WEBVTT 00:00:03.120 --> 00:00:04.480 Everyone goes through a desert. 00:00:04.559 --> 00:00:05.919 Every believer goes through a desert. 00:00:06.080 --> 00:00:08.080 In fact, you're likely to go through multiple ones. 00:00:08.560 --> 00:00:16.559 Because it's God's main way of taking a wandering heart and tying it to himself. 00:00:17.039 --> 00:00:24.480 This podcast is a ministry of Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people know, enjoy, and glorify God. 00:00:24.719 --> 00:00:29.519 For more information about Grand Parkway, visit grandparkway.org. 00:00:32.560 --> 00:00:34.240 Let's pray together. 00:00:37.119 --> 00:00:41.359 The Lord God whom we will sing unending praise. 00:00:41.600 --> 00:00:52.799 We will we will never exhaust celebrating and exclaiming your worth, your value. 00:00:52.880 --> 00:00:59.359 We'll never tire of it, we'll never bore of it, we'll never be unenergized by it. 00:01:00.640 --> 00:01:03.439 We will see clearly what we see dimly now. 00:01:04.159 --> 00:01:16.879 So this morning we ask that you would in this room and around tables and around computers and phones and couches, that you would meet with us through your word. 00:01:18.400 --> 00:01:20.400 This is nothing for you to do. 00:01:21.040 --> 00:01:23.359 You don't just meet with us in a building. 00:01:24.079 --> 00:01:26.640 You are very present with us. 00:01:27.040 --> 00:01:33.120 And Lord, we we just claim that you are the very present help in every trouble. 00:01:37.120 --> 00:01:53.200 We ask that you would, through the Spirit, give us great confidence and hope in that, and that we uh, your sons and daughters would be in unanxious presence in this uncertain time. 00:01:56.239 --> 00:01:59.280 For the sake of Christ and the gospel, we pray these things. 00:01:59.439 --> 00:02:00.079 Amen. 00:02:01.599 --> 00:02:04.640 Thank you for tuning in, logging in. 00:02:04.879 --> 00:02:06.719 Thanks for you guys being here. 00:02:06.799 --> 00:02:08.319 We're still under the restriction cap. 00:02:09.199 --> 00:02:12.560 This morning, the text we're gonna be in is Luke 18. 00:02:12.639 --> 00:02:16.319 So turn there in your Bible or on your second screen. 00:02:16.560 --> 00:02:19.680 And this is the parable of the persistent widow. 00:02:20.000 --> 00:02:24.159 And this is kind of also kind of a little uh a little appetizer. 00:02:24.240 --> 00:02:33.680 So this summer Neil's gonna be on sabbatical, and for a good portion of that, the staff is gonna be uh filling the sermons, preaching, and we're gonna do a series on the parables of Jesus. 00:02:33.759 --> 00:02:36.639 And so here's kind of your first installment of the parables. 00:02:36.800 --> 00:02:45.759 So Luke 18 will just be in verses one through eight, and we're gonna kind of walk through verse by verse, explaining it and applying it to our lives. 00:02:46.000 --> 00:02:56.159 So, verse 18, verse 1, Luke writes, and he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. 00:02:56.319 --> 00:03:04.080 And I'll just first say that parables are a kind of a small genre within the larger genre of gospels. 00:03:04.319 --> 00:03:11.039 And so it's this small little style of writing where Luke is recording, in this case, a story Jesus told. 00:03:11.199 --> 00:03:15.120 And it's not, it's true that Jesus told this story, but it's not a true story. 00:03:15.280 --> 00:03:21.280 It's one Jesus is making up, and it's all to make one very, very clear point. 00:03:22.719 --> 00:03:27.439 Now, it's pretty rare that we get the point right in the beginning of the story. 00:03:27.599 --> 00:03:28.560 So here's what Luke said. 00:03:28.800 --> 00:03:29.680 Let me read it again. 00:03:29.919 --> 00:03:34.639 He told them, Jesus told them this parable to the effect they ought always to pray and not lose heart. 00:03:34.800 --> 00:03:37.680 So you're wondering where the sermon's going, this is where it's going. 00:03:39.919 --> 00:03:42.800 We are quitters when it comes to prayer. 00:03:43.039 --> 00:03:44.400 This is our first observation. 00:03:44.639 --> 00:03:46.719 We give up praying way too easily. 00:03:46.960 --> 00:03:49.439 And the first disciples gave up way too easily. 00:03:49.599 --> 00:03:53.520 Luke records it through the Holy Spirit, because we give up praying way too easily. 00:03:53.680 --> 00:03:56.719 And so let me just plant this seed right in the beginning of the sermon. 00:03:57.759 --> 00:04:11.280 If you knew God was going to eventually grant your prayer request, if you knew eventually he was gonna say yes, what would you not stop praying for? 00:04:11.599 --> 00:04:13.120 What would you persist in prayer? 