 When I was praying about what message to bring here to this conference and the conference is on prayer the conference talks about I've heard many great messages and I've said Lord. I want to find the direction the vein in which you want me to minister So the Holy Spirit began to deal with me about the four realms of prayer now Don't get freaked out when I say four realms of prayer. I don't mean four dimensions I'm talking about four different realities for different categories for different expressions of prayer But no matter where you are in your prayer life whether you're a new convert or whether you're experienced whether you've learned the subtleties of prayer whether you've not come to be familiar with the nuances of spiritual warfare and worship and how all of these dynamics work Together the interaction between spirit to spirit We're voiced to God's ears. God's voice to your ears Whether or not you're very familiar or whether or not you're completely clueless and you have to say Jesus Teach me to pray because I don't know a word I'm saying it is the Holy Spirit who enables prayer Let me tell you something not only can you not pray without the power of the Holy Spirit You couldn't even desire to pray without the Holy Spirit. It's not a matter of discipline though That's part of it. It's not a matter of the will though. That's part of it It's not a matter of emotion though that can be affected by prayer It is by the Holy Spirit that we are led into the depths of the presence of God It is by the Holy Spirit that we are led to the place. We are granted audience with our father Prayer is by the spirit. You cannot enter the spirit in the flesh You cannot enter the spirit by will or aggression When I first began to pray I Was 11 years old and I remember the Holy Spirit just beginning to deal with my heart And he began to speak to me about dedicating myself more to prayer dedicating my heart more to him and What happened was interesting. It was a very you know what I'm talking about those very sweet seasons in your life And there's just that's the word I used to describe it There's just a sweetness to the presence that abides on your prayer life during certain seasons Do you know what I'm talking about? And so I remember I had come to one of those seasons when I was 11 years old and I Like many of you came to God with somewhat of an ultimatum and I was desperate. I was hungry. I was passionate. I said Lord. I want to know Jesus more father I want to step into everything that you have for me, and I remember coming into my room. I closed my door I locked it. I stepped into the room and I said Jesus. I Am not leaving this place Until I have an experience with the Holy Spirit Because I had heard that the Holy Spirit could be my friend and that notion intrigued me I used to think that it was somewhat of a Spiritual misdemeanor to talk to the Holy Spirit or misdemeanor idolatry to pray to the Holy Spirit instead of Jesus I used to wonder Jesus do you get offended when I address the Holy Spirit and For that matter, why do they call him the Holy Spirit if he's a person? But I reconciled that because we call him the father the son the Holy Spirit Though has nothing to do with it All I knew is that I wanted to connect to this reality the spiritual helper this advocate this Comforter this one who would come alongside me and assist me into the depths of the spirit And I wanted to know that one and I said Holy Spirit I want to know you and I'm not leaving this room until you touch my life Until I experience the overwhelming presence until I experience the manifested glory of the Sun right here in my room I said Lord. I want my room to become a little piece of heaven on earth and I said Lord, I'm not gonna leave here and I remember I Started my prayer with emotion. I Reached for every melancholy emotion you can imagine. There was frustration. I even did that whole thing where I said Lord Are you ignoring me? God? Do you hear me? You know we're trying to guilt God into a response as If he can be manipulated God, don't you hear me? But I often use this analogy using emotion to pray or to try to find that place of prayer is like yelling at someone on the Cell phone when there's a bad connection the issue is not the volume the issue is the connection with the network So you can yell you can scream power is not noise. I Worked myself into frenzy and I said Lord. I want to touch you. I want to know you I want to see your face. I want your glory to descend in this place And I began to reach for all those emotions and I'm pooling on all those emotions And I'm praying and I'm praying and I'm praying and I'm praying one hour had passed and Nothing happened. I said, okay that didn't work and then I Reached for my aggressive side. I thought if I if I can't cry my way I'll declare I'll decree I'll rebuke demons my way into the presence of God I started rebuking and imagining demons in every corner you get out of here You spirit of this and you spirit of that every adjective I could think of I attached it to a demonic being and rebuked it And I got aggressive and I got angry and I got stirred I remember I used to attend prayer class which really helped me and I reached for every prayer technique