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Ephesians 6:18-20 | Prayer · Bayside Davis Podcast

0:05
SPEAKER_01: Welcome to the Bayside Davis Podcast.
0:08
SPEAKER_01: You're listening to our current teaching series, Ephesians.
0:16
SPEAKER_01: We are in Ephesians chapter 6, verses 18 to 20, is where we're going to land.
0:23
SPEAKER_01: Like what Wesley said, I have been at Bayside since it started, which was about 30 years ago.
0:29
SPEAKER_01: 30 years ago, yes.
0:31
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
0:32
SPEAKER_01: And so as I was, I would play with my Legos one day, and then I was setting up pipe and drape the next.
0:37
SPEAKER_01: And that's uh and that's how we that's how we roll.
0:40
SPEAKER_01: No, it's great.
0:40
SPEAKER_01: They call me the other Pastor Johnston at Bayside, which is great.
0:44
SPEAKER_01: Um we are in Ephesians chapter six, but uh it's been a while since I've been here in Davis.
0:49
SPEAKER_01: I uh and by that I mean 24 hours, uh, because I was here yesterday for the turkey trot.
0:57
SPEAKER_01: And yes, and I ran my very first half marathon.
1:04
SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
1:05
SPEAKER_01: In fact, it was my my my wife and kids, they were driving out to meet me at the finish line, but apparently I ran too fast.
1:13
SPEAKER_01: And um and beat them to the finish line.
1:16
SPEAKER_01: But then um as I was as I was running in, like I saw like Kelly and a bunch of base ideas students all cheering for me, and that was just awesome.
1:24
SPEAKER_01: So I looked over and I saw that, and so we took a picture actually afterwards.
1:28
SPEAKER_01: I think we have that photo.
1:29
SPEAKER_01: Do we have that photo?
1:30
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
1:32
SPEAKER_01: So they all did the 10k, but next time we're all doing the half marathon, right?
1:37
SPEAKER_01: Yes, yeah, yeah, okay, good.
1:38
SPEAKER_01: Okay, so Ephesians chapter six is where we're at.
1:43
SPEAKER_01: But I wanted uh it's doing the half marathon was one of the most difficult physical things I have ever done in my life.
1:52
SPEAKER_01: Okay, I'm still feeling the effects today, but which is why I'm glad that I'm at I'm not gonna be at this table.
1:58
SPEAKER_01: Normally I like to like run around and run around, but today I'm not gonna do any more running.
2:03
SPEAKER_01: Um but it was incredibly difficult, required commitment, endurance, patience, right, which I think is fitting because today we're actually gonna be talking about something that's much more difficult than a half marathon.
2:15
SPEAKER_01: We're talking about something that's actually way more difficult than a 10K, a marathon, or even an iron man.
2:20
SPEAKER_01: What today we were talking about one of the most difficult things that you can do in life.
2:26
SPEAKER_01: And that is pray.
2:29
SPEAKER_01: We're talking about prayer today.
2:31
SPEAKER_01: There's an old preaching adage that says this it is far easier to preach about prayer than it is to pray.
2:37
SPEAKER_01: So, we're in Ephesians chapter six.
2:39
SPEAKER_01: Uh, but I should introduce myself a little bit more.
2:42
SPEAKER_01: My name uh is Scott Johnston, as Wesley has said, my wife Kayla.
2:45
SPEAKER_01: And then we actually have three kids uh who are five, three, and one.
2:51
SPEAKER_01: Thank you for automatically praying.
2:52
SPEAKER_01: I appreciate that.
2:53
SPEAKER_01: Yes, we are in that stage of life.
2:55
SPEAKER_01: And the other day, uh, it was just a couple weeks ago, I was going through uh my house, and I had done and there was like a mess or something, and my son, he was, he had just watched a show, and I was like, okay, it's time to turn off the show, and I want you to go and do this.
3:10
SPEAKER_01: It was some sort of thing that he needed to do, whether it was put on his shoes or do something.
3:15
SPEAKER_01: And we've got he's now at the age where, as a little three-year-old, he's like, he like, he doesn't like to be told what to do, right?
3:23
SPEAKER_01: Not many three-year-olds like to be told what to do, especially if they don't want to do that thing.
3:27
SPEAKER_01: And so I told him what to do, and his response as he started to walk away was to go, stupid dada.
3:37
SPEAKER_01: Before I could even say a word, my wife from the other room storms in and she goes, Excuse you?
3:48
SPEAKER_01: And you can tell that, like, for a second there, I thought I was gonna become a girl dad, where I would just have, I would now no longer have a son, that he'd be gone, right?
3:57
SPEAKER_01: But but basically, my wife looked at him and said, Who do you think you're talking to?
4:03
SPEAKER_01: Have you ever had a parent say that to you before?
4:05
SPEAKER_01: Or something like that?
4:06
SPEAKER_01: Who do you think you're talking to?
4:08
SPEAKER_01: You talked back, and then suddenly you realize that you have been talking, you did not realize the person that you were talking to.
4:18
SPEAKER_01: I think it's a big question.
4:20
SPEAKER_01: And I think it's actually an even bigger question when you ask it of God.
4:25
SPEAKER_01: Who do you think you're talking to?
4:30
SPEAKER_01: Who do you actually think you're talking to?
4:33
SPEAKER_01: I have little a doubt that in this room we have a lot of different ideas about who God is.
