above because it's kind

of the sense of what I'm finding even

with many is that we're seeing these

crises come together in almost a perfect

storm in our day the good news is were

beginning to pray about it you know here

in the United States that has often been

the case in times of crisis we have

again and again gone to the Lord in

prayer very early on in the years of our

nation our founding fathers discovered

that what they had to work together as

States was not working well the Articles

of Confederation allowed us to simply

have a loose-knit Association the states

were more like friends than actually one

nation it wasn't working well and so we

came together in a constitutional

convention to form a better framework to

work together as a nation and I know I

know this is going to come as a shock to

you but that group of politicians came

together and couldn't agree on anything

they were getting ready to go home with

one morning the oldest delegate to the

convention and the man who had perhaps

the most unorthodox faith their 87

year-old Benjamin Franklin stood and he

addressed the president of the

convention George Washington

with these words I have lived sir a long

time and the longer I live the more

convincing proofs I see of this truth

that God governs in the affairs of men

and if a sparrow cannot fall to the

ground without his notice is it probable

that an empire can arise without his aid

we've been assured sir in the sacred

writings that except the Lord build they

labor in vain that build I firmly

believe this and I also believe that

without his concurrent aid we shall

succeed in this political building no

better than the builders of Babel we

shall be divided by our little partial

local interest our work today will be

confounded and we ourselves shall become

a reproach and a byword down to future

ages and what is worse mankind may here

after this unfortunate instance despair

of establishing governments by human

wisdom leave it to war and conquest

I beg leave to move that henceforth

prayers imploring the assistance of

heaven and its blessing on our

deliberations beheld in this assembly

every morning before we proceed to

business and that one or more the clergy

of this city be requested to officiate

in that service and we continue to this

day to have prayers that open our

sessions of Congress crises continue

and so does prayer some 80 years after

that the nation found itself in another

great crisis it was almost unimaginable

for us today

as North was fighting the South in the

midst of this great civil war for over

five hundred thousand Americans were to

die President Abraham Lincoln on March

30th 1863 issued this call to prayer to

Congress he said we have been the

recipients of the choicest bounties of

heaven

we've been preserved these many years in

peace and prosperity we have grown in

numbers wealth and power as no other

nation has ever grown but we have

forgotten God we have forgotten the

gracious hand which preserved us in

peace

and multiplied and enriched and

strengthened us and we have veinly

imagined in the deceitfulness of our

hearts that all these blessings were

produced by some superior wisdom and

virtue of our own intoxicated with

unbroken success we become too

self-sufficient to feel the necessity of

redeeming and preserving grace to proud

to pray to the God who made us it

behooves us then to humble ourselves

before the offended power to confess our

national sins and to pray for clemency

and forgiveness again and again in times

of crisis we've gone to God in times of

prayer and these are simply a few of

those who led us before the throne of

grace in times of crisis

how will we pray for our nation in this

time of crisis

the principles that I want to share with

you today drawn straight from the pages

of Scripture most certainly I'm focusing

on the United States but I want you to

know that they apply to literally every

nation I would go beyond that and say

that they'll apply to you as an

individual anybody here ever have a

crisis of course you do you've had them

you're in them you will be in them and

many of these principles will help us to

pray in our own personal crises but I'm

going to focus on how do you pray for

our nation I'm going to say some things

that are tough some things that might

offend you it's okay we're all leaving

here in just a little while before I get

into what it says in Scripture can I

just tell you something we needed to

quit doing we need to quit praying silly

prayers you know our silly prayer is

this is where all might offend some of

you god bless america

my friends quit praying that God's not

going to bless america

not as we are not right now not in a

nation that has continually turned its

back on God that has literally outlawed

him from the public square a nation that

continues to kill our unborn we cannot

in all integrity ask God a holy God to

bless that kind of a nation now I

believe I'm praying that we will see

such a move of the Spirit of God touch

the heart of this nation that will once

again be able to pray such a prayer but

until then let's learn how to pray

biblically I want us to look at a nation

