Praying As We Should - Prayer Service

We can't think of a more creative title than that, but I was noticing the acrostic, praying as we should, that's P A W S pause. So, this is our first pause night. But What we're doing tonight is, we're going to be devoting virtually all of the time to prayer, and we've already been praying in the songs that we have been singing, and asking the Lord to speak to us, asking him to teach us tonight. In addition to other things, we will be asking the Lord to teach us to, to pray.

Listen to what one of my favorite commentators, says, D. Edmund Hebert. He says the devil cares but little about how many activities we engage in or how many organizations the church has developed, so long as he can keep believers from intensive prayer. Without prayer, all the machinery is useless for lack of power.

You think about it, all the stuff that we do, even if we nailed everything and did it perfectly, which we don't, if God doesn't show up, And he doesn't do what only he can do, then everything we're doing is a total waste of time. God delights when His people come to Him and recognize Him as the source of all good and come to Him in prayer individually and as a corporate body and ask Him in prayer to do what only he can do. We observe in James chapter 5, verse 16. James tells us that the prayer, literally in the Greek text, the prayer of a righteous man, when it is put into operation, accomplishes much.

Prayer accomplishes much when it is put into operation. And obviously it's the God of prayer who accomplishes much, but he is offering this tool called prayer to us. But what is prayer? There's a lot of ways to answer that tonight.

I just want to give 3 real quick answers to that question. Prayer is, first of all, this is what we've learned back in the winter seminar. Prayer is admitting helplessness in prayer. Prayer is coming to God and saying to Him, we don't know how to pray as we should.

We saw in Romans chapter 8 where Paul made that admission. He says, we don't know how to pray as we should. And understand that that's not Paul throwing up his hands in frustration and despair, saying, I don't know how to pray as I should. That's Paul praying.

That's the stuff Paul said when he prayed, coming to God in all humility and acknowledging that in and of myself, and in and of my own wisdom, I don't know how to pray as I should. Prayer is also asking Christ to teach us to pray. It's coming to Him in all humility, saying, I don't know in and of myself how to pray as I should. But can you, right now, Christ, in the next few moments, can you teach me to pray?

Show me how to pray. Let me pray responsibly to you as you lead me. We saw in Luke chapter 11, where the disciples came to Jesus and said, Lord, teach us to pray. Anyone that comes to Jesus and says, teach me to pray, he will never be put off by such a request.

That's one of his favorite things to respond to. And even though he had also covered the Lord's Prayer in the Sermon on the Mount in some prior occasion, he was responding by saying, let's go through this again. And he began to walk them through the basics of what we call the Lord's Prayer, or the disciples prayer. One of the things we learned back in December is this, that the disciples prayer in Luke 11.

does not begin with the words, our Father, hallowed be your name. It begins with the words, Lord, teach us to pray. The prayer had already started and they came to Jesus and asked him to teach them to pray. There's a third thing that prayer means, and that is prayer is seeking to pray as Christ through His Spirit leads.

And so we admit we don't know in and of ourselves how to pray as we should, but then we ask the Lord to teach us in the next few moments how to pray, and then we try to pray in a way wherein we are thinking God's thoughts after Him, letting Christ through His Spirit lead us. This is, I believe, at least a part of what it means in Ephesians 6 in the book of Jude to pray in the Spirit. It means to pray under the leading and the control of the Spirit, where you're following the Spirit as you pray.

And I believe that's the essence of what it means to pray in Jesus' name.

Jesus doesn't say, hey, just pray for whatever you want and slap the words in Jesus' name onto any request you make. No, to pray in Jesus' name is to pray as his representative. And if you're going to pray as his representative before the Father, you want to know Jesus and what he's passionate about, and what his heart is so that you can then give expression to his heart in prayer. As Watchman Nee has said, prayer must originate from God and be responded to by us.

That's the opposite of what we normally think. We think prayer originates from us, and God responds, but the praying in the spirit we're talking about is praying that originates from God. And we're the responders to the heart of God, as he is leading us and revealing Himself to us in His word. Such alone is meaningful prayer, since God's work is controlled by such prayer.

