WEBVTT 00:00:00.640 --> 00:00:00.959 Amen. 00:00:01.199 --> 00:00:02.160 Well, happy new year. 00:00:02.319 --> 00:00:03.279 Good to see you. 00:00:04.240 --> 00:00:07.200 Has anybody already broken their resolutions? 00:00:07.360 --> 00:00:08.000 You're already done? 00:00:08.080 --> 00:00:09.039 You're done for the year? 00:00:09.279 --> 00:00:10.560 Well, welcome if you are. 00:00:10.800 --> 00:00:12.160 Glad you're here also. 00:00:14.080 --> 00:00:17.679 Has anybody been a Christian for longer than two years? 00:00:17.920 --> 00:00:18.719 Put your hands up. 00:00:18.879 --> 00:00:19.920 Longer than two years. 00:00:20.079 --> 00:00:20.800 Okay, great. 00:00:21.039 --> 00:00:24.399 Has anybody been a Christian longer than 10 years? 00:00:24.719 --> 00:00:25.359 Hands up? 00:00:25.519 --> 00:00:25.839 Okay. 00:00:26.000 --> 00:00:26.719 I'm still with you? 00:00:26.879 --> 00:00:28.320 Longer than 20 years? 00:00:28.559 --> 00:00:29.600 I'm a 20-year. 00:00:30.399 --> 00:00:32.399 Longer than 30 years? 00:00:32.640 --> 00:00:33.439 Not me. 00:00:33.759 --> 00:00:35.600 Longer than 40 years? 00:00:36.479 --> 00:00:38.640 Longer than 50 years? 00:00:39.679 --> 00:00:40.799 Okay, couple? 00:00:41.039 --> 00:00:43.600 Y'all can meet afterwards, share stories. 00:00:44.320 --> 00:00:52.960 Okay, so whether you're a new Christian or old Christian, how many of you, when it comes to prayer, have struggled? 00:00:55.520 --> 00:00:57.119 Isn't that interesting? 00:00:57.600 --> 00:01:02.320 Isn't it interesting that something that's so core and part of Christian life? 00:01:03.200 --> 00:01:10.799 Whether you've been a Christian for two years or I've been a Christian for over 20 years, I guess close to 30 years. 00:01:11.040 --> 00:01:13.680 And uh man, prayer is prayer's hard. 00:01:13.840 --> 00:01:17.200 Like it's it's hard to be a person of prayer. 00:01:17.519 --> 00:01:22.079 Um so we're gonna talk about prayer for the next few weeks. 00:01:23.599 --> 00:01:41.599 It's possible you've heard a great sermon on prayer at some point and you became a person of prayer for like two weeks, and then the third, and then the third week, not so much, and then the fourth week, you were back on Instagram and you felt incredibly guilty about this reality in your life. 00:01:41.760 --> 00:02:04.719 Um, it's also possible you actually were a person of prayer, like you really were one of those people, and you prayed a lot, and then something horrible happened, and you prayed for that thing, and the thing you were praying for did not go the way you were asking God, and so you're like, I'm out. 00:02:04.959 --> 00:02:07.519 So that's very, very, very possible. 00:02:08.080 --> 00:02:13.840 So next week we are going to talk about why you would pray if God is sovereign? 00:02:14.080 --> 00:02:15.680 Like, why pray at all? 00:02:15.919 --> 00:02:24.080 Now, this week, what I want to address, I want to address the reality that our prayer lives are often secretly driven by performance and guilt. 00:02:24.560 --> 00:02:30.400 Therefore, our prayer lives are in need of Jesus' grace and freedom. 00:02:30.639 --> 00:02:36.000 So Colossians 4, 2 does say, continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. 00:02:36.159 --> 00:02:44.000 So, point number one is this prayer is not a transactional relationship, prayer is a communal relationship with the Heavenly Father. 00:02:44.159 --> 00:02:59.360 Prayer is about getting to know God and in that remembering who you are in Jesus and being reminded of your secured identity in Jesus alone, fully forgiven in Jesus alone, fully righteous in Jesus alone. 00:02:59.520 --> 00:03:04.000 That Colossians 4 2, the phrasing continue steadfastly in prayer. 00:03:04.159 --> 00:03:06.879 The original Greek phrase emphasizes the prayer devoted. 