Sunday, March 1 2020 - Prayer part 3

All right. Well for the past few weeks we have been talking about prayer and we sat in the very beginning, prayer is Unique in that one, it's a Cornerstone of Christianity. We know that. We know that Christians are people who pray but at the same time it's not actually something that comes naturally. Not well. When we pray many of us at different times struggle with our prayer life. What's our prayer life supposed to be? Am I really communicating with God? Are my prayers going through? Am I praying what I need to be praying? In reality the way it works is prayer is a discipline. It's a skill that we learn. Now God helps us in this, we looked a couple of weeks ago, He gives us his spirit inside of us to aid us in our prayers. So the good news is our prayers always get through. But like so many of the things God asks of us, He doesn't really ask for his sake, he asks for our sake. Well, to be blunt about it, it does more for us than it does for God. God knows what we need. God knows what's going on. He knows every thought we think whether we're ending it in amen or not really has nothing to do with it. So why pray? Because prayer helps us, because prayer helps us grow closer to our Creator. Prayer helps us grow stronger as Christians. Prayer helps us grow stronger spiritually, but it takes effort and that's what we've been talking about the last few weeks. Now this week, assuming this works, I want to start out in the Book of Matthew again. I'm going to be down in verse 19 of chapter 6 Matthew 6 starting at verse 19. "Do not store up for yourselves Treasures on Earth where moth and Vermin destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but store up for yourselves treasures in Heaven where moths and vermon do not destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. The eye is the lamp of the body, if your eyes are healthy your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy your whole body will be full of Darkness how great is that Darkness? No, one can serve two masters, either you will hate the one and love the other or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. you cannot serve both God and money." Or, if you have an older translation, "God and Mammon." which in this particular case I actually like the older translation better because what it's actually saying is you can't serve God and the world. Where's your treasure? Where's your attitude? So this morning what I want us to look at is that prayer is as much about attitude as anything else. I remember back when I was in school, one of my very first classes that we were taught in preaching School, the professor walks up to the board and he puts blank attitude blank action. He says preaching is this persent attitude this percent action, and asked us to fill in the blanks. Now what he eventually put up on the board was 99 and 1. You want to guess where the numbers went? 99% attitude 1% Action. Now to have 100% you need both, right? So it's not saying one's unimportant. It's saying without attitude our actions don't actually matter. The wrong attitude will take anything we do and lead it in the wrong direction, including our prayer life. A lot of the times when we struggle with prayer, a lot of the times when I struggle with prayer. Alright, in my own life when I've struggled, when I felt like my prayer life wasn't what it should have been, when I wasn't praying as much as I should have been, when I just felt like my prayers weren't very effective. Wasn't God, he wasn't the problem. He's the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. The problem was me and my attitude. Because if our attitude's wrong nothing's going to work correctly. Now last week We looked at the the model prayer Jesus gave just after the part We just read or just before the part We just read where he says, "Our Father in heaven Hallowed Be Your Name Your Kingdom Come your will be done on Earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread lead us not into temptation, but Deliver Us from the evil one. I left out forgive us as we forgiven others. Can't forget that part. When my feet are nailed to the floor my brain doesn't work. Y'all know that right?

That was a model prayer. It wasn't the prayer He gave us and said always pray this prayer, but it was a prayer he gave us to say, This is what your prayers to look like. They don't have to be long. God doesn't listen closer because you're praying longer. God's listening the same regardless. What his model prayer did spell out for us is that our attitude really does make a difference. Here's the question. What do I need to do attitude wise to improve my prayer life? Like we talked about last week, which I won't repeat, too often prayer lot our prayer lives or about us. What do I want? What do I need? Our prayer lives were about me, me, me, me, and I

but that's not the kind of prayer Jesus prayed, was it? His prayer wasn't all about himself. His prayer was all about God because, prayer is about that relationship.

