Well, welcome, church. We're glad you're here.
Happy New Year. Okay, there's like a quarter
of you that are like, yeah, New Year. Cool. Happy
New Year to those of you on our online family.
Paul, then that's you with your New Year's breakfast.
Well done. Different year, same groove. Well
played. Baghdad, we're so excited for you to
be with us. We're excited for what God has for
this year. within your community. We can't wait
to see all that he does. And those of you on
the online family, Tracy in Minnesota by the
Canadian border, sounds cold. Welcome to you
and anyone else. We're glad you're with us. Okay,
so if you're new to this space, and by new, I
mean you're new to church, you're new to Heights,
whatever kind of you feel that puts you in that
category, if that's you, whether that's here
in the room, whether that's across the screen.
I'd like to just slow down to go, you belong
here. I think it's really important that when,
you know, it's one thing to say, hey, you're
welcome. We're glad you're here. It's also another
thing to entrust the gift of time. Time is one
of the biggest commodities we have. And so to
trust time and trust time too, and entrust your
journey with God, whatever step, stage that's
at. I just want you to know that whether you're
here or whether you're across the screen, we
don't take that lightly. And the reason we don't
take it lightly is this, because you belong here.
This is home. And what I mean by that is you
belong because you are human. We often say, well,
once you believe the right things, then you belong.
No, you belong because you are human. And to
be human is to struggle to discover this God
who loves you and you were made for relationship
with him. We're all just fumbling into that together,
right? Like we're all just. This isn't a clean,
like anybody's got it all figured out and look
at that person and they're the model. That's
not how this works. How this works is we need
each other because we're all stumbling towards
Jesus. We're all growing. No one has finished
growing. No one has reached the level where we
look at them and go, oh, they're a super saint.
There are no things as super saints. There are
just saints. And we're all, once you meet Jesus,
we're all just saints, right? We're part of the
family. And so if you're here. And that's you.
You go, hey, I don't even know if I should be
here. You belong. Welcome. We're glad that you're
here. The New Year's an interesting thing. I
don't know if it's just age, but I got no desire
in 2026 to change all these things in my life.
Like I got no desire to like make my habit stacking
a certain way and like I'm going to be a better
version of whatever. And I have no desire. So
if you're here and you're like, oh, I'm excited
for a New Year's message. I got news for you.
That's not what this is. Right. Like I don't
have any desire to put a weight on you to to
make you measure up or to make a better, improved
version. I don't I don't think that's what the
gospel calls us to. But I do think that the gospel
calls us to wrestle with this idea of walking
with God and what that looks like. I do think
that the gospel calls us to kind of enter in
on a relational level with God and go, what is
it that God's doing in me? And back in earlier
2025, I got to go on sabbatical. And part of
sabbatical for me was. wrestling with God on
the front side going, hey, what is something
that I'd really like to kind of see God change,
develop, grow into my life when it comes to spirituality?
And so I had this like specific topic I was interested
in. I did what I think most people do. You grab
a book and any information you can kind of consume.
So I'm listening to different podcasts and messages
and I'm reading this book. The book is great.
It's really inspiring. There's stories in there,
like this guy tells a story of being in eighth
grade, I think it was, or middle school, and
he just feels a burden for his school, and it's
summer break. God's doing something in him, and
he's like, I want everybody to have this. I want
to see if you're real, God, so I'm going to go,
and I'm going to prayer walk on my summer break
around the middle school every day. And so this
guy's prayer walking his school. School starts
and he goes, I'm going to start a Bible study.
And so he creates this Bible study. He doesn't
really know what he's doing, doesn't really understand
the Bible, but he's like, we're just going to
pick a passage, whichever one I kind of open
the book to, and we're going to talk about it.
And so these middle schoolers are doing this.