00:04:13.439 --> 00:04:16.160 What would you not give up hoping in? 00:04:16.319 --> 00:04:18.480 What would you not give up going before him? 00:04:18.800 --> 00:04:22.319 If you knew for certain he is gonna re-grant this eventually. 00:04:29.600 --> 00:04:33.600 We somehow lose belief that he's good and he does good things. 00:04:33.839 --> 00:04:35.519 So let's walk through the text together. 00:04:35.680 --> 00:04:36.720 Verse 2. 00:04:36.959 --> 00:04:38.480 So Jesus tells him the story. 00:04:38.639 --> 00:04:41.839 In a certain city, it doesn't matter what city, this is a made-up story, right? 00:04:41.920 --> 00:04:47.120 In a certain city, there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. 00:04:47.279 --> 00:04:48.240 So let's pause there. 00:04:48.480 --> 00:05:00.319 You have a judge, and especially in Judaism, the chief criteria to be a judge, a good one, is you had to fear God. 00:05:00.480 --> 00:05:03.920 If you're gonna have wisdom and be able to apply to people, you had to fear God. 00:05:04.160 --> 00:05:06.959 This God doesn't fear God and doesn't fear man. 00:05:08.000 --> 00:05:18.959 There's also in this city, verse 3, there's a widow in that city who kept coming to him, saying, Give me justice against my adversary. 00:05:19.360 --> 00:05:27.839 So we have a judge, and we have a woman who needs justice, and there seems to be no chance for her to get it. 00:05:28.560 --> 00:05:31.199 What she wants is a good thing. 00:05:31.360 --> 00:05:34.319 What she wants actually is part of God's revealed will. 00:05:34.560 --> 00:05:36.319 There should be justice, right? 00:05:36.399 --> 00:05:37.920 There shouldn't be injustice. 00:05:38.160 --> 00:05:42.879 Uh offense should have a punishment. 00:05:43.439 --> 00:05:47.920 Widow should be cared for, not marginalized, not sidelined. 00:05:48.160 --> 00:05:54.639 She keeps coming to him, and we don't we shouldn't read that she kept coming, and I got a you know, next, here's the next docket. 00:05:54.720 --> 00:05:57.759 It wasn't she kept bringing case in case in case before him. 00:05:57.920 --> 00:06:02.319 It's likely she couldn't afford, maybe even the first time to be heard in his court. 00:06:02.480 --> 00:06:12.240 Where she would find him is where you and I would find him on the street, outside the market, buying bread, outside his house, walking somewhere. 00:06:12.480 --> 00:06:17.519 And so she would try and judge, hey, judge, I need justice. 00:06:17.680 --> 00:06:19.439 And he would ignore her. 00:06:20.319 --> 00:06:21.759 Look at the text. 00:06:22.240 --> 00:06:23.439 Verse 4. 00:06:24.879 --> 00:06:27.439 For a while he refused. 00:06:29.199 --> 00:06:35.040 So for a while, not hearing her, don't see her, security, get her out of here. 00:06:35.199 --> 00:06:36.959 Bailiff, get rid of her. 00:06:37.279 --> 00:06:38.879 For a while he refused. 00:06:39.680 --> 00:06:54.399 But afterward he said to himself, Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this woman keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming. 00:06:54.639 --> 00:06:56.560 So he refuses for a while. 00:06:56.879 --> 00:06:59.040 Get away from me, you don't want to hear it. 00:07:00.639 --> 00:07:01.839 He doesn't respect God. 00:07:02.000 --> 00:07:03.360 He doesn't fear God. 00:07:03.759 --> 00:07:04.800 Doesn't respect man. 00:07:05.040 --> 00:07:07.360 Apparently, he doesn't have to worry about re-election. 00:07:07.839 --> 00:07:08.399 Alright? 00:07:08.959 --> 00:07:12.079 So I don't fear what any man could say to me. 00:07:12.319 --> 00:07:14.399 I don't fear what God could do. 00:07:15.759 --> 00:07:20.639 But he gives her justice because he loves himself. 00:07:21.040 --> 00:07:27.519 And he just doesn't want any more of this pain of her accosting him, of her bothering him. 00:07:27.680 --> 00:07:31.360 The original language is this phrase, she will not beat me down. 00:07:31.680 --> 00:07:34.800 This phrase is she will not, she will not blacken my eye. 00:07:35.839 --> 00:07:48.240 And so because she keeps on persisting, this evil judge will say, unjust judge, doesn't fear God, doesn't fear man, what's he do? 00:07:48.480 --> 00:07:50.319 He grants her justice. 00:07:50.720 --> 00:07:51.839 Verse 5. 00:07:52.399 --> 00:07:58.000 I will give her justice, so she will not be beat me down by her continual coming. 00:07:58.240 --> 00:07:59.759 Now, that's the setup. 00:07:59.920 --> 00:08:00.959 Here's the point. 00:08:01.199 --> 00:08:02.399 Verse 6. 00:08:05.680 --> 00:08:10.720 And the Lord said, Hear what the unrighteous judge says. 00:08:11.040 --> 00:08:11.839 What did he say? 00:08:12.000 --> 00:08:13.040 I'll give you justice. 00:08:13.279 --> 00:08:18.879 Verse 7, and will not God give justice to his elect, who cry out to him day and night? 