Are you carrying what God invited you to bring? /// Prayer: Part 6

We're so glad you've chosen to listen to our online experience! Here at Plum Creek, we’re all about changed lives, changing lives; and what that simply means is that what Christ has done in us is not just for us, but it’s for us to share with others in our community and around the world.

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If you're using this teaching for a Home Groups setting, we've included discussion prompts to help guide your conversation:

1. Where do you tend to carry fear, pressure, or uncertainty by yourself instead of bringing it to God in prayer?
2. Think about a burden that keeps showing up in your thoughts this week, and discuss what it would look like to turn that burden into an alarm to pray.
3. Look up Philippians 4:6 to 7, and talk about why God’s peace is promised before the circumstances are necessarily changed.
4. Consider the teaching that petition comes after alignment, and discuss how your requests might change if you first prayed, “Father, align my heart with yours.”
5. What is one thing you cannot control right now, and what would it practically look like to release it to God rather than obsess over the outcome?

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Welcome to the Plum Creek Church Podcast. We're so thankful that you're listening along with us in this way. Now, if you're a returning listener, welcome back. But if you're new or newish, we'd love to become part of your listening rotation. So be sure to subscribe and follow to be notified when new episodes are available. Now, before we get into the message, we want to remind you of one thing. At Plum Creek Church, we are all about change lives, changing lives. We really believe that if Jesus is right about God, about life, about the soul, then it only makes sense to rearrange our lives around what he says is true. Because when you choose to follow Jesus like that, it really does change everything, including the lives around you. Okay, let's posture our hearts for what God has in store, this message.

