WEBVTT 00:00:00.880 --> 00:00:08.000 Well, this month we are in a uh a short series on gospel-centered or grace-centered prayer. 00:00:08.160 --> 00:00:12.480 This morning we're asking the question: why is prayer so hard? 00:00:12.960 --> 00:00:31.760 Uh if you've read many books on prayer or heard many um sermon series on prayer, this is kind of the underlying driving question of prayer, because I think all of us, sinners that we are, born into a broken world, really the DAC is stacked against us when it comes to prayer. 00:00:32.000 --> 00:00:39.679 We're lazy, there are forces in the world that work against us, but there is good news, and that's why it's good to come back to the subject regularly. 00:00:39.920 --> 00:00:47.200 For all that is against us, there is one who is for us, and that that one is the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 00:00:47.520 --> 00:00:55.600 So as long as he is for us, we have hope, and uh this is a a subject that should not grow old for us. 00:00:56.000 --> 00:00:58.479 Uh before we jump in, I want to recommend a book. 00:00:58.640 --> 00:01:00.240 I think it's always helpful to do that. 00:01:00.320 --> 00:01:01.200 I'm a book lover. 00:01:01.439 --> 00:01:02.240 A praying life. 00:01:02.320 --> 00:01:06.640 This this book is kind of underlying a lot of the framework of this series. 00:01:06.799 --> 00:01:08.400 I've read many books on prayer. 00:01:08.560 --> 00:01:10.000 There are lots of very good books. 00:01:10.159 --> 00:01:13.040 This is the only book on prayer I have read four times. 00:01:13.280 --> 00:01:14.879 So I highly recommend it. 00:01:14.959 --> 00:01:19.120 And kind of reviewing it for this sermon, I'm ready to read it again. 00:01:19.599 --> 00:01:20.239 All right. 00:01:20.640 --> 00:01:21.359 Point one. 00:01:21.519 --> 00:01:22.640 Why don't we pray? 00:01:22.719 --> 00:01:24.159 Why is prayer so hard? 00:01:24.400 --> 00:01:28.959 As I was kind of reflecting on various reasons that we struggle. 00:01:29.120 --> 00:01:30.159 I struggle to pray. 00:01:30.319 --> 00:01:37.359 They kind of fit in these kind of classic uh theological buckets, so I'm using that if it's helpful for you. 00:01:37.439 --> 00:01:41.840 Uh, three reasons why it's hard to pray: the world, the flesh, and the devil. 00:01:42.719 --> 00:01:46.480 The world, we live in a world that is opposed to God, scripture teaches us. 00:01:46.640 --> 00:01:59.760 And in in our time, really ever since the Enlightenment a few centuries ago, we live in a world in the West where everything has been kind of divided into two realms, two spheres, two stories, like in a house. 00:02:00.079 --> 00:02:12.719 The lower story, the main level of the house, is what we consider rational things, logical things like math and science, you know, things we can see, taste, and touch, our physical bodies. 00:02:13.039 --> 00:02:23.120 The upper story of the house are what are considered illogical or irrational things, non-rational things like our feelings, our values, our faith. 00:02:23.280 --> 00:02:26.879 We put God up there, things like beauty, even ethics. 00:02:27.120 --> 00:02:30.560 Um things that we can't uh verify. 00:02:30.639 --> 00:02:39.199 We kind of we say, well, you know, it's okay if you feel those things, if you believe those things, but but that's kind of private and and put a put aside. 00:02:40.240 --> 00:02:49.840 The result of that, even for Christians, because of the air we breathe in our modern context and culture, is that prayer can seem odd sometimes, right? 00:02:50.000 --> 00:02:59.680 Like, yeah, we should pray for things, but you know, I'm an able-bodied person, I'm well educated, I have a graduate degree, I have a good paying job, I have money, you know. 00:02:59.919 --> 00:03:06.159 Yeah, I can maybe throw a bone to God, but but I should be able to take care of things myself. 