Pray for Us!

I want to talk to you today about one of the most sacred callings of the church and one that is often neglected. It's time for The Line of Fire with your host, activist, author, international speaker, and theologian, Dr. Michael Brown, your voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution. Michael Brown is the director of the Coalition of Conscience and President of Fire School of Ministry. Get into the line of fire now by calling 866-34-TRUTH.

That's 866-34-TRUTH. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Welcome friends to the line of fire. I am so excited about today's broadcast.

We're going to open up the scriptures and weigh in on one of the most important things God has given the church to do, one of the greatest ministries, and something that every single believer can be part of. I won't be taking calls today. In fact, If you could utter a prayer for me as you're listening. I am either en route to Singapore as you listen, or if you're listening a little bit later in the week, delayed on the broadcast, then you will be able to pray for me ministering in Singapore. I believe it's going to be one of the most important trips I've taken in my life.

out of more than 150 overseas trips. I don't say that lightly. key meetings we'll have with key leaders in the nation, both business leaders and spiritual leaders and others. and lots of preaching and ministry.

So please pray that the purposes of God would be accomplished, that my colleague Gary and I will be graced by God as we travel. It's probably about 30 hours in each direction, maybe a little bit longer than that, and then a 12-hour time differential.

So thank you, thank you for praying. And in fact, That ties in. with exactly what I want to talk with you about. on the line of fire today. Let me read the words of Charles Spurgeon.

He was commenting on 1 Thessalonians 5.25. one of Paul's calls to the church to pray for him. And Spurgeon says this. This one morning in the year, we reserved to refresh the reader's memory. upon the subject of prayer for ministers.

and we do most earnestly implore every Christian household to grant the fervent request of the text first uttered by an apostle and now repeated by us. Brethren. Pray for us. Brethren, Spurgeon says, Our work is solemnly momentous, involving weal or woe, so salvation, damnation to thousands. We treat with souls for God on eternal business.

And our word is either a savor of life unto life or of death unto death. A very heavy responsibility rests upon us, Burgess says, and it will be no small mercy if at the last we be found clear of the blood of the world. all men. As officers in Christ's army, we are the especial mark of the enmity of men and devils. They watch for our halting and labor to take us by the heels.

Our sacred calling involves us in temptations from which you are exempt. Above all, it too often draws us away from our personal enjoyment of truth into a ministerial and official consideration of it. We meet with many naughty cases and our wits are at a non-plus. We observe very sad backslidings and our hearts are wounded. We see millions perishing and our spirits sink.

We wish to profit you by our preaching. We desire to be blessed to your children. We long to be useful both to saints and sinners. Therefore, dear friends. Intercede for us with our God.

Miserable men are we if we miss the aid of your prayers, but happy are we if we live in your supplications. You do not look to us but to our Master for spiritual blessings, and yet how many times has he given those blessings through his ministers? Ask them again and again, that we may be the earthen vessels into which the Lord may put the treasure of the gospel. We. The whole company of missionaries, ministers, city missionaries, and students do, in the name of Jesus, beseech you, brethren.

Pray for us. Today, friends... I want to talk to you. about the importance of the ministry of prayer in general. Evan Roberts in the Welsh Revival 1904-1905 said that his calling was to call the church to its needs.

to call the church to prayer. He said a church on its knees is irresistible. But I want to explain to you why it is so critically important to pray for those of us who serve in leadership. And I covet your prayers. All right, I was about to give out the phone number, but I'm not going to because I'm doing a special teaching today.

Please pray for us. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Get into the line of fire now by calling 866-34TRUTH. Here again is Dr.

Michael Brown. Welcome back to the Line of Fire. This is Michael Brown. I am delighted to be with you. Today we are focused on a special teaching.

on the ministry of prayer and in particular The call to pray for leaders. Let me explain one thing, just speaking from my heart to you, honestly. For many years, I was reluctant to call people to pray for me. In our home congregation, our leadership team would often be on the road, different ones traveling out ministering. And I thought, well, I don't want to draw attention to myself.

Pray for me. Everybody's out ministering, pushing hard. And then it seemed almost selfish to ask for prayer. And it struck me. at a certain point that that was really a false humility.

Because it's not about me and it's not about my success. It's for the good of the body.

So let me give you an analogy, all right? Let's say that we are soldiers together. fighting in a terrible, terrible war. and we get stranded behind enemy lines and we're out of communication with the rest of our troops who need to come and rescue us. And one soldier has to go back through enemy lines to try to find a place to communicate with the rest of the troops, communicate with the base, so that everyone else can get out safely.

Otherwise, our entire group could die. And let's say you were the one that we chose. All right. You've got to go back through enemy lines and risk your life so that you can get to communication so that the rest of us can be saved. And before you go, you look at us and say, amen, pray for me.

Pray for me that I make it. Is that about you? Are you thinking about you? No, you mean pray for me so I can get there and the mission can succeed so that everybody else can be rescued and not die. This is not about your pastor or your spiritual leaders.

This is not about me. This is about the work of God. And because certain responsibilities have been entrusted to us in leadership, and because the battle is ultimately spiritual, And because the greatest weapon that that we have is the weapon of prayer. It is the most effective thing that we can do is intercede with Almighty God. It's not prayer or action, it's prayer and action, but prayer itself is a powerful spiritual action.

So when we ask you to pray for us, it's because there are responsibilities that are thrust on us. It's because there are challenges in the mission that are given to us. Hey, look at this. Paul constantly asked for prayer. Paul was a history maker.

Paul went out and changed the ancient world through preaching the gospel and then wrote letters and these letters are read to this day and still have a mighty impact. on the whole world. And if he said, pray for me. to the extent his mission succeeded the gospel Advanced. And if you think of the importance of prayer for leaders, Think of Jesus in Luke 22.

Talking to Peter. And he explains to Peter. that Satan has asked for him, asked permission to destroy him, to sift him like wheat. But Jesus said, I've prayed for you. I've prayed for you.

And when you turn back, strengthen the brothers. In other words, you're going to have a fall, Peter. But because of my prayers for you, you're going to turn back. You're going to make it. Satan's really going to hit you hard, but my prayers for you are going to carry you through.

And when you turn back, strengthen the brothers. This is for the good of the body. Leaders have a special responsibility before God and man. will be judged more strictly, more is expected from us, too much is given, much is required. Here, think of this.

God cares about you and your family just like he cares about your pastor and his family. All right? He loves you. Jesus shed the same blood for you. But let's say your pastor is discouraged because of intense spiritual attack.

He's going through a really hard time. And because of that, he has difficulty really preparing a solid message to teach on Sunday. Let's say you've got 500 people in your congregation. And it's just kind of a word that goes nowhere and the scriptures aren't really opened up in a living way. You kind of leave the way you came.

Well, he's not doing well. will have a much bigger effect on more people than if you were just struggling and a little bit down and not, you know, not your normal self. And yeah, you could affect a few people around you, your family or someone else that might be looking for your encouragement. But otherwise, if that pastor fails to do his job well, it's going to affect a lot more people. In the same way, if someone in the congregation Let's say a married man leaves his wife, commits adultery.

It's terrible. It affects the family. It hurts many lives. It hurts those that knew them. It's painful.

Uh pray for his repentance and the restoration of the family and for grace to sustain the family. But that impact is a fraction of the impact. If that same man was a well-known minister, let's say on TV, reaching millions, and then he leaves his wife and commits adultery, the implications of that are much, much bigger, and it brings much more reproach to the name of Jesus. It's another reason to pray for leaders because if we do well, we help a lot more people. If we fail, we hurt a lot more people.

And we are called to serve you. And this is the reciprocal thing. We serve you. We pour ourselves out for you. It's my joy to be on the radio.

It's my joy to travel and preach. It's my joy to write and do all the things that I'm privileged to do as a servant of the Lord. But I'm there for you. Over the weekend, this past weekend in Orlando, Florida, I joined some other Messianic Jewish leaders, and we were there to minister to, I don't know, maybe 100. Messianic Jewish young people.

college age thereabouts.

So it was a small meeting in terms of numbers of people reached. Uh but They're precious young people, and I wanted to pour into the younger generation. But I only had one day spare before going to Singapore. And they said, Okay, if you can give us one day, give us one day.

So I flew in. Friday night after radio. And then I taught the young people 10.30 to 12.30 in the morning. And then 2 to 4, I met with 8 different individual young people, 15 minutes each, different leaders each, met with different ones.

