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>>John Bradshaw: This is It
Is Written. I'm John Bradshaw.
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Thanks for joining me.
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I'm in Moldova, a little
country in Eastern Europe
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sandwiched between
Romania and Ukraine.
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It's a quarter of the
size of the state of Tennessee,
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has the population of
the state of Connecticut,
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about three and a
half million people.
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For 50 years, Moldova was
a Soviet socialist republic.
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It was under communist rule
as part of the Soviet Union.
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But a remarkable thing happened,
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the most significant political
change of the 20th century.
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And it affected the
life of every person here.
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As far as
European communism went,
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the winds of change really
began to blow in the 1980s.
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In Poland, the
solidarity movement,
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led by Lech Walesa,
called for a series of strikes
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which crippled
that country's economy.
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In Hungary, Czechoslovakia,
East Germany and Romania,
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governments came
under pressure to roll back
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the oppressive
restrictions of communism.
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In previous times, the
Soviet Union's response
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would have been
swift and severe.
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But this time
things would be different.
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On November the tenth,
1989, the Berlin Wall came down.
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It was a
serpentine, 12-feet-tall,
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100-mile-long barrier
that separated West Germany
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from communist East Germany.
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East Germans celebrated,
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and that falling domino
set off a chain reaction
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that led to the dissolution
of communism in Eastern Europe.
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And by the time
the dust had settled,
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the Soviet Union was no more.
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But the story many
people haven't heard
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is how the fall of
communism had less to do with
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Lech Walesa and protest
and more to do with prayer.
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In 1982, in the city of Leipzig,
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a Protestant pastor
named Christian Fuhrer
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began holding Monday evening
prayer meetings in his church,
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St. Nicholas Church.
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Pastor Fuhrer
conducted those prayer meetings
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in spite of the East German
government's strong opposition
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to religious activities.
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So the government pushed back,
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saying they'd do whatever
they had to to stop what had
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morphed from simple prayer
meeting to peaceful protests.
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But on October the ninth, 1989,
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eight thousand people
gathered in the church,
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and another
seventy thousand people
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massed in the streets outside.
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In the end, the
government let them protest.
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The BBC later reported that East
German officials said that they
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were ready for anything at
all, except candles and prayer.
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Exactly one month
after that historic night,
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the wall came down.
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And so too did a whole series
of atheistic dictatorships.
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So while there were certainly
other factors involved,
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it can't be denied that prayer
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played an incredibly
important role in bringing about
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in East Germany and
throughout Eastern Europe
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an incredible change,
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which not long before would have
been completely unimaginable.
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So what's the
secret to effective prayer?
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Can anyone learn
to pray effectively?
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Or do you have to
be specially qualified
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to get your prayers answered?
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It seems to me a former
Soviet socialist republic
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is a pretty good place to ask,
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and then try to
answer those questions.
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So what is prayer?
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A dictionary will tell you
that prayer is a petition to,
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or communion with,
God or another object.
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Now, for the
purpose of this discussion,
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we'll limit ourselves to
the idea of praying to God.
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Someone once said that prayer
is the opening up of the heart
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to God as to a friend.
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Now, God has asked that we pray.
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And He's promised that
He'll answer our prayers.
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Now, listen to this: it's
Second Chronicles 7, verse 14.
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Solomon has just
dedicated the temple to God.
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It's in the tenth century B.C.
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And God spoke to
Solomon and said this:
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“If My people, which
are called by My name,
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shall humble themselves,
and pray, and seek my face,
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and turn from their wicked ways;
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then will I hear from heaven,
and will forgive their sin,
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and will heal their land.”
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The Sovereign of
the universe says,
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“I will answer your prayers.”
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And you notice He
makes it nice and simple.
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There are very few
conditions involved.
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God simply says that
if you come to Him humbly,
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and if you turn away from sin,
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He will hear and
answer your prayers.
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Now, over in the New Testament,
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we read this in First John,
chapter 5, verses 14 and 15:
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“Now this is the
confidence that we have in Him,
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that if we ask
anything according to His will,
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He hears us.
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And if we know that He
hears us, whatever we ask,
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we know that we
have the petitions
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that we have asked of Him.”
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John, the man who
wrote the gospel of John
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and the Book of Revelation,
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a man who spent
three and a half years
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as one of Jesus' closest
friends, says that if you pray,
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you can know that God hears you,
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and in knowing
that He hears you,
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you can be confident that
He will grant your petitions.
