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#8 - Who's Praying For You? (with Pastor Austin Young) · The Extra Mile Podcast

0:00
SPEAKER_00: There's so many things you can do for your kids.
0:02
SPEAKER_00: Man, you can love them and spend money on them and invest time on them and discipline them and correct them and sit down at night and do homework with them.
0:10
SPEAKER_00: There's so many things that we can do as parents.
0:12
SPEAKER_00: I'm a parent, my kids are grown, you're a parent, your kids are younger.
0:15
SPEAKER_00: So many things we can do to help them to mature and grow.
0:19
SPEAKER_00: But man, one of the things we're called to do, and I think we leave off the table, is praying for our kids.
0:31
SPEAKER_00: Hey, welcome everybody back to the uh Extra Mile Podcast with my good friend and our next gym pastor doing Young Adult, Pastor Austin Young.
0:40
SPEAKER_00: Man, I'm gonna jump back into the content we were having before we jump into the message.
0:43
SPEAKER_00: We were talking about the best burger.
0:45
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
0:45
SPEAKER_00: I mean, we just gotta revisit that again for the Yeah.
0:48
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
0:48
SPEAKER_00: Uh you go ahead.
0:51
SPEAKER_00: You know, the conversation was about, first of all, five guys, which I think is always a go-to burger.
0:56
SPEAKER_00: It's always amazing.
0:56
SPEAKER_00: It's always it's just a good American burger.
0:59
SPEAKER_00: It's fresh.
1:00
SPEAKER_00: And uh and I ask you, and I'm gonna say it up front, I was disappointed with your answer, but I said, hey, what is your favorite burger?
1:05
SPEAKER_00: And you're a five guys fan, but your favorite was what?
1:08
SPEAKER_01: I said if they get my order right, which rarely happens the first time, but after I go back inside, they give me a couple more, give them a couple more tries.
1:16
SPEAKER_01: All right.
1:16
SPEAKER_01: I like a Whataburger.
1:18
SPEAKER_01: I'm a big fan of Whataburger.
1:19
SPEAKER_01: It's it's just a big patty.
1:22
SPEAKER_01: I can do like a single, it's just it's good.
1:24
SPEAKER_01: Is it quality?
1:25
SPEAKER_01: Quantity?
1:26
SPEAKER_01: What like what is the thing for you?
1:27
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I don't think it's quality.
1:29
SPEAKER_01: I think it's the sheer size, and I think it's the novelty of it.
1:33
SPEAKER_01: Like I've only had Whataburger for a few years.
1:35
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I also love In N Out.
1:36
SPEAKER_01: The toasted bun is a game changer for In N Out.
1:39
SPEAKER_00: So I've never had In N Out.
1:40
SPEAKER_00: Um so I'm a five guys fan, and then we started talking about some of the ways that fast food restaurants are upping their game.
1:46
SPEAKER_00: Uh, if you're a Whopper fan from um Burger King, I've not eaten one in like five years, had one the other day, and uh what I found out was they definitely could raise the ceiling in presentation.
1:58
SPEAKER_00: Quality only gets so good.
1:59
SPEAKER_00: It looked good, but it wasn't great.
2:01
SPEAKER_00: Burger King always smells good.
2:03
SPEAKER_00: That's what I like.
2:03
SPEAKER_01: They always pump out that smoke, and you're like, this smells like it's gonna be amazing.
2:07
SPEAKER_00: Let me tell you my favorite thing about Burger King.
2:08
SPEAKER_00: You ready?
2:08
SPEAKER_00: It's not even the Burger, it's when you get fries and you get one onion ring.
2:13
SPEAKER_00: That happens all the time there for streams.
2:14
SPEAKER_00: They do that on purpose, bro.
2:15
SPEAKER_00: Because they're onion rings like I don't want a whole thing of onion rings, but one onion ring, man, it's like a Cracker Jack fries.
2:21
SPEAKER_00: Cracker Jack.
2:22
SPEAKER_00: All right.
2:22
SPEAKER_00: Well, hey, listen, we had a conversation this past week on prayer.
2:25
SPEAKER_00: Really, it was Mother's Day, and I just want to unpack a little bit.
2:28
SPEAKER_00: Man, prayer is such a big topic, a deep topic, lots of different ways we can go with it.
2:33
SPEAKER_00: But um, basically the conversation we started with was this idea that you know the Bible presents the topic of prayer, gives us the demonstration of prayer, the practice of prayer.
2:42
SPEAKER_00: Jesus talks about things we shouldn't do and things we should do.
2:46
SPEAKER_00: And what I introduced was just, first of all, this idea of like just the simplicity of different ways to pray.
