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Well today is Pentecost Sunday, and I actually had forgotten that Pentecost Sunday is always 50 days after Easter, and a lot of churches of course are celebrating that today, and I don't know if we will be when we get in the sanctuary or not, but um we've actually been covering the Holy Spirit and Pentecost in this class pretty thoroughly lately, and and so um I actually I'm going on to another subject today. Can everybody understand me all right? It sounds a little crisp or something. Y'all can hear me and understand. Okay. Um today I'm gonna talk about prayer, and I have quite a bit of a lesson to cover, and I just feel in my spirit that maybe I'm not supposed to cover all of this. I'll just kind of follow the Lord as I go along because I want, I have been feeling a real burden to a call to prayer. That's why I named this lesson that. And so I know that I'm talking to people in front of me right now that pray. I know that. And so today uh I just want to call our attention to prayer. Stir up your pure mind, so to speak. Um, what a mighty sound of unity prayer I heard right over there last Sunday from this class as we gathered around Vanessa and prayed for her. And that's a kind of sound, and that's the kind of prayer that I want to hear us praying, and I know that's the kind of prayer that touches God. Now, prayer touches God, whether it's whispered or whether it is loud. I know that, and I will make sure you know I know that. But there's just something about God's people gathering to pray. And I'm gonna go there in just a little bit. But uh, I've been reading and studying from the book of Daniel for the past few weeks, and um the story, his story is in the Bible for a reason. Why is the story of Daniel and the book of Daniel, part of his part of the book of Daniel is prophecy about the end times. The latter part of the book is prophecy, but the first part of the book is what I want to kind of kind of aim on today. But what can we learn from Daniel? That's what I want to ask us this morning, and what I ask myself as I read, Lord, what is it, why are you drawing this to my attention? What can we learn? Well, first I want to give you a little background on him and remind you, you probably know this already, but Daniel's story started when he and uh thousands of Jews were deported to um Babylon after they were conquered, after Jerusalem was conquered, and and and they were all taken into Babylonian captivity, and they stayed there for about 50 years before some of them were allowed to start going back. So they were under bondage. They were almost, they were like slaves and they were like servants. Uh and Daniel could have given up on God when that happened, but he didn't. He held fast. And that's one of the things that I just want to make sure that I, you know, we're I'm calling our attention to prayer about today. There's things that happen in our lives that we don't understand. Life has some tough stuff to go through. And and but God is calling us to be faithful and to pray, even though we're going through hard times. Um early on in the book of Daniel, we read about Nebuchadnezzar. He was the first ruler. There was actually three rulers that during the book of Daniel and during Daniel's time in Babylon that he served under. But the first one was Nebuchadnezzar, and in his reign in Babylon, um, and his and his three friends, their names were Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, but we all know that their names were changed to Shadrach, Beshach, and Abednego. So the first part of the book of Daniel is their story and Daniel's story, but they were close friends, and they were brought there. And when they saw them, they were young and they were good looking, and they said, we want to fatten them up and nourish them and make them ready to be served for the king. But they refused to eat the king's delicacies. They said, No, we're not, we're not going to eat this food that's been uh offered to idols. They said, no, we'll just eat vegetables and drink water. That's where the Daniel fast comes from. Some people have heard that before when we have fast, but um, but they those three guys and Daniel came forth more healthy and more robust than than anybody and any of the others who were being fed all that fancy food and all those wonderful delicacies of the king. And uh, but they found favor. These guys found favor with in in with Nebuchadnezzar because Daniel's interpretation of a dream that the king had. And he not only interpreted the dream and what it meant when nobody else in the land could do it, but he even told the king what the dream was. Now he had to have a connection with God to be able to do that. And um we see the result of the jealousy of these Babylonian officials. They were they were jealous of Daniel because he was kind of raised up and given favor and given a position in the Babylonian government. And we see the position, we see the first thing that happened was these three Hebrew children, children were thrown into the fiery