Speaker 1: Hey, thanks for joining us today on Pastor Rick's Daily Hope.
Speaker 1: We are so glad that you found us today. I've
Speaker 1: got a question for you. Are you feeling stuck like
Speaker 1: maybe you've hit a wall and just nothing's moving forward. Well,
Speaker 1: you're not alone and you're not without hope. You know,
Speaker 1: the Bible is full of people who faced impossible situations
Speaker 1: like Mary, Noah, Job, even the apostle Paul, and they
Speaker 1: all experienced one thing that changed everything, a breakthrough from God.
Speaker 1: So today Pastor Rick continues his series called Seeking God
Speaker 1: for a Breakthrough. Rick's going to walk us through biblical
Speaker 1: accounts of faith, prayer, and perseverance, reminding us that God
Speaker 1: still moves in powerful ways whether you're in a season
Speaker 1: of waiting or searching for hope.
Speaker 2: This series offers.
Speaker 1: Encouragement and biblical truth to help you keep going and.
Speaker 2: Get the breakthrough you need. So let's get started.
Speaker 1: Here's Rick with the final part of a message called
Speaker 1: talking to Your Heavenly Father.
Speaker 3: Now he says, they're asked and it will be given.
Speaker 3: Seeking you fine knock and the will be open. Sounds
Speaker 3: like I'm just asked for anything. The answer is you
Speaker 3: can ask for anything. It doesn't mean God's going to
Speaker 3: give it. God always answers every prayer, always, but he
Speaker 3: doesn't always say yes. In fact, in a future message,
Speaker 3: I'm going to tell you the four different ways next week,
Speaker 3: the four different ways that God answers prayers, and I'm going.
Speaker 2: To show you the conditions for answered prayer.
Speaker 3: But he says, you can always ask, but there are
Speaker 3: some obvious qualifications. In other words, God has some things
Speaker 3: he wants you to understand about prayer. And that leads
Speaker 3: us to the second reason that I can always pray
Speaker 3: with confidence, and it's this.
Speaker 2: Write this down.
Speaker 3: God will will never give me anything that's unhelpful. Now,
Speaker 3: this is going to help you build confidence because you
Speaker 3: don't often know what to pray. He said, I don't
Speaker 3: know if this is good for me or not. God
Speaker 3: will never give me anything that's unhelpful. He will not
Speaker 3: give you everything you want, because not everything you want
Speaker 3: would be helpful. And in verse nine, he says, if
Speaker 3: your child remember this a father daughter father son relationship.
Speaker 3: If your child asked you for some bread to eat,
Speaker 3: would any of you fathers give her a stone? And
Speaker 3: said the obvious is of course not. Of course, God
Speaker 3: would not do that to you, and you wouldn't do
Speaker 3: it to your child. If your child came in said Mommy,
Speaker 3: I'm hungry, you would say, oh, here, have a stone,
Speaker 3: eat a rock. By the way, this is humor in
Speaker 3: the Bible, you guys, it's okay to laugh at this.
Speaker 3: This is Hebrew humor, humor by exaggeration. Jesus has several
Speaker 3: laughlines in the Sermon on the Mount, and this is
Speaker 3: one of them.
Speaker 2: He's going, it's ridiculous to think.
Speaker 3: That a mother or father if they came and asked
Speaker 3: you for some food, you said, oh, here, bite a rock.
Speaker 2: No, he wouldn't do that.
Speaker 3: Now, if you ask God for something good, he's saying here,
Speaker 3: God is never going to give you something bad.
Speaker 2: He's never gonna give you something bad.
Speaker 3: If you ask for something worthwhile I want some bread,
Speaker 3: He's not going to give you something worthless. He will
Speaker 3: never give you anything worthless. By the way, the opposite
Speaker 3: is true of this too. If you ask for something good,
Speaker 3: God will never never give you anything bad for your life.
Speaker 3: But the opposite is also true. If you ask for
Speaker 3: something bad, God's not going to give you that either.
