How to Pray: Purpose!

Discover the power of prayer and purpose in this deeply personal episode rooted in Jeremiah 1. From the calling of a prophet to a life-changing moment at age 12, learn how prayer unlocks clarity, courage, and confidence in God’s purpose for your life. Whether you feel too young, unqualified, or unsure, this episode shows how surrender and prayer can position you to be used by God—right where you are.

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Transcript

Press means to apply force. When God said press, prayer reaches every single situation. He gave us permission to apply force to every situation that we will go through.

And in this podcast, we are going to learn to apply force to what's applying pressure to us. Greetings, everyone. Welcome to the Press Movement Podcast.

Welcome, welcome, welcome. We are starting in Jeremiah chapter one. And this prayer is particularly personal to me because this one has been part of my life since I was 12 years old.

And looking at it, there's just so many things I understand about Jeremiah. The Bible lets us know that Jeremiah was the son of Hilkiah, who was also a prophet. He is a PK, a preacher's kid, or in this instance, a prophet's kid.

And now the Lord is calling him. I don't know that that's the aspect of it that was intimidating to Jeremiah. But I do know as a preacher's kid myself, pastor's kid, the ideal of walking into something that your parents have done can be intimidating because you've seen them do it.

And it can look like big shoes to feel. So it's no surprise to me that when the word of the Lord comes to Jeremiah in verse four, he said, Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee. And before thou camest forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee.

And I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. God is telling Jeremiah, I am calling you. The Bible says the word of the Lord came to him.

It found him. The idea that the word can come and overtake you and it can find you, it can seek you out is already powerful enough to me because God's word is not like anybody else's words. It has the power not only to be part of your psyche, but the power to create the substance needed to produce what it just said.

So when his word comes to you, you know it's able. Whatever the insufficiency, it's able. And so he introduces himself to Jeremiah and he says, I knew you before you were in your mother's belly.

I had this purpose for you. I called you. I want you to speak for me.

And Jeremiah says, of course, God. No, that's not what he said, because that's not what a lot of us say. Sometimes it is so easy to think you're the exception to God's ability, meaning I know a lot of people who believe God and they believe him to use this one or that one.

But when it comes time for God to use them, their insecurities take over, their questions take over, their self-doubt takes over. And so it's not about trying to doubt God per se. It's more so about doubting self.

But in that, you still end up doubting God because somehow, even knowing he saw us before the foundation of the world and he saw us in our mother's belly, we still put our insufficiencies in front of him and think, God, can you really use me? I can't tell you how many times I've been there. I can't tell you how many times I've had to pray and cry out to God and feel like I'm not good enough or God, you can pick a better person. In fact, I can tell you who they are.

But then I had to remember and even repent because God is God and he knows who he's talking to. And it's with this mindset of insufficiency that Jeremiah goes into what is marked as the next prayer. And that is simply verse six.

He says, I, our Lord God, behold, I cannot speak for I am a child. What is telling God, and we don't know how old Jeremiah is, particularly in this passage. Some say like early teens.

Some say later than that. He's definitely not a small child, but whatever it is, he feels insufficiently developed to be able to do what the Lord has called him to do. In working with young people, I can't tell you how many times I hear the statement, I'm not there yet.

I often ask them, where is there? Because there seems to be some fictional place where you feel fully capable of doing what the Lord has said, and you feel fully equipped and you just know that you've got this. There is not a place God ever wants us. He wants us dependent on him for everything.

And I believe that's why he calls people who can't do it by themselves, who look at themselves and say, God, I'm a child. I'm too young for this, too immature, too underdeveloped, because he knows how to make up the difference. And when the difference is made up, he's going to get all the glory.

You don't have to be there for God to use you. You have to be yielded for God to use you. You have to believe what he said and that he knows who he's talking to.

And that is how the Lord responds to Jeremiah. He said unto him, say not I am a child. Don't tell me how young you are.

Don't tell me you're not mature enough. Don't tell me you're not developed enough. Don't even bring that to me.

He said, for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee, thou shalt speak. Be not afraid of their faces, for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord. Then the Lord put forth his hand and touched my mouth.

