It enables a Christian soldier to wear the armor and to be able to wield the sword. Amen? Because I'm going to tell you, that sword, the Word of God, needs to have some energy, some strength, some power behind it. Anybody can quote a scripture. But I'm going to tell you what, my dear friends, it's different when you speak the Word of God with power and with the anointing of an awesome God. Amen? And the Bible teaches us from these verses the energy for the battle. What is it, preacher? You got it. Prayer. Prayer is what you bathe your armor in. Hallelujah. Because you know when you have your armor, they have to put oil on it so it don't get rusty. So don't begin to squeak. Well, that's what prayer does. You need to bathe your armor in prayer. Bathe yourself in prayer. Ain't nothing wrong with having on some, what is that, Irish Spring and all that kind of stuff. But I'm going to tell you what we need to have on more than that is, man, we need to bathe ourselves in prayer. And the Bible shows us in this verse right here of the importance of this prayer life, but also the energy for the battle. The first thing we see the Bible says is praying sometimes. Pray always. That word pray means to offer prayers or to make prayer. When's the last time we offered prayer? When's the last time we made prayer? Amen? We took prayer someplace. My dear friends, you and I need to make much of making prayer. Not just at the dinner time, not just at lunch time, not just at breakfast time, not just at certain times, but like the Bible says, always. The word always here means season and also means opportunity in this verse. So every season we need to be praying. Good seasons and bad seasons. Amen? Wet seasons and dry seasons. When you are dry, and you can't you can't get yourself a holy ghost drunk Pray, amen. Thank God. I want to be able to praise you and so it might be dry But I'm still gonna pray. I'm still gonna cry out to an awesome wonderful life-changing God Praying always that means praying in private as well as in public Now we have some folks just pray publicly but they don't pray privately. Sometimes you can tell, not all the time, but sometimes. Because when they only have a public prayer life, they had a long prayer. It'll last 35 minutes, amen. But I'm going to tell you, my dear friends, you can tell the difference between a public prayer and a private prayer. If you've been praying much privately, it's going to show up publicly. It won't be you, and we'll get into this in a second, it won't be you just praying to each other. You'll be praying to someone that hears and answers prayer. But the Bible says to pray always, every season and every opportunity to pray. But the Lord says next, my dear friends, what that always means. It also means a prayer of confession. Sometimes we pray, we only come to ask. Give me, give me, give me, give me. Remember when they did that skit? You know, she was, give me, give me, give me, give me, you know. That's not so much praying. We want to come to God, we want something. But then sometimes we come to God and confess some stuff. Right? He been there who been mean. I been mean. I've been ornery, I've been rotten, I'm messed up, I'm blown at, I'm going, I'm confessing before you. But not just confession, but also that prayer is intercession. A time of interceding. That's when you are praying, not for yourself, but you're praying on behalf of someone else. We're praying to God for someone else and not just for ourselves. But prayers also include thanksgiving. Of course, we just had Thanksgiving just pass. And for some folks, that's the only time they pray for Thanksgiving. Thank you for the food. Thank you for clothing. But we should be praying sometimes. Just come to God when you pray. Some people think when you come to pray, oh, what's wrong with him? Bless her heart. He's always up there just praying. Oh, he got so much on his load. He must have some heavy burdens. He may be just coming to thank you. Thank you, Lord, for your goodness. Thank you for your kindness. Thank you, Lord, for your help. Thank you, Lord, for how you deliver me. Thank you, Lord, for your rescue. Thank you, Lord, for being our place of worship. Thank you, Lord, for my family. Lord, thank you for so much. Just thanking God when you pray. But not only that, always, it also includes requests, too. That's what we mainly do, but requests, too. God wants you to come to Him and ask for help. to ask for strength, to ask for wisdom, to ask for deliverance, to ask for rescue, to ask... His prayer is also involving asking, but also worship, look at the word, it also means to worship. Sometimes you come to pray, you just simply come to worship Him, to adore Him, to bow before Him. What are you saying? But you're praying always. But secondly, and this is the one I think we miss a lot of times, is praying the Spirit. Look what the Bible says, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit. Now notice the word prayer here and the word praying are actually two different words. See that first one was the awful prayers. This