Learning to Pray w/ Pastor Jerry Stott

Hello and welcome to the Arise Church Podcast.

We are so glad you're here and want to thank you for joining us

today for the audio version of our Sunday morning message.

We want to invite you to join us in person at our Sunday morning

celebration every Sunday at 10 AM.

We are located on Old Jenks Rd. in Apex, NC.

Today we're so excited and honored to have a really good

friend of ours, Doctor Jerry Scott and his wife Julie.

They have been to Arise Church now several times, but they

serve in the eastern part of the world, specifically in the

Southeast Asia and the South Pacific.

And Jerry is what in our denomination is called a global

associate director. It's very, very fancy title, but

it's actually really appropriate because he overseas in that part

of the world, more churches in his region than any other region

on the planet. For Foursquare, I think you said

yesterday, 35,000 churches, 38,000 churches, Foursquare

churches. So in the United States, for

context, in our country, there's about 1300 Foursquare churches.

In his region of the world, there's 38,000.

So it's a huge difference, but they're so humble.

We've been so gracious to us and we've just become good friends

over the years. And so I just encourage you to

open up your heart to receive today.

He's got a great word that the Lord's put on his, on his heart.

He's funny, he's got great stories.

He's very self deprecating, which I appreciate because it

just makes me feel normal. It's like, oh good, God can use

me too. And so I just love that about

him. But would you please help me

welcome both of them, both Doctor Jerry Stott and his wife

Julie? Well, praise the Lord, very good

to see you all today. I had the the great privilege of

seeing a number of you yesterday and that was fun.

That was a that was a fun day yesterday.

Just a joy. But it's always a joy for us to

be here with you. And yes, we've been here to

arise Church of a number of Times Now and I'm watching

something develop in you and it's exciting to me to watch, I

have to tell you, because I'm watching and experiencing what

the Lord is doing here and the the freedom that is developing

here. And it even hits me because I

remember when we first came, what I felt.

I, I don't mean to put myself out there on the thing, but I

really do know the presence of the Lord.

There was a time in my life where I was literally caught up

into, I don't know what even like what Paul, the apostle Paul

said into the heavenly realm. And I've experienced the

presence of the Lord in such a way that now I know when he's

there and when he's not there and when he's in a church and

when he's not in that church. And, and because we travel to so

many churches and I go in and out, it is so refreshing to me

when I come into a church, I go, oh, right away, He's here.

He's here with you even before you start to worship.

He's here and and so I love that about you.

I love being here with you and seeing so many of you, my

friends here. Well, I want to jump into right

away, jump into something I, I felt to share with you because

of where I believe you are AT and maybe a little bit of a next

steps for you as a church, because you're a church that's

believing for the Lord to move mightily correct.

You're believing for a mighty move of the Holy Spirit.

So I, I want to talk to you a little bit about a very simple

and a subject you, you know, you should know about.

But it's a subject that we, we know we should know about, but

we don't always do. And it's something that we know

we should do and we really know we should do it.

And we sometimes feel guilty because we don't.

And that's the, that's the subject of prayer.

And then someone goes, oh, no, yeah, I know I need to do that.

But I, I, I don't do that. But one of the things that I've

studied a lot, I've studied a lot, but one of the things that

I've really studied is revivals throughout history.

And one of the things I found that with revivals throughout

history is that they always, always, always seem to start

with this thing called prayer. They don't just come.

They come when people pray. And so as I as I, I, I, I read

and study it again. I love it.

I witness, I go, oh, yeah. What what was the first steps

before the revival? Yeah, it was prayer.

And, and you read about like crazy ones, like, you know, in

the 19th century was Charles Finney and, you know, the great

evangelist Charles Finney. But he had, and he had revivals

where people would be a mile down the road, you know, back

before they had a car and everything was still horse and

buggy or horse or walking. And as they're getting close to

the Revival center, people are just falling to the ground and

repenting and calling out on God for and they don't know why or

when Charles Finney was on a train one time and just his

train came into a town and stopped in a town.

And when it stopped the, the people in the town who were

different ones fighting and other things, they immediately

they just fell to their knees and they began to call out on

God and repent. And no one had any understanding

of why would they do that. But it was because someone first

prayed Charles Finney would go up on the on the usually before

a a great event, and he'd go up on the hills or whatever around

the city or town where they were going to minister.

And he'd just roll around on the ground and pray for some days

before believing for a move of God.

And then the move of God came and it was just that simple.

Or the Welsh revival, which I won't go into because I have a

lot of stories on that with Evan Roberts, The Who young man who

began to pray for his community. And it, it made such an impact

that the people, literally, and some of the people in the

stories there are some pretty vile people.

You know the man, mostly they, they all worked in the mines,

but after their job, they lived in the bar until they went home,

crashed out and got up and went to the mines again in the

morning and then went back to the bar.

And, and, but with Evan Roberts, when he began to pray for his

community, everything, everything, everything changed.