And wouldn't you know that God rescues, saves,
Jesus meets them, and two thirds of them end
up meeting Jesus and are saved. Yeah, which you
go, yeah. I mean, I'm sitting there reading this
like, I'm like, oh, this is amazing. I want this,
right? And so you're inspired and I'm reading
it. Well, I get about three quarters of the way
through this book and I'm just frustrated. I
can remember where I was. It was by myself. I
had gone on a trip and like, and when a Christian
says frustrated, what they really mean is angry.
You know, we just don't have anger because that's
sinful. So we're frustrated, you know? But I'm
angry. Like inside, I'm just like, I don't get
this. This is frustrating to me. I'm not learning
anything new. And as clear as anything, God steps
into that moment as I'm unpacking emotions with
him about this book. He goes, John, because you
don't need more information. You have all the
information you will ever need to be able to
put this into your life. John, you need to do
something different. You need to just do it.
And the topic was prayer. You see, I can already
tell you guys, some of you over the next four
weeks are gonna be bored out of your minds with
me because you're gonna be like, John, this is
not new information. I would dare say that the
average person does not need more information
on prayer. You need to just. Do it. You need
to do something different. And as I'm sitting
with God and I come to this realization of like,
I just need to do something different than I've
been doing. I'm frustrated with my prayer life
and it's not because I don't know the Lord's
prayer. It's not because I don't know that the
disciples came and said, hey, would you, would
you teach us how to pray? And he teaches them
how to pray. It's not because there's not plenty
of verses in the Bible that talk about prayer
and I haven't read those and spoke on those.
It's not a lack of information. It's a lack of
doing. what I know to do. So let me ask you,
how satisfied are you with your prayer life today?
I had this image in this moment. You ever seen
Big Hero 6? How satisfied are you with your character?
I am satisfied. I literally went this far. I
got online and looked for a Baymax costume, and
I was going to preach the whole message in a
Baymax costume. So that you would never forget
it. Needless to say, they weren't very good.
So that we don't have Daymax today. But how satisfied
are you? It's interesting. The question raises
emotion. It raises maybe feelings that I would
say the gospel didn't create you for. Like Jesus
didn't save you for feelings of... yeah, I'm
not satisfied. I'm not very good at it. I wish
I was better. Right? Like, I don't think, in
fact, I would say this, that if you're still
sitting in the camp of like, oh, I got this all
together. You should see my prayer life. I'm
really happy. Okay, hang on a second. And again,
right? I'm not going to wow you with verses you
don't know. But in Colossians, chapter four,
verse two, it says this, devote yourselves, devote
yourselves. Devote yourselves to prayer, being
watchful and thankful. Okay, just so we're clear,
the word devote means to faithfully, faithfully
do it. It means to, you are going to attach yourself
in a way that this is what your passion is. Kind
of like, kind of like, there's a big game tonight.
Don't know if you know. The Steelers are playing
the Dirty Birds. And speaking of prayer, you
just need to pray, right? This is our playoffs.
We started tonight because we're that good, okay?
But it's easy to devote ourselves to things,
right? Like to faithfully participate in something,
to be, that's what it's talking about, to devote,
right? Like think in this concept that when you
look at the New Testament, you get to the early
church and the early church is gathering and
it says they devoted themselves. They faithfully
attached themselves to prayer. That was what
they were known for. And when I hear that, I
go, that's not me. Right? Like all of a sudden,
it's like, huh. If that doesn't get you. And
I got good news for you. 2026, you can start
today by memorizing a verse of the Bible. You
ready? You can leave here today with the victory
of you memorize the verse from the Bible. It's
maybe the easiest behind Jesus wept. You ready?
1 Thessalonians 5, verse 17. Pray continually.
Good job. You walked out of here, you have attained
Bible memorization. Pray continually. Okay, pray
without ceasing. That means don't stop. Continually
live in a dependent posture through prayer on
God. Right? Like continually, like you are leaning
into this dependency. And here's what we do in
Christian world with this verse, okay? So pray
without ceasing. Okay, well, you know what I
do? It's kind of like a phone call. I call God
in the morning because I talk to him and I don't
hang up. And I just leave the line open all day
between me and God. It sounds really good, doesn't
it? It sounds like something tangible. Like I
just call him and I go through my day and that
phone's still there and me and God, we're just
having this phone conversation all day. Then
I get to the end of my day and I'm like, okay,
God, I gotta go to sleep. Talk to you in the
morning. I don't know about you. I'll just speak
about me. I call God in the morning, every morning.