every prayer formula every Strategy I started to think back. Okay, was it something when I was seven? But you know all of these things that go through your mind and what's blocking this and I thought what is going on? And I reached for that aggression and I began to try to pummel my way through that wall that seemed to be obstructing my once swift spiritual movement and I try to break through that wall with aggression and I stand before you God's honest truth one more hour passed and Nothing happened. I said, okay, I'm gonna try to be persistent Jesus talked about persistence And Matthew 7 and I said Lord I'm gonna use my will I'm gonna use my persistence. I'm gonna use my faithfulness and I stood there just praying I couldn't even tell you what I was praying and I tried to Say Lord here. I am being faithful here. I am being consistent here I am being persistent. Maybe if I just wait this out something will happen and I kid you not one more hour passed of that and still Nothing happened. Well now I was just I had it And I began to be getting discouraged. I even got a little embarrassed in front of the Lord I think maybe it was maybe I shouldn't have said that I'll stay here until until I starve or die Because what if I do and now I Begin to analyze that's that for me. I have a tendency to analyze. That's what I always fall back on I said, okay, maybe that's why God put that in me So I began to analyze and assess and plan and plot and reason And I began to go through all the various scenarios of that man I remember I started to remember all the books I had read all of the sermons I had heard all of the sermons the seminars I had attended and I began to try to apply with reason I'm gonna be honest with you if it were possible to enter the presence of God by human effort at that moment I would have been in intellect failed willpower failed aggression failed emotion failed Emotion is a good indication of your thought life, but it fails Willpower is commendable But it failed intellect is useful But it fails Love never fails And I remember I was crying I had tears just streaming down my face and I said I Can't find you. I don't know how to get in I I've done everything I can Lord and then I remember in a very Good way. I gave up. I said holy spirit. I don't know how to pray Teach me how to pray show me what to do What should my posture be what exact word should I speak what emotion should I be feeling? What physical sensation should I have and the holy spirit brought to my remembrance be still and know That I am God There is no man or woman on earth. I don't care how anointed they are There is no man or woman on earth who knows the way into the presence of God Only the holy spirit knows the way into the presence of God and if you will quiet yourself to listen He will gently tell the way. I Said Lord I Give up you have to show me now and I remember I became very still that scripture be still be still be still and know that I'm God King David said in quietness does he lead me the first and The only entry way into true prayer is the gateway of silence and stillness. I Know this is counterintuitive because human human The human wheel the human intellect wants to try to find its way in But silence is very practical Jesus said when you pray Go go aside by yourself go into your room shut the door lock it and and find that privacy because private prayer is revealed in public Power there's no public power on some believers live because there's no private prayer They want to pray last minute before they minister and expect the move of the Holy Ghost And I'm not here to I'm not here to tear you down. I'm here to wake you up. Okay The silence is very practical Jesus said just go and and and shut everything out That means turn your cell phone off Shut the computer down stop watching TV. Just turn it off for an hour. Jesus said could you not pray with me? But for one hour put away the distraction put away the noise Silence takes discipline silence takes your will It takes action and it's the easy part Silence is the putting away of outer distraction, but stillness is the quieting of the soul Now that is the hard part because when you go to pray, isn't it amazing that the first thoughts that come to your mind aren't positive ones Isn't it interesting that all day you go without stressing but the moment you get on your knees bow your head close your eyes or whatever It is that you do to pray Guilt enters anger enters frustration enters you start to think of all the relationship issues that you're having You begin to think of all the financial trouble that you're having you begin to think of all the Responsibilities that you have to tend to throughout the rest of the day and you wonder if perhaps you might need to cut your prayer time short But see it's not that those issues those internal issues arise when we begin to pray It's that they're revealed when we begin to pray those issues are always like that within you When you go and find your stillness of prayer That's a good measure of what the chaos is like inside of your life because if you if when you go to pray There is this chaos. There is this clutter there is this clamor then that is always there You're just never quiet enough