First, the bars closed down because nobody was out there

drinking and partying anymore at night.

Secondly, the Football League closed down because all the all

the football players decided to go be missionaries and so it

emptied them out. It it just changed everything.

The mines closed down. And the reason the mines closed

down where all the men worked is because they had to close them

down for a while because back then they had the the mules

brought the ore out of the mines and they were trained by the

miners and the miners had trained them all to respond to

their commands with curse words. So when they got saved and

filled with the Holy Spirit and they wouldn't use those words

anymore, the mules didn't know what to do and they couldn't get

them out to get them to work. So they had to shut the mines

down, retrain the mules to get them back in on on track,

literally. So then of course you have the

Azusa St. revival, which actually even Foursquare has its

roots some back into that which was the nineteen O 6 revival

there on Azusa St. in Los Angeles.

But a revival where where a man just went to praying, believing

for the Holy Spirit. And it came in such power.

I mean, he put his head in an apple cart.

William Seymour put him put his head into an apple cart and just

prayed God send the Holy Spirit. And it came in such a way that

the, literally the, from around the world, when travel wasn't as

easy as it is now, people came to experience the Azusa St.

revival where they even had the fire department come three times

because people said the top of the horse barn where they were

meeting, it was an old horse barn where they met the, the,

the people outside said that it's on fire.

It's on fire. And the police, they were, they

would call the fire department and they'd come and go.

There's no fire, but the fire, the Holy Spirit was there.

And it all started with a man who said, I'm going to pray till

the Holy Spirit comes. So we find this and again, we as

Christians, we all know this is so important, but we don't

always do it and we don't know how to do it and we don't really

realize the impact. I have a friend of mine who is a

one of our Foursquare pastors in one of the island nations.

And he has the largest Foursquare church in this, in

this nation. And he, he actually came from,

he was born in an island off of the main island where he lives,

an island. And the island where he live,

where he was born was known as the Witchcraft Island.

And it's just filled with witchcraft, filled with people,

this. And that's the family he grew up

in. Well, now, because he's family,

he still goes back to see them, though he's a pastor and he has

to go back to Witchcraft Island to visit.

And his aunt, his auntie is one of the the lead witches in the

island. And it's so interesting.

He he he came back one time and he says, yeah, I saw the family

and saw my auntie. And my auntie was laughing at me

one day and said, said, oh, you, you Christians said if you only

knew what power you have when you pray, you would pray so much

more. Who was this coming from?

Like, OK, I get it. I need to change some things.

So we as believers have to know the power of what prayer will do

in changing everything around us even.

And I'll share this last testimony before I get into what

I want to really share with you today.

I remember and it was back, I think in like 901990 or 91 where

there was a group of believers at Halloween that decided to

have a prayer meeting on Halloween just to pray the Lord

would cover everything. And, and you know how we as

Christians do, we don't really have Halloween.

We have Harvest day and we do these other things because we're

not going to celebrate in that same way.

So these Christians decided to call and open up for all the

churches in the, in the city. This was in the city of San

Francisco to pray on Halloween night.

So they go, great, OK, we're all going to just pray and all

churches can come together and we don't, regardless of the

denomination. So they gathered to pray and

they rented a building. And when they they rented the

building for the night, just to be in there to pray, all of a

sudden the Satanist in the city, and I don't know if some of you

remember that San Francisco used to be the headquarters for the

Church of Satan. Remember, it was the guy was

Anton Lavey or something who ran the place.

And he was the, you know, the chief Satanist head of the

Church of Satan. And so one of the Satanist high

priest came down to the church. I mean, not the church, but the

building that the Christians rented.

And he drew a chalk circle or something around the entire

building. So it caught the attention of

the news media. And so the news comes out and

sees this thing going on. And so says to the Satanist high

priest, So what are you doing? Like what's going on here?

And the Satanist high priest says, well, we're we're here to

protest against these Christians.

What are you threatened with them for?

Say that? But process.

So, so why, what's the problem? Well, this is our night, OK?

And, and so why, why do they bother you?

Well, they're here to pray and that affects our atmosphere,

really. So, so the this reporter goes on

and asks a few questions and then says to the Satanist high

priest, do you have anything else, anything else you want to

say? And the Satanist high priest

says, well, we just want to encourage all other religions to

come and stand with us against these Christians.

Doesn't that tell you something? You have some power when you

pray. Something happens when you pray.

So of course we know, we know why we should do these things

because we, again, we always feel the guilt.

And I, I had to learn about prayer in a little bit of an

uncomfortable way because I was a young pastor.

Julie and I were young pastors. I think I was all of 21 or 22

years old. And we were, we were at this

church, we were associate pastors.

And the pastor, though, decided to teach on prayer.

OK. So he teaches a little series on

prayer. And he says, and we as a church

are committed to prayer. And so he says from now on in

this church until Jesus comes, we're going to have prayer every

morning at 6:00 AM, seven days a week.

