Bridge Church Virginia Beach

Good morning Bridge Church, how are you this morning?

You guys doing great?

It's great to see you and always an honor to be able to speak to you.

Pastor sends greetings this morning.

He is preaching at our North Carolina campus.

So he said to tell everybody hello.

But I'm excited today.

We finish up our series on armor or armed and coming out of Ephesians.

How many of you have enjoyed this series?

I know I have.

It has taught me so much just digging into the book of Ephesians.

So get that ready.

I want you to turn to Ephesians chapter six and have your finger there.

We're going to come to that here in just a little bit, but I'm going to start off.

How many of you know what this is?

This is a weighted vest.

I have a weighted vest because I

I've been walking for a long time, but a few months ago, I bought a weighted vest just to add some weight to my walk.

And to be honest, I'm not sure why.

I just saw people doing it and I thought, what in the world have I gotten myself into?

It took me actually a couple of weeks after receiving my vest to actually get the nerve to put it on and walk again.

After, let's see, my first walk, I remember I could hardly make it a mile.

And then over the last few weeks, I've been able to get up to three or four miles, even running sometimes in the vest.

So listen, what happened?

The vest didn't get lighter.

I got stronger.

All right.

So listen, if you ever lift weights, you know you got to lift to get stronger, right?

Well, today we're going to talk about prayer and

And life, you know, life as a Christian does not get easier or lighter as we walk with the Lord, but prayer makes us stronger.

Prayer makes us stronger.

We're going to dig into Ephesians this morning and I'm so excited about it.

E.M.

Bounds said that prayer does not prepare us for greater works.

It is the greater work.

Amen?

So Paul begins to talk to us about prayer.

uh, Ephesians and how to live what he, when you study that chapter or that book, Paul is in prison.

Just reminding you of, of what we're talking about today.

Paul is in prison.

He's chained up for preaching the gospel.

He's watching all the guards.

He's watching everybody around him and Holy spirit begins to download to him on how you should live.

The church of Ephesus had begun to do a lot of mixture.

They had magic and sorcery and all kinds of things going on.

And Paul is saying, listen, you're a Christian now.

It's time for you to live like it, right?

So he talks in the first three chapters, Paul talks about identity.

You've been redeemed.

You've been rescued.

You've been adopted into God's family.

You've been baptized in the Holy Spirit.

Now it's time for you to live like it.

And then in chapters four and five, he talks to them about how, he talks about how to live in holiness.

How do I walk a holy life?

And he talks about living out your faith.

And then he gets to chapter six and he says, now this is how you stand.

What does he mean?

This is how you stand when life brings storms, when life brings the devastating call and

When life throws things at you that you are totally not expecting, the enemy wants you to fall to your flesh, right?

But Paul is saying, we don't fight with our flesh.

We fight through the armor of God, which represents Jesus.

And what we're going to talk about today, we fight through prayer.

Amen.

Can I tell you today that the enemy is not intimidated by your intentions?

He's not intimidated by the gift on your life.

He's not intimidated by what you say you're going to do.

The enemy today is intimidated because if you know who you are and you mix that with prayer, that's when the enemy gets scared.

Amen.

Amen.

The Christian life is not a playground.

It's a battleground.

It's not a playground.

It's a battleground.

It's where we fight.

The Christian life actually is where the prayer in our life as Christians is how we fight our battles.

It's how we fight.

I want you to get this this morning because if you could ever understand that prayer is a weapon, you would never not pray.

Prayer is one of your greatest weapons as a believer.

Today, we're going to talk about the final piece of armor, which is praying in the spirit and the four prayers that flow from that.

Let's read our text.

It's Ephesians chapter six, and I'm going to start with verse 17.

It says, take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God.

It says, pray in the Spirit on all occasions.

Say all.

with all kinds of prayers and requests.

With this in mind, be alert.

Always keep on praying for all the Lord's people.

And then in verse 19 and 20, Paul says, don't forget me.

He says, pray also for me that whenever I speak, words may be given to me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel for which I am an ambassador in chains and pray that I may declare fearlessly as I should.

How many of you know today that we don't fight like the world fights?

The world wants you to fight with quarrels.

The world wants you to fight with your fist.

The world wants you to get in arguments with your spouse, get in arguments with your kids, get in arguments with your boss.

But as Christians, we don't fight like the world fights.