So it was two hours of meeting with young people, just speaking into their lives and answering questions. And then I talked from there from 4 to 6. And then we had a dinner break. And then basically from 8.15 to 9.30, the last teaching session, then all the leaders came together because we had different tracks. And then we did a panel discussion where we answered questions until about 11.30 at night.

So basically with a lunch and dinner break, I was going, others were going from 10.30 in the morning until 11.30 at night and then had to fly out early morning to get back home Sunday, then to get ready to leave for Singapore early today. All that to say, There was more pressure on me and more demand on me. Then others that were sitting and just taking notes and taking things in. The same thing with the other leaders.

So wouldn't it make sense to pray for us so we could better serve you? to pray for us so we could better help you. to pray for us that the message would reach more and more people. And this is how we work together.

Some of you know me well. You've listened to me. watched me on YouTube, heard me preach, read my books, read articles, whatever. We've been around each other for years. And you know my calling, and you might describe it as called to be a human battering ram.

to take the difficult issues of the day, the major walls that stand, and to confront them with love and grace and truth together, to confront them in the name of Jesus and to... bring those walls down. But you know, a battering ram needs a bunch of people running with it, in the old days using battery rams, it needs a bunch of people running with it to knock that wall down.

So if we see the culture wars, we love the people, but we recognize there are walls that have to come down. whether it's the culture wars, whether it's contending for the salvation of Israel. whether it's praying for revival in America, to the extent you can hold my hands up together. as Aaron and Hur held up the hands of Moses in Exodus 17, and when his hands were raised, Joshua prevailed over the Amalekites. When his hands got tired, the Amalekites prevailed over Joshua.

So he held the rod up, but he got tired, so Aaron and Hurra stood on either side of him so he could hold the rod up, and they held his arms up, and as a result of his arms being held up, Joshua defeated the enemies of Israel. Do you see the picture? I'm asking you to pray for me. I'm encouraging you to pray for your leaders. If you're listening and you're a fellow leader now, you're nodding.

You're saying, yeah, yeah, please pray for us because it's not about us. It's about the larger work. Literally, hold my hands up in prayer. Hold your leader's hands up. in prayer.

Those that have immediate leadership over you, those that are leading major ministries that you relate to, those that may be heads of denominations or groups you're part of, pray for your leaders because as they go, the church will go. As they go, the nations will go. And some of the greatest problems in America today are because of problems in the church. And the problems in the church are often due to problems in leaders. As the leaders are strong, the church is strong.

As the church is strong, the nation is strong. Brethren, brothers and sisters, 1 Thessalonians 5, 25, pray for us. I want to give you further insight, open the scriptures, but thank you. Thank you.

So many of you pray for me, pray for our team on a regular basis. We all say thank you because together, friends, we're really making a lasting difference. Only eternity will tell the difference your prayers have made. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown, your voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution.

Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Welcome back to the line of fire, a special teaching today. This is Michael Brown. the importance of prayer.

And in particular, a call. to pray for your leaders. It's Martin Luther King Day, and I want to use this to illustrate a point. You think of the momentous role that Dr. King played in American history.

You think of all those that he inspired. you think of how he changed the course of the nation in so many ways and how his legacy still speaks to us today. Obviously, he was a human being, a frail human being like everybody else. Let's say... that he got cut short way before he completed his mission.

Let's say that one of the different attempts to take him out from whatever enemies there were, let's say they succeeded earlier on. Or let's say he got distracted from his calling and mission and ended up doing something else. America would look different today than it does because he would not have played the role that he played.

So obviously, prayer for him would have been important. Obviously, Prayer for everybody is important because every life matters in God's sight. But you have to see the ripple effect when leaders do well, when leaders don't do well. Hence, the importance of praying for your leaders. Let me share something with you.

I don't want to mention names, okay? But There was a well-known Christian leader. who messed up years ago. fell into sin Uh Repent it with tears. and then sometime after that fell into the same sin and his ministry was never the same again.

He reached massive numbers of people, and then the reach went down dramatically for many years.

Okay, that much I knew because that was pretty much public knowledge. It was pretty obvious. But a pastor who lived right in his home base. a pastor there who was a great soul winner. told me something very sad.

He said, you know, when he messed up the first time around, When he messed up, It brought reproach to the gospel. And there was some mockery of the name of Jesus, but we recovered. We kept going on, we kept sharing the gospel in our area. And the man repented with tears. Was he sincere in all of this?

He said, but when he messed up the second time. He said we could not talk to people about Jesus in our area because he was that was his home base He was known around the world, but that was his home base this pastor said every time you go to talk to someone about Jesus some lost sinner They say oh yeah, that's what that guy believed. Oh yeah, you're like him so his fall had had had catastrophic impact on the ministry in general in the area and brought reproach. to the name of Jesus around the world. When we ask you to pray for leaders, it's not...

out of selfishness. It's not because we think we're so important, but because a certain mission has been entrusted to us, and it's a mission that can affect hundreds or thousands or millions or hundreds of millions or even billions. I think of some things, say, that Dr. Bill Bright did with Campus Crusade and the Jesus film. And that's probably touched.

over a billion people around the world. Again, what would have happened if there wasn't adequate prayer for the mission? You say, well, well, he can walk with the Lord. The Lord can still bless him. Yeah, yeah.

But see, we're not just talking about the person. We're talking about the larger mission.

So for me to just walk with the Lord and obey the Lord and live in harmony with him, sure, I can do that like anyone else can. But if I have a responsibility to touch a whole lot of people, that is something that needs prayer from the body because it's a joint effort because what we're tackling is much, much more massive. Listen to what Paul writes in Romans 15, 30. I appeal to you, brothers. by our Lord Jesus the Messiah, and by the love of the Spirit.

to strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf. that I may be delivered from the unbelievers in Judea, that my service for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints.

So strive together with me. in your prayers to God on my behalf.

So he's saying I'm on the front lines. I'm in a battle. I'm asking you. to strive together with me. That was the ESV, the NIV, join me in my struggle.

By praying to God. for me. NET joined fervently with me in prayer to God on my behalf. NLT, dear brothers and sisters, I urge you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me. Again, hear it verse after verse after verse.

Do this because of your love for me given to you by the Holy Spirit.

So I say it again. As I ask for prayer. Hey. I've been entrusted with a sacred task in reaching the lost sheep of the house of Israel in a way that is on the front lines, in a way that is unique. I don't mean the only thing, but it has a specific, unique role.

But we need so much more prayer. We need more laborers. I'm not asking you to send this money. This is not going to turn into a financial appeal. We thank you for your support.

We could always use your help and support. But this is an appeal for prayer. We have so much God's given us to do in Jewish ministry, but so few laborers and so few funds.

So what am I asking? Pray with us. Pray with us that we would stand strong, that every need would be met, that we could fulfill the mission that God has given us. Your local pastor, your congregational leader, their marriage is under more pressure than the average marriage of believers. Their personal lives are under more pressure than the personal lives of believers.

You say, Isn't God's grace sufficient? Yes, it is. But again, this is a joint effort. We're not just talking about the person himself or herself alone. We're talking about the larger cost.

And often in the New Testament, Paul asks for prayer. The mighty apostle. The successes and failures of leaders have a ripple effect on many lives. If we're thriving, others will thrive. If we fail, Others will be hurt.

We are uniquely targets of the devil. Since he knows that if he can get to us, he can get to you. thereby hindering or even thwarting God's work and ultimately bringing reproach on the name of Jesus. And there are unique attacks and pressures we carry, not only the burdens of our own lives, but the burdens of the flock and the world. It's a joy.

It's a privilege. It's what we're made to do. I couldn't imagine doing anything other than what I'm doing in service to God and service to you and service to a lost world. But when I write letters to folks, if you get my emails, if you're one of our monthly supporters, you know that I normally close my letters by saying, together we're making a difference. Jesus, Yeshua, is Lord.

Together, we are making a difference.

So please pray for me this week on this trip to Singapore. Please pray for God's anointing. Please pray for divine appointments. Please pray that the meetings would literally have a ripple effect on the church of Singapore and the nation of Singapore, and that God in turn would use those in Singapore to stand together with us. And friends, as America goes, so much of the world goes.

