"The Fuel That Drives" by Harold Troyer

The one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him, and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

Okay, uh, so we're gonna get started here. It's, uh, 6:04, and, um, we're happy to have with us, um, Harold Troyer. Um, I, I didn't actually, uh, get to, uh, meet him very much, so I don't really know you very well, Harold, but welcome here.

And, um, so, um, maybe you can introduce yourself and, uh, then go into the topic. So everyone else, if you just wanna turn off your microphones and, uh, the time is yours, Harold.

Okay, thank you, Glenn, and good morning to each one. Um, blessings in Christ. And as I speak this morning, I am going to say at the outset that because I talk about certain things in the topic of prayer, it doesn't really mean that I think this is the most important thing or that there are not other aspects about prayer that are not important. It's just that I have selected this topic and I've—it's close to my heart and it's what I'm gonna speak about this morning.

Just as a way of testing, I'm gonna see if you can still hear me.

Could you hear me speaking before? Okay. No. Uh, as, as you began your introduction, yes. Okay. Uh, just a few seconds ago, no. Okay. Okay. Um, I live in Belleville, Pennsylvania, and I work with All Nations Bible Translation. I'm on the board with them and also work on the billboard team with, with, um, along with John Martin at Christian Aid Ministries.

Um, my wife and I have lived here now for approximately, hmm, going on 10 years in the valley here called the Big Valley, and we have six children and are expecting our seventh in the spring. So this is our home in Pennsylvania.

Um, I'd like to start first this morning and talk about, um, the connection we find in John chapter 15. And my title this morning could be said as The Fuel That Drives. I'll read from John chapter 15, verses 5 through 7 to begin with. "I am the vine and you are the branches. He that abideth in me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. For without me, you can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch and is withered, and men gather them and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.

If you abide in me and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you."

I think we'll stop just momentarily and, and pause for prayer. Father, we thank you this morning for the blessing of being able to come to you as our Father, a good Father. We thank you that we can pray, we can talk to you, and we thank you for this time together as a group of, um, believers, those seeking your face and desire your presence. In Jesus' name, amen.

We notice here that Jesus likens a believer as a branch attached to him as the vine. Um, and because this connection, um, of this connection, life flows into us as a branch. And without that sap flowing into the branch from the vine, there would be no life, therefore not any fruit.

And this morning, my burden, I guess, is captured by a quote by E.W. Tozer, and I will read the quote now. "If the Holy Spirit was withdrawn from the church today, 95% of what we do would go on, and no one would know the difference.

If the Holy Spirit had been withdrawn from the early church, the New Testament church, 95% of what they did would have stopped, and everyone would have known the difference." And I've pondered that the last six months, and it really just, that's gripped me, really touched me that that could be a possibility, that the Holy Spirit could be withdrawn from our groups today, and we wouldn't know it.

Um, I'll read the quote again just for those of you who are listening. "If the Holy Spirit was withdrawn from the early church, I'm sorry, from the church today, 95% of what we do would go on, and no one would know the difference.

If the Holy Spirit had been withdrawn from the New Testament church within, you know, after the time of Christ, 95% of what they did would have stopped, and everybody would have known the difference." So what is my burden?

It is this: is our life fueled and driven by fervent prayer in the Holy Ghost? So why did I talk about the Holy Ghost? Why do I talk about the Spirit of God to begin with? We just read that Jesus said, "Without me, you can do nothing."

Romans 8, verses 11 and 26 says, "But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you." And verse 26 says, "Likewise, the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities, for we know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered."

And also John 16:13 says, "Howbeit, when he, the Spirit of truth, has come, he will guide you into all truth." Jude also says, "But you, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost or Spirit."

In our lives, there needs to be a connection with Jesus Christ. Um, there needs to be a new birth experience where we are baptized, not only with water but also with the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of God.

Um, the Spirit of God then is what is prompting us to pray, uh, teaching us to pray, guiding us in prayer. Um, now, I do not believe in Calvinism or that we are coerced into walking with God or that the Spirit of God calls us and we cannot resist what they call irresistible grace.