one here is prayer that's addressed to God. That's different. I'm supposed to pray, which is primarily asking things like that, but now I'm praying directly to God. Who are you? Sometimes we pray, and we don't realize it, but we're praying to each other. In other words, I'm praying, and I'm like, you know, I said, I'm like, Grammy, let's pray. And I'm like, I know he's having a hard time. So I'm like, you know, Lord bless Randall and God help him and God give him wisdom. But I, you know, we'll give him strength. I know it's going to be okay. But sometimes my prayer is not directed upwardly. It becomes directed to him. And I'm saying things that I know that's going to perhaps encourage him as I, as I'm going through the, the, the motion of prayer. But actually I'm saying words that are actually meant to uplift him. Uh, so, and nothing wrong with uplifting one another, but you need to make sure you're still talking to him. You see what I'm saying? Because sometimes we say, well, you know, and, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, for example, do you know who wrote the Bible? The Holy Spirit's the author, God's the author of the Bible. He knows every verse that's in the Bible. So when you and I pray, my dear friends, we don't have to quote scriptures of God. Well, God, you know, you said, But sometimes when we're saying that, I'm not saying that's wrong to do, but sometimes when we're saying it, we're really going this way, and we're not really going that way. We're quoting the scriptures on that. My point is make sure that when you're praying, that you're addressing God, your prayer is directed heavenly, and it's not directed just right here. Now in the process of your praying though, folks will be encouraged. But make sure it's still directed toward him and not to soothe those around with the words that you want to articulate But make sure there's worthy going straight to heaven. Sometimes you don't know what to say Sometimes you have to pray and say, Lord I don't know what to say. Lord I'm stuck. You can't say that in front of them folks. They don't think you can. You know, you're the preacher. But Lord I don't know what to say. But help! You know what you start entering into then? Then you start entering into that prayer. Well, you're not thinking about the ones that are around you. You're more focused on the one that you're talking to. And then he goes on to say, my dear friends, about this prayer and supplication. That means, again, petitions or requests. But notice the key I want to get to is in the Spirit. What does that mean? In the Spirit, my dear friends, means by or with the Spirit. In other words, it's the Spirit that's guiding your prayer. And sometimes when the Holy Ghost is guiding your prayer, you might pray things that you wouldn't normally pray in front of those you're praying with. Now, I'm not talking about like this. You and your wife get down there. Lord, help us. Help us to do right in the kitchen. Help us to do right. And you know you're talking like this. But now I ain't tell me like that because you purposely I got a wild white white woman Well some of us are here right now. I'm going to hell And you know uncle June bug in the audience there And let us know we're going to hell. We don't need to go to hell, but really you're really focused right here But it's not something the whole spirit might have you pray He might have you said Lord Help us help uncle June bug Lord, I love Him. God, He means so much to me. And Father, I want them to realize that it's real, that it's genuine. I'm going to tell you what, there'll be a different atmosphere when you're not only praying from your heart, but you're being guided, directed by the Holy Spirit. They're reversed by the fact over in Romans chapter number 8, where Bible says this in Romans chapter 8 and verse number 26. The Bible says this in verse 46 of Romans chapter 8. Sometimes we think we know. We don't know. Look at what the Bible says here in verse 26. Likewise, the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities, for we know not what we should pay for as we ought. But the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Because you and I don't know what to pray for half the time. But the Holy Ghost knows exactly what we need to pray for. You might be sitting down there and you say, Lord, I really do need a new vehicle. That nice Benz they got over there. I know it's expensive, but God, you're the God of mountains. You own the cows and the cows, you're in the hills of cows and cows and hills and cows. Or that BMW be all right. Well, I need that BMW. And the Holy Spirit might have to intercede and say, what he means, Lord, is he needs to get him that Hyundai. That 2001 Hyundai, that's what he really needs to have, you know. And if you knew that, you'd be like, no, no, that ain't what I mean. But the Bible does say, this is what the Bible says, that the spirit itself make an intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. I'm so glad we got a helper that helps us how to pray again. Hallelujah. But watch this. The Bible says this, not only pray in the spirit, not only pray in all ways, but also be wide awake. when you pray. Wide awake prayer, the Lord will call it. Look at what the Bible says in the next part of the verse. Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit and watching there unto. That word watching means keep awake or sleepless. That means you're alert when you pray. Because sometimes you know what happens. You get dozed off while you're praying. Or you might not doze off, but your mind might wander when you're praying. And you'll forget what you just said. Because your mind is actually way over here. And your mouth is still moving. But your mind is way over there. You'll be like, what was I saying? Or when somebody else is praying. You'll start, like the disciples. Now we criticize them with Jesus. Jesus said, y'all watch here. Y'all keep away, blah, blah, blah. And he went to pray. He came back. There was all... Three times he came back. Three times I believe it was. They're sleeping. He said, shame on you disciples. Y'all should know better. But sometimes we'll be praying right here. We close our eyes, let's pray. And some of them be like... That's how I'm up about it. This is a true story about that preacher. He was praying. He wasn't praying, but he had bowed his head because somebody else... Something had happened. No, no, he was just sitting there. He had nodded off in the church. And one of the preachers leaned over to him. He said, they want you to pray. Yeah, sometimes preachers can be ornery. If the guy just stood up in the middle of service, I'd pray. But it wasn't time to pray. But he went to sleep, amen. So make sure you don't go to sleep. And somebody say, hey, hey, they're calling you. You be like, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, no. You got to make sure you wear your headdress, man. But the Bible says right here that we are to keep awake, amen. There'll be distractions. Sleepiness will hit us. But the Bible says be alert. Why? Look at what the Bible says in Matthew 26 and verse 41. Look at Matthew 26 and look at verse 41. Because sometimes, my dear friends, if you're not careful, you'll get in a trap. Look at what the Bible says in Matthew 26 and verse 41. The Bible says this. The Bible says that Jesus says, watch and pray. Keep awake. Be cautious and pray. Why? That ye enter not into temptation. The spirit indeed is what? Willing. Oh my. But the flesh is weak. And that word flesher also means human nature. Our human nature is weak. And our spirit might be willing, but that's what God says. Jesus says, keep away. Pray. Why? That you enter not into temptation. Adversity. So sometimes me, you and I, we fall asleep. We find ourselves right in the midst of adversity. giving in to that adversity, giving in to that temptation. Why? Because we were not awake, we were not watching, we were not alert. He says, be alert. When you pray, be alert. Be on attentiveness. Be watchful. Have your spiritual antennas up, because the evil will do all he can, my dear friends, to hinder us from praying. Why? Because when you and I got all our armor on, we still need the power of prayer working in the midst of our life on my behalf. We'll go back over here and see what it says here again. The Bible says you're praying always with all prayer and supplication of the Spirit. And watching there ensue, here it is, with all perseverance. That word perseverance means this, persistency, continuance in something. Sometimes you can pray and want to quit. I've been praying this for a long time, but ain't nothing happening. And then when you quit, you'll let your guard down. All of a sudden, my dear friends, you still keep praying. You may have your shield. You're ready for battle. You know, you got your sword. You got all your stuff. And you've been praying. It seems like the enemy, he's all over you. You're all down here. I mean, you can't find a scripture. You can't find a verse to fight back with. And you might just get tired. You know what? What's the use? And just give up. What's going to happen if you give up? This is what's going to happen if you give up. Somebody's gonna get hurt, amen? And more than likely, it's not only gonna be you, but it's also gonna be all those around you that's gonna get hurt, amen? Hallelujah. Come here, man. Come here, let me, come here, let me, come here, Stevie. Come here, Kirby. Yeah, baby. You see, I'm tired and ain't nothing happening. And I'm not going anywhere. I'm not winning. I'm getting weaker and weaker and God ain't gonna help me. Come here, Brett. You got your shield. You got all your equipment on. You're ready for battle. The enemy's there. I mean, they come and hurt me. They coming at me. They come and I'm blocking. Y'all know how this works, right? I suppose we win a little bit here. But then all of a sudden, you're like, you know what? I'm tired. I mean, nothing's really getting through yet. But you say, you know what? I'm going to break myself. Hold up both hands. Anyway, then all of a sudden, man, you know what? You