It is a privilege, and I really mean this. I'm honored to be on this call this morning. I love Brother Stephen's spirit. I love what he's doing, trying to call people to prayer. And let me just say, I can't express how encouraging it is to see this many people on a Saturday morning or afternoon, wherever you happen to be in the world right now, gather together to pray for one thing. This is so encouraging to me. This is the passion of my life. It is my great burden. My grandfather was an itinerant preacher. He was an old-fashioned mountain preacher from the hills of West Virginia, and he saw stirrings of revival in his generation. But I do long to see that great move of God in our day. And that's what I'm praying for. I know that's what you're praying for. In the little book, Steve, Revival Praying, there's a difference between praying for revival and revival praying. You can pray for something your whole life and never get it. But if you seek the Lord and agree with God, if your prayer lines up with His purpose, then you'll have what God has for you. and I'd love for you to get the book and read it. Our website is very simple. It's just called enjoyingthejourney.org. And so if you go to enjoyingthejourney.org, you can find our podcast or book, any of that, but I'm thrilled to be with you today. I want to share a brief thought with you from Ephesians chapter six, if I may. So if you've got a copy of the word of God there with you, I'm actually preaching in the great state of Alabama right now. That's why I'm in a hotel room. I'm preaching a mission conference and I'm preaching through Ephesians 6 this week because I believe we are living in an age of spiritual conflict. I think if ever there was a generation dealing with intense spiritual warfare, we're in the middle of it right now. And of course, everybody wants to talk about all the pieces of the armor, but we quit too soon in that list. We don't get to the prayer at the end of this passage, because this is where the real power source comes from. Look at Ephesians 6, verse 18. The Bible says, praying always. With all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto, with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. And I have marked in my Bible, there's four alls in verse 18. I don't want to get bogged down here, but it's beautiful. Praying always, that's all time. With all prayer and supplication, that's all dependence on the Holy Spirit. All perseverance. That is the perseverance of prayer, so all continuance or endurance in prayer, and then supplication for all saints. Do you see the all, all, all, all? In other words, prayer is not just something we do, it is to be all-encompassing. It is to be connected to our whole being. I love what Spurgeon said. He said, the habit of prayer is good, but the spirit of prayer is better. And I think that's the essence of praying without ceasing. So we have these seasons where we pray together, but really this is just to set in motion an attitude of prayer for the entire day. When I leave this prayer meeting in a few minutes, I don't want to stop praying. When I say amen, I don't want to cease praying. I want to continue in that spirit of prayer. And I know you do as well. But here's what I want to bring you to just briefly. Look at the next two verses. Because you'll notice at the end of verse 18, there's not a period there. After asking prayer for all the saints, this is not selfish either. Paul says, and for me. So we pray not just for the people, we pray for the preacher. I would challenge you to study the prayers of Paul. Almost every letter, he's praying for them. But then go back and study all the requests for prayer by Paul. Because repeatedly, he keeps saying, pray for me, pray for me, pray for me. Any preachers on this call today know exactly what I'm talking about. Preachers need your prayers. And the minister who stands to deliver the message knows it's not just him. It's a host of people praying with him. And notice his request, verse 19, and for me that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I'm an ambassador in bonds, that therein I may speak boldly as I ought to speak. And for just a moment, I want to share with you a thought about the connection between preaching and praying. I want to share this today because tomorrow is the Lord's day. Tomorrow, I hope you'll gather somewhere with God's people and hear the Word of God preached. But I think sometimes we put so much, shall I say, confidence in the preacher that we forget it's really not about the preacher. It's about the one he works for, which is the Lord. It is not about the speaker's ability to persuade and give a good sermon and all of that. God deliver us from that kind of spectator mentality. You see, every hearer, at least every spiritual one, has the opportunity to be a participant in what's going on. My pastor said to me years ago that if you learn to pray for the preacher, I love this thought. If you learn to pray for the preacher, you actually have a part in ministering to every person the preacher ministers to, because you're coming alongside them in prayer. Why do I say this? I've been reading through the history again of the great Welsh revival. I love it. I love the great revivals of history, and they're all different. The common thread woven through all of them is this theme of