The Power of Expectant Prayer

All right, well welcome everybody, welcome in all of our campuses, Bismarck will you welcome Dickinson, any other services, everybody online who's joining us right now. So grateful for you, and as many of you know, I would like to start today by auctioning off my dog, so I'll start the bidding at I'll pay you $100 to take him, and he was getting ready to go to bed last night and I reached over for my mouth guard and it wasn't there. And he was laying on the bed, he wasn't supposed to be upstairs, he snuck up while we were putting the kids down and I thought, I'm going to kill him. There was murder in my heart, I'm not going to lie, and yeah, turned into a long night and Jenae was like, oh you're really upset with him aren't you, and I was like, yeah, I'm auctioning him off in church tomorrow. But as many of you know, if I got rid of Charlie, my wife and children would vote me out as well, so I think he's staying. Hey, I want to take a moment and just welcome you today, I also want to just dive in, I'm going to talk about faith today, I'm going to talk about expecting to see God move in our lives, we're moving into a really important time in the life of our church, every year we do 21 days of prayer and fasting, and what it's not is just a religious act that we go through every year in August, what it is, is our people positioning their hearts before the Lord and going, God I want to hear your voice. And so August 1-21 every year, we do 21 days of prayer and fasting, I'm not saying that everybody has to give up all food for 21 days, but everybody should do something. This is not repentance type fasting, this is not Lent, this is not a weight loss goal, but this is our church posturing our heart knowing that the kingdom of God works different than the kingdom of the world. So we often want the kingdom of God that goes, okay, I need an answer, I'm going to walk up to the vending machine, God, and hit C2, and down's going to drop my answer, and then I'll walk away and come back when I need something else to eat. But God's kingdom actually works through sowing and reaping. And what does that mean? That means there's going to be times where you put seed in the ground and nothing happens, but later on, because you were faithful in that moment, you're going to reap a harvest.

The difficulty is we don't get to control God's timing. We don't get to control how quickly our prayers are answered, we don't get to always understand why did I fast and pray for 21 days, did God even do anything? Our job is just to posture ourselves to hear what he wants to speak. And so in helping facilitate this, we have a website, a digital prayer guide that's already available for you. If you want to look it up on the website, there will be a physical booklet handed out next week, there will be one for kids that will be handed out as well for youth. They're being super cool and trendy, so if you want to follow youth, you can follow their GoEvangelYouth Instagram account and you'll get little devotionals and inspiration from students. So maybe even if you're not youthy, but you want to hear some students share and inspire your faith, then you can follow their Instagram account. We're also going to gather as a church for open times of prayer. The building will be open different times throughout the week, and then we'll gather for midweeks and seek God's heart together. Let me just talk for a moment about fasting, because fasting is one of the spiritual practices that really the American church has lost. And actually, the main representation of fasting is around Lent and around Easter. And I'm not criticizing it, but here's what I just want to say about any spiritual practice. If you take a spiritual practice and you separate it from its heart, and it just becomes something that you do, it becomes a Pharisaical tradition. It becomes like what the Pharisees did. We're doing all the right things that Jesus told us to do, but they're doing it with a wrong heart, and so there's no reward. And so I don't want us to step into a season of fasting as a church, saying, this is just what we do. I'm giving up chocolate for 21 days. I want you to step into 21 days of prayer and fasting, posturing your heart, going, I am in this season positioning myself to hear what God wants to speak, both to me and

to my church, to bring actually an expectation into it. It's a Biblical practice. We often say it this way, that if we really want to hear God's voice, fasting detaches us from the world and our comforts, and prayer attaches us to the heart of God. So when we pray. And when we fast, we detach from the comforts of this world. Is fasting uncomfortable? Yes. Is it desirable? No. Is it fun? Not really. But you know what is amazing? When you tune your heart in with God's heart and the radio signal is turned on and all of a sudden you begin to perceive what the Father is speaking. That's the goal, that's the purpose, that's the why of what we do. And so I'm not only asking, but I'm commissioning, I am challenging every person who calls Evangel Home to take on this season of prayer and fasting. And to listen and perceive God's voice. And I believe fasting biblically always refers to food. Some people say, well, I'm gonna fast social media. No, that's a bad habit you should break, it's not a fast. A fast is, I'm not even trying to be snarky, I'm just saying biblically, biblically Jesus connected the God of this world to our stomach.