Man, that, that's where we get the confidence for whatever it is that God has called us to do. That God leads. He directs, we respond in prayer, and we have this growing confidence that what we're asking is exactly the heart of God. And that gives birth to tremendous confidence in ministry.

And God then responds to the very prayers that he birthed in the first place. And then we give praise to Him for being a prayer answering God. This praying in the Spirit is an adventure. That's why I'm looking forward to tonight and in the coming.

Meetings that we have, as Charles Spurgeon said, and we have seen this a handful of times, our prayers are indicators of the movement of the wheels of Providence, believing supplications are forecast of the future. He who prayeth in faith is like the seer of old. He sees that witches. To be prayer prompted by the Holy Spirit is the footfall of the divine decree.

This praying is the praying wherein we can discern the sound of the approaching footsteps of whatever great thing it is that God intends to do. We saw in 2 Chronicles 20, how as all of Judah was gathered, God spoke and gave direction. In Acts 13, while the people in the church of Antioch were worshiping the Lord in that context of worship, the Spirit spoke and he gave direction for what to do with regard to Barnabas and Saul. And so this is the last slide I want to show you.

Here's what I'm going to encourage you guys to do, tonight. we're going to open up the floor here in a few moments. There's 2 microphones, and you're welcome to come up as the Lord leads and pray as God's spirit leads you to, to pray. Maybe just a passage of scripture comes to mind.

That's great. Come up and bring your Bible up here. And read that or quote that passage. We would like for this to be a two-way conversation between us and the Lord, where we're speaking to him and he is also speaking to us, or maybe there's a passage in Scripture in the Psalms, for example, wherein somebody is praying to the Lord in a way that you feel led to read.

So I would love tonight for there to be scripture reading in the context of our praying. In addition to that, listen carefully to the prayers of your brothers and sisters as they pray. Again, if they're being led by the Spirit, and none of us are going to do this perfectly, but I think we're going to learn and we're going to grow. But as we're praying, being led by the Spirit, as you're praying, being led by the Spirit, I want to hear what you are saying, because I want to experience the heart of God through your prayers.

So we want to pray as the Spirit leads us to pray. We also want to be very much in tune with what our brothers and sisters are praying as they pray. And then I also would encourage you tonight and in the coming weeks to just journal any thoughts or impressions that you have just in the context of prayer. I've got a notebook for myself.

Anything that just occurs to me that That might be from the Lord. I just want to jot that down. Maybe I can give voice to that in prayer or maybe I can just make note of that and ponder that later. we'll be very interested as leaders that if, if you feel impressed with some thought that occurs to you that you think might be from the Spirit, maybe you can give voice to that in prayer or just jot that down and come to us afterwards or after we've had Maybe journal your thoughts through these prayer services and maybe at the end of them, just write out your thoughts or come and express those thoughts to us for whatever they might be worth.

I believe God wants to do a work in our church. I believe he has something great in store. And whatever that is, we're going to catch the sound of the approaching footsteps of God's plan for us in the context of crying out to him. I believe God is going to look upon our church with mercy and with grace, and as we pray to Him in a blood purchased way sprinkled clean by the blood of Jesus, God is going to respond, and may God give us the grace to respond to Him as we pray that we can experience his heart and think his thoughts after Him, OK.

So I'm going to start in prayer. The worship team is going to stay up here because as the Spirit leads them, they're going to lead us in some songs, throughout this, this prayer time. So we'll be doing a little bit of singing as the Lord leads, but after I say amen to my prayer, basically my prayer is just launching this one long community prayer that we're going to be praying, tonight. over the next, 55 or 50 minutes.

OK? So, come up and be ready to pray if, if, the Lord leads you to do so. OK? Any questions?

All right, well, let's, let's go to prayer. Lord, I thank you for the rich inheritance that is ours in Christ. I thank you for the rich inheritance that we have in our brothers and sisters in the Lord in whom your spirit dwells. You have put giftedness and burdens and passions and insight and wisdom.