God and I have a conversation as I'm getting
ready. Then sometimes that conversation continues
on longer depending on the day. But there's some
point, we'll say an hour and a half. I've been
talking to God for an hour and a half, and then
I step out and into my day. And my day often
has these things called meetings. And sometimes,
because that phone line's there, we'll talk to
God, right? Like when we start that meeting,
we'll pray to start that meeting. But if that
meeting goes good, I may not talk to God for
another two to three hours. So the line has been
dead for two to three hours. And maybe I pick
it up then, but you know what normally happens
by then? It's lunchtime. And depending on if
lunch is about fueling my body or if it's actually
slowing down to enjoy the good gift that God
gave me, right, of food, sometimes I'll pray
for my lunch, sometimes I won't. I can go an
entire day from the morning when I'm like, hey,
good morning, God, all the way to night and go,
huh, I never picked up the phone again. If you
called me first thing in the morning, please
don't, but if you did, and you're like, hey man,
I'm just gonna leave this line open all day because
I just wanna be connected to you and you don't
talk for three hours, I'm hanging up on you,
right? Like it's interesting, we take this verse
and we try and make it something to make us feel
better about what we're doing, but pray continually
is pray continually to be in constant dependency
on God. And I don't know how you feel, but when
I read these verses, it's really easy for a sense
of guilt. I'm not devoted. A sense of, man, I
don't talk to God continuously. Shame can creep
in. Judgmentalness over, oh, if I was just more
spiritual, I would have a better prayer life.
Can I just ease the tension? In 2026? Jesus did
not save you to guilt, shame, and self -judgment.
Those are not part of the gospel. So that tells
me, that tells me that we have made prayer something
it's not. And we have missed the purpose of prayer
for the process of prayer. We have grabbed prayer.
And we have made it this religious activity that
if I was a good religious man, whatever, right?
Like if I was good, I would do this and I would
be winning gold stars to tell you through the
year. That is not what prayer was intended to
be. And so if you'll let me, I'd love to take
the rest of our time just to shape prayer in
a different direction because we've got to do
something different. I have to do something different.
Some of you are like, I memorized this verse.
Okay, you ready? Or you're sitting there going,
hey, we're talking about prayer. I bet he goes
here. Philippians 4 verse. Well done. Good job.
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every
situation by prayer and petition with thanksgiving,
present your request to God. And the peace of
God, which transcends all understanding, will
guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every
situation, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving,
present your requests to God. How many of you,
just out of curiosity, you've memorized this
verse at some point in your life? Yeah. How's
your anxiety? Why? Because here's the thing.
Here's the thing. Memorizing a verse doesn't
mean that I live the verse. Right? Like this
is the whole point. I'm not giving you anything
new. You're like, yeah, I've heard this before.
I thought you'd say this. I'm kind of bored now.
What time's the game on? Right? But the idea
is the information doesn't transform you. It's
the action. And prayer, prayer has to be something
that you do. Like some of you are like, okay,
we're going to talk about prayer. I'm going to
go out and I'm going to get my new prayer journal.
And if you looked at your old ones, they're about
a quarter full and you ran out and you stopped.
And I'm not bashing that. I'm not bashing prayer
journals. But what I am saying is somewhere along
the line, we've substituted prayer journals for
what prayer actually was meant to be to us. This
verse here where it says, Do not be anxious about
anything. I think sometimes around prayer, we
just need some fresh language. So I'm gonna make
a disclaimer. Don't email me, okay? Those of
you that are here, those of you that are across
screens, whatever, don't email me from what I'm
about to do. Because I know for some of you,
you don't like it and it will annoy you. Okay,
I just need you to know you already live rent
-free in my head, okay? So we're good, we're
good. I already got you there. But in the message
translation, it says this. And it puts new language
to it. Same verse. Don't fret or worry. Instead
of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises
shape your worries into prayers. Letting God
know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense
of God's wholeness, everything coming together
for good, will come and settle you. It's wonderful
what happens when Christ displaces worry at the
center of your life. Come on. That's good. I
love that this came from a man who faithfully
walked with God for a long time, Eugene Peterson.
