We're in week two of our series Remain, where we're talking about the practices that allow us to connect to Jesus so that we can have a life that bears much fruit. This series will carry us a little past our 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting season. I don't know if you know this, but we are on day eight of 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting. If you're here for the first time and you're like, "Oh my gosh, I did not know that was something we were doing," let me say this: you can jump in at any point. Every morning at 6:30 a.m. on Zoom, we have a bunch of people in our church jumping on. We have over a hundred people jumping on to pray every single morning. If you've never been a part of it, it's something you need to be a part of.

We truly believe this: this will be the best year of your life if you put God first in your life. Can I get a good amen? So if it's something you haven't done, jump in. Go all in. spiritchurch.co/21days. And God will move in a powerful way.

Like I said, we're continuing our series Remain, talking about some of the practices that help us remain in Jesus. Last week we talked about a daily devotion, a quiet time, actually spending time with God. And today I want to dive into one of those elements a little more, because I want to talk about remaining through prayer. Talking to God.

How many of you know that the entire spiritual journey in our lives is meant for us to actually know God? Not just know of Him, but actually know Him, to be able to have a relationship with Him. Matthew 7:21 says, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven." And some of you are like, "That's a problem, because that was my plan. 'Lord, Lord,' just to get there." "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven."

What does that mean? It is easy to say Jesus is Lord in word but not in deed. It's easy to say, "God, I worship You," but not actually follow what the Bible says. And what that means is that our affirmations are actually meaningless if they're not backed by obedience to God's Word. Can I get a good amen? Matthew 12:50 says, "For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother."

He continues in Matthew 7:22: "Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'" We want to be able to know God. And one of the best ways we're actually able to do that is through prayer.

Why is prayer so hard?

Now, the beautiful thing is that we have the ability to talk to God directly. That's something they couldn't do in the Old Testament. We can just talk to God here in the New Testament. And I'm convinced that most of the time when Christians are struggling to pray, it's not because they don't know why we should pray. Have you ever met a Christian who says, "I don't think we should pray"? No. Everyone knows we should pray. The problem is often not with the why. The problem is with the how. How do I actually make it work? How do I actually pray?

I met God when I was super young, and I always knew I needed to pray, but I didn't have a great model for doing it. I got to my teenage years, I started attending youth group, and the next thing I knew I was in a small group. One day the leader stood up and said, "Okay, guys, we're going to do circle prayer." Has anyone ever been part of circle prayer? Everyone grabs hands and starts praying. The way it works is you pray, and then you squeeze the hand of the person next to you when you're done, and then they pray and squeeze the next hand, and it goes around. And there was this rule that if you didn't know what to pray or you didn't want to pray, you would double squeeze. That meant, "I'm not going to pray."

I remember my leader said, "I'll go first," and then prayed this insane prayer: "Lord in the highest, whither thou goest..." And I'm like, "I'm supposed to follow that?" Then it was the next one, and the next one, and everyone's praying, and then it comes to me, and I just squeezed: squeeze, squeeze. I was like, "I've got nothing." I knew it was important. I just didn't know how.

It got me thinking about all the ways we learn to pray. We're taught just to recite things. "Lord, bless this food to my body." Which is amazing when you're about to eat chicken. But when you're about to eat a donut, I don't know how He's going to bless that. "God, please bless this to my body. I'm literally begging You. Remove the calories." Or when you're growing up, your parents teach you prayers: "Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake..." What are we saying? "Hey, Saint, I'm going to teach you a prayer: if I die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take." That's terrifying.

So often we're praying all these prayers that have been given to us. And I'm convinced that if you actually knew how to pray, you would enjoy it. You would love it. Everything changed for me when I started learning prayer models, which are ways the Bible teaches us to pray.

How did Jesus teach us to pray?

One of them is the Lord's Prayer, which a lot of you may know. It's found in Luke 11:1: "One day Jesus was praying in a certain place." We talked about that last week, having a certain place where you pray. "When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, 'Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.'" What does that mean? They were watching Him pray, and there was something about the way He prayed that made them say, "I want to pray like that. Lord, teach us how to pray. I want to pray like Jesus." "He said to them, 'When you pray, say...'" and He gave them the prayer.