2:51
SPEAKER_00: And one is just praying for yourself.
2:53
SPEAKER_00: That Jesus taught us, man, when we pray, he said, you know, pray this way.
2:56
SPEAKER_00: And one of the ways he said was pray, God, give us this day our daily bread.
3:00
SPEAKER_00: So we should be praying for our our daily needs.
3:03
SPEAKER_00: And so, like, that was the introduction was prayer is a powerful way to introduce God into our life.
3:08
SPEAKER_00: And so, you know, I don't know, man.
3:09
SPEAKER_00: I again lots of different ways.
3:11
SPEAKER_01: I don't know if you were shocked by the presentation or what you what direction we thought we went in, or yeah, I th I mean I think I've I've you've had me preach on prayer twice in the last few years.
3:19
SPEAKER_01: So it's like I've I've studied it a lot and I try to do it, and you know, but um I think in in that you said something that stuck with me basically the rest of the message, which was prayerlessness is the strangest form of idolatry.
3:35
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, that's super convicting to me.
3:37
SPEAKER_01: I'm a high achiever, I'm a I'm a one on the Enneagram, I'm perfect perfectionist.
3:41
SPEAKER_01: So I'm like, I'm I'm rarely asking for help.
3:45
SPEAKER_01: If I'm asking for help, it is so that I can do it on my own next time and not have to ask for help ever again.
3:51
SPEAKER_01: So I'm like, for me, that struck a chord with me, that idea of like, oh, me not praying for myself is actually a form of me idolizing my own effort or my own whatever and and ultimately pride.
4:06
SPEAKER_01: But like just the way that it was phrased, I don't know that I'd ever quite thought of it as idolatry, but it is.
4:14
SPEAKER_00: Well, you know, when I was uh when I was crafting the message, I've really felt like the Lord dropped that in my heart.
4:18
SPEAKER_00: And I originally put that prayerlessness is pride, and it just didn't ring right in my heart, and I really felt like the Lord impressed it's idolatry, man.
4:26
SPEAKER_00: It's elevating ourselves to this place that we're we're God.
4:30
SPEAKER_00: No, we would never say that because we're probably gonna pray at some point.
4:34
SPEAKER_00: If it gets too hard, if if it doesn't happen soon enough, like we'll invite God in.
4:38
SPEAKER_00: And man, God is the one who gives us the strength to even try, He's the one who gives us the wisdom to even navigate.
4:44
SPEAKER_00: And so it's convicting for me because as a pastor, you know, I want to um I want to be a person of prayer as a Christ follower.
4:52
SPEAKER_00: I'm a disciple before I'm a pastor.
4:53
SPEAKER_00: I want to say, like, yeah, I pray, and I do, but hey, there's man, there's room in my life for more prayer for sure.
5:00
SPEAKER_00: Um I heard an interesting statistic, and I think you would probably agree that it maybe applies even more to prayer.
5:06
SPEAKER_00: Here was a stat I heard that 77% of church people believe in the principle of tithing.
5:12
SPEAKER_00: At least generosity.
5:14
SPEAKER_00: They believe I should use the finances God's given me to steward to bless and to finance the ministry and the advancement of the kingdom.
5:21
SPEAKER_00: So 77% say I agree with the principle of tithing.
5:24
SPEAKER_00: You probably wouldn't be shocked to hear that only 17% of people do it.
5:28
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, wait a minute.
5:30
SPEAKER_00: So 80% say yeah, I should do it, and only 20% actually do it.
5:33
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
5:34
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I I I would say probably the stats are even more wild when it comes to prayer.
5:38
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and what I thought of was literally like 80% of people would say you shouldn't be eating Burger King.
5:45
SPEAKER_01: There's only about 10% of people that aren't eating burger.
5:48
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, that's exactly like the experience for so much of I think the Christian life too, is you're like, you definitely believe in it and you understand it, but the practice of it is so much more complicated and so much more difficult because I think sometimes we're sold a story of like, man, you give your life to Jesus, everything's gonna be great, everything's gonna be smooth, like almost like, oh, if I need prayer, something's wrong, or oh man, if it's hard to like steward my money well, something must be wrong.
6:20
SPEAKER_01: But honestly, I think a lot of the times it's like we are being called into a sacrificial way of living.
6:26
SPEAKER_01: And that is with giving, but it's also with prayer.
6:29
SPEAKER_01: Like for me, I've you know, a seven and a five-year-old.
6:32
SPEAKER_01: So one of the hardest things about prayer is finding the time to pray.
6:37
SPEAKER_01: Because it's like they go to bed, I want to spend time with my wife or watch a show.