00:08:19.040 --> 00:08:20.879 Will he delay long over them? 00:08:21.120 --> 00:08:24.319 I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. 00:08:26.399 --> 00:08:27.680 Jesus asked the question. 00:08:28.000 --> 00:08:37.039 This evil judge who does give justice, won't God, who isn't evil, won't he give justice? 00:08:37.360 --> 00:08:39.279 Won't he meet legitimate needs? 00:08:40.000 --> 00:08:42.000 Won't he fulfill his revealed will? 00:08:44.399 --> 00:08:46.159 The second point, second observation. 00:08:46.240 --> 00:08:49.120 Your view of God will be revealed by your prank. 00:08:50.399 --> 00:08:58.639 Your view of God, what you really think about God, it'll be revealed by how you pray or your lack of praying. 00:08:59.039 --> 00:09:12.080 If you think God is stingy or uninterested or annoyed or bored or disappointed by you, you're probably not going to persist in prayer. 00:09:14.559 --> 00:09:28.080 If you think, no, he's the true and better judge, who's actually wielding all that's occurring in the world to bring about the final justice of everything, the final exaltation of Christ. 00:09:28.879 --> 00:09:39.120 If you believe, no, God is perfect in wisdom, God is perfect in his timing, God is perfect in justice, he's perfect in knowledge, he's true, he's consistent. 00:09:39.440 --> 00:09:51.440 If you believe that he is good, Psalm 119, 68, if you believe he is good and he does good, then you stand a chance of persisting in prayer. 00:09:53.440 --> 00:09:58.799 If you believe I'm not going to be put off by God, I'm not going to be neglected by him, I'm not going to be ignored by him. 00:10:00.559 --> 00:10:19.600 See, sometimes when we pray and we don't receive kind of in our timing, or we don't receive what we think we're asking for, we misinterpret God as either unjust or uninterested, or just He's unacceptable, unaccessible by me. 00:10:20.720 --> 00:10:22.720 And it's just not what the scripture says. 00:10:32.399 --> 00:10:34.320 Pray because of your position before God. 00:10:34.399 --> 00:10:35.679 Look at verse 7 again. 00:10:36.000 --> 00:10:37.279 To his elect. 00:10:38.080 --> 00:10:42.639 You and I, we are not a widow when it comes to Christ. 00:10:42.799 --> 00:10:46.000 We're not one who has no standing before him. 00:10:46.480 --> 00:10:49.840 We're not unprotected, not unprovided for. 00:10:50.240 --> 00:10:52.000 We're not unwanted. 00:10:52.879 --> 00:10:59.919 If you're in Christ, if you're a believer, you have been chosen by him, adopted by him as his son and daughter. 00:11:00.080 --> 00:11:02.960 You have full access to the riches in Christ. 00:11:04.879 --> 00:11:06.399 You're a child of the king. 00:11:06.639 --> 00:11:09.120 So those who cry out to him day and night. 00:11:09.840 --> 00:11:16.799 What he's not saying is, yeah, you got to get in there and you got to blacken his eye, you got to twist his arm, you got to force him to get, no? 00:11:17.279 --> 00:11:20.000 His whole point is you don't have to do that with God. 00:11:20.240 --> 00:11:25.919 In fact, what you think you're doing, what you think is praying for a long time, it really probably isn't praying that long. 00:11:31.200 --> 00:11:34.559 You don't have to badger him to get him to do good. 00:11:34.960 --> 00:11:38.720 You don't have to manipulate him to get him to do his will. 00:11:41.200 --> 00:11:48.000 Commenting on Luke 14, author Kent Hughes, he's talking about discipleship of kids, but it relates here. 00:11:48.159 --> 00:11:51.919 He says, he writes this we fall short as parents. 00:11:52.159 --> 00:12:03.039 We fall short when we spend more time in the car in one day shuttling kids to games or to lessons than we do in a whole month prayer for their souls. 00:12:06.080 --> 00:12:14.559 We spend more time driving kids around to lessons and games and extracurriculars, more time in one day than we do in a whole month. 00:12:17.360 --> 00:12:18.720 That's wrong. 00:12:19.679 --> 00:12:23.519 It's a complete misunderstanding of how God economizes things. 00:12:23.679 --> 00:12:33.279 It's it's really what Ken Hughes ends up saying, it's it's disproportionately loving kids over Jesus. 00:12:34.080 --> 00:12:40.720 It's disproportionately thinking, I'm actually the one who is good and does good and not him. 00:12:42.879 --> 00:12:45.039 Number four, fourth observation. 00:12:45.279 --> 00:12:49.600 Pray because he loves to do his will when it's asked for. 00:12:49.840 --> 00:12:51.840 God loves to do his will when it's asked for. 00:12:52.000 --> 00:12:54.960 And in fact, you you you understand a measure of this. 00:12:55.840 --> 00:12:58.399 I've seen it most often with my kids, but I see it in friends. 00:12:58.879 --> 00:13:05.919 When our kids were 10, 9, and 6, they uh they really wanted uh a we for Christmas. 