00:03:06.319 --> 00:03:14.240 And whether or not it's it's um thoughtful or intentional, often we just don't think to pray because of the world we live in. 00:03:14.800 --> 00:03:17.840 Second thing that makes it hard to pray is our flesh. 00:03:18.080 --> 00:03:22.000 Flesh is a biblical term for our sinful nature. 00:03:22.159 --> 00:03:24.960 We're born into this world opposed to God. 00:03:25.199 --> 00:03:25.599 As C. 00:03:25.680 --> 00:03:25.759 S. 00:03:25.919 --> 00:03:32.719 Lewis said, we are sons of Adam and daughters of Eve, and as such, we have an inherent distrust of God. 00:03:33.199 --> 00:03:35.840 That's what it means to be born into sin. 00:03:36.719 --> 00:03:39.759 We have an automatic desire for autonomy. 00:03:39.919 --> 00:03:44.479 We don't want to be dependent on God, though that is how we were created. 00:03:44.639 --> 00:03:47.919 We were created to live in dependence on God. 00:03:48.240 --> 00:03:52.719 God never meant for his creation to be separate from him. 00:03:53.759 --> 00:04:02.560 Third is the devil, the father of lies, who is actively at work sowing seeds of doubt into our minds about God. 00:04:02.719 --> 00:04:06.319 Like Eve in the garden, we are easily deceived. 00:04:06.719 --> 00:04:09.280 Have you ever had thoughts or doubts? 00:04:09.520 --> 00:04:11.919 Maybe God is untrustworthy? 00:04:12.639 --> 00:04:14.240 Maybe he's not really good. 00:04:15.120 --> 00:04:18.639 Maybe he doesn't care about us, or he's just so busy, right? 00:04:18.720 --> 00:04:21.759 How many of us have thought, you know, he's busy running the universe? 00:04:21.839 --> 00:04:26.319 He doesn't care about my little issue, my insignificant prayers. 00:04:26.560 --> 00:04:29.680 Those are what we like to call lies from the pit of hell. 00:04:29.839 --> 00:04:35.199 And that's what Satan, the devil, you know, that's what I like to call them. 00:04:35.439 --> 00:04:38.560 Uh it's okay to name those things. 00:04:38.720 --> 00:04:39.360 Um, right? 00:04:39.680 --> 00:04:45.199 So we we we have an active enemy who wants us to be disconnected from the Father. 00:04:45.519 --> 00:04:47.279 So the world, the flesh, and the devil. 00:04:47.360 --> 00:04:49.600 But I'm gonna bring, I'm bringing you a bonus reason. 00:04:50.160 --> 00:04:58.399 Another main reason that we fail to pray, or many of us have stopped praying, is the disappointment of unanswered prayer. 00:04:59.279 --> 00:05:17.279 How many of us have experienced real deep disappointment that has bred into bitterness because of things we have prayed for, earnestly prayed for, things that we thought were good, right, based on scripture and our understanding of the Bible, of God, of what he wants. 00:05:17.759 --> 00:05:24.399 Because of those unanswered prayers, uh, often we can raise a wall between us and God. 00:05:24.959 --> 00:05:30.000 And rather than risking being disappointed again, we simply stop asking. 00:05:30.399 --> 00:05:32.959 All right, so there's a lot stacked against us. 00:05:33.040 --> 00:05:36.160 But but what frees us, what invites us to pray? 00:05:36.399 --> 00:05:41.600 Again, four reasons to counter these four reasons that we struggle to pray. 00:05:41.759 --> 00:05:50.959 First, simply remembering who God is as both infinite and imminent, infinitely powerful, deeply personal. 00:05:51.519 --> 00:05:57.040 Now we struggle, again, as finite beings, wrapping our minds around an infinite God, right? 00:05:57.120 --> 00:05:59.040 Not only is it a struggle, it's impossible. 00:05:59.120 --> 00:06:05.360 We we can't actually understand what it means to be in relationship with an infinite being. 