0:00 We heard our brothers Shin and Kamal talking about walking with the Lord every day, staying close to him, talking to him all the time, and uh drawing near to him, feeding on his love, having a breakfast with him. And I'm thankful they shared that 0:16 because on my heart what the Lord laid on there was eight things I've learned about prayer. And it's very related uh about just this uh a good a good thing to look at, no matter what my ups and downs are that I'm having at the moment, no matter 0:30 what's going on in life, how busy I am is am I having that simple friendship of walking with God right now? It can I say that about today that I'm talking to him, I'm wanting to be close to him, I have that desire to be with him. 0:44 And uh little babies and children, they have such pure hearts, they don't hate anything, right? Uh but they do hate one thing, I know of. Uh and that's distance from their parents is what they hate. Such pure children, they hate distance 1:01 from their parents. And uh in the same way, you could say planets, why why does gravity work? Because God put in nature that uh ma- matter hates distance from other matter. Uh the Earth hates distance from the Sun. 1:19 And just a little picture that um as I grow in the Lord, I should hate a distance between me and God. If I feel a drifting there, there should be more and more of uh this is I don't want to drift this far. I want to be close. 1:33 Um and I think one of the ways that comes about is I want to be talking to God, I want to hear from him, I want to listen, I want to feed, I want to have breakfast with him as we heard. Um and so just starting out like that, uh yeah, 1:45 eight things that regarding uh this talking of prayer and what it is and what it means, my prayer I don't just mean the act of praying, but having a this heart connection and open communication with God and starting with number one the fundamental 2:03 thing that we've learned many times in this church is about exactly what in addition to speaking to God prayer is. It's not just talking to God but also listening. And we can we get the proof from that from 1 Thessalonians 5 2:25 Does the Bible give us a specific number of hours every day that we're supposed to pray? And our the answer is yes the Bible does give us how many hours we need to pray every day. And 1 Thessalonians 5 17 says pray without ceasing. 2:44 So 24 hours a day. And if that's the case then that means it doesn't That means that prayer isn't only sitting down or kneeling down and talking to God because we can't do that 24 hours a day. But prayer should be like breathing or 3:00 it's all the time something that's very natural and all the time and so we've learned that not just talking to God but also listening. And when I first heard this I heard this the first time I remember hearing it was in one of our early conferences from 3:12 brother Zach and so I tried to implement this. I heard brother Zach say you need to listen to God. Prayer is not is listening not just talking. And so I tried it. I tried next time I was praying to God I was spoke and I said 3:25 okay God I want to listen to you and then I waited a couple minutes and I said I'm not really hearing anything. And I learned that's not what listening means either. So what is listening? And so what I learned after that is one illustration 3:40 that helped me understand finally put it to rest and know what this prayer life is is a radio a two-way radio where a lot of times it's quiet but my signal is always there and if I hear something there, I can respond to it. Like a radio 3:57 is always feeding a signal, but you can hear hello uh uh calling that that's calling you and then you can respond. Uh and so I see that that's real life with God and I just for just a an a simple example, let's say that I'm 4:13 uh let's say that I'm picking out my shirt for the day and I don't think in my my own personal conviction is I don't feel I need to ask God about that. Um I don't feel that I don't feel God wants life to be such a burden that I have to say, "Should I 4:28 take a step now? Should I put the salt on my more salt on my food?" I don't I don't feel that God has that much of a weight on our life like that. Um he doesn't want to micromanage us, but uh but I do feel that if we have this 4:41 listening radio type of um connection with God, I'll be open to hear that if he puts a hesitation on my heart when I'm taking an extra cookie or when I'm picking out the shirt, that maybe there's something there to say, "Lord, 4:52 are you saying something?" And this has happened, little things like uh "I think you may be picking out the shirt for the wrong motive. Maybe you're trying to impress somebody here." Uh and I believe that's how it works is 5:03 listening to God, but the requirement is the