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555 | The Elements of Prayer - Part 5 - Intimate Prayer · The Woman at the Well Ministries Podcast

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  Hello, friends, and welcome back to another podcast of Woman at the Well Ministries,
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  where we believe that all of us have to come to Jesus like the woman at the well in John chapter 4.
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  Our highest priority is making God real in your life.
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  Whether you are listening in our app, in your favorite podcasting app,
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  or on our website at WATWM.org,
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  we invite you to sit down with us as we look to the scriptures to learn more
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  about God and to strengthen your daily walk with Jesus Christ.
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  Join us in this broadcast of Women at the Well Ministries as Kim continues her teaching on prayer.
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  Follow along with her as she walks us through the model prayer,
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  making it come to life in our own lives.
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  Hello, and thank you for joining us in this broadcast of Woman at the Well Ministries.
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  And we're going to look in Matthew chapter 6, and we're going to see what the
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  Bible says concerning prayer.
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  And we've spoken over the last few lessons about prayer and the elements of
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  prayer that we've chosen to highlight that we would have in our lessons.
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  But we want to see exactly in this particular passage of scripture what the
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  Lord says that should be in our prayers and how we should pray.
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  But before we do that, I ask that you would pray with me, please.
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  Our kind and most gracious, dear Heavenly Father, Lord, we just thank you that
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  we know that you're listening.
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  We thank you, dear Heavenly Father, that you are God. And we thank you that
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  we know, Lord, that even though we have failed you today, that you have loved
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  us and that you have watched over us.
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  And as we ask for repentance in our heart and our soul, dear God,
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  that you truly will forgive us because you said that if we would confess our
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  sins, you'd be faithful and just to forgive them.
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  Lord, I praise you for who you are. And I thank you that I know that you are
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  capable and that you are able and that I can come to you because you've invited
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  me to, Lord, and that I can ask you to meet those needs that I have,
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  Lord, that I can ask you to walk with me. And you said that you would never leave me nor forsake me.
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  And Lord, I can ask you to comfort me because you said that you've given me
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  the comforter to live within me.
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  Dear Heavenly Father, I thank you for who you are and I thank you for all that you do.
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  And I ask you, dear Heavenly Father, for the next few moments as we gather together
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  around your scriptures, that you would just unfold in front of us.
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  Dear Lord, that you would teach us and instruct us so that we would be able
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  to speak to you in the way that you would have us to, Lord, and that we would
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  have the full assurance of knowing that you're listening to us and that we have
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  reached your heart and that our words have touched your ears.
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  Lord, we pray that you would be with those in our listening audience that have needs.
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  We pray that you'd be with the needs that we have, Lord, and we pray that you
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  would continue to bless women at the Well Ministries, that you would use us
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  in a mighty way in your service.
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  Lord, please have your richest blessings upon this reading that we're going
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  to do. Please take these words and may it penetrate the hearts of those that hear.
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  To all these things we ask in Thine most precious and holy name we pray,
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  and all of God's people sin.
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  Amen. Beginning in verse 5
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  of Matthew chapter 6, we begin to get some instructions concerning prayer.
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  The main points that we'd like to make in today's lesson are going to come in
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  verse 9 and following because it's the Lord's prayer, as many people say,
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  but it's actually the model prayer.
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  I believe the Lord's prayer was when he spoke in the Garden of Gethsemane,
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  and he spoke to Jesus that day, and he poured his heart out.
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  But this is the prayer that the Lord speaks, and it's a model in which that
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  we can use to have our own prayers.
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  But in verse 5, he says, And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are.
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  For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets,
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  that they may be seen of men.
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  Verily I say unto you, they have the reward. You see, prayer is an attitude of a heart.
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  Prayer is our time to stand before the God of the universe and to converse with him.
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  Prayer is our means of really getting intimate and speaking to Jesus Christ
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  about the things that are in our lives, the things that are happening to us,
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  the fears that we may have because perfect love casts out all fear,
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  and we know that he loves us perfectly, and we come to him in faith believing.
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  Then we are assured that our fears can dissipate because his love will cover that.
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  And as we begin to speak to Jesus, we sort of watch the rest of the world go
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  away when we're truly opening our heart to him.
