When You Pray

Prayer is essential to a healthy family, yet it’s often the very thing our families lack most. Too often, we try to navigate conflict and fix broken relationships on our own instead of bringing them to Jesus. The truth is, only God can change hearts. Prayer moves us from self-reliance to complete dependence on Christ, filling our homes and relationships with His life and peace.

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Good to be back with you all. If you are visiting with us, my name is Ryan. I'm one of the pastors here at Impact. And uh the last couple of weeks, I haven't been up here. Uh two weeks ago, yesterday, uh, my oldest daughter got married. So that was a big deal. Uh great time, such an amazing day, so much work that went into this thing, the preparation. And uh obviously there's always little glitches and things that happen, but uh, in terms of just the family time and how beautiful this day was, it was everything we could ask for. I thank you for everyone who was a part of that and praying and and celebrating with us. Uh, just watching my daughter, my firstborn, uh up there, uh, just this beautiful bride and and flowers to perfection, and her whole bridal party up there with her supporting, and as they're looking at each other and exchanging vows, and it was so sweet, it was so joy-filled and so romantic. And I was sitting there after giving her away, I was sitting there and just thinking to myself, oh, they have no idea what they're getting themselves on to. Anybody with me on that? And this has nothing to do with them, right? Every single one of us who is here today, who is married, would look back and go, we had no idea what it was that we were signing up for. Maybe a little bit of it, but this whole for better or for worse kind of a thing, we don't really think it can be that bad. Tracy and I, my wife and I, we we laugh every time we look back uh to our honeymoon week and we're in San Clemente. Uh, somebody got us this beautiful little house right on the beach. I mean, on the water in San Clemente, beautiful sunsets every night, and we're just there, you know, we're making dinners together, making meals together, and we'd sit out and just talk and watch the sunset every evening. I think it was day three of our honeymoon. We decided we should write a book on marriage. Because it's so easy. I mean, just marry your best friend and it all just falls into place. The book is still pending, by the way. Because the reality, as most of us know, is that marriage in family is not easy, is it? It's worth it, but it can get very difficult. And we have really hard seasons that we have to work through together and navigate together and die to ourselves and let Jesus change the things he wants to change and this whole process we can't even do on our own. We need him and we need his spirit. And I'm grateful that Jesus has not just left us on our own, he's given us his spirit, and he's also given us his word to be able to teach and instruct. And so we've been going through this series we've called solid ground, and we're looking at the teachings of Jesus specifically in the Sermon on the Mount. And it's these teachings that Jesus at the end of it said, anyone who comes to me who hears these words of mine and does them, puts them into practice, you're gonna be like a wise builder who builds his house on the rock, the solid ground, so that when this uh house is built, this marriage and family is built, when the storms come and the storms are gonna come, it stands strong. And that's what we've been studying together is looking at the Sermon on the Mount, uh the words of Jesus, his teachings, in light of our marriage and family relationships. We're gonna be today in Matthew chapter six, yet again. Uh, we kicked off chapter six last week. Reggie did a great job of opening that up for us. Uh, and and today I want to start reading in verse five as Jesus continues his instruction to his disciples. So let's read this together. Matthew chapter six, verse five. And when you pray, you must not like be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners that they may be seen by others. Just a quick little note here. Uh the word for hypocrites that Jesus uses here in the Greek, it's a it's a word that literally translates a performer, an actor, a stage player, but but not like we would even see today in stage productions, but those back in the day that would wear the masks with the emotional expressions. And so it was this idea of someone wearing a mask or a facade. They were fake, not genuine, not sincere. So he's saying, don't be like the hypocrites, these people that stand up in public and give these eloquent, articulate prayers, and they sound so holy and so spiritual. And oh Father, who art in heaven, thank you for thy beneficence and thy benevolence toward us. And they go on and on, and you're like, wow, they really are spiritual. And Jesus says, They're wearing a mask. Don't be like these that do it all for show or religious performance. Instead, he says, Truly I say to you, they have received the reward. Verse 6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your father who is in secret, and your father who sees in secret will reward you. This whole idea of the war room, right? The closet, this personal prayer and conversation, this interaction and fellowship with our Creator and Maker. Jesus says, that is what it means to truly pray. Verse 7, and when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. They will just utter these incantations and repetitions, and there is no meaning or substance behind it. Jesus says, Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Pray then like this Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Now again, we've been studying the teachings of Christ here in the Sermon on the