desire of obedience is I want to please God and so that has to be the fundamental foundation of prayer. I want to The reason why I want to listen to him all the times cuz I want to please 5:14 him all the time and obey all the time. Uh and so that's the to me that's uh removed a lot of the mystery about praying without ceasing and what real prayer is. And a lot of the burden too when you hear all these uh um what do we hear? Guinness records of 5:27 people praying 8 hours a day or whatever and then we don't do that. We don't have that gift or some people have that gift and I believe it's genuine, but I don't have that gift and so but we don't have to feel guilty over it. Praise God 5:39 because we're still praying without ceasing if we're listening and wanting to obey all the time if our antenna is up waiting to do God's will. And so, um yeah, that's that's number one. And then, number two is uh when Jesus taught us to pray, one of 5:56 the first things that he taught is um what the main thing about prayer is. Usually, I In my um uh for so long, I When I think of prayer, I think we go to God and we ask for what we want. That's prayer. Um but Jesus said, when you start out you pray 6:16 It's Matthew 6, um verse nine. Pray then in this way, "Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done." So, the second thing that I want to share is the main thing about prayer is 6:31 my focus should be in about accomplishing God's will and not my own will. Um prayer is not a means of just getting what I want. I think one of the big Like, it can be a big deception temptation to be deceived that victory 6:45 in prayer is elevating my desires and my will so high and pressing God so hard for them that even he can't change my mind. Like, yeah, and then God finally gives it to you and you're like, "Yeah, you had a victory in prayer." No, you didn't. 7:00 Uh that's not a victory when we elevate our will above God's will. Um that's Jesus said that you start out your prayer with will your will be done. And so, when I see that, it's really backwards the the way it probably a lot 7:13 of um Christian teaching can be of just keep pressing on in faith for what you want, but it's it's uh my For those of us that really love the Lord, what we want will be what God wants. We say, "Well, what I want is God's will to be done." And so, if 7:28 that's the foundation, then I can pray with what I want for what I want, and it'll be the same as what he wants. And and it means pray with a surrender. And uh yeah, and so, I see the beauty of a surrendered life. Sometimes, I say, 7:40 "Well, I'm so far off of that." And I saw um just two examples I'll share. One is um one of my children recently was asking for dessert and I felt like it wasn't an appropriate time. There was some I don't don't remember if they 7:52 already had sweets. And I said, uh "No, sorry. That's yeah, not time." Um and then somebody else uh in my family saying, "Hey, do you want dessert?" Like offering it to them. And they said, uh they didn't say "Daddy said no." 8:05 They didn't say, "Well, maybe we can ask again." They said, "No, I don't want it." And to me that spoke there's such a level of uh surrender that I need to get to that I haven't come yet where it's not only God said no, so I said fine. 8:19 It's God said no, so I said I don't want it either. My will changes when I see what God's will is because I want the my my heart wants to be one with him. So, uh that really like showed how far I have to go in uh obedience and wanting 8:36 to follow the Lord. And uh to say I don't just want my will, I to be dead, I want God's will in place of my will. There's a There's a further um higher calling than that. Um and then the second illustration is I had talked 8:51 to some uh a brother in Christ recently that I know years and years ago um even before NCCF, even before I met Jess. And uh I remember he had he had a family uh pretty early on. And uh he always struggled financially. And 9:04 so he um him and his wife, they struggled trying many different things to try to make more. They had enough but just getting by. And I remember them sharing one time that they kind of just resigned from trying all these things. 9:16 And they said, "We just feel like maybe just God doesn't want us to have any more than this." And uh and I that always stuck with me. And I had uh I don't keep in touch with them that much anymore, but I happened to talk to him a couple weeks ago uh or 9:29 so. And I heard that uh he was telling me how much his his daughter is a teenager now. And he was telling me how much of a passion his daughter has for the Lord and a desire. And the first thought in my the thought that came to me was, I'm not surprised. 