6:41
SPEAKER_01: And if I wake up early, they just still wake up early.
6:44
SPEAKER_01: And like if I want to also try to go to the gym or if I want to also try to do anything else, you're like, where do I find the time to pray?
6:52
SPEAKER_01: And that's usually one of the hardest things to navigate with little kids I've been finding.
6:57
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I um again, I I'm intentional to use the word to describe my my relationship with God.
7:03
SPEAKER_00: I I generally don't call myself a Christian just because it has a lot of negative connotation in our society.
7:09
SPEAKER_00: You know, I try to call myself a Christ follower or a disciple.
7:12
SPEAKER_00: And so the word disciple comes from the root word discipline.
7:16
SPEAKER_00: And we don't like to think of our relationship with God as being discipline because somehow, you know, if it's not whimsical and I'm just led by the Spirit and I get moments with just goosebumps from God that but no, there's this, there should be these rituals and habits that we build into our new life, and and part of that is prayer.
7:33
SPEAKER_00: I heard Craig Rochelle say one time, and I've tried to adopt this in my life.
7:37
SPEAKER_00: He said, I don't pray long, I pray often.
7:39
SPEAKER_00: And that really describes me anyways.
7:41
SPEAKER_00: Probably you will not find me praying an hour every morning, but I pre try to pray consistently throughout the day as I'm stepping into a meeting, as I'm getting ready to have a conversation, or I'm aware of somebody in our church, I'm reminded, hey, they're getting ready to go into surgery, or so man, I pray often, but I still don't pray enough.
8:00
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, um, Noah Heron out of Nashville, he's spoken at our youth conference before.
8:04
SPEAKER_01: That was one of the principles he even taught our youth students was he would do, I forget he had a cool name for it.
8:10
SPEAKER_01: It was like uh 60-second prayers and before and after everything he did, every activity, everything on his schedule, every meeting, he would do a 60-second prayer before and a 60-second prayer after to just like recalibrate his mind and his heart with God before he did a thing and after he did it to kind of get to the next.
8:31
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, that's and sometimes that doesn't feel holy enough.
8:34
SPEAKER_01: It's like if you're not doing the hour, you're not praying for your kids hard enough, or you're not praying for yourself hard enough.
8:39
SPEAKER_01: But it's like a lot of times it's just like I don't I don't do an hour phone call with my wife every day.
8:46
SPEAKER_01: I text her all day long.
8:47
SPEAKER_01: And it's like it'd be weird if I saved everything I had to say to her for a 45-minute monologue at the end of the night, and then I said goodnight.
8:55
SPEAKER_01: But it's like if you're talking all day, it's not super weird.
8:59
SPEAKER_01: And I think we don't think about our prayer life as being that way.
9:02
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, man, that's a that's a great thought.
9:04
SPEAKER_00: But isn't it funny how the man, the devil is so good at what he does?
9:08
SPEAKER_00: So if we don't, you know, if we don't pray or don't feel like we pray enough, he condemns us.
9:13
SPEAKER_00: And you know, I don't know, if we if we pray, he's like, well, you're only praying because you want something.
9:17
SPEAKER_00: It's like, man, we're trying to work on our relationship with the Lord and make it healthy because first of all, prayer is just simply spending time with our Creator.
9:25
SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's why Jesus died, not to make us religious, but to reconnect what sin disconnected.
9:30
SPEAKER_00: And in prayer, we get to you know invite God's power and strength and wisdom into our lives.
9:35
SPEAKER_00: But man, the devil's man, our flesh is fighting prayer, and the devil's always saying we're not doing it right or we're doing too much, and it is a constant battle.
9:43
SPEAKER_00: But you know, uh this Sunday we talked about again praying for ourselves and number two, um, asking other people to pray for us.
9:50
SPEAKER_00: So we're gonna fall short, but being surrounded, and I think this is one of the things, Pastor Austin, you do so well, uh especially trying to raise up young adults, is teaching community is that you don't have to do life alone, that you can invite people to pray for you and to be surrounded by that kind of circle.
10:06
SPEAKER_00: I mean, do you see that?
10:07
SPEAKER_00: Are you intentional to build community or is that just an accident that you just love people?
10:11
SPEAKER_01: I think um my wife definitely has a gift for it, and I like I'm very introverted and I'm very um, you know, reserved, but I enjoy being around people and I know what it's like to like I've lived alone and I was like this is gonna be a dream.
10:30
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, it was a dream for a little while, and then it was kind of terrible.
10:34
SPEAKER_01: And so I think it's it's one of those is I've I've tried to live by myself and I know that I it's not good for me.
