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Teach Us to Pray - 6 Reasons Why You Don't Hear God When You Pray · LifeAudio

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  Speaker 1: Life Audio.
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  Speaker 2: Teach Us to Pray is brought to you by Life
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  Speaker 2: Audio and is a part of our Faith Toolkit series.
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  Speaker 2: For more inspirational, faith-affirming podcasts, visit lifeaudio.com.
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  Speaker 3: When we feel like God is silent, we assume that
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  Speaker 3: He's not speaking to us. But what if He is speaking?
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  Speaker 3: We are just not in a position to hear Him.
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  Speaker 3: In today's episode, I want to share with you some
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  Speaker 3: of the common reasons you are not hearing from God
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  Speaker 3: and how to overcome each one.
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  Speaker 1: Welcome back, friend.
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  Speaker 3: You are listening to the Teach Us to Pray podcast,
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  Speaker 3: where we teach believers practical and real life tips on
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  Speaker 3: how to grow your faith and relationship with God through
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  Speaker 3: the power of prayer. I'm Christine Patterson, host of the
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  Speaker 3: Teach Us to Pray podcast and founder of Beloved Women,
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  Speaker 3: where I have the honor of encouraging, equipping, and empowering
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  Speaker 3: women all over the world in the love of Jesus
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  Speaker 3: Christ and the truth of God's word. And I want
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  Speaker 3: to remind you that we have an upcoming Bible study
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  Speaker 3: called Crazy or Called, where we will be studying the
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  Speaker 3: lives of 10 faithful men and women in the Bible
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  Speaker 3: to learn how we can clearly discover God's purpose on
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  Speaker 3: our lives and confidently answer his call on our lives.
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  Speaker 3: You can learn more about that at BelovedWomen.org. But for today,
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  Speaker 3: I want to talk about reasons why we cannot hear
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  Speaker 3: from God. So the issue here isn't that God is silent.
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  Speaker 3: I have an entire episode for you on the podcast.
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  Speaker 3: Check it out about what to do when you feel
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  Speaker 3: like God is silent. But there are certain times where
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  Speaker 3: God is speaking, but we are just not in a
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  Speaker 3: position to hear him. And so I want to talk
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  Speaker 3: about what are some of those positions that we put
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  Speaker 3: ourselves in that prevent us from being able to actually
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  Speaker 3: hear from the Lord and how we can overcome those
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  Speaker 3: challenges and ensure that we don't place ourselves in those
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  Speaker 3: situations so that we can actually have a two-way conversation
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  Speaker 3: with God that is the definition of prayer where we
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  Speaker 3: are praying to Him, but we're also receiving words from
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  Speaker 3: Him and we can actually hear from Him as well.
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  Speaker 3: And so the first reason why you may not be
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  Speaker 3: hearing from God is just simply you are not listening.
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  Speaker 3: You're not putting yourself in a position to hear from him.
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  Speaker 3: So you may make time to pray and list off
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  Speaker 3: your request, but you're not making time to be still
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  Speaker 3: and actually hear God's response because it takes time. And
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  Speaker 3: so we have to make space to hear from God
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  Speaker 3: in our lives, which leads to the second reason why
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  Speaker 3: you may not be hearing from God. And that is
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  Speaker 3: you don't have the space to listen to him because.
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  Speaker 1: You're too busy or you're too distracted.
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  Speaker 3: And this actually reminds me of Elijah. I'm going to
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  Speaker 3: be using Elijah for a lot of the examples in
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  Speaker 3: today's episode.
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  Speaker 1: But Elijah was a prophet of God.
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  Speaker 3: And at the time of his ministry, the Israelites had
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  Speaker 3: fallen away from following God and truly serving him alone.
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  Speaker 3: They were ruled by King Ahab and Queen Jezebel. And
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  Speaker 3: God passed judgment on the people and had Elijah go
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  Speaker 3: to King Ahab and say, hey, there's about to be
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  Speaker 3: a drought in the land. And that was a punishment
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  Speaker 3: because they had fallen away from truly following God, their
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  Speaker 3: one true God. And God was trying to get their attention.