put that guard down. You put that guard down. And they aim it somewhere. He's lurking in the background. Then he shoots you. Oh my. Bless his heart. Wait a minute. Hold on, man. Hold on. Let me show you how to hold this thing. You hold it. Put your hand right here. But we got to have class right now. Put that thing right there. You hold it like that. Not down here. You ain't play cowboy with Indians. All right. You got to hold that thing. You ready? All right. Take two. There's always an enemy, lurking somewhere in the dark. And you're sitting there, you let your guard down. Oh! And that's what happens to you. Now you've been, they hit you right there in the chest. You know what? Now you've been wounded. Why? Because we were not persistent in praying. But see, when you start praying, and you start saying, God, here you go. You start saying, God, I need the image coming at you. You start saying, God, give me strength. Give me power. He said, I can do all things through Christ, which strengthens me. He's out. He's out. He says, a greater he that is within me than Jesus in the world. You hit that image right there. He's out. If he gets that one, he thinks he's bad. You fight right here. Then you say this, I rebuke you. Bam. And then my dear friend, you're knocking your enemies out left to right. And when that enemy shoots that arrow, what do you do? Try one more time, Fred. Come on, man. You're supposed to be the athlete, man. Hold that fist up. Hold it. You're using the wrong hand, actually. You ready now? Come on. Now, your wife's washing. Hold on now. You got your kids washing. All your kids, all of them over here. Your wife's washing. Maybe your in-laws' washing. Come on. Your mother-in-law's washing. Come on now. Here you go. You ready? Hold it. That's better. Thank you, buddy. Y'all, thank you. Give the guys a hand, y'all. Gotta get my toy back. But that's why he said be persistent. Persistent. You start crying to God. He starts giving you those scriptures. He starts bringing those verses back to your mind. You start remembering those scriptures. All of a sudden they start coming back to your mind. And you start crying to God. And God starts giving you help and giving you strength. Why? Because you're being persistent. Look what the Bible says over here in Luke 11. Look at Luke 11 verse number 9. Luke 11 look at verse number 9. Look what the Bible says over here about that persistence. Guys, we can't quit praying. Well, ain't nothing happening. Don't quit praying. Don't quit praying. Remember what the Bible says in Luke chapter 11 and verse number 9. This is part of the prayer. The Bible says this in Luke 11 verse 9, and I say unto you, what? Ask! That's a present imperative, a command, to do so on a continuous, repeated basis. He says, ask, continually ask, continually beg, continually pray, continually desire, and they shall be given you. Seek, continually seek, the Bible says, continually seek after, and you shall not find, continuously knock, knock, knock, knock, and they shall be opened unto you. If I came out of the woman's house, and I knocked on the door, and they looked outside, It's just passion. It's too late. We're tired. We're in the bed. But I keep on. We're going to ignore him, and he's going to leave. I keep on. Hey! Hey, waiters! Hey! Hey! You know what? I keep on going after a while. They're going to get sick and tired of that. And they're going to come out of there, what you want? But hallelujah. One thing about it, I got to go get mad. He get glad. Keep on, just keep on knocking. Because there's a spiritual warfare, there's a battle my friends, that's taking place and God says, you keep asking, you keep seeking, you keep knocking and He will charge on the scene. Say quick, you come too far to quit. Hallelujah. Now look at another verse over here. Look at Luke 18. Look at verse number one. Luke 18, look at verse number one. Look what the Bible says right here. The Bible says, here's a parable. He speaks. It's about being persistent. Someone has to be persistent in a lot of things. One of the spiritual things. Are you persistent in your Bible study? You say, you know what? I'm gonna get this. If it kills me, I'm gonna keep on listening. If it kills me, I'm gonna keep going. I'm gonna keep reading my Bible. I'm gonna keep on. Now sometimes we can do that. If you got a bill you're trying to get taken care of, they won't answer the phone, you'll keep calling them. They keep calling you, you keep calling them. Try to get that thing straightened out. The Bible says right here, verse 1, and he's speaking a parable. Let's listen to this here. That men are always to what? Pray. And not what? Behave. Don't fall out. That's how some of us do. Oh, I've fallen and I won't get up. Not that I can't, but I won't get up. But the Bible says not to faint. Let me give you an illustration. Sam, there was in a city, a judge, which feared not God. He didn't care about God. And neither regarded man. He didn't give man no reverence, no respect. And there was a widow in that city, and she came up to him