Matthew 6:9 tells the same story in a different book of the Bible: "This, then, is how you should pray." In the original language it means "in this manner," "in this way." He gives a model of prayer. "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done." If you recite that prayer at the speed I talk, it's a 16-second prayer. How many of you know they weren't watching Jesus pray for 16 seconds and saying, "Wow, teach me to do that"?

It's a model of prayer. Yes, you can recite it, but those lines are actually bullet points. It's an outline. "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name." That takes time, where we can worship: "God, I thank You for what You're doing. Lord, I thank You for who You are." "Your kingdom come, your will be done." "God, I'm going to pray Your agenda first. Lord, I'm going to pray for the nations. I want to thank You for this city. I want to thank You for Chandler. I want to thank You for Arizona." I'm praying the things He cares about. And then it says, "Give us today our daily bread." Does that make sense? It's a model. And the second you learn that, everything starts to change.

Today I want to teach you my favorite way to pray. It's a model I learned two years ago from my pastor, who learned it from his pastor, and so it goes. It's called the Tabernacle Prayer.

What does it mean to pray on all occasions?

But before I get into it, I want to set this up. Ephesians 6:18 says, "And pray in the Spirit." What is that? The Spirit is our source of prayer. "On all occasions." Say "all occasions." Not just in the morning. Not just when you eat. We are to pray on all occasions.

There's a book called The Practice of the Presence of God. It was written in the 1600s by Brother Lawrence. He was a Christian monk, and his job was washing dishes and cleaning. But he found he could spend his entire day with God if he consistently talked to God. Where everyone else was doing scheduled prayers, he said prayer is actually a continual conversation, not a scheduled prayer. Short conversations, constant awareness, always turning back to God. And if you do that, it changes everything.

It's like when you text your wife or your husband, or if you're dating someone, your boyfriend, or if you want to date someone, you're texting them too. "Hey, how are you? How's your day? How was that meeting?" You're constantly texting. "I'm on my way home." What could it look like if our prayer with God looked like that? "Hey, God, I just really need Your help right now. God, I'm struggling in this meeting." Not these crazy long prayers. What could it look like if throughout the day we just said, "God, can You help me with this? God, I need You in this"?

It says "on all occasions." We have a saying: we pray first. On all occasions. Before you send the text. How do you know if you prayed before you sent the text? You might not send the text. You might be like, "And I'm going to delete that. Going to retry." We pray before we go into a meeting. Everything we do, we pray first.

And he continues: "with all kinds of prayers and requests." All kinds. The Greek word there means every kind, each kind, the whole, complete, totality. There are multiple ways we can pray, and there are models that can be found in this Word. If you go to our prayer guide, or even to spiritchurch.co/21days, you'll see we've actually captured so many of the models that come out of the Bible. If you're struggling with knowing how to pray, I encourage you to go there.

What is the tabernacle prayer?

But today I want to teach you one of those models, and it's called the Tabernacle Prayer. This is the one I've gone to for about the last two years. I pray this way about 80% of the time.

So before I teach it, let me give you some context. God's people are in Egypt. This is in Exodus. They get released from Egypt and go through the Red Sea. Moses goes up Mount Sinai and gets the Ten Commandments. The old covenant is now in play. They're going to the Promised Land, and something that should have taken a couple of days ends up taking 40 years because of their disobedience. And in that time God says, "Build a tabernacle."

What was that? It was a portable church. Which, let me just say, if you haven't realized, we are a portable church. Literally today at 5:00 a.m. production was here loading in. At 6:00 a.m. people were loading in everything else you see. Can you all do me a favor and put your hands together for our load-in and load-out team? Let's go. They're just being biblical with everything they're doing.

So they would set up this portable church. Whenever the cloud of God or the fire of God would stay somewhere, they would set it up. Whenever it moved, they would move. And when it stayed, they would set it up again. Eventually that became permanent, and that is called the temple. But God gave them very strict instructions about how to build this tabernacle.

Exodus 25:8 says, "Then have them make a sanctuary for me." And here's why: because He loves them. "And I will dwell among them." Do you know that God wants to live among you? God wants to be with us. "Make this tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you."

