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This one has to do with 
praying in the Spirit.

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Steven Gibney writes,

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"Brother Tim, I have a 
question about prayer.

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How long should I pray?

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Should I come first in worship
or does it matter?

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Sometimes I sense my own
need and frailty

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that I just begin to weep
and cry out

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for mercy and grace.

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What is praying in the Spirit?

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How do I know that I am?"

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Does anybody know where he's
getting that from?

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Praying in the Spirit?

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It comes to us from Ephesians 6.

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Listen,

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"Take the helmet of salvation,
and the sword of the Spirit,

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which is the Word of God;

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praying at all times
in the Spirit,

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with all prayer
and supplication."

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So very quickly,

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"how long should I pray?"

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My answer I put here:

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Your whole life.

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I mean, think about it,

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praying at all times in the Spirit.

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1 Thessalonians 5:17

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Pray without ceasing.

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Luke 18:1

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You ought always to pray
and not lose heart.

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Romans 12:12

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Be constant in prayer.

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Our whole life needs to be
a life of prayer.

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It's like someone said,

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prayer to the Christian
is like breathing to the natural man.

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You come forth into the world

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and you begin to breathe.

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You come forth into the
Kingdom of God,

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and you begin to pray.

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And the Spirit of God is 
the Spirit of adoption.

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It's the Spirit by which we 
cry, "Abba, Father."

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What are all those
"Abba, Father's?"

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They're prayer.

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They're crying out to God.

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Jesus identifies in Matthew 6

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that there are times we go
into our closet.

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There are times we get away

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from the commotion,

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we get away from the crowd.

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I was just reading Count Zinzendorf's life

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that he would make it a point

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to send people away,

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and he would travel certain
parts of his journey

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all by himself.

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He liked to speak out loud

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and personally to Christ.

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And he would just walk 
as with a friend

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for miles and miles and miles.

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Just openly conversing with Christ.

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We need that.

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We need times alone.

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How long?

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Jesus says this,

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"When you pray, go into
your room, shut the door

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and pray to your Father, 
who is in secret,

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and your Father who sees in
secret, will reward you."

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He doesn't say how long
that should take,

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but brethren, if you're really

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trying to bear the burdens

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of your brothers and sisters

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in the church,

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let alone your own burdens,

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and you're really trying to
hold up the spread of the Gospel,

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that's one of the things that
was prayed for;

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Paul wanted prayer.

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Pray for me.

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Spread of the Gospel.

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If you're praying 
for our missionaries,

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you're praying for the 
spread of the Gospel,

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you're praying for the evangelistic
efforts in this city;

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you're praying, and you're
really giving yourself to pray;

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can you do that in 30 seconds?

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Can you do that in 
a minute and a half?

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It says you pray like that
in secret,

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your Father who's there in secret,

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hears in secret,

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will reward you openly.

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Does it mean so little to you

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of the rewards of God

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that you would just go into your

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closet and pray five minutes
a week?

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Now then he asks the question

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about should we start in worship.

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All I can say about that is,

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look, there are all sorts of ways to pray.

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I just thought of the early church praying

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Acts 4, "They lifted up their voices
together to God..."

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Listen to how they prayed:

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"Sovereign Lord."

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Now see, they're glorifying 
the Lord there.

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There's worship in that.

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They're identifying Him: Sovereign.

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And He's Lord.

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Who made the heaven
and the earth.

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They're identifying Him as
the Creator.

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"And the sea and 
everything in them.

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Who through the mouth of
our father David

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your servant said by the 
Holy Spirit."

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He's the one that 
speaks to us.

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"Why do the Gentiles rage
and the peoples plot in vain?

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The kings of the earth set
themselves, rulers were

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gathered together against the Lord,
against His anointed;

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for truly in this city
there were gathered together

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against your holy servant,
Jesus, whom you anointed."

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So He's the God who anoints.

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He's the God who predestinates.

