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Answered Prayer Pt. 3 · Time with God with John North

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Good morning. I'm John North here to help you start
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  Speaker 1: your day right as we spend time with God. I
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: hope your heart is open to God this morning, saying
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  Speaker 1: to Him, Lord, what do you want to say to
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  Speaker 1: me through Your word? And I hope when we finish
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  Speaker 1: with this little spot, you'll take some extra time to
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  Speaker 1: pray and just respond to God in what He's saying
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  Speaker 1: to you.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: We're looking this week at the topic of answered prayer.
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  Speaker 1: And how much God wants to make that the pattern
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  Speaker 1: of your life.
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  Speaker 1: That your life is marked by answered prayer.
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  Speaker 1: We're looking today in John 15 at verse 16 where
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  Speaker 1: Jesus says to the disciples, You did not choose me.
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  Speaker 1: I chose you and appointed you.
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  Speaker 1: That you should go and bear fruit and that your
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  Speaker 1: fruit should remain that whatever you ask of the Father
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  Speaker 1: in my name.
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  Speaker 1: He may give to you.
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: You notice the order of things in this verse. He says,
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  Speaker 1: I want you to bear fruit that remains so that
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  Speaker 1: whatever you ask the Father in my name, He may
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  Speaker 1: give to you. We usually think of it the other
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  Speaker 1: way around, don't we? We think that we pray in
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  Speaker 1: order to produce spiritual fruit in our lives, and in
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  Speaker 1: a sense, of course, that's right, but the problem with
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  Speaker 1: looking at prayer that way.
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  Speaker 1: Is that we see prayer only as a tool that
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  Speaker 1: helps us in our lives.
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  Speaker 1: And I think Jesus wants us to see prayer not
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  Speaker 1: only as a help in ministry but as a fruitful
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  Speaker 1: ministry itself so that we need to have fruitful, healthy
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  Speaker 1: spiritual lives in order to pray rightly. Prayer is a
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  Speaker 1: ministry that we should prepare ourselves for in our spiritual state.
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  Speaker 1: Bear fruit so that whatever you ask the Father, He
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  Speaker 1: may give to you.
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  Speaker 1: We should have the goal in our lives of being
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  Speaker 1: more effective in our praying, and we should be actively,
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  Speaker 1: thoughtfully working towards that goal, making ourselves useful to God
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  Speaker 1: for the purpose of prayer. And you notice Jesus says,
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  Speaker 1: if you are in that right spiritual condition, whatever you
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  Speaker 1: ask of the Father in my name.
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  Speaker 1: That he would give it to you.
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  Speaker 1: Here again this is the 3rd time this week we've
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  Speaker 1: come to a passage in this same discussion of Jesus
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  Speaker 1: with the disciples John 14 to 16 where he has
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  Speaker 1: said whatever you ask.
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  Speaker 1: Don't you want that for your prayer life?
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  Speaker 1: Yes, I think you do.
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  Speaker 1: Well then begin working to prepare yourself spiritually for prayer.
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  Speaker 1: Don't just tack prayer on to the end of your day.
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  Speaker 1: Don't just tack prayer on to the beginning of your meals.
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  Speaker 1: Don't just tack prayer on to the beginning of your meetings.
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  Speaker 1: Make prayer.
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  Speaker 1: One of the most important activities of your life, focus
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  Speaker 1: yourself for prayer. Prepare yourself spiritually. Deal with issues in
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  Speaker 1: your life. Come to God when you are going to
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  Speaker 1: make requests, not just rattling off a list of things
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  Speaker 1: you hope will happen. Come to God when you make
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  Speaker 1: requests with a deep sense of spiritual readiness and a sensitivity.
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  Speaker 1: To what God might want you to ask for in prayer,
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  Speaker 1: because for sure if you ask in prayer what God
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  Speaker 1: would want you to ask, well then there's no question,
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  Speaker 1: is there? Of course that's what God is going to do,
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  Speaker 1: whatever you ask in order for that to be reality,
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  Speaker 1: you have to be sensitive to God. Prepare yourself spiritually
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  Speaker 1: for prayer.
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  Speaker 1: I'm John North.