 Okay. All right. So we will pray first and then we will get into our time of study. So we would just like to request someone to lead us in a word of prayer. Anybody? Yes. Yes, Siddhkanu. Go ahead. Father, we come to the throne of grace, Lord. Thank you for this day. Thank you for the session, Lord. Whatever we are going to learn this prayer and the session class, Lord. Let it be used for the kingdom expansion and our faith to be built up strong, Lord. Whatever you have kept or whatever future plans you have, Lord, let it be fulfilled. We did not in our way, but in your way, Lord. Thank you for this hour, Lord. We are going to spend a lot. Thank you for this time, Lord. Wonderful time. Thank you for all the privileges you have given to us in Jesus' name. We pray, Amen. Amen. Amen. Thank you, Siddhkanu. So in the last session, we talked about the people who are lost and praying for them. We focused more on that in the last two sessions, in fact. And today we are going to look at praying for the city and why that is important. Praying over cities, regions and nations. So we kind of, you know, build on that aspect of prayer. And apart from, you know, learning these new things, a session, my first section of what we had dealt with in prayer and intercession was more about developing ourselves personally in prayer. And I really hope that, you know, we are able to do that and we're able to grow, set aside time. Also, now that we've understood, what are all the things that God wants us to pray for? Why are we praying in a certain manner? What is the basis? What is the scriptural basis? How can we engage in prophetic prayer? Go ahead and practice it. Go ahead and, you know, spend time with God, apply and really develop yourself in that. Because it's very valuable. It's really, really valuable. Something that we learn in this journey and we can continue using it throughout our walk with the Lord. So I want to encourage us to not take it as a theoretical class where we know, okay, why? Why should we intercede? Yeah, God wants a person to stand in the gap and intercede. Yeah, but then to really know that we are that one person who can stand in the gap and pray for people. We can pray for others. We can pray for our family. So whatever we are learning as children of God and also ministers, I'm sure we'll serve in some way or the other, you know, the kingdom of God. So when we apply it and we incorporate it into our lives, it really bears fruit, it really strengthens us. So I just want to encourage us to not leave it as theory, but to truly apply it. Now going to chapter 18, which is on page 67, we are talking about praying over cities, regions and nations. Why should we pray over cities now increasingly? We are noticing that a lot of people are choosing to live in cities and this is a pattern throughout the world. There are studies about how cities are expanding, how cities are becoming crowded as people from villages and smaller towns are coming in to find work, more people are getting educated, the suitable jobs are available in cities. So there's a lot about growth of cities, you know, migration to cities that we will learn about everywhere, you know, even if it's not just in terms of missions, but even generally, you know, when we talk about marketing or like I come from a health background. So we used to talk about cities, this is how you plan your public health measures and all that because it's very important. What's happening in the cities is very, very important. It affects a lot of people and there are influential people there. They can take it back to wherever they came from. So cities in that way are a key for many things that go on in the world. Even in the word of God, we see that, you know, God speaks to cities. God considers cities a lot of work which was done, particularly in the book of Acts. You will see that Paul and his team, they will try to choose cities. They'll go there, they'll preach the gospel, they'll establish churches because the impact was large. So that's a little bit about cities and why they are important and all. Now, God looks not just at us as individuals. We've seen that he considers families, you know, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. He's a God of families. He's a God of generations. Okay. So in God's way of looking at us, all these things come in. He will look at us as individuals, deal with us as individuals, deal with us as families, deal with us as generations. He also deals with us as city. Okay. When we belong to a city, he looks at us as that community. We are belonging to the city. So God's dealings have to be understood. God has a heart for cities and nations. He wants people. In other words, what does it mean to have a heart for the city? God wants people to know him. God wants people to experience of the blessings that Jesus has bought for us through his work on the cross. So everybody must experience it, isn't it? And it's not to say that, oh, God wants only the city people to be saved and not people from other places. It's not like that. But you notice that there is a special focus on the cities because it tends to influence a larger population. And there is greater opportunity for things to move out of the