The Urgency of Now | Rev. Elisha Satvinder


Summary & Key points
Rev. Elisha Satvinder emphasizes the importance of a prayer-filled life, urging the congregation to awaken to a deep spiritual renewal both individually and as a church. He underscores that spiritual growth and transformation are essential and must be pursued earnestly, not casually. Key points of the sermon include the urgency of prayer, highlighting that awakening to a prayer-filled life is crucial. Prayer should not be a surface-level activity but should touch every part of our being and lives. He stresses the need for a deep desire for spiritual renewal as individuals, which then extends to the church, noting that none can claim their prayer or word life is perfect. Rev. Elisha issues a clarion call to seek God earnestly and pursue the transformative power of prayer in personal lives, homes, and the church. Rev. Elisha references Ephesians 4 and 5 to illustrate how to live out faith, emphasizing the importance of changing thinking, actions, and relationships based on God-valued perspectives. He stresses that Christians must consistently transform and engage with God's word and prayer, building personal and communal prayer altars. He also notes that personal spiritual awakening impacts families, society, and the nation, drawing from historical revivals like the Moravian Revival and the Azusa Street Revival to illustrate the transformative power of fervent prayer. The current spiritual need presents both a challenge and an opportunity for a move of God, requiring persistent prayer and a departure from spiritual slumber and complacency. The sermon introduces a 21-day prayer initiative with specific themes, actions, and prayers for each day to help the congregation build and sustain a prayerful life. Practical advice includes setting a specific time and place for prayer, using a prayer guide, staying accountable, and expecting God's response. Rev. Elisha concludes with an exhortation to awaken their hearts to God’s call, emphasizing the importance of consistent, transformative prayer and spiritual engagement.
Show Transcript

Good morning, everyone. A bit of a note on Tan Jin Juan. Honestly, he is an amazing teacher. I remember years ago, he asked me to do his church camp. I’m thinking, I said, “Hey, J, goodness me, you sure you’re not going to put out?” Because he teaches homiletics, that means the art of preaching as well. I said, “You sure not? I said, don’t criticize my sermons, you know?” So anyway, he’s actually an old friend but an amazing teacher, so it’s a treat. So it starts Friday, so please everybody, three weeks from now, Friday, please be here, whatever it may be. Come with your notebooks, your Bible, it’s going to be a fantastic time. And of course, Saturday, and then Sunday, he will bring the word of the Lord to us as well. Amen.

So, good morning again, everyone. Morning. Good morning. Okay, I’ve simply entitled my message this morning. Can we read it out together? Can you have some urgency as you read it? Okay, let’s do it again. Ready? Let’s do it. Okay, then at least we can have the movement from here. Okay, but what is this all about? The urgency of now. We hear the word urgency, whether it’s parallel words or synonyms to it, whatever it may be. Now, now when? Now, right now. Well, I would frame it in one simple thing and I will unpack that with you today as much as I can. It’s actually awakening to the call of a prayer-filled life. But you may say, “Oh dear pastor, this, are we going to go through that?” I mean, prayer, we know, we know prayer. Yeah, it may

sound simplistic, may sound run over the mill, but at its core, it is much deeper than that. It actually touches every part of our being, our person, every part of our lives. It does. It touches everything if we actually were to see what scripture actually draws us into, the promises it gives us, the power that it actually tells us we have.

So it’s about two things I would say in broad strokes. If you break it down, you will take a long time to deal with it, but two basic broad strokes is this. Number one, it’s for us to awaken to a deep spiritual, to have a desire for deep spiritual renewal as individuals. Now again, I will make statements that you’ll say, “Yeah, I’ve heard that before. Yeah, I know that.” But let me make this statement again and let me just give it a bit of an explanation. Awakening to the call of prayer and of prayer to a prayer-filled life is this. Number one, for us to awaken a deep desire, not just a casual desire, not a surface desire, but a deep desire for spiritual renewal as individuals. Because if it doesn’t happen as individuals, it won’t happen as a church. So it starts with us as individuals. You see, none of us, none of us can honestly, honestly say this, “My prayer life is really hot. My word life is fantastic. You know, I am spiritually so mature.” None of us can really say that honestly. Can I honestly say that my personal prayer altar is really looking good? We can’t. The second thing is this, it’s a clarion call, that means it’s a trumpet call, it’s a trumpet blast that says we need to seek God earnestly. Again, not casually, not simplistically, not surface, not occasionally, not seasonally.

