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Transcript

LaunchPad: Day 5 · Equipped: A Podcast Platform for the Equip Ministry of Cuyahoga Valley Church

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: Nehemiah 1, verses 8 and 9.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: These two verses could be the single greatest development in your prayer life.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: I don't say that lightly, but before we take a look at them, I want to back up a little bit and begin with a very basic question that's actually rarely thought about.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: And the question is, why should God hear my prayer?
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: Truly.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: Why should God pay attention to what I'm asking?
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: Why might He give mind to my request or be compelled to take action and to act on what I'm saying?
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: I suppose we just assume that God will hear us because of who God is.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: And that's not entirely untrue.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: This is a God who hears even our weakest, most simple cries.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's just not the full picture.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: So consider this also that we're praying to a God who calls us to know, walk with, and understand more and more of who He is.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: And a growing relationship with God should not be assumed.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: Let me illustrate where I'm going with this.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: Have you ever played Apples to Apples?
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: The game centers around a descriptive card with an adjective on it, say beautiful, for example.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: And each player then takes turns choosing a noun from their hand that they feel best matches that adjective.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: But the winning card is decided upon by one designated player.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: Now the nouns are so varied and random and often makes for a lot of laughs.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: But the key of the game relies on intuition.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: What card from my hand would compel that one player to choose mine?
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: In other words, the better I know the player and how he or she thinks, or she chooses funny answers, or he's always logical, the better shot I have at winning.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: To put it another way, we have to speak that person's language.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: Have you ever used that expression with someone?
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: Now you're speaking my language.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: It's not that the person suddenly learned English.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: We say this when someone finally understands or gets us.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: And that's what I'm getting at with God.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: We all know how to ask for things and use all the right words.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: The question is, do we really understand him?
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: Do we get God?
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: What stirs his heart?
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: What kind of prayer and prayer is he inclined to?
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: At what point does God turn to us and say, Now you're speaking my language?
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: What we are looking at today in Nehemiah 1, 8 and 9 exemplifies that degree of awareness of God.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: In these two verses, Nehemiah demonstrates what we might call this intuitive prayerfulness.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: See, Nehemiah prayed the way he did because his relationship with God wasn't surface level.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: He had learned to speak God's language, and I don't mean Hebrew.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: Notice.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: Remember the word that you commanded your servant Moses, saying, If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: But if you return to me and keep my commandments and do them, though your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there I will gather them and bring them to the place that I have chosen, to make my name dwell there.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: His main prayer is, Remember the word that you, God, commanded your servant Moses, and from there he references several specific things that God said he would do.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: So in these verses, there's at least three different reference points.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: There's Leviticus 26, verse 33, and then 40 to 45.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: There's Deuteronomy 4, verses 25 to 27, and Deuteronomy 30, verses 1 to 5.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: Now, what that tells me is that Nehemiah was so saturated with the things that God had said that it began to shape the way that he prayed.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: He wasn't just praying about his own private concerns.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: He was praying what God wanted.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: God, you made a promise.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, if we're unfaithful, you'll scatter us, but if we return to you, as I'm doing now, then you will gather us back again.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: So Nehemiah was simply reminding God to remember the very things that God said he would remember when his people turned and obeyed.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: These are the things that God cared deeply about.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: In other words, Nehemiah was speaking God's language.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: And what is that?
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: Well, it's God's own words.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: It's prayer that accords with what God has already said and looks to the larger purposes of what he desires to do.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: So here's my encouragement.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: In this new beginning of our church, let's open our Bibles and let His words shape our words.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: For example, Jesus, it says in Revelation 2, verse 1, that you walk among your people, among the lampstands.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: So walk among us now, examine us and refine us for your glory and our good.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: You also said that you would build your church and the gates of hell would not prevail against it.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: So remind us of the power of the gospel and help us take bold steps to share it with love and conviction.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: So consider practicing each of the steps in this tradition to allow this transformative process to take root in your prayers.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: Here they are: read, reflect, respond, rest.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: So in their book, uh Lead with Prayer, authors Ryan Scog, Peter Greer, and Cameron Doolittle elaborate on these.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: So let me walk us through them a little bit.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: First of all, they say reading.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: Think of it this way: it's as though you're taking the word as food and putting it into your mouth.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: You listen carefully to scripture, without hurry or intellectual strain.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: You wait quietly for the Holy Spirit to bring God's word to life.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: Second, reflect.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: They relate this to the scriptural command to meditate, and they say this is like chewing your food.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: So gently repeat to yourself a phrase from the scripture, turning it over and over in your thoughts and feelings to renew your mind.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: Third, then, is respond.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: This is where we actually pray.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: And praying scripture, they say, is a lot like tasting your food.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: Now you're responding to the word with feelings, maybe confessing your sins or struggles, and then asking God for what you or others might need.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: Finally, rest.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: This is to contemplate on God's word or to digest its sweetness.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: So you rest quietly in God's loving arms.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: No words are necessary at this point.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: And actually, they say it may detract from simply being in God's loving presence.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: So I would encourage you to practice that process.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: Here's a question to consider for today.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: Have my prayers become vain repetitions that are focused mainly on my private concerns?
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: Do I need some fresh language in my prayer?
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: Well, here's a prayer prompt for you.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: Pray for your heart today.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: That'll be so inclined to God's word that you let it begin to shape your heart and your prayers.