That when people... testimony of people that
met Eugene who translated the message have said
that it was like sitting in the presence of Jesus.
That's a beautiful testimony. And that's the
guy I go, hey, I could learn a thing or two.
Don't fret or worry. Okay, so it starts out with
this thing that we're all common to. There's
not a human alive that doesn't worry about something.
There's not a human alive that isn't fretting.
And he goes, instead of letting those things
build up, instead of growing those things into
your life, instead of letting worry grow into
where it begins to take space and it begins to
make you anxious because you're so worried and
wound up and so concerned and how's it gonna
work out and I don't know and all the unknowns
and all the stress, right? And it's building
up. He goes, you can grow that, but he goes,
don't grow that instead of worrying. Do what?
Pray. So if you hear nothing else and you want
to take away, instead of whatever that is, pray.
Instead, pray. Which tells me that I have a choice
in my life about what I choose to grow. That
there are seeds buried deep inside of you that
were put there at the beginning of a time. That
when God created humanity, he put these things,
these seeds into humans that were meant to grow
and flourish. And what we see in the person of
Jesus is we see a restoration where now it is
possible for the very things you were always
meant to experience and grow, that now because
of Jesus, you can grow again. This is not a whole
collection of what they are, but it's just an
idea. That you were made, you were made with
a seed inside of you for a relationship with
God. That the whole point of your existence is
to be connected to the God of the universe. That
the whole point of you is that this relationship
would flourish. And guess what happens? Instead
of whatever's going on, whatever's happening,
and I pray, guess what happens? I grow. By prayer,
I grow this relationship with God. It's nurtured.
I feel closer to him. I had somebody tell me
just in between services that they had a moment
where they're like, it resonated so deeply because
I felt distance and I just got away and sat with
God. And in sitting with God, I felt distance.
And after I'd sat with him, I felt this closeness,
this nearness, right? Why? Because prayer, prayer,
instead of whatever it is, I'm gonna pray, it
grows the relationship. God dependent. That when
I pray, what happens is I move from being independent,
right? Because you are born independent. What
prayer does is it makes you God dependent. That
when I enter into this gift of prayer, what happens
is this little seed inside of me that's been
crushed by just being born as a human, separated
from God, all of a sudden in Jesus now, I can
become God dependent in a way that everything
depends on him. And I'm not trying to be self
-independent. I'm not trying to be self -dependent.
Control. Isn't it amazing that when you begin
to pray, it's really hard to keep your hands
closed and go, God, I'm praying, but I don't
want you to touch these ones. I got these ones.
Don't touch them. I don't want your influence,
God, in this part of my life. That's not what
happens. You begin to pray and what happens?
God, I need you to have control. I need to relinquish
control. And that seed inside of you, you were
created to not be in control. You know that,
right? You weren't created to be in control.
And what prayer does is it begins to nurture
that seed and that seed begins to grow. Healing.
You know that one of the beautiful things about
prayer is that within prayer, right? Like we
go to him in our brokenness and what we get is
healing. And the beauty of the gospel is this.
that our God is a healer. And when I get in prayer
and I get around him and I spend time, what I
realize is that he is the healer and the only
healer. And it changes because of my dependency,
my control. I begin to trust him more. And guess
what? Whether you experience that healing here
or into eternity, there is healing coming that
is full and complete. That's a promise. It was
on the cross that what? Everything was restored.