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"Both Herod and Pontius Pilate
along with the Gentiles

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and people of Israel to do

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whatever Your hand and 
Your plan

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had predestinated to take place.

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Now, Lord, look upon
their threats,

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and grant to Your servants
to continue to speak

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Your Word with all boldness."

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You know what, 
when you begin to pray,

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and you begin to identify
God the way He is,

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in terms that are glorifying
and praiseworthy to Him,

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it will excite you to pray better.

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Not only is it glorifying to Him,

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it encourages you to think
on who this God is.

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So, I encourage it.

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It's definitely biblical.

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It's definitely in 
that biblical prayer.

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And just to tell you,

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when they prayed like this,

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"the place in which they had
gathered together was shaken,

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and they were all filled 
with the Holy Spirit,

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and continued to speak the
Word of God with boldness."

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Then he asked this question:

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"What is praying in the Spirit?"

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Well, let me tell you this,

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I'll tell you what it is,

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praying in the Spirit's at the
end of all this armor

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that we need to 
fight demonic powers.

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Do you remember this?

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We fight not against flesh
and blood, right?

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Isn't that how this chapter starts?

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All this warfare talk?

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Praying in the Spirit is the
kind of prayer

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you need to pull down
demonic strongholds.

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It's the kind of 
prayer you need

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to go up and fight against

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these principalities and powers

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and wicked dominions
in high places.

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I don't know that I can exactly
define what praying in the Spirit is,

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but I can tell you this,

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typically when you're 
praying in the Spirit,

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you have a sense of it.

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Or when you're in 
a prayer meeting

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and you hear other people
pray in the Spirit,

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you have a sense of it.

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And I'll tell you this,

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the kind of prayer that
brings down

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demonic strongholds

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is not where you just 
whip out your laundry list,

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and "Lord, heal Aunt Tilda's toe,

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and Lord, help my neighbor
who lost their dog,

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and Lord, help..."

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I mean, when you just throw out
the cheap little laundry list...

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What kind of prayer is it 
that pulls down

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demonic strongholds?

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I'll tell you what it is.

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It's when people begin to
recite the character of God

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like they did there in Acts 4.

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It's when they begin to recite
the promises of God

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until that Spirit takes that promise

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and lights them up on fire

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so that they are able to lay hold
upon God

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and have what they're asking for,

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and not let God loose,
though He shake them

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like that angel of the Lord
did with Jacob.

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And they hold on till they 
get what they pray for.

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I'll tell you what,

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you don't pray in the Spirit
when you've grieved the Spirit.

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When you've got all sorts of
sin and wretchedness in your life.

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And that Spirit of God,

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He tends to energize and 
He tends to be effectual

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in God's people's lives

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when their eyes are
set upon Christ.

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These are things that I would say.

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You want to pray in the Spirit?
Don't grieve the Spirit.

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You want to pray in the Spirit?
Set your eyes on Christ.

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You want to pray in the Spirit?
Set your eyes on the character of God.

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You want to pray in the Spirit?

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Set your eyes on the promises.

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And I'll tell you this,

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you don't pray in the Spirit
unless you pray.

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And it's not going to be these

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cheap little flippant things.

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And I'm not saying it's always
got to be all dramatic,

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some of the times, like this guy,

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he feels frailty and feels weak

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and all he can do is weep;

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some of the most "in the Spirit"
prayers may be

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where you can't even get a word out.

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All it is is a weep or a groan
or a tear that runs down your face.

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It doesn't have to be all dramatic
and everything.

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But it's where men with pure hearts

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are ascending the hill of the Lord

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and they're laying hold on
the arm of God.

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That's praying in the Spirit.

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And though it may be a sigh,
it may be a groan,

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it's pure men that pray like this.

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Pure women.

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Not those who defile themselves
and grieve the Spirit of God.

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I can't exactly define all of it, 
but I'll tell you what,

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I know when in the depths
of my own soul

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a promise of God has come
to my heart

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where I am determined
to have it and not let go of God.

