Worship Leader / Host (0:00)

Foreign.

Life Church Announcer / Host (0:08)

Welcome to Life Church. We're so glad you're here. Easter is coming soon and we'd love for you to celebrate with us at Life Church. You can find service times and get a sneak peek of what you'll experience at Life Church Easter. We've got another encouraging message for you this week. Let's go to it right now.

Pastor / Speaker (0:32)

So as we enter into our final week of how to pray, I want to start by just giving you a picture of my own prayer journey. I have been faithfully following Christ for over 36 years now. And it's been an incredible time. The best years of my life, the hardest years of my life. And in these seasons of ups and downs, my prayer life has also been up and down. I've always known as a Christian that prayer is critical. It's so important. And so I would pray. I would pray your regulars, you know, pray in the morning, pray before bed, pray at mealtime, pray if there's a prayer request. Is there an urgent need? Rhythms like that. But really it was more compartmentalized. It was more in those urgent moments. And I KNEW at about 15 years ago, I want more. I knew I wanted something better. I wanted to. I wanted to know what makes prayer more effective. I want to know how to make it a lifestyle. Because if God, loving him is the greatest commandment, to know him and love him is the most important thing in my life, then I have to make it a priority. And I have to make it a priority in prayer. And so I decided about maybe 15 years ago that I wanted to get a PhD in prayer, that it was going to be the thing that I studied. I got books, I looked at every scripture on prayers and petitions and supplications. And I began to, of course, practice it. I mean, I've read a book, at least one book a year on prayer. I've read so many good ones that I would give you my list right now. But I want us to move on because it's a huge topic for me. It's huge in my heart. And more than anything with prayer is, I want to grow greater intimacy with God. And that is where you can find it, is in prayer. Because I can read a lot about God, I can know a lot about God, but I wanted to experience him in reality of real time, living and amen. So we're. I'm not alone in this desire. We're not alone in this desire. Jesus disciples, they were the ones that said as they witnessed Jesus in his prayer, life, Lord, teach us. And the Lord's Prayer has been a framework for this series, right? So I would love for you all to stand with me if you're able to, and let's pray the Lord's Prayer. But as you pray it, let's imagine that we've never even heard it before, that we're one of those disciples, and we're hearing it and we're experiencing it for the first time. Let it be real to you. Let's pray it together. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but. But deliver us from the evil one. Amen. You may be seated. So in week one, Pastor Josh talked to us about how prayer is simply talking with our Heavenly Father. In week two, Pastor Sam shared with us that prayer is submitting to our Holy King. And in our final week, I want to share with you how prayer is simply how we live in complete dependence on our Heavenly Father. And we see this in Scripture in 1st Thessalonians 5, 16, 18. Look at this verse with me. It says, rejoice always. Pray continually. Give thanks in all circumstances. What is it? It's God's will for you in Christ Jesus. We want to know God's will. But what's interesting is that we see the pray continually. I have it in yellow here. But if you look at what else is being told to us, that is God's will. Rejoicing and giving thanks always in all circumstances. That is all prayer. Because prayer is worshiping God, prayer is thanking him, and prayer is petitioning him. And so this whole verse is basically saying, to commune with God, talk to God, let him be your life. If you are in Christ as a believer, our lives are to be consumed with him. That is what Jesus showed us. That's how he lived. Right? If you've read the Gospels, you've seen that he lived such daily dependence on God that he even said time and time again, I only do what I see my father doing. I don't do anything unless I have seen my Father and he's told me to do it. His whole life is interwoven and bound up in his Father. In everything that he did, nothing he did was independent of God. So how much more should we live in daily dependence on our Father if it was that important to our Son? Right? And so I want to give you this example for those visual learners of a sunflower. It's wonderful. That a sunflower, as they're maturing, they start when they get their bloom in their face by focusing to the east when the sun comes up, and they will. Heliotropism is the scientific term. They follow the sun throughout the day as it begins to set over to the west, and then they begin the next day at the east. And they keep their gaze and their focus following the sun throughout the whole day. It's incredible, that example, it's so simple, but it shows us the dependence that we need to have on God is not in one moment, but it's constant. And so when we look at the Lord's Prayer and consider the part that I will be talking to you about, these are the petitionary prayers. And the order that Christ showed us is so important because we start with the foundation our Father and we go into the what Pastor Sam talked about, that it's about God's kingdom and we align ourselves to his kingdom. But next, after we've gotten aligned, we have needs. So we go into petitionary prayers that give us this day. We need forgive us, Lord, as we forgive, lead us out of temptation, away from it, and deliver us from the evil one. These are petitionary prayers. Petitionary prayer simply means that we are asking for ourselves. The intercessory prayer is when you are asking for others. And in the Lord's Prayer, we're saying plural, Give us, lead us. That is corporate intercessory prayer