Like we worship our own desires and our own needs. And Jesus said, I've come to give you not just bread alone, but the real bread you need is every word that comes from God's mouth. So more than even food, there's moments where we go, God, more than food or these hunger pains, I hunger to hear what you wanna speak, what you wanna say. And so I wanna encourage you over this next couple of weeks to prepare your heart, decide what you're going to do now. I opened up a note on my phone and I said, here's how I'm gonna fast over the 21 days. I'm gonna share that with some people because you know what's gonna happen? We're gonna get to July 31st and I'm gonna think, I should do less. That seems really challenging and difficult, but I need accountability. So share it with your people, prepare your heart, and let's see what God does in and through our church. One of my favorite stories about a guy who took a distraction from his life, detached himself from something in the world so that he could hear God's voice more clearly is David Wilkerson. And when I was just finishing college, I've told you this story before, but I read the cross and the switchblade and the first chapter just had me hook, line, and sinker. And David, in his book, he tells a story about how he became frustrated with his prayer life.

Anybody been frustrated with your prayer life? And he realized he wasn't praying as much as he should. He had little kids, he had a family, he was pastoring a church, there was a lot going on, and he just wasn't praying as much as he wanted to. But what he was doing is what many of us do. He had a really overstimulating day. He was meeting with all these people. He got the kids to bed at night and then about 11 o'clock, he would turn on the TV and from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m., he would kinda de-stimulate and re-regulate by just watching a show. So many of us do. I mean, young parents, it's like you finally get to bed and you're like, oh, finally a little alone time at 10.30 p.m. And you start scrolling or whatever it is. And he found himself in that same kind of a habit. And one evening, he sensed the Holy Spirit convicting him that this had become a distraction from the deeper relationship that God had called him into. And so he made a radical decision and he was like, I'm gonna list my TV online and if somebody buys it in the first 15 minutes, I'll get rid of it. And sure enough, the phone rang almost immediately. He got rid of the TV, sold it for cheap, and he began spending those hours from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. seeking God instead.

And what did he say? Right away, he walked in the room, shut the door, and fire fell from heaven and God spoke to his heart. No, he says it was difficult, his mind wandered, he got sleepy. It's amazing how you can watch a show and stay up late to see how it ends, but then you start praying and you're like, I'm tired. I've been there. But over weeks and months, sowing the right seed into the ground, doing the right thing again and again, all of a sudden, God began to speak to him. And he began to hear God's voice in ways that he maybe hadn't heard it before. He was tuning his heart to what God wanted to speak and he was developing a growing sensitivity to the Holy Spirit and to Scripture. One night during that prayer time, he walked over and he picked up a copy of Life Magazine and on the cover were some gang members who had murdered a 15-year-old. And the whole nation was angry at him over the injustice of what happened. Come on, you know God is working in your heart when you start to look at people that you disagree with or that are different than you or that other people call evil and your heart is not moved by anger, but your heart is moved by compassion for them.

