All right, thank you Miss Susan. Appreciate the good music tonight. I want you to turn your Bible to the book of Acts tonight, Acts chapter number 12. Acts chapter 12. And we've been bringing messages last week on thirsting after God. And this week I want to give you a thought on praying with power. with power. Acts chapter 12, we want to be in verse number 5 this evening. My goal, my desire is to enhance and help your prayer life and my prayer life. Again, I think it is the most important aspect of the Christian walk, but probably the most neglected. And oftentimes, could we agree with this? A lot of times when we pray, we pray more out of ritual than out of wanting to experience God, right? And so here's what I want to ask you, all right? So we'll be in verse number five tonight. The Bible said, Peter therefore was kept in prison And notice this, but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him. So prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him. So there's a few things that I see. Of course, we know the account Peter was in prison. God's people came together, prayed for him to be released. And of course, later on, we see where he's released, and then they couldn't believe he was released. It's almost like they pray not expecting God to answer their prayer, right? And so a lot of times that's how we pray. We pray because we know we're supposed to. We pray because we half-heartedly expect God to do it. But then when God does it, it kind of surprises us. So I want to give you this thought. How do we pray with power? I mean, I don't want to waste words going through rituals, right? And so here's what I want to ask, all right? So I'll give you an example. Let me preface it by saying this. I need a volunteer, but I want you to understand if you volunteer, I'm not going to embarrass you, but I'm going to put you on the spot. So nobody wants to volunteer. All right, come on, Miss Becky. Here she comes. All right. So now here's what I want to do. I want to give you two scenarios. All right. So the first thing, Miss Becky, I want you to pray like the average person prays. Okay. That's, that's, I'd say that's pretty common, right? So now, I want you, Miss Becky, to talk to me like I'm standing in front of you, because I am standing in front of you. So how would you do that? Nope, just talk to me. I'm good. How are you? Well, good. Great day today. Thank you. How was your day? Wonderful. What kind of blessings? That's a good one. One too hot. There you go. What's the difference? You can be seated. Thank you. You did perfect. What's the difference in how she started praying the average person's prayer and how she spoke to me? What was the difference? Well, the fact is I was real to her, right? I was standing in front of her, a real person, and before she was going through the ritual of prayer, like most of us do, if we're honest, the difference was realizing the realization that someone was standing in front of you. In other words, we were communicating, right? And so that is really, to me, the essence of the power of prayer. When we pray just to rush to it, tell God all the things we need, that's not really unto God. This scripture, if you read it, we want to pay special attention to the last part of it because again, the first part, Peter therefore was kept in prison. Notice this, but prayer was made without ceasing of the church. What are those next two words? Unto God. The secret to praying with power, we come to this scripture and it describes how we can pray with power and it's found in these two words, unto God, right? And so in Acts chapter 12 verse 5, we have the record of a prayer that prevailed with God. Now again, understand we've read it so many times I think sometimes we miss how miraculous this was. Peter's in prison and they pray and the gates open and he walks out. Right? I mean, to me, that's powerful. When you can pray and God opens prison gates, that's powerful. Can we agree with that? And so, in verse 13, the Bible said, And as Peter knocked at the door of the gate, a damsel came to hearken, named Rhoda. And when she knew Peter's voice, she opened not the gate for gladness, but ran in, told how Peter stood before the gate. And they said unto her, Thou art mad. But she constantly affirmed that it was even so. Then said they, it is an angel. But Peter continued knocking, and when they had opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. So here's a group of believers praying for Peter to be released from prison. And then when he was released from prison, they didn't believe it. Isn't that how we pray? I mean, we're very astonished when God actually answers our prayer. And so what I'm saying in these few words, we've got to have the imagery and the realization that we're praying to an actual person. We're talking to someone, not some being on the other side of the universe. And I think that's where a lot of folks, and I've been in prayer meetings, listen, I've been in all night prayer meetings, I've been in prayer meetings with a bunch of preachers, and it's almost like We say the same rehearsed thing, right? And we pray loud, right? We know the vernacular to use. We know the very things we should say to make it a quote-unquote good