city and impact villages and all that rather than the other way around. So God has a heart for cities. God has a heart for, you could also say communities. God has a heart for regions. God has a heart for nations. Now, the things that go on in a city, it's not like God is not aware. God is very much aware. The first incident where God is talking about cities is seen in Genesis chapter 18 when Sodom and Gomorrah. They were cities that allowed homosexuality, sexual immorality. All those things were going on. There was sin basically in the cities. And it really hurt God's heart that people were living whichever way they wanted. They did not honor him. They did not live for God. And that came up before God. And then God has this conversation with Abraham. When God reveals to Abraham that he's going to destroy the sinful cities. And we know, we learned about intercession from there, right? The way Abraham talks on behalf of Sodom and Gomorrah to God to not destroy them. So he intercedes for these places. But unfortunately, even the minimum that Abraham comes to and says, Okay, if there are so many people, then I hope you won't destroy the city. It was very unfortunate because God, though he agreed, there was no option. The place was so sinful that he had to go ahead and judge these cities. So that's where we study about the dealings of God with a particular set of cities. Then later on, there are many such instances. Only a few we are looking at right now. Nineveh is another place in Jonah and the book of Jonah where God talks to Jonah and asks him to go to this place called Nineveh. Again, what was the issue with Nineveh? Their hearts were far away from God. Their lives were far away from God. So God cared about them, isn't it? Even in Genesis 18, God cared. That's why he listened to Abraham when Abraham was trying to negotiate to protect the city. God cared about Nineveh. People who are far away from God and yet God wanted to send a man. He wanted to send Jonah and said, Jonah, you go there. Jonah knew how evil these people were and yet look at this God. He wants me to go and he wants me to minister to such people. Jonah was the one who was resisting it. But did God have a heart for the city? Did God have a heart for the evil, sinful city? Very much. In fact, God, the moment they repented, we see that Jonah goes, he preaches the message, they repent. And God changes his mind towards the people. The judgment is not the way he told Jonah. Jonah is very upset. He says, what is this God? One moment you say you will judge the city and the next moment you are blessing these people. People will think that I am a fool. So Jonah takes it personally and he gets upset with God. But then you look at the way God is dealing with the city, the sinful city. He cares about the people. And God talks to Jonah and he says, look, these people, they don't know their right hand from the left hand. Why should I not care for such people? They don't know what they are doing. So they need to hear the message that I have saved them. And that is why I have sent you here. So of course, at that time he was not preaching Jesus, but he was preaching about them repenting and turning their hearts towards God. But we know ultimately God was trying to draw the people to himself. So we see that God has a caring heart for the cities. God sees the sin. He notices the sin. It upsets sin. And yet does God really want to protect the city? Does he want to forgive the city? Yes, he wants to. So he is trying to make a way in every instance here to save the people. One more passage we can look at is Luke 19 when he looks at Jerusalem and he feels so bad. And he says, you know, Jerusalem, you did not even understand the day of your visitation. So all these things will happen. He faced the consequences of not yielding to me. So what was God's heart for Jerusalem? He was upset. He was sad that these people are not responding. So God has a heart for cities. He's looking at every city. Does he know what's going on? Yeah, does he know about the sins, some of the terrible sins that are taking place in these cities? Yeah, he already knows. Is he making a way? Is he raising up men and women to minister to cities and towns? He is. He is. Does he feel bad if cities don't respond? He does. So, you know, we see that God has a heart for the people. Okay. And in scripture, we are also encouraged as God's people to pray. Pray for, in Jeremiah 29-7, we have seen this verse earlier too, where God told the people, pray for the city where I have taken you. You pray for them. Why? When we pray for the city, what happens? God's blessings. We want the blessings of God to be released on the city. So God wants us to pray for the city. Right? And we are God's people. We are His representatives. We are the ones who exercise that authority. Right? We open up our mouths. We bless. We release those prophetic words. We speak the declarations of God. And what are we really doing? You know, we are bringing that blessing upon the city. So God told the people, you pray so that you can bless the land where you are living. And we are the agents who can do that because we carry His spirit and His authority. And God told that whenever we turn to God and when