SPEAKER_02 0:57

Good morning, Plum Creek. How are you? Good to see you. Glad you're here. Greetings as well to those of you that are worshiping with us online this weekend. Uh, thank you for joining us. Uh, we've been in this series where we've been uh talking about prayer and for the last, this is I think our sixth week, and it's just been incredible. The feedback that we've gotten, the stories that we've heard uh from so many have been really fun. It's what it's all about. Can you actually help me thank Pastor Lindsay for this last week's devotions that we've been reading? And uh, for many of you, you know that we um we did a supplemental guide that has devotions that you can be reading throughout the course of the week. Uh so often um we could find ourselves in a spot where the experience that we have on the weekend is kind of where it stops. We want that to continue. And so that's why we uh produced this book. So if you didn't get one, please make sure you still do. I know some of you might feel like, oh gosh, that's a reminder, I'm so far behind. Don't worry, you're not behind. Just keep plugging because this will help you as you're walking through these things to help kind of reinforce what we've been talking about and help us to continue to develop uh in our in our times of prayer. And then on Tuesdays, we've been doing what we call prayer practice. I love that we didn't call it a prayer meeting because we're gonna come and practice. We're gonna practice the things that we've talked about each of the weeks that we've been in the series, and we have one more left. How many of you have been to one of our prayer practices? Would you just raise your hands? You guys are awesome. Thank you for being there. They've been so good. God has really used them even in my own life personally to just walk through some of these different aspects of prayer. It's been beautiful. And so I'd love for you to come last 45 minutes, starts at six o'clock on Tuesday. We have one left. And then you know that one of the things that God has really been kind of nudging us towards in the way that we're providing opportunities for you all is to really double down on some paths that we can walk on for our spiritual formation. What does it look like to be to be working on uh being more like Jesus as men and women? What does that look like? And so we've been doing that together. We've also released a podcast that we would love for you to be aware of. It's available on all the platforms that you might look at for um for watching and listening to podcasts. There's a new episode that's released every Tuesday. So I would encourage you to take a picture of that, find it on your preferred podcast platform, uh, Pastor Eric and Pastor Steve Carter. Some of you will know Steve, he pastors the church in Chicago. We're working together with them. Our churches are walking through this path together to encourage our folks to keep moving forward. Over the last several weeks, we've been walking together through these different types of prayer. And they're so important. Each of them is a critical aspect to the time when we pause to pray. We talked about adoration and how important it is to be reminded of who our God is. We talked about confession, how important it is for us to remember and reconnect regularly with the fact that He forgives us and that His redemptive work is what we're experiencing and luring and growing into. We talked about lament. Guys, this was such an important week when we talked about lament. I think all too often we don't talk about that enough. And as a result, we have a hard time trying to figure out how we fit this God stuff into the hard times of life. How do we communicate what we're really feeling? And and how do we, how do we, is it okay that I tell God I'm really mad at you? I'm angry, I'm frustrated, I don't understand. And so learning the process of lamenting kind of brings God into the most challenging times of life. And then last week, uh Michelle did just a wonderful job talking about the importance of Thanksgiving, reconnecting with the things that God has done in our lives because we forget, right? We forget each of these aspects, and I want you to see how all of this is building, lead us to where we are today, where we're gonna talk about what likely is one of the more familiar aspects of prayer, and that's petition. What does that look like? So each week, week by week, layer by layer, God's been teaching us something deeper because prayer is not just a religious activity. That's not what prayer is. It's not a religious activity, it's relationship. It's the way we align our hearts and our souls with our Heavenly Father. It's about dependence and surrender. Ultimately, prayer is part of our formation process. We need to be praying because it's helping to form us into the people God is creating us to be. So adoration lifts our eyes, helps us to see who He is. Confession lifts the weight that we so often carry. And then lament gives language to our pain. Thanksgiving reminds us of God's faithfulness. And now this weekend, petition lifts the burdens that we carry. So that's where we're headed today. Every one of us is going to have moments in life where life can feel heavy. Just raise your hand if you've ever experienced a heavy moment in life. Get it up there. Everybody needs to see that hand up because we're all in this together. Because the enemy will tell you you're the only one that has heavy stuff. And you need to know that there are people around you. Many even carried heavy things with today as we came into the auditorium. And so the temptation is to think that we are to carry this all by ourselves. It's going to be fear and pressure, uncertainty, financial stresses and relational tension and health concerns, and