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  Speaker 3: And so Elijah at one point becomes discouraged just in
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  Speaker 3: his ministry and trying to turn this entire nation's hearts
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  Speaker 3: back to God. And so he has this moment at
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  Speaker 3: Mount Hebron where God meets him. And it specifically says that,
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  Speaker 3: you know, there was a great wind and God was
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  Speaker 3: not in the wind. There was a great earthquake, but
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  Speaker 3: God was not in the earthquake. There was a great
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  Speaker 3: fire and God was not in the fire. And then
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  Speaker 3: the Bible says, and then there was this still small voice.
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  Speaker 1: And that was God.
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  Speaker 3: And so it's so interesting to know that we often
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  Speaker 3: think of God's voice as being this thunderous, booming voice that.
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  Speaker 1: Will immediately get our attention.
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  Speaker 3: But oftentimes God's speaking to us in this still small voice,
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  Speaker 3: which means.
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  Speaker 1: We have to be still.
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  Speaker 3: If we are too busy, if we are too distracted,
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  Speaker 3: we are not making time and space to actually be
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  Speaker 3: able to hear from the Lord.
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  Speaker 1: You know what's interesting? I hear from the Lord.
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  Speaker 3: Personally the clearest right when I wake up in the morning,
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  Speaker 3: when it's quiet, nobody in my house is awake, and
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  Speaker 3: I'm in that like half conscious state of like, I'm
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  Speaker 3: I'm awake, but I'm still laying here in the bed.
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  Speaker 3: That's when I hear from God the loudest, the clearest,
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  Speaker 3: because I think God knows that that is when I
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  Speaker 3: don't have distractions in my mind or in my heart,
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  Speaker 3: and He can really hear from me clearly then. And
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  Speaker 3: so I want you to think about that. When do
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  Speaker 3: you hear from God the clearest? Is it when you're
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  Speaker 3: taking a walk? Is it when you turn the music
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  Speaker 3: off on your commute to work and you just drive
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  Speaker 3: in silence? Figure out what that is and make more
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  Speaker 3: space for those situations so that you can position yourself
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  Speaker 3: to hear from the Lord. So this leads me to
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  Speaker 3: the next reason why you may not be hearing from God.
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  Speaker 3: And that is because you are not being patient. And
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  Speaker 3: so sometimes we can allow ourselves the space and the
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  Speaker 3: stillness to be able to hear from God. But that
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  Speaker 3: doesn't mean we're immediately going to hear from him. If
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  Speaker 3: we become impatient and we're like, oh, he's not speaking.
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  Speaker 3: Let me just get up and go and stop praying
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  Speaker 3: or stop listening. Then we can miss him. And again,
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  Speaker 3: this reminds me of Elijah. There was a time where
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  Speaker 3: the drought in the land was about to end.
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  Speaker 1: And Elijah knew this.
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  Speaker 3: And so he knelt down and he started to pray
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  Speaker 3: to God because they really needed this.
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  Speaker 1: Drought to end.
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  Speaker 3: And so. Elijah sent his servant to go look by
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  Speaker 3: the sea to see if there was any sign of
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  Speaker 3: rain coming. And the servant went and he came back
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  Speaker 3: and there was no sign. And so Elijah continued to
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  Speaker 3: kneel and pray. And he sent his servant back and
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  Speaker 3: forth six times until the seventh time the servant came
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  Speaker 3: back and said, I see a cloud the size of
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  Speaker 3: a man's fist. And Elijah knew that God had answered
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  Speaker 3: his prayers and the drought was about to end. And
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  Speaker 3: that was God speaking to him and revealing to him, yes,
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  Speaker 3: I'm going to keep my promise. I'm going to end
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  Speaker 3: this drought. But it took going back over and over
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  Speaker 3: again to look for the sign. It took Elijah staying
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  Speaker 3: in position, staying in a position of prayer until he
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  Speaker 3: heard from the Lord. And so often if we want
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  Speaker 3: to hear from the Lord, we have to ensure that
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  Speaker 3: that we're not only in position to hear from Him,
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  Speaker 3: but that we're actually staying in position to hear from
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  Speaker 3: Him until we hear from Him. Now, I'm not saying
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  Speaker 3: lock yourself into your prayer closet until you get a
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  Speaker 3: word from the Lord.