10:42
SPEAKER_01: But yeah, I mean that's one of the biggest things with community, especially that we're trying to build with young adults, is being specific about what you want people to pray for you.
10:53
SPEAKER_01: There was there was this moment and it came out a little harsher, but one of my mottos that I've had in ministry is if you have an unspoken prayer request, it is going unprayed for.
11:04
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, you have to give me something.
11:05
SPEAKER_01: I'm not going to pray for this imaginary prayer.
11:08
SPEAKER_01: I was like, give me something.
11:09
SPEAKER_01: Say, hey, I've just got something going on with my family.
11:12
SPEAKER_01: Hey, something at work.
11:13
SPEAKER_01: That's all I need.
11:14
SPEAKER_01: I just need you to show that you want me to be invited into this moment a little bit.
11:19
SPEAKER_01: And uh, we were in a pre-service huddle before a young adult service.
11:22
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, Does anybody want to pray for anything?
11:24
SPEAKER_01: And and one of the guys raised his hands, he goes, I have an unspoken.
11:28
SPEAKER_01: I go, unprayed for.
11:29
SPEAKER_01: Give me more than that.
11:30
SPEAKER_01: And everybody just lost it.
11:33
SPEAKER_01: I was like, oh, I forgot like that sounded kind of harsh.
11:37
SPEAKER_01: But I was like, I was like, just give me a ballpark.
11:39
SPEAKER_01: He goes, Yeah, there's stuff going on with my family.
11:41
SPEAKER_01: I just need prayer.
11:42
SPEAKER_01: I go, dude, that's perfect.
11:43
SPEAKER_01: I'll pray for your family.
11:44
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
11:44
SPEAKER_01: And so it's one of those, it's like, if we want people to pray for us, part of that is being kind of vulnerable, maybe confessing where we need help.
11:51
SPEAKER_01: If you're just like, man, I'm struggling, you know, can you pray for me?
11:54
SPEAKER_01: Well, where are you struggling?
11:55
SPEAKER_01: Are you struggling in your marriage, in your parenting, in your job, in your in your spiritual life?
12:00
SPEAKER_01: Like, give me something to work with so that I'm actually with you in it.
12:04
SPEAKER_01: I'm not just this transactional prayer mess.
12:07
SPEAKER_01: I can write a letter to God for you, but it's like, don't you want to invite someone into it with you so you're not alone?
12:14
SPEAKER_01: I think that's the important part.
12:15
SPEAKER_00: It's a biblical principle.
12:16
SPEAKER_00: You know, Paul he said this, he said, be anxious for nothing, but in all things, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God.
12:24
SPEAKER_00: So he's teaching us how to pray.
12:26
SPEAKER_00: Lots of great principles there, but he when he says, make your request known to God, I don't know if you've ever heard this, but the word request is um it was a ship's log.
12:36
SPEAKER_00: It's like a shopping list.
12:37
SPEAKER_00: So if you just wander into Walmart, you're gonna put some stuff in your cart, but you're gonna get home and think, Oh man, I forgot the milk or I forgot.
12:44
SPEAKER_00: But God says, Hey, when you come to me, like you can pray generic prayers, God help me, God be with me, but if we can ask God specifically, man, God, I I I don't have a job and I need you to open the door.
12:55
SPEAKER_00: I need you to, I need you to provide me with income, a resource.
12:58
SPEAKER_00: God, I'm I need a friend in my life.
12:59
SPEAKER_00: I'm Lord, I don't want to spend the rest of my life alone, God, and start praying for a spouse.
13:03
SPEAKER_00: Man, when we pray specifically, God answers specifically, and I think that's when God gets more praise, is because answered prayers that were specific prayers, man, we recognize God came through and answered that specific prayer I pray.
13:16
SPEAKER_00: So, man, we're losing something when we're not specific and we're not inviting people to participate.
13:21
SPEAKER_01: And I I think that's a huge, huge thing, because then even if you don't get the answer you want, when you look back, you can see the thread of, oh, I was just asking the question a little wrong.
13:34
SPEAKER_01: And he did answer it six months later in this way.
13:38
SPEAKER_01: But because I was specific, I can see where he was moving, even even if it's not as direct or it's like I prayed, you know, I was lonely and I prayed for a spouse, but he gave me the best friend I've ever had in my life.
13:50
SPEAKER_01: And you're like, he answered the prayer in a way you didn't expect, but because you were specific about why and what you wanted, he was able to actually give you what you needed, and you can recognize how he met that need.
14:03
SPEAKER_00: You know, going back to you know the comment I made that you pointed out that the prayer, prayerlessness is a strange form of idolatry.
14:10
SPEAKER_00: You know, again, that there's almost a trade-off there with the word pride.