Have you ever felt like you were at a greater distance from God? separated from God for some reason? that God wasn't really right there in your life at that moment? I would argue that regardless of whatever else was going on, part of the reason you felt that was your prayer life Was failing you. Because in prayer we draw closer to him, in prayer we go before his throne. When you pray, whether you're on your knees, standing, driving your car, I don't care where you are, I don't care physically your posture, when you start praying to your Creator you enter his throne room. So he's there, he's close to us. if we feel the separation, the separation's on us, not him. But often that separation comes because our attitude is wrong. Because our hearts are wrong. God's there. We're just having trouble getting to him. He still hears, don't misunderstand me. He still knows what you're saying, but you're not reaping the benefits of prayer because your heart's not right. your attitude's Not right. Prayer can help you get there, But it requires something else. So here's the question. What can I do to improve my prayer? I'm going to reword the Lord's prayer this morning and think about how your prayer should sound. I'm not going to give you the words to say. I'm just going to give you something to think about first. Let's look at what's happening to me be to your Glory, Our Father in heaven Hallowed, holy is your name.

What are we doing here? Are you here So you can live the life you want to live? Which probably isn't going to go that great. Or are you here to give your creator Glory The life you were created to live. So whatever it is you're dealing with in life, start your prayer, Father, Whatever is happening to me right now, good or bad, It could be either, let it be to your glory. make it about him not about you. Or next, Let what's happening to me be used for your kingdom. Now when we talk about the kingdom of God, What are we talkin about? We're talking about his church. We're talking about God's influence in this world. Do you realize that whatever happens to you in life Can be used not only to God's glory because you have the right attitude-- You have the right Spirit going through it, but it can be used for his kingdom. Some of the greatest witnessing that occurs in life among Christians are from Christians who are facing difficult situations. But they face them with God as their priority. Yeah, I'm struggling. I lost my job, got fired and didn't deserve to get fired got downsized because some CEO took all the money for himself and left everybody else high and dry. Gee, that never happens, right? Now, how do I react? What's my attitude in that? Is it all about me and how I got shortchanged and how they did me wrong and they deserve this or that and and I'm just angry becuase I was wronged? or is my attitude, You know what I never depended on them anyway? God is the one who is always taken care of me. You'll be the one to take care of me now. He'll be the one to take care of me later. So you know, what, all that's happening to me right now is I get to show how much God loves me. Only difference between those two attitudes Is attitude. How you choose to look at it? Same thing when we face health problems, family problems, whatever whatever struggle we go through we get to decide what we do with that struggle. We get to decide how we use that situation. Sometimes, let's just be honest, We use it as a good excuse to throw a pity party. Oh poor me. Look how bad my life is. But does that give God glory? Guess who gave you this life? Maybe you have an opportunity in those difficult times to stand up and show your God does care for you even through the hard times. Maybe you get to be Job for a minute. Maybe you get to be the one that proves Faith isn't about blessings, faith is about trust and blessings are just part of the way God loves us. So, how do I use the situation I'm in? Do I use it to God's glory or do I focus only on myself? Our prayer life helps us with this. Because here's the thing about prayer, I think I said this a couple weeks ago. I'm going to say it again. You cannot be dishonest when you're praying to God. Your spirit will not let you. Why? becuase you can't lie to him. He knows every thought he knows every emotion. He knows every everything. It is impossible to lie to God. Your spirit knows that and it will not let you lie in your prayers. Oh, you can try, see how well that works. because he knows. You have the right attitude in prayer, though and your prayers simply draw you closer to him. So one: let what let what's happening to me be used for your glory. Two: let what's happening to me be used for your kingdom. Let something good came out of this. I may be suffering, but maybe my suffering can help somebody, maybe my suffering can draw somebody else close to you when they see me depending on you.

And then there's this one. This is my favorite part of the Lord's Prayer. I know you'll take care of me.