And as those in Singapore stand with us for the strengthening of the church in America, then we can stand with them and the church around the world. Hey, we've got some exciting news. We're going to be releasing a wonderful app for you very soon. We've been working on it for a while and thrilled to be able to release it. We'll be talking to you about that later in the week.

But right now, would you take a minute and pray? Would you see if the Lord lays it on your heart to pray for us? Pray for me during these days in Singapore. Together we're making a difference. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr.

Michael Brown. Get into the line of fire now by calling 866-34TRUT. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. I want to declare to you today that prayer really does make a difference.

I want to encourage you to give yourself to the ministry of prayer, the highest calling of all, the most sacred calling, the most direct calling where we minister directly to God. I believe the most powerful ministry of all, the ministry of prayer. I want to encourage you to stand strong in prayer and to pray for your leaders and to pray for those who minister to you. I personally... covet your prayers.

This is Michael Brown. As you're listening to my words, I am either en route to Singapore or, depending on when you listen this week, ministering in Singapore. I believe it's going to be a critically important trip for so much of what we're doing in our own ministry here and for the people of Singapore.

So please pray for grace on the trip that God would really have his way and that his very, very best would come out of the trip. It is Martin Luther King Day. Those of you that don't get to normally listen live welcome to the broadcast but I'm not taking phone calls today this is a special teaching that I'm doing before I focus on prayer and some scriptures on prayer there was a major meeting in Paris yesterday so Sunday the 15th and there was concern where a little over 70 nations were gathering together to talk about Israel and to talk about the Palestinians and to seek to push forward a peace process and there were grave concerns from the Israelis and for many Americans who love Israel and stand with Israel that there would be further injustice done to Israel further push uh from the outside to get Israel and the And the Palestinians to sit together, but in a way that would be detrimental to Israel's security, perhaps something that would even push for pre-1967 borders, which are obviously indefensible. During the day, Sunday, it was reported that Secretary of State John Kerry called called Prime Minister Netanyahu to assure him that the U.S. was not going to take further action.

There would be no UN Security Council resolution coming out of this and that this conference would not be so damaging. And reports now after the conference, looking at news from Israel, Israeli officials cheer weekend Paris Peace Summit. And again, the significance of 70 plus nations in Genesis 10, the nations of the world, 70 nations. This was something in Rabbinic Judaism, that 70 was symbolic of the nations of the world.

So how interesting that out of all the countries in the earth today, 70 or a little over 70, 72 or so gather together to... determine or talk about Israel's future. And the Israeli officials credited the efforts of the National Security Council and the Foreign Ministry for, quote, a significant weakening of the text of the final joint declaration issued by the participants of the peace conference. The statement that was issued at the end urged both sides to, quote, officially restate their commitment to the two-state solution. Is that viable or not?

That's debatable, but certainly that's not a heavy thing for them to say that. And it disassociated from voices that reject that goal, urged them to do that. It also called for them not to take one-sided actions that could preclude fruitful talks. The Israeli officials were jubilant that, quote, problematic passages and a contentious recent UN Security Council resolution on the settlements were not included. in the Paris documents.

Simple question. Did prayer make a difference here? It could well be. that people praying for the peace of Jerusalem and for God's purposes and God's best for all those in the Middle East, that those prayers did make a difference. And look, I understand plenty of bad things happen all the time.

I understand things go wrong and we pray for things and they don't always come about the way we pray. But certainly, as one... elder told me when I first got saved with a smile. He said, you know, When I pray coincidences happen, When I don't pray, coincidences don't happen. I want to encourage you, if you give yourself to prayer consistently and repeatedly over a period of time, you'll look back and you'll be amazed to see how God himself has answered your prayers.

It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown, your voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. You know, I was reminded of something I had not thought about for a while.

I want to share it with you today. a very personal story, but a story also about the power of prayer. This is Michael Brown. We're talking about our calling to pray, and we're talking in particular about the calling to pray for leaders. I strongly encourage you to pray regularly for your spiritual leaders, for those who have oversight for your souls.

They carry a great responsibility before God, and they will be greatly helped by your prayers. And certainly, leaders are not perfect. And sometimes we can do things that frustrate you or disappoint you or upset you. And we're accountable to God for that. And it grieves us if we do fall short of God's calling and of your expectations.

But I want to assure you, if you... your frustration or your anger or your disappointment and turned it into prayer for your pastor, prayer for me, you'd see far more results than if you turned that frustration or anger or disappointment into gossip. or maligning.

So we're in this together. We help one another. And Paul wrote to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians chapter 1, and he spoke about being delivered from death. I mean, listen to his words here. He said, if we are afflicted, beginning in verse 6, it is for your comfort and salvation.

And if we are comforted, it is for your comfort which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort. For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia, for we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves, but on God who raises the dead, He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us.

On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. You must also help us by prayer.

so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many. One of the most, well, I would say the most traumatic experience I had. Ever in my life was almost choking to death in 2002, and I was found unconscious on the side of the road. I mean, it was I had been driving in my car, driving home. I'd been sick that week and went out for the first time for one of our services.

A Sunday night service happened to be Super Bowl Sunday in 2002. And anyway, I was eating a McDonald's sandwich and took too big a bite and got stuck in my throat. And God miraculously intervened and spared my life.

Okay, uh after I passed out, I s I somehow coughed up what I was choking on and an absolutely terrifying experience. A friend of mine who was an emergency room doctor for years, when I described him everything that happened to me, he said, oh, you were inches away from death, seconds away from death.

Well, this part I knew in terms of what I was experiencing and the terror of what was happening and the thought of it's over, you're going to choke to death, you're going to die on the side of the road. I mean, it was just this bombardment of attack. And I had been in a very vulnerable place. God had been purging my heart and bringing me to a place of deep personal repentance in my own life during that season. And then this attack came in the midst of it.

What I found out afterwards was a dear sister in our congregation, her husband was on our leadership team. And she's a powerful intercessor to this day, a real woman of prayer. that earlier that night, shortly before, I almost choked to death, she got this burden. There's a death assignment on Mike. Satan is trying to take him out.

And she called other intercessors for emergency prayer. And God delivered me from death. Yeah, this is extraordinary. This is amazing. but it is the power of prayer.

You say, well, why doesn't God just do it? Why doesn't he just do what he wants to do and leave us out of it? Because this is our world. Because this is the mess we made through our sin and the wrong choices we made and now we work together with God. Paul says we are his fellow laborers.

And we are not just working together with other leaders and the rest of the body. We are working together with God himself. This is his vineyard, and we are working in his vineyard, so he works with us. And many things he will not do if people don't pray. The end of Ezekiel 22, he said that judgment against Judah could have been stopped if someone had interceded and climbed up into the breach to stop the wrath that was coming through intercession.

There's a Jewish tradition that says when Moses died, God wept because he said, who is going to intercede for Israel now? I remember when Leonard Ravenhill went to be with the Lord in November of 1994. I was grieved that we lost this great man of God at the age of 87. I knew he was frail and weak and coming towards the end of his days, but still it was a great loss to lose this giant of the faith. But he was an extraordinary man of prayer as well.

And he prayed for me sometimes three times a day. And when I go out traveling overseas, sometimes the last call I used to make days before cell phone. Phone or anything like that. The last call I would make, I would say, Brother Len, I'm on my way to India. And he'd say, I'm praying for you.

I'm covering you every step of the way. I remember one time I was in an airport. I called him from a payphone. I said, Brother Lenn, I'm about to get on the plane and leave for India. And he broke down crying.

He said, Mike, if I don't see revival, I'm going to die. He was just so hungry to see God break through. And I remember when he died, I went through this moment of crisis. Who's going to pray for me? The way he prayed for me, who's going to pray for me?

I thought God had to raise up an army of people to pray with the focus and the intimacy and the connectedness and the faith and the passion that he had in God. I want to encourage you, your prayers make a difference. You say, well, do we need to pray a certain way?

Well, we need to pray in faith. We don't just say words. We pray trusting God. We pray looking to Him for help. We don't just say words or repeat prayers.

We commune with God. We ask Him in faith. You say, my faith isn't perfect.

Well, just keep relying on Him. Just keep relying on him, renewing your mind and heart with the promises of God to encourage your faith and build your faith. If you can remember to journal things, keep prayers you pray. And a lot of times it seems they're not answered. Then you look back a year or two or three later and you think, wow.

God has really answered in amazing, amazing ways. And sometimes you didn't even realize it as things unfolded.

