WEBVTT 00:00:01.199 --> 00:00:04.219 Sharing good news of great joy to all people. 00:00:04.599 --> 00:00:09.990 Elation Church. Welcome to week number six in 00:00:09.990 --> 00:00:13.429 our series entitled, You Can Hear God. Everybody 00:00:13.429 --> 00:00:16.500 say, you can. Oh, you can be louder now. Say, 00:00:16.600 --> 00:00:21.339 you can. You can hear God. You can hear God. 00:00:21.539 --> 00:00:26.899 I want us to make a habit of taking doubt and 00:00:26.899 --> 00:00:31.199 unbelief concerning this subject out of our mouth. 00:00:31.629 --> 00:00:34.289 Right? Out of the things that we say. So many 00:00:34.289 --> 00:00:37.189 times we get to a place, circumstance, things 00:00:37.189 --> 00:00:39.850 happen where we just go, well, God, I can't hear 00:00:39.850 --> 00:00:42.829 you. I don't know what God's saying. I've prayed. 00:00:42.969 --> 00:00:46.210 I've tried. I've done all I can do. And it's 00:00:46.210 --> 00:00:48.270 easy to kind of fall in that habit of being like, 00:00:48.310 --> 00:00:51.270 God, I just can't. I can't hear. I can't experience 00:00:51.270 --> 00:00:54.750 that. I've never heard Him before. But as we've 00:00:54.750 --> 00:00:57.030 learned through this series that every child 00:00:57.030 --> 00:01:00.880 of God, right, if you're a believer, Guess what? 00:01:00.920 --> 00:01:04.200 You have heard God. You've responded to his call. 00:01:04.340 --> 00:01:07.359 You've responded to his voice. You know his voice. 00:01:07.599 --> 00:01:11.319 As we saw in John chapter 10, the shepherd, he 00:01:11.319 --> 00:01:15.120 leads us and his sheep know his voice. His sheep 00:01:15.120 --> 00:01:17.980 recognize his voice and they follow the shepherd. 00:01:19.209 --> 00:01:24.459 Amen? So we know him. Say, I know God. If you're 00:01:24.459 --> 00:01:27.040 a Christian, I know him. Say, I know his voice. 00:01:27.739 --> 00:01:32.640 Say, I follow his voice. I recognize his voice. 00:01:33.890 --> 00:01:41.560 Amen. You can hear God. Let's begin. Romans 8, 00:01:41.620 --> 00:01:45.480 14 says this. For all who are led by the Spirit 00:01:45.480 --> 00:01:50.750 of God are children of God. Amen. All. It doesn't 00:01:50.750 --> 00:01:53.650 say some. It says all who are led by the Spirit 00:01:53.650 --> 00:01:58.319 of God are children of God. Amen. You have a 00:01:58.319 --> 00:02:02.750 choice to be led and who you follow. Right? You 00:02:02.750 --> 00:02:06.760 have a choice. So it's not everybody. It's all 00:02:06.760 --> 00:02:09.319 who are led. It's all who yield to his voice. 00:02:09.379 --> 00:02:12.520 It's all who follow his voice are children of 00:02:12.520 --> 00:02:15.759 God. So what does this mean? That a characteristic 00:02:15.759 --> 00:02:19.979 then of being a Christian is that you are led, 00:02:20.159 --> 00:02:25.860 that you hear, that you follow. We could say 00:02:25.860 --> 00:02:31.259 it like this, that you obey the Spirit of God, 00:02:32.530 --> 00:02:36.330 that you obey the Spirit of God. See, that's 00:02:36.330 --> 00:02:38.229 something that we have to learn. We have to learn 00:02:38.229 --> 00:02:42.990 to obey. Something that I've seen with my child, 00:02:43.090 --> 00:02:46.449 Elisha, you know, he wasn't born, he doesn't 00:02:46.449 --> 00:02:51.930 know how to obey, right? He wasn't born just 00:02:51.930 --> 00:02:56.439 like, okay, daddy, I'll do whatever you say. 00:02:57.289 --> 00:03:00.719 It's not the way that works, right? We have to 00:03:00.719 --> 00:03:05.020 learn. We have to yield. We have to trust before 00:03:05.530 --> 00:03:10.060 we obey. And that's what it means when we're 00:03:10.060 --> 00:03:13.639 a Christian. We trust God. We obey Him. We hear 00:03:13.639 --> 00:03:18.340 Him. We follow His voice. And being led by the 00:03:18.340 --> 00:03:23.069 Spirit, then, requires hearing the Spirit. Hearing 00:03:23.069 --> 00:03:26.360 His voice. Now, as we've seen in this series, 00:03:26.580 --> 00:03:29.680 when we talk about hearing God, your first instinct 00:03:29.680 --> 00:03:31.699 might be like, well, can I hear Him audibly? 00:03:32.240 --> 00:03:35.250 And yes, God does speak audibly, but... When 00:03:35.250 --> 00:03:38.310 we think about salvation, when we think of, we 00:03:38.310 --> 00:03:41.069 looked at the many ways that God speaks to us. 00:03:41.129 --> 00:03:44.689 Last week, we looked at how God speaks to us, 00:03:44.710 --> 00:03:47.530 the believer, through peace. Everybody say peace, 00:03:47.789 --> 00:03:53.659 right? So he can lead us by his peace. into directing 00:03:53.659 --> 00:03:56.379 us where to go, what to do, not to do, that kind 00:03:56.379 --> 00:03:59.419 of thing. So His peace is a way, like we can 00:03:59.419 --> 00:04:01.800 feel it on the inside as an inward witness of 00:04:01.800 --> 00:04:04.900 the Holy Spirit. And that's a way that He leads 00:04:04.900 --> 00:04:07.800 us and guides us. So God speaks in many ways, 00:04:08.039 --> 00:04:12.360 not just audibly, right? Even though He's not 00:04:12.360 --> 00:04:15.860 limited to those, you know, to just one way. 00:04:17.209 --> 00:04:20.029 But being led by the Spirit requires hearing 00:04:20.029 --> 00:04:23.329 the Spirit. And I would... dare to say that prayer 00:04:23.329 --> 00:04:25.990 is one of the primary environments where that 00:04:25.990 --> 00:04:29.899 happens. It's that attitude, it's that position 00:04:29.899 --> 00:04:35.009 of prayer when we get to, when we focus our mind, 00:04:35.089 --> 00:04:38.480 when we're still, when we carve time out of our 00:04:38.480 --> 00:04:42.790 day, that's when we hear God, right? When we 00:04:42.790 --> 00:04:48.649 seek Him, we find Him. Amen? When we seek Him, 00:04:48.689 --> 00:04:50.930 when we turn, when we quit seeking everything 00:04:50.930 --> 00:04:58.399 else, more, higher, when we seek Him first, right? 