And Pastor Jerry's going to lead it.

And so. Oh, yeah, thank you.

Julie remembers every day I had to head to the church 5:00 in

the morning and, you know, be there to open the doors at 5:30

and wait for everybody to come for the prayer meeting that the

pastor called. And So what do we do?

Like how to do and the whole thing, it was scheduled to be

for an hour. And so I watch people learning

to pray. Now after the pastor taught on

this, of course, everybody's excited.

Yes, we're going to pray, we're going to pray, we're going to

pray for an hour. And those those disciples that

couldn't pray with Jesus for an hour, we're not going to be like

them. We're going to pray.

And I'd watch these people pray so that we'd gather, we'd all

come together and we'd circle around at the front like right

here. And as we, we would get around

in circles. It was, yes, Lord, yes, Lord, I

just pray and I pray, Lord, for our church, Lord, yes, Lord, and

I pray, we pray, we pray for our pastor, Lord, yes, and yes, we

pray for our pastor and we pray for the children's ministry,

Lord, And we pray for our city that should send revival, Lord

and, and Lord, yes, Lord, we just pray for our pastor and for

our church and Lord, and all the children, Yes, Lord, we'll pray

for the children. Yes, Lord, yes, Lord.

Well, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah.

Because you know, you don't know what else to say.

I mean, that's the perfect thing to say.

And so yes, Lord, and yes, we're going to go and we're going to

pray, Lord. And it'd be, I, I checked the

clock, it was about 5 minutes. Everybody was finished praying,

always, and everybody who said their little prayer was done.

And so then they did what you do at 6:00 in the morning and

you're still tired. You.

Well, I'm just going to get before the Lord here, you know,

I'm going to get before the Lord.

And so you go find a nice little Pew or seat and you kind of get

down and you get there on your knees and you go, yes, Lord, Oh

yes, Lord, yes, Lord, Hallelujah.

And I, I literally, I'm telling you the truth, I'd walk around,

I could hear these people snoring all over the place

during the thing. Why?

Because we didn't know how to pray yet.

We knew we needed to and we didn't.

We, but we didn't know how to do it.

So, so I really began getting into some things and I wanted to

teach these people things and I needed to be able to lead them

in prayer for that hour so that we actually prayed.

And we didn't do that. Get down and sleep at the Pew.

So of course, Jesus had the disciples come to him and they

said, Lord teach us to pray. Luke 11 and one, teach us to

pray. And then of course, you know

also that the Lord gave us what we know, as we call it the Our

Father Prayer or the Lord's Prayer and where Jesus in

Matthew chapter 6 and and 9. And I want us to look at these

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

scriptures. You know it very well.

Pray then in this way, our Father, who art in heaven,

hallowed be thy name, Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done

on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day Our Daily

Bread. Forgive us our debts, as we've

also forgiven our debtors and lead us not into temptation, but

deliver us from evil. For thine is the Kingdom and the

power and the glory forever. Amen.

OK, we all know that, right? Is that all we need to do?

Oh, but most people don't know that because we go and I, I had

to time this a number of times, a number of times I've timed it.

I can say that prayer in 10 seconds.

And if I'm looking relaxed, like I'm really praying 13 seconds.

So is that all we're called to do So then I that's why I looked

at that and I went because that's what people would do as

well. We'd get into our prayer time.

They'd pray a few things and then they'd give off their

hallelujahs. And then when they didn't know

what to pray anymore, they'd go our Father who art in heaven,

hallowed be thy name, They'd get through it.

But we always felt, and I believe we always felt empty.

So this is what I began to share with them.

The first thing is this Jesus, I want you to notice something

when he said pray in this manner, notice he didn't say

pray this prayer. Really.

Oh no, no, Jesus said pray this prayer.

I've been taught that my whole life.

No, Jesus didn't say pray this prayer.

He said pray in this manner, this fashion.

The in the Greek language, it's a Hutu and it, it doesn't, it

simply means in this fashion, according to this way or, or, or

according to this layout, according to this kind of this

plan here you, you pray in this direction.

He didn't say pray this prayer, but we've been taught this is

the prayer you pray and it's and it's great to pray that I'm not

I'm not saying anything's wrong with that, but Jesus says no

pray in this direction, pray in this matter.

So I began to look at this and I and I thought well, and so I

told these folks and I did some studying.

I learned some things. So let's take some time to pray.

Now when we time we come to pray, we're of course coming to

the presence of the Lord. So how do you come into the

presence of the Lord? You enter his gates with

Thanksgiving and doing it into his courts with what praise so

we would take a time and just begin to thank the Lord and

glorify him and and Lord, we praise you.

We worship you today. We invite your presence here,

Lord with us today. We welcome you in and we just we

just come before you with with open though we're tired, Lord,

open and and glad hearts just to be in your presence, Lord.