14:13
SPEAKER_00: I think we don't ask other people to pray for us because of pride.
14:16
SPEAKER_00: I don't want to appear weak, and I certainly don't want to tell you specifically what I need because what I need might be embarrassing.
14:23
SPEAKER_00: Like, hey, I need help breaking this pornography addiction, or man, I'm struggling with wanting to drink again, or whatever it is.
14:30
SPEAKER_00: It takes a certain level of vulnerability to ask others to pray for you.
14:34
SPEAKER_00: And that's what I love about the Apostle Paul.
14:36
SPEAKER_00: We I think properly elevate him, we don't worship him, but man, I'm he was a man, a tier one player for the kingdom of God.
14:44
SPEAKER_00: I mean, man, did so much to advance the gospel in the early times of the church.
14:48
SPEAKER_00: And but he himself, eight times in the New Testament, said, Hey, pray for me.
14:52
SPEAKER_00: So he didn't say, I got it all figured out.
14:54
SPEAKER_00: I need help, I need prayer, I need people.
14:56
SPEAKER_00: It's not enough for me to pray, I need to know there's other people that are seeking God on my behalf.
15:02
SPEAKER_00: Uh the the word is in 1 Timothy 2 1, we share this.
15:06
SPEAKER_00: Timothy tells, is told by the Apostle Paul, he says, I urge you first of all to pray for all people.
15:11
SPEAKER_00: So don't just pray for yourself.
15:12
SPEAKER_00: You know, prayer isn't just for you and your needs, but through you for others' needs.
15:16
SPEAKER_00: He says, Pray for all people, ask God to help them, intercede on their behalf and give thanks for them.
15:21
SPEAKER_00: And the word intercede is this idea of man bringing aid to somebody.
15:26
SPEAKER_00: And so if nobody else is praying for themselves, I'm gonna pray for them.
15:30
SPEAKER_00: You know, I have family members who you know are not serving the Lord.
15:34
SPEAKER_00: Well, I know they're not praying, but I'm gonna pray for them.
15:37
SPEAKER_00: And man, that is that is something powerful that I don't just get to pray for my needs, but I get the privilege, man, to lift them up and lift up their life to God on behalf of themselves when they're not doing it.
15:46
SPEAKER_00: So, you know, I think that's a lost art.
15:49
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes we're so selfish, all we do is pray for ourselves.
15:52
SPEAKER_00: And I think we should get lost in praying for other people.
15:55
SPEAKER_01: Right.
15:55
SPEAKER_01: And that's kind of that that third point you let into as well, specifically for Mother's Day.
15:59
SPEAKER_01: You were talking to parents and how they can pray for their kids.
16:01
SPEAKER_01: But I think it applies to that's that's that third piece is if if we actually are humble enough to pray and ask people to pray for us, then we can become self-centered in the fact that we're like, we're always asking people for prayer, but we're never offering it for others, and we're not actually looking out for the needs of others.
16:21
SPEAKER_01: And as then a pa as a parent, it's a little bit more natural because you've raised this child from when they were helpless, and so you're more geared towards that, but you don't always feel that with peers or friends, or I I think we can miss that where we're not focusing on praying for others as well.
16:40
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
16:41
SPEAKER_00: Again, there's there's room in my life to improve.
16:43
SPEAKER_00: I need to pray more for myself.
16:45
SPEAKER_00: I need to ask more people to pray for me.
16:47
SPEAKER_00: I need to be more vulnerable, and I need to pray for more people more often.
16:51
SPEAKER_00: Um, so I pray, but man, I think there's just room for God to move in my life more if I'm just if I let down my guard, get out of my pride, get out of my self-idolatry, man, and turn to God.
17:01
SPEAKER_00: And that's what Jesus opened the door for.
17:03
SPEAKER_00: So um really, again, where we got to, Sunday, you mentioned was you know, trying to encourage parents.
17:10
SPEAKER_00: There's so many things you can do for your kids.
17:12
SPEAKER_00: Man, you can love them and spend money on them and invest time on them and discipline them and correct them and sit down at night and do homework with them.
17:20
SPEAKER_00: There's so many things that we can do as parents.
17:22
SPEAKER_00: I'm a parent, my kids are grown, you're a parent, your kids are younger.
17:25
SPEAKER_00: So many things we can do to help them to mature and grow.
17:29
SPEAKER_00: But man, one of the things we're called to do, and I think we leave off the table is praying for our kids.
17:36
SPEAKER_00: Do you and Sarah?
17:37
SPEAKER_00: Do you guys have a what's it look like in your household?
17:39
SPEAKER_01: Not not a good rhythm of it.
