Speaker 1: You want God to just make it all happy. Put
Speaker 1: a bandaid on it, soothe it, take away the pain.
Speaker 1: Not clear up the relationship, not deepen your character, not
Speaker 1: change you. We want a quick answer and God wants
Speaker 1: to cut out the cancer. Today I want us to
Speaker 1: look at why must I keep on praying persistently? And
Speaker 1: the reason why I want to deal with this is
Speaker 1: because of all of the mysteries about prayer. And there
Speaker 1: are a lot of them. There are a lot of
Speaker 1: things about prayer I do not understand. I don't always
Speaker 1: understand how it works with the sovereignty of God and
Speaker 1: the will of man. And when you're praying for other
Speaker 1: people and they have a free will, I don't understand
Speaker 1: it all. I know that just God said, do it.
Speaker 1: And he says it over and over and over 20
Speaker 1: times in the New Testament. He says, ask, I want
Speaker 1: you to ask. You have not because you ask not. Now,
Speaker 1: since our heavenly father loves us, we know that. And
Speaker 1: since we know that he wants to answer prayer, he's
Speaker 1: commanded us to ask for prayer, he has given us
Speaker 1: multiple promises about prayer, and he says, I want to
Speaker 1: ask and I want to answer quickly. He's eager to
Speaker 1: meet our needs. The question then is, then why do
Speaker 1: I have to pray more than one time? Why do
Speaker 1: I have to make the same request over and over
Speaker 1: to God? If I want what I'm asking for in prayer,
Speaker 1: And if God is clearly loving, and as we saw
Speaker 1: in the last message, he's never gonna give you something bad,
Speaker 1: he's never gonna give you something detrimental, he's never gonna
Speaker 1: give you something harmful or unhelpful, but he will always
Speaker 1: give you what's good and what's best, he'll never give
Speaker 1: you a bad gift. And if God wants to do that,
Speaker 1: why do I have to ask multiple times? You know,
Speaker 1: Jesus said, we looked at this last week, keep on asking,
Speaker 1: keep on seeking, keep on knocking. That's a mystery to
Speaker 1: a lot of people. Why can't I just say one
Speaker 1: time and then God gives it? And he knows that.
Speaker 1: The Bible many times talks about being persistent in prayer.
Speaker 1: One example is there on your outline, Colossians chapter four,
Speaker 1: verse two. Be persistent in prayer. In other words, keep
Speaker 1: on asking, keep on seeking, keep on knocking. Don't just
Speaker 1: pray one time about something. Keep on praying, be persistent.
Speaker 1: when you pray, that's a good principle to remember there.
Speaker 1: I was resting in the Lord, you know. Keep alert
Speaker 1: as you pray, always giving thanks to God. Now we've
Speaker 1: looked four times at prayer, and every time it adds
Speaker 1: give thanks when you're asking. That we ask out of
Speaker 1: a grateful heart. Gratitude for the past, we're asking about
Speaker 1: the future, but he says always be grateful for what
Speaker 1: God has already given you. So why do I have
Speaker 1: to ask over and over and over and over and over?
Speaker 1: Does God has to be cajoled? Does he have to
Speaker 1: be pestered? Does God have to be bothered? Do I
Speaker 1: have to wear God down? Do I have to beg
Speaker 1: and beg and beg and bribe and plead and cry
Speaker 1: and bother until finally just God goes, okay, enough already,
Speaker 1: shut up. I'm gonna give it to you. Is that
Speaker 1: what kind of God we serve? The answer is absolutely not.
Speaker 1: That is not at all the reason God says, I
Speaker 1: want you to ask multiple times. It's not for his benefit,
Speaker 1: and it's for our benefit. In fact, we're going to
Speaker 1: look at two stories today that Jesus told that teach
Speaker 1: the exact opposite of that idea, that I have to
Speaker 1: wear God down, that I have to keep pestering and
Speaker 1: bargaining and bribing, and then finally God just goes, okay,
Speaker 1: I give in. You can have this. In fact, Jesus
Speaker 1: told two parables that teach the exact opposite thing. Now,
Speaker 1: by the way, what is a parable? You've heard this
Speaker 1: word parable. A parable is simply a story with a point.
Speaker 1: A parable is not just a story. It's a story
Speaker 1: with a lesson. It's a story with an insight. It's
Speaker 1: a story with a truth that God wants you to get.
Speaker 1: And the Bible tells us that Jesus never taught without
Speaker 1: using parables. He was the master storyteller. And these stories
Speaker 1: still relate to us 2,000 years later because he was
Speaker 1: such a master storyteller. And he just would deal with
Speaker 1: slices of life. Now, there are two kinds of parables
Speaker 1: you need to understand. There are comparing parables and there
Speaker 1: are contrasting parables. Let me explain this. In a comparing parable,
Speaker 1: Jesus tells a story and he's saying this compares to God.
Speaker 1: God is like this. Like the loving father in the
Speaker 1: story of the prodigal son. God is like that. And
Speaker 1: when Jesus tells a story where he's saying this is
Speaker 1: what God is like, that's a comparing parable. But sometimes
Speaker 1: he says God is not like this. That's a contrasting parable.
Speaker 1: It's a contrasting parable. No way, people of the world
Speaker 1: are like this, but God's not like this. The two
Speaker 1: stories we're going to look at today, they're very brief,
Speaker 1: actually are contrasting. And God is saying, I am not
Speaker 1: at all like the people in this story. And he's
Speaker 1: getting rid of the idea that you have to beg
Speaker 1: and bargain and bribe God to have an answer to prayer.
Speaker 1: So let's look at these two stories, and then we'll
Speaker 1: kind of unpack them. The first one is in Luke
Speaker 1: chapter 11, and it's the story of a persistent friend.
Speaker 1: Look up here on the screen, and here's what this
Speaker 1: story's all about. Once, when Jesus had been out praying,
Speaker 1: his disciples asked, Lord, teach us to pray. We talked
Speaker 1: about this last week. And by the way, when he
Speaker 1: said teach us to pray, he taught them what is
Speaker 1: now known as the Lord's Prayer. And he taught them
Speaker 1: the model prayer. He says, okay, here's how you start it.
Speaker 1: Our father, remember we talked about that last week. It
Speaker 1: all starts with the right relationship. God is not some
Speaker 1: force in the sky. He's not a force, he's your father.
Speaker 1: And he's not like any human father who is inconsistent
Speaker 1: and uncaring and distant and distracted and sometimes demeaning. This God,
Speaker 1: this father is caring. He's consistent. He is competent. He's capable.