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  And in this verse, what he's saying is, if you're not praying to pray to me,
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  then you've already got your rewards. I have no need to answer you.
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  And you see, what he's speaking about here is the hypocrites who want people
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  to think they're religious,
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  that want people to think that they are all that in a bag of chips when it comes
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  to religion, the ones that are wearing the religion on their sleeves and telling
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  everybody else about how good they are and about who they are.
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  He warns them that their prayers are not what they should be.
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  As we continue, he says that thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet.
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  And when thou hast shut thy door, pray to the Father which is in secret,
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  and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.
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  What he's telling us is it is a conversation between me and God.
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  It's a conversation between you and God. It's something that is strictly between the two of you.
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  It doesn't need to be broadcast. It isn't something to brag about.
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  It isn't something for others to judge you with. That is not even any of our
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  intent as we've been teaching these lessons on prayer is to tell you that if
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  you're not praying these elements, you're praying wrong.
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  What we're doing is handing you some instructions that the word of God says
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  to let your prayer life be richer and more full.
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  But let me tell you, the prayer of a repentant heart is correct.
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  And it doesn't have to have any certain speech pattern.
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  It doesn't have to have any certain length. It doesn't have to be blessed by
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  any man and doesn't have to be said for you.
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  When you become a child of the Most High God, you have direct access to God
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  the Father through Jesus the Son.
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  And he says, come boldly to the throne of grace that you may obtain mercy.
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  In the time of need. But it's a time when you and God, you and Jesus are alone.
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  And your prayers need to be about your relationship with him.
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  Not about what other people are seeing or what other people are doing.
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  And you see, when you have a rich, full prayer life, you have nothing to worry
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  about as to whether other people know you're praying because they'll see it.
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  He said very plainly that if you pray to me in secret, I'll reward you openly.
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  You can tell when someone's walking close to God. You can tell when they're
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  ingesting the word of God on a regular and daily basis.
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  You can tell when they're continuing in prayer always.
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  You can tell when there's nothing between them and God.
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  And God's blessings just pour upon them.
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  Do they have trouble in their life? Yes, but they have a peace that passeth
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  understanding and a joy unspeakable and full of glory, and his presence radiates around about them.
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  He said that if you will humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God,
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  that he would exalt you in due time.
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  He says in verse 7 of Matthew chapter 6, but when you pray, use not vain repetitions
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  as the heathen do, for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
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  And I know that many of us have been
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  in the presence and we've heard people pray big
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  long lengthy prayers and some of them perhaps may have sounded good and all
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  of their t's were crossed and their eyes were dotted and their grammar was absolutely
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  impeccable they use beautiful long words but at the end of it I wonder if they
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  actually said anything that was in their hearts.
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  You see, prayer is about pouring your heart out to God. Some people are natural born speakers.
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  And when they speak, it just sounds pretty.
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  Others have a real hard time getting it out.
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  But you see, when you speak to God, it's not about how pretty it sounds.
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  It's not about how easily it flows.
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  It's about you being honest before God.
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  It's about you being absolutely open with the God of the universe and believing
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  that he hears you and believing that he's going to take care of you and believing
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  that you've just left the throne of God.
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  There's power in prayer, and it comes from a relationship with him.
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  He says, be ye not therefore like unto them, for your father knoweth what things
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  ye have need of before you ask him.
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  If you'll recall, and I've used this illustration several times in this series,
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  but when Peter was on the boat with the rest of the boys and the storm was raging round about them.
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  Peter looks out of the boat and he sees coming towards him someone that he thinks is Jesus.
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  Did you hear me? When the storm is raging round about him, and Peter looks out
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  of the boat, and he sees someone coming towards him.
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  You see, Jesus knew the need of the boys.
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  Jesus understood the storm. But I want you to also see that the storm was powerless to Jesus.
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  You see, Jesus walked.
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  On the storm. Jesus walked through the storm.
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  And Jesus also, in several places in the scripture, spoke to the storm and said, peace, be still.
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  And the winds and the waves obeyed his voice.
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  I said all of that to say this, Jesus knows what you need.
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  Jesus knows the problem that you have before you even ask,
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  but he has set it up in such a way that he wants you to show that you believe
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  in him, that you have confidence in his abilities, that you trust in him to take care of you,
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  that you understand that without him, you are nothing.