we seek Him, no matter how the land is, you know, 2 Chronicles 7, 14. Again, a very familiar passage which a lot of people use for prayer, for intercession, for fasting. Where God says, you know, if my people who are called by my name, if you would humble yourselves and seek my face, turn from your wicked ways, I will hear from heaven, I will heal your land or I will heal your city. So see, God is in a way, He's giving a long group and He's saying, you know, if you repent, if you turn back, if you seek me, then I will not only bless you, He's telling His people, but I will also bless the land where you are dwelling. So what does it mean, bless the land? It means blessing on the lives of the people. It means blessing in our economy. It means blessing on, you know, anything that we are engaged in. If it is, you know, agriculture, yeah, there is a blessing on that. There is a blessing on the families, blessing on their education. In every way, God's blessing will come upon our land. Diseases will be removed. So God is saying, look, I really want to bless. And similar to what we said Ezekiel, if you stand in the gap, if you seek me for, you know, whoever, you're standing in the gap for your city, I will bless you. That's what I want to do. And I'm telling you to pray so that I can do it. So God wants to bless the entire land. He wants to bless the entire city. You could say He wants to bless the entire city. That is God's heart. And, you know, it is God who is engaged in the rise and the fall of the nations at 1726. It says, you know, even the boundaries of nations, they are kind of, they are known by God. Okay. And God is aware which kingdom rises and which kingdom comes down. He's aware about everything. So we see that God is aware about all things. And at the same time, you know, God has a heart to draw people to himself. But unfortunately, when the cities move into, you know, they move away from God, people live however they like. And it's so sad, right? Like when we talk about certain cities, we can also recognize what are the things that go wrong in that city. Okay. There are the places in that city where you should never go because evil things take place there. So it's very unfortunate, but this is how, you know, some places have become and that is like opening up the door for, you know, the consequences that a city might face. But on the other hand, if we pray and if we see city transformation, then, you know, we can trust that the blessing of God will be real in each and every city. So these are just some insights for us to understand about cities, about God's heart for cities and how, you know, he really wants to work with them. So now that, you know, we are part of a city, is it okay to, see till now we said pray for your family, pray for the church, pray for the set of believers, which is all biblical. Is it biblical to pray for the city? If we take time, you know, one prayer point, we say, okay, I'm going to pray for God to bless Bangalore. That's the city that I am from. Is it biblical? Very much, right? I can pray for the city. I can pray for the needs of the city. I can pray for the community, communities that exist in the city, you know, so on and so forth. So I remember there is this program. It's called the secret place. Okay, the secret place. I think APC in Bangalore, they did it for some time where there used to be intercession and worship in the night and also particularly for the city. There will be many prayer points that people will pray through. And then later on it was adopted into the missions program where we would also go and pray in other cities. So I was part of a few of these sessions. One was in Mysore. I remember one whole night we prayed for Mysore. And there were a lot of points which we had worked on for Mysore. So basically things like, you know, what are the areas that are doing well? Okay, let's continue, pray that it will continue to do well. And what are some of the challenges in the city? You know, if there's some challenges, I mean, I don't want to be specific because all this is being recorded. But yeah, you understand, right? So whatever issues are there in the city, those were listed out. So specifically we prayed. Okay, these things are happening. So let us pray that God will change this and people's hearts will turn around. And I remember once we had this all night prayer in Varanasi, where we had listed out. Okay, these are all the specifics to do with Varanasi and, you know, that region. Let us pray. Okay, let us ask God to intervene in these matters. So it was very, very focused to bless the city and for God to move upon the city. So in that way, you know, we can engage in prayer. God might also reveal to us that are all, I'm sure when you study about missions, you would have come across a lot of resources that are organizations that also map cities. Okay, where they can help us understand what are the different communities that are dwelling over there. What is their belief system like. And you know how to pray for these communities. So all that we can understand mainly to pray because the scripture does tell us that we must pray for our city, the groups that live in our city, the communities that dwell in our city. And, you