Speaker 1: And he is always with you. He's close. And so
Speaker 1: he says, our father who art in heaven, hallowed be
Speaker 1: your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on
Speaker 1: earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day
Speaker 1: our daily bread and forgive us our debts, our trespasses,
Speaker 1: as we forgive those who have sinned against us. And
Speaker 1: lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
Speaker 1: For yours is the kingdom and the power and the
Speaker 1: glory forever. Amen. But after Jesus taught him the Lord's prayer,
Speaker 1: he then told them this story. And here's what he says.
Speaker 1: But then he said, suppose you went to your neighbor's
Speaker 1: house at midnight, hmm, and knocked on his door, double hmm,
Speaker 1: and said, an out of town guest has just arrived
Speaker 1: at my place, he's hungry, and I've got nothing to
Speaker 1: feed him, so I need to borrow three loaves of bread.
Speaker 1: Would you do that with your neighbor? Wake him up
Speaker 1: at midnight? This is the persistent neighbor. Now, your neighbor
Speaker 1: would probably whisper from the inside of his house, don't
Speaker 1: bother me. The door's already locked for the night. He's
Speaker 1: saying this from the bedroom, maybe out the window. The
Speaker 1: door's already locked for the night. We're all in bed.
Speaker 1: I can't wake up everybody just to help you. Now,
Speaker 1: he says, but even though he would not help you
Speaker 1: out of friendship... at that particular moment. If you keep
Speaker 1: persistently knocking on his door, he's gonna get up and
Speaker 1: he's gonna give you what you need because of your persistence.
Speaker 1: All right already. He says you just keep on knocking.
Speaker 1: So Jesus says, I tell you this, this is a
Speaker 1: parable by contrast. Keep on asking and you'll get it.
Speaker 1: Keep on seeking and you'll find. And keep on knocking
Speaker 1: and the door will be opened to you. For everyone
Speaker 1: who asks, receive, and everyone who seeks will find. And
Speaker 1: if you keep on knocking, the door will be opened
Speaker 1: to you. Now, just in case we didn't get that message,
Speaker 1: he says, I'm not like that guy who's not going
Speaker 1: to give it to you out of friendship. He's just
Speaker 1: giving it to you to get you out of his hair.
Speaker 1: He says, the principle there is you should keep on knocking,
Speaker 1: keep on asking, keep on seeking. And Jesus wants you
Speaker 1: so badly to understand why you should pray about something
Speaker 1: more than once, that he doesn't just give you one story,
Speaker 1: he gives us two. And let's look at the second parable.
Speaker 1: And in this, he wants to emphasize that you should never, never,
Speaker 1: never give up praying for something that you're asking for
Speaker 1: until you've got it, all right? Now here's the second story,
Speaker 1: and it's in chapter 18 of Luke, and it's the
Speaker 1: first eight verses. This is called the story of the
Speaker 1: persistent widow. Similar theme. It's one day, this is a
Speaker 1: different day, Jesus told his disciples another story to illustrate
Speaker 1: that they should always keep on praying and never give up.
Speaker 1: Now before we take that verse down, I want you
Speaker 1: to notice something. He says you should always keep on
Speaker 1: praying and never give up. In your life, you are
Speaker 1: always doing one or the other. If you're not praying,
Speaker 1: you're giving up. And if you're giving up, if you're
Speaker 1: discouraged this weekend, it's because you're not praying. Jesus said
Speaker 1: we should always pray and not give up. What is
Speaker 1: the opposite of discouragement? Persistent prayer. What is the opposite
Speaker 1: of not praying persistently? Discouragement. So you can go through
Speaker 1: life either discouraged or diligent. You can be pressured into
Speaker 1: feeling bad about it or you can be persistent in praying.
Speaker 1: And he says throughout life, you're always doing one or
Speaker 1: the other. Anytime you get discouraged, you should ask yourself,
Speaker 1: have I stopped praying persistently? That's why you're discouraged. Because
Speaker 1: you've gotten your eyes off of God and onto yourself.
Speaker 1: On the other hand, if you're praying persistently, it eliminates
Speaker 1: discouragement in your life. You're going to pray or you're
Speaker 1: going to give up. Now, then he says this. Here's
Speaker 1: the story. There once was a big city judge, Jesus says,
Speaker 1: who didn't care at all about God or people. But
Speaker 1: there was an elderly woman, an elderly widow, who kept
Speaker 1: coming to this judge over and over, pleading for the
Speaker 1: judge to protect her rights and do something about a
Speaker 1: man who had cheated her. I want justice. I have
Speaker 1: my rights. She keeps coming back to the judge over
Speaker 1: and over. Judge, you've got to help me. He didn't
Speaker 1: care less about her, or even God. Now, it says
Speaker 1: for a long time, This judge just ignored her pleas.
Speaker 1: He couldn't care less about this widow. He has no
Speaker 1: interest in her, no interest in helping her get justice
Speaker 1: or protect her rights. The judge just ignored her pleas
Speaker 1: for help, but eventually he had had enough. So he
Speaker 1: thought to himself, you know, even though I don't care
Speaker 1: at all about what God or what this woman think,
Speaker 1: I'm tired of her pestering me. I'm tired of her
Speaker 1: pestering request. So I'm going to see that she gets
Speaker 1: justice just to get her to shut up. Just to
Speaker 1: get her to be quiet and stop bothering me. Note
Speaker 1: the same theme as the other story. Then the Lord said, now,
Speaker 1: learn a lesson from this uncaring judge. He says, okay, guys,
Speaker 1: get the point here. Even if that corrupt judge Uncaring,
Speaker 1: this guy has no compassion at all. He doesn't care
Speaker 1: about you or anybody else. Even if that corrupt, uncaring
Speaker 1: judge eventually gave in to that woman's request. Won't God,
Speaker 1: who loves you deeply, he's saying, this guy's not like me.
Speaker 1: Won't God, who loves you deeply, surely give you what
Speaker 1: is right if you keep crying out to him day
Speaker 1: and night? Jesus tells two stories to teach the exact
Speaker 1: same truth. Anytime Jesus tells two stories to teach one truth,
Speaker 1: it's that important. Why? You should never give up in
Speaker 1: praying for something. Not just go, well, I prayed and
Speaker 1: nothing didn't happen, so I just gave up on it. Now,
Speaker 1: here's the contrast. He says, God listens to you, God cares,
Speaker 1: and God wants to answer even if people don't. Even
Speaker 1: if your neighbor doesn't, they think you're being rude, you're
Speaker 1: in the middle of the night, or even if some unjust, uncaring,
Speaker 1: unsympathetic judge says, forget it, I have no time for you.
Speaker 1: He said, God is not like either of them. He listens,
Speaker 1: he cares, and the point is this, that God is
Speaker 1: eager to answer your prayers. So, why then doesn't God
Speaker 1: just answer it the first time I ask? Why does
Speaker 1: he want me, and it says over and Keep on asking,
Speaker 1: keep on knocking. Why does God want me to be persistent?