In the heart of every true believer in you, that's here tonight. And we just come to you tonight, Lord, and, and ask you to have your way with us. We relinquish control and just say, Lord, direct us. Guide us, move in our hearts.

May we above all experience you, your love and your presence and your direction in our midst. Lord, there are things that we're experiencing right now as a church where if things continue as they're going, something needs to give in terms of being able to stay here at this facility and We don't know if you want us to do a third service or to do a church plant or go to another location. And that's heavy on our hearts. But as we come to you tonight, you may say, well, there's some other things I want to deal with you about.

whatever, Lord, we're just here to seek you and to let you seek after us and direct us and reveal your heart to us. I pray that you would guide. All of us tonight that we would truly experience the direction of, of your Holy Spirit in a profound way. But we begin in a posture of humility, Lord, and we acknowledge that in and of ourselves, we do not know how to pray as we should.

We ask you, Holy Spirit to help us in our weakness. And we ask you, Lord Jesus, through your Spirit, could you, in the coming moments teach us to pray? If you would teach us, Lord, we'll, we'll follow and we'll learn. Teach us what to ask and how to ask it.

Teach us to recognize your voice. As you speak to us through your word and understand how things that you say in your word are relevant to where we're at as a church. Help us to think your thoughts after you, Lord. Help us to hear your heart through the earnest prayers of our brothers and sisters.

May we tonight press our ear Firmly up against your heart, to feel your heartbeat, Lord, and come to know you better and thus come to know ourselves better and to know what you want us to do better. Guide us, Lord. and have your way with us tonight in Christ's name. I just want to share a verse with you Proverbs 20:24.

Man's steps ordained by the Lord. How then can man understand his way? Walk by faith. The Lord knows our steps before we know it.

Oh Lord, you have searched me and known me. when I lie down and when I rise up, you understand my thoughts far off. How great is your thoughts unto me, if I count them, they are more in number than the sand. And I say of your works that you are marvelous.

How marvelous are your works. Search me, O God, and know my heart, try me and know my thoughts. See if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. And Father, I just beg and plead that you would search my heart, search our hearts, Let there be no one in this congregation that would hinder your work like an Aiken in the camp, Father, that your work would be hindered.

Open our hearts, show us our sins, and then, Father, teach us how to come into your presence humbly beseeching you, worshiping you. And not just going through a list or checking off a prayer time, but really feeling your presence and recognizing your love and your speaking to us. Father, I do this so that you might be, pray this, that you might be glorified. And all that should happen will happen according to your perfect plan, ma'am.

Lord Heavenly Father, we are We are all weak, Lord, and we are all in need of you daily, Lord, every minute, every hour, and we just, we don't pray as we should, Lord, and as often as we should and we don't meditate on your truths as much as we should, Lord, and we fail and Just worry about this life and stress about our own things, Lord, and we forget, Lord, that you are God and you are powerful and mighty, Lord, and you have ordained everything in our lives, Lord, for your will and for Your glory and for your purpose, Lord.

Please teach us new things, Lord, every day. Speak to our hearts, Lord, grow us and Just purify our hearts, Lord, and our minds and may we just be open, Lord, to just be used by you and when you tell us, speak to that person, may we speak to that person. When you tell us to stay quiet, may we stay quiet.

And Please just help us daily, Lord, and this week, Lord, and help us to learn from this time, Lord, and to just thank you for this time of fellowship with each other, Lord, where we can come before you and just sing praises to you, Lord, and speak truths of you together, Lord. Be with us now, Lord, and Help us to just give us faith, Lord. Give us faith in you and to know that you will accomplish what you have begun in every single one of us, Lord. Give us faith, Lord, and help us to be bold, Lord.

You've not given us the spirit of, the fear, but Lord, please just, just help us to know, Lord, that you, we have you in us. We have your Jesus, we have power and we have strength, Lord, and we have God on our side, Lord. May we make our request known to you and we just pray, Lord, that you would Guide us and lead us, Lord, to give as we should, to pray as we should, Lord, and may you just continue to do the great and wonderful things, Lord, that you have begun at this church, Lord.