00:03:06.960 --> 00:03:14.560 If you remember when we studied this last year, what we learned is that Paul's phrasing is not really about praying all day long. 00:03:14.800 --> 00:03:22.000 It's more about the prayer, prayer being integrated into all aspects of your life. 00:03:22.800 --> 00:03:34.479 So it's not a coke machine of transactions all day, but a communal relationship with God as a child is to a father, connection, intentionality of time and energy. 00:03:34.719 --> 00:03:37.280 We could say prayer is communion. 00:03:38.159 --> 00:03:44.800 Years ago on the podcast This American Life, I heard about a man in Japan just after the 2011 tsunami. 00:03:44.879 --> 00:03:49.439 If you remember that tsunami, that tsunami devastated the coastline, it killed tons of people. 00:03:49.680 --> 00:03:52.800 This man owned land right on the water. 00:03:52.960 --> 00:03:55.759 And he had a beautiful garden on the water, and he put a phone booth. 00:03:55.840 --> 00:03:56.479 Here's a picture of it. 00:03:56.639 --> 00:03:58.560 He put this phone booth there in his garden. 00:03:58.639 --> 00:04:05.280 And in the phone booth, he put a phone that was not connected, it was disconnected, it wasn't connected to anything, just an old phone and an old phone booth. 00:04:05.439 --> 00:04:14.080 And he welcomed people to come to talk on this phone, to say things to the people, the loved ones that they lost. 00:04:14.719 --> 00:04:22.160 In three years, over 10,000 people showed up to talk in this phone booth. 00:04:22.879 --> 00:04:27.759 And to many people's surprise, healing actually happened in their lives. 00:04:28.000 --> 00:04:33.680 They just needed to say, they just needed to say the thing that they were holding inside to themselves. 00:04:34.399 --> 00:04:45.680 Now, I suppose some of these people did believe in God, and I suppose for some of them they actually were praying, and I suppose some of these people didn't believe in God, and they're just releasing a burden and saying something they needed to. 00:04:45.839 --> 00:04:54.079 But what it reminded me is it reminded me of what Peter tells us Christians, what we get to do when we're praying. 00:04:54.399 --> 00:04:56.800 1 Peter 5, 6, and 7. 00:04:57.360 --> 00:05:08.720 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. 00:05:10.399 --> 00:05:13.279 An incredible gift that we get when it comes to prayer. 00:05:13.360 --> 00:05:20.639 And there's no qualifier, big anxieties, small anxieties, you know, really important ones, not as important, just if it's an anxiety to you. 00:05:21.199 --> 00:05:25.199 You get to pray that, you get to share that with the Father. 00:05:25.519 --> 00:05:29.519 Listen to how Jesus begins his teaching on prayer in Matthew 6, Matthew 6, 5, and 6. 00:05:29.680 --> 00:05:39.360 And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and the street corners, that they may be seen by others. 00:05:39.680 --> 00:05:42.319 Truly I say to you, they've received their reward. 00:05:42.480 --> 00:05:47.439 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your father who is in secret. 00:05:47.519 --> 00:05:51.439 And your father who sees in secret will reward you. 00:05:52.639 --> 00:05:57.279 So Jesus is saying prayer is incredibly personal. 00:05:58.079 --> 00:05:59.439 It's not performative. 00:06:00.399 --> 00:06:05.120 And while we do pray in public, it's not for public applause. 00:06:05.439 --> 00:06:07.040 It's not to build a resume. 00:06:07.199 --> 00:06:09.439 It's very personal, it's intimate. 00:06:10.319 --> 00:06:13.040 It's like a child in front of a father. 00:06:13.439 --> 00:06:15.279 It's not us getting the right words. 00:06:15.360 --> 00:06:17.360 It's not us being religious enough. 00:06:17.600 --> 00:06:18.800 It's relational. 00:06:20.319 --> 00:06:21.600 Verses 7 and 8. 