00:04:58.540 --> 00:05:04.930 We will find Him. We will find Him. So, that's 00:05:05.529 --> 00:05:07.769 what happens when we're praying, we're seeking 00:05:07.769 --> 00:05:10.930 God, and that's where often we will hear from 00:05:10.930 --> 00:05:13.389 Him. That is the environment where we hear from 00:05:13.389 --> 00:05:16.350 Him. Because prayer isn't just where God hears 00:05:16.350 --> 00:05:21.100 you. Newsflash. Prayer isn't just where God hears 00:05:21.100 --> 00:05:25.040 you. I'm going to say it again. Prayer is not 00:05:25.040 --> 00:05:28.180 just where God listens to you go on and on and 00:05:28.180 --> 00:05:35.829 on and on. This might shake you a little bit 00:05:35.829 --> 00:05:38.709 this morning, but prayer is not all about you. 00:05:41.290 --> 00:05:46.220 Prayer is a time where you hear from God. It's 00:05:46.220 --> 00:05:51.759 time where God wants to speak to you. Amen? Oh, 00:05:51.819 --> 00:06:04.110 me? Because prayer is not begging. Too often 00:06:04.110 --> 00:06:06.389 we get into this habit where we feel like prayer 00:06:06.389 --> 00:06:08.910 is just begging. I come to God, I say, God, I 00:06:08.910 --> 00:06:11.370 need, I want, I need, need, need. God, give me 00:06:11.370 --> 00:06:14.009 this, change this, change this person's heart. 00:06:14.069 --> 00:06:16.490 God, I need, God, God, I want, I want, I want. 00:06:16.529 --> 00:06:19.269 We come to him with like a grocery list of like, 00:06:19.329 --> 00:06:21.750 these are the things that I want. And then, okay, 00:06:21.850 --> 00:06:23.889 I'm going to, I pray, I pray, I pray, I pray. 00:06:23.949 --> 00:06:26.949 And then go, amen. And Jesus, amen. All right. 00:06:27.449 --> 00:06:35.759 Let me just continue about my day. Prayer is 00:06:35.759 --> 00:06:39.790 not begging. Nowhere in Scripture is prayer begging. 00:06:40.230 --> 00:06:44.110 Now, we ask some things of God. His Word tells 00:06:44.110 --> 00:06:50.209 us to ask, right? But asking is different. Asking 00:06:50.209 --> 00:06:54.470 in faith is different than begging in lack, begging 00:06:54.470 --> 00:07:03.509 in fear. Stay with me. Because prayer is meant 00:07:03.509 --> 00:07:07.439 to be fellowship. It's meant to be communication 00:07:07.439 --> 00:07:16.000 out of a relationship. It's a dialogue. It's 00:07:16.000 --> 00:07:22.439 not a monologue. 1 Thessalonians 5, 16 through 00:07:22.439 --> 00:07:28.180 18 says this, always be joyful. Wow. Wow. Should 00:07:28.180 --> 00:07:29.800 there ever be a point in time where we're not 00:07:29.800 --> 00:07:34.300 joyful? Does it mean that there's a point in 00:07:34.300 --> 00:07:36.560 time where we might not always be the happiest 00:07:36.560 --> 00:07:43.160 we could possibly be? This joy, and we've talked 00:07:43.160 --> 00:07:46.300 about this a lot, this joy is the joy of God. 00:07:46.699 --> 00:07:49.439 It's not our joy. It's not our manufactured joy. 00:07:49.579 --> 00:07:53.560 It's the joy that he imparts to us. And we have 00:07:53.560 --> 00:07:56.379 that available to us as the Christian. We have 00:07:56.379 --> 00:07:59.959 His joy, the joy of the Lord, available to each 00:07:59.959 --> 00:08:03.620 and every one of you 24 -7. If the Spirit of 00:08:03.620 --> 00:08:06.720 God lives on the inside of you, you have His 00:08:06.720 --> 00:08:10.750 joy living on the inside of you. You have access 00:08:10.750 --> 00:08:14.480 to it. And that goes way beyond your circumstance. 00:08:14.500 --> 00:08:17.680 That goes way beyond anything else that's happening 00:08:17.680 --> 00:08:21.339 on the outside. Because there can be joy on the 00:08:21.339 --> 00:08:25.209 inside. Verse 17, never, everybody say never, 00:08:25.459 --> 00:08:29.500 never stop praying. Is that what the scripture 00:08:29.500 --> 00:08:33.240 says or not? Am I making this up? No. Always 00:08:33.240 --> 00:08:37.000 be joyful. Never stop praying. And then be thankful 00:08:37.000 --> 00:08:42.690 just when everything's going good. Just when 00:08:42.690 --> 00:08:47.769 everything's going as I planned. Be thankful 00:08:47.769 --> 00:08:54.600 in all circumstances. Be thankful. We're not 00:08:54.600 --> 00:08:57.279 thankful for what's going on in the circumstance. 00:08:58.519 --> 00:09:02.580 We're thankful for a God who will deliver us 00:09:02.580 --> 00:09:05.139 out of our circumstance and our situation, right? 00:09:05.299 --> 00:09:09.480 Who we've seen his faithfulness over and over 00:09:09.480 --> 00:09:11.879 again all throughout Scripture. We're thankful 00:09:11.879 --> 00:09:16.340 for the faithfulness of God. And therefore, in 00:09:16.340 --> 00:09:20.830 all circumstances, we can give thanks. We can 00:09:20.830 --> 00:09:27.529 give thanks. For this is God's will. This is 00:09:27.529 --> 00:09:33.330 God's will for you who belong to Christ Jesus. 00:09:34.330 --> 00:09:37.529 Amen. This is His will. How many of you want 00:09:37.529 --> 00:09:40.090 to please God? How many of you want to be in 00:09:40.090 --> 00:09:44.029 the will of God? Amen. Right? Always be joyful. 00:09:44.090 --> 00:09:47.649 Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances. 