00:13:06.080 --> 00:13:10.320 We was kind of out and they've been to a friend's house, like, oh dad, we gotta get a wee. 00:13:10.480 --> 00:13:11.679 Can we please get a wee? 00:13:11.759 --> 00:13:16.960 And we're like, oh, I mean, talking to just two of us, yeah, probably. 00:13:17.120 --> 00:13:18.960 But to them, I don't know, guys. 00:13:19.120 --> 00:13:32.720 You know, we don't really need another hobby to, you know, we kind of we don't need to sit around a TV and do stuff, and I don't know, you guys are pretty busy already, and and so we're just you know kind of putting a wet blanket on it. 00:13:33.120 --> 00:13:40.000 Well, of course, we bought this thing and wrapped it up and hid it in our box, and and you know, here's present, you know, uh, to all three boys. 00:13:40.080 --> 00:13:41.600 Oh, all three boys, it's gotta be a good one. 00:13:41.759 --> 00:13:42.639 Okay, all three boys. 00:13:42.720 --> 00:13:56.080 And they get around and and um they start opening it, and once they see what it is, they go crazy. 00:13:57.600 --> 00:14:02.240 One of them jumps up, starts screaming, starts jumping on furniture, jumping off furniture. 00:14:02.399 --> 00:14:08.399 Another one's kind of tearing apart, opening the box, a third one's just screaming, yelling because the other two are yelling. 00:14:09.679 --> 00:14:11.759 And we couldn't have been more happy. 00:14:13.840 --> 00:14:19.200 Seeing their unbridled joy in what Jenny and I had done. 00:14:20.559 --> 00:14:23.440 We were planning to do this anyway, we just wanted them to ask for it. 00:14:24.639 --> 00:14:29.919 God, the Father is like this, he loves to see his will done when it's asked for. 00:14:31.600 --> 00:14:35.840 Now, you know, we got this wee, we all got like bicep tendonitis from playing tennis. 00:14:36.000 --> 00:14:41.759 And your father delights in you throwing a parade over what he's done. 00:14:42.559 --> 00:14:47.600 Your father delights in you throwing a parade at how incredible he is. 00:14:47.840 --> 00:14:54.960 Not making up stuff, but when he comes through when you needed rescue, he delights in you jumping around off the furniture. 00:14:57.200 --> 00:14:59.279 Let me give you an example of prayer answered. 00:14:59.360 --> 00:15:00.080 I can give you a lot. 00:15:00.159 --> 00:15:02.799 Let me give you one that's you're looking at right now. 00:15:03.120 --> 00:15:09.919 A little over two years ago, um, in the ministry role I was in, I'm really just feeling I'm kind of on the off-ramp here. 00:15:10.080 --> 00:15:12.240 And it's time for a change, something else. 00:15:12.399 --> 00:15:18.080 I worked in this field for a couple decades and asking the Lord, look, uh, the fields are white for harvest. 00:15:18.240 --> 00:15:20.000 You want to put me in a different field? 00:15:21.120 --> 00:15:25.440 And I had a couple of small groups I was involved in, people I was connected with. 00:15:25.679 --> 00:15:26.960 Blake, how can I pray for you? 00:15:27.200 --> 00:15:30.720 I'm I'm open, pretty open to a job change. 00:15:30.879 --> 00:15:36.159 I haven't been for a while, and I don't know what that looks like, and I'm, you know, I don't want to do pastorjobs.com. 00:15:36.240 --> 00:15:36.879 I'm not trying to do that. 00:15:36.960 --> 00:15:39.039 I just want the Lord to get involved in this. 00:15:39.279 --> 00:15:43.120 And about five months goes by, and I get a contact from Neil. 00:15:43.279 --> 00:15:46.480 And I talked to him you know a year or two earlier about this role. 00:15:46.639 --> 00:15:49.759 I get a contact from Neil, and he says, Don't you want to pin you? 00:15:49.919 --> 00:15:51.120 Yeah, the rumors are true. 00:15:51.279 --> 00:15:57.279 Dominant's really retiring, he's really gonna go play golf, he's really gonna go play with grandkids and watch Alabama football. 00:15:57.360 --> 00:15:58.559 And so he's Auburn. 00:15:59.600 --> 00:16:00.320 Is it Auburn? 00:16:01.279 --> 00:16:02.080 Thank you. 00:16:02.720 --> 00:16:03.919 Hey, you know. 00:16:05.600 --> 00:16:07.360 So he's really gonna do that. 00:16:07.600 --> 00:16:18.960 And um began praying pretty seriously, not about the role, I thought the role is a great fit, not about the church, really like this church. 00:16:19.519 --> 00:16:20.559 About moving. 00:16:21.600 --> 00:16:26.960 And then um praying for my wife, all right, Lord, if you're really in this, you you've got to convince her. 00:16:27.279 --> 00:16:35.039 Because we would be doing what our culture says is one of the top horrible things you can do to your family. 00:16:35.200 --> 00:16:37.360 You know, number one is not wash your hands, touch your face. 00:16:37.440 --> 00:16:38.399 We all know that now. 00:16:38.559 --> 00:16:41.840 Uh, number two is move your kids while they're in high school. 