00:06:05.519 --> 00:06:10.480 And so we tend, all people, including Christians, we tend to fall into two camps. 00:06:10.639 --> 00:06:15.680 One is that we we are okay with the imminent, the uh immensity of God, right? 00:06:15.759 --> 00:06:16.639 The infinity of God. 00:06:16.800 --> 00:06:18.480 He's like the deist, right? 00:06:18.560 --> 00:06:21.519 God is there, but he's just so powerful and so distant. 00:06:21.759 --> 00:06:24.879 He's doing big things, not little things. 00:06:25.120 --> 00:06:34.639 Or we go the other way, and we we we understand that God is close, he's intimate, he is a friend, but but is he really in control of the world? 00:06:35.120 --> 00:06:39.680 Does anything really change when I pray, even though Jesus loves me? 00:06:40.160 --> 00:06:51.199 But throughout the scriptures, from beginning to end, God gives us a different message that he is both infinitely powerful and yet deeply close and personal to us. 00:06:51.360 --> 00:06:54.240 Listen to God speaking through the prophet Isaiah. 00:06:55.519 --> 00:07:14.879 For thus says the one who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is holy, I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite. 00:07:15.199 --> 00:07:21.040 I mean, look in that one verse, this is what God wants his people, he wants us to know this about him. 00:07:21.279 --> 00:07:32.000 He is high and lifted up, absolutely, and there is none higher, there is no name greater, he inhabits eternity, he fills eternity, which is, you know, a logical conundrum. 00:07:33.040 --> 00:07:40.160 And yet he loves to draw near to the lowly in spirit, the contrite in heart. 00:07:41.040 --> 00:07:45.519 This is our God, this is the God, this is what divinity is. 00:07:45.759 --> 00:07:49.600 And why, why does he say that he loves to draw near to the lowly in spirit? 00:07:49.680 --> 00:07:54.560 He says to revive the spirit, to revive the heart, because he cares. 00:07:55.040 --> 00:08:00.079 He cares for the least of these, the smallest, the most meek, the poorest of the poor. 00:08:00.399 --> 00:08:04.800 He draws near out of love and compassion. 00:08:05.360 --> 00:08:20.240 And of course, there is no more tangible evidence of the infinite God drawing close in compassion and love than in the very incarnation that we've just been celebrating during the Christmas season. 00:08:20.399 --> 00:08:27.680 The infinite God who came to dwell in a particular individual, and he dwelt among us. 00:08:28.639 --> 00:08:43.279 In Jesus, he made tangible what was always true and what he'd always told us in the scriptures, that he sits with us, that he listens to us, he weeps with us, and he rejoices with us, and he helps us. 00:08:43.840 --> 00:08:50.879 Jesus embodied all the things that were always true before, but made them much more tangible. 00:08:51.360 --> 00:08:55.120 So remembering who God is helps us to pray. 00:08:56.559 --> 00:09:00.480 Second, remembering and embracing our own limits and our weakness, right? 00:09:00.639 --> 00:09:02.720 Knowing God and knowing ourselves. 00:09:03.039 --> 00:09:12.480 When Jesus teaches his disciples how to pray, he tells them stories about weak individuals who know that they can't do life on their own. 00:09:12.639 --> 00:09:18.480 We read earlier from Luke 18, 1 to 8, this the parable of the persistent widow. 00:09:18.720 --> 00:09:22.480 This is an incredible parable if you kind of understand the context, right? 00:09:22.639 --> 00:09:32.480 A widow in first century Israel was one of, if not the, most powerless people in the community. 00:09:32.720 --> 00:09:38.720 Apart from a husband, apart from a father, apart from a son, a widow had no representation. 00:09:38.879 --> 00:09:40.639 She was not a legal entity. 