know, just go ahead and trust that God will do a mighty work in our city. Yeah, so there's an encouragement in our notes here where it says that as God puts the city on our hearts, maybe God might say something like, okay, I am also more specifically calling you to pray for your own workplace. Or it could be, you know, your own set of friends in college, or it could be, you know, you're working in an IT park. Maybe that entire IT park God just gives you a burden and says, okay, you pray for all the people who work here. So just be sensitive to that. You know, how do we, how we want to, we want to bless the whole city, you know, we want to preach the gospel to the whole city. We want revival to touch the whole city. Yeah, that's true. But then God might put, you know, small little spaces on our hearts and say, why can't you start praying for this unit first? Okay, and that is something we can all do. Maybe our apartment complex, God says, okay, why don't you start praying that, you know, people will come to know, come to know me, that there will be those who come and sow the seed of God's word in their hearts, people will be healed, they will see the glory of God. So whatever God puts on our hearts, even if it is for like a small group, we can begin to start there. And God might show you, I've heard of testimonies where people just start with prayer. And then later God opens doors where they have, they've had Bible studies. And those Bible studies have become, you know, quite large and become ministries also. So we don't know, we don't know which way God will lead, but we are only here to obey what God is telling us to do. So if God puts a small community or a group or a unit on our hearts, the right thing to do would be to start praying. Okay, for that. And then God to lead us further. So in this manner, you know, God works on all of our hearts. And you know, as we pray, God's desire for the city will be fulfilled. Yeah, so that's a little bit more that we've understood about the city. One more aspect that I want us to understand is like in scripture, we see that some cities responded to what God was doing. Like Nineveh, we just saw that when Jonah went, he preached, they responded. But God was so upset with Jerusalem. And he said, Jerusalem, you did not recognize the day of your visitation. You were so caught up in your own life that you did not recognize what I was trying to do in your midst. So we see that, you know, there is a response required from cities. There were certain cities that responded really well. Even when you read the book of Acts, you know, Ephesus, there is all kinds of worship going on. But when Paul goes, he does the ministry. Then later on, you see so many people come and they, you know, people who at that time, you know, they were making certain idols of a deity. But they all came, they burnt them. And you know, there was a revival basically in that city where the hearts of the people were turned towards God. So that's what we call a revival. So a city like Ephesus, it's all a revival. And there are other such places we can look at whenever the word of God went there, there was a response required. And some cities had that response where they put their trust in God. But then there were others, they did not really care about it. God wanted to do a work, but they were resistant. It's unfortunate, you know, when Jesus was also doing his work ministering. He went to some towns and he said, I can't do here because of their unbelief. He could not do much because of their unbelief and he just left that place. So collectively, what's happening in that place, in that region, people's hearts are far away from God. Okay, so the response is not a right response, which the city is giving. So God expects a response from the cities and wherever there was good response, there was repentance and turning towards God. We know that there was a revival or God's blessing came upon that land. Then we also noticed that God sent people to prophesy over cities. Even today, you might hear certain people bring a word from God over a city or over a region. It's there in scripture. You read Jeremiah, he says, okay, Jerusalem, talking to God's people. So God has a word for the city. God has a word for cities. And that also is something that we observe. So I know it's not connecting. Everything is not flowing as such what I'm sharing with us. But I'm just giving us a picture about what cities are like and what God's heart is for the cities. What and all we see in scripture with regard to cities. So there were prophets who prophesied over cities. Now that also tells us cities and also nations that tells us that God has a plan. Okay, God has a purpose for the nation. God has a plan and a purpose for the city. So when a word comes, this is what I'm going to do in you in your midst. It tells us that there is an intention for us to pray a line to for us to work in line with. So God has a plan and a purpose just like he has a plan for an individual also for families. He told David, I'm going to do this. You will not lack someone on the throne. So he had a plan and a purpose through David and his lineage, his generations, his families. He had a plan in the same way for cities, for