Mount, specifically in light of our families. And so, what is the encouragement we can glean from this passage as Jesus is instructing his followers, his disciples, to pray and how to pray, when it comes to our families, the question we have to be asking ourselves is Are families built and founded upon prayer? The word Jesus uses here, the phrase as he opens this whole thing up, you notice he says, When you pray. Did you guys catch that? Not if you pray or the times you choose to pray. He says, when you pray. There is an assumption that we are praying people as his disciples. Unfortunately, for many of us, especially when it comes to our family relationships, that may be an inaccurate assumption. I think right now, if I had everyone turn to your husband or your wife, turn to your parents or your kids or any family members you may have been here, you may be here with today, if I had you guys in this moment, say, turn with them and just we're gonna take some time, take some time right now to pray together. Pray for your family, pray for your marriage, pray for your parenting, kid, dynamic and relationships. Just pray together. A lot of us would immediately go, ooh, this is awkward. This is uncomfortable. And when you think about how backwards that is, right? That these are the people that know us and love us most. These are the people that we do life with together every day. We should be most comfortable praying with them, and yet for some reason, they're the ones that we had the hardest time praying with. Why? Because it's not comfortable to pray together with someone here at church you were just yelling at on the way to church. The person that sees the worst of you, and you don't want to feel fake and and and pseudo-spiritual, and so you don't ever really even take the time to pray together. It's awkward. I believe with all of my heart it's because the enemy of God knows the power of a praying couple, the praying family, and will do whatever he can to twist things in our mind to keep us from being on our knees together before the Lord. As there is a glaring absence of prayer in our family relationships and our family rhythms. And it's a part of a broader spiritual lethargy and apathy when it comes to the things of God. We don't have a mindset that is thinking spiritually when it comes to our marriage and family relationships. We think instead very carnally, very earthly and worldly, just like everybody else in the world that doesn't know the Lord but has a family themselves. There's not much of a distinction. We still think that my spouse is there to meet my needs and to make me happy. We still think that the goal for raising our kids is to raise good humans who behave well and don't embarrass us in public. And these are our goals and ambitions for our family unit. Forgetting and neglecting what God has to say about family. That first and foremost, your family is the fundamental, primary unit and community for discipleship in your life. That you, as husband and wife, are meant to make disciples of Jesus of one another. That you as a parent, your goal is not just to raise a well-behaved person, your goal is to raise a follower of Christ. But we don't think of family that way. We think very worldly and very selfishly when it comes to family relationships. Prayer redirects our thinking. It retrains and reminds us of what family is supposed to be, of our call for family. Yeah, I mentioned my daughter getting married. The week after she got married, it was a weird week for Tracy and me. If you guys have been through it, you probably know what I'm talking about. But we love this season of our lives, just having all the kids, especially as they got older and just seeing who they were becoming as young men and women, and uh and just seeing who God had made them. We love that season. So, as excited as we are for this next season, excited as we are for the fact that she chose so well and we love her husband and her husband's family, and we get to think about grandkids, you know, all these things. Exciting stuff. But as much as we're as excited about that, we're still kind of grieving that that everything is changing. You know, because we love this season so much. I mean, I found myself coming downstairs, and my daughter's room, her old room was downstairs right next to the bathroom downstairs and all stuff. So I passed it every single time I'd come downstairs in the morning. And and my routine was like always being aware like, don't be too loud because she may be sleeping, or what's her plans for today? She'd be up for work, and I'd be talking with her, you know, having the coffee and seeing what's going on. And that was the whole rhythm and routine. And now all of a sudden I get up and I'm going downstairs and I'm looking over, and her door's open, and the room is empty. And my heart was empty. And I found myself starting every day, just crying in my coffee. Like, this is not okay. So, you know how I handled it? I just shut the door. I'm like, I don't even, I'm pretending she's still in there. I don't want to think about it. Guys, I'm just responding in that way, in an earthly way. I'm trying to deal with these things and my family dynamics and change in an earthly way. I'm not thinking heavenly minded. Why? Because what God was putting on my heart is right, every time you walk down those steps, every time you see that empty room, is an opportunity where he's calling me into prayer. He's calling me to go sit in that room with him and to pray for my daughter, to pray for my new son-in-law, to pray for the family that God is establishing in that moment. Right? What a chance and opportunity. But we don't think that way. We're just getting through our day and thinking with an earthly mindset. Because when was the last time you looked at your marriage and your family