In fact, 2 Corinthians 10, 3 through 5 says, the weapons of our warfare are not carnal.

What does that mean?

They're not fleshly weapons.

They are mighty through God, through the pulling down of strongholds.

Ephesians 6, 12 says, we don't fight flesh and blood.

We fight principalities and spirits.

So today I want to tell you this morning, you're not fighting your spouse.

You might've gotten in an argument on the way to church, but you're not fighting that person.

You're not fighting your boss this morning if there's drama going on at your job.

You're not fighting that relationship of that person who keeps lying to you and making you bitter.

Guess what?

You're not fighting them this morning.

The Bible says that you are fighting a spirit.

Listen, and we don't fight spirits with the flesh.

We fight it through prayer.

And I'm going to talk to you today and try to break this down as simply as I can.

Prayer is not just another piece of the armor.

Prayer is the gateway at which all the other pieces of armor become effective.

Prayer is the last thing that Paul talked about, but it's definitely not the least because without prayer, the armor is just me putting on something and walking out my flesh.

But when I pray and I actually put on the armor of God, the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness, the belt of truth, the sword of the spirit, the shoes of peace, when I put these things on, I'm actually putting on Jesus every day of my life.

So what is prayer?

Prayer is communication with God in its simplest form.

That's the only way I know how to tell you.

It's the connection that we have to God, not just any God.

I'm talking about Jesus.

You have to say that this day and time.

It's conversation where I talk to him and I begin to tell him my heart, but I also listen to him.

It goes two ways.

When life is good, I pray.

When life is really hard, I pray.

When I'm in a waiting season, I pray.

When I'm hurting, I pray.

And verse 18 says, I pray in the spirit with all kinds of prayers and requests.

You see, sometimes my prayer looks like praise.

thanking God for who he is and what he's done.

Sometimes my prayer looks like worship.

Father, you alone are worthy.

And I begin to tell him who he is.

Sometimes my prayers are asking for something.

Sometimes my prayer is agreeing with someone else.

We're going to talk about the different prayers today.

But what is praying in the spirit?

Most Pentecostals and charismatics would say that praying in the spirit is speaking in other tongues.

It is that.

In fact, in Mark, I believe it's chapter 16, when Jesus was speaking to the disciples, he said, go cast out demons in my name, speak in new tongues, raise people from the dead, heal the sick.

And he begins to tell them, spread the gospel, right?

He's talking to the disciples.

But praying in the spirit is not limited to just praying in other tongues.

Praying in the spirit is when I pray according or in accordance to the Holy Spirit through his word, through his name, and through the blood of Jesus.

I always used to tell my kids, if you ever get scared, say the name of Jesus, speak the word of God, or plead the blood of Jesus and the enemy will run.

So I pray under the influence of the Spirit.

I pray in connection to the Spirit.

And I pray being led by the Spirit.

Well, how do I know what is leading me in my prayer?

Does it line up with this right here?

I must pray in accordance to the Word of God when I pray.

This is the Word.

This is living life to you.

This is the truth and the life to you.

This is how we pray.

Jude 1 20 says, but you dear friends, by building yourselves up in the most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit.

The first kind of prayer that I want to talk about today is the prayer of petition.

What is the prayer of petition?

Philippians chapter four says, be anxious for nothing.

Or this translation says, do not be anxious about anything.

But in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God.

What is a petition?

In the context of prayer, a petition is a formal, specific request made to God for a particular need or a desire.

A petition is not treating God like he's a genie in a bottle.

Sometimes we'll do that.

We'll have a little bit of control in there.

Lord, this is, this is my petition and we try to control, but, but, uh, petition is rather a posture of surrender saying, Lord, your kingdom come, your will be done.

Lord, this is the petition I give you, but Lord, ultimately your will be done.

It's an act of surrender.

You know, every time, uh,

I began in my teenage years, I began to pray for my spouse.

I was 13, 14, 15.

I remember our youth pastor talked about it and I got me a handkerchief and I anointed it with oil and I had that handkerchief.

And I remember one day I was praying and I had it in my Bible or I kept it in my Bible and I pulled out my handkerchief and I said, Lord,

I want to begin to pray for my husband and I'm going to give you very specifically what I want in a man.

Well, first of all, he had to be good looking because I had to be attracted to him.

Second of all, he had to be tall.