saying, avenge me of my adversary. And he would not for a while. But afterward, see for a while he didn't. But afterward, he said unto himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard men, yet because this widow troubleth me, she maketh me weary, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. And the Lord said, Hear! Y'all hear what the unjust God said? This wicked guy, did y'all hear what he said? Watch what our God says, and shall not God avenge his own elect, which trial a day and night unto him, though he bear long, though he is patient? He says, I'm bearing long, but I will, he says, I'm going to show up, I tell you, that he will avenge them speedily, nevertheless, when the Son of Man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth? Shall he find that kind of faith on the earth when he comes back? When you come knocking on your door at your house, will you find at least one person in that house that says, you know what? I'm not going to give up on praying and crying to God. I'm not going to give up. I'm not going to lose faith. I'm not going to lose heart. I'm not going to stop. I'm not going to stop worshiping. I'm not going to stop going to church. It may seem like ain't nobody getting right at the house, but I'm going to keep going. Somebody's got to keep going. Version of the Bible. Ezekiel 22. I think it's 22, what I'm looking for. Look at Ezekiel 22. I believe it's verse 31. Look at Ezekiel 22, verse 30. Verse 30. The Bible says this, I sought, I searched, I requested, I desired my soul, I desired for men among them that should make up the hedge, the wall, the fence, and stand in the gap, be firm in the gap, before me, for the land, that I should not destroy it, but those who says, but I found none. God said I was looking for somebody To stand, here's a breach. Here's a hole. Here's an open space. I want somebody to get in that space and stand there. Between me, here's God, and the land. But I found nobody that would stand there. And look what happened. The Bible says this. Therefore, have I poured out my indignation, my fury, upon them. I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath. Their own way have I recompensed upon their heads, said the Lord God. He brought destruction. Because there's not anyone that would stand in the gap. Where's my preacher? I want you to stand right here. Don't get the big head, but you're going to be God right now. Come here, CJ. Here's CJ. Stand right here, buddy. And this is God now. Notice that this is God. So if God's looking for somebody, that means he's a good boy. But that means he's done something bad. He's done something wrong. And God's about to come back and bring some judgment. In other words, God's about to whip somebody. But God's not looking for somebody, though. He's just standing in the gap. To just intercede. To plead. It reminds you of what Moses did for Israel. Well, God was about to bring a wrath on Israel, then Moses stood between them and he pleaded with God. God, please don't destroy them. God, don't, don't, don't, don't, God, don't harm them. God, please, oh God, give them another chance. Let me, let me, let me, let me talk to them. Lord, give me some, give me some wisdom so I can help them. Lord, give your mercy, show your grace, show your, Lord, be compassionate. Lord, I'm, I'm, I'm pleading, I'm begging, I'm, I'm here on his behalf. I wonder how many of us know of sons and daughters, nephews and nieces. Grandchildren the life's right And God's about to bring judgment somewhere And sometimes we'll say you know what he deserves it. He shouldn't you know he listen he wouldn't be in that predicament What if that was you? Huh? If that was you would you not want somebody to stand in the gap? Between you and God because he can't nobody stop God my friends, but he the Bible says God said I'm looking I'm desiring, I'm craving somebody to stand in the gap for somebody else. We need some more gap standers. We need some more folks that'll make up that hedge. They'll stand in the open spot and plead and cry to God. Say, God, please don't hurt me. God, I'm begging you for mercy. I'm begging you for grace. He said, I didn't find nobody. So God said he had to come. And he had to take care of business. And when God comes to take care of business, You ever had your child or somebody you know kid and you see them, you could tell they about to tear their behind up and you feel sorry for them? Especially y'all grandparents. Y'all be like, don't hurt him. Let me talk to him. He's a good little boy. And part of you say, I want to tear my mama's head and stuff back. You wait till mama leave. No. Then mama says, you be a good boy. You be a good boy. You go tell him that you're sorry. Go tell him that you're sorry. You see that? You said he gonna hug you. But you know what? Many of us, and there's folks that we know, that need somebody to stand in the gap for them, to emancipate. See, all this, I'm talking about the armor, truth and all that. It's the armor of salvation, deliverance. But see, in this case, you're standing there on