to hear it This generation has a shrinking attention span This generation needs constant entertainment constant the constant switching of images before the eyes we need change We want everything customized In an age where almost everything is customized. How do you connect with the God who never changes? In an age where everything is fast-paced and entertaining. How do you steal yourself? Everything is convenient We've learned that if it takes too long, we're out of here. I'm leaving You go to the drive-thru and if they make you pull to the side you throw a fit Two minutes past they never take this long. We want our food fast. We want our money fast We want our entertainment fast. We want our gratification fast and we want God given to us in the same way be still and Know your troubles and know your responsibilities and know the things to which you must tend no be still and Know that I am God Stillness precedes revelation if you want to know you have to be still If you want God to be revealed you have to be quiet We worry we assess we analyze worry is just a useless attempt at control Because we think that if we can think about it enough that'll somehow change the circumstance We need to give it to God and so these are the four realms of prayer and it starts with requesting number one Requesting and there's a very good reason as to why Jesus begins with requesting Philippians chapter 4 verse 6 to 7 says don't worry about anything. It gives us a better alternative instead pray about everything Tell God what you need and thank him for what he has done stop there at verse 6 So instead of constantly worrying whenever your mind goes to worry. That's a good opportunity to pray and Then Jesus says tell God what you need and then thank him for what he has done It's possible to ask God for more and still be thankful Being thankful is not settling Gratitude really is as the cliche says an attitude But you can ask God for more while still having a heart of gratitude It says it right there Tell God what you need and Thank him for all he has done This is powerful verse 7. This is so powerful Because we quote that scripture. I have a peace that passes all understanding Right It's right here verse 7 then when then Then you will experience God's peace when though When do we experience God's peace when we've made our request known to God Then you will experience God's peace which exceeds anything we can understand his peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live In Christ God wants you to ask Matthew 7 7 ask you'll receive seeking you'll find knocking the door will be open to you Children ask and receive The mature have to go seek it and find it and those who are in close fellowship with God could knock and have the door Fellowship open to them It's a progression of spiritual growth. Ask seek knock I'll ask him if he doesn't seem to be responding. I'll go see where he is And if I see that he's at home I'm gonna go knock on his door I'm going to be persistent in prayer. I'm going to be persistent to ask for those things that I need Now this is interesting because the peace comes After you've made your request God knows that we're frail God knows that we're human God knows that we're formed from the dust He knows that and understands our humanity really if God could have his way He would have you praying 24-7 because he wants to spend that much time with you When we approach the throne sometimes we go hesitantly and we're wondering God is this okay? Am I cool to be here and The reality is is God wants to be in your presence more than you want to be in his But when we go to pray We enter through the gate of requesting We unburden ourselves before God God here is all that I'm dealing with now There's nothing wrong with asking God for things We say well, I don't want to pray for a job promotion Especially when I know that there's some starving kid in Africa. Now. Let me tell you something. It is tragic That there are starving people in this world It is tragic that there was poverty all around the world, but God does not have to keep them down to raise you up God does not have to keep another down to bring you up It's not as if to bless someone. God has to curse someone else He's able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we could ask her thing. He's eternally supplied We have this martyr mentality. Oh, no Lord. I'm good. I'm good Go ahead and bless somebody else I'm sorry. Did you die on the cross? That's not that's not being merciful. That's having a poverty mindset. I Love you. I love you But the reality is is that God wants to bless you financially so you can go and do something about those starving people So that you can go and go over to those nations so that you can sow into missions So it's not wrong to ask It gets a bad rap and I'll tell you why it gets a bad rap. You hear it in preaching often Don't just ask God for things stop asking him. He's done enough. Have we heard that? I've been guilty of preaching it myself But here's where it gets its bad rap, it's because that's the gateway To prayer you come you unburden yourself now you can be still now you can be quiet now You can be calm, but some of us we go we unburden ourselves. We feel better. We