So come and fill us today and be in our midst.

And then of course. We would then begin to come to a

place of pray and so I, I would say to him this, and it was some

of it was from my study, but I'd say, OK, let's start, start.

How did Jesus tell us to pray? He said, well, when you start

out and when you pray, you pray to your father, Didn't he,

Didn't he say that your father who loves you, your Father who

knows everything about you, your father who loves you and is

concerned about you so much that Jesus said not even a Sparrow

falls. It doesn't go outside his

notice, right? So regardless of maybe how your

earthly father situation was, you have a heavenly Father that

is always all loving, all caring, always there for you.

What I loved about it too. What, what Jesus told us in

Matthew 711, He says, if you being evil know how to give good

gifts to your children. And who was he saying you being

evil? He's talking to the Jews in

this. He's talking to the people of

God, He says, and you being evil know how to give good gifts to

your children. How many of you parents you know

how to give good gifts to your children?

That's what we do. If you being evil, know how to

give good gifts to your children, how much more will

your heavenly Father give you? What is good to those who ask

Him or others? Of course, the other verse says

it this way. How much more will the Father

give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?

So I bring the people in. I said, OK, right now, let's

pray. The Father was going to give you

the Holy Spirit today. He's going to send the Holy

Spirit on you. And John 1416, what does He say?

I'm going to ask the Father and He's going to give you a helper

that's going to be with you to help you today.

So as we start our day, we're going to have help.

We have help to start this day. The Lord is going to be with me

and the Holy Spirit's going to guide me.

What does he also say? The helper, the Holy Spirit,

whom the Father will send in my name, He's going to teach you

all things. So I have, thank you, Lord, that

I have a teacher today. The Holy Spirit is going to

teach me and lead me. And Lord, would you send the

Holy Spirit to teach my children today and lead them today and

guide them today. Father, send this on me today

that you would be you would be a part of our lives.

Father, we welcome you and then and and I would use this

opportunity to say, Holy Spirit, you're welcome in my life today.

Come and fill me today. Come and work in me today.

And then of course, he, you know, the prayer, he says

hallowed be thy name. Now hallowed simply means holy.

It really it just means holy. Now, what does holy mean?

Well, from from what we see in the scripture, something that

was holy just simply meant it was set apart.

When it's set apart for a specific purpose, it's holy

because it's set apart for the Lord for a specific purpose.

So he says hallowed or holy be thy name or set apart.

Your name is set apart for a work, for a plan, for a purpose.

And it's very interesting because if you look at the

Scripture, how many know that the Lord has a whole number of

names that in the, in the Scripture they are, we call them

the compound names of God. We know that we really look at

his name as Yahweh, or it would really be, I think Java, or we

call it Yahweh. And then that became to us in

English the word Jehovah or Jehovah.

But then it we have all these compound names of God to

understand who he is and what he does.

And so I would bring the people into a place of prayer and you

can learn this and do this as well and and remember who he is.

So when you start your day, I realized God or Jehovah, you are

also named Tasid canoe, which means the God who is our

righteousness. So Lord, thank you today that

you are my righteousness. Oh Lord, yeah, I had a bad day

yesterday or I went through that yesterday, but today you are my

righteousness. I am righteous not because of me

what I've done, but I am righteous because of you.

Your righteousness covers me. And then we we also see that

that name of the Lord Maketish, Jehovah Maketish, which means

our sanctifier. And so Lord, because you're my

righteousness, I'm righteous in you.

But now you are the one who sanctifies to me, and you make

me holy today because of your righteousness.

And you are now in the making, in the process of making me

holy. You are my sanctifier.

You of course, and you guys all know this one or most of you

will know this one. He's also called Jehovah Jireh.

Oh, I let there's that, that famous song on the Christian

Jireh. More than enough.

My wife loves that song. He's your provider.

So as you start your day and you're praying and asking the

Lord, I, I bring everyone to remember.

Remember the Lord is your provider today.

He is Jehovah Jireh. And Lord, I thank you that

you're going to make every provision for me today, for my

family, my children, my church, and all that I need.

He, of course, is also known as Jehovah.

What Rapha, who is what? The Lord, my healer.

He's the Lord, my healer. So today I thank you, Lord, that

you are my healer. You are the healer in my family.

You're the healer of my friends and those I care about, Lord.

And so you lift up those who are suffering or struggling and you

pray for them right then every day, Lord.

You're my healer today. And I recognize that Lord the

Devil will not rob me of that, because you are my healer and by

your stripes I am already healed, whether I whether I feel

well or not. Today I am trusting in the Lord

my God, who is my healer. He is of course, also called

Jehovah Nisi, the Lord my banner, who goes before you and

you go in that name and you go out in that name.

He is the one that's there for you.

He's Jehovah Rohi, and you'll know this one, the Lord who is

my shepherd, the Lord who is my shepherd.