behalf of somebody else. Amen. Give the Lord a hand of praise. You guys have a seat. Thank you. Let's go back over go back over the Ephesians chapter 6 the Bible says this he says praying always with all prayers supplication in the spirit watching there and soon with all perseverance Persistency and supplication for who for all souls Pray for all those who are blood-bombed and born again. We need folks to pray for each other. I was at the hospital last night and a brother, a brother Charlie Sartin, who's a pastor over there, he was telling, he was telling, I keep forgetting his name, Chris, he was telling Chris, he said, Chris, it's going to be okay. He said, Chris, he says, you know what? He says, every day when I pray, I pray for one side of the church, Today, the next day I pray for the other side of the church. He said what I do is I'll call all those names out before God, all the different situations, all the things they got going on in their life. I pray for each individual on this side, then the next day I'll do this side, then the next day I'll just go back and forth for each side, just praying. You know what he's saying he's doing? He's interceding for the saints of God. He's praying, my friends, on behalf of somebody else. And Paul says right here to this church, hey, make prayer, a supplication for all saints. But not just all saints, but also those who've just been born again. Watch what the Bible says over here in Ephesians chapter 1. Let me look down at verse number 15. Ephesians 1. Let me look at verse number 15. We have young believers. And my dear friends, the enemy is trying to pull them in all kinds of directions. But look what the Bible says here. Look what Paul says to this church here in Ephesus. The Bible says in verse number 15. In chapter number 1 of Ephesians. Therefore I also, after I heard. Paul said I heard something. I heard of your faith. in the Lord Jesus and love unto all the saints cease not to give thanks for you make a mention of you where in my prayers when's the last time you and I made intercession or made mention of someone who's been who just been born again just got saved You heard about their faith, you heard they trusted Christ as their Savior, and then you begin to mention them before the Lord. That, by the way, that word mentioned right here, it means it's like a recital or remembrance. But you know what a recital is. That means you've been practicing something over and over and over again, then you stand before everybody else, and now you're gonna give your recital. You're playing that piano piece. You're playing it, most of the time you're playing it by heart a lot of times. You're playing it by, what are you doing? You're going over what you have learned. He says, I'm reciting. all of you before him. I've heard about your faith and I'm making mention of you in my prayers and also I'm not ceasing, I'm not quitting to give thanks for you, I'm not quitting to make mention of you. Sometimes if somebody just is saying we pray for them, but then after a while we stop. Don't stop! Keep praying for those who've just been born again. Keep praying and crying out to God on their behalf. This all is talking about really a collective type of prayer, but then also there's an individual prayer. Look back with me over to Ephesians chapter number six again, and look what Paul says here in verse number 19. He says, oh guys, and for me. Don't forget me. Oh, prayer. Oh, Paul, you don't need nobody to pray for you. You, you, you, you, you don't have the New Testament. You're a man of God. You don't need us to pray for you. What? When they started school, they said, alright, they don't need nobody to pray for them. He's a preacher, he's a pastor, he doesn't need nobody to pray for him. I've been quiet, they don't need nobody to pray for them. No! Paul says, my Prince, and for me! Why? That utterance may be given unto me, now the word utterance is also the word word, may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, with confidence, to make known the mystery of the Gospel. Paul, you need boldness? You need courage? You'll never get afraid, I'm sure. I'm sure you'll be like, You don't get scared, I'm sure you don't. Pray for me then, so I continue to have courage. Pray for me now to continue to have boldness to speak the word of God. Where is he at? He's in prison. For which I am an ambassador, a representative in bonds and chains, that therein I may speak boldly with confidence as I ought to speak. Sometimes we don't want to ask someone that we may think that's lesser than us to pray for us. But they don't want to just save three weeks. I ain't going to ask them to pray for me. Paul says to them, y'all pray for me. You need to pray. What's wrong? I need you to pray that I have boldness, that I have confidence. Pray on my behalf. I'm going to pray for myself, but I need you to pray for me too. I've got all my armor, but I need you to intercede on my behalf. We need to pray for everybody. the saints of God, the new, those who've just been saved and born again. Pray for those