So seeking God earnestly, pursuing what? The transform, and the operative word is transformative, pursuing very intentionally a transformative power of prayer in our personal lives, in our homes, in our church. But how do we do this? How do we do this? Where do we begin? In Ephesians chapter 4 and chapter 5, we see actually this whole place of instructions on how we are supposed to live out our faith. It actually gives us a very comprehensive list on how we live out our faith. Let me read it out to you. I’m going to ask you to listen to it, but I’m going to start in verse 17 of chapter 4. Please listen. If God speaks to you about something, write it down, think about it, make a note of it. So I tell you this, Paul writing, and he’s writing to the church, he says, and insist, he said, “I’m telling you this and insist on it in the Lord that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do.” That means don’t live like those who do not know God. He says, “Now I insist on this. You cannot live that way, but this is how you should be living.” He says, “Don’t live as the Gentiles do in the futility of their thinking.” He didn’t go at the futility of their living, he went in the futility of their thinking because as we think, we act, right? Yes, no? Okay. He said, “They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts,” which is also a caution to us. If I harden my heart, I’m not going to respond. If I harden my heart, I will negotiate God’s word. If I harden my heart, my opinion will cancel out God’s word because I say, “Hey, it’s okay, I’m not harming anyone.” No, that’s not where the scripture is going. Verse 19, he said, “Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed.” If you were to just look at it, look at society today, look at social media, look at the movies, look at everything, look at lifestyles, do you think the scripture captures that? It does, doesn’t it? Are we enticed by it? Yes, because he’s just not talking about sensuality, he’s talking about greed, that means the pursuit of what? Also of money. He said, “That, however, is not the way of life you heard when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus.” He says, “But that’s not supposed to be the way you and I are.” Verse 22, he said, “You were taught with regard to your former way of life,” that means when they came to know, the Ephesian church, when they got to know Christ, they responded, what was dealt with? He says, “Hey, this former part of your life, no longer do it because now you’re a new creation.” He said, “So you were taught with regard of your former way of life to put off the old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires.” From thinking to desires, to be made new in the attitude of your minds, there he comes again, minds, and put on the new self. It’s an effort, isn’t it? Put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Therefore, each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body. In your anger, do not sin. Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry. Sometimes our anger can be seething for days, for weeks, for months, for years. And do not give the devil a foothold. Say, “Don’t give the devil an opportunity.” Anger is a great opportunity for the devil. Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer but must work. Stealing here is just not you go and take things that are not yours. You’re a steward of 24 hours. Are you stealing time from God and saying, “You own the 24 hours?” Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer but must work, doing something useful with their own hands that they may have something to share with those in need. We cannot say, “God, give me the job,” and then you sit down and then you say, “God, when God gets the job, the company boss will knock on my door.” You’re in the wrong planet. Verse 29, “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.” Do you feel like sometimes you hang around some people, you just want to get out of their presence because it’s the negativity, it’s the vulgarity, and they think it’s funny, and you have sometimes to say, “I need to go and have a shower, man.” And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage, and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other just as Christ forgave you. Is that quite an extensive list? Yes, no? Church, quite my goodness. And he says, “I insist that you respond.” Now, chapter 5, he says, “Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children, and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. But among you there must not even be a hint.” If you are following this on your handphone or whatever it is, or you have a Bible there, underline the word hint, underline it, highlight it, hint. Everybody shout the word hint. Yes, do you realize we always say it’s only a little bit? Hint. He says, “Hey, this is not a joke. I only watch a bit of nudity on the computer. I only took off the top a bit. I just took it.” Listen, every facet of our life, look at this here. He said, “But among you there must not even be a hint of sexual immorality.” The hint can be in our thoughts or in any kind of impurity. Any kind of impurity or of greed. He said, “There must not even be a hint of greed because these are improper for God’s holy people.” He didn’t say God disapproves, yeah? He says, “It’s improper for you.” Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk. They said, “Nor should there be any obscenity, foolish talk, or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving.” Let me say, clean up your mouth, clean up your language. For out of this you can be sure, for this you can be sure, no immoral, impure, or greedy person, such as a person is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. I don’t know, but it’s kind of frightening, right? Want me to sit up and say, “Okay, how did I live my, how have I been living my daily life?” Verse 6, “Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient.” Therefore, do not be partners with them, for you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light, for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness, and truth, and find out what pleases the Lord. He says, “Find out what,” you can say, “I don’t know, find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.” It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret, but everything exposed by the light becomes visible, and everything that is illuminated becomes a light. So he says all this now, and now he comes to this verse 14, he says, “This is why it is said, ‘This is why.'” He says, “Look at all this now, this is why this particular thing is said. Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” He said, “Wake up.” What is he saying? I mean, some of us, we said he’s dead asleep, isn’t it? So in Malay we say, “on mity,” you know, when they sleep, even though there’s a bomb, nothing happens, you know? Can have four alarm clocks, man, that’s not a gift, that’s a curse. You know, some people can really sleep, isn’t it? So he says, “Look, it is said, ‘Wake up, sleeper,’ that means how I live must be visible. It must be obvious that I now have new life and I’m awake in Christ and I’m not dead.” Verse 15, he says, “Be very careful then how you live.” Be very careful how you live. Now all of a sudden it tells us one thing, isn’t it? Hey, if I’m a believer, then there are parameters on how I live. There are principles by how I live. I cannot just live my own thing. I cannot come for two hours on Sunday and say, “Okay, I’ve done my thing.” I cannot say, “Hey, I’m just there at Christian.” He says, “Look, if you just do that and you don’t, you are asleep.” He says, “Be very careful then how you live, not as unwise but wise.” You know, you and I can argue with each other about how to live, but when we look at the word of God, it gets a bit quiet like this, yeah? He says, “Therefore do not be foolish.” Um, let me, sorry, I missed one verse. “Making the most of every opportunity because the days are evil.” Do we live in evil days? We do. “Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.” Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with Psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Now, now that’s quite a bit, isn’t it? Will you not agree, Church? That’s quite a bit what God is asking us. So when I say, “What is this urgency of now?” Awakening to the call of prayer-filled life. Am I just talking about taking 20 minutes, 30 minutes, an hour a day coming at prayer time? Am I talking about that? Actually, I’m talking more about that. And the two things that I said, it for us is to waken a deep desire of what? For spiritual renewal. As we look at these things, we say, “God, where do I wrestle with this?” I wrestle with it in God’s word and in prayer. It’s a clarion call to what? To seek God earnestly, to seek transform. So how do we do it? We need to live out our faith. So I’m asking you, and I’m telling myself this, I cannot just be a listener of the word. I cannot just be somebody who reads it because then I’m a sleeper. Instead, what I need to respond very intentionally, and I want to use this word here, so even my spell check kept refusing this word, my spell check kept refusing this word. I put it there, spiritual reawakening of our hearts and our soul. So why do I use this term, a spiritual reawakening? Let me tell you, many of us, I would say many Christians, we were once passionate about God. When we got saved, oh, we were passionate about God, about his word, wow. You know, read his word, consume his word, we were excited about it, we marked it. You know, we were passionate about prayer, wow, you know, prayer time would be there. Today, I can make horrible excuses why I shouldn’t pray or why shouldn’t I come with the rest to pray. There’s so many things there, but I was so passionate about this all. I was excited about worship, I was excited about coming to church. You know, the scripture says, “I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us come unto the house of the Lord.’ Today, I say, ‘I was mad when they said, ‘Let us come to the house of the Lord.'” You can laugh a bit, you know, it might be you, okay? So, serving, all of this, giving, sacrificially, everything was exciting. Then, slowly, this excitement began to disappear. We got spiritually lazy, we became complacent, we get offended with God, we get offended with others, we get offended with the sermon, we get offended with the pastor, yeah, and it affects what? Our walk with God, our reading, it affects everything. Then we get argumentative and our opinions cancel out God’s word. Jesus said to the Pharisees, “Your traditions make to no effect the word of God.” So, we change our perspectives over time, we say, “Yeah, I’m that now older Christian.” You know, if you’re an older Christian, that means now I should know more, I should