Speaker 3: Why Because God is a good, loving God, He knows
Speaker 3: what you need better than you do. He knows what
Speaker 3: will make you happy more than you do. He knows
Speaker 3: your life more than you do. He understands what makes
Speaker 3: you tick, what will make you fulfilled, what will give
Speaker 3: your life meaning significance, more than you do. So both
Speaker 3: are true. You ask for good, he's not going to
Speaker 3: give you bad. And if you ask for bad, he's.
Speaker 2: Not gonna give you bad. Because he is a loving God.
Speaker 3: He'll never give me anything that is unhelpful. Now why
Speaker 3: is that good news to you? It means I don't
Speaker 3: have to censure my prayers. A lot of times we
Speaker 3: feel incompetent or unconfident about prayer because, go, I don't
Speaker 3: know if I should really be praying for this. I'm saying, God,
Speaker 3: I'd really like to marry that person, but what if
Speaker 3: they're the wrong person. Or God, I'd really like to
Speaker 3: have that job, but what if it was the wrong
Speaker 3: job for me? God says, it doesn't matter what you pray,
Speaker 3: because I'm the one who's going to decide if it's
Speaker 3: good or not. Not You, you don't have to know
Speaker 3: figure out if the prayer is a good win or not.
Speaker 3: Just ask. You can ask for anything. You can even
Speaker 3: ask for bad stuff. It's okay because as a child,
Speaker 3: a child might say, hey, Daddy, could I drink this
Speaker 3: a bottle of colorox?
Speaker 2: No? Okay, daddy, can im four years old? Can I
Speaker 2: have the keys of the cart? No?
Speaker 3: And God knows what you don't know. So he says,
Speaker 3: just don't worry about whether your crest request is a
Speaker 3: good one or a bad one. You don't have to
Speaker 3: worry about that. Just ask whatever you want. I'll figure
Speaker 3: it out. It's on me, it's my burden. I will
Speaker 3: never give you something that is unhelpful. God will sort
Speaker 3: it out. That's a great stress reliever in prayer. Now,
Speaker 3: the third reason he says we can pray with confidence,
Speaker 3: He says, First, God promises to answer if I keep asking. Second,
Speaker 3: God will never give me anything that's unhelpful.
Speaker 2: That's confidence.
Speaker 3: And the third reason I can always pray with confidence
Speaker 3: is God will never give me anything that could harm me.
Speaker 3: Now he's taking it a deeper step. Not just something
Speaker 3: that's unhelpful, but God says, I would never give you
Speaker 3: anything that would harm you or hurt you. As I said,
Speaker 3: if I profray, you know, can I drink this poison?
Speaker 2: No?
Speaker 3: A parent say no, No, you can't. In verse ten,
Speaker 3: he says, if your child asked for some fish, Hey, dad,
Speaker 3: can I have some fish sticks? Can I get them
Speaker 3: a McDonald's fish sandwich? Would you put a snake on
Speaker 3: their plate? That's humor, that's exaggeration there, and no parent,
Speaker 3: no loving parent, would do that. What's he saying here?
Speaker 3: A snake's a little different than the rock. A snake
Speaker 3: can be dangerous. In fact, sometimes a snake could be deadly.
Speaker 3: Sometimes you might ask for something that's actually dangerous in
Speaker 3: your life, or you might ask for something that would
Speaker 3: actually be deadly and incredibly destructive in your life.
Speaker 2: God say it doesn't matter. Just go ahead and.
Speaker 3: Ask, because I will never give you anything that's deadly
Speaker 3: or destructive. All figure it out, all sorted out, all
Speaker 3: sorted out. You don't have to worry. I will take
Speaker 3: care of it. I'm never gonna give you anything that
Speaker 3: hurt you. That gives me confidence, Well, I don't know
Speaker 3: should I pray for this or not? I don't know
Speaker 3: if this is the right thing. God just says, go
Speaker 3: ahead and ask. I'll figure it out. You don't have
Speaker 3: to you can be confident. And here's the fourth reason
Speaker 3: we can always pray with confidence, will only give me
Speaker 3: what's best for me.
Speaker 2: He says that.