communities, for nations. God has a plan. God has a purpose. So there are prophecies that are made over cities and nations. Then those cities that responded even though they were sinful, if they responded, they were forgiven. So Ninevah again is a good example where, you know, there was a positive result. But those that did not respond to God, PC judgment. So going back to Sodom and Gomorrah, they did not and they lived on in their sin and they were judged. So that is also something we can keep in mind. So if our city does not respond, what will be the end result? Obviously, we don't want judgment, which is why as God's people, you and I, we can pray and we can ask God for his mercy. We can ask God for him to open up the hearts. You remember in the last session when we said that God, we want people to be saved. How to pray for them? One of the ways is that we say, God, you know, you work in their hearts. You let the father draw them to himself so we can pray all these prayers and say, Lord, you do a work. You change the hearts of the people so that Lord, the sin which is there in our city, it will be taken away and that your blessing will come upon us. Now, about the sins in the city, again, you know, there is so much we can discuss. Noticeably, right, there are things that get God's attention. You know, every sin is a sin for sure. But then, you know, like when you talk about Sodom and Gomorrah, we see that sexual immorality, something that God, he was like, I just have to destroy. That's it. It's so corrupted, the hearts and the lives of the people. Judgment was like, okay, wipe it out. Wipe out those cities. So, you know, there are these sins that we can see God dealing with as you study about cities. So today, for us, right, we're all from, I think, most of us are from cities here. And we are aware of the sins of our city, right? So what should it do to us? You know, it should really burden us that it's not like, you know, God is, life is still going on. It's normal. Things are functioning normally in the city. What can go wrong? Nothing can go wrong. But in the spiritual realm, you know, the way God looks at the city, it's not that these things are going unnoticed. It is coming up to God's knowledge. But we as God's people, we have to pray and we have to cry out for mercy and say, God, we know. We know all these evil things are going on. But we pray that there will be repentance, that you will open up the hearts of the people and Lord, instead of judgment, that we will receive a visitation from you. So in all these ways, right? We just invite God to work in our hearts and help us, you know, seek for the blessings upon the city. So cities and nations, based on the response they're either forgiven or they go through judgment. And that is kind of scary for us. Now, another thing that we can notice is that cities and nations, we will see in the kingdom of Satan, you know what he does? Do the natural kingdoms that exist, okay? On the earth we have nations. What he does is, parallely, he establishes his hierarchy. So if there is a Persia, he has a prince of Persia to interfere in the things of Persia, right? So basically what is it? Basically demonic interference and regional, territorial demonic influences are set up in the kingdom of Satan because he wants to bring destruction in the cities. Just as much as God has a heart for the cities, Satan has a heart for the cities. God has a heart to bless, he has a heart to destroy. So he knows, okay, through these spirits, these are the territorial spirits and if he has open doors, if he has a crack to come through, then he's more than happy to come in and cause damage, cause destruction in the cities. So we notice that there are demonic principalities and principalities are like the rulers, okay? They are in charge of cities. But there are, again, other spirits under them whom they will employ to cause destruction in the cities. So what kind of things happen? They can cause addictions, they can cause immorality, they can cause disobedience, they can cause violence, they can cause poverty, they can cause diseases. So all kinds of things, oppression, mental issues, any form of oppression they can cause, right? So that's their job. What is the job of Satan? Steal, kill and destroy. So that is the assignment which these principalities have over cities, over regions, over communities. So they are just out to destroy and we see that in the book of Daniel, Daniel chapter 10, when Daniel prayed, remember when we talked about persistence, persevering in prayer, it took 21 days for the answer to come to Daniel. God had sent it, the very moment he prayed, the answer was sent. But what was stopping the answer from reaching Daniel? It was the principality over that region. So the angel comes to Daniel later after 21 days with the answer and says, who stopped me? It was the principality. But the prayers of Daniel, the intercession of Daniel, kind of, you could say, allowed the angel to fight with these principalities. So there are demonic principalities over regions. We are also told in Revelation 213 of Pergamos, just a moment, let me just quickly check that reference. Yeah, it's about a place called Pergamos where we are told that the Satan