Speaker 1: We're now coming to the last message about Daniel, and
Speaker 1: in chapter nine we learn how to pray the kind
Speaker 1: of prayer that God answers. I mean, if you're going
Speaker 1: to pray, you may as well get a prayer that
Speaker 1: God's going to answer. You've prayed a lot of prayers
Speaker 1: that God did not answer, So how do you pray
Speaker 1: the kind of prayer that God answers? In this passage,
Speaker 1: we're actually going to look at how to pray in
Speaker 1: a crisis. Now. I hope you're not in a crisis
Speaker 1: right now, but you will be someday. So you need
Speaker 1: to take notes because someday you're going to where are
Speaker 1: those notes of Rick told me how to pray in
Speaker 1: a crisis? And you're going to want to come back
Speaker 1: to this to do what God tells you to do.
Speaker 1: Let's get right into it. There's six steps we see
Speaker 1: modeled in Daniel's life and in the prayer in this
Speaker 1: chapter on how to pray a prayer that God answers.
Speaker 1: Number one, here's the first step. Let God speak to
Speaker 1: me before I speak to him. Let God speak to
Speaker 1: me before I speak to him. This is called the
Speaker 1: listening step. You listen to the voice of God, how
Speaker 1: do you do that? Well, I'm going to explain it,
Speaker 1: but there's a principle you need to understand first, and
Speaker 1: it's this. God always makes the first move in your life.
Speaker 1: You don't. God is always the initiator of everything in
Speaker 1: your life, and you are the responder. God never expects
Speaker 1: you to make the first move. He always makes the
Speaker 1: first move. The Bible says that we love him. We
Speaker 1: love God because He first loved us. God loved you
Speaker 1: a whole long time before you ever loved him. The
Speaker 1: Bible says that we serve God because God first served us,
Speaker 1: and he knew we had a problem, and he sent
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ to die on the cross for us, long
Speaker 1: before we even knew we had a problem. He served
Speaker 1: us before we served him. The Bible says we give
Speaker 1: to God because God first gave to us. Everything you
Speaker 1: have in your life is gift of God. The air
Speaker 1: you breathe, your life, your mind, your brain, everything you've
Speaker 1: got is a gift from God. God will never ask
Speaker 1: you to do something he hasn't already done for you.
Speaker 1: God never asked you to do something that he goes. Now, personally,
Speaker 1: I've never done this, but I'm expecting you to do it.
Speaker 1: God always initiates, we always respond, and that's even true
Speaker 1: with prayer. The reason we pray, the reason we talk
Speaker 1: to God, is because God has first talked to us
Speaker 1: in this book. In this book, the Bible, written over
Speaker 1: three five hundred plus years, sixty six different authors that
Speaker 1: God inspired to write these words down that He wanted
Speaker 1: written down. There are literally thousands and thousands of promises
Speaker 1: from God to you, to you, and what we do
Speaker 1: in prayer is we claim the promises that He has
Speaker 1: said to us. He said, God, you said this, so
Speaker 1: I'm asking you to do this. And God, you said that,
Speaker 1: so I'm asking you to do that. So the Bible
Speaker 1: says that prayer actually starts not with talking, but with listening.
Speaker 1: You listen to God. Now, how do you listen to
Speaker 1: God by reading this book or if you don't like
Speaker 1: to read, listening to the Bible on tape or MP
Speaker 1: three or whatever. Logically, you need to let God talk
Speaker 1: to you. Then you're going to know how to pray,
Speaker 1: what to pray, where to pray, when to pray, and
Speaker 1: all those things. Daniel did this. Now as we start
Speaker 1: this chapter nine, Daniel's an old guy now he's eighty
Speaker 1: five years old. We started in the very first session
Speaker 1: on Daniel. He's fifteen years old, the prisoner of war.