I don't want any short, no short little men around me.

He had to be tall.

Do not take that personal.

God loves you and he's made you for a special woman.

But I wanted a tall, dark, handsome.

I wanted him to be tan.

I wanted him to look good.

But a part of that prayer, I said, Lord, I want him to love you more than he loves me.

And I want you to allow him to be able to lead me.

lead my family.

And I would pray over that handkerchief and I would keep it in my Bible.

And I speak to you today, if you are single, all the single ladies, all the single ladies.

Listen, if you are in the room, single men, single ladies, I'm telling you, you better begin to pray right now and be very specific over who you want God to bring you for a spouse.

Any old Tom

might pop up in your life and you may say, oh, I don't know if he's the one, but if you know what you've been praying, oh, God's gonna give you eyes to see and ears to hear and you gonna know that's my man right there.

I don't know how I got off on that.

The prayer of petition.

It's a very specific prayer.

My children, I prayed over their spouses, right?

I would put my children to bed and I would pray over their spouses.

And I have to tell you today, God has answered every single prayer.

My son-in-laws, listen, Micah, Caleb, and soon to be in 54 days, Eli.

Listen, only God could give me Bible names for son-in-laws.

Listen, and not only are they Bible names, but they are men of God.

Let me tell you, I've also got a daughter-in-law who I knew had to be a special woman for my son.

Let me tell you, Morgan and Ethan, what a pair.

God did it.

Let me tell you, don't ever count the prayer of praying over your children's spouses as silly or dumb.

Even when they're five, six, seven years old, God has that person in mind.

And if you don't pray, who will?

The prayer of agreement is the second kind of prayer.

Matthew 18, 19, and 20 says, again, truly I tell you that if two of you agree on earth about anything that you ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.

For where two or three gather in my name, there I am.

This is corporate prayer, or it could be with two or three people.

It's the prayer of agreement.

It's two or more people uniting their faith for a specific outcome.

True agreement with another person requires unity of heart on the same matter.

I will say this, be very careful who you agree in prayer with.

Be very careful.

Make sure there's unity in the spirit.

There's no stronger agreement

than the power between a husband and a wife when they come together in prayer.

In fact, that's why the enemy fights your marriage so much is because he knows that if you two would ever begin to pray together, that the walls, that the enemy, the walls that he tries to build would all come down, that you would begin to see breakthrough in your life and breakthrough in the people around you.

The enemy will always try

to get you to separate from your spouse.

But let me tell you, the most powerful agreement is between a husband and a wife.

The prayer of faith is the third one.

James 5 verse 13 through 15 says, is anyone among you suffering?

Let him pray.

Is anyone cheerful?

Let him sing Psalms.

Is anyone among you sick?

Watch this.

Let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.

And watch this.

Here it is.

And the prayer of faith will save the sick and the Lord will raise him up.

And if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven.

What is the prayer of faith?

This prayer focuses on unwavering personal trust in God for a specific promise.

What is the promise you're believing for?

God is saying today, show me my word.

Remind me of my word when you pray.

Because that promise right here,

is what I go to.

It's what I speak.

I remember when I battled fear greatly in our early years of marriage, I was 19 years old and we had just stepped into ministry and I battled fear.

I was having major anxiety.

And I remember waking up in the middle of the night with an anxiety attack.

And I woke my husband up and I would have him pray for me.

And he would.

But I remember one morning we got up.

He said, Tangie, you can keep waking me up if you want to.

I'll cover you.

He said, but you're going to have to get on the inside of you who you are in Christ.

You're going to have to begin to pray over yourself and get the word on the inside of you.

And I remember searching for scriptures and coming across Timothy where it says, for I've not given you a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind.

And I would begin to quote that every time the enemy would try to bring fear on me and anxiety, I would begin to quote the word of God.

Why?

Because there's power in the word.

There's power in his promise.

There's power.

There's power.

Thank you, Father.

When my son was born, he was born with something called beta strip and we didn't know it.

Most doctors don't catch it.

And usually it's too late because you already bring the baby home.

It happens around day six or seven that they actually die.

But it's something that they catch coming through the birth canal.

And I thank God all the time for the little Asian nurse that caught that something was wrong with my son's breathing, his heart rate,

And Archie came in and told me, he said, we've got to pray.

We took hands and we agreed in faith over Ethan.