4:40
SPEAKER_01: Your perception of God is probably a little bit different, at the very least, than my perception.
4:45
SPEAKER_01: And maybe for a lot of you, your perception of who God is is actually very different.
4:51
SPEAKER_01: Right?
4:51
SPEAKER_01: Uh Rick Warren had a bunch of ideas about like who do we think sometimes God is.
4:55
SPEAKER_01: Some of you have the grumpy God, right?
4:58
SPEAKER_01: He's never pleased about anything ever.
5:01
SPEAKER_01: You have that relative?
5:02
SPEAKER_01: I'm sure they're coming for Thanksgiving this week.
5:04
SPEAKER_01: You've got the grumpy God, the aggressive God, the God who is ready to judge and ready to pounce on you the moment you make a mistake.
5:11
SPEAKER_01: You've got the flaky God, where he's here one day, gone the next.
5:14
SPEAKER_01: You he said he was gonna do something, but then he didn't do it how you wanted.
5:18
SPEAKER_01: You've got the flaky God.
5:19
SPEAKER_01: Or maybe you have, maybe you pray to the dictator God, the God who where you keep you trying to keep showing up and showing up and showing up, but it's never quite enough.
5:27
SPEAKER_01: Or maybe you have Santa Claus God.
5:30
unknown: Right?
5:30
SPEAKER_01: We're coming up into the holidays.
5:32
SPEAKER_01: You've got your whole list, you've written out your whole list and you've given it to him, and you're like, okay, I better be good so that he shows up for Christmas.
5:40
SPEAKER_01: You've got Santa Claus God, or maybe some of us we have Plato God, where it's the God that we've made in our image, the God who agrees with us, likes the things that we like, does the things we do, is angry about the things we're angry about, and generally agrees with everything that we think, because it's a God we made in our image.
6:01
SPEAKER_01: I love how theologian A.
6:02
SPEAKER_01: W.
6:03
SPEAKER_01: Tozer puts it.
6:04
SPEAKER_01: He says, what comes into our minds when we think about what we think about God is the most important thing about us.
6:14
SPEAKER_01: So who do you think you're talking to?
6:22
SPEAKER_01: I think the answer to that question is not only going to be shedding a lot of light, but I actually believe this that the answer to that question is far more generous, far more gracious.
6:31
SPEAKER_01: What you're gonna discover is there's a lot more joy behind the answer to that question than you ever thought possible.
6:39
SPEAKER_01: And so we're gonna read this passage of scripture.
6:41
SPEAKER_01: But to do that, uh, if if you're physically able, would you just stand with me for the reading of God's word?
6:46
SPEAKER_01: Would that be all right?
6:48
SPEAKER_01: All right, let's do it.
6:50
SPEAKER_01: Ephesians chapter 6, starting in verse 18.
6:55
SPEAKER_01: I'm reading from the NIV, and this is what it says.
6:58
SPEAKER_01: And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.
7:05
SPEAKER_01: With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord's people.
7:10
SPEAKER_01: Pray also for me that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will make uh so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains.
7:23
SPEAKER_01: Pray that I may declare it fearlessly as I should.
7:28
SPEAKER_01: It's God's word.
7:30
SPEAKER_01: Uh go ahead and have a seat.
7:31
SPEAKER_01: Let's pray as we dive into this.
7:34
SPEAKER_01: Father God, you are God and we are not.
7:37
SPEAKER_01: Your ways are higher than our ways, your thoughts are higher than our thoughts.
7:41
SPEAKER_01: Father, this is your word, not ours.
7:44
SPEAKER_01: We can't just do with it anything that we want, but instead, Lord, humble us, open our hearts, open our minds.
7:51
SPEAKER_01: Lord, this is your word, so you speak, Lord.
7:54
SPEAKER_01: Please, Lord, give me boldness.
7:57
SPEAKER_01: Give us open hearts and open minds to what you have to say to us today.
8:01
SPEAKER_01: And it's in your name we pray.
8:03
SPEAKER_01: And all God's people said, Amen.
8:06
SPEAKER_01: So why does this matter?
8:07
SPEAKER_01: My uh I was talking with a buddy of mine recently, and he and he had the opportunity to actually talk with Bible translators, right?
8:15
SPEAKER_01: Some like amazingly smart people.
8:18
SPEAKER_01: They're almost as smart as Wesley, okay?
8:20
SPEAKER_01: So just really smart people.
8:23
SPEAKER_01: And and as he was talking with them, he was like, hey, like, so like if you could just give something to every Christian in America, like if you could teach any of them what to do with the Bible, like what would you teach them like how to do?
8:35
SPEAKER_01: Like, I'm thinking it's gonna be hermeneutics.
8:37
SPEAKER_01: I'm thinking it's gonna be like there they'd be fluent in the original languages, right?
8:41
SPEAKER_01: Because our Bible wasn't written in English.
8:43
SPEAKER_01: And so it's like, well, what would you give to every Christian in America?
8:46
SPEAKER_01: And you know what?
8:46
SPEAKER_01: They all said, they all said this.
8:48
SPEAKER_01: The most important thing that we would teach the American church today is how to pray.
8:55
SPEAKER_01: Is how to pray, right?
8:57
SPEAKER_01: What is, or why, why would why is that so important?
9:01
SPEAKER_01: It's because of this, because prayer is how we know God and how we are known by God, right?
9:08
SPEAKER_01: It's the avenue for our relationship.
9:10
SPEAKER_01: Dallas Willard puts it this way.