that was in serious crisis it's the

southern nation of Israel called Judah

and it was a time when Hezekiah was the

king the story we're going to look at is

found in Isaiah chapter 37 we've been

reading in chapter

Chapter III Isaiah 37 beginning in verse

14 but I want to tell you that before we

read this you need to hear what was

happening and what what brought about

this prayer Judah was in trouble they

had the first terrorist nation the

Assyrians camped outside their front

gate the Assyrians really were the

prototype of what it meant to be a

terrorist terrorists do things that

aren't always logical but they strike

fear into people's hearts and that's

what the Assyrians did they were so evil

so cruel to those whom they conquered

that sometimes when a city or a nation

heard that the Assyrians were coming

they absolutely surrendered before ever

fighting and hoped they'd somehow find

mercy that's what terrorists do and now

it was little Judas turned basically

most of the nation was behind the walls

of Jerusalem assuming that none of them

were going to survive three hundred

thousand Assyrian soldiers under their

King Sennacherib were outside the walls

Sennacherib true terror study was

prepared a letter it was a letter that

that mocked God had mocked Hezekiah it

encouraged surrender from the Israelites

and then he had that sent all around the

outside wall of the city and proclaimed

loudly so that everyone in Jerusalem

could hear it and be afraid

that's what terrorists do then after

that had been proclaimed and everyone

had heard it he had that prepared on the

scroll sent it by messenger to King

Hezekiah and that's where this story

picks up Isaiah chapter 37 beginning in

verse 14 Hezekiah received the letter

from the messengers and read it they

went up to the Temple of the Lord and

spread it out before the Lord and

Hezekiah prayed

to the lord lord almighty god of israel

and thrown between the cherubim you

alone are God over all the kingdoms of

the earth you have made heaven and earth

give ear Lord and hear open your eyes

Lord and see listen to all the words

Sennacherib has sent to ridicule the

Living God it is true Lord that the

assyrian kings have laid waste all these

peoples and their lands they've thrown

their gods into the fire and destroyed

them for they were not gods but only

wood and stone fashioned by human hands

now Lord our God deliver us from his

hand so that all the kingdoms of the

earth may know that you Lord are the

only god it's a powerful prayer and

there are principles within this prayer

that are so amazingly contemporary it is

almost as though God wrote these for our

day because so many of the circumstances

are almost identical we can pull these

principles out and we can begin to pray

them in powerful effective ways this

very day I want you to see the before

Hezekiah began to pray he did a couple

things

he took the letter the scroll from

Sennacherib and he and he read it now

that may not sound very profound but

remember he'd already heard it along

with everybody else in Jerusalem he had

already heard what was in the letter but

he took time to once again read this

he paid careful attention to what was

going on into the circumstance he didn't

want to miss anything no friends I find

a lot of Christians don't want to pay

attention when it comes right down to it

many times we get a little overwhelmed

by all the crises all the things going

on in the world in our nation and we

reach a certain

duration point where we kind of want to

say I don't want to hear anymore I've

got my own things I got my family I got

my friends I just want to kind of circle

the wagons and stay right here I don't

want to know what's going on but if you

don't know what's going on you don't

know how to pray and you're not able to

see what God is doing and how he is at

work in our nation and around the world

Cenac whether Hezekiah becomes a great

example of someone who paid attention to

what's happening around him one of the

ways that that I've been praying in my

own life is that God would make me like

like the sons of Issachar mr. Carr was

another one of the twelve tribes of

Israel and was said of them in another

place in Scripture that the sons of

Issachar understood the times in which

they lived and knew what Israel must do

so I've been praying for that spirit

Lord would you make me like those folks

from Issachar that I would understand

the time in which I live and then have

an idea of how to pray and what to do

and what the people of God must do in

our day

Hezekiah becomes a great example for us

of paying attention to what's going on

the second thing that I see before he

began his prayer is he immediately upon

reading that went to the temple of the

Lord now you and I live in New Testament

times and when we want to seek the Lord

when you stop we just stop where we are

and we we pray but if you live in Old

Testament times and you want to seek the

Lord you go somewhere you go to the

temple of God

you go there to seek the Lord and I find

it interesting that in the midst of this

great crisis Hezekiah didn't call

together his counselors he did not call

together his generals he didn't try to