We begin to call out the calling on his life.

And we took the word of God and we turned to Isaiah 53, where it says, you were wounded for our transgressions.

You were bruised for our iniquity.

The chastisement that brought us peace was upon you.

And by your stripes, my son, I put Ethan's name in the verse, my son, Archie Ethaniel is healed.

today.

And I stood on that word.

Let me tell you, when God gives you a promise and you stand, listen, Satan can't steal the promise of God from you.

This is the way, this is the truth, and this is the life.

My son was able to come home on day 10, completely healed, completely whole.

And I thank God for it every day because the calling of God on his life is great.

Amen.

Romans 4, 17 says, calling those things which do not exist as though they did.

I remember one time I found a mole on my leg.

And as you get older, the moles start coming.

I mean, it's crazy.

I get tired of looking at my skin.

I'm like, what?

Another mole.

But I remember, it was like the Lord was testing my faith.

And I remember laying hands on this mole.

I don't think I'm crazy.

I laid hands on this mole.

I was like, it was so ugly.

I was like, Lord, just remove this mole.

Lord, you bore stripes on your back so that this mole could disappear.

And I remember after several days, I looked down and I could not find the mole.

The mole had disappeared.

Was that magic?

No, it was faith in the word of God.

As I began to speak over my body, listen, God's word was made manifest.

Hebrews 11.1, now faith is.

Now, right now.

Faith is right now.

It's the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.

Some of you have been praying for things and you don't see any change.

You don't see...

You don't feel like there's any progress being made.

Hebrews is saying, now faith is.

Now, right now, believe right now.

And it's the substance of the thing that you're hoping for, but you don't see.

Guess what?

When we don't see it, God is working.

God is moving.

God is shifting things around.

We don't see it, but we have to trust.

And believe with the power of prayer and faith and believe that God is working on our behalf.

Isaiah 55, 11 says, so is my word that goes out from my mouth.

It will not return to me empty or void.

It will accomplish what I desire.

It's so important for you to pray the word.

I can pray my words all day long.

But what God is trying to teach us is if we don't pray this word, if we don't pray this word, then we're throwing out prayers here and there.

But this is the word.

This is the way.

This is the truth.

Maybe God's calling some of you to study a little bit more and to study the scriptures and learn the scriptures so that when you go to pray, you can begin to quote those scriptures.

I'm trying to be practical this morning.

I want you to get this.

Is this okay?

I want you to understand that prayer is your weapon.

Prayer is your weapon.

Number four, the prayer of intercessions.

The prayer of intercession.

1 Timothy 2, 1 says, I urge then, first of all, that petitions and prayers and intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people.

for kings and all those in authority that we may live peaceful and quiet lives and all godliness and holiness.

This is good.

And it pleases God, our savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.

For there is one God say one, one mediator,

Between God and mankind and his name is Christ Jesus.

What is intercession?

Intercession to intercede means to stand in the middle.

stand in the middle.

Intercession focuses on advocating and standing in the gap for the needs of others, acting as a spiritual mediator by taking on the burdens, the sins, or the needs of someone else before God.

The intercessor steps into the shoes of a person, feels the compassion for them and goes to war for them.

Last Sunday, right up here in the third service, God began to move me with compassion for this generation.

I don't know if you were here last week, but I've never encountered that before in all of my life.

There was a compassion that actually overwhelmed me standing right up here on the front row.

And I came up on stage and I began to share about it.

But it was like God had me step in the shoes of this generation.

And I began to feel the weight of what they carry.

And there were so many kids up here worshiping.

And it was like how I could see parents.

Do they see these kids?

The prayers that we've prayed for these children.

And these kids are up here serving God and worshiping.

And it was like the spirit of intercession came on me for this generation.

That's how intercession works.

I want you to imagine a canyon.

On one side of the canyon is a person who needs help.

They need healing.

They need forgiveness.

And on the other side is God.

He's got everything they need.

Jesus, he's everything this person needs.

He is healing.

He has all power and he has all the love to help them.

What an intercessor does is it's someone who steps out in the middle and takes the hand of this person and takes the hand of God and they become the bridge that links them together.

Listen, you become a bridge when you're an intercessor.

You become a bridge.

You are the bridge.

You see someone hurting.

You become the intercessor.

You take their needs straight to the Father.