Speaker 1: He's now gone through multiple changes in his life. Test
Speaker 1: after test after test after test. He keeps getting promoted,
Speaker 1: higher in authority, higher in power. He's now served three
Speaker 1: different kings. And we know that the Babylonians defeated the Syrians,
Speaker 1: and then the Persians defeated the Babylonians, and so now
Speaker 1: he's got a new boss. He survived every administration and
Speaker 1: no matter what the government was going on around him,
Speaker 1: he keeps getting promoted, but he wants to go home
Speaker 1: before he dies. He's eighty five years old, and he
Speaker 1: knows that God had said in the Book of Jeremiah
Speaker 1: that you'll be and drew in Babylon for seventy years
Speaker 1: and then I'm going to bring my people back to Israel.
Speaker 1: And he knows times up. But he also knows that
Speaker 1: the people israel lights have not turned back to God.
Speaker 1: Seventy years later. They're still as messed up as they
Speaker 1: were before. And he goes, We're not any closer to
Speaker 1: God than we were seventy years ago. And I'm afraid
Speaker 1: God's just going to leave us here in Babylon and
Speaker 1: not bring us back to Israel. So this is his crisis,
Speaker 1: and here's how it starts. Daniel, Chapter nine, verse one.
Speaker 1: It was the first year the reign of Darius the Mead,
Speaker 1: who was made king of Babylon. The Babylonians vice Cyrus,
Speaker 1: who was a Persian. You know, Babylon is Iraq, Persia
Speaker 1: is Iran today, And he says, during the first year
Speaker 1: of his reign, I Daniel was studying the scriptures, and
Speaker 1: I learned from the word of the Lord, as recorded
Speaker 1: by Jeremiah the Prophet, that Jerusalem must lie desolate for
Speaker 1: seventy years. It was destroyed, and they said it won't
Speaker 1: be rebuilt until after seventy years. You guys get to
Speaker 1: go back home. Now. I want you to circle, if
Speaker 1: you're taking notes, circle the phrase studying the scripture, and
Speaker 1: circle the phrase learned from the word, study the scriptures,
Speaker 1: learn from the Word. You will never pray effectively until
Speaker 1: you study the scriptures and you learn from the Word,
Speaker 1: until you get into this book every single day. Now,
Speaker 1: the more you know this book, the Bible, the more
Speaker 1: prayers you're going to have answered. If you're ignorant of
Speaker 1: this book. You don't know how to pray, You don't
Speaker 1: know what to pray, you don't know when to pray.
Speaker 1: You don't know the promises that God has made to you.
Speaker 1: And so you got to read a little bit of
Speaker 1: this book every single day of your life so you
Speaker 1: can learn those promises that God has made to you.
Speaker 1: Let me show you this. Here's what Jesus said up
Speaker 1: here on the screen. In John chapter fifteen. Jesus said,
Speaker 1: if you stay connected to me and my words remain
Speaker 1: in your heart. What's he talking about? The Bible? He says,
Speaker 1: these words remain in your heart. He says, if you
Speaker 1: follow those two conditions, you may ask any request you
Speaker 1: want in prayer and it will be given to you.
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ, Whoh, that's pretty much a blank check right there.
Speaker 1: You can ask whatever you want in prayer and it'll
Speaker 1: be given to you. Now, he says, notice this verse.
Speaker 1: If I'm praying and I'm not getting an answer, the
Speaker 1: first thing I need to check is am I meeting
Speaker 1: these two conditions? Am I staying connected to God God?
Speaker 1: Is there anything between me and you that's out a whack?