know better, and I should be more pursuant of Him. Amen? Come on, let’s try better. Amen? Amen. Yeah, I mean, that’s the truth, isn’t it? It’s there. So, have I got spiritually lazy? Have I got very complacent? Am I become argumentative and my opinions override? I change my perspective, I change things to my convenience, to what I want to do. You know, I become critical, I reject anything that challenges my faith. Ah, you know, same thing, yeah. The moment I say that, if I say that, “Ah, yeah, same thing,” I will have to stop and say, “Okay, Elisha, what did you just say?” “What did you just say?” Something is wrong. Is there deception in my heart? We disconnect with what matters to God. So, we live in a time of great spiritual need, but also great opportunity. You see these two things, and I will talk about it. We have a great spiritual need, but we have also a great opportunity. Ephesians 5:14, we just read that. I want to read it in two versions. He says, “This is why it is said,” and you can circle the word “it.” What is it? “Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” Another version says, “This is why it is said, ‘Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.'” What does it say? Why does it say it? This verse really underscores one thing. It underscores one thing. What does it underscore? There is a deep connection between spiritual awakening and about our faith maturing. Our faith is not passive. Our faith is not Sunday, two hours. Our faith is not Saturday, YC for a while. Our faith is not 10 minutes devotion. Our faith is 24/7. 24/7. 24/7. That’s our faith because it’s a living God. Our faith is not passive. It begins with us. How does our faith begin? Maybe you remember the day you gave your life to the Lord. Okay, can we put that on silent, please? You may remember the day you gave your life to the Lord. You were excited, elated. Maybe you went through different things. Maybe you were persecuted by your parents. Maybe people laughed at you or maybe different people celebrated. But you probably remember the time you gave your heart to the Lord and you said, “I,” and you sang the songs. “I’m a brand new man. I’m a brand new person.” It was so exciting to go with the people of God. Wow, you know, getting a new Bible, that’s where it started. It started with you and I accepting Jesus. Then, because why? We realized we needed to be forgiven of our sin. We needed God’s grace, God’s mercy, God’s love. We were forgiven. We were redeemed. We were restored. Then we moved to a place called sanctification. That means daily I’m being changed by God. How does it move then? Daily I begin to read the word of God. I’m excited about the word of God. I’m excited about God’s Spirit working in me. Then I develop a relationship with God. It’s exciting, you know. Wow, it’s fun. You look forward to the time. Then we get into community, whether it’s church, whatever it is, and we begin to develop an accountability. But it doesn’t stop there. Why? Because now Christ demands what? He doesn’t suggest. He demands fruitfulness in our life. We read Ephesians 4:17 till 5:21. Our thinking has to change based on Ephesians 4 and 5. We read it. Our actions and our interactions with people, others, our relationships, and much more, they become what? God-valued perspectives, not market-driven. God-valued, not peer-pressure-driven. Not my friends, not my good friends, not my boyfriend, not my girlfriend, not my husband, not my wife, not my boss, not my colleagues, not my supervisor. It’s God-driven. The moment my perspectives are shaped by somebody else, I have a disconnect with God. I have a disconnect with God. Why? I’m having somebody else’s opinion shape me rather than go back to the word and say, “What is God’s word saying to me?” You see, many of us are influenced by a lot of different people, and sometimes you come even on Sunday, you reject the thought because somebody else has said, “That’s not the way that you don’t have to do it that way.” What happens? There is a warfare. There’s a battle going on. Now, it’s always a challenge when we read Ephesians, we read any part of the Bible. Now, truth be told, we must pursue a life of consistent transformation. Consistent. It’s not once. It’s every day. Those days, the devotion, daily bread, you know, we have a daily prayer. Why? Consistent. The place we begin is in our daily engagement with God’s word and prayer. Church, I cannot change if I don’t engage God’s word. I can’t change because that is the standard. I can’t change. Then I live by different opinions. We need to awaken from our spiritual slumber. Friday, I talked about Elijah and repairing the altar, but we need to awaken. Now, here’s the kicker with this thing that I put here. It is not about us. You say, “Huh? I thought you were saying, you know, awaken and…” Yeah. Yeah, Church. It is not about us. Why? Because our family needs us to awaken. Our spouse needs us to awaken. Our children need us to be awakened. Our parents need us to be awakened. Society needs us to be awakened. So faith is not passive. Faith is not… I say, “It’s mine.” No, no. You see, in the 1700s and the 1900s, society, as it is now, was going through many different issues. Yeah, I know it’s a bracket of 300 years there, but if you look at it historically, that’s when a lot of moves of God took place, the outpouring. So you had things like the Moravian Revival, which the prayer meeting lasted for 