and even your family problems, the tensions and conflicts and all the things that you go through? When was the last time you looked at these things in light of eternity? Not in light of this little breath that is our life, the days that we have in this world that are very numbered, but instead in light of eternity, where we will ultimately one day be living and dwelling in the presence of God, whose dwelling place is with man on this new earth that he creates, and that you and I will be living with him in perfect, resurrected, glorified selves, enjoying that perfect relationship with him and with each other. We don't think about that. We don't do what Paul tells us to do. Colossians chapter 3, verse 1. If then you have been raised with Christ, right into this new life of following Jesus, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on the things that are where, guys? Above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. And when Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. I see here's the problem. We don't ever think about that day. We don't place our hope ultimately in the fact that no matter how difficult and painful things may be here and now, a day is coming. And when we fix our hope to a day or a greater thing, it's crazy how much we can put up with here and now, isn't it? Man, when you know something good is coming, when you go to Disneyland, you know that there's something good awaiting you. Otherwise, you wouldn't put up with what you have to put up with just to get into Disneyland. Not just the cost, the payment, but the trade or the traffic on the freeway and the 91, and then you're dealing with the ride even back home. You're dealing with the cost of even the things that you want to get at Disneyland, you're dealing with the tram ride waiting in all those lines and then rummaging through your bags and taking everything out that you pack so nicely, you get sunburned. All this stuff. But why do you put up with all of it? Because there's hope. There's something that you're looking forward to in that experience. Guys, when we attach our mind, our hearts to the hope that awaits us, the hope of glory in Christ, being in his presence. And here's the beauty of it: experiencing relationship the way God meant it to be experienced, where we know him perfectly and fully, and we are known by one another perfectly and completely. And we know each other the same way. This perfect relationship, free from sin, free from selfishness, free from shame and guilt that we carry because of our sin, free from the walls we build up to protect ourselves from being hurt again by people. None of that, but the day where we live in complete freedom and the fullness of love and life that Jesus designed for us in relationship. That day is coming, but please hear this. Today is not that day. Because what happens is we look not to the things that are above. We are so fixated here and now on this earth, and so we start taking what we know our soul is longing for on that day and insisting and demanding we experience it today. And we want our spouse to be perfect, we want our kids to be perfect, and whenever they fail and whenever they fall short, we fall into this spiral of despair and discouragement, we're disheartened, we're defeated, and we just blow up on each other because we're insisting that we experience that family today. Now, God grows us, he changes us, he brings joy. We get to experience so much goodness. But guys, hear this. It's not because you're perfect, your spouse is perfect, your kids are perfect. We're not living in the not yet, yet. Right? The reason we can experience joy is because of the gospel. It's because of the grace, it's because of forgiveness, the grace we've received in Christ and can now give to one another. Have you tasted of that? Have you experienced the gospel lived out in your marriage and family? Where you have failed and messed up, and someone has loved you and forgiven you, and you have grown deeper in your love and gratitude for that person because of it. Guys, that is the goodness we have in Christ here and now. But we cannot demand and expect the perfect family that awaits us, the perfect relationships that await us on the other side of eternity. The Lord's prayer is Jesus giving us specific instruction, his disciples' instruction as to how to pray. Now, again, let's let's look at this not just generally speaking, like okay, and memorize it and say the Lord's Prayer like many of us do. But let's ask ourselves, are we praying these things and praying this way over our family? Because it looks very different in that context. Let's let's take it together. First of all, we start off our Father who is in heaven, our Father, the sovereign, all-powerful Lord and creator of all things, with all wisdom and knowledge, can do all things, has chosen to reveal himself to us in a in a particular way. And how has he revealed himself to us as a father, as family? And if he is our father who's in heaven, who are we? We are his what? His children. So right away he frames this in the context of family. What an incredible thing that that is how he chooses to relate with us. Hallowed be your name. Literally, let your name be kept hallowed. The word hallowed here means holy, right? Separate, set apart for the purposes of God. So let our family, God, keep your name holy, our Father who are in heaven. How do we, as a, how many of here, by the way, just want a Christian family? Anybody here? Okay, good. It means we want our families to be attached to the name and person of Christ. A Christian family means we bear the name of Christ, which means we are called to be separate and set apart, different than everybody else and every other family in the world. How we love each other, how we serve each other, how we give of ourselves to one another