00:09:47.750 --> 00:09:50.769 Now, what does never stop praying mean? Does 00:09:50.769 --> 00:09:53.850 that mean we just talk nonstop? Continuously 00:09:53.850 --> 00:10:02.850 talk to God? Everybody say no. No. Is it just 00:10:02.850 --> 00:10:05.070 non -stop praying? God, I want, I need, I want, 00:10:05.149 --> 00:10:07.049 I need, I want, I need. God, God, God, God. Is 00:10:07.049 --> 00:10:08.990 that what it is? And you're just rambling on 00:10:08.990 --> 00:10:12.129 and on and on and on? No. What it means is this. 00:10:12.169 --> 00:10:15.490 It means it's maintaining an open line of communication 00:10:15.490 --> 00:10:20.190 between you and God. If God is living on the 00:10:20.190 --> 00:10:24.070 inside of you, and as Christians we believe that, 00:10:24.230 --> 00:10:28.480 the reality of someone on the inside of you should 00:10:28.480 --> 00:10:32.519 be enough. To say, I should probably talk to 00:10:32.519 --> 00:10:36.440 him. If someone's on the inside of me who knows 00:10:36.440 --> 00:10:39.159 everything about everything, who created the 00:10:39.159 --> 00:10:45.059 world, who spoke it into existence, hello. He 00:10:45.059 --> 00:10:49.759 has some information that I don't. He knows what's 00:10:49.759 --> 00:10:54.360 going on in my life right now. And I can turn 00:10:54.360 --> 00:10:57.059 to him. I can talk to him. Just as I'm talking 00:10:57.059 --> 00:10:59.559 to the person in front of me, I should know him 00:10:59.559 --> 00:11:08.759 more. I should know him more. Open line of communication 00:11:08.759 --> 00:11:12.330 throughout the day, right? There's nothing too 00:11:12.330 --> 00:11:15.840 big, nothing too small. We can turn to God and 00:11:15.840 --> 00:11:19.100 say, God, what do you think about this? How do 00:11:19.100 --> 00:11:22.169 you want me to process this? You're talking to 00:11:22.169 --> 00:11:24.190 someone and they're telling you something and 00:11:24.190 --> 00:11:26.269 you go, hey God, how do you want me to answer 00:11:26.269 --> 00:11:32.259 this person? That's what the reality of talking, 00:11:32.379 --> 00:11:34.919 never stop praying. Because praying, listen, 00:11:35.100 --> 00:11:39.220 is not just coming to God and just... Vain, repetitious 00:11:39.220 --> 00:11:42.460 things that we say in church that make us sound 00:11:42.460 --> 00:11:47.919 real spiritual and religious. Praying is communicating 00:11:47.919 --> 00:11:54.820 with a real God, with a real person. Amen? This 00:11:54.820 --> 00:12:00.940 verse, Proverbs 3, 5, and 6, I just can't get 00:12:00.940 --> 00:12:03.279 away from it. I just keep coming back to it. 00:12:03.360 --> 00:12:05.639 How many of you, if you read Scripture and all 00:12:05.639 --> 00:12:07.759 of a sudden there's just a passage or a set of 00:12:07.759 --> 00:12:10.830 passages that you just kind of like... God just 00:12:10.830 --> 00:12:13.370 keeps showing you things and keep dealing with 00:12:13.370 --> 00:12:19.490 you about. If not, read your Bible more. I'm 00:12:19.490 --> 00:12:23.570 sorry. Proverbs 3, 5, and 6 says this. Trust. 00:12:24.320 --> 00:12:31.289 There's trust again. Trust. Trust in the Lord 00:12:31.289 --> 00:12:34.759 with all your heart. What does that look like? 00:12:35.179 --> 00:12:40.230 Not depending on your own understanding. Trust 00:12:40.230 --> 00:12:42.870 in the Lord with all your heart. Do not. It's 00:12:42.870 --> 00:12:46.210 a command. Do not. Depend on your own understanding. 00:12:47.720 --> 00:12:51.860 Do not depend on your own understanding. Seek. 00:12:54.590 --> 00:12:57.870 What is prayer? Prayer is seeking, right? It's 00:12:57.870 --> 00:13:00.629 seeking God. It's coming to Him. It's talking 00:13:00.629 --> 00:13:09.309 with Him. Seek His will in all you do. In just 00:13:09.309 --> 00:13:12.490 the matters that belong to church, in just the 00:13:12.490 --> 00:13:15.690 matters of spirituality. No, in all. Everybody 00:13:15.690 --> 00:13:22.289 say all. All you do. And what does He say? What 00:13:22.289 --> 00:13:28.240 does Scripture say? He will show you. He will 00:13:28.240 --> 00:13:34.620 show you which path to take. Amen. Scripture's 00:13:34.620 --> 00:13:39.980 so good. So yes, as when the disciples came to 00:13:39.980 --> 00:13:43.200 Jesus and they said, teach us how to pray, God, 00:13:43.340 --> 00:13:44.960 because they saw he prayed a little different. 00:13:45.139 --> 00:13:50.210 They said, teach us how to pray. Jesus told them 00:13:50.210 --> 00:13:53.029 to pray that God's will be done on earth as it 00:13:53.029 --> 00:13:58.590 is in heaven, right? Meaning that his will is 00:13:58.590 --> 00:14:01.899 not always done. On earth as it is in heaven. 00:14:02.019 --> 00:14:05.240 If we're commanded by Jesus to pray for his will 00:14:05.240 --> 00:14:08.309 to be done. In our lives, in our homes, in this 00:14:08.309 --> 00:14:12.570 country. Amen. So we should pray that God's will 00:14:12.570 --> 00:14:18.129 be done. But also, we should seek his will. And 00:14:18.129 --> 00:14:20.470 then according to the word, with expectation 00:14:20.470 --> 00:14:25.029 that he will show it to us. That he will lead 00:14:25.029 --> 00:14:30.590 us. That he will guide us. Amen. So the promise 00:14:30.590 --> 00:14:35.490 isn't just that God has a path. It's not just 00:14:35.490 --> 00:14:39.740 that He has, you know, good and perfect plans, 00:14:40.100 --> 00:14:44.320 right? Because He does. His will for you is awesome. 00:14:44.639 --> 00:14:47.220 He has great and precious promises all throughout 00:14:47.220 --> 00:14:49.759 Scripture. They're for you. They're for your 00:14:49.759 --> 00:14:57.100 life. Amen? He has a great path for you. But, 00:14:57.100 --> 00:15:00.460 listen, the promise isn't just that God has a 00:15:00.460 --> 00:15:04.289 path. It is that He will show you. Which path 00:15:04.289 --> 00:15:07.169 to take. Because the problem is there's multiple 00:15:07.169 --> 00:15:10.820 paths set before you. There's life. There's death. 00:15:11.649 --> 00:15:14.950 Therefore, choose life, Scripture says. Right? 00:15:15.330 --> 00:15:18.009 But in order to choose life, guess what? You 00:15:18.009 --> 00:15:21.029 can't depend on your own understanding. You can't 00:15:21.029 --> 00:15:28.549 just make up your own way. You can't just make 00:15:28.549 --> 00:15:31.960 up your own way. Because there's a way that seems 00:15:31.960 --> 00:15:34.830 right. Remember last week, what did we talk about? 