Speaker 1: Number one, because it keeps my attention focused on God.
Speaker 1: When you pray about something over and over and over,
Speaker 1: where is your attention? It's focused on God. Now I've
Speaker 1: told you this many times, that attention is the greatest
Speaker 1: gift you can give somebody. Guys, the greatest gift, if
Speaker 1: you're married, the greatest gift you can give your wife
Speaker 1: is your attention. The greatest gift you can give your
Speaker 1: kids is your attention, why? Because your attention is your time,
Speaker 1: and your time is your life. You're never gonna get
Speaker 1: that back. You can always give people money, but you
Speaker 1: can always get more money, but you can't always get
Speaker 1: more time back. You've got the same amount of time
Speaker 1: as everybody else, 168 hours a week. And when you
Speaker 1: give your attention to somebody, when you look someone in
Speaker 1: the eye, you're saying, you matter to me, you're valuable,
Speaker 1: you're worth part of my life. It's the highest gift
Speaker 1: you can give. People crave attention. God wants your attention.
Speaker 1: You know, the Bible says God is constantly thinking about you.
Speaker 1: How about if you thought about somebody all the time
Speaker 1: and they never thought about you? Well, that probably was
Speaker 1: true when you were in junior high school. Because there's
Speaker 1: somebody you thought about all the time and they were
Speaker 1: totally oblivious to you. And you know how painful that
Speaker 1: was that they did not even notice you when all
Speaker 1: you could do was think about them because you were
Speaker 1: in love in your mind with that person. God says,
Speaker 1: I want your attention. And so when you pray about
Speaker 1: something over and over and over, you give God your attention.
Speaker 1: God loves to have your attention because he's always thinking
Speaker 1: about you. One of the reasons God loved King David
Speaker 1: In the Old Testament of the Bible, it's because David
Speaker 1: gave God his attention all the time. Look at these
Speaker 1: two verses. Psalm 25, 15, David says, my eyes are
Speaker 1: continually looking to the Lord. That's another word for being persistent.
Speaker 1: I'm continually looking to the Lord for help. And he
Speaker 1: alone can rescue me from all the traps. It's supposed
Speaker 1: to be plural, all the traps. You know what? You're
Speaker 1: going to have a lot of traps in your life
Speaker 1: this next week. He's the only one who knows them
Speaker 1: in advance. Have you ever gone up a mountain road,
Speaker 1: and you're behind a truck, and they're slow, and you'd
Speaker 1: like to pass them, but you can't see around the curve?
Speaker 1: And how great it would be if you could call
Speaker 1: in a, like a helicopter, and they could say, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's clear around the corner, because they could see what
Speaker 1: you can't see. God can see what you can't see.
Speaker 1: He can see the traps. You're going to have this
Speaker 1: next week, this next month, and this next year. He says,
Speaker 1: focus on me. Continually. And I'll show you how to
Speaker 1: be rescued from all of the traps. Psalm 105 verse four,
Speaker 1: look to the Lord for his strength. Seek his face,
Speaker 1: how often? Yeah, constantly, circle that. So it keeps my
Speaker 1: attention focused on God. God wants you to keep asking
Speaker 1: because it keeps your attention focused on him. Question, do
Speaker 1: you talk to God more when you need something? Of
Speaker 1: course you do. If you never needed anything, would you
Speaker 1: talk to God as often? No. When do you talk
Speaker 1: to God the most? When you're in deep pain. So
Speaker 1: it keeps me focused on God continually. There's a second reason.
Speaker 1: And it's because having to wait teaches me about myself.
Speaker 1: Having to wait teaches me about myself. You're going to
Speaker 1: learn something. This is going to be a mind opening
Speaker 1: message for some of you. Because you learn not just
Speaker 1: about God, you learn about yourself when you don't get
Speaker 1: everything you want instantly. When you pray and God says, well,
Speaker 1: let's just see about how long it's going to take
Speaker 1: before that prayer gets answered. Some prayers are answered immediately,
Speaker 1: but some take times, weeks, months. Two of the most
Speaker 1: important prayers I've ever prayed, one of them took 13
Speaker 1: years and one of them took almost 25 years, but
Speaker 1: God answered it. And they were the most important prayers
Speaker 1: in my life at that time. Why did it take
Speaker 1: so long? Because while I was working on the prayer,
Speaker 1: God was working on me. And there are a number
Speaker 1: of tests that happen when you pray about something over
Speaker 1: and over and over that reveal more about you. Notice
Speaker 1: this verse, Zechariah says in Zechariah 13, verse nine, God says,
Speaker 1: I will test and purify them, that's you and me,
Speaker 1: I'll test and purify them as silver is purified by fire.
Speaker 1: Never wonder when you're going through the fire, why you're
Speaker 1: going through it? It's for testing and for purification. I
Speaker 1: will test them as gold is tested. How do you
Speaker 1: test gold? You put it in a big vat and
Speaker 1: you heat it up until it gets so hot that
Speaker 1: all the impurities are burned off. And how do you
Speaker 1: know when gold and silver's pure? Because a silversmith can
Speaker 1: see his reflection in it. And God can see his
Speaker 1: reflection in you when all the impurities have burned out
Speaker 1: of your life. You've been through the fire. He says, then,
Speaker 1: after I've tested them, after I've purified them, then, They
Speaker 1: will be, they will pray to me, and I will answer.
Speaker 1: Notice that the prayer's answer comes after the test. Does
Speaker 1: that sound vaguely familiar? We spent 10 weeks on Daniel,
Speaker 1: looking at 10 tests of Daniel, and I said before
Speaker 1: every blessing, there is a testing. And God tests you
Speaker 1: with stress before he trusts you with success. That principle
Speaker 1: of Daniel's life is one of the principles of persistent prayer.
Speaker 1: God is going to test you before he blesses you.
Speaker 1: And he says, I'm going to test you. And in
Speaker 1: this test, you're going to learn a lot about yourself.
Speaker 1: If you give up praying, you're never going to learn
Speaker 1: these lessons. You say, well, what do I learn? What
Speaker 1: do I specifically learn about myself when I have to
Speaker 1: pray specifically and persistently? Well, let me just mention four areas.
Speaker 1: Four areas that God wants me to grow, wants you
Speaker 1: to grow. Write these down. The first would be this.
Speaker 1: Praying persistently tests my desires. Praying persistently tests my desires.
