Pastor Rick Warren (0:02)

Hey, everyone. It's so great to have you with us today on Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. We are going to continue our very encouraging series today called Life's Healing Choices. And in these lessons, Rick Warren will guide us through a deep biblical exploration of how to overcome the hurts, hangups and habits that really hold us back. So get ready for some practical insights and powerful truths that can lead to lasting change and freedom in your life. And now we're gonna join Rick for part one of a message called there's no recovery without prayer.

Rick Warren (0:40)

This morning at 2am the Lord woke me up and I got up and I looked up some scriptures and God gave me a message specifically for you today. And what I want to title this, regardless of how much I get through it, is this. There is no recovery without prayer. There is no recovery without prayer. No lasting recovery for certain. What I want to do right now is take you through scriptures and give you some examples of what happens when you add prayer into the recovery process and why without prayer in the recovery process, it isn't going to work. So let me give you some examples of why there is no recovery without prayer. A first example would be back in the Old Testament, and that is when the Israelites got impatient with God when they were leaving Egypt. And in the 40 years they were waiting to get into the promised land. And the 40 year delay was their own fault. You know, God gave them seven tests to see are you ready to go into the promised land? And in each of those seven tests, they'd fail. And so God would say, okay, another lap around the desert. And it took 40 years to get to a place that should have just taken them a few weeks or months at the most. Sounds like a lot of us. It takes us 40 years to get to a place that should have just taken us a few months at the most. But in one part, the Israelites get impatient because things aren't going as fast and it's their own fault. But they got impatient and they started grumbling and they started murmuring and they started rebelling against God and against Moses, and God had to punish them for it. And they never would have recovered. They would have all died in the desert if it hadn't been for prayer. Let me give you an example. On the screen, numbers, chapter 21 says this. Then the people grew impatient on the way. Have you ever grown impatient on the way, Lord? It's just taking too long. I should be further along now. I should be further down the track. I'm this many years old and I'm not where I expected to be at this stage in my journey. They grew impatient on the way, and they began to murmur and complain against God and Moses. Why did you lead us here? We hate where we are and we hate the food. Had to throw that in there, this stinking manna. What are you having to breakfast? Manna. Oatmeal. What's for lunch? Manna toast. What's for dinner? Manicotti. You know, manna, Manna. Manna. Come on. Why did you lead us here? Have you ever asked God that? Why did you leave me here? Lord, this place sucks. We hate where we are. Well, that's okay. That's okay to hate where you are because it makes you want to be where you need to be. And we hate food. So God had to punish them. God sent poisonous snakes. Ugh. Don't you just love snakes? Okay. God sent poisonous snakes to punish them. And many became sick and died from the bites. So they're all dying now in the desert cause of their own complaining and murmuring and rebellion. Then the people confessed, we have sinned. And here's the key. Pray for us. Pray for us. They know the solution to their problem is pray for us. So Moses prayed for them. Then God told Moses to make a bronze staff. And all those who'd been bitten looked in, who looked in faith to Moses staff. They recovered. Okay, now, there's lots of recoveries in the Bible. The Bible tells us many, many examples of different kinds of recovery. The Bible tells us, for instance, that Joseph recovered from his grief or from his shock, and Judah recovered from his grief. And David recovered from all the things that were stolen from him. But this is one of the first examples of recovery in the Bible. It says when Moses prayed. Now, here's point number one. I want you to write these down, just six points. Write these down. With prayer, we can recover from problems we cause by our own impatience. That's what that verse teaches. With prayer, we can recover from problems that we caused by our own impatience. Most of the problems in our culture and in your life and in your relationship is from our inability to wait. The biggest problem in America is delayed gratification. We don't know how to do it. I want it, and I want it now, and I want it now, even if I can't afford it. So we buy things we don't need with money we don't have to impress people we don't even like. And I want it now, even after I put it on credit. And people are in debt because of they don't know how to delay gratification. People get into all kinds of relationships because they don't know how to delay gratification. And I want sex now, and I want it now, and I don't want to wait. And it causes all kinds of problems. Anytime you get in a hurry, anytime you take a shortcut, it's usually gonna be a temptation. God is never in a hurry. We don't have any example of Jesus running anywhere. One time, his best friend died. He was a mile and a half away, and it took him three days to get there. Come that he had a bigger plan. He didn't want to heal Lazarus. He wanted to raise him from the dead. Come on, Lord. You're a mile and a half away and it takes you three days to get here. He wasn't in a hurry. God is not in a hurry with your growth. So just chill out, relax. But when the Israelites got impatient, got rebellious, they brought problems on themselves. They realized the solution was, pray for us. They prayed. Moses prayed, and it says they recovered. So here's the first point. With prayer, we can recover from problems. We cause our own impatience. Let me give you a second example of prayer causing recovery. It's with a guy named King Jeroboam. And King Jeroboam did not want to hear the bad news. Has that ever been true of you? You didn't want to hear the truth? The truth about you, the truth about your problems, the truth about the problems that you were creating because of what you were doing. We don't ever like that kind of problem. King Jeroboam did not want to hear the truth. And God sent a man of God to him and said, here's the truth, and you're not gonna like it, but here's the truth. And he got so mad, he flew into a rage. And he's just emotionally involved. He's like frothing at the mouth. And he's so mad because he doesn't want to hear the hard truth about himself. And in 1 Kings, chapter 13, it says this. So King Jeroboam stretched out his hand in anger against the man of God who had told him the truth. And notice it instantly became what? This guy's emotionally bound up. His hand became paralyzed. He couldn't even put it down. He said, you dirty rotten, and his hand's paralyzed. Can't