00:15:34.889 --> 00:15:38.909 There's a way that seems right. But its end is 00:15:38.909 --> 00:15:45.529 death and destruction, right? There's a way that 00:15:45.529 --> 00:15:49.070 seems right. And we need the help from the Holy 00:15:49.070 --> 00:15:53.629 Spirit to know which path to take. And this is 00:15:53.629 --> 00:15:56.899 accomplished when we pray. When you pray, don't 00:15:56.899 --> 00:16:00.620 ask God to bless your direction. Pray to recognize 00:16:00.620 --> 00:16:05.940 his direction. Pray to recognize his direction. 00:16:06.649 --> 00:16:09.470 Because he's wanting to lead you. He has a path 00:16:09.470 --> 00:16:15.620 for you. And we need to pray. Sometimes we come 00:16:15.620 --> 00:16:20.049 to God with our direction and our plan. How many 00:16:20.049 --> 00:16:23.840 of you do this? I do this. I'm talking to you 00:16:23.840 --> 00:16:25.480 about this, but I'm like, I'm guilty of this 00:16:25.480 --> 00:16:28.179 too, right? We come to God and we say, okay, 00:16:28.220 --> 00:16:29.879 God, I'm going to do this, and I'm going to do 00:16:29.879 --> 00:16:32.159 this, and my life's going to be like this, my 00:16:32.159 --> 00:16:34.580 job, my house, my job, you know, all these things, 00:16:34.659 --> 00:16:37.159 my business, whatever. You know, God, it's going 00:16:37.159 --> 00:16:39.100 to be all this. I'm going to do this. God, and 00:16:39.100 --> 00:16:44.230 bless me today. Make it be, you know. Give me 00:16:44.230 --> 00:16:46.730 favor today over this plan that I've created. 00:16:47.230 --> 00:16:52.169 Because I've got it all figured out. And I know 00:16:52.169 --> 00:16:55.730 how that looks, how your favor and your plan 00:16:55.730 --> 00:16:58.990 and your provision and all these things. I got 00:16:58.990 --> 00:17:00.870 it all figured out. This is how I want you to 00:17:00.870 --> 00:17:08.029 do it. And so I want you to bless it. Now, when 00:17:08.029 --> 00:17:12.309 you say it like that, but that's true, right? 00:17:13.640 --> 00:17:17.259 It's true. Couldn't we say, okay, God, I'm going 00:17:17.259 --> 00:17:22.829 here. I'm doing this. Protect me. Bless me. Give 00:17:22.829 --> 00:17:27.859 me favor. Right? Sometimes we need to stop. And 00:17:27.859 --> 00:17:30.799 actually, in all things, we need to stop and 00:17:30.799 --> 00:17:33.460 say, God, what do you have for me? What am I 00:17:33.460 --> 00:17:37.460 supposed to do today? Because if we're Christians, 00:17:37.779 --> 00:17:40.980 we don't just go out on our own understanding, 00:17:41.380 --> 00:17:47.160 right? We are led in all things. All things. 00:17:47.220 --> 00:17:50.859 We're dependent. See, the world wants you to 00:17:50.859 --> 00:17:53.940 be independent. They want to drive that into 00:17:53.940 --> 00:17:59.099 you. To be independent. In the kingdom of God 00:17:59.099 --> 00:18:01.799 is so much different because in the kingdom of 00:18:01.799 --> 00:18:06.230 God, you need to be dependent on God. You have 00:18:06.230 --> 00:18:10.339 to be dependent on God. Amen? Uriah got happy 00:18:10.339 --> 00:18:12.279 about it. I wish somebody else would get happy 00:18:12.279 --> 00:18:18.029 about it. We need to be dependent on God. He 00:18:18.029 --> 00:18:23.180 is the only way to life. He is the only way to 00:18:23.559 --> 00:18:27.420 walk into His will. You have to be dependent 00:18:27.420 --> 00:18:30.960 on Him in all things. Amen? We need to pray to 00:18:30.960 --> 00:18:35.519 recognize His direction. Romans 8, 26 -27 says 00:18:35.519 --> 00:18:39.369 this, And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. 00:18:39.450 --> 00:18:42.569 Hallelujah. He's our helper. He's our advocate. 00:18:42.750 --> 00:18:50.119 Amen? For example, Paul says, We don't know what 00:18:50.119 --> 00:18:57.089 God wants. us to pray for. We don't know. Everybody 00:18:57.089 --> 00:19:00.589 say, I don't know. How many times you go to God 00:19:00.589 --> 00:19:03.150 with, I have a full understanding of what I need 00:19:03.150 --> 00:19:11.400 to pray for in this situation. Come on now. Is 00:19:11.400 --> 00:19:13.799 that the attitude that Paul's writing here? He's 00:19:13.799 --> 00:19:19.230 like, for example, we don't know. We are so inadequate. 00:19:19.829 --> 00:19:25.410 Our knowledge is so lacking. We don't know what's 00:19:25.410 --> 00:19:27.529 going to happen when we leave this building. 00:19:30.089 --> 00:19:32.130 We don't know what's going to happen. We don't 00:19:32.130 --> 00:19:33.430 even know what we're going to eat for dinner 00:19:33.430 --> 00:19:38.960 tonight. Right? I can make a plan. I can try 00:19:38.960 --> 00:19:44.319 my best. I can prepare. I can buy as many diapers 00:19:44.319 --> 00:19:48.880 as I can. Come on now. I can stock up on some 00:19:48.880 --> 00:19:54.400 diapers. But nothing prepares you for them handing 00:19:54.400 --> 00:20:03.589 this. What? He's doing jujitsu and I'm trying 00:20:03.589 --> 00:20:08.490 to wrap this thing around him. silly nurse just 00:20:08.490 --> 00:20:13.769 sitting there watching me struggle. Just watching 00:20:13.769 --> 00:20:17.049 me going, you got it, daddy. You got it, daddy. 00:20:18.319 --> 00:20:24.490 Oh, and it's sweet. Oh, my gosh. We don't know. 00:20:25.210 --> 00:20:28.630 That can be a relief to you, right? Just being 00:20:28.630 --> 00:20:32.509 like, I don't have to know. Or it can kind of 00:20:32.509 --> 00:20:34.910 hurt you a little bit, right? Because you like 00:20:34.910 --> 00:20:37.150 to know. How many of you are in that category 00:20:37.150 --> 00:20:40.670 of like, I like to know? Right? I really like 00:20:40.670 --> 00:20:42.769 to know. I really kind of want that control, 00:20:43.009 --> 00:20:45.609 you know? And I kind of want to come to God and 00:20:45.609 --> 00:20:47.109 I'm like, okay, I got it all figured out for 00:20:47.109 --> 00:20:52.329 you and you just bless this. But we don't know 00:20:52.329 --> 00:20:54.309 what God wants us to pray. Let's continue reading. 