Speaker 1: And what that means is I ask the question, what
Speaker 1: do I really want? When you start praying, and many
Speaker 1: of you are praying for a breakthrough, you're going to
Speaker 1: find that actually your prayer changes. It evolves, it grows,
Speaker 1: it develops, because you're going to say, well, that's not
Speaker 1: really what I want. What I really want is this
Speaker 1: or that. And praying persistently tests my desires, what I
Speaker 1: really want. Now, everybody has desires. The reason you have
Speaker 1: desires is because God put them in you. Now, a
Speaker 1: desire can be misused, it can be abused, it can
Speaker 1: be perverted. The desire for a sexual relationship, that's a
Speaker 1: normal human desire. Can it be abused, perverted, misused? Of
Speaker 1: course it can. All of God's gifts are good, but
Speaker 1: they can be misused. Fire is good in the fireplace,
Speaker 1: but fire in the wrong place will burn a house down.
Speaker 1: Water is good in a bathtub, but water in a flood,
Speaker 1: too much of it can drown you. Any of God's
Speaker 1: gifts can be perverted, misused, and abused by Satan. The
Speaker 1: reason why God has certain parameters for sex is not
Speaker 1: because it's dirty, it's not, it's holy. In fact, sex
Speaker 1: is more important than you think. I'll do a whole
Speaker 1: message on that some other time. But here's the point.
Speaker 1: I just piqued your interest on that one. There are
Speaker 1: good desires in your life and there are bad desires
Speaker 1: in your life. There are appropriate desires in your life
Speaker 1: and there are inappropriate desires in your life. There are
Speaker 1: helpful desires in your life and there are harmful desires
Speaker 1: in your life. There are righteous desires in your life.
Speaker 1: There are unrighteous desires in your life. There are constructive
Speaker 1: desires in your life and there are destructive desires. When
Speaker 1: you pray persistently, those start to filter out. And you
Speaker 1: begin to realize this is a good desire or this
Speaker 1: is not a good desire. Persistent praying shows the difference
Speaker 1: between a whim and a deep desire. If you ask
Speaker 1: God for something and you only ask about it one time,
Speaker 1: that's not a deep desire. It's just a whim. And
Speaker 1: God is not in the business of fulfilling every whim
Speaker 1: you've got. God is in the business, as your heavenly father,
Speaker 1: of taking care of your deepest desires. God doesn't give
Speaker 1: you every little whim. You might watch something on a
Speaker 1: shopping channel, go, I really like that, and three minutes later,
Speaker 1: you've already forgotten it. It's a whim. If you're not
Speaker 1: willing to pray about something more than once, it's not
Speaker 1: a deep desire, it's just a whim. And God doesn't
Speaker 1: promise to meet all your whims. It's Christmas time. When
Speaker 1: my kids were little and they used to come to me,
Speaker 1: I'd take them to the mall and we'd go through
Speaker 1: stores and they'd say a hundred things that they wanted.
Speaker 1: I like that, daddy, I like that, daddy, all that.
Speaker 1: Can I get this, dad? How about that, daddy? A
Speaker 1: hundred different things. And I know most of them are
Speaker 1: just whims. But when they go, daddy, I really, really, really, really, really, really, really, daddy,
Speaker 1: I really, really, really want this. Now I know, we're
Speaker 1: not talking about a whim. We're talking about a deep desire.
Speaker 1: But they had to say 18 reallys to convince me.
Speaker 1: And sometimes when you've got a prayer, God goes, are
Speaker 1: you just asking for that? You want to get married,
Speaker 1: you want a husband, you want a wife, how serious
Speaker 1: are you willing to pray about it every day? Are
Speaker 1: you willing, would you like a job? Would you, whatever
Speaker 1: you want to, are you willing to pray about it
Speaker 1: three times a day like we're doing right now and
Speaker 1: bring it before God? It kind of sifts out, nah,
Speaker 1: that's not that important to me. So the first thing
Speaker 1: that praying persistently does is it tests my desires. By
Speaker 1: the way, have you ever wondered where your deepest desires
Speaker 1: come from? They come from God. They come from God.
Speaker 1: They're part of your God-given shape. There's some things that
Speaker 1: attract your interest, some things you couldn't care less about.
Speaker 1: Some things really turn you on. Some things bore you
Speaker 1: to tears. Some things really wind your crank. Some things
Speaker 1: just give a big yawn. And all of us have
Speaker 1: different desires, different needs, different interests. That's part of your
Speaker 1: God-given shape. They came from God. And God put that
Speaker 1: desire in you, and then he wants you to ask,
Speaker 1: and then he wants to provide for it. That builds
Speaker 1: the relationship. That builds the connection. When you have a need,
Speaker 1: and then you recognize that need, and then you verbalize
Speaker 1: that need to God, and then God meets that need,
Speaker 1: what's the end result of that? You trust God more.
Speaker 1: And every time you get an answer to prayer, you
Speaker 1: trust God more. That's why God wants you to pray.
Speaker 1: That's why God wants you to ask and keep on asking.
Speaker 1: But he says, I want first to know what you
Speaker 1: really want in your heart. Praying tests my desires. Did
Speaker 1: you know that God wants to give you your deepest desires?
Speaker 1: He does. He just wants to make sure that he's
Speaker 1: in the first place, that he's your first desire, and
Speaker 1: then everything else is second. There is almost nothing that
Speaker 1: God won't do for the woman or the man who
Speaker 1: puts God first in every area of their life. Almost nothing.
Speaker 1: Look at this next verse. It's an amazing verse. Psalm
Speaker 1: 37 verse four, great promise. Take delight in the Lord,
Speaker 1: that's a desire thing, and he will give you, read
Speaker 1: it with me, the desires of your heart. Holy moly.
Speaker 1: You need to write that one on a card and
Speaker 1: put it on your visor or on your or on
Speaker 1: your mirror in your bathroom. Delight yourself in the Lord.
Speaker 1: Take delight in the Lord and he will give you
Speaker 1: the desires of your heart. God is not stingy. He's
Speaker 1: waiting on you. Delight yourself in the Lord. Pay attention
Speaker 1: to God. And when I pay attention to God, it
Speaker 1: tests my desires. What do I really want? Here's the
Speaker 1: second thing it tests. Number two, praying persistently tests my priorities.
Speaker 1: It tests my priorities. And when I have to pray
Speaker 1: for something more than once, it's not like I'm convincing
Speaker 1: God to do it. He already is waiting to give it.
Speaker 1: He just wants to know what's really important to me.
Speaker 1: That's the question. What's most important in my life? And
Speaker 1: so when you pray about something, it tends to clarify
Speaker 1: what's important to you. If you don't pray about it,
Speaker 1: it's obviously not important. If you do pray about it,
Speaker 1: it obviously is important. Now, if it's not worth praying
Speaker 1: about repeatedly, then it isn't a priority. By the way,
Speaker 1: do you know how to know what's important to you?
Speaker 1: What's really important to you? You want to, how do I,
Speaker 1: I don't know what's important to me. I'll tell you what,
Speaker 1: you know what's important to you? What you worry about most.