We thank you for every single person here, Lord, that came here this Sunday night, Lord, to pray, Lord.

Thank you for their hearts, Lord. May you bless them and be with them and We just thank you for this body, Lord, and we pray, Lord, that you would that you would just continue to build and grow our church, Lord, as, as is your will, Lord, and just provide for us and for our needs. Lord, we come before you asking and seeking that you would meet our needs, Lord, and that you would fulfill your will. And plan for this church and body of Christ, Lord.

We love you and we praise you. And we thank you for you are continually good Lord, and we fail, but you don't, Lord. You never do. You're a perfect, holy, righteous God.

And we thank you for that, Lord, and We just love you We've got 1 Peter 4:12-16 here. Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings. That you may also rejoice and be glad when His glory is revealed.

If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed because the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. Yet if one suffers as a Christian. Let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name.

Father. May we stand in front of the Hoover Dam and say, knock it down. May we, may we just be may we desire so much to be, to be filled with you and to, that our capacity to be filled with you, with your fullness would increase. May we not be afraid, God.

I beg you, God. May we give money until it hurts, like the widow in Luke 21. May we make day to day life about making your name look great to the nations. Maybe we go to the nations, if that's what you've got for us.

May we pray for the nations if that's what you got for us. God may we just be a people here that that reaches out. in a dirty, rotten, fallen world that we came out of. May we reach out to the college campus around here, to the, to the neighborhoods around here.

May we reach out to our own neighbors, may we be world Christians. May we have our eyes set on the nations and here, but not just here. Do what you will with our resources and our time. And our desires and our family members and our friends here.

If we lose all that we have, if we get sick, if we get arrested, tortured, if we get killed, and these are all things that just sound insane, but, your people did that and they still do that around the world. I pray that we would, would not be surprised by that, that we would not think that we're above that. God, I pray that what we think is radical Christianity, which, that we would see that it's actually true Christianity. I beg you, God, to show us that.

In Jesus' name. 9. Matthew 9:36-38. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them because they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd.

Then he said to his disciples, The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. Father God, we acknowledge you as the Lord of the harvest. We acknowledge that there are men and women and children, Lord, all around us in our neighborhoods, in our families, in our workplaces, Lord, and throughout the world, Lord, who are perishing for the lack of the word of God.

And I confess my cowardice, Lord, and my self-centeredness and my preoccupation. With daily life. And I pray that you would give me a heart of compassion, Lord. For the lost in our community and in the world.

And I pray that you would give us passion as a church for the lost. And for the glory of your name. And Lord, we pray, Father, that You would raise up in our very midst, harvest workers. That you would raise us up, Lord, people to go in our community, Lord, people to go to the far reaches of the world, Lord.

But we pray that you would raise up harvest workers among us. We pray that we would not be afraid that you would give us courage, Lord. Lord, apart from you, I have no courage, and I fail again and again. To share your gospel when I have opportunities.

Lord, please give us courage and boldness and clarity. Lord, I know that even the apostle Paul, Lord, had people praying for him constantly for that. So we pray for that, Lord. And we pray for the harvest workers that we are already sending out for their support, for their faithfulness, Lord.

We pray for the lost scenes. We pray that you would raise up full support for them. We pray, Father, for the Greens. We ask that you would help them to finish his thesis, Lord, and help him, Lord, help the family to, to raise enough support so they can go to the Philippines, Lord.

We pray that you would prepare their hearts in the hearts of the kids, Lord. Lord, and that you would just bless the people in the Philippines through them, Lord. We pray that you would raise that men and women and train, men to be godly leaders there, Lord, to preach your gospel, to handle the word of truth with accuracy, that your truth, Lord, would go out in the Philippines, that many would be delivered. That you would work powerfully there and in Peru, Lord, we lift them up to you.