9:45 We're a family that says, we just want God's will. It's not about how much he had or didn't have. It was about the heart of I just we just want to live within the boundary God has for us. That's what we want. And if we he 9:55 doesn't want that, I don't want it either. Um and so that just blessed me to say, that's the that's the um that's my focus. When I come to the Lord, I want a heart of one with oneness with God and say, I want what you want, Lord. Um 10:09 that's what I'm coming to you for, not to press you, press you, press you, me, me, me, what I want. Um so that's the second thing. And then the uh the the third thing is I've noticed that the um I've I've seen recently that a 10:26 temptation to doubt that God really answers prayer has come into my heart recently. Um sometimes it was a temptation that I had to reject and and I saw two things. I learned two things from it. One, I'm impatient. Um that's 10:39 why the temptation can become so strong when during the wait is because I'm so impatient and I need to grow in that. And then the secondly, because I may be clinging to something that's not God's will. Uh and I haven't surrendered it yet. So, 10:53 those two things that we can start to doubt that God really answers prayer. One, I'm just impatient for it. God's not saying no, he's just saying, just be patient, wait. Uh and secondly, he may be saying, that's not the best 11:06 thing for you. Um that's not my will. And I'm saying, yeah, but I'm praying for it. I'm praying for it. I doubt that you really answer prayer. But God was saying all along, this is not what I have for you. Uh and so those two things together, 11:20 Hebrews 6:12 says that faith uh basically the way I would paraphrase is, faith without patience is not faith faith at all. Prayer without patience This not prayer. Um faith without surrender is not faith. Prayer without surrender is not prayer. 11:37 Uh So, real prayer is persistent in um pressing for God when it's he wants us um to uh pray for it, but when he's clear that it's not his will, then we surrender it. And so, um that leads to point number four, which is basically the principle I've 11:56 learned that's really helped me. When do you stop praying for something? Uh if the Luke 18, we we see this parable of the persistent widow. It says, "Be persistent in prayer." Well, when when do we stop? Uh And I believe there is a point to stop, 12:10 and I believe the point is um when the burden is lifted. Uh either that or when God shows us clearly otherwise, and then that's the same time he'll lift the burden. If the God shows this is not what I want. Um And uh and so, I've that's that principle 12:29 helped me. Pray until the burden If this is continuing to be a burden on my heart, pray about it. Is as much as my What is that phrase is as much or whatever your cares are, make the make your prayer that's what your prayers 12:41 are. Uh so, um make your your cares your prayers, and if if it's keeps burdening your heart, we we're so free to go to God and um and pray and I and I realize that I shouldn't I I I've sometimes lied to myself that, "Yeah, I prayed about this, 12:56 but I really didn't." I've come sometimes come to God like a fast food restaurant driving through, "God, help me in this situation. Amen." Like, "But I've been praying for it." No, not really. Um sometimes God sometimes I pray, "God, 13:08 help." And I and I it was sincere, and I believe that was it, and I believe that that was the cry in the moment that God wanted. But so, a lot of times I believe I'm just being lazy and not really wanting to pray and spend time with God 13:19 about something. And so, to I've seen that um when I really spend time and I say, "Lord, you need to help me carry this burden." I come to him with a reality. I'll take whatever time I should be willing to take whatever time it needs 13:32 to step aside or whatever and um it doesn't have to be for hours, but to say, "I want to genuinely transfer this burden from my shoulders to God's shoulders." Um to that the burden is uh lifted when we're able to say, "Yeah, I 13:49 believe I've given it over to the Lord now for for real. I'm honest about it. I'm open to hearing what he has to say and even correct me or um call me to some course of action, whatever it is." Um but uh to come to him and 14:03 um until he lifts that burden and um Yeah, one one of the one of the the burdens I've seen is uh a fear of responsibility and obligation. And and I can think that and so a lot of times the burden can stay cuz I feel, 14:22 "Am I doing Am I missing something? Am I not doing something that God wants me to do?" And so the burden will stay. Um but one of the comforts I've taken regarding this point is if I've genuinely prayed about it, I should be able to have the 14:36 the peace and say, "I I know that I I went to God and I prayed about this. The burden shouldn't be