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Now, that has to be one
of the most remarkable things
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ever written.
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So, how do you go
about praying in a way
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that you can be certain
your prayers will be answered?
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Tell you that in just a moment.
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>>Announcer: Planning
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>>John: There is
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and power available to you
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God wants you to experience
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¤[Music]¤
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>>John: This is It Is
Written. Thanks for joining me.
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The first prayer in the Bible
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appears in the
third chapter of Genesis.
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The last prayer in the
Bible is in Revelation,
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chapter 22, in the
second last verse of the Bible,
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where John rights,
“Even so, come, Lord Jesus.”
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God wants us to pray.
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He wants to communicate with us.
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So how do you pray effectively?
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What's the secret?
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I've come to Orheiul Vechi,
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a fascinating place
about an hour from Chisinau,
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the capital of Moldova.
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Until 1991, Moldova
was a communist land,
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part of the Soviet Union.
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Most people don't know how
significant a part prayer played
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in bringing about
the end of communism.
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And this historic little place
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gives us an opportunity
to reflect on prayer.
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They say the medieval town was
built here around 700 years ago.
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Mongol invaders came
through a little after that.
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And then there was a
time of peace under kings
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such as Alexander the
Kind and Stephen the Great.
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There was a
palace here at one time.
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Governors lived here.
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There was a mosque
and a minaret from which
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the call to prayer was made.
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Ruins of an old
Christian church can be seen.
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And today, there's
still a monastery here.
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The cave monastery
goes back hundreds of years.
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It can't have
been easy to build.
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Monasteries are
places of reflection.
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Some have been built in
the unlikeliest of settings.
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In most every monastery,
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prayer is high on
the list of priorities.
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Here at Orheiul Vechi,
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the monastery is run by
the Eastern Orthodox Church.
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Monks actually used to
stay in these little cells,
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once upon a time.
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Considering that the
temperatures here can be
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absolutely frigid,
that's really something.
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It's not unusual for monks, or
others who live in a monastery,
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to withdraw from the world and
give themselves over to working,
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to reading the
Bible, and to prayer.
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You don't see a monastic life
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modeled or
recommended in the Bible.
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Now, it's true there were
times that people came aside
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for periods of
spiritual devotion.
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But they were connected to
active ministry for others.
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The six weeks or so that
Jesus spent in the wilderness
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after his baptism
were immediately prior to
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the beginning of his
active earthly ministry.
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In Mark 6 and verse 31,
Jesus said to his disciples,
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“Come apart by
yourselves into a deserted place
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and rest a while.”
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Jesus could see
they needed rest.
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They needed time with him
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to be strengthened for the
ministry he called them to.
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Does God hear prayers prayed
in a monastery any more clearly
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than he hears prayers prayed in
the middle of a bustling city?
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Does God hear the prayers of
a monk or a priest or a minister
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any more clearly
than he hears the prayers
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of a construction
worker or a taxi driver?
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Absolutely not.
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The key to
successful prayer is...to pray.
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Whoever you are,
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wherever you are,
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whatever you are:
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if you'll pray, God
will hear your prayers.
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Now, there's a common mistake
that far too many people make
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when it comes to prayer,
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and that is thinking that
prayer is all about getting.
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Now, it's true, when
you come to God in prayer,
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it's okay to do your
fair share of asking.
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But prayer is so much more
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than coming to God
with a shopping list.
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Prayer is communion.
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It's communication.
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It's spending
time in God's presence
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so that you and God
are on the same wavelength,
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so that God's
thoughts become your thoughts,
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and so that you are strengthened
to live a Christian life
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in the very center
of the will of God.
00:13:40.98\00:13:43.45
I got an email a
couple of days ago
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from somebody asking
about a difficult temptation
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he was facing.
00:13:49.52\00:13:50.43
As a matter of fact,
00:13:50.46\00:13:51.59
he said it was beating him
and he was feeling crushed,
00:13:51.63\00:13:55.03
and he couldn't get the
victory over a certain sin.
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And in that email he said,
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“But I don't read my
Bible, and I don't pray.”
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Well, ladies and
gentlemen, there it is.
00:14:05.47\00:14:08.81
He wasn't praying.
00:14:08.84\00:14:09.81
So of course he
was being defeated.