We've talked about this before. We are not under the old covenant, so we can run straight into the throne room of God. Can I get a good amen? We have the ability to do that. But there are still patterns in Scripture that we can honor. The Sabbath isn't commanded in the New Testament. We'll actually talk about Sabbath in this series. Yet it's still something we can practice. And if you break the Sabbath long enough, it will eventually break you. It's a pattern we can honor. We can look to the Old Testament for the patterns that are there, even though they're not required. And the question is, what could it look like if we looked at this tabernacle as a model to truly connect with God?

I want to show you what it looks like. This is what the tabernacle looked like. Some people are like, "AI is dangerous and weird," but it helped me create that. Praise God for AI. You'll see there's this outer court, which is like a fence made of linen curtains and pillars. There's a gate you can enter. Then you come to the first piece of furniture, called the brazen altar, and then the second piece of furniture, called the laver.

If you go into the tabernacle, this is what it would look like. There are three pieces of furniture inside: the lampstand, the table of showbread, and the altar of incense. And then if you pass through that veil, you get into what's called the Holy of Holies. The first room is called the Holy Place. The second room is called the Most Holy Place. And that's where people would go to meet with God.

Why was the temple curtain torn?

I think this is so incredibly significant. The high priest would go in once a year. Moses could go in all the time because he was the mediator of the old covenant. But this is what's mentioned in Matthew 27:51, right after Jesus died: "At that moment the curtain of the temple," which was in the permanent structure, "was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split."

That curtain, you could not rip it by yourself. Not only that, it ripped from top to bottom. What is that? Jesus dies on the cross, and the second He dies, God says, "Finally, I can be with them." And He rips the curtain from top to bottom so that we can have a relationship with Him. That's what Jesus did for us. Why? Because He loves you. God has always wanted to be close, but sin separated us. When Jesus died, it was, "Finally. Finally, we can just approach Him."

This preaches the entire gospel. What if we used this as a practice to remember everything God has done? Because when Moses, or the high priest, would go through this process, passing through these different pieces of furniture, it says in Exodus 33:11, "The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend." How many of you want that? Face to face. And not in King James: "Whither thou goest." He talked to him as one would talk to a friend. If you've ever experienced that, we would never have to convince you to pray again. God wants this intimate relationship with us.

So if you're praying this as a prayer model, there are six pieces of furniture and seven steps that remind us of what God has done. I want to teach it to you.

1. The outer court: thanksgiving and praise

The first is the outer court. That's where the fence was, and that's where we give thanksgiving and praise. So if you're praying through this model, this is where you stop and give thanksgiving and praise. The Bible talks about this: when you enter His gates. "God, before I ask You for anything, I'm going to thank You for what You've already done. Before I make a request, God, I'm just thankful that I'm alive today. I'm just thankful that I'm here today."

Psalm 100:4 says, "Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name."

One of the mistakes we often make is that we go before God and just give Him a grocery list. But what could it look like to go before God and say, "God, I'm just thankful that I'm alive. Lord, I'm just thankful that I have air in my lungs. God, I thank You today that I woke up this morning. Lord, I thank You for my wife. I thank You for my kids. Lord, I thank You for this place. I thank You for Phoenix. God, thank You for calling me here. Lord, thank You for our church. Thank You for the leaders in the church. Lord, before I ask You for anything, before I enter in, God, I'm just saying I'm so grateful." What does that mean? "Lord, I'm content with what You have given me. I'm grateful." Before I do anything else, before I think about entering into that place, I just stop and give God thanks.

2. The brazen altar: the cross

The next piece of furniture you would step to is the brazen altar. This is what it looks like. That's where they would sacrifice animals. There would have been blood on those horns. There would have been an animal on there. What the brazen altar does is allow us to stop and focus on the cross, because we don't have to do that anymore.

"Lord, I thank You for Jesus. Lord, I thank You for Your Son. I thank You that Your Son died on the cross. Your Bible says in Romans 6:23 that the wages of sin is death. But God, I thank You that we can come before You." The only reason we can step toward God is the cross. So in this moment we just stop, and we focus on the cross and what we have as a result.