Sometimes we even forget that we prayed for the thing when the answer comes.

So that will encourage you and build your faith. And then pray according to the will of God. As much as you understand the will of God for a situation, pray according to the will of God and pray with thanksgiving. And then pray all kinds of prayers. That's what Paul writes in Ephesians 6, pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers.

I love praying with some folks who pray these comprehensive prayers. You know, they just, they cover the thing in prayer from every angle. And it's not as if God will leave a detail out because you left a detail out as much as he loves to partner together with us. Almighty God, who is utterly self-sufficient, loves to work together with us and partner together with us. And a great evangelist of a few generations back, James Alexander Stewart, became famous as a boy evangelist and was greatly used in Russia and Eastern Europe before World War II and after World War II.

Powerful ministry. He talked about throwing ministry. He talked about that as the highest calling of all, where instead of ministering to people, he would minister to God. and bow down before God in prayer.

Some of you have so much going against you. You feel like you're all on your own. You're shut in. You don't have a lot of access to the world. You just feel cut off.

You feel abandoned. And I can't imagine what some of you have lived through over the years. I just want to tell you. that there is a real place of refuge you can take in God. where you can really flee to the rock that's higher than you, where you can really find peace and joy and fulfillment, and where you can have an incredibly effective ministry.

Some of the most powerful ministers of the gospel or people doing the most powerful ministry are absolutely unknown to us. We don't know their names. We don't know their faces. They're locked in a prison somewhere for their faith. They're shut in in their home because of some sickness.

They're in some isolated situation where no one knows their name. And yet... that that pain in your heart can be turned into a flame of prayer and you can be a world changer alone in your room.

So, yes, I will be redundant. Yes, I will repeat myself. Pray for your leaders. And if we've been a blessing to you and ministered to you, if this radio broadcast has blessed you, if our articles and videos have blessed you, our TV shows, preaching, teaching, debates, if we've blessed you and helped you, one wonderful way that you could say thank you and one wonderful way that you could express appreciation. In fact, the most meaningful way of all is to pray.

Please pray for this trip to Singapore, where I'll be doing ministry from Wednesday to Sunday in Singapore.

Some critically important meetings that could really have a powerful national impact and ways that the Church of Singapore could be standing with us here in the mission that we have. Please pray for God's very, very, very best on this trip. I'll be giving you updates from Singapore and then a full result at the end of our ministry talk. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown, your voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution.

Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Church history cannot be fully written. That's what Wesley Dewell Once wrote. The church history cannot be fully written.

until we look back from eternity and see the role. that prayer had, that intercessory prayer had. And you might see so many people on the front lines. You might see the Billy Grahams of a generation, the Apostle Pauls of a generation, the Charles Spurgeons of a generation. You might see these great men of God, the Amy Carmichaels of a generation, the Gladys Aylwards of a generation.

You might see these great men and women of God of past generations. and see the work they've done and see what they've been able to produce for the kingdom. And they are worthy. of the reward that they will receive before the Lord, and they are worthy of our admiration and respect. But you never know how much of what they did.

was accomplished because people prayed for them. You never know. how much success they had in ministry because the way was paved before them. I remember a story that James Alexander Stewart told that he was ministering somewhere in Eastern Europe. I don't know, maybe 70 years ago.

And he was used to going into a city. And he knew that he had to plow and plow for some days, sometimes for some weeks, before the powerful breakthroughs would come, before there would be massive repentance at the altars, before there'd be radical conversions. And on this particular trip, the very first night, he was in a country like Lithuania or something like that, the very first night. There were these incredibly powerful breakthroughs and deep repentance and people wonderfully getting right with God. It was the kind of stuff that he would normally see after some days of plowing and his own prayer battling at the throne and things like that.

When I say battling at the throne, I don't mean we're fighting God, but often prayer is a wrestling and a battling. And he was stunned. He'd never seen anything like that happen.

So the next night, he got there early, and there was a basement. downstairs beneath the main meeting hall and he just went down there to walk around and pray and stumbled upon a group of intercessors. They were so lost in prayer, they didn't even notice him coming in. They were so focused on God, praying with their eyes closed, they didn't even notice him coming in. And he realized that's what happened.

They were praying before the meeting the day before. And they were praying during the meeting. And they had been praying in the days prior to the meeting. And they were prayer warriors. And he saw that's...

What made the difference? That's how the breakthrough came.

So we look at it outwardly. And someone might write about the ministry of James Alexander Stewart in Eastern Europe and how God used him and things like that. And then afterwards you realize, wow. Wow, yeah, God used him. But God used many others who were completely hidden behind the scenes.

So once more, not at the risk of being redundant, but intentionally being redundant. Pray for your leaders. And pray for me as I'm ministering in Singapore. at some very, very important meetings. I can't wait to update you later in the week from Singapore and then come back with a full report from Singapore.

But let me go through a few verses with you.

Some of them I went through before. Let me go through them again. You can join us as leaders in our struggle, the unique struggles we have by praying for us. Romans 15. 30 to 32.

Peter made it because Jesus prayed for him Luke. 21, 31 and 32. He was delivered from prison because the church prayed Acts 12, 1 through 18. And Paul knew that his welfare was greatly dependent on the prayers of the saints. 2 Corinthians 1, 10 and 11, Philippians 1, 19.

It's not selfish. for leaders to ask for prayer. It's a confession of our own frailty. It's a recognition of the need for the support of the whole body. And although leadership requests for prayer can at times be motivated by pride in the sense of self-importance, it's certainly prideful for any of us to think that we don't need prayer.

Prayer and intercession help put a shield of protection around us. And your prayers may be the key to weakening a fierce attack or revealing... an ambush. In fact, I remember in the early 1980s I was praying with a friend of mine. He and his wife had come over to our house for dinner.

And earlier in the night before we ate, he and I were praying together. And when we stop praying, he looks stunned. He he looked absolutely stunned, and he was a real intercessor, a real man of prayer. He looked stunned. And And I asked him, what happened?

He goes, man, I... I just saw that being like more of like a lion, just... Just some real heavy spiritual attack. And I thought, oh, well. I don't know, didn't I don't know, just kind of went on and Nancy heard it.

She said, wait, wait, what did you see? Because she knew he was a real man of prayer. And they said, yeah, I just saw Mike like stunned. from this attack that hit him like it's got mauled and so We went to prayer. And he really carried this in prayer.

And an attack did come. I mean, it came. But the force of it was greatly grace greatly lessened. It was so less impacting than it should have been. You say, well, maybe there was nothing really there.

No, no, I'm saying something happened that really should have been a much heavier attack. It's like somebody comes barreling into your car and you see them coming 50 miles an hour and you're at a red light and they don't see you there and they come smashing into your car and rear-end you. And you're totally fine as if you weren't even hit. and your car barely shows a scratch. That shouldn't have happened.

So I am urging you. to give yourself to prayer. We as leaders can be so much more effective as you pray for us. We can minister to you in such a way that you will be so much more blessed and helped as you pray for us. And perhaps in some of the plots and plans of the enemies, just as Satan wanted to take Peter out.

Your prayers will literally make the difference between life and death. As we minister in Singapore, Pray for divine favor. Pray for divine anointing. Pray for divine authority. Pray for divine appointments.

Can I say that again? Pray for divine favor. for divine appointments, for divine authority. for divine anointing. And by God's grace, this trip is not just going to impact many in Singapore.

but in a ripple way will impact people around the world. There are real reasons I say that. And friends, we have some amazing opportunities. God has funded for us. It is supernatural funding.

for us to be on God TV five days a week with a five-minute Teaching message and then starting in March will be on weekly with a half hour preaching message. God has provided all the funding for that and then sometime this year it's hopefully within the first quarter can't tell you exactly when we're going to be preaching the gospel through TV in Israel with with outreach shows specially developed for Israel and Hebrew captioning. These are things God has presented before us and has fully Fund it. Amazing open doors, but there's so much our hearts are burning to do where we need to increase our staff, increase our funding, and increase our impact and our reach. And I'm not asking you to send in your money.

I'm asking you to pray, and as you pray, Every need will be met, and I believe the smile of God. will rebound redound Back. to you so thank you for joining us in prayer. Brothers and sisters, please pray for us. My bottom line today, your prayers for leaders will make a difference forever and ever.

