God’s Faithfulness in Prayer

Thank you again, and I just want to almost take the words we've just sung and make them

my own expression of thanks to God that all my life you have been faithful.

This year, 2025, we have been full-time in Christian ministry for 55 years and an amazing

sense of God's provision.

We chose never to receive a stipend, so we've always lived of the gospel and sensed God's

amazing provision.

And also his protection, that sense of his hand over us and his unfolding purposes.

And so what I share with you today is out of that lifetime of all my life, you have been

so, so good.

God has been very gracious.

And I want to share with you today something of that key of prayer, that faithfulness in

prayer.

You know, prayer is the key to the Christian life.

It was so from the very beginning, the early church.

It says in Acts 1 that all the believers were together constantly in prayer.

And when Acts 2 comes in that mighty moment of their 120 in that upper room and the Holy

Spirit comes upon them, it's in a context of prayer where they've been praying and suddenly

there's that mighty rushing wind and those cloven tongues of fire and they're all filled with

the Holy Spirit.

With a church where you encourage that inclusion, here is a wonderful statement from the early

church.

They were all, all filled with the Holy Spirit.

They were a mixed bunch, doubting Thomas and all the others of them among them, etc.

But they were all filled with the Holy Spirit.

It wasn't that, you know, 10 of them were filled on that particular day of Pentecost, then

two years later, another 20 of them, and, you know, 20 years later.

No, it wasn't like that.

They were all filled.

Why?

Because this was the birth of the church and that fullness of the Holy Spirit is the birthright

of every believer.

When Jesus said, I've come, you might have life and life in all its fullness.

We're going to live that fullness of life in the fullness of the Holy Spirit.

And key to releasing that is prayer.

Faithfulness in prayer.

I particularly want to speak about a prophetic word I felt over this last year, and I mentioned

it earlier.

God's saying to his church, not just the Woodlands, but his church at large, and I've shared it

in many different situations, expect a fresh wave of my spirit in prayer.

And that I sense God's prophetic word for us here today.

Expect.

Expect.

And it's the extent to which we're really open and expectant that we will experience

that reality.

My prayer is that we'll not just talk about it, but we'll experience it here among us.

So how does this work?

What does it mean to experience that fresh wave of God's spirit?

Because while prayer is the key to the Christian life, it's also one of the hardest things for

us to do.

It's the thing that's most vulnerable to the weakness of our human flesh.

You know, Jesus, we mentioned in our prayers this morning, the disciples, when they saw

Jesus praying, there was something about an intimacy with his father as he prayed.

He said he lifted his head to heaven, he prayed.

The disciples said, Lord, teach us to pray, like that, as it were.

And he teaches them to pray.

There came a moment at the end of Jesus' life on earth where perhaps particularly he valued

their prayers.

This was that moment in the Garden of Gethsemane where he faced the agony of the cross.

And so he takes just a few of the disciples aside and he says to them, watch and pray with

me.

This was going to be the moment of greatest challenge that we're in that moment where

Jesus is, he goes, steps aside and begins to pray and he's in such anguish that he sweats

great drops of blood as he prays the father.

And then he turns to the disciples.

He's just asked to stand with him in prayer, to watch and pray.

And do you know what?

They're fast asleep.

Now, if you're honest this morning, have you ever fallen asleep trying to pray?

Hmm.

Have you ever felt too tired to pray?

Yeah.

That's because of the weakness of our human flesh.

That's why Jesus says to those disciples there in the garden, the spirit is willing, but

the flesh is weak.

And we are conscious, particularly in prayer, of that weakness of human flesh.

Where we feel the tiredness of our own human weakness, we feel we're easily distracted,

we're easily discouraged, we easily give up on prayer because we haven't seen the answer

to our prayer yesterday, as it were.

But this, above all, is where we can experience the help of the Holy Spirit in prayer.

Listen to these words again.

I'm going to put them up on the screen and we'll leave it up if we may for a little while.

So back to Romans 8.

And we can...

So, in the same way, the spirit helps us in our weakness.

So those times when you feel too tired to pray, that's when you most ought to pray because

that's when you could most experience the help of the Holy Spirit in prayer.