17:44
SPEAKER_01: That's not a good pastor answering.
17:45
SPEAKER_01: I do it an hour tonight.
17:47
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, well, we can edit that.
17:48
SPEAKER_01: That's fine.
17:48
SPEAKER_01: Just do it in post.
17:49
SPEAKER_01: You got it.
17:49
SPEAKER_01: You take care of it.
17:51
SPEAKER_01: No, I think I think what helps me when I uh when I have a healthy prayer life, one would be the continual idea of trying to do it throughout the day, because I'm I'm a very all or nothing person, so I want to set aside an hour every day, and if I can, I might as well not do it.
18:08
SPEAKER_01: That's my first problem.
18:10
SPEAKER_01: But if I do have time, even if it's five or ten minutes, if I'll sit down and I'll actually write out what I'm thinking, it helps me focus.
18:17
SPEAKER_01: And then I'll be if I'm like, God, I pray for Emory, my oldest daughter, and then I'm like, then I start thinking about her, and I start going, oh, will you do this?
18:26
SPEAKER_01: This is something going on in school, this is something I've seen.
18:30
SPEAKER_01: Like, I start to get more specific because I'm more focused.
18:34
SPEAKER_01: And I think that's where I find the most success, but there's definitely not the rhythm it should be.
18:40
SPEAKER_01: We're not like a family that kneels at the bed every night and like I pray over my kids, or you know, like I've known people who every night will go in and lay hands on their kids while they sleep, and I'm like, they're much better pastors than me, or much better people than me.
18:55
SPEAKER_01: And I think um it's the same thing you said.
18:57
SPEAKER_01: It's it's kind of my theme and my relationship with prayer is I'm often just trying to do it on my own and white knuckle it instead of really relying on God and knowing that He can do more with my humble prayer than I can do with like really hard work.
19:12
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
19:12
SPEAKER_00: You know, most of the most of the things, not all of them, but most of the things that I that I preach about are really revelations when I'm reading, and man, God strikes my heart.
19:22
SPEAKER_00: And so I was I I was planning on preaching this message on prayer and encouraging parents to pray.
19:27
SPEAKER_00: And we were doing our family Bible study, and we do what we do is we read five chapters um a week, and then we sit down and just discuss, hey, what's a verse or something that jumped out at you?
19:36
SPEAKER_00: And uh as I was reading John chapter 17, it's where Jesus is praying to the Father.
19:42
SPEAKER_00: It's it's it's called his great high priestly prayer, it's just before he's um crucified.
19:47
SPEAKER_00: And man, he's praying for all these things, and one of the things he says is, I pray for the disciples.
19:52
SPEAKER_00: And man, that just struck me thinking of how perfect the leadership of Jesus was.
19:57
SPEAKER_00: More consistent than us, more diligent than us, you know.
20:01
SPEAKER_00: And I thought after everything he did to invest in the disciples, he said, You know what else I need to do?
20:06
SPEAKER_00: I need to pray.
20:08
SPEAKER_00: And that just struck my heart.
20:09
SPEAKER_00: If Jesus recognized his need to pray for his disciples, how much more do we as parents need to pray for our kids?
20:15
SPEAKER_00: And that's a missing piece.
20:17
SPEAKER_00: Again, I think we're doing so much for our kids in this generation.
20:21
SPEAKER_00: And I think we're leaving the most important parenting practice off the table, and that's praying for our kids.
20:27
SPEAKER_00: So we gotta find a way.
20:28
SPEAKER_00: You in in all of our striving to do better at prayer, man, pray for other people.
20:32
SPEAKER_00: Again, if you're a parent, make time to consistently pray for your kids.
20:37
SPEAKER_00: So um, you know, we moved through some other conversation, but I'm curious what's maybe just some some conversational prayer between you and I w where do you find, where do you find maybe you've grown through the years in prayer or maybe you still struggle, but like what's a prayer conversation that that interests you out of the conversation we had Sunday?
20:54
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think I think it's kind of that idea of I um early on in my life I went to ministry school and you know, was full-time in ministry basically and kind of worked a job, but I mean I had hours every day.
21:08
SPEAKER_01: I was single, I could pray for an hour every morning or every night.
21:12
SPEAKER_01: And so I got into that rhythm, and then I got a real job, and then I got married, and then I had a kid, and then I was like, where did all those hours go that I used to have?
21:21
SPEAKER_01: And it's been relearning a more consistent throughout the day relationship with God and really getting back for me.
21:31
SPEAKER_01: Journaling has been a huge, it helps me focus, it helps me get all my thoughts out.
21:36
SPEAKER_01: I can often identify gaps and where I'm frustrated or sad or whatever.