00:06:21.759 --> 00:06:27.680 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. 00:06:27.839 --> 00:06:32.560 Do not be like them, for your father knows what you need before you ask him. 00:06:32.959 --> 00:06:36.879 Now you would think that that might discourage us from praying. 00:06:37.199 --> 00:06:38.399 Oh, God already knows. 00:06:38.639 --> 00:06:40.160 He already knows what I need. 00:06:40.720 --> 00:06:46.720 But that would only be if prayer is just about us asking for things and getting things, which doesn't really work. 00:06:46.959 --> 00:06:49.120 I don't know if y'all picked up on that. 00:06:49.839 --> 00:06:52.959 Like, sometimes you pray for things and you get the answer you want. 00:06:53.040 --> 00:06:54.959 Sometimes you pray for things and you don't get the answer. 00:06:55.040 --> 00:06:56.800 Sometimes you pray for things, something else happens. 00:06:56.879 --> 00:07:00.480 Sometimes you pray for things, and over time the prayer you're praying changes. 00:07:00.720 --> 00:07:04.639 But just the idea of a transaction, that doesn't work. 00:07:04.959 --> 00:07:09.439 And if that's your belief on prayer, eventually you'll be disillusioned and you just won't pray. 00:07:10.240 --> 00:07:13.600 And Jesus is saying, no, no, no, the Father already knows. 00:07:14.720 --> 00:07:17.199 This actually should encourage us to pray. 00:07:17.279 --> 00:07:22.079 This actually should embolden us to share our anxieties. 00:07:22.319 --> 00:07:26.560 Because the Heavenly Father that we get to pray to actually knows what's best for me. 00:07:26.720 --> 00:07:31.920 So I don't have to tight grip everything and think I have to know the outcome and it's got to happen just this way. 00:07:32.079 --> 00:07:35.680 That prayer can actually have surrender to it. 00:07:35.839 --> 00:07:40.639 What a freedom that we don't have to show up into prayer pretending. 00:07:41.839 --> 00:07:43.040 It should be real. 00:07:44.240 --> 00:07:46.399 It should be like a child. 00:07:47.040 --> 00:07:48.639 Just voicing what's inside of you. 00:07:48.800 --> 00:07:51.040 Matthew 6, 9, pray then like this. 00:07:51.120 --> 00:07:53.040 This is the beginning of the Lord's Prayer. 00:07:53.360 --> 00:07:54.879 Our Father in heaven. 00:07:55.519 --> 00:07:58.959 Now, later in the series on prayer, we're going to work our way all the way through that prayer. 00:07:59.040 --> 00:08:08.480 But for now, just the beginning of how Jesus teaches prayer is positioning us as children in front of a loving, caring Father. 00:08:08.800 --> 00:08:16.720 Point number two is that prayer is the freedom for the real you to speak to your loving Heavenly Father. 00:08:17.040 --> 00:08:37.919 For years, prayer for me was quite mechanical, and it was me, you know, sitting, praying, and you can sit and pray, but for me, it was about if I convince God enough about the concern I have and the outcome I want, and if I pray hard enough with enough faith, if I can do that, then I can get him to do the thing that I want. 00:08:38.480 --> 00:08:44.559 Which is pretty much a complete refusal of the entire relationship that I'm a child in front of a father. 00:08:44.720 --> 00:08:49.600 Do you know how many times I as a father say to my children, you don't know anything. 00:08:49.840 --> 00:08:50.960 You know nothing. 00:08:51.279 --> 00:08:52.399 I'm saying this all the time. 00:08:52.480 --> 00:08:54.480 You know nothing about this area of life. 00:08:54.639 --> 00:08:57.440 You are you're acting so confident and certain. 00:08:57.600 --> 00:08:58.240 You know nothing. 00:08:58.320 --> 00:08:59.759 You've never done this. 00:09:00.240 --> 00:09:00.559 Right? 00:09:00.720 --> 00:09:02.559 I mean, you say this all the time. 00:09:03.279 --> 00:09:08.080 The child position, it assumes that we're limited. 