00:14:09.84\00:14:12.28
If he had prayed,
00:14:12.31\00:14:13.75
well, he might not have
got that shiny red truck
00:14:13.78\00:14:15.98
that he was
wanting, for example,
00:14:16.02\00:14:18.09
but he would have been
strengthened to meet the trials
00:14:18.12\00:14:21.56
that were coming into his life.
00:14:21.59\00:14:23.22
Prayer would have
made the difference.
00:14:23.26\00:14:28.20
Now, while it's a good thing
to pray in a peaceful place,
00:14:28.23\00:14:30.90
it's good to get
away from it all,
00:14:30.93\00:14:32.60
it's good to be someplace that
you're not going to be bothered,
00:14:32.63\00:14:35.34
what you need to know is how
you can pray wherever you are
00:14:35.37\00:14:38.87
and still be heard by God.
00:14:38.91\00:14:40.48
There's no special
place that you must pray
00:14:40.51\00:14:43.24
in order to be heard.
00:14:43.28\00:14:44.41
You can pray
anywhere at all and anytime.
00:14:44.45\00:14:47.95
Prayer is where your
desires become molded
00:14:52.12\00:14:55.52
to the will of God.
00:14:55.56\00:14:57.03
In fact, prayer is more
about you trying to find out
00:14:57.06\00:14:59.93
what God's will is on something,
00:14:59.96\00:15:02.23
rather than trying to
bend God to suit your will.
00:15:02.26\00:15:06.50
And prayer is not a
get-out-of-jail-free card.
00:15:06.53\00:15:10.01
You can pray all you want,
but your dog might still die
00:15:10.04\00:15:12.77
and you might
still lose your job.
00:15:12.81\00:15:15.14
But if you pray,
00:15:15.18\00:15:16.58
you'll be strengthened to meet
the trials life brings your way.
00:15:16.61\00:15:20.48
So how's your prayer life?
00:15:20.52\00:15:22.45
God is waiting to hear
and answer your prayers.
00:15:22.48\00:15:26.15
I'll be back with
more in just a moment.
00:15:26.19\00:15:27.49
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00:15:27.52\00:15:32.46
¤[Music]¤
00:15:34.30\00:15:37.77
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00:16:05.79\00:16:06.83
>>Announcer: In Matthew
4:4, the Word of God says,
00:16:06.86\00:16:08.66
“It is written,
00:16:08.70\00:16:09.73
‘Man shall not
live by bead alone,
00:16:09.76\00:16:11.60
but by every word that
proceeds from the mouth of God.”
00:16:11.63\00:16:15.74
“Every Word” is a one-minute,
Bible-based daily devotional
00:16:15.77\00:16:18.97
presented by
Pastor John Bradshaw,
00:16:19.01\00:16:20.71
and designed especially
for busy people like you.
00:16:20.74\00:16:23.85
Look for Every Word
on selected networks,
00:16:23.88\00:16:26.58
or watch it online
every day on our website,
00:16:26.61\00:16:29.08
ItIsWritten.com
00:16:29.12\00:16:31.39
Receive a daily spiritual boost.
00:16:31.42\00:16:33.56
Watch “Every Word.”
00:16:33.59\00:16:34.92
You'll be glad you did.
00:16:34.96\00:16:36.49
Here's a sample.
00:16:36.52\00:16:38.69
¤[Theme music]¤
00:16:39.16\00:16:44.00
Joseph: sold as a
slave by his own brothers
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and taken off to
a foreign country,
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where's propositioned
by his master's wife.
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To betray his master's trust
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and to sin against God
would have been disastrous.
00:16:53.31\00:16:55.91
But to spurn this woman, well,
we know how that turned out.
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But when Potiphar's
wife was turning up the heat,
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Genesis 39, verse 8
speaks of Joseph when it says,
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“But he refused.”
00:17:06.62\00:17:08.36
Three simple
words that could change,
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or maybe even save, your life.
00:17:09.96\00:17:12.23
Temptation comes at us
every day it attacks us,
00:17:12.26\00:17:14.36
and often when we're
weak or where we're weak.
00:17:14.40\00:17:17.67
But as challenging as temptation
can be, think of Joseph.
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“But he refused.”
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He could have
acquiesced, but he refused.
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He could have
fallen, but he refused.
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Temptation offers you a choice.