Um, I don't have the time to go into why I believe these, these things, but I do believe, according to Scripture, that the nature, um, according to Scripture and how this world works, that the Spirit of God calls me and then I can open the door to him and he can come in.

Then as a Christian, the indwelling Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit, prompts me and I can respond to his promptings and open the door for him to come in. Um, then as a Christian, the indwelling Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit, prompts me and I can respond, um, to his promptings and to his guidance.

Having access to the Father because of the work of Jesus and the indwelling Holy Spirit is foundational to be guided into a relationship with God. And I won't assert knowing exactly how this works, um, but I'll try to elaborate somewhat this morning. I believe in the power of choice, as I suggested above, um, that we, we can choose what we believe and how we, how we live. Um, I can choose to be a Christian. I can choose to read the Bible. I can choose to decide I wanna talk to God or not talk to God. It's my choice.

So as a believer, I want to talk to God because he's my Father. I ask him for things that I want or need.

As the Scripture records, our Father delights to give us good things.

We must never place prayer at the bottom of our spiritual experience because there is not holy experience outside of a humble contrite prayer. It is vital. It is one. It is, it is only. Nothing of lasting value, uh, can be without it.

No battles were ever fought in God's kingdom and won without the lifting up of holy hands. No souls were ever snatched out of the fire outside of passionate prayer. Uh, no ministry ever ministered more effective and continual without intercessory prayer. Um, no Daniel's story could ever be told without there have been that prayer of Daniel. No Muller orphanages, no Nathaniel orphanages, no Moravian missions, no All Nations Bible Translation could ever exist outside of fervent prayer.

No revivals, no great awakenings, no Pentecost, no Reformation, no witnessing, no prison ministry, no martyrdom, no, no outreach, no China Inland Mission, um, no Amy Carmichael, no Jim Elliott, nothing. Nothing of significance ever happens outside of prayer and passionate prayer. So why is that? Well, I believe that when it really comes down to the wire, we get what we want. We as Christians get what we want.

Um, and humanity, humanity in general, what we want, our desires, is God honors those things because we're, he's created us that way. Um, if we want God to leave us alone and, you know, stay away from us, God will honor that. Uh, that is unless someone's praying for us. And again, it comes back to their desire, their desire for God to work in someone else's life. And so again, God honors that desire of a human being. Uh, maybe our mother's praying for us or, um, you know, God may honor her desire and continue pursuing you, um, in spite of what you as a person desire because of her, you know, passion for your salvation. Maybe it's somebody else praying for you.

Um, God honors and the desires and prayers of humanity. Um, that's why he calls us to intercede for others. Um, God would not move us unless we want him to. I believe he will not intervene unless someone has a desire and asks for it to be done. I also believe that God is totally in control. In case you hear me wrong here this morning, um, but we don't have time to address that topic this morning either, that God is completely in control and yet he allows us the freedom of choice.

Um, I wanna tell you a story in relation to God honoring my desire in prayer and how that I spent time in prayer for something and God honored that. But then when I stopped praying, that, um, well, I'll share the story. It was back in, um, 2005, my parents were in Ukraine as a mission, as missionaries, and I was teaching school in the States at the time here in Belleville, PA.

And, um, I had talked to my father, Lloyd Troyer, who actually lives in State College at this time. You know, infrequently I talked to him and he'd share of what was happening there in, in Ukraine. And, um, my parents would sometimes send email and, and we'd correspond that way too.

Um, anyway, my father asked me one day to pray specifically for a man in the village where he was working that was, um, demon possessed. And, um, this man would walk through the village and he would, he would, um, his eyes were wild and, and look fierce and he'd be mumbling to himself and he just really a terrifying, uh, person, possibly 35 years old. Uh, my father would invite him to church and, um, but he wouldn't come.

So dad would give him, you know, gospel literature when he had an opportunity and stop by and give him a loaf of bread and tried to be, tried to get close to him. But, uh, the man would just, he, he was possessed with something. You know, people would, you know, avoid him. Children would run when he came, you know, walking up the street in the village. Um, but after my parents began to pray for Sasha and asked others to pray, it seemed that God began to move in this, in this man's life. And, um, if I recall correctly, Sasha came to church a few times, um, and then, um, he would soon leave the services and go home and, you know, he'd be mumbling to himself and his hair was unkempt.