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  You're not telling him something he doesn't know. You're showing him how much
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  he means to you and how much confidence you have in him when you come to him in prayer.
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  He knows what you need, and he's already there, regardless of what your storm.
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  Rest assured, he's already there.
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  And he's never going to leave you nor forsake you. And he'll never lead you
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  where he hasn't gone before you. That's the whole concept of leading.
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  He's ahead and you're following. He said, come follow me.
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  And then he said, I am the way. So you never have to worry about him getting lost.
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  You never have to worry about him not having his compass adjusted.
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  But you know, he can't say that about you and me. You see, Jesus knows your
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  every fault and he knows your every weakness.
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  He knows the things that tempt you and he knows when your compass is out of line.
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  He knows when you are centered on him and he's your true north or when the world
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  has become where you've set your compass and where you've let it be your God.
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  He knows where you go when you're in trouble, but he also knows where you go
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  when you think everything's okay.
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  You see, with the compass, true north is true north, and it's set against a very, very absolute,
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  And Jesus Christ should be our true north. He said, I am the way.
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  And he also said that he would light the way because he preciously told us that he was the light.
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  Friends, he loves you and he wants to hear from you and he wants you to follow him.
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  And we do that by staying in the center of his will,
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  by being holy as he was holy, by
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  assessing our walk and our life regularly to
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  see if we need to again come like peter did and allow
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  jesus just to brush off the dust of the world from us to realign our compass
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  so that jesus is where we're headed so that all things are in relation to jesus
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  christ so that every activity that you participate,
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  participate in is completely governed
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  by the commandments and the rules and the love of god so that your absolute
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  walk is absolutely where he would have you and that comes from a very close
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  relationship he said that if we regard iniquity in our hearts that he wouldn't hear us.
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  Peter again in that same story that he gives us is standing in the boat,
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  And he says to Jesus, if it be you, then bid me come.
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  Part of Peter's problem was he didn't recognize Jesus.
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  And I believe that part of our problems on a day-to-day basis is we don't recognize
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  the hand of Jesus in our lives when it's there.
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  And I believe many times as he's speaking to us, we turn a deaf ear because
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  we just don't recognize him.
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  If you have the prayer life that he's intended for you to have,
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  and you're praying without ceasing and you're praying continually,
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  you won't have a problem recognizing him.
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  You'll hear him when he whispers. You'll see him when his hand sweeps by.
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  You'll feel him in the stillness of the night.
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  You'll see him in his glory round about the entire storm.
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  Something very interesting will happen because in his presence,
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  the storm will grow dim and it will have no effect on you.
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  You see, Jesus bid Peter to come, and he stepped out of the boat, and he came.
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  And everything was going fine because Jesus was guiding him.
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  He had placed his faith in Jesus. His focus was on Jesus Christ.
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  But suddenly something changed, and his focus changed.
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  His compass became aligned with something false.
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  And you know it may have looked to him like it was okay but.
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  It wasn't long until peter found he was in a world of hurt and he sank because
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  he got his eyes on the storm he quit speaking to jesus he quit trusting in jesus
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  the relationship that he had he abandoned for a moment.
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  But suddenly, as he's sinking, Jesus is standing.
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  And he lifts his hands up and he says, save me.
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  My Bible says that immediately Jesus reached down and picked him up.
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  That's the God we serve. He's ready to hear us.
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  He loves us. He wants to be around us. He cares about us.
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  The things about us matter to him.
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  And he says that if we just will call unto him he will answer us the difference
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  in sinking in this world and walking above the world,
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  is our relationship with jesus christ if he is the center and he is the focus
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  and he's who we're speaking to.
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  He will sustain us and no matter how big
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  the storm is we'll be above the storm but
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  it all begins with a personal relationship with jesus christ
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  and it continues with a
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  constant fellowship that he says
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  in revelations 320 that he is constantly
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  pursuing us as he's knocking on our heart's door and
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  that he wants to sup with us and us with him that
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  we can fellowship with him he invites
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  us in matthew 7 7 to ask and ye
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  shall receive seek and ye shall find knock and
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  it shall be given unto you or opened unto
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  you and then he tells us beginning
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  in verse 9 of matthew chapter 6 his
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  prayer one that we can take a close look
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  at and see how jesus prayed to the father he says
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  our father which art in heaven hallowed be
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  thy name he speaks to him and
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  he calls him his father he establishes
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  his relationship when you come to
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  jesus christ in prayer you have him
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  as your father he has adopted you
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  into the family you have a right to speak to him
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  and you have a right to reach god the father
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  through jesus the son and as you.