prayer, yet there's no power in it. How many times have you prayed and asked God for things and and made prayer unto God, but not seen the results of it, right? So wouldn't you, I would, wouldn't you like to pray with the power of God to know that great and mighty, miraculous things could take place because of your prayer life? Well, that's what God wants in us. And see, I think sometimes because we see the enemy, it seems, I just mentioned it, it seems like the enemy's winning, that we think that we have to cower down in prayer And as long as we're not being messed with, molested, you know, then God's answering our prayer. But we're to be more than conquerors. Well, how are we more than conquerors through Christ? Well, it's powerful prayer. And so the first thing we notice, that prayer was made unto God. Well, if I'm going to make prayer unto God, I have to have the visualization of faith to know that God's real, right? I mean, if I just get on the altar, Brother Shane, start spouting off words, right? And you saw it with Miss Becky. The first was prayer, the way most people pray. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for this day. There's no emotion, there's no feeling, there's no thought process in it. It's just that we have rehearsed it so much, that's what we say. The second was a live human being standing in front of her And it changed the way she talked. In other words, I was real to her, right? And that's how we've got to get when we pray, we've got to understand that we are praying to a real God that really hears us. And so in order for us to, for prayer to really be unto God, there must be a conscious and definite realization that God is present listening. How many have spoken to someone, and again, now that we have We have phones, it's probably even worse. You talk to them and they pay no attention to you, right? It's, uh-huh, yeah, uh-huh. Well, I don't know about you, if you do that to me, I'm not gonna talk to you long. I mean, if what I, same thing in church, right? People come in, they have, you know, they got snacks and drinks and cell phones and, well, you know what you're telling me? What you're saying, preacher, is not important. By the way there was a day when you came in church and of course you didn't have cell phones but if you were talking or whispering or distracted that was uncalled for. It shouldn't still be that way. If we can't condense our time to an hour of attention we're in bad shape. Well it's that way with prayer isn't it? I mean, we want to get through it, Brother Matt, as quickly as we can to say we prayed, yet we don't have the realization or the visualization that we're actually speaking to a real God. So much of our prayer, is there really any thought of God in it? I mean, are you really thinking about God, or are you just going through the motions of making your request known to God, but not even really considering there's a real God? And so there is really no power in that type of prayer. But when we really come into God's presence, which is what we're to do, what we're invited to do, come into the presence of God, then we really meet him face to face in the place of prayer. There's power. And that's the difference. See, when you look at the early church, they were in such bad shape, right? There was so much conflict and there was so much danger that that's all they had was to rely on God. You look at the difference in the Gospels when the disciples went into the upper room, they were going up there to hide. Now you go to the book of Acts, they're going up there with power. They're going up there to pray. What's the difference? Well, Jesus is alive. So that's the type of prayer life you and I are to have. So how do we do that? Well, we must, before uttering one word, be aware that we really have an audience with God. Think about that for a moment. You've got an audience with the God of creation. So this will be short tonight, I think, maybe. Two things out of this scripture I want to pay attention to. First of all, the Bible said, the first thing is that just that phrase, unto God. Right? What does that mean? Well, what it means to me is that I'm to acknowledge He's real. Right? I mean, we say that, Brother Jake, we say He's real, but to acknowledge that He's real, is to live like he's real and when we pray speak to him like he is real. Right? Again, go back to the example of Miss Becky. The first was almost speaking like there's no one there. The second is someone's in front of me and I'm speaking to him in that manner. Right? So he is not an idea. He's not a character in the Bible. Right? He's real and he's God and he's the creator and he's our heavenly father. And so therefore when he becomes real in your life and that's unfortunately that's what Christianity has become. This idea, this ritual instead of really feeling and that's what the early church, the early church they spent time with God. And so there was power and when they prayed it shook heaven and heaven shook earth. Now we're in a day where we make so much of everything else, right, that we have very little power in our prayer. I mean, when's the last time, if you were honest and don't answer, but you think, when's the last time you prayed something real big