- Welcome to "7 Days Ablaze."

This is the time that we, as a fellowship

of the Christian Broadcasting Network,

we dedicate the week to praying for you.

So if you have prayer requests for us,

I invite you to join with usif you want to be prayed over

by the staff of the ChristianBroadcasting Network,

Operation Blessing, Orphan's Promise.

We're all praying for the people

who are writing in or calling in.

So if you want to be a participant,

all you have to do iscall us, 1-800-700-7000.

You can also write to us at CBN Center,

Virginia Beach, Virginia 23463.

There's also a place oncbn.com where you can write in

your prayer requests on the internet.

And you can always post italso on our Facebook page.

Whatever's easiest for you.

We want to have multiple pathwayswhere you can have prayer,

and we want to pray for you.

So let's do that right now.

I've got some prayer requests in my hand

that have been written in.

Healing of my broken heartbecause of my husband's death.

Asking the Lord would calm the social

and political unrest in our nation today.

That's one of the universal ones.

That's definitely been on my heart.

Healing of metastatic breast cancer.

Healing of my husband's kidneys.There's only 26% function.

Miraculous healing for a hole in the spine

that is leaking spinalfluid after surgery.

And then for the Lord's help

to help my son sell his townhouse soon.

So let's pray for these.

Let's lift the nation up,and let's lift you up.

Whatever your prayer requests are,

the Bible says let yourrequest be made known.

It's a wonderful promise. Letyour request be made known.

God wants to help. Hewants to be your provider.

He wants to be your savior.He wants to be your healer.

You don't have to bargain with him.

You don't have to argue with him.

You don't have to try to convince him.

You just have to ask him.

So let's do that. Let's prayfor these and pray for you.

Lord Jesus, we come to you,

we come to you with these requests.

We especially come to youin these days of turbulence.

And we ask for our nation,and we asked for the world.

The turbulence seems to be everywhere.

The headlines are just screaming,whether it's Hong Kong,

Israel, Europe, the United States.

The number of riots is...

We just ask for healing.

We ask that we would come together,

that we could be one nation under God,

indivisible, with libertyand justice for all.

Lord, help us to see the path to justice.

Help us to see the path to liberty in you.

Help us, Lord God, becausewe can't do this on our own.

We need to be under you.

So help us. Be with us.

Now for these requests for provision.

For the son that needshis townhome to sell,

for anyone who needs a financial miracle,

Lord, we speak provision over them.

And we speak your Word, whichyou desire us to prosper

just as our souls prosper.

So Lord, provide for your people,

provide according toyour riches and glory,

make a way where there seems to be no way.

For anyone who isunemployed, anyone in anxiety

over their financial situation,Lord be peace to them now

and be provision to them now.

For those that need healing,for this woman with cancer,

for all those who haveproblems, the hole in the spine

leaking fluid, thesethings, the kidney problem,

all of these things, LordGod, we bring to you,

and we declare that by yourstripes, we are healed,

and we receive them now.

If you have carried away our infirmities,

you have carried away our disease,

we don't have to carry it anymore.

So we come to you and we come to the cross

and we lay it at your feet,

knowing that you willingly take it.

You willingly suffered for us.

We thank you for that.And we receive it now.

In Jesus' name, amen. And amen.

If you need prayer, we're here,

and all you have to dois call, 1-800-700-7000.

Well, as senior pastor ofApplegate Christian Fellowship,

Ben Courson is known for hisenthusiasm and joyful spirit.

So people are surprised tolearn that for nearly a decade,

Ben struggled with severe depression.

Ben overcame his demons through the power

of what he discovered in Scripture.

And he joins us now to share the keys

that dramatically changed his life.

(bright music)

- Hey CBN, Ben Coursonhere of Hope Generation.

And today I wanna sharea devotional thought

about one of the chiefmechanisms and modicums

that God employed anddeployed in my mindset

to cure me of 10-plus years ofclinical chronic depression.

Sometimes when you're goingthrough turbulent, tempest

trials, troubles,tragedies, and tribulations,

you can begin to thinkthat tomorrow is swallowed

by an infinite gray, and the future

will be no better than the present.

But I wanna share withyou is that prayer walks

have been one of the mainthings that have been

the healing Balm of Gilead,the panacea, the pente,

the cure-all for my ownsoul when it was surrounded

by the bleak, dark night of the soul.

Now, what's reallyinteresting is prayer walks,

specifically walking is a big deal to me.

Did you know that in thefirst century, you wouldn't,

as a Jew, fold your handsand close your eyes back.

The Bible never issues or offers that

as the primary model for prayer.

It's something that we invented.

But in the Bible, you neversee people closing their eyes

and folding their hands asthe main model of prayer.

In the first century, Jewswould normally stand up

and lift up their palms while they prayed.

In some cases, very rarely,you'd see people kneeling.

Like 50% of the Book ofEphesians is a prayer.

And Paul the apostle, one time he bowed

while he was in prison on his knees.

Jesus went prostrate inthe Garden of Gethsemane.

Ezra, in penitence for the aggregate

collective consciousnesssins of the people,

he too would go penitentbefore God, prostrate bowing.