Speaker 1: Is there any fellowship broken? Is there something in my
Speaker 1: life that I know is wrong, and you know it's wrong,
Speaker 1: and you said for me to get right, and I
Speaker 1: haven't got it right yet. That is a break in
Speaker 1: the connection with God. But he said, if you stay
Speaker 1: connected to me, you're in harmony with me. And he says,
Speaker 1: my words, this book is in your mind, it's in
Speaker 1: your heart. You ask anything you want in prayer and
Speaker 1: it will be done. So if I'm not getting the answer,
Speaker 1: that's one of the two problems. That's one of the
Speaker 1: two conditions that need to be met. So Daniel is saying,
Speaker 1: I'm going to study the word. I'm going to have
Speaker 1: it in me. The more you fill your mind with
Speaker 1: this book, the more you memorize some like Bible verses,
Speaker 1: the more answers you're going to have in your life. Now,
Speaker 1: this is so important to your life that I want
Speaker 1: to help you. I want to help you develop the
Speaker 1: habit of you never go to bed any day of
Speaker 1: your life without us spending at least a little bit
Speaker 1: of time, even if it's a minute or two minutes,
Speaker 1: reading a little bit of the Bible and then talking
Speaker 1: to God for a minute or two or whatever. Now,
Speaker 1: last week we saw that Daniel did this three times
Speaker 1: a day. He had the habit, And I said, you
Speaker 1: think your life would be any different if you had
Speaker 1: a conversation with God three times a day your entire life,
Speaker 1: which he did for over seventy years. Well, no wonder
Speaker 1: he missed a lot of problems. No wonder he knew
Speaker 1: how to be wise. No wonder he get kept, gotten promoted.
Speaker 1: He's talking to God every day. I do this all
Speaker 1: the time as I go through my day. I don't
Speaker 1: talk to God once a day. I talk to God
Speaker 1: all the time. And as I'm getting ready to go
Speaker 1: into meeting, I go, Okay, God, I'm going to need
Speaker 1: your guidance in here. I don't know what you want
Speaker 1: to say to these people. I don't know what they
Speaker 1: want to say to me. I don't know what the
Speaker 1: problem is. Help me to know the right thing. I'm
Speaker 1: depending on you to give me the wisdom, the guidance
Speaker 1: and the power to do what it is. And I
Speaker 1: got out of that meeting a little The next thing,
Speaker 1: and the whole day. One of my prayers is often
Speaker 1: two words, what's next? What's the next? Lord? What do
Speaker 1: you want to do? And I'm always seeking God, checking
Speaker 1: in with him. Now I want to teach you this
Speaker 1: habit of having a little bit of daily reading the
Speaker 1: Bible and praying, talking to God two or three times
Speaker 1: a day, at least three times a day, because it
Speaker 1: will revolutionize your life. Men, it'll make you a strong man.
Speaker 1: It'll make you more confident. It'll make you less fearful.
Speaker 1: Same thing. Women, It'll make you a stronger woman. It'll
Speaker 1: make you more confident, it will make you less fearful.
Speaker 1: If you will develop a habit of multiple times a
Speaker 1: day you have a conversation with God, you let him
Speaker 1: talk to you, and you talk to him, you will
Speaker 1: handle your stress better. It will improve every single area
Speaker 1: of your life. I guarantee it. I've done a lot
Speaker 1: of hard things in my life. I've taken a lot
Speaker 1: of risks. I've fought a lot of battles. I faced
Speaker 1: a lot of critics. I've done a lot of difficulties.
Speaker 1: I've been in situations you would not want to be
Speaker 1: in and have to handle with other people's lives. I've
Speaker 1: handled a lot of problems and men in a lot
Speaker 1: of battles. But the most difficult battle I face as
Speaker 1: a man is the battle to consistently have a conversation
Speaker 1: with God. And read His word every day of my life.
Speaker 1: No battle comes close. Weak men don't do this, Weak
Speaker 1: women don't do this. It's only it's a test of
Speaker 1: your character. Do you have the character and the stamina
Speaker 1: to do this? Spend time? A little bit of time
Speaker 1: every day with God, not a lot of time. Now,
Speaker 1: why is it so difficult? Because Satan knows that if
Speaker 1: he wins this battle, he's won every other one in
Speaker 1: your life. This is the lynchpin. This is it. If
Speaker 1: you win in this area, you're going to win in all.
Speaker 2: The other areas of your life.