9:11
SPEAKER_01: I love this quote.
9:12
SPEAKER_01: He says, prayer is talking to God about what we are doing together.
9:17
SPEAKER_01: It's what we are doing together.
9:19
SPEAKER_01: So, how do we do that?
9:20
SPEAKER_01: How do we pray?
9:22
SPEAKER_01: I'm so glad that you asked that question.
9:24
SPEAKER_01: If you're taking notes, you can write this in.
9:25
SPEAKER_01: Here's my first application that we can take from when Paul commands us to pray in the spirit.
9:31
SPEAKER_01: It's this to pray from the right posture.
9:34
SPEAKER_01: Pray from the right posture.
9:36
SPEAKER_01: Uh, yesterday was a long day for me, okay?
9:39
SPEAKER_01: That was a lot of running to do.
9:41
SPEAKER_01: I ran that half marathon and it was it was grueling, one of the most physically difficult experiences.
9:46
SPEAKER_01: But this is not my first time doing long distance running.
9:49
SPEAKER_01: I used to train actually in cross country.
9:52
SPEAKER_01: Uh, when I was a student, I did a lot of different, I did a lot of running, nothing like a half marathon, but I did a lot of long distance running.
9:58
SPEAKER_01: And my coach, he always had the one of the first basic lessons I got from my coach was this that when when it comes to your run, your posture is one of the most important things about you.
10:11
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, not not my breathing, not my not not how not how fast I'm going, like, not like what like what do you mean?
10:19
SPEAKER_01: Like, and he goes, no, no, no.
10:21
SPEAKER_01: Your posture is the most important thing about you.
10:23
SPEAKER_01: Why?
10:23
SPEAKER_01: Because it sets the pace for everything that you do.
10:26
SPEAKER_01: He's like, when you run, because like before, before I actually started training, I kind of ran like kind of everyone, how everyone else ran, right?
10:35
SPEAKER_01: Where you just sort of like, you the longer you run, the more forward you go.
10:38
SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm talking about?
10:39
SPEAKER_01: Like where you're running and you just start kind of falling forward because you think, oh, maybe if I just lean forward, my body will fall into place, right?
10:46
SPEAKER_01: Like you're just like, because you just don't like running, yeah?
10:50
SPEAKER_01: Um reminds me of my friends, my friends would always we'd always go back and forth on whose sport, like who had the best sport.
10:57
SPEAKER_01: One buddy was like basketball, one buddy was like football.
11:00
SPEAKER_01: And I was always like, well, my sport is your sport's punishment.
11:03
SPEAKER_01: So, you know.
11:04
SPEAKER_01: But every time, every time about that posture, he was always like, Yeah, you need to keep your body upright.
11:10
SPEAKER_01: Why?
11:10
SPEAKER_01: Because your posture sets your pace.
11:12
SPEAKER_01: So when you're running, because why?
11:14
SPEAKER_01: Because when you're upright like this, not only is your airflow better, right?
11:19
SPEAKER_01: Not only is your airflow better, but actually because you have a solid core and because your posture is upright, your stride is longer.
11:27
SPEAKER_01: Like you actually take longer steps, longer steps in your run.
11:32
SPEAKER_01: Whereas if you were running forward like this, if you were leaning and looking down at the ground and not ahead, not only is that dangerous, but you're actually just kicking the ground.
11:41
SPEAKER_01: So you're actually not moving effectively in your run.
11:46
SPEAKER_01: And so when when I realized when he taught me that, I realized, oh, my posture needs to be upright.
11:52
SPEAKER_01: Did you know that the same is true in our prayer life?
11:55
SPEAKER_01: That the posture that you jump into in prayer, I don't mean whether or not you you know interlock your fingers or if you have your hands like this.
12:04
SPEAKER_01: Like that's not what I'm talking about.
12:05
SPEAKER_01: I'm talking about a posture of the heart.
12:07
SPEAKER_01: How do you go into prayer?
12:11
SPEAKER_01: Can I just tell you?
12:12
SPEAKER_01: Can I just be vulnerable with you?
12:14
SPEAKER_01: Is that all right?
12:14
SPEAKER_01: Can I do that?
12:15
SPEAKER_01: What are you gonna say?
12:16
SPEAKER_01: No.
12:17
SPEAKER_01: Um, the my worst prayers were when I went into prayer from the wrong posture.
12:24
SPEAKER_01: Like when I was in high school, I was like, Lord, get me a date with Allison.
12:31
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, God, like, why?
12:33
SPEAKER_01: Because I was convinced that she was the love of my life.
12:36
SPEAKER_01: I was like, God, I I know the plans I have for me, right?
12:41
SPEAKER_01: declares me.
12:42
SPEAKER_01: And and it is Allison.
12:43
SPEAKER_01: So can you get me a date with Allison?
12:46
SPEAKER_01: And then a year later, I was like, no, no, no, sorry, God, you're you were you were totally right, Lord.
12:51
SPEAKER_01: It wasn't it wasn't Allison, uh, it was Katie.
12:53
SPEAKER_01: It was for sure, Katie, it's for sure Katie now, and so Lord, can you get me a date with Katie?
12:57
SPEAKER_01: Guess what?
12:58
SPEAKER_01: I'm not married to Allison or Katie.
13:00
SPEAKER_01: Right?
13:01
SPEAKER_01: Because why?
13:02
SPEAKER_01: Because I was approaching prayer with a posture of, oh God, I I know what's best for me.