But for the most part,bowing is very rare,

and closing your eyesand folding your hands,

that's never actually propagated

as a model for prayer in the Bible.

What you do see a lot of is walking.

So from the very beginning,we're told that God walked

in the cool of the dayin the Garden of Eden.

It doesn't even say Adam walked with God

in the cool of the day, itsaid God walked in the cool

of the day as if to inviteAdam to walk with him.

Then if you fast forward in Genesis,

God told Abraham, "Walk before me."

You also see in Genesis,Enoch walked with God

and was translated up.

Paul the apostle said walkworthy, Ephesians 4:1,

of the calling you've received.

The Book of Hebrews says wewalk by faith and not by sight.

There's something amazing about walking,

especially in our culture.

If you have ADD and ADHDand you have a hard time

sitting in the lotus position,

I want to encourage you to go for a walk.

Now, here's the amazingthing about walking.

Did you know that Duke Universitydid a study that reported

if you walk 6 times, 30minutes a day per week,

over an 8-month period of time,

you will gain no abdominal fat.

So it's actually really good exercise

and it doesn't hurt the joints.

But even more than that, ifyou go on three 30-minute

brisk walks per week, itenlarges your hippocampus,

the seat of memory in your brain,

and can actually helpfight off Alzheimer's

and strengthen your memory abilities,

your memorization abilities.

Pretty powerful stuff.

But spiritually, it'sgoing on prayer walks

that have healed me, apartfrom any scientific study,

perhaps more than anything else.

I believe that there aretopographical triggers

if you have PTSD, but I also believe

in topographical triumphs,

places that are holy ground for you.

When you go to your favoritewalking spot and talking

with God, there's magical,miraculous healing there.

Let me explain what I mean.

Scientific research has nowshown us that if you talk

to God, watch this, this isinsane, about your hopes, fears,

and dreams, it has the sameeffect on your brain as therapy.

Now, over the years, I foundthat when I'm depressed,

one of the most healing things I can do

is just go on a walk, talkto God about my hopes, fears,

and dreams, I cannot tell you how much joy

that's brought me, how muchshalom that's brought me,

how much peace that's brought me,

how much hope that's brought me.

There's something verypowerful about talking to God

about your hopes, yourfears, and your dreams.

Sometimes you think I needto talk about the orphans

in Gambia and themissionaries in Zimbabwe,

and that is my spiritual duty.

But actually if youread the Book of Psalms,

statistically, 50% ofthat book is laments.

And if you read the Psalms, the psalmist

is very frequently andoften praying for himself.

Friends, we need acathartic, therapeutic outlet

for the troubles in our soul.

The Bible says pour out your heart to God

and trust in him at all times.

And you can talk to him like your bestie.

You're chill with the Almighty,

you're besties with the maker.

The Bible says his yoke iseasy, his burden is light.

We can come boldly to the throne of grace.

We can cast our cares onhim, for he cares for us.

There's something very, veryhealing about talking to God

like you would talk to your friend.

You know, the Bible says that Moses spoke

mouth to mouth and face to face with God,

like a man would speak to his friend.

It was like spiritual FaceTime.

Like God said that Moseswas speaking to him

face to face and mouth to mouth.

Furthermore, in theScriptures, Jesus said,

"I don't call you servants anylonger. I call you friends."

A lot of people say, "Ben, how do I pray?"

I say, "How do you talk?"

Like you can talk honest.You can talk real.

You can talk raw.

You don't have to dolike this pious posturing

like the Pharisees, usinga lot of thees and thous,

unless that's how you poetically speak,

if you read a lot of Shakespeare, I guess.

But the fact of the matteris you can talk to God

like you would talk to your best friend.

Talk to him about your hopes,your dreams, and your fears.

And science tells usit has the same effect

on your brain as therapy.

Did you know you can even gossip to God?

It's true. You can gossip to God.

If you say God, "Canyou believe what hat guy

said about me behind my back?"

God's like, "Oh mygoodness, I had no idea.

What a juicy deet, like I can't believe

he said that about you, nowI look at him different."

No, all things are naked andexposed before God's eyes,

that we must give it account.

Hebrews says he knowsour thoughts from afar.

He knows the words beforethey enter our tongue,

Psalm 1:39 says.

So the fact of the matteris you can talk to God

about the people who are bugging you.

You know what the psalmist did?

He prayed that God would crushthe teeth of his enemies.

Wow, he was pouring outhis bitterness to God

because you can either belike the psalmist who said,

I have poured out all my complaint to God,

you can pour out yourcomplaint in the presence

of the Prince of Peace and get his power,

or you can just complain topeople and get their pity.

But snakes bite you, theearth swallows you up,

and you don't go into the landflowing with milk and honey

if you murmur in your tents.

And that's what the OldTestament Exodus tells us.

So what I want to encourageyou to do is talk to God

raw and real and honest, andyou know what will happen?

Not only spiritually willyou feel closer to God,

but scientifically, brainscans have shown us,

and studies have revealed to us,

that prayer has a demonstrableimpact on your brain.