for one another. It's a beautiful thing, right? And why do we do it? Well, it's so obvious. We ask because we're in need and we pray and ask and petition because we need to receive God's forgiveness and we need to give forgiveness. We pray these prayers because we're in a spiritual battle, right? Every day, all the time, and because God hears. But as we've talked about in other weeks, we have some prayer issues. Most of us get so distracted, we feel too busy to be praying constantly. We feel discouraged about unanswered prayers. And so a lot of you today, you might feel stuck. You may feel like even you don't even know how to pray, right? Or your prayers are inauthentic. They're not real. They're faithless. They're lip service. So a lot of you may have stopped praying. I love this quote by Pete Gregg. He's founder of 247 Prayer. Actually, all of his books on prayer I highly recommend they are fantastic. He says sometimes prayer doesn't appeal to us because it is placed into the category of boring but important along With Leviticus, algebra, and flossing. Isn't that crazy? Most of you don't jump up and down when it's time to go to the most famous prayer meeting. We think prayer is boring if it's a means to an end. We think, well, I have a need, so I pray. And this motive to pray is just transactional. It isn't relational, Right? If prayers are transactional, we're treating God like the dad that we go to simply when our car breaks down, the dad that we just try to butter up so we can get what we want. And this is the type of transaction that we do with God. That you ignore God when things are good. And some of you typically would end up doing that and then blaming God when things are bad, right? So my prayer for you is that you would grasp that prayer is not only essential, it's deeply enjoyable. But actually, last night I had trouble getting to sleep. Imagine that. And I said, you know what my prayer is? This. It is that you would understand. It's essential, but it's enjoyable. But I said, God, what I really am asking you to do, here's my real prayer. I mean, it's my big prayer. I want the Father to radically transform your prayer life. I want it for me, because even though I'm on this journey of prayer, I haven't arrived. And I want more. I want to get better. I sometimes feel like I still don't pray as I should. I want us to learn that prayer is the greatest thing we can do so that you never stop praying. So. Amen. So why do we pray? A lot of people say, if God already knows what we're gonna ask, right? Cause he tells us in His Word, he knows what we need. Well, it's just so common sense. It's relational. You don't just think about something that you want to your best friend or your husband, and it just magically appears that would not be a relationship. You have to. God wants you to talk about what you want, process it. You can grow through that. Because remember, prayer is transform. He wants glory from the answered prayer that you've asked. And God, he's a hearing God, and so he wants us talking with him in this relationship. And he also knows that when we ask, we are being intentional. Well, we are thinking intentionally about what we need. Jesus said in Matthew 7, 7, ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened to you. And you may think, but, but, but, but, but I've done that. It didn't Work like that. Well, these are present tense verbs that have a. They mean there's a continual action to this that we keep on asking, we keep on seeking, we keep on knocking again and again and again. There's intentionality that keeps on going because prayer isn't a single moment. It's a lifestyle that has to do with trust in God, a God who hears and he responds to our needs. And he's doing a work in us as well as through us, through our prayers. So I want to ask you, those that are listening today, in what areas of your life are you prayerless and why are you prayerless? Let's think about that. Who is in charge when you're prayerless? How are you getting things done? What is going on on that to do list? Are you getting it done through yourself or through prayer, through dependence on God? I've lived too many, gone through too many days, too many moments being prayerless. And it is not fruitful, it is not effective. So how do we do this? What does it look like to pray continually? Years ago I have a mentor and we were sitting down over lunch and she was asking me basic questions about my schedule, what my hobbies were, what my kids activities were. And as I was telling her the different things that we had going on, she would gently ask me each time, well, did you pray about that? What? I mean, I was a little embarrassed, but I was like, no, you know, it's just Mother's Day out. I just put them in there because I wanted a break. And there was. But the message was so clear to me because what she was trying to teach me was that I needed to learn how to abide. John 15 tells us that a believer in Christ is to live an abiding life. You remain with the Father, you're connected with him, you're clinging to him, you're desperate. That's how we're to live as believers. We're not to live this life on our own. I can't live as a faithful follower of Christ on my own. I've got to abide. The way I live by the Spirit is through prayer. Constant dependence on my Father. It is incredible how we love to look at one of everyone's favorite Bible verse of Proverbs 3:5 through 5:6. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways. Acknowledge Him. He'll direct your path. We love that verse. But I see so many believers who do not live that verse. They're not abiding in that verse. That is the verse that we are to walk out every single moment, through every problem, through everything that you're facing every day, Each day, whatever it is, trust in God. Lean not on your own understanding. Did you pray about it? Did you pray about it? So a wonderful way to think about continual dependence in prayer is through this adorable little example of my daughter when she was engaged to her now husband, Luke. Anna and Luke. And when they were engaged, they were inseparable. And when they were physically not together, they were always on FaceTime. And it was so annoying because Anna lived at home and I could never get a moment with her. I could never talk to her. I would think, oh good, she's here and Luke's not here. No, Luke is there. Hi, Luke. You know, he is on that dumb FaceTime all the time. I never. It's like, we need to talk about the wedding. There's Luke. Okay. And then I was reminded of that the other day I was getting my nails done and the nail tech was doing the same thing with her new boyfriend. It was adorable. And it just made me smile so big. And I thought, that's what it is. You just don't hang up the line. God is with you, he is with us. And so you're always keeping him on the line. And you may be sitting there just in his presence, but he's there. And so your gaze is there like that sunflower. And there's a moment and you're just enjoying something that's happening. And you just kind of look and you gaze and you go, that's so sweet. Thank you, God. Thank you for being here in this moment. See, if you're a Christian, you're God's child. You're adopted. You're a co heir that there's a partnership that's supposed to be going on through prayer. We have the authority of Christ, his life that dwells within us. He wants to work in and through us. And we can't do that without prayer, right? And I want to live in such a way that everything that I do is in complete dependence on Him. So as a result, we wanna pray confidently, we wanna pray continually. We wanna ask God to for everything, all of our needs. See, we don't need self discipline to get this done, to pray more. We simply need to learn greater dependence on God. You don't have to muscle your way through it. Just depend on Him. That's not hard. Just be needy, be desperate. That's what prayer is for. It's for the needy. It's for the desperate. So as we Pray. I have some powerful prayer principles for you. We're gonna look at them on our wall here. And the first one is that in prayer, we want to be specific. What are you praying for? I have friends who'll say, well, hey, you know, my daughter is gonna be in a play, so could you pray for her? Okay, yes. What. What are we praying for? Let's ask God specifically for what we want. Let's write it down, and let's ask for big things. Like I said, God can get the glory for it. We want to pray specifically. Pray in the name of Jesus. Ask Him. When I was with this young lady who just came back as a missionary, a young girl with ywam, she said, hey, I have a prayer need. I said, what is it? She goes, well, I need a car. And I said, yeah, that's a big one. And so we grabbed hands. And I felt prompted by the Holy Spirit to ask that God would give her a car that week by the end of the week. And I couldn't believe as it was coming out of my mouth, but I was like, we just asked that you would give. That she would be given a car within a week. And you guys. I couldn't believe it. But God actually did that. But I thought, wow, that really shocked me. Like, we were so specific. I asked God so specifically, and someone gave her a van. What happens when we ask God specifically? He has an opportunity to show off, right? I have so many stories like that that we don't have time for. I mean, literally, I love to ask God for specific things because it's amazing how many times he's so faithful to do above and beyond what I ask. The next thing that is a powerful principle is we want to be persistent. We don't want to quit. We don't want to give up. Luke 18 tells us about the persistent widow, and she is the one who Jesus told about her as a parable to say, I want you to keep praying and not give up. So I prayed for 12 years. I had IC, which is inflammation in my bladder lining. And it made me feel rundown, feverish, and just bad all the time. And I just. They said, it's not curable. You just have to live without this and this and this. You know, a lot of foods, a lot of drinks. And I was like, yeah, well, you don't know my God. And I just continued to ask God, please heal me. Please heal me. I believe youe'll heal me. And after 12 years, God healed me. And I'm being persistent in prayer for so many people's salvations for so many people's healings. And there's a lot of these are still in process that God has not answered yet. But I'm gonna keep praying. The third thing is we wanna pray with expectancy. We wanna pray with hope. We wanna pray with fear. We want our prayers to be childlike. Just go ahead and throw out these big childlike prayers that believe God for the impossible. If you want to pray and believe that God can raise the dead, let's pray and believe that God can raise the dead, because he is why we're living and moving today. He created us all. So an example of expectancy is, is the very thing that James, in my life, James 1:5 says, I want you to pray when you need wisdom and ask God. And if you doubt, you know, then you're not gonna receive. But just believe in your heart and you'll receive. And so I said I was in a fix with Branch 15 Ministry and I needed wisdom because leadership wisdom. I'm not skilled in leading this. It's only a year in. There's a lot of issues. What do I do? Help, you know? And so I said, God, I need wisdom. And I prayed it one time, but without any doubt that he was going to deliver. And he downloaded wisdom to me and I had to. It was so fast and uncharacteristic of an experience that I ran and started writing it all down. And it was exactly what our organization needed. So. So pray with faith because our God is ready to meet you in that faith. The fourth thing is we want to pray as ourselves. When you come to God, this is so powerful. Just be yourself. If you're a mess, be a mess. Just be honest. Be heartfelt, be real. Bring your whole self, your