When I'm praying through this, there are a couple of things I pray. Psalm 103:2–5 talks about the benefits we have because of the cross, so I just thank God for them. It says, "Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits." There are five benefits of the cross. A lot of people know about forgiveness. We talk about that all the time. But there's more than that.

"Who forgives all your sins." Which means this: "God, I thank You that You forgive my sins, past, present, and future. The stuff I've done, and the stuff I don't even know I'm going to do yet. Lord, I thank You for Your forgiveness."

"And heals all your diseases." That's not only the places you're sick in your body. It's also the places you're sick in your soul. Every place you are diseased: anxiety, depression. So I take a moment and say, "God, I thank You that Your Word says by Your stripes we are healed. Lord, right now I give You this anxiety. Lord, right now I give You this worry. Lord, right now I have this pain in my body. I thank You that because of Your cross I can be healed. Lord, I ask for Your healing power. I thank You that because of the cross, it's a benefit I have access to."

And then it says, "Who redeems your life from the pit." What's the pit? It's where your life would have gone without Jesus. How many of you know you shouldn't be here right now? That accident should have killed you. That thing should have taken you out. But what "redeem" means is that God takes us and puts us back together. That's why we care so much about Growth Track. We want you to understand why you are here. He's placed you on this earth for a reason, for a purpose. "God, I thank You that You are my Redeemer, Lord, that You put me back together."

"And crowns you with love and compassion." What does that mean? He gives me His character. "Who satisfies your desires with good things." What does that mean? He blesses me with everything I need. So I just take a moment and pray: "God, I thank You for Your healing. God, I thank You for Your forgiveness. God, I thank You for redemption. Lord, I thank You for the crown that is on my head. Lord, I thank You for the blessing You've given me." Does that make sense? When you're praying, you just stop and think of the cross.

3. The laver: cleansing and preparation

The next piece of furniture is the laver, and it looks like this. It's a bronze bowl of water that was actually made from the mirrors of the women who served at the entrance to the tent of meeting. It was highly polished bronze, and when you looked into it, it would reflect. This is the place of cleansing and preparation. It's realizing that God has saved us, but we've still got a way to go. We are saved, but we are not fully sanctified yet.

Honestly, for me, this is a place where I'm able to reflect. I pause and say, "God, cleanse every part of me." What I actually do is offer the various parts of my body to God. I literally did this this morning. I woke up to prepare for the sermon, and before I did anything, I got on my knees and said:

"God, today I give You my mind. Lord, may I have the mind of Christ. May I not think angry thoughts. May I not think hateful thoughts. May I not think perverse thoughts. May I not think lustful thoughts. Lord, may my mind today please You. In everything I'm doing, I give it to You." Philippians 2:5 says I can have the mind of Christ. Philippians 4:8: "Lord, I choose today that I'm going to think on whatever is pure, whatever is good, whatever is worthy. I'm going to think on those things, whatever is excellent or praiseworthy."

"Lord, I also give You my ears. May I be sensitive to Your voice, Lord. May I turn away from the voice of the stranger. May I hear Your voice speaking, and may I walk in it. Lead me. Guide me, Father."

"I give You my eyes, Lord." In the book of Job he says, "I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a young woman." "Lord, today I will not look at anything that doesn't please You."

"Lord, I pray for my mouth. Anoint my mouth, Lord. Touch it with the hot coal like You did Isaiah, so that as the Word goes out, it will speak to people. Lord, I pray that my mouth will be used today to bless and not to curse. Lord, may my mouth be used to build up and not to break down. I give that over to You today."

"Lord, I give You my heart." Jeremiah 17:9 says, "The heart is deceitful above all things." But according to Psalm 139 I can say this: "Search me, God, and know my heart. See if there is any offensive way in me." "God, is there anything I'm doing that frustrates You right now? Lord, is there anything I'm doing that is offending You? Show me what that is."

"God, I give You my hands. May they be used to build Your church. I give You my feet. Lord, I thank You that Romans 10:15 says, 'How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!'" Now, I don't always know the references. I just know the scriptures, and I'm praying those scriptures.