00:09:40.799 --> 00:09:46.879 She was looked down on then less than fully human in the culture. 00:09:47.600 --> 00:09:52.000 And so this widow, powerless, is seeking justice. 00:09:52.240 --> 00:09:53.840 She needs help. 00:09:54.000 --> 00:09:54.799 She can't have it. 00:09:54.960 --> 00:09:57.519 She needs the legal system, she needs this judge. 00:09:57.600 --> 00:10:00.799 And so she goes to her local particular judge. 00:10:01.039 --> 00:10:16.399 But she is, man, she is striking out because not only is she a widow, but he is an unjust judge who we're told does not believe in God, does not fear God, and doesn't care what people think of him, right? 00:10:16.480 --> 00:10:19.519 So he doesn't fear divine judgment for doing evil. 00:10:19.759 --> 00:10:26.080 He also doesn't care what people think, so whether he kicks her to the curb, excuse me. 00:10:28.159 --> 00:10:31.120 And yet, she is persistent. 00:10:31.440 --> 00:10:36.720 She continues to bother him until finally he's like, This woman will not leave me alone. 00:10:36.879 --> 00:10:41.519 For my own peace and quiet, I'm just gonna give her the justice she's asking for. 00:10:42.000 --> 00:10:49.200 Now, this parable falls into a broad Hebrew teaching method called how much more then? 00:10:49.360 --> 00:10:53.759 And a lot of the Psalms and Proverbs are shaped this way. 00:10:54.080 --> 00:10:55.919 And this is this is what Jesus is saying. 00:10:56.080 --> 00:11:14.960 Look, if this widow who is ultimately powerless, if she is persistent in her belligerence of this unjust judge and gets justice, how much more when you bring your prayers and your needs to a just loving Heavenly Father? 00:11:15.279 --> 00:11:18.320 How much more will he answer your prayers? 00:11:18.559 --> 00:11:22.000 God is nothing like an unjust judge. 00:11:22.320 --> 00:11:23.840 God is justice. 00:11:24.240 --> 00:11:30.000 And so when we bring our prayers to him, this is exactly this is actually how Luke frames it. 00:11:30.080 --> 00:11:37.039 He says that Jesus taught them this parable so that they might pray always and never lose heart. 00:11:38.080 --> 00:11:39.440 I love that phrase. 00:11:39.679 --> 00:11:40.799 Not to lose heart. 00:11:40.960 --> 00:11:42.080 Jesus knew, right? 00:11:42.240 --> 00:11:46.320 God's timing, his infinite being, we are like children, right? 00:11:46.480 --> 00:11:48.159 We want things and we want them now. 00:11:48.320 --> 00:11:49.279 This is urgent. 00:11:49.440 --> 00:11:51.759 My life is at stake, I need this. 00:11:53.360 --> 00:11:59.279 But Jesus says, look, you're gonna have to pray for certain things over a long period of time. 00:12:00.240 --> 00:12:02.480 You will need to be persistent like this widow. 00:12:03.360 --> 00:12:05.679 But know the heart of your father in heaven. 00:12:06.399 --> 00:12:08.879 He loves you, he is just, and he is good. 00:12:09.120 --> 00:12:12.879 And so persevere and never lose heart. 00:12:13.360 --> 00:12:16.480 I love this uh line from Paul Miller from A Praying Life. 00:12:16.559 --> 00:12:21.200 He says, learned desperation is at the heart of a praying life. 00:12:21.519 --> 00:12:30.240 Simply knowing that we don't have the power to control our own lives, no matter how much money, physical ability, mental ability, we are dependent beings. 00:12:30.480 --> 00:12:38.960 All right, third, it helps us to pray when we remember and rest in our identities as beloved children of God. 00:12:39.679 --> 00:12:41.919 All right, what is God's heart towards us? 00:12:42.080 --> 00:12:53.679 One of my favorite passages in the whole Bible is in Matthew chapter 6, the Sermon on the Mount, when Jesus teaches his disciples about prayer and about anxiety, right? 00:12:53.840 --> 00:12:56.639 Because I'm familiar with anxiety. 