survey what's going on here he

immediately began to seek the Lord where

do you go in times of crisis

what happens when crisis comes to you

here's what I love about Hezekiah

he immediately went to the one who could

solve the crisis rather than focusing on

the crisis see all too often even in our

prayers we spend all of our time praying

focusing on our crisis focusing on the

issue focusing on the problem and then

we wonder why we don't feel any better

when we're done praying we're called to

be like Hezekiah we take the issue to

the Lord then he did something very very

interesting he took that that scroll

Young unrolled it and laid it on the

table in the temple and since he does

this God would you read this Lord would

you look and see what this guy said

about you Lord what are you gonna do

about it he took this to the Lord he

began to seek the Lord and then he took

the issue and he laid it out before the

Lord he did not take a survey a poll of

how everybody felt he took it to God and

with that he began to pray I want you to

see just a couple simple things the you

and I can pray in the midst of our

crisis the first thing that Hezekiah

does is he begins by acknowledging God's

power it is a wonderful opening to a

prayer

you have to admit that don't you listen

to this again Lord Almighty God of

Israel enthroned between the cherubim

you are God over all the earth you made

all of heaven and earth man that is

powerful he does not start by focusing

on the crisis he focuses on the one

who can solve the crisis he comes into

the presence of God he focuses on who

God is he acknowledges God's power I'm

convinced that most of us don't do that

now I'm not pretending to know all of

your prayer life and some of you have

learned this principle but over the last

25 years I've heard a lot of Christians

pray and I believe that most of us have

a tendency to look at the opening part

of a prayer as introduction you know I

mean even if we're reading a biblical

prayer you know we read this great

prayer that great way to open Oh creator

of all things and and we kind of go oh

that's good now get on with the real

thing come on let's get on to the real

prayer you hear people pray that way and

you kind of feel like I wonder if they

really mean it

oh great and most gracious Heavenly

Father and sometimes you think that

there's more like saying dear God

that we're not really saying anything or

meaning anything my friends I want to

tell you the way you begin your prayer

maybe the most important part of the

prayer because as you do so you are

focusing on the one who can deal with

this

it isn't your words it isn't simply your

authenticity it's God Himself that's

going to solve the crisis friends that's

how Jesus taught us to pray isn't it the

disciples came to Jesus one day and they

said Lord would you teach us to pray

Jesus said sure I'd be glad to teach you

to pray I prepared a neat little outline

for you and I want you to start off yeah

okay this is Dave's version I want you

to start off your prayers guys by paying

attention to who you're talking to but I

want you to start your prayers kind of

like this our Father

who art in heaven hallowed be your name

you see that's exactly what Hezekiah was

doing Hezekiah was praying like Jesus

taught us to pray pay attention to

you're talking to all too often we come

running into prayer with all of our

prayer lists and things we want God to

do and we don't stop and think and

consider who's on the other end of this

what's really happening as I pray I find

it fascinating that Hezekiah prayed a

prayer begin his prayer the way Jesus

taught us to pray and then I start

thinking well of course Hezekiah was the

great great great great great great

great great-grandfather of Jesus on his

mother's side and you find that so many

of these kings in the godly lineage of

David prayed in this powerful way in

Jesus in a sense summed it up for us

and gave us this instruction here's how

to pray now the second thing that I see

after we have begun to acknowledge the

one who can deal with the crisis

Hezekiah does a powerful thing that I

find most Christians today never ever

get to he recognized that this letter

and this attack and these Assyrians out

there were in fact assaulting God that

this whole situation was an assault

against God now obviously Hezekiah and

the people of Judah were also concerned

for their own lives they understood

their lives were at stake but Hezekiah

did this brilliant thing in which he

took the prayer and he made it not about

them but about God they prayed it the

Swayne give here Lord and here

open your eyes Lord and see listen to

all the words

Sennacherib has sent to ridicule you to

ridicule the Living God

god this isn't about us ultimately it's

about you he's attacking you and you see

it takes all of this requests and puts

it on a whole different level when it's

no longer about us but it's about God I

want to suggest you no I just want to

tell you that at least some of the

crises that we face as a nation are in

fact assaults against God

I'll give you two examples there are

more the first deals with with what we

often call Islamic radicalism or

