So as we enter into our final week of How to Pray, I want to start by just giving you a picture of my own prayer journey.

I have been faithfully following Christ for over 36 years now.

And it's been an incredible time, the best years of my life, the hardest years of my life.

And in these seasons of ups and downs, my prayer

life has also been up and down. I've always known as a Christian that prayer is critical.

It's so important. And so I would pray. I would pray your regulars, you know, pray in the morning, pray before bed, pray at

mill time, pray if there's a prayer request, is there an urgent need, rhythms like that.

But really it was more compartmentalized.

It was more in those urgent moments.

And I knew at about 15 years ago, I want more. I knew I wanted something better.

I wanted to understand, I wanted to know what makes prayer more effective. I want to know how to make it a lifestyle because if God loving him is the greatest

commandment to know him and love him is the most important thing in my life, then I have to make it a

priority and I have to make it a priority in prayer. And so I decided about maybe 15 years ago that I wanted to get a PhD in prayer,

that it was going to be the thing that I studied. I got books. I looked at every scripture on

prayers and petitions and supplications. And I began to, of course, practice it. I mean,

I've read a book, at least one book a year on prayer that've read so many good ones that I would

give you my list right now, but I want us to move on because it's a huge topic for me. It's huge

in my heart. And more than anything with prayer is I wanted greater intimacy with God.

And that is where you can find it is in prayer,

because I can read a lot about God, I can know a lot about God, but I wanted to experience him in reality of real-time living. And amen. So I'm not alone in this desire. We're not alone in this desire. Jesus's disciples,

they were the ones that said, as they witnessed Jesus in his prayer life, Lord, teach us to pray.

And the Lord's prayer has been a framework for this series, right? So I would love for you all to stand with me if you're able to,

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