mine anymore. I shouldn't have to worry about this anymore as long as I've prayed for it." If I haven't prayed for it, definitely I 14:47 should worry about it. Because it says, "You have not because you ask not." So we should be worrying if we haven't prayed about it. Um but if we did pray about it, then I should be able to look back and say, "I should be able to be free from worry 14:59 because um I've transferred the burden over to him. He says that uh he hears me if we he cares for us and he hears us if we ask." So um at the minimum, can I at least say I I asked? Uh the next point, number five, is to 15:17 be needy. And it mean needy in my prayer and some situations I've I've prayed for um and trying for so long in my own power along with prayer. And I've seen that there was a a mix a sort of mix of 15:36 I know that God causes all things to work together for good, but I also feel that Bobby can cause some things to work for good, too. So, I try to put the two together. And uh God causes and Bobby causes and then I try to go for that for a while um 15:52 then I've I've genuinely seen in some deep situations that of hopelessness where nothing was happening that I wasn't really um depending on the Lord. Uh I I had to get to the point where the end of myself and say and genuinely God wanted me to genuinely 16:10 feel like the verse we heard, I can do nothing apart from him. That where I can come to God and say, God, um I I know now that nothing is going to happen unless you act. Uh I can't do anything. Uh and so to to be able to come to God in 16:26 sincerity and be able to say that. It's easy to say with our mouth, but to know from our heart like unless you do a miracle, Lord, there's no hope. But then to add the point, I can do all things through Christ. You can do it, Lord. 16:38 Everything is possible. And so um that's the the way of peace. So freeing to know that to let go and say I I can stop micromanaging everything. It's not doing anything number one, but number two, it's replacing my dependence 16:53 on God and say, Lord, I'm just going to pray now. Sometimes I've gotten so much peace from hopeless situations by saying, okay, I'm going to stop working for this. I I'm just going to pray. Um and that's going to be uh who I forgot who it was it maybe it was 17:06 George Müller or Hudson Taylor said, I've learned to move men by prayer alone. He's uh I think when Jesus said you can move mountains by prayer, he was talking about people. Sometimes human hearts are the hardest mountains to move. Like you 17:18 can get a bulldozer and move a mountain physically, but sometimes to a person's heart, God really has to work. To some things are just impossible. Um and and uh to real to get to that point where um my own heart, I feel like this, I can't 17:33 let go of this bitterness. Um I whatever whatever I this guilt, God's got to move mountains. He's has to move my heart, another person's heart, whatever it is, he can do it. Um So, be needy. And then uh number six, the last couple 17:49 points I'll just try to finish up here. Number six, the Think of others. Um I was blessed recently when I was seeing so much and even having some talking to some brothers on how much I was reminded so much of in the New 18:02 Testament, love one another, love one another, love one another. Love one another. It's over and over throughout the epistles, the gospels, the um the beginning of the New Testament, the end of it. A new commandment I give 18:14 you, love one another. Um And so much of my my uh mind I I can feel like I'm loving one another if I feel like I'm treating everybody right, but I saw there's something that may be missing still. And um because what is love towards others? 18:30 And my default is probably I think of doing good things towards others. Like doing favors or maybe it comes out in social work and maybe many churches. Yeah, we have to love others. Um but I think a more biblical definition is if 18:45 we turn to Philippians 2. Um this may not be the whole the whole definition, but I think it this is what's on my heart about um thinking about others in prayer. Philippians 2 starting from verse 2. 19:04 Uh Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with um or sorry, starting from uh first two, "Make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, unity in spirit, intent on one purpose. 19:24 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves. Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others." 