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Let it be said of you,
“But he or she refused.”
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And let God's Spirit
keep you in the will of God.
00:17:31.51\00:17:34.48
I'm John Bradshaw
for It Is Written.
00:17:34.52\00:17:36.12
Let's live today by every word.
00:17:36.15\00:17:38.92
¤[Music]¤
00:17:39.82\00:17:44.89
>>John: Thanks for joining
me today on It Is Written.
00:17:44.93\00:17:47.30
People come to monasteries like
this one in Moldova to pray.
00:17:47.36\00:17:52.40
Prayer is fundamental to
the Christian experience.
00:17:52.43\00:17:55.17
In fact, you cannot really
call yourself a genuine believer
00:17:55.20\00:17:58.31
in God without
habitual, personal prayer.
00:17:58.34\00:18:02.88
Prayer is where your mind
meets with the mind of God.
00:18:02.91\00:18:07.68
Prayer is like
breathing the air God breathes.
00:18:07.72\00:18:10.32
It's like downloading
God's thoughts into your own.
00:18:10.35\00:18:14.52
Now, remember Psalm
66, verse 18, which says,
00:18:14.56\00:18:17.86
“If I regard iniquity in my
heart, the Lord will not hear.”
00:18:17.89\00:18:21.93
Now, that does not mean that God
00:18:21.96\00:18:23.33
doesn't hear the
prayers of sinners.
00:18:23.37\00:18:24.90
If that were true,
none of us would be heard.
00:18:24.93\00:18:27.60
But what it does mean is that
if we choose to cling to sin,
00:18:27.64\00:18:31.57
and refuse to
surrender it to God,
00:18:31.61\00:18:34.94
we're really telling God that
we're just not serious about
00:18:34.98\00:18:38.28
his will being done in our life.
00:18:38.31\00:18:40.98
As John Bunyan, who wrote
“The Pilgrim's Progress,” said,
00:18:41.02\00:18:44.39
“In prayer a heart
without words is better
00:18:44.42\00:18:49.89
than words without a heart.”
00:18:49.92\00:18:53.43
Consider the
Lord's Prayer with me.
00:18:53.46\00:18:55.80
It's the model
prayer given in the Bible.
00:18:55.83\00:18:58.83
The disciples came to
Jesus in Matthew, chapter 6,
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and they said,
“Lord, teach us to pray.”
00:19:01.44\00:19:05.21
And what prompted them to
make that request was what Jesus
00:19:05.24\00:19:08.34
had been talking about
immediately prior to this.
00:19:08.38\00:19:12.15
Jesus warned them against
praying like the hypocrites,
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who prayed so that other people
00:19:15.75\00:19:17.65
would see their
religious devotion.
00:19:17.69\00:19:20.39
Now that word, hypocrites,
is translated from a word
00:19:20.42\00:19:23.63
that means an actor.
00:19:23.66\00:19:26.19
Insincere prayers,
just acting the part,
00:19:26.23\00:19:29.80
aren't getting anyone anywhere.
00:19:29.83\00:19:32.17
He went on to say
in Matthew 6, verse 6,
00:19:32.20\00:19:34.77
“But you, when you
pray, go into your room,
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and when you
have shut your door,
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pray to your Father
who is in the secret place;
00:19:39.34\00:19:42.24
and your Father who sees in
secret will reward you openly.”
00:19:42.28\00:19:46.75
Private prayer
should be private.
00:19:46.78\00:19:49.35
When you're pouring
out your heart to God
00:19:49.38\00:19:50.85
about what's nearest to you,
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you want to have a place to go
to pray that's your own space.
00:19:52.49\00:19:56.26
That's important.
00:19:56.29\00:19:57.36
And notice that Jesus
in that passage suggested
00:19:57.39\00:19:59.83
that God will
answer your prayers.
00:19:59.86\00:20:02.40
You find that thought expressed
all the way through the Bible.
00:20:02.43\00:20:05.77
In the next verse,
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Jesus said
there's no place in prayer
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for what He referred
to as vain repetition.
00:20:09.40\00:20:12.91
That's saying the same prayer
over and over and over again.
00:20:12.94\00:20:17.71
You see, when
it comes to prayer,
00:20:17.75\00:20:20.38
what God wants us
to know is that prayer
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is a meeting of
minds and hearts.