Speaker 3: In the next verse, God will only give me what's
Speaker 3: best for me. That gives me a lot of confidence
Speaker 3: when I pray, And in verse eleven, he says this, Now,
Speaker 3: since even you, as a sinful, imperfect parent, know how
Speaker 3: to give good gifts to your children, how much more
Speaker 3: does your perfect, good and perfect father in Heaven give
Speaker 3: only gifts that are good, circle that only gifts that
Speaker 3: are good to those who ask him. Now, this gives
Speaker 3: me a lot of confidence in praying too. In the
Speaker 3: first place, you need to understand God is not a
Speaker 3: slot machine.
Speaker 2: Or you put in the.
Speaker 3: Prayer and you pull the lever and you get whatever
Speaker 3: the slot machine gives you. A slot machine give you
Speaker 3: can give you bats or a vending machine even is better. Illustration,
Speaker 3: You put money in a vending machine, pull the lever,
Speaker 3: and you're gonna get stuff that has carcinogens in it
Speaker 3: and stuff.
Speaker 2: That can harm you. God is not a vending machine.
Speaker 3: In fact, I've noticed that in vending machines it never
Speaker 3: vending machines never have the best stuff. God will only
Speaker 3: give you the best If you've ever had a donut
Speaker 3: in a vending machine, it's not nearly as good as
Speaker 3: another kind of donut.
Speaker 2: Or if you've.
Speaker 3: Ever had a sandwich in a vending machine, is it
Speaker 3: the best sandwich you've ever had? No, God is not
Speaker 3: a vending machine. He will only give you what's best
Speaker 3: for you.
Speaker 2: He says that.
Speaker 3: And by the way, God is not your genie. Some
Speaker 3: people treat prayer like the Aladdin's lamp, and you know,
Speaker 3: you rub the Aladdin's lamp, the genie comes out, and
Speaker 3: God says, your wish is my command.
Speaker 2: No, you don't.
Speaker 3: God doesn't serve you, You serve him. God is not
Speaker 3: your butler. God is not your genie. God is not
Speaker 3: your vending machine. God is not your servant. You are
Speaker 3: God's servant. He said, Well, then why should I even ask?
Speaker 3: Because he is your father. He's not your vending machine,
Speaker 3: but he is your father, and he loves you more
Speaker 3: than you even love yourself. And God says, I am
Speaker 3: your loving, heavenly father, and I'm waiting to answer your prayers,
Speaker 3: and I'm wanting to answer your prayers. So why are
Speaker 3: you all nervous about praying? He's just your father in heaven.
Speaker 3: You don't have to say fancy words. Yet God, I
Speaker 3: need this. That's a good enough prayer. God will sort
Speaker 3: it all out, and I will.
Speaker 2: Never give you.
Speaker 3: He says, what's not best for you now? God wants
Speaker 3: you to have a breakthrough. That's why we're doing this
Speaker 3: thirty four thirty forty days of breakthrough in praying three
Speaker 3: times today. God wants to give a breakthrough in your life,
Speaker 3: but he says you have not because you ask not.
Speaker 3: I wish I could read this stack just from the
Speaker 3: first few days of our time together as a family.
Speaker 3: I'll just read you one because they're so inspiring. This
Speaker 3: one here, this one on top, is about a financial breakthrough.
Speaker 3: It's from Tom and Eleanor and it says this. You're
Speaker 3: Pastor Rick, my wife and I are participating in thirty
Speaker 3: four days of seeking God for breakthrough along with the
Speaker 3: rest of our church family and using the ten fingers
Speaker 3: of praying. Remember we talked about this what to pray
Speaker 3: and how to pray and who to pray for.
Speaker 2: I made a list a.
Speaker 3: Sheet to remind me of how each of my fingers
Speaker 3: could represent ten topics to pray for in each of
Speaker 3: my five minute prayer times.
Speaker 2: It's been very helpful each day, and.
Speaker 3: Your explanation of how our two smallest fingers I remember
Speaker 3: talked about praying for yourself last and praying for material blessings.
Speaker 3: It's okay to pray for material blessings. They're just not
Speaker 3: the most important. It's the smallest thing.
Speaker 2: He says.