To where you will be made whole again. God's
wholeness that Eugene Peterson talks about. That's
what you will experience. The power of God. Healing
is one of the most practical ways when somebody
comes up to you and they're like, hey, would
you pray for me? And you're like, it's a gift,
by the way, to pray for somebody else. And you
get to pray for them. And after you're done praying
for them, you prayed for healing. And then they
contact you and they go, hey, guess what? I was
healed. Right? Like all of a sudden, what grew
inside of you, you don't go, oh, well, God's
not very powerful. That's weird. No, all of a
sudden you're like, wow, I can't believe the
power of God. All we did was pray and the power
of God transformed. Right? And all of a sudden
there's this change. Why? Because the seed inside
of you that you would trust the power of God
has always been there. Gratitude. You ever notice
that when you slow down, right? Like, and maybe.
Maybe for you, it's kind of at the end of the
day. There's this thing called the prayer of
examine that we may talk about in the coming
weeks. We'll see. But one of the beautiful things
about the prayer of examine is it happens at
the end. It happens at nighttime. Some people
believe nighttime to be the start of your new
day. So the way that you start your day, according
to them, is you have this prayer of examine.
What is the prayer of examine? You just go back
through your day. Where did you see the fingertips
of God, fingerprints of God all over your day?
Where did you see God show up? What did you,
and all you do is thank him for it. And what
gratitude does is all of a sudden you go to sleep,
what, with a full heart because you see the goodness
of God in every single moment of your day. The
moments that you just passed you by, all of a
sudden you grab them and go, no, I'm not gonna
miss those, right? And so this gratitude opens
my soul up that he's the provider. When you sit
at a meal, And when you're not fueling yourself,
you're actually sitting there and you pray and
you begin to thank God for your food. What are
you doing? You're recognizing him as what? Your
provider. And it's a small little nudge to if
he can provide the food that I need to stay alive,
he can provide everything else I need, right?
And so all of a sudden, this idea of this little
seed of him as provider begins to grow. We talked
about this one a little bit, but talking to God
for others. That it's a gift to be able to talk
to God for others, right? And the idea of prayer
is prayer is where that's nourished, that you
get to go and talk to God. And what it's ultimately
doing is building trust, that you would trust
God because you were designed to trust him. So
all of this is planted inside of you, right?
And kind of is a picture of how does prayer actually
work then? What is prayer and another image of
prayer? You have this. And prayer, when I come
to the seeds, when I begin to pray, what I'm
actually doing is watering my soul and the seeds
that have been put there since creation. How
can I pray? Well, it's a gift that's given by
God through the person of Jesus. And I come and
I water. Some of you thought water was going
to come out, didn't you? You just wait. So I'm
watering, I'm watering, every time I pray, I'm
watering the seeds that God's planted in me.
For example, when I water, when I go to God and
I just spend time with him in prayer, in conversation,
I'm watering the relationship when I go to him
and listen. What's blooming, what's growing through
prayer, through watering is the relationship
with God. You can go through each one of these,
that each space you go to, right? Like that when
I stop for dinner and I thank God for being my
provider, I recognize that what, that he is provider
and that grows in me. But all I did was stop
and pray. Why? Because what prayer does, it's
the water to what he's put in you. It's what
he wants to grow inside of you. It's what he
wants your life to become. And prayer is this
gift that allows us. Now, the problem is this.
Most of us assume that what we were given in
Jesus when it comes to watering and prayers is
you have a limited amount. And if you don't believe
that, we don't pray like it's not limited. Or
I don't pray like it's not limited. Right? We
assume. That there's a certain amount before
God's going to be overwhelmed with the relationship
with me. There's a certain amount that I have
for gratitude. There's only a certain amount
of prayers that I have for healing. Right? There's
only a certain. And so we assume that it's going
to run out. However, I think it's more like.
Some of you know me too well. It's not really
on. I just got to break the tension. What you
were given in Jesus is an unlimited source. It'll
never run out. And why is praying without ceasing
important? Because all day long I can water into
bloom the things that God has planted in me.