13:11
SPEAKER_01: I know the plans I have for me, declares me, right?
13:15
SPEAKER_01: Uh can I just tell you, God promised to meet all our needs, not all our greeds.
13:21
SPEAKER_01: Uh Oswald Chambers puts it this way He says, prayer is not a means of getting things from God, prayer is a means of getting to know God.
13:29
SPEAKER_01: Praying in the Spirit, then, aligns our will with God's will.
13:34
SPEAKER_01: Right?
13:34
SPEAKER_01: Our will with God's will.
13:36
SPEAKER_01: You know, in the Gospels it's really interesting.
13:38
SPEAKER_01: When you start reading through the Gospels, and you Jesus does a lot of, like, whenever people ask questions about Jesus or Jesus' teaching, normally what happens is Jesus responds with a question, or to die to dig deeper at what they're trying to get at, or he responds with like a parable or a story, or he he like his words are very seldom straightforward, except when he wants to be crystal clear with us about something.
14:06
SPEAKER_01: So which is wow, I think it's really interesting that in Matthew chapter 6, when he's teaching about prayer, he doesn't use a fancy story, he doesn't use a parable, he just comes straight out and goes, Okay, this is how you pray.
14:21
SPEAKER_01: And he gives us step-by-step instruction on how to pray.
14:25
SPEAKER_01: And you know what he starts out with?
14:26
SPEAKER_01: In Matthew 6, this is what he says.
14:28
SPEAKER_01: He says, This then is uh how you should pray.
14:32
SPEAKER_01: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
14:39
SPEAKER_01: Give us today our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we have also forgiven our debtors, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
14:49
SPEAKER_01: You know what the first half of that whole prayer is about?
14:52
SPEAKER_01: It's about aligning our posture and our position with God's position.
14:59
SPEAKER_01: This is why, like, went like this this changed my prayer life, okay?
15:04
SPEAKER_01: Like this absolutely changed my prayer life because I realized that I was constantly going to prayer and treating God like my concierge.
15:14
SPEAKER_01: Like he was my butler, like he was my employee, like he was my administrative assistant.
15:21
SPEAKER_01: Where I was going, all right, God, uh, here's the things that I know need to happen that I think need to happen in my life, but I use the word need, and I go, okay, Lord, this is the stuff that I think needs to happen in my life.
15:33
SPEAKER_01: Uh, you know, I I've got these bills, I've got these uh these debts, I need, I've got this stuff that I that I need answered, and Lord, so if you could just show up with those finances by Friday at 6 p.m., Lord, uh, then that'd be perfect.
15:47
SPEAKER_01: But it but it's gotta be Friday by 6 p.m., right?
15:50
SPEAKER_01: Because it's gotta be on whose timing?
15:52
SPEAKER_01: Right?
15:53
SPEAKER_01: Uh our timing, yes?
15:54
SPEAKER_01: Everyone say our timing.
15:56
SPEAKER_01: Our timing.
15:57
SPEAKER_01: Instead of whose timing?
15:59
SPEAKER_01: His timing, right?
16:00
SPEAKER_01: And so we get into this mode of going, man, it's it's like we're asking God to bless our plans instead of beginning by asking God to reveal his plans.
16:12
SPEAKER_01: In order for our prayers to be guided by God, we have to get to know God, which is why I now most of the time, and I try not to make this like rote in my prayers, I try not to make this just something that I say, but I really try to remind myself every single time when I come to God in prayer, God, you are God and I am not.
16:38
SPEAKER_01: You're God.
16:40
SPEAKER_01: I'm not.
16:42
SPEAKER_01: Which means several things.
16:45
SPEAKER_01: One that you have information that I don't have.
16:50
SPEAKER_01: That you have plans that I don't have.
16:54
SPEAKER_01: That your ways are higher, better, more gracious, more humble, more loving, more joy-filled than my plans.
17:06
SPEAKER_01: And when we approach God like that, that puts us in the right posture.
17:12
SPEAKER_01: Are you arriving in prayer with a posture of pride?
17:16
SPEAKER_01: Or maybe you have no posture when it comes to prayer because you never pray.
17:21
SPEAKER_01: Because you don't pray except, except, except when you need to.
17:28
SPEAKER_01: Right?
17:29
SPEAKER_01: I like how Corey Tenboom says it.
17:30
SPEAKER_01: She says, Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire?
17:35
SPEAKER_01: Prayers should direct our lives, not be utilized only when we have an emergency.
17:40
SPEAKER_01: Prayer isn't a last resort in our lives, it's our first response.
17:45
SPEAKER_01: It's the thing that we should be doing before we even begin.
17:51
SPEAKER_01: So is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tile?
17:54
SPEAKER_01: But when we pray from the right position, or when we pray from the right posture, that allows us to actually pray for the right provision.
18:01
SPEAKER_01: This is my second application.
18:03
SPEAKER_01: Pray for the right provision.
18:06
SPEAKER_01: So, when you pray from the right posture, that equips us to pray for the right provision.
18:10
SPEAKER_01: What do I mean by that?
18:11
SPEAKER_01: Um, can we just do like a little human experiment for a second?
18:15
SPEAKER_01: We're just gonna do a little people experiment.
18:17
SPEAKER_01: I want you, if you have a pen, you can do this.
18:19
SPEAKER_01: Uh, I want you to take about 10, 15 seconds, and I want you to just write down, okay, as many of the prayers that you've been praying about or that you've been praying to God over the last like month.