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  Speaker 1: You got things to do.
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  Speaker 3: But what I'm saying is pray without ceasing. And we
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  Speaker 3: have an entire episode on how to practically do that.
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  Speaker 3: Do not give up on hearing from the Lord, but
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  Speaker 3: be patient because patience will give you understanding. The next
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  Speaker 3: reason you might not be hearing from the Lord is
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  Speaker 3: that you're not praying with expectation and you're praying, but
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  Speaker 3: you don't expect to hear from God. And so if
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  Speaker 3: we're telling ourselves, oh, God's not going to, you know,
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  Speaker 3: talk back to me. He's not going to give me
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  Speaker 3: an answer. Then we start looking for that. We expect
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  Speaker 3: not to hear from him. And so even though he
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  Speaker 3: might actually be speaking, our minds aren't positioned to think, oh, wait,
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  Speaker 3: that was God speaking to me. We're not aligned to
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  Speaker 3: see and hear that, oh, that was a move of
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  Speaker 3: God because we don't expect it.
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  Speaker 1: We're not looking for it.
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  Speaker 3: And so again, this takes me back to Elijah. This time,
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  Speaker 3: Elijah is on Mount Carman and he is confronting the
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  Speaker 3: Israelites and he's telling them, listen, you have to choose
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  Speaker 3: the Lord or these, they were worshiping another God called Baal.
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  Speaker 3: And so the Israelites at the time were kind of,
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  Speaker 3: they were double-minded. They were trying to do both. And
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  Speaker 3: Elijah was like, God's not having that. Y'all gonna have
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  Speaker 3: to choose a side. And the Israelites didn't want to
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  Speaker 3: do that.
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  Speaker 1: They didn't know what to decide. They were indecisive.
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  Speaker 3: And so Elijah was like, fine, I'm going to call
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  Speaker 3: on the Lord God, the true God. And then the
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  Speaker 3: prophets of Baal will call on Baal and whoever answers
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  Speaker 3: by fire will be.
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  Speaker 1: Be considered the one true God.
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  Speaker 3: And the Israelites are like, cool, this sounds like a
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  Speaker 3: great contest to decide who deserves our affections.
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  Speaker 1: Let's do it. So the prophets of.
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  Speaker 3: Baal, they call on to their God, they scream, they
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  Speaker 3: cut themselves, they put on this entire show, and nothing happens.
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  Speaker 3: And Elijah actually starts to mock them. And he's like,
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  Speaker 3: maybe he's asleep. But then when it's Elijah's turn to
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  Speaker 3: call on to the one true God who he knows
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  Speaker 3: actually hears our prayers and not just that who actually
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  Speaker 3: responds to our prayers. It was like a three, two
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  Speaker 3: or three sentence prayer that Elijah prayed. And then God
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  Speaker 3: answered with this consuming fire. But Elijah expected to hear
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  Speaker 3: from God. He didn't have to put on this big
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  Speaker 3: show like the prophets of Baal. He didn't have to
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  Speaker 3: try so hard because he knew it wasn't up to him.
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  Speaker 3: He knew he served a faithful, real God who answers
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  Speaker 3: the prayers of his people. And that is the type
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  Speaker 3: of faith that we need to take into our prayers
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  Speaker 3: with an expectation that God will speak back to us.
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  Speaker 1: And so the next.
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  Speaker 3: Way that you reason you might not be hearing from
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  Speaker 3: God then is that you're not investing in your fellowship
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  Speaker 3: with God. You're not investing in your relationship with God.
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  Speaker 3: Because in order to have that faith, that expectation type
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  Speaker 3: of faith to know when I pray, God is going
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  Speaker 3: to answer my prayer. You have had to walk with
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  Speaker 3: God to develop that type of faith. You have had
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  Speaker 3: to be in prayer consistently and hear from God consistently.
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  Speaker 1: To develop that faith.