and lay our lives down for each other. We need to be marked and distinct, and that's what this holiness looks like. It's what it is being set apart for the purpose of God. Bearing the name of Christ as his family. Not my own kingdom be built where I get to rule and be in charge. Not my will be done. And isn't that really what most of us want in our marriage? In our family relationships? Guys, chances are your marriage is a daily game or battle of tug-of-war. Guys, remember playing tug of war in school? Hopefully, you haven't put played it recently, you might break something. But back in school, you love tug-of-war. You know, it's like who can be stronger, and what's the whole idea? You have this rope, and there's one on one side and one on the other side, and you're pulling against each other, and whoever is stronger pulls that person into your side. It is a tug-of-war of who is going to have their way today? Whose will will be done today? Isn't this the great description of our marriage and family relationships? Who gets their way? And I may lose today, but I'm gonna win tomorrow. What do I want? What makes me happy? Make sure my needs are getting met. And I love the things that we fight and battle over. Who's doing what to clean up the house? Who's making dinner today? Who's doing the dishes? Whose job is the yard work? Who's getting the kids ready for bed? My favorite is who deserves to sleep and rest more? And it's a tug of war of back and forth and who's going to get their way. Guys, can you imagine the change in our family relationships? If we began, actually, if we stopped fighting against one another to get our way and our will, and we started fighting together to experience the will of God for our lives and family. Imagine how much would change to say, Lord, we want your will to be done in us, in our marriage, in our kids, and our whole family relationship. May your will be done. Now you need to know what God's will is to pray for it, don't you? You can pray for it generally, but there is power in knowing what God has revealed as his will and praying that specifically. How do we know his will? Guys, it's his word. We don't have to overthink this. Live here, openness. Up, read it, learn who God is. Learn what his will and plan is for your life as his child. And his will is your sanctification to be holy as he is holy, to become like him. And you hear his heart, his love for you. You hear what he asks of us and calls us to. And the beauty is he's showing you what his will is for your life. And you can begin praying that for yourself and for your spouse and for your kids. You pray it for your family. Husbands, you begin praying for your own heart to say, Lord, your will be done. Make me a husband who loves my wife as you love us, who gives his life, lays his life down for my wife. Is this the will of God? Absolutely, it's what he's revealed in his word. Wives, where you are able to pray with boldness and confidence, knowing you're praying God's will to say, Jesus, even though I get frustrated because my husband can be such a knucklehead sometimes. Jesus, make me a wife who submits to her own husband as to the Lord. That even when he makes it really hard to do that, Lord, I'm doing it as unto you. Honor it. Help me in my own heart. Kids, where we're praying, God, it's it's difficult at times because I feel like my parents just don't get it. They just don't understand. They're so out of it. But make me a son or a daughter that honors my parents as you've called me to. Show me how to do that well. Parents where we're praying, God, make us parents who are not exasperating our children, driving them to the front to frustration, but where we walk them through things in a way where they do understand and know our heart, where there's not just rules, but relationship. God, make us as a family, those who know you and love you and fear you, who walk with you. May we seek you and your kingdom and your righteousness first before anything else, trusting you're gonna add everything else unto us. Right? All of these things that we can pray with boldness, knowing he's going to hear and answer that prayer, because he's revealed it already to be his will for us. Do we pray in accordance with his word? Your will be done. Give us this day our daily bread. This, of course, is imagery drawing back to Exodus, the story of God's people leaving Egypt and their slavery, right? This type of the world, and we studied this together just a few months ago, and being led into the promised land. But before they're entering the promised land, they wander in the wilderness, this place of barrenness, and so there's no food. They don't know where they're gonna eat, how they're gonna get food to eat. And they they cry out to the Lord, and God miraculously starts sending them what? Mana. Mana means what is it? Because there is this sweet seed-like bread that would appear on the ground every single morning in the dew of the ground. And they would gather it and they would eat it. They would gather just enough for that day. That's what God gave them as instruction. Only gather what you need for that day. And if they tried to gather more so they felt better about having extra, it would all spoil and go bad. So it's a daily bread and provision, right? This is a prayer of God, may our family be dependent upon you. May we recognize our dependence upon you, that you're our provider, you are our protector, that it's not up to us, and we're not doing this for ourselves. This part of the prayer combats a false sense of self-sufficiency that says, I can fix my family and my problems on my own. That's what it communicates to the Lord. It tells the Lord, I got this. You're good, Lord. I'll just let you know if things get really bad, but we're okay without you. And the question I need to ask y'all