18:34
unknown: Okay?
18:35
SPEAKER_01: Just think about all those prayers that you've been praying, that you're like, okay, I'm still praying about this, Lord, okay?
18:40
SPEAKER_01: So I want you to just take about 10, 15 seconds and write those down.
18:43
SPEAKER_01: Ready, set, go.
18:47
SPEAKER_01: You guys live in Davis, there's a school nearby.
18:49
SPEAKER_01: You should have expected a pop quiz.
19:04
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you shorthand, you can do one word, two words.
19:07
SPEAKER_01: Alright.
19:08
SPEAKER_01: And alright, go ahead and stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop.
19:11
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
19:12
SPEAKER_01: So you've written down probably and the reason I did short time, because I want you to write down the things that like is most important to you.
19:19
SPEAKER_01: Right?
19:19
SPEAKER_01: The things you've been consistently writing.
19:21
SPEAKER_01: I want you to look at that list for a second.
19:23
SPEAKER_01: Look at that list.
19:25
SPEAKER_01: Let's just say today.
19:27
SPEAKER_01: I just all of them answer right now.
19:33
SPEAKER_01: Why don't you ask yourself?
19:37
SPEAKER_01: What would we be different?
19:41
SPEAKER_01: Would you like to be different?
19:44
SPEAKER_01: Would you like to do different look like that?
19:52
SPEAKER_01: What about the city?
19:55
SPEAKER_01: Would the city be different?
19:59
SPEAKER_01: What about this world?
20:01
SPEAKER_01: Would the world look different because of the prayers that you have been praying for the last couple weeks?
20:11
SPEAKER_01: Can I tell you something?
20:13
SPEAKER_01: When I first did that, almost nothing in my life would have looked different.
20:20
SPEAKER_01: When I first wrote my list, in fact, if you asked me to write a list down right now, not much would probably change.
20:27
SPEAKER_01: Because I still have a pretty big habit of praying about me first and the things I want changed in my life versus my neighbors' lives.
20:40
SPEAKER_01: You know, what I do love about scripture and what I do love about what God calls us to is that is that He doesn't just say all occasions.
20:50
SPEAKER_01: And I'm not saying that the prayers you've been praying are bad prayers.
20:55
SPEAKER_01: Okay, I don't know the contents of your prayers, so they might be bad.
20:58
SPEAKER_01: But I'm not I'm not saying that all I'm not saying that that praying about the stuff in our lives personally is a bad thing at all, by any means.
21:07
SPEAKER_01: But I am saying that there have been times where God has called me to pray for things outside of myself.
21:14
SPEAKER_01: That actually changed that that would that if God answered them would change the scope of my family and my community and my world.
21:23
SPEAKER_01: And he doesn't, and I love this because he doesn't just say, okay, pray these prayers, right?
21:27
SPEAKER_01: He says, pray on all occasions, all kinds of prayers.
21:34
SPEAKER_01: Uh oh no, one of our pastors actually came up with a list of like eight different kinds of prayers, and I'm just gonna go through them really quick.
21:41
SPEAKER_01: Here's what he does he says, there's prayers of adoration, right?
21:45
SPEAKER_01: These are worshipful prayers, focusing on who God is, not what he gives.
21:49
SPEAKER_01: Uh, Psalm 103 1 says, Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name.
21:55
SPEAKER_01: This is adoration, right?
21:57
SPEAKER_01: This lifts our eyes from our needs to God's.
22:00
SPEAKER_01: Greatness.
22:01
SPEAKER_01: There's prayers of confession, acknowledging sin and seeking forgiveness.
22:05
SPEAKER_01: 1 John 1:9 actually says, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us.
22:11
SPEAKER_01: What an incredible promise, yes?
22:14
SPEAKER_01: That we can confess our sins to God and find forgiveness.
22:17
SPEAKER_01: Prayers of thanksgiving, gratitude for what God has done.
22:21
SPEAKER_01: 1 Thessalonians 5:810 says, give thanks in all circumstances.
22:27
SPEAKER_01: Right?
22:27
SPEAKER_01: In every single circumstance, you have the ability, because of Christ, to be able to give thanks.
22:34
SPEAKER_01: What an incredible gift.
22:36
SPEAKER_01: Prayers of thanksgiving.
22:37
SPEAKER_01: There's prayers of petition, prayers of intercession, prayers of lament, prayers of surrender, offering your life and plans to God's will.
22:45
SPEAKER_01: Luke 22, uh 42 says, Not my will, but yours be done.
22:50
SPEAKER_01: This is the heart of the prayer where he says, Your kingdom come, your will be done.
22:56
SPEAKER_01: And I love it how it comes up in Ken's testimony right at the end, where you go, you're holding on by your fingernails and you go, okay, I need to learn how to what?
23:04
SPEAKER_01: Surrender.
23:06
SPEAKER_01: A prayer of surrender can be the most powerful thing in your life.
23:11
SPEAKER_01: Prayers of, and then there's prayers of spiritual warfare, standing against evil and aligning with God's power, is why uh in verse 18 it says, pray in the spirit on all occasions and to be alert.
23:23
SPEAKER_01: And this kind of prayer resists temptations and strengthens our faith.
23:27
SPEAKER_01: Uh, let me give you an example of this.
23:29
SPEAKER_01: Um, so uh I've been helping lead uh and launch Rooted at a global level, but also at my campus.