00:12:56.960 --> 00:13:01.679 He says, Don't worry about what you're gonna eat or drink or wear stuff, right? 00:13:01.759 --> 00:13:03.600 Don't worry about the things of this life. 00:13:03.759 --> 00:13:04.000 Why? 00:13:04.159 --> 00:13:05.279 This is the reason he gives. 00:13:05.440 --> 00:13:07.840 He says, the Gentiles seek after these things. 00:13:08.000 --> 00:13:09.840 Why does he single out the Gentiles? 00:13:10.000 --> 00:13:17.360 Well, they are not the people of God, they are not the children of God, they don't know God as a father, and so they live as orphans. 00:13:18.080 --> 00:13:19.600 But that's not so with you. 00:13:19.679 --> 00:13:24.720 He says, Your father in heaven knows what you need before you ask. 00:13:25.679 --> 00:13:31.840 And I love how what Luke adds here that Jesus says, fear not little flock. 00:13:32.320 --> 00:13:37.600 For it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 00:13:38.240 --> 00:13:41.679 What a tender word out of the mouth of our Lord. 00:13:41.840 --> 00:13:43.759 Fear not little flock. 00:13:46.320 --> 00:13:50.799 The father, like a shepherd who cares for little helpless sheep. 00:13:51.840 --> 00:13:56.960 It is his good pleasure to give you good things. 00:13:57.200 --> 00:14:00.879 And so remember God's heart toward you. 00:14:01.679 --> 00:14:03.039 Like a little child, right? 00:14:03.120 --> 00:14:04.960 What does a little child ask for? 00:14:06.159 --> 00:14:08.000 Literally everything. 00:14:08.799 --> 00:14:09.120 Right? 00:14:09.200 --> 00:14:12.240 They're too short to get things off the counter. 00:14:12.399 --> 00:14:18.159 They have their sippy cup, they throw it on the ground because they like to see you pick it up, you know. 00:14:18.399 --> 00:14:25.120 Um the worst place in the world to be with a small child is like the grocery store checkout room, you know. 00:14:25.200 --> 00:14:33.120 Like, I mean, now we have self-checkout, which is a little better, but you know, I mean, a little kid is just like candy, gum, magazines, blah, blah, blah. 00:14:33.360 --> 00:14:36.080 You're like, no, you can't have those things. 00:14:36.720 --> 00:14:39.120 Um, be a dependent child. 00:14:39.279 --> 00:14:40.480 So pray for anything. 00:14:40.639 --> 00:14:46.080 Parking spaces, a job, relationships, healing, everything. 00:14:46.399 --> 00:14:54.799 Be a dependent child because your father loves you as a better father or mother than any human father or mother there is. 00:14:56.240 --> 00:15:01.759 Fourth and finally, remember to wait and to watch after you pray. 00:15:02.799 --> 00:15:15.120 One of the reasons we do fall into the temptation of disappointment and bitterness is um for unanswered prayer, is because we don't relate to God as our as that father, right? 00:15:15.200 --> 00:15:18.320 That Jesus is trying to teach us. 00:15:18.399 --> 00:15:22.720 We tend, we default to transactional prayers. 00:15:23.519 --> 00:15:24.559 God, I need this. 00:15:24.799 --> 00:15:26.639 You you got the power. 00:15:26.879 --> 00:15:28.080 You say you love me. 00:15:28.240 --> 00:15:31.759 Hey, I want to, I've been to church like four weeks in a row. 00:15:32.000 --> 00:15:34.399 You know that's not easy for me. 00:15:34.559 --> 00:15:40.879 And and like I was really nice to that lady at work that I really don't like, and you know, I've I've just tried so hard. 00:15:41.039 --> 00:15:43.679 And so, you know, throw me a bone, right? 00:15:44.559 --> 00:15:53.039 And we we we sound a lot like the older brother in the story, the parable of the prodigal son, like, I slave for you and you didn't give me a party. 