it just keeps going and going and going, and our lives can get stuck in the vortex of over all of this where we think we need to do it on our own. We'll internalize it, try to manage it, we'll overthink it, we'll try and control it and fix it and hide it and think that God's too busy for my stuff. Well, that's why we need to talk about petition. Prayer is where our souls learn dependence. This petition is where we stop pretending that we can carry it all on our own, and where we bring the things that weigh us down to our Heavenly Father. And that's what we're going to focus on this week. So some of us secretly wonder if God actually cares. Have you ever been there? Where you're like, it just, I don't even know if he cares about my stuff. And some of us have attributed a human tendency to divinity. Let me explain what I mean by that. We think that he's too busy. And so we're assigning or projecting a human problem on an infinite God. He's not too busy, friends. He's not too busy for you. We're going to talk about that in just a minute. And sometimes we feel disqualified because of our guilt or our shame, or we think that because previous prayers went unanswered, what's the point to me praying at all? Which is also why each of these aspects that we've been talking about in prayer builds upon each other. So our petitions, what we're talking about this weekend, need to become the natural response of our dependent souls. So I'm going to read to you a passage, might be familiar to some of you. We have talked about it before. And when we talk about prayer, the apostle Paul was writing to one of the churches that he helped start in a little city called Philippi. And this is the words that he communicated in his letter to them. In Philippians chapter 4, verse 6, he said this don't worry about anything. Instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for all that he's done. That's Michelle talked about that thanking part last week. But look what happens in verse 7. Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. I want to stop for just a second. Remember what how it ends there. So instead of worrying, we're going to pray. Then we're going to experience some things. But this is going to happen as we live in Christ Jesus. That's the ultimate goal, isn't it? That we live like Jesus did. We live in Christ Jesus. That's what we're doing. And prayer is helping us to do that. That's what Paul is saying here. That when we pray, what we're doing is connecting with the Lord. I love that Paul doesn't say, pretend like life isn't hard. That's not what Paul says. Paul also doesn't say, just stuff your emotions and keep going. I also really love that he didn't say, just try harder, friends. That's not what he says at all. He says, pray about everything. Can I hear you say everything? And do you know what everything means? What does it mean? Everything. Everything. Sometimes we wonder how in the world could we pray for longer than five or ten minutes? If you pray about everything, it's gonna take longer than five minutes, don't you think? Pray about everything, not just spiritual things and polished things and church things. We pray about everything. We pray about our fears and our marriages and our kids and our grandkids and our anxiety and our stress and our future and the things that we feel are far from being under our control and our grief and our confusion and our exhaustion and our loneliness and our hopes and our disappointments. We could keep going, right? Because we're talking about everything. We pray about everything. Prayer doesn't have to be polished. Someone needed to hear that today because you're you're like, I just don't get the words out right. Stop worrying about that. Just pray, just talk, talk to God. It just needs to be heartfelt and honest. So look, look what Paul says again in Philippians 4, 6, and 7. It's it's amazing to me because Paul doesn't say that God will change our circumstances right off the bat. That's not what he's saying here. He's saying we pray for a different reason. And watch what happens when we pray. When we do this, when we instead of worrying, pray, we tell God what we need and thank him for all he's done. Then, look what happens. The circumstances haven't changed yet. Then you will experience God's peace. That sounds pretty good. And it's gonna exceed anything that we can understand. And what will his peace do? It's gonna guard our hearts and our minds as we live in Christ Jesus. And many of you know exactly why that sounds amazing, because we know exactly what it feels like to have an unguarded mind. Where all of a sudden the anxieties of life and the spinning thoughts, anybody ever had a sleepless night because our thoughts take over? Of course you have. Or are any of you, any of you just like world-class worst-case scenario people? Any of you you get that? Like some of you are like, oh yeah, it's my spouse for sure. Like, I'll tell you what, we can come up. My dad was that way. I remember my younger sister Emily, she's three years younger than I. She used to be our children's pastor here at church. She's a school teacher in Texas now. But she was the first of the kids to sign up to go on a missions trip to Africa, and you could just see my dad's brain explode. Bro, I mean, he was like trying to think back of army tactics to go and rescue her from some village in the middle of Africa after she gets for sure she's gonna get abducted there, you know? Like, and it was just this. I'm like, slow down. Like, there's no way all of that stuff is gonna happen, Dad. That's ridiculous. But we carry this constant weight of the things that we cannot control. And Paul tells us in these verses that prayer, communication with God, is where the peace of God is found. Well, that's one