And I often say to some people, people come to me and say, Robert, I really struggle in

my prayer life.

I've got a busy job.

I get up, I have to rush out to work.

I'm too tired when I come back and I just feel too tired to pray, Rob.

And he said, well, next time you feel like that, don't come and tell me it.

Just say to God, oh God, I just feel too tired to pray today.

Talk to God about it.

Pray.

Because it's in that weakness when we can say to God, oh God, I feel too tired to pray,

that God, by his spirit, helps us in our weakness.

Times when we feel discouraged or distracted, the Holy Spirit helps us.

So those very moments when you would least like to pray, you don't pray because you're

feeling too tired.

No, those are the times when you most need to pray because that's when you can experience

the help of the Holy Spirit.

We're going to see how that works this morning.

We're going to unfold these scriptures together.

See, scripture is the base of authority for all life and practice.

It's not just that our practice of prayer are liturgically on our church background.

Scripture is the base of authority for all life and practice.

So the spirit helps us in our weakness.

But even more than that, the spirit helps us when we do not know what we ought to pray.

Wow.

So it's not only sometimes that we're too tired to pray, but even when we do feel a little

enough to pray, we're not quite sure what to pray.

Maybe we feel someone on our heart.

We haven't seen them for weeks or months and we don't even know what we should be praying

for them.

Or maybe you're facing a difficult decision at the moment in your life.

You're not quite sure what actually would be the right next step.

You don't even know what to pray for.

Whether it's something in your family or whether it's your work or whether it's your finances

or whether you should move house or not move house.

You know, and you're, well, I'm not too sure what I should pray for.

Should I pray for, Lord, give me number eight along the road there?

No, I don't even know what to pray for.

That time when I was praying over those months for that Woodlands building, I didn't know

what God was at work doing.

I just felt a stirring my heart to pray.

So how does that work?

Many years ago now, we had a young couple who'd come to know the Lord.

It was wonderful to see them.

They got married and he was a fireman, in fact.

And they then felt God's call to serve overseas in Central Africa in a really difficult situation.

And we were praying for them every day.

Now, this is a long time ago when you didn't have internet and emails and all the other

social media communications.

In fact, you used to have a little kind of blue envelope you'd fold up and seal along the

edges and you'd send it about two weeks to get there and two weeks to get back.

And so we didn't know exactly what was happening, but we were praying for them faithfully.

And then this particular day, there was so much on my heart.

In the morning when I normally prayed them, I felt them on my heart.

But all day, lunchtime, afternoon, evening, and when I went to bed, I didn't normally pray,

but I felt them on my heart.

And I woke up at two o'clock in the morning on my heart.

Now, I knew I felt a stirring and it must be so, but I didn't know what to pray.

I suppose two o'clock in the morning, I also felt the weakness of feeling a bit tired too

when I just woke up two o'clock.

But the Holy Spirit helps us in those moments.

I really felt that stirring of God's Spirit.

And literally, I'm holding him now, I can still see a picture of him now even.

And I felt the Holy Spirit help me in that praying.

What was to pray with our Spirit, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to pray in the Spirit.

And I really felt a kind of breakthrough in prayer, although I didn't even know just what

was happening with them.

And in the morning, I couldn't wait to get my little blue envelope and write my little

email letter and I sent it off.

And it took, again, two weeks to get there and about 10 days to come back.

And when the letter came back, it was worth waiting for.

Dear Rob, thank you so much for your letter.

You can't imagine how encouraged we were.

It's been a challenging time here in Africa.

But on that very day when you were praying, we were traveling from Central Africa to South

Africa on this really major road, but it's really a dirt track with great potholes and

you get great wagons coming along.

We were traveling.

We had to travel.

It was a long journey.

So we were traveling through the night and you get these great wagons coming along the

road.

And they even got lights on them.

And as we're coming along, suddenly one of these came out of the darkness in the car

in front of us.

It was a fatal accident.

Literally, we managed to swerve around.

We got to the other side of it.

We felt a real deep breath of relief.

And we looked at our watches and we said, someone somewhere must be praying for us.

That was the exact time we'd said in our letter to them what time we'd do it.

The exact time we prayed.