Why is this idea of devoting myself to prayer
so important? Because just by exercising, just
by doing it, what am I doing? I am growing something
that God has planted in me. And it doesn't run
out. The prayers can continue and continue and
continue. Because there's an unlimited source,
the power of the Holy Spirit in you, right? That
is even praying for you when you don't know what
to pray. We'll talk about that later. But this
idea that there's this reality that when it comes
to prayer, prayer is a gift that I water into
bloom the things that God has put inside of me.
That changes drastically. That overwhelmingly
changes. What prayer is and how prayer works.
Because prayer is not this religious activity
I have to do. It's a gift that lets everything
I want bloom into my life. That I get to experience
the goodness of my salvation through taking things
to God as I water the different things and they
grow and they bloom. I mean, just imagine for
a second a human being where all of these are
in full bloom. You go, man, that's the person
I want to be around. Eugene Peterson, people
would travel from far away to just go sit and
spend time. Why? Because he'd spent the seasons
of bringing into bloom what God had planted inside
of him. This idea of instead pray, instead pray.
You look at the life of Jesus. Early on in Luke
chapter five, Jesus. Goes off to a desert place.
And it says that he prays. What is Jesus doing?
Well, he's on the back end of an extremely busy
day where he's just poured out and given away
and taking care of people. And he's just overwhelmed
from loving and serving everyone else. And it
says that he gets away to a desolate place and
he prays. What is he doing? He's watering back
in. The things that he needs, like a relationship
with his father where he's reminded that even
though I poured out, you are the provider for
what I'm pouring out. It's not dependent on me.
I think the model that we see of Jesus is so
many of us are so busy giving to everybody else
that when we get done, there's nothing left.
And it leads us to sometimes sin. It leads us
to sometimes unhealthy thoughts. It leads us
to sometimes spinning up and worrying and being
concerned. Jesus is exhausted. He's worn out.
He's given everything he can. And what does he
do? He goes and he what? He restores through
the gift of prayer. Why? Because what the father
does is begins to bloom inside of him what he
needs for the next day. The next day, Luke chapter
six, you find Jesus going to a mountain. He gets
on the mountain and he prays all night. Now what's
interesting with him praying all night is what
happens the next day. Because he prays all night,
comes down the mountain. When he gets off the
mountain, he goes to pick the 12 disciples. He
goes, I'll pick you, you, you. Think about it
for a second. This moment changed the course
of history. The reason you're sitting here. The
reason I'm here is because God chose 12 people
to carry the gospel and the good news, right?
Like plan A, according to God, not plan B. Plan
A is Jesus would ascend and leave 12 people to
take the gospel, the good news, to every corner
of the planet. You're here because of the decision
made in that moment. And where was Jesus before
he made that decision? On a mountain. And what's
he doing? He's watering. He's watering. Could
have been easy for him to go, hey, I got my own
wisdom. I got my own smarts. I can make this
decision. I don't need my father's power for
this. I can figure this out. I can do this all
by myself. Instead, he's on a mountain. And then
he comes down under the wisdom of God. Instead
of his own wisdom, he prays. Instead of figuring
it out, he prays. You follow Jesus a little further.
He ends up at a tomb. And within that tomb is
a friend of his, Lazarus. Lazarus has died. What
does Jesus do outside of the tomb? He prays.
He waters. God, we need to see the power. God,
we need to bring into fruition that you can raise
the dead. And what happens? Lazarus comes hopping
out. literally hopping because he was wrapped
in bandages. He's like a rabbit. It could have
been easy in that moment for Jesus to bypass
that and go, we're just going to do this. Lazarus,
get out here. He doesn't do that. He goes and
he waters what? The power of God inside of him.
That God, you would, you would do this. You're
growing faith in me. And he even says, this is
for everybody else. What was he doing? He's watering
the faith of everybody else. that they would
see the power of God raise Lazarus. You follow
it a little further. He ends up around a dinner
table. What does he do at a dinner table? It
says that he takes bread, he breaks it and he
gives thanks. That's that gratitude. He's just
watering gratitude. God, you're the provider.
