How To Pray Through Disappointment 1.8.23

 How To Pray Lake Erie Church Depending on your choice, each segment can be 5 minutes=1 hour 1 minute=12 minutes 3 minutes=36 minutes How to Pray Through Disappointment This month we are focused on Prayer, Scripture Reading and Devotion to God. This week we are inviting you to join us in 14 days of fasting as you pray and read the Scripture. Included in your packet today we have put some resources to help you in pursuing God. * A Prayer Wheel that contains 12 topics for prayer that you can use to organize your prayer time * A 14 Day Fasting Guide if you are choosing to join the church in a time of dedicated fasting for spiritual devotion. * A blog post by Pastor Kyle Chastain dealing with disappointment * A 31 day Bible Reading Challenge with selected Scriptures to read each day in January. * The sermon notes for today. *Write down everything God is saying to you-if He is not saying anything to you today-then you are probably not focused on listening to him! (Matthew 26:36-39) Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, Sit here while I go over there and pray. He took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee. Grief and anguish came over him, and he said to them, The sorrow in my heart is so great that it almost crushes me. Stay here and keep watch with me. He went a little farther on, threw himself face downward on the ground, and prayed, My Father, if it is possible, take this cup of suffering from me! Yet not what I want, but what you want. Introduction Have you ever been disappointed with God? Was there a time when something or someone you were praying for did not happen as you asked God for? You may not be comfortable admitting it-but I'm fairly certain if you have lived any length of time you have dealt with disappointment with God. It's the human experience. In one of my own dark spaces, I wrote these words... There is a tombstone in every heart where unmet expectations are buried. There is no greater example of praying through disappointment the passage that was read today concerning the prayer of Jesus Christ to His Father in one of the most stressful moments of his human life! That prayer is a model for us... MY FATHER if it is possible, take this cup of suffering from me! Yet not what I want, but what you want. Key Point: When we are broken we hold tightly to our F____________ * No matter the situation we face-we are strengthened to know that God's love for us is D___________ and S_______. (1 John 3:1) See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are! * Our temptation in tough times is to P_____ A_____ from God-to I___________ ourselves- My Father, IF IT IS POSSIBLE, take this cup of suffering from me! Yet not what I want, but what you want. Key Point: When life is complicated hold out for God's P__________ * We tend to downgrade our expectations in prayer-just in case-to protect our hearts from the disappointment. * Even in His darkest hour, Jesus believed, knew that His Father could rescue Him. (Matthew 26:52-53) Put away your sword, Jesus told him. Those who use the sword will die by the sword. Don't you realize that I could ask my Father for thousands of angels to protect us, and he would send them instantly? My Father, if it is possible, TAKE THIS CUP FROM ME! Yet not what I want, but what you want. Key Point: When you're disappointed with the outcome Just Be H__________. * Sometimes we try to put on a B______ face when we go through hard times * In this moment Jesus is completely honest-"I don't want to do it" * His ask is the most vulnerable moment we have of Jesus * These 5 words of Jesus give us permission to pray the imperfect but honest prayer in our time of trouble. Conclusion * Sometimes God says Y_____ * Sometimes God says W_____ * Sometimes God says N_____ Peter Greig writes, "In the sweat of his agony Jesus relinquishes control. He may not want God's will but He will choose it. This is a powerful moment for us because it invites us to deeper and darker level of trust with God-a surrender of ourselves to the will of God, not just when it makes sense and feels good to us but also when it makes no sense at all and even hurts us deeply." PT Forsyth writes, "We shall come one day to a heaven where we shall gratefully know that God's greatest refusals were sometimes the best answers to our prayers." 2