of the reasons why we need to be good prayers, because it's in that place where he's gonna stand guard. This peace of God will stand guard over our hearts and our minds. Not because life suddenly becomes easy, but rather because our souls are no longer carrying life alone. That's an important detail, and that's what petition prayer really is. It's a prayer of dependence, and at the core, it's just this recognition that, hey, I I can't do this on my own. I don't want to do this on my own. And that's hard for us because in our culture, what's celebrated? Doing it on your own. And so we need to learn to do this. Most of us know what carrying pressure feels like. Fewer, fewer of us, and I'm praying this will be a week that this begins to happen, fewer of us can convert pressure into prayer. How does this happen? So, today, I'd like, just like I did a few weeks ago, I want to share with you a couple of simple prayer prompts when we pause to pray this week, our prayers of petition. What does that look like? So, uh, the first prayer prompt is this Father, teach me to bring you what I carry. Teach me to bring you what I carry. I want you to pray that this week. Lord, help me, literally help me to bring to you what I have a tendency to carry on my own. Because if we're honest, many of us don't bring things to God until we're desperate, right? How many terms have you heard someone, or perhaps even said yourself, well, I guess all I can do is pray. It's like the greatest plan B ever. I'm gonna do everything that I possibly can. I'm gonna work myself into a frenzy, and I'm gonna have anxiety through the roof. And when all of that doesn't work, I mean, might as well throw a quick one up, right? How does prayer become plan B instead of plan A? How about instead of a reactive prayer, we get proactive in our prayers? Wouldn't that be awesome? So before we head into the place where the diagnosis comes and the relationships fall apart and anxiety is overwhelming and our finances are tight and our future is uncertain. How about if we pray before all that? How about if we just become people that pray with regularity and suddenly we realize I can't do this by myself? And that's when we start praying. Let's stop. Let's stop doing that. It's supposed to be the rhythm of life with God. I love this. Peter says this in 1 Peter 5, 7. Give, careful now, pay attention, all your worries and cares to God. Not just some of them, all of them. Give all your cares and your worries to God. Now, why would we do that? I love this second part of the verse. Because, friend, look at me. He cares about you. That's why he cares about you. He's not annoyed by you, he's not just tolerating you, he cares about you. And some of you again grew up believing that strength means handling everything on your own. And my question for you is this how's that working out? It's not. And so we need to learn to be people that pray. Here's the deal: just do this. I beg you to do this. Just pick up your Bible and read the gospels and look at what Jesus did. Just look what he did and do what he did. He prayed all the time, and he was Jesus. I have to remind myself if Jesus had to do that, Dougie has to do that. And so do you. So we become people that have a passion to pray. Because some of the biggest lies our enemy whispers to us is that you just got to keep carrying this yourself. You're the only one, no one else will understand. Keep obsessing, keep spiraling, keep internalizing, keep pretending that you're fine, because the enemy knows that isolated burdens become crushing burdens. But instead, there's a different way to do this. What if the very thing that has the tendency to weigh you down, to cause you the most concern in your mind, in your heart now becomes an alarm to pray? So when I start feeling overwhelmed, what do I do? Pray. If I get to a place where anxiety starts to spike, you can feel it, right? You can feel it. What if that becomes the alarm for you to pray? Instead of worrying, we pray. Seems like way more effective anyway, right? Worrying's not gonna get us there. Praying can change things. What if temptation, instead of like a holy freaking out moment where you feel like you gotta just double down and do the very best you can? What if it became a moment where you stopped to pray? What if you felt stress at work on Monday and you stopped instead of getting worried about it, you stop to pray? What if every burden became an invitation to reconnect with the Father? Do you know what I think would happen? Your enemy would stop filling your mind with all that stuff because he doesn't want you to pray. What if we used it in a counterintuitive way instead of to cause our life to just be the frenzy that it is? What if all of these things became prayer moments? Where we just took some time to pray, God, my mind is just spinning like crazy. Can you help me slow down? Help me to focus on what's important. Or, God, I'm so worried about my kids and the decisions they're making. What if, what if instead of worrying, we prayed? And I want you to see the contrast here. The enemy wants your burdens to isolate you from God. But the Spirit of God wants your burdens to draw him, to draw you to God. So for many of us today, the most spiritual thing that we can do is stop pretending we're okay and stop and pray. Bring to God what you've been carrying. So this week, our first prayer prompt as we head into these times of uh bringing our things to him is that we're gonna say, Father, teach me to bring you what I carry. All of it. All of it. Start writing it down. What are the things that you're carrying? Spend some time praying through your list. Prayer prompt number two. Father, align my heart with yours. Align my heart with yours. It's interesting that of all the things the