go. It feels great. See you later You knock on the door. He opens it. You stand in the doorway feel good turn and walk away That's when this form of prayer becomes wrong is when it's all we do But this requesting is given to us so that we can go to God and say God here are my needs God takes those needs God says I'm gonna prioritize now as long as you obey me I will make sure this gets taken care of you obey you work You you do what the word of God says and leave the rest to God So now you're still Then the Holy Spirit might lead you and this is in no particular order the Holy Spirit might lead you into the second realm of prayer Which is reverencing or? Worship all worship is a response to a revelation of God Worship cannot be mandated. This is why the scripture says In John chapter 4 verse 23 But the time is coming indeed It's here now when true worshipers will worship the father in spirit and in truth The father is looking for those who will worship him that way Why is it only by the spirit because revelation can only come by the Holy Spirit and Worship can only come by revelation So the Holy Spirit inspires you to worship in that he creates before the eyes of your heart the very image of the Son of God God the father is Too vast for comprehension It would be easier for me to pick an ant above the floor and explain it how an iPad works and it would for me to explain To you how God works It's easier for an insect to understand computers than it is for you to understand God But the Holy Spirit took God in comprehensible and by his power Took God the divine and made him Christ the man That's power The father is incomprehensible it's too difficult to explain Jesus is the explanation of the father the spirit is the application of Jesus And so the Holy Spirit He fleshes out the son. I don't mean as in sin nature I mean in physical form or in a way that we can understand or relate with The Holy Spirit takes the son The word the Bible says John chapter 1 verse 1 It says in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God And then we see the Holy Spirit at work in John chapter 1 verse 14 word says and then the word became flesh and dwelt among us And we beheld his glory full of grace and truth That was the work of the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit intensifies the reality of Christ So there I was in my room Four hours had passed and I was crying I said Jesus. I just I don't know what to do you have to teach me to pray I Had my Bible open. I had my worship music on I had my light on so I can see the Bible and I had the fan spinning so that it wouldn't get too hot So I wouldn't become distracted the Holy Spirit spoke very gently because he is a gentleman He's classy the spirit doesn't make you senseless and silly. He makes you sharp. He said Some of you will see this is heresy, but this way he told me to close the Bible I closed the Bible Turn off the light I Turned off the light Switch off the fan. I switched off the fan. I said turn off the music. I said, but you can't move without the music I literally hesitated. That's that's how programmed I was Said switch off the music switched off the music. He said just wait and expect That's since he was telling me to be still and have faith That's what it is. So if expecting could be a verb or an action and that's all I did I just expected They that weighed upon the Lord Shelburne knew their strength David said in quietness. Does he lead me? so I stood there I closed my eyes and I remember there was this silence this calm that had entered around the room. I was just expecting I was waiting Anticipating God to do something But there was that inner turmoil inside of me still going that all the thoughts the analysis everything and the Holy Spirit said look at me and Immediately I knew what he meant by that. He meant look at Jesus look to the word and Everything I had ever learned in this scripture up to that point everything that I had known of Jesus that I had read of Jesus All that I had read in the Bible. I began to visualize I began to meditate on Jesus, you know world the meditation is emptying your mind God the meditation is filling your mind with the word So I began to fill my mind with the word and I began to see The image of Jesus, I don't I'm not saying he came in physical form. Please. Don't hear what I'm not saying I'm saying that the Son of God became an intense and vivid reality in my room I remember the moment I looked to Jesus. I I was almost a gasp and I was struck with awe And I had my eyes closed the tears were now beginning to dry up on my face My hand was lifted. This was the fourth past the fourth hour now And when I look to Jesus I saw that glory and In my heart, I was inspired to respond with accolades and adoration and praise and compliments. I Said whoa, you're just beautiful and That's true worship The Holy Spirit revealed Jesus because of the word The Holy Spirit in Genesis took the word of God and formed on the void The Holy Spirit takes the word and fleshes out the Sun The Holy Spirit takes the word and creates that's why when you read the word as I'm going to get on my next point Christ becomes incarnate in you and I remember in that moment. I Felt this gentle breeze not