who are in leadership, those in positions of authority, whatever the case might be. Pray for them, my dear friends, that God protect them, but also that God gives them wisdom and direction and guidance. And of course, you already mentioned, not in this verse here, but in other passages of scripture here, that we ought to pray for each other as we're all folks. He talks about that in, I believe it's over in Timothy, for those who are, for kings and authorities, all the laws to say, pray for everybody. Why? Because prayer is so essential. We're just prayer preachers. Prayer is the energy for the battle. When we was up there at the hospital, many times I said, let's pray. We'd all gather together and we begin to start praying. And don't you know what happened? All of a sudden, you feel strength start to come. I mean, you'd be getting weak and you're about to fall out and all of a sudden you start praying and you start talking to God and all of a sudden, my dear friends, you find yourself getting stronger. All of a sudden, you find your faith muscles begin to increase. You know, you feel like Popeye is starting to swelling up. You say, man, it's going to be okay. God's going to help us. Then you start hugging each other and you're drawing strength from one another. I'm going to tell you what, the next time you get into it with your spouse, you know what you do? Pray. Let's pray. They say, I don't want to pray with you. Well, that's not for wisdom. But you might have to, you know, apply some desperate measures. Drop down. I'm going to pray for you. And you see me fighting. Start fighting. Oh, my Lord, help us. Help us, Jesus. Please, Lord. Oh, please. Oh, I'm praying. She tore my stuff up, man. I forgot she's from the hood, but amen. What are you saying? You and I begin to cry to God. We start getting stronger. Many times, you know, sometimes you'll call somebody and pray for me, or somebody may call you, pray for me. And then all of a sudden that person, they start getting strength. I've had folks who have called me before in the middle of the night. They're about to commit suicide. And they said, Preacher, I just want you to pray for me. And I just started praying for them. And then God just started intervening. And they find themselves getting stronger. And they're ready for another day's journey. Folks, prayer ain't just a bunch of words. It's us talking to a holy God. And then God comes by. And he gives us energy. He gives us renewed strength. He helps us to continue to fight the good fight of faith. What do you say, Preacher? We need the whole armor. Bring worth a hill of beans if you don't season it, if you don't bathe it in the word of prayer. Look what the Bible says again in verse 18. Pray it always with all prayer and supplication of the Spirit. Watching there unto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. Here's my question for you. Is it time to recharge your energy? Your energy level's gotten low. You got your armor on, you got your helmet on, you're ready for battle! But you feel weak. Like the football players, sometimes they get out there and they just, they got everything on. But they feel weak. They feel so weak. And then they get them an energy bar. Or get them an energy drink. And all of a sudden, boing! They're ready to tackle anybody. I can tackle you. I can take you down. You ever think I can take you down? You be ready then. Hey, man. You start talking to God, you say, you know what, I'm ready. I'm ready because God gives me strength. I don't know about you folks, but I know I need to recharge my energy. What I do, preacher, you come talk to me in prayer. Father, thank you for your many wonderful blessings. I've done my best, Lord. You have the Word of God, you gave it to me. Now thank you Lord for helping me to preach your word this morning. And I pray God for those souls that have been listening, Lord, those who have been soaking in, that have been grabbing some things from the word of God. I pray God to help them this morning. And I pray God that you would recharge, Lord, and renew our energy level for the battles that we will face. We are in all kinds of spiritual battles. The battle is not against my relatives, not against my neighbor, it's not against my friends, my co-workers. My battle is against an unseen force. Unseen force to taste weapons that are invisible as well. Well, I pray God we'd have on truth I pray God we'd have on salvation deliverance. I pray God we'd have the shield of faith I pray God we have on the breastplate of righteousness I pray God we'd have almost the shoe our shoes prepared to carry the good news of the gospel that helps us And Father, I pray that whatever needs might be this morning, folks will come talk to you. Perhaps they had nothing to do with this message, but folks will come talk to you. Somebody wants to listen. Somebody wants to confess. Somebody wants to thank you. Somebody wants to do whatever God you said for them to do. Let this be that moment. Help somebody. Of course, in your son's name we pray, Jesus. Amen. Amen. That's all.