"Lord, I give You every single part of my body. Lord, I give my family to You, my wife to You, my kids to You. I give my house to You. I give my church to You. I give my finances to You. And God, if You took everything away, I'll be okay. I offer my body to You, Lord. Cleanse me."

Romans talks about this. Romans 12:1: "Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. This is your true and proper worship." Is this helpful? Literally, as you're going through, you're just thinking through all these things.

4. The lampstand: the Holy Spirit

Then we go inside the tabernacle, and the first item you would see is the lampstand, on the left. I love this. Once you start understanding this and you start reading about the tabernacle in Exodus, you're going to understand it in such an incredible way. There's so much symbolism in it.

That lampstand is actually shaped like a tree. It reminds us of the tree of life, that God is the source. As we read last week, He is the vine, and if we remain in Him, we will bear much fruit. There were no windows in there. It was the only source of light. God is light. Psalm 27:1 tells us that. Jesus says, "I am the light of the world," in John 8:12. And then He says, "You are the light of the world," in Matthew 5:14. God gives light, and we are to reflect light. We are His image bearers. He says, "Go and make disciples of all nations." But what fuels us, and what fueled that lampstand, is oil, which is a reminder of the Holy Spirit.

So as I think about that, I say, "Lord, may Your Spirit empower me today. Holy Spirit, rest upon me." Isaiah 11:2 is talking about Jesus: "The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him, the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord." "Lord, I pray that You will rest upon Christ in me. Lord, today I need wisdom. Lord, today I need understanding. Lord, I'm going into that meeting today, and I need knowledge. Rest upon me."

"Holy Spirit, give me Your fruit." Literally every day: "Lord, give me Your fruit. Give me love and joy and peace and patience and kindness and goodness and faithfulness and gentleness and self-control. Lord, I need self-control in that moment today. Lord, I need Your peace right now."

Then I say, "Holy Spirit, strengthen the gifts You've given me." 2 Timothy 1:6 says, "For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands." You all know that God has given you specific gifts. And the day you find out those gifts and know why you're here, everything begins to change. It's why in our Growth Track we have a spiritual gifts assessment. We want you to know your gifts. I felt like God had told me at some point that I was going to plant a church. But when I went through Growth Track, it actually showed me that those were some of the gifts God had given me. And I'll tell you what, when you realize that, it doesn't matter if a day is good or bad. You're like, "Man, I know I'm supposed to be doing this." Whether it rains or shines, I'm good. "God, stir up the gifts that are in me."

5. The table of showbread: the Word of God

The next thing you would go to is the table of showbread, which looks like that. That looks really good right now, when you're on the fast. Why would I do that to you? I almost made the AI make them steamy, and I was like, "I'm not going to do that to you all."

What the table of showbread represents is the only thing we can actually feast on that feeds our souls, and that's the Word of God. So this is a perfect time for us to remember the Word of God, to feed on the Word of God, and to use it as a weapon. When Jesus was tempted in the desert, what did He use? The Word of God. Matthew 4:4, He's answering Satan: "Jesus answered, 'It is written: "Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God."'" "Lord, thank You for Your Word."

The best thing you can do is just pray the Scripture. If you're struggling with something right now... How many of you have a hard decision you're trying to make right now? How many of you are anxious right now? How many of you are worried right now? How many of you are despondent right now? Whatever it is, find a scripture, and in that moment say, "God, I thank You for Your Word. Lord, I'm feeling anxious right now, but I thank You that Your Bible says I do not need to be anxious about anything, but in prayer and supplication I can make my requests to You, and Your peace, which surpasses my understanding, will be mine in Christ Jesus. So right now, God, I give this situation to You."

Do you know how that changes your day? When you're taking moments to claim the things God has said over your life, the things He has said in His Word? Fearful? Well, 2 Timothy 1:7 says that God has not given me a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind. Take a moment and declare the Scriptures of God.

Ephesians 6 talks about the armor. All the armor was defensive except the Word of God. Ephesians 6:17–18: "Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests." There it is. Does that make sense? Whatever you're struggling with, write those things down and declare God's Word over them.

6. The altar of incense: worship

The next thing we do is go to the altar of incense. This wouldn't have been bloody. This would have smelled really good. It was worship to God. That's what it represents. In the Old Testament, incense always represents our prayers. Psalm 141:2: "May my prayer be set before you like incense." Revelation 5:8: "Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God's people."

