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Grow Your Relationship with God Through Prayer Pt. 1 · Time with God with John North

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Good morning. As we get started with a new work week,
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  Speaker 1: let's start it the best way possible, the way we
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  Speaker 1: always start each weekday morning at this time, by taking
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  Speaker 1: some time with God. And you know, in your life,
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  Speaker 1: what you want is for God to be at the
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  Speaker 1: centre of your life. You want to hear from God.
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  Speaker 1: You want to be guided by God.
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  Speaker 1: And as you walk the way God is guiding you,
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  Speaker 1: then God gets so involved in your life. He's answering
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  Speaker 1: your prayers, he's enabling you to have real significant spiritual
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  Speaker 1: impact in the lives of the people around you. That's
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  Speaker 1: the kind of Christian life you want.
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  Speaker 1: Well, all this week I want to talk with you
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  Speaker 1: about growing your relationship with God through prayer. I want
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  Speaker 1: to start off today on Monday by talking with you
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  Speaker 1: about the priority of prayer in your life.
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  Speaker 1: You know, when we look at the life of Jesus,
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  Speaker 1: we see the priority of prayer so clearly in his life,
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  Speaker 1: from the very beginning of his, uh, ministry, we see
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  Speaker 1: he was praying when he was baptised and God anointed
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  Speaker 1: him with the Holy Spirit for his ministry. We find
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  Speaker 1: throughout his ministry, Jesus praying, when he begins his ministry
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  Speaker 1: so publicly and everyone wants to see him, where do
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  Speaker 1: the disciples find him?
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  Speaker 1: Out in the hills praying, spending time with his father.
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  Speaker 1: When you come later in Jesus' ministry, everyone wants to
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  Speaker 1: see Jesus. They want to hear his message. They want
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  Speaker 1: to encounter His miraculous healings and miracles.
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  Speaker 1: Really, Jesus is having trouble finding personal space. Let me
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  Speaker 1: read you one account from this period in Jesus' life.
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  Speaker 1: It's in Luke chapter 5, starting in verse 12.
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  Speaker 1: It says while he was in one of the cities
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  Speaker 1: there came a man full of leprosy, and when he
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  Speaker 1: saw Jesus, he fell on his face and begged him, Lord,
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  Speaker 1: if you will, you can make me clean.
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  Speaker 1: And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying,
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  Speaker 1: I will be clean.
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  Speaker 1: And immediately the leprosy left him.
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  Speaker 1: And Jesus charged him to tell no one. Jesus is
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  Speaker 1: already so mobbed with people he's not wanting it to
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  Speaker 1: get any worse. So he says, Don't tell anyone. I've
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  Speaker 1: healed you. But go and show yourself to the priest
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  Speaker 1: and make an offering for your cleansing, as Moses commanded,
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  Speaker 1: for a proof to them, that is of your healing.
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  Speaker 1: But now even more, the report about him went abroad.
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  Speaker 1: And great crowds gathered to hear him and to be
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  Speaker 1: healed of their infirmities. Listen, but he would withdraw to
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  Speaker 1: desolate places and pray.
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  Speaker 1: Well, I want to say to you, when you're deciding
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  Speaker 1: how to balance your time, don't forget that spending time
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  Speaker 1: with God is the most important thing you can do.
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  Speaker 1: You can see this value at work in Jesus' life,
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  Speaker 1: can't you? News about Him is spreading. The crowds are
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  Speaker 1: gathering to hear Him, ministry opportunities, and it would seem
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  Speaker 1: like the crucial time to capitalise on the spiritual hunger,
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  Speaker 1: the responsiveness of the people.
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  Speaker 1: But Jesus would often slip away to the wilderness and pray.
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  Speaker 1: It must have driven the disciples crazy when he would disappear.
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  Speaker 1: They'd have to come up with something to do with
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  Speaker 1: the crowds.
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  Speaker 1: But nothing was going to keep Jesus from His first
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  Speaker 1: priority in life. When you learn from Jesus to put
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  Speaker 1: your relationship with God first in your life, you're going
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  Speaker 1: to be amazed at how well the rest of your schedule,
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  Speaker 1: all your other responsibilities come together and fall into place.
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  Speaker 1: You'll see God's hand guiding your steps. Put God first
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  Speaker 1: in your life. Don't let even good things distract you
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  Speaker 1: from your time with God. Jesus had so many good
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  Speaker 1: things to do, but he put prayer first and then
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  Speaker 1: fit the other things in his life around it.
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  Speaker 1: Business is one of the devil's most effective weapons in
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  Speaker 1: attacking your life. Be careful not to ignore this principle
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  Speaker 1: just because your busyness is about good things.
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  Speaker 1: God's message to us today from Jesus' own life is
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  Speaker 1: a warning. Don't let busyness keep you from spending time
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  Speaker 1: with God each day. Start even your busiest day with prayer,
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  Speaker 1: as Jesus did. I'm John North.
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  Speaker 2: To go deeper in your faith, visit AFCI.com.au.