disciples could have asked Jesus to teach them, we've been talking about this during this series, they didn't say teach us to teach. Because Jesus was a magnificent teacher, was he not? It was amazing. That's not what they asked. Or lead or gather a crowd or teach us how to do miracles. The one thing they asked Jesus was, Lord, teach us to pray. You know what this week it's interesting you think about that. That's actually uh a petition right there. Jesus, teach me to pray. It's a petition. But it's about a transformative relationship that they had with him, right? And we should be praying the same thing. One thing they asked was, Lord, teach us to pray. I would encourage you to go back and read the gospels again and ask yourself, why was that so important to the disciples? What did they observe about Jesus that led them to a place where they asked, Hey, Jesus, will you teach me to do what you're doing there? And I think they had watched him slip away early in the morning to be with the Father. They had seen something different, they saw him pray before major decisions. They saw Jesus pray in moments of pressure, pray in conflict with the Pharisees, pray in grief, pray before he performed miracles, to pray before the cross. Now, watch this, and while he was on the cross. There's something about this Jesus that prayed, and we should be people that pray too. I think the disciples began to realize that the power of Jesus' public life was a direct reflection of his private prayer life. And the same would be true for you and me. It didn't look mechanical, it wasn't performative. Oftentimes Jesus just went away by himself, right? It wasn't a religious duty, rather, it was intimacy and dependent, dependence, and alignment and trust. So when the disciples finally say, Jesus, teach us to pray, we should be paying attention to what Jesus said there. And we've been looking at this, this framework, this pattern. Jesus modeled this. And we've been looking at the Lord's Prayer. Jesus didn't start with bringing your request to God, did he? He started with our Father. That's a relationship. Hallowed be your name, that's adoration. Your kingdom come. Now here it is. This is what we're talking about. Your will be done. That's the alignment of my heart with his heart. That's surrender. And only after he's done all of that, Jesus said, then we pray, give us today our daily bread. So petition comes after alignment. Jesus never taught prayer as transactional, he taught prayer as this relational alignment with his heavenly father. The deeper goal of prayer will always be that your heart would be aligned with God. It happens when you pray. And so this week I spent some time noticing something fascinating in scripture as I was unpacking the different verses throughout the Bible that talk about prayer. And this is really important because over the years that I've been doing this, it's not uncommon for me to have a conversation with someone that goes something like this Doug, it feels like something's hindering my prayers. Have you ever felt that? Like, I don't know what it is, I just feel like you know. Is it a cloudy day? You know, like it doesn't feel like my prayers are getting through the way I would hope that they would get through. Well, we all need to hear this, and it would actually be spiritual malpractice if I didn't share this with you. Do you know that the scriptures very clearly lay out that there are certain things that will hinder your prayers? And there are other things that will strengthen your prayers. Does that seem like something we should pay attention to? I think so. We should know what it is that hinders our prayers if we want our prayers to be effective. And we should know what it is that strengthens our prayers if we want our prayers to be strong. Not because it's a formula, but because it's relational. Now I want to say this: just because it feels in this season like your prayers aren't being answered doesn't mean these things are currently part of your life, but it does mean you probably ought to ask them. Is there something that's hindering my prayers, Lord? Will you reveal that to me? So let me show you a couple things that scriptures say that can hinder our prayers and strengthen our prayers. Does that sound good? You better be taking notes. This stuff's really great. You ready? Okay. James chapter 5, verse 16 says this confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. Ready for this? The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power, gives me goosebumps while I read it. Whew. Great power and produces wonderful results. Friends, I think that's a verse we should be paying attention to. Three big words that stand out to me when I read this verse. Confession. If you're not going to the Lord, again, see the building of the Lord's Prayer, that we would stop and pause to confess. If you're not confessing, there's a problem. That'll hinder your prayers. Confession means I stop hiding, I stop pretending, I bring what's true into the light, because remember, what stays hidden stays heavy. That's going to affect the way we pray. Earnestness. Earnest means sincere, honest, and passionate, not polished, but rather a heartfelt prayer that is regular, that is consistent. And I want to speak to someone today that's given up on prayer because you didn't get the answer you wanted. Don't stop praying. You keep praying. Persistence. Persistence. That's the kind of prayer that with desperation says, God, I really need you. And then we prioritize righteousness. And righteousness here doesn't mean perfection. Everybody look at me. Righteousness does not mean perfection. It means the place of standing that I'm in because of what Jesus did on the cross. Very different. Not my goodness, not my performance, not