00:09:08.639 --> 00:09:13.759 There's no way we could know all the outcomes, there's no way we could understand all the influences and the impacts. 00:09:14.159 --> 00:09:19.679 There's no way we even know what might be good for us down the road. 00:09:20.399 --> 00:09:26.320 What I'm learning is that prayer is primarily communing with this sovereign God of grace. 00:09:26.559 --> 00:09:33.039 And we get to voice our needs, we even get to voice our wants, and we get to voice our anxieties. 00:09:33.200 --> 00:09:35.200 And in it, God is working. 00:09:35.440 --> 00:09:49.279 And my heart's being changed, which usually needs to happen because most of the time I'm just trying to force an outcome of what I think is best with my limited childlike view. 00:09:50.799 --> 00:09:58.159 Over the Christmas season, when we get all of our Christmas decorations down, one thing we do is in front of our kitchen sink there's a window. 00:09:58.320 --> 00:10:03.360 And at that window, uh we have like a little Christmas string, it has little, you know, little Christmas things. 00:10:03.440 --> 00:10:13.279 And then we clip all of our Christmas cards for the past 20 years, like the ones we send out, we clip them right there, and we can kind of see how our families develop over the years. 00:10:13.360 --> 00:10:19.840 And so you're doing the dishes, and you look back, and you remember when my body felt better and the hit my hip didn't hurt. 00:10:19.919 --> 00:10:20.480 I remember that. 00:10:20.559 --> 00:10:21.600 Like you can remember all these. 00:10:21.919 --> 00:10:24.799 Here's our card from the year we started or the church. 00:10:24.960 --> 00:10:27.679 So this is 12 years ago. 00:10:29.519 --> 00:10:34.159 And first off, that's my old dog, Thomas, Big T. 00:10:34.399 --> 00:10:35.600 We called him Big T. 00:10:36.159 --> 00:10:38.720 And I adored that dog. 00:10:39.200 --> 00:10:48.080 And I wept like a baby for a week solid when he passed of cancer just after this picture, a few months after this. 00:10:48.879 --> 00:11:05.759 And when I look at this picture, what I primarily see is two incredibly tired parents who dress themselves up in forced smiles, just so tired. 00:11:06.000 --> 00:11:08.960 Is anybody in this life stage? 00:11:09.120 --> 00:11:10.960 Can you raise your can you get your arm up? 00:11:11.039 --> 00:11:12.320 Are you probably too tired? 00:11:12.399 --> 00:11:14.559 You can't, you can barely get your arms up. 00:11:14.799 --> 00:11:18.720 It was Mount Everest to get here this morning. 00:11:21.519 --> 00:11:23.840 There's a reason why you're tired. 00:11:24.799 --> 00:11:27.039 You're doing something incredibly difficult. 00:11:29.120 --> 00:11:39.360 You're raising little, wonderful, cute, irritating sinners and saints in Jesus. 00:11:40.879 --> 00:11:48.159 My children, my three little girls, when they were that age, they were constantly needing something. 00:11:49.600 --> 00:12:00.080 I would sometimes get my phone and go into the bathroom and pretend like I needed a poop just to be alone. 00:12:01.600 --> 00:12:02.639 I'm constipated. 00:12:03.039 --> 00:12:05.200 So be a little while, I'll be a while. 00:12:07.840 --> 00:12:10.000 Because it's just it's constant. 00:12:10.559 --> 00:12:13.440 Always something that they cannot handle. 00:12:14.080 --> 00:12:18.559 My children were constantly unable to handle something or to do something. 00:12:18.799 --> 00:12:25.120 They are yelling out, mom or dad, primarily mom, every 1.7 seconds. 00:12:27.120 --> 00:12:28.879 They called out constantly. 00:12:29.120 --> 00:12:34.639 We could say they called out steadfastly without pretense or hesitation. 00:12:36.799 --> 00:12:40.639 And Jesus says, You're a child. 00:12:42.639 --> 00:12:44.000 I know you're 45 years old. 00:12:44.879 --> 00:12:48.879 You are a child in front of the Father. 