Join me at askdrbrown. Or can you? I want to talk to you today about one of the most sacred callings of the church and one that is often neglected. It's time for the line of fire with your host, activist, author, international speaker, and theologian, Dr. Michael Brown, your voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution.

Michael Brown is the director of the Coalition of Conscience and President of Fire School of Ministry. Get into the line of fire now by calling 866-34-TRUTH. That's 866-34-TRUTH. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown.

Welcome friends to the line of fire. I am so excited about today's broadcast. We're going to open up the scriptures and weigh in on one of the most important things God has given the church to do, one of the greatest ministries, and something that every single believer can be part of. I won't be taking calls today. In fact, If you could utter a prayer for me as you're listening.

I am either en route to Singapore as you listen, or if you're listening a little bit later in the week, delayed on the broadcast, then you will be able to pray for me ministering in Singapore. I believe it's going to be one of the most important trips I've taken in my life. out of more than 150 overseas trips. I don't say that lightly. key meetings we'll have with key leaders in the nation.

both business leaders and spiritual leaders and others. And lots of preaching and ministry.

So please pray that the purposes of God would be accomplished, that my colleague Gary and I will be graced by God as we travel. It's probably about 30 hours in each direction, maybe a little bit longer than that, and then a 12-hour time differential.

So thank you, thank you for praying. And in fact, That ties in. with exactly what I want to talk with you about. on the line of fire today. Let me read the words of Charles Spurgeon.

He was commenting. on 1st Thessalonians 5.25. One of Paul's calls to the church to pray for him. And Spurgeon says this. this one morning in the year we reserved to refresh the reader's memory.

upon the subject of prayer for ministers. and we do most earnestly implore every Christian household to grant the fervent request of the text first uttered by an apostle and now repeated by us. Brethren. Pray for us. Brethren, Spurgeon says, our work is solemnly momentous, involving weal or woe, so salvation, damnation, to thousands.

We treat with souls for God on eternal business. And our word is either a savor of life unto life or of death unto death. A very heavy responsibility rests upon us, Burgess says, and it will be no small mercy if at the last we be found clear of the blood. of all men. As officers in Christ's army, we are the especial mark of the enmity of men and devils.

They watch for our halting and labor to take us by the heels. Our sacred calling involves us in temptations from which you are exempt. Above all, it too often draws us away from our personal enjoyment of truth into a ministerial and official consideration of it. We meet with many naughty cases and our wits are at a non-plus. We observe very sad backslidings and our hearts are wounded.

We see millions perishing and our spirits sink. We wish to profit you by our preaching. We desire to be blessed to your children. We long to be useful both to saints and sinners. Therefore, dear friends.

Intercede for us with our God. Miserable men are we if we miss the aid of your prayers, but happy are we if we live in your supplications. You do not look to us but to our Master for spiritual blessings. And yet how many times has he given those blessings through his ministers? Ask them again and again, that we may be the earthen vessels into which the Lord may put the treasure of the gospel.

We. The whole company of missionaries, ministers, city missionaries, and students do, in the name of Jesus, beseech you, brethren. Pray for us. Today, friends... I want to talk to you.

about the importance of the ministry of prayer in general. Evan Roberts in the Welsh Revival 1904-1905 said that his calling was to call the church to its needs. They call the church to prayer. He said, a church on its knees is irresistible. But I want to explain to you why it is so critically important to pray for those of us who serve in leadership.

And I covet your Alright, I was about to give out the phone number, but I'm not going to because I'm doing a special teaching today. Please pray for us. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown, your voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution. Here again is Dr.

Michael Brown. Welcome back to the line of fire. This is Michael Brown. I am delighted to be with you. Today, we are focused on a special teaching on the ministry of prayer, and in particular, The call to pray for leaders.

Let me explain one thing, just speaking from my heart to you honestly. For many years, I was reluctant to call people to pray for me. In our home congregation, our leadership team would often be on the road, different ones traveling out and ministering. And I thought, well, I don't want to draw attention to myself. Pray for me.

Everybody's out ministering, pushing hard. And then it seemed almost selfish to ask for prayer. And it struck me at a certain point that that was really a false humility. Because it's not about me and it's not about my success, it's for the good of the body.

So let me give you an analogy, all right? Let's say that we are soldiers together. fighting in a terrible, terrible war. And we get stranded behind enemy lines and we're out of communication with the rest of our troops who need to come and rescue us. And one soldier has to go back through enemy lines to try to find a place to communicate with the rest of the troops, communicate with the base, so that everyone else can get out safely.

Otherwise, our entire group could die. And and let's say you were the one that we chose. All right. You've got to go back through enemy lines and risk your life so that you can get to communication so that the rest of us can be saved. And before you go, you look at us and say, Amen, pray for me.

Pray for me that I make it. Is that about you? Are you thinking about you? No, you mean pray for me so I can get there and the mission can succeed so that everybody else can be rescued and not die. This is not about your pastor or your spiritual leaders.

This is not about me. This is about the work of God. And because certain responsibilities have been entrusted to us in leadership, and because the battle is ultimately spiritual, and because the greatest weapon. That we have is the weapon of prayer. It is the most effective thing that we can do: intercede with Almighty God.

It's not prayer or action, it's prayer and action, but prayer itself is a powerful spiritual action.

So, when we ask you to pray for us, it's because there are responsibilities that are thrust on us, it's because there are challenges in the mission that are given to us. Hey, look at this. Paul constantly asked for prayer. Paul was a history maker. Paul went out and changed the ancient world through preaching the gospel and then wrote letters and these letters are read to this day and still have a mighty impact.

on the whole world. And if he said, pray for me. To the extent his mission succeeded the gospel and Advanced. And if you think of the importance of prayer for leaders, think of Jesus in Luke 22. Talking to Peter.

And he explains to Peter That Satan has asked for him, asked permission to destroy him, to sift him like wheat. But Jesus said, I've prayed for you. I've prayed for you. And when you turn back, strengthen the brothers. In other words, you're going to have a fall, Peter.

But because of my prayers for you, you're going to turn back. You're going to make it. Satan's really going to hit you hard. But my prayers for you are going to carry you through. And when you turn back, strengthen the brothers.

This is for the good of the body. Leaders have a special responsibility before God and man. Will be judged more strictly, more is expected from us, too much is given, much is required. Here, think of this. God cares about you and your family.

just like he cares about your pastor and his family. All right. He loves you. Jesus shed the same blood for you. But let's say your pastor is discouraged because of intense spiritual attack.

He's going through a really hard time. And because of that, he has difficulty really preparing a solid message to teach on Sunday. Let's say you've got 500 people in your congregation. And and it's just kind of a a word that goes nowhere and the scriptures aren't really opened up in a living way and You kind of leave the way you came.

Well, here's not doing well. Will have a much bigger effect on more people than if you were just struggling and a little bit down and not, you know, not. Your normal self, and yeah, you could affect a few people around you, your family, or someone else that might be looking for your encouragement. But otherwise, if that pastor fails to do his job well, it's going to affect a lot more people. In the same way, if someone in the congregation Let's say a married man leaves his wife, commits adultery.

It's terrible. It affects the family. It hurts many lives. It hurts those that knew them. It's painful.

We pray for his repentance and the restoration of the family and for grace to sustain the family. But that impact is a fraction of the impact. If that same man was a well-known minister, let's say on TV, reaching millions, and then he leaves his wife and commits adultery, the implications of that are much, much bigger, and it brings much more reproach to the name of Jesus. It's another reason to pray for leaders because if we do well, we help a lot more people. If we fail, we hurt a lot more people.

And we are called to serve you. And this is the reciprocal thing. We serve you. We pour ourselves out for you. It's my joy to be on the radio.

It's my joy to travel and preach. It's my joy to write and do all the things that I'm privileged to do as a servant of the Lord. But I'm there for you. Over the weekend, this past weekend in Orlando, Florida, I joined some other Messianic Jewish leaders, and we were there to minister to, I don't know, maybe 100 Messianic Jewish young people. College age, thereabouts.

So it was a small meeting in terms of numbers of people reached, but they're precious young people, and I wanted to pour into the younger generation. But I only had one day spare before going to Singapore. And they said, okay, if you can give us one day, give us one day.

So I flew in. Friday night after radio and then I I taught the young people uh 10 30 to 12 30 in the morning And then 2 to 4, I met with 8 different individual young people, 15 minutes each, different leaders each, met with different ones.