and God answered it? I mean, most of us, if we're honest, we pray small things and God doesn't answer. Why? Because we don't believe He's going to. God bless my children, God bless my family, God help me with it. You know, but we don't believe he's going to do it. Now I know I understand this. I understand that we have to pray and we'll deal with this in a couple of weeks in the, in the will of God. Right. But also we have to understand, I think a lot of times what we do, brother Tim, we, Because of our lack of power and because of our lack of believing in a real God that he'll answer our prayer, we blame a lot on the will of God, right? I mean, when you look at things, why wouldn't God want to answer prayer when it glorifies him? He would. And the reason he doesn't is we limit his ability to answer that prayer because we lack faith. So if we're praying unto God, We're praying unto a person, unto a being, unto someone who is real and we have to acknowledge he's real, right? When you pray, it should be a thought process, not that I'm just citing words, but that in my mind, I can see him in my mind's eye through faith. I can literally see him and that I'm speaking to him. You say, preacher, you're getting way out there in the mystical and spiritual realm. No, I'm saying that you and I, there has to be a visualization that God's real to us. And when He is, it changes the way we do everything. By the way, if you think God's real and keep an eye on you, it'll change where you go. If you think God's always listening to you, it'll change the way you talk. If you think God's real and He'll answer your prayer, it'll change the way you pray. Amen? So unto God we have to acknowledge he's real, but then we have to acknowledge he listens. Well, why pray if he isn't listening? Well, Chad, that's what I don't understand. People that worship idols and they'll pray to a stump and they'll pray to some dead God. They'll pray to some idol. Well, that idol can't hear them. He's not listening, right? But our God's listening. He's attentive to the cry of his children. So if we don't believe he's listening, listen, all prayer is is a ritual. I mean, if I visualize him and acknowledge him that he's real and that he cares about me and that when I pray, he's listening, it changes the way I pray. I was talking to someone today. They called me on the phone and they didn't call to ask me about anything. They didn't call me to ask me for anything, but they brought up and they said, preacher, would you pray? We've got a particular need. Would you pray? You know what I did? I got off the phone with them and I got on the phone with someone else to try to help meet that need. Why? Because they called to talk to me and in the course of the conversation, they made me aware of their need, which made me want to help meet the need. Now there's some people, Brother Sean, every time they call you, they have a need, right? They don't call to check on you, they don't call just to talk to you. When you see the phone ring and you know people like this, when they call, it's like, hey, I need to borrow some money. I don't know about you, I am not answering that call. Right? Praise the Lord for visual voicemail. But when someone calls just to check on me, Is there something I can do for you? And then they say, listen, I just want you to pray about this. They didn't ask for anything. I'm going to be more apt to want to meet that need, right? Well, why would God be any different, right? When the only time you come to Him and say, listen, Father, here's all the stuff I need. How many of you know this? When you're a kid, the only thing they ever do is come to you when they need money, right? Or come to you when they need something. You feel like they're unappreciative because they never say, Mom, Dad, thank you for the house you let me live in, and thank you for the food you cook for me, and thank you for the clothes I wear, and thank you for being a good mom and dad to me. You get none of that. All you get is, well, the other kids had this. Why can't I have it? Well, to me, that's unappreciative. Well, if I feel like that with my kids, how much more does our Heavenly Father that gives us the very breath we breathe feel that way with us. So you don't pray to someone who's not real. Listen, if you talk to somebody that's not real, they'll lock you up in a padded room somewhere. Right? I mean, we talked about this before. You see somebody out on the side of the road and they're talking to somebody that's not there. You're going, there's something wrong. There's something You know, maybe it's a mental condition. Maybe it's a drug problem. Who knows? I'm not critical. I'm just saying there's a there's a problem there Well, if you're praying to someone who's not there, there's a problem there. Why do it? So I'm to acknowledge he's real but then I acknowledge he listens then I acknowledge his ability Well, why would I ask him for something he couldn't do? Oh I would ask, listen, if I needed a million dollars tonight, and I said, listen, Brother Shane, I need a million dollars, well, that, I guess, I mean, I don't know his bank account, but I'm guessing maybe that would be an unresolved issue I have, because I don't think he probably