has his throne, as if it was not good enough to know that there are principalities over cities. In this place called Pergamos, Satan always tries to gain ground and he has gained so much ground, we are told that he's sitting on a throne in the city. So what kind of a city was it? How destructive? How sinful? We don't know the details but we are pretty clear that Satan is ruling and reigning over that land of Pergamos. So do we have demonic interference over cities? Yep, we do and we should not ignore that. So while we are headed towards bringing the kingdom of God, towards praying for revival, towards praying for God's spirit to be poured out, for hearts to turn towards God, repentance. We are crying out for all these things but at the same time Satan is very proactive. That's what we read in scriptures. He's going about like a roaring lion, waiting, watching. Whom can I devour? So he's actively working against cities. He's working against groups of people. He's working against communities to destroy. So similar to what we said when we pray for the lost, there are two aspects. One is we pray and we say, okay, God, you touch their lives. You send people into their lives and bring them to yourself. At the same time, the other thing that we do is spiritual warfare because there is interference. So I like to look at it like this. When we are watering the plants in our garden, if you're using a pipe, we water them. So that's like prayer. We have to pray. Then the growth will come. The results will come. But if there are holes in the pipe, we have to block that. Otherwise, what will happen? We are praying. No doubt. We are doing our part. But what is Satan doing? He has punched holes in the pipe. So that is spiritual warfare where we recognize, hey, there is interference here. I have to block it. How do you block it? You have to go against the enemy. How do you go against the enemy? Use your weapons of spiritual warfare. Take up your authority. Take up all the parts of the armor. Put on your armor. Engage in battle. And in that way, we are plugging all those leaks. So two aspects. You pray and you also do spiritual warfare. Similarly, coming to the cities, when we are praying for the cities, there is a very definite demonic influence. Later on, we will see that while praying for cities, can we pray at an individual level? Yes, we can pray. But it is better to pray in a collective way for the city. That might mean that a couple of churches come together or many churches come together. Many church leaders come together and you pray. That is very effective because there is the power of agreement in the hearts of the people, which is incredible. Especially when there is demonic interference. When we pray collectively, as the body of Christ in the city, it is extremely powerful. So these are all aspects that we have to understand when we are talking about cities and how to pray for cities. So the point I was making so far is that Satan has an interference. He can have a small interference or he can have a huge interference like Pergamos, which is a stronghold. So I just want to also share one city that I had gone to. It is here in India only, South India. I had gone to one city and I was told that they engage in a lot of certain kind of worship. It is a holiday destination. But there is also all these centers where they practice a certain form of worship. So when we went there with my family, when I went there, it was so real that I could sense something about that place where you know that there is a demonic influence over the place. So I am just giving you an example, not that it should worry us or anything, but it's real. And for us, it's not, as believers, we know our authority. And I already shared how Satan has been defeated. He has been destroyed. He has been evicted. So he has been dethroned. So we are fighting a defeated enemy. And again, I shared how God and Satan are not equals. God is self-existent, eternal God. Satan is a finite created being. So there is actually no comparison between God and Satan in that way. So as believers, when we understand all these truths and we notice demonic influence or interference, we shouldn't get scared. In fact, we should be the ones who say, hey, I am carrying, like you know how Paul and the missionaries, they went to different cities, wherever they went, they were the ones who shown the light of God and they preached the gospel and people were saved and the glory of God came upon that city. It came upon the land. So we can, in that way, God, Jesus will build the church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. So when you look at a gate of hell, the gate of hell should get scared, not us. But I am just telling you, the strongholds of the enemy do exist. And we must not ignore it. You know, Satan, he will be happy if we ignore it because then he knows that we will not engage in the second aspect, which is spiritual warfare. We will only pray and forget about it. But there is demonic influence and we have to just be aware, basically be aware of it. So I remember that particular place and thinking that, wow, everything that I have learned in theory, these things are true, these things are real and I must really pray for this