Really? That's all you got to say. It's okay if you say more, we all have those times when were so struggling so hurt so scared, We just pour all that before God. Even Jesus had those moments. One of them, Anyway, when he was in The Garden of Gethsemane before his crucifixion, he prayed 3 times, Father, Let this cup pass from me. I'm scared. part of me does not want to do this but with each of those prayers, what did he also say? It's not about me. It's about you. And so he went and did what he needed to do. So it's okay to say God, I'm really scared and struggling with this, Whatever it is, but we also have to say but God I know you'll take care of me.

And if you will say that. Maybe you need to say that a lot of times to convince yourself. That gives you strength that gives you hope that gives you courage to know God is always there. Doesn't mean we won't have the hard times and it means we don't go through them alone and none of them, nothing can... if you were living by faith, Nothing in this life can break you. It can hurt. It can be a challenge. It can bring you down. But it can't break you fly. Because, what can it ultimately do to you? Romans 8 Paul put it great he said I'm not scared of anything. This is the Texan version of this passage. I'm not scared of anything cuz nothing can hurt me. If I am with God not Powers not principalities, Things present not things to come Heights death sickness disease. I don't care. Nothing can separate me from the love of God and because of that nothing can break me not even death. because in death we actually find our victory. Once we reach the point we have to face death. We win. So everything that lead up to that is an inconvenience, it's not the end of the world. All it is is

troublesome. It's not earth shattering the Earth already shattered when Jesus rose, he took care of everything else. So God, I know you're going to take care of me. And the truth is I don't even have to ask, Because you always have, you always do, and you always will. That's the kind of prayer we need to pray.

Help me love others God through my struggles. One of the best things you can do if you're struggling right now, if you're feeling down if you're feeling depressed if you feel like the world's just making it hard, worry about somebody other than yourself.

Because I promise you somebody has it worse than you? Somebody's going through something more difficult than you are. But if all you look at is yourself, you'll never see it. In fact, your own problems would just get bigger and bigger and bigger and seem so gigantic. There's no way I can do with this. But if you just back up and look out, you say, you know what? Man, I thought I had it bad. But look what these other people are going through and they're handling it. You know what? I think I can handle it. God hasn't left me. He hasn't forsaken me. It's not that bad.

We have some friends up where mom lives. their grandson was on our prayer list for a long time, Brody passed away a couple months ago. You know what happened after he passed away? And if you knew the story of Brody that little kid put us all to shame. He never hesitated never flinched, used what he was going through to help other people. I forget how many Legos he collected for the Children's Hospital. It was weighed in tons, that that little boy collected? You know what happened after that? His grandma got sick. went into the hospital with some type of infection got worse and worse because they were worn out. She had no strength. while in the hospital gangrene set in. she lost fingers lost toes. Actually the doctor told the family He's never seen somebody come back from how bad she was with that infection. She did, she's home now, but her life is changed even more. But if you talk to her, you know what she'll tell you? About to tell the person who has it worse than she does.

Because she learned through struggling with Brody and then threw her own struggles that God was with her every step of the way and these are just inconveniences. I've never been through anything close to that. I mean I've lost loved ones.

That's about the worst that has happened to me. I can't imagine losing a child or grandchild but I helped other people through it. I can't imagine losing my fingers and toes because my body is just quitting. But yet I look at her. And all I see is strength. I see her post on Facebook which are funny becuase without fingers it's hard to post. She laughs about it. Try it sometime, posting with your knuckles. I can't do it with all 10 digits. Do you know who she posts about? other people, not herself why? because in her mind God has her. What's the worst that can happen? sounds like what happened. How bad is that? She going to get all her fingers and toes back? She's going to be healthy again one day she knows it, she talks about it. That's what prayer can help us do in our lives if we focus our prayer correctly. Help me love others through my struggles. suffering from depression, go help somebody else, that's the best medicine there is And then the most important thing, whatever I'm facing right now, God let it lead me closer to you. That is a prayer God will always answer. guaranteed, every time if you have that attitude. He can respond.