And David's heart was moved with compassion for these people that the rest of the nation was mad at because he had a heart of gold. He didn't just see boys that committed a crime, he saw young men that Christ loved and died for. And so he felt this clear prompting, go to New York. It made almost no sense. He was a country pastor from rural Pennsylvania, he had no experience with gangs, he knew no one in New York, he had almost no money, and he had no strategy to reach anybody. It's kind of like me going to New York City and being like, see ya, Evangel, I'm going to reach the gangs. You'd be like, did you pray about that? Did the Lord really say? But the late night prayer meetings had taught him that obedience mattered more than his own understanding. So from that simple act of obedience, one thing led to another. He started meeting gang leaders. The book is, I mean, it's incredible, because God just leads him right to them. He starts these evangelistic rallies. People who are addicted become followers of Jesus, and he realized that not only did they need that moment of meeting Jesus, but they needed help with recovery, and so he develops recovery centers, and this develops into Teen Challenge,

which now is a global ministry for people struggling with addiction. And it didn't start with a guy who was just going about his everyday life, and God just ran him over with a truck and said, I have a plan for you. It started with a guy who sold his distraction, who cut his comfort, and said, I value hearing God's voice more than this other thing. See, when Wilkerson tells his story, or told his story, he rarely would talk about himself. What he would talk about is that great movements of God are usually conceived in hidden places long before they come visible to the world. There's a man named Leonard Ravenhill, and he was used by God in powerful ways, and he would pray for people, and they would be healed, and God would touch them, and he was on his deathbed, and young men kept coming to him going, Pastor Ravenhill, lay your hands on me so that I can have the ministry that you had that God would do in my life what he did in your life, and Leonard Ravenhill famously said this. He said, everybody wants my anointing, but nobody wants my sackcloth and ashes. What does it mean? The victories that everybody wants are built in the places that very few go. Yeah.

I'm inviting you into 21 days of prayer and fasting, and I know the tussle in every one of our hearts. Well, I have a birthday during that time. Well, there's a wedding. Well, there's this. I have those things, too. But more than all of that, I wanna posture myself to hear what God is speaking, amen? And so today, I wanna give you a message entitled The Power of Expectant Prayer. The Power of Expectant Prayer. Will you just put your hands out in front of me if you're listening, if you're at a campus, wherever you are, put your hands out, not out in front of me, out in front of you. Lord, I ask that you give us a spirit of faith, a spirit of faith to not only hear your word, but to receive it and to believe it. In your name we pray, amen. Amen. Last week, I told you at the beginning of a story, actually, I'm telling you a little bit of the story in reverse of a man named Elijah. Elijah was a prophet of God. He was walking on the earth during a time where Israel was more evil maybe than it had ever been. It says he served in the time of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel, and they did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and maybe what, if you don't understand biblical history,

what had happened to God's people, the nation of Israel, when they went into Canaan, Canaan, the promised land, as they disobeyed God and they dishonored God, and ultimately, that meant that they were left without the blessing and the protection and the provision of God. They are conquered, and the kingdom is split into two different kingdoms. You read about Israel then, and you read about Judah. And Judah, at this time of Elijah, is being led by a man named Asa, and the Bible says that Asa did good. He did right in the eyes of the Lord. Later in his life, he makes some mistakes, but as he led Judah, God was, God's favor was on him, because Asa led a lot of spiritual reforms, brought people back to the heart of God, and therefore, God gave their land peace. And while that was all happening in the southern kingdom of Judah, things weren't going so well in the northern kingdom. Here's what was happening in Israel, the northern kingdom at that time. It says in the 38th year of Asa, king of Judah, Ahab, son of Omri, became king of Israel, and he reigned in Samaria over Israel 22 years. They had to move the capital when the kingdom split. Ahab, son of Omri, did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than any of those before him.

and if you've read about the kings, that's a lot of evil. He not only considered it trivial to commit the sins of Jeroboam, son of Nabot, what does this mean? Jeroboam was the one who first introduced counterfeit or false worship into Israel during that time. He said, let's not worship Yahweh, the one true God, let's worship Baal and Asherah and all these gods of the nations around us. We need to be open to religious experience around here in Israel. But he not only considered that trivial, but he also married Jezebel, daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians and began to serve Baal and worship him as well. Here's the problem, what Jeroboam introduced into the nation, Ahab institutionalized. So people were already committing false worship and then Ahab goes, let's actually set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal that he built in Samaria. He now institutionalizes this false worship. Ahab also made an Asherah pole and did more to arouse the anger of the Lord, the God of Israel, than did all the kings of Israel before him. Now, how many of you know, when evil is happening, God's word says that he will raise up a standard of his spirit, that God will be represented even in the midst of an evil age. And so what does God do? It says he raises up Elijah, the Tishbite from Tishbi. I just find that funny.