place. So yeah, that was from my personal experience. Now, God wants us, his people to stand in the gap. We've looked at so many Old Testament references where God said, I am looking for one person to stand in the gap. If my people who are called by my name seek my face, pray, and all of that, we've seen all that. I pray for the city where I've planted you. There's also some to it which says, ask of me and I will give the nations. And I'll give you the people for your inheritance. So God is giving us that privilege, opportunity, and authority to ask so that we can influence. It could be spiritual influence. Remember we talked about intercessors and we said intercessors have a ministry which is important just because we may not know intercessors and it's a very quiet sort of a ministry that God calls people to. We should not think that they are insignificant, but we have a very wonderful role to play. So in prayer God is saying, ask of me and I will give you the nations. Wow, what a privilege we have as intercessors. Again, it takes me back when I see Sam 2.8. It takes me back to years ago as a child in school when I was born again. I remember listening to this and thinking, is it really possible that God can take us to the nations that we can minister to the nations? And that day I was listening to a song. Those days you had the tape recorder in which you put it and I had some of those tapes. You put it again and again and again and you listen, listen, listen till it dies. So one of those tapes and one of the nice songs which says ask of me, I will give you the nations. And I was thinking and I got like a picture in my mind like a vision where God was showing, yeah, it's possible. And it was as if I'm seeing people from different countries. And that God is able to give opportunities to minister to people from different countries. You just pray about, like you pray, you ask and I will give you the nations. So when I just like now when I look back, right, those days, we never even knew that certain things are possible. Just think about it now. We are here with the internet and this class, online class and people are connecting from different nations. So it's all too amazing the way God works. And just for me in a personal way, I feel like one prayer, God, yeah, we're asking for the nations. We're asking for India. We're asking for some of the nations maybe listed here, represented here, Ghana, different nations. God takes all these prayers very seriously. And that's the point I wanted to make. I sense that in my own life in my own journey that it's all serious. We think that how will it happen? But God has a way of doing these things. We just have to be sincere and he says, okay, pray for your city, pray for the nation. He can make us an influence. Now, I don't know in which way maybe some of us will end up being preachers and teachers and all, but even if it's not out there before the people, just that ministry of intercession, it's so powerful. In that we are able to see God's work upon the nation. In that way, God can give the nation to us, isn't it? One more incident I remember this was a group of people who pray for the nation, pray for India. And they've been praying for many, many years. And I had the opportunity to be a part of a conference where the leader of that ministry, like he came to preach in one of the sessions. And he talked about the nation, he talked about the burden for the nation, praying for the nation along the lines of his ministry only. But the way the presence of God took, it was a large gathering. There were thousands of people in that gathering. But when he began to minister, we could sense the presence of God, right? And what was his, one of the primary things, intercession. And we wouldn't think that, okay, you know, he will, like you get what I'm saying, right? Even as an intercessor, like we could just sense the presence of God upon his life and that ministry that was praying for the nation for years. So basically, I'm just trying to say whether it is in a notable way or public way or even if nobody ever comes to know that we are praying. God has called us for this ministry of intercession. Don't doubt the influence that we can have through our prayers over groups of people, communities of people, you know, over cities, over regions. And it is a great blessing. So pray and ask God, if He burdens you for a region, you say, God, I don't know how you're going to use me, but I'm saying, yes, ask of me. I'll give you the nations. I'm just asking God, my job is to have a heart like a child and say, okay, God, you do it. That's all, just do it. And who are we to say how God is going to lead us to bless nations and people groups and earlier, you know, what I touched on and I said that we are the ones who are victorious and we are here to go against the gates of hell and Jesus said the gates of hell will not prevail against us. So why are we still here on the earth? Believers, children of God, to bring the kingdom of God on the earth in our city. We can pray and we can say, Lord, let your kingdom come. You remember when we prayed for the family, we said, okay, Lord, let your kingdom come in my spouse's life. Let it come in my child's life in my