Speaker 1: I know many of you use the Daily Hope Devotionals
Speaker 1: as part of your regular Bible study, and so I
Speaker 1: want to share some exciting news. We've put three hundred
Speaker 1: and sixty five of the best devotionals into a brand
Speaker 1: new book that we're calling the Daily Hope Devotional, Purpose, Peace,
Speaker 1: and Promise for every Day. This devotional book is designed
Speaker 1: with clear, practical biblical teaching to help you make knowing
Speaker 1: God your number one priority. I believe it will help
Speaker 1: you stay focused on God throughout the day as he
Speaker 1: provides you with real purpose, lasting peace, and his unfailing promises.
Speaker 1: Imagine starting every day like that this book is a
Speaker 1: great way to share the hope you have in Jesus
Speaker 1: with your friends, co workers, and relatives. I hope you'll
Speaker 1: get a copy for everyone you know.
Speaker 3: Be sure in request your copy when you partner with
Speaker 3: Daily Hope to take the word of God to a
Speaker 3: hurting world.
Speaker 1: In chapter one, Daniel is worried about the crisis in
Speaker 1: his life, and so he starts reading this book by Jeremiah.
Speaker 1: Now here's the thing. Daniel and Jeremiah are contemporaries. They
Speaker 1: lived at the same time when Babylon crushed Israel. Daniel's
Speaker 1: taking a captive for prisoner a ward at Babylon. Jeremiah
Speaker 1: is left behind in a defeated, broken city called Jerusalem.
Speaker 1: And in Jeremiah's book, God tells him those guys are
Speaker 1: going to be there for seventy years. And Daniel reads
Speaker 1: this and he starts getting hope. Here's what you want
Speaker 1: to know what Daniel read. It's the next verse Jeremiah
Speaker 1: chapter twenty nine, when he said I was studying the scripture.
Speaker 1: Here's what he was studying. God says this to you.
Speaker 1: You will be kept in Babylon for seventy years, but
Speaker 1: then I'll keep my graatious promise to bring you back
Speaker 1: to your home again. For I know the plans I
Speaker 1: have for you, says the Lord. I have good plans
Speaker 1: for you, not plans for your disaster. My plans will
Speaker 1: give you hope and a future. And in those days
Speaker 1: when you pray, I will listen. Now. If you've been
Speaker 1: around church for an length time, you know that verse.
Speaker 1: In fact, we even got a song about it. I
Speaker 1: know the plans I have for you, says the Lord,
Speaker 1: plans to prosper for you, not to harm you. God says,
Speaker 1: I have a plan for your life. It's a plan
Speaker 1: for your success. It's not a plan for your defeat.
Speaker 1: It's a good plan. It'll give you hope, it'll give
Speaker 1: you a future. God says this to you. We know
Speaker 1: that verse, but we often leave off the last phrase,
Speaker 1: which says, in those days when you pray, I will listen.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 1: I want you to listen very carefully. God says this
Speaker 1: to you this weekend. I made you for a purpose.
Speaker 1: I have a plan for your life. But it's not all.
Speaker 1: You can miss it. You can miss my plan and
Speaker 1: purpose for your life. In fact, most people miss God's plan
Speaker 1: and purpose for their life. He said, there are two factors.
Speaker 1: I've promised to rescue you. I'm going to bring you
Speaker 1: back home. I'm going to do the things you need
Speaker 1: done in your life. But he says, there are two
Speaker 1: factors involved in you fulfilling your purpose in life. Write
Speaker 1: these down. God's timing and my praying. God's timing and
Speaker 1: my praying, and both of these have an important role
Speaker 1: in what God wants to do in your life. God's
Speaker 1: timing when he's going to do it, and you're praying
Speaker 1: when you ask him to do it. Both of these
Speaker 1: are extremely important. So let me explain what that verse
Speaker 1: just said. In Jeremiah, God says this, I got a
Speaker 1: plan for you your life. I didn't make you without
Speaker 1: a purpose. I created you for a purpose and plan.
Speaker 1: And my plan for you is good. But it has
Speaker 1: a time table. And he says to these guys specifically,
Speaker 1: he says, I'm not going to cut short my plan.