There's one other.

Passage I want us to look at before we end up this morning, over in 2nd Corinthians chapter 12 verses 7 and following Paul is writing about His own struggles, because everybody struggles. Paul was an apostle who wrote the majority of the New Testament the majority of the books that make up the New Testament yet, He himself faced struggles, faced difficulty, faced sickness, faced hardships. He didn't have it any better than anybody else. In fact, to be honest, He had it worse because he struggled and he was persecuted for his faith, but he talks about how he had this great vision once. He got to see some things in heaven, but because of the greatness of his vision, he says I was inflicted with a messenger of Satan to keep me humble. And then here's the conversation He says he had with God: therefore in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me. three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. This is an apostle. This is a guy who healed countless other people.

Just with a touch or a word or whatever, but yet when it comes to his own struggles, he's praying again and again and again, but look what happens.

But he said to me, my grace is sufficient for you.

For my power is made perfect in weakness therefor Paul says, I will boast all the more gladly about my weakness So that Christ's power and they may rest on me. That is why for Christ's sake I Delight in weakness and insults and hardships and persecutions and difficulties for when I am weak then I am strong.

Let's look at this prayer for a second. God I can't handle this. God's response to Paul? my grace is enough for you.

What does that mean? Did that mean that God's saying, Naa, I don't want to help you? Do you think that was God's answer to Paul?

No. what he's saying is, Paul I'm with you through this. I'm not going to take it away, but I'm going to walk with you. Maybe Paul needed what was happening. Maybe something good could come from what Paul was struggling with? Actually, It doesn't matter. What matters is, God said I'm there and my grace can take care of, you. Now, this is important for us as Christians because the reality is, we all struggle with things that bring us down. We all struggle with sin don't we? Anybody in here Perfect? And I don't mean perfect in Christ. I mean perfect on your own. No, you're not even close. I'm not being rude, It's just reality. Right? None of us are. But knowing that our God says, you know what, my grace is enough for you. That's actually a promise. He saying, because of his grace He'll carry us through. I can struggle with what I'm struggling with and it may seem too much for me and maybe sometimes I don't even really handle it that well, But God said, I've got you. My grace is enough. But then he goes on to explain it. He says my power is made perfect in weakness. And then one other one, these two go together. For when I am weak then I am strong. I want to end this morning talking about this weakness thing a little bit because this goes so counter to our culture.

How can there be power in weakness? we like things that are strong right? Friday night Noah Tracy and I went to a Rampage game since for some dumb reason they're gonig to Vegas. We decide to go see him one more time. I don't know squat about hockey. But I love when somebody checks somebody in the glass, it's the football player in me I guess. One disappointment we had in the game was the gloves never came off. there was one little scuffel but they didn't drop their gloves. I was like, come on we came to a fight and Hoped to see some hockey along the way. We like it when it's strong. We like it when our teams win. we like it when they play hard right? And the Rampage did win, so that was fun. so what in the world does it mean that my strength is made perfect in weakness? What did Paul mean when he said, in my weakness I find my strength.

Here's the problem with strength. It deceives us. It makes us think we're stronger than we are. the truth is,

I can only handle so much. there is a limit to what I can do. I sometimes forget those limits. how many of you have said, Oh I can lift that, And spent the next three days in bed with your back Just killing you?