my spiritual resume. The cross made a way for me, and scriptures are clear about this, to come boldly into the presence of God. His righteousness must rule in me in an increasing measure. What does that look like for us? Which again is why the whole series is building. Adoration reminds me of who God is. Confession reminds me that I'm welcomed into his presence, not because I'm good, but because of his grace. And now petition becomes the natural response of a soul learning to trust the Father. So you might say, Doug, what are some things that strengthen my prayers? Now scriptures are clear about this stuff. Faith strengthens your prayer. And you're like, okay, how do I get bigger? Faith. Just remember what he said. Faith is side of a mustard seed. Have you held one of those lately? You might should go get one. It's the tiniest little, like I would literally have to put my glasses on to see that seed. It's so tiny. Persistence strengthens prayer. Abiding in Jesus, go read John 15, strengthens prayer. Humility strengthens prayer. Obedience strengthens your prayers. What are some of the things that hinder? There are certain postures that can hinder our prayers. Pride. Pride will hinder your prayers. Okay, get ready. This one might step on a toe or two. Unforgiveness. If you're wondering why your prayers seem hindered, ask yourself: have I been quick to forgive even when you've been hurt? If you're harboring unforgiveness, friends, listen, scriptures will say it. It's right there that that can hinder your prayers. Selfish motives, double-mindedness, religious performance without genuine surrender. These are all there. No. I'm getting ready to go here, so you better ready. If you're a husband, raise your hand. My hand is up with you, please see this. I mean, if you're a husband, raise your hand because I'm talking to us. Ready? All the single ladies are like, wait, look around quick. All right. First Peter 3:7. Are you ready for this one? Okay. Here we go. In the same way, you husbands must give honor to your wives. Treat your wife with understanding as you live together. Treat her as you should. Why? Look at it. So your prayers will not be hindered. And all the wives said, right? Yeah. So we wonder why our prayers maybe seem like they're not getting through the way we hope. Listen, this is something we need to look at. This is something that we need to ask ourselves about. So, wives, this week, if you're if your husband is selfish and having a difficult wife, you can just smile. Smile as pretty as you possibly can and bat those eyelashes and say, good luck with your prayers this week, honey. Right? And some of the wives are getting way too excited about that. So slow the roll here for just a minute. I'm pretty sure theologically this will go the opposite direction as well. Do you see the point? Prayer is deeply connected to the posture of our souls. Because prayer is not magic. Prayer is about a relationship. So this week, as we practice our prayers of petition, we're going to pray, Father, teach me to bring you what I carry. Father, align my heart with yours. And our third prayer prompt is this Father, help me release what I cannot control. That's a big one. Because boy, do we like control, don't we? So, Psalm chapter 62. Psalm 62, starting in verse 5. Let all that I am quiet wait quietly before the Lord, for my hope is in him. We're not good at that. We want control, we want it right now, and we want it fast, and we're going to get loud about it. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress where I will not be shaken. My victory and honor come from God alone. He is my refuge, a rock where no enemy can reach me. Look at verse 8. O my people, trust in him at all times. That also means when it doesn't seem to be going the way you want it to go. Pour out your heart to him, for God is our refuge. This one's really important. Father, help me to release what I cannot control. I love this. We pour out our heart. Don't edit, don't sanitize, don't clean it up. We pour it out, and then what do we do? We trust him. We trust him. Some of you have stopped praying because it didn't go the way you wanted it to go. And sometimes we pray like we're trying to impress God and we need to stop that. He already knows and he sees. But I need to remind you today that you don't have to carry alone what your father has invited you to bring to him. And now sometimes the hardest part of prayer is not necessarily the bringing it to him or the asking, it's releasing. If we are completely honest, we want outcomes the way we want outcomes. We want him to be like the genie that is on constant speed dial, where he'll just do the stuff the way we want it done when we want it done. We want control and certainty according to our timeline and answering the way we're just, it's we are control freaks. That's what we are. And when it doesn't go the way Doug wants it to go, I can get mad and frustrated about that until I realize that sometimes God says yes. Sometimes God says no. Sometimes God says wait. And sometimes God answers differently than I expected altogether. Even when heaven feels quiet, it doesn't mean that God is absent. And maybe this weekend, one of the questions that you've been asking is, what if I prayed and nothing changed? I want to gently remind you of the heart behind the challenge to be people who pray. Prayer is not exclusively about your circumstances changing. It's about you changing. Those are very different things. It's about developing our relationship with God and transformation of our souls. It's about our spiritual formation. And sometimes, this has been true in my life. Sometimes. While we're asking God to change the situation, God is actually doing his thing to change me. And we don't always love that, do we?