has a million he can pull out of his pocket and say, here it is, preacher. I could say, help me pray for it. But see, God, if I believe He is who He says He is and can do what He says He can do, then I can go to Him expecting Him to be able to meet the need. He has the ability to do it, right? So He can grant the things that we ask for, and He will grant the things that we ask for when we come to Him in faith-believing. So number one is in the key to praying with power, is first of all, we have to pray unto God. We've got to acknowledge He's real. Number two is this, notice what the Bible said in verse five. The Bible said, but prayer was made without what? Ceasing. Well, there's the second phrase we want to look at. What's that mean? Well, there's four things I want to share with you about that word or that phrase without ceasing. First of all, it deals with the intensity of prayer. And what it means is this picture of stretching out. Right? See, we've become so comfortable. If we're honest, we mentioned this the other night. Years ago when farmers would pray for rain, you know, we don't pray for rain anymore because we get everything from the grocery store. We don't need rain. Right? If we don't have rain and the crop fails, well, you know, we're going to pay a few more cents for the stuff at the grocery store, but most people don't farm anymore. So whether or not it rains, and I don't know if you know, well, the only thing we're worried about rain is my grass is brown. And so what he's asking us to do, I mean, think what they're stretching out. They didn't say God put it on the hearts of the king to let him out. They were praying for his release. Well, how'd they do it? Well, I don't know what they said, but whatever they said touched the heart of God and God opened the gate. Peter walked out. So to reach farther, what he's asked to do with that without ceasing is to reach farther than is comfortable. Most of us never, never excel at things because we won't reach any farther than what's comfortable, right? I mean, we were talking, Ms. Susan and I were talking yesterday about learn to play instruments. And, and she said, you know, you can learn to play piano, it just takes practice. Well, that's again, most of us would say, well, I'd like to learn an instrument, but I don't want to practice. Well, guess what? You're not going to learn it because you're not stretching. Right? You're not going to get better at something if all you do is what you're good at. Right? So we have this fear of failure and so when we have a fear of failure we're saying I want to stay in what's comfortable to me and we never grow. Right? And so what God's asking us to do is get out of our comfort zone when we pray so that he can prove that he is powerful enough And that when we pray, we can pray with power and God will answer us. So that's what he's saying when we, the intensity of prayer with effort, with the effort we put into it, right? Why don't you ask God for something that you can't do yourself? Right? Earnest and intense. So it deals with the intensity of our prayer. Most of the time it's like, again, it's that ritualistic rote, God bless, you know, we learn as a kid. Now lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep, but then even adults never get past that. They may not recite the exact words, but it's like, well, bless the church, and bless my parents, and bless my kids, and meet the needs of the needy, and help the sick get better, and there's no thinking there's no really visualization of a real God and so there's no intensity of prayer because we don't really believe it I mean if you had let me ask you this if you had to get through to God and it was life or death right if your child was laying there and you believe really believe that God could heal them and it was life or death and that's all you had and the doctor said we can't do anything else would that change the intensity of the way you pray well that's how we ought to pray about everything right life or death so it deals with the intensity of prayer but then it deals with wrestling the wrestling of prayer well Romans chapter 15 verse 30 Paul writes this now I beseech you brethren for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake And for the love of the spirit, notice this, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me. Well, notice that word strive. What's that mean? Well, it is to, it means to contend in an athletic event or fight. It is the picture of, I mean, you know, you look in all through the Bible. Especially with Paul, Paul deals several times with athletics, right? Running a race, wrestling. What is that? Well, he's dealing with the intensity that we are to go after the things of God. And so we're, we're, we're again, we like comfort. We don't want to stretch it and we don't want to wrestle. We'll, we'll, in other words, we'll pray for something one time and then we'll say, well, I don't, and I've heard this, people say, well, if you pray more than one time for it, then you're really not trusting God. It's not faith. Well, no. It tells me that Jesus gives the example of importunity. In other words, where to go and basically beg. The example he gives is that the guy went to his friend