furnace. Well, I put this, I have this little slide up there because that's what I want us to look like right there, okay? They were thrown into the fiery furnace, the Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, because they wouldn't bow down to the golden image. And uh they refused to do that because it was not their God. And it was so hot that the men that threw them in the fiery furnace, they were burned up, throwing them in there. But not one hair on their head was singed. And the one beautiful part of that story is that there was a fourth man in the fire with them. Uh, we don't know if that was an angel or if that was Jesus. I've heard it taught both ways, but we know that God showed up when they were in that fiery furnace. And um, although my emphasis today is on Daniel's prayer life, um, this lets me know that these guys were praying people. These three guys were praying, pray, pray, uh, praying men, not just Daniel. They were praying men. And then uh later uh Belshazzar became the ruler of uh Babylon. And Daniel was summoned to read the writing on the wall. And what this what he did, he had a big party, a big drunken party, and he pulled out the holy vessels that had been confiscated from Jerusalem when they captured them. They were from the temple of God, and they used them and they were drinking out of them. And all of a sudden, a hand showed up on the wall, and it began writing on the wall, and um, and and the the words that were, I don't even know if that I can say them, a mini, many tarkle euphrasin, I think, are the are the Hebrew words, but they just simply meant they called for somebody to tell what did that mean? What did that mean? Well, Daniel, they knew about Daniel and they brought him in, and he told them, told, he told Belshazzar, he said, that's what that says is you are weighed in the balances and found wanting. And that night he was destroyed. And so then Darius was the next one that became uh that became the ruler of of Babylon. But Daniel could not again have told that king what that writing on the wall was had he not been a praying man. I want you to get that as I go this morning. He was a praying man. Um Daniel became one of the most trusted advisors and had a privileged position, and this angered the other administrators. And they plotted his death by convincing, they came up with a plot. Well, they knew he was a praying man. He already had that reputation. But they knew it was, so they thought, what can we do to bring this man down? So they talked the leader into decreeing that anybody that prayed to anybody other than um their idols there in Babylon would be punished, that they would they would have to pay the price and they'd be thrown into the lion's den. Of course, we know that's what happened next. Um, as a result, he was condemned to the den of lions because he didn't, he, Daniel prayed. He went to his prayer place and he prayed. And um again, God intervened by shutting the mouths of the lion. I'm telling you the story of Daniel right now is what I'm doing, getting where I'm going, okay? Um, you can see all the way through the book of Daniel, when you read it, the sovereignty of God. And that's real, real important over and over. In fact, a commentary that I read said that the very theme, the whole theme of the book of Daniel is the sovereignty of God. Um, and I I I thought about when I when I read that and as I was studying and trying to put together this lesson, I remembered a time, sometime this past year, when I was reading in Psalms and and what some of the Old Testament scriptures or chapters, but especially in Psalm, that it kept over and over this word, the sovereign God, kept coming up. It came up so many times that I'll begin to underline it. Sovereign God, sovereign God. And I and it stood out to me. It was it became a Rhema word to me. And I know that was for a reason, because we need to know that God is sovereign. And that's that's what we see when we read the book of Daniel. The definition of sovereign is this. Um, it refers to God's supreme power, his absolute authority and rightful rule over all of creation. It depicts God is the ultimate ruler who orchestrates all things according to his holy will. Now, that does not mean that because he's sovereign, he just sets things up and they happen whether no matter what we do. No, he has the ability to do anything he wants to because he's over everything. That's what he is. He's sovereign over it all. And the beautiful thing is we have the privilege to talk to a sovereign God, and that's what we do. And it changes our prayer life. Psalm 103 and 19 says, the Lord has made the heavens his throne, and from there he rules over everything. We need to read verses like this when we start to pray, because when we read it, it does something to our faith. Daniel 4.35 says, All the inhabitants of the earth are regarded as nothing. But he does according to his will in the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, and no one can hold back the hand or say to him, What have you done? Because God is