When you are interceding, you are saying, God, I am holding this person's hand and I am bringing their need directly to you.

I want to show you something right here in Ezekiel 22, verse 30, standing in the gap.

Where did this come from?

God was speaking to Israel.

Because they had fallen into sin and he was trying to teach them.

And he said, is there anyone, is there someone that could stand in the broken gaps of a city wall to protect it?

The mercy of God wanted an intercessor to come in, but he could not find one.

The scripture said he could not find an intercessor.

But then Jesus came.

Jesus became the one who stood in the gap, the one who intercedes for all humanity.

Do you get this?

Jesus is the great intercessor.

He bridged the greatest divide in human history.

At the cross, he stood between a holy God and sinful humanity and became the bridge that reconciled us to the Father.

Who will stand in the gap?

I can't find one, but Jesus does.

God sent his son to stand in the gap for us.

Now, what are we called to do?

Our call is to stand in the gap.

for the people around you, for the people you work with, for your family, for your spouse, for your children.

We live in a broken world.

People are hurting.

People are in need.

I've never seen marriages under attack right now like they are.

Listen, we live in a broken world.

What is God calling us to do?

God is calling us to be intercessors in this generation.

God is calling you.

You say, me?

I don't know how to pray.

All it is is taking the word of God and coming, shutting the door, putting everything aside and saying, Father, I intercede.

I pray for a generation.

God will honor it.

He doesn't look at the time that you spend with him.

It doesn't matter if it's 10 minutes, 15 minutes.

Listen, have you ever heard the older generation say, I prayed till I prayed through?

What does that mean?

That means I pray until I get peace.

That means I intercede and I bring the petition before the Lord and I pray on the behalf of others and my family until I get peace.

Until God lives.

Romans 8, 26 and 27, one of my favorite verses, because a lot of times we don't know what to pray, but listen to what Romans says.

For we do not know what we should pray.

But the Spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

Sometimes I don't know what to pray.

Sometimes my English words run out.

But the spirit of God begins to envelop me and I begin to pray with tongues and I begin to pray the word of God with groanings.

Come on.

I begin to pray.

I begin to seek the face of God.

That's what intercession is.

This right here, this weighted vest, 12 pounds.

It doesn't look like a lot, but try to walk in this.

gets heavy.

One day I was walking and I felt like I was getting a revelation as I was walking.

I had this weighted vest on and it was like the Lord said, Tangie, as a Christian, you carry the responsibility to pray.

I want you to understand that he said, he said, this weighted vest is just a tool that I'm going to speak to you right now about.

He said, this weighted vest is the responsibility.

It stands for the responsibility that you as a believer have on your life to pray.

It's my responsibility.

It's our responsibility.

It's our responsibility.

And then he gave me this illustration.

He began to talk about all the things because when I walk, I pray.

He began to just kind of show me how I carry all of the burdens.

My marriage, my children, my nation, right?

Provision.

God, are you going to provide for me

God, are you gonna provide the president?

Come on.

We're to pray for our leaders, not post about them on social media.

My healing.

I would even go as far as to say my neighbors.

As I walk, sometimes the Lord will begin to have me pray for my neighbors.

He said, Tangie, you have the responsibility to pray.

but carrying the weight of all of these things is mine.

And I went, ooh.

Every time I pray, there's an exchange that takes place.

Every time I pray, I give him the needs and he gives me his strength.

I want you to get a picture of this.

Eli, will you come?

Give Eli a hand as he comes.

This is my future son-in-law.

Every time I pray, God is with me, right?

And I begin to pray and I take off the burden.

In other words, I release it.

Lord, I give it to you.

I give you my children.

I give you my marriage.

Lord, I give you this nation.

God, I plead the blood of Jesus over this nation.

Lord, I give you, God, every need that I have.

Will you be my provision?

Will you be Jehovah Jireh, my provider?

Lord, I pray for the president of the United States.

Lord, I pray that you would give him wisdom.

Lord, I pray.

Lord, I pray for my neighbors today, Lord, as I walk.

And all of a sudden, the responsibility to pray is still there.

I feel that weight, but the burden is light.

Because why?

I've done an exchange.

I've given it to him today.

Listen, I'm called to pray, but I'm not responsible for the outcome.

Somebody needs to see this.

I'm called to pray, but it's his responsibility.

It's his responsibility.