Speaker 1: Worry tells you what's important in your life. If you
Speaker 1: worry about it, it's important. If you don't worry about it,
Speaker 1: it's not that important to you because you've given it
Speaker 1: up to God, you've trusted him for it, or it's
Speaker 1: not even that important to you. Worry tells you what's
Speaker 1: important to you. But every time you're worried, you're acting
Speaker 1: like an atheist. Worry is practical atheism. I've said that
Speaker 1: many times. It's acting like you don't have a Heavenly
Speaker 1: Father who has promised multiple times in this book, I
Speaker 1: will take care of every one of your needs. When
Speaker 1: you worry, you're acting like, I don't have a God,
Speaker 1: and I don't have a God who loves me, and
Speaker 1: I don't have a God who's promised to take care
Speaker 1: of all my needs, so if it's to be, it's
Speaker 1: up to me. I've got to take care of it myself.
Speaker 1: I've got to worry about it. Worry is an ineffective
Speaker 1: way of trying to control. Worrying about the past won't
Speaker 1: change the past. Worrying about the future won't change the future.
Speaker 1: Worry just messes up today. It's stewing without doing. It's
Speaker 1: a waste of time. If it's worth worrying about, it's
Speaker 1: worth praying about. And if you prayed about everything you
Speaker 1: worried about, you'd have a lot less to worry about.
Speaker 1: Worry all you want and it won't change anything. Pray
Speaker 1: about all you want, that will change everything. So every
Speaker 1: time you start to worry, you should stop and turn
Speaker 1: the worry into a prayer. Does that make sense? Every
Speaker 1: time you start to worry about anything, you stop and
Speaker 1: you turn that worry into a prayer. Worry without worry.
Speaker 1: Just worrying is, as I said, acting like you're an unbeliever.
Speaker 1: In fact, Jesus gets right to the point in the
Speaker 1: Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 6, verse 32 and 33.
Speaker 1: He says, why? Why be like unbelievers who worry about everything?
Speaker 1: Because they don't have any God, any Heavenly Father who
Speaker 1: loves them or take care of them. Why worry? Why
Speaker 1: be like an unbeliever who worry about everything? Your Heavenly
Speaker 1: Father already knows everything. Circle that, already knows all your needs.
Speaker 1: You're not convincing God. You're not even notifying God when
Speaker 1: you have a need in prayer. Your Father, Heavenly Father,
Speaker 1: already knows your needs. And he'll give you all you
Speaker 1: need if your first concern is to live for his kingdom.
Speaker 1: First concern, what is that? That's called a priority. Praying
Speaker 1: persistently tests my priorities. Now, when your priorities are ripe, listen. Listen.
Speaker 1: When your priorities are right, God's answer is yes. It's yes.
Speaker 1: And when my priorities are not right, God might have
Speaker 1: another answer. And there are multiple ones he can have
Speaker 1: for that. I'll share them with you in a minute.
Speaker 1: But when your priority's right, God says, you know, he
Speaker 1: already knows your concern. He'll give you all you need
Speaker 1: if your first concern is to live for his kingdom.
Speaker 1: So really, you know, you say, well, I'm waiting on
Speaker 1: God to answer this prayer. Are you waiting on God
Speaker 1: or is God waiting on you? Maybe he wants to
Speaker 1: test his desire. And maybe he wants to test your priorities.
Speaker 1: What's really important to me? Look at this next verse,
Speaker 1: Psalm 84, verse 11. This is an amazing promise. No
Speaker 1: good thing will the Lord withhold from those who do
Speaker 1: what is right. Wow. God says, you know what, your
Speaker 1: priorities are right, you're living for me, your attention is
Speaker 1: with me, you're staying connected to me, my kingdom is
Speaker 1: your number one priority, guess what? Anything you ask. No
Speaker 1: good thing will I withhold from those who walk uprightly.
Speaker 1: That's why I said earlier, there is nothing, almost nothing
Speaker 1: God will not give the man who's totally committed to
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ. There's almost nothing God will not give to
Speaker 1: the woman who's totally committed to Jesus Christ. He says,
Speaker 1: no good thing will the Lord withhold from those who
Speaker 1: do what is right. So that leads me to ask
Speaker 1: the question, what's out of order in my life? Are
Speaker 1: your priorities out of whack right now? Is right now
Speaker 1: your job taking number one? Is right now, you know,
Speaker 1: television taking number one? Are your priorities out of order?
Speaker 1: Are you spending more time on social media than in
Speaker 1: the word of God? That's called out of order priority, right?
Speaker 1: He says, no good thing will God withhold from those
Speaker 1: who do what is right. Here's the third test. What
Speaker 1: it shows me about myself. Persistent praying tests my maturity.
Speaker 1: This is a big one. When God doesn't give something
Speaker 1: to you immediately, he is testing your maturity. He's testing
Speaker 1: your character. He's testing your responsibility. He's testing whether you've
Speaker 1: grown up or not. It's a gut check. God is,
Speaker 1: and I told you last week, God is not a
Speaker 1: vending machine. He's not a genie. Just pop in the
Speaker 1: prayer like a coin and you instantly get it. He
Speaker 1: wants to reveal your character. He wants you to show
Speaker 1: you the areas where you need to grow. Persistent praying.
Speaker 1: When I ask for something over and over and over,
Speaker 1: it actually shows my maturity rather than my immaturity. So
Speaker 1: what do you mean by that? If you tell a
Speaker 1: toddler you can have it in a little while, do
Speaker 1: they get that? No. If you tell a toddler not yet, okay,
Speaker 1: in a little while, if you tell a toddler you
Speaker 1: can have it later, they typically will throw a temper tantrum. Why?
Speaker 1: That's called immaturity. Why? Toddlers don't know how to wait.
Speaker 1: Immature humans don't know how to wait. Immature humans want
Speaker 1: it now and I want it yesterday and I want
Speaker 1: it even though I can't afford it and I'll put
Speaker 1: it on a credit card and I'll buy things I
Speaker 1: don't need with money I don't have. And then I'll
Speaker 1: be in debt. And I'll be in debt for a long,
Speaker 1: long time. Why? The number one cause of most of
Speaker 1: your problems in life is the inability to delay gratification.
Speaker 1: You don't know how to wait. We're in a society
Speaker 1: that says I gotta have it and I gotta have
Speaker 1: it now, even if I can't afford it, I'll put
Speaker 1: it on credit, et cetera, et cetera. Praying persistently tests
Speaker 1: my maturity, why? Because toddlers don't know how to wait.
Speaker 1: They don't know the difference between no and not yet.