00:12:50.639 --> 00:12:54.159 It can be very relieving if you humble yourself enough. 00:12:54.960 --> 00:12:59.759 It can be very relieving to know that there's just no possible way you could know everything. 00:12:59.919 --> 00:13:07.600 And that when we come to prayer, there's got to be a lot of surrender, a lot of child in front of a father casting your anxieties. 00:13:08.080 --> 00:13:20.639 Anne Lamont, in her prayer book, Help Thanks, While, she writes this there's freedom in hitting bottom and seeing that you won't be able to save or rescue your daughter, her spouse, his parents, or your career. 00:13:20.879 --> 00:13:24.639 Relief in admitting you've reached the place of great unknowing. 00:13:25.039 --> 00:13:27.120 This is where restoration can begin. 00:13:27.279 --> 00:13:32.559 Because when you're still in the state of trying to fix the unfixable, everything bad is engaged. 00:13:32.639 --> 00:13:40.320 The chatter of your mind, the tension of your physiology, all the chunks and wheel-ons you carry from the past. 00:13:41.360 --> 00:13:42.720 It's exhausting. 00:13:42.960 --> 00:13:44.240 Crazy making. 00:13:45.279 --> 00:13:46.080 Help. 00:13:46.960 --> 00:13:49.120 Help us walk through this. 00:13:49.360 --> 00:13:51.360 Help us come through. 00:13:51.679 --> 00:13:53.679 It's the first great prayer. 00:13:54.320 --> 00:13:58.879 Jesus is teaching that prayer begins with a remembering, an acknowledgement. 00:13:59.519 --> 00:14:00.320 Help. 00:14:00.720 --> 00:14:04.799 Help with this thing, this anxiety, this issue. 00:14:05.679 --> 00:14:18.000 Todd Brewer, the editor of Mockingbird, he writes this if you believe that God is demanding, like your boss at work, you will inevitably fail to speak honestly to this God, or for that matter, to yourself. 00:14:18.240 --> 00:14:22.879 The same is true if you believe God to be powerless, distant, uncaring, or even controlling. 00:14:23.039 --> 00:14:24.000 The list goes on. 00:14:24.240 --> 00:14:30.000 So Jesus' instructions on how to pray begin with the person of God and his relation to us. 00:14:30.879 --> 00:14:34.000 Point number three is this: we try to fix ourselves up. 00:14:34.320 --> 00:14:37.200 But Jesus wants us to pray as little children. 00:14:37.679 --> 00:14:39.440 Do you remember the invitation of Jesus? 00:14:39.600 --> 00:14:44.320 Matthew 11, 28 through 30, come to me, all who labor and heavy laden, I will give you rest. 00:14:44.480 --> 00:14:53.759 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. 00:14:54.000 --> 00:14:56.000 This means, listen, this is such good news. 00:14:56.159 --> 00:15:07.759 This means the criteria for coming to Jesus with your anxieties and your concerns is your weakness and your weariness. 00:15:08.639 --> 00:15:16.080 Performance-based-based faith tries to cover up the very thing we need to bring into prayer. 00:15:16.799 --> 00:15:25.279 Our weariness, our mess, our distraction, our weakness, our inability, our overwhelm. 00:15:25.679 --> 00:15:30.879 You can bring your overwhelm with life, your busyness, your franticness, all of it. 00:15:31.039 --> 00:15:34.399 Jesus actually assumes you will be that way. 00:15:36.000 --> 00:15:39.360 Paul Miller, author of A Praying Life, he wrote this. 00:15:39.600 --> 00:15:42.080 Great book on prayer, by the way, A Praying Life. 00:15:42.320 --> 00:15:47.120 He wrote this the only way to come to God is by taking off any spiritual mask. 00:15:47.279 --> 00:15:50.879 The real you has to meet the real God. 00:15:51.840 --> 00:15:53.440 So, what should you do? 00:15:53.759 --> 00:15:55.120 What should you do? 00:15:56.639 --> 00:16:00.159 Well, first, we praise beloved sons and daughters of God. 00:16:00.639 --> 00:16:06.879 Healthy children are supremely confident of their parents' love and their parents' power. 00:16:07.840 --> 00:16:10.879 And because of that, they trust, they voice. 