Josh, the Glenolanite from Glenolan. There's probably greater meaning here, but I didn't take time to research it, so. Now Elijah, the Tishbite from Tishbi and Gilead said to Ahab, as the Lord, the God of Israel lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next years except at my word. This is not Elijah on a power trip. This is the prophet of God saying, you've built Asherah poles, you've built temples to false gods, and God is shutting down the rain around here. It's gonna be a drought until God says that it's time for rain to come again. The next thing that happens is that Elijah has a confrontation with these false prophets and this false God. He's on the mountain of Carmel, and at this confrontation, he looks at the whole nation of Israel who's gathered before him, and he says this. It says, he went before the people and he said, how long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him. But if Baal is God, follow him. But the people said nothing. They lacked the conviction to change. In fact, they even lacked the gall to defend their complacent position. Instead, they just said nothing, essentially saying, no, we would rather limp

between these two opinions of whether God is God or not. We'd rather add a mixture to our worship than really take a stand in faith declaring that the Lord is God. How long will you waver between these two opinions? So Elijah gathers all the people, and he gathers the 450 false prophets of Baal on the mountain, and he says, bring two bulls. And the 450 prophets are gonna call out to their God, and I'm gonna call out to my God. And the one who answers by fire, that's the one true God. And so the 450 prophets of Baal, they just put on a festival over here. They kill the bull, they put it on their altar, they're crying out to God, they're yelling, they have all the zeal and passion and screaming. About noon rolls around, and Elijah looks at them, and he goes, I don't know, I think your God had to step out for a second. Is he on vacation? Where is he? Goes on all afternoon. Now they get really serious. I mean, these are false gods. These are gods who demanded child sacrifice and heinous things. That's why God's anger burned against it. And so now they begin to cut themselves. Now they begin to just desecrate their own bodies. They're covered in blood.

It was carnage. And still, no answer. And then Elijah's like, that's enough. He repairs and rebuilds the altar of Yahweh, of the one true God. He puts the parts of the animal on it. And then he says, you know what? Take four containers of water and pour them over this whole offering. They bring four huge containers of water, dump them on the offering. He says, do it again. Now it's eight. 8 containers. He says, do it one more time. 12. So much water that it filled the area around the offering. And then Elijah cries out to God. It's not who has the most zeal, who prays the longest and the hardest, who sacrifices themselves the most. It's the one with faith who hears God. And the moment Elijah cries out, fire falls from heaven and consumes that sacrifice. And the people who were silent before fall down on their faces and declare that the Lord is God. And while they're finally coming to a place of repentance and realization, see there's some who wait for God to prove himself to worship him. And there's others who by faith, in even what they can't see yet, just believe God. And while they're just coming to a realization that the Lord is God, Elijah is already moving on to what God has said he wants to do next. It says, and Elijah said to Ahab, hey buddy, you better go eat and drink. There's the sound of a heavy rain. People are looking around like it's not raining, but Elijah is perceiving in the supernatural and in the spiritual what has not yet happened in the physical. And he says, I hear what my eyes have not yet seen. What is faith? I hear what my eyes have not yet seen. Why do I fast and pray? Because I perceive what God wants to do, even if my eyes haven't seen it yet. Do you know what a terrible filter for faith is? Your physical eyes. Sometimes you got to shut them, pray to God, and believe despite what you see, because faith is not built on what you see. It's the unseen. Jesus actually said, blessed are those who believe