So it was two hours of meeting with young people, just speaking into their lives and answering questions. And then I talked from there from 4 to 6, and then we had a dinner break, and then basically from 8:15 to 9:30, the last teaching session, then all the leaders came together because we had different tracks. And then we did a panel discussion where we answered questions until about 11:30 at night.

So basically, with a lunch and dinner break, I was going, others were going from 10:30 in the morning until 11:30 at night. And then had to fly out early morning to get back home Sunday, then to get ready to leave for Singapore early today. All that to say, There was more pressure on me and more demand on me. Then others that were sitting and just taking notes and taking things in. The same thing with the other leaders.

So, wouldn't it make sense to pray for us so we could better serve you? to pray for us so we could better help you. To pray for us, that the message would reach more and more people. And this is how we work together.

Some of you know me well, you've listened to me. Watched me on YouTube, heard me preach, read my books, read articles, whatever. We've been around each other for years. And you know my calling, and you might describe it as called to be a human battering ram. To take the difficult issues of the day, the major walls that stand, and to confront them with love and grace and truth together, to confront them in the name of Jesus and to bring those walls down.

But you know, a battering ram needs a bunch of people running with it, in the old days using battery rams, it needs a bunch of people running with it to knock that wall down.

So, if we see the culture wars, we love the people, but we recognize there are walls that have to come down. whether it's the culture wars, whether it's contending for the salvation of Israel. Whether it's praying for revival in America. To the extent you can hold my hands up together. As Aaron and Hur held up the hands of Moses in Exodus 17, and when his hands were raised, Joshua prevailed over the Amalekites.

When his hands got tired, the Amalekites prevailed over Joshua.

So he held the rod up, but he got tired, so Aaron and Hur stood on either side of him so he could hold the rod up. And they held his arms up, and as a result of his arms being held up, Joshua defeated the enemies of Israel. Do you see the picture? I'm asking you to pray for me. I'm encouraging you to pray for your leaders.

If you're listening and you're a fellow leader now, you're nodding, you're saying, Yeah, yeah, please pray for us because it's not about us, it's about the larger work. Literally, hold my hands up. In prayer, hold your leaders' hands up in prayer. Those that have immediate leadership over you, those that are leading major ministries that you relate to, those that may be heads of denominations or groups you're part of, pray for your leaders because as they go, the church will go. As they go, the nations will go.

And some of the greatest problems in America today are because of problems in the church. And the problems in the church are often due to problems in leaders. As the leaders are strong, the church is strong. As the church is strong, the nation is strong. Brethren, brothers and sisters, 1 Thessalonians 5:25, pray for us.

I want to give you further insight, open the scriptures, but thank you. Thank you.

So many of you pray for me, pray for our team on a regular basis. We all say thank you because together, friends, we're really making a lasting difference. Only eternity will tell the difference your prayers have made. Gains the world rock God of burning cleansing flame It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown, your voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution.

Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Welcome back to the line of fire, a special teaching today. This is Michael Brown. the importance of prayer.

And in particular, a call. to pray for your leaders. It's Martin Luther King Day, and I want to use this to illustrate a point. You think of the momentous role that Dr. King played in American history.

You think of all those that he inspired. you think of how he changed the course of the nation in so many ways and how his legacy still speaks to us today. Obviously, he was a human being, a frail human being like everybody else. Let's say... that he got cut short way before he completed his mission.

Let's say that one of the different attempts to take him out from whatever enemies there were, let's say they succeeded earlier on. Let's say he got distracted from his calling and mission and ended up doing something else. America would look different today than it does because he would not have played the role that he played.

So obviously, prayer for him would have been important. Prayer for everybody is important because every life matters in God's sight. But you have to see the ripple effect when leaders do well, when leaders don't do well. Hence, the importance of praying for your leaders. Let me share something with you.

I don't want to mention names, okay? But There was a well-known Christian leader. who messed up years ago. fell into sin. Repent it with tears.

and then sometime after that fell into the same sin and his ministry was never the same again. He reached massive numbers of people, and then the reach went down dramatically for many years.

Okay, that much I knew because that was pretty much public knowledge. It was pretty obvious. But a pastor who lived right in his home base. his pastor there who was a great soul winner. told me something very sad.

He said, you know, when he messed up the first time around, When he messed up, It brought reproach to the gospel. And there was some mockery of the name of Jesus, but we recovered. We kept going on, we kept sharing the gospel in our area. And the man repented with tears. Was he sincere in all of this?

He said, but when he messed up the second time. He said we could not talk to people about Jesus in our area because he was that was his home base He was known around the world, but that was his home base this pastor said every time you go to talk to someone about Jesus some lost sinner They say oh yeah, that's what that guy believed. Oh yeah, you're like him so his fall had had catastrophic impact on the ministry in general in the area and brought reproach. to the name of Jesus around the world. When we ask you to pray for leaders, it's not...

out of selfishness. It's not because we think we're so important, but because a certain mission has been entrusted to us, and it's a mission that can affect hundreds or thousands or millions or hundreds of millions or even billions. I think of some things that Dr. Bill Bright did with Campus Crusade and the Jesus film. And that's probably touched over a billion people around the world.

Again, what would have happened if there wasn't adequate prayer for the mission? You say, well, he can walk with the Lord. The Lord can still bless him. Yeah, yeah. But see, we're not just talking about the person.

We're talking about the larger mission.

So for me to just walk with the Lord and obey the Lord and live in harmony with him, sure, I can do that like anyone else can. But if I have a responsibility to touch a whole lot of people, that is something that needs prayer from the body because it's a joint effort because what we're tackling is much, much more massive. Listen to what Paul writes in Romans 15, 30. I appeal to you, brothers. by our Lord Jesus the Messiah, and by the love of the Spirit.

to strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf. that I may be delivered from the unbelievers in Judea, that my service for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints.

So strive together with me. in your prayers to God on my behalf.

So he's saying I'm on the front lines. I'm in a battle. I'm asking you. to strive together with me. That was the ESV, the NIV, join me in my struggle.

By praying to God. for me. Uh NET joined fervently with me in prayer to God on my behalf. NLT, dear brothers and sisters, I urge you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me. Again, hear it verse after verse after verse.

Do this because of your love for me given to you by the Holy Spirit.

So I say it again. As I ask for prayer. Hey. I've been entrusted with a sacred task in reaching the lost sheep of the house of Israel in a way that is on the front lines, in a way that is unique. I don't mean the only thing, but it has a specific, unique role.

But we need so much more prayer. We need more laborers. I'm not asking you to send this money. This is not going to turn into a financial appeal. We thank you for your support.

We could always use your help and support. But this is an appeal for prayer. We have so much God's given us to do in Jewish ministry, but so few laborers and so few funds.

So what am I asking? Pray with us. Pray with us that we would stand strong, that every need would be met, that we could fulfill the mission that God has given us. Your local pastor, your congregational leader, their marriage is under more pressure than the average marriage of believers. Their personal lives are under more pressure than the personal lives of believers.

You say, Isn't God's grace sufficient? Yes, it is. But again, this is a joint effort. We're not just talking about the person himself or herself alone. We're talking about the larger cost.

And often in the New Testament, Paul asks for prayer. The mighty apostle. The successes and failures of leaders have a ripple effect on many lives. If we're thriving, others will thrive. If we fail, others will be hurt.

We are uniquely targets of the devil, since he knows that if he can get to us, he can get to you. thereby hindering or even thwarting God's work and ultimately bringing reproach on the name of Jesus. And there are unique attacks and pressures we carry, not only the burdens of our own lives, but the burdens of the flock and the world. It's a joy, it's a privilege, it's what we're made to do. I couldn't imagine doing anything other than what I'm doing in service to God and service to you, and service to a lost world.

But when I write letters to folks, if you get my emails, if you're one of our monthly supporters, you know that I normally close my letters by saying, Together, we're making a difference. Jesus, Yeshua, is Lord. Together, we are making a difference.

So please pray for me this week on this trip to Singapore. Please pray for God's anointing. Please pray for divine appointments. Please pray that the meetings would literally have a ripple effect on the Church of Singapore and the nation of Singapore. and that God in turn would use those in Singapore to stand together with us.