All of us? How many of us have gotten ourselves into a mess because we think, I can handle this situation. I can handle whatever but then we get them in the middle of it and it's like oh, no I can't. We all have limits but here's what cool, When we Face our limits when we reach our limits God's strength is there waiting on us, especially in life struggles. Paul dealing with his Thorn In the Flesh it probably fell to him at times like this was pushing him Beyond his limits, but what he realized is, when I go beyond my limits, it's no longer me taking care of me, It's God taking care of me. That's this idea of, There's Clarity in the desert. in the old Jewish mind set there was there was this idea, if you wanted to find God you went to the desert. God wasn't in the Hills flowing with milk and honey. Not in the same way. If you truly wanted to find God you went out to the most inhospitable place in the world the Sinai Peninsula. we're people still die every year because it is so unfriendly difficult hot deadly. So why is there Clarity in the desert? Why do you go to the desert to find God? the reason was very simple, If you want to truly find God, go to where you can't live without him. Go to where the only way you're going to survive is if he's right there with you. God's found in the desert, God's found in our weakness. when we think we've got it, It's easy to just think about ourselves. when we're pushed to a place We don't got it and it was bad grammar. I did it on purpose. Too many teachers in the audience.

We're push beyond our limits. Then we find our father. because he's right there with us, But if we think we got it,

We don't always recognize. Sort of like for those who have been Athletics, lifted weights. your maxing out, your under the squat bar. You get under, you like, I got this. you go down. I got this. I don't got this. And then how thankful are you for the two guys standing either side of you? Very. but how many of you are even thinking of the two guys on either side of you when you're maxing out? your not thinking of that. you're picturing yourself going down coming up going down coming up. I've got this. I've got this It's when we reach our limit we realize We we don't got this and we need somebody else. So we find God when we go beyond our abilities. Our greatest strength as humans Is in submission to God. because, when we submit to him, it's his strength We now rely on and here's the thing, Is there anything God can't handle?

Everybody shake your head like this. I'm almost done you can wake up.

No, there's nothing handle.

So when we submit, and we depend then on his strength,

then nothing can stop us, our greatest strength is found in our weakness because in our weakness we turn to him. in our strength We think we can do it ourselves.

And there is danger in accomplishments. We think we're the ones who did it. And we don't think we need God. there's an old Jimmy Stewart movie. I love Jimmy Stewart. I just thought of this I would have put the clip up if I had thought about it earlier, but I'm going to tell you the story Anyway. It's an old movie called shanandoah. takes place during the Civil War. at the very beginning of that movie. You have Jimmy Stewart. He's the head of his house. The father and all these children. They live on a ranch, Farm in the Shenandoah Valley. The Civil Wars getting close. That's the beginning of the movie. He's sitting around this table with all of his kids and they're going .. you know back then everybody prayed before you ate because it was Bad Manners If you didn't, so he said a prayer before he and his kids ate, he said, God, even though we planted it. We watered it. We tended it. We harvested it. We we picked it. We cooked it. We fixed it. Thank you anyway. Something like that. It's been a few years since I've seen it. Well, through the course of the movie The tides of the Civil War wash across their little farm. He loses sons and daughters, one gets kidnapped. He goes trying to find them, goes through horrendous, one of the darkest days in American history. When it gets to the end the same scene occurs. It's Jimmy Stewart and his kids, the ones that are left, sitting around their table, About to eat and he prays, except this time this time His prayer is, God thank you. And that's it. Because he realized it wasn't him. He wasn't strong enough. Using your prayer life to remind yourself of that is one of the best things you can do. Bow before God and say God, I'm not enough but you are, and he will answer those prayers. So prayer isn't again just about asking God for stuff. It's about growing closer to him. It's about checking your own attitude and developing a better one.

Now one of the good things about prayer that we've said all along is whether we're good at it or not, God hears it. He never fails to hear it. So, this morning if you're struggling in your life and you need his help pray to him for that help. He will answer and in your weakness, you will find his strength. Or maybe you're here this morning and you need to submit to him, give your life to him. So you no longer depending on yourself. We can take care of that this morning too. Jesus Paid the price again, it's not you doing anything it's God doing it. all you're going to do is say God take control. That's what baptism is. Here in a minute. We'll stand and have our song of invitation. When we do that, Some of our Shepherds will be in the back. If you would like to go pray with them privately because you need that prayer. Please do that or if you need to respond publicly for some reason or in some way we can help you with that too. whatever needs you have this morning. So, please let us know now as we stand and sing together.