Speaker 1: Do you? When God doesn't give you a prayer instantly,
Speaker 1: do you just grab your blanket and your ball and
Speaker 1: go to the corner? I'm going to go pout because
Speaker 1: God hasn't given me. I've been praying for that for
Speaker 1: weeks or months or maybe even years. Don't you think
Speaker 1: your Heavenly Father knows what you need more than you do?
Speaker 1: Knows when you need it, knows why you need it,
Speaker 1: knows the best way to need it, is working behind
Speaker 1: the scenes. While you're whining, God has been working. And
Speaker 1: while you're waiting, God is working on the answer. Sometimes
Speaker 1: he has to get certain things into place. I prayed
Speaker 1: for 13 years for land for this church. And in
Speaker 1: about 12 of those years, the piece of land that
Speaker 1: we sit on in the Lake Forest campus wasn't even around,
Speaker 1: wasn't even available, wasn't even charted. There was no Rancho
Speaker 1: Santa Margarita City. There was no Foothill Ranch City. There
Speaker 1: was no Lake Forest in this area. The roads weren't
Speaker 1: even in. It was just cow pasture. It wasn't even available.
Speaker 1: But before God even put in my mind to come
Speaker 1: and start Saddleback, he already knew where the first campus
Speaker 1: would be. It was just a matter of time. The
Speaker 1: dominoes were falling over. And so patience is a mark
Speaker 1: of maturity. And when it comes to prayer, if God
Speaker 1: doesn't give it to you immediately, do you just give
Speaker 1: up and say, well, I'm not going to pray about
Speaker 1: that anymore because he didn't give it to me in
Speaker 1: a month or a year or whatever. I'm going to
Speaker 1: just give up on it. Maturity means you know the
Speaker 1: difference between a delay and a denial. A delay is
Speaker 1: not a denial. Now, a baby doesn't understand that. No
Speaker 1: and not yet mean the same thing. But when you
Speaker 1: grow up, maturity means I learn the difference between a
Speaker 1: delay and a denial. God hasn't said no to your request,
Speaker 1: but it's going to come in his timing. Now, let
Speaker 1: me just say this. God wants to meet your deepest needs,
Speaker 1: physical needs. Spiritual, emotional, financial, relational, all your deepest needs.
Speaker 1: And he's promised to meet those needs. But he's far
Speaker 1: more interested in your character development. You've heard me say
Speaker 1: many times, God's more interested in your character than your comfort.
Speaker 1: Because you're not taking all your clothes and china and
Speaker 1: cash to heaven. You are taking your character. In heaven,
Speaker 1: there will be no problems. This is the get ready stage.
Speaker 1: You shouldn't expect things to be perfect on this earth.
Speaker 1: Everything is broken on this planet. God wants to meet
Speaker 1: your needs, but he's more interested in growing you to
Speaker 1: become more like Christ. And one of the characteristics of
Speaker 1: Christ is patience. The Bible says patience is a fruit
Speaker 1: of the Spirit. And how do you learn patience? Waiting.
Speaker 1: Department of Motor Vehicles. Sitting in a traffic jam, waiting
Speaker 1: in a doctor's office, in the waiting rooms of life.
Speaker 1: And you also learn patience by praying persistently even when
Speaker 1: you don't see any results. God is testing your character.
Speaker 1: He's testing your heart. He's testing your maturity. He's testing
Speaker 1: your patience and all these different things. Those of you
Speaker 1: who are moms, do you remember how you felt the
Speaker 1: first time you let your first child cry themselves to sleep.
Speaker 1: I'm such a bad mom right now. And you could
Speaker 1: hear that baby in the other room crying, and previously,
Speaker 1: every time they cried, you were there instantly. You were
Speaker 1: there instantly. And eventually you learn, you can't be there
Speaker 1: instantly every time they cry. And the first time you
Speaker 1: as a mother, or as a parent, as a dad,
Speaker 1: and you let that baby Cry itself to sleep. Question,
Speaker 1: was that important to that baby's development? Hello? If you
Speaker 1: think somebody's going to come wipe your nose every time
Speaker 1: you have a problem in life, you're going to be
Speaker 1: severely disappointed with life. Everybody owes me everything because I'm
Speaker 1: the center of attention. It's all about me. No, of course.
Speaker 1: Let me ask you another question. Those are your parents.
Speaker 1: Do you remember the first time you thought your child
Speaker 1: was old enough and responsible enough to leave them alone
Speaker 1: at home while you went out? And how nervous you
Speaker 1: were the first time you did that. And you left
Speaker 1: them alone, you bad parent you. And you bad, bad parent,
Speaker 1: you left them alone. You thought, I think they're old
Speaker 1: enough To be left alone. I think their maturity is
Speaker 1: at a level. They're not going to tear the house up.
Speaker 1: They're responsible. They're not going to do something stupid. And
Speaker 1: so I think they're responsible enough to leave them alone. Question,
Speaker 1: was that incident, no matter how painful it was to you,
Speaker 1: important to their development and maturity? Of course it was.
Speaker 1: Of course it was. Okay, I want you to get this.
Speaker 1: When God thinks you're mature enough, he's gonna let you
Speaker 1: go through a period where you feel alone. And you
Speaker 1: don't feel his presence. And the question is, am I
Speaker 1: gonna depend on my feelings or am I gonna depend
Speaker 1: on God? It's part of your development, your spiritual growth,
Speaker 1: your building muscle. God doesn't want you being living by
Speaker 1: your moods, he wants you being living by your commitments
Speaker 1: and by your trust in his word. And when God
Speaker 1: thinks you're mature enough, he's going to leave you alone
Speaker 1: for a while. And it's a character test. Some of
Speaker 1: you are in it right now. Congratulations. I haven't felt
Speaker 1: God in a long time. I just feel like it's
Speaker 1: a brass ceiling there. I'm not getting, my prayers are
Speaker 1: bouncing off. And when God leaves you alone, he's actually
Speaker 1: testing a couple things. Will you do the right thing
Speaker 1: without supervision? like you had to test your child? Will
Speaker 1: you keep praying when the answer isn't immediate, isn't quick,
Speaker 1: isn't instant, isn't immediate and all of a sudden there?
Speaker 1: Will you throw a temper tantrum and say God you're
Speaker 1: not fair and God you made all these promises and
Speaker 1: you're not keeping them? Let me show you an example
Speaker 1: of this. Second Chronicles chapter 32 verse 31. God left Hezekiah,
Speaker 1: he was a king, A very good king. God left
Speaker 1: Hezekiah on his own for a while, whoa, to see
Speaker 1: what he would do. God wanted to test his heart.
Speaker 1: And before God answers your prayer for a breakthrough, he's
Speaker 1: gonna test your heart. I'm telling you this as your friend.
Speaker 1: God is gonna test your heart before the breakthrough happens.