00:20:54.470 --> 00:20:58.430 But the Holy Spirit, get this, prays for us. 00:20:59.009 --> 00:21:02.410 with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. 00:21:02.710 --> 00:21:05.710 And the Father who knows all hearts knows what 00:21:05.710 --> 00:21:09.190 the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for 00:21:09.190 --> 00:21:13.450 us believers in harmony with God's will. Everybody 00:21:13.450 --> 00:21:16.849 say God's will. God's will is different than 00:21:16.849 --> 00:21:26.170 your plan. But thank God the Spirit helps us. 00:21:26.490 --> 00:21:31.339 This word praise here, I'm not even going to 00:21:31.339 --> 00:21:33.799 try to pronounce it. But it's the same word for 00:21:33.799 --> 00:21:37.140 prayer. And listen, so the word for prayer, the 00:21:37.140 --> 00:21:39.839 Greek word for prayer here, is so much different 00:21:39.839 --> 00:21:41.839 than our normal understanding of what prayer 00:21:41.839 --> 00:21:44.059 means. Listen to what it means. So the Holy Spirit 00:21:44.059 --> 00:21:47.240 prays, and that word prayer means to exchange 00:21:47.240 --> 00:21:52.680 wishes, to pray literally, to interact with the 00:21:52.680 --> 00:21:56.940 Lord by switching human wishes, ideas, for His 00:21:56.940 --> 00:22:02.660 wishes as He imparts faith. Also known as divine 00:22:02.660 --> 00:22:10.990 persuasion. That's a little different, right? 00:22:11.769 --> 00:22:13.329 It's a little different from our understanding 00:22:13.329 --> 00:22:21.049 of what prayer really is. We've all faced situations 00:22:21.049 --> 00:22:24.630 where we knew we needed to pray, but we just 00:22:24.630 --> 00:22:30.640 didn't know what to pray to, right? But thank 00:22:30.640 --> 00:22:34.369 God, the Holy Spirit prays and comes alongside 00:22:34.369 --> 00:22:37.769 of us and prays. Listen, he prays to bring us 00:22:37.769 --> 00:22:41.309 into the will of God. But you know, that requires 00:22:41.309 --> 00:22:46.369 something on our part that we don't like. And 00:22:46.369 --> 00:22:52.420 that requires yielding to the Spirit, yielding 00:22:52.420 --> 00:22:57.130 to His way, to not relying on our own understanding. 00:22:58.279 --> 00:23:03.039 It requires, then, obedience on our part, which 00:23:05.339 --> 00:23:13.069 requires trust on our part. So the progression 00:23:13.069 --> 00:23:16.130 here, we can see it as it's laid out, is there's 00:23:16.130 --> 00:23:18.150 a progression in prayer often where it's like, 00:23:18.230 --> 00:23:22.700 I don't know. But instead of just rehearsing 00:23:22.700 --> 00:23:26.880 in doubt and wavering, I don't know, I don't 00:23:26.880 --> 00:23:30.299 know, I don't know, I don't know, to God, you 00:23:30.779 --> 00:23:35.960 need to exchange, right? You need a mindset shift, 00:23:36.420 --> 00:23:40.140 a reframing, you could say, to say, guess what? 00:23:40.319 --> 00:23:46.359 I can hear God. God says, look, He says that 00:23:46.359 --> 00:23:52.180 I know His voice. I know Him. He's not some mean 00:23:52.180 --> 00:23:54.900 ogre in the sky way far away who doesn't hear 00:23:54.900 --> 00:24:00.769 me. I hear Him. I know Him. And guess what? He 00:24:00.769 --> 00:24:07.359 knows everything. He lives in me. And the Word 00:24:07.359 --> 00:24:15.869 says, He helps me pray. He helps me pray. Amen. 00:24:17.670 --> 00:24:21.009 So therefore, prayer... involves an exchange. 00:24:22.650 --> 00:24:27.630 It involves an exchange. You enter prayer with 00:24:27.630 --> 00:24:30.150 your thoughts, your wishes, your assumptions, 00:24:30.269 --> 00:24:33.970 your emotions and understanding, but the exchange 00:24:33.970 --> 00:24:38.529 happens when we stop, when we yield to the Spirit, 00:24:38.690 --> 00:24:42.329 and you continue prayer, and you must continue 00:24:42.329 --> 00:24:50.460 prayer with His, His desire, His will, His direction, 00:24:50.619 --> 00:24:57.829 His voice. You have to hear from God. You have 00:24:57.829 --> 00:25:02.119 to hear from God. There must be a change. Through 00:25:02.119 --> 00:25:04.579 fellowship with the Holy Spirit, your thinking 00:25:04.579 --> 00:25:10.150 can change, right? You have the mind of Christ, 00:25:10.230 --> 00:25:14.869 but it's renewal of the Word, right? You're renewing 00:25:14.869 --> 00:25:18.410 your mind to this change, to His reality, to 00:25:18.410 --> 00:25:22.509 His way. Your desires can change. Your perspective 00:25:22.509 --> 00:25:25.589 can change about the situation that you're facing. 00:25:26.269 --> 00:25:29.150 Because often when we hit something, it just 00:25:29.150 --> 00:25:33.799 looks impossible, right? When we come up to things, 00:25:33.960 --> 00:25:37.890 it just seems impossible. How many times was 00:25:37.890 --> 00:25:41.509 David writing, you know, and pray, like they're 00:25:41.509 --> 00:25:43.369 recording his prayers and he's just like, man, 00:25:43.430 --> 00:25:46.789 it's impossible. Everything is the worst. Everyone's 00:25:46.789 --> 00:25:49.390 trying to kill me. Everyone's coming after me. 00:25:49.529 --> 00:25:51.789 This is the worst situation I could possibly 00:25:51.789 --> 00:25:54.910 be in. God, where are you? And then all of a 00:25:54.910 --> 00:25:59.769 sudden he says, God, you are here. You're protecting 00:25:59.769 --> 00:26:03.250 me. You are my shelter. You promised me, right? 00:26:03.430 --> 00:26:11.099 You will be with me. Your rod and your staff 00:26:11.099 --> 00:26:19.829 comfort me. Amen? Come on. Your perspective can 00:26:19.829 --> 00:26:26.890 change, but you have to seek him. Ephesians 6 00:26:26.890 --> 00:26:34.809 .18 tells us this, to pray in the Spirit. Pray 00:26:34.809 --> 00:26:38.940 in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. 