His eyes were just, you know, really wild looking.

So anyway, I put my, I put Sasha on my prayer list and I began to pray for him daily. Every day I would pray for Sasha. And, um, I don't remember how long it was until my parents shared the story of his repenting.

Uh, my father would take the, take the van, their van, had a Sprinter and drive back to the village and, um, pick up children, old people. And there weren't vehicles back in the village. It was just people to walk mostly. Um, but Sasha came running out to that, to that, that day and asked if there was a service that day. And, uh, my father assured me there was. And so he came to church and he sat just wrapped and with attention to what was being preached that day. And, um, at, at the altar call, he almost ran up front and his eyes were wild. He looked terrified and he looked demon possessed, dad said.

Um, and, and of course, my father asked him what he'd like to do. He said he wanted to repent. And so he wanted to be a Christian. And he was asked to kneel and then he, my father helped him pray. And then my father prayed through an interpreter, of course, in Russian.

And, um, after Sasha got to his feet, my father took notice of his eyes. They were gentle. They were like the eyes of a child. Um, my father couldn't shake what he saw. And after the service, he was thinking about it again and the, and the interpreter came to him and, and said, "Lloyd," he said, "did you see that? Did you see Sasha's eyes?"

And dad said, "Yeah, I did." He said, "I couldn't believe the difference." Like they were totally changed. They were like, you know, like a human. It was like gen, like a child's eyes. And, and they both, uh, took note of that.

Um, I was in Ukraine the next year and met Sasha. Um, he was quiet. He was a nice man. Um, I actually remember giving me a haircut one time. He, he came to my parents' place and wanted a haircut. So I gave him one. It was quite an experience.

Um, but he would come to church every Sunday, very faithful. Um, in the whole village of Benazanka where my parents served, we're talking about, uh, what happened. They were like, they couldn't believe how Sasha was totally different, totally a changed man.

Um, then I met, I got married and in Ukraine and, um, my wife is from Ukraine and we moved back to the States. And then, um, life got busy. He began to teach school again and, and I stopped praying for Sasha.

And I forget how long it was until I heard that Sasha wasn't coming to church anymore. And then maybe a year later or so, I think it was. And then my parents related how Sasha began to get involved in a cult, a local group of people, um, with some different teachings and some actually very, um, wrong teachings. And eventually Sasha fell back into his old ways. He began to dabble with this and dad warned him. He said, "Don't, don't go that direction because you'll invite back into your life things that you don't want." Well, he didn't listen and he eventually fell back into his old ways and again began walking around with his wild, terrifying eyes.

And now God doesn't force us to be a Christian. He calls us and we understand that. We understand God calls us. And Sasha had a choice to make to become a Christian and to walk with God and also in his steps away from truth. Um, but was his choice influenced by the prayers of the saints?

Well, of course they were. His, his choices were influenced by our prayers. Um, I believe he came to faith in Jesus because we were praying for him. Did Sasha fall away because I stopped praying for him? Daily he prayed for this man.

I'll let you answer that question. But it's bothered me ever since then, deeply bothered me. And so I've been very careful since then to be who I pray for when I start praying for them. If I quit praying, I wanna make sure they're in, in safe hands, perhaps others interceding for them. Um, so I think about that. It's, it's a wound.

God is depending on you and I to intercede in behalf of fellow believers. We are to lift up each other. Um, and like Aaron and Her did to Moses, lift up their each other's hands, intercede for each other and pray for each other.

That's why I believe we should pray together and pray often together.

Some of you may know the Joel Martin from, uh, lives in State College. He's involved with All Nations Bible Translation and, and a variety of other things, kingdom fellowship. Um, I met him for the first time in 2004, if I recall correctly. And, um, I was attending Faith Builders educational programs and their teachers' week, I believe it was, or a weekend. I don't remember. Um, that's not the most important part. The part I remember, it stands out to me as I met this young fella. Um, and I, I took note of him and, and, and, um, I'd been out with the group there one day and I decided to go back to the dorms, the men's dorms for something.