and pestered him until he did what he asked him to do. Right? Well, there's the picture. We should be so persistent in our prayer, not pestering, but persistent in our prayer that not pray one time, but pray until God answers. Now, that may not be getting what we asked for, but it meant we ought to pray till we get the answer from God. So we ought to pray with the intensity of prayer, pray without ceasing, then wrestling of prayer to contend an athletic event so much of our prayer has no power because it has no heart. Right? I mean, how many ladies, how many, if your husband came and you say, you know, your anniversary, he says, listen, I just want you to know I love you. Right? I love you. I love you, honey. You're the best, greatest wife in the world. Yippee. You let him say, what's wrong with you? Some of you would take that and you'd say, if he'd do that, I'd be happy. Right? But that's kind of how we pray. There's no intensity to it. I mean, it's amazing to me people can get so excited about an athletic team, lose their mind over it, scream and yell, you know, do anything to get tickets or a concert, right? But then when it comes to praying, we act like, well, it doesn't matter. It's no big deal. You're invited into the throne room of God, right? I mean, as self-conscious as people are in this day, I mean, you know, anywhere they go, they think it's exciting. And so, you know, they're like, oh, look at me, right? I mean, if you got invited... And again, I use this loosely to the White House. I mean, I don't care who's in the White House. If they invited you into the Oval Office, not a lot of people get to go in there. Right? So you'd probably get a picture of it. There'd probably be some excitement. There'd probably be the idea that I want to show some enthusiasm about being in a place that most people can't go. Well, why is it not that way when we pray? Father, it's me again. We pray like that old dog Droopy, right? Woe is me. Everything's bad, Jesus, you know it is. Nothing's gone right today, it's me again. And then when God's like, okay, we get upset. Well, he didn't answer my prayer, right? I mean, even with what Miss Becky was saying, Thank you. If I give you, you know, you're hungry and I feed you and you just go, yeah, thanks. That would mean a lot, right? But if I feed you and you're starving to death and you just say, listen, you don't know how much this means to me. When somebody does something for you, the excitement which you thank them says a lot about how much you appreciate it, right? Well, why is it different when we pray, right? Father, thank you for all your blessings. You've been really good to me. Okay. When's the last time you wrestled? I mean, most Christians can't pray 15 minutes. When's the last time you prayed until you knew God answered? See, the difference between the day we live and those old timers is they knew something about wrestling with God. Man, they'd pray if they got an answer. May not always have been the answer they wanted. Well, it was because they wanted God's will. Right? So, without ceasing deals with the intensity of prayer. Then it deals with wrestling of prayer. See, because what we do, we rush in, right? We make no preparation in approaching unto God. So we rush in, right? We offer petitions, and we rush out. If most Christians pray 15 minutes, they think, whew, well, I put some time in there, right? So if you want power in prayer, you've got to spend some time in there. And so we must wrestle until we win. What I mean by when is that we hear from God, right? So there's a wrestling of prayer, and then there's the leading of prayer. Romans 8, verse 26. Notice this scripture. The Bible said, likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities. Now watch this. For we know not what we should pray for as we ought. You say, well, that's not me. I know exactly what I need to pray for, knowing not according to the Bible. I want you to picture what I'm saying, that a lot of times when you go in to pray, you're not even praying for the things you ought to be praying for. Right? I mean, how many times have you gone to the Lord in prayer, and you've bowed to pray, and you had on your mind some things that you prayed for, and I mean, you really got in there, and really started spending time with God, and all of a sudden it went from all this list of things I need to ask Him for, A lot of worship and praise and when you got out of there, you'd been under the spout where the glory comes out. If you've never been there before, I'll tell you what, you ought to spend a little time there. Right? So the leading of prayer, the Bible said, goes on in that verse, but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groaning which cannot be uttered. So we can't work up earnestness in the flesh. Most of the time we don't really know how we're supposed to pray. So when you go in with the mindset, right? I mean, picture this. You can, you know, we never had this, but some kids went through cotillion and all this stuff, and they taught you how to do your napkins and the forks and all that stuff, and we just, whatever fork you could grab, you'd dig in and eat stuff, right? But if you went to certain events, right, and there was a certain