100 years. But many times, people talk about the prayer meeting that lasted 100 years, but let me tell you something. That prayer meeting that lasted 100 years influenced entire Europe. It impassioned everybody, became people who went out to reach the lost. They went to other countries. The Moravians would sell themselves into the slave market to reach slaves for Jesus. Can you imagine that? Where did it start? Of course, it started in prayer. So it shaped them. It shaped how they took hold of the word of God. That was one of my bucket lists, and I actually went to Herrnhut and sat in that place where I walked around, went to Zinzendorf’s home, and I’m thinking, “Oh, God, if you did it then, you can do it again.” Then we read about the Great Awakening, the First Great Awakening, and the Second Great Awakening. Then, of course, you have the Hebrides Revival, the British Great Awakening. Then you have the Welsh Revival. For some of you, I’m speaking Greek right now, but I will be posting all these different things. Why? They are all markers for us to say, “God did something.” Society was going through certain things. There were times when society was doing so well, they walked away from God. At times, the church was doing well, but it became very institutionalized. The church became divided. Can you imagine the church saying, “Hey, you black guy, you cannot come. You can sit outside.” Segregation. Segregation of people. Out of that, actually, when you look at the Azusa Street Revival, and I’ll post something this evening, the Azusa Street Revival till today impacts us. The Assemblies of God movement came out of that. The world was impacted by that one move of God. Why? It was this guy, a black guy, William Seymour. He was rejected, but he came down to this place in LA. What he did was just begin to seek God. God began to move. God began to move so powerfully that it not just changed a town, a city, a nation, but it impacted the nations of the world. Now, if you and I cannot see that, then we always say, “My faith, my 20 minutes of prayer.” They all are just like you and me. They all went to their work. They all went to school. They had their business. Housewives had to take care of the house. Everybody did what they needed to do. Now, this happened, all these different movements happened during when the church was in a spiritual slumber, in compromise. Religion needs a transformation. Today, you and I cannot say, “My worship of God is my private concern.” I have to be salt and light. I cannot say, “It’s my private concern.” I cannot say, “Sunday, I do this.” Then, you know what? Monday to Friday, “Hey, business is business.” You know, you have to bribe, you have to do this, you have to… Sometimes you got to bluff, you know? You got to lie. Remember I said spiritual, but also opportunity. What is it that became the most fertile ground for God to move and say, “I have a different plan.” Do you think Malaysia needs a move of God? Even God will run away from the throne. Do you really think Malaysia needs a move of God? Yeah, you’re from different countries, but you are here right now. So talk about Malaysia. Do you think Malaysia needs a move of God? But do you think the move will come because we also cannot move? Hear my heart, don’t like, “Oh, Pastor is…” No, this is not… Why I am so convicted of my lack of pushing things in my own heart and in my life, I am so conscious of my lack and I’m saying, “God, if I’m conscious of this, goodness me, God, how much more aware of you are you of what’s lacking in me, Lord?” Am I going to keep saying, “I’m busy”? Am I just going to say, “I’m busy”? I’ve got so many things to do. I’ve got so many things to get done. I’ve got so many obligations. “Oh God, you know how many people live in my house? You know how many responsibilities I have?” It’s not… I catch myself doing that. I catch myself doing that. And then I’m saying, “How dare I say, ‘God, move your spirit upon my family, Lord, move upon the church, move upon this nation.’ How dare I pray that?” Can I say, “Hey, yeah, okay, Ping’s run, all these guys run. Hey, okay, I take it easy. I come once, you know, in three months or two months. Shame on me if I do that.” We need to awaken from this slumber. There was this profound sense of God moving. One particular move that I’m talking about, the Azusa Street, my goodness, it started with fervent prayer. See, one tragic problem is this. When we read history, when we read the Bible, tell me what you think of this. We don’t see the power of prayer as a reality in our own lives. We don’t see the power of prayer. In fact, we don’t see the possibilities of prayer. Because if I see the power of prayer and the possibility of prayer, do you think it will get my lazy behind out of the bed every morning? Do you think it will get me to grab a few people and say, “Let’s pray”? Do you think that I will chuck every other excuse out and say, “You know what, it’s only just once a month. I’m going to come together and pray. It’s only once a week, and it’s about 45-50 minutes.” You know what, I know I have my personal prayer, but I need to stir the church in prayer. I think it will be a dynamic shift, don’t you think so, church? Yes, I think so. So the issue is this. The tragic problem that I have is I don’t see the power of prayer as a reality in my life. I don’t see the possibility of prayer. I don’t see the truth of God’s word because the culture of