because they've seen, but even more those who believe even though they've not yet seen. That faith comes even before we see, we begin to perceive. There is the sound of a heavy rain, and my grief and my petition before the Lord these last couple of weeks personally as the pastor of this church has been, God give us a faith that hears before we see. That doesn't show up to a prayer gathering and go, I think Pastor Josh prayed, I wonder what God might do. But walks in the room and says, I perceive him. I've been hearing all week what he wants to do. My cup overflows because I hear his voice. There is the sound of a heavy rain. So Ahab went off to eat and drink, but Elijah climbed to the top of Carmel, bent down to the ground and put his face between his knees. Isn't this interesting? He says, there's the sound of a heavy rain, and then he prays. He already knows what God wants to do. Prayer is not convincing God to do what we want. Prayer is partnering with what we already know is in God's heart. And so Elijah begins to pray now. He puts his face between his knees and he cries out to God, go and look towards the sea, he says to his servant. And he went up and looked and he says, there is nothing there. Seven times Elijah says to his servant, go back and look again, go back and look again, go back and look again. And still nothing there. Then finally, the seventh time the servant reported, you know what, Elijah, there's a itsy bitsy little cloud, as small as a man's hand rising from the sea. And Elijah, Hebrews 11 one says, faith is the evidence of things unseen. And that one small thing, he says, God is a bit about to work this out. He says, go and tell Ahab, hey, buddy, you better hitch up your chariot and go down before the rain stops you because chariots don't do well in mud. What is he saying? There is an abundance of rain coming. It had been three and a half years since Elijah's first declaration that it's not going to rain until I say, because God told me. And now three and a half years later, he says, you better get on your chariot and you better get moving or these wheels are going to get stuck in the abundance of rain in the mud that is coming. Meanwhile, the sky grew black with clouds. Come on, won't he do it? The wind rose and a heavy rain started falling and Ahab rode off to Jezreel. But the power of the Lord came on Elijah and he tucked his cloak into his belt. And the man of God, the one who believed God, ran ahead of those who were double minded. The one who believes God and has faith runs ahead of those who waver between two opinions. And Elijah ran ahead of Ahab all the way to Jezreel. Why? Because he knew what God wanted to do. He had perceived it. And so he follows God. The whole tension of the story for us today is this question.

How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, then believe him, take him at his word, and serve him. If you are God, abandon him and just go serve yourself. If Baal is God, go serve him. But there's no standing between the two opinions. If the Lord is God, follow him. If he's not, then don't. My question is, what kind of people are we? Are we the kind of people with two opinions who just say nothing? Or are we the kind of people with expectant faith that say, I don't see a cloud in the sky, but I hear the sound of abundant rain? Maybe it's not even who you are today, but what kind of a person do you want to be? The kind with two opinions who says nothing? Do you know the actual picture from scholars of having two opinions being double-minded? Really, it comes from James 1.6. It says, when you ask God, you must believe and not doubt. Just believe God, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind, tossed back and forth between two opinions. Will he? Won't he? Do I got to do an amount of strength, or is he going to show up? That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. So if Yahweh is God, serve him and believe him. But if you're double-minded about it, don't even bother, because you're not going to receive anything. But if the Lord is God, then serve him and follow him. If his promises are true, then stand on them and declare them. Don't be double-minded. In fact, scholars believe that it's like limping between two opinions. Is God going to come through, or do I got to work it out on my own? He came through last time, so maybe I should, I don't know. Should I fast in prayer?