00:16:11.600 --> 00:16:18.000 Healthy children, as they grow up, they lessen the expectations that they're going to be able to make their parents do exactly what they want. 00:16:19.279 --> 00:16:21.200 But the relationship grows. 00:16:21.519 --> 00:16:23.039 The conversation continues. 00:16:23.200 --> 00:16:28.639 Because of Jesus, we get to pray unashamed of our weakness and weariness. 00:16:29.919 --> 00:16:37.360 Second, we pray through our distractions as a child playfully moves through their distractions. 00:16:37.919 --> 00:16:40.639 Have you spoken to a child recently? 00:16:40.960 --> 00:16:42.320 It's wild. 00:16:43.039 --> 00:16:43.519 Right? 00:16:44.639 --> 00:17:02.480 You start talking about a car, and then you're talking about frogs, and then you're talking about how Susie called me a frog on the playground, and you're so upset, and then you're talking about Christmas trees, and then you're talking about squirrels, and then you're back to a car. 00:17:02.639 --> 00:17:06.400 I mean, it is a wild journey to talk to a child. 00:17:09.039 --> 00:17:11.599 We're children in front of the Father. 00:17:11.759 --> 00:17:14.160 Of course, we're distracted when we pray. 00:17:14.400 --> 00:17:16.640 I'm just giving you a little grace here. 00:17:17.680 --> 00:17:20.720 Like Jesus and God, He already knows. 00:17:20.880 --> 00:17:22.720 He already knows you will be distracted. 00:17:22.880 --> 00:17:24.480 Bring your distraction. 00:17:25.519 --> 00:17:27.519 Pray your distractions. 00:17:28.079 --> 00:17:31.200 Pray through your distractions and then come back to the thing you're praying for. 00:17:31.359 --> 00:17:32.160 It's okay. 00:17:32.400 --> 00:17:33.680 It doesn't mean you're weak. 00:17:33.759 --> 00:17:35.200 It doesn't mean you lack faith. 00:17:35.279 --> 00:17:36.720 It doesn't mean you're not a good Christian. 00:17:36.799 --> 00:17:38.720 It just means you're a child. 00:17:39.200 --> 00:17:40.880 It means we're children. 00:17:41.599 --> 00:17:43.279 And we get to pray our distractions. 00:17:43.440 --> 00:17:44.079 Pray through them. 00:17:44.240 --> 00:17:44.799 Let them run. 00:17:44.960 --> 00:17:45.440 Take a note. 00:17:45.599 --> 00:17:46.559 Write it down. 00:17:46.720 --> 00:17:48.160 You know, clean the kitchen. 00:17:48.319 --> 00:17:48.799 Write it down. 00:17:48.960 --> 00:17:49.519 Clean the kitchen. 00:17:49.680 --> 00:17:50.559 Okay, back to praying. 00:17:50.720 --> 00:17:51.759 Like it's it's okay. 00:17:51.839 --> 00:17:52.400 It's fine. 00:17:52.559 --> 00:17:53.200 It's fine. 00:17:53.359 --> 00:17:54.799 We're children in front of the Father. 00:17:54.960 --> 00:17:58.480 Pastor Matt Chandler gives a few practical applications for prayer. 00:17:58.559 --> 00:18:00.160 I think these can be helpful. 00:18:00.400 --> 00:18:02.880 The first is solve the question of time. 00:18:03.119 --> 00:18:05.200 Of course, we can pray throughout the day. 00:18:05.440 --> 00:18:11.200 It's nice to already have an idea of a couple places of time during the day that you're gonna pray. 00:18:11.279 --> 00:18:12.640 You're gonna slow down. 00:18:14.000 --> 00:18:15.599 Maybe it's in the morning. 00:18:15.920 --> 00:18:16.960 My cup of coffee. 00:18:17.440 --> 00:18:20.960 Maybe it's in the car, first ten minutes of the drive to work. 00:18:21.119 --> 00:18:22.960 Maybe it's lunch break. 00:18:23.279 --> 00:18:25.759 Five minutes here, three minutes there, ten minutes here. 00:18:25.839 --> 00:18:30.000 But to have an idea, solve the question of time. 00:18:30.720 --> 00:18:33.039 Number two, solve the question of place. 00:18:33.279 --> 00:18:34.640 Of course, we can pray anywhere. 00:18:34.720 --> 00:18:40.720 Isn't it amazing how free we are as Christians that this place is no more sacred than the car on the way here? 00:18:40.960 --> 00:18:42.400 That's amazing. 