prayer that you're emphasizing. One of the things that I've noticed recently in my reading and research again is that while people like the Evan Roberts of the world get an awful lot of attention, it really was not the preachers that produced that great outpouring. They just got to be channels of blessing. But behind it all, there were people who were truly seeking the Lord. In fact, I think at the judgment seat someday, we're all going to be surprised. and probably a lot of very visible people are gonna step to the side, and some unknown people on earth who are known in heaven are going to step up to receive great reward. Now, the evangelist D.L. Moody said, every great movement of God can be traced to a kneeling figure. I love that thought. Somewhere on this planet, somebody is seeking God, and the Lord is listening to that prayer. I don't know where the stirrings of revival will break out. I pray it'll be in a meeting where I get to be. I'd love to be there. But frankly, I don't really care if I'm the person speaking or not. I want to hear the Lord speak. Look, we may be voices, but He's the word. And when real revival comes, people talk less and less about the preacher and more and more about Jesus. That's one mark of a true spiritual awakening. Nobody's consumed with who the preacher happened to be. Nobody leaves talking about the sermon. Instead, all eyes on Jesus. The Lord alone gets the glory, and he shares that with no one. And so I want to challenge you, not just in these meetings, but even as you're listening to preachers, deliver the message. Pray with them. Enter into that with them. Let me speak transparently for a moment. There are times as a preacher that you just feel like you're not getting through. There are times you feel like this is not getting out. What's in me is not getting out. And I'm going to tell you what carnal people do. Carnal people sit back and say, you know, this is not his best sermon. But spiritual people at that moment sense there's a spiritual conflict going on. Remember the passage of Ephesians six, there's warfare going on and they enter into the throne room with him and they say, Lord, help him now. And I tell you that the praying is what equips and enables and empowers the preaching. You cannot separate the two. It's indispensable. It's not just the preacher praying, it's all of God's people praying. Let me give you these three little thoughts and I'll be done. They all come right here from our text. You might even want to number them in the margin of your Bible. If you want to know how to pray for the preaching and for the preacher, here they are. Number one, pray for utterance. That's his first request. He said, pray that utterance may be given unto me. What is utterance? It's the idea of Holy Spirit liberty. Remember where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. I can't explain this to you, but there are meetings I go into. I'm in a different church every week, sometimes several churches a week. There are meetings I go into, and it feels like things are bound up. There's no liberty. And then I go into places, and you can't explain it. It's not the music. It's not the crowd. It's certainly not the preacher. And there is this liberty. It's like heaven's wind is blowing. You know what I've come to discover? Somewhere, somebody's been praying for that meeting. It's more than opportunity, it's liberty. So pray for utterance, Holy Ghost liberty. The second thing he requested is pray for boldness. In fact, he said that twice in verse 19 and again in verse 20. Pray I can open my mouth boldly. What is that? You're praying that God will give such strength to the inner man of the minister that he's able to preach without hindrance. there'll be holy boldness there. Remember the wicked flee when no man pursueth, but the righteous are bold as a lion. So we're praying that he could be so right with the Lord, close to the Lord, that there'll be uninterrupted blessing and the power of the Holy Spirit. So number one, pray for utterance. Number two, pray for boldness. And number three, and I love this, pray for plainness. plainness, literally for clarity on both the preacher and the people. Look at the end of the verse, verse number 19, that I may make known the mystery of the gospel. He said, I don't want to just speak a message. I want to make it known. I want it to be clear. I'm praying now. for plainness. So when I go into a meeting, and this is what I'm praying for, I'm praying, Lord, give me utterance now, pray for liberty. Lord, give me boldness, not to be distracted, not be afraid of anything, but just give plainly the message you want, and then give plainness to me and to the hearers. They asked Mr. Spurgeon, they said, what's the secret to the great blessing of the Metropolitan Tabernacle? And without hesitation, Spurgeon's answer was this, my people pray for me. I tell you, friends, there is a definite connection between preaching and praying in spiritual awakening. And if you want to see a better sermon tomorrow, would you like to hear a better message tomorrow? Would you like to see more fruit tomorrow? Then start today to pray and ask God to do something in your own heart and through his servant. And I tell you, I believe if we come with that kind of expectation and fervent prayer, we'll see the Lord do what only he can do.