I think I just wanna get away from everybody and, and just pray. And so I walked back to the room and I was actually, I think I was on my knees praying and heard the door open. And so I jumped up, you know, and I didn't wanna be, you know, a modest, you know, menorite boy. I didn't want anybody to see me praying. I got up and, and I was walking out toward the door, toward the noise and here he was, this skinny young guy come in and we met and we began to talk. And we had a conversation there and then it seemed appropriate to pray together. And so we knelt down and he, he had a prayer request he gave to me.

I still recall what it was. And we knelt down together and we prayed together there in the men's dorm at Faith Builders. Um, what's important, I think to note is that I, we took note of each other and then I put him on my prayer list. And I, over the years, I've kept running prayer lists. Like I have, I have a list of things I pray for and, um, I go through that prayer list, you know, every day on my prayer time. And so I put Joel Martin down on the prayer list and I prayed that God would touch his life. Um, he seemed very sincere. His request to me and so on. So I began to, to pray for him every day.

I prayed that God would touch his life and set him on fire for God. I just, just work in his life. And, um, I prayed that he would go into all the world and preach the gospel. And I prayed God would use him for his glory. And I just, you know, would pray for Joel along with other prayer requests in my list.

What was intriguing to me then is that how from that point forward, our paths began to cross. And his, my path across his, his across mine over the, the next number of years. Um, at kingdom fellowship, at prayer meetings, I'd meet, meet up with this guy and then at All Nations Bible Translation. And now we serve together on the, um, here in this organization. But my prayer over these years was that God would use Joel in his kingdom.

Um, and I believe the guy has answered that prayer and is still answering, uh, that prayer of mine. And oh yeah, by the way, every morning at nine o'clock, my reminder beeps to pray for Joel. I have reminders to pray for other people too. Um, but I'll relate another story. 15 years ago, I also was inspired to make a couple of gospel signs. Like, just like take some, you know, buy some stuff from Walmart and draw some words on the boards and go out and hold up gospel signs in State College, PA. I had about 35, 40 minute drive from my house to where I would go in downtown State College.

And, um, so you may have heard the story before, but I, I, um, take a stack of gospel tracks along and my gospel signs and, and stand on the corner of, um, College Avenue, which is 26 in South Garner Street, and hold up my gospel signs and pass out tracks to, you know, people that walk, would walk by. And, um, I would talk to international students and anyone who would listen to this tall, skinny guy on the corner.

Um, and I would stand there and pray for the state, for the town, for the people. And, and, um, I, um, many a week I would stand there in that corner, my gospel signs and with the prayer and with, with my tracks, um, talking to anyone who would listen, sharing the love of Jesus to people and praying for State College.

Then in 2008, my parents moved back from, from Ukraine where they had been missionaries, like I mentioned. And my father would sometimes come along with me too on Saturdays or when it would suit him. And we'd be out there together, um, sharing with people.

Um, I still remember often crying out to God to show me how we could start a faithful Anabaptist witness in State College. Um, and, you know, Anabaptist church may be downtown somewhere where people could come off, come off the street, walk in Sunday morning and, and be there for a service and maybe a lunch afterwards. And then, you know, we could share with people on the streets and those interested, you know, locals.

Um, so anyway, my, my, um, dream was to have a, to purchase an old school building or something and start a church downtown in, in State College. And I, my dad would join me in that prayer and we'd pray together. Um, I think God probably looked over his eye, my imagination was running. And I, today, I think that God looked at his angels and said, you know, we can do better than that.

Just watch. Um, so today there is not an Anabaptist church like I vision downtown, like I, my vision was, but God designed it better than that. You know, it's not just once a week. Uh, Sower's Harvest Cafe is, is there just across the corner from where I would stand. Uh, Brian Martin started a, a little cafe there, a Christian cafe.