00:15:54.799 --> 00:16:05.279 What we're actually trying to do in those times, and it's it's not it's often not intentional, it's just sort of our gut reaction or gut instinct, is um we're trying to manipulate God. 00:16:05.600 --> 00:16:09.919 I'll give you what you want if if you give me what I want. 00:16:10.080 --> 00:16:15.360 But listen to how Jesus talks to his disciples about God in relation to our prayers. 00:16:15.519 --> 00:16:22.240 He says, What father among you, if your son asks for a fish, will instead give him a serpent. 00:16:22.480 --> 00:16:26.399 Or if he asks for an egg, you'll give him a scorpion. 00:16:26.639 --> 00:16:38.240 If you then, who are evil, uh, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly father give you the Holy Spirit for those who ask him? 00:16:38.480 --> 00:16:44.080 So the point of this teaching is not God always gives us what we ask for. 00:16:45.600 --> 00:16:52.080 But the point is God always gives us good things in response to our prayers. 00:16:52.879 --> 00:16:53.360 All right. 00:16:53.600 --> 00:16:57.200 We pray for something, God's not, you know, pray for a job. 00:16:57.360 --> 00:17:01.919 God doesn't give us unemployment, or, you know, no, you can't have a job, you get cancer. 00:17:03.679 --> 00:17:05.599 Our father loves us. 00:17:06.559 --> 00:17:17.599 It's like being in that checkout line, and we would say to our children, no, you can't have the candy, but when we get home, I'm gonna make you an awesome, delicious, and nutritious dinner. 00:17:18.319 --> 00:17:21.359 You know, when we're kids, what do we want? 00:17:21.519 --> 00:17:23.519 We want immediate gratification. 00:17:24.160 --> 00:17:27.119 Like, ugh, I don't want a nutritious dinner. 00:17:27.759 --> 00:17:29.839 I want a Snickers bar. 00:17:30.720 --> 00:17:44.799 That's I mean, that's that's what I say as an adult, but um but as we get older and we have our own kids, or we, you know, we just learn from life, we we we know that immediate gratification isn't always what's best for us. 00:17:44.960 --> 00:17:53.680 And and uh often we need someone who knows better than us and can see more broadly than us what is good and right for us. 00:17:53.839 --> 00:17:57.680 And and that's exactly the point of this parable. 00:17:58.559 --> 00:18:02.720 If you ask for an egg, God's not gonna give you a scorpion. 00:18:02.960 --> 00:18:07.680 He may not give you an egg, he may give you something better than an egg. 00:18:08.799 --> 00:18:13.920 He may know why you want that egg, and that that egg is actually ruling your heart. 00:18:14.240 --> 00:18:22.079 It's actually something you love more than him, and because he is jealous for his name, and because he loves you, he he won't give you that egg. 00:18:22.400 --> 00:18:28.160 And through that disappointment, you actually learn your need, your actual need for him. 00:18:30.319 --> 00:18:35.519 So God gives us good things, even when he doesn't give us what we long for. 00:18:35.599 --> 00:18:44.400 And that that's something that takes a long time to learn because we, many of you, have experienced real suffering and disappointment in this life. 00:18:44.559 --> 00:18:45.759 And so, how do we fight? 00:18:45.920 --> 00:18:48.000 How do we fight against that disappointment? 00:18:48.640 --> 00:18:54.319 One of the best ways I have learned over time and through experience is to learn how to keep watch. 00:18:54.559 --> 00:18:55.279 Keeping watch. 00:18:55.359 --> 00:18:58.079 This is actually a whole theme in scripture. 00:18:58.319 --> 00:19:03.839 This is what Jesus asked his disciples to do in the Garden of Gethsemane the night of his crucifixion. 00:19:04.079 --> 00:19:08.799 He says, Will you will you stay up, pray, and watch with me? 00:19:10.400 --> 00:19:13.440 Watch for how the Lord will answer your prayer. 