Now, how is it that, I mean, first of all, why does God Almighty, who can, he's all powerful,

he could save them.

Why does he need to wake me up two o'clock in the morning?

Why?

Because the sovereign Lord does none of his purposes here on earth without revealing them

prophetically through us.

Prayer life is not just my shopping list of needs.

Prayer is God revealing his purposes.

God stirring us in prayer.

But you say, Robert, how does it work when you, what about if you're too tired to pray

or you don't know what to pray?

How does the spirit help us?

Well, this scripture is perhaps one of the most amazing scriptures in the whole of the Bible

that gives us the greatest insight to the whole way in which in that spiritual realm,

prayer works in that heavenly realm.

Listen to it.

It says,

In the same way, the spirit helps us in our weakness.

We do not know what we ought to pray, but the spirit himself intercedes for us through

wordless groans.

What is wordless groans?

I mean, you feel a heartache and you feel your sturdiness.

I felt that sighing and that groaning that night, but it was more than that.

I felt the Holy Spirit witnessing in my spirit.

I felt that release of my spirit in prayer.

Now, in fact, F.F. Bruce, some of you may remember, those who are old enough, F.F. Bruce,

a very famous theologian and one of the ones who did some of the deciphering of the Dead

Sea Scrolls, etc., but he writes a Tyndale commentary on Romans, one of those definitive

commentaries.

And when he comes to this word here, he says, actually, the word here is the word glasalia.

It's the same word as used in 1 Corinthians and in Acts for tongues.

And someone spoke in tongues.

And it was that sense in which there was a release in their spirit.

Now, this is F.F. Bruce, I'm writing from a very interesting tradition and background,

but he's saying, actually, this is what this word is.

You think, but wait, Rob, I mean, 20-century life today, I mean, what do you mean by speaking

in tongues?

And sometimes we may feel fearful of even the thought of what does it mean, kind of talking

gobbledygooch?

When God has made us rational creatures, articulate creatures, able to express our feelings and

our thoughts in articulate language, why would we ever need gobbledygooch?

But when we think about it, actually, it's amazing, you know, that the God who's made us is not

limited to articulate human language to communicate our deepest feelings and passions.

In fact, God has given us other expressions.

Let me just take, by way of illustration, the two extremes, if you like, of where I want

to express the deepest of my feelings and passions, okay?

Where words seem too limited.

Let me take one extreme of joy, happiness, delight, fun, laughter, joy.

Now, I could tell you this morning, the best joke you've ever heard.

Now, I never tell any jokes, so I'm not very good at telling jokes in sermons, so there

we are.

But as far as I did this morning, I told you the best joke you've ever heard, all right?

You're sat there listening to it, and I get to the strap line, you're all listening to

it, and as I give you the strap line, because you're rational, articulate creatures, you simply

say, that is funny.

That is...

What is this strange flapping of a diaphragm inside of us?

We call it laughter.

It's wordless.

It's from the very depth of our being.

Life would be the poorer without it.

Mind, as we'll find with tongues or any other of these expressions God has given us, our background,

our environment can shape it.

You may be brought up in a family where laughter is rather thought as frivolous.

And so, you never laugh.

You know, it would be being frivolous to laugh.

Not you couldn't laugh.

It's just you've never done it, never practiced it.

In fact, avoided it.

Let me take the other extreme, because that's even perhaps more poignant.

Sadness.

Heartache.

Grief.

Pain.

Suffering.

Sorrow.

I could tell you the saddest news you've ever heard this morning.

But because you are rational and articulate creatures, when I tell you that, you simply say,

that is sad, that is sad, that is sad.

Which is understandable.

But, God has given us tear ducts.

We all got them.

In fact, it's important, even when it comes to grief.

You know, sometimes even as Christians, you may feel, well look, we shouldn't really cry.

We shouldn't really grieve, because we know they've gone to be with the Lord.

No, no, no, no, we don't.

We do grieve, but we don't grieve as those who have no hope.

But we feel the loss of loved ones.

That's a measure of how much we've valued them, appreciated them.

In fact, it's important to cry.

It's important to weep.

We weep for those that weep.

Now, again, you could be brought up in a context where it's a bit of a macho image.

In church, we never cry.