00:26:40.460 --> 00:26:44.210 Stay alert. Be persistent in your prayers for 00:26:44.210 --> 00:26:47.170 all believers everywhere. It's Paul encouraging 00:26:47.170 --> 00:26:50.640 the Ephesian church. And what's interesting, 00:26:50.839 --> 00:26:54.940 sometimes we try to like write out this part, 00:26:55.099 --> 00:26:58.019 but if you think about what, you know, immediately 00:26:58.019 --> 00:27:02.559 was before this was put on the armor of God. 00:27:04.589 --> 00:27:08.089 Put on the armor of God. That was just right 00:27:08.089 --> 00:27:10.630 before this passage. Put on the armor of God. 00:27:11.500 --> 00:27:15.759 And then he immediately says, pray in the Spirit 00:27:15.759 --> 00:27:21.059 at all times. Because when we put on his truth, 00:27:21.319 --> 00:27:28.730 when we put on those things, guess what? That's 00:27:28.730 --> 00:27:31.490 when we start to pray. But we need to put on, 00:27:31.670 --> 00:27:38.500 right? We need to put on the armor of God. And 00:27:38.500 --> 00:27:41.900 then we pray in the Spirit. But you, Jude 20 00:27:41.900 --> 00:27:44.039 says this, but you, dear friends, must build 00:27:44.039 --> 00:27:48.220 each other up in the most holy faith. Pray in 00:27:48.349 --> 00:27:52.420 the power of the Holy Spirit. It's not pray in 00:27:52.420 --> 00:27:57.309 your own power. You're not left alone in prayer. 00:27:58.460 --> 00:28:00.799 You're supposed to pray in the power of the Holy 00:28:00.799 --> 00:28:05.240 Spirit. So what does this tell us? That our prayer 00:28:05.240 --> 00:28:09.059 should be led by the Holy Spirit rather than 00:28:09.059 --> 00:28:11.779 being led by what we can figure out naturally. 00:28:17.109 --> 00:28:23.059 Even our prayers should be led. Thankfully, prayer 00:28:23.059 --> 00:28:26.789 does not require you to know everything. But 00:28:26.789 --> 00:28:29.849 prayer connects you to the one who does. Amen? 00:28:32.960 --> 00:28:38.289 The plan of God must be spoken. Must be spoken. 00:28:41.109 --> 00:28:44.269 And for you to walk into his plan and to his 00:28:44.269 --> 00:28:51.339 will, his plan must first be in your mouth. Life 00:28:51.339 --> 00:28:54.579 and death are in the power of the tongue. Amen? 00:28:58.000 --> 00:29:01.460 When he says, your will be done on earth as in 00:29:01.460 --> 00:29:05.589 heaven, right? You're saying, your will be done 00:29:05.589 --> 00:29:09.799 in my life today. I'm surrendering to you. I'm 00:29:09.799 --> 00:29:13.039 yielding to you. And the plan of God must be 00:29:13.039 --> 00:29:16.220 spoken by you. Because if you want your life 00:29:16.220 --> 00:29:19.160 to go according to God's will, you must continually 00:29:19.160 --> 00:29:24.099 pray out God's plan. You can't continually rehearse 00:29:24.099 --> 00:29:27.420 the problem that you're in and expect to arrive 00:29:27.420 --> 00:29:33.849 at a different result. You can't rehearse the 00:29:33.849 --> 00:29:40.549 situation, the circumstance. over and over and 00:29:40.549 --> 00:29:44.269 over again and expect to arrive at a new tomorrow. 00:29:46.140 --> 00:29:48.480 Because if all you're saying is the problems 00:29:48.480 --> 00:29:51.720 of today, your tomorrow will look just like today. 00:29:55.490 --> 00:29:58.609 And this is not a feel -good presentation. This 00:29:58.609 --> 00:30:01.230 is what the Word of God says, that life and death 00:30:01.230 --> 00:30:06.099 is in the power of a tongue. He's given you. 00:30:06.240 --> 00:30:10.960 He's inside you. He prays through you to bring 00:30:10.960 --> 00:30:15.160 you into God's will. So guess what? There's some 00:30:15.160 --> 00:30:19.349 cooperation involved on your part. He's speaking. 00:30:19.470 --> 00:30:22.569 You can hear him, but you have to recognize his 00:30:22.569 --> 00:30:26.339 voice. You have to turn to him. You have to seek 00:30:26.339 --> 00:30:32.390 him. And guess what? Then he lets you know what 00:30:32.390 --> 00:30:34.869 to do. He lets you know the path you should take. 00:30:36.369 --> 00:30:39.369 And then you start praying into that, into his 00:30:39.369 --> 00:30:43.009 will. And then your life, listen, your life moves 00:30:43.009 --> 00:30:45.309 in the direction of your most dominant thought. 00:30:47.599 --> 00:30:50.559 And your most dominant thought is what you talk 00:30:50.559 --> 00:30:55.509 about the most. And what you talk about the most, 00:30:55.690 --> 00:31:03.339 your life moves in that direction. This requires 00:31:03.339 --> 00:31:08.920 the help of the Holy Spirit. Amen? Kind of like 00:31:08.920 --> 00:31:13.130 blueprints. If you know about, if you've ever 00:31:13.130 --> 00:31:15.650 like built a house or you're kind of familiar 00:31:15.650 --> 00:31:18.769 with that, like blueprints. You know, the blueprints 00:31:18.769 --> 00:31:23.180 exist way before the building. There's a plant. 00:31:24.559 --> 00:31:28.299 There's a plant. It's a great plan, where like 00:31:28.299 --> 00:31:30.920 the bathroom goes here, the kitchen, the island, 00:31:31.119 --> 00:31:34.380 the thing, or the building, you know, we want 00:31:34.380 --> 00:31:36.299 this many seats and we want this many things. 00:31:36.359 --> 00:31:42.690 Like there's a plan, right? There's a plan. The 00:31:42.690 --> 00:31:47.930 job of the builders isn't to invent the structure. 00:31:49.890 --> 00:31:52.150 They don't all get out the job site and go, okay, 00:31:52.470 --> 00:31:56.410 what do you think we should do here? Imagine 00:31:56.410 --> 00:31:58.329 you get like 100 people out, you know, on the 00:31:58.329 --> 00:32:00.349 side trying to build one of these duplexes. And 00:32:00.349 --> 00:32:01.890 they're just like, now, how do you think we need 00:32:01.890 --> 00:32:07.940 to do this? It'd probably take a while. And if 00:32:07.940 --> 00:32:11.029 they didn't have a plan, you know. Now, I think 00:32:11.029 --> 00:32:12.710 they build some of the houses around here like 00:32:12.710 --> 00:32:15.130 that. I'm not going to lie. Sometimes they're 00:32:15.130 --> 00:32:17.529 like a little wonky, like it's not square and 00:32:17.529 --> 00:32:20.789 anything. Anyways, but a blueprint exists before 00:32:20.789 --> 00:32:24.089 the building. And listen, church, God already 00:32:24.089 --> 00:32:29.900 has the blueprint. He knows. everything about 00:32:29.900 --> 00:32:33.279 your life. He knows the hair on your head. His 00:32:33.279 --> 00:32:36.460 thoughts toward you outnumber the sand and the 00:32:36.460 --> 00:32:41.839 stars in the sky. You are his priceless possession. 