jihadism I'm not talking about Islam as

a religion that's another home message

all those who are Muslims need to know

Jesus is Savior and Lord

most Muslims want to live peaceful lives

and are in fact the ones who are

typically in real danger and are often

losing their lives with the growth of

radical Islam and though they may be a

small number percentage-wise they're

still over a hundred million of what we

would call radical or jihadist among

Islam now I would say to you based on

their own writings not on what I would

tell you what other what they would say

is that they are absolutely opposed to

Christianity and are committed to the

destruction of our faith they are

opposed to our God they have set

themselves up against him it's kind of

interesting that one of the one of the

negative terms that they would use that

that radical Islamic terrorists would

you

against anyone living in our nation and

many other nations in the West is they

would call us Crusaders and you know

Crusaders the Crusades wasn't that like

a long time ago and the trouble is most

of us don't like history but so often in

other cultures especially in the Middle

East memories are very very long and

there is still a battle going on between

the Crusaders and Islam in the minds of

many it is a spiritual battle there is

an assault against our God against our

of faith and our prayer rather than

praying against them needs to be Lord

what are you going to do Lord what will

you do with this attack against you and

against who you are now the second the

second assault against God is a little

harder for us to hear because it's from

inside last summer the Supreme Court of

the United States decided that they knew

better than God how to define marriage

listen friends before I go any further I

want you to hear this God calls the

church to love that's our only option we

are called to love we are not to be

haters is we are not determined by who

we're against we are not to be hating

those who are different to have

different desires and than others but we

also take stands for God for what God

has said and the Lord has clearly

defined marriage between a man and a

woman and our Supreme Court

the highest court in our land

representing us like it or not has

declared no God you did not get it right

we're going to do it this way my friends

when that happens it is an assault on

God it is saying his word no longer

matters in our nation and it's not a

matter of n of us being angry though I

understand being upset it is a matter of

learning how to pray as Hezekiah prayed

God will you open your ears will you

keep your eyes open

Lord are you hearing what they said

about you are you hearing how they're

rejecting your word you see that's the

biblical way to pray I'm just calling us

to pray what scripture says to follow

this model of a godly king who saw God

move there's an assault against God now

there is a a small section in here I

won't take but just a a couple of

minutes he acknowledges in the midst of

this prayer that there victories of the

enemy have indeed happened against these

other nations and their gods and their

idols but he kind of doesn't funny in a

sense what Hezekiah doesn't think God

you know that part of what Sennacherib

said was right they did defeat all these

other nations and they took their gods

and their idols and they threw him into

the fire but God you and I know those

weren't God's at all they they've never

come up against you I can't wait to see

what you're going to do so many times we

despair we look at the situation around

us and it seems so big so out of control

and it is if you got to solve it or if

I've got to solve it or even the person

we elect as president if they

to solve it but if it's God be at peace

now we come to the final part of this

prayer here's where it gets real good

because here finally

Hezekiah gets to the point that we've

kind of been waiting on deliver us

deliver us now Lord our God deliver us

from his hand so that all the kingdoms

of the earth may know that you Lord are

the only God you know what I love about

this this whole prayer leads up to this

simple request deliver us and you know

what Hezekiah did that we so often don't

get he didn't tell God how I don't know

about you but I'm pretty good at telling

God how you ought to do things and you

are too

come on admit it right everybody nod

that's different than nodding off just

just okay okay we're pretty good at

telling God now here's the crisis and

God here's what I want you to do to

solve the crisis I gotta tell you

Hezekiah had no idea what God was gonna

do

he couldn't have dreamt of the answer he

just made a simple request deliver us

but then he did something really really

powerful he added on to that deliverance

request what my friend bill Elif calls a

cry for deliverance with a purified

purpose he put a purified purpose Lord

deliver us but would you do it in such a

way that all the nations of the earth

would know that you alone are God you

see he purified the purpose

it wasn't about Judah it wasn't about

the inhabitants of Jerusalem

it wasn't about

hezekiah it was about God it is God I

want you to deliver us but I want you to