We ask for For the law scenes, Lord, that as they train local pastors, Lord, that these pastors would go out and, and preach your word with power and with truth, and Lord, and that your Holy Spirit would empower them and, and that many people would be saved in Peru, Lord. And that many men and women would become not just delivered Lord, but that they would be discipled. That they would be trained and discipled and and that they too would go out and make new disciples, Lord. We pray this in Jesus' name.

Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord in His sanctuary. Praise the Lord in His heavens. His heavens declare his glory and the skies proclaim His handiwork.

We praise you, Father God, for your acts of power, and we praise you for your surpassing greatness. We praise you, with the sounding of trumpet, and we praise you. With the heart and the lyric. We praise you with the clash of cymbals and the strings and the flute, and the resounding cymbals.

Let everyone that has breath, praise the Lord. Hallelujah. Father God, we just praise you. We lift you up and we magnify your name.

You are a good God and your truth and your mercy. Endures forever, from generation to generation. Father, I thank you for Jesus, my Lord and my Savior. I thank you, Father God.

Father Comforter, who counsel me and who teach me the things of God. I thank you Father God for who you are. You are a good God. You are precious.

You're sweet. You're beautiful. I thank you for hearing and for answering our prayers, Father God. I thank you, Father God, for Jesus, my Lord and Savior who died on the cross for me.

So that I may have life and life abundantly, so we may have life. Father, help me to walk the straight life and to be more obedient to your word. Help me to pray. Father God, teach me how to pray.

We thank You, Father God, for your word, for the knowledge, and for your understanding. And we thank you for your love. For your love builds. And I pray that we can grow as Christians in love and allow your love to build in us.

Father, we come, I come, asking you for forgiveness of my sins. As I forgive those that have sinned against me, help me, Lord, to turn the cheek when it's necessary. And Lord God, as we go through, the church, Cornerstone wants to make a decision concerning moving, whatever, Father. Whatever your will is for, we ask that your will be done.

Not our will, Father God, but your will. And that you would just teach us your ways and to just love one another. As you have loved us. Hallelujah, we praise you.

And we magnify your name and Jesus' name. Amen. Oh God, I pray that that we behold you as the song just said, and God, that in beholding you, that we would just be blown away and just in in seeing you be willing to give up anything for you. And just humble us God and, and just let us be willing to sacrifice our comfort in our lives for what, for what you want us to do, for living for you, for sharing the gospel with everyone because it's truth and we want to point people to you, God, let us.

Just take us out of our small world and our small minds where we get comfortable and complacent and remind us of your greatness and your goodness and in seeing you just know that you are so worth it and so worth just giving up whatever it is you want us to give up, God. We confess, and I confess that we get comfortable and we just want to live comfortable, happy lives and not do hard things because we don't like them, but just show us, God, what you want us to do to live for your kingdom and In Mark 10:29 Jesus said, Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms for my sake and for the gospel's sake, but that he will receive 100 times as much now.

In the present age, house and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms along with persecutions and in the age to come, eternal life. So God, I pray that we remember this and that you show us how to live and what we're not willing to give up for you and remind us and just beholding you that you are so worth it.

God convict us of our petty things that we hold on to. And let us, like Cindy said, go out and be bold with our coworkers and with our neighbors and our friends and our family members who don't know you and be willing to be uncomfortable and because we need to tell them about you and just do a work in our hearts, God, to know who you are all the time and not forget how great you are so that we're not afraid, not afraid of man. Amen. Psalm 27 The Lord is my light and my salvation.

Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life. Whom of whom shall I be afraid? When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh, my adversaries and foes, it is they who stumble and fall.

Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear. Though war arise against me. Yet I will be confident. One thing have I asked of the Lord that I will seek after that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in His temple, for He will hide me in His shelter in the day of trouble, and He will conceal me under the cover of his tent.

He will lift me high upon a rock, and now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me. And I will offer in His tents sacrifices with shouts of joy. I will sing and make melody to the Lord. Here, O Lord, when I cry aloud, be gracious to me and answer me.

You have said, Seek my face. My heart says to you, Your face, Lord, do I seek. Hide not your, your face from me. Turn not your servant away in anger.