And, uh, I was just talking to him yesterday. He said he, he, he has never imagined how that business has exploded and how people have come there and, and come in and, and they love it. And there's like Christian literature there. There's books, tracks, and with the atmosphere, the Christian atmosphere, people are just drawn to that place.

And, um, it's an answer to prayer. It's a direct answer to God, uh, working in, in, in, in behalf of what we prayed for. Um, and that place is operating five days out of seven, not just one day a week. And that influences, you know, touching people's lives.

Um, you know, these dedicated Christian workers, Joe, like Brian and Brian and others, the sisters there are having impact and influence on State College, um, as a result of what we prayed for. Locals, international students, and many more are showing the love of Jesus.

Um, and just a few hundred yards from where we prayed, a crowd to God, um, that he would plant a church is now this cafe. And just for a bonus, um, if you will, I also prayed that our youth from our home church would get involved with, with something in State College. And I'd been on the streets and never had a lot of interest from others to come along. Maybe they were, you know, weren't used to something like this. And so I pray for our church youth to get involved. And now there has been, and I think there still is youth from our church working there at the cafe. So it's, it was a way they could be involved.

Um, again, today there's not an Anabaptist church downtown that meets once on Sunday morning. God did better than that. Um, you know, the word of God says he can do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think.

Uh, God designed to have the followers of Jesus' church, which is there, um, just outside the city limits of State College, but we're still within seeing distance of the city and the hospital, the stadium, and so on. It's right there, uh, daily witness. Oh yeah. And, um, just this year, Brother Brian Horst and his wife and, and children moved downtown. So they do live downtown in State College as a witness on the streets there. And Brian has talked about his, you know, walking the streets and talking to neighbors and sharing the love of Christ too. So again, he's answered to prayer. Um, he lives there every day, a daily influence in this city. God loves to answer prayer.

Um, so we not only got the Anabaptist church I've been praying for, but also have a mission organization along with it. All Nations Bible Translation is a big part of the Anabaptist church plant there at State College. So did God answer our prayers for a faithful witness and church in State College? Of course he did.

He answered that prayer much better than what I would've imagined. God is still working in State College. He's still moving in this town because of the, um, Anabaptists that are living there. And if you haven't been there, I encourage you to come visit.

You, you won't regret it. As we walk with God and learn to know him, we begin to see how much he loves us and a bond begins to develop. That's one thing in my life I've thought of is that as we begin to pray and walk with God and spend time in prayer and we ask for things and he answers our prayers, there's testimonies.

A bond develops between us and God, a personal, uh, relationship, a bond that those who don't understand it don't get what we're talking about. Um, we began to realize that God loves us and loves to answer what we ask for, um, especially when things that we ask for are in alignment with his will. I've experienced times when I've asked for things I wanted that I'm not too sure that God really wanted me to have what I asked for, but God gave it to me anyway, um, because I wanted him to. And sometimes I think I've asked for what wasn't the best thing. And I've learned a lesson from asking this and God giving it to me.

In other words, God allowed me to suffer some maybe minor consequences to teach me to be careful of what I asked for. So how do we maintain a passionate prayer life? And I hope this doesn't sound too oversimplified, but I have simply asked God to give me a passionate desire to worship him, to spend time in prayer, to walk with him. Um, I prayed and asked God to protect my prayer time. Um, it has seemed to me that often God is looking forward to meeting me in that secret place, even more than I was looking forward to meeting him.

Um, in other words, God has this deep and passionate desire to meet us and to commune with us. I sometimes sense that, that God is already in my office at, you know, 11:45 waiting for me when I come at 12 o'clock to begin praying.

Um, you know, it's, it's, it's convicting. It's inspiring to know that God, um, cares deeply about us and he wants to meet us. He wants to walk with us like he did Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. He has that deep desire to walk with us.

Um, as I've said before, and perhaps you've heard me say this, that prayer is, I believe, the water wheel, the engine, the magnet, the fire, the soul, the access to power behind every victory. Um, Jesus himself said, "Without me, you can do nothing." Um, period. Nothing.