So yes, Lord, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow

of death, I don't have to fear any evil because you are with

me. Your rod and your staff, they

comfort me. You prepare a table before me

today in the presence of my enemies, and you've anointed my

head with oil today and my cup overflows.

Why? Because you are my shepherd

today, Lord, and you will see me through your Jehovah Shama,

which is means the God who is there.

And I like that because he's the God who is there in every

situation that you face, every circumstance you face, and

nothing escapes his notice. That's who he is.

He's you'll know this one. He's he's Jehovah Shalom.

We we know that one right? He's the Lord who is our peace.

We heard it today, the one who will keep us in perfect peace

and the one who gives us the peace that surpasses all

understanding that that will will guard our hearts and our

minds when nothing else makes sense.

But Lord, as I start my day with you today, I thank you that you

are my peace. Bring peace to my situation now.

Bring peace in my family today and cover me.

He, of course, is as well, and I like this one.

He's called Jehovah Gamola, which means the Lord of the

payback. He's the Lord of the payback and

we know the Scripture says he's the rewarder of those that

diligently seek him. And whatever has happened to

you, whatever you faced or you've gone through, as you

serve the Lord and follow him, he is the Lord of the that's

going to pay back in your life. Whatever's been taken from you,

whatever the enemy's tried to, to steal, to kill and destroy,

the Lord has come to bring you life and life more abundantly.

Correct. He is the Lord of the payback

Jehovah Gamola. I and I even wondered I'm not

sure about this is just my theory.

I wondered if they got this is where we got the the the word

Mullah. Give me some Mullah Gamola.

Give me you know, take care of him.

The Lord is the Lord of the payback.

And of course you'll know this one.

It's it's a different compound name.

He is also, haven't you ever heard of, of his name, El

Shaddai? El Shaddai, which means the

source of blessing. That is all.

Oh, I like this. It's all around me.

I have blessing all around me. Because what does the Bible tell

us when we follow him and serve him?

These blessings shall follow you.

These blessings shall come upon you, and these blessings will

overtake you, which means what? They're ahead of you.

Blessings are ahead of you. You don't know anything about,

but you're going to walk into it.

So you let me tell you what, so you're here praying.

You don't even know what at first you're praying about All

of a sudden by the time you get to here, you're pretty happy.

Hey, I can do this today. The Lord is the Lord is my

source of blessing. Then of course, how we first

really when we start at the beginning, we started with that

name Yuval or we look at as Yahweh.

But that's actually when Moses had the encounter with the Lord

and said, who do I if I'm going to go down and talk to Pharaoh,

so and who do I say sent me and who are you and what's your

name? And the Lord said what I am that

I am. Everybody remember that story

for those of you that never watched the old 10 Commandments

movie. I am that I am that I am but but

I like to look at it this way. He said I am that I am and I, I

don't know if he said it exactly that way.

I like to believe that he said, Moses, who are who are you?

I am that I am so I am that. What do you need?

I am that. What are you going through?

What situation you're in? What problem is there?

What is there in existence that you need?

I am that. I am that.

I am, just so you know, I am I am that.

And then of course, we have the most famous name which we know

this, the name that is above every name, Jesus, that

everything in my life and everything around me will bow to

that name of Jesus. And let me, let me look at this.

We're just getting started in our prayer.

Then we come to him and say, so Lord, because you are all of

that. Then thy Kingdom come, Thy will

be done on earth, in my life on earth the way it's done in

heaven. And you know the, you know, the

translation of what a Kingdom is.

You might not know this. You say, oh, Kingdom.

Well, you know what, what a Kingdom, how they translate

this. A Kingdom is wherever it's it's

not that complicated. A Kingdom is wherever a King's

rule and reign is acknowledged and obeyed.

You go, OK, so I bring people to think, well, how much of the

Kingdom do you want in your life?

Oh, I want all the Kingdom. Well, how much of your life

acknowledges and obeys the king? So it's a good opportunity to

take in, in your in your morning time with the Lord or whenever

it is that you choose to pray that you say, oh Lord, examine

my heart, examine my life. How much of my life is committed

and surrendered to you? Is there territory in my life

that is not completely committed to your Kingdom where you've

stepped in? Are there areas of my life where

the Kingdom of darkness may have a bit of a foothold or a bit of

a place in my life? And so, Lord, today as I

acknowledge who you are, as I recognize who you are, I also

surrender to you right now. Lord, I surrender and say thy

Kingdom come take over this every area of my life.

Lord, I surrender this to you today.

I surrender these things to you today.

May I surrender these weaknesses to you today.

Your Kingdom come and your will be done in my life.

That heaven would rule and reign in my life today and there would

be no other. And so, Lord, I set that before

you today. See, the Kingdom only comes to

the degree that you acknowledge and obey the King.

And I can preach a whole nother sermon on that.