I heard Catherine Coleman say this one time.

She said, God told me to pray for the sick.

So when I lay hands on them, I pray.

But when they don't get sick, I mean, when they don't get healed, she said one night after a meeting, I came to the Lord and I said, Lord, you've called me to pray.

You've called me to pray.

How come every one of them don't get healed?

And the Lord spoke to her and he said, I call you to pray, but it's up to me.

Because I'm sovereign.

In other words, every time I pray, I release the burden and I'll allow God to carry and fulfill the outcome.

Amen.

Amen.

The Bible says, come unto me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Have you ever been into a gym?

Guys, you'll know what I'm talking about.

You lay down on the bench and you begin to lift weights and you have a spotter.

Do you know what I'm talking about?

Speak to me.

Come on, talk.

Laying on a bench, just this visual, the spotter, as the person begins to lift the weight, they're not lifting the weight, but they're there to help them.

The burden, just in case, right?

Just in case.

It's kind of like a spotter, the Holy Spirit.

He says, I'm spotting you.

I'm right here.

If you'll come to me and begin to release the burden, come on, I'm right here.

I'll take it from you.

I'll take it from you.

I'm right here.

I'm right here.

Can you see a picture of this?

Thank you, Eli.

Give Eli a hand.

In 2 Chronicles 10,

Jehoshaphat was in the greatest battle of his life.

And the Lord said to him, this battle is not yours.

It's mine.

And that's what I want to tell somebody today.

I want to declare over you.

Second Chronicles 2015.

Do not be afraid or discouraged.

The battle is not yours.

It's the Lord's.

It's the Lord's.

He's called you to pray.

He's called us to intercede.

I will always carry the responsibility to pray.

But prayer allows me to walk around light.

He gives me strength and he takes my burden.

Amen.

Would you stand all over the room?

Thank you, Father.

Thank you, Lord.

You're so faithful to us, Jesus.

My prayer today is,

I said, Holy Spirit, I want them to understand and get this, that if you can ever understand the power of prayer, I'm looking right here at the miracle.

This guy right here, I can't even think of your name, Julie, your husband, Danny.

Went into the hospital.

Things went the wrong direction.

Multiple surgeries later.

We're praying.

We got word and we begin to pray.

God began to turn things around.

I can tell you today, there's some of you, you're a miracle without the power of prayer.

You wouldn't be standing here today.

I want to give two, two altar calls this morning.

The first one is if you've never received Jesus as your personal savior, I'm not going to have you bow your head because I want this to be something bold.

The Bible says, approach the throne of God boldly.

If you're in the room and you've never given the Lord your heart and you want to turn your life around today, I want you to just simply raise your hand right now all over the room.

Holy Spirit is speaking.

Holy Spirit is speaking.

Are you here?

Are you here?

You've never given your heart to Jesus.

The second altar call that I would like to give is this.

If you feel like that when you pray, your prayers hit the ceiling, you feel like they go nowhere.

God is saying today, I want you to come back to me.

I don't want you to give up in prayer.

I'm calling you to a greater level of intercession.

Is that you in the room today?

Is that you in the room?

Can you lift up your hands?

Thank you.

Thank you.

That should be the majority of us.

Lord call us to a greater level of intercession today.

Call us to a greater level of prayer today.

there's an old song that my grandmother used to sing back when I was a little girl in the old country church in North Carolina said what a friend we have in Jesus our sin and griefs to bear what a privilege

Everything to God in prayer.

And I like the chorus that says, Oh, what peace we often forfeit.

And oh, what needless pain we bear.

Because we do not carry everything, everything to God in prayer.

Just lift up your hands right now as I pray over you.

Father, I pray in the name of Jesus.

I come before your throne boldly and I ask, Holy Spirit, that you bring us back to a place of prayer.

that you bring us back to the feet of Jesus.

God, I don't know what's happened.

I don't know why some of us feel discouraged to pray, God, but I pray that that is broken today, God, that you would begin to cultivate in us a daily prayer life, God.

We call on the saints today to pray, God.

You've called us to be intercessors, Lord, for you were the great intercessor, Jesus.

Now you've called us to intercede for a generation.

Lord, we thank you for your word today.

We thank you for who you are.

And we will always be quick to give you the honor, the glory, and the praise.

In Jesus' name, amen and amen.

Thank you, guys.