What we do at the altar of incense is spend time praying and worshiping God for who He is. That incense would have been holy. It would have been exclusive. No one else deserves our prayers. No one else deserves our praise. It was steady and continual, which represents that we're always praying, always talking to Him. It was also the closest thing to the Ark of the Covenant, the Holy of Holies, which shows us that it's through prayer that we actually draw near to God.

In this moment I just take time to remember who God is. I say, "God, I thank You that You are Jehovah Jireh. You are my Provider. Lord, I thank You that You are Jehovah Shalom. You are my peace. I thank You, Father, that You're Jehovah Nissi, my banner of victory. Lord, I thank You for who You are. You are Jehovah Rapha. You are my Healer."

The funny thing is, you might not know God as Jehovah Rapha yet. But in the Bible, people would experience something. They would experience healing, and they would go, "Oh, You're that too. You're Jehovah Rapha. You're my Healer." Has anyone ever had God provide for you when you felt like nothing would come through? "Oh, You're Jehovah Jireh. Okay, I get it. You're my Provider."

When I walk into a room, people don't know who I am. If you're an acquaintance, maybe you know my name is Brad. If you're a friend, you might know that I'm a dad and a husband. But if you're a close friend, you'd know I'm a bad golfer. You'd know I'm an occasional runner. You'd know that I love the Bible. That describes me. Some of you know God as God, but you have yet to know Him as Jehovah Jireh or Jehovah Rapha. And the more you walk with God, the more you're like, "Oh my gosh, that's who You are. That's who You are too." So we spend time just thanking God for who He is. Proverbs 18:10: "The name of the Lord is a fortified tower; the righteous run to it and are safe."

7. The Ark of the Covenant: intercession

And once we've done that, the final place is where we're able to go in. Again, you can just go straight in. But isn't there something beautiful about remembering what they had to go through? The Ark of the Covenant looks like this. On top was what was known as the mercy seat, and that's where God would be. That's where they would be able to speak to God face to face. What we do when we come to the Ark of the Covenant is intercede.

I remember when I first heard this, I was like, "Finally, this is where I get to pray for the things I want. I've gone through all the furniture. I've gone to the brazen altar. I'm here. Finally, I get to make my requests." And it's like, "This is the place of intercession, where you pray for others." I'm like, "Really, God? That's what I'm supposed to do?"

How God spoke to me through intercession

I remember the first time I did this. It was during 21 Days of Prayer three years ago. I said, "You know what, God, I just want to follow the model. I just want to get it into my system." So I started praying through it, and I was like, "I'm not going to make a single request during 21 Days of Prayer. I'm just going to pray. I'm going to intercede." "Lord, I thank You for the nations. Lord, I thank You for this world. Lord, I pray for our country. Lord, I pray that our country will be a country that knows You. We're a country that was founded on Christian, godly principles. Lord, bring us back to that. Raise up godly leaders in our public spheres. Lord, I pray for mass salvation. God, I pray for revival." I just started interceding.

It was during one of those times, it must have been day one or two, that while I was praying for others, God gave me a picture of Phoenix. I remember going up to Paige afterward and saying, "I've never seen something like this before." I just kept praying this way. On day seven of 21 Days of Prayer, I was in worship at a church service at a church I had never been to. I'm praying, and God gives me a picture of a permanent church building. I saw the logo. I couldn't see the name of the church, but it said "church," and there were saguaros around, and I was like, "That has to be Arizona." And I felt God say, "This is what I have for you. Write down this sentence. I'm about to confirm it."

And I was like, "I must have had some weird pizza." But that's impossible, because I was fasting. The sentence was this: "Phoenix fire over my head." And I was like, "I am not writing down that dumb sentence. There's just no way. That is definitely me, not God." But I felt Him press it on me, so I was like, "Fine." I pulled out my phone and wrote, "Phoenix fire over my head." I felt Him say, "Timestamp it." I timestamped it. I started recording the service, because I thought the pastor was going to say something about Phoenix and that was going to be my moment. The service ended. Nothing happened. I'm like, "Great. Definitely was me." I stopped the voice recorder.