23:37
SPEAKER_01: So I've I've facilitated rooted groups twice now.
23:40
SPEAKER_01: Um the first time was with staff, and then the second time was with our person, my wife and I's personal small group.
23:46
SPEAKER_01: Uh and then this last session, uh, I've been overseeing all of our different groups uh at my campus, at our Blue Oaks campus.
23:53
SPEAKER_01: And during those 10 weeks, there's a lot of practical things you do.
23:56
SPEAKER_01: You don't just talk about prayer, you actually pray.
23:59
SPEAKER_01: You don't just talk about serving, you actually go and serve the community.
24:03
SPEAKER_01: Uh there's a it's an incredible experience where you basically, by the end of 10 weeks, it's like you've it's like you've crammed 10 years of friendship in 10 weeks.
24:11
SPEAKER_01: Like it's amazing.
24:13
SPEAKER_01: And in the middle of that, you you do this thing called uh freedom from strongholds.
24:19
SPEAKER_01: It's an experience where you have to come to God in confession and you have to allow the Holy Spirit to break a stronghold in your life, right?
24:29
SPEAKER_01: Because the Psalms tells us that there is only one refuge and one stronghold, one true stronghold, and that is who?
24:35
SPEAKER_01: The Lord.
24:36
SPEAKER_01: That the Lord is our stronghold.
24:37
SPEAKER_01: And everything else is a sandcastle, everything else is weak and will not protect you.
24:44
SPEAKER_01: But the Lord is a strong stronghold, and he's the true stronghold, which is why every other stronghold is false.
24:51
SPEAKER_01: And so I found about right around week five, right?
24:56
SPEAKER_01: I found that there was something in my life that was keeping me from a deeper, more intimate relationship with Jesus.
25:05
SPEAKER_01: And I couldn't shake it.
25:07
SPEAKER_01: I had no idea what was going on.
25:09
SPEAKER_01: I was like, God, I don't see, like, there's tension in our relationship.
25:14
SPEAKER_01: I can feel it.
25:15
SPEAKER_01: I can, I can tell that like I'm we're not connecting.
25:18
SPEAKER_01: And I'm I'm sitting there and I'm going, man, why are why is why are we not connecting, Lord?
25:23
SPEAKER_01: Like, why why can't I feel you?
25:25
SPEAKER_01: Why why don't why don't I why am I not hearing from you?
25:29
SPEAKER_01: What what I'm reading your word, but I feel like I'm not getting anything out of it.
25:32
SPEAKER_01: Like, God, what is going on in my life?
25:35
SPEAKER_01: And I realized that there was a stronghold that I was running to, but I couldn't recognize it.
25:43
SPEAKER_01: And so I'll tell you what I did.
25:46
SPEAKER_01: And I was only able to do this by his grace, and because and because I had wise people around me who encouraged me and also set the example by doing this themselves.
26:00
SPEAKER_01: But I took two days and I said, okay, Lord, I'm gonna fast.
26:04
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna fast from I'm gonna fast from food, I'm gonna fast, and I'm gonna pray, and I'll write my prayers down, and I'm just gonna like I'm just gonna pray and fast until you show me what it is in our relationship that I'm running to instead of you.
26:22
SPEAKER_01: What am I doing, God?
26:25
SPEAKER_01: And I'm thankful to say that after two days, he showed me.
26:30
SPEAKER_01: And after two days of praying and fasting and really seeking God, I finally he finally revealed to me that the thing that I was running to was the affection and praise of people.
26:44
SPEAKER_01: I was trying to please people instead of seeking to please God.
26:55
SPEAKER_01: And that was a very difficult thing for me to hear.
26:59
SPEAKER_01: And how many of you know that when God releases you from a stronghold, there's still the rubble that has to be cleared away.
27:07
SPEAKER_01: But he broke that stronghold in me, and I was able to hear from God in that way.
27:15
SPEAKER_01: Why?
27:15
SPEAKER_01: Because when you seek the Lord, he will answer you.
27:20
SPEAKER_01: That when you actually come with the right posture, you can ask for the right provision, and that can result in God revealing to you the thing that you can't even see in yourself.
27:33
SPEAKER_01: Why?
27:33
SPEAKER_01: Because he wants to draw you close.
27:37
SPEAKER_01: I like how Charles Spurgeon answers the question: how often should you be praying?
27:43
SPEAKER_01: It's this question where he famously said to his church one time, I have never prayed for more than 30 minutes.
27:50
SPEAKER_01: Some of you are like, Wow, that's it?
27:53
SPEAKER_01: I've been to prayer meetings longer than that.
27:56
SPEAKER_01: He goes, I have never prayed for more than 30 minutes, but I have never gone 30 minutes without praying.
28:03
SPEAKER_01: That we pray in all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.
28:11
SPEAKER_01: So not only do we pray from the right posture, but we that allows us to pray for the right provision.
28:16
SPEAKER_01: And then third is this is that we pray expectantly.
28:20
SPEAKER_01: That you and I pray expectantly.
28:22
SPEAKER_01: Years ago in Mississippi there was a terrible drought, and all the farmers decided to go to do a prayer meeting to ask God to bring rain to their fields.
28:31
SPEAKER_01: And all of them showed up on Sunday in their regular clothes, their regular overalls, their boots, everything, except for one farmer who showed up in waterproof waiters with boots and an umbrella.
28:47
SPEAKER_01: Right?