Speaker 1: And he wants to know, are you ready to handle
Speaker 1: the blessing? We talked about that with Daniel. Before every
Speaker 1: blessing is a testing. Do you know that God once
Speaker 1: did this for an entire nation? It's called the nation
Speaker 1: of Israel. He had a blessing for them called the
Speaker 1: promised land, but before he let them go into the
Speaker 1: promised land, he wanted to test them if they were
Speaker 1: mature enough, they were ready enough, they were responsible enough,
Speaker 1: they were committed enough to handle the blessing of the
Speaker 1: promised land. And so he kept them out in the desert,
Speaker 1: in the wilderness. They could have gone from Egypt to
Speaker 1: Israel in a matter of weeks or months. And it
Speaker 1: took them 40 years. What were they doing? Walking around
Speaker 1: the desert for 40 years. It's just not that long.
Speaker 1: You can get across that in several months. Certainly shouldn't
Speaker 1: have taken a year. And it took them 40 years. Well,
Speaker 1: they're getting tested. Now here's the cool thing about God.
Speaker 1: When God tests you, he wants you to succeed. And
Speaker 1: because he wants you to succeed, he'll let you retake
Speaker 1: the test. And in 40 years, God gave him seven
Speaker 1: different attempts. Like you can retry for the bar exam.
Speaker 1: You can test again. And God wants you to keep
Speaker 1: retaking the test until you pass it. Now here's what
Speaker 1: the Bible says, Deuteronomy 8 verse 2. The Lord led
Speaker 1: you through the wilderness for 40 years. Wow. Humbling and
Speaker 1: testing you. Circle testing. Humbling and testing you to prove
Speaker 1: your character. Remember I said when God is delaying an answer,
Speaker 1: he's testing your desires, he's testing your priorities, and he's
Speaker 1: testing your maturity. He wants to prove your character and
Speaker 1: to find out whether or not you would really obey
Speaker 1: his commands. Now let's just get real honest here. When
Speaker 1: you're in pain, when I'm in pain, and we cry
Speaker 1: out to God, either emotional pain or physical pain, or
Speaker 1: even when you're not in pain, you're just uncomfortable or
Speaker 1: you're bored. And when things aren't right in your life,
Speaker 1: what we want is we want God to remove the symptom,
Speaker 1: the painful symptom, when God wants to remove the cause.
Speaker 1: That takes a little bit more time. Let me say
Speaker 1: that again. When things are not going good in your life,
Speaker 1: you want God to just make it all happy. Put
Speaker 1: a bandaid on it, soothe it, take away the pain.
Speaker 1: Not clear up the relationship, not deepen your character, not
Speaker 1: change you. We want God to change the symptoms, change
Speaker 1: the circumstance, not change our character. We want a quick
Speaker 1: answer and God wants to cut out the cancer. We
Speaker 1: want to feel the ease in our prayer. God wants
Speaker 1: us to heal the disease. The thing that's causing that
Speaker 1: problem in your relationship. That's causing that problem in your marriage.
Speaker 1: It's causing that problem in your finances. We want God
Speaker 1: to just get us out of debt. God says, how
Speaker 1: about if we work on what caused you to get
Speaker 1: in it in the first place? Because if we get
Speaker 1: you out of debt and we don't work on the cause,
Speaker 1: you'll be back there in another year. We want to
Speaker 1: feel the ease. God wants to heal the disease. It's
Speaker 1: a whole different level. So here's the big question. When
Speaker 1: I'm praying for God to do a breakthrough in my life,
Speaker 1: I want to get married. I want to get a job.
Speaker 1: I want to see my dream come true. And God
Speaker 1: wants all these things. If they're a desire that he's
Speaker 1: put in your life and all these things are being met,
Speaker 1: God wants these things to be true in your life too.
Speaker 1: But the first question you have to ask yourself, am
Speaker 1: I willing to let God change me instead of changing
Speaker 1: the circumstance? Hmm, that's a whole different issue. Am I
Speaker 1: willing to let God change me instead of God changing
Speaker 1: the circumstance that I don't like? This is, friend, what's
Speaker 1: called the point of surrender. And the point of surrender
Speaker 1: happens in every breakthrough prayer before the breakthrough happens. And
Speaker 1: if you don't get through this point, you're not going
Speaker 1: to get to the breakthrough. Am I willing to let
Speaker 1: God change me and my attitude and my heart and
Speaker 1: my character and grow me up and change me and
Speaker 1: make me more like Christ? Why in the world am
Speaker 1: I praying for this promotion or whatever else? This is
Speaker 1: the point of surrender. Look up here on the screen.
Speaker 1: Romans 6.13 says this. Give yourself completely to God. to
Speaker 1: be used in the hands of God for his good purposes.
Speaker 1: Give yourself completely to God to be used in the
Speaker 1: hands of God for his purposes. That's the point of surrender.
Speaker 1: That's the point where you go, God, this is what
Speaker 1: I want, but really more than anything else, I want
Speaker 1: to be in the center of your will. You are
Speaker 1: in the place of God's anointing, God's blessing, God's power,
Speaker 1: God's grace, and you will see things that you never
Speaker 1: thought imagined. God is testing your desire. Do I really
Speaker 1: want this? He's testing your priorities. What's really most important
Speaker 1: in my life? He's testing your maturity. Do I know
Speaker 1: the difference between no and not yet, between delay and denial?
Speaker 1: Am I growing in character? Am I saying, God, I'm
Speaker 1: surrendering to you before the breakthrough prayer? Finally, do you
Speaker 1: know what else this does? When you're waiting, when you
Speaker 1: keep praying and praying and the answer hasn't come and
Speaker 1: you keep praying and praying and the answer hasn't come,
Speaker 1: this is a test. It is testing, persistent praying, test
Speaker 1: my faith. And that's the most precious thing of all,
Speaker 1: your faith. And the real issue, the question here is,
Speaker 1: do I trust my feelings or my Father? I know
Speaker 1: what God has said. I hear you, I'm gonna meet
Speaker 1: your need. I will meet your need, the answer's on
Speaker 1: its way. Do I trust my feelings or do I
Speaker 1: trust my Father? It is a mistake to trust your feelings. Now,
Speaker 1: in our last message, I said God will never give you,
Speaker 1: your Heavenly Father will never give you anything unhelpful or harmful.
Speaker 1: He'll never give you anything detrimental or deadly. He'll only
Speaker 1: give you what is good. God made you. He knows
Speaker 1: you better than you know you. He knows what will
Speaker 1: make you happy more than you do. He knows what
Speaker 1: you need more than you do. Why don't you trust
Speaker 1: your father? The one who made you. You wouldn't take
Speaker 1: the next breath if it weren't for him. And God
Speaker 1: knows what's going to make you happy. Now you know,
Speaker 1: I mean, if you've been at Saddleback, you know what
Speaker 1: God has said about this and about purpose. This next
Speaker 1: verse is one of our most familiar verses, Jeremiah 29 11.