00:18:43.920 --> 00:18:48.559 But to have an idea of some places that you like to pray can be very helpful. 00:18:48.720 --> 00:18:50.079 I like to go for walks. 00:18:50.319 --> 00:18:52.559 My wife sits in a chair by the fireplace. 00:18:52.720 --> 00:18:59.519 I don't know where your place will be, but to solve that question can be very helpful for you to build the practice of prayer. 00:19:00.240 --> 00:19:02.720 Third, use concentric circles. 00:19:02.880 --> 00:19:04.880 Meaning this, what are you going to pray about? 00:19:05.039 --> 00:19:07.440 Well, you can pray about whatever's concerning you. 00:19:07.519 --> 00:19:08.079 That's the point. 00:19:08.240 --> 00:19:09.759 Cast your anxieties on him. 00:19:10.319 --> 00:19:12.160 You can begin with yourself. 00:19:12.640 --> 00:19:16.400 You can begin with your heart, your concerns, your fears, your anxiety. 00:19:16.480 --> 00:19:23.759 And you can move outward to your loved ones, to your family, to your friends, to your neighbors, to your church, to the world. 00:19:24.799 --> 00:19:26.720 And Lamont in that book, Help Thanks. 00:19:26.799 --> 00:19:28.160 Wow, that's her framework. 00:19:28.400 --> 00:19:34.240 Prayers of help, prayers of thanks, prayers of, wow, God, you're doing this, you did that. 00:19:35.200 --> 00:19:37.920 I'd add a fourth thing to Chandler's list. 00:19:38.079 --> 00:19:40.799 The fourth is this feel free to use a prayer book. 00:19:41.839 --> 00:19:45.599 There's just a lot of days I'm just too tired, man. 00:19:45.680 --> 00:19:46.400 I'd just be honest. 00:19:46.480 --> 00:19:47.039 I'm just tired. 00:19:47.119 --> 00:19:48.720 Like I'm tired of like generating. 00:19:48.880 --> 00:19:50.720 Like I'm just tired of generating. 00:19:50.799 --> 00:19:52.559 And I don't want to generate words. 00:19:52.640 --> 00:19:56.079 Like I just need a little, I need help, is what I need. 00:19:56.160 --> 00:19:59.599 And a prayer book can be very helpful on those days. 00:19:59.920 --> 00:20:01.680 You can use the Anglican book of prayer. 00:20:01.920 --> 00:20:02.720 It's wonderful. 00:20:02.960 --> 00:20:06.319 I use the book of Puritan prayers called the Valley of Vision. 00:20:06.480 --> 00:20:15.359 I don't go anywhere without the Valley of Vision because I know at any point I can pray one of these prayers, and it's going to remind me who God is, who I am, is going to help me pray through things. 00:20:15.599 --> 00:20:18.000 I would also say you could use worship songs. 00:20:18.240 --> 00:20:23.440 You know, Sam Heilig's been doing something to y'all for 12 years, and you may not realize it. 00:20:24.079 --> 00:20:25.359 He's been teaching you. 00:20:25.519 --> 00:20:31.440 Like when he picks songs, the things we sing, he's actually teaching you about God. 00:20:32.720 --> 00:20:36.720 And if you start to pay attention to what you're singing, like it's just prayers. 00:20:36.880 --> 00:20:38.720 Like worship is prayer. 00:20:39.440 --> 00:20:41.440 And you can use worship songs. 00:20:41.759 --> 00:20:46.160 I mean, all of us aren't going to be incredibly good at just bowing and praying for long periods of time. 00:20:46.319 --> 00:20:47.200 Use worship songs. 00:20:47.680 --> 00:20:48.559 I have a song list. 00:20:48.640 --> 00:20:52.400 I have a three three-song list that I have on my phone. 00:20:52.559 --> 00:20:54.240 I use it all the time during the week. 00:20:54.400 --> 00:20:56.160 The first song is Give Me Jesus. 00:20:56.319 --> 00:20:58.000 The second song is Be Thou My Vision. 00:20:58.160 --> 00:20:59.920 And the third song is More Love to Thee. 00:21:00.079 --> 00:21:01.759 I work my way through those three songs. 00:21:01.839 --> 00:21:02.160 I'm good. 00:21:02.319 --> 00:21:04.720 Like that's a that's a three-song prayer. 