00:16:42.000 --> 00:16:42.320 Right? 00:16:42.399 --> 00:16:46.720 That's the big, you're gonna ruin their lives, they'll be in therapy forever and all the rest. 00:16:47.200 --> 00:16:54.960 And within about a month, she moved from, I don't know if I can do that to, I don't know why, but I'm on board with this. 00:16:55.200 --> 00:16:56.080 In fact, I know why. 00:16:56.240 --> 00:16:59.919 The Lord's making me open to this, believe that He can take care of it all. 00:17:00.159 --> 00:17:03.360 But then we begin praying, all right, God, you're gonna have to make our kids on board. 00:17:04.000 --> 00:17:07.440 We don't want to foolishly take them somewhere and have them resent us forever. 00:17:07.680 --> 00:17:13.279 And within three or four months, God began ordering things where they're pretty open, like, yeah, let's get out of here. 00:17:14.240 --> 00:17:16.079 I say all this to say that. 00:17:22.240 --> 00:17:29.119 God answers our prayers and he intends to do so, especially when he's the one birthing them in us. 00:17:30.160 --> 00:17:32.319 We give up way too easily. 00:17:32.640 --> 00:17:36.160 We we la we pray way too short. 00:17:36.799 --> 00:17:38.960 The first time I'm praying, hey, pray for me. 00:17:39.039 --> 00:17:42.160 I'm gonna open your job change five months before Neil contacts me. 00:17:42.319 --> 00:17:44.960 And I'm not here to tell you, and we prayed every day. 00:17:45.119 --> 00:17:46.400 No, we didn't. 00:17:46.720 --> 00:17:52.240 In fact, when he contacted me, I'm like, hey, good friend, you never believe it happened. 00:17:52.480 --> 00:17:54.960 I I think God's answering some of those prayers. 00:17:55.440 --> 00:17:56.960 I was surprised, right? 00:17:59.119 --> 00:18:00.640 Let me ask this question. 00:18:00.960 --> 00:18:01.759 Point number five. 00:18:01.920 --> 00:18:04.559 What about when God seems to not answer? 00:18:05.680 --> 00:18:09.359 What about Blake when it's it seems like he's not answering? 00:18:09.440 --> 00:18:14.720 And I don't mean it's mean for a week or even a month, or it's just lasting a long time, Blake. 00:18:14.799 --> 00:18:16.000 What is what happens then? 00:18:16.240 --> 00:18:21.440 I'm gonna give you some insight from uh a book by Paul Miller on prayer, and he's gonna help us here. 00:18:21.759 --> 00:18:24.880 First, I'm gonna give you a quote from uh guy who's been a mentor of my life. 00:18:24.960 --> 00:18:25.920 I call him Grandpa Dave. 00:18:26.000 --> 00:18:33.599 Grandpa Dave says this when uh when God seems to not answer prayer, he said, look, God is never late when it comes to answering what we need. 00:18:33.839 --> 00:18:35.039 When it comes to doing his will. 00:18:35.119 --> 00:18:37.519 He's never late, he's rarely early. 00:18:37.759 --> 00:18:40.720 Not a procrastinator, but he's rarely early. 00:18:40.960 --> 00:18:42.559 He's always on time. 00:18:43.119 --> 00:18:48.799 And so if it seems like God is withholding something from you that seems to be, Lord, this is your revealed will in the scripture. 00:18:48.960 --> 00:18:50.640 Why are you withholding this? 00:18:51.680 --> 00:18:53.680 Assume he's right on time. 00:18:53.839 --> 00:18:55.359 He's right on schedule. 00:18:56.640 --> 00:18:58.559 He's not maliciously delaying. 00:18:59.519 --> 00:19:02.079 Three options if God seems to not answer prayer. 00:19:02.160 --> 00:19:08.240 One, James tells us, if God's not answering prayer, it might be you're just not even asking. 00:19:08.559 --> 00:19:10.640 James chapter 4, verse 1 and 2. 00:19:10.720 --> 00:19:13.599 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? 00:19:13.680 --> 00:19:18.640 Is it not this that your passions are at war in you and you desire and don't have, so you murder. 00:19:18.799 --> 00:19:21.759 You covet and can't attain, so you fight and quarrel. 00:19:22.400 --> 00:19:25.200 You do not have because you do not ask. 00:19:34.960 --> 00:19:40.799 One reason why God may appear to not be answering your prayers is you're just not asking. 00:19:41.519 --> 00:19:42.319 Not really. 00:19:42.799 --> 00:19:49.200 Maybe kind of going through the motions, checking the box, or but you're not really asking. 00:19:53.920 --> 00:19:55.839 Paul Miller comments this way in his book. 00:19:56.000 --> 00:20:06.960 He says, if you are not praying, if you're not really asking, then you are quietly confident that time or money or talent are all you need in life. 00:20:07.200 --> 00:20:10.319 You will always be a little too tired, a little too busy. 00:20:10.480 --> 00:20:18.559 But if, like Jesus, you realize you can't do life on your own, then no matter how tired you are, you will find time to pray. 00:20:18.799 --> 00:20:22.480 There's another book, the title is You're Too Busy Not to Pray. 00:20:24.000 --> 00:20:29.440 Another option, if he's not answering or appears not to answer, is that you could be asking, but you're asking wrongly. 