I'm just showing people that you're the provider
and what's growing in them is God is our provider.
Follow fast forward. Jesus is resurrected. He
meets two people. They end up having dinner.
What does he do at dinner? He takes bread and
he breaks it and he gives thanks. The same thing
he's doing before the cross, he's doing in his
resurrected body. Tells me there's a pattern
here that we need because it's important for
us. He goes and he waters. Jesus gets to the
cross. Before the cross, he gets to the garden.
In the garden, right? Like sweat drops of blood
because he's so stressed. The anxiety, the stress,
the pressure, whatever you want to call it, is
so high that he gets to the garden. What does
he do? He cries out. He prays. He waters. And
when he leaves, where's he at? God, you're in
control. It's your will, not mine. Let's go do
this. We'll talk about a word called supplication
in a few weeks. Supplication is a phenomenal
word. Do you know why? It's all of the emotions.
I don't know about you, God packed me a little
bit with emotion. It's all the emotions. And
what I do in supplication, I take them to God
and go, there it is. It's like showing up and
going, God, I don't like today. And you know
what God does? Because you're watering what?
Relationship, dependency. He just pulls up alongside
you. Hey, why don't you tell me why you don't
like today? Well, this happened, this happened,
this happened, this happened, and I'm still worked
up. That's pretty bad. Where was I in all that?
Well, I don't know. Hadn't stopped to think about
it. And you see what happens, right? Instead
of letting my bad day turn into a bad week, turn
into a bad year, turn into a bad life, instead,
pray. That's what Jesus did in the garden. Think
about Jesus on the cross. On the cross, he's
praying for others. I don't know about you. I
ain't praying for your forgiveness if you're
beating me to death. It's not happening. What
does Jesus do? Father, forgive them. They don't
know what he's praying. Forgive them. They don't
know what they're doing. He's watering. Why?
So that his soul doesn't grow bitterness, anger,
so that his soul doesn't. grow in a way that
it shouldn't, that it wasn't designed for. Instead
of growing those things, he grows dependency
on God, he grows forgiveness, and he's able to
release them from a cage. What else does he do
from the cross? He goes, Father, into your hands
I commit my spirit. He's watering the dependency
and the power that I am giving up my spirit,
knowing you will raise it from the dead. And
in that moment, He hands over his soul, his spirit.
He entrusts it. Instead of trying to cling on
to this life and cling on and not worried and
does God really have it? Can he do it? Instead
of that, he goes, instead, I'm just going to
pray. Instead, pray. What is it that God wants
to grow in your life? What is it that he wants
to grow in you? Because what you've been given
is a gift called prayer to water into bloom the
seeds that he has planted inside of you. And
so what is it today that God wants to grow in
you? When it comes to relationship, dependency,
control, healing, power, gratitude, provider,
others, trust. So here's what we're going to
do. We're going to spend time. We're just going
to stop. And we're just going to pause to go
for you to ask, God, what is it in me that you
want to grow? And then in prayer, you're just
going to start watering. You're just going to
start watering. Start talking to him about it.
Instead, pray. So whatever your natural tendency
is, instead of that, pray. And so I'd love to
pray for you. And then you'll have time and space
just to pray and ask God, what does he have for
you? And so God, we are grateful today. Thank
you for being a God who is present in our pain.
Thank you for being a God who brings peace where
there is worry and anxiety. Thank you for being
a God who brings love when we feel alone and
isolated. Thank you for being a God who is provider.
God, we ask in this moment with our hands, heart,
soul, life open to you, God, we ask would you,
through the power of your spirit, Holy Spirit,
would you speak to each person in this room,
each person across the screen today, in living
rooms and gyms, isolated on a phone. Holy Spirit,
would you speak and would you tell us, would
you show us what you desire to see grow? Would
you protect us from our natural instinct? to
grow something else. And instead, would we just
pray, would you help us water that ground right
now? Holy Spirit, speak.