do it in a way that you're the one that

gets the credit that nobody's going to

think it was our army or our brilliant

strategy or our design or our budget or

our plans and all the things we

sometimes get caught up in God would you

do this

so that all would know I want to tell

you there are a lot of so that prayers

in Scripture and my wife Kim and I do

some writing and we often thought we got

to write a book called so that praying

because there are a lot of that and what

it always does

is it makes it someone will make a

request and then they add to so that and

the so that always takes it and makes it

about God God would you do this so that

you would receive honor and glory God

would you do this so that your kingdom

would advance you know you can do that

not just for the nation you can do that

in your own life all the time if I go to

a hospital room to pray for someone I

always pray for healing but then I

always add it on say I so that prayer

Lord would you heal my my sister here so

that the doctors and nurses and family

would know that you're the one that did

this Lord that you would receive

increased honor and glory because of

what you've done here in this place you

can do that in almost any situation

and Hezekiah does that it's fascinating

that he prays this simple prayer he has

no idea what's gonna happen he really

doesn't you know you and I get to read

the end of the of the book you know we

know what happens but Hezekiah was right

in the middle of this he didn't know he

didn't know that he was gonna go to bed

that night wake up the next morning and

during the night one angel was gonna

show up and kill a hundred eighty-six

thousand Assyrians he didn't know that

he didn't know that that that the rest

the the survivors of the Assyrians would

hightail it back to Nineveh to their

home city

they didn't know that he didn't know

that Sennacherib when he got back home

was gonna end up going into his his home

temple where two of his sons were

waiting on him to assassinate him

Hezekiah didn't know that he prayed a

simple prayer in the midst of a crisis

and God heard now I want to read one

more verse before we're done before we

pray that very next verse was one I had

not read verse 21 but I want you to hear

this I'm just going to read a part of

that because the prophet Isaiah gets

involved at this point it says then

Isaiah son of amos sent a message to

Hezekiah this is what the Lord the God

of Israel says because you have prayed

to me now the rest of the chapter goes

on to explain all the what I told you

what's going to happen to the Assyrians

about the angels join up and all of

these things he didn't know that when he

prayed it but the Prophet came and the

Word of God to Hezekiah I gotta tell you

this is the Word of God for you today

because you prayed to me Hezekiah

history has changed because you prayed

Hezekiah

nothing will ever be the same again

because you prayed I stepped into a

hopeless situation and changed

everything

just because you prayed my friends the

same god of Hezekiah is right here right

now in this room

[Applause]

and he is saying to you the exact same

thing because you have prayed nothing

will be the same because you prayed I

will step in just this person's life and

that person's life because you prayed

I'm gonna work in that church because

you've prayed I'm gonna change something

in the power structure of my city or our

nation because you prayed it is so easy

for us in a nation of 320 million to

feel totally totally helpless to look at

the situations in Washington DC and

other places and say I'm I'm without

power I can't do this

it's decision makers in in Moscow and

and in London and in Tehran and in

Jerusalem and in Washington DC those are

the ones that are important they're the

ones that are making decisions and God

who say no I'm not looking to those

places I'm looking to my people and

because you have prayed I will step in

and I will change things do you believe

that

then it's time to pray lord I thank you

for your word I think you that your word

is not a book like any other book that

it's living it speaks to us today I

think you Lord that in your words you

don't simply tell us to do something

without typically showing us how what

the disciples ask you Lord how to pray

you said pray like this I thank you for

the the faith and prayer of of this

ancient King as a kayak Lord would you

show us how to pray continue to show us

how to pray as as he and others prayed

in Scripture thank you Lord for Mina God

who hears and answers prayer I thank you

for my sister's in this room who have

been so challenged and accepted that

challenge to become a people of Prayer I

pray for that spirit of grace and

supplication to fall upon them that the

Prophet Zechariah speaks out Lord made

that spirit of Prayer be upon us not

just here but goes with us and we will

see something that happens in the church

not only in this nation but around the

globe that sparks the awakening that we

believe is on your heart that your

desiring to do to wake up your people to

see your purposes accomplished and your

name proclaimed throughout the earth we

pray it in a powerful name of Jesus