And friends, as America goes, so much of the world goes. And as those in Singapore stand with us for the strengthening of the church in America, then we can stand with them and the church around the world. Hey, we've got some exciting news. We're going to be releasing a wonderful app for you very soon. We've been working on it for a while and thrilled to be able to release it.

We'll be talking to you about that later in the week. But right now, would you take a minute and pray? Would you see if the Lord lays it on your heart to pray for us? Pray for me during these days in Singapore. Together we're making a difference.

It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Get into the line of fire now by calling 866-34TRUTH. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown.

I want to declare to you today that prayer really does make a difference. I want to encourage you to give yourself to the ministry of prayer, the highest calling of all, the most sacred calling, the most direct calling where we minister directly to God. I believe the most powerful ministry of all, the ministry of prayer. I want to encourage you to stand strong in prayer and to pray for your leaders and to pray for those who minister to you. I personally covet your prayers.

This is Michael Brown. As you're listening to my words, I am either en route to Singapore or, depending on when you listen this week, ministering in Singapore. I believe it's going to be a critically important trip for so much of what we're doing in our own ministry here and for the people of Singapore.

So please pray for grace on the trip that God would really have his way and that his very, very best would come out of the trip. It is Martin Luther King Day. Those of you that don't get to normally... listen live welcome to the broadcast but I'm not taking phone calls today this is a special teaching that I'm doing before I focus on prayer and some scriptures on prayer there was a major meeting in Paris yesterday so Sunday the 15th and there was concern where A little over 70 nations were gathering together to talk about Israel and to talk about the Palestinians and to seek to push forward a peace process. And there were grave concerns from the Israelis and from many Americans who love Israel and stand with Israel that there would be further injustice done to Israel, further push.

from the outside to get Israel and the and the Palestinians to sit together, but in a way that would be detrimental to Israel's security, perhaps something that would even push for pre-1967 borders, which are obviously indefensible. During the day, Sunday, it was reported that Secretary of State John Kerry called called Prime Minister Netanyahu to assure him that the U.S. was not going to take further action. There would be no UN Security Council resolution coming out of this and that this conference would not be so damaging. And reports now after the conference, looking at news from Israel, Israelis or Israeli officials cheer weekend Paris peace summit.

And again, the significance of 70 plus nations in Genesis 10, the nations of the world, 70 nations. This was something in Rabbinic Judaism, that 70 was symbolic of the nations of the world.

So how interesting that out of all the countries in the earth today, 70 or a little over 70, 72 or so gather together to... determine or talk about Israel's future. And the Israeli officials credited the efforts of the National Security Council and the Foreign Ministry for, quote, a significant weakening of the text of the final joint declaration issued by the participants of the peace conference. The statement that was issued at the end urged both sides to, quote, officially restate their commitment to the two-state solution. Is that viable or not?

That's debatable, but certainly that's not a heavy thing for them to say that. And it disassociated from voices that reject that goal, urged them to do that. It also called for them not to take one-sided actions that could preclude fruitful talks. The Israeli officials were jubilant that, quote, problematic passages and a contentious recent UN Security Council resolution on the settlements were not included in the Paris documents. Simple question.

Did prayer make a difference here? It could well be. that people praying for the peace of Jerusalem and for God's purposes and God's best for all those in the Middle East, that those prayers did make a difference. And look, I understand plenty of bad things happen all the time. I understand things go wrong and we pray for things and they don't always come about the way we pray.

But certainly, as one... elder told me when I first got saved with a smile. He said, you know, When I pray coincidences happen, when I don't pray coincidences don't happen, I want to encourage you, if you give yourself to prayer consistently and repeatedly over a period of time, you'll look back and you'll be amazed to see how God Himself has answered your prayers. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown, your voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution.

Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. You know, I was reminded of something I had not thought about for a while. I want to share it with you today. a very personal story, but a story also about the power of prayer.

This is Michael Brown. We're talking about our calling to pray, and we're talking in particular about the calling to pray for leaders. I strongly encourage you to pray regularly for your spiritual leaders, for those who have oversight for your souls. They carry a great responsibility before God, and they will be greatly helped by your prayers. And certainly, leaders are not perfect.

And sometimes we can do things that frustrate you or disappoint you or upset you. And we're accountable to God for that. And it grieves us if we do fall short of God's calling and of your expectations. But I want to assure you, if you... took your frustration or your anger or your disappointment and turned it into prayer for your pastor, prayer for me, you'd see far more results than if you turned that frustration or anger or disappointment into gossip.

or maligning.

So we're in this together. We help one another. And Paul wrote to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians chapter 1 and he spoke about being delivered from death. I mean, listen to his words here. He said, if we are afflicted, beginning in verse 6, it is for your comfort and salvation.

And if we are comforted, it is for your comfort which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort. For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death.

But that was to make us rely not on ourselves, but on God who raises the dead, He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. You must also help us by prayer.

so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many. One of the most, well, I would say the most traumatic experience I had ever in my life was almost choking to death in 2002. And I was found unconscious on the side of the road. I mean, it was, I had been driving in my car, driving home. I'd been sick that week and went out for the first time for one of our services.

A Sunday night service happened to be Super Bowl Sunday in 2002. And anyway, I was eating a McDonald's sandwich and took too big a bite and got stuck in my throat. And God miraculously intervened and spared my life.

Okay, after I passed out, I somehow coughed up what I was choking on and an absolutely terrifying experience. A friend of mine who was an emergency room doctor for years, when I described him everything that happened to me, he said, oh, you were inches away from death, seconds away from death.

Well, this part I knew in terms of what I was experiencing and the terror of what was happening and the thought of it's over, you're going to choke to death, you're going to die on the side of the road. I mean, it was just this bombardment of attack. And I had been in a very vulnerable place. God had been purging my heart and bringing me to a place of deep personal repentance in my own life during that season. And then this attack came in the midst of it.

What I found out afterwards. was a dear sister in our congregation. Her husband was on our leadership team. And she's a powerful intercessor to this day, a real woman of prayer. that earlier that night, shortly before, I almost choked to death, she got this burden.

There's a death assignment on Mike. Satan is trying to take him out. And she called other intercessors for emergency prayer. And God delivered me from death. Yeah, this is extraordinary.

This is amazing. but it is the power of prayer. You say, well, why doesn't God just do it? Why doesn't he just do what he wants to do and leave us out of it? Because this is our world.

Because this is the mess we made through our sin and the wrong choices we made and now we work together with God. Paul says we are his fellow laborers. And we are not just working together with other leaders and the rest of the body. We are working together with God himself. This is his vineyard, and we are working in his vineyard, so he works with us.

And many things he will not do if people don't pray. The end of Ezekiel 22, he said that judgment against Judah could have been stopped if someone had interceded and climbed up into the breach to stop the wrath that was coming through intercession. There's a Jewish tradition that says when Moses died, God wept because he said, who is going to intercede for Israel now? I remember when Leonard Ravenhill went to be with the Lord in November of 1994. I was grieved that we lost this great man of God at the age of 87.

I knew he was frail and weak and coming towards the end of his days, but still it was a great loss to lose this giant of the faith. But he was an extraordinary man of prayer as well. And he prayed for me sometimes three times a day. And when I go out traveling overseas, sometimes the last call I used to make days before celebration. phone or anything like that.

The last call I would make, I would say, Brother Len, I'm on my way to India. And he'd say, I'm praying for you. I'm covering you every step of the way. I remember one time I was in an airport. I called him from a payphone.

I said, Brother Lenn, I'm about to get on the plane and leave for India. And he broke down crying. He said, Mike, if I don't see revival, I'm going to die. He was just so hungry to see God break through. And I remember when he died, I went through this moment of crisis.

Who's going to pray for me? The way he prayed for me, who's going to pray for me? I thought God would have to raise up an army of people to pray with the focus and the intimacy and the connectedness and the faith and the passion that he had in God. I want to encourage you, your prayers make a difference. You say, well, do we need to pray a certain way?

Well, we need to pray in faith. In other words, we don't just say words. We pray trusting God. We pray looking to Him for help. We don't just say words or repeat prayers.

We commune with God. We ask Him. And faith, you say, my faith isn't perfect.

Well, just keep relying on him. Just keep relying on him, renewing your mind and heart with the promises of God to encourage your faith and build your faith. If you can remember to journal things, keep prayers you pray. And a lot of times it seems they're not answered. Then you look back a year or two or three later and you think, wow.