family. We can also say, God, let your kingdom come in my city. Let it overtake everything, the sin that is happening in my city, the injustice that is happening in my city. Lord, Jesus taught us to pray, thy kingdom come, thy will be done. And we as God's people, as we cry out, you know, God will hear our prayers and he wants people to do that. He wants us to pray for our city. He wants us to pray for our region. So, you know, this is a really beautiful study. What we will do is we will continue with it tomorrow. We'll touch some more on, you know, how to pray for the city and all that. So let me just pause here and leave this time open. Anything you want to add or testimony you want to share or a comment, question, feel free, feel free to do that. Yeah, I hope it's, you know, you're getting something out of this. Yeah, sure. Yes. Yes, Nicholson, go ahead. Yeah, thank you. Thank you, Klaas. Hello, Pastor Naiti. You have a few questions. One is, I'm sorry to put you in this spot, but I just wanted to know after that trip in Mysore, did you all follow up and know if there was any change in the city? And that is one question. The other one is you had mentioned last time that fasting and prayers to build faith. Okay, I just wanted to, like, what we fast and pray for deliverance of cities also and people, so is that correct as well? Yes, yes, sure, Nicholson. Thank you for the two questions here. Yeah, the first one, did we follow up and did we see a change? In fact, we'll talk about it later. When it comes to cities, I think it was a good beginning, Nicholson. I know that since, like after that, people were just open to this kind of intercession. And in that particular meeting, many pastors and leaders had come together. So it was one of its kind. That wouldn't happen in the city a lot. So by itself as an event and a program, it broke ground. But to go back and check on the specifics of whether something changed, I'm just simply saying if there is a crime in the city, if crime went down, we haven't followed up in that manner. And also, when it comes to cities and praying for cities, sometimes for us to see the impact, it takes a while. We have to engage for a certain period of time. So yeah, definite change, like notable change. I can't tell you that we have seen that or we have checked for that. But we know from the testimonies we heard, we know that people were awakened to this kind of prayer and intercession. So that much information I have. Okay, so I hope that helps. Yeah, thank you. Yeah, sure. The second one. So you're saying that fasting, does fasting help? And is it required? Yes, yes. Yeah, sure, for interceding for anything that God burdens us with, when we want to pray with greater faith, fasting always helps. And not right now, but in the next class, I'll try to share some examples from the world around us where people have fasted and prayed. And they have seen an impact. Even when we talked about Father Nash, you remember in Charles Finney's ministry, they would go and travel in prayer. Many of those teams that went out to pray for cities and regions, they would engage in fasting. And a lot of revivals also, if you study the revivals, there is definitely an element of fasting in many of them. Now fasting by itself, we are going to study it and understand what is it and all. Yeah, it's not to say that only if you fast, you're going to see a revival. No, it doesn't work like that. But is fasting associated with praying for the city and the breakthroughs that come very much? And I'll give you some specific examples in the next class. Thank you so much. Yeah, sure. No problem. Thank you so much. Good questions there. Anything, any other questions? All right. So what we can do is just mull over these things. And if you have the time, go through the notes. We'll continue from here. And if you have anything to clarify on the same topic, we can do that tomorrow. So let's close right now. We will close with a word of prayer. I would like to request someone to lead us in prayer. Anyone, please feel free, jump in and pray. Yes, yes. He opened it and you're closing it. That's great. Yeah, I really appreciate your enthusiasm. Yeah, go ahead, please. Father, we come to the throne of grace. Thank you for this day, Lord. Thank you for the session, Lord. As we have learned about praying for our city, Lord, all the students who are here, Lord, we are surrendering our cities in your hand, Lord. Do whatever as you have planned for our cities, Lord. We pray for the city of Bangalore. We pray for the city of Delhi. And whatever and whichever places you're, Lord, we are from Lord. We give it into your hand, Lord. Do as you have planned for the city, Lord. Do as you have planned, Lord, in our lives, Lord. We go down in front of your presence, Lord. Thank you for this day, Lord. Whatever we have learned that it should be visible to us and we should make an example for others to believe in, Lord. In Jesus' name, we pray, amen. Amen, amen. Thank you, Sudkano. Thank you, everyone. God bless you. Have a wonderful day. We meet again tomorrow. Take care. Bye for now. Praise the Lord, ma'am. Thank you. Thank you. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Thank you. Bye. God bless you.