Speaker 3: I learned that our two smallest fingers could represent my
Speaker 3: needs and material blessings. That made me bold in seeking
Speaker 3: God's guidance and in blessing each day God's blessing each
Speaker 3: day before I began my work. And here's his story.
Speaker 3: On Monday, this last Monday, this past week, I went
Speaker 3: to the Charles Schwab office to request that my rollover
Speaker 3: from our account would be given to Saddleback Church. Said,
Speaker 3: my wife and I wanted to give it three different ways. First,
Speaker 3: we wanted to use this money to give God our
Speaker 3: tithe on this year's income. Then we wanted to give
Speaker 3: God a second installment of our Daring Faith pledge from
Speaker 3: last year. And then third we gave our end of
Speaker 3: the year offering, thanksgiving offering and thanksgiving to God and
Speaker 3: as our Christmas gift gift to Jesus. And he says
Speaker 3: two days later, that's Wednesday, this last week. Two days later,
Speaker 3: on Wednesday morning, in my seeking God for a breakthrough
Speaker 3: prayer time, I asked God to show me if he
Speaker 3: approved of how I was investing our money to build
Speaker 3: the retirement nest egg and also to be able to
Speaker 3: give more to support all that's good that we do
Speaker 3: at Saddleback. Well after my morning prayer time, I opened
Speaker 3: up my computer and I discovered that my investment gains
Speaker 3: were nearly double the amount that we had given to
Speaker 3: God on Monday.
Speaker 2: I was so touched by this that I was brought
Speaker 2: to tears.
Speaker 3: So I called my wife in and I showed her
Speaker 3: the breakthrough that God had done, and we both wept together.
Speaker 3: Feeling so blessed by God's grace and breakthrough. In gratitude,
Speaker 3: we decided that I should go back to Schwab and
Speaker 3: give even more to God than.
Speaker 2: We had just two days earlier.
Speaker 3: Then he says, another breakthrough miracle happened when I got home.
Speaker 3: In just those few minutes, I checked my investments, and
Speaker 3: I was astounded. In that short time that I had
Speaker 3: been gone, those investments had increased nearly three times more.
Speaker 2: Friends.
Speaker 3: That's called the breakthrough. He couldn't have, no way, could
Speaker 3: he be figured that out. He had no control over this.
Speaker 3: God just said, oh, I see what you're doing. I'm
Speaker 3: gonna you can't outgive me. You cann out give me.
Speaker 3: We're going to play this game. And God did something.
Speaker 3: When you have a breakthrough, you know it because you
Speaker 3: know I didn't do this.
Speaker 2: God had to do it.
Speaker 3: Now, Pastor Rick, you always say you can't outgive God,
Speaker 3: and it's true. So thank you for teaching us how
Speaker 3: to build the breakthrough habits of starting our day with God,
Speaker 3: with Bible reading and talking to God, by putting God first,
Speaker 3: by giving and faith, by trusting God's timing. Our first
Speaker 3: breakthrough in our home was financial, and God replenished in
Speaker 3: a single day what had been depleted over several years.
Speaker 3: That's a breakthrough. God replenished in a single day. This week,
Speaker 3: he said, all that we had lost over the last
Speaker 3: several years, that's a breakthrough. Friends, He said, Now only
Speaker 3: God knows what other kinds of breakthroughs he has in
Speaker 3: store for us, because there's many kinds, and for our
Speaker 3: church family. But every time this week that I've thought
Speaker 3: about what God did on one day when we had
Speaker 3: trusted him just two days earlier, tears have come to
Speaker 3: my eyes again. We're filled with great gratitude and a
Speaker 3: deeper love for God and our church. And we're continuing
Speaker 3: to pray now for everybody else in our saddleback family
Speaker 3: who's asking for some kind of breakthrough. So this guy
Speaker 3: and his wife are praying for you, and I'm going
Speaker 3: to teach you in this thing how to pray for
Speaker 3: each other. Now, have you noticed that these first four
Speaker 3: things why you can be confident in prayer? None of
Speaker 3: them have to do with you. When he says, God says,
Speaker 3: I'll answer you. Just keep asking. Okay, all I got
Speaker 3: to disaster. There's no big deal about that. God will
Speaker 3: never give me something that is unhelpful. God will never
Speaker 3: give me something that is harmful. And God will always
Speaker 3: only give me the best. None of those have to
Speaker 3: do with me. So why am I worried about my prayer?