way you were supposed to do things, right? I mean, you were supposed to sit in a certain way and supposed to eat certain things at certain times, and you would want some training, right? Well, that's kind of what this is talking about. You're approaching, listen to me, you're approaching the king. you see what I'm saying you're approaching the king and you don't know how to approach him because you've never really been there before so you have a tour guide so to speak in the Holy Spirit and you really don't know how to approach him in prayer because it's the heavenly language that we're not accustomed to now I'm not saying we have to pray in a certain way I'm saying that what what I'm saying is you can you don't have to you don't have to pray a certain way see what I'm saying but sometimes we're praying for things and the Holy Spirit guides us in a different direction and I'm praying for brother Shane all of a sudden in my mind he said no you need to quit praying for brother Shane and pray for brother Eddie he's got a greater need right or how many times have you gone to the Lord in prayer and this has happened to me and I'm sure it's happened to you and God impresses on your mind to pray for somebody and you call them or you text them and say listen I just want you to know I prayed for you and they say thank you I was going through something and that means the world to me that's not you that's the Holy Spirit of God see and so there's a leading earnestness by the power of the Spirit is pleasing to God right you gotta be open to it you can't go in And that's what I'm saying. A lot of times we think because someone prays loud and you know, and again, I've grown up in the independent Baptist camp meeting circuit. And if you don't hack when you're praying, you're really not praying. Well, that didn't impress God. He'd rather you be sincere and earnest and let, let the Holy spirit guide your prayer life. So if you'll go into it and I'm all for having a prayer list, don't get me wrong. But if you'll go into your prayer list and start praying and say, Holy Spirit, I want you to guide me in my prayer life today, he may take you down a different path that will be more intimate with the Lord Jesus Christ than you've ever been just by going through your prayer list and saying, bless Brother Matt and bless Miss Emily and bless this one. It's talking. Friends, you can sit down. out with your spouse and say, okay, you know, we want to spend some time together. I mean, how many times you done this? Let's talk. Right. And you sit down and you stare at each other. What do you want to talk about? I don't know. What do you want to talk about? I don't know. Good talk. Right. But, but sometimes there's some, I'll break the ice. Right. And you're talking about one thing and all of a sudden, you know, your spouse has got something else on their mind and heart and takes you down a different way, right? And that's the direction you should have gone, but somebody's got to get started. That's prayer. You don't have to know the, you know, and who knows? You may start out thinking, I just need to pray about these things, and God may take you down a road, down a different route, and you're praying for an hour or two hours. You say, how? I've often thought this in times past, Brother Andy. Brother Daniel Buchanan, my friend, he would get up at four and he would pray till nine or ten in the morning almost every day. And I'm thinking, how in the world? I mean, what do you pray about for five and six hours? Well, it wasn't just checking stuff off your list, right? It's praying, spending time in the word. Meditating, letting God speak to your heart. And that's what we don't do anymore. See, we just want to get through that list. We've got to let the Spirit lead us in prayer. Right? So we have, and by the way, sometimes it is five minutes. Sometimes it is spontaneous. You're going down the road and the Lord impresses on your heart. You need to pray. Well, pray. Right? So it's the leading of prayer and then finally it's the sacrifice of prayer. Now watch this. This is going to hurt. So get ready. Daniel chapter 9 verse 3. He said, I set my face unto the Lord God to seek by prayer and supplication with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. Ooh. So the picture, you know the story. Daniel was commanded not to pray and he did it anyway, right? But here's the picture. The Bible said here that he prayed to seek by prayer and supplication. I mean, I said, what's supplication? That's not rhetorical. Somebody answer me, come on. What's that brother? Yeah. Intercession is praying for someone else. Supplication is making my petitions known and, and agonizing over those petitions. Right? So, so we're looking at Daniel who we would all say is a hero of the faith, right? Because he prayed, but the Bible said he, he, uh, set his face unto unto right there. It is unto the Lord God. So there's that word again, to seek by prayer and supplication. Well, well, how do you do it with fasting and sackcloth and ashes? Well, that gives me a picture of, of sacrifice, right? There's gotta be a sacrifice. You say, well, what's that look like? Well, here it's talking about fasting. Let me ask you this. Don't raise your