00:20:29.599 --> 00:20:31.440 This is the next verse in James chapter 4. 00:20:31.519 --> 00:20:32.880 James chapter 4, verse 3. 00:20:33.039 --> 00:20:38.319 You ask and don't receive, because you ask wrongly to spend on your passions. 00:20:38.799 --> 00:20:48.640 This is be where what I'm asking for really is what I'm asking for is, hey, Lord God, would you give me this thing so it can be my treasured possession? 00:20:48.799 --> 00:20:51.920 It can be what I serve and worship instead of you. 00:20:52.160 --> 00:20:55.599 Would you give this thing so all my dreams come true and I don't feel like I need you? 00:20:55.759 --> 00:20:59.839 Now we never say it that way, but that's functionally what's happening. 00:21:00.079 --> 00:21:07.839 Would you give me this thing to wrap my flesh and my passions around, so my hope wouldn't be in the next life, so my hope wouldn't be in you. 00:21:08.319 --> 00:21:09.920 He is not gonna do that. 00:21:10.240 --> 00:21:13.680 He's not gonna ruin you by giving you an idol. 00:21:13.920 --> 00:21:19.119 In fact, if he's quite loving, he's gonna withhold and protect and guard you from that. 00:21:19.680 --> 00:21:22.640 James says, so sometimes you're asking, but you're asking wrongly. 00:21:22.720 --> 00:21:24.240 You're asking to serve a heart idol. 00:21:24.400 --> 00:21:25.759 Paul Miller comments this way. 00:21:25.839 --> 00:21:31.440 He says, if we think we can do life on our own, we will all we will not take prayer seriously. 00:21:31.599 --> 00:21:36.960 Our failure to pray, listen to this, will always feel like something else. 00:21:37.279 --> 00:21:40.240 It'll feel like a lack of discipline, or feel like too many obligations. 00:21:40.400 --> 00:21:44.640 It'll feel like I'm too busy, or I just I'm just I'm just not wired to be a prayer person. 00:21:44.960 --> 00:21:55.680 I just fall asleep quickly, or my mind gets distracted, or it'll feel like a lot of other things, other than I want to be an idol worshiper. 00:21:59.279 --> 00:21:59.680 What about? 00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:01.759 When God says no, Blake. 00:22:01.920 --> 00:22:03.599 I'm asking and I'm not asking wrongly. 00:22:03.839 --> 00:22:07.440 In fact, what I'm asking for are things the Bible says God wants. 00:22:07.680 --> 00:22:11.440 Blake, what if I'm asking for, Lord, give me justice at work? 00:22:12.799 --> 00:22:15.279 Give my son spiritual life. 00:22:15.599 --> 00:22:18.079 Like, I'm asking for God to save my child. 00:22:18.240 --> 00:22:21.279 I'm asking for to give my son new life inside. 00:22:23.839 --> 00:22:27.359 Like, what if I'm asking for, give me compassion for my neighbor? 00:22:27.599 --> 00:22:32.559 Give me compassion to care about them and to initiate engaging them. 00:22:33.200 --> 00:22:38.640 What if I'm asking for, change my anger, change my loneliness, change my impatience, change my anxiety? 00:22:38.880 --> 00:22:44.480 What if I'm asking for, Lord, make clear this fruit of the Spirit in my life? 00:22:44.880 --> 00:22:50.079 I'm asking for it, and what I'm asking for is not wrong, and it's not happening. 00:22:51.039 --> 00:22:52.640 Explain that to me, Blake. 00:22:53.759 --> 00:22:55.519 I think Paul Miller is helpful here. 00:22:55.680 --> 00:23:04.000 What he says, what the scripture says quite often is what God may be doing is taking you through a desert for a time. 00:23:05.599 --> 00:23:07.039 So desert looks like this. 00:23:07.359 --> 00:23:13.599 We have kind of a view of this is what God, this is this is my hope, is that God's gonna do this. 00:23:13.839 --> 00:23:15.359 I'll use the example. 00:23:16.000 --> 00:23:18.480 God's gonna awaken my son spiritually. 00:23:18.640 --> 00:23:19.519 This is my hope. 00:23:19.680 --> 00:23:22.480 It's in the Bible, he has to do it. 00:23:24.400 --> 00:23:26.960 And the reality is hasn't happened yet. 00:23:28.319 --> 00:23:37.119 And so this distance between what reality is and what I'm hoping in God for, if that persists very long, it gets painful. 00:23:38.400 --> 00:23:40.400 So three responses to this. 00:23:40.799 --> 00:23:45.519 One response is kind of to deny it's happening, to deny it's really that bad. 00:23:45.680 --> 00:23:52.799 And so that would look like yeah, I'm I'm praying for my child to awaken spiritually, but you know what? 00:23:53.039 --> 00:23:55.200 It'll be fine, it'll work out. 00:23:55.359 --> 00:23:57.759 Um, God's gonna make it happen in time. 00:23:58.000 --> 00:24:02.160 When I was his age, I was way farther worse than he was. 00:24:03.440 --> 00:24:11.440 And so we can kind of minimize the pain by making it appear it's not as bad as it really is. 00:24:13.200 --> 00:24:14.880 When we do that, we don't pray. 00:24:15.359 --> 00:24:17.920 I don't need to pray because right now it's not an emergency. 