Speaker 3: I I do as a little child and just ask God.
Speaker 2: I need this.
Speaker 3: If it's a good quest, I'll get it. If it's
Speaker 3: another quest, I'll get it in a different ways. If
Speaker 3: it's a bad request, God is not gonna give it
Speaker 3: because he's good and loving and kind.
Speaker 2: We'll talk about that more next week. Now there's one more.
Speaker 3: Reason that I can always pray with confidence, and it's this,
Speaker 3: God wants me to give to others what I want
Speaker 3: to get. God wants me to give to others what
Speaker 3: I want to get myself. Now, this is the golden rule.
Speaker 3: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
Speaker 3: And many people know that golden rule, but they don't
Speaker 3: realize it's actually connected to prayer Verse twelve. So in
Speaker 3: every situation, always due to others what you would want
Speaker 3: them to do for you. This sums up all the
Speaker 3: commands and all the teachings in the Bible. Now what
Speaker 3: that doesn't sound it has anything to do with prayer.
Speaker 3: But why have you ever been asked by somebody would
Speaker 3: you pray for me?
Speaker 2: Probably? And you go, okay, they asked me to pray
Speaker 2: for them? What do I pray? I have no idea
Speaker 2: what to pray.
Speaker 3: When somebody comes up to me and I get asked
Speaker 3: aldon On pastor Rick, will you pray for me? I'm
Speaker 3: going I don't know what to pray for them. What
Speaker 3: do you pray for somebody when they ask you to
Speaker 3: pray for them?
Speaker 2: Here's what you do. You pray whatever you would like
Speaker 2: people to pray for you. That's it. That's it.
Speaker 3: Would you like to have safety and security and success
Speaker 3: in your life? Yes, then pray for safety and security
Speaker 3: and success in other people's life. Would you like the
Speaker 3: financial blessing of God in your life? Yes, then pray
Speaker 3: for the financial blessing of God on other people's life.
Speaker 3: Would you like to have a healthy body, Yes, then
Speaker 3: pray for the healthy body of other people. Would you
Speaker 3: like to have a better use of your time? Yes,
Speaker 3: then pray for other people to use their time in
Speaker 3: the best way. Whatever you want God to do for you,
Speaker 3: he says, I want you to do it to other people.
Speaker 3: And God says, the way I treat you as my
Speaker 3: loving child, I'm your heavenly father, That's the way I
Speaker 3: expect you to treat everybody else. God wants you to
Speaker 3: treat other people the way He treats you. And when
Speaker 3: you pray for other people, what do you pray? You
Speaker 3: pray what you'd like to have prayed for you. Then
Speaker 3: you know instantly what to pray for people. What would
Speaker 3: I like to have in that situation? Guy says to you,
Speaker 3: my wife just walked out on me. What would you
Speaker 3: want people to pray for? You will you pray that
Speaker 3: for others.
Speaker 2: See how simple this is. And God wants you to.
Speaker 3: Treat others the way he treats you when you pray. Now,
Speaker 3: why is this important? Because God doesn't want you to
Speaker 3: be selfish. I told you that. In the Book of Job.
Speaker 3: It's in chapter forty two, verse ten. In fact, it's
Speaker 3: up here on the screen. It says this, After Job
Speaker 3: prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his fortunes. In fact,
Speaker 3: the Lord gave him twice as much as before.
Speaker 2: Remember the story of Job.
Speaker 3: He was the wealthiest man in the world, and one
Speaker 3: day he literally lost it all. All of his children
Speaker 3: were killed, his business collapsed, his crops were burned, he
Speaker 3: lost his home, he lost his health, he got a
Speaker 3: terrible disease, and he was miserable. And at the end
Speaker 3: of that book, it doesn't say when Job prayed for himself,
Speaker 3: God heard it. It says when Job began to pray
Speaker 3: for his friends, God said, oh, okay, you're ready now.