Speaker 1: For I know, God says, the plans I have for you,
Speaker 1: says the Lord. They're plans for good and not for evil.
Speaker 1: Plans to give you a future and a hope. You're
Speaker 1: going to trust your feelings, you're going to trust your Father.
Speaker 1: He says, I have these plans. But you know what
Speaker 1: happens with plans? you have to wait on God's timing.
Speaker 1: Not all plans happen overnight. In fact, the bigger God
Speaker 1: wants to do something in your life, the longer the
Speaker 1: runway it takes to get it off the ground. When
Speaker 1: God wants to do something really big, a big breakthrough
Speaker 1: in your life, it doesn't happen boom like this. It
Speaker 1: happens when you're going down the runway and you're praying
Speaker 1: and you're trusting and you're growing in priorities and maturity
Speaker 1: and desires and in faith. And God says, I'm going
Speaker 1: to do it, but you got to do it in
Speaker 1: my timing. Galatians 6, 9. Let us not get tired
Speaker 1: of doing what is right. For at the right time,
Speaker 1: circle that phrase, at the right time, at the proper time,
Speaker 1: God's timing is perfect. He's never early. He's never late.
Speaker 1: At the right time, we will, not might, we will
Speaker 1: reap a harvest of blessing if we don't get discouraged
Speaker 1: and give up. your faith is more desirable and more
Speaker 1: important and more precious than anything God could possibly give you.
Speaker 1: Now knowing this, that God wants you to keep praying,
Speaker 1: not because you're trying to wear him down. You don't
Speaker 1: have to convince God of your desires. He's already said,
Speaker 1: delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you
Speaker 1: the desires of your heart. He's already said, no good
Speaker 1: thing will he withhold from those who walk uprightly. He's
Speaker 1: already said, ask anything in my name and it shall
Speaker 1: be done. He's already said, you have not because you
Speaker 1: ask not. He's already said, I could give you 100 scriptures.
Speaker 1: You're not trying to convince God when you keep praying
Speaker 1: for it. But in that persistence, God is changing you.
Speaker 1: He's changing your desires. He's purifying your desires. He's testing
Speaker 1: your character. He's building your faith. He's strengthening your life.
Speaker 1: He's doing all of these things for good in your life.
Speaker 1: So let me end with how God answers prayers. Four things.
Speaker 1: I don't have to explain this. It's self-explanatory. Four ways
Speaker 1: God answers prayers. I told you last week, God always
Speaker 1: answers prayer. There is no such thing as unanswered prayer.
Speaker 1: He doesn't always answer the way you like. But God
Speaker 1: always answers prayer. And he always answers prayers one of
Speaker 1: four ways. Here's what they go. Number one, when my
Speaker 1: request is not right, God says no. Because God's not
Speaker 1: gonna give you something that's harmful for you, bad for you,
Speaker 1: is destructive, We've already said that. He'll only give you
Speaker 1: what's good, good for you. God will not give you
Speaker 1: something that's bad for you. When my request is not right,
Speaker 1: God says no. That's an answer. Number two, when I'm
Speaker 1: not right, God says grow. Now he's saying, yep, I
Speaker 1: want to give this to you, but you're not ready
Speaker 1: to stay at home by yourself yet. You're not ready
Speaker 1: to handle the responsibility. I have a blessing that's so big,
Speaker 1: it would blow your mind and your character couldn't handle it.
Speaker 1: And when your professional life outpaces your personal life, that's
Speaker 1: called stress. And so God says, when you're not right,
Speaker 1: God says, grow. We got a little growing here to
Speaker 1: do in character and in development and in surrender. Number three,
Speaker 1: when the timing's not right, God says, slow down. He says, slow.
Speaker 1: It's coming, but it's not here yet. And in Habakkuk,
Speaker 1: he says, do not be discouraged if the vision isn't
Speaker 1: fulfilled overnight. Surely it will happen. It will not be
Speaker 1: overdue a single day. God says, it's coming. It's slow.
Speaker 1: We're going to take this slow until you're ready to
Speaker 1: handle it. Pacing growth. I could give you a big
Speaker 1: testimony about that one, but I don't have time for it.
Speaker 1: Number four, but when my request and the timing and
Speaker 1: my character, they're all lined up right, God says, go.
Speaker 1: Those are the four ways God always answers prayer. Know, know,
Speaker 1: he says sometimes. Grow, he says sometimes. Slow, and then
Speaker 1: he says, go. Go. So this is the reason we
Speaker 1: do what Ephesians 6.18 says, last verse. Pray at all times,
Speaker 1: pray at all times and on every occasion in the
Speaker 1: power of the Holy Spirit. Always stay alert and be
Speaker 1: persistent in your prayers. Not because you're trying to convince God.
Speaker 1: but because of these other reasons. Be persistent in your
Speaker 1: prayers for all Christians everywhere. I want you to circle
Speaker 1: all of those all words, okay? Pray all times, circle all.
Speaker 1: On every occasion, circle every. Always stay alert, circle always.
Speaker 1: Be persistent in your prayers for all Christians. You need
Speaker 1: to be praying for other people. God healed Job when
Speaker 1: he prayed for his friends. Everywhere. Now, what is not
Speaker 1: included in that verse? Nothing. That's why Paul says, pray
Speaker 1: without ceasing. Not three times a day. All the time.
Speaker 1: Let's bow our heads. This could be a breakthrough moment
Speaker 1: for you. As I pray this hymn again, will you
Speaker 1: make it your prayer? Say, Lord, take my life and
Speaker 1: let it be consecrated Lord to thee say take my
Speaker 1: moments and my days.
Speaker 2: Let them flow in endless praise.
Speaker 1: And say God take my voice and let me sing
Speaker 1: always only for my king take my lips and let
Speaker 1: them be filled with messages from thee Say, God, take
Speaker 1: my hands and let them move at the impulse of
Speaker 1: your love. And take my intellect and use every thought
Speaker 1: as you would choose. Say, God, take my will and
Speaker 1: make it thine. It shall no longer be mine. Take
Speaker 1: my heart. It is your own.
Speaker 3: And it shall be your royal throne Say, Father who
Speaker 3: loves me in heaven, take my love, my Lord, I pour.
Speaker 3: At your feet, it's treasure store.
Speaker 2: Take myself and I will be ever only all for thee.
Speaker 2: Ever only all for thee. Help me to never give.
Speaker 1: Up in the prayers you put in my heart, but
Speaker 1: to keep praying until you say no or grow or
Speaker 1: slow or go. I pray this in Jesus' name. And
Speaker 1: everybody said, Amen.