P.R.A.Y. - Yield

Big Idea

When we yield control and the cares of life to God in prayer we find peace.

“Pa,” asked a little boy, “does the Lord know every thing?” “Yes, my son,” replied the father; “but why do you ask that question?” “Because,” replied the boy, “our preacher, when he prays, is so long telling him every thing. I thought he wasn’t posted.”

Intro

Participation: How many, be honest, have an area in your life that you want to maintain absolute control?

Illustration - how i like control - always drive?

Does the dishwasher have to be loaded a certain way?

It's fun to make fun of, but the reality is whenever we're trying to control something that's not ours to control, what it is is a reflection of a really big spiritual problem. What we're trying to do in this one area of our life, we are trying to be like God. I want to control because I know what's best. We're trying to be like God.

In 2005 a song came out that

spent six consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart.

It also earned a Top 10 spot on the Christian Songs chart (No. 4),

a Top 20 spot on the Hot 100 (No. 20).

has been certified multi-platinum and was nominated for numerous awards.

It won Single of the Year at the Academy of Country Music Awards and

two Grammys, for Best Female Country Vocal Performance and Best Country Song.

Recap

Prayer is a dialogue and relationship

The Speed of Life today

Smart phones - our souls weren’t meant to run at this pace

As you practice release, what you’re doing is creating soul space; you are literally carving out the intellectual and emotional space for God to come in. Eldredge, John. Get Your Life Back (p. 25). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.

You can’t give God your attention when your attention is constantly being targeted and taken captive . . . and you’re cooperating. Eldredge, John. Get Your Life Back (p. 43). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.

Yielding creates space in our hearts for God, removing the things of this world that are cramping our space

Yielding our life’s cares to Jesus

1 Peter 5:7 ESV

casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

Proverbs 3:5–6 ESV

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

Matthew 6:25–27 ESV

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?

Yield control to God

Matthew 6:10 ESV

Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Matthew 26:39 ESV

And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”

2 Chronicles 16:9 ESV

For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him. You have done foolishly in this, for from now on you will have wars.”

This Brings Peace

“He will make your paths straight” Prov 3:6

“He will work all things for good” Rom 8:28

“Give’s strong support” 2 Chron 16:9

“Renew their strength and mount up on wings like eagles” Is 40:31

God is too wise to be confused, and too kind to be cruel. So, when I cannot trace His hand, I simply trust His heart” -Charles Hadden Spurgeon