Speaker 1: You're going to be in Babylon for seventy years, he said,
Speaker 1: But and I'm not going to cut it short one
Speaker 1: day short. You're not coming home one day sooner. You're
Speaker 1: going to be there for seventy years. So that's my plan,
Speaker 1: and that's my attention, but don't worry. It's a good plan.
Speaker 1: But he says, when the time is right for me
Speaker 1: to fulfill your plan, you're all going to go back home.
Speaker 1: Then you're going to have to do something. You're going
Speaker 1: to have to pray, and he says, and when you pray,
Speaker 1: I will listen. Now, I want you to notice this.
Speaker 1: This is a very important verse in the Bible. Here
Speaker 1: we see God's sovereignty. He's in control and your responsibility.
Speaker 1: You got something to do. God determines the timing of
Speaker 1: his plan and purpose for your life. But when the
Speaker 1: timing is right, you're still going to have to play
Speaker 1: it pray, because He's not going to do it until
Speaker 1: you ask. He's not going to force his plan on you. Ever,
Speaker 1: you have to ask. Notice this verse on the screen, James,
Speaker 1: Chapter four, Verse two. You do not have what you
Speaker 1: need because you do not ask God for it. So
Speaker 1: you're telling me that God has some things he wants
Speaker 1: to do in my life that are cool and good
Speaker 1: and great, but they're going to happen unless I ask
Speaker 1: for it. That's exactly what I'm telling you. God has timing,
Speaker 1: but you have praying, and some things have not happened.
Speaker 1: In your life because you've never asked God for them.
Speaker 1: You've never asked God to do them in your life.
Speaker 1: He says, I intend to do it when I'm ready.
Speaker 1: That's timing, but you've got to pray for it to happen.
Speaker 1: You have not because you asked not. Now this leaves
Speaker 1: a little quandary in your life. You've gone through this before.
Speaker 1: How do I know when I'm waiting on God? And
Speaker 1: how do I know when God's waiting on me? Here's
Speaker 1: a good question. Okay. He was like, you know, I
Speaker 1: really have this big dream for my life, and I
Speaker 1: really think this is what God wants me to do
Speaker 1: with my life. But I don't know. It hadn't happened yet.
Speaker 1: So am I waiting on God? Or is God waiting
Speaker 1: on me? Well? This explains it right here. What it
Speaker 1: means is this, if I've asked for God to do
Speaker 1: something really great in my life, and I've prayed about
Speaker 1: it and I've asked, and there's nothing between me and
Speaker 1: God as far as I know, I'm doing what he
Speaker 1: wants me to do. There's no big sin that's over
Speaker 1: here in this corner that I'm going. Yeah, I know
Speaker 1: God wants me to do this, but I haven't done it.
Speaker 1: And if I've asked God, and like Jesus said, I'm
Speaker 1: connected to God. We're all copasetic, we're all we're in
Speaker 1: harmony me with God, and I'm in the Bible. I'm
Speaker 1: reading the Bible every day, His words in me. If
Speaker 1: I pray and I ask and that's all true, and
Speaker 1: I haven't had the answer yet, then I'm waiting on God.
Speaker 1: It has all to do with his timing. I'm just
Speaker 1: waiting for God. God says I'll do it, but I'm
Speaker 1: just going to do it in my timing, and I
Speaker 1: just need to be patient. On the other hand, if
Speaker 1: I have something really great that I would like for
Speaker 1: God to do in my life, and I've always wanted
Speaker 1: God to do it, but I've never asked. I've never
Speaker 1: asked God to do it, never ask for God's help,
Speaker 1: never ask for God's guidance in my dream, then God's
Speaker 1: waiting on you. If you haven't prayed about it, God
Speaker 1: is waiting on you. You have not because you ask not.
Speaker 1: So let me just start with this first point by
Speaker 1: asking a very personal question, what do you really want
Speaker 1: in life? What do you really really want in life?
Speaker 1: But you've never asked God for it? Did you know
Speaker 1: that the Bible says you can ask God for anything?
Speaker 1: You can ask God for anything. First step, listen to God.