hand. When's the last time you fasted? What's what's that look like? Well, Fasting in the Bible dealt specifically with not having food, right? That doesn't say there's sometimes a 40-day fast, there's a few-day fast, maybe it's an hour's fast. I don't know what it looks like with you, but let's be honest. Most people, our whole day is centered around when we eat. There is no fasting. It's an ugly word in the Baptist church. We like the feasting rather than fasting. Well, I'd say even more so now, when's the last time you fasted about some other things? I'd say fasting with your cell phone would be a good thing to do. Fasting off the internet, fasting off the TV, getting those things. Why? Because what you're doing is neglecting something in your life sacrifice and and let's be honest you say well it's not a sacrifice well let me ask you this then you tell me why they're saying now of course now I believe this has gone on but that is an addiction it's an addiction right you don't believe it take away from your kids for about three days they'll get the shakes and everything else So we got to get some stuff out of our life before we can have power in prayer, right? And so here the idea is pray with fasting. Remember we were preaching about the It was Sunday night, I guess it was, and Jesus came down off that Mount of Transfiguration. The disciples there, they brought that boy to Him. They couldn't do anything with Him. And Jesus said, this comes by what? Prayer and fasting. Well, they weren't doing it. They had no power. We don't do it. We had no power. Let me ask you this. When's the last time God woke you up in the middle of the night and you got up and prayed? Right? Well, it's no coincidence you wake up two o'clock in the morning. Well, most people, you know what they're going to do? They're going to run out and get their phone. Or go in there and watch TV. Right? You ever thought maybe you woke up, God woke you up for a reason to pray for somebody? Right? When's the last time you made it a practice to get up early and pray? I'm just not an early bird preacher. Well, maybe you ought to be. When did Jesus pray? Early. Right? Early. Early. Seek Him early. You say, well, that doesn't mean early in the morning. Well, what's it mean? Right? I know. I know. Listen. It's easier to say that's metaphorical just to seek Him early. Well, when's early? If you get up at 7, 5's early. Right? Well, get up at 5. I can't do that. Well, you could if you went to bed. You say, well, I can't go to bed early. Well, here's what you do. Set your alarm at 5. Get up at 5. Don't hit the snooze button 48 times. Get up, right? Get to praying. Read your Bible. You go to bed that night. You say, well, I didn't go to bed until 11 o'clock. You get up at 5 o'clock about four or five nights in a row. You know what's going to happen? You're going to go to bed at 9 o'clock. 10 o'clock, right? See, we do the opposite. We stay up late and say, I'll get up in the morning and do the, I gotta have my coffee. We don't pray, right? We don't read our Bible. We don't seek God early. Then our day stinks. And then we're like, I'll pray at night. Well, you ought to pray at night. But seek him early. Some of y'all look at me like, preacher, I ain't going to do this. Well, don't, right? But then when you feel like your prayer life's defeated and you have no power, then you're going to have to look and realize you're going to have to make some sacrifice to have power in your prayer life. Now, I don't know what that looks like for you. Like I said, if you get up at 8, maybe you need to get up at 6. I'm not saying you got to get up at 3. It wouldn't hurt. I can get up at 3. Could if you went to bed about 8, right? My grandma, she'd go to bed at 7 o'clock. I remember when I was a teenager. We'd go to Florida and visit her. Me and my roommate went down there for spring break one time, Miss Rita. And we got home about 9 o'clock one night. She had the door locked and the lights were out. She went to bed at 7. If you want to get in her house, you better be there at 7. So we'd stay up late, watch TV, get all that junk in our mind, social media till midnight. Then we'd get up in the morning. Right? We have to have sacrifice, submission. We have to remove self and things that hinder us. Let me ask you this. I'm almost done. I see some of you getting uncomfortable. What's it worth to you to have power in your prayer life? Because if it's not worth what you had to give up, you'll never do it. But listen to this. Don't complain when God doesn't answer your prayer. So sacrifice for the power of God and answered prayer. Well, look at this scripture and we'll finish here. Peter, therefore, was kept in prison. Well, let me ask you this. That early church, you think that they had it easy? It's going to cost them something to serve the Lord, right? Well, here they are. I don't know. Maybe they were all jobless. I don't know what they're doing. But I know this. They were up there praying for him. Maybe they had to take some time off work to pray. Maybe they had to stay up all night and pray. I don't know what they did. But whatever they did, it so impressed the heart of God that here's Peter in prison. doors open he walked out goes knocks on