It's seen as weakness, and therefore, we, so we'd never do it.

That doesn't mean we couldn't.

We've all got tear ducts.

I remember some years ago, a church minister came to see me,

and a young fellow who'd been a minister a few years,

but a lovely fellow from a lovely, I knew his family well,

and he said, Robert, can I come and see you?

He said, I'm just struggling, because he was from a somewhat traditional background,

where he wasn't familiar with things like speaking in tongues,

or that kind of more expressive ways of the Holy Spirit, most manifest ways,

but he was certainly a godly man.

And he said, there's a small group of people in our church, Rob,

and they've come into some new experience of the Holy Spirit, he said,

and they're speaking all sort of gobbledygook, as it were,

and having words and prophecies and all sorts of things,

and I don't know what to do.

So I said, well, let me just share with you from the scripture

my understanding of what this means.

And this was one of the scriptures here in Romans 8 that I shared,

and we talked together for about two hours or so,

and as we were talking together,

I could see there was a sense of light dawning in some of those areas,

and I said, it's not something to be afraid of,

it's not some strange mystical thing,

it's not linked with a particular denomination,

this was the early church.

In Acts 1, all the believers were together constantly in prayer.

In Acts 2, as they're praying together,

suddenly the Holy Spirit comes upon them,

they're all filled with the Holy Spirit,

and they all speak with the languages.

You think, oh, goodness.

So having finished sharing with him,

I said, look, would you be open yourself

just to experience in prayer that quickening of God's spirit in prayer?

And he said, I would, Rob, but I wouldn't know where to begin.

I said, well, can I pray for you?

He said, would you?

I said, I'd love to.

Now, we were at home,

we were sat on a sofa just opposite of me,

I was sat in an armchair here,

and he stood up,

and I stood up too,

and I carry with me,

I've used it most days,

so I have a little cruise of oil,

just a symbol of the Holy Spirit,

and as I stepped across to him,

he was standing a bit taller than me,

and I said, I'm just going to take this oil

and anoint you with it.

It's a symbol of the Holy Spirit.

But as I anoint you,

I'm going to pray for that fresh anointing.

I just reached out and touched his forehead with this oil,

and as I did,

he rested back into the sofa,

and he began to sob,

and sob,

and sob so deeply,

and I've never heard anybody sob,

and he's almost gasping for breath in between,

and he suddenly says between his,

he says, Rob,

he says,

don't worry,

it's not sadness,

he said,

I have not cried for over 20 years,

but today,

from deep within,

I sense something well happened inside of me,

like a release,

as it were.

Sure enough,

for him,

since then,

he has led many others,

not only to know Jesus,

but to experience that fullness of God's Spirit,

and his prayers have touched many lives.

So,

how does it work when it says,

listen to what goes on the next slide.

So,

I'm two o'clock in the morning,

God has put on my heart,

this couple in Africa,

I don't know what to pray.

If God were to search my mind at that moment,

I would have no idea what his will was for them.

What he does is,

he searches my heart.

So,

this is how it happens,

he who searches our hearts,

knows the mind of the Spirit,

because the Spirit intercedes for God's people,

in accordance with God's will.

So,

though I,

didn't know,

what to be praying at that moment,

the Holy Spirit is interceding with me,

and in me,

and through me by his Spirit.

And God who searches my heart,

can see on my heart,

is this couple,

but in my mind,

I don't even know how,

but he's releasing by his Spirit,

in prayer.

The Bible speaks about,

praying with our mind,

and praying with our spirit.

What does it mean to pray with our spirit?

What does it mean to know that release of God's Spirit,

in prayer,

where you feel a welling up of the Holy Spirit,

in prayer,

and a release?

Let me just illustrate,

a little of how,

even just taking this word,

if you like,

that I've felt I'm taking today,

expect a fresh wave of God's Spirit,

in prayer.

So I've been feeling that,

over this past year.

And I've found,

wave after wave of God,

just amazing things,

God doing in answer to prayer.

About the middle of the year,

I'm in a time of prayer,

just along with God praying,

and I seek to spend,

extended time each day in prayer.

