- Welcome to CBN's "Week of Prayer."

This is the webcast wherewe're praying for you.

If you have prayer requests for us,

all you have to do is to let us know.

A lot of different ways you can do that.

You can call us 18007007000,

you can also go to our website, cbn.com

and just log in there andtype in your prayer request

but it's our honor, ourprivilege to pray with you.

We also have a special mailer out,

so if you've receivedthat all you have to do

is fill in the cardthat's attached with it

and then mail it in andit will be our honor,

our privilege to pray with you.

So here are the prayerrequests that I have,

we'll start the prayermeeting with prayer.

Here's a prayer request

for healing for mydaughter, liver problems

now her other organs are shutting down.

Here's someone asking, please

I want to be healed of throat cancer.

My husband to be healedof non-Hodgkin's lymphoma

and stage three kidney disease.

That finances from a courtcase would be released

after years of waiting.

And then someone requesting

I need boldness to sharethe gospel with strangers.

Let's lift all these requeststo the Lord keeping in mind

that wonderful parableof the unrighteous judge

and the widow who came to him.

She kept pounding on the door

because she knew he couldanswer her requests.

He was in there, he may have been asleep,

but he could answer her request

and so it's called the importune widow.

And Jesus gave that to us asa parable the Bible records,

to show us that we should neverlose heart, but always pray.

Let's let our requests be madeknown, giving thanksgiving

for the answer that God will give to us.

Lord, we lift these needs to you.

We lift all the requeststhat have come in,

whether by phone, on thewebsite or through the mail,

we lift them all to You.

And we ask, that you, theprovider of every human need

would stretch forthyour hand to do wonders.

For those who have relativeswith disease, with sickness,

for this kidney disease, for the daughter

who's having organ failureand liver problems.

For those who have need of finances

to be released over them,

for those who are asking forboldness to share the gospel.

You are the answer to these needs,

Lord, give us the faiththat we need to believe,

for every good gift comes from you,

you even give us the gift of faith.

So stretch forth yourhand, do signs, wonders

and miracles today.

For we ask it in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Again, if you want your request prayed for

all you have to do islet us know, 18007007000

or you can go to cbn.com.

There's a place where you cantype in your prayer requests,

so let us pray for you.

We love to come into agreement with people

because the Bible says,

"When two or more agree touching anything,

"it shall be done for themby my Father in heaven."

These are the words ofJesus, you can rely on them.

Well, today we have a specialteaching for you on prayer,

Dr. Jack Graham pastors,

the 46,000 memberPrestonwood Baptist Church

in Plano, Texas.

He says, he's learned the prayer

that gets to heaven starts in heaven.

Well, what does he mean?

Prayer is not seeking to get what we want,

it's discovering what God wants,

and here's Dr. Graham with more.

(gentle music)

- I'm Jack Graham, pastor,Prestonwood Baptist Church

in the Dallas, Texas Area.

And so glad to be a partof CBN's prayer week

and delighted that CBN has chosen

to make this a focus of priority

because prayer is such avital, essential priority

in the believer's lifeand the lives of churches

our community, our world, ournation desperately needs God.

The whole world needs Jesus

and our link with Almighty God is prayer.

Throughout the scriptures,God has called us to pray

and not just to casually pray

but to even pray without ceasing.

Which to me clearly means

that we're always to be aprayer away on any subject,

when we see it, we pray about it.

I like to say, pray yourway through your day.

And the Bible is replete,is full of commands to pray

and commitments to pray andconsecration to pray is through

and through the Word of God

in both Old Testament and New Testament.

And the ultimate prayer warriorof course is Jesus Himself.

Who often got up earlybefore the sun came up

and prayed, stayed up late to pray.

When the disciples came to Jesus

they didn't say teach us to preach

or even to perform miracles

they said, "Lord teach us to pray,"

because there was something about Jesus

and the way He prayed.

Clearly, His communionwith the Father was perfect

and yet, even in the words that He prayed,

how He prayed, the passion in His praying

that was what the disciplessaw and wanted the most.

Lord teach us to pray.

And that should be our heart cry today.

If we're going to seerevival in the church

and that's where revivalbegins not outside the church,

but it starts in the church.

Let judgment begin with the house of God.

If things are going tochange in our country

it's going to happen withpastors and leaders and churches,

as we intercede, as wepray, as we cry out to God.

And a week like this, aprayer week at CBN gives us

this opportunity to pray always,

as I like to say prayyour way through your day,

always at prayer.