But we won't. But we do come to a place where

we say, search me, O God, and like David prayed, created me a

clean heart. O God, renew a right or

steadfast spirit in me. Then of course, yes, Thy will be

done on earth as it is in heaven.

And we come to a place and we look at our life while we're

praying and we say, Lord, am I going into places that are my

will or the steps I'm taking your will, What are what?

What am I doing? I love the Scripture, Proverbs

Proverbs 3:5

3, verse 5 and 6. And you all probably know this

well. Trust in the Lord with all your

heart and don't lean on your own understanding, which means don't

try to figure it out yourself what's going on in your life.

Just in all your ways, acknowledge Him and he is the

one who will direct your steps or make your path straight.

So I bring people to say you pray this Lord, I'm surrendering

all my heart and life to you, but I'm trusting you.

You're going to direct my steps. And how many know God is big

enough and faithful enough to do that.

He can turn the things around in your life.

And that's why we pray. Here's here's one of the things,

one of the reasons why we pray in the Spirit.

Romans 8 and 27, you'll know this.

So he who searches the hearts and knows what the mind of the

Spirit because he intercedes or prays for you, the Saints

according to the will of God. So Lord, we pray today and we

surrender to you that we would walk according to your will, not

what it looks like for us, what it looks like for you, because

you are the God who puts our steps in order and brings us to

the place in life that you've called us to be.

And yes, Lord, though as we looked at before, we may go

through the valley of the shadow of death, but we trust you,

Lord, we will get through the valley and we will get to the

other side. Lord, You're the one who ordains

our steps, and the steps of a good man or woman are ordered by

the Lord. And so order our steps today and

take us to the place you'd have us to be because we want your

will to be done. And so Lord, give us today Our

Daily Bread. Take care of us, Lord, We trust

in you. We trust you for the provision

that we need today with our family.

We trust you for the provision we need today for for our

children. We trust you with the provision

we need in our church, our community, for the breakthrough.

We trust you, Lord, You are going to bring about what we

need today, this day, Our Daily Bread.

And of course, Lord, we know that because we serve you Father

and you're a good Father, that you know what we need before we

even ask it. So we have faith in you today.

We don't have to be anxious or worry.

You will take care of us. And he does.

He always takes care of his children, doesn't he?

He takes care of his his people completely and totally and he's

faithful. How many have found that?

As as with all the years that you've been believers, how many

have found that God always made away?

And how many And how many of you, though sometimes you had

sometimes that were a little iffy.

You were like, oh, it's not looking too good here.

But but how many know He always made a way And you go, how did

he make a way? Well, because he's a waymaker,

He just knows how to make a way when there is no way.

And even when you say, oh, this is bad, well God will be with

you. Someone says he goes, oh, I

don't know, this looks pretty bad.

But God always makes a way. He just does that.

So Lord the Father knows what you need before you even ask

him. So usually when I come to this

place in prayer, tell you the truth, I'm not even asking, I'm

just saying to the Lord, give us this day, Our Daily Bread and

Jesus, you are the bread of life.

So really Jesus, today is all I want is you.

You're the bread that has come down from heaven.

So I'm looking for you today, Lord, I'm thanking you that

you're with me and that Lord healing is the children's bread.

And I just received that today, Lord, for all the things in my

life, and I begin to name them. What it, what is it that we

need? Name those things, whatever it

is that you need in your life. And I of course also know that

what does the Bible say? Man does not live by bread

alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

So I say, Lord, give me a fresh word today.

How many, how many know? It's so wonderful when you get a

word from the Lord and all of a sudden you just go, Where did

that come from? Well, it's a word from the Lord.

And the Lord brings you a word from heaven when you need it,

when you need it. So I asked the Lord for that

then, of course, but and we're just still getting started and I

have 7 minutes and 36 seconds left.

Forgive us our debts as we forgive.

So this is a prayer time where I'm able to come and I'm able

to. And how many know actually, you

really have to do monitor your life every day because how many

know things and hurts and things that people have done can creep

up real quickly. And you have to come to a place,

you say, Lord, so forgive me today.

Forgive me, Lord, for the things that happened yesterday or 5

minutes ago or whenever. Forgive me Lord.

And Lord, today I choose to forgive those who've hurt me.

I'm making the decision, Lord. I'm choosing to put those.

Those offenses, those hurts, those things aside, because

you've forgiven me, Lord, I'm going to walk in freedom today.

I thank you that your blood cleanses me today.

It washes me, it restores me, and I release those who have

sinned against me. I'm making a decision today,

Lord, to forgive those. And how many know you do that in

your morning prayer time or whenever your time is all of a

sudden you're going to step into a place of freedom.

And that's why I, I look at this Lord's Prayer and then I go, Oh

my goodness, this was brilliant. Well, of course it's brilliant.

It came from Jesus. But but I do, I look at it and

then as I get through and I go, Oh my goodness, he's so smart.