do anything about it. And the king cries out, pray for me. Pray. Pray for me. So the man of God, the Bible says, prayed to the Lord. And here's the second recovery the king recovered the normal use of his hand. Why is that story in the Bible? Write this down. Prayer helps us recover when we're paralyzed by our emotions. It not only helps us recover from problems we cause by our own impatience. Prayer helps us recover when we are paralyzed by our emotions. Ever been paralyzed by grief? I have. Ever been paralyzed by anger? Paralyzed by lust? Paralyzed by fear? Paralyzed by guilt? Paralyzed by shame? Prayer helps us recover when we're paralyzed by our emotions. He said, pray for me. So the man of God prayed the Lord and the king recovered the normal use of his hand and you can recover the normal use of your emotions. There is no recovery without prayer. Let me give you a third example. There's another king. This king's name, Hezekiah. Hezekiah's a pretty good guy. Most of his life. He did the right thing. In fact, when he first started, he was a king at 25. First thing he did is he cleared out all the idols, cleansed the temple, did everything right. He was a pretty good guy. But up in years, he got a terminal disease and he's going to die. And we pick up the story in 2 Kings, chapter 20, and it says this, verse 1 to 7. In those days, King Hezekiah became ill and he was at the point of death. Now, Isaiah, the prophet went to him and said, the Lord says, put your house in order cause you're gonna die. How'd you like to have a prophet come tell you that? Not exactly the power of positive thinking. I can't imagine certain TV preachers saying this one. Put your house in order cause you're gonna die. That's not exactly a popular phrase. So the Lord said. Told Isaiah say, put your house in order cause you're gonna die. You are not going to recover. Whoa. But notice the rest of the story. Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and he what? He prayed. Here's the third example of prayer and recovery. And he prayed, pleading to the Lord. Here's what he prayed. Remember, Lord, I've walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion. And I've done what's good in your eyes. And Hezekiah wept loudly as he prayed. This is not some God. I'd like to live. If you get the time. I'd really like to live. No. He is beating on heaven's door. He is passionate. He is pleading. I'd rather have three minutes of passionate pleading and prayer than 30 minutes of preaching and prayer. And a lot of. When you listen to a lot of people pray, it's like they're preaching to you. He's pleading. And he wept loudly as he prayed. Now notice what happens then. Before Isaiah had even left the king's court, God's word came to him again. Go back and tell Hezekiah, I've heard your prayer. I've seen your tears. You will recover and I will heal you. And I'm gonna add 15 years to your life. Also, he says, I'm gonna deliver you. I'm gonna throw this in for good. I'm gonna deliver you in this Syria and this city from Assyria's domination. So Hezekiah, read it with me. Recovered. That's the power of prayer. That's the power of prayer. Now, notice one more verse. Put this up in Isaiah 38. Isaiah adds this to the story. After Hezekiah's recovery, there's that word recovery. He wrote a prayer of praise. I'm not gonna read the whole thing. But he says this, you restored my health and I'm fully recovered with a fresh infusion of life. I love that in the message translation. I'm fully recovered with a fresh infusion of life. But he says, it was good for me to go through all those troubles because throughout them all, you held tight to my lifeline. Anybody wanna give a testimony on that one? It was good for me to go through all that pain because even then you were holding onto the lifeline. You weren't letting me go. You never let go. You never notice the rest. You never let me tumble over the edge into nothing. Said you didn't let go of me. The whole time I was really screwing up. I was really messing up. You did not let go of me. But he said, my sins, you did let go of, and you threw them behind your back. Hallelujah. Now, here's the third thing I want you to write down. I told you that with prayer we can recover from problems we cause by our own impatience. And with prayer, we can recover when we're paralyzed by our emotions. This one is, with prayer we can recover even when other people tell us it'll never happen. And it wasn't just some stooge coming and saying, oh, you're never going to get well. You're never going to recover. You're never going to change. How many people have told you that? A man of God told this to Hezekiah, you're not going to recover. In fact, God told me, you're not going to recover. That's pretty final. Hezekiah goes, I'd like a second opinion. God, you told Isaiah, your man that I'm not gonna recover. Come on, you know I wanna serve you. And he pleads and he prays and he weeps, and he's passionate and he's authentic, and he's gutsy with God. And God says, okay, I'm gonna give you 15 more years. You will recover. And not only that, I'm gonna do all these other things, too. Point number three, with prayer, we can recover even when other people tell us it'll never happen. That should encourage some of you. Stop listening to what other people say and start praying. People say you can't change, Say, well, you don't know the God. I know he specializes in change. Let me give you a few more. Fourth example. In the New Testament, Jesus is walking down the street one day, and there are two blind people sitting on the side of the road. Two guys. And they hear Jesus is walking by, so they cry out. They want recovery. They want recovery of their vision, of their sight. They're blind. And the Bible tells us this story in Matthew 20, two blind men were sitting by the roadside when they heard that Jesus was passing by. So they cried out. This is like Hezekiah. This is passionate prayer. They cried out. They're praying. That's what they're doing here. They're praying. When you're talking to Jesus, you're praying. They cried out, lord, have mercy on us. The crowd rebuked them, telling them to shut up, be silent, calm down. But they prayed even louder. Lord, have mercy on us. Jesus stopped and he said, what do you want to give me? What do you want me to do for you? I love that you should study. How many times Jesus said that? What do you want me to do for you? I'm gonna let you set the agenda. I'm gonna let you tell me what you want. And then they said, we don't want to be blind anymore. Give us sight. Every line here could be a sermon. With deep compassion, Jesus touched their eyes, and immediately they recovered their sight. What did they do after recovery? They followed him. Does that sound like a good pattern, friends? Once you've recovered, what do you do? You follow him. Okay? All right. Two guys. They cry out, we'd like our sight. What's the point? Here, write this down. Point number four. With prayer, we can recover our vision and see things we've never seen before. That will not happen in your life without prayer.