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  Begin to speak to him as you begin to say that as
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  you begin to let your heart hear that then the
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  faith that you have within yourself swells up and
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  it gives you really good cleats to
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  hang on and know that the
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  next moments that you're spending are spent as
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  an investment in your life and in your time and in your eternity and that you
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  are going to spend the next few moments in an absolute presence of God Almighty
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  and he begins his prayer establishing that relationship And he continues with, Hallowood be thy name.
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  He reverences him. He honors him. As we begin to be thankful for the things
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  about who God is, as we begin to see all that it is that he does for us,
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  our faith again begins to swell up.
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  And faith is the key that unlocks heaven's door.
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  Jesus said, but without faith, it is impossible to please me.
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  And he says that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
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  You want to get things from God? God, you need to spend time with God.
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  You want to know him, you'll find him. He says, seek and you shall find.
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  You got questions, he's got answers.
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  Nobody else does. They may give you some, but he has the real answers. You know why?
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  Because he is the answer.
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  Thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.
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  He submits to him. that
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  act of submission surrendering ourselves and saying
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  your will be done father not mine let the kingdom of god come and relay itself
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  in front of everyone let it manifest itself in my life let me be what you'd
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  have me to be lord remove me let me be exactly what you planned for me.
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  And give us this day our daily bread.
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  Lord, I know that I'm nothing without you. And I know that you give me all things.
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  And I know that you are the creator of all things.
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  And I know that you know what's best for me.
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  And I trust you to provide even my sustenance.
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  And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. You see,
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  when we begin to speak to God and we've thanked him for who he is and we've
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  praised him for who he is.
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  And we've established that relationship and we've surrendered to him.
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  We also need to confess our sins because he said that if you hide or regard
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  iniquity in your heart, that he would not hear you.
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  My friends in this model prayer we watch the elements
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  that we have pulled out in this highlighted in this
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  series come to life and we
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  want our slate clean between us and jesus as we begin to speak to him about
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  what we want and we need to ask him for forgiveness we need to ask him for protection
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  we need to begin to petition him for his strength and his resources and lead
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  us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.
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  For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.
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  Amen. This God that we serve, he wants us to speak to him.
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  And we need to worship him for who he is. We need to talk about how hallowed he is.
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  We need to surrender to his power and his authority.
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  We need to cleanse our lives so that we are able, as we confess to him,
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  for him to hear us, so that there's nothing between us and God.
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  We need to feel confident as we come boldly to the throne, as he said in Hebrews
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  chapter 4, and ask him for the things that we have need of.
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  We need to be thankful for all that he's done and for all that he continues to do.
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  Yes, he said in 1 Thessalonians 5, 17, to pray without ceasing.
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  Oh, how he loves you, and oh, how he loves me.
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  And this could be the day that you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, my Lord.
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  Thank you for joining us in today's podcast. You can visit the show notes for
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  quotes from today's podcast and scripture references.
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  We pray today has been a blessing and we encourage you to reach out to us through
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  our app, our website, or our Facebook page.
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  You can find our app by searching for Woman at the Well Ministries in your app
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  store or through our website at watwm.org. We're on Facebook at facebook.com slash W-A-T-W-M.
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  a daily devotion written by Kim and delivered Monday through Friday by text message.
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  Woman at the Well Ministries is a nonprofit organization dedicated to serving our Heavenly Father.
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  And it is through your loving and generous support that our ministry continues to bless others.
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  To learn how to partner with Woman at the Well Ministries, please visit our
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  website. Thank you to the Gospel Group Fudge Creek for letting us use their hit song, Happy Girl.
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  We greatly appreciate your prayers. We are praying daily for our listeners.
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  Remember that God loves you. You are loved.
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  She stands out like sunshine on earth in the sky of gray.