God has really answered in amazing, amazing ways. And sometimes you didn't even realize it as things unfolded.

Sometimes we even forget that we prayed for the thing when the answer comes.

So that will encourage you and build your faith. And then pray according to the will of God. As much as you understand the will of God for a situation, pray according to the will of God and pray with thanksgiving. and then pray all kinds of prayers. That's what Paul writes in Ephesians 6, pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers.

I love praying with some folks who pray these comprehensive prayers. You know, they just cover the thing in prayer from every angle. And it's not as if God will leave a detail out because you left a detail out as much as he loves to partner together with us. Almighty God, who is utterly self-sufficient, loves to work together with us and partner together with us. And a great evangelist of a few generations back, James Alexander Stewart, became famous as a boy evangelist and was greatly used in Russia and Eastern Europe before World War II and after World War II.

Powerful ministry. He talked about throne ministry. He talked about that as the highest calling of all, where instead of ministering to people, He would minister to God. and bow down before God in prayer.

Some of you have so much going against you. You feel like you're all on your own. You're shut in. You don't have a lot of access to the world. You just feel cut off.

You feel abandoned. I can't imagine what some of you have lived through over the years. I just want to tell you. that there is a real place of refuge you can take in God. where you can really flee to the rock that's higher than you, where you can really find peace and joy and fulfillment, and where you can have an incredibly effective ministry.

Some of the most powerful ministers of the gospel or people doing the most powerful ministry are absolutely unknown to us. We don't know their names. We don't know their faces. They're locked in a prison somewhere for their faith. They're shut in in their home because of some sickness.

They're in some isolated situation where no one knows their name. And yet... that that pain in your heart can be turned into a flame of prayer and you can be a world changer alone in your room.

So, yes, I will be redundant. Yes, I will repeat myself. Pray for your leaders. And if we've been a blessing to you and ministered to you, if this radio broadcast has blessed you, if our articles and videos have blessed you, our TV shows, preaching, teaching, debates. If we've blessed you and helped you, one wonderful way that you could say thank you and one wonderful way that you could express appreciation.

In fact, the most meaningful way of all is to pray. Please pray for this trip to Singapore where I'll be doing ministry from Wednesday to Sunday in Singapore.

Some critically important meetings that could really have a powerful national impact and ways that the Church of Singapore could be standing with us here in the mission that we have. Please pray for God's very, very, very best on this trip. I'll be giving you updates from Singapore and then a full result at the end of our ministry time. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown, your voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution.

Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Church history cannot be fully written. That's what Wesley Dule once wrote. The church history cannot be fully written until we look back from eternity and see the role.

that prayer had, that intercessory prayer had. And you might see so many people on the front lines. You might see the Billy Grahams of a generation, the Apostle Pauls of a generation, the Charles Spurgeons of a generation. You might see these great men of God, the Amy Carmichaels of a generation, the Gladys Aylwards of a generation. You might see these great men and women of God of past generations and see the work they've done and see what they've been able to produce for the kingdom.

And they are worthy. of the reward that they will receive before the Lord, and they are worthy of our admiration and respect. But you never know how much of what they did was accomplished because people prayed for them. You never know. how much success they had in ministry because the way was paved before them.

I remember a story that James Alexander Stewart told that he was ministering somewhere in Eastern Europe. I don't know, maybe 70 years ago. And he was used to going into a city, and he knew that he had to plow and plow for some days, sometimes for some weeks, before the powerful breakthroughs would come, before there would be massive repentance at the altars, before there'd be radical conversions. And on this particular trip, the very first night, he was in a country like Lithuania or something like that, the very first night. there were these incredibly powerful breakthroughs and deep repentance and people wonderfully getting right with God.

It was the kind of stuff that he would normally see after some days of plowing and his own prayer battling at the throne and things like that. When I say battling at the throne, I don't mean we're fighting God, but often prayer is a wrestling and a battling. And he was stunned. He'd never seen anything like that happen.

So the next night he got there early and just there was a basement downstairs beneath the main meeting hall and he just went down there to walk around and pray and stumbled upon a group of intercessors. They were so lost in prayer they didn't even notice him coming in. They were so focused on God praying with their eyes closed. They didn't even notice him coming in. And he realized that's what happened.

They were praying before the meeting the day before. And they were praying during the meeting. And they had been praying in the days prior to the meeting. And they were prayer warriors. And he saw that's what made the difference.

That's how the breakthrough came.

So we look at it outwardly. And someone might write about the ministry of James Alexander Stewart in Eastern Europe and how God used him and things like that. And then afterwards you realize, wow. Wow, yeah, God used him. But God used many others who were completely hidden behind the scenes.

So once more, not at the risk of being redundant, but intentionally being redundant. Pray for your leaders. And pray for me as I'm ministering in Singapore. at some very, very important meetings. I can't wait to update you later in the week from Singapore and then come back with a full report from Singapore.

But let me go through a few verses with you.

Some of them I went through before. Let me go through them again. You can join us as leaders in our struggle, the unique struggles we have by praying for us. Romans 15. 30 to 32.

Peter made it because Jesus prayed from Luke. 21, 31 and 32. He was delivered from prison because the church prayed Acts 12, 1 through 18. And Paul knew that his welfare was greatly dependent on the prayers of the saints. 2 Corinthians 1, 10 and 11, Philippians 1, 19.

It's not selfish. for leaders to ask for prayer. It's a confession of our own frailty. It's a recognition of the need for the support of the whole body. And although leadership requests for prayer can at times be motivated by pride and the sense of self-importance, it's certainly prideful for any of us to think that we don't need prayer.

Prayer and intercession help put a shield of protection around us. And your prayers may be the key to weakening a fierce attack or revealing an ambush. In fact, I remember in the early 1980s I was praying with a friend of mine. He and his wife had come over to our house for dinner. And earlier in the night before we ate, he and I were praying together.

And when we stop praying, he looks stunned. He looked absolutely stunned, and he was a real intercessor, a real man of prayer. He looked stunned. And And I asked him what happened. He goes, man, I...

I just saw you being like mauled like a lion, just some real heavy spiritual attack. And I thought, oh, well. I don't know, it didn't I don't know, just kind of went on. Nancy heard it and she said, wait, wait, what did you see? Because she knew he was a real man of prayer.

And he said, yeah, I just saw Mike like stunned from this attack that hit him. Like, he's got mauled. We went to prayer. And he really carried this in prayer. And an attack did come.

I mean, it came. But the force of it was greatly grace greatly lessened. It was so less impacting than it should have been. You say, well, maybe there was nothing really there. No, no, I'm saying something happened that really should have been a much heavier attack.

It's like somebody comes barreling into your car and you see them coming 50 miles an hour and you're at a red light and they don't see you there and they come smashing into your car and rear-end you. And you're totally fine as if you weren't even hit. and your car barely shows a scratch. That shouldn't have happened.

So I am urging you. to give yourself to prayer. We as leaders can be so much more effective as you pray for us. We can minister to you in such a way that you will be so much more blessed and helped as you pray for us. And perhaps in some of the plots and plans of the enemies, just as Satan wanted to take Peter out.

Your prayers will literally make the difference between life and death. As we minister in Singapore, Pray for divine favor. Pray for divine anointing. Pray for divine authority. Pray for divine appointments.

Can I say that again? Pray for divine favor. for divine appointments, for divine authority. for divine anointing. And by God's grace, this trip is not just gonna...

impact many in Singapore. but in a ripple way will impact people around the world. There are real reasons I say that. And friends, we have some amazing opportunities. God has funded for us.

It is supernatural funding for us to be on God TV five days a week with a five-minute... teaching message and then starting in March will be on weekly with a half hour preaching message. God has provided all the funding for that and then sometime this year it hopefully within the first quarter can't tell you exactly when we're going to be preaching the gospel through TV in Israel. with outreach shows specially developed for Israel and Hebrew captioning. These are things God has presented before us and has fully...

Fund it. amazing open doors, but there's so much our hearts are burning to do where we need to increase our staff, increase our funding, and increase our impact and our reach. And I'm not asking you to send in your money. I'm asking you to pray, and as you pray, Every need will be met, and I believe the smile of God. will rebound redound Back.

to you so thank you for joining us in prayer. Brothers and sisters, please pray for us. My bottom line today, your prayers for leaders will make a difference forever and ever. Join me at Ask Dr. Brown.

Dark. Or can we?