Prayer connects the soul with a source of life and power and allows for that source of life and power to flow in us and fill up the soul and overflow to influence the world for eternity. Fasting also, I should note, has become a regular part of my prayer life for a number of years now. Um, I believe that if we really wanna move mountains and we wanna plant churches, um, we wanna win souls, we wanna change the world, it's going to be because we have a deep desire to do whatever it takes to get what we want and what God wants.

Um, whenever we stop eating and start praying, it tells God something. It tells him we're serious. Uh, fasting though includes more than just not eating. It also includes things that you enjoy doing that you sacrifice and then replace with prayer.

Um, I also believe that prayer can be hindered by a number of things. Um, and on top of that is, you know, my list of things that hinders prayer is relationships. Um, how is your relationship with your wife, um, or your dad, or your boss, or a brother in the church?

I maintain this that a relationship with God, um, our relationship with God and how he answers our prayers have a direct correlation with what our relationships are with those around us. And so if we have a poor relationship with our, let's say our deacon, um, then we need to work on this relationship before we can expect great things from God.

Now I realize this one doesn't always work perfectly, um, but if we have done our part in working with a relationship, then God will honor that. And by the way, we can never fool God. You know, we can try to patch up a relationship superficially and not mean it, but God sees exactly the way we feel deep down inside. And, um, I think it's very important that our relationships around us are clear and open so God can work in our lives.

I've also learned that, you know, more recently that technology is more of a hindrance to, to my prayer life than a help. Um, one thing is, one of the things I've determined to do is actually power off my devices before I pray so they don't beep during my personal prayer time.

What about a wandering mind as we pray? So I keep it, like I said, an updated prayer list that I have in front of me that I can use to guide me to pray and keep my mind from wandering. That's kind of a, a springboard to prayer. And as, as I pray, I listen for the spirit of God to prompt me on how to pray for these things or pray for other things as I pray through my prayer time.

Um, I really think that what you and I want in life we get. And I work for the Billboard program and I often tell callers that when it comes down to it, what you really want is what you get. If you don't want God, he's not gonna, you know, force himself into your life. But if you do want him, he'll honor that. He'll begin to open up a way and reveal himself to you.

And it's the same way with prayer. You know, what we really want, God will, um, what God will give us. You know, if you wanna be famous or infamous, you probably will be. If you wanna be a farmer, you probably will be.

If you wanna be a faithful kingdom worker, then you probably will be that. But again, it's gonna be based upon your desire and what you want. I've often told God that he knows best. So just in case I pray something that he knows I don't really want, that he answers my prayer in a different way or doesn't answer me at all. So in other words, I've given God the authority in my prayer life to actually redirect the energy, the, the prayers I pray to what he knows I really want and what he wants for his kingdom's sake.

Um, I'm reminded of a poem or song I want to, uh, to quote or read. It says, "Lord, teach us to pray. When cold our hearts and far from thee, our wandering spirits stray, and thoughts and lips move heavily, Lord, teach us how to pray.

Too vile to venture near thy throne, too poor to turn away. Our only voice, thy spirits groan. Lord, teach us how to pray. We know not how to seek thy face unless thou lead the way. We have no words unless thy grace.

Lord, teach us how to pray. Hear every thought and fond desire we on thy altar lay. And when our souls have caught thy fire, Lord, teach us how to pray." Yes, we want God to teach us how to pray.

Um, I want to reiterate that all of our religious work or activities are vain if they're just programs. I think that was what A.W. Tozer thought. If we depend upon prayer and the Holy Ghost, um, then what we do is God's doings through us. If we depend on some programs or systems or policies, then we can quietly lose the Holy Spirit.

And everything can seemingly go on, but the power to redeem lives and change the world is gone. We've lost it. Can we get back to putting our trust in God? Um, putting our trust in God alone. Uh, can we spend hours on our knees in prayer and get up empowered and filled with God's spirit to go out and shout the good news?