00:20:22.45\00:20:26.15
God wants to hear
what's on your heart.
00:20:26.19\00:20:29.19
He wants to hear
from you in communication
00:20:29.22\00:20:31.83
about what's important to you.
00:20:31.86\00:20:34.10
Simply
regurgitating a learned prayer
00:20:34.10\00:20:37.30
doesn't really
constitute true prayer.
00:20:37.33\00:20:39.97
I'll give you a case in point.
00:20:40.00\00:20:42.40
In my life I must have
prayed the Lord's Prayer,
00:20:42.44\00:20:44.57
oh, thousands of times.
00:20:44.61\00:20:47.38
Because as a child we
were taught to pray that prayer
00:20:47.41\00:20:50.18
over and over and over,
and again and again and again.
00:20:50.21\00:20:53.65
But think about it.
00:20:53.68\00:20:55.78
You'd be far better off
praying that prayer once,
00:20:55.82\00:20:58.89
and thinking about
it, and reflecting on it,
00:20:58.92\00:21:03.16
really getting
something out of the experience,
00:21:03.19\00:21:05.89
than you would saying
that prayer a hundred times
00:21:05.93\00:21:09.06
without giving it any thought.
00:21:09.10\00:21:11.50
And then Jesus said
in Matthew 6, verse 9,
00:21:11.53\00:21:14.80
“In this
manner, therefore, pray:
00:21:14.84\00:21:17.17
Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.”
00:21:17.21\00:21:21.24
Now, who are you praying to?
00:21:21.28\00:21:22.74
You're praying to your Father.
00:21:22.78\00:21:25.85
And that ought to give
you confidence and assurance.
00:21:25.88\00:21:29.42
And involved in that
little phrase Jesus taught
00:21:29.45\00:21:31.95
was the idea of praise.
00:21:31.99\00:21:35.69
You're to praise
God when you pray.
00:21:35.72\00:21:38.29
Praise Him for who
He is, for what He is,
00:21:38.33\00:21:41.73
for what He's done,
for what He means to you.
00:21:41.76\00:21:45.83
Just that can keep you
busy praying for quite a while.
00:21:45.87\00:21:50.04
Verse 10: “Your kingdom come.
00:21:50.07\00:21:52.57
Your will be done on
earth as it is in heaven.”
00:21:52.61\00:21:56.48
We're to pray for the
coming of God's kingdom,
00:21:56.51\00:21:59.25
the setting up of His eternal
kingdom when Jesus returns.
00:21:59.28\00:22:03.52
You see, prayer focuses your
mind on the important things
00:22:03.55\00:22:07.16
on the big picture.
00:22:07.19\00:22:09.16
And notice we're to
pray that God's will is done.
00:22:09.19\00:22:14.46
Now, you and I both know that
we don't always see our prayers
00:22:14.50\00:22:18.23
answered the way
we wish they were.
00:22:18.27\00:22:20.54
And maybe that's
because God knows
00:22:20.57\00:22:22.37
you don't really
need a raise right now.
00:22:22.40\00:22:25.47
Or you can actually get by
00:22:25.51\00:22:26.88
without fine
weather this weekend.
00:22:26.91\00:22:29.08
And that's fine.
00:22:29.11\00:22:30.71
But what about when your child
doesn't recover from cancer,
00:22:30.91\00:22:33.95
or Dad doesn't come
back from the hospital?
00:22:33.98\00:22:36.69
What then?
00:22:36.72\00:22:38.39
Well, the fact is, that's life.
00:22:38.42\00:22:41.62
That's life in
this sinful world.
00:22:41.66\00:22:44.39
Now, it's not God's will
that children should suffer
00:22:44.43\00:22:46.86
or that parents should die.
00:22:46.90\00:22:48.26
That's not God's will at all.
00:22:48.30\00:22:50.70
But what is God's
will is that you're saved
00:22:50.73\00:22:53.44
into His eternal kingdom,
00:22:53.47\00:22:54.67
that you spend
eternity with God.
00:22:54.70\00:22:57.47
And people who spend
eternity with God are people
00:22:57.51\00:22:59.67
who've learned to
say, like Job said,
00:22:59.71\00:23:02.71
“Though He slay me,
yet will I trust in Him.”
00:23:02.74\00:23:06.48
Now, we don't
always get what we want.
00:23:06.51\00:23:08.55
Our prayers aren't
always answered the way we wish.