Oh, you have been my help. Cast me not off. Forsake me not, O God of my salvation. For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the Lord will take me in.

Teach me your way, O Lord, and lead me on a level path because of my enemies. Give me not up to the will of my adversaries, for false witnesses have risen against me, and they trouble, and they breathe out violence. I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord, be strong and let your heart take courage.

Wait for the Lord. Father, we We ask you, Lord, what is it that you have for Cornerstone? Where is it that you want us to go? What type of impact do you want us to have on this community?

May we ask each of us, Lord, how you, you plan to use us here or abroad. Lord, help us as it's been prayed and as we sung, Lord, to, to seek your face, Lord, to not have fear, but Lord, to earnestly desire of how you will use us, in a stronger way, Lord, in this community, Father, we pray that, as we pray and seek your face, Lord, that we would be ready. and Lord, that we would be encouraged to know that even, even as Pastor Milton has been praying, I've been teaching, Lord, that you have, known us since the beginning of, before the beginning of time, Lord, you've, where it is, the cornerstone.

Will end up and how you're going to use this church for your good and your glory.

Lord, and it's going to be better than we can think of or imagine, Lord, and we just, await, your answer and with anticipation and, excitement, Lord, and, we pray that You would help us to wait. And, to have patience, but, but to be ready in Jesus' name. Lord, I just thank you for this opportunity that we have to come before you and Lord, that we don't have to come to you as people that are separated any longer, Lord, but through your blood that was shed on the cross, that we can come to you as our Father in heaven.

And we are setting out now on a road.

We're continuing down a road, Lord, and we don't know how we're going to get where we're going, Lord, but we do know what the end of the road looks like. We know where you are taking us to the end of that day, Lord, when we will be glorified and we're just coming before you now. Just to ask, Lord, for wisdom and helping us to show us that road. And I just thank you, Lord, for the word that you've given us.

John 15. He said, I am the true vine and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he taketh away, and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth that it may bring forth more fruit. And Lord, we just thank you just for the fruit that you have brought forth here at Cornerstone.

And Lord, just the work that you have done to just continue to bring forth more fruit. And Lord, we all know that the vines, we don't understand all of what you have created, but even Lord, the example of a vine is as it grows, it takes up more and more space. And Lord, we are reaching that point where we are continuing to take up more space, Lord, and want to be able to continue to grow and go where you will lead us, Lord, but just pray for your wisdom as to where that will be.

Lord, you also said, now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.

Abide in me and I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine. No more can ye, except ye abide in me. And Lord, how true that is, is that, there are many churches, and as we've talked about that many are struggling and many are not where we are. And Lord, the prosperity and growth that we have seen has absolutely nothing to do with how great we are, how wonderful a church we are, how holy we are, Lord.

It is blessings that you have brought on us, Lord, as we have sought to just earnestly seek you and acknowledging, Lord, the errors of our ways, the times when we fall short, Lord. And always coming back to you and seeking to find out, Lord, what it is that you would lead us to do. And I just pray that that would continue to be our focus. When he said, I am the vine, ye are the branches.

He that abideth in me and I in Him, the same bringeth forth much fruit, for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch and is withered, and men gather them and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If ye abide in me and my words in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. And Lord, we pray that that would be us.

That we would not begin to get lofty, that we would not get proud, we would not try to go out on our own and make our own decisions, Lord, but that we would continue to seek and follow after you, Lord, so that when we ask, Lord, that we will be seeking you and that you will give us what we ask for, Lord, because we will be asking aright. We will not be asking for our own selfish desires for what we want, Lord, but for what is needed to continue to do your work through this body.

Herein is my Father glorified that ye bear much fruit. So shall ye be my disciples.

As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you. Continue ye in my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love. Even as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in His love, these things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you and that your joy might be full.