I recall back when I was still single and living here in Belleville at the, at Dad's home that I, I read somewhere that I think it was Martin Luther said he, he, he had so much to do one day that he needed to pray at least three hours. That seems kind of backwards, right? If you have so much to do, you should get out there and do it. But he said he had so much to do, he had to pray at least three hours before he could actually begin to accomplish anything. So I said, "Yeah, well, I'm gonna try that." So I, one morning I got up, it was a Saturday morning, I got up early and I said, "I started at five o'clock.

I'm gonna pray three hours straight, just pray." And so I was praying and just, you know, really, you know, worshiping and praying and, and, um, when I finished, I got breakfast and went downtown. All day long, I was, I was like almost under a control of, yeah, the Holy Spirit. I couldn't stop witnessing the people and I went to town. I remember I was at the gas station talking to people, walking around and just, I was just, just filled with God's spirit. And I, I'd never forget that day. I was singing as I drove the highways in my car and, and I was thinking, I said, "Man, what's wrong with me? Like I'm just really messed up or something's going on here."

And, and I recall that, you know, I spent those three hours with God. And that time with God empowered me. That source of life filled me up and it was just kept overflowing and bubbling. And wherever I went, I was talking to people and had no fear. It was just, it was quite a day.

Um, with the God, we do that every day. But it was, it was a practice run. I think God was kind of chuckling as I, um, was under the control of his Holy Spirit, sharing the gospel, witnessing for him.

Um, God wants us to spend time with him, like I said, so he can fill us with his, with his power. And then we can go on in the power of the Holy Spirit, doing what God wants his children to do.

As a warning, there are some prayers God is not here.

And there are some that God does hear. Um, in the temple, God heard the prayer of the publican, who stood far off, who said, "God, be merciful to me, a sinner." God heard that prayer. On the Sea of Galilee, um, God heard the prayer of Peter as he was sinking. He screamed, "Lord, save me." God heard that prayer. God heard the prayer of Mary, who broke a box of aromatic ointment on Jesus' head. Remember the story?

Um, and washed his feet with her tears and dried his feet with her hair. Some prayers God hears and other prayers fall to the ground. What is driving my life? What is driving your life? My own strength, my own intelligence, um, my personal desires, praise of men. What drives and fuels your life and my life?

Um, is my life driven by fuel that has been given me because I've been in the presence of the Almighty, the power that he gives to my life? Uh, one of the clearest, I think, revelations in my life and experience, um, was while spending time, you know, with him and his presence was when I was in Ukraine in 2008. I spent time in Ukraine off and on the last, well, the first, um, five years of our marriage. And this was 2008. We had moved over, my wife and I, and our little boy in the summer of 2007. After school was out, I taught school that, that previous year at a home, at a home church in Belleville in Pleasantview.

And then we, we moved over in, I think it was July of 2007. And we were living there and we've been there about eight months. I was working on remodeling a small house in the village. And, um, I felt prompted to pray, pray for our home church, Pleasantview, where I was a member. And, um, so I began to fast and pray. I think I fasted three days and prayed for our home church. And then, um, it seemed like, well, I got pretty hungry. I was like really hungry. I was like weak and, and, um, I was, um, praying fervently for Pleasantview. And then it seemed like God spoke to me. And I don't think it was an audible voice, but maybe it was, I don't know.

But I do know I heard him. It was very clear. And he said this, God said this to me. He said, "Herald, when your Bishop David Peachy, uh, calls you and asks you to consider coming back to Belleville and finishing out the years, year for the church school, finishing out the term, tell him, tell him yes." And I'm, I stopped dead in my tracks. I'm like, "God, we just, we just basically got here. We've been here now for, you know, eight months. I gotta go back. We're gonna live here. You know, you gotta be kidding." And, um, I said, "Okay, Lord, if I heard you right, you talk to me and David calls me, then I'll say yes."

So sure enough, I didn't have very long to wait. It was like maybe a day or two. And, um, Brother David calls me and, uh, you know, the line is cracking and I hear, I hear him faintly on the other end, you know, 12 years ago.