And in this time of prayer,

I felt God putting on my heart,

unusually,

because I'm at the other,

end of life,

age-wise,

God's put my heart,

God,

a young generation,

a next generation.

I'm feeling really stirred.

I once would have done,

lots of youth camps,

and things like that,

but that was many years ago now,

but I'm really feeling stirred about it,

and I'm feeling,

oh God,

I'm actually thinking,

God,

but,

you know,

all the challenges,

that young people face today,

mental illness,

social media pressures,

peer group pressures,

drug culture,

life,

knife culture,

in our own city,

and thinking,

oh God,

there's been,

and I say aloud then to the Lord in prayer,

God,

there's been generation X,

generation Y,

generation Z.

I felt God say to me,

as clear as if he was sat next to me,

there's going to be a new generation,

an alpha generation,

a new move of my spirit,

among young people.

Ooh,

I'm really being stirred,

and I'm praying now each day for this,

a fresh wave of God's spirit,

to reach this new generation,

this alpha generation.

The next week,

I have a call from a friend in Bath,

and I can remember when he was a young person,

came to the Lord,

he's now a vicar over in Bath,

and he said,

Rob,

we've just had this schools week,

and we had a band with us called LZ7,

I don't know the names of any bands,

but anyway,

LZ7,

he said,

and we went into five schools,

and we did,

they'd done quite a lot with the Department of Education,

on school curriculum,

so they do things on bullying,

and other issues,

that have issues a day,

and they do a little gig with them,

in the school assembly,

as it were,

and just share some testimonies,

and then they bring them together,

at the end of the week,

for a bigger gig,

at a neutral venue,

they were using the Bath Forum,

which is quite a large forum,

in Bath,

he said,

Rob,

it's amazing,

they had to pay for the tickets to come,

he said,

Rob,

there were 900 unchurched young people there,

ooh,

I said,

really?