is, do you got this? Right, when we say, I got this, we discover, I think, what Corey Temboom said very well, that prayer shouldn't be the spare tire, it needs to be the steering wheel. We turn to it and turn to the Lord only when we everything is completely falling apart instead of recognizing our daily dependence upon him. And we have that need not just for ourselves, but for our families. Because how many different things do you need to try before you finally acknowledge you don't know what to do? We have tried everything, so many of us, to fix our marriage, to fix our family problems. Did you ever consider that your problems are beyond your own ability to fix? That God is gifting you with this precious, amazing awareness that you need Him, reminding you of that dependence. It's what Jesus tried to communicate even through this whole Sermon on the Mount. He tried to reveal the real problem that none of us here is able to fix. Did you know you can't change someone's heart? Did you know that? No matter how good you are at nagging and berating and trying everything from threatening to pleading to begging and borrowing and negotiating, no matter what your tactic, you cannot change the root of the problem, which is right here. Isn't that what the Sermon on the Mount is about? Jesus, like, you may control and manage your behaviors, but the root of those behaviors you are powerless against, which is why you need me. Which is why we need a Savior to forgive us, to change our hearts and his spirit to start that work of transformation from the inside out. Guys, you can't change your spouse's heart. You may change their behavior if you're really good at the nagging thing. They may finally go, oh, enough, and just do what you ask them to do, but they're not going to do it with a heart of joy. Because that is a work of the Spirit of God in our hearts, needing to bring about that change. You can't change their heart, only God can. Because God can. What is impossible with man is possible with God. There is no heart he cannot change. No hurt he cannot heal. No difference he cannot reconcile. There is no fight he cannot resolve, no wrong he can't make right. There is no sin he cannot forgive. There's no love he cannot restore. No trust he cannot rebuild. No past he cannot redeem. There's no guilt Jesus cannot take away. There's nothing broken he can't fix. No trust he can't rebuild. Nothing dead he cannot resurrect. There's no pride our God cannot humble. There's no addiction he cannot break. There is no prodigal he cannot bring home. This is the God we serve. And yet we still day to day tell him effectively, through our lack of prayer and being on our knees, trusting in his provision, we tell him, We got this. We don't got this, but he does. Deliver us from evil is how this prayer is wrapped up. Deliver us from evil. Evil, the Greek word is proneros. It's often translated as deliver us from the evil one. Speaking specifically of the devil, Satan, the adversary, the enemy of God, and therefore the enemy of us as God's people, his children. The devil who is very real, this spiritual force of evil that has it out for you and is literally hell bent on your destruction and the destruction of your marriage, the destruction of your children, who want all of you separate from God forever and ever and ever. And this matters, guys. This part of the prayer or deliver our marriage and our family from the evil one. It reminds us of who the real enemy is. That it's not our spouse, it's not our kids, it's not our parents, not our siblings. It is the enemy of God who wants to manipulate and use and exploit and accuse toward the end of destruction and separation. The apostle Paul says it this way, Ephesians chapter 6, verse 10. And keep in mind, this is on the heels of him exhorting husbands, wives, kids, parents, all the family relationships, exhorting them to honor the Lord in those relationships. On the heels of that, he says, Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Guys, you hear this? We've got to let this sink in. Some of you have come to a place where you look at your spouse who has hurt you and disappointed you and wounded you. Same with parents, kids, just any of these relationships, and we feel betrayed and so deeply hurt that they have become the enemy. We have made them the villain instead of recognizing they too, like us, are a victim of the evil one. That they have bought into the temptation and the deception. They've believed lies about God themselves, about you, just as you're believing lies about them. And our eyes have to be open to see the fight that is really going on. So that we stop fighting with our family and start fighting together for our family. So that we as husbands and wives are able to grab hold of our hands together, even in the midst of frustration and hurt and disappointment, and grab hands, join hands, fall to our knees and fight the battle through prayers and intercession, saying, Jesus, be merciful with us. God, show me if there's any impure way in me. May we love and forgive. Give us the strength to do that and bring restoration to our family. We need you. Parents, are you fighting that battle for your children? I know how often you talk to your kids about the Lord. Do you talk to the Lord about your kids? Did you take them before Him and say, Lord, you do a work in our life. You do a work in His life. They just feel distant. I see them walking away from you. Bring them back. And fighting that battle, not letting the enemy grab hold of this precious child, not just of yours, but of his. There's a book I read years and years ago, written by a guy named Jim Cimbala. He's a pastor out in New York, pastor of the Brooklyn Tabernacle. Maybe you know the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir that his wife runs. But he