Did you know one study showsthat when atheists pray to God,

they report feeling closer toGod after a period of time.

How crazy is that?

So let's say you're watchingthis and you're an atheist

and you just stumbled upon this CBN show.

And you're like, wow, Ididn't even believe in God,

and I don't even knowif I believe in a deity

or some tribal divinebeing up in the heavens.

But you know what'llhappen if you pray to him?

Over a period of time, youwill actually train your brain

to feel closer to him, isn't that amazing?

That's what James said.

If you draw near to God,he will draw near to you.

So it's not just that prayer walks

have an impact on your body.

No abdominal fat, hippocampus enlarged.

It's not just that it heals your spirit

and is a cathartic, therapeutic outlet

for the troubles in your soul.

But also it helps us in neuroplasticity.

You say, what's that?

Daniel Amen is a neuroscientist

who has done more brain scansof magnetic resonance imaging

on humans than any person in history.

He has done literally 83,000 brain scans.

The big question is, what'sthe common denominator

you found in studying people's brains?

And here's what he said.

He said, "The number one thing I've found

through all my brain scans isthat the brain can change."

Isn't that amazing?

You're not stuck with yourpsychological equipment.

You might be like Jack Kerouac and say

my worldview is gloomy.

You might say I inherited 50%of my spiral ladder of DNA

from my mom, the other 50% from my dad.

And I'm just what my parents are.

As the Book of Ezekielsays, don't say your teeth

are set on edge 'cause yourparents ate sour grapes.

In other words, don't say you're stuck

being the biological byproductof whatever your parents

just so happen to be.

No, neuroplasticity is now showing us

that you can change your brainthrough rote and repetition,

through continuously driving your thoughts

in a more hopeful direction.

What happens is you rewirethe synopses and grooves

in your brain in a malleable plastic way

to reshape your cranial package,

your psychological constitution,your cerebral gray matter.

So when the Bible saystake your thoughts captive,

when the Bible says put yourthoughts on things above,

when the Bible says betransformed by the renewing

of your mind, when Paul saidmeditate on what's lovely,

when the Bible teaches thatas a man thinks in his heart

so is he, our thought lifecan actually be controlled

through neuroplasticity and muscle memory.

So you may not feel likethe most hopeful person,

but when you train your brain to think

in a certain direction, youcan actually rewire your brain

because you become who you wanna become.

Now, one of the things that helps us

practice neuroplasticity is prayer.

I'm gonna get a littlescientific for a minute,

so just hang with me, then as we close,

we'll come back up to thesurface after these deeps.

But what magnetic resonanceimaging brain scans has shown us

is that when you talkintentionally to a God of love,

the frontal lobe of your brain activates

into its highest intellectual capacity

and you boost your brainintelligence by praying.

Prayer makes you smarter. Who knew?

Well, apparently God did.

Did you know that whenyou pray to a God of love,

you develop richer, thicker,

gray matter in your prefrontal cortex.

That's the part of your brain

responsible for creative thinking.

You also send more blood flow

to your anterior singular cortex.

That's the part of your brain responsible

for warm and fuzzy feelings.

Do you ever get thewarm and fuzzy feelings

when you're in the presence of God?

And it's also the centerof empathy and compassion.

So don't you find iteasier to forgive people

when you gossip about them,then you pour out your complaint

to God and crush their teeth,Lord, as the psalmist said.

Then you eventually prayblessing on your enemy

as Jesus told us to do, 'cause you got out

the bitterness in the presence of God,

you have more empathy for other people,

'cause you can't putsomeone on your hit list

who you put on your prayer list.

Furthermore, youramygdala, your rat brain,

loses its grip on you, andyou're not gonna be angry

and stressed out andhave high blood pressure.

This is all scientificresearch showing us that prayer

actually has an impact andan effect on your brain.

So I want to encourage you, ifyou struggle with depression,

nearly half of Americansreport that the coronavirus

has impacted theirmental health negatively,

go on prayer walks, talk to God.

And the peace of God, Paulsays, will guard your hearts

and your minds through Christ Jesus,

when in everything withprayer and supplication,

thanksgiving, you let yourrequest be known to God,

and you are anxious for nothing.

The Bible says anxiety inthe heart causes depression

in the Book of Proverbs, butin the Book of Philippians,

after the Old comes the New Testament.

If you offer your requestto God with thanksgiving

and a gratitude attitude, what happens

is you have this peaceguarding your hearts and minds.

As I close you say, Ben,if I go on a prayer walk

and start talking to Godabout things out loud,

people will think I'mschizophrenic and crazy.

Friends, that's why you mightwanna walk on the street

at night, and you'll just blend in

with all the other crazypeople on the streets.

Or put a Bluetooth in yourear and people will think

you're talking on the phone.

But I want to encourageyou to remember that God

is tapped into souls like theFBI is tapped into phones.

He's listening.

And he answers knee-mails.

And he will incline his ear to your cry.

So pray about it as muchas you worry about it,

and you will find thatdepression will flee

and hope will come.

I love you, CBN, and until next time,

may the hope be with you.

(bright music)