300 of them,

responded to the message,

80 of them have just been doing a youth alpha course,

and now about two months ago,

25 of them got baptised,

I think,

ooh,

Lord,

more of this,

so I'm now thinking,

ooh,

I contacted then,

the alpha office in London,

we do lots with the alpha course,

and I was particularly inquiring,

about the youth alpha,

and I said,

could I speak to the person,

who runs the youth alpha course,

for the United Kingdom,

and they put me through to a fellow,

called Aaron,

a lovely fellow,

he was so interested,

that I felt that stirring,

about young people,

I didn't tell him how old I was,

but I felt that stirring,

about young people,

and I was asking him questions,

he said,

well,

why am I really interested,

he said,

because for the last three years,

we've been researching,

to do a new youth alpha course,

that can reach this current generation,

where social media,

and online,

and screen time,

is such a big thing,

it's got a lot of animation,

and we've even had Netflix producers,

helping us with it,

he said,

we're just about to launch it,

he said,

it's going to be launched,

in January 25,

this month,

and we're just about,

to go around the country,

he said,

to promote it,

with church youth leaders,

etc,

I said,

oh really,

and he looked at his screen,

he said,

yeah,

in fact,

he said,

we're coming to Bristol,

he said,

I said,

really,

yeah,

next Tuesday,

no,

I said,

where are you coming,

he said,

a place called Woodlands,

I said,

I know it,

and so,

so,

so anyway,

I booked in,

to go,

I cleared,

it was 12 o'clock till 2,

it was a Tuesday lunchtime,

I come there,

and as he was putting,

I mentioned about that Bath situation,

he said,

yeah,

he said,

in fact,

the leader of that band,

is coming with us,

because he's going on to Bath,

to follow up the youth alpha,

they're doing there,

I said,

really,

I said,

I look forward to meeting him,

and so the Tuesday lunchtime came,

it was great,

they came down,

with a team of them from London,

did a presentation,

showed you little snippets,

of animation from the film,

it was really interesting,

and halfway through the meeting,

the crypt door opens,

and in comes someone,

I was sat right at the back,

to look a bit inconspicuous,

with all these youth leaders there,

and there was a spare truck,

he came and sat beside me here,

and the person leading the meeting,

said,

oh,

we'll have a little break here,

so I turned to the person next to me,

and I introduced myself,

it was the band leader,

oh,

I said,

I've been looking forward,

to meeting you,

I said,

I said,

tell me a little bit about,

how do you manage to recruit,

from the school context,

those 900 unchurched young people,

into a forum,

and then,

how did you get that response,

how do you follow up,

oh,

he says,

we give them all a lanyard,

with a QR code on it,

and he's telling me all about it,

and I was asking him loads of questions,

I said,

how many,

how many youth alphas did you do last year,

and he told me,

I said,

how many have you done,

for the last five years,

and he eventually took it,

a little longer for that,

how many are you doing next year,

aiming for,

for this year,

25,

he said,

we're aiming to do 3,000,

across the UK,

now a quick calculation,

because my commitment,

was for the million people,

that's the greater Bristol area,

which includes Clevedon,

Bath,

and Weston,

but that's a million people,

I'd already been thinking,

in prayer,

God,

a million people,

that most likely,

is a hundred thousand,

unchurched young people,

so I've been specifically praying,

normally to have a ripple effect,

among a social group,

you need at least 5%,

I doubt if the church,

reaches 1% of those,

those hundred thousand,

unchurched young people,

so I'm thinking now,

what would it be to reach,

5,000 unchurched young people,

across the Bristol region,

that includes Clevedon,

and Weston,

Bath,

Bath are already had that,

excuse me,

and so,

I'm praying for every day,

and that morning,

I've been praying for it,

I've been praying that morning,

God,

a fresh wave of your spirit,

to reach 5,000,

unchurched young people,

the band leader,

says to me,

he said,

I'm on my way across,

to Bath,

and I said,

I gathered that,

from what the,

Pope the front was saying,

I said,

he said,

before that,

I'm going to a place,

just outside of Bristol,

I remember,

a fresh wave of your spirit,

to reach 5,000,

unchurched young people,

he says,

I said,

where are you going,

he says,

I'm going to,

the wave,

now,

any of you who haven't heard,

of the wave,

wave is an iconic venue,

just outside of Bristol,

east of Compton,

it's known around the world,

if you're a surfer,

it creates these artificial waves,

and it's become a,

you know,

the Mecca,

as it were,

so our grandson,

is a medical student,

in Manchester,

and he's president,

of the surfing society,

when he comes to Bristol,

before everyone wants to see us,

he goes to the wave,

in fact,

the two summers before,

he'd stayed with us,

over the summer,

working in the kitchen,

at the wave for two months,

and getting free surfing,

I've been up and down,

there's so many times,

because on his bike,

he couldn't carry a surfboard,

and then he had a punch,

and I was up,

I've been up,

I knew the wave really well,

I said,

why are you going to the wave?