physical, but it was like this wind that began to blow through my room And I felt this cloud of warmth begin to descend on my body my body started shaking and trembling I began to cry, but these weren't tears of frustration anymore It was like I had I had been digging all day trying to get through the well and now the springs of living water were flowing right through my room and My room did become a little piece of heaven on earth and I remember thinking oh my goodness This is beautiful, and I felt the trembling. I felt the awe. It was so vivid. It was terrifying He was all together marvelous and all together terrifying And I began to tremble in my room And I remember there was that holy fear and reference that came over me and I said this is the glory of God This is the glory of God, and I just began to become lost in worship Enamored with the image of Jesus, and I was so still I was so quiet. I was so calm. I didn't want to move I Didn't want to disturb that moment, but I thought with my eyes closed But if I if I moved my hand I might feel it brush against his robe I thought that in that moment if I were to open my eyes. I might see Jesus standing there looking right back at me. I Imagined his eyes filled with power and love The authority of heaven resting on his shoulders the power of the Holy Spirit Surging like electricity through his hands The wisdom I would hear on his voice church That moment was worth four hours It lasted for a couple minutes, and I'm not telling you that you will always experience that What I am trying to say is that whatever you ever will Experience of God is by the Holy Spirit. That's worship Worship cannot be mandated I've seen worship leaders yell at people get angry with people tell them to lift their hands and sing But even if they lifted their hands and sang they wouldn't be worshiping Worship is inspired not mandated you look around you open your eyes. You see people just kind of standing there. They're on their phones They're just staring blankly Looks like nobody's home. You say it doesn't look like they get it I'm telling you they don't and They don't get it because the Holy Spirit didn't give it and the Holy Spirit didn't give it because they didn't seek it And they didn't seek it because they weren't still enough to know that they needed it Number one requesting number two reverencing number three resisting. This is spiritual warfare. I Used to attend these prayer classes every Tuesday night my aunt I Call her aunt new new She taught these prayer classes every Tuesday night It was funny because I went to dinner with my parents and Ruben our camera guy here and we were there and I remember I was sitting We just went to norms because you know it was open For no other reason than that it was open and I remember I said dad I remember sitting in that booth the crossover there and I would sit in that booth every Tuesday night My aunt would drive all the way to come pick me up from where I lived. I didn't drive then She would take me to Huntington Park to teach her prayer class. I Remember just being so I was thrilled. I mean we would go I would just for hours I would sit and listen of spiritual warfare and breaking bondage is in generational curses and I would listen and then every Tuesday night She would drive me and on the way home My aunt would stop by norms and she'd buy me a sandwich and we talked about what I had just learned in the class And that that was for almost a year. She did that almost every Tuesday and that formed my foundation my understanding of prayer and spiritual warfare and so Spiritual warfare is Resisting you can't fight the enemy on Your own the enemy has been around for hundreds and even thousands of years and he understands human nature He understands the intricacies the demons are spiritually lethal assassins. They're trained to take you out The key to overcoming demonic powers isn't engaging them. This is what I learned But resisting their authority by the authority of God Resist the devil and he will not engage him not yell at him though. That's part of it. Sometimes it feels good But we resist the devil and the spiritual warfare goes beyond this we can pray for several things We can pray for other salvation Romans 10 1 we can pray for the safety of others 2nd Corinthians chapter 1 verse 11 We can pray for cities Jeremiah chapter 29 verse 7 we can pray for the strengthening of others faith Luke 22 32 We can pray for authority figures 1st Timothy 2 2 2 3 We can pray for the blessings of a nation 2nd Chronicles chapter 7 verse 14 And we can pray for miracles acts chapter 19 verse 11 through 12. Those are just some I mean I could go on listing But it's like a tongue twister But there are so many things that we can grab a hold of in prayer And we resist you really think that it's just marriage problems Do you really think that it's just the drugs in your children? Do you really think that it's just a bad season for your business or ministry? Or is it possible that there is demonic warfare at play and you need to get ahold of God and drive out those demons I Find it interesting that when talking about financial blessing the scripture uses the terminology of rebuking the devourer Some of you for your