sovereign. Colossians 1 16 and 17 says, For by him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and uninvisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created through him and for him, and he is before all things, and in him all things consist. Now you may be wondering, what has this got to do with a prayer lesson? Well, I can tell you this. When I begin to fret or worry, or get uh burdened or get worried or scared or have a need, a big need, when I realize it changes my way of praying. It makes me know I can talk to God about this. God's, I don't know any way in the world I could fix this. I don't even know how God could fix this. But his ways are above our ways, his thoughts above our thoughts, and he can do anything we need him to do because he is sovereign. And and we are so apt to fix things ourselves first. Try to work it out ourselves first, that we felt we we live beneath our privilege, the Bible says that, because we have the privilege to come boldly to the throne of God and know that he's God. He is God, and not only is he God, he's my God, he's your God, and we can ask him for whatever we need, and if it's too big that it looks impossible, it's not because he's sovereign. He's sovereign. And when you begin to know that, you know God is in control. Um, Daniel knew how to pray, and that's what he did. That's what he did. He knew how to pray because he knew his God was sovereign. But the real story is that Daniel was a praying man. Most people, when you say Daniel to most people, they think, oh, he's the one that got thrown in the dial in the line stand. But the real story of Daniel was that he was a praying man. So there's some really important lessons, a lot we could learn, but I'm just gonna point out, I think, about four of them this morning that I want to, that we can learn from Daniel. The first one is that God grants favor to people who pray. God grants favor to people who pray. Daniel 1 and 9, please test your servants for 10 days and let them give us vegetables to eat and water to drink. And we know what happened. He gave them favor. They just stood up, they prayed, and didn't eat the king's delicacies, and and this, but it doesn't mean when when we say God gives favor, that that means we'll be famous, or that we'll um get everything we want, or that all the bad circumstances we have to go through in life will disappear. That's not what favor is. It's just that God will be with you right there in the middle of it. And I could tell a lot of stories this morning. And if we just stopped right now and just had a testimony service, I guarantee you could too. In fact, I as I was writing this out and as I was thinking back through my notes and thinking about how God gives favor, I I thought of some stories. I thought, I'm just gonna tell them about so-and-so. And then I thought, no, I'm gonna tell them. I thought, now if I do that, I never will get through. So I'm just gonna go on and tell you that God gives favor even in the middle of hard things. I could tell you some stories of things that happened in my home and in my life during the times when Sam was so sick and during his death that my heart was heavy, my heart was broken, it was a tough time, but God was just there. He was just there in a way that it's hard for me to even describe. He and He He blessed me that way. He gives favor and He will be there, He'll show up for you. And then the next point is that God, well, that I had another scripture that I didn't. Let me go back and read it. Noelle, I'm skipping. That's what's happening. The second one is God gives courage to people who pray. Anyone ever needed some courage to do something you knew you were supposed to do and you're scared to death to do it? We pray. God gives courage to people who pray. We see this in Daniel 1 and 12. He said, Please test your servants for 10 days and let them give us vegetables to eat and water to drink. Now, do you think that didn't take courage for him to stand up and tell them that? He did, but but they refused to eat. And then the three Hebrew boys, it took courage to do what they did. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, Oh Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer to you in this matter. Can you see courage for them to stand up and say this to the king? If that is the case, they told him they were going to throw them in the fiery furnace. They said, if that's the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace. And he will deliver us from your hand, O King. Here's what I love. But if not, but if not, let us let it be known to you, O King, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up. So sometimes we feel led of the Holy Spirit to do some things, or we find ourselves in a in a certain situation where everybody's doing something that we know we can't do. We know we're not supposed to do. Or we see people that we see some injustice being done and somebody needs to speak up. I could think of a whole lot of things where we just need courage. And I'm gonna tell you, God does not want us as