00:21:05.759 --> 00:21:07.680 I don't know what yours is, but you can do that. 00:21:07.759 --> 00:21:12.240 Like use these resources to help your relationship in prayer. 00:21:12.400 --> 00:21:16.400 Now, maybe all of that, having said all that, still feels overwhelming. 00:21:16.559 --> 00:21:25.279 It's also possible all of that still makes you feel very condemned because you actually don't pray at all. 00:21:25.599 --> 00:21:29.599 Or maybe you act like you pray a lot, but really you don't. 00:21:30.160 --> 00:21:32.079 And you can feel quite condemned. 00:21:32.720 --> 00:21:34.480 Well, there's still good news. 00:21:34.640 --> 00:21:35.759 Point number four. 00:21:36.079 --> 00:21:38.960 Even in our lack of prayer, Jesus is enough for us. 00:21:39.200 --> 00:21:52.640 If you remember when we studied Colossians, before we got to Colossians 4, 2, to pray steadfastly, what Colossians hammers out over and over again is who we are in Jesus securely by Jesus' work alone. 00:21:52.799 --> 00:21:56.880 Nothing of our work, and we are that fully and freely. 00:21:57.440 --> 00:22:07.039 And that's why we kept saying throughout that series, we are beloved sons and daughters of the Heavenly Father before we are our roles and our practices. 00:22:09.359 --> 00:22:13.039 How we should live is fueled by what is already true about us. 00:22:13.680 --> 00:22:18.720 Now perhaps you're and you have a question about that, or something about prayer, or something else. 00:22:19.039 --> 00:22:22.160 There'll be a pastor down front afterward who'd love to speak to you. 00:22:22.480 --> 00:22:27.839 Let me close by reading the message translation of Mark 10, 13 through 16. 00:22:29.599 --> 00:22:32.240 The people brought children to Jesus. 00:22:34.640 --> 00:22:35.519 That's us. 00:22:36.240 --> 00:22:37.200 Me and you. 00:22:37.759 --> 00:22:39.359 Hoping he might touch them. 00:22:39.599 --> 00:22:44.319 The disciples shooed them off, but Jesus was irate and let them know it. 00:22:44.640 --> 00:22:46.400 Don't push these children away. 00:22:46.559 --> 00:22:49.440 Don't ever get between them and me. 00:22:49.599 --> 00:22:52.880 These children are the very center of life in the kingdom. 00:22:53.119 --> 00:22:58.640 Mark this unless you accept God's kingdom in the simplicity of a child, you'll never get in. 00:22:59.680 --> 00:23:06.240 Then, gathering the children up in his arms, he laid his hands of blessing on them. 00:23:06.880 --> 00:23:09.839 Beloved children, let's pray to the Heavenly Father. 00:23:10.480 --> 00:23:17.200 Heavenly Father, we thank you that you are so gracious and patient with us while we pray our agendas. 00:23:18.240 --> 00:23:23.039 You are patient as you are working out your plan in our lives. 00:23:25.039 --> 00:23:33.839 God, there are prayers we have prayed, and you have done the exact opposite, and it hurt. 00:23:35.759 --> 00:23:42.160 Help us to be renewed in our trust in you as good. 00:23:43.279 --> 00:23:48.640 Help us to see amidst the pain and let down a disappointment that you are still at work. 00:23:51.519 --> 00:23:54.480 Would you renew our faith that prayer matters? 00:23:54.960 --> 00:24:09.599 That we get to pray first desires of healing, to get the job, to get the raise, to have the relationship work out, while we have open hands to say there's no way we can know everything. 00:24:10.799 --> 00:24:16.880 Humble us before your throne, before your knowledge and your power and your goodness. 00:24:17.039 --> 00:24:20.000 Humble us as children before a loving Father. 00:24:20.319 --> 00:24:26.240 That we might pray all the more, not to get our way, but to grow a relationship with you. 00:24:26.480 --> 00:24:31.359 And to know the peace that comes as we abide and walk with Jesus. 00:24:31.599 --> 00:24:32.559 In his name we pray. 00:24:32.799 --> 00:24:33.359 Amen.