And, um, but I heard him right. And he, um, he, he said he was a minister representative on the, on the school board for the, as, and it was also our bishop. And so he had a question and I said, "Okay." And he said, "Um, you know, would you be willing to come back to our church school and finish out the year for us?" And he said, "We had some unfortunate things happen and we are without an upper grade teacher and you taught the previous year. We're not sure what to do. Would you consider that? Like we're just kind of like a shot in the dark. Would you consider coming back?" And I said, "Yeah, we'll come back."

And he said, "Well, uh, okay, do you wanna have time to think about it and pray about it?" I said, "No, I don't, I don't need to." I said, "I already, I already knew you were gonna call." And, um, I went on to explain just briefly what, what had happened.

And so I, I told him that if we, as soon as they purchase their airline tickets, well, wife and I will fly back and help finish out the year. It's gotta go 13 weeks left. And, um, I told him we'd do that for the church.

So why do I say that? Why do I, uh, share that story? I'm convinced that from my experience anyway, that the closer we walk with God and the more passionate we are to get into his presence and to know him and to walk with him and to be obedient and to love him and to be men of faith, we believe God that, um, if that's our driving desire, if that's our passion, then he will reveal his secrets to us and answer our prayers for the glory of his kingdom and for the power of his kingdom and for the, for the work of the kingdom.

Um, it's for his glory and for his, his, um, his work. He will work miracles. He'll move mountains. He'll raise the dead and much more in our day.

Um, shifting gears just a bit here. About a year ago, a few of us were praying, um, and it seemed good to us and to the Holy Spirit to launch a 24/7 prayer chain to, as we have on our website, to lift up an eternal prayer flame to the King, King Eternal, King Jesus.

Um, it's been my dream for the last 20 years probably to start a 24/7 prayer chain. And then I read about the Moravians who began around the clock prayer vigil, adults and children, and that lasted over a hundred years nonstop around the clock. And that really inspired me in my prayer life. And, um, as a result, these Moravians sent out thousands of people all over the world to spread the gospel to many, many countries. If you haven't read their story, I would suggest you look around for it. Um, I'm sure you can find it. I think I read an article somewhere that Brother Dean Taylor wrote about, I think it was called the Moravian Mission Machine or something like that.

And, um, so in light of those, some of these thoughts, we started what we call Eternal Prayer Flame. And, um, you can go to the website if you want to. It's eternalprayerflame.com. And you can read about it or join if you care to.

At this point, we're recruiting prayer warriors to join. At some point, enough people have joined. I envision beginning a call-in number. Um, so at all times around the clock, our dedicated prayer warriors can call in and pray together day or night.

Um, my vision, of course, has been to do it locally, the local congregation or local community, um, something like this, but it has never worked out so far. But I do believe at some point we can. Our people, uh, doing this.

Um, we would have at least two on the call that would call into a number, um, on 24/7 around the clock. And then others could join, call in and join that call anytime in their schedule during the day or night, uh, with these two that are on the call. So that's anyway, my kind of my vision prayer. We're still beginning this. I think right now we have about 75 people that have joined. And, um, on the website, you'll see if you click on the Google Sheets, you'll see the initials in the slots. We've done that just to, um, just as a way of being modest maybe and not everybody can see who, who's on the, the Eternal Prayer Flame.

But if you join, you'll get to see who's all on. You actually get a sheet probably that says all the names who's actually joined the, um, Eternal Prayer Flame, et cetera. It's an in-house, you know, thing. Um, anyone who joins can commit to praying for any length of time. You can pray for a month, a week, uh, a year, a lifetime. As God directs your life, you can join this work of praying together a way of being accountable and, um, for as long as you want. Uh, during this time, I might explain that you can commit that you've committed to pray.

We ask that you recruit at least one or two others to also join this Eternal Prayer Flame. So if you would get too busy, life becomes busy, you drop out, that person can keep your spot. Um, in the high-speed world that we live, there may be situations where we cannot keep our commitments to a specified time, uh, slot of time, 15 minutes, you know, sometime. And so to prepare for this, we ask that you find a prayer flame partner to help keep your flame alive. This is, we call this a prayer flame partner. I have one that works with me. My time slot is from 12 o'clock AM to 12:30 AM on Eternal Prayer Flame.