So Jesus talked about howto pray with a model prayer

and you're familiar with that I'm sure.

Our Father who art in heaven,hallowed be your name,

your kingdom come, yourwill be done on earth

as it is in heaven.

And each point of thatprayer that Jesus gave us

is a grid if you will,as to how we're to pray

is a prayer point.

The praise of the prayer,the pardon of the prayer

and the provision of this prayer,

give us this day, our daily bread.

And that's the elementary,

that's the ground breaking idea of prayer.

Our Father who art in heaven,

that God is not a distantdeity somewhere out there

but that we can commune withHim and converse with Him.

A child to father, as a childwould come to the father,

prayer is talking to God.

It is sharing your heartwith your heavenly Father

in the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ.

But right after in Luke chapter 11,

He gives us this model prayer

then He gives us anillustration of praying.

He tells them about a man whohad his children all in bed

and there came a knockat the door at midnight

and the knock was bold.

It was bodacious, itwas loud, it was strong.

And the man indoors said, "Look,go away I'm already in bed.

"We've turned it out for the night."

But the man kept knocking and knocking

and finally he knocked solong and he knocked so loud,

Jesus said, saying, "I'vegot a friend who's coming.

"I don't have bread, my cupboard is empty,

"would you give me bread?"

It's called the parable, thestory of the friend at midnight

and Jesus like any good preacher

and of course He was thegreatest preacher of all.

He gave us this storyto help us like a window

to see what prayer will dowhen we pray in this way,

when we come desperately before the Lord.

And that's when in Luke chapter 11

He gave us these well-knownbook verses, which says

"So I say to you ask andit will be given to you,

"seek, and you will find,

"knock and it will be opened unto you.

"For everyone who asks,receives and he who seeks finds,

"and to him who knocks it will be opened."

And then here's a greatverse, verse 11 of Luke 11,

"If a son asks for breadfrom any father among you

"will he give him a stone?

"Or if he asks for a fish

"will he give him a serpent instead?

"Or if he asks for an egg,will he offer him a scorpion?

"If you then being evilknow how to give good gifts

"to your children, how much more?"

I love that.

"How much more will yourheavenly Father give to you

"the Holy Spirit who ask Him?"

Now I love that applicationof the model prayer

and the power of prevailingprayer in our lives.

Jesus told the story, illustrating

that when we come to God,we're to come boldly,

we're to knock and keep knocking,

we're to seek and keep seeking,we're to ask and keep asking

and amazing, isn't it?

That we are welcomed into thepresence of God in this way.

And when Jesus gave thisverse, ask, seek and knock,

have you ever observedthat A-S-K, is right there?

Asking, seeking, knocking, ask

which is simply put what prayer is.

Prayer is more than asking,but prayer is certainly asking

and Jesus invites us alwaysto bring the ask to Him,

to seek Him, to know Him more and more.

The way I put it in askingand seeking and knocking

and by the way, these are written in a way

which means, keep asking,keep seeking, keep knocking

that in the asking that's whatI call petitioning prayer.

Petitioning prayer, tobring your petitions

as the Bible says to theLord, that's your prayer list.

Now, when you pray, bring yourbattles, bring your burdens,

bring your requests,bring your desires to God

because He welcomes these,

and not just the big things,but the small things.

In fact, can you think ofanything that's too big for God

or too small for God?

Nothing is bigger than God,

everything is small to God, in God's eyes.

So whether you view it as alittle thing or a big thing,

we're invited to bring all of our heart,

all of our heart's desires unto Him.

And John Newton, who wrote thegreat hymn, "Amazing Grace,"

the former slave trader

who came to faith in Christ,gloriously, powerfully saved.

He also wrote these words,

"Thou art coming to a king,large petitions with thee bring,

"His grace and power are suchthat none can ask too much."

You can't out ask God.

In fact, Ephesians three

is a kind of life versefor me, for our church

because we've seen God dosome incredible things.

When it tells us that when we pray

and at the end of Ephesiansthree, we pray like this.

God is able to do exceeding,

abundantly above all that we can ask

or think according to thepower that works within us.

You can't out ask God, outthink God, out plan God.

God's plans, God's desiresare greater than yours.

So my point, what Jesus is saying here

is when you come asking,come asking specifically not

with generalized prayer,Lord, bless the world,

bless the church, blessour family and that's it.

No, be specific in your prayersthat's the prayer strategy,

just share your heart with God,ask and then seek in prayer.

What I'm calling perceiving prayer

because prayer is askingand prayer is seeking.