00:32:42.220 --> 00:32:45.420 You are his treasure, his masterpiece, the Bible 00:32:45.420 --> 00:32:51.230 says. He loves you. It's so hard for us to understand 00:32:51.230 --> 00:32:54.980 how much he loves us, right? But he loves you 00:32:54.980 --> 00:32:57.799 so much and he has great and precious plans for 00:32:57.799 --> 00:33:02.619 your life to give you a future. As Jeremiah 29, 00:33:02.720 --> 00:33:09.099 11 says, to future and to hope, right? But prayer 00:33:09.099 --> 00:33:12.660 then is where we stop trying to design the building. 00:33:15.690 --> 00:33:17.890 We got to stop trying to design the building 00:33:17.890 --> 00:33:20.109 that God's already erected, that God already 00:33:20.109 --> 00:33:24.190 has the blue plants for. We got to listen to 00:33:24.190 --> 00:33:27.890 the architect, the one who knows it all, the 00:33:27.890 --> 00:33:30.490 one who has a great thing for us. Because guess 00:33:30.490 --> 00:33:32.990 what? On your own understanding, you're not going 00:33:32.990 --> 00:33:40.289 to arrive in his will. We're incapable. We must 00:33:40.289 --> 00:33:47.819 yield to Him. Prayer is not presenting your plans 00:33:47.819 --> 00:33:51.200 to God. Saying, God, this is my plan. We've talked 00:33:51.200 --> 00:33:54.539 about this. But prayer is where God reveals His 00:33:54.539 --> 00:33:58.519 plans to you. So the question is, and I'm almost 00:33:58.519 --> 00:34:01.220 done, so how do we hear God in prayer? How does 00:34:01.220 --> 00:34:04.640 this accomplish? We've talked about how God communicates 00:34:04.640 --> 00:34:07.759 to us. And I just want to recap that real quick. 00:34:07.859 --> 00:34:11.320 Romans 8 .16 tells us that the Spirit Himself 00:34:11.320 --> 00:34:19.170 bears witness. With our spirit. So every time 00:34:19.170 --> 00:34:24.789 God speaks. Listen. Every time God speaks. There 00:34:24.789 --> 00:34:29.500 will be an inward witness of the spirit. Bearing 00:34:29.500 --> 00:34:32.719 witness. Of what God says. That this is from 00:34:32.719 --> 00:34:37.630 God. His peace. His guidance. Those things. We 00:34:37.630 --> 00:34:40.610 know that on the inside. Instinctively we'll 00:34:40.610 --> 00:34:43.389 know that. God is a spirit. According to John 00:34:43.389 --> 00:34:46.510 4 .24. We are made in his image. Therefore we 00:34:46.510 --> 00:34:50.949 are spirit beings. And so he communicates to 00:34:50.949 --> 00:34:55.849 us his spirit, to our spirit. And the Bible says 00:34:55.849 --> 00:34:58.489 in 1 Corinthians 2 .12, and we have received 00:34:58.489 --> 00:35:01.690 God's spirit, not the world's spirit. What? So 00:35:01.690 --> 00:35:04.449 we can know the wonderful things God has freely 00:35:04.449 --> 00:35:08.260 given us. Someone say, I can know. I can know 00:35:08.260 --> 00:35:10.579 what God has given me. I can know what God has 00:35:10.579 --> 00:35:14.809 provided for me. I can know his plan. I can know 00:35:14.809 --> 00:35:20.809 his will. You can hear God. And we should expect 00:35:20.809 --> 00:35:27.449 to hear him when we pray. I know you often don't 00:35:27.449 --> 00:35:32.590 read out of Habakkuk in church, but Habakkuk's 00:35:32.590 --> 00:35:37.250 a very interesting passage and story and book 00:35:37.250 --> 00:35:39.889 of the Bible because Habakkuk, he's a prophet, 00:35:40.030 --> 00:35:43.110 and he's coming to God with all these concerns 00:35:43.110 --> 00:35:48.409 and with all these questions, complaints, even 00:35:48.409 --> 00:35:50.389 scriptures that one of the translations say. 00:35:50.449 --> 00:35:51.630 He's coming to God with all these complaints. 00:35:52.659 --> 00:35:55.619 And I want you to see what he did. He says, I 00:35:55.619 --> 00:35:59.019 will climb up to my watchtower and stand at my 00:35:59.019 --> 00:36:02.559 guard post. There, I will wait to see what the 00:36:02.559 --> 00:36:05.460 Lord says and how he will answer my complaint. 00:36:07.909 --> 00:36:13.590 Then the Lord said to me, hallelujah. Then the 00:36:13.590 --> 00:36:18.559 Lord said to me, listen, symbolically, this is 00:36:18.559 --> 00:36:22.469 a form of prayer. We must leave the things of 00:36:22.469 --> 00:36:25.969 this world. We must come up. We must turn to 00:36:25.969 --> 00:36:30.639 the Spirit. We must climb up the watchtower with 00:36:30.639 --> 00:36:34.860 expectation. We must stand, listen, we must stand 00:36:34.860 --> 00:36:44.300 and wait for God to speak. We must come up. We 00:36:44.300 --> 00:36:48.699 must come up, church. We must turn to Him and 00:36:48.699 --> 00:36:52.530 we must wait to hear from Him. Because when we 00:36:52.530 --> 00:37:05.789 seek Him, we find Him. When we seek Him, we will 00:37:05.789 --> 00:37:10.349 find Him. We need to expect to find him. We need 00:37:10.349 --> 00:37:19.010 to expect that God will meet you there. Then 00:37:19.010 --> 00:37:23.070 the Lord said to me, then the Lord said to me, 00:37:23.110 --> 00:37:26.610 he is speaking, he is waiting for your attention. 