And the Lord said unto me, behold, I have put my words in thy mouth. See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms to root out, to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant. Not only did God tell him to stop talking about that, he then put his hand on him and said, you will do what I said.

I'll never forget. I was 12 years old when the Lord called me to preach. It was at TM Youth Camp.

And really it started in my class, seventh grade year. We had to write a paper. And when I wrote it, my teacher said, you're going to be a preacher.

And I was kind of like, you know, how you get that look on your face of all the things I couldn't possibly be, nor have I ever wanted to be. Why are you talking to me? That kind of look. And it just set on me.

I couldn't shake what he said. It was like his words kind of had sticking power. I had to keep thinking about it and praying about it.

And I found myself talking to God. And I knew it was the Lord dealing with me, not his words, but the Lord dealing with me. And I knew the Lord called me to preach.

And as I hit my knees, because I knew he had called, the Lord told me to stay in that position for the rest of my life. And then he gave me this scripture. It wasn't until probably five years ago that I noticed how he sent Jeremiah to the nations.

And now for those of you who know me, I've been blessed now, I think to go to what, 13 or 14 countries. And the Lord has been moving in all of them. Only one do I think I went to for fun.

Outside of that, they've all had some form of ministry. And seeing God move in the nations, seeing God let somebody as insufficient as myself speak on his behalf has been one of the most humbling experiences of my life. But there was a yielding that had to happen.

A yielding that God knew better than I did, even before I understood what he would do with me. There was a journey that had to come along. There were a series of sacrifices that had to be made.

There were decisions. There were people that had to be let go of. And one of the things I had to let go of is my own self-perception of insufficiency, just like Jeremiah.

But in my surrender to God, in my yes to God, I had to yield that he knows who he's talking to. And when God sees purpose, he knows how to bring forth that purpose out of us. 2 Timothy 1 and 9 says, who had saved us and called us within holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.

Talking about a God who has not only saved us, but called us. And the Bible says, according to his own purpose. It wasn't my purpose God birthed that day.

It wasn't Jeremiah's purpose that was birthed in Jeremiah chapter 1. It was God's. It's not your purpose that God's birthing in you. It's his.

And when you look at that word purpose in 2 Timothy 1 and 9, that word means the setting forth of a thing, placing of it in view. It also means the shoebread. The shoebread was a food offering to God.

It was set in front of him day and night. The priests were the ones that could eat it after the end of seven days. Everybody couldn't touch it.

It was there to remind and represent of the covenant between God and Israel. He remembered why he wanted them when he looked at this. That shoebread or purpose is what he kept in front of him all the time.

That shoebread or purpose is something everybody couldn't handle, only the priest, only the holy. That shoebread or purpose represented, through using 12 loaves, the people of God, the chosen of God, who God never gave up on. The shoebread or purpose is what he always saw.

And that's what he sees in you, not a shoebread, but purpose. It's been sitting before him, constantly in his face, constantly in his presence. It's been something he has held.

It's what he wants you to offer him. And everybody can't handle it. Everybody can't touch it.

It's only allowed to be touched by the ones who are holy and aligned with God. Your purpose, the purpose God has for you is what he's kept you for. He knows who he's talking to.

So I encourage you, as we say, we're living in the last days and Jesus is soon to come. One of my prayers, one of my biggest prayers is that I don't want to die with anything left. I don't want to die with an idyll undone or with work that should have been done.

I want to make sure that I give God everything I have while I have the chance to give it. And I encourage you today, trust what God sees. It's the reason he kept you here.

It's what's been sitting in front of his face. You've got purpose. Say not that you're a child, but surrender and yield to God's will.

He will make up the difference. And you continue to press. Because prayer reaches every single situation.

Join the movement, join the community, like, share and subscribe to this podcast. Visit us at PressToPray.com or find us on Instagram or Facebook. Did you know that when you are quiet, your voice is missing to God's ears? I know some of us have prayed and were wondering how long should I pray about this? Why should I pray if God already knows? How will I know God is answering? And what do I do when I feel like God's not listening? But God is listening for your voice.

It's too quiet in this world for the troubles we have. You have to raise your voice and God wants to hear from you. It's Too Quiet, a book about prayer, is designed to answer your prayer questions and build your faith.

Visit PressToPray.com.