00:19:13.519 --> 00:19:21.759 It may not be the way you want him to or the what you're specifically asking for, but he will, as a good father, respond to our prayers. 00:19:22.000 --> 00:19:29.440 Last week I was having a conversation with someone uh in the lobby about a difficult situation going on with their work. 00:19:29.519 --> 00:19:32.559 And they, uh after I listened to them, we were going back and forth. 00:19:32.640 --> 00:19:41.200 I said, It just sounds like you're struggling to trust God in this difficult situation, something I could very much um relate with. 00:19:41.359 --> 00:19:42.880 And we we ended our conversation. 00:19:43.039 --> 00:19:44.559 We came into the sanctuary. 00:19:44.640 --> 00:19:58.960 Russ was just getting started with his sermon, and within just a few minutes uh in his sermon on prayer, he was talking about the very thing, very specifically the thing we were talking about out in the lobby. 00:19:59.200 --> 00:20:06.240 And um, I will confess to you that I texted her in the middle of the sermon, and this is what I this is what I sent her. 00:20:06.480 --> 00:20:08.480 We were just talking about this. 00:20:09.119 --> 00:20:10.960 She responds, I know. 00:20:12.880 --> 00:20:15.920 And I responded, God really loves you, daughter. 00:20:18.000 --> 00:20:27.519 Now, here's the thing: through my own struggles with bitterness, uh, with unanswered prayers and my own struggle suffering, I have learned to watch. 00:20:27.839 --> 00:20:34.720 Rather than becoming bitter with the answered prayer God doesn't give me, I have learned to look for God's answers. 00:20:34.880 --> 00:20:39.759 Now, what Russ said in her in the sermon didn't fix her problem at work. 00:20:41.279 --> 00:20:43.440 But it was a special word to her. 00:20:44.480 --> 00:20:51.119 A word that said, I see you, I am with you, I know you what you are going through. 00:20:51.440 --> 00:20:54.000 I do want you to trust me in this moment. 00:20:54.799 --> 00:21:00.400 But if nothing else, I want you to hear that I see you and I am at work. 00:21:01.759 --> 00:21:05.119 Beloved, we need to learn to watch. 00:21:05.839 --> 00:21:18.480 If we would live in this world where God is our Father and He is both infinitely powerful and deeply personal, that He loves us as beloved children, how would it change the way we pray? 00:21:19.119 --> 00:21:25.519 How would it change the way we go about life today, this week, and every day that follows? 00:21:26.000 --> 00:21:27.440 Beloved, prayer is hard. 00:21:27.519 --> 00:21:36.240 The deck is stacked against us, our own flesh works against us, the world and the devil fight against us, and yet the triune God is for us. 00:21:37.039 --> 00:21:37.839 He loves us. 00:21:37.920 --> 00:21:43.519 And though he doesn't always give us what we ask, he gives us good gifts and he loves to do so. 00:21:43.680 --> 00:21:45.839 So don't stop asking. 00:21:46.000 --> 00:21:46.720 Run to him. 00:21:47.920 --> 00:21:54.240 If you have any questions about this sermon, about prayer, or anything else, there'll be someone standing up here to meet and to pray with you. 00:21:54.559 --> 00:21:55.279 Let's pray. 00:21:56.000 --> 00:22:01.119 Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, thank you that this is true. 00:22:01.920 --> 00:22:03.519 That this is who you are. 00:22:04.640 --> 00:22:15.359 Father, we confess that it is it is a struggle when we don't see the answers to our prayers, when we don't see your goodness in the midst of all the brokenness in us and around us. 00:22:15.519 --> 00:22:17.680 And so fill us with faith. 00:22:18.000 --> 00:22:24.319 Forgive us of our doubts, help us to fight against the world, the flesh, and the devil, and be your beloved children. 00:22:24.480 --> 00:22:25.920 We ask in Jesus' name. 00:22:26.160 --> 00:22:26.720 Amen.