ministries for your churches Let me tell you something the enemy is so and it's funny that we know the cliche that the devil's greatest lie or ever is most Successful lies convincing the people that he doesn't exist right? We know it we've heard it, but isn't it amazing how we still fall for it? That we think that it really just is an emotional issue that we think that it really is just a sense of failure that we think that it really is just a Disconnect that we feel from our brothers and sisters that we think it really is just our own frustration a Lot of this is spiritual and I pray that God would open my eyes and your eyes to see all of the assaults of the enemy Because the other cliche is also true that a devil exposed is a devil defeated Resisting finally number four reading the spirit in the word Number one requesting number two reverencing number three Resisting and number four it's reading reading your Bible is a form of prayer. I don't want to take too much more time I'll take another two minutes to To do this and then we're gonna we're gonna believe God for a move of the Holy Spirit in this place You believe that I do I Really believe that this morning the Holy Spirit can move the Spirit and the word Jesus talked about in John chapter 6 and I'm gonna have to paraphrase this because it's it's it would be an extended teaching on this But we'll give you the meat of it John chapter 6 Jesus talks about several things Remember that chapter where he talks about how you have to eat my flesh and drink my blood and it freaked everybody out Okay, well what he was talking about there was the process by which he was translated and sat at the right hand of the Father he starts by saying the bread of heaven has come down that's incarnation and Then he goes on to say that that bread of heaven you have to eat of my flesh and drink of my blood He was not talking about cannibalism for later in that chapter the scripture says that a flat the flesh Accomplishes nothing. So it's not cannibalism. It's not transubstantiation. It is the crucifixion of Jesus Number one is incarnation number two is crucifixion and then he starts to say Oh, does that trip you out because they're like oh, this is hard for us to handle He says oh, does that trip you out? Well, what would you think of this then? He says, okay, so there's incarnation. There's crucifixion. He talks about his resurrection exhaled verses Then he says what will you think if you see the Son of Man ascending his ascension? incarnation crucifixion Resurrection ascension and then he takes this sudden turn go to John chapter 6. This is This amazed me when I saw and I didn't get it I had to hear commentaries and again by no means is this an original thought this is this teaching has been around for I think since the early church When they understood what he meant John chapter 6 verse 62 will start there. So again, he talks about the bread alive coming down incarnation crucifixion resurrection ascension and Then look in verse 62. You'll see the ascension ascension again Then what will you think if you see the Son of Man ascended heaven then suddenly there's this this turn this twist He says the Spirit alone gives eternal life human effort accomplishes nothing. What does he say? the very words I have spoken to you are The very words I have spoken to you are Spirit and life But some of you did not believe me Now, why would he go? From talking about his incarnation his crucifixion his resurrection and his ascension To suddenly switching and saying the Spirit alone gives life Well, the Bible says That Adam became a living soul, but Christ is a life-giving spirit Now here in the United States. We use a lot of superlatives. This is the best This is the most amazing, you know And we have experiences with God and we can't really have any find any words that are useful to describe it because we wasted the Word awesome on a sandwich or something All right, so that when God moves how was service always awesome like oh like that sandwich the other day, you know We you we throw out superlatives and compliments and words and they lose their value because we throw them out so much But I really am amazed that technology And I think it serves as a good analogy here my nephew is somewhere around here in this building and I have all these pictures of him on my phone I mean I literally ran out of space taking pictures of him And I was sentimental person if I lost my phone and lost that those pictures I'd be I'd be pretty sad and this has my calendar my contacts my notes I have literally thousands of notes. I write on average. I think it was three to four hours a week I'm just writing writing writing. I Tried to anyway But if I were to lose this phone all that data would be gone, but there's this technology I have on my phone when I store it in the internet It's called putting it on the cloud Jesus ascended On a cloud he said I have to go and the spirit alone gives life The Holy Spirit is Jesus on the cloud and You have access to him from anywhere at any time by any means that can never be destroyed and When you read the word prayer doesn't become an upload it becomes a download for the word again becomes alive in you Can we give the Lord a hand of praise?