19:36 Um and yeah, that the mindset of uh don't just think about myself. My We heard that phrase earlier, self-centeredness. Uh I think when um when the it says love one another, I'm having this new thought that I need 19:55 to um by default not just think about myself, even in in walking after God. I can my mind can be so self-centered. I've even seen recently that uh I I was praying about something, "Lord, what is your will? What is your will? What is your 20:08 will?" And for some time, but then it only became clear when he pointed at somebody else and said, "It's for this person's sake." And I was like, I was thinking about myself the whole time. What is your will, A or B? I wasn't 20:19 thinking about anybody else, but he's like it became so clear when I just looked at another person and said, "It's for this person's sake." Then the path became clear, and I wasn't even thinking about this person when I should have 20:28 been. And so that's And then And so when I I saw that, I was like, my mind needs to be on other people um and not just myself. Uh it says be fervent in love and um Yeah, the regarding that one acronym I like is uh the regarding how the 20:47 happiest people in the world are the ones who think of others. This is a J O Y, joy. The The priority of our thoughts. It's Jesus, others, yourself. J O Y. Think of Jesus first, and then others second, and then yourself last, 21:02 and you'll be a pretty happy person. Uh because Proverbs 11:25 says, "Whoever waters others will himself be watered." Uh Uh And then um Yeah, the Number seven, pray with Thanksgiving. Um 21:21 we heard uh earlier in last week um when we share, we should share with a smile. And I think when we pray, we should pray with a smile, too. Uh and I have look at all I have in Christ. And look what I have to be thankful for. Um 21:37 and have faith. Uh look at the hope that I have. What if God never answers my prayer on this earth that I believe is then leap into heaven with the hope and a smile clinging to Jesus' feet. Uh that will will press on with uh hope and 21:53 Thanksgiving with whatever God um has for us. And then lastly, to look at prayer in the right way, and I think we already heard about this. Um I think some of the the loneliest time I had in my life, a season 22:09 some time back, I learned this. Um Prayer be during that time, it I didn't have many friends, and God turned prayer from a burden into a a refuge and a joy because God became my deepest friend. When I was able to spend time with him and talk to 22:27 him and pour out my burdens to him, and I learned this verse, Philippians 4:6, uh "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God, and the peace of God, 22:40 which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." So, to learn that habit, it's and I believe it really does have to be a habit. We have to make a practice of it cuz it's so easy to just forget and then 22:51 fall off, but the more we do it, the easier it becomes. Um hopefully even for the young people, you can be at school talking to God throughout the day. Learn that habit. Make it a habit, and it becomes part of your character 23:01 eventually that I just we're just talking to him. He's just part he's he's with us all the time. Um And to see that that uh spend time with God that that's our default and um that he's he's our friend that's there with us all the time. 23:17 And to look at prayer like that looking at it in the right way that I get to be with God. It's not a burden to to pray. It's not a some chore that I have to do. It's just like coming to the church meeting. A lot of times I can sometimes 23:31 be tempted I was sharing on Friday I can be tempted to feel all the we have to get the kids ready now. We have to get gather up everything make sure we got everything. Are we prepare if is it if you're going to share you have to 23:42 prepare what to share or maybe for the midweek meeting. A lot of responsibility you have to commute there. Maybe there's traffic you can make it on time. Did the kids do their Sunday school homework or is there anything you need to bring? 23:52 What's happening afterwards? It can sometimes feel overwhelming with responsibility but to look at it in the right way. Don't look at don't focus on that. Focus on the blessing of what it is just like it's being with family in the Lord. It's 24:08 God has golden nuggets of spiritual treasure that are going to help lift me and also a chance to give gold nuggets to others. So to see the church meeting like that. So to look at prayer look at church meeting look at the disciplines 24:20 Bible reading. It's not chores. It's treasure. It's to look at it in the right way and really change the vision. I was blessed seeing that for with a conversation with the brother this week that when we change our mindset towards these things 24:35 it changes everything in how we look and how we we we rejoice and yeah it changes our life. So these are some things that have really helped me and yeah I praise God for for showing them through the body showing them through at 24:52 different times to me helping me with these things.