Christians to be wimps. He wants us to be bold, and that boldness comes through the Holy Spirit. We've already covered that for weeks now. But that hope, that boldness to stand up will come through being filled with the Holy Spirit, and God is counting on us to be strong and to take a stand when we're supposed to take a stand. Take a stand against sin. I don't mean we're supposed to go out and beat people over the head. You know what I mean. You stand up for what's right, it takes courage. But you know how you can get courage? Pray. Daniel was a praying man, that's where his courage came from. The Hebrew boys were praying men. And then the third thing is that God shows up in the lives of people who pray. Um, Daniel 1 and 15 says, and at the end of 10 days, their features appeared better and better and fatter in flesh, fatter in flesh than all the young men who ate the portion of the king's delicacy. They hadn't been on, they hadn't been taking protein powder, they hadn't been going to the gym, they just did what God told them to do, and they turned out healthier and more buffed than any of the other guys around because they did, they had courage to do, and God showed up in their life. And God will show up in your life if you're a praying person. And he'll show up in such a way that you'll know it's God. And when God answers a prayer, when I stood and talked to Lisa out there in that four-year last Sunday and the big old tears were in her eyes, I thought, wow, God's just shown up in her life and she's given him glory for it. And and and Ronnie, Lonnie, you could live in the house too, so it's we'll we'll give you credit. But I'm telling you, when God will just show up and you'll know it. Um, when I begin to think about this this fact that God just shows up in our lives when we pray, I think about my well I'll declare moments. Uh, and y'all have heard me say that so many times, but I want to tell you, I hope I never get so dull and so and take for granted God and his blessings and his goodness that I fail to see when he shows up in my life, when he gives me a revelation or a word, or just a word just at the right time, or uh when his presence just shows up and he manifests in my life and he gives me comfort and on and on and on, or he just shows up and all of a sudden you thought, oh, that's God. Oh, that's God. Well, I'll declare God. That I don't want to ever lose that awe of God, but you will be in awe of God if you pray. And we're praying people, and I'm just I'm just stirring up our pure minds today, I hope. Then um the third one was that Daniel had a prayer life. It's just a simple fact. But if you pray, you'll have a prayer life. Um, we know this because, well, let me go back. Now, when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home. The the writing that had been signed said that anybody that prayed to any other God other than their idols, that they would be thrown into the lion stand. Well, Daniel, he just went up to his upstairs room and opened the window so everybody could hear it. He prayed loud and they heard him, and he got thrown in the lion's den. But he had a prayer life. But let's read what the verse what the scripture says. And in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days. He didn't just pray three times that day. It was his custom to pray three times a day. Now I want to ask you a question. Do you have a custom to pray? What is a a custom to pray? It's your prayer life. It's when you pray. You have a you have a time. You I'm not saying if you miss it any day, you're what your custom is, that you're in trouble with God. No, but you have a name. You aim to pray. I aim to pray. Every night, right before I go to bed, I got a prayer chair. That's that's a custom that I have. You have yours. Everybody have, I hope you do. He had a custom to pray, and then he had a place to pray. Um now we can, the Bible says pray without ceasing. And and some people I hear people other times tell me how they pray on their way to work. That's okay. Or how they I've heard I've heard uh men especially say this, how they had a place out in the woods where they'd go and pray. And I don't know why that fascinated me. I just thought, how great, just go out there with God and just just talk to him, how wonderful that would be. But a place to pray is will keep you praying. I'm gonna say that again. If you have a place to pray, it'll keep you praying. And then a time to pray. This is what what this is a custom to pray, what it looks like. You have a time to pray. Daniel was three times a day. I'm assuming morning, noon, and night. I don't know what the times were, but but but he had a time that he prayed. And when if you don't, you know, if you um if you I've heard of old saying, if you plan to fail, I mean you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Fail. But if you don't have a plan to when you're going to pray, that's what a prayer life looks like. You have a plan, a plan of some kind. And then a method to pray. A method to pray. Now, I can't get on my knees anymore and pray. I sure