This is my commandment that ye love one another. As I have loved you. And Lord, I just pray that that would continue to be our heart, whether that's the love that we show to those within our own body, Lord, within our own families, but also, Lord, to those in our community around us and to those around the world that we support through different missionaries that we send out. Lord, there is just so much that you have been doing at Cornerstone, just here around the United States, Lord, and even in other countries as we have people going out and continuing to do your work, and I am Just so blessed that you have called me to be a part of this, Lord.

But even more than the work that you have done outside, Lord, I am more blessed by the work that you have been doing within the church itself and just by leading us, Lord, to focus on the families, on the fathers as the heads of the households. As the wives supporting their husbands and the families raising their children, Lord, as the work that we do here is one thing, Lord, but the work that our children and our grandchildren is going to be even more. Lord, we know that you will be returning.

We don't know when that day will be, but you have called us to follow after you, Lord, to raise up a generation that will continue to seek after you and continue the work that we have started, Lord.

And I just pray that You would help us to have that vision as well. That it is not just what we are doing here today, Lord, but it is what our children will do. It is what our grandchildren will do. And that as we go about our days, Lord, as I know many a day, I have been guilty of just looking at myself here and now and what I want.

And Lord, that is not what you have called us to do. Lord, you have called us to seek after you and to teach and train that to our children, Lord, and I just ask your forgiveness for me just of not being the example that I need to be to my children each and every day. And Lord, I just pray that you would help me to be the man of God that you have called me to be. And Lord, I pray that you would help me to lead my family.

In a way that will glorify You, Lord, and that will profit the entire body and help this church, Lord, to continue to become all that you have called it to be. And Lord, I just pray this for every man in here as we seek to be the heads of our households, Lord, as there is no greater calling that we can ever achieve, there's no job, there is no career, there is no ministry greater, Lord, than the ministry that we have to our families. And I just pray, Lord, that you would just help us to see that each and every day, Lord, and just to focus on that.

And Lord, on those days when we fall short, just to realize that it isn't on our power, Lord, on our own, we can't be what we're called to be.

But the beauty of it, Lord, is we don't have to. You died on the cross and saved us, but you also gave us Yourself, Lord. So it is not me that has to step up and do it on my own, but you are going to be with me every step of the way, and that I just need to trust you and to follow you and to do as you have commanded me. And I just pray, Lord, that you would continue to be with us, and I just pray that you bless the rest of this night, Lord, and as we continue to seek your face, so we can continue to serve you.

Oh Lord, I echo John's prayer. For the men of this church, Lord, I admit my My failure to be a A father and a husband, Lord, I I pray that you would just empower the men of this church to follow after you, Lord. Empower me to To throw aside like all the, all the stuff that just weighs us down, all the distraction, all the sin, Lord. For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.

For day and night your hand was heavy upon me. My strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Many are the sorrows of the wicked. But steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the Lord.

Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart. Trust in the Lord and do good. Dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.

Commit your way to the Lord. Trust in Him, and He will act. He will bring forth righteousness like light. And your justice as the noonday.

Lord, I pray that I pray that we would commit our way to you. And trust you for the increase. Trust you for the righteousness. There is no righteousness in me, but let me commit my way to you.

And I pray that for all the men of this church. The steps of a man are established by the Lord when He delights in His way. Though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong, for the Lord upholds his hand. Turn away from evil and do good.

So shall you dwell forever, for the Lord loves justice. He will not forsake His saints. They are preserved forever, but the children of the wicked shall be cut off. The righteous shall inherit the land.

And dwell upon it forever. The salvation of the righteous is from the Lord. He is their stronghold in time of trouble. Lord, I pray that we would all run to you.

And Lord, I pray that you would forgive us for our falling, for our shortcomings, Lord, and I praise you for holding our hand when we fall and helping us back up. And helping us to chase after you, Lord. I pray a blessing on on the pastors of this church. And the pastors of every family in this church, the men of this church, Lord, bless this church.

Bless the families. Let the fathers and husbands fill their role and bring you glory, I pray. Amen. Lord, thank you for your For your mercy to us, thank you that you are, that you are the sovereign King of all the universe, that you are in control of everything.