Prayer is not changing God's mind,

prayer is finding God's mind.

It's not getting our will done on earth

it's getting God's willin heaven done on earth.

And we are able to make the connection

and know the heart ofGod, not just what we want

but in praying we sensethe presence of God.

We begin to perceive thewill of God in our lives,

that's what happens when we pray.

If we never talk to God,we won't have a clue

as to what to do with ourlives, the will of God.

We need to perceive andseek the knowledge of God

and the knowledge of His will.

That's one big reason I prayand that we all should pray,

is that we would discoverand do the will of God

that we would live in obedienceto God, to pray and obey.

That's what we should do.

Pray, listen to God.

And God speaks to us through His word,

God speaks to us in His will each day.

And when we pray,

we are beginning todiscover what God wants.

We discover who God is, whichis the greatest thing of all.

I learned a long time agothat the prayer that gets

to heaven is the prayerthat starts in heaven.

And here's what I mean by that,

God has something He wants to accomplish

through our lives, through your life

and so He puts the desire on your heart.

When you are praying and prayingfaithfully and regularly,

then God implants ifyou will, these desires,

God will show you something.

I was praying just theother day about a gift,

our church needs to maketo a mission organization.

And as I was praying andjust seeking God's will

and God's plan, He put onmy heart what we should do.

And I checked it out withthe leaders in our church

and we're working it through

but this idea, this desire,I believe came from heaven

and God put the desire in my heart,

and then when I pray, Ijust pray it back to Him.

Someone called it the circle of prayer,

the cycle of prayer.

Put it this way, at the top it's God,

God sends down a desire to us

and we pray it, we closethe circle back to him.

That's how we're to pray,

that's why I'm callingthis perceiving prayer.

There's asking, whichis petitioning prayer,

there is seeking and keepon seeking God and His will.

That's perceiving prayerwhen we know how to pray.

And we have the Holy Spiritas our prayer partner

did you know that?

The Holy Spirit intercedeswith us and by us and in us

and so we keep on asking,we keep on seeking

and we keep on what did Jesus say?

Knocking, knocking.

That's what I wanna calla persevering prayer

or a prevailing prayer.

Too often if we don't get theanswer in the next 15 minutes

we quit or maybe we've been discouraged

because it doesn't happen right then

and we just stopped praying.

Or maybe there's a time in your life

when it didn't seem God heard your prayer

the way you wanted it answered,

or you just found yourself discouraged

and you just kinda quit praying.

I wanna call on you today totake up the prayer mantle,

if you will and themission, prayer mission,

that's even a better word.

Make it your mission to be aprayer warrior, battles are won

or lost in prayer.

Victories are gained when we pray

and that means to keep on knocking.

That's why the scripturesays, "Pray and do not faint."

Jesus says, "Don't lose hopeheart, but keep praying."

Don't lose your heart, don'tgive up, keep on praying.

That's what happened tothe story that Jesus told.

He was a man who had aneed, he had friends coming

that needed bread andhis cupboard was bare.

And I look at the world today

and so often our cupboards are empty,

we wonder, what do we have to give?

And we need to be likethat friend at midnight

who goes and knocks, knocks,knocks, knocks on heaven's door

and keeps knocking in behalf of the bread,

the bread of heaven that weneed because people are hungry.

People are hopeless, people are lost,

people are dying without Christ

and we need to come withdesperate soul-winning prayers,

if you will.

In behalf of others, whenwe pray for ourselves

that's one level of praying.

That's a good level of praying

and God has called usto pray for ourselves.

But when we pray forothers, intercede for others

that's a whole nother level.

And God is calling usto pray for the lost,

the people who are empty and hopeless

and dying without Christ.

And we need to come desperatelybefore the throne of God

in these days to pray forpeople who need Jesus.

So during this prayer week of CBN, join me

and all the others who are saying

we're going to keepasking, petitioning God

for what we need in our days,personally and nationally,

wherever there is a needthat we're petitioning God,

that we are perceiving God,that we are seeking God.

The scripture says, David prayed this,

"Early will I seek you oh God."

We are seeking God, cryingout to God like never before

that is the perception of prayer

and yes, we are to keep onpraying, prevailing in prayer

holding our hands together inprayer, getting on our knees

before God, laying out beforeGod, looking up to heaven

and crying out to Godand to keep on doing it

and never ever stop.

God bless you, as youpray today and every day

the prayer of Jesus toask, to seek and to knock.

(soft music)