Will I just be hungry for 21 days for no reason? Do you know why it's limping? Because when you're undecided, it's exhausting to try to make a decision. Do I trust God, or is it all in my own strength? What do I do? And in fact, I'm just going to set God aside for a moment, and I'm just going to decide for me. I'm going to do what I believe is right. It's an exhausting way to live. And I'm not trying to bring condemnation to anybody today. I'm just trying to tell you there's a different way. And I know the Bible speaks really absolutely here. Should not expect to receive anything. If that person doubts, they won't. But here's the whole arc of Scripture, is that Elijah, even Elijah had a moment where he sat down under a tree and said, God, I want to quit. Imperfect in his faith. Even people came to Jesus and said, hey, I'm not going to believe you died and rose again until I literally see the holes in your hands. People came to Jesus and said, I have faith, but I've got a lot of unbelief, so help me in my unbelief. And Jesus is like, you just need a mustard. You just need a mustard seed. Just a very tiny amount of faith to believe God. And so there's, but if you want the fullness of what James is describing,

then we have to grow as followers of Jesus in our conviction day after day that God is God and God's word is true and God is right and God is a keeper of his promises. Was made yes and so be it. And amen in Christ Jesus. We grow in that conviction. Not being double-minded, but sure that God will do what he promised. Elijah does not waver between two opinions. He's not limping back and forth. He's not double-minded. Even after fire falls from heaven, he expects an abundance of rain next. He announces rain and then he begins to pray for rain. See, we often pray to try to like make ourselves feel confident. And I'm just learning as I get a little bit older, that prayer is a lot less of me walking up to the vending machine and hitting C2, God drop an answer. And it's a lot more with me sitting, listening and perceiving God's agenda. What do I sense that God is doing? There's too much American Disney storytelling in us that God's greatest work is what he does in you and what you become, and God wants to make you great. No, fast and pray and humble yourself and say, I am nothing apart from Jesus. Apart from him, I can do nothing.

And then sit and listen and perceive his voice. Many times the checklist you brought in of what you need God to do goes to the periphery, it goes away and all of a sudden your focus becomes what's actually in God's heart to do. The Bible says when we pray this way according to God's will, the prayer of a righteous person becomes powerful and effective. The prayer of a righteous person is not the person that walks up to God just when they need something. A righteous person, I picture it like a power line, an electricity flowing through that power line. It's a person that lives in connection with God. Jesus said, I don't just do whatever I want, I do what I hear and perceive the Father is doing. I do what I hear and perceive the Father is doing. So Jesus fostered connection with God and out of that connection with God, he didn't tell God what to do, but he participated in what God was doing. See, we have a lot of people who pray prayers demanding God to answer the prayer according to what seems right to us, but out of connection with God. And what we really need to foster is a connection with God that informs what we pray about. That informs what we believe God for. Sometimes God doesn't answer our prayer

because our agenda is wrong, because we don't see his greater purpose. We just want what feels right to us in a moment. Elijah wasn't trying to convince God he was participating with God and he hears the sound of a heavy rain. It wasn't raining or snowing, it was just the sound of a heavy rain. He hears the sound of a heavy rain. It wasn't raining around him, he was perceiving what God was wanting to do. When we fast and pray, we perceive what God wants to do. When we connect a right heart with God's greater purpose for our lives, then we're attuning our ears to what God is speaking. And so God hearing you and you hearing God, it's not about you doing better or being better or acting better, it is about changing your posture. See, if every year people are like, yeah, I fasted because I'm a bad person and I need to be better, or I've lost 10 pounds since our church started fasting, and whatever. But if your goal is weight loss, that will be your reward. But if your goal is I wanna hear the heart of the Father, that will be your reward. This is why we come to these moments and this is why Elijah gets down on his knees. I feel like I get down on my knees

like every message recently. It's okay, it's a good posture. And he puts his head between his knees and he goes, God, you're a keeper of your word. You're the God of Israel. I know that you've told me it's gonna rain. Let it rain in Jesus' name. And he hears his servant's footsteps approaching. He says, is it raining yet? And he goes, no, nothing. I don't see anything's raining. He says, go back and look again. God, you're the one who finishes what you've started, God. Is it raining? No, it's not raining yet, okay. God, I take you at your word that you're the giver of rain, Lord, that you're gonna show all these people that there's no God but Yahweh. I believe you, God. And I'm declaring, is it? No, it's not raining yet. Okay, I'm not gonna look at the weather app. I'm not even gonna lift my eyes and look at the conditions around me. I'm just gonna believe God. Is it raining yet? It's not raining yet. I'm not gonna let my faith falter. Faith is the substance of things hoped for.