00:23:08.58\00:23:12.42
But we can trust God anyway,
and say, “Thy will be done.”
00:23:12.45\00:23:19.19
Matthew 6:11: “Give us
this day our daily bread.”
00:23:19.23\00:23:24.03
God wants us to ask Him for what
we need and for what we want.
00:23:24.07\00:23:27.74
But we need to
remember, God's not Santa Claus.
00:23:27.77\00:23:31.34
He knows what's best
for us in every situation
00:23:31.37\00:23:34.04
as He considers the big picture.
00:23:34.08\00:23:36.48
But He does want us
to pray big prayers.
00:23:36.51\00:23:39.98
John Knox, the
great Scottish reformer,
00:23:40.02\00:23:41.98
didn't just pray for the
salvation of a family member
00:23:42.02\00:23:44.69
or a neighbor.
00:23:44.72\00:23:46.02
He prayed to God and said,
00:23:46.05\00:23:47.36
“Give me Scotland or I die.”
00:23:47.39\00:23:49.76
He prayed for the
salvation of a country.
00:23:49.79\00:23:53.83
In Second Kings, chapter 13, a
king came to the prophet Elisha.
00:23:53.86\00:23:57.40
Elisha said to him,
“Strike the ground,”
00:23:57.43\00:24:00.37
which the king did, three times.
00:24:00.40\00:24:03.47
Elisha was upset.
00:24:03.51\00:24:04.84
He said, “If you had pounded
on the ground five or six times,
00:24:04.87\00:24:08.78
God would have given you
complete deliverance from Syria.
00:24:08.81\00:24:12.15
But you only pounded on
the ground three times.”
00:24:12.18\00:24:14.45
You see, God
understood the king's timidity
00:24:14.48\00:24:17.39
in striking the ground as an
expression of a lack of faith.
00:24:17.42\00:24:21.46
God wanted to do
more for the king.
00:24:21.49\00:24:24.03
And often God
wants to do more for you.
00:24:24.06\00:24:27.23
Pray big prayers.
00:24:27.30\00:24:28.86
Now, if you're praying for a
bigger house and a nicer car,
00:24:28.90\00:24:33.50
well, you want to
be careful about that.
00:24:33.54\00:24:35.17
Sometimes that
might be appropriate,
00:24:35.20\00:24:36.77
but far too often
it's just greed or ego.
00:24:36.81\00:24:41.04
But do pray big
prayers, really big prayers,
00:24:41.08\00:24:44.58
and know that God is
big enough to answer them.
00:24:44.61\00:24:48.95
In verse 12, the
model prayer goes on:
00:24:48.98\00:24:51.52
“And forgive us our debts,
as we forgive our debtors.”
00:24:51.55\00:24:55.16
First, it's important
to pray for forgiveness.
00:24:55.19\00:24:59.96
If you've sinned against God
00:25:00.06\00:25:01.16
and you have,
then confess that sin.
00:25:01.20\00:25:05.30
John wrote directly about
this in First John 1, verse 9:
00:25:05.33\00:25:08.10
“If we confess our sins, He is
faithful and just to forgive us
00:25:08.14\00:25:12.74
our sins and to cleanse
us from all unrighteousness.”
00:25:12.77\00:25:16.51
There's your
assurance right there that God
00:25:16.54\00:25:19.08
will forgive your sins.
00:25:19.11\00:25:20.95
That's settled.
00:25:20.98\00:25:21.62
Don't doubt that.
00:25:21.65\00:25:23.49
But notice that caveat
“as we forgive our debtors.”
00:25:23.52\00:25:27.56
So how's that
working out for you?
00:25:27.59\00:25:29.66
If you harbor
unforgiveness toward others,
00:25:29.69\00:25:31.93
you're essentially
begging God not to forgive you.
00:25:31.96\00:25:35.53
Pretty simple.
00:25:35.56\00:25:37.07
Verse 13: “And lead
us not into temptation,
00:25:37.10\00:25:41.20
but deliver us from evil.
00:25:41.24\00:25:43.34
For thine is the kingdom,
00:25:43.37\00:25:45.11
and the power,
00:25:45.14\00:25:45.77
and the glory,
00:25:45.81\00:25:46.71
for ever, Amen.”