wish I could, but if I did, I'd have to call 911 to come get me up. But I but wherever you pray, doesn't matter if you're on your knees or standing or wherever you are sitting or walking, but you have a method where you pray that you know you can touch God. I'm telling you, when you pray in a certain place at a certain time in a certain way, and God shows up and he just blesses you and you just know you're in his presence, you'll be drawn back to that place. You'll be drawn, oh, I remember. In fact, you'll remember it when things come along. You'll remember that time you had in prayer right there wherever it was. So it's good to have a place, a custom and a place and a time and a method to pray. Um, but notice that this verse says that he also gave thanks before his God. Jesus himself told us that we needed to do that. You don't ever, we don't just seek God's hand, but we need to seek his face. If we're all well just asking him for something, Lord, I need this, Lord, I need that, Lord, it's okay. We need to pray for our needs, but we need to first thank him for what he's done already. And you know, when you if you get in a spirit of prayer where you're just, for me, it's just to the blubbering stage, that's when I'm thanking the Lord. When it's when I'm just realizing, oh, you've been so good to me. You've done so much, but oh Lord, you answered that prayer, and how can I ever thank you for it? And how can I how can I forget all those times you've been there for me? You've been there for me. Lord, you are so good. And don't let me ever take for granted what he's done. When you begin to thank him and praise him for what he's done in your life, I'm gonna tell you, he'll show up. He'll show up, and your life, your prayer life will change. And then you present your hand. Then you say, Lord, would you do this? Lord, we need you to bless our country. We need you to bless our president, we need you to help us, Lord, people, your coming is soon, and we've got people lost, and we need to see people say, whatever you're praying about. But it's first good to start with thanks. Um, Jesus Himself taught us that that's important for us to do. Now, up until this part in this lesson, I've talked to you about your personal prayer life, individual. But now I want to go where I feel like what I really feel like the Lord has been drawing me to for weeks. And that is to what the importance of corporate prayer, corporate prayer together. The definition for corporate prayer is it's a group of believers praying together. We see all through the New Testament the result of God's people praying together. Here are some. Acts 431. And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness. They were praying together as a group of people corporately. When we see in Acts 42 through 47, and they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship. This is in the beginning of the early church, in the breaking of bread and in prayers. In prayers. Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. Now all of the who believed were together, together, and they all and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need. You see what getting together and praying, how what the results that happened to it. So continuing daily, with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God, and having favor with all the people, and the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved. You see the result of people getting together and praying? The Lord added daily souls to be saved. Now I'm gonna just stop right here and say that this is one of the main things that has been going through my spirit and in my mind about the need for us to pray corporately as a group of people. This is the way we will see people get saved. We won't see revival. We won't see people coming to the Lord, we won't see people getting convicted of sin until we get together and pray. But when we begin to pray, things begin to happen in the church. And that that is one of the big things about corporate prayer that I think is important, that I think we that I want to draw our attention to. Um But when we think about what happened as the people prayed, um the Holy Spirit was very active and very he showed up in corporate prayer. They were all praying in that upper room together. The Holy Spirit showed up. How many times have you been in a prayer meeting and the Holy Spirit showed up? I can tell you, right over there last Sunday. Whoo, I tell you, I went, I just kind of floated right on into the sanctuary last Sunday. I was in such a presence of God, the Holy Spirit showed up. When people get together and pray like that, the Holy Spirit will show up. Do you want to be in that kind of atmosphere? Yes, I want to be in that. And then another thing that happens when we get together and pray is God imparts wisdom and guidance to the church as his people gather together to pray and seek in him. We need to pray for our church. Can I say your hand if you think we need to pray for our church? All right. That does not mean we've got a bad church. I'm just saying we