wrote a book years ago, and there's a part of this book that I didn't even really fully understand when I first read it, because I didn't have kids. But he wrote about his oldest daughter named Chrissy, who was raised, obviously, to know the Lord, and at the age of about 16 decided she didn't want that anymore. And so she entered a relationship with somebody that didn't know the Lord at all and sort of making some really difficult choices. This guy was probably about six or seven years older than her and completely not only walked away from Jesus, walked away from her family entirely, and they tried everything. They tried everything to plead with her, to ground her, to discipline, to do all these things. And she ended up running away from home and indulging fully in this life, getting pregnant just in drugs and all the things you can imagine. A true prodigal daughter. And they didn't know what to do. There was a day that apparently they had a prayer meeting at their church, and and Jim writes about this how during that prayer time, somebody came up to him and said, Pastor Simbla, I just feel like we need to have time together to pray for your daughter. And he almost felt weird about it. Like that's that's you know, I don't feel like you should be doing that for me, but he just felt the Lord saying, Yeah, this is what I want to do. So he said, Okay. And the way he describes it, he said that the next however many hours was the people of God and their church family crying out to the Lord on behalf of their oldest daughter, interceding for her, that God would bring her back home. He apparently went home, and I don't do this often, but I just feel like I wanted to read a little section of this. Because he went home after that prayer meeting. He looked at his wife and he said, It's over. She said, What's over? He said, Everything with Chrissy. He said, I tell you, if if there's a God in heaven, if you saw what I saw tonight at this prayer meeting, it's over. He writes, 32 hours later on Thursday morning, he was in getting ready, and his wife burst through the door and says, Chrissy's here. And they hadn't seen her for some time. So he goes downstairs and he sees his daughter in his description on the kitchen floor, rocking on her hands and knees, sobbing. So cautiously he speaks her name, Chrissy. She grabbed his pant leg and began pouring out her anguish. Daddy, I've sinned against God. I've sinned against myself. I've sinned against you and mom. Please forgive me. And suddenly she drew back. She said, Dad, who was praying for me? Who was praying for me? She said, What do you mean, Chrissy? I said, On Tuesday night, Daddy, who was praying for me? In the middle of the night, God woke me and he showed me I was headed toward this abyss and there's no bottom to it. It scared me to death. I was so frightened and I realized how hard I've been, how wrong, how rebellious. But at the same time, it was like God wrapped his arms around me and he held me tight. He kept me from sliding any fart. And he said, I still love you. Daddy, tell me the truth. Who was praying for me Tuesday night? He said, I looked into her bloodshot eyes, and once again, I recognized my daughter. I think I'm tired. That's why I'm emotional. Guys, I'm not reading that to go, oh, here's a good story. Sometimes we need testimony, don't we? And I know that there are some of you here, it may not be a daughter, it may be a spouse, it may be a son, it may be a sibling, it may be a parent. And you are here and you have given up hope. And today this needs to be a wake-up call for you. That you are giving up hope when you have simply misplaced it. That you've done everything you can do and given up on the only one who can actually do something. And so keep fighting the battle that needs to be fought. Keep waging war, not according to the flesh, right? With our crafty arguments and convincing people and trying to do what we can do, the fight with the weapons that God has given to us, which begins with prayer and intercession, and let your family be founded on that. Be on your knees, fighting the real enemy, and saying, God, no. I refuse. We refuse to give them over to the evil one. Lead them not into temptation. Free them, deliver them, rescue them, and us. And do whatever you want to, whatever your will wants to do in our lives through this process. Do we trust him? Do we trust what he's able to do? Can we stand together? And I know Reggie ended really early last week, so I thought about using those rollover minutes, but I think we're still doing okay. Let me pray with us. Lord Jesus. Oh God, we need you. Forgive us. But Lord, forgive us the debt of not trusting you, of seeing our family and the whole relational dynamic. We're seeing it in such a worldly way. God, forgive us for not fixing our minds and our eyes, Jesus, on you, where you are seated at the right hand of the Father. Forgive us for doubting your restorative, transformational power. That there is nobody beyond the reach and grasp of our mighty, gracious God. And Lord, today we do pray for the prodigal. Whether that's a kid, a parent, or anybody else. God, those that you have placed on our heart, that we love so much. Lord, show them who you are. Do whatever you have to do to bring them to yourself, Jesus. To bring them to the end of themselves. May they cry out to you in repentance, knowing where this road is headed. And so, Lord, we give them to you. We entrust them to you. Deliver them from the evil one. We need you, Jesus. Make us a people of prayer, and may your house, this family, be a house of prayer. So that as we go home, every one of our homes, every one of our houses is a house of prayer. Thank you for your grace and your mercy toward us. Jesus, we love you. We thank you for meeting us here, and we pray all of this in your name. Amen.