Two minutes later, the pastor's wife comes up to me. She doesn't know me. "Hey, can I pray for you?" "Absolutely." She says, "I've been so distracted by you for the last two hours." I was like, "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry. Why? What was I doing? Was I being weird?" I'm kind of weird. And she said, "No. Every time I looked at you, I just kept thinking, 'Oh my gosh, that man is on fire.' You have fire over your head. You have fire all over you." I lost it. I was like, "What is this?"

After that moment she prophesied over us. Then I sat down and drew the logo I saw on the building, and I was like, "That's the dumbest logo I've ever seen." And then I came to Phoenix a couple of months later and saw that logo everywhere in the city. It was the Phoenix city logo, which I had never seen, and God had me draw it. The only difference was that the phoenix was looking toward the East Valley.

I know this sounds crazy. If you're here and you've never been in church, you're like, "What is this?" God was downloading to us what He wanted us to do in that moment. And I just so badly want that for you. Yes, there's a moment where you can come before God and intercede, and I encourage you to do that. If you're like, "I have some requests," you can make your requests. But how about you pray about His things first? Because what I noticed is that when I care about the things God cares about, He shows me that He cares about the things I'm concerned about.

Prayer is a conversation, not a monologue

Speak to God. It's not one-sided. Take time to listen. It's not a monologue. Can you imagine if all I ever did was talk to Paige and never allowed her to speak back? That wouldn't be a relationship. But that's what we do with God. Can you just sit in His presence and say, not only, "Lord, I need help with this," but, "Lord, I need help with this. What should I do?" And then just listen. He will never say anything contrary to His Word. We'll talk about hearing the voice of God, but just practice listening to God. He wants to speak to you. He wants to meet with you face to face.

I believe that if you do this, if you just put it in your arsenal as a model, a practice to remember what Jesus has done so that we can approach God... Yes, we can come with confidence. But what does it look like if we just stop and remember what we have access to?

Let me pray for you. Lord, I want to thank You for every single person who's here. God, I pray that even now You'll begin to speak to people, Lord, whether it's about the fast and what they should be fasting, whether it's about how they should be praying, or what they need to be adjusting. Holy Spirit, I pray that You will come and speak, that You will do what only You can do, and that You will move.

Draw near to God through Jesus

Lord, we never want to end a service without giving people an opportunity to give their lives to Christ. I just want you to look at me real quick, everyone. I want your attention. Because Hebrews tells us what we get through the work of Jesus. Hebrews 10:19: "Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place," that's the Holy of Holies, "by the blood of Jesus," that represents the altar, because the wages of sin is death and something had to die, "by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain." What is that? The veil. Can you see how it's everywhere? Once you understand it, you start seeing it absolutely everywhere.

Some of you are here, and you're like, "Man, I'm a good guy, and I'm going to get to God." Not according to Hebrews 10:19, because it says there's only one way to get to God, and you have to pass through the veil. And it says Jesus is the veil. He opened the way "through the curtain, that is, his body." His body torn, His body broken, allows us to come. "And since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water." There's the laver. Literally, Hebrews 10 is drawing from all of that.

If you're here and you know of God, but you haven't put your faith in Jesus, you're not going through that curtain. You need Jesus to experience that. And if you've never done that, I want to give you that opportunity. So if everyone could close your eyes and bow your heads. If you're here, without hesitation, and you're saying, "I want to know God. I do not know Him. I want to have access to Him. I want to have a relationship with Him," I'm going to count to three, and I just want you to boldly put up your hand. No one's looking around. Just say that to me. Here we go. One, two, three. If you're like, "I want that." Thank you. Thank you. That's awesome. That's incredible. I love that.

I want you to pray this prayer. Just whisper it: "Dear Jesus, I know that You're the Son of God and the Savior of the world. Jesus, I pray that You come into my heart. I thank You for Your sacrifice. I thank You that You died on a cross, and I thank You that You were raised so that I may have life. I make You my Lord, not just in my words, but in my actions. I will do what You call me to do. We love You. We praise You. In Jesus' name." And all God's people said amen.