28:48
SPEAKER_01: Everyone else showed up expecting to pray.
28:52
SPEAKER_01: He showed up expecting an answer.
28:56
SPEAKER_01: How are you showing up in your prayer life?
28:59
SPEAKER_01: Are you just shouting up at the ceiling or down in your hands and you're just showing up?
29:05
SPEAKER_01: Or are you showing up expecting God to answer you?
29:09
SPEAKER_01: It may not be the answer that you want, but it's gonna be the answer that you need.
29:15
SPEAKER_01: Why?
29:16
SPEAKER_01: Because he is a good father who loves you, and you can trust him to answer your prayers.
29:23
SPEAKER_01: Billy Graham was at a place where he prayed before he became famous and speaking all over the world.
29:31
SPEAKER_01: Um, Billy Graham was with a friend and he had heard at this ministry camp this uh this speaker talk about being filled with the Holy Spirit, and and he was so moved by that message, he he asked his friend, Hey, will you pray with me that when I go and preach, that my preaching would be filled with the Holy Spirit?
29:48
SPEAKER_01: And so each night they got together and they prayed that Billy Graham's preaching would be filled with the Holy Spirit.
29:53
SPEAKER_01: And each day uh he would Billy would go down to the church and he would preach and no one would come to the altar.
30:00
SPEAKER_01: Right?
30:01
SPEAKER_01: He'd get to the end, no one would show up.
30:03
SPEAKER_01: And then the next day, and then the next day, and then finally, after a couple days of this, they're praying, and Billy looks up and he goes, I've gotten it.
30:12
SPEAKER_01: I have the anointing, like I've got it.
30:14
SPEAKER_01: Like he he got he got it.
30:16
SPEAKER_01: And then he goes down to the church, same place, preaches, the whole room comes forward.
30:24
SPEAKER_01: The whole room comes forward to receive Jesus.
30:27
SPEAKER_01: And then his friend goes home to his wife that night and looks at his wife and goes, Tonight the world will know the name of Billy Graham.
30:36
SPEAKER_01: You know why the world was changed by Billy Graham's preaching?
30:39
SPEAKER_01: It wasn't because of how good Billy Graham was.
30:42
SPEAKER_01: I believe it's because of those moments of prayer where he sought the Lord and expected to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
30:51
SPEAKER_01: And you know what I love about all of this, about prayer, is that if you don't know what to pray, the Holy Spirit knows what to pray on your behalf.
31:00
SPEAKER_01: That if you've been filled with the Holy Spirit, if you've accepted Christ as your Lord and Savior, you are given an advocate called the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, that who intercedes on your behalf with the Father.
31:12
SPEAKER_01: And what's amazing is in Romans 8.26 it says this in the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness.
31:20
SPEAKER_01: We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.
31:28
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes you might be in a moment of prayer where you just have no words to say.
31:34
SPEAKER_01: But the Holy Spirit knows what that means.
31:38
SPEAKER_01: And finally, here's my final point pray personal prayers.
31:45
SPEAKER_01: Pray personal prayers.
31:48
SPEAKER_01: It was just over a year ago I had experienced, and some of you have experience with this, but I had a very severe panic attack just over a year ago.
31:58
SPEAKER_01: And it was difficult.
32:00
SPEAKER_01: I barely managed to drive home.
32:03
SPEAKER_01: As I got home, I I went upstairs, I I I laid down in my bed.
32:07
SPEAKER_01: Uh, my wife comes in and she's like, hey, what's what's going on?
32:10
SPEAKER_01: What's wrong?
32:11
SPEAKER_01: Um, and it was so bad I was catatonic, I couldn't speak.
32:15
SPEAKER_01: I was trying to form words and nothing was coming out.
32:18
SPEAKER_01: And in that, and and so she puts the blanket on me, I'm like, my breath, like my mind feels like it's on fire.
32:26
SPEAKER_01: Like I can't speak, nothing's happening, and I'm just I it was just chaos.
32:33
SPEAKER_01: It felt like chaos in my mind and my soul and my heart.
32:37
SPEAKER_01: So I sleep, get up a couple hours later, we talk a little bit, go back to bed.
32:44
SPEAKER_01: Next day, go through my day somewhat normally, still kind of shaken by this experience, and then and then we get into uh I go we're we're talking in our our bedroom and we're talking about all this, and I'm I'm sharing all the things that I've been struggling with.
33:01
SPEAKER_01: I've I'm sharing um how my my dad is the senior founding pastor of Bayside.
33:08
SPEAKER_01: And for a long, long time I went and said, okay, well, I need to, he's admired, respected, loved, respected, all these things.
33:20
SPEAKER_01: So I need to be like him and admired.
33:25
SPEAKER_01: If I want respect, I need to be like him.
33:27
SPEAKER_01: If I want to be admired, I should try and be like him and so many others.
33:31
SPEAKER_01: I should, I need to, I need to conform myself to that image, right?
33:37
SPEAKER_01: Forget, forget all the other stuff about Scott and what and how God has wired me.
33:41
SPEAKER_01: I need to be this thing.
33:43
SPEAKER_01: I gotta be this thing.
33:44
SPEAKER_01: So I had this dream, this obsession, and I was holding on to that and going, okay, this is this is what I need to be.
33:52
SPEAKER_01: And it was breaking me.
33:56
SPEAKER_01: And then my wife told me about how she had, at one point in our dating relationship, had had had gone to God and said, Hey, I've got all these plans and desires.