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I've heard men pray before,

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where I've just entered in.

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And you know it.

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You folks know it.

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You've been in prayer meetings

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and you've heard some people pray

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and it's just kind of like

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a drone that it doesn't feel like

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there's been a laying hold on God.

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It's just kind of talking

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and it's just going on;

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where others, they've just
been lifted up

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and they say, "God, 
You are like this."

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And then the whole congregation

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just kind of says, "Yes!"

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"And Lord, we need to have this."

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And it's like, "Yes!"

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"Lord, we'll not be denied."

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And you just feel there's 
this swaying

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and the Spirit is moving.

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Where other times,

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it's just this chatter and this drone.

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But you guys know what
I'm saying is right.

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You can sense it.
You can feel it.

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There's certain times when
people pray

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and it's like I'm lifted away;
I'm in another place,

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I'm carried up.

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May God give us that.

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And we have times like that
in our prayer meetings.

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And I'm thankful for it.

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May God give us those kind of times

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in our personal lives as well.

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Well, that's it for today.

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Any questions or comments
anybody want to make?

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Did I kill you with time?

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(from the room)

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How would you exhort somebody
who feels discouragement?

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Tim: I would say this,

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pray through your discouragements.

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Live through your discouragements.

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Press on in your discouragements.

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I'll tell you one of the
most discouraging things for me,

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is the silence of Christ.

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And what I mean by that
is when you pray,

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and then there's no answer.

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And you pray again.

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And there's no answer.

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And if I were to bring in

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a real life situation,

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I would bring in the Syrophoenician woman.

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"Lord, my daughter's got a demon."

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He didn't answer her.

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She kept pressing the matter.

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Then, when He did answer,

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He says look, you're a Gentile dog.

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I didn't come for the dogs,

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I came for the children.

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She said, "Lord, even the dogs

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eat the crumbs that fall
off of the table."

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She kept pressing Him;
she kept pressing Him.

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There are times for me,

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that's great discouragement;

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but the silence of Christ

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is not meant to turn us away.

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And it's not meant to communicate to us

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that Christ doesn't love us.

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It's meant to stir those 
longings even deeper,

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to press the faith even further.

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If you look at that Syropheonician woman,

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just pressed her to become

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more violent in her attempts to

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get a response from the Lord.

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And in the end,

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she had what she came for.

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So, in the midst of our 
discouragements,

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I would call the 
Syropheonician woman...

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Because why are we discouraged?

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We get discouraged 
because we don't have

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certain things that we want.

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That's really what it is.

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Discouragement comes because
I want something

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that the Lord is not giving me.

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He's gone quiet on me.

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If you think about it.

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I mean, are you discouarged when
all the things that give you joy

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and happiness and pleasure
are all being heaped upon you?

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Typically not.

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Typically, we're discouraged when 
we feel something's lacking.

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We either feel His face is withdrawn,

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we feel there's something
we feel so pressed

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to have from Him;

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and He's gone silent.

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(from the room)

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I heard an analogy once that 
prayer is like digging

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for buried treasure.

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And that some people around you
are going to hit that treasure

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before you do, but that
doesn't make you stop digging.

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It's still down there.

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Tim: And Spurgeon's likened it to

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shaking a fruit tree

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trying to get the
fruit to fall off.

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And that a lot of people
quit beating on the tree

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00:13:18,493 --> 00:13:23,696
one stroke before... if they 
would have hit it one more time,

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it would have fallen.

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And it's true,

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we have not, because we ask not.

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And those that press through,
are the ones that receive

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what they ask for.

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Do you know George Mueller

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prayed fifty-some years for

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00:13:41,159 --> 00:13:42,815
one of his brothers

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every single day that 
God would save him,

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and God finally did save him?

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00:13:46,956 --> 00:13:48,739
God saved some of his 
family members

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who he prayed for every
day of his life after he died.

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He didn't even get to see it
in this life.