Speaker 1: I read a little bit as I let God speak
Speaker 1: to me. Then I talk to him. Now here's step two.
Speaker 1: Step two is focus my attention on God. This is
Speaker 1: the second step in the kind of prayer that God
Speaker 1: gets answered. So focus my attention on God. And in
Speaker 1: Daniel chapter nine, verse three, it says this, so I
Speaker 1: turned my face to the Lord seeking him. All right,
Speaker 1: circle the phrase turned my face. I turned my face
Speaker 1: to the Lord seeking him. Husbands, let me talk to
Speaker 1: you for just a minute. I'm gonna give you a
Speaker 1: marriage tip that will pay great dividends in your life
Speaker 1: the rest of your life. You're listening to a guy
Speaker 1: who's been married forty one years. Here's a big tip
Speaker 1: for every husband. I have noticed, and I've developed this
Speaker 1: habit that whenever Kay talks to me, I turn my
Speaker 1: face toward her physically, whenever she starts talking, I literally
Speaker 1: turn my face toward her. And you know what I've learned.
Speaker 2: She likes it.
Speaker 1: In fact, she loves it that because when you turn
Speaker 1: your face to somebody it's that you have my undivided attention.
Speaker 1: I'm totally focused on you. You like this? Yeah, all
Speaker 1: the wives are clapping right now. Okay, great, great, yeah, okay, Uh,
Speaker 1: everybody likes this. When you talk, you want people to
Speaker 1: turn their focus to you. Pity the poor substitute teacher
Speaker 1: who stands up in class and she's trying to teach
Speaker 1: and nobody's looking at her, and it's like in the
Speaker 1: old Peanuts cartoons, Woa wah wa wah wah whah, and
Speaker 1: she's just blathering on. Nobody's tuned in, nobody's listening. Turning
Speaker 1: your face shows attention. When my kids were little, they
Speaker 1: used to grab me by their face. Look at me, daddy.
Speaker 1: You're not paying attention. Look at me, daddy. They wanted
Speaker 1: eye to eye contact. That is the highest gift you
Speaker 1: give anybody is your attention. It's more important than chocolate, roses,
Speaker 1: her money, giving your kids, your wife. Your attention is
Speaker 1: the highest gift because your attention is your life. Now,
Speaker 1: did you know that you can actually do this with God?
Speaker 1: You can turn your face to God in prayer, how physically?
Speaker 1: Just look up God, I'm here, I'm ready to talk.
Speaker 1: I'm checking in for my three times a day conversation.
Speaker 1: You go outside and look up at the heavens. You
Speaker 1: stare up. You just look up. There's nothing in the
Speaker 1: Bible says you have to close your eyes to pray.
Speaker 1: Nothing in the Bible says you have to bow your
Speaker 1: head to pray. That's one of the ways to pray.
Speaker 1: It's a good way. But many times in the Bible
Speaker 1: people didn't close their eyes. They actually looked up and
Speaker 1: they talked aloud. I like to pray aloud to God.
Speaker 1: When I close my eyes and think I go to sleep.
Speaker 1: I don't pray with my eyes closed, and I don't
Speaker 1: pray in my mind. When I'm praying, I'm praying aloud
Speaker 1: and I'm driving the car, or I'm looking up or whatever.
Speaker 1: You could get in your lazy boy chair and lean back,
Speaker 1: look up, God. I'm turning my face to you. Okay.
Speaker 1: But it's a physical reminder that I'm refocusing my attention. Okay.
Speaker 1: This is what Daniel did. He physically noticed verse three.
Speaker 1: In the New American Standard version, it says this, so
Speaker 1: I gave my attention to the Lord to seek him
Speaker 1: by prayer circle the word seek. This is the second
Speaker 1: step of prayer. The first is listening. The second step
Speaker 1: of prayer is seeking. But let me just show you
Speaker 1: some of the benefits. If you'll learn how to do this,
Speaker 1: it'll change your life. Your whole life's just gonna get
Speaker 1: a whole lot better. Let me just show you three
Speaker 1: or four or five promises. How about this one up
Speaker 1: here on the screen Amos five to four. God says this,
Speaker 1: seek me and you will live. In other words, you're
Speaker 1: not going to just exist. You're gonna really you're not
Speaker 1: living life to the fullest. Some of you just existing.