00:25:46.74\00:25:49.18
Your battle with
sin, your temptations,
00:25:49.21\00:25:52.25
your struggles, that's
all material for prayer.
00:25:52.28\00:25:56.15
Talk to God about it.
00:25:56.18\00:25:57.92
Appeal to God.
00:25:57.95\00:25:59.02
Wrestle with God.
00:25:59.05\00:26:01.29
Paul prayed about
healing three times,
00:26:01.32\00:26:03.49
and then God told him
to pray about that no more.
00:26:03.53\00:26:06.53
But as the great man of
faith George Muller said,
00:26:06.56\00:26:09.03
“The great point [of
prayer] is never to give up
00:26:09.06\00:26:13.00
until the answer comes.” Amen.
00:26:13.03\00:26:16.20
So today, little
Moldova is a free country.
00:26:16.24\00:26:21.64
You could create
a politics for that.
00:26:21.68\00:26:24.31
Or you could
recognize that God on His throne
00:26:24.35\00:26:28.52
hears the prayers
of those who pray.
00:26:28.55\00:26:30.55
Pastor Christian Fuhrer said,
00:26:32.59\00:26:34.59
“Without the church,
00:26:34.62\00:26:36.59
it would have been like
all other revolutions before:
00:26:36.62\00:26:40.86
bloody and unsuccessful.”
00:26:40.90\00:26:42.56
He could have
said, without prayer.
00:26:42.60\00:26:47.44
What would your life
be like without prayer?
00:26:47.47\00:26:50.87
Or should I be asking,
00:26:50.91\00:26:51.97
what would your
life be like with prayer?
00:26:52.01\00:26:55.31
Take time to pray.
00:26:55.34\00:26:56.91
God is waiting to hear from you.
00:26:56.95\00:27:00.08
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00:27:00.12\00:27:04.75
There is power
in the Word of God,
00:27:06.89\00:27:08.79
and power available to you
through the promises of God.
00:27:08.82\00:27:13.60
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that power, and so do I.
00:27:13.63\00:27:16.46
I'd like you to
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00:27:37.12\00:27:39.62
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¤[Music]¤
00:28:07.82\00:28:12.52
Let's pray together now.
00:28:13.25\00:28:15.56
Our Father in Heaven,
00:28:15.59\00:28:16.79
we thank you today for
the privilege of prayer.
00:28:16.83\00:28:20.13
I thank you that you
are a prayer-answering God,
00:28:20.16\00:28:23.33
and that you are willing,
eager to do in answer to prayer
00:28:23.37\00:28:27.44
those things that you
have placed on our heart.
00:28:27.47\00:28:30.74
Father, right now I know there's
someone needing a miracle.
00:28:30.77\00:28:33.68
This man, this
woman, this young person,
00:28:33.71\00:28:36.41
needs to see you
intervene in a powerful way.
00:28:36.44\00:28:40.98
We are praying for this.
00:28:41.02\00:28:43.25
We know that Jesus has said,
00:28:43.28\00:28:45.19
“Ask and it shall be given,”
00:28:45.22\00:28:47.39
and we are asking.
00:28:47.42\00:28:49.39
He said, “Seek
and you will find.”
00:28:49.42\00:28:50.83
We are seeking through prayer.
00:28:50.86\00:28:53.63
So Lord, grant our heart's need.
00:28:53.66\00:28:56.00
Grant what you know
would be best for us
00:28:56.03\00:28:58.43
in the plan of salvation and
in the overall flow of eternity.
00:28:58.47\00:29:03.87
And Father, I'm
praying right now for that one
00:29:03.91\00:29:05.64
who needs to give
his or her heart to you.
00:29:05.67\00:29:08.54
I pray for surrender.
00:29:08.58\00:29:09.58
I pray for conversion.
00:29:09.61\00:29:10.68
I pray for
salvation in so many lives.
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So we praise you and honor you,
00:29:15.88\00:29:16.95
and again we thank
you that you hear us,
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and that you act in our behalf.
00:29:20.09\00:29:22.22
And we pray in Jesus' name,
00:29:22.26\00:29:24.39
Amen.
00:29:24.43\00:29:26.26
Thank you so much
for joining me today.
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I'm looking forward to
seeing you again next time.
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Until then, remember:
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It Is Written.
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Man shall not
live by bread alone,
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but by every word that
proceeds from the mouth of God.
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¤[Theme music]¤
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