34:07
SPEAKER_01: Like I need to give, I need to surrender some of this.
34:09
SPEAKER_01: And she had surrendered to God her dreams before.
34:13
SPEAKER_01: And I looked at her and I said, How did you do that?
34:19
SPEAKER_01: Because I don't I don't know how to do that.
34:23
SPEAKER_01: She said, I'll tell you what I did.
34:26
SPEAKER_01: I got into a posture of prayer like this.
34:31
SPEAKER_01: I had my hands out, fingers played, palms up.
34:36
SPEAKER_01: And I stayed there and I said, Lord, take my dream.
34:42
SPEAKER_01: Take it.
34:46
SPEAKER_01: And I stayed there until the tears of pain became.
34:53
SPEAKER_01: And then I stayed there until those tears of pain became tears of joy.
35:02
SPEAKER_01: And so I knelt down.
35:09
SPEAKER_01: And I stayed there until the tears of pain came.
35:15
SPEAKER_01: And then I stayed there until they turned into tears of joy.
35:21
SPEAKER_01: Because God had removed from me the thing I was obsessing about.
35:29
SPEAKER_01: The thing that was eating me, uh eating away at my inside, the thing that wasn't allowing me to become who God had created me to be.
35:37
SPEAKER_01: And it was in prayer that I was able to receive from him his gift.
35:45
SPEAKER_01: My hands were not open.
35:47
SPEAKER_01: I was still clutch tight onto this obsession, this dream, but once I was able to allow him to take it out of my hands, my hands became freed for what he wanted to give me.
36:00
SPEAKER_01: My own calling, my own gifting, my own self.
36:07
SPEAKER_01: Can I tell you something?
36:10
SPEAKER_01: Prayer is not a place to be good.
36:13
SPEAKER_01: It's a place for you to be honest.
36:16
SPEAKER_01: Psalm 51, 16 through 17 says this you do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it.
36:23
SPEAKER_01: You do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
36:26
SPEAKER_01: My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.
36:51
SPEAKER_01: Whatever hurt is not transformed is going to be transferred onto other people.
36:57
SPEAKER_01: But God has given us an amazing gift that we can come to him in prayer with our pain and our anxieties and cast all of that onto him because he cares for us.
37:09
SPEAKER_01: That your life can be changed forever because of prayer.
37:14
SPEAKER_01: Can I tell you the prayers that have changed my life the most wasn't that moment.
37:20
SPEAKER_01: It wasn't just the moment in my bedroom where I sat like this until the tears of joy came.
37:25
SPEAKER_01: That prayer was important, yes, but the prayers that have changed my life the most, I think we have a photo of it, actually.
37:34
SPEAKER_01: Do we have that photo of my?
37:36
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
37:37
SPEAKER_01: It's sideways.
37:38
SPEAKER_01: That's alright.
37:39
SPEAKER_01: It's a little, my prayers are a little sideways.
37:45
SPEAKER_01: That's one of my prayer journals.
37:47
SPEAKER_01: One.
37:51
SPEAKER_01: Every day I try to meet with the Lord.
37:55
SPEAKER_01: Try.
37:57
SPEAKER_01: Every day I try to find time with the Father because I need it.
38:02
SPEAKER_01: Friends, the prayers that have changed my life the most aren't the big ones.
38:06
SPEAKER_01: It's not the big, the big Holy Spirit mountaintop moment prayers.
38:13
SPEAKER_01: It's the small, everyday, write it in my journal.
38:17
SPEAKER_01: Here's my pains of today and tomorrow.
38:20
SPEAKER_01: Here's the things I'm struggling with, God.
38:22
SPEAKER_01: Here's the things that I hope that you will release me from.
38:25
SPEAKER_01: They're the every moment, everyday prayers in my life.
38:30
SPEAKER_01: Those are the prayers that will change your life.
38:33
SPEAKER_01: When you find time with the Father, when you find time with God, when you get with Him, and you just every day, I don't care if it's two minutes, I don't care if it's two hours, but when you get time with the Father, oh man, those prayers will change your life.
38:59
SPEAKER_01: Because you'll find your calling there, you'll find your identity there.
39:04
SPEAKER_01: You'll you'll find his love for you there.
39:09
SPEAKER_01: Who do you think you're talking to?
39:13
SPEAKER_01: This is God.
39:17
SPEAKER_01: This is the God who placed the stars in the sky.
39:21
SPEAKER_01: This is the God who formed us out of dust, who breathed life into you.
39:26
SPEAKER_01: This is the God who did not withhold his son Jesus.
39:31
SPEAKER_01: This is the God who at Christmas sent his son into the world in the most vulnerable form possible, a human infant.
39:40
SPEAKER_01: And then living a sinless life, died on a cross for crimes and sins he did not commit.
39:51
SPEAKER_01: For you.
39:52
SPEAKER_01: That he would offer grace, forgiveness, and mercy to you.
39:58
SPEAKER_01: That you would find a relationship with God.
40:02
SPEAKER_01: That his righteousness would be imputed to you, that he would take your place.
40:09
SPEAKER_01: That when you cross the finish line of life, it's not your time that shows on the board, but it's his time, his first place, his gold medal.
40:18
SPEAKER_01: That all he's calling for you is to finish the race and finish it well.
40:24
SPEAKER_01: That you can have an amazing, incredible life and calling with God because he loves you and he cares about you.