need revival. We need revival. We need to see more souls saved. We need to see an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. And so that's why we need corporate prayer. That's what I'm talking about, corporate prayer. Uh, the disciples prayed together for a replacement for Judas. Remember? That's another. There's all kind of illustrations I could give you from the Bible where the people prayed together in corporate prayer and God moved. They got together and prayed and said, we got to find somebody to take Judas' place. Well, they prayed. They prayed together, and God led them to an answer to pick Matthias to take his place. Um, then another point about praying corporately is that we grow spiritually as we hear others commit to pray. Now, that's one of those things that I wrote down, but it's hard to explain. When you, on a consistent basis, get together with people and pray, you will grow spiritually. That's one of those things why I believe in small groups is because if you have the right kind of small group and you get together and you really pray together, you grow spiritually. Anybody ever has had that happen in your life? I've heard people say at the end of the small group, oh the Lord, I've grown so much in the Lord this time. You know, be and but and and you know, it wasn't because they ate together, because I'm telling you, the small groups in my house, we ate. We ate first, but then we ate from God after that. And we grew spiritually together. So there's something about getting together with your brothers and sisters of like faith and praying together, it'll make you grow spiritually. Anyone want to do that? I want to do that. And then when non-Christians, this is another point, when non-Christians witness us praying together at church, it becomes a powerful witness to them. There's power in it. I can give I I'm glad I had this example last Sunday that I can refer to. I guarantee you, if there had been anybody in this class last Sunday that was not a Christian and that heard what went on right over there, you know what would happen? Put yourself in that place. What if you had been here and you were lost? What would it have done to you? Who I want what those people have. Whoo, I feel the Holy Spirit. We need to make people that don't know Jesus want what we have. How can we do that if we become praying people, praying people? And then corporate prayer draws us together and causes us to leave our own selfish desires and focus on others. When we were praying for Vanessa last Sunday, I didn't think of any of the rest of y'all, or I didn't think of anything I needed. All I thought about was her. And Vanessa, I know God touched you, honey. I know it. And I'm going to tell you, when you get together and you pray and you put somebody out there in the middle, pray for them, or even as a corporate, you just start praying over a situation. You get your mind off yourself and you get your mind on others. And I believe when you pull up on your phone or whatever, however, how you do what Tommy Quinn puts out out there every Sunday night from that book of people for us to pray for, when you start calling those names, you're not thinking about, Lord, I need you to do this for me and I need you to do that for me. You're praying for the needs of others. There's power in praying for others. It gets your body off of you and gets your mind on the others. Um this week, one late one night this week, and I don't something happen, and I don't think it was random because the Lord knew I was going to be teaching this lesson today. But I I just kind of I had seen on the Facebook that who the speakers at the General Assembly is gonna be this year. And and uh Samuel Rodriguez was mentioned. I've heard him speak one time somewhere before, and I remember what a powerful speaker and preacher he was. He's from California. And so I looked him up, and as I looked him up and began looking at some of his sermons, uh I was I was just drawn to one entitled Raise the Volume. Raise the Volume. And he it was a video of him preaching with a bunch of preachers with him. Uh and it caught my attention because when I when I saw that raise the volume, I thought about last Sunday how we raised the volume when we prayed. We were all there whispering, Lord, touch finesse, but I'm talking about it got loud. Now, does it have to get loud for God to hear us? No. No, but there's something in crying out, speak it out, calling the name of God and being bold, being bold in your prayer. But um this Samuel Rodriguez, he he said, um, what is your what is your reputation? Um he said, Daniel had a reputation. Well, he didn't say this, but when he said that, I thought, well, Daniel had a reputation. I've been talking about it this morning. What was his reputation? Was it that he got thrown in the lines then? Nah. He was a praying man. He was a praying man. Do you have a reputation among people that know you? Or are you ashamed to call out to God? This is things he said. And this is the scripture he used, and we're so familiar with this story, but