21:42
SPEAKER_01: I can when I write out my situation and what I'm asking from God, he so often can just like reread that again.
21:48
SPEAKER_01: And do you really think that?
21:49
SPEAKER_01: Is that really?
21:50
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, oh no, that's insane.
21:52
SPEAKER_01: Like, no, and he speaks to me through that.
21:54
SPEAKER_01: And I think those have been where I've tried to grow in my discipline is that those small.
22:00
SPEAKER_01: Prayers throughout the day more consistently than all at once.
22:04
SPEAKER_01: And then journaling has been huge for me and super helpful.
22:07
SPEAKER_00: So I think it's fair to say that maybe the takeaway part in this conversation is anybody watching this or listening to this, if they're not like nailing it every day in an hour of prayer, you know, they may feel like they're a failure and they're not.
22:18
SPEAKER_00: You know, I think again, it's just trying to consistently create that pattern.
22:22
SPEAKER_00: So prayer is powerful.
22:24
SPEAKER_00: We should try to practice prayer, and we should practice pray not just for ourselves but for others.
22:27
SPEAKER_00: But hey, if you're missing the mark, man, start over tomorrow.
22:30
SPEAKER_00: You know, sneak moments with away with God if you can on your break or on your drive or in your shower.
22:36
SPEAKER_00: You know, God will hear us and answer us wherever we are, but but we have to find a way to get back just to the basics of prayer.
22:44
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
22:44
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, there's uh there's a story of a guy, his name's George Mueller.
22:48
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, I think we live in a day and an age, man, we've lost the appreciation of some of the people, some of the people, people who've gone before us.
22:55
SPEAKER_00: And George Mueller is somebody who was an evangelist and he ran an orphanage in Bristol, England.
23:01
SPEAKER_00: And there's so many stories you can Google his name, just incredible miracles that God worked in his life through his ministry, through the orphanage, because he prayed.
23:10
SPEAKER_00: Just two real quick I want to share.
23:13
SPEAKER_00: One, um, he tried to feed 300 people, and the way the story is told about his life was he never raised funds.
23:19
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I get letters in the mail still today with all these people, hey, send me money, which I get it, you got to raise funds to make ministry happen.
23:25
SPEAKER_00: He just believed that God's his provider.
23:27
SPEAKER_00: He said, God, you told me to pray daily for daily bread.
23:30
SPEAKER_00: I need bread.
23:31
SPEAKER_00: I need food to feed these 300 kids.
23:33
SPEAKER_00: And there's a story that he woke up one day and um the maid of the house said, Hey, we have no food for the kids.
23:39
SPEAKER_00: And so he sat in a hall with 300 kids and prayed this prayer.
23:43
SPEAKER_00: Heavenly Father, I thank you for this food we're about to eat.
23:46
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
23:47
SPEAKER_00: And like, I mean, I imagine the moment of these kids, there's nothing in front of them, and he just prayed for food that isn't there.
23:53
SPEAKER_00: And the way the story goes is just a few moments later, there's a knock on the door, and uh the baker, the town baker, showed up and said that the Holy Spirit had woken him up in the middle of the night and told him to bake fresh bread for this orphanage.
24:04
SPEAKER_00: And so here he comes and delivers all this bread, and they spread this bread out to all the kids, and they just sit down, and there's another knock on the door, and he opens the door up, and here it's the milkman, and he had a delivery cart, and his cart broke down right in front of the orphanage, and he said, You know, by the time I get my cart back up and running, this milk's gonna spoil, so I want to donate it to the orphanage.
24:23
SPEAKER_00: And so here's a man that had no food for the kids he was called to, you know, to oversee and to love and to help raise, and he prayed a simple prayer, and God answered in a miraculous way.
24:34
SPEAKER_00: And I have to look back and wonder what would have happened had he not prayed.
24:38
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, and so man, just something so powerful.
24:40
SPEAKER_00: And the other story I want to share, because again, praying for others, I think we all have loved ones, friends, and family who don't serve the Lord, who don't know God.
24:47
SPEAKER_00: And if there's one thing we should be doing in praying, in praying for other people, is praying for other people to know Jesus.
24:55
SPEAKER_00: And so he taught um or shared a story that uh he made a commitment, God laid it on his heart to pray for people that were not saved, and he did this, he made a commitment to pray for his five closest friends.
25:06
SPEAKER_00: And every day, so this started in November of 1844, and after he started praying every day for his five closest friends who didn't know the Lord, this is the way the story goes that um after 18 months, the first one gave his life to Christ.
25:19
SPEAKER_00: So I mean 18 months is not a short time, but but eighteen months, his first friend gave his life to Christ.