whole body, your whole soul, your whole spirit, all of you, into your prayer. So sometimes that means that you're crying out, that you're kneeling down. There's a great example in the Word of God in Mark 5 that shows us what this looks like. And there's many examples. But I want you to see in Mark 5, excuse me, the way that these individuals approached Jesus, there was a large crowd that gathered, and one of the synagogue leaders named Jairus, he came. And when he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet. He pleaded earnestly. He said, my little daughter is dying. Please come, put your hands on her so that she will be healed, so that she will live. So Jesus went, the sad part is that the little girl, on the way, she died. And the Lord said, I want you to Just believe. Don't be afraid. So Jesus went and on that way, he said, just believe. And then there was a large crowd that pressed around Jesus. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for 12 years. She had suffered so much. She had paid to. The doctors all spent all that she had. And she was only getting worse. Yet when she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd. And you know what she did? She touched his garments. Because she thought, if I can just touch his clothes, I will be healed. And immediately she was healed. The bleeding stopped. And she felt in her body that she was freed. And Jesus knew it. The power left him. And he said, who touched my clothes? Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace. Be freed. And then the little girl who was dead, Jesus raised her back to life. He said, little girl, I say to you, get up. And she was healed. So what if you ask, but God doesn't do what you had hoped for? Let me ask you this. What if you don't ask what might have happened to Jairus, daughter? What would have happened to this suffering woman if they hadn't pursued Jesus? What if Jairus hadn't have fallen down and cried out at Jesus feet? What if she, the woman, hadn't have reached out just to touch his garments? Instead of us worrying and imagining about the what ifs in our lives and thinking the worst things that could happen, what if we imagine, in faith, the best? What if? What if we say, I believe that God can do all things and begin to apply Philippians 4, 6, 7, that says, I'm not going to be anxious. Don't be anxious about anything. But in all situations, right? In all situations, by our prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, we are gonna present our requests to God. And the peace of God that transcends all of our understanding will guard us, our hearts and our mind, in Christ Jesus. So years ago, I was in a long season of some health challenges different than my bladder. And I was terrified that something was wrong, like morbidly wrong with me. And so I prayed. I prayed and I prayed and I prayed. But my prayers were not really in faith. It was in fear. I was begging God. I was not really getting what he wanted from me, and that was just to trust him through it. He wanted me to know him. He wanted me to trust him. And in that journey, it transformed my prayer life because I learned that as you cry out to God, that faith pleases him. And he wanted to calm my fears. Have you been overwhelmed? Have you been discouraged and Full of doubt with your prayers. Draw near. Draw near to the Father and come to him needy. Come to him messy. Have you been worried about so many things? You bring that in prayer. Bring your dreams, bring your desires. Stop praying half heartedly. Really pray. Thank God for His goodness. Reach out, cry out. Fall down before Him. Take hold and ask him and trust Him. He wants you to get to know him and let God's peace cover you, rest in Him. See, too many of us believe that prayer can be pointless. Or they're just too busy. Life, it's too busy and it's not worth it. But that's falling for the enemy's lies. And you need to push through those lies and just keep praying. Why wouldn't we keep praying? Because Romans 8, believer in Christ. Romans 8 tells us, if God is for you, who can be against you? He who didn't spare his own son, Jesus Christ, but gave him up for us all. How will he not also, along with Christ, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one that condemns? It's no one. Christ Jesus, who died more than that, who was raised to life, where is He? He's seated at the right hand of the Father. And he is interceding for you. You don't pray alone when you pray. He's interceding for us. So who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall your trouble? Shall your hardship? Shall persecution, famine, nakedness, danger or sword? No. In all of these things we are more than conquerors. Through Christ, through Christ who loved us. You see, these aren't just words. I am convinced that neither death nor life, nor either angels or demons, the present or the future, any power, there isn't any height or depth, nothing at all that in all creation can see, separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. And so you know what that means. When we pray, we don't lose in Christ. We don't lose death. We can't lose through death. Nothing that we pray is not is going to fail. Because we're in him and we can't be separated from Him. And he's praying for you. The Word of God. This Word of God, his goodness, it radically changed my heart. It radically changed my life. His love for me that I got to know and got to trust and walk in faith in, it changed how I pray. And I want that for you. I want you to know God through dependence on Him. Because prayer is how we live. In complete dependence on our Heavenly Father. And talking with him isn't a religious duty. It is our greatest pleasure. And I don't pray because I love prayer. I pray because I love God. So just keep praying. Just keep praying. Just keep praying. Thank you, Father, for your word that it went forth. And I pray that we'd radically be changed by a praying life. Amen.