Thank you Lord, for just the endless comfort that is. Thank you, Lord, that you are in control of tomorrow, that that we Just wind up in such knots of, of fears and anxieties and stuff, but you are in control. And we can relax in your care. Lord, I pray that you would help us do that more, help us to grow in that, help us to trust in our, in our confidence in you.

Whether it's in family stuff or just, just our own, our own hearts or Whatever issues we are facing, Lord, thank you that you, you have more, more power than it's necessary to, to, to demolish any problem that we ever run into. Lord, I, I think specifically about this facilities thing. I, I pray that you would guide us in this. I pray that you would guide us as a church and just in thinking through different things.

Different options and stuff. Lord, I pray particularly for the, for the elders just in, in the amount of, of time that they have to spend on this. And the, Just that you would guide them in wisdom, that you would guide them in, in, in thinking these things through how even just to, to frame the options and then who to, what, what things to chase down and so on. Lord, I pray as well, just, I, I know they've been wrestling with this thing in one form or another just for years.

And it's, it's not, it's not a thing that's just overtly spiritual ministry. You're just thinking about, Parking and leases and handicapped toilets and stuff like this. Lord, I pray that you would guide them in, in I pray that you would guide all of us corporately, but especially them in just in thinking these things through in, in, in putting an appropriate amount of time into this because time given to this is time not spent on, on other things. I just pray that you would give them wisdom in, in, to think this through and just pray that, that these, these times of prayer together would, would just help us as as a church to become to to come closer to an understanding of what you want us to do.

Lord, we believe, help thou our unbelief. I pray that you would grow us, pray that you would just, just through this, through the process of this, that you would grow us in our, again, in our confidence in you. And we just thank you so much, for your faithfulness to us during this process. Lord, first I just wanna thank you, for a church that not only believes in but takes seriously, calling, calling on your name.

Corporately. I've never been to a church that has done this. And I'm gonna cry thinking about it, so I'm gonna move on. I'm going to read out of Leviticus.

The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron. When you enter the land of Canaan that I am giving you as a possession, and I place a mildew condemnation in a house in the land you possess. The owner of the house is to come and tell the priest something like mildew contamination has appeared in my house, and a couple of verses later, the priest must order that the stones with the contamination be pulled out and thrown into an unclean place outside the city. He is to have the inside of the house completely scraped, and the plaster that is scraped off must be dumped in an unclean place outside the city.

Then they must take the different stones to replace the former ones and take additional plaster to replaster the house, and a couple of verses later it says the house is clean. Lord, first, I just want to pray against any divisiveness within this body. And then I want to pray. As the elders and the pastors make a decision, there will be people that agree and there will be people that disagree.

Lord and I pray that in the heat of those moments, which bricks have mildew and which ones are clean. You're the one who provides the plaster. And I pray that in the congregation and in our own hearts, that the heat burns off the dross and purifies us. And leaves us more looking like Jesus than we do today.

Lord, I, I think of all the seasons that Jesus spent communing with you. Spending much time alone and then, Coming out of those times with so much to give. I think of Moses spending time With you on Mount Sinai and coming down and his face was aglow with the very glory of the God that he had spent time with. We have spent but an hour in your presence in prayer corporately, Lord, we go forth to serve.

And with much to give. Being shaped by and nourished by our time together in prayer, in your presence. May we recall to mind the wise words that have been spoken, I believe in the spirit. The words that have been read, the prayers that have been prayed, leave us with much to ponder as individuals and in our homes, in the church.

Keep us in prayer, Lord, And may we not just be a people who pray, but a people of prayer. And we thank you for this time that we've had together tonight, Lord, and we know that you have heard all that. has been said and what has been said, I believe is from you. So thank you for being faithful to guide us tonight and we look ahead to our many other occasions of prayer and our care group gatherings and Our Bible studies and our future prayer nights, Lord, this is a great adventure, a great journey.

Thank you for being with us tonight. We praise You, Lord, we praise you and thank you for being here. And we just surrender ourselves to You, Lord, in Jesus' name. Amen.