Speaker 1: He says, seek me and you will live. You're gonna
Speaker 1: learn how to really live. Proverbs eight, verse seventeen. God
Speaker 1: says this, I love those who love me, and those
Speaker 1: who seek me. Will what find me find me? He said,
Speaker 1: I can't find God. You're not seeking. You got to
Speaker 1: seek in the right way. Those who seek me will
Speaker 1: find me. Let me show you another one. Jeremiah twenty nine,
Speaker 1: verse thirteen says this. God says, you will find me
Speaker 1: when you seek me what with all your heart. That's serious,
Speaker 1: that's emotional seeking. We'll talk about that in a minute.
Speaker 1: You're gonna find me when you really want to know me,
Speaker 1: not like, I kind of like to know God in
Speaker 1: my spare time between the football game and work. Maybe No,
Speaker 1: When you seek Me with all your heart, then you're
Speaker 1: going to know me now. Hebrews eleven, verse six says
Speaker 1: this God rewards those who earnestly seek him. Would you
Speaker 1: like God to reward your business? Seek him? Would you
Speaker 1: like God to reward your finances? Seek him? Would you
Speaker 1: like God to reward your marriage? Seek? Would you guys
Speaker 1: like God to reward your children? Would you like God
Speaker 1: to reward your relationships, your boyfriend, your girlfriend? Would you
Speaker 1: like God to reward your future? Wherever you seek God,
Speaker 1: God is going to reward. Wherever you don't seek God,
Speaker 1: God says, you're on your own. You're on your own.
Speaker 1: Let me show you another verse. This is a very
Speaker 1: familiar one. Luke Chapter twelve, Jesus says this, seek. There's
Speaker 1: that word again. Seek first God's kingdom before everything else.
Speaker 1: God's chame is his priorities, not your priorities, His priorities
Speaker 1: before everything else. And all the other things you will
Speaker 1: need you need will be given to you. Another one
Speaker 1: of those blanket promises. He says, don't seek wealth, seek God.
Speaker 1: He'll take care of what you need. Don't seek fame,
Speaker 1: Seek God. He'll take care of what you need. Don't
Speaker 1: seek pleasure, don't seek a husband, don't seek to all
Speaker 1: these other things you're seeking. He says, seek first me.
Speaker 1: And if I'm in first place, he goes, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: take everything else into considerations. You put me first. I
Speaker 1: bless the people who put me first. You have probably
Speaker 1: never realized this, but of a lot of the pain
Speaker 1: you're in right now, the difficulties, the stress, the pressure
Speaker 1: you feel, the troubles you're facing, the mess that's all
Speaker 1: tangled up in relationships, Almost all of that stuff that
Speaker 1: you're facing right now is the result of you not
Speaker 1: seeking God. I know many of you use the Daily
Speaker 1: Hope Devotionals as part of your regular Bible study, and
Speaker 1: so I want to share some exciting news. We've put
Speaker 1: three hundred and sixty five of the best devotionals into
Speaker 1: a brand new book that we're calling the Daily Hope
Speaker 1: Devotional Purpose, Peace, and Promise for every Day. This devotional
Speaker 1: book is designed with clear, practical biblical teaching to help
Speaker 1: you make knowing God your number one priority. I believe
Speaker 1: it will help you stay focused on God throughout the day.
Speaker 1: As he provides you with real purpose, lasting peace, and
Speaker 1: his unfailing promises. Imagine starting every day like that. This
Speaker 1: book is a great way to share the hope you
Speaker 1: have in Jesus with your friends, co workers, and relatives.
Speaker 1: I hope you'll get a copy for everyone you know.
Speaker 3: Be sure and request your copy when you partner with
Speaker 3: Daily Hope to take the word of God to a
Speaker 3: hurting world.