00:37:29.239 --> 00:37:33.559 He's not just going to go, go, go, go, go, and 00:37:33.559 --> 00:37:35.480 you're just not listening. He's waiting for you 00:37:35.480 --> 00:37:40.980 to just turn to him. Like the story of the prodigal 00:37:40.980 --> 00:37:43.980 son, it was when he came back, when he turned, 00:37:44.119 --> 00:37:46.599 when he came to his senses and when he turned, 00:37:46.739 --> 00:37:49.329 right? That's when the father, now the father 00:37:49.329 --> 00:37:51.949 had been waiting, yes. But when he turned, that's 00:37:51.949 --> 00:37:54.030 when the father came out and said, kill the fatted 00:37:54.030 --> 00:38:00.590 calf. Get the robe, get the ring, right? He was 00:38:00.590 --> 00:38:04.110 waiting. God is waiting on you to turn to him. 00:38:04.840 --> 00:38:10.340 He's the perfect gentleman. And we need to expect 00:38:10.340 --> 00:38:14.530 that he's going to speak. And he will speak to 00:38:14.530 --> 00:38:18.309 us. Because expectation changes prayer from just 00:38:18.309 --> 00:38:25.130 a speech into a conversation. The change for 00:38:25.130 --> 00:38:27.170 Habakkuk, and that can be the change for us too, 00:38:27.289 --> 00:38:31.659 because he expected. And if you never expect 00:38:31.659 --> 00:38:34.000 an answer, you're not really listening for one. 00:38:35.130 --> 00:38:37.409 If you just come to him and rattle off your thing 00:38:37.409 --> 00:38:40.449 and you never expect to hear from God, you won't 00:38:40.449 --> 00:38:45.780 hear from him. So before you say amen, by the 00:38:45.780 --> 00:38:49.900 way, amen is not hang up. It's not goodbye. It 00:38:49.900 --> 00:38:56.719 means so be it to what was said. So think about 00:38:56.719 --> 00:38:59.280 what you're saying when you say it before you 00:38:59.280 --> 00:39:03.360 say amen to say, so be it. My life's terrible. 00:39:03.519 --> 00:39:13.530 Everything's falling apart. So be it. Let it 00:39:13.530 --> 00:39:20.920 be. Okay? Before you say amen, you need to do 00:39:20.920 --> 00:39:23.239 two things. You need to ask. Everybody say ask. 00:39:23.960 --> 00:39:27.260 And you need to listen. You need to say something 00:39:27.260 --> 00:39:29.340 like this. These are just examples. They're not 00:39:29.340 --> 00:39:33.099 definites. But is there anything you want to 00:39:33.099 --> 00:39:37.599 show me? You know. Come to God, present your 00:39:37.599 --> 00:39:40.900 requests, do all those things. Pray that his 00:39:40.900 --> 00:39:43.400 will be done in your life. Pray that you recognize 00:39:43.400 --> 00:39:47.769 his will when he shows it to you. And say, God, 00:39:47.849 --> 00:39:53.420 is there anything you want to show me? Now, this 00:39:53.420 --> 00:39:56.860 is not just when you see you want to compartmentalize 00:39:56.860 --> 00:39:59.840 prayer. Some of you just kind of want to compartmentalize 00:39:59.840 --> 00:40:02.780 it like, OK, well, I pray in the mornings because 00:40:02.780 --> 00:40:04.820 that's the only time I really get by myself. 00:40:05.019 --> 00:40:07.320 But we're supposed to pray and talk to God continuously. 00:40:08.389 --> 00:40:10.989 So an open line of communication. Now that doesn't 00:40:10.989 --> 00:40:14.250 mean that we do not pull away. Jesus often pulled 00:40:14.250 --> 00:40:17.289 away from the disciples and went off and prayed. 00:40:17.570 --> 00:40:20.650 And there's all kind of evidence for that. But 00:40:20.650 --> 00:40:22.650 there needs to be an open communication between 00:40:22.650 --> 00:40:26.780 you and God living on the inside of you. And 00:40:26.780 --> 00:40:29.739 you need to come to a point where in all things 00:40:29.739 --> 00:40:32.880 you say, God, what do you want to show me about 00:40:32.880 --> 00:40:37.670 this? God, I don't even know what to pray about 00:40:37.670 --> 00:40:40.739 this situation. concerning my family, concerning 00:40:40.739 --> 00:40:44.099 my job, concerning my future. God, I don't even 00:40:44.099 --> 00:40:46.699 know what to pray, but I know you do. And what 00:40:46.699 --> 00:40:50.659 do you want me to pray in this situation? Because 00:40:50.659 --> 00:40:54.630 God, it's on you. It's your will. And guess what? 00:40:54.650 --> 00:40:58.559 It's not up to me to fall into your will. Right? 00:40:59.469 --> 00:41:02.570 It's not up to me. It's up to him. And it's up 00:41:02.570 --> 00:41:05.590 to me turning to him and obeying him and following 00:41:05.590 --> 00:41:09.289 him. Amen? So I can just turn and there you go. 00:41:09.329 --> 00:41:12.019 What do you want me to pray about? Is there anything 00:41:12.019 --> 00:41:15.079 I need to change? That's a good thing to ask. 00:41:15.639 --> 00:41:23.630 It's a good thing to ask God. Because yes, he 00:41:23.630 --> 00:41:25.829 does encourage you, but he also corrects those 00:41:25.829 --> 00:41:30.440 that he loves. He calls us higher, calls us to 00:41:30.440 --> 00:41:35.599 grow, calls us to mature, because his message 00:41:35.599 --> 00:41:39.539 is not acceptance, it's transformation. He wants 00:41:39.539 --> 00:41:42.619 to transform you. So what does that mean? It 00:41:42.619 --> 00:41:44.579 means that you no longer look like the person 00:41:44.579 --> 00:41:47.599 you were before. That after a word from God, 00:41:47.679 --> 00:41:51.400 something changes you from the inside out. And 00:41:51.400 --> 00:41:53.920 that new season, that word that's in you produces 00:41:53.920 --> 00:41:57.860 a harvest of transformation. So where you look 00:41:57.860 --> 00:42:00.900 more and more like him, not more and more like 00:42:00.900 --> 00:42:05.099 yourself in your own understanding. Is there 00:42:05.099 --> 00:42:09.019 anything I need to change? And lastly, amen is 00:42:09.019 --> 00:42:11.340 not hanging up the God's communication line. 00:42:13.090 --> 00:42:16.179 Please remember that. It's not hanging up God's 00:42:16.179 --> 00:42:19.119 communication line. Stay on the line today. Stay 00:42:19.119 --> 00:42:22.019 connected because the God you've been talking 00:42:22.019 --> 00:42:26.599 to has something to say to you. This online worship 00:42:26.599 --> 00:42:29.099 experience was brought to you by the friends 00:42:29.099 --> 00:42:30.760 and partners of Elation Church.