00:24:18.160 --> 00:24:22.559 I don't need to pray because it doesn't need to happen right now. 00:24:22.799 --> 00:24:27.279 Another approach, and sometimes this denial leads to determination. 00:24:28.559 --> 00:24:38.960 So after kind of initial shock, and sometimes initial shock is after some years go by and this isn't fixed, this isn't changed, this fruit of the spirit isn't prevalent, uh, anger hasn't been conquered. 00:24:41.039 --> 00:24:44.960 Then determination sets in where, okay, somebody somewhere knows how to fix this. 00:24:45.039 --> 00:24:50.799 There's some amount of money I can pay, some book I can read, some scripture I can memorize, some righteous act I can do. 00:24:50.960 --> 00:24:52.799 I'm gonna get really serious about this now. 00:24:52.880 --> 00:25:00.000 And so we still have the hope of God, you gotta do this, you promise to do this, and the reality hasn't happened, so I'm gonna try and force that up. 00:25:00.079 --> 00:25:01.599 I'm gonna try and make that happen. 00:25:01.839 --> 00:25:04.480 This is kind of the determination approach. 00:25:04.799 --> 00:25:10.640 And so, what that would look like, if I'm trying to awaken spirituality in my son, hey Blake, how can I pray for you? 00:25:10.799 --> 00:25:11.519 You know you can pray for me? 00:25:11.599 --> 00:25:12.319 You can pray for my son. 00:25:12.480 --> 00:25:19.279 Holy Spirit, make him alive, warm him, light the fire, small group, how can we pray for you? 00:25:19.359 --> 00:25:19.839 How can we pray for you? 00:25:19.920 --> 00:25:20.720 Blake, how can we pray for you? 00:25:20.880 --> 00:25:21.599 Pray for my son. 00:25:21.680 --> 00:25:24.000 And she's mobilize everything you can. 00:25:24.480 --> 00:25:29.680 And that lasts for a little while until God appears to not answer. 00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:32.400 And then the third stage is despair. 00:25:32.640 --> 00:25:38.720 Despair is here's what I believed God was gonna do, here's what's happening. 00:25:38.960 --> 00:25:41.839 And so I've tried to pretend it's not bad. 00:25:42.000 --> 00:25:43.200 I've tried to work really hard. 00:25:43.359 --> 00:25:45.599 How am I gonna minimize this pain gap? 00:25:45.839 --> 00:25:47.920 I'm just gonna quit hoping. 00:25:50.240 --> 00:25:53.279 And it also looks like I'm just gonna not pray about this anymore. 00:25:53.359 --> 00:25:56.640 I'm gonna just stop hoping God can ever do something about that. 00:25:56.880 --> 00:25:58.880 And that leads to one of two things. 00:25:59.039 --> 00:26:10.000 It'll lead either to bitterness and resentment and really distance from God, or it will lead to flourishing. 00:26:10.480 --> 00:26:11.839 Let me explain how. 00:26:12.640 --> 00:26:25.759 If it leads to cynicism and uh resistance to God, at the core of this is us saying, you're not a good God because you don't give me what I want. 00:26:26.880 --> 00:26:28.720 You don't give it to me when I want it. 00:26:29.440 --> 00:26:34.799 The one who thrives in the desert, God forms this in them. 00:26:35.440 --> 00:26:40.640 God, you actually are what I want most, and you won't take that away. 00:26:41.599 --> 00:26:45.119 Not that I want anything else, I just want you the most. 00:26:45.839 --> 00:26:49.440 That's what thriving begins to look like in the desert. 00:26:52.160 --> 00:26:53.920 The desert can be anything. 00:26:54.160 --> 00:27:03.359 It can be a loved one going astray, it can be a chronic illness, it can be your own sin and foolishness, it can be uh some, you can be married to your desert. 00:27:03.599 --> 00:27:05.440 You could work for your desert. 00:27:05.839 --> 00:27:12.559 For many parents, with the announcement that spring break is gonna be extended one or more weeks. 00:27:12.880 --> 00:27:15.119 You could think, oh, that's it, that's the desert. 00:27:15.440 --> 00:27:16.960 That's definitely it. 00:27:17.519 --> 00:27:20.000 We just we just survived spring break. 00:27:21.119 --> 00:27:23.039 I don't know what's gonna happen. 00:27:24.400 --> 00:27:26.400 Let me give you this quote by Paul Miller. 00:27:28.000 --> 00:27:30.000 Talking about parenting his kids. 00:27:30.240 --> 00:27:34.720 He said, I realized I did my best parenting by prayer. 00:27:34.960 --> 00:27:38.240 I began to speak less to the kids and more to God. 00:27:38.559 --> 00:27:40.720 It was actually quite relaxing. 