It's the evidence of things not yet seen. God, I know that I hear what you're doing and I'm gonna see it. Is it raining? It's not raining yet. Okay, God, come on, Jesus. Is it raining? No, but I see a small cloud forming on the horizon. And Elijah goes, yeah, because faith is the evidence. And that is the evidence. The sky's not black yet. It's just a small little bit. And he perceives what God is doing. Expectant faith hears before it sees. And here's the encouragement. Elijah was a human being, even as you are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. But again, he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and its earth produced its crops. James 5, New Testament, Elijah was a dude just like you. Elijah was a human just like you. See, faith, expectant faith, does not see first. It hears first. Romans 10, 17, faith comes by hearing, not by sight. It comes by hearing. There's a great story in the beginning of Mark Batterson's book called The Circle Maker, about a guy like Elijah, a sage in Israel, in the generation right before Jesus was born.

If you know, during that time, God wasn't speaking 400 years of silence, and Israel was in a drought, and the sage of Israel, who lived outside the walls of Jerusalem, everybody's like, we need him to pray. And this guy who spent more than 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. in prayer had devoted himself to hearing God's voice walks out amongst the people. His name was Honey, and he carried a big old staff, because apparently men of God carry big old staffs in the Bible. And he's standing in the dirt, and he begins to make a circle. And then he lifts his hands, and he says, God, as I live, I will not leave this circle until it rains. And all the people who are double-minded and have two opinions go, what if it doesn't rain? He's gonna die in that circle. But the man of God who believes God and has already perceived what God wants to do just declares what God already wants to do. I'm not talking about name it, claim it, blab it, grab it, I'm gonna manifest it. Unanchored, unhinged from Scripture, I'm talking about taking the word of God and believing God, believing his promises, that anything you ask for in my name, it will be done for you, if you do it with the right heart and the right motivation.

And an abundance of brain falls on Israel. Because this one man prayed, and I'm just wondering, over the next 21 days, what are you gonna circle in your life? Say, God, I'm not leaving this fast, I'm not leaving this time of prayer till I hear your voice. Till you renew my spirit, till my conscience is clear. I'm coming out of unbelief, and I'm saying, Lord, I believe. God, I believe. Faith is the evidence of things that I hope for, and God, I believe. Come on, if you're here today and you wanna believe God in this way, will you stand with me? God, I'm declaring that I believe. You're wanting more than a song, the lyrics say. For a song in itself, a fast in itself is not what God requires, you're after our hearts. And God, we declare, come on, faith comes by hearing. Maybe you need to say it out loud today. God, I believe. Faith comes by hearing. God, I believe. I take you at your word, I trust you, I believe you, God. Lord, I ask that even right now, across all of our campuses, that there would be a spirit of faith among us. Lord, I ask for 21 days of prayer and fasting where people are more hungry, more desperate, more faith-filled than we've ever been before.

God, that the seeds planted in the ground would be seeds planted with great faith that would reap a great harvest eventually. But God, right now, we are just, we're gonna be faithful to you, we're gonna trust you, we're gonna believe that what you say is true, that you're a keeper of the word, that you cannot lie. And so, God, we take you at your word, the Alpha and the Omega, that there's none like you, that no other God stands beside you, and we devote our hearts fully to Yahweh, to the Lord God, to the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, we believe that you came and you died and you overcame death itself and you rose again, and the same power of God that raised Jesus from the dead now lives in us, so we come before your throne of grace with boldness and with faith, and we believe that you are the one who came to the throne of grace with boldness, with audacity today, not on our own merit, but because of the precious blood of Jesus, and we declare we believe you, God, and we take you at your word, in Jesus' name.