Wow. Because we need to do this every

day. Don't we forgive us our deaths

as we forgive? And remember, of course, what is

it, what it's so good about? And I do keep referring to

mornings because often that's when people do pray.

But it's remember, he says. And his mercy is new.

Every morning you get a brand new start, a brand new start.

His mercy's new every morning. Then of course, once you get

that stuff straightened out and you've forgiven and you know

you're forgiven and you've released that, then you can

start your day and say so. Lord, lead us not into

temptation today, but deliver me from evil.

Of course, submit yourself to God.

James 47, resist the devil, and the devil will flee from you.

So Lord, I pray that I won't be in any trap today of the enemy

that no weapon formed against me today will prosper.

It won't have a place in me. It's not going to get through to

me. And then I often as I begin

coming to a close in the time of prayer with people, I, I often

would bring them to Ephesians chapter 6 and you'll know these

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

verses. Most of you will Ephesians

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

chapter 6 and 10, which says finally be strong in the Lord

and in his mighty power. And then he says, so put on the

full armor of God so that you can take a, a stand against the

schemes of the devil. And of course then he tells us

and, and Paul describes or gives us the picture of that Roman

soldier, which at the time were the most was the most invincible

army in in the time and that Roman soldier who has his armor

on and he says, take up the belt of truth.

And so I say, yes, Lord, today I'm going to walk in the truth.

I'm going to live by the truth. I'm going to live by the truth

of your word. You tell me, Lord, surely you

desire truth in the inmost parts.

And so I make my decision. You told us, Lord, we shall know

the truth, and the truth will make us free.

So I choose to live by this, and I'm not going to listen to any

lies of the enemy. Today I'm going to walk in this.

Then he says with the breastplate of righteousness.

So now I'm starting my day and I'm going, you know what, I'm

right with God. I'm covered with God and I have

His righteousness on me. So there is no guilt, there is

no shame, there is nothing in on the inside but His

righteousness. That covers me today as I go

into my day, I'm standing. I'm standing in Him and I'm

protected. And if the devil wants to come

and say something to me or put something on me, I'm covered by

the righteousness of Jesus in me right now.

And I understand that and I might, oh, I like this.

And my feet are fitted with the readiness that comes from the

gospel of peace. I only walk in you, Lord, you

are, we are standing in this world on your word and we stand

on the on Jesus, the solid rock that I stand and I'm going

forward today. I'm not sitting down.

I'm going forward today, Lord. I'm not sitting in my misery or

shame. I'm going forward, my Lord.

And he says we take up the shield of faith, which look what

it says, which can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the

evil 1. Which means this, no matter what

the enemy sends your way or tries to send towards you, you

have a shield that stops it. And when he throws A fiery dart

at you, you're able to stand up and say no, But I believe in

God. I have faith in God.

This will not penetrate through me.

My faith is in him and it will extinguish what's he say?

Meaning it's going to put out the fire of all the arrows of

the evil one. No matter what he says, it is

cut down. So surely he is bore my

sickness. I put that surely he has covered

me. Surely I am belong to God and

I'm putting on the garment of praise for the spirit of

heaviness. I'm going to walk with him.

And then he then he comes to this in that in in that time in

Ephesians and he says and take up the helmet of salvation.

And you know what I I I may be a little strange, but this is what

I pictured years ago when I thought of this take up the

helmet of salvation. Well, obviously, where does a

helmet go over your head? What does the Bible say?

We have the mind of Christ. We have a different mind.

We we think. How many have noticed since you

became a Christian? You do think a little different?

I would hope so, but I like this.

He says we take up the helmet of salvation.

Now how did we receive salvation?

Because of the blood of Jesus, right?

So I picture now, yeah, this is just in my mind, and this isn't

necessarily in the Bible, but I picture that helmet as just a,

just a covering of the blood of Jesus covering my mind.

And so I picture putting that on and I go, well, the blood of

Jesus covers my mind. So all this junk, the enemy's

trying to send my way, the blood of Jesus is covering my mind.

He's covering my mind so I can take every captive, every

thought, and make it obedient to Christ.

Every thought gets covered over by the blood of Jesus that takes

and washes and makes things all, all things whiter than snow.

Whatever's there, that blood covers it.

But that blood also protects me. I love this verse, Hebrews 9 and

verse 14. You'll know it.

How much more than will the blood of Christ, who through the

eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, Listen to

this Cleanse even your conscience.

So even your guilty thoughts. Oh, yeah.

But, Lord, you know what I did? No.

Well, no, no. I thought that was covered.

That was only the devil that reminds you of what you did.

You know, only the devil reminds you of what you did.

God never says. Oh, yeah.

Well, I I still remember what you did.

Did did God ever say that? No, it's always the devil, and

that God never says that because what has been washed in the

blood is washed in the blood, and it is whiter than snow.

So how much more will the blood of Christ, through the eternal

Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our

consciences from acts that lead to death.