the door and they're like hey she wrote it said hey Peter's out here so there's no way must be an angel that's how we are a lot of times brother amen we're praying God answer whoa I didn't expect that to happen why'd you pray there has to be a sacrifice you got to give up something right maybe it's sleep maybe it's food maybe it's you know activities but when you look at it Here's what I'd do. Try this. All right? Just try this. But every time you get up, set your clock 30 minutes before that. Get up. Don't pick up your phone. And by the way, time out. Ready for this? Somebody say, well, I got my Bible on my phone, preacher. Well, pick up the, there's something about holding it. Right? I mean, I think it's great. Listen, I got the Bible on my phone. Man, you can put it on the radio and listen to Scorby. There's something about reading it. There's something about holding it. I wonder what it'd have if you get up 30 minutes early, an hour early. Don't even pick your phone up. Don't turn the TV on. Don't do any of that. But you just say, okay, Lord, me and you. First hour of the day, just me and you. Read your Bible a little bit, talk to Him a little bit. Cup of coffee if you want it, you know, whatever. Pepsi, whatever. But just don't let anything distract you for the first hour of your day and give that to God. It'll change your life. It'll change your life. Why? Because you're seeking Him early. Right? Seeking Him first. Now you say, well, does it really matter the first thing I do? Well, let me ask you this, ladies. Your husband gets home from work, and you've been waiting on him all day, and he walks in, and he says, listen, I'll be with you in a little while. I'm going here to watch SportsCenter for a while. Right? So just don't bother me. I'll be with you later. Right? Well, what got first place? Well, how's God any different? I'll get to Him later when I have time. Whenever you make Him first, see, do this. Do the important things first. Right? Do the important things first. If you had to miss your oatmeal and your fruity pebbles in the morning, give it up. Right? If you got to miss watching your TV show or watching YouTube or whatever, give it up. But Him first. You have to visualize, it's got to be under God. You have to know He's real. If not, you might as well save your breath. Unfortunately, that's what a lot of prayer is, just going through the motions. He's got to be real. Then we have to pray without ceasing. That's the earnestness, the seriousness of it. It's got to be important to us, right? Well, I'll give you this, I'm done. We have Saturday nights, Brother Shane. We have prayer, 7 o'clock, right? We started that months ago, months ago, months ago. We'd have... Who is it now? Two families. I can pray at home. You can, but do you? Right? Well, Saturday night, that's when we go out to eat. You can't go at 5? Be back at 7? Right? Sunday mornings, 9-15. Can't get here 15 minutes before Sunday school and pray? See what I'm saying? It's an afterthought. Fellas, Sunday night, my office. You know what we do? Go back there and pray. I had to send R.J. R.J., go round them up, right? Because we'd rather stand around and talk, right? We'd rather stand around and fellowship than talk to God. I'd say, R.J., go round them up. He'd go dragging them in. Come on. Y'all don't mess with me, I can put RJ on you. So if we can't make it a priority at church, most likely we're not making it a priority at home. Power in prayer. What would happen if you had a church full of people that would recognize the reality of God and believe that God answered our prayer? Man, it'd shake this place to the core, wouldn't it? That's how we have unto God without ceasing. Let's pray. Father, we love you. Thank you for the privilege we have to call on you. Thank you that you love us enough. Your long suffering, even in our prayer life, when we make a mess of it, you still hear us. Just like we studied this evening about that early church, Lord, they were trying to do the right thing and pray, and it didn't seem like they really understood the power they had, but you answered their prayer. And you've done that for us, and I thank you for it. But I ask you tonight, Father, that you give us a greater confidence in your ability, in your reality, and the privilege we have to call on you. Thank you for this study we're doing on prayer, and my desire is just to help your people in their prayer life. But Father, I know this, that it only comes as we practice prayer, as we pray. So may it be our desire to have a more intimate walk with you, that we may know you better, to a deeper degree. And Lord, change our church, that it be a house of prayer. it'd be a priority in our life to pray as a church and as individuals and we thank you that you again are so long suffering with us that even as we stumble through it Lord we we make a mess of the way we pray that we really don't even pray with our heart often times we we just come to you because we need things you still love us enough that you hear us but may we understand the The great, great privilege that we have. I love you. I thank you for this church. Thank you for this class. And again, hear our prayers in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.