Turn in Prayer

Text: Philippians 4:6

“Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.”

Destructive force on a church filled worry.

Be careful for nothing - That is, be not anxious or solicitous about the things of the present life.

Worry is fear's extravagance. It extracts interest on trouble before it comes due. It constantly drains the energy God gives us to face daily problems and to fulfill our many responsibilities. It is therefore a sinful waste. A woman who had lived long enough to have learned some important truths about life remarked, "I've had a lot of trouble -- most of which never happened!" She had worried about many things that had never occurred, and had come to see the total futility of her anxieties. Source Unknown.

But in everything - Everything in reference to the supply of your wants, and the wants of your families; everything in respect to afflictions, embarrassments, and trials; and everything relating to your spiritual condition. There is nothing which pertains to body, mind, estate, friends, conflicts, losses, trials, hopes, fears, in reference to which we may not go and spread it all out before the Lord.

Worry zaps anything you put it into.

Marriage

Friendship

Workplace

Memories

Worry has a way of

Making enemies out of friends

Stopping a Vision

Moving us to preservation mode

God has given instruction on how to drive fear and worry from our church.

Turn in Prayer.

In Luke 11:1-4 in answer to the disciples request "Lord teach us to pray," Jesus gave a prayer that is sometimes called "The Lord's Prayer." This prayer was more than just a prayer to be repeated it was to serve as a blueprint of all prayer that would be acceptable to God. While it is not wrong to recite the prayer, it is more important to understand its principles. Now having given the disciples a pattern for prayer, the Lord continues his instruction by telling a story. But why does he give us this parable? In the text we are going to see three principles about prayer.

Pray Boldly

Jesus is asking each of his listeners, "which of you has the nerve to wake up his friend (and possible his family as well) in the middle of the night to ask for bread?" The rest of the story speaks of this tension, as Jesus continues the story in verse seven,

Even today it is easy to understand this man's reluctance to provide for his friend's need. Anyone who has ever wrestled to get children into bed, understands this man's  ' unwillingness to do anything to arouse his children. But since the whole family slept in the same room, and even the smaller livestock was brought into the house (chicken, goats etc), to get up and meet this man's needs meant considerable inconvenience. The man inside the house initial refused the request; friendship alone was not a sufficient reason to upset the whole household. Jesus is saying to His listeners, "Can you imagine a friend who would react in such a way?" and of course in so doing, he expected a negative reply. "No of course not!"

Ultimately, the reluctant friend got up and gave his neighbor what he needed, for one reason only, the persistence of the man making the request. Jesus is not comparing God to an sleepy, selfish and angry neighbor. He is contrasting the two; He is telling the disciples that if a neighbor can on the basis of friendship and social etiquette, be persuaded to met the needs of a friend, how much more will your father in heaven meet the needs of his children.

Pray Passionately

There is a progression in this persistence, asking, seeking and knocking. Mark these three levels of prayer in your Bible, Ask, Seek, Knock. Now let's consider there meaning, "asking means making a simple request. Seeking implies a stronger desire and a more definite kind of request. It is something that takes time. It implies a greater sense of urgency. Knocking shows determination to get an answer." [The Complete Biblical Library. The New Testament Study Bible - Luke. Vol. 4 (Springfield, Missouri: The Complete Biblical Library, 1988) p. 351]

Pray Expectantly

Because God is a good God, a loving heavenly father, He can be expected not only to answer our prayers, but in answer them in such a way that it is for our highest good. The bottom line of the whole matter is now given in verse thirteen, Do you as a parent ever worry about the answers that give to your child? When I say yes and give them what they want, am I spoiling them? Or when I say no, was my denial selfish or shortsighted. We do the best we can, but sometimes our best is just not good enough. But our heavenly father knows no such limits. God never says no because he is distracted, exhausted or irritable.

But more is being taught here than a mere repetition of the same request over and over

Seek His Supply

supplication - The word rendered "supplication" is a stronger term than the former. It is the mode of prayer which especially arises from the sense of "need," or "want" - from δέομαι deomai, "to want, to need."

Someone has said that supplication involves petition and communion and intercession.

In petition, God does something for us.

In communion, God does something in us.

In supplication, God does something through us.

And God wants to do something for us and in us and through us, but He can't do any of those things until we learn to pray

Thank God for everything

With thanksgiving - Thanksgiving connected with prayer. We can always find something to be thankful for, no matter what may be the burden of our wants, or the special subject of our petitions.

When we pray for the supply of our wants, we may be thankful for that kind providence which has hitherto befriended us; when we pray for restoration from sickness, we may be thankful for the health we have hitherto enjoyed, and for God's merciful interposition in the former days of trial, and for his goodness in now sparing our lives; when we pray that our children and friends may be preserved from danger and death, we may remember how often God has interposed to save them; when, oppressed with a sense of sin, we pray for pardon, we have abundant cause of thanksgiving that there is a glorious way by which we may be saved.

The greatest sufferer that lives in this world of redeeming love, and who has the offer of heaven before him, has cause of gratitude.

Our spirit of gratitude is think thinking that prevents us from turning God into Santa.

Request From God

Let your request be made known unto God - Not as if you were to give him information, but to express to him your wants. God needs not to be informed of our necessities, but he requires that we come and express them to him; compare Ezekiel 36:37. "Thus saith the Lord God, I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel to do it for them."

Pray with Scripture

Praying scripture is saying what God thinks about a subject.

We are no reminding God we are reminding ourselves.

Prayer is Siding with God. Often God holds back because we are not clear in our own hearts if we are on his side or not.