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  Speaker 3: Muscle to know that when I pray, God speaks back
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  Speaker 3: to me. I know that He's speaking to me. And
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  Speaker 3: that takes time. That takes time. And when I talk
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  Speaker 3: about being patient when it comes to hearing from God,
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  Speaker 3: not only patient with God, you want to be patient
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  Speaker 3: with yourself. Growing in your prayer life, as in growing
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  Speaker 3: anything else, It takes time. All good things take time.
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  Speaker 3: So you want to be patient with yourself. If you're
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  Speaker 3: in a situation and you're like, oh, I don't feel
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  Speaker 3: comfortable praying. And oh, I don't feel like I'm hearing
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  Speaker 3: from God. Or I know that if this is God
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  Speaker 3: or myself or what, that's okay.
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  Speaker 1: That is okay.
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  Speaker 3: Just keep praying. As long as you are consistent, you
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  Speaker 3: will get better. So be consistent in prayer. Be consistent
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  Speaker 3: in your fellowship with God and growing to know Him more.
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  Speaker 3: Because the more that you know him, the more.
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  Speaker 1: You'll be able to recognize his voice.
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  Speaker 3: And the last reason I want to share with you
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  Speaker 3: today that you might not be hearing from God is
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  Speaker 3: that you're afraid. You are afraid. You've closed your ears
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  Speaker 3: off to hear from God because you're afraid of what
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  Speaker 3: he might say. You don't want to hear the truth.
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  Speaker 3: And this is a heart issue. Because this comes to
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  Speaker 3: what do you believe about God? Do you believe that
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  Speaker 3: he is a good father? Because if you do, then
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  Speaker 3: you will position yourself to hear whatever it is that
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  Speaker 3: he wants to tell you, whatever it is that he's
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  Speaker 3: asking you to do.
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  Speaker 1: The Bible tells us God did.
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  Speaker 3: Not give us a spirit of fear, but fear can
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  Speaker 3: interrupt our prayer lives and our ability to hear from God,
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  Speaker 3: especially if we're afraid of God. But the Bible says
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  Speaker 3: that it's God's perfect love for us that cast out fear.
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  Speaker 3: So we have to choose. Do I want to pray
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  Speaker 3: in fear, in timidity? Or do I want to pray
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  Speaker 3: in faith, in boldness that the God I'm praying to
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  Speaker 3: loves me fiercely? So much so that he sent his
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  Speaker 3: only son to die for my sins. That if he
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  Speaker 3: would go that far, I can trust him with my
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  Speaker 3: request and even more, I can trust not only that
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  Speaker 3: He will answer, but even how He will answer when
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  Speaker 3: I pray. It is my hope that today's episode has
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  Speaker 3: provided you with insight and helpful tips on how you
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  Speaker 3: can pray. As a gift, be sure to download my
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  Speaker 3: free five-day prayer guide and take my prayer personality quiz
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  Speaker 3: to learn how you best hear and connect with God.
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  Speaker 3: You may find all links in today's show notes. We
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  Speaker 3: have so much more to talk about when it comes
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  Speaker 3: to prayer. So I hope that if you were encouraged
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  Speaker 3: by today's episode, you will share it with a friend
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  Speaker 3: and subscribe so that you don't miss any future episodes
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  Speaker 3: of the Teach Us to Pray podcast, where we will
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  Speaker 3: continue to learn how just like breathing, prayer can become
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  Speaker 3: a natural, consistent and life-giving part of our everyday lives.
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  Speaker 3: Until then, be sure to connect with me at BelovedWomen.org
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  Speaker 3: and join our free online Bible study program. crazy are called,
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  Speaker 3: you can learn more about that at BelovedWomen.org. And be
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  Speaker 3: sure to join me in the Beloved Women app for
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  Speaker 3: unlimited videos to grow your faith, learn God's Word, and
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  Speaker 3: encourage your soul, available now in the Apple and Google
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  Speaker 3: Play stores or at BelovedWomen.tv. Thank you so much for
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  Speaker 3: taking time to listen today. God bless you, and I'll
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  Speaker 3: talk to you in the next episode. Teach Us to
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  Speaker 3: Pray is a production of Life Audio and Salem Media.
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