00:27:41.680 --> 00:27:43.200 Let me say that again. 00:27:43.440 --> 00:27:46.000 I began to speak less to the kids and more to God. 00:27:46.079 --> 00:27:48.000 It was actually quite relaxing. 00:27:48.240 --> 00:27:54.559 Parents, what if this week wasn't just a ramping up of crazy stress and how are we going to do all this? 00:27:54.640 --> 00:28:00.480 And what if it became actually quite relaxing? 00:28:02.160 --> 00:28:05.680 And what if the key to all this is persisting in prayer? 00:28:05.920 --> 00:28:12.079 What if the key to all this is where God's taking you through a desert where he becomes the thing I most want? 00:28:12.319 --> 00:28:27.279 More than I want a clean house, more than I want civil behavior, more than I want things not broken, more than I want my schedule not disrupted, more than I want this extra expense because kids aren't in school. 00:28:27.440 --> 00:28:33.759 What if I wanted him to degree with those things, their call on me diminished? 00:28:36.799 --> 00:28:38.160 Everyone goes through a desert. 00:28:38.240 --> 00:28:39.599 Every believer goes through a desert. 00:28:39.759 --> 00:28:41.920 In fact, you're likely to go through multiple ones. 00:28:42.160 --> 00:28:50.160 Because it's God's main way of taking a wandering heart and tying it to himself. 00:28:50.720 --> 00:28:55.440 Taking a heart that would chase after this idol, this idol, and this desire, and tying it to him. 00:28:56.160 --> 00:29:01.599 It's his main way of causing us to kind of give up the fight for the things of our flesh. 00:29:03.440 --> 00:29:09.359 Maybe you'd notice when you've been without something for a little while, it loses its life-giving power. 00:29:09.599 --> 00:29:14.960 So I experienced a lot as a teenager, I would go to camp and there'd be no TV. 00:29:15.119 --> 00:29:18.000 And somehow I survived not knowing what happened in the world. 00:29:18.240 --> 00:29:20.319 Somehow I survived not watching shows. 00:29:20.400 --> 00:29:24.240 And when I got back, I'm like, I wasn't really running right to the TV. 00:29:24.720 --> 00:29:36.559 Years ago, I was uh for a good part of a summer in uh in Romania and uh and uh and Moldova and this part of the the time of this world, they just were on electricity schedule. 00:29:36.640 --> 00:29:41.119 You couldn't guarantee electricity, maybe eight hours a day, some days not for two or three days. 00:29:41.279 --> 00:29:43.599 And we got back home, and wouldn't you know it? 00:29:43.759 --> 00:29:44.480 No electricity. 00:29:44.640 --> 00:29:46.160 And it didn't bother me one bit. 00:29:46.400 --> 00:29:48.000 I'd be kind of weaned off of. 00:29:48.079 --> 00:29:50.079 I'd be like, heck, I can live. 00:29:50.880 --> 00:29:55.279 When God kind of removes these heart idols, they lose their life-giving power. 00:29:58.240 --> 00:30:05.359 Back to my example of my hope that my kids will follow Jesus, you will unite faith in them. 00:30:05.759 --> 00:30:11.599 When you go through the desert, this gets shifted to Jesus. 00:30:11.759 --> 00:30:12.720 I have you. 00:30:14.000 --> 00:30:16.720 All my other dreams pale in comparison. 00:30:17.039 --> 00:30:18.240 Even the good ones. 00:30:18.559 --> 00:30:21.519 They're not unimportant, they're just not more important. 00:30:22.319 --> 00:30:31.759 And life takes on a little bit more of an unanxious, unpanicked, unstressed life. 00:30:33.039 --> 00:30:41.680 In fact, it's what would say to the world around us, I don't understand how you can be the way you are with what's happening around us. 00:30:42.240 --> 00:30:46.480 And the funny thing is, you often don't realize you're changing in the process. 00:30:46.720 --> 00:30:52.400 You often don't realize that what God is doing is shifting your internal allegiance to Him above all the other things. 00:30:52.559 --> 00:30:55.680 Your internally you value Him above all the other things. 00:30:56.640 --> 00:31:03.599 Well thing is happening in the desert is you're kind of forced to create this trench between you and the Lord. 00:31:03.759 --> 00:31:11.119 Where you just, I need you, I the song I need you every hour, you're oh yeah, I need you every hour. 00:31:11.359 --> 00:31:12.400 Desperately need you. 00:31:12.559 --> 00:31:22.880 And so you kind of walk a well, a well-worn path, and it deepens and deepens to where anytime you're alone or kind of idle time, you kind of slip into the trench again. 00:31:23.039 --> 00:31:33.119 And you find yourself alone in the car and you're turning off the radio more, and you're just you're drifting right back to that well-worn trench, your prayer of being with him. 00:31:37.119 --> 00:31:38.160 Well, so what? 00:31:38.319 --> 00:31:39.519 Here's a so-what? 00:31:40.240 --> 00:31:45.279