25:26
SPEAKER_00: Um another one in five years, a third one in six years, the fourth one twenty five years after he started praying.
25:34
SPEAKER_00: So he prayed every day for 25 years, but his fourth friend gave his life to Christ.
25:38
SPEAKER_00: And his final friend after 52 years was just about a week after George Mueller passed away.
25:44
SPEAKER_00: His fifth friend, after 52 years of George praying for his friends, came to Christ.
25:49
SPEAKER_00: So I mean I just go back to this idea that again, man, praying is powerful.
25:53
SPEAKER_00: Praying is it breaks pride, but praying for other people, especially that they come to Christ, if you will be diligent, not perfect, you're you might miss some days, you might miss some moments, but if you'll continually press into God and ask for his help, ask for his guidance, pray for other people and their needs, God can work miracles.
26:09
SPEAKER_00: He can provide bread for your table and salvation for your friends, but it comes back to us, and that's humbling ourselves and asking God for help.
26:17
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, man, that I love those stories.
26:19
SPEAKER_00: That's that's incredible.
26:20
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, what I would have done.
26:22
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's the problem.
26:23
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
26:24
SPEAKER_00: Um, I'll give you closing thought, man.
26:25
SPEAKER_00: What's what's something you want people to hear as we we we phase out here?
26:28
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, I think I think what you said, hopefully, me admitting if they leave it in the edit, that I'm not good at praying and not good at praying for my kids.
26:38
SPEAKER_01: Like I just would hope people would watch this or listen to this and go, okay, so they're not perfect.
26:45
SPEAKER_01: Maybe I can do a little better and do a little more and just just take a take the next step.
26:51
SPEAKER_01: Like, pray today, pray right now when this is over.
26:54
SPEAKER_01: Like that's the kind of progress that God's looking for.
26:57
SPEAKER_01: He's not looking for, you know, you may not be at George Mueller's level yet of faith, but like, hey, it started somewhere.
27:06
SPEAKER_01: That's right.
27:06
SPEAKER_01: And so I think if people are just willing to take that next step and and not try to perfect it and not try to control it and just improve, I think everyone will will find a rhythm because God wants to meet you.
27:21
SPEAKER_01: For sure.
27:22
SPEAKER_01: So I mean, if you take that next step, he's gonna be faithful.
27:25
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
27:25
SPEAKER_00: Well, uh, we don't we don't do this.
27:26
SPEAKER_00: I don't think I've done it yet on the podcast, but man, I just want to pray.
27:29
SPEAKER_00: People watching this would um feel inspired by God to maybe find your way back to prayer, or maybe for the first time start to pray.
27:36
SPEAKER_00: And you may feel like you're not perfect enough or you're not good enough.
27:39
SPEAKER_00: And man, the wonderful thing is God will hear your prayer and he'll answer you if you'll lean in.
27:44
SPEAKER_00: And so I would love it, man, if we can pray for the people who are watching.
27:46
SPEAKER_00: So, Heavenly Father, we come and God, grateful that we can come boldly believing, Lord, you hear our prayer because of what Jesus has done.
27:53
SPEAKER_00: That God, you've opened the way to the Father, not based on how good we are because we're not.
27:58
SPEAKER_00: We all mess up, we all miss uh miss the mark, we all fall short.
28:01
SPEAKER_00: But Jesus, through his perfect love, his perfect life, and his perfect sacrifice, God, we can come boldly and lift up our needs.
28:09
SPEAKER_00: And so, Lord, I pray for people who are watching this, that God, you would birth in them and place in their heart, Lord, just a desire to be with you, a desire to call on your name, um, a humility to recognize that we can't do life alone.
28:22
SPEAKER_00: And so, Lord, help all of us to just do a little better, just to be a little more consistent in the discipline of prayer, that there is a way for you to show up in our lives in profound ways, and we can give you greater praise because we experience your your um your presence in greater ways.
28:36
SPEAKER_00: And so, Lord, change our hearts, change our lives, and Father help us to follow you more in Jesus' name.
28:41
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
28:42
SPEAKER_00: Hey, listen, if you're watching this and you enjoy the content, you can go back and watch the entire message on our website, I go to faith.com slash sermons.
28:49
SPEAKER_00: Um, and I hope you maybe join us one Sunday live.
28:52
SPEAKER_00: We'd love to have you here in the house.
28:53
SPEAKER_00: But either way, thanks for tuning in.
28:55
SPEAKER_00: Um like this, share it, and uh we'll see you guys next week.
28:57
SPEAKER_00: Thanks, Pastor Austin.
28:58
SPEAKER_00: Yep.