the world has absorbed me and it’s always saying, “Take the shortcut, take the shortcut, take the easy way.” But actually, prayer is wrestling with God. It’s building the altar that is broken, which takes effort, not excuses. Do you think the devil really gives two hoots about my excuse? Do you think heaven that’s hanging the balance and saying, “Lives hang in the balance,” going to say, “Oh yeah, sorry, I understand you.” God is saying, “I looked everywhere and I couldn’t find anyone who will stand in the gap.” Ezekiel, “Who will stand in the gap?” It’s not for a few people. NCC, if you’re here, I’m saying it’s all of our responsibility. Dads, men, come on. We cannot have the spiritual slumber and think we are so good in making these excuses. I’m harder on men because, does it bother us that if somebody that we know should be reached out today is going to go to hell in a handbasket because I said I have no time to pray? You see, the truth is I actually have you, and some of you say, “Praise God for those two, three hours. Good thing not more.” I’m sorry, because I only have you two to three hours a week, right? And that’s if you come every week. But there are other voices that influence you at your workplace, at your business, at home, your colleagues, your bosses, the social media. It has you for 6.5 days. How they shape you for the 6.5 days will battle with me for this one hour. It will neutralize God’s word. See, we must be honest enough to say there’s a spiritual dryness in me. There’s a spiritual dryness in my personal walk. Lord, there’s a disconnection between my personal conviction and transformation. I’m asking us from tomorrow, for 21 days, can we begin to take the first step of building the altar? Can I have the outline? 6th till the 26th. The outline. I gave you an outline. No, obviously. Okay, the outline is… yeah. Is there one after this? Okay, so day one, tomorrow, this is the theme, renewing your mind. Day two will have a different theme. Day three. So we start with Romans. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of… So that’s one you’ll read. Then, thought of the day. As a man thinks in his heart, so is he. Proverbs 23:7. Then I have the action for the day. Identify one negative thought and pattern or belief that you want to replace with positive, God-centered perspective. Write it down and commit to renewing your mind in this area. Then the next one is the prayer for the day. Lord, help me to identify and uproot any negative thoughts or beliefs that hinder my growth in you. Renew my mind according to your truth and transform me from inside out. Then, the prayer today. I choose to be a blessing too. So that means I’m asking you to do something. Speak words of encouragement and affirmation to someone who needs it. You know a lot of people who need it, right? And then the 125, one chapter or one verse, at least. At least one verse, one passage, 20 minutes, five areas. Read Psalms 1. Pray for 20 minutes focusing on self-awareness and renewal, specifically for clarity of mind and wisdom. Then I go to the five areas. Pray for your family’s spiritual growth. Pray for others in need of transformation. Pray for our church, the impact in community. Pray for dignity, the mission. And then pray for a non-believer to encounter God’s love. 21 days, every day, they will be different. The prayer will overlap. So you think we can do it? You sound so sad. You think we can do it? Two scriptures here, one scripture, two versions. Colossians 4:2 says, “Never give up praying. And when you pray, keep alert and be thankful.” In the CEV or the Living Bible, sorry, “Don’t be weary in prayer. Keep at it. Watch for God’s answers and remember to be thankful when they come.” Practical steps. Set a time. Don’t say, “I’m going to get up at 4 if you always get up at 7.” So don’t do that. Okay, practical. If you get up at 6 every morning, why not get up at 5:30 or 5:35? And the first thing is, don’t say, “My prayer altar is my bed.” Then remember Ephesians, “Oh, sleeper.” It’s not going to work. Get up first thing in the morning, go and splash your face with cold water, and then walk to a place. A designated time. Whatever time. Designated time. Then a designated space. Don’t use your bedroom unless you’re seriously disciplined. Use the prayer guide. That’s the third thing. The fourth thing is, engage in focused prayer. I have put the whole thing out. I’ve worked at it. Fast if you want to, if you’re led. Fast. It’s not part of the thing, but I’m just saying engage. Then stay accountable. Get somebody to say, “Hey, will you partner me in these 21 days? Can we build an altar together?” And above all, expect God’s response. Amen? Church families, it’s about doing it for society. It’s our life. See, history, I don’t want to read, get bewoused in our midst. Surely Goliath is enough. When you look at the Azusa Street Revival, really, really, William Seymour, blind and one bent over with arthritis. And you say, “Look at me. Are you sure God doesn’t want to move amongst us?” It’s that this will say, “Ah, their pastor again.” Pastor is talking about me. Let me tell you, I die a few thousand deaths many times just preparing for this, okay? Because sometimes I can hear your arguments or your excuses or how you will react or respond. And I felt the Lord ask me yesterday, “Hey, in the morning, just reading and writing and praying and thinking, ‘Elisha, I can awaken hearts again.'”