Why? So that we may be free to serve

the living God. So, Lord, today I'm free.

Oh, Lord Jesus, I don't have. You mean I don't have to think

about that and how bad I was and what I did and I, you're not

making me feel guilty today. And I'm sorry that some people

say you have to do this. I don't have to beat myself

today all over again. No, you're free today because

the blood of Jesus is enough to cleanse your conscience, cleanse

your mind, and then of course he says and then take up the sword

of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

And that is when I'm coming to a close in prayer and time, but

I'm able to say now, Lord, I'm going to walk in your word and I

have your word. And anything the enemy does try

to send me, I can come right back with your word, the sword

of the Spirit, and cut that. And it's a double edged sword,

so I can take it and cut it on any side, whichever way it

comes. So guide me today by your word,

Lord, may I hear your voice by your word, teach me today and

then I just come to a place and then finally in that prayer say,

so today, Lord, yours is the thine is the Kingdom, Thine is

the power and the glory forever and return back to a time of

praise. But I'm able to then say into

the the folks praying you kind of ready to do your day now can

can you Are you ready to kind of take on whatever you have out

there today before you go to work, before you go to your job

or before you get your kids all up to get them to school or

whatever you have to face all of a sudden you go, oh, I think I'm

ready. I'm ready to do this, boy, when

I woke up I wasn't ready, but I'm ready now Lord, I'm

confident, I'm assured, I've done business with you and

everything that needed to be done is done today and I'm

ready. For this is the day the Lord has

made and I will rejoice and be glad in it.

And devil, you will have no place in my day, because my King

goes before me and I'm walking in his steps today.

Amen. And now let's start the day.

So I want to encourage you. I'm telling you, you may have a

another way that you may feel the Lord lead you to pray.

But again, I tell you that what Jesus gave us as a pattern,

again, is so brilliant beyond our imagination because it

literally covers anything we could possibly come up with or

think or any obstacle that there might be.

So I'd like to just pray with you and I'll turn it back, then

turn over to Pastor Ty. But I want to ask you in this

very quickly, and I'm going to ask you for a show of hands.

How many would say to me today and to the Lord, Yes, Lord, I

believe you are calling me to be a person of prayer.

How many would just raise your hand with that?

I hope that would be all of you. Yes, Lord, I do believe I need

to pray. And Lord, I'm making a

commitment to you today by your strength, by your grace, by your

covering your power, You will lead me to be a person of prayer

that I would have that time to spend with you and watch you

explode life in my life, my family's life.

So Lord, I make a commitment that I won't just hear this

word, I'll begin to act out this word, I'll begin to live this

word, and I will be one of your people called to pray and be in

your presence all the days of my life in Jesus name.

So how many can say, yes, I want to do that and I'm going to try.

And God gives us grace. He knows us, He knows what we're

all about. Nevertheless, his his cry every

day. I know his heart is every day.

He wants to spend that time with you and he wants to show you his

power and how he can work and change your life.

Now, if you, if you're here today and you've just come into

the church and maybe you don't even know Jesus, this is the

day. You can also say, wow, this is

the day. I want to give everything over

to him. I want to give everything over

to him. If everyone here could just

close your eyes for a moment, I want to just pray.

If there's anyone here, if you're here today and you don't

know Jesus then right now, would you just, would you just pray

this with me? Dear Jesus, I acknowledge and

understand you are the Lord. You are the king.

You died for my sins and I turn my life over to you.

Would you forgive my sins? Lord, cover me by your blood and

I make a decision today to surrender my life to you, that I

would walk with you all the days of my life, that you would be my

Lord, You'd be my savior. You would be the one who would

bring victory in my life because I belong to You from this day

forward. So Lord, would you come in my

heart, set me free, wash me and cleanse me and take control and

I pray this in Jesus name, Amen. If you pray that it really works

every time, if you're serious with God, God is serious with

you and he will take your life right where it is.

That commitment fill you with his Holy Spirit and give you

power and change your whole life forever.

Pastor Ty. Can we thank Pastor Jerry so

much? Thank you.

We stand to your feet. Thank you, thank you, Father, we

receive this word that I believe was delivered the right time for

us, for this church, and for individuals who are here today.

So Lord, may it fall into good ground.

So it will produce what Jesus said 3060 and even a hundredfold

answered prayers, breakthroughs, miracles, divine appointments,

favor upon favor. I thank you for all of these

things, Lord, that is produced from a prayer life that's set on

fire by heaven. So Lord, we thank you for the

Word. We receive it in Jesus name.

Can we thank again Pastor Jerry and just thank the Lord for His

Word today? We want to thank you again for

joining us for the Arise Church podcast.

We hope you were encouraged by what you heard today.

You can find [email protected] and

on Instagram at Arise Church NC. If you need prayer or support or

are interested in learning more about Arise Church, we encourage

you to connect with us online or in person at our Sunday morning

service. Thank you and God bless.