SPEAKER_01 31:28

I'd rather he just do what I tell him to do.

SPEAKER_02 31:33

Amen. But he wants us to build trust and deep independence and form surrender, teaching us that peace is not found in control. Please hear me. Peace is found in proximity to him. And of course, we pray, wanting our circumstances and situations to change, but what we can't control, we give to him. We trust him. And here's something else that I've been thinking about this week. Some of the prayers that we pray should outlive us. Have you thought about that? Are your prayers that big and that bold? But there are prayers that you're praying for circumstances and situations and people, individuals, whatever, that that will outlive you. Because some prayers they're answered immediately, right? And some of our prayers they're answered slowly and they're answered differently, and then some prayers outlive us. Man, there's been times when I've prayed over this community in this valley where I've had this thought, who prayed before us that now we have the opportunity to experience the fulfillment of their requests and prayers to God. And with that comes a deep sense of responsibility for me and for you to pay that forward for the generation coming behind us. So, may I just be so bold to ask you, when's the last time you prayed for your great-great-great-grandchildren? Should the Lord tarry, they'll be here. Grandma and grandpa better have prayed for them. We need to be praying. We need to walk this valley and ask God to save marriages and heal families and reach students and raise up more churches and bring people to faith and to help people to not just attend church but decide to live the Jesus way. Many people have prayed those prayers and never saw the answers with their own eyes, but heaven heard every single one of their prayers. And here we are today. Many of you are living the answers to prayers that someone prayed before you. And they may not even still be here anymore. We need to learn to pray faithful prayers that will outlive us. And church, maybe our prayers today will become someone else's answered prayer tomorrow. I think we have a responsibility as Christ's followers to pay that forward. So here's the simple challenge for this week. As we practice our prayers of petition, we're gonna pray, Father, will you please teach me to bring you what I carry? Remind me. Let these things become the alarm that reminds me to just breathe a quick prayer. And then, Father, will you align my heart with yours so that I'm praying about the right things in the right way? And if there's something that is hindering my prayers, Lord, will you reveal that to me? And then finally, Father, will you help me release what I cannot control? Will you stand to your feet? Father, we pause today to do what we've been talking about. We pause to pray. And now that's a pretty big deal as we stand here shoulder to shoulder with hundreds of other people. Ah, Lord, there's just, I just sometimes my heart is just heavy. Thinking about all of the little details of the lives that are here today and those that are worshiping online at home. If I knew all that weighs each of these lives down, it would just be so overwhelming to me. But today I thank you that you know. Oh, and so today we bring these things to you. As a matter of fact, would you just speak something out to the Lord today? Use your own words, you don't have to say it out loud, that's weighing you down or that's heavy to you right now. Just say, Father, I bring it to you today. I bring whatever it is. Lord, will you help this week instead of getting stuck in the vortex of what is so burdensome and overwhelming? Will you uh help us to see those thoughts and those feelings as alarms uh for prayer time? Knowing that we don't have to pray a polished prayer, we just need to tell you what's going on. And Lord, will you help us while we develop this habit to experience your peace? Lord, I pray for someone today that it's been a while since they felt peaceful. I pray that this week we will take these steps so that we will begin experiencing in a real way your peace that guards our hearts and our minds. And today, Father, I also thank you for those that have gone before us that have prayed prayers that maybe even outlived them.

SPEAKER_01 36:58

Father, I thank you. For my mom. And Lord, I pray that you will give us courage to pray prayers that will outlive us too.

SPEAKER_02 37:44

Will you help this week to be a week where we hit reset on the crazy pace of life and the things that overwhelm us? And then we just double down on some moments where we just spend a couple minutes bringing these things before you. Teach us to pray, Father. And all God's people said.

SPEAKER_00 38:18

Thanks again for listening. Our prayer is that this message encouraged and challenged you in your journey to follow Jesus. If you'd like to learn more about our church, please check us out online at plumcreek.church or if you find yourself within driving distance of Castle Rock, Colorado, we would be honored to see you in person on a weekend. So until next time, grace and peace in the name of Jesus.