In Luke 11 Jesus was approached by the disciples and asked “Lord, teach us to pray!” Jesus of course responded by teaching the Lord’s Prayer as it is commonly called. The focus of this message is on the concept of our relationship to prayer life. If we want to grow we must be willing to learn – to listen, to grow and to mature. We must be willing to walk with Him and learn how to release His authority. There is a great example of this type of discipling from Jesus in Mark 9, where the disciples were not able to cast out the deaf and mute Spirit. Jesus taught them that this type of Spirit comes out only through prayer and fasting. The real question is are you signed up to learn? Are you signed up to grow in the school of prayer? Have you let go of your life and given the Lord permission to be a radical prayer person who contends for breakthrough? The Kingdom is valuable to the degree that we participate in this most Holy School of prayer and fasting!

In this message we look at God’s call to us as his chosen ones, into a lifestyle of persistent prayer.

Jesus highlighted persistent prayer, in Luke 18: 8, as one of the expressions of faith that he would be looking for when he comes to the earth.

James exhorts us in chapter one of his letter, to count it all joy as we pass through trials of many kinds, because God is using these things to mature and perfect us.

In this hour God is looking to raise up his children as a mature bride and as mature sons and daughter in the earth, in order that our lives and prayers might become a gift to the world around us. One of the ways that he does this is by training us in the discipline of persistent prayer.

In Mark 11, when Jesus drove the money changers from the temple, He released a key statement that set a standard for all New Testament culture. After confronting their distraction, He said that His House, was to be called a House of Prayer for all the nations! This is stunning! Jesus set a radical standard for the whole church , to be on page, in the building of the Kingdom! Prayer is not just talking to Jesus, but also singing in His presence! Our study in prayer today continues, by looking at the model called HARP AND BOWL prayer, and worship. This model is based on a scriptural understanding of Revelation 5:8 where John prophesied about the house of prayer being both prayer and worship. This type of prayer is powerful, and overwhelmingly addictive. Those who have tasted of it, are ruined by it, and fall deeper in love with Jesus. This is perfect! A model of prayer that leads us to radical first love anointing and sustains fire as we go out to the nations to love on His Bride and obey His call to the Harvest - which is white! Beloved- its time to grow in love with the Prayer room where the Glory is expanding right now in this season! More Lord!

In today’s message we are studying the power of the practice of gratefulness and thankfulness. This is like the essential vitamin that sustains all of life. It is indeed the most beautiful thing in our hearts to God. It’s the soil where so much grows. If we lose it, we become hard, cold and ungrateful. We then compare ourselves, and judge others, and then even fall into accusation at God for the things that are not. Without the giving of thanks and the lifting of hands we are like spoilt children – entitled and unaware of the blessings. Beloved let us incorporate this ancient practice of thankfulness in the most precious way in our lives. Let us become thankful for small mercies, great mercies and everything that is available to us. Let us be so aware of the simple things and learn to give thanks in all seasons.

The will of God for our lives is both simple and profound. It is often spoken of as something we can’t achieve or even know if we are in it. This teaching helps us to see that being in Gods will is something we can achieve and know. His will for our lives might start with a small seed planted, but with prayer the seed begins to grow into a tree. It’s prayer that ushers us into His heart more and more. The deeper we go into His heart the more we realise we are exactly where we are meant to be.

This week’s Live Stream comes to you from Canberra at the end of the inland prayer journey, after a 10 day trip through NSW cities. We have had an extraordinary time going to key locations, indigenous massacre sights, churches, mountains, old revival locations, cemeteries, houses of prayer and any spot the Lord led us! We have gained much joy and grown in our connections with the most extraordinary believers in each place. God is so on the move in our nation! In Luke 11 the disciples asked Jesus to “teach us to pray!” This needs to be the cry of every disciple in each season. Paul reiterates this in Romans 8 where he says - “we don’t know how to pray!” Learning to pray is a life long adventure with the Holy Spirit as our guide! We must keep on asking Him for wisdom to know to what to pray, and we must keep on leaning in to the prayer assignments that are ours, in every season of our lives! Beloved, let us not grow weary and give up, but instead become the encouragement for others to pray too. It’s time for a massive prayer movement in our nation. Australia - let us pray without ceasing! Now is the time!

This week Serena Gallagher brings a word outlining the role of forgiveness within our prayer lives and God’s role to be the Restorer of the breach. She exhorts the believer to strive for maturity in their lives, seeking to go after the uncomfortable places of pain, and grow in the freedom of forgiveness and love.

We continue our prayer series with a powerful word from Psalm 110, where David prophesied to “rule in the midst of your enemies”. This ties in completely with Psalm 23, “you prepare a table before me, in the presence of my enemies”. The Father’s authority is in us and on us, to reign over our strongholds and over the strongholds in cities. How do we engage the cosmic level powers of darkness that prevail over a region or a city?

1.We need to identify these powers through spiritual mapping.

2.We need to first overcome these issues in our own personal lives.

3.We must live a life of prayer, praise and worship and watch as the powers of darkness are displaced by our rulership with Him.

We can expect great victories when we defeat in roads on the ground with hand-to-hand combat, destroying strongholds like rejection, shame and fear. Then at the cosmic level the larger powers will be displaced. Cities can be transformed, but we must take up the fight in the prayer room, the counseling/deliverance room and our personal prayer rooms too. The Kingdom suffers warfare, and so there is a fight - but the outcome is always victory if we don’t quit! Don’t give up, but put on the armour He provides, and stay in the peace and joy! God is the winner with you at His side beloved!

This week Serena Gallagher continues our prayer series with a focus on the power of having a vulnerable personal prayer life. John’s gospel reveals the way that Jesus’ life impacted those around him; in this talk Serena draws from John’s account of Lazarus and his sister Mary, highlighting how we too point to Jesus’ life death and resurrection by how we engage with God in our personal lives.

Jesus and the Exodus story have some amazing parallels. The plagues of the Exodus start with water into blood and finish with the death of the firstborn. Jesus starts his ministry by turning water into wine and then becomes the crucified first born. Jesus is the great deliverer who pays the debt for all sin. He becomes a plague to the powers of darkness. He is the great Jubilee freeing Israel, Egypt and the nations.