Speaker 3: God is looking for you to be unselfish. The more
Speaker 3: selfish you are, the more God's going to say, well,
Speaker 3: you got a little more grown up to do. But
Speaker 3: when you begin to pray for other people's breakthrough. Guess
Speaker 3: what's going to happen in your.
Speaker 2: Life, your breakthrough. Let's bow our heads.
Speaker 3: Would you say, God, I'm sorry that I've been nervous
Speaker 3: about prayer. I've been confused. I've had doubts about it.
Speaker 3: I haven't understood it, so I didn't even know how
Speaker 3: to pray. But I thank you Jesus for these five
Speaker 3: things that you promise to answer if I just keep.
Speaker 2: Asking, keep seeking, keep knocking.
Speaker 3: Thank you that, no matter what my relationship is to you,
Speaker 3: whether I'm close or distant, or there's a even a barrier, you.
Speaker 2: Want me to ask and seek and knock.
Speaker 3: Thank you God that you're never going to give me
Speaker 3: something that's unhelpful. You're never going to give me something
Speaker 3: that's harmful. You're never going to answer a request that's
Speaker 3: a wrong request that's not going to make me what
Speaker 3: I really want in life. Thank you that you'll only
Speaker 3: give me what's best for me, so I can relax
Speaker 3: and I don't have to worry about is this is
Speaker 3: an okay request?
Speaker 2: That I can literally.
Speaker 3: Ask for anything and you'll do the sorting out. Lord,
Speaker 3: that's such a great relief. Attention reliever, Lord, I ask
Speaker 3: you to help me to give away what I want
Speaker 3: to receive. Help me to give away what I want
Speaker 3: to receive, so that you may teach me not just
Speaker 3: your blessings, but to teach me to be more like
Speaker 3: Jesus Christ. If you've never invited Jesus into your life,
Speaker 3: say Jesus Christ, come into you my life.
Speaker 2: Make yourself real to me. I want to get to
Speaker 2: know you.
Speaker 3: I want to learn to trust you and love you,
Speaker 3: and I want to learn to talk to you all
Speaker 3: the time. And I humbly ask this my Father in Heaven,
Speaker 3: in Jesus' name, Amen, did.
Speaker 2: You just accept Christ? Well? Congratulations.
Speaker 3: If you'll email me Rickapastorrick dot com, just let me
Speaker 3: know that you prayed that prayer. You open your life
Speaker 3: to Christ, and guess what We'll pray for you and
Speaker 3: we'll send some free materials to help you grow on
Speaker 3: your spiritual journey.
Speaker 1: You know, one of the things you ask us about
Speaker 1: most here on Daily Hope are the Bible scripture cards. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we get a ton of requests for them. So Pastor
Speaker 1: Rick has added another deck of scripture cards with forty
Speaker 1: of the key verses from this forty Days of Prayer
Speaker 1: series and this series and these cards can transform your
Speaker 1: prayer life. These are colorful, eye catching cards that will
Speaker 1: help you memorize the Word of God so you've got
Speaker 1: it when you need it most. Something you hear Pastor
Speaker 1: Rick talking about all the time. So please contact us
Speaker 1: today and request the forty Days of Prayer Scripture cards.
Speaker 1: There are gift to you when you give a gift
Speaker 1: to help Daily Hope share the Hope of Jesus with
Speaker 1: people all around the world. Just go to Pastororick dot
Speaker 1: com to get your copy of this great resource. That's
Speaker 1: Pastorick dot com. Or just text the word Hope to
Speaker 1: seven oh three to oh nine. Again, that's the word
Speaker 1: hope to seven oh three to oh nine. And really,
Speaker 1: thank you so much for your support. It means so
Speaker 1: much to us because your gift to Daily Hope helps
Speaker 1: us share the hope of Christ with people all around
Speaker 1: the world. We hope you'll join us next time as
Speaker 1: we look into God's word for our daily hope. This
Speaker 1: program is sponsored by Pastor Rick's Daily Hope and your
Speaker 1: generous financial support