I'm gonna read it again. I want you to, I want to draw our attention to it. Now they came to Jericho. This is Jesus and his disciples, and as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great multitude, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the road begging. And when he heard that he would that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. And they wanted him to be quiet, but he cried out all the more, Son of David, have mercy on me. So Jesus stood and still and commanded him to be called. I'm gonna cry out to Jesus so he'll he'll stop when I call, don't you? I want him to hear me. And I still I want him to I'm gonna say, just Jesus, son of David, hear me so he'll listen to me. And they called the blind man, saying to him, Son of be of good cheer, rise, he is calling you. And throwing aside his garment, he rose and came to Jesus. So Jesus answered and said to him, What do you want me to do for you? Did you know when you get on your knees or you get somewhere, you say, Jesus, son of David, immediately he says back to us, What do you need me to do for you? Well, then you tell him, the blind man said to him, Raboni, that I may receive my sight. And Jesus said to him, Go your way. Your faith, everybody say, faith. Your faith has made you well. And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus on the road. Notice that Barnabas was not ashamed to call out to Jesus in a crowd. He shouted. He shouted. Um, and Jesus was attracted to a man's shout. He emphasized that so much in that sermon. Um, Jesus, son of David, um, Jesus is always attracted to a worshiper. When we begin to, he's always attracted to a person that calls out in front of people that and he recognized him. Jesus is attracted when we just abandon whatever. Lord, I just praise you. Oh, Lord, I thank you. I don't care what anybody thinks. If I'm gonna, if I want to raise my hands, if I want to skip around or whatever, if I want to let tears roll down my face, I don't care, Lord, I'm worshiping you. He's attracted to that. Whatever is your way of crying out to Jesus, he's attracted to that and he hears us. And he gave then notice that when he did that, Jesus gave him opportunity to tell him what he needed. That's what we do weekly when we call up the names of people of prayer for prayer in the Sunday school class, or when we pray for that people in that book. We call out to Jesus in our personal prayer life when we tell him exactly what we need. But he already knew what the blind man needed. That's a point you don't need to forget. He already knew what that blind man did. He knew he was blind, but he wanted him to ask. He wants us to tell him, he wants us to praise him and call out to him and then tell him what we need him to do. Uh Jesus healed him and gave him his sight, but don't miss this point. He said, Your faith has made you well. How did he exemplify his faith? He called out to him and said, I know you're the one. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, I know you can do it. Jesus, I know you can do it. But I'm going to tell you, when you start crying out, Jesus, son of David, and you cried out to him, you get his attention. Am I telling you you've got to cry loud before he'll hear you? No. No. But when you but when we lose, abandon everything, we get humble before the Lord. In fact, there's a verse that we know the heart that says, if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves, that means don't care what anybody thinks, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and I will forgive their sin and heal their land. Do we need him to heal our land? Oh, yes we do. Oh, yes we do. I see the humility in him. And he said, Rodriguez says when we learn to shout out our prayer, our life is about to become more effective. So we had everyone in the crowd there in the on that bed. He had all those people saying, Jesus, son of David, Jesus, son of David. Well, I'm gonna tell y'all what I did. If you had been out at my house, I guess it must have been about Thursday night when I was listening to this. It's almost midnight. And I just began to cry out just as loud as I could. I didn't have any neighbors, I don't guess, that heard me. I don't know if y'all heard me out there or not, but I said, Jesus, son of David. And the minute the devil said, You are so stupid. And I said, That's all right, Jesus, son of David. And I had church right there by myself because I shouted out to him. So I'm telling you this morning, we don't need to be silent Pentecostals. Are we silent Pentecostals? Are we ashamed to shout out, Jesus, Jesus, I need you. Oh God, we need you. Oh, God, we need you. We need prayer meetings where we come together and we shout out and we we call out to God together. And I believe, class, it's time to pray. It's time for us to pray. And um, prayer makes a difference. It makes a prayer difference in me, it makes a difference in our situation, and it makes a difference in our future. And so I'll leave with this question today. What is our plan for prayer? I think I don't think so.