He said,

over in Bath,

when we were doing the schools week,

and why I'm telling you,

this is just the way,

in which God unfolds,

I didn't know,

what the will of God was,

when I first felt that stirring,

but bit by bit,

God is unfolding,

he said to me,

over in Bath,

I met the owner of the wave,

and he asked me,

what we were doing,

I told him about the schools week,

we were doing it,

and he was really interested,

now we as a band,

he says,

have done the big,

is it called the big church day out,

each year,

he said,

but they've changed the date of it,

for 2025 this year,

so I've just been discussing,

with him the possibilities,

of doing a festival,

at the wave,

at the wave,

for,

5,000,

unchurched young people,

ooh,

I said,

hairs went on the back of my head,

I'm thinking,

oh God,

this,

but just that sense of,

since then we've had loads of conversations,

so the band are coming to Bristol,

this year,

and we've already planned,

for 5,000,

unchurched young people,

being reached there,

the youth alphas,

we've been encouraging them,

right the way across,

this Bristol region,

Bath,

and West,

and Clevedon,

praying for yourself,

just asking,

Russell,

do you do youth,

I hope to be able to meet,

the youth leader here afterwards,

and just see what you're doing,

but already for this month,

halfway through the month,

I was checking,

because when I was asking them about,

how many did across the country,

and they said,

hoping to do 3,000,

I then said,

how many do you do,

in the Bristol region,

they said,

oh we don't think we can get that,

anyway,

you know,

data protection,

you can't give you specific details,

but you can give me numbers,

so anyway,

I eventually contacted,

the regional person,

checked,

sure enough,

I said,

just Google and filter,

BS code,

and BA code,

and that'll give us the Old Avon,

Old Avon was that area,

what I call the greater Bristol area,

a million people,

this month already,

by the middle of the month,

we have more youth alpha courses,

that have already started,

now this month,

than any whole of January,

for all the other previous years,

so we're looking for 50 of them,

across,

I'm looking for some here in Cleveland,

so you're praying for that,

what that would look like,

God's unfolding purposes,

God revealing his will,

through prayer,

now as I say,

it's not just praying with my spirit,

God wants to pray with our minds,

God wants to be consistent,

persistent prayer,

where faithfully over years,

sometimes we pray,

I could tell you some remarkable stories,

I mean,

I've been involved over the years,

with the George Muller Foundation,

so you may have,

read the story of George Muller,

and it's an amazing story,

if you've never do it,

there's an amazing museum in Bristol,

just Google it,

George Muller Museum,

it's free,

during normal office hours,

you can go and see it,

they've got an amazing museum there,

got the largest set of records,

in the world,

of children's history,

because they kept the records,

of all those children,

etc,

but also,

they got George Muller's diaries there,

George Muller,

he had this amazing way,

in which he trusted God,

for provision for thousands of orphans,

at a time when it was desperate,

in Bristol,

the whole epidemics,

there'd been,

lots of children lost,

both parents in one week,

but he would keep a record,

of his praying,

now my diary,

I can keep in my pocket,

George Muller's diary,

the journals of George Muller,

one of great thick volumes,

because he would write down,

his prayers with a date,

and on the other side,

he'd leave empty,

to fill in when God answered it,

and you can see it,

I mean if I just take,

just one page of it,

let's go for one,

this is November 1844,

nearly 200 years ago,

that week he'd met,

five tradesmen,

just in the course of his work,

with the orphans,

that weren't Christians,

he had conversations with them,

and God put them on his heart,

to pray every day,

that they would come to faith,

in Jesus,

and he wrote,

in his journal,

you can see that there,

the names of the five,

and the date beside them,

and then he left a space,

the other side,

for when God answered the prayer,

it was 18 months,

before the first one of them,

became a Christian,

and there was much rejoicing,

in the whole,

I mean,

I look to see someone,

come to the Lord each week,

and there's an amazing sense,

of where all heaven rejoice,

you know,

every time a person repents,

realising Jesus,

the son of God,

loved me,

and gave himself for me,

that experience of forgiveness,

where you just,

receive him,

by faith,

into your life,

and I'm not sure,

how long they rejoice in heaven,

in fact,

around the world,

the church of Jesus Christ,

is growing more rapidly today,

than ever in history,

so another one,

has just become a Christian,

another one,

has just become a Christian,

now,

I'm sure they rejoice,

for that long in heaven,

which must mean,

that 24 seven,

all the time,

there's constant rejoicing,

in heaven,

when it got,

we pray your,

we don't earth as in heaven,

catching something,

of that wonder,

of new life in Jesus,

anyway,

it was five years,

before the next one,

it was 18 years,

before the next one,

25,

for the next one,

that's four out of five,

then Muller died,

now four out of five,

is not bad,

is it,

but scripture promises,

amazing words in Philippians,

where Paul speaks,

about his prayer life,

I always pray with joy,

confidently,

he who began that good work,

in you,

will bring it to completion,

when Muller died,

his life of faith,

and prayer,

had been such an impact,

on the city,

in fact,

for his funeral,

offices and shops,

closed across the city,

the funeral cottage,

was three miles long,

right the way down,

through the city,

that day,

in his funeral,

number five,

the tradesman,

he went to his funeral,

and he became a Christian,

at his funeral,

listen carefully to this,

your prayers,

in fact,

prayer itself,

outlives,

the prayer,

you may not realize,

a granny,

or an uncle,

an aunt,

someone who,

has long died,

but their prayers,

may be affecting your life today,

they may have brought you,

to know Jesus,

prayer is such an amazing power,

more things are brought by prayer,

than this world dreams of,

and at this time,

I believe,

God is saying to us,

expect,

a fresh wave of my spirit,

in prayer.